That was too unnatural.
The feeling that something was out of place here stuck in their throats, becoming the reason why they were furrowing their brows.
“If there is someone here, it could become a grave matter. What should we do then?”
“…It would be annoying to drag innocent people into this.”
“—The team representatives discussed this earlier. There are no records of ruins situated around this area. Since the nearest village is far away, the possibility that normal people are living here are low.
Most likely, they’re either illegal squatters or monsters. Considering the lack of footprints, they probably don’t require food, or they can provide for themselves from within the ruins. We have insufficient intelligence on hand, speculating further would lock ourselves into a fixed perspective and limit our minds. So let’s stop the speculations here.”
Normally, the discovery of ruins would be reported to the administration of the country through the Adventurer’s Guild. The discoverer was granted a limited amount of time to explore it. Due to this rule, in ruins not discovered by a national body or the Adventurer’s Guild, killing illegal squatters was tolerated.
This was in accordance with the saying of rather letting a thousands innocent die than letting a single guilty person go free.
It might be an overly brutal policy, but humans were fragile beings in this world. That’s why it was troubling for unknown things to build a nest near humans.
In fact, twenty years ago, a group known as Zuranon occupied a ruin and conducted horrifying experiments, which led to catastrophic results. The information about this was scant, but a small city was destroyed.
This was a rule to prevent something like that from ever happening again.
“Well, it should be undead as usual. If this place is occupied by the undead, it will be bad if we don’t wipe them out and drive away the negative energy with holy power.”
“It is worse than you think. If we leave the undead alone, there is a chance of a more powerful undead rising. That is the reason why there are powerful undead in ruins.”
“If an abandoned golem is carrying out the last order of its master and tidying the place up, that would be a godsend. One less thing to worry about. What is the plan after that?”
“—I think Hekkeran should have gone in my stead.”
“Don’t worry about it. The other leaders didn’t go either right? Send the best person for the job, right?”
Arche sighed in response to the winking Hekkeran.
“—Anyways, once night falls, all the teams will move together. We will go in from the four sides and gather at the large mausoleum in the center.”
“I see, we will be spotted easily if we do it in broad daylight.”
“—That’s true.”
They had a clear view of the surrounding area and saw no signs of surveillance or travelers. It didn't seem to be a problem to invade it now, but they should prepare for the unexpected. Moving in the dark was safer.
Although the operation began at nightfall, they might be able to gain further information by continuing to observe the ruins. They had limited time to complete their job, but the time used here would be well spent, at least according to the brains of the operation.
It wouldn’t have been a surprise if they had spent several days observing the site.
“Wouldn’t it be safer to scout the place with ‘invisibility’?”
“—We considered that, but there is a chance things might get hairy anyway, so we might as well do it together. Even in the worst case scenario, we will at least find out something.”
There were numerous ways to detect invisibility, so it was not a perfect spell. If the workers approached after using magic and were detected by the security of the ruins, the level of security of the opponent will rise even if they don’t know who the intruders might be. If they screw it up, they might not be able to infiltrate the place for days.
To avoid that from happening, they came up with the plan to move in at the same time.
Hekkeran nodded in understanding. There were flaws, but the plan was still balanced between the risk taken and the chance of completing the mission.
“I hope they give us some time to rest.”
“—Is that so. ‘Darkness’ and ‘Screaming Whip’ will take care of security. To play it safe, we will take turns standing guard. We will go in the order we arrived at the Earl’s home, two hours each.”
“Got it, so we are going last.”
“—That’s right. We will take the stage at the very end.”
Arche turned her head and shrugged after saying that.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Roberdyck nodded at Arche.
“—How tiring. It took so long because that scumbag suggested invading via brute force. It took a lot of effort to convince him. He really doesn’t know what coordination means.”
“Ahh, that sword genius-san…”
“Calling him a shitty bastard would be enough.”
In the face of Imina’s murderous words, Hekkeran smiled wryly and changed the topic.
“Well then, let’s go back to camp and wait for our turn.”
“Agreed. It probably won’t rain for the time being, but it would be too late to prepare if it does.
Imina-san, you’re up next, don’t keep showing that scary face.”
“Okay, ah, how infuriating. I really feel like stabbing him. Let’s set up camp far away from them.”
“It is fine as long as it is around the assigned spot.”
To be honest, it wasn’t fine, but it would be worse if they were too close to each other and started quarrelling.
Turning their backs to the ruins, the four of them started walking.
“—But the more I think about it, the more baffling it is. I don’t understand why the Earl would give out such a request.”
As they turned back because of those words, they found Arche had stopped to stare at the ruins.
“I couldn’t find anything about the reason, or the period these ruins were built. It’s like they suddenly popped up. The statues resemble those from the period before the Demon Gods Uprising, but have a more eastern feel about them. And the cross shaped tombstones… I don’t understand it at all.”
After listening to Arche’s mumbling, Hekkeran suppressed his smile and excitement with great effort.
“Which means the chance of finding something just as interesting is high, correct?”
“That’s correct. There must be frightening things inside.”
“…There will probably be horrifying undead inside, everyone.”
“—Uwah~, how scary.”
“—Too fake, Hekkeran. That doesn’t sound like me at all. And imitating my voice is creepy.”