“What!?”
The famous adventurers team ‘Darkness’ from the Kingdom. With just the two of them, they had accomplished numerous hero level tasks. They had even taken on Jaldabaoth during the Royal Capital’s crisis and defeated him.
Why were such figures visiting him? He had several questions, but the idea of discussing magic with the high-tier magic caster ‘Beautiful Princess’ made him threw his doubts away.
However, as a vassal of the Emperor, he still remembered the task assigned to him by his liege Jircniv.
He would ask about that after his meeting with them. As he thought about that, Fluder said to his disciple:
“Please show our guests in. I will be right there after tidying up.”
“Ah, there really are ruins here, that surprised me. I didn’t think they were bluffing when they offered that kind of payment, but it’s still hard to believe there are ruins to be explored in the middle of the plains.”
His comrades watching the ruins agreed with Hekkeran’s monologue.
Although the ruins appeared to be a cemetery, the ground seemed be sinking slightly into the earth, as if the entire area was depressed inwards, giving the impression like that of a basin.
The reason it was unexplored was probably because of the grasslands all around it. There was nothing like the relics of an ancient city to draw the eyes of adventurers to it. Another thing was the existence of several knolls in the vicinity that appeared to be hiding the existence of the ruins, making it hard to notice. Although the roof of the building in the middle protruded just a little, it couldn’t be seen if you didn’t view it from this spot.
Some of the earth surrounding the ruins had fallen off, revealing part of the walls. That was why the ruins had been discovered. That was what the representatives of each team concluded.
“That seems about right. By the way, I’m getting a little excited. The possibility of uncovering amazing things by exploring the ruins are really high.”
“Who knows? Well, there are no problems with this place. At least there aren’t any dangerous monsters. Rather, what made me uneasy was the place the client marked out as the base camp.”
Setting up camp was the best choice for a place like the plains.
The site was enclosed by hills and couldn’t be seen from a distance. If they paid attention to the usage of lights, it would be difficult to notice their presence.
And that was why — it seemed scary.
“But really, why did our client know of a place like this?”
The best guess would be that this area was the most suitable spot for setting up camp, and the ruins were spotted by the client when they made camp. That made the most sense.
However, that gave rise to new questions. Why were they were setting up camp in such a far off place? Furthermore, it was a noble from the Empire camping within the territory of the Kingdom.
“—I heard there’s a large underground organization in the Kingdom. I think it’s called Eight Fingers. They seem to be a troublesome bunch.”
“They seem to have secret dealings with the Empire. They possess substantial power within the Kingdom, but it would be problematic to investigate further. I heard someone from my thieves’
contacts complain about it.”
Imina pressed down on her hair that was being blown by the wind and Arche followed suit.
Roberdyck mumbled.
“I heard something about drugs. Those are good if used appropriately. However, the people who turn it into a way to enslave the weak, are really off putting.”
He couldn’t help raising his voice a little.
After all, Roberdyck had become a worker in order to help the weak.
“This has nothing to do with the request this time, so let’s stop the baseless assumptions. Anyway, Arche’s investigation concluded that the client is fine, right?”
Arche mumbled that the investigation might not have been thorough enough to dig up anything carefully hidden, but agreed.
“Everyone, you all understand right?”
“Of course. I won’t say it before the other teams. After all, the workers might have accepted a secret request from the Eight Fingers. The other teams might be related to that organization, but we can’t make baseless accusations. At least, not before this request is completed.”
“I don’t know how much blood and tears our money’s been stained with.”
“—No matter how dirty it is, money is money and we have to live off it.”
After glancing at Roberdyck, Arche breathed in deeply to cool herself off.
“—Sorry, I said something rude.”
“No, I am the one who almost blurted out something impolite, I beg your pardon.”
“—Please don’t mind me. You didn’t say anything after all. Please keep it in your heart. I value money more than my conscience, but—” Arche raised her hand to emphasize what she was going to say next. “I won’t let my comrades do anything unethical. I’ve already witnessed several people die because of their greed.”
“I believe you, Arche.”
Arche nodded and no one said anything else. They could communicate their thoughts without words. It was because they had quarreled like this several times before, that they had come to trust each other.
“So what do you think? My gut feeling is that the possibility of that cemetery being under the control of something is high.”
Hekkeran stared at the grass that had been neatly trimmed. The statues of angels and goddesses could only be described as beautiful, and were obviously maintained regularly.
On the other hand, the trees sprouting everywhere gave it a gloomy atmosphere.
The arrangement of the cemetery wasn’t orderly, but scattered messily like the teeth of an ugly witch, which contrasted strongly with the cleanliness of this place.
Something was taking care of this area. And it was not a normal being. An ominous chill gnawed at their stomachs.
Hekkeran waved away the chill and focused on the gigantic structure. There were four crypts at each point of the compass, with a large and elegant mausoleum sitting right in the middle. The eight warrior statues around the crypts were large, giving off a menacing feeling that anyone who came near and desecrated this place would be executed.
“The landscape around here is very well kept. I don’t even see any moss. Someone is performing his duties seriously here, but what kind of person is he?”
All the teams — except Tenmu — thought it was strange when they read the request description.
Now that they were here and confirmed that there was nothing but plains around the area, it didn’t make sense for a cemetery to be built here.
The first thing would be the cemetery’s location. Building such a luxurious cemetery in such a far off place was baffling. It was too inconvenient.
If this was not a place to mourn the dead but to monument to immortalize the legend of great man, it would be understandable. That had been done before after all.
However, if that was the case, it felt unnatural for the historical facts and legends pertaining to the tomb to be lost. After comparing the research of all the teams, nothing related had been found, meaning there was a high chance it had been scrubbed from the history books.