Chapter 11 (1/2)

It wasn’t hard for Loren to crawl through the crack.

It wasn’t that high, so he had to crawl flat on the ground and the great sword on his back was slightly in the way, but those weren’t big problems to him.

Getting Lapis, who still couldn’t move much, was the tricky part.

In a situation where the goblins might catch up to them if they took too much time, Loren was wondering what he should do. The next thing he knew, he saw Lapis start inching toward the crack, bending and wriggling her body like a worm.

As soon as she got close enough, Loren reached out, grabbed her body, and pulled her the rest of the way.

“Well, we’re on the lucky side.”

They were able to make it to the other side without any of their pursuers catching up, so that’s how Loren evaluated the situation.

He was also relieved that the place they ended up in wasn’t within the goblin’s nest.

And although they crawled on the floor to get through the crack, the only thing covering their clothes was dust and rubble.

Lapis’ clothes seemed to have it worse because of the color, but if this was still within the goblin’s nest, her clothes would have been covered with stains and smells from things much worse than dirt.

“Thank you, Loren. You helped me so much.”

“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, what do you make of this place? I want your opinion.”

Staying in a sitting position on the ground, Lapis looked at the scene in front of her.

It wasn’t blinding, but there was enough light that they could make out their surroundings clearly, unlike inside the tunnel.

A large space with a high ceiling.

They could see everything because the walls and floor were emitting light, and it definitely did not look like the inside of a cave at all.

Lapis, who still couldn’t walk, pulled herself across the floor to a wall and put her face up so close that she almost touched the wall. After observing it for a moment, she pulled away and said in an impressed voice.

“I’m surprised. This is mana material.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a building material seen in places such as ruins of the ancient kingdom. The technique is unknown, but it’s quite exceptional, because it takes mana from the atmosphere and converts it into light.”

The Ancient Kingdom was something even Loren knew about.

It referred to a kingdom that thrived in the distant past.

It was an outstanding magic civilization and it was said that they had half of the world under their rule. Their citizens included humans, demi-humans, beast kin, as well as demon kind.

Since magic was so intertwined into their culture, there was no doubt that it was magicians that held great power and high status.

It meant that most of the ruins excavated in the present once belonged to magicians, and it was said that during the kingdom’s peak of development, cities floated in the sky.

However, although it was said to have been very technologically advanced, it suddenly disappeared and scattered all the different races, eventually forming the lands that existed today.

“Speaking of ruins of the Ancient Kingdom…wouldn’t finding one be worth a fortune?”

Loren knew that it wasn’t something that you can find every day.

Some relics that were excavated were worth way more that Loren could ever imagine.

“I think the best you can do is try not to get completely ravaged by the adventurer’s guild and robbers.”

“That’s…quite the dream right there.”

“Rather than that, Loren, can you scrape off a part of this wall? It’s not that strong, but it’s a reliable source of light, and it’s also valuable research material.”

Loren had already broke part of the wall of the cave of the goblins’ nest, so it wasn’t difficult for him to break another one. He nodded at the crack they came through and said to Lapis, who was looking at him with eyes sparkling with expectation.

“There’s a lot of them over there.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

Loren picked up Lapis, who was trying to drag herself regardless of her clothes getting dirty, like how a cat would pick up her kit, and carried her to the crack in the wall.

Lapis thanked him for the act, as it kept her clothes from getting dirtier, and started to choose parts of the building material and stuffing them in her pockets.

“You can keep doing what you’re doing. But if this is ruins of the Ancient Kingdom, aren’t we in a pretty bad situation?”

Traps and guardians, as well as countless other methods of chasing away intruders, were part of the ruins most of the time.

It was more dangerous for the important ruins, and if what Loren had heard about them were true, they were in in an unimaginable amount of danger.

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

Lapis seemed to have finished stuffing her pockets and continued.

“Although you say ruins of the Ancient Kingdom, it goes from the best to the worst.”

“What do you mean?”

Loren asked Lapis as he reached under her arms and helped her onto her feet.

She managed to stand up, but as soon as Loren relaxed his arms, she started staggering and almost fell. Loren sighed as he saw that her limbs still remained unmoving.

“The dangerous ruins that Loren is thinking about do have its dangers, but there are also ruins that no one really cares about.”

Loren, thinking it was dangerous to stay in one place too long, put Lapis on his back again.

Lapis, who quietly let Loren do his thing, continued while clinging onto his back.

“Out of all the ruins that have been found, the dullest one that I know of is an ancient restroom.”

“Huh…?”

“Perfect air conditioning and lighting system with private stalls. Complete with a sewer system and great ventilation. Of course, there are no traps or guardians. It would be weird if they did.”

Loren thought that only someone who was crazy would place traps or guardians in a restroom.

He also thought that there wouldn’t even be much to protect, but a thought that crossed his mind unknowingly made it to his lips.

‘Well, there could be at least one to protect whoever’s using it.”