Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 141 (Part 1)

Rodin had never known the feeling of lacking money since the first time he sold a potion. After he began crafting and selling artifacts, money became nothing more than a common commodity that he could earn whenever he wanted.

Because he never lacked, he never coveted. Rodin even thought of himself as someone detached from material wealth.

“Goodness.”

That thought changed. The reason he had thought he was detached from wealth was that he had never seen overwhelming wealth before.

“My jaw won’t close.”

The assumption that what lay beyond the door at the end of the passageway was just underground proved to be wrong. On the other side of the door was another storage-like space.

This storage space was a treasure vault.

The room, measuring 10 meters by 10 meters with a height of 4 meters, had two walls stacked with gold ingots. Another wall was adorned with jewelry-studded ornaments, and the last wall displayed items that seemed to have been artifacts.

The reason for describing them in the past tense was that the magic within them had already dissipated, causing them to lose their functionality. Thus, that wall was more appropriately viewed as a collection of antiques.

“The explosion was overkill. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve had Karis break through it instead.”

Dozens of gold ingots had been damaged and shattered in the explosion. Though it was a negligible amount compared to the entirety of the gold present, the fact that gold ingots had been destroyed still stung his heart.

“This is driving me crazy.”

In truth, having just enough wealth to get by was sufficient. That was why Rodin had never been particularly interested in accumulating wealth until now. He could always earn more whenever he needed it.

Even though the room was filled with gold and treasures, obtaining them wouldn’t dramatically change his life. He was already wealthy enough to buy whatever he wanted and do whatever he wished.

And yet, he couldn’t take his eyes off the treasure. It was as if he were enchanted.

“Snap out of it.”

Shaking his head, he retraced his steps back through the passage. His companions were waiting for him with anxious faces.

“It’s safe. Come in.”

“Brother, what’s in there?”

“Big Brother Rodin, is it just some underground space?”

“See for yourself. You’ll know when you look.”

He led his companions to the treasure-filled room. As expected, Larry and Bianca froze in place, their mouths agape.

“It seems to be treasure the Kingdom of Rophelia gathered before it fell. They must have been planning to rebuild the kingdom someday.”

Even as Rodin explained, Larry and Bianca didn’t respond. They remained entranced by the treasure, their mouths still hanging open.

‘So that’s how I must have looked.’

For some reason, his face flushed. He felt so embarrassed that he wanted to hide somewhere.

‘It’s a relief no one saw me. Karis and Jena seem especially composed today.’

Karis and Jena, in stark contrast, were completely unaffected by the mound of treasure. They maintained their guard formation near Rodin, Larry, and Bianca as if nothing had changed.

“Hey, you two!”

“Brother, brother! What is this?”

“Wow! Big Brother Rodin, we’re rich now!”

“We were already rich. And we’ve been here too long. Let’s wrap this up and get out of here.”

Rodin took the lead, carefully storing the treasure into his spatial bracelet. Each time he touched an item, the shimmering objects disappeared.

Larry and Bianca gazed at him with regret-filled faces.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“I’ll give you plenty when you two become independent, so don’t feel too bad about it.”

Even as funding for their independence, the treasure here was excessive. It was so abundant that creating two fiefdoms the size of Richmond and giving them away wouldn’t even use up a quarter of the wealth.

“Oh, come on. When did I ever say I felt bad?”

“Bianca doesn’t like treasure. Bianca likes her brothers.”

“Go butter someone else up.”

“Oops. You caught me. Hehehe.”

Rodin busied himself, starting with the gold ingots.

Since the gold ingots were all of uniform size, they were easy to store in the spatial bracelet. Still, the sheer volume meant the task took quite a while.

Next, he gathered the jewelry-studded ornaments. These varied in size, so they ended up taking even more time.

The items that had once been artifacts were saved for last. Even though they had lost their functionality, they were too valuable to leave behind.

“Huh?”

As he packed away what used to be artifacts, one long box remained at the very end. It measured about 1 meter in length and 10 centimeters in both width and height.

“What’s wrong, Young Master?”

“This artifact… I can sense magic from it. It seems to still retain its function.”

“Is that so?”

“Let’s leave for now. We can inspect it more thoroughly later.”

While Rodin was busy packing the treasure into his spatial bracelet, Larry and Bianca also came to their senses. Embarrassed at how they had acted earlier, they avoided meeting Rodin’s gaze.

—

They exited the treasure vault, passed through the passageway, and returned to the original cliff from where they had started.

“Good thing.”

Luckily, the horses were still tied where they had left them. It seemed no monsters had shown up in the meantime.

“Are we heading back to the orc village?”

“No. Our destination is to the east, so we’ll take a route northeast.”

“Alright. Let’s go complete the mission.”

“Yeah. Let’s move out.”

Each mounted their horses, and they set off. Snowflakes were beginning to fall lightly from the sky.

—

It took about 8 hours to veer off the main path and reach the fissure where the Magic Stone was located. Returning to the main road took an even longer 9 hours.

“Do you think we’ll still see monsters that have eaten Magic Stones?”

“There might be a few left. But since we’ve eliminated the source, there won’t be many.”

Even if a few more appeared, Rodin decided not to concern himself with it.

After all, they had already defeated the giant minotaur and personally retrieved the Magic Stone from the fissure. As far as Rodin was concerned, they had done their duty to both the Lennox Kingdom and the world.

Hyung_Otaku2

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