The Invincible Rich Man (Gerald Crawford)

Chapter 1070-1076

Chapter 1070
“It was a little after dusk back then… Just like how it is now! The sun had already set by then and it was getting increasingly dark… At the time, we came across a river and my father told me that we were going to set up camp there. Once everything was set up, we headed to the river to gather some water for the next day… Approaching the river together, it was then when we saw her!”
 
As everyone stared wide-eyed at the Master of the Desert, he continued, “Capra Nanny was drinking water by the riverside, and though I wasn’t able to properly see her face under the moonlight, I remember clearly that she had an extremely long tongue and her hair was long and messy.”
 
“Stopping in our tracks, the old woman raised her head and made eye contact with us. It was only a brief moment, but both her eyes were green! Thankfully, my father snapped me out of it in time as he shouted, ‘Don’t look at her, Billy! Turn around, right this instant!’”
 
“Upon saying that, my father immediately turned around and knelt on the sand. I did the same, remembering that he had once told me that should one ever come across Capra Nanny, they have to turn their backs against her and never look behind!”
 
“…What happened after that?” asked one of the tourists.
 
“Well, she slowly walked over to both me and my father. However, her footsteps were so light that they were barely audible, save for the soft rustling of sand. At that point, childlike voices from behind us began whispering, “Don’t look at her, Billy~! Turn around~! Right this instant~! Of course, I didn’t listen to those sinister-sounding voices. Afterward, my father told me that it was Capra Nanny’s attempt to speak in our language through mimicry!”
 
“And then? What happened next?” asked someone else.
 
“And then… Silence. My father and I continued kneeling there without a word…” replied the Master of the Desert.
 
Following that, everyone in the shelter went dead silent. This was especially so for the girls who were all drenched in cold sweat.
 
It was thanks to that silence that everyone could suddenly hear the faint sound of feet dragging across sand slowly approaching the shelter!
 
As everyone turned to look at the entrance, they all stared in horror as a figure slowly got closer and closer!
 
Anxiety peaking, several of the girls immediately began screaming!
 
However, the moment they realized that it was just a young man wearing a mask and a cap, the same girls instantly yelled, “You… You scared the living daylight out of us!”
 
Meredith herself stood up in surprise as she said, “It’s you again!”
 
True enough, the person who had just made his appearance was none other than Gerald.
 
Without removing his mask, Gerald then replied, “Well, what a coincidence!”
 
“It truly is! I was just thinking about you earlier!” said Meredith as she smiled happily while blushing.
 
Wynn, on the other hand, simply sneered, “Well if it isn’t you again! What happened, huh? Didn’t have anywhere else to go, did you? Or maybe you’re already out of water! I bet you were overjoyed once you saw our carts, right? Haha! What’s wrong, I thought you didn’t need our help!”
 
“Again, it’s only a mere coincidence!” replied Gerald as he headed to a corner and sat quietly.
 
“…Hmm? Are Minnie and Juan not back yet…?” asked someone from that group at that moment.
 
“What? When did they head out?” asked the Master of the Desert.
 
“Around half an hour ago, I think! They headed out to take some pictures!”
 
“It’s dangerous to be out there at night! We have to look for them immediately!” ordered the Master of the Desert as a few other people headed out with him.
 
After searching around while shouting out the names of the two missing people for a while, a few girls suddenly began screaming hysterically!
Chapter 1071
Surprised, everyone immediately began gathering around the screaming girls as they asked, “What happened?!”
 
However, the answer to that question was immediately made clear the moment they looked in the direction the screaming girls were staring wide-eyed at. 
 
Lying on the dune were two dead bodies! Under the moonlight, the corpses looked like they had been sucked dry, with their skin clinging on tightly to their torsos after having all their internal fluids sucked out.
 
“Those… Those are Minnie and Juan!” cried out someone from within the search party who recognized the clothes the corpses were wearing. 
 
“How could this have happened…? It’s only been half an hour!” said Professor Yale.
 
Though the professor had a lot of experience in his field, he couldn’t help but feel that the current turn of events was absolutely incredulous. The sight of the two dead bodies alone made his hair stand on end!
 
“…It’s… It’s the Capra Nanny… She’s here!” stuttered the Master of the Desert in horror before gulping.
 
