“Hmmm…”

Alex was looking at the small bronze coin closely for a while now and she was also searching through her database for references and information on those things since a while back.

There were a bunch of things that she had been confirming since a while ago, and, when she was done examining the small bronze coin, she nodded and handed it to Victor.

-Ooooooooooooong!

Then Victor examined with his own magic and skills, looked at the aspects of this coin with techniques that Alex could not use, and when he was done… which was about an hour after she handed him that coin, he nodded as well and placed the coin on the table before them.

“You’re right, master. It’s the same as them.”

They were in the inn room where Alex and the rest of them were staying. Misha was playing with the new big sister Erisea, and the Slime and Gecko duo were jumping around the place like usual.

They were all happy to meet Olive, and they absolutely Loved the things that she had made for them.

Be it her sweets or the baked stuffed bread. All of it was an absolute delight that they enjoyed with every particle of their souls, and now, they were playing. Stay tuned for updates on empire

“Hmmm? What is it, sister Alex?”

But, their playing stopped when they saw the exhausted and complicated look that Alex had right now.

“It’s… complicated.”

Sir Victor gave her a cup of special tea to calm her down, but for how serious this matter was actually, just this much wasn’t going to be enough.

“Come here, everyone. Sit down for a moment. Rin! Come here for a moment!”

Rin was in the other room, preparing supper for them. But after Alex’s call, she came out running in her apron and looked at Alex for what was happening.

“Sit.”

But, Alex just told her to sit down with a serious look on her face, and when all of them, including Misha and the two creatures with them had sat down, they looked at the coin placed on the table before them…

A bronze coin darkened with age, its surface etched with intricate nano-carvings that depict twisted, malevolent figures and ominous symbols that would only be visible to the special eyes that understood the meaning of those depictions.

These carvings were so small that they could only be perceived by eyes that had experienced the darkest of the darkness of pure or impure nature, revealing scenes of past history and chaos. The coin’s edge was also jagged, as if it had been through countless trials and tribulations, with strange names of all kinds of languages carved on it.

And, among the countless scratched names, there was one particular name that was still complete and visible on this coin.

“In ancient myths, this coin was known as the “Pass of Shadows”, a token that granted its bearer passage to the afterlife.” Alex was retelling them a story that even she had only ever heard from [Primordials].

“Legends say that it was forged in the fires of the underworld, imbued with the essence of Divinity and the ‘first’ ray of light. The coin’s presence is said to bring calamity wherever it appears, causing misfortune and disaster to those who possess it.” She was talking about a myth that was famous among the high rankers and those who had explored ancient runes.

It was also prophesied that a calamity bearing this coin would befall this world in near future by the ‘gods’ of this world, however that prophecy was never really taken seriously by anyone.

There was no trace of this coin even though there were countless mentions of how this thing was connected with all kinds of disasters that had struck this world since the Genesis of this world.

Though not at the center of all that had happened until now, some had even said this coin was something that was created by the ‘Creators’ themselves to regulate the flow of this world and to give a purpose to the Original AIs that have created this world.

“This is a complicated thing, Olive… and, as you can tell, it’s now bound to you.”

Alex did not know even a single name inscribed on the edge of this coin aside from hers. Olive was also the only person that could place this coin in their inventory.

Alex or even Sir Victor couldn’t place this coin in their dimensional storage. And same with putting these things in storage devices.

It was strange, but, those who knew about the [Bound] items, knew how things that already belong to a certain someone could never be someone else’s.

It was the same as the unique magic wands of the mages, the familiars, and the bound weapons of the knights who were chosen by those weapons.

Only they could wield it, and in some cases, they are the only ones who could even touch those objects.

“I don’t know what you want to do going forward, Olive, but you will have to be careful.”

Alex had traveled all around the world but just like the gods of this world, the absolute AIs that are masters of the twelve major paths, she was not an omnipotent omniscient being.

There were many things that she didn’t understand and there were many things that she wanted to understand. And this coin was now one of them.

“I don’t know what this coin is, no one actually knows. Its origin is perhaps the most contradictory thing to what we know until now. But one thing is true…”

This coin, this [{(Artifact)}] was closely connected to the Truth that all of the truth seekers were after.

And, even though she never intended to join the ranks of fanatics like Alex or the highest ranking couple of this world, Olive had unintentionally become one such existence.

“Elio is one thing, but Olive, that coin is no good news.”

It could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing. She did not know what this world was exactly, what the ‘afterlife’ the prophecy talked about, and she did not know what kind of disaster this coin would bring this time.

“We should talk with the others. I’ll have to call more people actually.”

The matter had now shifted from rescuing Elio to this coin. And, Olive did not understand why she was fussing over a simple coin so much.

But if she was like this, she knew there must be something important about this coin that she didn’t really understand well.

A myth was just a story with no bases so she didn’t take it seriously but for a Truthseeker like her… Olive wouldn’t even understand just how important of a matter this was actually.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep