The Fallen Hero Reincarnates as the Demon King's Son
Chapter 72 - 71 - Mystery

Chapter 72: Chapter 71 - Mystery

The more Caliste learned about all this, the more he believed that it was Liana who had left behind those magic runes. However, the real question was: why had she done such a thing? Why had she done it here, in some hidden tunnel in the dwarven mines?

There were so many questions that needed answers, but Caliste couldn’t have any of them because Liana had decided to disappear many years ago.

The strangest thing about all this was the timer at the end of the tunnel, which shone brightly. It indicated one week; however, what was it counting down toward? That’s why Caliste wanted to know.

"Did you figure out anything else about the runes?" Caliste asked Rachel, who was in charge of figuring out what those runes were.

They had already returned from the cave, and even since then, they had been locked inside Caliste’s room with a ton of books about magic runes. Caliste wanted to see if those runes could be linked to any others—anything that could give him a little clue about Liana’s plan.

"Mhm~ Actually, I might have found something."

Caliste jumped from his seat and immediately arrived next to Rachel, sitting right next to her. Their bodies collided in the moment, but Caliste didn’t even notice how close he was to Rachel.

"What is it?"

She pointed at a specific rune inside her magic book.

Caliste looked at it and was honestly lost. There was nothing about it that he recognized from the cave. While Caliste was good at using magic, he had never bothered to learn all the theory behind it. This whole thing about runes had always been boring to him. So, he was happy that Rachel had come with him.

"This rune right here. It’s a Space and Time Magic Rune."

"What about it?"

"Shush. I’m getting to it; just listen to me. Stop being so impatient..." she said as she rolled her eyes. "You see, the shape of that rune—the outline of it—is very similar to a few runes inside the tunnel."

She grabbed one of the pictures they had taken from inside the cave and pointed at another rune, putting them next to each other to make sure that Caliste could notice the similarities.

"You’re right... they are similar. But what does that mean?"

Rachel smirked, proud of herself. "Well, I’m not 100% certain or anything, but all of those magic runes seem to be related to two things in particular: Time and Space. There aren’t any other types of magic runes inside the cave."

"And what does that mean? What do those runes do?"

She shrugged. "How would I know? I’m not the one who made those runes, and there seems to be something special about them because no matter how hard I try to replicate them, I fail every single time. It’s almost as if there’s something missing."

Caliste looked away from her as he started to rub his forehead. ’Time and Space... time and space... time and space?’

He kept repeating it inwardly. But nothing was coming up. He had no idea why Liana would come here and draw runes like that. Maybe it was related to his reincarnation... Caliste shook his head.

’Why did she always have to make everything complicated?! Couldn’t she leave me a note telling me everything? Fuck. Now I have to go in some tunnel to observe some stupid runes. You’re lucky that I care about you, or else I would have dropped all this a long time ago!’ Caliste suddenly cursed in his mind as he was getting annoyed at the fact that he could not grasp her plan.

"Is something wrong?" Rachel suddenly asked, noticing Caliste tense up because of how close they were.

"No, no. It’s fine. It’s whatever. I’ll go talk to the king about visiting the molten core; maybe we’ll be able to figure out something once we get a look there. The two events seem strangely connected to one another, after all."

Rachel nodded without saying another word. She continued to read about the runes, trying to figure out their use in the process.

Two hours later, they had made their way underground in the direction of the Molten Core. It had already been around 30 minutes since they had started to descend, and they were starting to get impatient.

"Are we about to arrive?" Caliste asked again. It was the fifth time in the past five minutes.

The king’s adviser sighed and said the same thing as before. "It shouldn’t take long."

Then, the elevator they were in suddenly slowed down before completely stopping and opening its doors.

"See? Didn’t take long," he said with a smile as he walked out of the elevator.

Caliste walked out as a wave of heat brushed against his entire body. He felt as if he were only steps away from the sun. At least, that’s how he imagined being close to the sun; he had never done that before.

"Is this... the Molten Core?" Caliste asked.

Before him was a giant sphere of molten lava. It seemed to be holding itself up by magic, floating in the air without anything helping it. It was truly strange.

"Yes. That is the molten core. This is the source of energy that powers everything at the surface. However, recently, we have been getting some problems regarding it: power cuts at random times, and people are starting to get worried about it."

"Do you have any idea why it does such a thing?"

"Actually, we do. We have a very good idea as to why it does such a thing." The adviser started walking to the other side of the molten core, and once there, he pointed toward a very specific place on it. "You see this black spot?"

Caliste and Rachel nodded without delay.

"Well, eighteen years ago it appeared. We didn’t think much of it, but over the years, it has started to grow and grow. At first, it was only a little dot that was barely one centimeter thick. But now, it’s starting to grow pretty fast."

Caliste wasn’t sure what to think. He had no idea what that black spot was. However, when he heard that it had appeared eighteen years ago, he linked it back to himself; his reincarnation had probably caused this.

"Do you have any idea what it is?"

"We have a few theories. The first one is that it’s the work of Heretics who have decided to corrupt the Molten Core. However, our security is extremely high, and no one has ever been able to get through it, so we don’t think it’s their fault. The second one is that we have a traitor among us. And the third one is... we have no idea what it is."

Caliste couldn’t help but shake his head. "So, you think there’s a traitor?"

The adviser shrugged. "You tell me."

Caliste looked around and couldn’t tell much. He decided to continue asking some questions about that black circle.

"Can you tell me in detail what that black spot actually does?"

"It steals energy away from the Molten Core. Our prediction is that one hundred years from now, it will have completely drained it of its power."

’It drains the energy? Why would Liana have done such a thing?’ Caliste thought to himself as he tried to remember her past friends and the actions she would take, realizing there was always something in common with all of them. There was always a good reason behind it. ’If she decided to put a spell on the molten core to drain its energy, there has to be a reason. She’s not one to act for fun.’

However, once again, the same question entered Caliste’s mind. He needed to figure out why she had done such a thing. Because while the adviser believed it was a traitor, Caliste was sure that it was Liana who had done this.

Everything seemed to fit.

"Tell me. Could this drained energy theoretically be transferred to a human being?"

One of the technicians a few meters behind was called up by the adviser with a frown on his face as he began to explain more about the molten core.

"Mhm... it could be transferred to a human being, but no one should be able to handle such raw energy. No body would be able to absorb such a thing."

Caliste closed his eyes. "Even the Demon King? Would that be possible for him?"

The technician frowned as he didn’t answer right away. "Hm... I’m not sure. Maybe?"

"What about someone who would be stuck in a place where Space and Time didn’t exist?"

The dwarf shook his head. "Well, first, such a place doesn’t exist. But yeah, if someone managed to create such a thing, then possibly they would be able to absorb that energy because they wouldn’t be affected by time."

Caliste turned and looked toward Rachel, who seemed to come to the same conclusions as him.

There were two options regarding this whole thing.

Either the person who had made the runes inside the tunnel was the one responsible for this, or it was the Demon King... or maybe it was both?

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