Hearing that, everyone grew even more frightened, prompting them to huddle closely together.
 
“Come to me, Giya! Stay by my side!” shouted Wynn, fear in his voice.
 
Meanwhile, the Master of the Desert—who was now already kneeling—began praying, “We’re just passing by, Capra Nanny! We have no other intentions, please forgive us!”
 
Hearing that, everyone else immediately began mimicking his actions, repeating the exact same words that the bearded man used. 
 
Gerald, however, simply walked over to the two corpses and after taking a look, he said, “What Capra Nanny? This was done by a mere beast!”
 
“…W-what did you say? Nonsense! You’re just a young lad who doesn’t know any better! You’d best watch your tongue or you’re going to be the first person Capra Nanny kills!” reprimanded the Master of the Desert in return, clearly feeling that Gerald’s words were too careless.
 
“Watch your tongue or you’re going to be the first person Capra Nanny kills~!”
 
As soon as the Master of the Desert said that, a faint voice—that almost blended seamlessly with the wind and sand—was heard
 
Everyone listened in horror as the sinister-sounding, childlike voice was repeated. The fact that all this was happening under the night sky only served to make the atmosphere feel even more surreal.
 
At that moment, Professor Yale and the others held on to their breaths as they stared wide-eyed behind Gerald.
 
“B-big brother! Careful! Something’s behind you!” warned both Giya and Meredith as they simultaneously stood up, immense fear in their voices.
 
Gerald already had a good hunch of what that ‘something’ was. He had already bumped into her earlier, and after turning around to glare at the monster, his guess turned out to be right.
 
The monster itself had green eyes and messy hair, and it was currently crawling out from a dune. Standing upright, she looked similar to a human at first glance. Closer inspection, however, anyone would definitely know that she was anything but.
 
Still repeating the same line from before, Capra Nanny began slowly crawling toward Gerald with her long tongue—which was filled with rows of barbs on it and was occasionally dragged across the sand— hanging out.  
 
“C-Capra Nanny!” stuttered the Master of the Desert in fright as he instantly began kowtowing before her.
 
“I’ve been looking for you for an entire night and day, you know? So you’ve finally decided to show yourself again!” shouted Gerald, coldly.
 
Quite honestly, with Gerald’s speed, he had earlier made it long past the center-point of the desert. However, not long after, he discovered the existence of Capra Nanny. 
 
Under normal circumstances, Gerald would’ve just walked past it so that he could be on his way.
However, these weren’t normal circumstances. After all, Giya and her group were still behind him.
 
Gerald had feared for Giya’s safety since for one, the beast seemed to prefer attacking tourists. Secondly, he could also tell that the beast wasn’t something ordinary people could deal with easily. With that in mind, he could only turn back around to look for Giya.
 
When the beast finally realized who Gerald was, rage filled its green eyes as green saliva dripped from her gaping mouth.
 
“Leave! All of you! I’ll deal with her!” ordered Gerald as he turned around to look at Professor Yale and the others.
 
While Professor Yale and the others instantly nodded, Wynn himself took out a pistol from his pocket before saying, “It’s just a beast, isn’t it? What are all of you so afraid of? Worry not, Giya! I’ll protect you! Watch me kill her!”
 
Being the egoist that he was, Wynn was definitely not letting his rival steal his spotlight. With that, he took aim at the monster and pulled the trigger!
 
Though the bullet hit its mark, Capra Nanny was barely fazed by the attack.
Chapter 1072
As the Master of the Desert had earlier said, the monster was near bulletproof due to its extremely tough skin.
 
“What?!” shouted Wynn, stunned.
 
Even though the bullet didn’t hurt it, the beast was enraged by Wynn’s attack! Rushing toward him, the beast then got on its feet and grabbed Wynn by his collar before tossing him into the air!
 
Seconds later, Wynn found himself crashing back down onto the sand. After a brief moment, he began spurting out blood from his mouth as well!
 
“H-how strong!” stuttered Professor Yale who had gone pale from fright as he led his group of researchers toward the back.
 
With Wynn now out of the way, the beast turned to face Gerald again, its main target from the very beginning. Just by looking at him, she could already sense how strong and vicious Gerald was.
 
