TL: Yuki
It was a small old man with his face with a beard and white hairs that came out silently from the shadow of the door that was opened.
I think that what made him look small is because of his bent waist. He was relying on a long cane when he was standing.
There was also a girl who was as tall as we were but was a little smaller than the grandpa.
From the girl, he received a basket, then checked the contents and then nodded in satisfaction with what he confirmed.
「Ohoh, well done. Thank you. Recently, my legs have become quite fragile. I am really having a hard time moving around so your a.s.sistance really helped」
「Don"t mind it grandpa. I will do anything that I could, if I could be of help the Wise Man Hasuto! 」
「Yeah, yeah. In about five years more, you should be thinking of taking care of something else! Kakaka! 」
His mouth covered in beard opened wide as he loudly laughed. I understood that the grandpa was the wiseman Hasuto, but I now that I think about it, that girl resembles Tolppo. She is currently wearing a robe covering her and the triangular hat so I could hardly see the face, but that voice definitely resembled Tolppo. But when I think about the current situation, I couldn"t help but think that she was someone else.
「Jii-chan, I"ve brought them! 」
Lars who called out to them introduced us to the grandpa. It seems like they were not able to notice us until now, then Hasuto-san looked towards us and brushed his thick beard as he checks the people that caught his sight.
The one with a more interesting reaction was the girl. As soon as she looked at us, her face turned red, and then she panicked a bit and covered her face with her scarf and hat.
Un, that"s definitely the Tolppo that I"ve met before.
We didn"t really hear about what this blushing girl have been doing since that time.
「Ryu, Ryua and Roel…… wh, why did you come here……」
「To, Tolppo, right? It has been a long time」
「Nn, long time no see……」
The more she talks the more silent she becomes. Well, she was originally a shy girl since the time we"ve met, but it seems like she was much shier bashful than before.
Now, she can"t even look straight at us.
◆ Hasuto"s House ◆
The house was surrounded by white walls with a fireplace, a small kitchen and a door heading to a bathroom and toilet.
There was a small shelf with many things that I didn"t know and some animal figures placed inside it. There was also a really large bookshelf which was the first thing that drew our attention.
The bookshelf was filled with books without any gap inside it and reaches up towards the ceiling.
I can"t read, and because I can"t read I don"t really know the value of books. When I look at my side, Roel was happily reading the t.i.tles of books, and it seems like she won"t stop even if I call out to her.
I did try reading a book before, but it only took me 10 seconds to become drowsy. That might become convenient if I"m having trouble going to sleep.
「Now, now, everyone, properly relax」
On a thick wooden table, herbal tea and juice was prepared.
I"m not really a fan of herbal tea, so preparing the fruit juice was really a heaven-sent.
「Well then, first of all, congratulations on pa.s.sing the Fire Rain Test」
「Eh, was grandpa the one who set that up? 」
「I was only a bit worried, beside, if they can"t pa.s.s such a simple test, then there"s no way for them to be able to help in beating the golems 」
I was intending to do so, but I feel kind of disappointed after hearing what the grandpa said. Anyway, it was really dangerous for Roel to do that. If anything did happen to her at that time, I would have never forgiven this grandpa.
Wise Man Hasuto, he was much more of a scary person than I have expected.
「I think that you"ve already known, but I"ll introduce myself again. I am the Wise Man Hasuto. By the way, I"ve heard of both Roel and Ryuua from my granddaughter Tolppo」
「Granddaughter? Tolppo……」
When I look at Tolppo, all she did was look down. Yup, it"s really the Tolppo that I have known.
「My cute granddaughter sure had a lot of strange acquaintances.
At first, I was concerned about her not being able to improve herself, so I sent her out on a journey to train, and it seems like that decision was the right choice. I"m happy to see that my granddaughter found friends that she could happily talk about」
「jii-chan, the task you have given me didn"t really help with my training.
While being a disciple, I was not able to receive Jii-chan"s teachings」
「But I"m already too old for that, you know」
「Don"t run away from it」
Tolppo was the Wise Man"s grandchild it seems, is Lars also a disciple.
