Chapter 120: The Ruins of the Concordia Kingdom
The Concordia Kingdom, once known as the "Sky Kingdom" for its unique scenery, was now a ruin. Yet, from the collapsed buildings lying on the ground, one could vaguely discern that it had once been a considerable kingdom.
In the northern part of this nation, or rather, this ruin, lay an ice lake surrounded by mountains. Just standing beside it, one could feel layers of chilling mist rising from its surface.
A woman in white casual clothes, with slightly curly flaxen hair, sat on a rock by the lake. Her thick overcoat, wrapped tightly around her, still couldn’t entirely conceal her graceful figure. Occasionally, remnants of the perished kingdom floated on the lake’s surface.
Suddenly, from within the dense mist, footsteps echoed. Alessia turned to look at the mountain path behind her. Through the fog, a crimson figure and a pair of golden-red, circular sunglasses stood out strikingly. A tall silhouette slowly emerged from the mist.
"What an interesting place, my dear," Alucard chuckled softly. "From the wreckage I’ve seen along the way, the specialized iron chains, the cable cars, and so on, I’m beginning to understand why this kingdom was once called the ’Sky Kingdom’."
Alessia stood up, wrapping her cloak tighter around herself. Her face showed no particular expression, appearing rather indifferent. "There weren’t any Marines or Government agents tracking you here, were there?"
The Concordia Kingdom had vanished from maps. New maps and Eternal Poses made it difficult to locate this place. It had taken Alessia a great deal of effort to find it initially, even with the help of an old map left by her deceased servant.
"What are you saying? If that were the case, I’d have been killed by the Marines already, wouldn’t I?" Alucard chuckled.
’Anyway, you can’t be killed no matter how hard they try, so it doesn’t matter, does it? Alucard the Immortal. I’m worried about my own safety,’ Alessia thought to herself.
Alucard walked to the edge of the ice lake. He admired the scenery for only five seconds before asking, "Where exactly is the item? It’s not at the bottom of the lake, is it?"
"You guessed correctly." Alessia walked up beside Alucard, gazing at the icy lake surface. "At the bottom of the lake, there’s a very concealed mechanism. Only by combining the blood of the royal family with the method my grandfather told me can the secret passage be opened and accessed."
"Start quickly."
Hearing this, Alessia wasted no more words. She leaped into the ice lake. It seemed she was quite accustomed to this.
"Hehe." Alucard chuckled softly, not bothering with niceties, and dove into the lake with Alessia. In such an ice lake, few animals could survive, and since it was a lake, not the sea, there was no need to say more.
To Alucard’s eyes, the world beneath the surface was frigid. Ahead and slightly below him, Alessia moved swiftly towards the bottom of the lake on the right, like a mermaid from Fish-Man Island.
Upon reaching the lakebed, Alucard stabilized himself, just like Alessia.
To Alucard, who was seeing this place for the first time, there was nothing beneath their feet but rocks and sea debris. But then, Alessia bit the tip of her finger, drawing blood, and placed it on a seemingly insignificant rock at the bottom of the lake.
The moment Alessia’s bleeding finger touched the rock, the ordinary-looking stone instantly turned crimson.
Next, Alessia rotated the stone one and a half turns clockwise, then about 30 degrees counter-clockwise, and then half a turn clockwise again before releasing her hand.
Alessia stood up and walked to another rock, roughly the size of two adults. She pressed down on a seemingly plain surface beside it, and suddenly, a passage appeared in the rock wall.
Alessia walked through the hidden door, gesturing for Alucard to follow. As Alucard stepped through the doorway, he noticed a sensation similar to the bubbles on Sabaody Archipelago.
Were these precautions taken to prevent lake water from flowing into the secret passage? To be honest, the security measures were quite impressive. Not only was the secret passage hidden in such a place, but it also had a double lock, requiring royal blood as a key.
"Was the method to open this mechanism also taught by your so-called ’grandfather’?" Alucard asked, walking behind Alessia. The "grandfather" wasn’t Alessia’s true grandfather but the old servant who brought her from Concordia to Exeter. However, Alessia had called him "grandfather."
"It was a letter left by my father. After I had completely memorized its contents, I burned it immediately," Alessia admitted. After all, the other party had hypnotic abilities, so it was better to be honest than to be controlled.
The two walked down a damp staircase, passed through a second hidden door, and then entered a vast chamber.
The place appeared very dilapidated, like a slum, suggesting that no one had been there for a very long time. In the center of the vast space stood only one object: an enormous, vivid red stone tablet, nearly three meters tall, inscribed with black runes in a language Alucard couldn’t understand.
Alucard and Alessia stepped closer. Alessia embraced the cuboid stone tablet as if it were a beloved family member. "My father, and my country, they died because of this. They perished for this."
Alucard placed a hand on the red stone tablet, muttering to himself, "So this is what the World Government desires... What exactly is it...?"
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TN:
It looks like bro’s completely forgotten One Piece.
Honestly, after ten years of no human interaction, constantly battling beasts, a decade of pondering (this definitely happened, as any human would ponder their life in such a situation, unless you couldn’t take that isolation and pressure and would go insane), and then being gifted Alucard’s powers plus months at sea, it’s understandable.
If I were in his shoes, my former mundane and boring life would definitely fade in comparison to such a vibrant, bloody, and exciting present.
Though, it still doesn’t leave the fact that he was in One Piece. He should’ve made himself sure that he could remember, at least major, information of the story. He could take advantage of those information for his goals.
But on another note, with how his goal being "pleasure," which focuses on his own heart’s desires, the mysteries, events, and characters really doesn’t matter much to him, right?
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