Under the Oak Tree

280 Chapter The investigation of the ruins proceeded smoothly, but the mages were unable to uncover any clues that could point to the monster base. Currently, they were in a room engraved in Elvish. Anette was deciphering the characters while Maxi was next to her, tracing the ancient tongue onto a piece of paper.

“I think this place is a classroom,” said Anette, scratching her head.

Maxi narrowed her eyes. Though she was less proficient in Elvish than Anette, even she could discern that the writing on the walls were for educational purposes. They were divided into three sections, each containing the settlement’s history, conventions, and laws. As Anette pointed out, this chamber was likely created as a classroom to educate future generations.

Intensifying the brightness of her lamp, Maxi looked about the spacious room. Stacks of carved stone tablets were dotted around. Since the region’s land was too barren to grow crops or grass for livestock, it would have been difficult for the people who had lived here to acquire parchment. Hence, they could only record things by engraving them on stone.

Some rooms contained diaries, poems, and even random scribblings. It appeared that engraving words on stone was part of daily life for the mages. There were simply too many records, making it difficult for the expeditionary party to sift out pertinent information.

“All this will take years to translate,” Anette said with a sigh, lowering a stone tablet on the ground.

Sidina was copying records a few paces away. She shrugged at Anette’s remark.

“It shouldn’t take longer than a few months if more Serbels were to help.”

Maxi shook her head. “Ruth told me… he finds it difficult to decipher the texts too because he isn’t familiar with this particular Elvish dialect.”

“Is that not just an excuse?” Anette said acerbically. “It’s been more than ten years since that man left the Tower. He could have forgotten his Elvish.”

Chortling, Sidina replied, “Oh, I doubt that. I heard he was once considered so promising that some even suggested him as the next Head of the Tower.”

Anette and Maxi both looked at Sidina with skepticism. From the way Calto looked at Ruth — as though he were an insect underfoot — it was hard to imagine Ruth had ever been such an important figure in Nornui.

“Well, I suppose his knack for advanced fire magic despite being a mage of Sigrew proves his talents, but…”

Anette trailed off while scaling the wall using the protruding bones as handholds. With a paintbrush, she tapped off a thick layer of dust covering a particular block of text.

“I don’t think he’s good enough to be the next Head,” she continued cynically. “I mean, nothing about him screams dignity.”

Unable to deny her point, Maxi laughed awkwardly. Regardless of the truth, Ruth was still her first mentor. It pricked her conscience to speak ill of him with the others. She quickly tried to change the subject.

“I-I don’t think… we’ll find any clues to the monster army in this room. Should we move on to another?”

“Let’s rest for a bit first. I’m famished,” Anette said, hopping down from the wall.

The women sat in the middle of the room among the flickering lights. As they nibbled on their rations of bread and jerky, they skimmed through the ancient texts they had traced onto parchment.

The knights had refused to leave the mages’ side for the first few days. Once it became clear the cave was free from danger, they shifted their attention to exploring the ruins. Though they provided an escort whenever the mages moved investigation sites, they left to undertake their own tasks once everyone was settled into recording texts or studying the magical devices.

After all, what harm could come from hours of sitting in the same place, copying texts, and examining bones? No doubt the paladins thought it more productive to explore the ruins than to stand watch over the mages’ tasks. Ultimately, the Temple Knights’ goal was to locate the monster army’s base, not to study relics.

Maxi bit her lip as she struggled through one of the records. She desperately wanted to find a lead as well. Though investigating the ruins was certainly interesting, thinking of the threat looming over the Western Continent made her increasingly restless by the day.

After taking a bite from her cold, hard bread, Sidina asked, “What’s going to happen if we don’t find anything before we run out of provisions?”

Anette shrugged as she retrieved a firestone from her bag to light a small fire. “Well, we certainly can’t starve to death here. We’ll have to leave well before that. Aren’t we copying all these records in anticipation of that possibility?”

She shook the copies they had made so far.

“As long as we have these documents, we can continue our research on the dark mages. I’m telling you, everyone at the Tower will be hopping in excitement when they see these. I can already imagine the mages of Urd salivating to be the first ones to study them.”

Sidina rubbed her hands together and said mischievously, “Then, shall we take a few pages for ourselves?”

Maxi laughed at the girl’s jest before turning her gaze back to the records.

After quietly observing her, Anette asked, “What about you, Max? What do you intend to do?”

Pausing from soaking small chunks of stale bread in her icy beer, Maxi looked up at Anette quizzically.

“I mean, after the investigation,” Anette elaborated.

“O-Oh, I would return to Anatol, of course.”

“I know how desperate you are to go home, but…” Anette hesitated, furrowing her dark brown brows. “What do you think about returning to Nornui with us?”

When Maxi regarded her friend in surprise, Anette scratched her messy updo and added, “I know you’re smitten with Dragon Slayer, but I don’t think he’s all that nice to you. I thought he cherished you when he came running here… but from how he’s been treating you lately, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“Th-That’s not true! R-Riftan—”

Startled, Maxi was about to argue back when she pressed her lips together. The memory of his impersonal manner chafed at her confidence. He had been devoted to her, but that was three years ago. Though he continued to protect and look out for her, the passion he had once had was gone. As Anette pointed out, their current relationship seemed very much one-sided.

Seeing Maxi lost for words, Anette said with a deep sigh, “Just think about it. If you were to return to Nornui, you would be treated with respect while continuing your studies. Wouldn’t it be a shame to miss such an opportunity over a cold stone statue of a man?”

Maxi’s face flushed crimson. Was it so obvious even to the others that she was alone in wanting their relationship to work? Overcome with despondence, her shoulders slumped over when a familiar voice called through the room.

