The Ultimate Sage Who Faked Incompetence and Was Disinherited Just Wants to Enjoy His New Life! - Episode 63: That Which Sleeps in the Depths of the Ruins

Episode 63: That Which Sleeps in the Depths of the Ruins

Ardan and Jill worked together to push the Guardian back toward the hole. I made preparations so I could cast magic at any moment.

“Hey, does lightning magic even exist? Lightning is that thing, right? That makes rumbling sounds and flashes when it rains?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. Lightning magic does exist. But sometimes it doesn’t go in the direction you aim, and its power is somewhat high. The biggest problem is that it reaches the target in an instant. You can’t control its movement once it’s cast.”

“Is that magic safe?”

That’s why the pitfall plan was made. With this, it shouldn’t affect the surroundings. It would probably be useful in wide spaces or when facing many enemies. I think it would be excellent as a wide-area annihilation magic. Not that I plan to use it though.

“It’s safe… probably.”

“……”

Just in case, I had Lilia use a Shield spell. With this, it should be blockable. Huh? In that case, there’s no need to drop it into the hole, is there?

While I was thinking that, the two of them dropped the Guardian into the hole again.

“You two, get back! Thunder Lance!“

A spear of lightning was drawn into the hole. A thunderous roar echoed. And from inside the hole, a scream that didn’t make any sense could be heard. It seemed like it was effective. The only thing left was whether it was defeated or not…

We watched the hole for a while. But the Guardian didn’t crawl out again. It seemed we had successfully defeated it. When we investigated the hole, the Guardian had stopped moving at the bottom.

“Whew, we somehow managed it.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“Good work, Ardan, Jill. Thanks to you two, we were able to figure out the Guardian’s weakness.”

If we had been running away while thinking, we probably wouldn’t have come up with the idea to use lightning magic. After all, it’s magic that’s hardly used because it’s inconvenient. No wonder Elise didn’t know about lightning magic.

“You two aren’t hurt, are you?”

“Nah, but it used up a lot of stamina and mental energy. Let me rest for a bit.”

“Alright. I’ll use a Relax spell.”

Elise cast Relax. It seemed the battle with the Guardian was nerve-wracking. I thought Ardan was easily blocking or dodging attacks with his shield. But maybe it had actually been quite close.

“Now then, what lies ahead?”

“Since a Guardian was guarding it, isn’t there probably some incredible treasure?”

“From what I saw with Analyze, there’s something big there. But I don’t know what it is.”

While drinking coffee, I snacked on some sweets I bought in the royal capital. The gentle sweetness healed my tired mind and body. Lilia also happily munched on them like a small animal.

“Hey, what about the other magic stones in different places? With how things are, they’re probably guarded by Guardians too, right?”

“Maybe they’re protecting something important.”

“Yeah. If that’s the case, we might need to defeat all of them.”

In the end, we’ll have to investigate the entire ruins. If Guardians attack, we’ll just have to defeat them. As long as we don’t get stuck in continuous battles, we should manage. Now that we know their weakness and how to defeat them, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“Researchers might want to study the Guardian.”

“In that case, they’ll just have to pull the Guardian out of that hole and study it.”

Ardan pointed his thumb at the hole where the Guardian fell. He seemed like he didn’t want much to do with it.

“Even for us, bringing back a moving Guardian as it is would be impossible. Even if we get a request, I won’t accept it.”

Jill said with a light tone. I agreed. Capturing that thing alive would be impossible. Ardan must’ve thought the same, as he nodded silently.

“Looks like it’ll still take time to conquer these ruins.”

“Just like Elise said. But first, we should go claim that treasure right in front of us.”

“Heheh,” 

Lilia laughed happily. She seemed very curious about what kind of treasure was sleeping deep in the ruins. I thought she was only interested in pranks. But maybe she’s also interested in things like jewels.

Maybe I should try giving her a present sometime? Ah, but it seems hard to find something in Lilia’s size. What should I do? Maybe I’ll ask the blacksmith Rugald-san?

“Alright then, let’s wrap up our break and go check out that treasure.”

“I’ve been waiting for this!”

“Lilia, don’t let your guard down. The adventure doesn’t end until we return safely to our base.”

“Of course I know that, Fel.”

Maybe because she was in a good mood with the treasure in front of her, Lilia jumped onto my face. I wonder if it’s just my imagination that I’m feeling lukewarm gazes from the other three.

With Ardan in the lead, we cautiously proceeded deeper into the room. As we went further, the room kept getting larger and larger. Now we couldn’t even see the ceiling. Just how big is this space?

“Elise, can you make the light a bit brighter? I can’t see well.”

“Alright. Even so, this is a vast space. I wonder if it really needed to be this large?”

There were no particularly suspicious presences around. No signs of Guardian reinforcements either. It seemed that each Guardian in this ruin was protecting something independently.

Up ahead, several metallic pillars came into view. I recognized these. I’m pretty sure they look just like the magic tools that held up small boats or cargo on the magic ship.

“Aren’t those the things that were on the magic ship?”

“Looks like it. Maybe they were used for loading and unloading cargo? If that’s the case, this area might have once been a river or sea.”

Maybe this ruin used to be a harbor for ships. If that’s so, then could the large object deeper inside be a ship?

As we advanced further in, we could finally see the full shape.

“Look! It’s a ship! That’s a flying ship! I can’t believe it’s still here!”

Lilia shouted excitedly. Drawn by her excitement, we all approached the ship. At a glance, it looked like a regular ship. No—on top of the ship, there was some kind of elliptical object. It looked like the ship was suspended from that elliptical object.

“Could that be… an airship!?”

“You know about it, Elise!?”

“I read about it in some book. A long time ago, they traveled through the sky on ships called airships. I thought it was just a made-up story, but it was real.”

“That means… this place was an airship port?”

Ardan tilted his head. True, for a port, the surrounding environment didn’t seem suitable. There were no traces of people having lived around here, nor were there any other ruins nearby. This ruin was completely isolated.

“There’s no way we’re taking that treasure back with us. Let’s move on. Time to find the next treasure.”

Jill, having already given up on thinking, said that. It’s true—something this big wouldn’t fit in a magic bag. And we didn’t know how to move it. We had no choice but to leave it as it was.

“Still, don’t you think it’s amazing that it’s kept its shape after thousands of years?”

“Maybe because it’s made of metal? That metal must be special. I mean, look, the Guardian was still lively too.”

Lilia spread her arms wide. Now that she mentioned it, it made sense. The Guardian was moving around energetically. Even though we broke it.

“That’s true. If we research that metal, we might be able to make swords and armor that don’t decay. Maybe I could even upgrade my shield.”

“Let’s hope the researchers do their best.”

After marking this place on the map, we thoroughly searched the space. But, aside from the airship and what seemed to be the port facilities, we found nothing else. We couldn’t figure out how to get inside the ship, so we couldn’t enter it.

Having finished our investigation, we decided to end today’s exploration. We retraced our steps and returned to the base.