Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 407: Cornerstones

Despite Zach’s exhaustion, it only ended up being a short nap, and he woke up not an hour later with Zoe’s face a hand’s width away from his own. He looked at her. She looked at him for a moment before blushing and pulling away.

"Is there a special reason as to why you’re studying my face while I’m sleeping? Zoe?" He asked while sitting up, careful not to wake the sleeping Nora clinging to his arm.

"...I was curious."

"... Sure." Zach sighed and finished detangling himself as he got up, stumbling slightly when he left the bed. Yanael was there to catch him. Zach mumbled a thanks before looking at Zoe.

"What do you want?" He asked bluntly.

"To thank you."

"You already did that."

"And talk to you about something."

"Something important."

"I would say so, yes."

"Alright." Zach gestured for her to follow him into the living room. He sat down in one of the chairs and gestured for her to do the same. When Soara came with tea and snacks, he gestured for her to begin. He had to wait for her to finish chewing first, though.

"Ahem. Have you heard from anyone what the black gem that bastard had in his eye was?"

"Nope."

"It was—is a cornerstone of this world, one of many. It is an important piece in the world’s stability, and it is the centerpiece of the Underworld. It was our most tightly guarded secret."

"If it’s that important, how did it end up in that guy’s hands?"

"That is what I am worried about. That bastard was a member of the imperial family at the time, so it’s not strange how he knew about the Underworld. We have existed in different ways for far longer than the Empire, after all. That he sought refuge with us isn’t weird. However, he didn’t just seek refuge. It was like we were his backup plan.

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"As soon as his rebellion failed, he came down and went straight for the black gem. He also knew how to take and use it. It might have been the gem telling him to use it since it has that kind of effect on the greedy, but it did not tell him where to find it."

"So, you’re saying…?" Zach began.

"...Someone told that bastard what to do," Zoe finished.

Zach leaned back in his chair and thought about it. The black gem was important and not something Ugor should have known about, yet he did. Someone else told him what to do.

"Who? Why?" He asked. "And why couldn’t they do it themselves if there was a reason why it needed to be done?"

Zoe raised her hands with a shrug.

"No idea. I can guess the why, but I have no more answers than you."

"What’s your guess, then?"

"There should only be one reason why they wanted that fucker to do what he did with the gem. They wanted to destabilize the world." Zoe’s tone was nonchalant, but her words still hung in the air with a heavy presence.

"That doesn’t sound very good."

"Mhm," she hummed in agreement.

"..." Zach wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with this information, but he appreciated Zoe telling him about it. Even if it was just a suspicion, he preferred knowing that there might have been someone acting to disruspt the world several centuries ago.

"It’s just that…" Zoe continued talking, not done yet.

"If that was their plan, they might never live to see it come to fruition," she said.

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"It would take several thousand years for the world to become noticeably unstable if they corrupt the gem or even break it."

Zach frowned.

"There are people who can live that long," he said, thinking about the principal mostly.

"That’s true," Zoe nodded, thinking of herself.

"But people who can live that long and actually do it are usually attached to their lives. They wouldn’t throw them away with the rest of the world."

"I wouldn’t be so sure, but let’s say they can’t live forever but still want to see the world end, does this mean they have failed?" Zach asked, fully embracing the almost paranoid line of thought he and Zoe were entertaining.

Someone or a group of people plotting to ruin the world by targeting one of its cornerstones? Come one, it sounded ridiculous.

Zoe shrugged. But she still looked like she had something to say. Zach nodded for her to say it.

"I…kind of didn’t want to consider it a possibility, but there is one way they could speed up the process if they don’t want to wait forever or to make sure they succeed even if Ugor fails."

"Yes?"

"...They just need to target multiple cornerstones," she said with a heavy voice.

Zach frowned.

"Are these cornerstones just lying around somewhere?" He asked.

"Not at all," Zoe shook her head. "I only know of mine. They should be close to impossible to find and even harder to do something with."

"...But since it’s happened with yours, it can happen to others as well."

Zoe nodded.

Zach was silent as he massaged his temples. He had just graduated, but he was suddenly talking about another threat to his safe, peaceful, and lovely life. It was barely more than a conspiracy theory, but the circumstances behind Ugor taking over the Underworld were suspicious.

"I’ll…" A random thought hit Zach as he was about to say something. He was surprised this talk about the cornerstones of the world not being restricted. But he only found it odd, not alarming, so he set aside that thought.

"I’ll talk to the principal about it. And since we’re going to the capital of the Empire tomorrow, I’ll ask a few of my contacts."

Zoe nodded.

"I will return to the Underworld tomorrow and make sure to keep the cornerstone safe. That tunnel also worries me."

"Tunnel?" Zach asked.

Zoe filled him in on the information about the tunnel, the Dollmaker, and their potential escape to somewhere beyond the ocean. Since Jigak hadn’t found anything except a tunnel leading straight away even after flying for over a day, it was likely that it wasn’t leading to anywhere within the Empire.

Zach felt another headache on the way until he realized that part had nothing to do with him. He smiled lightly.

"Good luck with that," he said simply.

Zoe nodded. She wasn’t expecting Zach’s help with that, especially since he was checking on what others knew about the cornerstones.