Ch. 116: Exploring after Arrival

As Dia had guessed, the group reached the ruins at dawn.

It was a bunch of stone foundations that looked like they had been some sort of manmade buildings in the middle of the plains, and to Loren and Lapis, it didn’t look like a place to make a base of operation.

“Is this the place?”

Dia was the only one who knew the exact location, and all Loren and Lapis did was follow her, so they had no idea if their current location was their destination.

“This is the place, no doubt.”

Dia responded with confidence.

There weren’t any noticeable ruins, so Loren couldn’t help but think they were in the wrong place.

“There’s nothing here, though.”

He had heard that the destination itself didn’t always become a base, so the state of their destination didn’t bother him much, and it that case there would be something that would guide them to the actual location of the future base, but with nothing there, Loren was starting to get worried if they were in the right place.

“It appears that searching for what we need is part of the exam as well.”

“Searching, huh…”

All that was around them was rocks and dirt.

The place looked like it had been abandoned for years, and with everything crumbled down, it seemed impossible to find anything.

He thought of the possibility of it being buried underground, but then it would mean digging through the whole area, which they didn’t have enough people to do so.

“Of course, we’re going to investigate first. Digging without thinking will take too much time.”

As Loren made a tired face, Dia scolded him as she snapped her thin fingers.

The sound was so small, Loren only heard it because he was talking with Dia, while Lapis, who was looking around, couldn’t hear it.

“It seems like this place could be used as a base by itself. There’s a large space underground.”

“You could tell with just that?”

As Lapis asked Dia, sounding impressed, Dia puffed out her chest and said to her.

“It’s a spell for probing underground or whatever’s around you by letting off a small soundwave and enlarging it with magic. It’s quite useful so I won’t mind teaching…well, you’re a priestess, no?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

Priests in general couldn’t use magic.

It wasn’t that they didn’t have the ability to, but since they served their own gods and learned Divine Arts, the general mindset was that they didn’t have the time to hone other skills.

Dia thought that Lapis, who could use both Divine Arts and magic at a high level because of her natural abilities, if a spell that a vampire had developed was added to that, her abilities might overflow.

The only one who knew what exactly would happen was Lapis herself, but since she immediately gave up on the thought, Loren guessed that Dia wasn’t wrong, but the words that came after changed his mind immediately.

“It seems quite dull, anyway.”

Loren wondered if her standard for learning spells was based on how flashy it was, but since it was Lapis’ abilities they were talking about, he wasn’t going to say anything about it.

“Well, there should be an entrance that leads below somewhere.”

As Dia started to search around the area, Loren and Lapis just followed her.

It was because since they had managed to make it here, they didn’t want to be wandering around alone and then be ambushed or anything of the sort.

Although they didn’t see any enemies around them, it didn’t hurt to be cautious, and since Dia was immersed in trying to find the entrance, they had to keep watch for any possible dangers in her stead.

“There’s nowhere to hide anything, isn’t there?”

Dia, who had walked aimlessly around the area for a while, still couldn’t find anything, with time passing by.

Loren wasn’t experienced at all when it came to these things, so there was no advice he could give to Dia, while Lapis was keeping watch around them, uninterested in what Dia was doing.

“It’s hard to think that there’s anything meaningful placed in the space below. So, looking for the entrance must be the end of the test.”

“Your magic abilities are greater than your master’s no? Can’t you just find it already?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No matter the difference in magic abilities, of course the one who hid it has the advantage here.”

It would’ve been easier if it was in a smaller, limited space, but Dia was looking for a wide space somewhere in the middle of the ruins.

And since they didn’t know what it was exactly and how it was hidden, there was more to investigate, and there was no way they could find it immediately.

“I guess we’ll just have to take step by step and look for it.”

“Sounds like it’ll take a while. You think we’ll find it before our lifespan ends?”

“If it took that long I’ll have failed the test already.”

“We should still look to be here one or two days.”

Dia bared her teeth slightly at Loren’s sarcasm.

At Lapis’ words, the two of them looked at her.

