Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Nothing noteworthy happened after the battle with the mysterious entity. Our journey to the vault is smooth sailing. Even though I could not see the surrounding areas, I'm not anxious at all due to the existence of my mother. I just keep walking behind her, following her footsteps.

Soon enough, I saw a bright light coming from the distance. It's the same lamp as the one from the entrance. The light is different from the ordinary lamp. But I don't know what makes it different. Aside from the color that is.

As we walk closer, I saw a blast door? Yep, blast door. There's no doubt about it.

Ha, You've got to be kidding me. Isn't it too exaggerated?

A massive circular blast door is right in front of my face. How do we open it? Hmm...

I observed the place and immediately saw something.

I guess that terminal beside the door should be our way in.

I watched Ais pull out something from her pocket. A card?

She placed her palm into the terminal and I swear I heard some kind of mechanism activated.

Ding~ Ding~

I looked back over my shoulder and saw the light expand. Two more lamps turned on, lighting the half of the corridor.

I returned to Ais and saw her fingers repeatedly dancing against the screen buttons in the terminal. And then she inserted the card in her left hand into the terminal.

With a loud buzz, the blast door started to spin. Sure enough, I have seen this shit somewhere, maybe from some random show. After a few moments of spinning, it opened. clearing the way for us.

So much security just for a vault, I can't help but get excited upon thinking about what I could find there. It's like hunting for a treasure deep in the underground!

I want to rush ahead, but I know better. Who knows if there are some traps inside the vault? That's something I would do. 

So I waited for Ais to go inside before following after her.

But, contrary to my expectation there is no giant pile of gold forming a mountain inside the vault.

To be exact, there's nothing here. It's empty. But that was the least of my worry right now.

I don't know what, but my heart suddenly feels heavy the moment I got here. This room has a really bad vibe going on here.

I eyed the room carefully, it looks bleak, lifeless, and somewhat sinister.

Although empty, there are many doors in this vast room. And this bad vibe I'm getting is such a downer. But it gets worse.

I feel like something was pressing on my heart. It's getting harder to breathe.

Bang! Bangbang! Bang!

I flinched as some of the thick metal doors shook violently as though they were whacked by a battering ram.

What the hell?!

"Uh, mom. Is there someone imprisoned in this place?"

"No, there's no one here." She doesn't even look bothered. So she's not lying?

"But... who is banging on the door?"

"It should be the Artifact."

Artifact? Did Artifact have hands and legs? My common sense can't keep up with this development. If not for the fact that no begging or cursing sound coming from the door, I might think of mom as a liar.

Ais walked to one of the doors in the corner. On the door, there is [Phantom's Greed] written on it.

Is this what I think this is? Wallenstein's family basement had one whole vault dedicated to storing Artifacts. The best of the magic tool, forged with rare and unique materials obtained from monsters that spawn on the deep floor. This floor is also known as the Heroes' Graves due to the countless death it brings to the invaders.

What kind of existence is a creature from the deep floor? I had no idea but people said that If a wave of deep floor monsters managed to escape to the surface, Tokyo will be done for.

I guess that's why the Association and the Guilds keep building a stronghold on every safety point they could lay their eyes on and stationed some heroes on that floors.

This is specifically the case for lower and deep floors. If they don't build a stronghold, it would be too late if they want to cull the monster's population. After all, it's not easy to travel between the floors. And it took a long time especially when a wave after wave of monsters is blocking the way.

This is why my new father, Bell Cranel never gets to stay home for long. I used to get angry at the Association for doing this to him. But now, I understand that without Bell and other first-class heroes manning the front, we would be doomed.

Sigh, this is such a mess. 

Even in death, I won't be able to escape forced conscription.

But there's no other way other than move forward. And the most important thing to do so is strength.

Without power, I won't be able to keep my life intact. And this place is the first step to power.

I scanned the vault. It's kinda overwhelming. If what she's saying is true then these artifact is not something ordinary.

No wonder I can't even spot a single Artifact here. I guess it kind of makes sense if they could make those thick metal doors rattle like a little bitch. I don't want to imagine what happens if a civilian encounter one by chance.

I want to walk around the place and read the note on doors. What kind of artifacts are there in this place. I so want to do that, but my instinct screamed at me, saying a no-no.

"Ouch! What the..." I looked down at my hand and can't help but shudder when I saw a layer of frost encasing my left hand!

I willed my fingers to move, but they won't budge! Why? What is going on?!

This is not good, I can't feel my hand anymore!

Mom instantly pulls me back by the collar. When I took a few steps back, the icy sensation on my hand disappeared. I looked down and saw my hand turn back to normal as though it was just a dream.

I rub my left hand with my fingers, and there's no sign of frozen hand at all. It doesn't even get wet! 

But how? 

I rolled my cuff but there's no indication that my hand was frozen. But I can still remember that it tasted so bad worse than frostbite. But there's no trace whatsoever. Everything is good as new.

What the hell was that? Illusion? I eyed the doors one by one. Now that I looked at them carefully, not all of the doors are banging. 