The moment she rushed at him, Gerald sent her flying back with a strong kick! Though the beast had thick skin, Gerald was still a semi-great master. In other words, there was no way it could handle Gerald’s inner strength. Falling to the ground, Capra Nanny then released a horrifying scream.
 
Now feeling much more anxious, the beast began clawing into the sand with all four of her limbs.
 
At that moment, Giya—who had stayed back along with Meredith instead of running away with the others—nervously shouted, “B-big brother! Please be careful!”
 
Hearing her voice as well, the beast suddenly turned to stare at Giya. Within a second, the beast seemed to make up its mind as she grabbed a handful of sand and threw it directly at Gerald!
 
While Gerald was evading the attack, the beast dashed toward Giya! The next thing Giya knew, Capra Nanny was already standing before her!
 
Gerald truly hadn’t expected the beast to be this clever. To think that she had manipulated him into thinking that she was about to attack him when in actuality, she was going for Giya!
 
By the time Gerald realized all this, both Giya and Meredith had already been captured by the beast!
 
Seeing that, Gerald dashed toward Capra Nanny before tossing an extremely fast black object straight for her chest! However, the beast didn’t look too affected and hurriedly sprinted away, abducting Giya and Meredith in the process. 
 
“Giya!” shouted Gerald, feeling his heart clench as he watched the beast escape into the dark of night.
 
From what he knew, the beast was extremely bloodthirsty. Was there even a chance that Giya and Meredith would survive after falling into her hands…?
 
“W-what should we do? Giya and Meredith have been taken away!” cried out several of the researchers nervously. 
 
At that moment, Gerald turned to look at the Master of the Desert—who was still kneeling—before walking over to him and lifting the bearded man with a single hand!
 
“Answer me this. Do you know where the beast’s lair is? Or anyplace she frequents?” asked Gerald coldly.
 
“I-I’m not too sure… What do you intend to do? Please remember that you were the one who had angered Capra Nanny in the first place! Once she gets mad, her intention to kill drastically rises!” replied the Master of the Desert?
 
“Kill, you say? Well if that’s the case, I’ll kill you as well!”
“Please don’t act rashly, young man! Calm yourself!” yelled Professor Yale, attempting to calm Gerald down.
 
After that, he turned to face the Master of the Desert before saying, “Master of the Desert, you saw how he fought against that beast earlier. He clearly has the ability to take on the beast and potentially kill it! Besides, Capra Nanny now has two living humans within her grasp! We can't just leave them to die! So please… Please be merciful and tell us where the beast’s lair is! Otherwise, there’ll truly be no chance for those girls to be saved!”
 
“…I can tell you where it is… But first, please tell him to put me down!” replied the Master of the Desert who was currently more terrified of the extremely angry-looking Gerald.
 
Hearing that, Gerald frowned before tossing him to the ground.
 
Following that, the Master of the Desert dusted the sand off his clothes before saying, “…Many people say that you should never head toward the ancient well located within the Thousand Sand Ridge… People are forbidden from going there for a reason. After all, anyone who heads there will most definitely get eaten alive by Capra Nanny! Due to that correlation, I assume that that’s where her lair is! Despite the warnings not to go there, nobody truly knows where it’s located! Nobody can confirm where it lies either since nobody who’s entered has ever made it out alive!”
 
“The Thousand Sand Ridge you say…?” murmured Gerald under his breath.
 
Looking at his watch, he then turned to find the Big Dipper constellation in the night sky. Once he got his bearings, Gerald shouted, “I know where it is!”
 
With that, Gerald instantly began running in a certain direction.
 
Since the Thousand Sand Ridge had been marked on the map that the mysterious man had sent to him, Gerald had no difficulty locating where it was.
 
As he ran on, members of the research team began calling out, “Brother, wait for us!”
After seeing how strong he was, they knew that sticking with him would be their safest option. They were also following him since it was way too terrifying to stay in their current position.
 
With all of them thinking more or less about the same thing, they all began chasing after Gerald.
Chapter 1073
After running for quite a while, Gerald finally arrived at the Thousand Sand Ridge. Upon arriving, he quickly found out why the area had been named the way it was. With probably no less than a thousand sand dunes overlapping each other, the inspiration for the area’s name was evident.
 
