Ch.168Mystery Home Sweet Home

“Whoa~ Fire Ball is the real deal. The performance is definitely solid.”

I brush off my disheveled hair and clothes while looking down at the pitch-black crater, about 30 meters in radius, created by the Fire Ball.

The fully enhanced Fire Ball had created a pillar of flame that shot up to the sky, reducing everything within its range to ashes. And where the pillar of flame had subsided, literally nothing remained.

Nothing at all.

“The corpses, magic stones, ritual tools, and equipment—all completely gone…”

“Hmm, it’s a bit unfortunate that we couldn’t recover the Orc Lord’s magic stone.”

“Let’s think of it as the price for our dramatic victory. Anyway, we didn’t come to this area because of the orcs.”

“True enough. Since our battle with the orcs is now over, let’s clean up the surroundings to prevent the fire from spreading, then investigate inside the orc village.”

“Ah, yes, we should.”

We walked around the area where the Fire Ball had exploded, extinguishing any remaining embers, then checked if there were any surviving orcs or kidnapped victims in the collapsed orc village.

All we found inside the orc village were spare spears, bows, arrows, and numerous broken trinkets.

Since they weren’t of sufficient quality to load onto the carriage, we gathered them together with the equipment we had already recovered from the orc scout team and disposed of them.

It was a precautionary measure to prevent other humanoid-type monsters from wandering by and becoming stronger by acquiring weapons.

“So the spoils from this battle are just about 30 magic stones recovered from the scout team and one ritual tool that looks like a voodoo doll.”

“Can I use the ritual tool for research? I want to see if orcs’ black magic can be converted into magical implements.”

“You’re sure nothing bad will happen, like accidentally triggering a curse?”

“It’ll be fine. An orc’s ritual tool is just a medium for magic, like my grimoire or the staffs of wizard staff-users. It doesn’t contain any activated curses itself.”

“If Jessica says so… Still, be careful just in case.”

“Hehehe~ Got it. Thanks.”

With this, our battle against the orc group that appeared in the western hills was concluded.

We boarded the carriage and began moving toward our original destination, the ancient ruins.

“So, about recreating Will’s acceleration tunnel as an independent spell…”

“If you want to use it without an artifact, wouldn’t you need to significantly streamline the formula structure?”

“No matter how much we streamline it, it won’t be as efficient as what we just saw. In that case, perhaps we should…”

While Seti and I sat side by side on the driver’s seat eating sandwiches and driving the carriage, Jessica, Mina, and Phyllis in the cargo area were discussing how to recreate the acceleration tunnel we had made with the fragment of the battle site as ordinary magic.

They seemed fired up by the rare experience of taking down a target 300 meters away and the power of the Fire Ball that annihilated the Orc Lord’s main force in one shot.

“Jessica, magical discussions are fine, but I think we’re almost there. Can you check if we’re going the right way?”

“Ah, yes. We’re almost there. Our destination is at the top of that hill with the big tree ahead.”

“That tree? I don’t see anything that looks like ruins nearby.”

“Hehe, you’ll see when we get up there.”

As Jessica said, when we drove the carriage to the hilltop, we could understand why the ancient ruins weren’t visible from below.

At the top of the hill, next to the tree, there was only a circular plaza about 15 meters in radius, paved with gray bricks.

Since it was slightly dug into the ground, it couldn’t be seen from the slope below.

“This is… the ancient ruins?”

“Yes. There’s no trace of a collapsed tower or building, and no artifacts or secret passages have been found. It’s a mysterious ruin with no clues about what it was made for or what happened here.”

“Eh? Isn’t it just a park? It would be perfect if you just added a fountain and some benches.”

“Visually it certainly looks that way, but they wouldn’t have built just a park in the middle of nowhere.”

It seems that to solve the mystery of these ruins, we need to find the Arcane Word and uncover the secrets hidden within it.

With that in mind, Phyllis and I walked around the brick plaza, carefully examining the ground, but there was no Arcane Word written anywhere.

“…Nothing.”

“Hmm. There’s no Arcane Word visible anywhere in the plaza.”

