Volume 15 Chapter 13 Ruins Exploration Part Ii
Al continued to explore the remaining above-ground ancient ruins with determination. After about an hour, he found a one-meter-sized storage room, 3 light magic tools that had run out of mana, 2 temperature control magic devices, and a broken mana transmission network's magic antenna device, along with a mana generation device.
The one-meter-sized storage room was located about 6 meters underground, and it seemed that the room itself had a 'Stealth' spell effect. Even though there was a spellbook inside, it barely reacted to the enhanced 'Detect Magic' unless one passed almost directly above it.
"This small storage room really feels like a secret stash. I don't think anyone would find it unless they were really sure it was here."
Al muttered. He had searched the ruins quite thoroughly, with Glee helping him keep track of coordinates, and finally found it.
'Yeah. If the magician who made this was so cautious, it makes me a bit scared to think about putting valuables in a larger underground storage room.'
Glee replied. Al nodded at her words. Of course, no one would expect a storage room to be underground in a place like this, but he had still managed to find it.
Thinking about it, while a one-meter-sized small room might be okay, it would be risky to leave truly valuable items in a large storage room.
'Um, since there's a magic antenna device, this must be an ancient civilization's ruins. It seems like the buildings collapsed during the big earthquake Riana mentioned, and that's when it got broken.'
Glee asked. Al tilted his head.
Indeed, according to Malachi, the magic antenna device was likely an important part of society during the Tempest era, and its presence suggested that this building was from that time.
However, Al wasn't sure what it was or how long it had been in use.
"It might be good to take it back and study it."
He said. The magic antenna device was quite large, but it could fit into the button-shaped magic bag that had held the flying carriage.
Also, Malachi and Riana might know something about the deceased person.
'So, is this the end of the above-ground exploration?'
Glee asked. Al nodded.
"I don't know their names, but let's pray for the peace of the souls of the two bodies we found, and then head underground."
He said. The bodies they found had likely been victims of the collapsed building's walls, never rescued by anyone.
After finishing the above-ground exploration, Al sprinkled holy water on the two nameless bodies and prayed for their souls' peace.
"Now, all that's left is the underground, but I wonder if there are any more magic tools or spellbooks down there..."
Al murmured as he descended the stairs. He was more drawn to the newly acquired spellbook than to the underground itself.
There was only one storage room that reacted to the normal 'Detect Magic' spell in the underground.
According to Al's prediction, it was assigned to the storage location of the magic bag he found earlier, and it was probably the flying carriage inside.
Out of the total 16 storage rooms, one was the room where Al was first stored, 3 were empty rooms with holes in the ceiling, and the remaining 12 were still unknown.
Al decided to first check the storage rooms that reacted to the 'Detect Magic' spell.
'There might be bad air, so be careful when making a passage.'
"Yeah, that's true. What should we do? Should we borrow a chicken? ...But that feels a bit cruel..."
He thought about catching wild birds, but since the chance of bad air was low, Al teleported to the research tower, put a chicken in a cage, and returned.
The wall thickness between the storage room and the passage was about 50 centimeters (20in) of stone, with thick metal reinforcement bars running through it, which was common in the cracks, so it was probably the same construction.
Al carefully used his wand that could cast 'Soften Stone' and 'Soften Metal' to create a passage hole about 2 meters (6.56ft) in diameter near the ceiling.
He made sure not to breathe in the air and placed the cage with the chicken at the hole, watching for a while.
"It seems okay..."
Al peeked through the hole. Inside, there was the flying carriage he had just stored, along with the magic tools and magical devices he decided to take back, all neatly arranged.
"Just as I thought. There's nothing else..."
Al muttered a bit disappointed.
'Well, at least we found out where it's stored, so isn't that a bit refreshing? Let's move on to the next one!'
"Yeah!"
Glee whispered. Al took a deep breath and lightly squeezed Glee's pendant.
Continuing, Al made a similar hole near the ceiling of the next storage room and looked inside.
In the darkness, he saw a slightly decorated wooden chest and a carriage. The carriage looked somewhat familiar.
It was the plain black carriage used by the magicians serving the Marquis Prentis family of the Tempest Kingdom, like Lord Veil.
'Is it Lord Veil's luggage?'
"I don't know. It might be possible?"
Al carefully entered the room. He didn't know who had the magic bag targeting this storage room.
However, if that carriage was new, it would mean it belonged to someone serving the Marquis Prentis family.
They certainly let goblins carry magic bags, so he wondered why they would have such valuable items. But if they had many and gave one away, it was still somewhat understandable.
He approached the carriage to take a closer look. It was indeed the plain black carriage he had targeted with 'Locate Object.' There was nothing left inside.
Al walked over to the wooden chest next to it. He slowly opened the lid. Inside, there were several pieces of clothing and a heavy bag that probably contained coins. One of the clothes had splendid decorations.
It was likely clothing meant for audiences or ceremonies.
"Should we going to take it?"
'If we do that, won't they notice we've intruded here?'
Would they notice? If it were a carriage, maybe, but if it's just gold or clothes, wouldn't they think it was a misunderstanding? Besides, the owner is probably a magician serving the Marquis Prentis family.
Of course, if it was clear that this owner was Lord Veil, it might feel okay to steal it. But, maybe even if they serve the Marquis Prentis family, there could be people who oppose this coup.
Also, it felt a bit wrong to secretly steal something that belongs to a living person, rather than something from someone who has died.
And, contradictorily, if they were going to steal, wouldn't it be better to do it when something more valuable was inside?
"Let's just leave it for now. But..."
Al carved a star and the number one into a spot on the roof of the carriage that didn't stand out. This way, the owner of the carriage might be identified later.
"Alright, next, let's go."
With that, Al continued to check the other storage rooms one after another.
Out of the remaining ten storage rooms, 5 were empty, 3 had wooden chests and carriages, and 2 had only wooden chests.
Inside the wooden chests were personal items, bags of coins, and ritual clothes with the same design.
Al decided to carve the numbers 2, 3, and 4 into the 3 carriages just like before.
"At least 6 of these must belong to someone connected to the Marquis Prentis family."
'That seems right. Is the search over?'
Al nodded. He decided to leave the ventilation magic tool here since they might use it again.
He would seal the hole he made in the storage room, but he also decided to leave a small hole for ventilation in the storage room they used to enter.
This way, if they came back, the stale air wouldn't remain, and it could be used without problems for transporting animals like sheep, pigs, and chickens.
After that, it seemed good to lock the door to the basement as a precaution against the White Long-Haired Bongo.
'Are you planning to come back?'
"Yeah. I want to check out where the Tempest clan used to live. It would definitely be closer to fly from here than from the research tower, right?"
He knew that the Tempest clan moved all their important belongings using golems. However, there might still be some clues left for dealing with barbarians or magic beasts.
Eventually, surely...
'Well then, let's head back for today. You have a promise with Kane, and the talk about treating Orson's leg should be progressing too. You're going to learn a new spell, right?'
"Yeah!"
Al nodded vigorously. Then, he used the teleport magic tool to return to the research tower.
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