Chapter 20 – Libra is blocking the road and can’t pass

Chapter link: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n2211cx/21/ (2015/10/29)

Translation: twomorefreethoughts / TpstT (2018/11/23) + Mabo

Editor: Keii (2020/04/27)

Translation link: https://twomorefreethoughts.wordpress.com/awlba-c020/

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Notice 1: Special thanks to Mabo @maboandgibo.wordpress.com for providing his draft translation for Chapter 19 and 20. I was able to compare and match with the way he wrote it and it really saved me time. Please give him support at RTD.moe

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(Author Note)

 

** I inserted a character introduction on the 20^th chapter.

** I changed the colour of Libra’s hair

\If you seek the treasure that lies beyond this point, then you shall find it only after defeating me/

 

(Author Note End)

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Several men were advancing through a road paved with dark stone.

In their hands were torches. On their waists were swords.

The men following at the back of the group held staves or bows and arrows. Their way of movement, which had not a single disorderly or unrestful step, suggested that these men were a group of veteran warriors who had survived through countless hardships.

Notwithstanding, on the faces of these strong and sturdy men were a fatigue and weariness that could not be hidden.

Their armour was carved with numerous battle scars, and if you looked closely, the man walking in the middle who appeared to be a wizard was missing one of his arms.

Even just getting here was hell in itself.

In the past, Ruphas Mafahl had mass produced golems – which to the current world seemed like a group of individually invincible Sword Saints – in preparation for the final battle. – These mass-produced was roaming around them, and together, with many, many traps that had been laid down, they were all aiming to attack those men.

Now, those who had survived up until this point numbered a mere 10 men, from the original large platoon of 50 personnel.

These were the grounds that held the treasures of the Supreme Ruler, a place said to hold her sleeping soul – [The Black-Winged Royal Tomb].

Seeking the treasures sleeping within these grounds, at times, hunters would dive in, at other times, tomb raiders would wander in, and at occasions, even warriors like these men seeking salvation for the humanoids were dispatched in.

But this place was heartless, a place equivalent to hell.

Every intruder was mercilessly killed, and their lives plucked away.

 

Even a single golem is a threat. If we decide to fight head-on, we will be killed in no time.

As such, we avoided fights, went around the traps, and even as we lost our comrades, we pushed on and finally reached the top floor.

 

“Just a little bit more…. We’ll reach the top in just a little bit!”

“Yeah, we can’t let everyone’s sacrifice be in vain…. We’ll definitely bring home the weapons from here.”

 

In terms of actual ability, these men were by no means qualified to challenge this tomb.

No, that’s not right. Currently, in this world, the only ones with enough ability to challenge this tomb were the Seven Heroes.

Even with that, the only reason they managed to reach here is due to the hope they have for the humanoids’ victory.

Because they’re sincerely hoping to end the darkness of this world from the bottom of their heart, no matter the sacrifice they’re required to give.

Everything was for their children who would live on to become the next generation.

For their beloved family.

The conviction of these ten men transcended beyond their fear of death, and they completely threw away even their sense of self-preservation just to take another step forward.

But it was unsympathetic, heartless.

Something you could not avoid no matter what, the biggest obstacle of them all, that thing, was what awaited them on the top floor.

 

“ – Intruders confirmed ….. Warning … I recommend leaving this place within 10 seconds. If you do not oBey this warning, or shOw hostile behaviour, I wiLILI – UsSeE F—OoRrrCCe AnD, eliminate you.”

 

The one who guarded the Ruler’s treasure on the top floor, that, is one of the pillars of 12 Heavenly Stars.

The strongest golem in existence, a gatekeeper renowned for being heartless: Libra of [The Scales].

Its outer appearance was a lovely young girl.

She wore an Alice band atop the light brown hair which reached her shoulders. Her tattered maid dress had already deteriorated from the passage of time.

However, the girl who wore them still retained her youthful appearance as if she did not feel that very passage of time. Furthermore, her eyes were very much like light bulbs, they contained no emotion.

The ripped sleeves exposed her arms as if to clearly show that she was inanimate, and the arm themselves had fine cracks within them.

Upon seeing and confirming from that appearance, the men prepared themselves to engage at once.

 

“This is… Libra of the Scales!”

“Please wait, a member of the 12 Heavenly Stars! We didn’t come here to fight! Please listen to what we have to say!”

