Hard Work Will Never Betray Me - CH 26

The ruins of a lantern made of rock, 10 meters high and 40 meters wide. The entrance was open, and the doors looked as if they had long since fallen into decay.

In The inside of the ruin , slightly visible from the outside, was still covered with ivy and cobwebs, indicating the poor state of preservation.

“If it’s an important ting , the government should pay to protect it. ……”

Or should the government of the Farenheit frontier county do it? I’ll have to talk to my dad about this when I get home. We can’t let the historical buildings fall down.

“I don’t really feel like going in there, though.

I was expecting something a little more mysterious in terms of decorations since it was called an ancient ruin, but I couldn’t feel any aesthetic sense from the Lantern Ruins.

They just piled up rocks and adopted the styles that were popular during the time of ancient civilization in the most obvious places. …… At the very least, it looked like a warehouse, factory, or other industrial building, not a cultural facility.

From what I’ve heard, there are many ruins of ancient civilizations in the streets of the ancient city of Beckenburg, and the scenery is very beautiful and elegant. As far as I could tell from the paintings in the travel books, at least there were not so many bleak buildings like the ruins in front of me.

Well, this is also the countryside in the northern part of the Imperial Kingdom. Maybe they just didn’t need to make it as glamorous as the city.

I was a little disappointed, but business is business, so I stepped into the Lantern Ruins.

While deploying the barrier, I also remembered to activate the magic of the illumination light.

The “lighting” has brightened up the previously pitch-black ruins. It’s much easier to walk now.

Stepping on the floor, which was cracked in some places, I proceeded deeper into the ruins. The sight of rats and other unfamiliar insects crawling on the walls and floor was, to put it mildly, creepy.

“It’s all about the barrier. ……”

If i haven  barrier spell , this would be the kind of request I would never accept. If  i am not careful,  i will soon find myself in a situation where ihave to interact with a ghetto.

“I’m not sure which one it is.

As I walked along with a chill running down my spine at the sight of these horrible lowlife, I eventually came to a fork in the road. On the right was a staircase leading to the upper floor, and on the left was a corridor leading to several rooms.

I checked the booknote   that the receptionist handed me when I accepted the request, and found that both were included in the survey. In the corridor, we wanted to check if the rooms had been ransacked. Are the stairs in a condition where people can go up and down?

Let’s start with the stairs. I picked up a stone block that looked like it weighed close to forty kilos and started up the stairs. The weight of a six year old doesn’t give me an accurate idea of strength, so  i have to make it as heavy as an adult before it’s worthwhile.

Ip roceeded upstairs, where i  was told that I would have to check a few more rooms. Checking the checklist, I went through each item, and after inspecting the roof, I went downstairs.

. “At this rate, i will be done soon. I might be able to get home by the end of the day.

I muttered to myself without saying anything to anyone and continued my investigation. After checking the first and second rooms, I was checking the last room when I suddenly noticed something strange.

“　What is that?”‘

When I looked closely, I noticed that some of the color of the floor was discolored. It’s not a discoloration, but it’s as if the floor was originally made of a different material. It’s as if they are hiding something underneath it. ……

“…… ‘sonar’.”

I put my hand on the floor and shoot the “sonar” from my palm towards the basement.

“　This is also bizarre.”

Underneath that different colored floor, as expected, there was a mysterious space that seemed to extend quite deep into the earth.

“…… I didn’t see anything like this in the materials you gave me. What’s going on?”

The most likely scenario is that some bandit or someone has modified the ruins and is using it as a stronghold, or that there is a new discovery that the researchers could not find.

To be honest, I don’t think that bandits are using the ruins as a stronghold. Who would want to build a stronghold in such a remote place?

I wonder if this is a new discovery that the researchers couldn’t find. To be honest, I don’t think that’s very likely either, but I think it’s the most likely possibility.

Why did the ancients bother to leave ruins in such a place? Why are the Lantern ruins not considered that important?

I think it is because the true value of these ruins has not yet been discovered. ……

“I can’t open it.

The floor doesn’t budge even when I push or step on it. I’m pretty sure this place is connected to the underground. Is there some other gimmick hidden somewhere?

I carefully observed the room. But I’m not a researcher, so there’s no way I can find any unique mechanism.

“Hmm, I’ll cheat a little.”

I’m not going to get anywhere, so I’m going to use a very weak [shock] and destroy only the parts that are a different color, being very careful not to affect the ruins.

Boom! ……

“……okey !”

A hole was made in the floor with a rather loud noise. We were here to do a conservation survey of the ruins, and it seemed like a bad idea to damage the ruins, but if it was a major historical discovery, there would be no blame. There are necessary sacrifices, I guess. I’m willing to bet that it’s probably a great discovery.

“It’s surprisingly beautiful over here. ……

Again, there was no light, but it was no problem since  I can illuminated by “lights”. Because it was sealed up, the inside was relatively clean, unlike the outside where it was open. Above all, there were no insects. It was wonderful.

I went down the stairs for a few minutes. There was still no sign of reaching the room downstairs. I feel like I’ve been down about ten floors already, but the narrow view never seems to change.

“Hmmm… I’m in trouble. It’s going to be very boring if this keeps going on and on.

There’s no road more difficult to walk than a road with no goal in sight. I shot my sonar down to check the remaining distance.

“What?

But that may have been a mistake. Even after all this walking, I was still only a tenth of the way down.

“, Wait,  how many floors is this?　How did the ancients dig this up? A mole?””

The depth was about four to five hundred meters from the ground. To be honest, I was afraid that it was so deep that even if buried the Tokyo Tower in the ground, it still wouldn’t be enough.

“I’m a little worried about the oxygen level. ……”

I felt uneasy, so I deployed a larger-than-usual “barrier” to ensure that there was enough air inside. This will allow  me to operate in an oxygen-free and toxic zone for a few hours.

I went down for a while as it was, but when I got about halfway down, my knees were laughing at me for goodness sake, so I decided to use [Shock] to move faster.

I released a weak shockwave from the soles of my feet to soften the impact when I landed, and ran down the stairs, skipping a few steps. I succeeded in descending several times faster than before, and was able to reach the bottom much more easily.

“It’s a big door.”

At the end of the stairs was a metal door that opened in both directions and was at least five meters high. It had a picture of a supernatural being, a dwarf, and people.

“Is it an ancient temple or something?”

I don’t think it’s a temple, because the decoration on the ground part was quite poor for a temple.

In any case, nothing can be done until the door is opened, so I activate my “body enhancement” and push the door open, taking care to be ready for anything.

The door opens with a heavy gurgling …… sound and I see what’s on the other side of the door.

“This is ……!”

When I saw it, I yelped and froze. What I saw on the other side of the door were countless passageways that seemed to be tunnels stretching as far as the eye could see, and a pile of silvery white metal ingots piled high in the middle. What caught my attention most of all was a single, iridescent metal ingot that was placed in the center of the pile.