Chapter 2 Butterflies Caught In a Spider's Web Part 2

"Wow, I'm flabbergasted there are actually ruins here. I thought the story

seemed fishy when I heard what kind of compensation they were offering,

but there are actually unexplored ruins right in the middle of this field. Aren't

you surprised?"

Hekkeran's teammates were next to him looking at the ruins, and they all

expressed their agreement.

The ruins were a tomb, but it was located in a basin, sort of sunken,

almost like an upper level had caved in.

One of the reasons the tomb was unexplored was probably that as far as

the eye could see was grass—there were no remains of old cities to attract

adventurer attention. Besides that, the area was dotted with other swells of

land, so there was no way anyone would realize that beneath one of them lay

ruins.

The roof of the central building stuck out slightly, but even that they

wouldn't have noticed without climbing up this far.

The theory the brains of each team had come up with was that the earth

and rock surrounding the ruins had eroded and exposed part of the wall,

leading to the discovery.

"It is a surprise. Or more like, I'm so excited. If the ruins really are

unexplored, there's a fairly good chance some amazing items are just waiting

in there untouched."

"I wonder. Well, we're out in here in the middle of nowhere, but there

haven't been any issues at all. There probably aren't any dangerous monsters

here. The most worrying thing now is how our requester was able to specify

where we should pitch camp."

Their base camp was on an open area of grassland in an ideal location.

No one would be able to see them from a distance, because the

surrounding hills blocked all lines of sight. If they were careful with lights, it

would be very difficult to spot them.

That was precisely what made it so alarming.

"Really, though, how did the count know about this spot?"

The most likely explanation was that he had been looking for somewhere

in the area to pitch a base camp for some reason. If that were the case, a lot of

things made sense.

But it also caused new questions to spring up. Why would he, an imperial

noble, need to build a base camp in this out-of-the-way place—in the

kingdom's territory, at that?

"I heard there's a big underworld organization in the kingdom. Pretty sure

they're called the Eight Fingers. Apparently, they're up to a whole bunch of

horribleness."

"I heard they're even smuggling things into the empire. A thief I know

was grumbling that they're so powerful in the kingdom that if anyone tries to

investigate them, it blows up in their face," Imina commented after Arché

while smoothing her hair, which was blowing around in the wind.

Roberdyck sounded bothered. "I've heard talk of narcotics as well. Drugs

are wonderful if used effectively, but when people make them into products

that prey on the weak, I can only feel disgust." He couldn't help it that his

voice rose slightly.

"Okay, we're done speculating about baseless rumors and chatting about

things that don't have to do with the job at hand. Besides, when Arché looked

him up, she said he didn't seem like the type who would do something likely

to get himself purged, right?"

Hekkeran reminded everyone of that, ignoring Arché's murmured protests

of "I didn't have enough sources. He could have been sneaky and concealed

things."

"Well, I think you all know this, but—"

"Of course we do. We shouldn't talk about it in front of the other teams.

Some workers might even take smuggling jobs from the Eight Fingers. As

long as some of the other teams might have connections to them, we're not

gonna say a thing. Not until the job is over."

"Yeah, we have no idea what a filthy, tear-stained reward this might be."

"Even if the money's dirty, a reward's a reward, and we can live on it,"

snapped Arché.

Roberdyck shot a glance at her and took a deep breath as if to cool down

his overheating insides.

"Sorry, that was rude."

"No, I nearly spoke rather impertinently myself. Please forgive me."

"Never mind that. You didn't even say anything. But I would like you to

remember that that's what I think. I'm after material wealth more than

spiritual. That said"—Arché raised a hand to signify that she was still talking

—"I want to avoid anything that could be a disadvantage to my teammates.

I've seen my share of people destroyed by greed."

"We believe in you, Arché."

Arché nodded, and no one said anything else back. Their feelings were

conveyed without words. Their past arguments had cultivated trust.

