Ch.68The Sunken Village (2)

“Wake up, my love.”

At the sound of Raisha’s voice in my ear, I slowly rose from bed.

It was literally a refreshing morning—my body wasn’t shivering, and I didn’t feel tired at all.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.”

After sharing a morning kiss with Raisha, I put on my clothes and armor again. While I was adjusting Raisha’s attire, the tent flap opened and an adventurer entered.

At that moment, Raisha had her face buried against my chest, and the adventurer, seeing this, twisted his face strangely and said:

“It’s nice to be hot and heavy first thing in the morning, but once you’re dressed, come quickly. The mages have found a lead.”

“A lead?”

“Yeah. They’re certain it’s definitely not spirits, but a mage’s doing.”

“Hmm.”

If that was the case, our search area had narrowed.

Having experienced the fickleness of spirits in Faerus Vale, this was welcome news to me, and soon the adventurer lifted the tent flap and left.

I tightened Raisha’s clothes, then exited the tent and approached the campfire where the adventurers were gathering.

*

“This is where we are. Karvington Village.”

The old mage pointed to our location as he spread out the map.

Though no one had officially appointed him, the old mage commanded the 80 adventurers gathered here through his years of experience, and the rest of us, myself included, tacitly approved of his leadership.

“Hmm.”

“And from our tracking, we’ve determined that an enormous amount of magical power was used here.”

The place the mage pointed to on the map was a high peak about a day’s walk from here, overlooking the entire vicinity.

I had heard that magical power tends to gather at high mountains, but I didn’t expect it to be this close.

“An enormous amount of magical power?”

“At least enough to cause heavy rainfall twice. Given the limited range, it seems some evil mage has obtained an artifact from the ancient empire or control authorization for a climate manipulation satellite…”

“Hmm… what should we do then?”

“Like Karvington Village… everything created during the Eclipse Era is abnormal in some way… if an imperial research facility is buried there, it would be no different from a dungeon by now.”

It’s been 1,200 years since the last remnants of the Empire were destroyed, and 50,000 years since the death of the Empire’s last emperor.

If you know how quickly a village becomes desolate after being abandoned for less than a year, you can imagine what might be lurking inside that peak.

The research facility would have eroded and collapsed over the long years, becoming a habitat for dangerous flora and fauna, with automated security systems and defenses created with ancient technology waiting inside.

“This doesn’t look easy… If it’s just an artifact, that would be manageable, but if it’s truly a research facility controlling a climate manipulation satellite, I can’t even imagine what traps the mages might have set.”

An elven archer muttered, wiping away cold sweat.

Having lived for so long, they would have had more contact with the ancient empire’s ruins and relics, and would know well what powers they possessed.

“We need to scout first… Any volunteers?”

The mages looked at each other hesitantly, and I raised my hand to volunteer.

“We’ll go.”

“You?”

“We have horses. We can return quickly, making us perfect for reconnaissance.”

“True… in that case, sending the Iron Walker party for reconnaissance seems best… what do others think?”

“I agree. The lack of a mage is somewhat concerning, but surely they can recognize ancient ruins.”

“I saw yesterday that the party leader can use marking magic. At least they won’t die from a misstep, making them suitable for reconnaissance.”

And so, our Iron Walker party set out toward the peak.

*

Clop-clop! Clop-clop!

“The slope isn’t as steep as I thought?”

“That’s because of all the trees and rocks. There’s no particularly steep incline. But don’t go too fast.”

“Understood.”

The path to the peak was surprisingly smooth.

Of course, the path was rough and untamed, but that was so normal and familiar that it hardly seemed worth mentioning.

They said it was a day’s walk, but riding on horseback, we could visibly see the peak getting closer.

“Hmm… we can’t go this way. Let’s find another path.”

“Yes.”

However, that thought was short-lived when we saw the enormously swollen mountain river, and we quietly began looking for a detour, finally reaching the boundary of the peak as the sun was setting.

Upon reaching the boundary, we discovered what appeared to be an asphalt road built by the ancient empire, and we began to move slowly along it.

Built with the ancient empire’s technology, it wouldn’t collapse just because we moved roughly on it, but the foundation supporting the road was another matter.

After 50,000 years, the once-reinforced foundation would have been significantly weakened by constant tectonic movements.

“I have a bad feeling about this. Be prepared.”

“Yes!”

Raisha and I summoned our sword and spear, ready to strike from horseback, and soon reached the end of the road.

As the mages had predicted, at the end of the road was a facility entrance ominously exuding darkness, with electrical cables hanging from the collapsed ceiling like dangling entrails, making it extremely eerie.

I used Lumines to create a sphere of light, and with the bright illumination, we slowly entered the facility.

“Lord Viktor. Look at this.”

“What’s this…?”

Raisha discovered something and called me over, and I moved the light sphere to illuminate the direction she was looking.

[帝国 気象庁 傘下の 施設]

“Well. This truly is a relic of the Nariakiran Empire.”

“What does it say?”

“It’s written in imperial script… Teikoku… Kisho…”

“Lord Viktor?”

“This is… a facility under the Imperial Meteorological Agency.”

“Under the Meteorological Agency…”

In the ancient empire, Nariakira Saburo and Maria Taylor, who ascended to become the sun and moon, were treated as the empire’s only two gods, and naturally, the Meteorological Agency, which observed and communicated with them, was a direct imperial organization with very high status.

As a building constructed by such an agency, this place once observed the brilliantly shining Saburo and the ethereally glowing Maria.

However, this place too was forgotten with the fall of the empire and the rise of the Four Great Gods faith, ultimately becoming this tomb.

“Let’s explore a bit more before heading back.”

“Yes.”

We spent an hour wandering around the entrance gathering information, and were able to confirm that there were no traps, at least in the entrance area.

*

“So it truly was an ancient imperial facility.”

The mages each exclaimed in wonder while stroking their beards.

I swear, do their hands get thorns if they don’t stroke those beards?

“Limited to the entrance area, there were no enemies or traps.”

This is certain. I confirmed it personally by moving my body around.

And I checked three times using Navis, which can detect magically concealed things, so at least to my knowledge, I’ve provided accurate information.

“Hmm… is it a deception tactic… or is it truly uninhabited…”

The oldest mage, stroking his beard, wrote the word ‘artificial intelligence?’ in his notebook.

“Are you considering the possibility of an unmanned facility running amok?”

“That’s highly likely. Even artificial intelligence isn’t immortal. After tens of thousands of years, it would have gone berserk or become corrupted.”

“Artificial intelligence… not of the current era, but from ‘that’ imperial era, so not a weak AI but a strong AI… fighting a facility manager with that level of intelligence won’t be easy.”

“But we can’t just leave it alone. We don’t know when it might cause another downpour, and if it sends lightning strikes or storms more dangerous than rain all the way to Shahelm, we’d truly be helpless.”

“Well, well… this is troublesome.”

Even with current technology, creating strong AI is no easy task.

The heart cities of each continent can only create strong AI with massive funding and technology, which made me newly appreciate the power of the Nariakiran Empire, which mass-produced Ego Swords by stuffing such strong AIs into swords.

“It’s getting late, so let’s meet again tomorrow for a council. A rampaging facility governed by AI cannot be conquered unless we all join forces.”

“I agree. We’ll retire for now, and you should do the same.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Iron Walker party leader.”

“Think nothing of it.”

I dismounted from my spotted horse and returned to our tent, removing my heavy armor.

Beside me, Raisha had bathed and changed into her nightclothes, lying in bed, and I lay down in the same spot, feeling her embrace my body as I drifted off to sleep.

“Sleep well, my love.”

“You too.”