The girl went to the far wall and pressed the formation. There was the familiar squeak of the sliding pa.s.sage.«No creativity.» – The guy muttered under his breath. He hoped that in the depths he"d find an even more luxurious treasury with high-ranking unique bodies. He would have found this pa.s.sage, anyway. He had plans to ask Juno about all the secrets of her family. He wouldn"t have missed this place.
Juno looked at him with disdain and proudly walked inside.
This time, there were no lights at the sides of the aisle, they were plunging into the darkness of obscurity. Kyon could see very well in the dark, but Juno pulled a flashlight out of the ring.
With each step, the damp cold tunnel got scarier. Plain spooky.
After about three hundred meters, the couple approached the dark steps. The spiral staircase descended deep down, there was no end to it.
«Master, are you scared?» – Juno asked slyly, looking at the young man.
«I am not. But you should be scared to go with me into a deep dark place.» – Kyon grinned ominously.
«No, no… That"s not what I meant.» - She shook her head with a smile.
«Then what is it?»
«You tremble like a beaten weak-kneed dog.» – The girl mocked him and went carelessly downstairs.
Kyon hastened his step, grabbed her by the hand and gave her a slap with the back of his hand.
«The fact that I made you my student does not mean that I will easily forgive your insolence. Wind your neck in, you little piece of trash.»
Juno looked sullenly at the guy, rubbing her cheek, red after the blow.
«I am sorry… Master.» – The slave girl could barely squeeze the words out.
Kyon moved on. He didn"t feel until now that he was cold and really trembling. But how did she dare she take his trembling for cowardice? How stupid of her! It was time for his body to enter the heating mode. He needed to increase the number of mitochondria in his body.
Juno took out her jacket and wrapped herself in it. That was very thoughtful.
The couple went about a half a kilometer down the spiral staircase. The way was not easy, both of them were out of breath. And the way back was going to be even harder.
The stairs finally ended. From the last steps, they could see the pa.s.sage into the hall, where a strange bluish glow was s.h.i.+mmering. When Kyon entered the hall, he was astonished: the huge cave was strewn with numerous light crystals of azure color. There were as many of them as the stars in the sky, which impressed to the core. It was a beautiful sight.
A pleasant soft light fell on a matte black castle of 20 meters high and fifty meters wide. It was built from some unusual material. The mysterious castle suggested an idea that many secrets were hidden inside. It looked intact, but its surface was kind of uneven, b.u.mpy.
Kyon had been admiring it, fascinated, for a while until he felt a jab in the back and heard a sarcastic voice:
«Lift your jaw off the floor, Master.»
Kyon could hardly suppress an overwhelming desire to slap her one more time. He just went on.
«The Stones can"t have built it... Tell me everything you know about it.»
Juno approached the locked entrance. It was an almost perfectly smooth wall, only a little cut-out slit denoting a two-by-three-meter rectangular outline indicated that the monolithic slab was actually the entrance. There were no windows, no balconies, or ventilation to be seen.
The girl ran her hand over the doorway and began her story:
«This ancient castle was most likely built by great creatures of the past era. My ancestors discovered it many hundreds of years ago and decided to reveal its secrets. That"s why they built their estate here. The information about its existence was pa.s.sed from one patriarch to another. If the strangers knew about it, our entire estate would be turned upside down. Something valuable must be stored inside. But you need a special formation to enter. Or maybe, you need to perform some special action or meet the conditions... No one knows that. My ancestors tried to get inside in every possible way. My father couldn"t chip off even the smallest piece, and he had unparalleled strength.» - She looked at the guy with a tired look and yawned widely, covering her mouth with hand.
«I hope you are satisfied with the secret that I promised?»
Kyon grunted thoughtfully, feeling the walls of the castle. They were neither warm nor cold.
When Juno got no answer she put her arms around herself to warm up a little. Apparently, her jacket did not help. Now she had to wait till her servant lost all interest in the castle. She wanted to believe that this time he would not dare to carry her to her room in his arms.
The guy"s upgraded eyes carefully studied the closed pa.s.sage. He used different spectra of electromagnetic waves reception, as well as night vision. He studied every slight difference in shades, breathed to the surface, leaving condensation. He even applied the eye microscope.
«Master, it"s getting late. I am sleepy, and it"s cold in here. I"m sure you feel the same. Let"s go back.» - The girl asked plaintively, shuddering now and then. «I would also be grateful if you purified my key for taking you here.» - She added but this time, her voice sounded demanding.
But Kyon did not pay attention to her. His eye microscope noticed the smallest grooves on the surface of the wall. They made up a pattern... No, it was not a pattern. It was number zero, very tiny, like a tip of a flea leg. Here"s another one... The number one... Three... A fraction…
The guy raised his eyebrows in surprise. It turned out that the whole wall was dotted with mathematical symbols. He was stunned by the long equation in advanced mathematics cut out there. As if only a worthy person could enter there, the one could solve math problems. He was caught up in the excitement. The genius, recognized back home, enthusiastically tackled the task.
Half an hour later, Juno was s.h.i.+vering with cold. She shouldn"t have jumped to conclusions that the servant would freeze first. He wasn"t trembling at all!