"So? What do you think? There's a good chance something is ruling this

tomb…" Hekkeran was examining the well-pruned undergrowth. The statues

of angels and goddesses here and there were extraordinarily beautiful, and it

was clear at a glance that they, too, were given regular care.

On the other hand, the branches of the huge trees towering around the

graveyard were all drooping and bent, giving the place an atmosphere like

gloom itself. The gravestones weren't in straight lines and looked more like a

witch's uneven teeth. They combined with the more neatly kept parts of the

area to create severe discord.

Someone is taking care of the graveyard. They just aren't sane. Hekkeran

arrived at this thought through gut instinct, and it made him cold.

He turned his attention to the huge building to shake off his chills. The

grounds of the graveyard contained a mausoleum in each cardinal direction,

plus a gigantic, magnificent one standing in the center. Eight fairly large

warrior statues surrounded the large mausoleum, and their imposing presence

made it feel as though they would turn away all calamity and fools who dared

approach.

"The undergrowth is trimmed so neatly. There's not even any moss.

Someone pretty particular is taking care of this place. I wonder what kind of

person…"

The teams present—minus Tenbu—had felt something strange was up

from the moment they learned the nature of the request was a survey.

Then they arrived, and the area was rolling plains as far as the eye could

see. It was the most unsuitable place for a tomb.

For starters, it was strange to build a tomb of this grandeur in such a

remote place if anyone actually planned to use it. The location was too

inconvenient.

It was somewhat understandable if it was meant as a monument to convey

the achievements of the deceased to future generations rather than a place to

deify the dead. It was possible the tomb had been built at the site of some

great deed as well.

But in that case, it was strange that there was no historical evidence of that

immortal achievement. With no clues emerging even after all the teams

pooled their information, there was a good chance that it had been wiped

from history.

It didn't make sense. The alien feeling that something was stuck in his

throat caused Hekkeran to furrow his brow.

"This could end up being a huge incident, depending on who is in here.

What'll we do about that?"

"I'd hate if it was some innocent person's house…"

"The members of each team in charge of gathering knowledge discussed

this, but the guild didn't have any information about ruins in this area, and

since it's so far from the nearest village, the chance that a normal person is

living here is really slim. That leaves either some kind of illegal squatter who

can't be out in the open or a monster. Since there aren't any tracks outside the

tomb, either it's someone who doesn't need food or water or the inside is

made in a way that someone who lives here can sustain themselves. But we

don't have enough information. Speculating any further will just lead to

stereotyping and narrowed thinking. So that's why we're going in."

Information about ruins flowed from the Adventurers Guild to the

government. The discoverer retained the right to first survey for a set amount

of time. If neither the state nor the guild had information about some ruins,

killing an illegal squatter would be overlooked.

In other words, a "when in doubt, kill" policy.

Maybe it was a violent way to do things, but humans were weak in this

world. They couldn't have some unknown building a nest right next door.

Actually, twenty years earlier, great harm had come by way of the

organization Zurrenorn, which performed horrifying experiments while

occupying some ruins. As people did nothing because they didn't have

enough information, an entire—albeit small—city was destroyed.

The guild had created their policy so that nothing like that would ever

happen again.

"Well, if it fits the usual pattern, it'll be undead. If the tomb is occupied

by undead, we need to mop them up and bless the place to get rid of the

negative energy, right?"

"As you know, yes, it's very important that we do that. If you leave

undead alone, there is a chance stronger undead will spawn. That's why you

often find powerful undead inside ruins."

"It'd be nice if it was just an abandoned tomb and all that was in it were

golems whose master had ordered them to keep the place tidy. That would be

so much less trouble… What's our strategy?"

"I think you should have gone to the meeting instead of me, Hekkeran."

"Don't worry about it. None of the other team leaders were there, right?

Everyone fulfills the role they're best suited for."

Arché sighed conspicuously in response to Hekkeran's wink.

"Once night falls, all teams will begin operations. We're going to invade

from all four directions and meet at the huge mausoleum in the middle."