“There you are.”

The water mage Royald entered carrying a lantern.

“I’ve been looking for you Nome Hall mages for a while. Come, follow me. Joel has discovered a room that’s not on the map. We would like you to search it with magic before we go inside.”

“A room not on the map?” Anette asked, arching an eyebrow.

Royald nodded. “That’s right. A secret chamber, perhaps. Let’s make haste.”

At his insistence, the women gathered their belongings and stepped out of the room. They coincidentally ran into Elliot in the passageway. Looking surprised, the knight rushed over to the group.

“Have you already finished investigating in here, my lady?”

Maxi nodded. “Just about. We are on our way now to see a newly discovered room.”

“It could be dangerous,” Elliot said, his brow furrowing. “I shall bring more men to accompany us. Could you please wait a moment?”

Royald tried to dissuade him. “Is that really necessary when the knights outside also need every hand they can get? Don’t worry about us. We’re going to search the room with magic before we enter.”

“But…”

Elliot frowned, then conceded with a nod and a small sigh. “Very well. Then, please allow me to escort you.”

Royald shrugged in a gesture to say the knight could do whatever he pleased, then began leading the group down the long passageway. As they climbed a narrow staircase, Maxi observed the uneven dents along the walls. There was likely engraved text here as well.

She summoned a small light above her palm and held it up. An extended carving of snakes biting the tail of the one before it twined along the wall next to the stairs. What could it mean? She was squinting up at the carvings when Royald abruptly changed course.

“It’s this way,” he said, pointing off to the side.

A circular entrance stood next to the pillar supporting the ceiling.

Anette stared at it dubiously. “I don’t recall seeing such an opening here before.”

...

“We pressed that statue there when we were investigating the wall, which opened this passageway,” Royald explained, striding through.

He pointed to the small statue of a snake.

“It opened when we pulled right here. There’s another on the other end. I think it would be prudent to check what’s inside the room before we go in.”

“Let’s go, then.”

Anette walked in, and Maxi warily followed. They continued on for five minutes when they reached a dead end. Joel and a Temple Knight were there inspecting a wall.

“I think we’ve discovered something,” Joel cried excitedly, turning to face them.

He raised his lantern over his head, spilling light over an intricate magic rune on the wall.

“Take a look at this! Doesn’t it remind you of the rune used to suppress magic? There’s no doubt about it. There’s a secret laboratory behind this wall. Just imagine! A laboratory used by dark mages!”

Elliot stood at a distance behind the group. He said abruptly, “Won’t it be dangerous?”

Joel shrugged. “That’s why we’ve asked the mages of Nome Hall here. They can check the interior with their tracing magic without affecting the door’s mechanism.”

“I’ll do it.”

...

Anette shoved Royald aside and positioned herself in front of the circular wall. She removed her gloves and placed her rough hands on the stone. While she was casting the spell, Maxi studied the rune. It did indeed look similar to the rune used to suppress magic.

She furrowed her brow. Such a rune could only mean that this room had been used to test dangerous magic. Would it not be wiser to ask more knights to join them? She was shooting nervous glances down the passageway when Anette removed her hands from the wall.

“The room is quite wide.”

“Any traps or dangerous spells?” Royald asked.

Anette shook her head. “I sensed no flow of mana or anything that looked like a trap.”

“Good. Then, let’s head inside.”

Joel’s anticipation was palpable as he pulled the mounted snake statue. The stone wall rumbled as it slid down, revealing a pitch-dark room. Maxi warily peered into the depths.

“I shall go in first.”

Elliot pushed past the group and strode into the secret chamber. He raised his lamp in the air, illuminating more statues, this time of monsters. Maxi flinched and hunched her shoulders. The whole room was full of them. A giant, serpentine creature coiled across one wall.

Stepping in further, Elliot lightly touched a stone goblin. “They don’t appear to be gargoyles.”

He looked around the room, then nodded at the mages.

“I don’t sense any monsters or undead. It is safe for you to enter.”

With the knight’s clearance, the mages warily walked inside. The chamber was more expansive than they had expected. The tip of the domed ceiling was at least twenty kevettes high, and the circular room was at least forty kevettes across.

Treading cautiously, Maxi inspected the statues lining the walls. Lifelike sculptures of monsters of the Ayin race, such as goblins, ogres, trolls, and werewolves, stood amongst those of the dragon subspecies, namely serpends, wyverns, and drakes.

“What grotesque taste,” Royald said, clicking his tongue.

Maxi silently agreed. She stopped in front of the giant snake. Though she was aware it was nothing but stone, it still gave her chills. The creators of these statues were clearly phenomenal sculptors of rock.

Why on earth had they made such things? Could there be some connection to the allied monster army? Maxi was pensively staring up at the statues when she heard Sidina speak.

“Take a look at this. Isn’t this a rune?”

Maxi walked over to the spot on the floor where Sidina was pointing. True enough, an intricate diagram that appeared to be a magic rune was etched into the stone. After studying it closely, Royald ruffled his hair and groaned.

“Drat! It’s so complicated, I can’t tell what it’s for.”

Sidina turned to Maxi. “What do you think, Max? You’re the best among us at runes.”

Having already crouched to trace it with her finger, Maxi slowly rose. The rune felt strangely familiar. After following its patterns, she summoned a light in her hand and raised it to illuminate the parts masked in shadow.

Suddenly, a thump sounded, and the ground quivered faintly. As her palmful of magic was sucked into the room, Maxi felt an immense amount of mana drain out of her with it. She screamed.

“Get away from there!” yelled Royald, pushing her out of the rune’s perimeter.

Maxi gasped for air as she tumbled over the ground. The room spun around her as though she had lost a large amount of blood all at once.