Chapter 429

429 Treasure Warehouse #1

The Small Courtyard Tribe is a tiny community created by Luna.

I wasn’t expelled; I graduated!

Luna, who had “graduated” from the Nox Child Tribe, seemed to feel a void from becoming completely isolated.

So she wanted to belong somewhere and created the Small Courtyard Tribe.

The fixed members of the tribe initially were Luna, me, Keng Keng, Paranoi, and Doris.

Though I initially thought it was just a small gathering, Luna appeared to be quite fond of this Small Courtyard Tribe she had created.

“I’ll create a tribe as big as the Nox Child Tribe! I’ll make everyone regret driving me away!”

Then an opportunity arose for Luna to recruit many new tribe members.

This happened when we captured multiple nymphs from Nabokov’s toy shop.

The nymphs Nabokov had targeted for abduction were mostly wandering loner nymphs.

So, when we decided to take responsibility for their safety after solving the case, I was left dealing with a large number of nymphs.

“I’m hungry.”

“Where am I?”

“It’s cold. I want to hibernate.”

“I miss my mom.”

Since each of the ten nymphs said something, that was already ten different statements.

Added to that were Paranoi’s loudness and Doris’ strangely excited behavior, making it extremely chaotic and distracting.

Fortunately, Luna took charge of the nymphs, and they followed her, seeing her as a young, gentle deity. Thus, I was relieved of some burden.

I had no idea about the names of the ten nymphs we brought this time, having no room to attend to them.

Therefore, I only had the impression that there were more little nymphs with various eye colors in Luna’s small nymph kindergarten.

That’s why I was quite surprised when Luna, who had memorized and paid attention to their names, told me something quite unbelievable.

“Luna, is that true? One of the nymphs knows about the Skeleton Key?”

The three Skeleton Keys I obtained through various means.

According to Valtma, these three keys, when brought together, reveal the location of the treasure warehouse guarded by the Priests of Pluto. However, simply gathering the three keys didn’t show any noticeable change.

So, I was pondering how to proceed when Luna’s words were like a ray of hope.

“Who’s that?”

“A nymph named Metelior. She usually rambles a lot, so it may not be entirely accurate…”

Luna added a disclaimer at the last moment, unsure if the information was reliable.

Perhaps she didn’t want me to be disappointed if Metelior’s story turned out to be false or exaggerated.

But with no information at all now, I decided to grab at straws.

“So, you’re Metelior?”

I looked down at the nymph with sky-blue hair tinged with green.

It was fascinating. Her sky-blue pigtails were something I hadn’t seen before. I was familiar with her because she occasionally stood out in the nymph choir.

According to Paranoi, nymphs born in winter sometimes have hair in shades of blue or green.

Winter-born nymphs are mostly timid and fearful.

“…”

Indeed, Metelior, the nymph with that name, shook nervously as soon as I approached and wouldn’t open her mouth.

I felt that Hippolyte’s Ignoid would deliberately not speak, but this seemed like genuine fear.

So Luna gently stroked her hair.

“Metelior. You said you know about the Skeleton Key, right? Can you tell me the truth? It’s fine as long as you’re not lying.”

Despite the gentle tone of Luna’s voice, Metelior only rolled her small eyes around before slowly nodding as if she understood.

“Metelior doesn’t know how to lie. Grandpa said you should be honest. But… no one believed my words….”

Her speech was a little hesitant.

Now that she’s happily playing with other nymphs, I learned that this little nymph used to be an outcast. It’s probably why she ended up being kidnapped by Nabokov, who preyed on such loneliness and emptiness.

In fact, all the members of the nymph choir have their own stories. Like stray cats.

Because of this, I believed I would need quite a bit of patience to get a word out of Metelior.

Luna said,

“Hotshan, it’s clear this girl knows something. But she’s reluctant to talk. She’s not hiding anything.”

“Just doesn’t want to talk. Or maybe it’s painful.”

