Hikari curiously clung to my shoulder, and I could feel the slight weight of her chin resting on it, along with her soft breath: "It looks like the previous owner of this place suddenly left, and didn't even have time to tidy up?"
I gently shook my head: "Maybe."
That's what they say, but that's certainly not the real conclusion.
Which true alchemist would dare to leave the altar while the experiment is still in progress, even afterward keeping the doors tightly closed, allowing the room to remain filled with toxic fumes?
He must have been murdered. He was so engrossed in his experiment that he was killed by the person closest to him, leaving no trace of his remains.
The missing gaps on the surrounding bookshelves and the faint dark red marks on the table might corroborate my conjecture.
But after so much time has passed, we, as those who came after him, cannot know clearly why he was truly murdered.
I did not tell Hikari this.
This is a conjecture that is no longer relevant to us, whether we know it or not.
However... perhaps today's trip wasn't entirely fruitless.
I walked quickly to a bookshelf facing the door and tried to move one of the books. Soon, accompanied by a noisy mechanical sound, the bookshelf on the left side suddenly opened outward, revealing a hidden box.
There were no further mechanisms or blockades; it was just a wall that, at first glance, was almost indistinguishable from the surrounding walls. But once opened, it revealed a coat of arms engraved with a fiery red flying bird pattern.
I took it out and carefully examined its details and the still abundant yet concealed magical fluctuations, and couldn't help but smile.
Without a doubt, this is the most valuable item in this room.
Perhaps, the death of the previous owner who built this cave was partly due to this exquisitely designed herald.
This is undoubtedly a tragedy that, once the reasons are understood, is both laughable and lamentable.
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