Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

years ago.
They won’t be openly displayed in the city.
It would most likely be somewhere underground or another hidden area……not in the center of Meldora.」

Tristan continues, his gaze moving away from the city.

「The suspicious locations are the mine, the dense forest where people can’t enter, and……」

I hear a set of cute footsteps.
It was Agor’s attendant, who ran over and saluted awkwardly, gasping for breath from the excessive exercise.
She’s a disguised lover, but I guess she at least fulfills her duty as an attendant as well.

「I found a castle under repair on the outskirts of the city! It felt off to see guards being stationed there even though it looked like ruins of some sort!」

Tristan quietly lowers his hand.

「A castle or an abandoned fort……?」

「Gildress.
Stay here and continue making it look like we’re trying to conquer Meldora.
You just have to occupy their attention until we achieve our objective.」

「Nuuuun!!」

Unhappy that our objective wasn’t to fight, Gildress let out an extra loud groan.

――Night.

「Now then, is it time?」

Confirming that the sun has completely set, we peeked our heads out.
Next to me are Agor, Mack, Celia, who is clinging tightly to me, and behind me is Tristan, who is yawning.

The fort that Agor’s attendant discovered was quite unusual.

Still, half of it is an old dilapidated castle about to collapse at any time and the other half is an abandoned building under construction with its insides exposed.

「There’s rubble and dirt left on the side.
Not much time has passed since work was halted.」

I was a little surprised by Mack’s voice, who I haven’t heard in a while.
He doesn’t usually speak so it startles me when he does.

Anyways, as a military engineer familiar with public works, he must be right.

But there is one thing I can’t accept.

「What a tiny castle.
These are the ruins of an ancient civilization?」

This place would be fully packed after a few hundred soldiers enter.
It doesn’t look like an important base at all.

「No, it wouldn’t be out in the open.
Look there.」

Tristan points a finger.
Guards light fires in the iron baskets, faintly illuminating the old castle in the darkness.

There is an alarm bell installed on the tops of watch towers, which when rung, could probably alert those all the way in the center of Meldora of a potential crisis.

「This worn out building, uncovered and being renovated, has no military value.
Yet, in a war where every soldier is precious, they’re still stationing guards here, meaning it’s more unusual for nothing to be here.
All the clues must be here.
Now, go and infiltrate the place.」

「You’re coming too.」

I drag Tristan by the collar and approach the castle.

「Alright, time to initiate the plan.」

「Sure……」

I give a half-hearted reply to Agor.
It’s because I wasn’t very excited about the strategy.

「It’ll be fine, I’ll follow through! Believe in my acting ability.」

Celia pulls the attendant by the collar and moves to the grass right beside the castle.

Then she pushes the attendant down into the grass with a high-spirited hmph.

「Ah, no!」

「You came all this way, what do you mean ‘no’? Prepare yourself.
You’re going to become my woman!」

I can’t clearly see it, but Celia is rolling around in the grass with the attendant.

「D-don’t……look there……don’t look……」

「Spread your legs more.
I’ll make you feel good.」

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The attendant’s legs poke out of the grass and quickly get held down by Celia’s slender arms.

Her screams get gradually louder and the grass rustles more.

「N-noo……I’m cumming!」

It was when the attendant moaned especially loud.

「Who is over there!? Come out!」

Several soldiers guarding the old castle wave their torches in the direction of the sound.
Taking that as their cue, nearby soldiers swarm around with their spears.

I almost jumped out on instinct, but Mack bound my arms behind my back.
I guess that was according to plan.
My body just moved automatically.

「Is it an Aless spy!? Oh, it’s just a meeting between lovers……」

Celia submissively stands up with her hands raised.
Her chest area is greatly exposed and her pants rolled up to a risky height on her thighs.

Meanwhile, the attendant stood up blushing and hiding her breasts.
Celia really took off all her clothes.

That actually eliminated the guards’ wariness instantly.
They didn’t shout to notify others or run to ring the alarm bell.

「You two didn’t watch what happened this afternoon? At least hold back a little…… huh, wait.」

「You’re both female? It was two female lovers who met secretly……?」

The gathered soldiers looked at each other and nasty grins formed on their faces.