Shhh…

I took Luna’s hand and carefully observed Metelior, who was trembling.

She looked so restless it made me a bit uneasy. Could I really be that terrifying?

I thought nymphs liked me pretty well, didn’t they?

“Dark man! Hoenois wish to ride ponies! Hoohohohoho-.”

“It’s my turn first, Saratol!”

In fact, other nymphs often came to me to make demands like this.

I’ve heard that the divine power I possess might attract nymphs to me or something like that. Either way, I was the type to draw their attention.

Then why is Metelior so afraid of me?

Shh…

Then I noticed something. Metelior’s eyes were darting about frantically. And with a divine insight akin to that of a god, I realized something.

Metelior wasn’t afraid of me.

Hmph…

She was looking around restlessly for something.

And whatever that ‘something’ was, it was the cause of her fear.

“Huhuhu…”

It looked like PTSD symptoms. I thought it would be best to extract answers from memories she doesn’t want to talk about, her past.

So, I called Luna out briefly from the lodging and asked if there were any helpful keywords.

“Does Metelior usually not talk?”

“No, not that much. She chats quite a bit with friends. However, she’s exceptionally scared of Hotshan.”

“Does she fear men? After all, there are plenty of men who kidnap small nymphs.”

Paranoi, who’s slightly larger than Metelior, might be scared of a hulking brute like me, but Luna shook her head.

“She doesn’t seem to fear men. She seems to fear something else… She sometimes sees hallucinations or has nightmares.”

“That’s it.”

“But she often talks about her grandfather. She must have been taken care of by him.”

“Grandpa?”

That reminded me of something Metelior said earlier: “Grandpa said you should be honest.”

Maybe talking about her grandfather could make her release some of her memories.

So, I decided to try it that way.

“Metelior, didn’t you live with your grandfather?”

“…”

Nod, nod.

Though she couldn’t express herself verbally, the winter-born nymph nodded in response to sound. Fortunately, it showed that her heart wasn’t fully closed off.

“Do you think your grandfather was a good person?”

Nod.

Good person? That’s a relief.

If Metelior was so hesitant to talk that her grandfather was a bad person, there’d be no way to force her to tell the story.

In reality, Metelior began to talk nonstop about her grandfather, someone she evidently loved.

“Grandpa made all sorts of things. The sound of the hammer. It was noisy, but the warmth of the hearth was nice.”

Unlike when she was terrified before, her face now bore a nostalgic expression of yearning.

“I’m Metelior. I’m an orphan. But grandpa found me. I worked hard following grandpa. I know how to handle metal. This bridge—I made it! Grandpa even praised me.”

She even proudly showed me the butterfly-shaped accessory on her chest.

It was a crude sculpture made from twisted wire, but Metelior clearly took great pride in it.

“…”

However, that only lasted for a moment. Metelior soon began looking around again, trembling with fear.

“Grandpa was taken by the snow monster. A monster that came out of the white snow. But no one believed me. Metelior has never lied…”

At that moment, I realized what Metelior was truly afraid of.

She wasn’t scared of me; she was scared of the white fur I wore like a hood, mistaking it for the snow monster she described.

Snow monster, huh?

I wanted to ask more, but Metelior hid inside her blanket and wouldn’t speak anymore. She completely closed her mouth.

Even when Luna comforted her, and Paranoi or Doris, the other nymphs urged her to play, she wouldn’t come out from under the blanket and shivered.

This silence continued, not just for me, but until we arrived at Sodomora after several days of riding in a carriage.

“It’s been a while, Samaritan.”

Sodomora’s library.

As I entered the place full of musty and bookish scents, a grey-haired, thin man greeted me.

This man’s name is Eremantos.

He is the librarian of the central library located in Sodomora.

Though his sunken eyes and shadowed face make him look like a strict teacher, he doesn’t cause any trouble when he’s polite.

Rather, during the time I was a rookie adventurer, I learned a lot of common sense from this man. He’s the type who likes to teach.

