Chapter 49
The ruins that the sorceress discovered was actually not too far away from where their airship had crash landed. One only needed to walk for an hour or maybe even less to find it which Rennel’s group did.
That said the real dangerous part of the search was the mysterious, fog-covered landmass itself. Moreover, despite the landmass just being the peak of a nameless mountain, the area was actually surprisingly large which makes one think of the size of the mountain if it wasn’t submerged underwater.
Just how big was the place exactly? One would certainly ask this question if one traverse the peak for at least an hour without the end of the landmass in sight.
“Is this place really just the peak of a mountain? Why does it seem like it’s the size of an island nation to the east?” A male gnome asked while looking at his surrounding warily.
“Yeah… It’s really huge. If we didn’t have the sorceress or the silver-haired girl then we might have lost our way to the ruins,” replied another gnome.
The group keeps on walking through strange looking trees and thickets. Due the strangeness of the surrounding floras, the group half-expected to be suddenly attacked by strange looking beast or monsters. Thankfully, their fears didn’t come to pass and the group finally reached the ruins safely.
“We’re finally here,” Lucata whispered softly. She stared at the ruins in front of her and could not help but marvel at the building’s beautiful design and mystic. "It's hard to believe that this building still look so structural sound despite existing for god knows how long,” Miranda softly said in admiration. “Is this the technology of the lost civilization of Nu? I wonder if our own civilization would ever reach such a level…”
Everyone was a little daze as they stared at the majestic looking building. Even Rennel who has very little interest in architecture could not help but praise the architect who builds such a building. She clenched her fists tightly as a strange thought appeared on her mind.
Our world alone possessed so many secrets. The other worlds should also possess their own secrets. I wonder… if I were powerful enough, could I travel to those words?”
Her own thoughts surprise even the girl. And for the first time since she had meet Chaos, she could feel something stirring in her consciousness.
“Somehow, I finally understood teacher’s disdain for this world,” she thought. “After seeing so many worlds, it’s only normal that our world didn’t have much appeal to teacher.”
After admiring the ruins for quite some time, Lucata gathered everyone so that they could discuss their next move. Some of the gnomes suggested that they enter the ruins to look for the missing people but the others wanted to stay at the entrance for at least a day before entering. After all, according to the sorceress, the prince and the other missing people were in no danger at the moment.
Considering that they know nothing of the ruins’ interiors, simply barging in might compromise the safety of their group. This argument actually made sense which made it difficult for those in favor of spelunking to argue. Still, it’s not like the other side’s argument held no merit. Although the prince and others are safe for now, no one knew if they’ll continue to stay safe.
For all they know, something unexpected might happen inside the ruins that could jeopardize the prince and his group’s safety.
“Then how about we compromise?” A more level-headed gnome suggested. “Why don’t we send a small group into the ruins to scout the interior for us while the remaining ones stay, and prepare? That way, if an accident happens, the ones left outside could come to their rescue?”
Everyone looked at each other and nodded. The male gnome’s idea was sound and relatively safe. Sending only a small group into the ruins to scout and map out the interior was indeed the method that could satisfy everyone. And since everyone agreed to the suggestion, the only thing left to do was to choose the members of the group that’ll head inside.
“To make the most of our situation, we need either Sorceress Cassandra or the young lady Rennel to accompany the group. With their abilities, finding the missing people, and sensing danger ahead of time would be a lot simpler,” another gnome added.
The group turned towards the two and waited for their decision. Although the suggestion was relatively sound, no one could be sure that it would be completely safe, so no matter if it were the sorceress or the silver-haired girl, they would still be putting their lives at risk.
Forcing the two women to go inside the ruins? No one even thought of doing such a thing. Even though the gnomes were desperate to find the prince and his crew, none of them would wanted to do so by exchanging the lives of others – especially that of the sorceress and her group who had helped them tide many incidents till now.
“I think it’s better if Lady Cassandra stayed put. Her ability to detect other people’s life force is much better than mine,” Rennel, who stayed quiet till now finally spoken.
