Ch.75From the Second Ruin

“Artifact!”

Mina’s powerful voice echoed across the courtyard of the ruins halfway up Mount Evernight, enveloped in silence.

In her hands, a metallic cube about 20 centimeters on each side gleamed in the moonlight.

“Eh? Is it really an artifact?”

“Without a doubt! And it’s not just a simple object like Dad’s liquor barrel—it’s an ultra-high-density magical power generator! A kind of perpetual motion machine that creates infinite magical power!”

“I see, so that’s why the lich didn’t move from this spot—it was receiving magical power from this artifact.”

“With this, could Jessica or Phyllis do the same thing?”

“If they could create a formula to directly draw magic from the artifact, maybe? But the true value of this artifact isn’t just that.”

Jessica took the artifact from Mina and examined it slowly as she continued speaking.

“Throughout Grantis, there are areas where magical flows concentrate, called ley lines. Until now, installing special magic circles at these points was thought to be the only way to receive unlimited magical power. Barrier towers also need to be built on such ley lines, but if this artifact has enough output to surpass a decent-sized ley line…”

“We could build barrier towers where there are no ley lines… No, we could even make mobile barrier towers and move around freely, ignoring the black magic.”

“Theoretically possible. Of course, an artifact this size couldn’t possibly generate enough output to maintain a barrier tower, so it’s not very realistic.”

“Couldn’t we just make a tiny barrier tower with a five-meter effective radius? We could place it in the center and pitch tents around it.”

For a moment, silence fell among everyone.

It wasn’t difficult to imagine the possibilities that would unfold with an ancient artifact generating infinite magical power and a mini-sized barrier tower.

“…That’s dangerous.”

“Ah, even I, an elf, can understand. Anyone who learns of this artifact’s existence will do whatever it takes to steal it.”

“Because they could have exclusive access to all the secrets hidden in the far west, where others wouldn’t dare venture—or even beyond the southern and northern borders of the western cities built so far.”

The moment someone possesses infinite magical power and a portable barrier tower, they gain complete freedom from the constraints of black magic.

Adventurers who want to monopolize mysteries and treasures, outlaws living beyond pioneer laws, hostile natives who don’t want pioneers expanding their territories further, and even officials from the New Continent Development Headquarters who want to control the pioneers’ way of life within certain boundaries.

There would be plenty of people willing to use any means necessary to obtain or destroy this artifact.

“My goodness, we’ve obtained a treasure far beyond our station.”

“What do you plan to do? If it seems too much to handle, destroying it or burying it deep underground might be an option.”

“Destroying it seems a bit much… Mina, if you develop your skills enough, could you make something exactly like this?”

“Simple replication is impossible. Artifacts are fundamentally objects with uniqueness bestowed by magic, so as long as this exists in the world, an identical object can’t be created. However, if I succeed in completely analyzing its structure and removing its uniqueness, mass production might be possible.”

“Mass-producing infinite magical power sources? Is such a thing really possible?”

“Creating artifact-grade magical tools is my dream. What I mean by ‘artifact-grade magical tools’ is redesigned magical tools that maintain an artifact’s performance as much as possible while removing uniqueness to enable mass production.”

“…Alright. Then let’s keep this object carefully hidden and use it as research material for Mina.”

“Huh? Really!? I should warn you that the success rate is really, really low.”

“More than the success rate, I think giving it to Mina is the best way to prevent the chaos this artifact could cause.”

A box containing the possibility of freedom from the constraints of black magic, allowing one to roam the west freely.

As long as this box exists as an artifact, that possibility can only be given to one person or a small party.

But if, by some chance, it could be mass-produced and everyone could venture forth without fearing black magic, there would be no need to risk one’s life to steal this artifact.

If Mina’s research fails and the artifact breaks, we wouldn’t have our lives threatened because of it, so even in the worst case, we’d break even—nothing to regret.

“However, we need to carry this object in a way that doesn’t attract attention. Let’s hold off on serious research until Mina has the skills and a secure environment for confidential research, and until then, let’s keep it thoroughly hidden.”

“Got it. I’ll put it deep in my bag for now and think about more secure concealment methods later.”

“Good, so that settles the artifact issue. Shall we head deeper into the ruins now?”

We’ve spent about 30-40 minutes digging out the artifact, so Jessica and Phyllis’s magical power should have recovered somewhat.

We opened the tightly closed door of the ancient ruins and entered to fulfill our original purpose for climbing Mount Evernight.

‘Creeeak~’

“Amazing that this wooden door is still intact.”

“Many wooden items found in ancient ruins are in surprisingly good condition. It must be the influence of magic or magical tools.”

“Oh? The lantern is bright again. Seems it works properly inside the ruins too.”

“That’s fortunate. Well then, let’s properly explore the interior of the ruins.”

The interior of the ruins, illuminated by our lanterns, resembled a Catholic church without pews or a large hall in a youth training center.

