Magic Warrior Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Investigation of Ruins

The next morning, after breakfast, I put on the leather armor my father had given me and took the iron sword he had given me out of the wardrobe. I also put a leather bag on my waist belt so that I could stash anything I found. It only holds a few things, but it's better than the last time I went searching empty-handed. I am a woman who reflects.

"Tie it tighter, or it will come off during battle."

It seems that the straps binding my leather armor were too loose, and my father, who was checking on me, warned me about it. I was so disappointed.

Dad has a slightly wider sword hanging from his waist, decorated differently from the gear he wore when Claire and I came back from the ruins and the one he always uses in the village. It may be a sword from his adventurer days.

"Be careful, father and Big Sis."

"Mina, listen to your father and Alphos-san and the others."

I hear Claire and my mother say goodbye as I head for the village chief's house with my father.

◇

When we arrived in the village chief's house, Alphos-san and the others were already prepared and waiting for us in front of the house. We said good morning to them and checked our equipment and tools.

Alphos-san was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, light metallic armor with a spear on his back; Gina-san was wearing metal armor with a large two-handed sword on her back and hand axes hanging from both hips; Mirell-san was wearing light leather armor, a short sword and arrow quiver on her waist and a short bow on her back. There are pockets in her armor and a jumble of pouches around her waist.

Dad took a small backpack from Alphos-san, checked inside, and tied it to his back with a string. Mirell-san also has a bag on her back, but she did not carry it the same way, so it must have been just dad's style.

"Let's go then."

Alphos-san called out, and we set off for the northern forest.

Once in the forest, I took the iron sword that I had received from my father in the village and hung it next to the wooden sword at my waist. From the secret base, we headed for the ruins using the transfer formation.

I was leading the way.

The detailed location of this secret base, is known only to me, Claire, and a few children in the village who used to play with me.

It was close to the village, so even adults probably knew of its existence, but I had never told them about it.

Now that my father knows where it is, it may be difficult for me to hide and take a nap here in the future.

"This looks a lot like an altar from an ancient civilization."

"Hmm, it is quite simple."

Even the simple ruins seemed to interest Gina-san and the others, and they looked at it for a while.

"Just to be safe, the three of us will go first, and after a ten-count, Mark and Mina-chan, please enter the transfer formation and move in."

Since the Transfer Formation cannot be used when the location to be transferred is buried, if something happens on the other side, and we are standing on the Transfer Formation, there is a possibility that they cannot come return to the other side.

Especially if there are many of us, the possibility of not being able to transfer increases.

Alphos-san poured magic power into the magic circle and confirmed that the three of them would be able to transfer, and after a slow count of ten, I followed them with my father.

They were waiting for us when we came out of the small room where they had been transferred.

"I didn't know that there was an active Transfer Formation so close to the village."

"Yeah, most of the Transfer Formations in the fields were broken and useless..."

...I couldn't even use this Transfer Formation until I [cleaned] it. I was silent about it, though.

Mirell-san stood at the front, with Gina-san behind her. Alphos-san stood at the end of the line between my father and me. I was impressed by their expertise.

I led the way in the order in which Claire and I had explored.

"This room has strong light magic, this is close to the level of blessing."

"It seems to be a little weaker than before."

Upon entering the sanctuary, Mirell-san and the others seemed to notice immediately. But it seems a lot less sacred or uncomfortable than the last time I was here, and Mirell-san said that it was still enough to be considered magical.

"There are dried bloodstains."

"...it could be mine."

Upon closer inspection, I could find blood spots on the floor, blackened from the blood loss in the fight with the Living Statue.

The broken Living Statue remained as it was that day, and a pool of blood remained nearby.

Looking at it this way, it could have been bad if Claire had not been present. My father frowned when he saw that the injuries were worse than he thought.

"The statue Living Statue certainly looks like it was recently broken."

"It looks like it's been cut in half."

"It looks like it was smashed by wind or ice magic."

"I don't think Mina-chan's wooden sword could do that. It was probably attacked just as it was deteriorating over time, or maybe it was fighting someone else."

Mirell-san and Gina-san are doing an autopsy (?) on the Living Statue, and even though they knew that I fought with it, they don't seem to understand what I did to kill it.

Well, I didn't lie in the first place, but they might have interpreted it differently.

Alphos-San also seemed to be thinking a lot after hearing this. I was thinking that if one looks at it, one might be able to understand even the smallest of details.

We checked the second floor and the passageway on the other side of the cathedral, but nothing had changed. I stood in front of the door of the room where the Living Statue used to be. The door was left open as before.

"There was a room ahead of the Living Statue, which I opened but didn't enter the room."

"Ok."

Mirell-san's mood switched to tense.

Of course, I had been careful before, but since I had been in the place already, I thought of paying more attention to the walls and ornaments than to the parts I stepped on or the doors.

But from this point on, I could see that they were paying even closer attention and concentrating on the area because it was an unexplored section of the building.

We entered the room and beckoned everyone to follow after confirming that it was safe. Mirell-san went straight in and began examining the shelves close at hand.

The room has a table, chairs, shelves, a staircase to the basement in the front on the right side, and a door to the outside in the back. There is another door to the left that might lead to another room.

The view from the window is mostly of the forest, but only a wall remains, indicating that there were houses in the vicinity. There is no place in this cathedral that looks livable, so the building over there may have been used for living.

There was some silverware in the shelves. They were probably from when this place was still in use.

"This one has the coat of arms of a church from an ancient civilization. It's worth a lot of money."

"I'll take it with us on the way back, since it might get scratched if we carry it around."

"There's something on the shelf, as well."

"Hmm, that one is worth a couple of bucks. If there's room, we can take it with us."

Mirell-san examined the dishes and was about to put them straight into her bag when Alphos-san stopped her.

If this was a dungeon with many adventurers, we would have to hurry to retrieve them here. It seemed that carvings and tableware that were recognizable at a glance as being from an ancient civilization could be sold as antiques.

After finishing the investigation to some extent, Mirell-san was examining the door of the next room.

It seemed to be locked. She took out a wire-like object from a pouch on her waist and fiddled with it, and after about 30 seconds, a click sounded and it opened.

In the game, except for special events, a door like that won't be opened unless you have the corresponding key, but I doubt there are such restrictions in reality.

It would be possible to break down a wooden door with Gina-san's two-handed sword.

Mirell-san seemed to be checking only the traps in the room, and by the time the other members had finished checking inside the room, Mirell-san was checking the entrance to the next room.

I wonder if it was because they were experienced adventurers that they never wasted any time in conducting their investigations.

My father, who was used to doing this, was doing all the checking together with me, but I did my best not to get in the way.

"It's easier when there are more people who know what they're doing."

"The body remembers when you do this a lot, you know."

Dad, even though it's been more than 15 years since the last time he worked with them, he responded with a nostalgic look on his face. He seemed happy and excited.

The next room must have been an office, with a desk, a large table, and a sofa. As we went through the room as before, we found a key in the drawer of the desk.

Mirell-san put the key in the pouch and, seeing nothing else of interest, left the room. The door to the outside was locked, so we left it as it was and headed down the stairs with Mirell-san in the lead.

The next step was to explore the basement.