Chapter 54

Ardis cast a web of magic to confirm Kiril's location.

He wasn't that far away, but unfortunately, a reaction that seemed to be a monster was approaching.

"It's a Whips."

In the forest of Kosas, the Whips, with their owl-like heads, are well-known.

They are relatively docile among monsters, but they show no mercy to intruders in their territory.

A boy like Kiril would lose his life in an instant.

Ardis quickened his pace towards where Kiril was.

The trees in the forest were obstacles, but they were no problem for Ardis, who was running in earnest. He caught up in less than a minute.

"Wait, Kiril."

Fortunately, he met Kiril before encountering the Whips.

"Ardis? Why are you here?"

"I couldn't just leave you here; it would be a bad start to the day. I was just about to test these out. I'll accompany you back to the capital."

As he said this, Ardis drew the 'Moonlit Blizzard' and threw it into the trees.

Kiril, puzzled by this incomprehensible action, was startled when a cry echoed from the direction the sword was thrown.

"Vaaaar!"

It was the death cry of the Whips.

Controlling the sword from a distance where it couldn't be seen was difficult, but for a large monster like the Whips, fine manipulation wasn't necessary. It was just a matter of slashing through its body.

Ardis had already confirmed that there were no human-sized magical presences in the vicinity using his magical detection.

"What was that!?"

Kiril was frightened by the unusual sound.

"A monster was approaching. I took the initiative."

"Eh? A monster!?"

The boy shuddered and looked around.

"Don't worry. It's taken care of."

"Eh? Taken care of...?"

"Stop worrying. Let's go."

"Eh? Eh? Eeeh?"

Ardis began walking into the depths of the forest, dismissing it as insignificant.

"Do you know where the ruins are? Let's get the sword and head back. There's no point in lingering in a place like this."

As if to affirm Ardis's words, the sound of a beast carried on the wind from far behind the boy.

"Ah! W-wait for me!"

Kiril, who had shuddered for a moment, began to chase after Ardis in a panic.

After about three hours of walking through the forest, they finally reached the ruins.

"There it is! This is it, Ardis!"

Kiril exclaimed joyfully.

In front of Ardis and Kiril was a building that resembled an old church.

It was about the size of a two-story inn.

The stone walls that once surrounded the building had either collapsed over time due to the elements or had been destroyed by human hands, leaving more than half of them as various sizes of rubble.

Vines had entangled the building itself, and their roots had eaten away at the walls.

"It's just as I heard. There's a sword in these ruins..."

"Is it here..."

Ardis muttered, frowning as Kiril explained with a smile that seemed to dispel the fatigue of the long walk.

Indeed, this place was deep in the forest of Kosas, a dangerous area where Whips roamed.

Ordinary mercenaries would lose their lives within an hour of entering.

However, for mercenaries called first-class, it was a place where they could explore while avoiding enemies.

Ted and the 'Morning Star of the White Night' were certainly capable, and so were Clente and the others who had been guarding the merchant Michelle.

Of course, thorough preparation and cautious action were prerequisites, but it was not impossible.

Ardis couldn't be optimistic about a suspicious building like this, left alone in such a place, where no other mercenaries or treasure hunters had ever come.

"Well, we'll see once we go inside."

But this place was indeed different. Ardis felt it.

During their journey, monsters had repeatedly approached, trying to prey on them.

Kiril didn't fully understand this because Ardis had dealt with them before they appeared, but he had thrown his sword to handle them each time. He had already slain over twenty monsters.

However, the frequency of monster attacks had clearly decreased as they approached the ruins.

Now that they had reached the ruins, Ardis could not sense any monsters within his detection range.

It was possible that this place was being avoided by monsters for some reason.

"There could be any kind of danger. Don't move forward until I say it's okay."

"Eh? Ah, yes."

"Try to follow my footsteps as much as possible. There might be traps."

Ideally, Ardis would have gone in alone to check for danger, but this was the forest of Kosas, where monsters roamed.

Even if there were no reactions within his detection range, it was impossible to leave Kiril alone in a place he couldn't see.

Ardis cautiously stepped into the building.

The place where the door had been was now an open mouth. Only the rusted hinges remained, asserting the existence of a door that had once sealed the gap.

Although he had hinted at the possibility of traps to Kiril, there was no real reason to set traps in such a place. Even if there were traps, it was unlikely that they would still be functional in this state.

The interior of the building was a vast, undivided space.

