77 Chapter 77 - Cellar Investigation (2/2)
Down in the cellar itself, Gren didn't see any signs of monsters or animals.Then again, he wasn't the expert so it was probably best not to rely on his judgement.”Do you see anything?”Gren called out to Shenzi.
”Not yet.Be patient and don't bother me unless you've found something.”Shenzi had to keep an ear out for any threats.The armor was surprisingly quiet so they could move around freely without having to worry about the sound that it made.
The cellar had some rusty tools in it by the entrance but Gren didn't see anything unique or magical.Further to the back was a rack with some bottles lined up on it.Gren took one of the bottles and wiped away some of the dust from the label.It was mostly faded away due to time but the year was still legible.”897 YG.Is it 1056 or 1057 now?Either way, this is an old wine.You don't think that they'll miss it, do you?”
”It's still the 13th month so it's the 1056th year of the Goddess.We still have a couple of weeks before the first month.If you take it then the layer of dust on the rack will be different.There's no way that they wouldn't notice.”Shenzi's words gave Gren an idea.
Gren tried to store a different bottle directly into his pocket dimension without the dust on it.”What about now?Do you think they'd notice that?”The dust from the bottle settled on the rack and covered it.
”It's still a bit suspicious but it looks like the bottle was moved long before we got here.If you're going to take them then that should be enough to cover your tracks.”She wasn't going to stop him from taking them since they had been abandoned for a long time.If they were important then they wouldn't be left behind.
Gren finished up with storing the bottles.Due to several of them having signs of physical damage, Gren decided to have the system scan the contents of each of the bottles.The ones low down on the shelf were almost all damaged but, besides a few that already had been, all of the ones from his waist up were fine.”Hey, Shenzi?Do these look like bite marks to you?”Gren wasn't sure but a few of the corks looked like they were ripped apart.
Shenzi took the bottle and held the cork up to the light.”Yeah.Definitely bite marks.Something with large front teeth was in here.There's no evidence that they're still in here but I don't think they came from those stairs.After we block all of the entrances then we can sweep through the cellar and make sure it's clear.”
”There's only that one entrance.Do you want me to go back and block it?”Gren pointed towards the stairs that they came through.
”That's impossible.”
”Are you sure?I've got some wood.It won't be much effort to block it.”
”No, I mean that there has to be more than one entrance.Can't you feel that draft?”After Shenzi mentioned it, Gren wet his finger and lifted it up.
”You're right.There's a draft.”In order for there to be a draft there would need to be at least one more hole somewhere that was letting in air.
Shenzi tracked down where the draft was coming from.There was a wooden hatch that was severely damaged.Through the large hole it was possible to see a staircase leading even further down.Gren didn't have a good feeling about what was going to be down there.”They didn't mention this.”
”Whatever chewed through those corks seems to have chewed its way out from under here.”Shenzi couldn't figure out if anything was still in the cellar but if it was then it'd have to be further below.”Go get Noir and Choco.I'll keep an eye on the hatch.”
Gren didn't realize that Noir and Choco were no longer behind him.”I'll go find them.Don't go downstairs until we're all ready.”After Shenzi agreed, Gren ran off to find the two kobolds.They were helpful girls but there was nothing that Gren could do to fix their innate lack of verbal communication skills.