An Old Story (6)

It had been over a week since Eisel and Edna wandered with the expedition team in the Karakoram Mountains.

Though it sounded grand, exploration was more like a battle with oneself. Navigating through uncooperative terrain, fighting demons, enduring uncomfortable nights in the wild, and pushing forward the next morning. It was a journey that required robust physical and mental strength to endure.

"Those kids... They don't even seem tired."

"No, they're exhausted. They're just holding on."

In that sense, it was natural for the expedition members to change their opinions of Eisel and Edna.

At first, they thought of them as immature students. However, once they realized the girls had useful skills, they began to recognize their presence.

When serious, they were earnest; in battle, they were a great help. During rest, they constantly chatted, lifted their spirits, and aided the team with various skills, making their presence significant on this expedition.

Edna mingled with various people, but Eisel did not.

Now, her wariness had lessened a lot, but... Having lived nearly a decade with the stigma of being a traitor's child, it was difficult for her to easily approach others.

So, after each night of exploration, Eisel would lie next to Edna in their makeshift tent and share her old stories only with her.

"... Edna, what do you think about my father?"

It was a tough question. She had never had a friend who asked about her own father.

But then again, Eisel wasn't an ordinary friend. She wasn't an ordinary girl, student, or even an ordinary human.

She was... a very special being.

However, not intending to treat her any differently, Edna candidly shared her honest thoughts.

"I don't know."

"... Really?"

"Yeah. Honestly, I've never properly heard about who your dad is. I was too busy surviving in that remote orphanage, eating potatoes every day. Why should I care about things happening in other places?"

Edna and Eisel shared memories of their childhoods.

"I had over ten siblings, and we survived on five potatoes a day. I wanted to grab that crazy headmistress by the neck and shake her, but I was only ten years old back then."

Edna's childhood lacked both clothing and food.

"My father always told me to follow the path I believe is right, but now I don't know what's right anymore."

When they were alone, Eisel often shared many stories, and Edna listened quietly.

Reminiscing.

A truly beautiful and mysterious word. It allowed even ordinary humans to travel through time.

Whenever Eisel reminisced, Edna remained silent. Or rather, perhaps it was more accurate to say she couldn't speak.

"Even if we fail on this journey, it doesn't matter. I know it won't be easy. But someday, I will clear my father's name."

In Eisel's memories, Isaac Morph was a just and upright father. A great mage who stood firm like a great pillar on this earth, protecting the world with his strong beliefs.

"Hey, Eisel."

Edna cautiously spoke up.

"Yes? Go ahead."

"If… Just in case, really if..."

She hesitated to ask something, but maybe the timing was wrong.

Ding!

Buzz! Buzz!

The alarm from the barrier set outside the tent blared loudly, and the sentry sent out a wake-up signal.

"Wake up! Everyone wake up! It's an emergency!"

"Wh-What's going on?"

Since it was their first time facing such a situation, they hurriedly crawled out of the tent in confusion.

The other expedition members were already up. They gathered with their gear and staff. Even though they weren't in military formation, they were well-prepared for immediate battle.

Most were also Class 4 mages, but they appeared to be seasoned veterans compared to Edna and Eisel, who were of the same level.

"What's happening?"

When the expedition leader asked with a stern expression, the sentry still appeared flustered and stammered.

"Over there. Over there... Quickly! It's better if you'd see for yourself!"

Following his lead, the entire expedition headed deep into the mountains without even breaking down the temporary campsite.

'What's going on?'

A heavy sense of unease spread from the heart. It circulated through the veins and settled in the mind.

"Where's Kayla?"

The expedition leader addressed one of the concerns.

"Huh? Now that you mention it..."

Kayla.

A veteran adventurer who had suggested bringing the two inexperienced Stella cadets into the expedition. Trusted by the expedition leader, she always participated in crucial decisions, yet she was absent in this critical moment.

"Hey, where's Kayla? What happened?" When the expedition leader asked, the sentry grimaced and said, "She's... missing."

"What?"

"She suddenly said she needed to use the bathroom and went into the woods. I had no reason to stop her, right?"