The ceiling was high, and there were no walls to divide the space. It seemed to be a large hall.

At the back of the hall, slightly raised from the floor, was a stone block that looked like a pedestal.

There was nothing obstructing the path from the entrance to this location. The numerous small piles of rubble on either side highlighted the path leading to the back of the hall.

"Was it a church?"

Kiril muttered casually to Ardis's back.

"Maybe."

The structure of the building was similar to the churches in the city, as Kiril said.

However, there were also differences, such as the shape of the window frames and the position of the altar-like area.

Perhaps the interiors of old churches were like this. Things change over long periods of time, not just the ways of countries or mercenaries.

Ardis walked slowly through the interior, keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings. Kiril followed closely behind.

"Nothing... seems to be here?"

Ardis spoke aloud, describing what he saw.

The walls and ceiling were in ruins, and the floor was scattered with rubble. It was hard to imagine that anything of value remained.

"Eh? B-but that can't be..."

Kiril, who had been looking at Ardis, stammered, but his voice was weak.

The desolate state of the place was clear to Kiril as well. It was easy to see at a glance that no treasure remained.

"Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Yes, I'm certain. The appearance of the building matches what I heard."

Kiril confidently asserted this.

"Then where is the sword?"

"I don't know."

"Huh?"

Ardis's eyes widened.

"Wait a minute. You came here to retrieve the sword, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"But you don't know where the important sword is?"

"Umm... Well, Marida said, 'You'll know when you get there'..."

It seemed that this Marida was the one who had given Kiril the instructions.

It was a rather rough way to send someone to search for a sword without showing them where it was, just saying they would know when they arrived.

However, it was understandable that Kiril couldn't object to this. It was his last chance, a straw he was grasping at. He couldn't afford to reject the hand of salvation by doubting the words of his client.

"You'll know when you get there, huh..."

Ardis looked around the room again, a troubled expression on his face.

"If it has magic, there should be some kind of reaction, right?"

The sword that the merchant had sent someone to retrieve might be magical.

Ardis began to search the area for magic, using the same method as his magical detection.

"Hmm?"

By narrowing his search range and concentrating, he managed to detect an unnatural release of magic. It was so minimal that it was almost imperceptible.

"Is there something? Ah, is there a basement?"

The magical reaction was coming from beneath their feet.

"The problem is... where the entrance is."

Ardis looked around the area strewn with rubble.

"We'll have to search each suspicious spot one by one."

Muttering to himself, Ardis began to search for the entrance to the basement.

When he found the entrance under a pile of rubble, even Ardis looked tired.

It was under the pile of rubble that was the most extensive.

Kiril had helped to clear the rubble, but as a child whose body was not fully developed, there was only so much he could do.

Ardis could have blown the rubble away, but that might have caused the entrance or the basement itself to collapse.

In the end, he was forced to push the rubble aside bit by bit, a tedious task.

"There's an entrance to the basement here."

Kiril, looking at the entrance to the basement that had been revealed by clearing the rubble, said in amazement.

"I wouldn't have noticed it on my own. Even if I had known, I would have been at a loss because of the amount of rubble."

I'm really glad I met Ardis, Kiril said with a smile.

On the other hand, Ardis, who was looking at the entrance to the basement, had a troubled expression.

It wasn't because the entrance was a sturdy iron door, or because it was locked.

It was because the locks on the door looked like they had been added later.

Moreover, there were an unusual number of them. At a glance, there were at least eight.

Even if one wanted to lock it securely, would they add locks like this?

It would have been much easier to hide the door.

It seemed as if the locks were there to delay the time it took to unlock the door.

In contrast to the cheerful Kiril, Ardis began to break the locks on the door with a blank expression.

They had probably corroded over the years. When struck with a strong impact, the locks, which were attached along the edge of the door, crumbled and fell apart.

After breaking all the locks and lifting the iron door, a narrow staircase appeared, wide enough for one person to pass through.

The staircase seemed to extend quite far, and the magical light Ardis cast did not reach the bottom.

"The sword must be down there!"

Kiril, looking at the staircase leading to the basement, said excitedly, his eyes shining.

Ardis, on the other hand, was looking at the inside of the door.

The surface was blackened with soot, and the handle for opening and closing the door was broken off at the root. It looked more like it had been forcibly broken than simply broken.

"Let's go, Ardis!"

Putting on a bitter face, Ardis nodded at Kiril.

Calming Kiril, who was about to rush in, Ardis began to descend the stairs one step at a time.