「This is an important place.
Although this was a tryst, we can’t simply let you go.」

「That’s right.
We have to investigate you two thoroughly but gently.」

「It’s a waste for you beauties to know only women.
Let us teach you the appeal of men.」

The relaxed guards reach out to grab Celia and the attendant to take them away, their eyes scanning the two women’s bodies.
Of course, they aren’t paying attention to what’s behind them.

「Let’s go.」

Agor, Mack, and I run as softly as possible.

Making sure that the enemy wouldn’t scream, I pierce the back of his head with my Dual Crater.

Agor’s sword slits the man’s throat.

「――gyu!!」

Slightly delayed, Mack’s warhammer smashes the head of the enemy.
Without a head, he can’t make a sound.

That leaves only two soldiers.

「Shh!!」

Celia times her move with our attack, taking out a dagger hidden beyond the uncovered portion of her thigh and stabs one of the enemies in the throat, then proceeds to throw the dagger into the opened mouth of the other surprised guard.

「Agguh! Agh!」
「Ke……kehah……guah……」

It wasn’t an instant kill, but they can’t speak.
Agor and I slowly approach them, then deliver the final blows.

We swiftly snuff out the torches and abandon the corpses.
In the darkness, they won’t be noticed.
It won’t be a problem if we finish up before morning.

Now, the area guarded by the five soldiers has cleared.
Infiltrating should be easy――

「Uuii, I’m back.
Where are you guys~? Don’t disappear on me when I’m taking a shit~」

Someone appears in a place we didn’t expect.
We were caught off guard after the visible enemies were killed and were spotted by this guy.

「……」

He paused briefly, stunned by what he saw, then turned his heel around and started to run.

「Kuh!?」

Celia reaches for another dagger and throws, but her grip was poor and it missed.

「Not good, he’s going to ring the alarm!」

If that happens, reinforcements will come from their headquarters.
If he shouts, then all the guards nearby will surround us.

「Huu…… some……one……?」

The soldier inhaled deeply and was about to yell for backup……but he froze in place.
He turned back once more to look at us, tilted his head cluelessly, then scratched his cheek, leaned against the wall and began to pick his nose.

「W-what happened?」

Agor, who chased after him with his sword drawn despite knowing he wouldn’t make it, stops running.

Mack and I exchanged glances, then I signal for Celia to stop as she adjusts her hand on her dagger.

「Aaaah, what a pain.
My stomach hurts too, can’t this be over already?」

The soldier was complaining like he lost interest in us altogether.
Upon careful inspection, there was an arrow stuck in his ass.

「An incapacitating agent.
It takes away the person’s ability to think and induces a state of lethargy.
That was close.」

A shadow dashes gallantly out of the darkness and removes the hood on its head.

Flowing locks of light green hair fall softly on the person’s shoulders, and the uncovered hood reveals long eyebrows, the individual’s beautiful face and most notably the long ears characteristic of a certain race.
It was the elven apothecary and self-proclaimed adventurer, Natia.

「I came as soon as I read your letter.
Ruins of the Jirubiru civilization? I want to explore too!」

Oh right, I guess I included that bit in the letter to Nonna.
Natia must have seen it by chance.

「Well, you saved us, Natia.」

I smile and open my arms to receive her.

「S-sure.
I don’t know exactly what’s going on, I just thought it wouldn’t be possible to investigate if he caused a fuss.」

I pull Natia into my chest for a casual hug.
Thinking nothing of it besides it being a greeting, she doesn’t resist.

「Ooh, that’s hot.
How nice.」

The enemy who was shot in the butt stretches and comments lazily.

「Will he be alright if we leave him alone until morning?」

「Yeah.
Its effects vary depending on the person’s constitution but it can last from three days to three years.」

I’ll consider him lucky he still has his life.

「Um, you’re done greeting right? Let me go already.」

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Natia squirms uncomfortably in my arms.
Her embarrassed face is adorable, but it’s her ears that are……

「Hham.」

I can’t help biting down on those things flopping in front of my face.

「Hum!」

For some reason, Celia bites down on the other one.

「Nnaaah!?」

Woah! That was louder than I expected.

「……hey, did you hear an erotic moan from a girl just now?」

「Don’t be ridiculous, like a girl would ever come to a place like this.
You must be backed up.」

Phew, it didn’t turn into anything serious.