“Commencing countdown… 10… 9… 8…”

“Please, please listen to us! Right now, the humanoids are being cornered by the demon race! To escape this predicament, we really had no other choice but to come here!”

“7… 6… 5…”

“For the sake of the humanoids! We absolutely need the Black Wing’s inheritance!”

“4… –. Countdown discontinued. Invaders’ intentions ascertained… Determined as foreign enemies after the MAsTeR’s possessions. The conditions for elimination have been met…”

“!!”

 

The countdown used for the purpose of warning people had stopped, however, the group of men soon realised it did not by any means equate to disengagement from battle.

The stopping of the countdown only meant that it had deemed it unnecessary to continue.

The men had accidentally fulfilled her conditions for elimination!

 

“Wai….”

“Eliminating – Program * Selection. Brachium activated!”

 

Everything was stained with white.

This was what the men saw, serving as the very last scene of their lives.

With this as their end – the men left this world, erased without being able to leave even a single speck of dust behind.

 

*

 

After approximately 2 days of traveling with the camping car.

We finally arrived at “my tomb”, our next destination.

 

To be paying a visit to my own tomb, it truly is a “surreal” experience.

Or rather, I’m not even buried there, so it’s not even really a tomb, is it?

If there’s anyone crying in front of the tomb, I’ll be really tempted to sing “I’m not in there”.

 

“For now, this should be close enough. Tanaka is quite conspicuous after all, so let’s just leave it in this forest.

“Okaayyy.”

“Understood.”

“YES, BOSS.”[1]

 

I casually ordered Tanaka who, for some reason, answered in English, to stop and wait in the forest.

If I didn’t make such an order, this car would automatically decide to follow on its own accord.

Taking Dina and Aries, we got out of the vehicle and headed towards the location of the so-called tomb.

Even though I said “head towards”, we could actually already see it right in front of our eyes. It was a gigantic pyramid.

Although I had been informed by Megrez that it was big, it really was unnecessarily big.

Even if you said that there was alchemy involved, to just build something of that size and have it continue standing to this day was quite amazing.

 

If it’s just comparing unreasonableness or the excessiveness, Mafahl Tower doesn’t lose out against it, but the only person who would be able to make something this ridiculous was Mizar.

… Oh, if I think about it properly, both buildings are mine. Not that I could recall anything about this tomb.

 

“When all is said and done… Why the hell is there a town surrounding my tomb?”

“Err…. Well, it’s something like a tourist industry…… It started with the hunters and adventurers who wanted to raid this tomb, but soon, merchants saw their chance to profit off of that and started gathering in the vicinity. Then, apparently, people just started gradually trickling in, and eventually, over time, before people realised, it had turned into something like a town.”

“….. So my tomb essentially turned into something like a tourist attraction.”

“It literally is a ‘tourist attraction’. It’s normal for the tomb of a world famous person to become a tourist attraction for later generations, you know.”

In response to Dina’s explanation, I muttered out “Ahh” quite helplessly.

Now that I’ve been told that, even back in the world I used to be in, pyramids had turned into tourist attractions, and as such, it wasn’t all that surprising.

 

Even though I’m still here, for my tomb to exist and have been turned into a tourist spot…

You know, how do I put it…. It’s kinda weird and disturbing, isn’t it?

 

“Ruphas-sama, please leave it to me!”

“Hm?”

 

As I was thinking such a thing, for some reason, Aries enthusiastically pounded his chest with a vigorous facial expression.

Unfortunately, because of how he looked, he looked more like a young maiden doing her best than a resolved man.

 

“I’ll scatter these fools away! It’s outrageous that they’re gathering to raid Ruphas-sama’s tomb!”

 

After saying that, Aries’s entire body became enveloped in flames.

 

Oi, stop it, you idiot. Are you planning to turn into a giant sheep here!?

The outrageous one is you, you dumb sheep!

 

“Hold it Aries. You don’t have to make an unnecessary disturbance.”

“B, But….”

“There’s no ‘but’. To begin with, since I’m still here, that means it’s not even my tomb or anything. I’m sorry for the people who built it for me, but… that’s a structure that’s unrelated to me. I don’t think anything of it even if such a place is raided.”

 

To prevent turmoil from happening, I tried to calm down Aries first.

That was dangerous… Despite how he looks, when I’m involved, he can become quite explosive very easily.

