Chapter 126: 069. Ancient Ruin -2 (Part Two)
Things like this happened pretty often in fantasy novels, didn’t it? Humans intruding upon the dragon’s lair would either get devoured by the creature or end up as spit-roasted lumps of charcoal.
“T-there shouldn’t be any dragons there. I mean, what era are we even living in…”
When Hans muttered that out, I glanced at Damon for confirmation.
“It’s as he says, my lord. No one has witnessed a living dragon in our current era. It’s just that various scales and bones of the dead dragons have been discovered, and those tell us that some must be still alive somewhere.”
Hans frantically nodded when Damon explained to me.
“A man who sold that dragon’s scale to me said this, sir. He said that he saw a living dragon inside the ancient ruin. However, he also made some outlandish claim about him fighting and fatally injuring the dragon before making his escape from the ruin,” Hans spoke with a face filled with confidence. “But such a thing is utterly impossible, sir. Just how many people in this world are capable of fighting a dragon alone? Honestly, he probably got his hands on the scale from a dead dragon or some such.”
I contemplated deeply on everything I’ve heard so far while staring at Hans. To be honest, I was getting rather suspicious of Hans’s tale.
So I asked him. “If that’s true, why did that man tell you all about this treasure trove in the first place?”
“It’s because I helped him out, you see. More correctly, I’m actually his life’s saviour!”
“His life’s… saviour?”
Hans nodded animatedly.
During one of his travels, he ran into a man squatting in the middle of a barren landscape. The man was sitting there out of exhaustion after wandering around in the desert for too long. Apparently, Hans gave some water to him.
As a sign of gratitude, the man sold that dragon scale at a dirt-cheap price.
“Of course, that dirt-cheap price still took all of my life savings thus far,” Hans quipped at the end.
“Even then, wasn’t that too easy? I mean, that man could’ve gone back there later, right?”
“According to him, he was travelling the world to find his missing family member, sir. He told me that he was planning to leave Aslan soon and therefore, he does not have enough time to go back to the ruin.”
Along with the scale and the words of gratitude, the man then told Hans of the location to the ancient ruin.
-It’s really dangerous there, so I advise you to drop all thoughts of going there yourself. As a matter of fact, I advise you to just sell this information to a noble for a good price and move on.
Those were the parting words of the mystery man.
But this was a dragon’s lair, wasn’t it?
Advising Hans to simply sell the information on a treasure trove to someone else – now that was one hell of a crazy notion.
Hans decided to take the gamble since he had already squandered away his fortune anyways. He sold off a portion of his remaining wares and hired the mercenaries to accompany him.
“According to the man, there is drinkable water and food in that location. I thought that there shouldn’t be any real dragons in that place, and even if some monsters are hiding in there, they shouldn’t be any more dangerous than some Goblins or Orcs. In that case, maybe I…”
So… He thinks there’s no dragon to worry about, eh?
I glanced at Damon and Tina. They seemed to be waiting for me to make a decision.
At this rate, these two might tag along with me forever.
Also, with the prospect of uncovering a potentially safe home for the slaves around the corner, it didn’t seem all that cool to turn a blind eye and ignore everything I’ve just heard.
“A-and, weren’t you planning to stop by at a nearby settlement? If you wish to head to the ancient ruin, then it lies in the direction of a town, sir. Actually, it should be closer than reaching another city from this place.”
It was a two-week trip from our current location to the city Hans came from, but we would only need a week if we headed to the nearest village via this ancient ruin, according to him.
I continued staring at Hans.
“H-how about it? Aren’t you at least a little tempted, sir?”
I frowned deeply while staring at this guy’s mug.
He sure was one lucky punk, I thought.
**
Left with little choice, we ended up heading northwest from there.
There was supposedly a village in that direction, one that was the closest to our current location, and we could potentially procure extra drinking water and some food on our way there, so I had no choice but to trust the words of this flaky merchant.
Our group trudged forward for a few days, and sure enough, we did discover a huge pyramid-like structure buried under all that shifting sand.
“It, it’s really here?!”
Even the man who guided us here, Hans, seemed to be shocked beyond words. The mercenaries also looked rather excited as well.
They all thought this trip would be in vain, yet they had really discovered an ancient ruin.
The ruin was half-buried in the sand blown around by all the desert winds. I couldn’t help but say something in admiration while staring at this structure, “Well, it wasn’t a total lie, at least.”
Hans quickly responded to me. “I do not know how to lie, sir.”
“…Oh, so you were planning to truthfully run your mouth off that you saw me out here, then?”