The sentry consisted of two-person teams. Kayla was also on watch, but after saying she was going to the bathroom, she disappeared into the forest and didn't return.

Even though Kayla acted tough like a man, she was a female genetically, so they felt it was awkward to search while she was occupied.

However, after 30 minutes, they sensed something was wrong and entered the forest themselves.

And.

"... We found this place."

They finally reached the location.

There was a massive.

… Metropolis.

More accurately, it was a ruin. The ruins of a city that had perished in ancient times.

"How... How can this be...!"

Even the veteran expedition leader was so stunned that he couldn't utter a word. In this situation, anyone would have reacted the same way.

Except for one person.

Edna.

'... We finally arrived.'

The name of the ruined city that stretched before them was Karacornia. It was once a flourishing small kingdom which mysteriously vanished from the map overnight, leaving only myths.

This was a story from over 900 years ago. It was almost erased from history and considered just a legend.

"How can this be possible...?"

Numerous expeditions had been sent here. Many present, including the expedition leader, had explored the Karakoram Mountains multiple times.

Yet, they had never discovered such ruins before.

"There's something else strange… This isn't it."

As they slowly walked towards the city, one of the expedition members spoke. "Look over there."

The member pointed into the air.

There was a building on the verge of collapsing.

This was an accurate description.

It was frozen in time as if someone had captured a moment and painted it.

"That's not all. If you look closely… The city doesn't appear old."

For a city that perished long ago, calling it a ruin in modern times might seem appropriate.

However, the city looked too new to be a ruin.

Since it was slightly worn and broken, it resembled a ruined site, but it didn't appear ancient.

"But that flag is definitely Karacornia's. I know from the legends!"

"I'm not saying it's not Karacornia! That's what makes it even stranger."

"This is driving me crazy. Really."

In a normal situation, one might feel fear. But adventurers were different.

The expedition leader ran his hands down his face. The emotion in his eyes was not fear.

Curiosity.

And excitement.

He laughed, revealing his teeth, and even his face was flushed red.

"I don't know. I have no idea how such a thing can exist or why this happened. Really, I can't understand anything..."

Another expedition member responded to his words.

"That's why it's even more exciting...!"

The expedition leader turned around and spoke to the whole team.

"Having come this far, there's no coward who'll run away, right?"

No one raised their hand. Instead, everyone was filled with excitement. They looked at the expedition leader with expressions that revealed their eagerness to begin.

Satisfied, the expedition leader nodded and said.

"Normally, we would return to the base and organize a proper expedition, but... we can't because we have a missing person. How can we abandon a comrade and leave when Kayla is missing? We need to find that crazy woman!"

"Exactly!"

"Search everywhere! Don't miss even a single ant carcass. Everything!"

The expedition members formed groups and spread out. Eisel and Edna... did not follow anyone.

Originally, they would have teamed up with Kayla in a group of three, but she was gone.

"What should we do...?" Eisel asked, looking very tense. She was worried about the disappearance of Kayla, whom they had trusted and relied on.

Initially, she had been wary, but thanks to Kayla's help during their explorations, she had been able to adapt easily to this place.

"We should go too," Edna said to Eisel. "We have a weapon called knowledge. Even though we know nothing about this city, we do know one thing: the relic of the New Moon Silver exists there."

"... Right."

"Follow where your instincts lead you. It's not difficult. There's no set path anyway, so where you walk will become the path."

"..."

Eisel looked over the ruined city and nodded.

"Indeed. It's best not to investigate the most suspicious places."

Such locations would be searched by the expedition leader and veteran adventurers.

"You won't go to obvious places, will you?"

"No. And actually... Since we arrived here, there's been a place that gives me a strong feeling."

Eisel looked at the city.

Karacornia possessed a look completely different from modern cities. It appeared as if countless cubes were entangled with square shapes mixed everywhere.

Though her view couldn't extend far, one particularly tall tower stood out.

It was an ordinary tower but strangely high... And it was oddly difficult to look at as if someone didn't want it to be seen.

"… Really?"

Edna smiled faintly. At this point, there was no turning back.

No, from the moment Kayla found this place, it was inevitable that this moment would come.

"Then, shall we go? Let's be the first to find it!"

