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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Secret Archive
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"Why are you pretending not to know? Between us? You know full well you've raised me since the day I was born. In a way, that's exactly why we're stuck together like this."
To Krash, Aliod was the father figure who had raised him and a precious person.
But to the Valheim Family butlers, there was one unbreakable, worst rule that applied.
That rule was simple: their own advancement in the family depended entirely on how far the direct descendant they served could climb within the household.
They had to follow that direct descendant for life.
Even if that meant being sent off to Green Pine Pavilion.
There was only one way for them to escape this cursed structure.
When the direct descendant they served died.
Of course, in most cases, they would retire upon their master's death as well.
But Aliod's situation was different.
Because Krash's third brother had made him a certain proposal.
That one condition was none other than poisoning Krash.
He had promised Aliod a new position to live out his days comfortably, along with a fortune in gold.
'My third brother hated me with a passion.'
The fundamental reason his third brother despised him boiled down to his fourth sister.
The Valheim Family's direct lineage consisted of five members in total.
Two of them shared only half their blood with the rest of the siblings.
The first through third were the children of the previous wife.
The fourth and youngest, Krash, were the children of the current wife the Valheim patriarch had taken.
And among them, Krash's fourth sister, Charlotte Valheim, was the biggest problem.
'The greatest genius the Valheims ever produced.'
Charlotte Valheim, born with a talent so absurd it was said to appear once every millennium even among the Valheims.
Leveraging that talent, Charlotte Valheim had upended the hierarchy of direct descendants within the family in an instant.
As a result, not only the third brother but even the second sister had their positions in the direct line stolen by Charlotte.
Fueled by that loss, the third brother harbored a seething rage with nowhere to go.
The family openly favored Charlotte, leaving the third brother utterly sidelined.
'And that rage-filled gaze turned to none other than me.'
The youngest, sharing the same blood as Charlotte but possessing utterly pathetic skills.
He had already despised Krash's newly arrived mother.
The moment Charlotte rose and he was pushed down in the direct lineage ranking, he unleashed all that fury on the innocent Krash.
To the point where he genuinely wanted to kill Krash.
'He couldn't stand up to Charlotte at all. So he took it out on me, since I at least resembled her a bit in the face.'
From Krash's perspective, it was utterly ridiculous, but he hadn't even possessed the power to fight back.
To the extent that even the butler sworn to serve him ended up accepting the deal.
"Whatever, fine. If you're going to play dumb, I won't push it."
Krash didn't bother reprimanding Aliod further.
In the end, the butler had turned to the third brother partly because Krash was a halfwit himself.
Originally, Krash was even alive because the poisoning had failed.
And that was only natural.
On the day Aliod had resolved to carry out the assassination.
'The guy killed himself right in front of me.'
The poison in the stew—Aliquen snatched it away just before Krash could eat it and drank it himself.
「I'm sorry, Young Master. I have committed an unforgivable sin. How could I dare... when you are as dear to me as my own child...」
The image of Aliod apologizing as he died from the poison that day was still vividly etched in his mind.
"In return, come with me."
But that was that, and Krash had a separate favor to ask.
"...Yes."
Was it some change of heart?
Aliod answered quite obediently.
Krash ignored him and started walking.
'At this point in time, it should definitely be there.'
Hoping his memory was correct, Krash headed straight for the library in Green Pine Pavilion.
It was filled with countless books, but in truth, this library was just for show.
Krash, who had actually read the books here, knew full well there was nothing worthwhile.
Green Pine Pavilion wasn't called a dumping ground for the Valheims' rejects for nothing.
There was nothing of value in Green Pine Pavilion.
Except for one thing.
"Young Master Krash, are you looking for a particular book?"
Krash had shown up in the library out of nowhere.
As Aliod voiced his confusion, Krash silently moved forward.
He stopped right in front of a bookshelf.
"Aliod."
"Yes."
"Clear this away."
Aliod looked puzzled.
But Krash's command carried an air that made it hard to refuse.
'Where have I felt this presence before?'
The patriarch.
The Valheim patriarch.
But he quickly shook off the thought.
It was far too premature to compare Krash to him.
Aliod removed every book from the shelf and even cleared the shelf itself.
What was revealed was just an ordinary library wall.
"Cut this wall, Vera."
"Pardon?"
He'd told him to clear the bookshelf, and now to cut the wall?
It was utterly incomprehensible.
But Aliod was Krash's butler.
Unable to refuse his orders, Aliod promptly drew his sword.
A bluish aura began to swirl around his blade.
Every Valheim butler was required to possess at least upper-class knight-level skill.
Only then could they properly support a direct descendant of the Valheims.
"I'll cut it."
With his sword aura flaring, Aliod slashed the wall.
The moment he cleanly executed the cut as per Krash's command, a deep rumble echoed—ku-gu-gung.
A moment later, the outer wall section fell away in a perfect square, toppling backward.
At that instant, Aliod realized.
There was some kind of space beyond the library's outer wall.
Had he known about this place in advance?
It was a location even Aliod, assigned to Green Pine Pavilion, had never known about.
As Aliod stared blankly, Krash hopped over the severed wall section.
"Well done."
Krash gave Aliod a brief word of praise and stepped inside.
Aliod followed him in like a man entranced.
A short while later, they came face-to-face with a massive padlock.
Larger than a man's hand, it was firmly secured in front of the door.
