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Chapter 144.

"This is the request letter from His Highness Prime Minister to the Adventurers’ Guild. It is to request that we secretly retrieve an artifact that is believed to be in this ruin," said Dane Walker.

Molk asked like he was having a difficult time understanding, "Is that not strange? His Highness Prime Minister’s position is one that towers above everyone. It is strange that such a person would give orders through the Adventurers’ Guild instead of directly ordering the knights or the court magicians!"

Dane Walker took out other documents and handed them to Molk as if he had already expected this.

"This is!" Upon receiving the document, Molk looked at Dane Walker in surprise.

"This is General Bloody’s order. As you can see, it includes full support for this operation and a gag order."

"I will believe that this is not a false document." Molk glared at Dane Walker and put Bloody’s order in his chest.

Kermin looked at the magicians under his command and took out a sheet of paper from his pocket space. "Our court magician division was also issued an order with full support for this operation. In the absence of our leader of the court magicians, William, our orders have the seal of the emperor."

Everybody gathered here stopped breathing and their faces stiffened.

Dane Walker said it was a request from the Prime Minister, but the fact that the order with the emperor’s seal came together meant that this was led by the emperor.

"This operation is top-secret because unfortunately, what we’re trying to do is no different from tomb raiding," said Dane Walker.

The knights and magicians were heavily silent, Dane Walker and the archaeologists and treasure hunters were lost in thought. They realized that if something were to go wrong, they could be killed to be silenced.

Ordinary excavations and explorations of ruins were done publicly. It meant that the things that came out from the ruins would be revealed to the world. In addition, it was possible for the territory where the ruins were discovered to claim part of the ownership of the artifacts found.

The hired archaeologists and treasure hunters, not affiliated with the imperial family, were nervous. On the outside, the request commissioner was the prime minister, not the emperor. It meant that the prime minister would take full responsibility if things went wrong. However, it was unclear whether their lives were included in the said responsibility.

Having read their faces, Dane Walker bowed his head and apologized. "I’m sorry to bring you in without asking you first. If you fill out the confidentiality memorandum and the magic contract, we will promise you a reward that can allow you to live the rest of your lives comfortably. Your safety is a given."

The archaeologists and treasure hunters had no choice. As long as they heard the confidential information, they had to either sign or die here. Still, since the magic contract included a guarantee of safety, they would be able to keep their lives at the least.

In fact, without these kinds of explanations and safety guarantees, it was common to be killed after the work was completed. So, they felt relieved even as they signed bitterly.

Once again, Dane Walker apologized and put the memorandum and the magic contract in his pocket space, and said, "If possible, we will try to get everything done tonight. How far has the exploration of the ruin’s labyrinth progressed?"

The treasure hunters each showed their own investigation reports and maps of the labyrinth.

"We don’t have the entire labyrinth, but we can go down about four floors straight away."

The map of the labyrinth did not have a map of the entire floor drawn out, but only a complicated route to go downward.

"How many floors do you think it is?”

"We are thinking that it’s about 9 to 10 floors down."

Dane Walker was surprised by the treasure hunters’ answer.

"You went down deep in a short amount of time."

"Yes, it was possible because there were few monsters which are usually the biggest obstacle to exploration."

Usually, the ruins were often found due to an overflow of monsters after they used it as a base and turned it into a dungeon. However, in the report, there were basically no monsters except the few found on the first floor.

"It looks like the ruin has not been turned into a dungeon," Dane Walker said while looking at Kermin.

Kermin conjectured as he stroked his chin. "Maybe it has something to do with the mana here."

“And if it is the mana?"

"In this ruin, mana concentration has a tendency to decrease as you go down," Kermin replied.

Dane Walker looked around seriously at the magician group. "About how much?"

"At the least, the magicians will be able to hold out to the center of the ruin where they are headed. But you probably won’t be able to take all of them."

Kermin divided the magicians into those who would go in and those who would guard the entrance to the ruin. It was easy to divide them because there were not many court magicians who were dispatched in the first place.

Five court magicians led by Kermin including Dane Walker, six knights led by Molk, archaeologist, and treasure hunters, a total of 16, entered the ruins.

-o-

The exploration magic I used, "The Thread of Arachne," was a magic that was not very efficient outdoors but optimized for closed places like a labyrinth.

Arachne’s thread had enemy detection functions as well as topography exploration, and coincidentally, a reaction indicating humans came from two places. I wanted to properly use the detection magic and find out what kind of people they were but held back. If there was a magician among the other group, and I got unlucky, I could be reverse-detected.

I was quite far away, so would be able to cope with the reverse detection, but there was no need to risk letting others know of my presence.