“Maybe there’s a secret mechanism we haven’t discovered? Like a switch that activates when you press one of the bricks.”

“This ruin would have been thoroughly investigated when it was discovered… but just in case, Mina, could you take a look?”

“Huh~ It’s going to take quite a while. Is that okay?”

“We have no choice. If necessary, we can camp here for a day, so let’s search thoroughly while we’re here.”

I feel a bit sorry about leaving the investigation of this wide brick plaza to Mina alone, but when it comes to examining physical secret mechanisms, the rest of us, including myself, wouldn’t be much help.

All we can do is step back outside the plaza and keep watch.

That’s what I was thinking as I passed by the large tree next to the plaza.

“…Huh?”

The deciduous tree had grown large enough to cast a wide shadow over a corner of the plaza.

On the opposite side of its thick trunk, away from the plaza, an Arcane Word was written.

“Hey! I found the Arcane Word here!”

“It was on that tree? We didn’t notice it because it faces away from the plaza.”

“Good thing we found it before Mina had to go through all that trouble. So, what does it say?”

“Everyone come out of the plaza before I read it. Something might change in the plaza when I read this.”

In most dungeons and ruins we’ve explored, reading an Arcane Word typically triggers walls opening or secret mechanisms activating.

It would be disastrous if the floor disappeared or a building suddenly emerged while someone was still inside the plaza.

“I’ll start now. {May there come a day when the despair that covers heaven and earth is defeated, and I can enjoy peaceful moments with my beloved in this small country home}”

As I recited the somewhat desperate-sounding Arcane Word, the entire gray brick plaza began to shake and transform.

Wooden fences about waist-high rose around the perimeter of the circular plaza, and in the center, a red brick house assembled itself as if someone were playing a demolition scene in reverse.

The gray brick path leading from the entrance of the fence to the house was now flanked by exposed soil, forming what looked like small flower beds or vegetable gardens.

In less than three minutes after reciting the Arcane Word, a modest yet elegant brick house with a small garden stood completed before our eyes.

“…It seems to be finished.”

“Who would have thought that what was hidden by the Arcane Word was an ordinary house…”

“It might only look ordinary on the outside. There could be amazing devices or items inside. Let’s go in and see.”

Following the gray brick path to the front door of the house, we knocked two or three times as a courtesy before turning the handle and opening the door.

Inside was an ordinary Western-style house.

A living room with a table and sofa, a kitchen with a small dining table, an empty room seemingly meant as a bedroom, and a small bathroom/laundry room.

The only difference from the common house structure in Grantis was that the toilet was located separately at the back of the house.

“…For a house built at least hundreds of years ago, it’s not that different from today’s popular housing styles. Were the ancient people’s living standards quite high?”

“Maybe the owner of this house was from the upper class. The very idea of hiding one’s residence with an Arcane Word is beyond what ordinary people would do.”

As I said this, I turned the faucet handle in the kitchen, and water flowed out smoothly with a whooshing sound.

There was no dust or mold anywhere, and the indoor temperature was maintained at a comfortable level.

It seemed like we could live in this house starting today if we just brought in some furniture, dishes, and food.

“Are there no items that might give us information about the homeowner?”

“Will, look at this. I found it in the living room table drawer.”

“Hmm?”

Seti, who had been searching around the living room, approached me holding what she had found in the tea table drawer.

It was an ornately decorated hardcover book, with a small lock attached to the cover preventing it from being opened.

It’s a method often used for diaries or journals where important content is written.

“The key was with it too. Here.”

“Is this the homeowner’s diary or something… I guess we have no choice but to read it?”

“Wait. It might take some time, so let’s set up a repellation field in the yard.”

“Good idea. I’ll get firewood from the carriage.”

Before looking at the contents of the diary, we secured the surroundings with barrier magic, then all gathered around the living room sofa and unlocked it with the small key.

With a click, the lock opened. We removed it and opened the hardcover book, only to be greeted by an unexpected phrase on the first page:

‘For my beloved wife whom I can no longer meet, or for guests who might find this place in the distant future – Deidric Asmad’

Why is the Great Sage appearing here…?