Chapter 14: Surveillance Fortress
"After Princess Zelda and Sir Link went out to investigate, the castle became what it is now, and everyone is very worried about both of them! Especially Lady Purah, she is almost tirelessly searching for traces of the two of you," said Torimus, a gatekeeper like them. "Go and assure her of your safety," Mozene said. By this point, Leonard was exhausted. As soon as he entered the Surveillance Fortress, he couldn't help but fall asleep. Early the next morning, Leonard woke up to do exercises. While working out, he was thinking that he had been in this world for 6 days now. He wondered whether the exams in his world had started. No matter what the outcome when he returned, he had to find the way back as soon as possible, just as his class teacher said, never give up even if there's a glimmer of hope... Leonard delved deeper into the Surveillance Fortress and found a man who looked like a captain. "Sorry, I'm about to direct my team to search for Princess Zelda. If you need anything, please wait..." The man was very professional, upon seeing Leonard, he took a closer look. "…Hmm? …Um!? Whoa! You, could you be the Swordsman!? It's great that you were able to return safely. I am the head of the punitive team, Gallians! However, before my greetings... please go report your return to Lady Purah." "Punitive team?" "I'm honored by your interest in us. But please go report your safe return to Lady Purah first!" Leonard walked to the center of the square, where a guard named Skorps approached him: "Sir Link? Where have you been? Do you know how hard we have been waiting for your return!? Is Princess Zelda not with you? Anyhow, please go to Lady Purah!! The large building on the north side is the Research Tower, Lady Purah should be in her private room on the 2nd floor!" Leonard didn't have much of an impression of Purah, but everyone mentioned her which sparked his curiosity. Passing by the entrance of the Research Tower, Leonard was stopped by an old man named Robelli: "Good morning! What a lovely morning. Hey, where did you go? No, wait, now go and find Purah, hurry up! After you disappeared, Purah was about to collapse. She should be on the 2nd floor of this building, go and reassure her." After searching for a while, Leonard finally reached the second floor from the left staircase. A little girl saw Leonard and ran flusteredly into the inner room. A few seconds later, a white-haired woman rushed out, wearing a golden mask over her eyes and pointing a flute at Leonard, trembling with caution: "Are you... a ghost? What happened to your hand... what happened to you..." She slowly took off her golden eye mask, revealing a knowledgeable face with glasses: "You will tell me, won't you?" Leonard recognized her as the inventor of the flat camera and the current commander of the Surveillance Fortress - Purah. With nothing to hide, Leonard had been lacking communication for the past few days, so he recounted in detail his experiences with Zelda. "You ended up on the floating island... The mummy's right hand protected you. Then a strange guy gave you Purah's tablet... The owner of this right hand is a person named Laru, and the Master Sword is also gone. You heard the voice of Princess Zelda and found your way here. Did you, did you jump down from there?" Purah pointed at the floating island in the sky, obviously incredulous. "And from what I know, the 'Laru' you mentioned is the name of the first king of Hyrule, right? Um... I still don't understand the situation... Anyway, the mummy deep underground is related to the changes in the world... The transformation of Hyrule Castle and the ruins falling to the ground... Maybe they all have something to do with that mummy... However, what I am most concerned about is the voice of the princess. She said 'come find me'?"
Purah paused, then continued with her genius mind to analyze: "This means that Her Highness the Princess is still alive. That voice may be her cry for help from the basement of Hyrule Castle. Link, even though I know you just got back, could you please head to the floating Hyrule Castle and join the search party that's looking for you? The team leader, Hoshita, is there. I ask you to work together to find the princess as soon as possible! That mummy that's given you so much trouble might still be nearby, but we can't worry about that now. Link, everything depends on you!"
A small girl, who by her appearance, looked like a 'mini Purah', complete with red glasses. She sighed, "Oh my...Princess Zelda...she's alone in the basement of Hyrule Castle with those terrifying mummies! If it was Joshua, he absolutely couldn't bear it! Swordsman, please hurry and rescue Princess Zelda...our Princess Zelda!" This person was Joshua, who had run into the room to report earlier.
Having received his mission, Leonard knew a fierce battle was coming soon, so he decided to relax and prepare. He climbed to the top of the research tower, where there was a huge telescope. In fact, without the telescope, he could see at least three temples not far from the fortress.
Leonard chose the nearest one and set off. In his eagerness, he slipped from the top of the research tower, everything went black, and he passed out.
Upon leaving the fortress through the south gate, Leonard sped southward. He passed a large tree, which to everyone's surprise, suddenly opened its eyes and started hopping towards Leonard. Seeing this tree, which looked just like any other tree, but could actually run, reminded Leonard of zombies dressed in Qing Dynasty clothes moving in the same manner. His hairs stood on end and he quickly retreated.
The tree wouldn't stop chasing him. Leonard tried stabbing it with his rusted sword, to no avail. Shooting it with arrows didn't help either. With no other options, Leonard retreated to put some distance between them and shot the tree with a rocket. The tree screamed and ran around wildly - this time, it stopped chasing Leonard.
Leonard found this entertaining and stood still, hoping the fire would grow. But strangely, the flames began to diminish, and they did not spread to the grass. In a short while, the fire was completely extinguished, and the tree was still half alive. Seeing Leonard, it tried to chase him again. Not wanting to take any chances, Leonard took two steps back and shot the tree with another rocket. This time, after a few burns, the tree monster finally died.
Out of the smoke came a sturdy club, a bird's nest, and a piece of wood. Leonard checked it - the piece of wood was just ordinary wood, nothing special. He picked up his spoils and continued on, soon entering the region of the Hyrule Plain Abyss.
The area was filled with irregular red miasma, especially around the abyss. To Leonard's surprise, there were people camping here.
The investigator named Kudan called Leonard over: "Traveler...for your safety, I would advise you not to get close to that strange thing. It's called miasma, and if you touch it, your stamina will gradually diminish. I ran into some miasma when I was investigating underground and ended up in this state... Although your stamina will gradually recover once you return to the surface, it won't recover at all when you're underground... I really thought I was going to die... I was appointed to lead the investigation here, and it's quite embarrassing. I can't keep relying on Ziwano, I have to recover by noon at the latest."
Huh, it's just miasma? I'm full of miasma...Leonard thought to himself, but he didn't voice his thoughts to scare the other man.
This abyss was right next to the destination of this trip—the Giochinio Temple.