Seth Chapter 70

“Why will I spend my time inspecting this blade? I have no reason to do so,” Kalrus said, staring right into Seth's eyes.

Rebecca shifted next to him nervously. “Master, I brought him here with hope that you would be able to help us out in understanding the origins of the blade. We suspect that it was used by Seven Seals, and it's important to know—”

“Again, I have no reason to do so, Rebecca. My interests aren't cults, but weapons and artifacts,” he huffed in disapproval, pointing at the weapons hanging around the room. “Are you going to give me this weapon if I inspect it for you? I do like the material it's made from.”

“No, I can't do that.” Seth shook his head.

The Dark Blade was his primary weapon and if he could, he would rather keep using it, at least until he found a better weapon. Unfortunately, the daggers he had sometimes looked at in the market didn't hold a candle to the quality of the Dark Blade.

Even with most of its properties unknown, its sharpness was second to none.

“Then, I have no reason to help you out, young assassin,” he said, waving his hand.

A silence followed as Rebecca glanced at Seth and Kalrus, her lips twitching, seemingly at a loss of words.

Seth could tell that Kalrus wasn't the type to listen to anyone, not even his own pupil that he trained. He was a man of his own whims.

Should I get him some nice sword? He wondered.

As he was thinking of a way, Kalrus swept his gaze at him, then at Rebecca before sighing. Turning back towards the stairs, he said, “Follow me, you two!”

Both of them walked behind him and they took the stairs to the upper floor. When they reached there, Seth noticed that it was even more spacious than the room they were in.

It seemed to be some sort of a research room with one side of a table filled with jars, cauldrons and glass vials with all sorts of potions on top of it. He even smelled what seemed like sulphur.

On the other side, chairs stood in front of a board with diagrams and structures made on it. A small bed was just behind it and it seemed like Kalrus rarely used it, going by the dark circles under his eyes.

As they walked, he had to be careful not to step onto any weapons on the way.

Swords, daggers, mage staffs seemed to be thrown around, but they didn't seem to be important.

On both sides of the wall, weapons were placed in containers, and looked far more valuable.

Seth stopped to look at one of them — A golden spear which was imbued with a dark energy. There were runes marked all over the shafts and it seemed to be used, going by the scratches on it.

Spear of Andr - Epic Grade

It was the first time he was seeing an Epic Grade weapon, but even without checking the grade, just the energy it was giving was enough for him to know that it was powerful.

He moved his hands towards it before he heard a guttural voice.

“Don't touch it!” Kalrus rasped.

“I wasn't going to.”

“No, you were. That's a cursed spear. It was used by some small prince in a war a few hundred years back. The guy killed a ton of elves and after the war, one of them who was a Hex Wizard cursed the prince and trapped his soul into the weapon. If you touch it, the weapon will try to occupy your mind. You might get off easy too with only a mild coma, but you will have a headache for a month.”

He said it casually, like it was saying a bedtime story to a five year old.

“W-what?” Seth asked nervously. “Why are you keeping a cursed spear here?”

“I got it in an auction and I'm studying it. Hex Wizards are rare and the curse on this is going on for centuries. It's stuff like this that really interests me. Anyway, keep walking.” He turned back around and tapped his cane on the floor.

Seth gave one last look towards the spear before following.

Kalrus stopped in front of a board and told them to take a seat.

Both of them perched on the chairs and Rebecca sat upright like a perfect student. Seth could guess that she was prepared for any attack that might come her way, going by how she kept an eye on Kalrus's cane.

“Master, why did you call us upstairs?” she asked.

“I'm getting to it,” he replied, looking at both of them. “Normally, I would have thrown you two out after giving you some tea and biscuits and telling you to bother some other weapon appraiser guys, but since Rebecca is one of my students, I'm going to make an exception.”

“Does that mean you are going to inspect the blade?” She beamed.

“I might,” he corrected her, his cane hitting the legs of the chair as she squealed. “It depends on whether you two do something for me in return.”

“What do you want us to do?”

Seth looked at him and Kalrus turned towards the board. It was one of the blank ones in the room and on it, he wrote down some words with a chalk.

It read — The Stormweaver ruins.

“Do you know of this place?”

Seth shook his head while Rebecca nodded her head and asked, “Isn’t it the ruins of the temple that's a few miles away from the city? I remember we went on an expedition to the outer parts back in my time in the academy. There's a lot of monsters around it since it's a high mana density area.”

“A temple?” Seth asked.