However, even after looking around for a while, he still couldn’t find the ancient well that the Master of the Desert had mentioned about.
 
It was sometime later—after walking around for quite a bit—when his nose picked up an odd scent, prompting him to look down. At his feet was a pool of blood!
 
Squinting his eyes, he saw that the blood had traces of dark green in it. That alone was enough to tell him that the blood belonged to the beast.
 
While Capra Nanny hadn’t initially reacted much after Gerald’s Dawnbreaker struck her chest, Gerald was sure that he had successfully harmed the beast, consequently causing it great discomfort.
 
After all, no matter how strong the other party’s defenses were, they’d still get seriously injured once they were hit by the Dawnbreaker!
 
By following the trail of blood, it wasn’t long before Gerald finally found where the ancient well was. If it hadn’t been for the blood, it would’ve been extremely difficult to locate it. After all, the well—located north of the Thousand Sand Ridge—was very well hidden, not unlike an obscure cave entrance.
 
As he approached the well, a horrendous stench filled his nostrils!
 
“The beast is here!” shouted Gerald as he stared down the well.
Though the smell was truly terrible, Gerald didn’t really have any other choice if he wanted to save Giya. Holding his breath, he then leaped into the well!
 
Noticing that there was water at the bottom, Gerald readied himself for impact before diving straight into it. The well water ran deep and after coming out from the other end, Gerald realized that he was now in some sort of river.
 
Seeing that the river had an edge, Gerald had a hunch that he was currently in an underground river of sorts.
 
The moment he swam up to the edge of the river, he quickly realized that the beast was present. At the time, Capra Nanny was staring at both Giya and Meredith’s unconscious bodies, her barbed tongue hanging out!
 
The moment she noticed that someone else was present, she turned around to look. Upon realizing that it was Gerald, she instantly bared her fangs at him, simultaneously exposing her badly injured chest that was now bleeding profusely.
 
Gerald’s first reaction, however, was to call out, “Giya! Giya, are you alright?!”
 
Getting no reply and seeing how pale the unconscious girl looked, Gerald turned to look at Capra Nanny next before angrily yelling, “You beast! Let’s see you try to escape me again this time!”
 
With that, he tossed the Dawnbreaker at Capra Nanny while simultaneously dashing toward her for an attack! With two dangers to suddenly keep track of, the beast was caught off guard!
 
As a result, the Dawnbreaker easily pierced through the beast’s thick skin and directly stabbed her heart!
 
With the beast now screaming out in pain, the Dawnbreaker then hovered over to its neck before slashing through it!
 
Even after that, the monster simply held onto her neck, continuing to scream.
 
Feeling increasingly anxious about Giya’s safety, Gerald then commanded the Dawnbreaker to return to his hand as he held onto Capra Nanny’s head and personally decapitated the beast!
 
Once he was done, Gerald continued rushing over to Giya while shouting, “Giya!”
 
After quickly examining her body for any injuries, Gerald was relieved to find out that Giya had only gone unconscious due to lack of oxygen. As it turned out, Gerald had thankfully arrived before the beast could do anything to the two girls.
 
However, now wasn’t the time to be optimistic just yet. Both the girls were severely out of breath after traveling through the dunes for such a long time. Unfortunately, there was only one method Gerald could use to cure that.
 
“…I’m sorry, ladies! But I have to do this in order to save you!” muttered Gerald to himself as he began performing CPR on Giya. Naturally, he had to do the same for Meredith. While he didn’t like doing it, it was the only way to save their lives.
 
It was around ten minutes later when Gerald held Giya in his arms. Shaking her slightly, he then said, “Giya…? Giya, how do you feel…?”
 
A few seconds later, Giya’s eyelids twitched as the girl finally woke up.
 
“…Gerald…?” said Giya as her eyes instantly widened.
 
As she clung onto his arm tightly in disbelief, Gerald himself came to realize that he had tossed his mask aside earlier due to how anxious he had been! Due to that, she now knew who he was!
 
“I-it really is you, Gerald…!” added Giya, now so excited that she looked like she was ready to burst into tears.
 
Refusing to let go of his arm, she then continued, “I… I’m not dreaming, am I…? To think that I’d finally be able to see you again, Gerald… Did you know that I’ve been thinking of you every single day throughout your absence…?”
 