Both groups were breaking through the labyrinth at a considerable speed as if they had a map of inside the ruin. I couldn’t move that fast even while knowing the terrain in real-time.

Perhaps they actually have a map?

I wanted to go at a relaxed pace, but I thought it would be better to hurry a little.

I sped up at the thought that I might reach the center later than the two groups behind me.

-o-

After running as the detection magic guided, I seemed to have reached the destination. Among the information that Milpia gave me, there was also information on the ruins from the era of the Holy Kingdom.

The huge stone gate in front of me now was the same style as rooms where most artifacts were excavated. The difference was that there was a lot of security magic on it.

Beyond this door, there might be the magic of the Holy Tribe that made my heart flutter. In fact, the reason why I was so looking forward to it was that the labyrinth, which formed the ruin, was in the form of a huge three-dimensional magic circle no matter how I looked at it.

It was just a guess, but I thought this ruin was not a tomb of the last of the Holy Tribe, but a magic circle built for the purpose of recruitment. If so, it explained why the mana was light at this ruin.

In order to maintain the magic circle, it attracted all the mana around it, inevitably making the surrounding mana faint. I would have to explore the entire ruin to find out what kind of magic circle it was, but looking at the structure of the labyrinth, which made up about half, it seemed like space-based magic that sent mana somewhere.

I didn’t know what it was for, but it was clear that if such a large magic circle was sending its collected mana, the amount of mana it would have would be beyond imagination. It was said that at least 500 years had passed since the ruin was created, so it would not be something that humans could handle.

I pushed the stone gate with excitement, wondering what would be inside beyond it.

Kkeung!

Why is it so heavy!

Using even the power of martial arts against this stone gate which was much heavier than expected, I managed to open it enough for one or two people to pass through.

It was such an old-fashioned security magic that it was faster and safer to just open it by force than to dispel it. They probably did not think there would be a musclehead like me who would push through that insanely heavy stone gate with pure strength.

Being a musclehead is the best! It’s thrilling and efficient! If your body is weak, then both your body and head would naturally suffer.

I used so much strength that I breathed hard for a while and my arms went numb. After stabilizing my breath, I squeezed myself into the gap between the open stone doors.

In the room, which was at the center of the ruin, twelve huge stone statues of knights stood facing each other in two rows. These stone statues appeared to be golems linked to the security magic of the stone gate.

Among the things I’d read while coming all the way here, it seemed that the golems symbolized the twelve knights of the round table. However, considering there were twelve, it seemed they made stone statues of everyone including my ancestor.

Wow!

I couldn’t help but admire. It was clear that this room was at the core of the ruin.

At the center of the room was a large magic stone, the size of a fist, and the mana coming out of it was filling the magic formula which was drawn all over the room. At the same time, the mana of the ruin seemed to be sent somewhere through this place.

Normally, if it was the tomb of a king, it would have been filled with golden decorations or expensive artifacts. However, this room was covered with all kinds of magic instead of gold.

For magicians like me, it was much more valuable than gold. I quickly memorized and wrote down the magic formulas in the room. Although I would have been thankful for just a clue, the magic of this room could be called the essence of that period.

Of course, compared to the magic of the current era, more than 500 years later, most of the magic was outdated and could not be used. On the other hand, however, there was plenty of magic that was so difficult and complicated that it came into practice.[1] They were so complicated and difficult that to analyze it properly, you would have to take a vacation and lock yourself in the room. It was more than I expected, but unfortunately, the magic of the Holy Tribe was not in this room.

As I was fully distracted by the magic formulas, the magic circles in the room were suddenly filled with mana and the wall cracked open. It seemed that the wall was a different door from where I came in.

As soon as the door opened, the eyes of the knight statue shone and it began to move.

"Damn?!"

It seems the security magic had activated as that stone door opened.

If you’re going to open it, you should do it properly! Not like some amateur bursting through the door while ignoring the security magic! Without anyone knowing, like nothing happened! These two things are basic knowledge that thieves need to adhere to even if it takes time.

This guy has no knowledge as a thief!

I don’t know what kind of half-assed punk you are, but just try coming in. I’ll make sure to take care of your funeral!

At that time, a majestic voice from the ceiling spoke in an ancient language.

- Disrespectful ones who dare to tread on the sacred ground with dirty feet will be punished.

I looked around as I ran away from the stone statue that pulled out a huge sword.

Before I knew it, people had come in from the stone gate in the other direction I came in from.

Dane Walker was among them.

1. Not sure what the author means by it’s so complicated that it was put into practice... Perhaps it means something along the lines of, it was so complicated that its complexity allowed it to not become outdated and was continued to be used? Or it took people so long to analyze and understand it, that it withstood the test of time, and was eventually put into practice??