Ch. 185
I poured mana into the marker, but still, there was no reaction.
If my guess was right, the pendant would only respond once I got close to the waterway that connected the lake to the sea.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
Instead of answering, I stepped onto the water. I didn’t sink—just floated lightly like a leaf.
Chad was the most shocked.
“You can do ‘that’ too?!”
“Geenie! I’ll come with you!”
[Take me too, Master!]
“No. It’s faster alone. There’s something I want to check—just need to see what’s there.”
Walking on water wasn’t a particularly high-level skill, but taking the whole group would’ve drained too much mana—and honestly, it would’ve been annoying.
So I walked off across the water by myself.
“Geenie!”
“The marker!”
[Master!]
Guess they could all see me spinning the marker around as I went.
—
After a short walk, I realized the spot was farther than it looked. So I summoned Undine.
A dolphin-shaped body of water rose gently from the lake and curled around me.
Like a friendly cat brushing against my leg, she circled me, then slid upward, resting her sharp snout affectionately on my shoulder.
[Master.]
“Undine.”
After a gentle pat, I climbed onto her back, and before I could even say where to go, she was already swimming toward our destination.
Water spirits were obedient, calm, and intelligent. Easy to handle—just the way I liked them.
Unlike Rai, Ador, or Pein best not to even start on ‘them’.
If they ever met spirits like themselves, maybe then they’d understand what I go through.
Relaxing on Undine’s back, I looked around.
The lake was roughly circular, maybe more like a squashed square—broad and surrounded by jagged cliffs that made it impossible to approach the waterway by horse.
Walking there looked just as difficult. The fastest way was clearly to cross the lake.
If the dungeon entrance really was near that waterway, I’d have to figure out how to bring all five of them across.
Without a boat, that was impossible. And, of course, there wasn’t one in sight.
Almost as if the landscape had been ‘designed’ to frustrate explorers.
“Good thing I’m a Water Spirit Mage.”
A terrain that would be nightmarish for others was nothing to ‘me’, Geenie Crowell—acknowledged genius among summoners.
Crossing a lake was no problem at all.
The only question was which method would be the ‘least’ bothersome.
Someone once said that humanity’s greatest inventions are born from laziness…
“Ah.”
The marker finally reacted.
As I neared the narrow passage connecting the lake to the sea, the tiny metal shard hanging from the pendant tilted sharply, drawn like a magnet.
Exactly in the direction I was heading.
I couldn’t help but smile.
“Knew it.”
I stepped down from Undine’s back, standing lightly on the surface.
Following the pull, I led both Undine and Undain as I walked. When I finally stood facing the passage between sea and lake, the marker tugged hard—pointing straight ‘down’.
Right beneath my feet.
The bottom of the deep, dark lake.
I stood atop the swiftly moving current.
If I weren’t a Water Spirit Summoner, this would’ve been nothing but a death sentence.
But for me, it only confirmed what I’d suspected from the start. If someone hid treasure in a lake, odds were it was ‘underwater’.
I’d just hoped it wasn’t—because I knew how troublesome that would make things.
“Looks like it’s here… wh—ugh!”
The marker, which had been twisting and pointing to track my movement, suddenly made a sharp crack and shattered to pieces.
A one-time-use item?!
As it broke without warning, Lox immediately came to mind.
“Ugh, he’s gonna cry.”
I vaguely remembered him asking me to handle it carefully.
Well, too bad for him. It’s not like he could do anything to me.
I pocketed the leftover string—just an ordinary string now that the metal piece was gone—and looked to Undine.
“Undine. Let’s go down.”
As I spoke, I slowly sank beneath the surface.
Water rose past my knees, my waist, my neck—then over my hair until my entire body was submerged.
Cool liquid pressed close from all directions, rippling around me.
The area near the surface had been dazzlingly beautiful, but the deeper I went, the darker it became, until no light reached at all.
It was like drifting into another world. But I felt no fear.
In water, everything moved according to ‘my’ will.
—
By the time I reached the bottom, I was surrounded by a darkness so dense that anyone with thalassophobia would’ve died of terror on the spot.
It was so pitch-black that even the faint light emitted by Undine and Undain seemed bright.
The ground was soft, wet mud, and something kept brushing against me from all sides.
Too dark to tell if it was living or just shifting water.
“Undine, widen the area.”
I needed proper light.
As I listened to faint, unidentifiable noises from every direction, the space around me expanded. A dome of air formed—a clear bubble I could breathe in.
Then I summoned another spirit.