"I see. It'd be easy to spot us in daylight."

"Yeah."

The area was open, and they couldn't see any lookouts or travelers. It

should have been fine to invade right then, but there was no telling what

might happen. It would be a little safer to make their move in the dark.

Also, if they continued observing the ruins, even only until night, it was

possible they might learn something. This job had a time limit, but the brains

of the teams had concluded that it wouldn't be a waste to spend some of it

observing.

Really, they probably wanted to observe for a few days.

"Wouldn't we be able to scout safely if we used Invisibility?"

"We did consider that, but given the chance something goes wrong, we

figured it would be better to go in all at once. We'll still be able to investigate

at least a little bit."

Invisibility wasn't a perfect spell; there were plenty of ways to see

through it. If someone or something—who knew what was in there—

guarding the ruins discovered a worker approaching with magic, the security

level would increase as a matter of course. If they had bad luck, it was

possible they wouldn't make it into the tomb at all.

The plan must be to all move at once to avoid heightened security. Having

understood that, Hekkeran nodded. It had some holes, but it managed to

balance danger and duty to the minimum acceptable level.

"So we're on a break for now?"

"Yeah. Raven Black and Screaming Whip are on guard, but just in case,

and to stay sharp for later, each team will take turns keeping an eye on things.

The lineup is the order in which we reached the count's house, and we'll

switch every two hours."

"I see. So we're last, then?"

"Yeah. We still have a while to go."

With those words, she rotated her neck and scrunched her shoulders up

and down.

"You seem tired."

Arché nodded at Roberdyck. "I am. It took so long because that horrible

guy proposed we storm the place. It was so hard to convince him we

shouldn't. The word cooperation is not in his dictionary."

"Oh…the fencing genius?"

"You mean 'piece of shit bastard,'" Imina sneered, full of killing intent.

Hekkeran smiled awkwardly in response and made an effort to change the

subject. "So how about we go back to camp and take it easy until it's our

turn?"

"I approve of that idea. I don't think it will rain anytime soon, but we'd be

sorry if we didn't take precautions. Miss Imina, that means we need you, so

please don't keep that scary face on forever."

"Aye-aye. Agh, that guy pisses me off so much I just want to stab him to

death. We're definitely pitching our tent nowhere near them."

"I have no problems with that as long as we're inside the planned

campground."

Really, it was problematic, but he wasn't interested in pitching in their

vicinity and then ending up in a fight.

The four of them turned their backs to the ruins and set off walking.

"The more you think about it, the more mysterious it gets. And it makes

sense that a count would make this request."

When Hekkeran turned around, Arché had stopped and was staring at the

ruins.

"You can't read anything about the era or background of these ruins by

looking at them. It's like they just appeared here out of nowhere, that's how

alien they seem. I feel like those statues somewhat resemble the statues of

this region from before the evil spirits rampaged, but that one over there

seems to be way more like something from the east. And considering the

cross grave markers… Nope, I give up. I have no idea."

Listening to Arché expound, Hekkeran held back a grin; he could barely

contain his excitement.

"In other words, it means we could find some pretty neat stuff in there?"

"Without a doubt. I'm sure there will be some surprises."

"…But remember, everyone, the chance we encounter terrifying undead is

also high."

"Ahh, that's scary!"

"You're so bad at this, Hekkeran. That didn't sound like me one bit.

Actually, thanks to your forced imitation of my voice, I'm creeped out for

real."

"Ah, sorry."

"Even so…I am kind of looking forward to this."

"Yeah. What is this tomb for? Who's buried here? It's the kind of stuff

that really piques my intellectual curiosity."

"Right. It is kinda exciting to experience the unknown."

"Know what else is exciting? Money! I hope there's a pile of it."

Seeing the ear-to-ear smiles on his teammates' faces, Hekkeran felt

satisfied. They'd all gotten their hands dirty for one reason—money—or

another, but not because they wanted to. Really, they preferred the type of

jobs that adventurers did.