He promptly clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.
I ignored him for now and took a look around us.
There didn’t seem to be any water or food in this place. I couldn’t help but feel that we wasted our time coming here. Could the slaves really live in such a location?
I shifted my gaze over to Damon. “What do you think?”
Since we came this far, I thought it’d be better to listen to the opinion of a man who was basically in the same position as the rest of the refugees.
Damon was nodding his head. He seemed to be quite satisfied by what he saw. “It’s wonderful, my lord. No one should be able to locate this place.”
“But I don’t see any food or water sources, though?”
“My lord, most of the time, ancient temples such as this one have waterways built underground. Although there is no guarantee that the water supply hasn’t gone dry, as long as what Hans has told us is true, we should be able to find plants that will serve as a food source, as well as drinkable water inside the structure. I believe that it’ll be a good idea to explore the ruin for the time being.”
“In that case, let’s get going, sir!”
Hans hoisted up a huge bag and confidently took the lead.
Once we entered a dark, unlit cavern, the mercenaries lit up some torches. As for me, I injected divinity into my eyes and enhanced my vision that way.
We took a look around at our new surroundings.
Spider webs could be found practically everywhere. Also, a narrow waterway was dug into the floor with water flowing through it.
“Well, there’s definitely drinkable water here. And also…”
After saying that, I shifted my gaze back to our front.
Existences with glowing eyes were hiding beyond the pitch-black darkness. They turned out to be spiders, as hundreds of eyes and dozens of legs emerged from said darkness.
Venomous spiders, each one as big as an adult man’s head!
Damon and the mercenaries’ faces hardened instantly. As for Tina and Hans, their complexions paled like a sheet of paper.
However, I simply spat out some words of admiration instead, “Huh. There’s food here, too.”
I had seen plenty of folks on TV willingly eat spiders. When you were stuck in a situation with no food, you shouldn’t be discriminating on what you can or can’t eat.
Sure, you might feel a bit queasy at the prospect, but still…
The venomous spiders leapt up, but I simply snapped my fingers.
The skeletons were summoned immediately and began shooting eerie blue glows from their eye sockets. They wielded various weapons and started cutting the spiders down.
The mercenaries had no need to step forward here.
Once the skeletons finished dealing with the spiders, they took the torches away from the mercs and burned the spider webs to make way for us.
“A-as expected of you, Lord Allen!”
One of the mercenaries tried to flatter me. Even as he tried so diligently to kiss my ass, the light in his eyes spoke of how excited he was right now.
That’s because the probability of a real treasure trove existing in this place was quite good, seeing that we were inside an actual ancient ruin. At least that’s what I thought.
Well, if you could get your hands on some treasure by eliminating a couple of spiders, then why wouldn’t you be happy? I should be able to gain something from this venture, too.
I figured that filling up my item window to the brim would be a good idea. Let’s not forget, we were talking about an ancient tomb of Aslan here, so I might find one or two never-before-seen Necromancy grimoires.
We walked past the narrow passageway and eventually ran into a massive doorway. Once my skeletons forced the door open, a huge hallway greeted us.
The very first thing to catch my eyes was a stone statue about five metres in height. A set of metal armour covered it from top to bottom, and it even had a helm placed on its head. There was only one eyehole, though. Its arms were across its chest while holding a pair of curved longswords.
All sorts of murals were painted on the surrounding walls while intricately carved statues were lined up in front of them.
I felt like a tourist visiting an Egyptian tomb or something.
“Oh, ohhh! Isn’t that…!” Hans gasped out in pure amazement and approached the huge statue. “Truly incredible! Look at its intricate construction! Imagine how much coin it will fetch if I manage to sell it! And besides all that, it might even be a magic tool judging from how it permeates with demonic energy. What kind of functionality does this thing have, I wonder?”
When I heard him yap on, I ended up tilting my head.
There was a magic cast on that statue? Really?
I activated [Mind’s Eye]. If magic was active on it, then I should be able to tell what it was.
[Cyclops Golem.
Attributes: Petrification, crushing, severing, the guardian of the crypt.]
What a simplistic information window that was.
…Hang on a sec. Could that thing be…?
Hans was animatedly jumping up and down on his spot. But just as he began stroking the statue, a sharp light suddenly gleamed from within the lone eyehole in the helm.
I watched this spectacle unfold and could only mutter to myself.
“…Argh, gimme a freaking break.”
The pair of curved swords crossed in front of its chest were raised up high, before their sharp blades slammed down on Hans.
< 069. Ancient Ruin -2 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