“If she went underground her ability would not be put into good use but if she stays above ground, everything that happened inside the ruins would be clear to her – allowing the group left behind to plan a rescue if anything unexpected happened to the scouts,” she explained. “Therefore, it’s best if I go.
****
Rennel entered the ruins along with three other gnomes. Inside, they saw that the interior looks to be in a much better condition than the exterior; possibly because it hasn’t been exposed to the element as much as the exterior.
Along the way the group saw strange-looking lamps on the walls that gave off bluish light that tickles everyone’s curiosity. After examining the lamps for several minutes, the group still couldn’t figure out how the lamps were made or what causes the bluish light.
They could try to dismantle one of the lamps, and in truth one of the gnomes suggested they do just that. But the idea was quickly scrapped after thinking that destroying one of the lamps might cause a chain reaction of some sort. Besides, the fact that the lamps were left alone by the prince and the others proved that it’s better to just leave them alone.
So after examining the lamps a few more times and discovering nothing new, the group finally head deeper into the ruins. As the floor was covered by fogs and mist, possibly let in from the outside when the door was opened, Rennel’s group of four needed to be careful with their every step, or they might accidentally step on, or trigger traps.
Of course it’s also possible that the group before them had already cleared out the traps but there’s no harm in being extra careful. After all they only have one life.
That said exploring the first floor alone was taking a lot of their time which wasn’t good as they might run out of supplies before they could even reach the prince, which was believed to be in the 6th floor.
“At the rate we’re going, it’s going to take forever before we reach the prince group,” one of the gnomes complained after two hours of walking. “Young lady, could you do something with your magic?” The gnome asked.
Rennel thought for a while before nodding her head. “I could extend the range of my Detection but I might miss out some traps in the process. Is that okay?” She answered.
The gnomes stared at each other before nodding their head almost at the same time. Since they requested Rennel to increase the range of her ability, they’ll take responsible if anything happens.
Seeing that the three gnomes had made out their mind, Rennel didn’t say anything else and quickly expanded the range of her detection ability. And although it’ll be more tiresome to do, she decided to also increase her concentration further to ensure that no harm would come to the group. Anyways, the gnomes weren’t the only one thinking that their pace was a bit too slow.
So with Rennel putting in more effort, their group finally found the stairs that lead to the next floor without triggering a single trap. And with the strange lamps lighting their way, they no longer have to light a torch to see where they’re going.
The second floor was pretty much has the same layout as the first floor: High walls and ceilings, strange lamps that they couldn’t figure out how it works, and even eerie atmosphere caused by the fog. And as for the traps, none of them could see any visible ones.
Similarly, they also breezed through the second floor after seeing nothing worth their time. Not really surprising considering that the prince seemed to have taken everything of value.
“Damn, the prince might have also taken everything worth taking in this floor as well. He should at least leave something for his rescuers,” a gnome grumbled after seeing that the third floor holds no treasure just like the first and second floor.
“What are you complaining about? We could just ask his highness for our share once we rescued them,” said another gnome with a nonchalant attitude.
“Oh, you got a point there.”
Rennel smiled in amusement after hearing her group mates’ conversations. It’s thanks to them that going through the floors weren’t so tiresome or boring. So after a few more bartering, they finally found the stairs to the fourth floor. But unlike the first three floors, there was something new on the fourth floor.
Yeah, if you could call the prince and his group as something “new” that is…
“Your Highness!” One of the gnomes shouted in disbelief. But it was not only him, even Rennel and the other two gnomes couldn’t believe the sudden reunion. They expected to meet the prince in one of the floors preferably the seventh floor as that was where sorceress said they would be.
Did they finally get tired of staying on the seventh floor and decided to surface? Well, no matter. Now that they’ve found the prince and his group their mission was pretty much over. That said they did feel that it was a bit anti-climactic. The three gnomes were even feeling slightly disappointed that they couldn’t play the hero to save the princess, err, the prince.
****
“They’re coming,” said Sorceress Cassandra after opening her eyes.