Perhaps all of the 12 Heavenly Stars were people like this?

It’s great that they’re being loyal and all, but this is becoming a bit of a headache.

 

“So, anyways…. What now, Dina? Are we going to pretend to be travelling merchants like before in order to sneak in?”

“Of course. This place is a famous tourist destination, so there’s absolutely no issue with some travelling merchants wandering in. Anyways, please leave all the negotiations to this Dina.”

 

Indeed, this advisor was as reliable as ever.

Considering there had been no problems leaving matters up to Dina till now, I think I’ll let Dina handle things this time as well.

Or more like, if Dina wasn’t here, wouldn’t I have been really stumped?

After entering the town, the first thing I laid my eyes on was a bunch of tents deployed to act as temporary shelters.

Those most likely belonged to merchants or travelling adventurers.

On the other hand, I also saw wooden houses, which I would say were for those people that had settled down to give their all to conquer or support the raiders of the tomb.

I also saw inns and restaurants, creating a liveliness that was difficult to believe existed in such close vicinity to a tomb.

 

“Well then, I’m going to go look for the person in charge to get permission to trade. Ruphas-sama and co should… hmm, that inn over there has a nice-looking atmosphere. Would you be able to get a room at that inn? I’ll also head there once I finish the negotiations.”

 

After saying that, Dina dashed away without waiting for my reply.

She truly has an “aggressive” personality.

Well, anyways, if she’s that confident, there shouldn’t be any problems.

 

“Haa-, Dina’s quite amazing.”

“Indeed, she’s useful to a surprising degree. I wonder why she was so stealthy 200 years ago.”

 

Although it’s a bit late for it, I wondered what Dina’s race was.

She didn’t have elven ears so she didn’t seem to be an elf, nor did she possess wings, so she couldn’t be a Flugel. She also didn’t have fangs, so she couldn’t be a vampire.

But there’s no such thing as a human, dwarf, hobbit or beastkin who could remain youthful after 200 years.

From the colour of her skin, she didn’t seem to be part of the demon race either.

Then again, just like how I’m currently hiding my wings, she could have easily falsified her features using many different methods, so I couldn’t exactly determine her race from her looks alone.

The most likely possibility right now was that she was an elf hiding her ears.

If she was a flugel, she should have been disgusted by my wings, and if she was a vampire, she wouldn’t have been able to move around in daylight.

And if that was the case, another question arose as to why she was concealing her features in the first place.

—…… oh well, who cares.

Whatever race she might be, it didn’t change the fact that she’d been helping me out.

I guess this is what you would call an unjustified suspicion or distrust.

 

“Let’s go to the inn that Dina suggested for now. It’ll be nice if there are some vacant rooms.”

 

Ideally, it’d be nice if there were 3 vacant rooms.

Firstly, since I’m mentally male, I couldn’t be in the same room as Dina.

Having said that, since I’m physically female, I couldn’t be in the same room as Aries either.

Aries and Dina are also different genders, thus it was impossible for them to be in the same room.

As such, having 3 vacant rooms was ideal.

I opened the door to the inn as I was thinking as such and entered inside.

Inside, there were 4 men, seemingly adventurers, and an innkeeper who was talking to them.

After seeing me and Aries, as his body was an arrow shot from a bow, the innkeeper jumped over the counter and ran over to us.

 

“Ohh, welcome, ladies, welcome! I’m honored that a bombshell-san like you came. If it’s a room you want, it’s available and it’s cheap!”

“Eh? Hey, uncle-san. We just made a room reservation….”

“Later, okay?”

 

It looks like this innkeeper was true to his desires.

In a sense, how man-like of him to prioritise us whilst ignoring his honest prior customers.

Hmm, this was what you would call, “Beauty always has an advantage”.

Now that I had experienced it myself, it brought about quite a creepy feeling.

 

“I see, I’m thankful that it’s cheap. Mr Innkeeper, do you have 3 vacant rooms?”

“3 rooms… It looks like there are only two of you though?”

“There’ll be another person that’s coming later.”

“I see…. Of course, they’re vacant and available!”

 

Oh, there’s vacant rooms. How nice.

I could only think that for a brief moment before the four adventurers angrily cried out, “HEY!”

 

“Oi, uncle! Didn’t you just say that there were only 3 empty rooms!

If you lend the lady 3 rooms, then what are you going to do about us!?”