“What we’re looking for might not be confined to one exact location, or it might only be here at a certain point in the day.”

“So, you’re saying that it might not be here depending on the time?”

“Yes, since the one who hid it is a vampire, there’s the possibility that it won’t appear unless it’s nighttime, don’t you think?”

“That’s definitely possible.”

Dia quickly agreed with Lapis.

“It might even depend on how the sun and moon and starts are lined up, if we’re unlucky…”

“I don’t really want to know…but how long would it take for those conditions to be met?”

Loren was getting irritated, but he was dealing with Elders, beings that weren’t even known to have a lifespan.

It wouldn’t be strange for them to implement such conditions into an exam.

“It would depend on the conditions, but if it isn’t something too specific, a few seconds. For others, it could take years or dozens of years.”

“No way.”

Loren growled in annoyance at Dia’s words.

To an Elder, it might be an instant, but to a human like him, that was way too long.

When he said he couldn’t deal with that, Dia made a troubled smile, understanding his irritation.

“I mean, if it really is something like that, I’m done for.”

“Is that really a possibility?”

“Yes. A dull but effective harassment.”

Dia thought that among the ways to get in their way, it was the most dull and effective.

It would mean that it would keep the exam from being over for years, without their opponent having to do anything.

Even if Dia was to complain, all they would have to say is that it’s part of the exam, and there would be nothing she could do about it.

“Just wondering, what’s the longest there’s ever been?”

Loren asked out of curiosity, which was rare from him, but after he heard Dia’s response, he wished he hadn’t.

“There’s one condition back in the time of the Ancient Kingdom. It came around once in a few hundred years.”

It was impressive that Dia knew that, but if the condition of the current exam was something of the sort, Loren would need dozens of lifespans to see through it.

“Can’t really deal with that.”

“I can’t either.”

“Of course you can’t. If that’s the case, I’ll end the job there and give you your rewards, so don’t worry.”

Dia didn’t seem to want to force the job on them, as she tried to relieve the two.

“Isn’t this the reason why we haven’t been attacked yet?”

“There’s no reason for an attack, you mean? If that was the case, there was no reason for them to attack us on the way here, so it would be common sense to attack sooner or later, wouldn’t it?”

Loren started to wonder how different common sense for and Elder differed from a human’s but Dia’s next words cut his thoughts short.

“Found it. This must be it.”

Loren looked at the part of the ground Dia stopped in front of and was looking at, but he couldn’t see anything.

But when he looked closer, with Shayna’s sight merged with his, he could see some sort of pattern on top of the ground.

“It was drawn with weak magic on purpose with a spell of concealment on top of it.”

“Such an annoying trick. It would take a human magician months to find this. Oh, can you see this Loren?”

“Barely, thanks to Shayna.”

Lapis was impressed and praised Shayna for being outstanding, but a frown grew on her face when she glanced behind Dia.

When Loren looked in the same direction, wondering what was there, he saw a shadow with the sun shining behind it.

“Did you find anything Dia?”

It was a woman’s voice.

The shadow that took a stepped towards them revealed a tall woman with long red hair along with pale white skin that looked like one of a dead person’s, and she was wearing a dress with smooth fabric, similar to Dia’s, that one wouldn’t normally wear in the middle of a plain.

“Finally revealing yourself. Quite dirty of you Stoos.”

“Don’t you think it’ll be more of a shock if you almost reach your goal, but then knowing it’ll never be within your grasp?”

“That’s what I’m calling dirty.”

As Dia responded in a disgusted voice, the woman put a hand on her chest, bowed gracefully, and introduced herself.

12

“I am one of the Elders. Call me Stoos. I’m someone who wants Dia to fail her test. We won’t be friends, but nice to meet you.”

“The most troublesome one showed up, huh.”

Loren cursed and raised his great sword, while steadied herself, unarmed.

Dia just glared at the woman who introduced herself as Stoos, while Stoos broke into a smile, in answer to the glare, revealing two sharp fangs underneath.