Hearing her words, Miranda and the others looked at the entrance of the ruins with anticipation. When they heard from the sorceress that the Rennel’s group meet the prince’s group at the fourth floor of the ruins they were pleasantly surprise as it saves the small group a lot of effort and time.
True to her words, several familiar figures exit the ruins’ door. They were Rennel, the gnomes who came with her, and a cute-looking male gnome with black hair which was most likely the prince, along with his original crew and several humans.
Also, the moment that the prince saw the envoy Lucata, his despondent face brightened a lot and, quickly rushes to the female gnome with his arms wide open.
“Miss Lucata, I miss – guhu!!!” Instead of returning a hug, the prince was instead greeted by a knuckle to the gut!
Sorceress Cassandra, Miranda, Pina, Rennel and even the other humans were taken aback by the Lucata’s display of “affection” to the prince. But seeing that the gnomes had no reaction tipped them to the fact this was just a normal thing for the two.
“Hey… could it be that Lucata and the prince, an item?” Pina walked closer to Miranda and whispered her question softy.
“That seemed possible. I noticed that the most worried about the prince’s safety was actually Lady Lucata,” Miranda answered in the same soft voice. “For all we know they might even be engage.”
Seeing both of her disciples gossiping about other people’s love life made the sorceress sigh in her heart. She swore to herself that once the expedition is over she’ll increase the intensity of their magic training to ensure that they won’t have time for useless gossip.
“L,lucata… you never change. You’re still as violent as I remembered,” commented the prince while enduring the pain in his gut.
“I see that I wasn’t harsh enough if you could still talk bullsh*t – should I give you another beating?” Lucata questioned looking far from amuse.
Hearing her words, the prince quickly took several steps back, and looked at the incensed female gnome. “No, no… that won’t be necessary, my dear Lucata,” the prince corrected.
“Hahaha! I finally understood when you said that there’s a fiery gnome girl waiting for you at home, Russell.” Someone commented after laughing out loud. It was flamboyant-looking man with blue eyes and blond hair walking towards the prince with a huge grin on his face.
“Cut a man some slack, will you Carl? “ The prince, Russell, groaned his complain.
“Hey, where’s the fun in that?” The flamboyant man Carl answered with an amuse expression on his face. “After being rejected by the young lady over there, you then came running to another woman? Tsk, tsk. There’s a limit to being so fickle-minded, you know?” The man added another blow.
“What, what the hell are talking about?” Hearing Carl’s words, Russell panicked, “It wasn’t like that at all!”
The prince quickly turned to Lucata and saw her face looking black as the bottom of a pan. Knowing that he might be subjected to another beating, the prince tried to explain his side while slowly moving backward. Unfortunately...
“Indeed. He’s such a shameless prince. How could he dare make a move to a goddess like that?” A gnome who came along with Rennel commented loudly. “Does he not know shame?“
“You’re right. He should at least look himself in the mirror before confessing his love to Miss Rennel,” another gnome mercilessly revealed.
...the prince was quickly "betrayed."
The remaining gnome, as well as the prince’s companions nodded their heads in agreement. Just like the prince, these gnomes were taken in by Rennel’s beauty but unlike the prince who quickly confesses his feelings to the girl the moment he laid his eyes on her. Of course Rennel quickly shut him down but it still didn’t stop the other gnomes’ resentment that’s why they’re so quick to “betray” the prince. That, and the fact that they wanted to teach him a lesson.
Seeing his companion’s “betrayal” was like the end of the world for the prince. He powerlessly slumped into the ground as if losing all will to live. Unfortunately for the prince, his acting over the top acting won’t save him from Lucata’s wrath.
“I would love to hear your explanation later,” Lucata said coldly. “For now though… I would like it if you introduce these people to us,” she added.
Lucata’s cold voice send chills to the prince’s spine. But knowing that his acting failed and that he won’t escape punishment, the prince could only do as he was told and introduce his new friends.
“This is Carl. Just like me he and his group accidentally landed on this island after escaping the sea monsters and the Kraken,” He explained. “Also he’s – “
“He’s from the Sect of the Void, right?” Someone cuts in.
****
To be continued
Previous Chapters: https://read.cash/@beastion
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