From how tightly she was hugging onto his arm, it almost seemed like she was worried that this truly was all just a dream, and that he would disappear again once she loosened her grip.
 
Understanding that, Gerald felt an acute pain in his heart.
 
He could only let her down so much in this lifetime. Gerald simply couldn’t bear hurting her any further than this.
 
Momentarily at a loss of what to even do, he thought to himself for a moment as Giya continued clinging onto his arm.
 
A short while later, he formed a surprised expression on his face before saying, “…Um… Miss? I’m afraid you’ve mistaken me for someone else… My name isn’t Gerald!”
Chapter 1074
“Lies! I would never mistake you for someone else!” replied Giya almost instantaneously as she clung on tighter while wiping the tears off her face with her free hand.
 
“Miss, my name is Xadrian… I truly have no idea who this Gerald person is! Could he be the person who carried you that you mentioned before…? Do I look that similar to him?” asked Gerald in an indifferent tone.
 
Gerald had plenty of time to practice his poker face since he had been doing so from the moment he first bumped into Giya that day.
 
After looking at how indifferent his expression was, she slowly began feeling that she truly was unfamiliar with the strange man. What more, his voice was different from the Gerald she knew. 
 
The Gerald Giya had fallen for was rather thin, quiet, and had fair skin.
 
While the person before her resembled him a lot, he was a lot more muscular, stronger, and slightly tanner than Gerald.
 
Still, could two people living on the same planet truly look so alike…?
 
“…Well, yes… Both of you resemble each other a lot… Are you sure you aren’t lying to me…?” asked Giya.
 
“Again, my name is Xadrian, and I know not of any Gerald, especially not one that looks like me. Still, from how shocked you appear, I guess I must really look like him, huh…”
 
“You truly do!” replied Giya with a nod.
 
However, after looking at you for a while, I’ve noticed a few differences between you and him…  For one, Gerald is quite weak and probably nowhere near as strong as you are… Aside from that, he isn’t as skillful as you are either… Regardless, were you the one who saved us, big brother?” asked Giya as she wiped the remaining tears off her face, her slight disappointment reflected in her eyes.
 
She was finally able to convince herself that this truly wasn’t Gerald. Even though both of them looked so alike, there was no way that Gerald could become this powerful and skillful in just a year…
 
So this truly wasn’t him after all…
 
“Indeed. After the beast captured both you and your friend, I went after it! Thankfully, I rescued you in time! Speaking of which, I’d like to see a picture of this Gerald once we’re out of this place… Even I’m curious as to how similar we look like now!” replied Gerald.
 
“Hmm… Alright…” said Giya as she continued staring at Gerald in disbelief. Though her mind was convinced that he wasn’t Gerald, her gut was telling her otherwise. In the end, she chose her rationality over her feelings since he truly did seem more unfamiliar than not now.
 
At that moment, Meredith herself slowly awoke.
 
Seeing that, Giya instantly supported her up while asking, “Are you alright, Meredith…?”
 
“I’m fine… I just had a very weird dream earlier…” replied Meredith as she scratched the back of her head.
 
“A weird dream…?”
 
“Yeah… I dreamed that someone was kissing me!”
 
“Are you for real? Are you even aware of the situation we’re currently in? To think that you’re still in the mood to joke around when we almost just lost our lives!” replied Giya, feeling speechless.
 
“But I really am serious!”
 
Hearing their conversation, Gerald couldn’t help but blush slightly.
 
“…Huh? Could… Could you be big brother?!” said Meredith aloud, now realizing that Gerald was present.
 
Pleasantly surprised, her eyes widened and her face instantly turned red as she shyly stared at Gerald with a rather silly expression.
 
Before this, she had occasionally wondered what he looked like. After all, who’s to say that he couldn’t be an old uncle?
 
Now that his mask was off, however, Meredith truly hadn’t expected him to be this handsome.
 
Watching as the girl breathed heavily, Gerald simply replied, “Indeed I am. You can call me Xadrian.”
 
“Thank you for saving us, Xadrian!” said Meredith as she continued staring at him.
 
Giya herself had also been staring at Gerald this entire time. When he had blushed earlier, she couldn’t help but feel that even his blush resembled Gerald’s.
 