“It’s ladies first. Just give up.”

“Ya bastard!”

“Between four filthy men who are first class at paying late and a beauty, anyone would choose the latter, including me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for always putting it on your tab and then paying late.”

“Hey, we paid that already!”

 

Watching the men making a fuss, I think I’ve started to figure out what was going on.

In summary, the adventurers were serial payment “overduers” or “tabbers”, and after having paid the last portion of their debt, wanted to reserve the place again.

It was then that me and Aries arrived, and the uncle decided to prioritise us over them.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand him.

Or rather, until a while ago, I had been a man, and even now my mentality was that of a man, thus I understood him quite well.

But, the order of service was important. Since they had arrived first, they should receive priority.

 

So, what would be a good solution…

… Well, it’s not like there were none at all.

 

“Innkeeper, do you have a moment?”

“Oh, lady. Gimme a bit, okay? I’ll chase these guys out for ya.”

“About that, I don’t feel too good ‘chasing out’ the people that were here before us. So regarding that… Since it can’t be helped, we’ll only take 2 rooms. How about it?”

 

Since it had come to this, it couldn’t be helped.

We’d loan 2 rooms, give 1 room to Dina, and Aries and I can share a room.

Such a thing as Aries assaulting me shouldn’t happen, and he probably wouldn’t even have any sexual desire towards me at all.

It wasn’t the “best” option, but this should be the “better” choice.

…… I felt like Dina would complain about being left alone though.

 

*

 

A room that could not be said to be wide by any means.

In this room, there was a 7 sided table, and around it sat people who were not human.

The 7 sides symbolised the elements that could be said to make up this world: Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth, Sun, and Moon. And only the demon race commander with the associated title would be allowed to sit upon them.

However, although there should normally be 7 people present, only 6 were here in this place. The individual who should have been at the seat of [Fire] was missing.

 

“…… What happened to Mars?”

 

A man who was sitting on the seat of [Wood] said those words with displeasure.

They were equal in position, yet in opposition to each other.

Although they sat in the same position and were comrades with each other, there was no such thing as trust or respect between them. Everyone only plotted about how to kick someone else down.

 

“Who knows. He’s probably dead, don’t you think? The monsters under his control disappeared and Aries is also gone. It’s hard to believe that he’s still alive.”

 

The woman sitting on the [Earth] seat happily spoke.

Although their comrade might have been dead, there was no sorrow or anger in that voice.

If anything, it was filled with a joy that said,  “Good work for disappearing.

 

“Was he defeated by Megrez …. Or perhaps betrayed by Aries? Either way, something like this happened because, without even knowing his own capabilities, he tried to manipulate the 12 Heavenly Stars.”

“Whatever, even within the 7 Luminaries, he was the weakest. It’s a disgrace to the demon race for him to be killed by one of the 12 Heavenly Stars.”

“Hey, stop it, idiot. That remark is somewhat excessive.”

 

A man sitting at the seat of [Water] speculated about the cause of death, and, as if waiting for that moment, the woman sitting at the seat of [Metal] made a sinister joke.

And the one who rushed in to stop her was the man sitting at the seat of [Moon].

 

“Either way, the truth is…. Mars was likely killed by someone. And on top of that, Aries of the 12 Heavenly Stars disappeared…. This is a serious situation.”

 

Finally, the one who looked like the leader of the bunch, a man sitting at the element of [Sun], quietly said as such, then looked around at everyone.

There was no resentment for Mars’s death so late in the hour.

Nevertheless, if there existed someone with the ability to kill one of the 7 Luminaries, it was a grave situation that could not be ignored.

If it was one of the 12 Heavenly Stars or the 7 Heroes, then it was still fine.

But what if it was the work of someone else?

…. That would be a threat that could not be ignored.

 

“Venus. If I recall correctly, you should have been close to Svalinn. Did you not see who killed him?”

“Of course I saw them.”

“Oh? And who was it?”

“I don’t know who they are. I was afraid that if I got too close, I would also be killed. But I remember she had beautiful black wings – they were a beautiful woman who was captivating to look at.”

 

The woman called Venus answered the man sitting at the seat of Sun with a cute smile and laughed with joy, but the others in the vicinity were not in a situation to do the same.

A beautiful woman with black wings who could kill off the 7 Luminaries.

Upon hearing those words, there was no one here who wouldn’t think of “her”.

But…. But that was impossible.

