Chapter Four

"Indeed, I wish to know more about the tomb."

Kyle's smile was sincere, unlike his previous one.

He was eager on searching for this tomb, it was the whole reason why he went to Karland after all. If Kyle was to blame it on something, he would blame the person spreading the rumors on his academy.

[An ancient tomb appeared on Karland!] was basically how the rumor goes. Kyle wasn't interested in the tomb at first, but the rumors gradually became even more exaggerated—attracting his attention.

It was publicly known that tombs such as this would contain various treasures and knowledge. As the saying goes, shall one find their way into a tomb, shall they gain both riches and strength.

Of course, these fortunes come with a price. Dangers lurk everywhere on places like these, capable of eliminating even the mightiest of warriors. It is not uncommon for people to go missing when they attempted to venture inside.

That was the information accessible by the public, though.

The President nodded slightly upon seeing his sincere smile and stood up from his wooden chair—producing a high-pitched screech.

Ignoring the loud noise he had just made, he turned to his right—gradually approaching one of the bookshelves.

As the sound of leather boots and creaking wood reverberated, Kyle noticed that even the clothes the President was wearing weren't that of a luxurious quality either.

Strapped on his body was a black tailcoat worn over a cream-colored shirt. On top of his chest, an image of a person holding a children's hand was knitted over the cream shirt—the symbol of Karland's Association of Welfare.

His lower body wore black slack pants and a pair of leather boots, the kind you would find on your common shop.

'A frugal man, or a poor one,' Kyle concluded.

Stopping in front of an inconspicuous bookshelf, the President grabbed a book with a familiar motion—as if he had repeatedly grabbed every single book in that bookshelf. The book's appearance was gradually revealed and was scrutinized by Kyle.

The cover was made out of something akin to leather, and ancient-looking carvings decorated the book. At the middle of the front cover were words written in modern Antisian.

"Antis of Yore," it spelled.

Flipping the book to its cover, the President glances and returned to his seat. Once he made himself comfortable, he showed the cover to Kyle.

"Familiar with these patterns, young man?"

"No, but the title of the book tells me that it has something to do with ancient Antis."

The President smiled, squinting his eyes slightly. "Good answer, it seems that you at least have common sense."

Kyle felt as if he was being mocked with that statement. By being told that he had common sense, it made Kyle look like he was an idiot. Unamused, he nevertheless kept his smile and spoke directly.

"And what is that supposed to be, Mr.Kite?"

As if detecting the slight anger in those words, the middle-aged man laughed boisterously and waved his hand quickly.

"Don't worry, I'm not ridiculing you or anything, it's just that most 'genius' I've met don't have much common sense. Sometimes I even wish that they would understand that things like these don't require extensive knowledge—moderate observation is good enough."

He wiped his slightly wet eyes and pointed at the lines decorating the cover, ignoring Kyle's slightly angry stare.

"You're right, these patterns are one of the defining features of our ancestors. They may look like disordered and curvy lines at first glance, but the more you look at it—the less you would find such disorder," the President slowly explained.

"In fact, these lines were carved with a certain intention in mind. The ends of these lines would point to the middle, highlighting what the carver would like you to see."

"And if you look even further, you would find the lines on the top to be similar to the bottom. You're right, they are at least seventy-percent similar, which would make it look less messy."

Kyle felt that the President's tone quickened slightly at this point, and opened his mouth before the President could continue his lecture.

"To the point, please," Kyle said.

The President's opened mouth became rigid, and his eyes twitched at Kyle's impatience. After a few moments of shock, a young woman's chuckle woke him up—and he lowered his hands, pretending to tidy his clothes.

He lowered his head and muttered, "…Such pettiness…."

The President assumed that this was Kyle's way of retaliation to his earlier words.

Even though Kyle heard him clearly, he had no intention of replying to him. His formerly wide smile was replaced with a faint one.

The leader of the association then pointed again at the curvy lines and spoke with an energetic tone as if nothing happened earlier.

"The point is, carvings of similar nature have been found on that tomb—so I think that it came from the ancient Antis! Not only that, but the building's structure is also similar to that of the past!" He enthusiastically spoke.

Eyes that glittered like the stars reflected the president's enthusiast on this matter. Even though people would get excited at the ideas of wealth and power, the President looked like he was more interested in the aspect of it coming from ancient Antis.

Even in his age, his spirit seemed like it was as youthful as it could be—which annoyed Kyle slightly.

But even then, Kyle showed no change in his tone. "So, the tomb came from ancient Antis, so what?"

"What do you mean by that?!" The President eyes quickly shifted to Kyle, but before he was able to speak a piece of his mind—the brown-haired girl coughed harshly and glared at him.

The President quickly closed his mouth and stood stupefied for a while, before smiling wryly and glanced a silent "thank you" to the girl.

The arrogant teen didn't even bother keeping up his appearance now, gradually revealing his disdain.

Seeing this, the President didn't have anything to say for himself and sighed for a long time.

"I'm sorry, I get overly aroused once something like this happens."

Upon receiving no answer from Kyle, he shook his head in resignation again and continued to explain.

"As you probably know, most of our country's history was lost when the first World War happened."

Hearing this, Kyle nodded. As a student, the World Wars were naturally taught as a part of their curriculum. The first one was the most vicious of them all, about 80% of humanity's population was lost in that war.

After that war, details of the past were mostly lost—leaving historians of the current age baffled at what truly happened during and before the war. All they knew was that humanity was only a part of the war—and that humanity wasn't the victor.

"So, you really are that famous historian?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know about being famous, but I can proudly say that no one in Karland is able to beat me in terms of the past!" The president said with a proud smile.

Hearing this, Kyle sighed inaudibly. He had thought that all historians were the quiet and reserved type, but this "youthful" person in front of him proved him otherwise.

"So…this tomb would most likely contain records from the past, but what would I get from it?"

At this moment, the President replied with a question instead of an answer.

"Young man, if I'm not mistaken—you are praised as a genius at magic engineering yes?"

"I am," Kyle answered confidently.

Kyle was slightly confused now. The expression on the historian's face was full of smiles, but amusement could be found inside of them. His teasing expression slowly tore down on Kyle's patience, before the President spoke.

"What if I tell you, that back then, people can use artifacts with ease?"

"…But we can do it as well," He answered back.

The smile on the President's face was now as wide as it could possibly be, and he started chuckling.

"I'm not talking about us. I'm talking about civilians, the kind that wouldn't be able to manipulate energy like us."

"…!"

The teen's face finally showed something other than smile and disdain this time. The President saw his stupefied expression and chuckled satisfiedly.

"According to the information we gathered, our ancestors were capable of creating artifacts that even civilians would be able to manipulate! So how about it, are you interested now?"

A few seconds was all it took for Kyle to snap out of his reverie. He then picked himself up and asked the historian. "Are you positive that this is valid?"

"I am a hundred percent confident in this, I can even show you the proof if you wanted to," the President smugly said.

Hearing this, Kyle clenched his fist and said.

"No need, your words are good enough for me."

He had decided that he would enter the tomb, at any cost.