“There’s no need to thank me! Regardless, there may still be other beasts or monsters lurking nearby, so let’s get both of you out to safety first!” replied Gerald as he stood up before scanning through their environment.
 
He paused when he saw what seemed to be the faint outlines of a stone door that was slightly concealed behind some rocks.
 
“...Does that look like a stone gate to you girls?”
 
“It does!” replied Giya, nodding in agreement after looking in the direction Gerald was.
Chapter 1075
“Well, the only way to find out is by trying to push it open, right?” added Meredith.
 
“Indeed. While I do so, you girls should back away a bit!” replied Gerald with a nod.
 
Based on the rumors his grandfather had heard from around the world—and subsequently told Gerald—treasures could usually be found hidden in places guarded by strange beasts or monsters.
 
The picture of the sun itself was discovered by his family’s ancestors within a cave that was located in a dense forest. It was guarded—at the time—by a large, man-eating white ape, and many of his ancestors lost their lives before finally succeeding in retrieving the picture.
 
Since Gerald was already here anyway, he may as well just go in and have a look.
 
Gerald had told the girls to back off earlier since with how heavy the stone gate looked, he knew he needed to use his inner strength to open it. He was afraid that if they stood too close to him, they could end up getting hurt.
 
Once they were at a safe distance, Gerald began feeling around the stone gate for a weak spot. After managing to find it, he took in a deep breath before focusing all his energy on that spot… And launching it all out in one go!
 
With a mighty rumble, any surrounding rocks started dancing in place as the area shook slightly! Seconds later, the sound of stone dragging against dirt could be heard as the gaps on the door began to widen! It truly was a stone gate!
 
Upon confirming that, Gerald continued pushing the stone gate open and once it was wide enough, a tunnel revealed itself to the trio!
 
“…This… couldn’t be an ancient tomb… Could it?” asked Meredith excitedly as she ran over to Gerald’s side.
 
Giya herself was feeling slightly uneasy after witnessing the scene before her.
 
“…It sure looks like one!” said Giya.
 
“Well, let’s head in and have a look around then! You girls can follow me from behind!” replied Gerald.
 
Gerald honestly wasn’t all that interested in whether it truly was an ancient tomb or not. After all, he was in no dire need of money.
 
As the trio proceeded deeper into the tunnel, it slowly turned into a corridor which, in turn, led them to a lobby area of sorts. While the corridor itself was completely empty, a stone platform stood in the center of the lobby area. On it, lay a rectangular stone box that Gerald hadn’t the slightest idea what it could’ve possibly been used for.
 
Through the aid of the girls’ flashlights, all three of them realized that the lobby’s walls were adorned with oddly-patterned frescoes that would make anyone feel unnerved when viewed under the light of a torchlight. 
 
Upon noticing that there were also oil lamps within the room, they lit them up, brightening the lobby quite a bit. 
 
“…Rather than an ancient tomb, this looks more like a storage area, to be quite frank!” said Giya while pointing at the stone box.
 
Since she had been traveling with the group of researchers from the north all the way to the south in the past year, Giya had quite a bit of experience in her field.
 
Hearing that, Gerald himself nodded in agreement while saying, “Yeah, I think so too!”
 
“Hey, Xadrian! Come check this out! The things painted on these murals look extremely weird!” shouted Meredith.
Chapter 1076
Upon walking over to have a look for himself, he had to agree with her on how strange they looked.
 
From what he could see, the murals depicted how the people living here back then went about with their lives. However, some of the people that were painted looked extremely odd.
 
To put it simply, the murals seemed to be telling a story. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to tell the tale of the items that had been hidden in this stone room.
 
Noticing the Giya was also looking intently at the murals, Gerald then asked, “Do you understand what the murals are trying to say, Giya?”
 
“…W-what? What… did you just call me?” asked Giya as she immediately came to her senses and stared at Gerald, a blank expression on her face.
 
“…Why, Giya of course! I didn’t get your name wrong, did I? After all, I’ve heard quite a few people calling you that by this point!”
 
“…Y-you got it right… My name’s Giya, yes...” replied Giya as she felt her heart quivering slightly.
 
