Woah! This room looks amazing! I can’t believe the ruler left everything here for future generations to take. Were these armor suits not shiny enough for her or something? How about those weapons? Did they not look awesome enough? Or those shelves upon shelves of jewelry that look suspiciously like interspatial ones, were they not enough to catch the ruler’s attention? Maybe the dark wall of mana blocked the ruler’s perception, and she wasn’t able to find this place. In that case…, doesn’t this make me more awesome than the ruler!? Well, I can’t be too proud of myself. What’s that saying with the younger generation and waves? I might not remember it, but it says something about us, the younger generation, being better and more amazing.
“There’s a reason I didn’t find this place,” the ruler’s voice said inside my head. I was right in front of the dark mana and hadn’t stepped out for more than a few seconds, so either the ruler went through first, or her divine sense can go through the mist wall. “And it’s not because I wasn’t amazing. If I wasn’t amazing, Atlantis wouldn’t have fallen in the first place. After I defeated Patriarch Atlantis, he activated a self-destruct formation that sent the place hurtling through the void, and I had to escape immediately.”
Mm, in other words, the ruler wasn’t amazing enough to survive hurtling through the void, so she didn’t have time to loot these amazing things, and since I’m the one who’s going to be looting these things, it means I’m the real winner of their battle! They fought and helped me profit! There’s a saying for this too, something about a fisherman and a clam. Ahem. I’m not calling the ruler a loser, definitely, definitely not. She’s really awesome and amazing, and I’m glad she’s my teacher. I’m really thankful for her, so please don’t get upset at me.
…
Whew, I think I just heard her snort. That’s pretty much a sign of reluctant forgiveness, so I’ll take it! Alright, let’s take a better inventory of all my loot. There’s full-body armor that’s metallic and shiny. The weapons look metallic and shiny and kind of like puppets. They aren’t really made of single pieces. My hammer has a hammer head and a hammer shaft. The hammer-looking weapon in the corner has a hammer head, a hammer shaft, pipes and tubes sticking out of the head, and the shaft has seven weird wedges stuck in it. “Hey! Turtle! Whose weapon do you think you’re touching!?”
The turtle-man froze, his hand almost leaving turtle stains on my precious hammer. “B-but,” he said. “You heard what the demon said. You’re a squirrel. If you use these treasures, they’ll break the intricate formations inside of them.”
Nonsense! The hammer Ilya made for me was put together via formation. It didn’t break in my hands! It only broke after hitting a squirrel with it. Mm, that’s right. Only the furry parts of my body like my ears and my tail can ruin formations. As long as I don’t shed on that hammer, it’ll work just fine! “Everything in this room”—
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“Attention!”
—“is mine!” Ah? Who just shouted over me? Since everyone’s looking at Mrs. Mu, it must’ve been her.
Mrs. Mu narrowed her eyes, and hundreds of talismans filled the whole space. “These treasures aren’t the priority. If they were the most precious items here, the demons would be fighting us for them.”
Ah? That’s right! I was so blinded by the treasures that I didn’t even notice there aren’t any demons here! If they’re not in this room, then they can only be behind that metal door! Speaking of which, this room only had a mist wall protecting it. Why doesn’t it have a giant metal door too? All it has is … a giant slab of metal with a turtle-man-shaped hole in it. There’s even some golden parts flickering with light. Mm, I was wondering why the turtle-man’s face looked a little flat just now. Alright, all we have to do is break down this other door, and we’ll catch those demons before they can get the real treasure! But first…. “You guys go on ahead; I’ll make sure they’re not hiding in any nooks and crannies.”
“I’ll help you pack these treasures away!” the mouse-person said. What was his name again? It was weird and hard to pronounce, Lao…something or another. Ahem, his name isn’t important, but what’s important is he’s a natural treasure finder and my new best friend! “You guys can rest assured. I’ll tally up everything we have in this room, and after we deal with the demons, we’ll split these equally.”
“Out of respect for the treasure-sniffing mouse clan, I’ll trust you to record our spoils,” one of the humanoid beasts said. He had green, really rough-looking skin. I think he was transformed from a crocodile or a big lizard of sorts. Well, whatever he was transformed from, he was confident in dealing with a door because he charged at it and punched it. There was a loud cracking sound, and a second later, the door—“Ow! My wrist broke!”—…remained intact. That was disappointing. Mm, well, someone will deal with it while I loot this room!
“Let me borrow your tail for a second.”
Ah? I was in the middle of grabbing an interspatial ring, but now I’m being carried by … Mrs. Mu? What the heck is this!? She never showed the ability to grab someone out of nowhere! Where’s she grabbing!? What’s she rubbing my tail against!?
“I apologize for my rudeness, but we’re in a hurry,” Mrs. Mu said and put me down. The formations on the metal door were completely messed up, and with a flick of her wrist, a talisman flew onto the door and exploded with a huge bang! A hole was blown through the door, and Mrs. Mu drew something in the air really fast with her finger. A strong gust of wind blew past me and hit the door, forcing it open. In the room behind the door, there was a space almost as large as half the whole tower we climbed down to get here, and in the middle of the room, there was a really big mechanical puppet!
Even though the mouse-person was supposed to be clearing out the room, he appeared next to me. “That puppet reeks! It must be the true treasure of Atlantis!