One close to the Phantom's Greed is quiet, but I could spot a trickle of water seeping from the gap between the door and the floor. 

Water?

Is this door the cause of the frostbite Illusion?

I shouldn't get too close.

It's too dangerous. And yet, there are still plenty of eye-catching Artifacts. Especially that one in the middle.

[Robe of the Seven Nightmares]

From the name alone it sounds like a badass OP item and it's calling out to me.

I want to take a look at it.

I know of the danger but greed is human. And human is me.

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"Mom, can I have that robe of the seven nightmares?"

Huh? Something wrong... I feel weird. Why am I really want to get that artifact? 

Ais flatly rejected my request.

"Nope, you can't have that item."

"Pretty please."

"No, it's dangerous."

Huh? Of course, it's dangerous. But it depends on the person wielding it. Isn't that all the same even with firearms or even cold weapons?

"This robe will cast a curse on its wearer every single day. This won't end even if you put the robe away."

"...Uh."

I wonder if she was joking, but before the words leave my mouth, I saw her expression.

It doesn't look like mom is joking. Rather, she and joke might be living on different planets. So far from each other. 

After spending six years under the same roof with mom, I have learned many things about mom. And I prided myself as someone who could read her poker face. Well, every ten tries, I often got 8 of them right.

But, isn't it basically an unusable item then? Why would anyone forge something so useless? Truly, It's beyond me. So I asked.

"I don't get it, mom. Why would anyone forge an Artifact with flaws like these? I don't think any Hero would want to use it."

"Rather than a flaw, it's more accurate to call them drawback."

"Drawback, Isn't that the same thing?"

"No, they're different. True to all Artifact, all of them carry some kind of drawback."

"Huh? This is the first time I heard something like this."

"Is that so?" Ais gave me a warm smile and patted my head, "There's no need to hurry, you'll learn these things when you study at hero academy."

Hearing that artifacts have a drawback nearly made me slump in disappointment, but I hold it in.

"Can you teach me instead mom? I don't think I can wait three more years to learn about artifacts."

Ais only hesitated for a moment before agreeing to my request. I know she agreed by the slight raise of the corner of her lips. It's a tiny little bit, but that's without a doubt a smile she got there.

"You're so sweet, mom. I love you–"

Ah, I was caught up in the moment and slipped.

"Oh, honey... You're too cute."

I did it again...

But this time I'm ready to embrace her pair of heaven. So no problem on the breathing part. 

Uh, wait... Did it get bigger? 

Yeah, this sensation... I swear it gets bigger than before. I rub my face against the softness of her boobs. This is nice mom-son bonding.

When she peeks at my face, she might have seen something that triggers her because suddenly mom put some more love into her hug, "My baby is so cute~"

Who's your baby? I'm not baby!

I took a deep breath. I should be able to last for more than one minute.

This much of a sacrifice is nothing to me. For an Artifact, it is worth it.

Still, I can't get used to it no matter how many times it happens. Ais has become a loving mother... Truly a weird phenomenon, but I guess some changes are inevitable.

Motherhood sure is a miracle.

But... How long did she squeeze me in her boobs? I don't know. I didn't count it. You can't count the time you spent on happiness or suffering because you don't have the leisure to do it. 

And after much effort, I managed to pry those heavy titties away from my face.

I can't afford to make her trigger anymore. Gotta steer the topic away from cuteness.

"So mom did your sword also had some kind of drawback? It's an Artifact, right?"

Ais blinked and raised her sword in front of me, "That's true. This sword is an Artifact, so it also has a drawback." 

She faltered for a moment but said it anyway.

"Once drawn, It must be drenched in blood, otherwise... Mommy will get hurt."

"Uh, that sounds dangerous."

Get hurt... the way she worded it might be casual. But I doubt that was the case. It must be so dangerous that she omits the rest. 

There's no use in censoring it, mom! I saw through you!

"The more powerful it was, the stronger the drawback." I suddenly blurt out these words. It just comes to mind. And by the look on Ais's face, it must be true. Or at least close enough.

In the end, she promised to teach me more about Artifact and will get me one once I enrolled in the Academy. That is if I'm ready.

Well, considering we're here for a specific Artifact. I'm not looking forward to getting another Artifact.

Yeah, when mom leads me to this door, I finally remember the reason why I'm here. These Artifacts sure did a good job of distracting me.

The door leading to this artifact doesn't show any abnormality at all, maybe because it was on the edge. The weakest artifact maybe?

Once inside, I finally saw the artifact.

She casually pulls something out from the weird-looking safe hanging on the wall.

When she turned to me, I saw my mom holding a black watch in her hand. I glanced at the note on the door, and I roughly know why I have been acting weird just now.

Phantom's Greed.

This artifact might have some kind of terrible mental effect. Did it induce me with greed so that I would lose myself and get killed by the other artifacts?

Well, damn. This is more dangerous than I thought.

I just hope they're not sentiment.

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