Shaking the feeling off, she then replied, “…I’m able to understand some of them… But the tale they tell is rather odd… The first mural here seems to say that something… incredibly odd happened, to say the least… From what I can gather, apparently strange corpses fell from the sky!”
 
“All the corpses were wearing odd-looking clothes as well, and they each bore strange appearances. The corpses seemed to have suffered a miserable death before falling from the sky… Regardless, it caused quite a stir back then since the locals were all superstitious. They believed that the corpses were heavenly soldiers, so they planned to build them a tomb in order for the locals to make offerings to them!” explained Giya.
 
“Unbelievable, right…? As if corpses could just fall from the sky… I’m guessing that all this was just some fairy-tale they came up with!”
 
“Anyway… The second mural talks about the heavenly soldiers as well. Among the corpses, one of them seemed to be particularly more mysterious than the others. This heavenly soldier seemed to have received very special and different treatment from the locals. Based on the murals, it appears that they worshiped this particular corpse like a king, even going so far as to kowtow before him while they were transporting his corpse! Actually, after taking a closer look, they seemed to worship the dead body like a god more than a king!
 
“This corpse was apparently more special than the rest since they found his body on a big tree that had fallen from the sky with all the other corpses!” added Giya, feeling that the story was getting a bit too unrealistic, even by fairy-tale standards.
 
“Aren’t there two coffins being transported though?” asked Meredith.
 
“Well, the third mural seems to explain that… According to the mural, a woman dressed in white should be buried in the other coffin… She was supposedly extremely beautiful, and everyone who saw her would end up feeling shocked. Apparently, she looked extremely beautiful even though she was as dead as the other corpses! What more, she was found lying on top of the heavenly soldier who was found on the same big tree I mentioned earlier. From what the locals could tell, the two of them were lovers who wanted to be buried with each other! Because of that, the people of that country held a very grand burial ceremony for the two spiritual beings on the day they found them!”
 
“As for the fourth mural… I only understand the former part… Apparently, the mysterious heavenly soldier had a weapon with him, though it was placed someplace else… Also, both he and the woman dressed in white ended up not getting buried together… This was supposedly because some old beggar had stood in their way, preventing them from proceeding with the plan. Due to that old man’s interference, the mysterious heavenly soldier ended up being placed inside a very special coffin before being stored in a secret room… As seen on this part of the mural, the ones present at that particular scene were the king, the ones burying the mysterious heavenly soldier, and also… that old beggar. From the looks of it, the old man was laughing the entire time!”
 
“…I see. And the latter part of it…?” asked Gerald, feeling extremely confused as he was bewildered.
 
“I… don’t quite get the latter part… It mentions something about the old beggar knowing black magic…? Apparently, the moment the burial ceremony was over, he laughed a few times before disappearing into thin air! Right after that, a massive object appeared that shrouded the entire royal city! It’s… improbable to say the least, but it looks like a battleship! I… can’t make sense of this part either…” replied Giya as she shook her head.
 
How the hell could such a huge battleship even exist thousands of years ago?!
 
Meredith shook her head as well before saying, “I guess this is all just the result of people of old’s exaggerated imagination… From what I can see, the heavenly soldier couple must have been the prince and his most beloved concubine. It would make sense for the people of that time to paint the mural this way to symbolize their deep love for one another. What more, the prince theory also explains why everyone in the murals is bowing to him! He’s a noble after all! As for the corpses that fell from the sky… I’m assuming that they’re the prince’s personal soldiers. Since the countries in the western regions were constantly at war in the past, the prince could’ve died while leading his soldiers into battle…”
 
Hearing Meredith’s theory, Giya couldn’t help but laugh before saying, “Though the love story you came up with sounds a little unrealistic, it still makes sense, in a way. At the very least, it’s by far the most logical conclusion we’ve arrived at! I’m guessing most of what you said was right!”
 
“Still… The ancients must have had really amazing imagination for them to even draw such a huge battleship thousands of years ago!” chimed in Gerald without putting too much thought into it.
 
After saying that, he turned to look at the stone platform before adding, “So… the item hidden within that stone box should be the weapon the heavenly soldier carried, right?” said Gerald as he gently touched the stone box.
 
Luckily, he was easily able to open the stone box!
—— To be Continued... ——