“Ador.”
[Oh, Master!]
“Stop right there!”
[Hm?]
Ador had a habit of darting everywhere the moment he was summoned, so I had to make him stay put. Sure enough, he was already halfway out of the bubble before freezing midair.
[Where are we?!]
“Underwater. So please, stay still, okay?”
If he so much as stepped outside, every fish nearby would end up roasted.
[Stillness… such a cruel demand.]
“Only for you.”
He’d serve as a torch—no need to do anything but ‘exist’.
Muttering, Ador hovered closer, lighting up the murky surroundings as I cautiously began to walk. The air dome drifted along with me.
The dungeon entrance had to be nearby, yet all I saw were dim walls.
I searched the area for a while—both sides blocked by rock, and beyond that, open sea.
With the marker gone, I had to rely on instinct alone.
There ‘was’ something here—I could feel it—but pinpointing it was another matter.
It was like catching a faint scent of something pleasant but not knowing where it came from.
In that hazy uncertainty, I kept pacing between two walls, muttering under my breath.
“Undine, Undain. You feel that too? That energy—it’s a lot like yours… somewhere around here…”
[Over there.]
[There.]
Damn it, I should’ve asked them sooner.
They’d found it instantly.
The water spirits guided me straight to it—the remnant of an ancient magic beyond modern capability.
“No wonder it couldn’t be found…”
I couldn’t help but marvel.
Whoever made this clearly didn’t ‘want’ anyone finding it.
As I stepped into the entrance, I alternated between awe and exasperation.
“Unbelievable—ouch! My back… seriously? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s real, though!”
I wanted to show it to the others. They’d be speechless—just like I was now.
—
When I emerged, the men were busy setting up camp.
They’d started a fire, were spearing fish—apparently managing fine without me.
“I’m back.”
“Oh, you’re back.”
No one looked particularly interested. They probably assumed I came up empty-handed.
I thought I’d only been gone briefly, but the sun had already set.
“Ash, Lox.”
“You’re back. We were worried.”
“Welcome.”
“Sorry.”
As soon as I apologized, Rai—who’d been running toward me—shouted out loud.
[Unbelievable!]
His tone was deeply offended. Clearly, he wasn’t happy that I’d apologized to ‘them’ but never to ‘him.’
Ash and Lox both looked just as shocked.
One simple “sorry,” and they were both speechless.
“……Did you just apologize?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would you say something so ominous?”
Lox immediately scowled while Ash gave me a worried look.
“So, nothing found? That’s okay.”
“No, I did find something. But… this.”
I pulled the string from my pocket—the remains of the marker.
Recognizing it, both Ash and Lox’s faces drained of color.
“Sorry. It wasn’t on purpose.”
See? I ‘do’ apologize sometimes. Twice in one day, even.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!”
Yeah, I expected that. I’d imagined twelve possible reactions from Lox; screaming was number two, and foaming at the mouth was number nine.
“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t break it—it just shattered on its own.”
“You insane woman!”
“I mean, I’m not normal, sure. But it’s true.”
“Do you even know what this ‘is’? That’s a national treasure! You bring it back broken—what am I supposed to do, march to my execution?! You’re trying to ‘kill’ me!”
“Oh, come on. That’s unfair—I swear it broke by itself.”
“That’s impossible!”
Worked up, Lox even reached for my collar, but I dodged easily.
“The one who made it clearly didn’t want it used by anyone else. It was meant for one person only. Built to self-destruct—one-time use.”
My reasoning, as always, was flawless. I was sharp and clever, after all.
“You talk so smoothly! Why is it that every time I look away, you cause another disaster—always ‘huge’ ones!”
“Not my fault! And there’s a saying in Dmitri: ‘A corpse causes no trouble.’”
“Hah!”
“Meaning, causing trouble is proof I’m still alive.”
While I was smugly defending myself, Chad cut in.
“I’m from Dmitri too, but I’ve never heard that one.”
“Oh, uh… I just made it up.”
Caught lying, but who cares. The important part was that I’d done something big enough to make up for it.
Lox was now showing reaction number twelve—the final one I’d predicted.
“Don’t cry, Lox. I’ve got good news too! We don’t even need the marker anymore.”
“Sob—what do you mean? Unless you found the dungeon, I’m dead anyway…”
“I did.”
“…What?”
“It’s there.”
As I smiled, Enk dropped his firewood, and Gail let go of the fish he’d been holding. Lox stopped crying instantly.
I clapped my hands once. That settled everything.
“Pretty great, huh?”