He didn't know if Arché would be able to go adventuring once she took

on the task of raising her sisters. If she left, it would take some time to find a

new member, and even once they found one, it would take more time for

them to get used to working together, during which they would have to take

lower-level jobs.

Maybe this job was the perfect final adventure for this group with these

members.

From now on…more jobs like adventurers would take. Or…maybe it

wouldn't be bad to go in search of the unknown…

Hekkeran looked up at the sky. It seemed to go on forever.

Once dusk had begun to envelop the world, the workers all came out of their

well-camouflaged, low-to-the-ground tents. It was time for them, engaged in

clandestine jobs such as they were, to go to work.

The adventurers had begun preparing dinner.

They set fire to white solid fire starter and lit the charcoal, but the light

was concealed using Darkness. Darkness could only cancel light, not hide the

flames. With the flames blazing in the dark, they boiled water from a

Bottomless Waterskin.

They poured the boiled water into wooden bowls. The portable food

inside lost its shape before their eyes and began giving off the pleasant smell

of soup. That plus crusty bread was their communal meal.

Anything else was each person's preference.

The bowls contained the yellowish soup workers loved for its emphasis on

nutrition and shelf life. Some people added shavings of jerky, some tossed in

thinly sliced bits of meat, some sprinkled seasonings, while others just filled

their stomachs with it as it was.

Everyone finished up after eating a single bowl. Considering the strenuous

work they were about to do, it was definitely not enough food, but eating

anything too heavy wouldn't be good for performance. Still, it would be

dangerous to eat nothing at all; they weren't sure when they would be able to

have their next meal.

It wasn't as if they had infinite emergency rations of portable food sticks,

and carrying too much would slow them down. They needed to make a good

compromise.

After handing their empty bowls to the adventurers, the workers picked up

the bags they'd been packing.

The adventurers saw the workers off, and all the teams began operations.

The adventurers would guard the camp, not participate in the raid.

First the workers went around the hill to encircle the ruins. If they were

attacked on the stairs, they were to send a signal into the sky.

Many of them were wearing full plate armor, so one would think that

between the noise and their sluggish movements, a covert operation would be

impossible, but that's because common sense only goes so far. To those who

used magic to defeat common sense, it wasn't impossible at all.

By first casting Silence to eradicate all sound within range, the creaks of

their armor and their footfalls as they raced across the ground became

inaudible.

Next, Invisibility. Using this spell made it extremely difficult for someone

with regular vision to detect them.

To be extra careful, rangers observed from the sky using Invisibility, Fly,

and Hawk Eye. In order to deal with any incident as it arose, they had arrows

enchanted with Paralysis at the ready.

With this double-tiered formation, the parties reached their destinations.

Now it was go time.

They climbed the hill and then descended a few yards to the ruins.

Each team would search the ground level along their way and meet at the

central mausoleum. To the extent possible, they needed to accomplish this

while their Invisibility spells were still in effect.

They also needed to align their pace so that part of the group didn't rush

on ahead of the others, but it was difficult to pinpoint everyone's locations at

night, especially when they were all see-through.

Luckily, they'd planned for that.

Suddenly, strange rods around a foot long appeared on the ground. Then

they floated into the air as if the invisible humans had picked them up. When

they bent, they began to glow.

These special rods—Fluorescent Sticks—gave off light via an alchemical

reaction that occurred when the rods were bent and two special liquids inside

mixed together.

The reason the workers had temporarily dropped them was that

Invisibility spells affected everything one was carrying. In order to make

them visible, they needed to be briefly separated from the items in their

inventory.

The lights moved side to side a few times, and then the rods were

destroyed, as if they had performed their function. When the shining

alchemical mixture was poured onto the ground, all trace of it disappeared as

it hit the dirt.

This was confirmation that all the worker teams were ready to go.

Though the teams were spaced out and couldn't see one another, four

ropes were lowered to the surface level of the Great Tomb of Nazarick almost

simultaneously. They were climbing ropes with knots at perfect intervals.