The wide floor, about 10-12 meters wide and 15 meters long, was covered with square stone tiles, and at the front was a stone platform about the height of a lectern, placed on a floor raised by two steps.

On both sides of the walls were ornately decorated columns placed at regular intervals, but upon closer inspection, I could see that about half of each column was buried in the wall.

They appeared to be sculptures merely imitating the shape of columns, without actually serving as structural supports.

“Wow, this is…”

“A woman with wings.”

“The preservation is quite good, though it’s a shame the part above the neck is missing.”

In the center of the innermost wall stood a statue of a winged woman, about 5-6 meters tall.

Unlike the fake columns on the side walls that were half-buried, this was a complete, free-standing sculpture.

Made of smooth gray stone like marble, the massive statue was unfortunately damaged above the neck, and despite searching around the statue and elsewhere in the ruins, we couldn’t find any fragments of the head.

“Judging by the overall atmosphere and internal structure, this place seems to have been an ancient religious facility.”

“Yes. The large statue in front of the wall must have been the goddess they worshipped.”

“It’s quite ominous that such a goddess statue has been beheaded. Even more so that the head part isn’t even left in the ruins.”

“I agree. And to leave something like that on the chest of their worshipped goddess statue.”

On the chest of the beheaded goddess statue was a large, roughly written word.

Written in Arcane Word that only Phyllis and I could see, it was a short sentence saying “Remember.”

“What does it say?”

“It’s a very short sentence. Should I read it now?”

“Let’s prepare for battle just in case. There might be dangerous traps hidden, like in the Plague Dungeon.”

After taking up positions a bit away from the goddess statue and readying our weapons, I recited the Arcane Word scrawled on the goddess’s chest.

“{Remember.}”

The moment I read that short sentence, glowing white letters appeared on the rough walls to the left and right of the goddess statue.

They weren’t Arcane Words or ancient characters, but unfamiliar letters that, for some reason, I could understand.

‘Armedia’

That unfamiliar yet somehow familiar word instantly multiplied, filling the ceiling, floor, and all the surrounding walls.

Just as I thought the entire interior of the ruins had been filled with letters of light, they emitted a blinding, intense glow. Unable to look directly at it, I closed my eyes briefly, and when I opened them again, the letters of light had all disappeared, and we were back in the dark ruins as before.

“What were those letters just now?”

“I could read them even though I’d never seen them before. They said ‘Armedia.'”

“Armedia… Could that be the name of this goddess?”

“That seems likely. They deliberately left the Arcane Word on the goddess statue’s chest, after all.”

“An ancient religious site in Grantis, and even the name of the deity they worshipped… If we submit these findings, research on Grantis’s history and religion will undoubtedly advance tremendously.”

“Hmm? Wasn’t it our policy not to reveal anything related to Arcane Words to anyone outside our party?”

“Ah… right, that’s true.”

Jessica, excited by the newly discovered ancient secret, only seemed to remember that the name Armedia was information predicated on the discovery of an Arcane Word after Phyllis pointed it out.

“Well, it’s not impossible to reveal the name Armedia without disclosing the Arcane Word. We could vaguely explain that magical letters were displayed when we first entered the ruins, but they disappeared as soon as we read them aloud.”

“So then…”

“But I think it’s best to withhold that name for now. It’s just our speculation that it’s the goddess’s name, but if that speculation is correct, that in itself could be problematic.”

“Problematic? Why?”

“Because it means she was a forbidden entity, to the extent that the idol’s head was cut off and her name had to be hidden with an Arcane Word.”

As I pointed to the severed neck of the goddess statue, a gentle silence settled among the women, including Jessica.

“The voice we heard in the cave was trying to prevent us from approaching these ruins. But I don’t think it was because of the artifact buried in the courtyard.”

“So the owner of that voice was afraid of these ruins being discovered by someone?”

“Or perhaps they were trying to prevent the ruins from being destroyed.”

“Both are plausible. However, if the reason isn’t simple religious devotion or religious conflict, but related to something powerful that actually existed, I think we should approach this with caution.”

There are plenty of stories about supernatural beings being unsealed and plunging the world into crisis, and in a fantasy world where magic and monsters actually exist, such stories might not end as mere fiction.

There’s no evidence that the goddess worshipped by this religion was an evil deity, but it doesn’t seem like a good idea to carelessly spread a name that was hidden using means as extreme as Arcane Words.

“I agree with that opinion, but then wouldn’t it also be dangerous to reveal the findings of this ruin to the world?”

“The existence of ruins here is already known, so there’s no point in hiding it. I think the best approach is to report the internal structure and the beheaded goddess statue, but keep the name Armedia secret.”

“Between that artifact and this, these ruins truly held dangerous secrets.”

“That’s what makes adventure exciting, isn’t it? Hehe.”

It seemed that not even an artifact that could completely overturn the paradigm of western pioneering or an unidentified goddess could dampen Jessica’s adventurous spirit.

Inwardly applauding our party leader’s courage, we began helping Jessica compile her investigation report.