She should have died 200 years ago. That should have been the case.

 

“Could it be Ruphas Mafahl….!? Sh, She’s still alive!”

“Don’t be stupid! She should have been killed by the humanoids 200 years ago!”

 

Ruphas Mafahl.

For the demon race, that was a name scarier than even the heroes themselves.

In the past, she had the entire world under her control. She was the Supreme Ruler who had almost unified the humanoids.

Her combat ability rivaled all of the other heroes. She was an existence who stood at the very top.

And above all else, her very existence was the personification of fear itself.

It was not a question of whether they had the intention of fighting against her or not, as long they were part of the demon race, all were slaughtered.

As if to dampen their spirits or morale, she would cut off their heads, impale them onto spears and publicly expose them in the open.

There was no meaning in begging for mercy. She once crushed under her feet the skull of a warrior who pleaded her to let him go because he had a family.

She grabbed the heads of enemies who tried to run away and pulled them apart along with their spinal cords.

She was an existence of pure unreasonableness who crushed and destroyed the irrationality of other unreasonable beings.

She even dismembered invaders into eight pieces. She was the invader for the invaders.

— This dark angel was an absolutely terrifying existence for the demon race.

Everyone feared to encounter her.

You could not run away, and you could not be saved.

If you happened to meet her, it signified the end of your life.

There was no exception. There existed none amongst the demon race who had entered her line of sight and lived to tell the tale.

Fortunately, the acts of Ruphas were thought to be so cruel that even the humanoids started fearing and rebelling against her. Eventually, the group of heroes betrayed her and she was taken down, but the number of demons that had been slaughtered up until that point was too many to count.

If, in fact, she was alive at this moment, it was possible that the combat situation between the demon race and the humanoids could be reversed.

The possibility that the embodiment of fear could still be alive caused disorder in that place.

 

“The one and only Black-Winged Ruler that the Demon King-sama avoided a direct battle with, huh…. If she’s still alive, it’s a crisis that completely overshadows the 7 Heroes. Venus, do you know that person’s current whereabouts?”

“Yes. Currently, she’s at the Black-Winged Royal Tomb.”

“Good. Then you are to continue monitoring her. The moment you find out something, make a report to me.”

“Understood.”

 

The girl who bore the title of [Metal] curtly acknowledged the order that she received from the leader of the 7 Luminaries.

Illuminated by the light shining in from the windows, her respectful bow somehow seemed like an act –

– and that smile made her seem as if she was mocking everything.

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(Author Note)

 

[The Black-Winged Royal Tomb]

Amongst the dungeons currently in existence, it is the one known to be of the highest difficulty.

It is a pyramid with a total of 108 floors and a structure that won’t even be dented no matter how much one attacks it from the outside.

Inside, there are a countless number of Ruphas Mafahl’s mass-produced golems from 200 years ago. Even the weakest of these rivals the strength of a Sword Saint.

As you go up each floor, the quality of the golems rise. Their levels casually rise from 300 to 400 and they begin to work in groups, functioning as orderly troops. Once you reach floor 107, there is a level 600 gatekeeper standing guard before the stairs.

After passing (or more truthfully, avoiding) that, you would reach the entrance to the top floor. A place where the level 910 golem, Libra of the Scales, waited for intruders with an Area-of-Effect skill that penetrated defence and dealt flat damage.

Regardless of however much you struggled, it was game over.

 

(Author Note End)

 

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TLN: You can think of the 7 elements as pretty much the 5 basic Chinese elements and the concept of Ying and Yang. In Japanese, they also have corresponding days of the week and an associated planet, though the names may not necessarily match up *does this count as a spoiler…?*

7 Luminaries is written as 7曜

Moon – Yin – Monday – 月曜日 – The Moon

Fire – Tuesday – 火曜日 – Mars

Water – Wednesday – 水曜日 – Mercury

Wood – Thursday – 木曜日 – Jupiter

Metal – Friday – 金曜日 – Venus

Earth – Saturday – 土曜日 – Saturn

Sun – Yang – Sunday – 日曜日 – The Sun

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[1] So… in formal writing, Japanese is written vertically going from right to left. Something being written horizontally signifies a foreign/western language in Japanese. Although the raw didn’t specifically state that it was English in the current line, the others’ replies were written in Japanese, whereas Tanaka’s was literally “YES, BOSS” in the raw.

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