As I cover the angry Natia’s mouth and comfort her, we begin to search the ancient castle.

Our desired destination was found quite easily.
Natia’s senses as a self-proclaimed adventurer far exceeded ours as amateurs.

We let the occasional patrolling guards pass or defeat them in order to move deeper into the castle.

「This was…… the supply storage?」

「It goes right through.」

The floor of the old moldy underground room had caved in.

「There’s no mistake.
The rubble has been moved and there are even stairs.
There are also multiple traces of something heavy being dragged up carefully.」

After Tristan nods contently, he moves back behind everybody.

「This wind…… it’s deep.
It’s unusually deep.」

On the contrary, Natia is at the forefront, panting and unable to hide her excitement.

I feel uneasy for a woman to be in front, but she’s eager to explore, so I’ll let her.

Natia sprightly leaps down the stairs, skipping two steps at a time.
She doesn’t seem to have any issue not being able to watch her footing in the dark.
Obviously, we can’t say the same.

「Nobody’s coming after us.」

I look over my shoulder before lighting a torch and slowly following the leader.

The stairs seem to go on forever.
50, 100, 300, 500……

「Do they continue all the way to the bottom of the earth?」

「Aegir-sama.」

Celia becomes a little anxious and clings to my arm.
I look over at Agor and his attendant is also holding onto him.

After descending over a thousand steps, the stairs end.

「Let’s see what we have here……」

I blow out the torch.
It wasn’t needed anymore.

「I don’t believe it.
The walls and floor are glowing.」

Celia’s jaw hangs open as she remarks.
A faint light is being emitted by the wall and floor, allowing us to see even without a torch.

「Is this steel? No, it can’t be, there isn’t any rust.」

Agor also stares in amazement.

「The ceiling, it’s high.
It’s at least 30 m.」

The attendant is in awe as well.
The passageway is about 20 m wide and 30 m tall.
I can’t tell how far back it goes.

「This is beyond anything I imagined.」

I am also surprised.
If a civilization can create something like this underground, it’s no wonder such incredible weapons originated from them.

A nimble set of footsteps return to where we are.
It was Natia who preceded us.

「I-it’s amazing.
I heard rumors that said the ruins of the Jirubiru civilization were completely decayed or that it was a hoax…… but this is definitely the real thing.
This is the first time in my 75 years that I’ve seen something like this! L-let’s keep going!」

The ecstatic Natia jumps forward, her ears flapping rapidly to reflect her delight.

「Let’s continue on.
Err, the center……no, the middle or whatever.
Keep going in a straight line, in other words, straight ahead……a large distance.
It looks like we’re still far off.」

Tristan says as he stares at the characters carved in the wall with one hand keeping his book open as reference, which brings Natia running back.

「You can read them, those symbols!?」

「Read is too much of an exaggeration.
I simply compiled fragments of different books and other resources to create a limited translation table.
I use that as a basis to infer the general meaning of the characters.」

「That’s still amazing!」

Natia’s brings her face uncomfortably close to Tristan’s.

「There are similar symbols over there too.
Come decipher them!」

「Don’t pull me…… I hate being in front by the way.
I’m going to die first for sure.」

Damn it, Tristan.
Were you aiming for Natia this whole time?

I look annoyingly at the wall.

「Hm? 1400 dal straight ahead to reach the central control room? It’s not hard to read at all.
Natia, I can read it too!」

「Liar! Do this next, this one Tristan!」

「Lord Hardlett, let’s leave it to that one called Tristan.」

「People are cut out for certain things.」

「I-I believe you, Aegir-sama!」

Celia reassures me with averted eyes.

「Err, admit……no, authority, I guess? Human……this is front, maybe? The limit…… no, it means up to this point.
Defense mechanism, activation warning…… I’m seeing unpleasant terms here.」

Unauthorized persons shall not pass.
If you approach the entrance any further, take caution for the activation of the defense apparatus――
See, believe me.
I can read it.

「I know, Aegir-sama.
I’m on your side!!」

As I tried to make my case to them, I heard scraping sounds and footsteps.

「Hey, is anyone there? It’s too early for a shift change.」

I froze momentarily, believing it was something strange, but it was just a Meldora soldier.
I guess I’ll have to appeal to them again later.

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