Krash stood before the dusty door and its padlock.
"Should I cut the padlock too?"
"No, that's enough."
The wall beyond Green Pine Pavilion's library.
The last time he'd come here, everything had already burned away, rendering it meaningless.
But now was different.
This was something from a very distant future.
'Green Pine Pavilion is definitely where the Valheims send their rejects.'
That's why even a halfwit like Krash had been shipped off here.
He had wasted his days away in this place.
But the original purpose of building Green Pine Pavilion wasn't some malicious intent.
Now, long after the Valheims' founding, its meaning had faded.
But Green Pine Pavilion was originally meant to help any Valheim born without talent shine once more within the family.
However, that noble purpose had been twisted by one incident.
The greatest disgrace and demon raised in Green Pine Pavilion.
The one who had tried to wipe out the Valheims.
Demaris Valheim.
'Thanks to him, this place got hidden away too.'
No one like Demaris could be allowed to be born again.
That's why it was concealed.
Green Pine Pavilion's secret archive.
A place for the Valheims' halfwits.
A location unknown even to most Valheim direct descendants, unless they were the patriarch himself.
Arriving there, Krash placed his hand on the massive padlock.
Normally, it was made of a material so tough even an upper-class knight like Aliod couldn't cut it.
But he was different.
What was the first thing you did to steal something?
Pick the lock, of course.
For Krash, who had picked countless locks up to now, the secret archive's padlock was child's play.
'Time to show off some real pro skills.'
Krash immediately activated Black Hood.
Black Hood, which stole what its target possessed.
That target naturally included objects as well.
The difference from living beings was that no value judgment was needed for items.
Especially ones that had been without an owner for so long.
Clank!
In that instant, the padlock's shackle was in Krash's grasp.
Thud!
The now-shackleless padlock crashed to the floor.
Aliod's eyes went wide at the scene that unfolded in a flash.
Meanwhile, Krash casually tossed the shackle aside.
"...Young Master Krash, have you perhaps contracted with a god?"
Aliod asked in shock about a divine contract.
The ability Krash had just shown was unmistakably a skill.
Skills wielded absurd, supernatural power.
So when Aliod asked, Krash glanced at him.
Apparently, at this point in time, he hadn't contracted with a god yet.
"Eh, just some no-name deity. Go ahead and report it to my father if you want. Doesn't matter about the archive either."
All the butler's reports went straight to the patriarch, his father.
Knowing that, Krash spoke freely, and Aliod fell silent before bowing his head.
"At the very least, I will keep silent until whatever Young Master Krash intends to do here is finished."
The response was surprisingly agreeable.
In Krash's memories, Aliod was a man driven by ambition for advancement.
And the root of that ambition was none other than his daughter, stricken with an incurable disease.
All the salary he received from the Valheims went toward his daughter's treatment.
But even that wasn't enough.
So he desperately needed more money.
That's why he accepted the third brother's offer of assassination.
And eventually poisoned the stew.
And the reason he'd eaten that stew himself was ultimately for his daughter too.
That day, Aliod had learned his daughter was in critical condition and lost his mind.
On the very day he planned to carry out the assassination in exchange for better medicine from the third brother.
His daughter had finally succumbed to the incurable disease.
Regaining his senses after her death, Aliod ate the stew in Krash's place and died.
His final apology carried guilt not just for failing in his duty as head butler, but for not raising Krash properly.
For being born a halfwit, through no fault of his own.
And now, he was acting this way.
'Did he see some hidden potential in me in the meantime?'
Krash, changed overnight.
It was a situation that would normally be incomprehensible.
But if he'd contracted with a god, that changed everything.
Even a halfwit could transform overnight depending on which god it was.
Skills granted by divine contracts were that valuable.
So Aliod had a change of heart.
The Krash he saw now might actually shine again someday.
'At this point, Aliod has only received the third brother's proposal but hasn't acted on it yet.'
Strictly speaking, he hadn't betrayed Krash yet.
If Krash didn't hold a grudge, it was something they could move past.
'I see. So this is a downside of regression.'
Krash vaguely understood why Arthur had come to hate regression.
The Aliod now and the one who drank the poisoned stew were different people.
And they would walk entirely different paths.
Because Krash himself had changed.
Arthur must not have been able to endure that disconnect and ended up having his regression stolen.
'The problem is Aliod's daughter.'
Aliod was useful.
His support skills were top-notch, enough to serve a Valheim direct descendant.
At minimum, keeping him around until they left Green Pine Pavilion was wise.
Besides, Krash knew what Aliod's daughter's incurable disease was.
And how to cure it too.
'I'll handle that step by step.'
For now, the secret archive came first.
Krash felt a thrill of excitement for the first time in ages.
With that anticipation, he opened the door to the secret archive.
Whoosh—
A dusty gust of wind blew from inside.
Having rolled through World Erosion so much, he barely minded this level of dust.
So Krash strode boldly inward.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, the interior finally came into clear view.
The first thing that caught his eye was the books lining the ancient shelves.
The books here were secret technique manuals containing the ancestors' knowledge.
To the naturally genius Valheims, such manuals were essentially meaningless.
They were born already embodying all of the Valheim blessings.
So why would such a secret archive exist in the Valheims' collection?
The answer was simple.
'Because this place is solely for halfwits.'
The creators of the Valheim secret technique manuals were the Valheims' halfwits themselves.