The girl growled in displeasure:
«Master, you are wasting your time. My ancestors had tried to enter this d.a.m.ned castle thousands of times, but they didn"t get even close! Do you really think you might stand a chance?»
There was no response.
«What are you hoping for?! Why don"t you just return to your room and go to bed?»
She got nothing again.
«I"m not going to freeze here just because you"re pigheaded! Are you coming with me or not?!» – The girl could not stand it anymore. She wished she had known the idiot would get so interested in the boring castle.
«Stay here, then. I am going to bed.» – Juno stuck her tongue out in his back and briskly went out. As she was approaching the steps, she once again glanced at the servant. He didn"t look cold at all...
Kyon had just solved the equation and got the number "42".
«…»
Following the instinct of the experienced gamer, Kyon put his hand to the circle that was invisible to the ordinary eyes. It was the only figure that had nothing to do with the equation. He infused pour energy into it with the same interval 42 times in a row.
Five seconds later, he heard a m.u.f.fled rattle. The gate to the castle parted to the sides, opening the pa.s.sage inside.
Kyon laughed loudly. He loved playing The Tombs of Egyptian Emperors. Now the task was way easier than in that game but no less interesting!
Juno had already climbed one step when she heard an incomprehensible rattle. She darted back at once and stood dumbfounded with shock.
«Ho-o-o-ow?!»
The gates to the sealed ancient castle were opened. Her ancestors had been racking their brains for hundreds of years how to get inside, and then her servant came and set it all motion?! It was impossible!
«Well, well. I"ll give you that one. My inner geek is pleased.» – Kyon muttered cheerfully and stepped into the hall. His experience was telling him that in any place where strangers were not expected, he should be cautious. He carefully studied the whole area, without losing vigilance.
The whole hall was a s.p.a.cious empty room with a lone staircase in the center leading to the second floor.
With his modified vision, Kyon noticed a circle drawn on the floor, covered with a thick layer of dust.
Juno cautiously stuck in her adorable little head, loudly exclaiming at the same time:
«Мamma… Mamma mia! Ho-o-o-ow?! Where did you get so lucky?!»
«Baby, if it came down only to luck, your family would have done it already. Well, or rather not. Get the wind here. Let"s see what"s under this carpet of dust.»
Juno looked at the guy in disbelief. He used to surprise her with surviving after her beatings, managing to block almost all of her attacks. Then she was shocked by the fact that he enslaved her. Most recently, she was flabbergasted when she found out he could purify the keys. And now he has opened the cursed castle where everyone stopped trying to enter!
«You can"t be human.» – She stepped away so that the monster would not gobble up her.
«Nom! Nom!» – Kyon clacked his teeth ominously.
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The girl nearly jumped out of her skin and ran behind the wall, timidly peeking around the corner like a startled little animal that had wandered into the lair of predators.
The guy could not help laughing at such a funny reaction from the arrogant lady.
«Silly but lovely creature, sweep away all the dust. Don"t make me repeat.» – He repeated his order in a stern voice.
Juno swallowed before she walked warily into the hall. Her heart pounded in her chest with antic.i.p.ation and excitement. If there are any valuable objects inside, her family will rise to a new level, and she will... Right, she is just a slave. This parasite is going to claim everything that should belong to her by right.
*whoosh*
A gust of wind blew all the dust out of the door.
A large circle appeared on the floor - a trigram. A beautiful meandering pattern was symmetrically drawn in six sections, creating a bewitching mesmerizing sight.
«Hm ... This teleportation trigram seems to be of high rank. I have never seen such patterns in books.» – Kyon muttered thoughtfully under his breath.
However, Juno was interested in something else.
«How did you open it? Tell me, please! My father had struggled for a long time to do it, all in vain but you did it! How?»
Kyon sighed wearily in response. «I am not telling you.»
Juno stamped her foot. «You are the worst... person... You can"t do this! I"ll die of curiosity!»
«Okay.» – The young man nodded indifferently and looked around the hall once more. There was absolutely nothing interesting except the trigram. Some strange aura was coming from the second floor but downstairs there was an unremarkable hallway.
Juno bared her teeth in a terrible desire to bite the servant to death.
Kyon took the flashlight from the grouchy girl and carefully climbed the steps. He knew that there existed various invisible barriers-traps but strongly doubted that after the riddle at the entrance, any more tests awaited him. In any case, his curiosity easily overpowered caution.
He saw a hall of exactly the same size, in the same style as the first one. There were no windows or doors, either. Not even a trigram this time. Instead, there was a dark stone coffin dotted with ornate patterns. A mysterious, gloomy, suspicious coffin.
«A sarcophagus!» – Juno exclaimed from behind. – «It"s no castle but a tomb! Something valuable must be in the sarcophagus! The old traditions say the one who rests in peace takes with them the most valuable things. The nephrites with legacy are put in their sarcophagus!»
Kyon knew the tombs in this world were of extraordinary value. If the information about one of them leaked, it would bring all the empires around in search of personal gain. It"s good that the Stone family keeps their secrets securely. Thanks to that, he, like an honorable man, will skim all the cream off the top for them so that they no longer suffer from unraveling the secrets of the ancient castle.