The pen and notebook I received from him are still useful in various ways.

He said casually,

“You seem to be doing well with the construction of the temple. I heard that more than a thousand believers come to worship.”

“Yeah, about that.”

“A thousand. A good number to start something. So, why has such a busy and important figure come here?”

“Well, not much. I want to find some newspaper articles. I heard that this library collects all the newspapers, right?”

“Newspapers. Yes. That’s something done by my assistant, Aesop.”

“Then, I want to find newspapers from about five years ago. Can I ask where I can look?”

“Huh? Can you ask?”

Eremantos, rubbing his deeply sunken eye sockets.

Did I say something wrong? I don’t think I made any slips of the tongue.

As I reviewed my behavior, the man added,

“I’ve always considered you a curious gentleman since the days you were an adventurer. Your humility, despite being a savage, was surprising.”

“Is that so?”

“But now, as a god, you’re still surprising me. Your humble attitude is almost inappropriate. You should be more arrogant. That’s what I would have done.”

“…”

I paused to reflect.

If I started being disrespectful or acting high-and-mighty now that I’m a god, it would probably shock a lot of people I know.

“It’s just part of my personality.”

“But that’s not bad. I like humble people. Alright, since I have nothing better to do, I will help you find the article.”

With Eremantos’s help, I found an article about an incident that occurred about five years ago.

And in that article, the name of the winter-born nymph, Metelior, was written.

“Abduction Case at the Secluded Workshop in the Outskirts of Sodomora.”

“Missing Jepetto, a 30-year experienced ironworker who even received orders from the royal palace and the nobility.”

“Jepetto’s apprentice, nymph Metelior, testified that a snow monster took him. However, the possibility that Metelior was a suspect cannot be ruled out.”

An abduction case, huh.

This Jepetto must be the man Metelior called “grandpa.” Metelior was a witness to the disappearance case.

Indeed, I started to understand why the child was afraid of something and didn’t want to talk about her past.

If I had pressed her for answers, I might have caused her considerable psychological damage.

Shh…

At that moment, as Eremantos looked at the newspaper article, he added,

“I know this case well. The Shapiro Jepetto disappearance case.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now, perhaps no one talks about it anymore, but at that time, it was a big deal in Sodomora. A famous artisan disappearing, a nymph being the only witness, and a snow monster—it was the perfect story for people to spin conspiracies.”

Of course, that makes sense.

There are many rumor-mongers in Sodomora who live their lives indulging in gossip. People like Malco or Paranoi are of that sort, and this case seemed like prime bait for rumors.

“So, was the case solved?”

“No, it ended in no conclusive findings. However, occasionally, people still come looking for this article. That’s why I understood the story you mentioned before and realized it was this article.”

Shhh…

Eremantos opened the thin leather scroll and added a few words with his narrow eyes.

“Shapiro Jepetto was an excellent metalworker. Most of his creations were impeccable, but what made him most famous was his talent for making secret tools and hidden mechanisms.”

“Hidden mechanisms?”

“Like a double-locked treasure chest. That’s why many people believed Jepetto had hidden his fortune in a secret place, and the nymph would be the one knowing its location.”

Secret places and hidden mechanisms.

With those thrilling keywords, the image of the skeleton key came to mind.

The one who made the skeleton key must be this man, Shapiro Jepetto. That’s why his disciple and adopted granddaughter, Metelior, seemed familiar with the skeleton key.

Things started to add up.

“Mr. Eremantos, your help has been invaluable.”

“Then, next time, bring me a nice bottle of wine. They’re celebrating the Nectar Festival, where they drown themselves in alcohol. You can share with me, no harm in that, right?”

“Absolutely.”

And with that, I exited the library.

The place I went to next was the address of Shapiro Jepetto mentioned in the article.

Close to the South Gate, near the Deer Forest, there was a grand-looking cabin hidden under a pile of snow.

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