The next day, Sylus made his way back to the unsealed cave in Veldenworth.
He calmly stood before the entrance, one hand resting on his waist and the other pointing forward.
"Get ready to put it on when I give the signal!!!"
As though trying to ambush something, three workers were positioned at the three writings on the wall, surrounding the massive cave.
One on each side and another at the very top.
These were people who had willingly signed up to be miners; as such, they had resumed work as fast as they could.
’Okay, everything is ready; this had better work, or I’ll look like some kind of fool,’ Sylus said to himself as he stared at the barriers.
Before he came to the sealed cave, he had already deciphered what the last paragraph meant. The only issue was how to tell what each of those paragraphs was trying to hint at.
While it was easy to tell most of the paragraphs leaned towards stars, music, and a trusting heart, what could the true manifestation of those be?
The last paragraph hinted at that.
"Each is a physical manifestation. I wish not the real but seen, placed on my writings, and ever clearly too."
This was what Sylus was desperately trying to figure out—until he came up with a way.
"Do it!" he screamed.
Zani and Sophia were standing right beside him, watching as well.
The workers standing close to the writings on the walls began placing a blank sheet over them.
The sheets had different drawings.
"I wish I had a music sheet."
For that particular writing, Sylus drew on a paper the only single music note he knew from his former world.
And the moment that drawing made contact with the symbols, it shone a blue light.
The same applied to the next writing, "I wish to have a star." For this, Sylus drew the star shape and added the name Sirius.
Sylus only knew this name because his friend, in his former world, would often tell him stories about the stars, and he seemed to have a lot of knowledge regarding them as well.
He picked up a few pieces of knowledge about them after listening so many times.
Thankfully, it worked. Placing the star drawing on the symbol made it light up as well, and the barrier could be seen shimmering.
The third writing was far trickier: "I wish I had a heart I could trust."
Sylus was more unsure about this than any of the other three.
On the sheet of paper, he drew a regular heart shape and painted it red, with flowers and a small poem on the side.
His confidence was so low that he kept wandering around the place, constantly gazing upwards as he bit his fingernails.
A scream from the man on top of the cave echoed.
Sylus paused. People had already begun rejoicing as the barrier shattered like glass onto the ground.
’It actually worked?’ Sylus thought to himself, his eyes still fixed on the cave.
Everyone was rejoicing, chanting Sylus’s name as the workers danced around the place.
The very same cave they had struggled to open for years had now been unsealed, only by the prince, of course.
Zani walked up to Sylus, her arms behind her back.
"Is something the matter? Normally, by now, you would be cheering on with the soldiers. Is something about the cave not to your liking?" she asked, her gaze also lingering on the cave.
"Something feels off about the cave. For something that was sealed, it would be more of a surprise if there weren’t consequences to follow."
Sylus touched his chin as he thought out loud.
"What do you think? There are monsters resting inside, and we’ve just woken them up?"
Sylus looked at her. "That isn’t a bad thing to think about. You’re right; we should go check it out before sending the workers in."
He said this with a smile before turning around to face the rest of the workers.
Of course, Zani already saw this coming, so all she could do was sigh and prepare herself to go on a wild adventure inside the cave.
Sylus’s voice rang in the ears of everyone. Upon hearing his voice, no one dared to speak.
"Well done. You all have done well in opening the unsealed cave. None of this would have happened without your cooperation."
Hearing him speak and thank them all made a few of them shed tears. How can a single human being be so beautiful and kind at heart?
It was as though Sylus was reciting a funeral speech.
"But right now, we face a great issue. Because the cave has been unexplored, we don’t know what kind of monster might be in there. Monsters are born from mana after a long period of time. It shouldn’t be a surprise if we run into a few inside."
Now came the murmurs from the workers.
"His Lordship is right..."
"I didn’t think of that."
"Are we going to abandon the cave again?"
Sylus spoke again, "But worry not. I will explore the cave before any of you do. As the lord of this land, it is my duty. All I need are two participants who are capable of fighting and willing to enter the shadows with me."
After he said that, he patiently waited to see how many people would be willing to follow him.
’Should I be surprised if no one chooses to come along? I am fine with just Ava and Sophia, but then again, I need them to have a sense of responsibility.’
He was also aware that most of the workers before him either lacked star blessings or had no combat experience.
That said, star blessings aren’t the only form of true capability; there are others who have mastered the art of Mana Fortitude. Surely, some of them would be standing before him...
Suddenly, an individual walked forward, his body muscular and his height towering.
With a deep voice, he uttered,
"I wish to partake in this, Your Majesty."
[A/N: If you’d like some additional Chapters, please see the below incentive:
200 power stones: 2 additional Chapters.
100 Golden Tickets: 3 additional Chapters.
200 privilege unlocks: 2 additional Chapters. (118/200)
Castle and above: 5 additional Chapters.]