If it"s like that, Tolppo should have just told us about it, well, that"s only me who was thinking about it that way though.
「Well, as I was listening to the stories of my grandchild. I didn"t was really surprised for something like the Cave of Abbyss coming out of her stories」
「Jii-chan, do you know something about the Cave of Abyss?!」
「Due to my old age, I probably won"t be able to recall everything. Do you still want to know? 」
「I want to know! And also, if know about a one winged demon」
「Ryuchan, calm down for a bit……」
I who was getting a little too excited and was about to climb the table was held down by Roel-chan.
Tolppo also cleaned up the juice that was spilled from my sudden outburst. Thank you for that, but all of them was a little too quiet that it made me feel scared for a bit.
「You were able to dive inside the Cave of Abyss」
「Un, there was also someone called Vanda Lucia that I defeated」
「Hou……?
There was supposed to be a strong barrier in that place, and it was unlikely for normal people to be able to enter that place……。
But first of all, where did you learn about the Cave of Abyss, that place should have been hidden from the public for a long time now」
Cave of Abyss. That"s right.
For some reason, I know about that place.
There wasn"t anything written on the entrance of that place, and in the first place, I don"t even know how to read or write. I wonder how I was able to know the name of that place.
「Well then, for the time being, let"s talk about the things that I know about that cave.
The Cave of Abyss is a place where a certain monster was sealed when the world was at its dark ages.
There was also a time where that being has ruled over the world.
Well, during that time, the world was about to reach its end. That being was sealed by the all heroes of that era. The seal of that place have been continued to be maintained by succeeding generations in order to keep the monsters of that place from leaving it.
And also, the final boss of that cave is the sealed being Vanda Lucia」
「So that means, the dogs, giant golems and many other formidable monsters were also sealed in that place?」
「That"s how it"s supposed to be……」
Hasuto-san then stood up and headed towards the bookshelf to find something. Because the target book seems to be in the ceiling area, he was currently using a ladder to reach it.
「These are monsters of the old that was supposedly forgotten by most of the normal people nowadays.
Most of these were only transmitted as a fairy tale or way to soothe a child in their sleep. Look here」
What was handed to me was a thick picture book. It was a little different, but the demons drawn in it certainly resembled the ones that I have been fighting inside the cave.
Let"s see, Giga Atlas, h.e.l.l Cerberus, Jormungand.
Is that dog with four head supposed to be h.e.l.l Cerberus?
The names were read by Roel-chan because the letters on the writings were really difficult for me to read.
h.e.l.l Cerberus, a creature who once burned down an entire continent on its own and was deemed as the incarnation of h.e.l.l.
Giga Atlas, A huge being the crushed an entire country by stepping on it.
Jormungand is a giant serpent that could swallow everything leaving nothing behind its path.
And finally the King Vanda Lucia is someone who brought the world into fear and despair ruling over all the lands.
Most of the demons here were certainly monsters that I have defeated inside that cave. I can"t really remember how I was able to defeat them. But all of those creatures were only written here as sealed by heroes.
「Now that I think about it, I was also reading this to Tolppo when she was young. I have totally forgotten about it though」
「So that"s why I felt like I"ve heard of it somewhere……」
Tolppo seems to also be convinced bout it.
And now that I"ve known about it, I now understand that those demons that I have defeated were ridiculously strong creatures.
A dungeon with 100 floors underground, I only continued fighting and fighting without even recognizing how much time has pa.s.sed by.
It was certainly a very formidable place, and there were many times where I barely survived death. But I was able to conquer it.
I can have confidence and pride that I was able to conquer it, but I don"t really understand such things.
「Hasuto-sa…no, Hasuto-sama. We have also fought about a group of demons calling themselves as the New Demon King Army.
Those people also attacked the kingdom of Avanguard. Do you know anything about them? 」
When Roel who was listening to our conversations from before asked, Hasuto-Jii-san lifted his face to look at her.
What was showed first is an expressionless face, but it gradually turned into a face of surprise.