“Yes, it used to be a temple of a mage called the Stormweaver. Rather than a temple, it was more like a cult and a sanctuary for him where he used to do his research. It's a very old structure, almost 100 years old and the academy often does field expeditions there to hunt monsters.”

Rebecca said and Kalrus nodded his head.

“Yes, though, the task I have for you requires you to go inside the ruins,” he said and Seth couldn't help but notice Rebecca pale a bit. “Recently, a band of bandits ended up inside the ruins to see if they could steal anything. Most of them lost their lives obviously, but one of them made it out alive and after the authorities investigated him, it seemed like the bandits entered the ruins because one of them had a class of “Tomb Raider” and managed to find a hidden path inside the ruins that might lead to treasures and artifacts. It's not a widely known thing, but I have my connections.”

“I'm assuming your task is for us to go down there to get some artifacts for you.”

“Not just any.” He shook his head, turning back towards the board. “I'm looking for something specific.”

Kalrus picked up the chalk and drew an image of a staff with the top of it in the design of a cloud. Patterns of lightning went around the shaft. It was a crude drawing with rough edges, but it did the job of painting a picture in his mind.

“It’s called a Weather Staff. Might look better than this in reality, but you get the image,” he said, turning back. “It used to be the Stormweaver main weapon and is known to be able to change the weather. Quite, neat, right?”

“I know about it,” Rebecca muttered. “It's rumoured to be able to manipulate an entire country's weather.”

“Yes, and if you bring it back to me, I can study it. In exchange, I will be happy to help you out.”

Seth fell into thoughts. Going by how Rebecca had reacted to entering the ruins and it being the tomb of a powerful mage made him sceptical of whether he should take the risk.

If the Stormweaver was powerful enough to manipulate the entire country's weather, the place would be filled with all sorts of traps and monsters. It won't be easy to deal with them.

Things might have been different if Noah was with them. He frowned, thinking back to him and looked at Kalrus.

“Do you have a map of the ruins?” He asked.

“I do. It won't have the location of the Weather Staff, but you will find the general area and pathways in the ruins. There's a lot of rooms there, some empty and filled with traps.”

“It's known as the grave of adventurers, even worse than dungeons,” Rebecca said, shivering next to him, looking at the staff on the board. “Academy won't let anyone venture inside due to traps and monsters. Why are you sending me to a place like that, master?”

“Because I need something.” He shrugged his shoulders. “You said you became an adventurer, so you must have been mid Rank 3 now, right?”

“It still doesn't mean you would try to send me to a dangerous place,” she argued.

“I'm not forcing you. It's your decision.”

Kalrus looked at Rebecca.

Seth had misgivings about the whole thing. He had just gotten out of the palms of one of the Sages of Seven Seals, and had even lost connection with Noah, so was heading into ruins with potential life threatening dangers really something he wanted? He didn't know.

Then again. He needed to get the Dark Blade inspected and ask Kalrus more about what he might know about his origins.

The professor looked knowledgeable and Rebecca had faith in him? Maybe he should take it as another adventure for him.

“Do you have a way to bypass the dangers in the ruins? Going by what you said, the monsters and traps would be deadly,” he asked as Kalrus shifted his eyes to him.

“No, but you don't have to fight monsters. You are an assassin and Rebecca knows a thing or two about being quiet. I just need my staff. I don't need the remains of any monsters. I will give you information about what type of monsters you might see and a general map. You look capable enough to handle the rest.”

“Okay,” he said, then looked at Rebecca. “What do you say? I think we should head into the ruins. We can simply run back up if there's a deadly monster we can't deal with.”

“Is it really necessary?”

“Do you have any other way of getting your master to help us out?”

Rebecca slowly shook her head and sighed, “Okay, let's go.”

***

A pair of eyes watched Seth and Rebecca leave the academy grounds, talking among themselves. It was a hooded figure standing on one of the towers, keeping an eye on their movements.

The figure knew where they were moving towards — The Stormweaver's ruins.

The place was deadly, filled with traps and monsters that were too hard to handle for the ordinary adventurers, but maybe, Seth and Rebecca would give a better fight.

After all, they weren't ordinary.

“The vessel of The Abyssal One is strong, but if he survives the monsters, he would fall to me.”

The figure said, tapping a cane on the floor as the people he watched took Striders to get to the main plaza.

The ruins were a few hours away from here, and members of the Seven Seals would already be waiting for them. To finally capture the vessel and call for the being they serve.

“The world will fall to the Great One,” the figure said, turning back, using the cane to walk swiftly. “I will not let you get away, Seth. You will be mine.”

***

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