After finding the broken service doll Baretta, I wondered if there were similar types of facilities sleeping underground. Thus began an extensive search of the «Empty Wilderness».
I combed through the whole «Empty Wilderness», its size rivaling that of a small country, up to 100 meters underground with the «Earth Magic» «Earth Sonar» which took me half a year.
However, I also found 37 ruins as a result.
There were several underground shelters like the one we found Baretta in among those buried ruins and, of course, all of them had given birth to vengeful spirit monsters whom I purified and later buried politely.
I found all sorts of magic tools from the ancient magic civilization in those buried ruins but I just couldn't find any intact service doll that could substitute for Baretta's body. Each and every one of them was in a broken state.
I found high-class magic tools in the other ruins too and, after checking them with the «Appraisal Monocle», I concluded that those tools just had different fundamentals rather than saying they were too advanced compared to the current era's magic tools.
I also found magi-tech used to produce magic tools left behind in one of the ruins that appeared to be a production factory. The uniform standard appearance of service dolls and golems also made me realize that maybe large-scale production was possible at that time.
"To create an intricate device like a service doll, most likely they made magic tool parts first then assembled them later on in a large-scale factory like this one."
The magic tools left behind didn't have any worth individually. Still, when you linked those magic tools into each other and made them reproduce those remarkably humanlike movements, they gave shape to a highly functional magic tool like Baretta.
"And by installing all sorts of magic tools on their joints, they can function even in low mana rather than opting for using mana to fiddle with the base body."
The effect of each magic tool, like altitude or weight control for carrying the goods for example, might look insignificant individually but it's because of the accumulation of such insignificant magic tools that they could work so meticulously at low consumption, unlike the traditional golems.
This also explained why the small articles that were found on the bodies of the refugees in the shelters were on the level of artifacts. Their performance resembled what the current era's hand-crafted magic tools would be at their peak.
"Now I will not stand out even if I create things with similar abilities through «Creation Magic» and pass them to others. Still, I didn't get everything I wanted ."
The facilities I found were all built sturdily but I noticed that they were concentrated around the outer edges of the «Empty Wilderness». Just this fact alone was enough for one to guess how powerful the explosion from the mana experiment was 2000 years ago.
The silver lining was that there wasn't any document left behind about the mana experiment that had caused the magic civilization's downfall, probably because the records couldn't withstand the flow of time.
"Majou-sama, the next seems to be the final one~"
"Thank you, Teto."
And finally, the ruins hunt in the «Empty Wilderness» has reached its final act.
It took us around half a year to search the entire wilderness without missing any nook or cranny but it was finally going to end today.
"Haaaaaa一一 Hyooooo一一"
Teto scooped up the ground with magic with accustomed movements. But what appeared in front of us wasn't another ruin, but a large golem buried in the ground.
"Ah, what a surprise. It looks more like a robot than a golem."
It was a humanoid weapon with four legs that could be boarded by a human. The large-size golem, which would be four meters tall if stood up, was giving me the image of a tank.
"Hmm? This is also absorbing mana and trying to activate itself. It will surely activate in the near future if we leave it alone."
"What are we going to do, Majou-sama? Destroy it?"
"Ah, no. For now, it's better if we don't touch it in case it might mess something up. I wouldn't want it to go on a rampage."
We then returned to our base for the time being using teleportation magic after erecting a barrier around that sorcery weapon.
"We're back, Baretta. How're you feeling?"
"We're back-nanodesu!"
«Welcome back, Master. I apologize for not being able to welcome you.»
Bareta, who was sitting on a wooden rocking chair under the edge of the eave, welcomed us when Teto and I returned to our base in the «Empty Wilderness».
The cross-section of her limbs that had been broken 2000 years ago was draped with a cloth after carefully polishing them with earth magic's «Refining» spell.
She was now wearing a new classic maid dress instead of her old maid dress that had been in pieces and a blanket was laid on her lap as she sat on the rocking chair.
"I'm sorry. I really want to repair your limbs but I still haven't found any viable solution."
«We're not made to retain our shape after 2000 years in the first place. Master shouldn't worry about it.»
"You're really kind. Actually, we found a large-size golem in our investigation today. So I want to hear your opinion about it."
Baretta explained it to us when I told her about our new discovery.
«The threat of monsters had existed even 2000 years ago. It should be a bombardment-type sorcery weapon to deal with them. The ancient magic civilization, in Master’s words, didn’t have any particular edge when it came to the might of their invoked spell»
"Oh, now that's a new thing."
According to Baretta, the ancient magic civilization had its advantages but the scale of the spells they could invoke apparently wasn't any different from the current era.
The people of the ancient magic civilization who flourished in a dense mana environment also had large mana capacities. While individuals had magic they specialized in or were bad at, they had the aptitude for what's called absolute affinity.
But on the reverse side, the chance for people to use magic had been very low since they developed magic tools that helped them with household chores and these magic tools charged independently by absorbing mana from the earth veins.
Another point about the people of the ancient magic civilization was that they were 24/7 in body strengthening mode due to their long lifespan and huge mana capacity.
Apparently, monsters back then had identical mana reserves so what they sought wasn't AoE-type magic but magic with high penetrating power and spells that interfered with or neutralized the opponent's body strengthening.
It also seemed like there wasn't any skill concept that existed in that era.
I assume these statuses and skills that depended on the individual's level and abilities were compensation conferred by the gods of this world, including the five goddesses of this continent, to the people who now had to live in low mana regions for their survivability.
«That's why the magic of that time wasn't particularly flashy.»
"I see. One can cause a tsunami or tornado but the aftermath left behind will be big."
I had always wondered just what kind of mana experiment did they perform that would result in such an explosion and caused the demise of their whole civilization but researching about it in itself was banned.
It was human nature to be curious about the unknown after all.
«Yes, so back to the topic. In my opinion, that thing can be left alone since there's no way it’ll be able to move properly. In fact, it's fine to demolish it even.»
"You may be right. I can't pilot it but what about you?"
«We service dolls don't have fundamental compatibility with golems so it's impossible for me to operate it.»
"A pity. Demolish it, huh? Let's analyze it and extract the metal resources from it once we're done."
"Majou-sama, Majou-sama. Such a huge golem should be using a large mana stone. Teto wants to eat it."
I chuckled wryly at Teto who made a gluttonous expression while saying that and glanced at Baretta.
I was wondering if she had any sentimental feelings towards a fellow magic tool that had once existed in the same era but Baretta was completely indifferent.
Afterwards, I carried Baretta in my arms and went to the bombardment-type golem.