"Yeah... Of course." Eisel stepped forward confidently, and Edna followed her with a concerned expression.

The search team of the Sanwol Tower, the Dark Team, succeeded smoothly in tracking Melian's whereabouts after Baek Yu-Seol joined them.

Melian was not annihilated.

According to Haeseongwol's theory, his body and soul were bound somewhere now.

Baek Yu-Seol successfully used a method to reverse trace the location of the ancient Carmen Set dungeon.

"I found it."

It was much faster than the time Jeliel's expedition team found the ruins of the ancient Carmen Set.

Each keyword presented by Baek Yu-Seol was spot-on, and with the Dark Team, which was considered the best search team in the world, it was inevitable.

"This place..."

The location wasn't entirely unfamiliar. It was the 'Silent Maze Forest' in the heart of the Hawol Plain.

Entry for ordinary races was completely forbidden here; one would lose their sense of direction upon entering, making it hard to find the way out.

Nowadays, advanced magical equipment allows access, but there was no need to go through the trouble. However, Baek Yu-Seol's tracking device pointed to the Forest of the Silent Maze.

"The ruins have moved..."

After breaking through the ancient Carmen Set's ruins and winning the Soul Chess, the ruins vanished without a trace. It was thought to be completely annihilated, but it had moved to another location.

"I see. Judging by the waves, I understand. This dungeon is not bound by spatial coordinates."

The mages of the Dark Team nodded, magically comprehending this mysterious situation.

"That's right. Space isn't the issue; for Carmen Set, time is the crucial keyword."

When Baek Yu-Seol answered, the mages put their heads together to ponder.

"Then, does that mean Philipes' Spiral Time Particle Theory is correct? I might have to write a paper on this."

"No, that's not it."

"Really? Why?"

"According to the Spiral Time Particle Theory, the ancient Carmen Set's ruins should have moved to a 'different time zone,' not another place. However, since it was found here less than two weeks after Jeliel broke through the ancient Carmen Set, it's evidence that it couldn't escape the temporal constraints."

"Oh, I see. But couldn't it have appeared twice consecutively in the present due to the randomness of time?"

"Since the birth of magic, a thousand years have passed. I'll explain the odds of the dungeon appearing twice consecutively in the present among all that time."

"That's less than a 0.000001% chance, isn't it? My theory is flawed; I need to revise it."

Jeliel followed Baek Yu-Seol, staring blankly at his back. Not only did he fully utilize the Dark Team, but he also engaged in discussions about magic on equal terms with them.

In most cases, Baek Yu-Seol was right. 'Is he really a year younger than me?'

Jeliel had always considered herself a genius, but she couldn't compare.

'What if I had focused on studying magic instead of leading StarCloud?'

No, it would still be insufficient. Baek Yu-Seol was an expert or had knowledge beyond a professor in 'all fields' of magic.

Even if Jeliel studied magic, she would only excel in one subject at most. The gap was insurmountable. The more of a genius one is, the more apparent that gap becomes.

However, instead of feeling jealousy...

She felt reassured. This perfect boy was now a reliable ally, doing his best to find her father.

"How about you stop staring and focus?"

"Yes?"

When Haeseongwol spoke from behind, Jeliel stammered for the first time, looking flustered. It was such a rare occurrence that Haeseongwol couldn't help but let out a wry smile.

"You've been staring at that boy's back as if you're trying to bore a hole through it. You might actually make a hole if you keep it up. Stay focused. In the Silent Maze Forest, even a moment's distraction can completely disorient you."

"Oh!"

She hadn't realized it at all. She wasn't even aware of her own actions, which was very unlike her, and her face turned bright red.

Was it out of embarrassment?

She wasn't sure.

Perhaps Jeliel herself didn't know.

'Get a grip. I don't have the right to be like this.'

Having accumulated so many sins and burdens, she couldn't afford to be distracted by something else.

How could she be so embarrassing?

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, when she reopened them, Jeliel's gaze had completely changed.

'I need to be a bit more composed.'

If someone who knew her heard that, they might think it was odd.

She had never been anything but composed all her life.

Jeliel was currently experiencing various... strange emotions that even she couldn't supress.