The ends of the ropes were attached to pitons driven into the ground, and

they swung from them, creaking.

If someone with the ability to see the invisible had been present, they

would have witnessed the figures climbing down the ropes.

Even workers like Arché who built up their magic skills and knowledge

more than their bodies, who hadn't acquired skills that required nimble

movements, could manage this level of exertion. That is to say, worker or

adventurer, it didn't matter—this level of physical ability was required.

Their daily training and the knots in the rope served them well, and all the

workers reached the graveyard without falling.

Each team had one of the four smaller mausoleums as their first objective.

Their Invisibility spells wore off, and everyone appeared. Each team went

sprinting toward their assigned mausoleum.

They ran in a crouch through the gloomy graveyard, attempting to conceal

themselves with gravestones, trees, and the statues. The Silence spells were

still in effect, so they didn't make a sound. Even the warriors in full plate

armor did their utmost to stay behind cover as they ran. Their brilliant

maneuvers made them like shadows running across the earth.

As the leader of Heavy Masher, Gringham, approached his team's

mausoleum, his eyes widened slightly.

It was an even more splendid building than he'd expected.

The mausoleums in each cardinal direction were only small in comparison

to the huge central one. Up close, it was clear they were breathtakingly large

and solemn.

Its white walls were smooth, as if a planer had been run over them, and

although it must have been some time since it was built, there were no

blemishes from the elements, and no chips or cracks, either.

At the top of a three-step marble stoop was a thick door. The door was

well polished, not a spot of rust to be found. The black steel fairly gleamed.

The amount of care that went into maintaining this building was clear.

In other words, there definitely has to be someone here, Gringham

concluded as his thief teammate advanced to carefully inspect the stairs.

They were communicating via hand signals, since Silence was still active,

and Gringham was told to stay back. He slowly retreated to avoid being

caught in any area-of-effect trap there might have been.

The thief was doing a painstakingly thorough investigation. Gringham

was getting a little impatient, but that couldn't be helped.

A person's soul resided in their flesh, and when that flesh began to rot and

fall off, they would be called to be with the gods. Thus, the dead went

straight to the graveyard—and were generally interred in the earth—but the

cases of some nobles and other privileged people were slightly different.

If corpses were buried immediately, checking whether they had really

decomposed or not required digging them back up. So in order to get visible

proof that the corpses had rotted, they were left out to rest for a time. But no

one wanted a corpse lying around in their house.

So the graveyard's mausoleum would be chosen as the venue for the

resting. Once the corpse began to rot, a priest witness would judge that the

person's soul had no doubt been called to be with the gods.

The mausoleum's common use space was generally for this purpose. The

spacious room would have a number of rock slabs, and the corpses would be

placed there to rest. The sight of a number of partially rotted corpses seems

terrible, but in this world, it was completely natural.

Still, when it came to the very wealthy and influential, such as great

nobles, things were different again. Instead of a common use space, they

would be laid out in their family mausoleum. The mausoleums powerful

people owned became seen as symbols of their power, since they would wait

there for the gods' call.

It was not uncommon in the least for the buildings to be furnished and

decorated with treasures. In other words, for a grave robber, a wealthy

person's mausoleum was the same as a vault full of riches. For that reason,

the buildings were often fitted with dangerous traps to keep raiders away.

Hence, the extra precautions in investigating this tomb—it was so

luxurious.

Just as the thief had finished inspecting the stairs and was about to move

on to the door, the sounds in the area suddenly returned.

Their Silence spells had worn off. Well, it was good timing for it. The

thief noiselessly approached the door and resumed his close examination.

Finally, he placed something like a cup against the door to listen for any

noises on the other side.

After a few seconds, he shook his head a few times at the others.

That meant, Nothing there.

The thief himself cocked his head a couple times in doubt.

It was strange that the door wasn't even locked, but if there was nothing

left for him to discover, then the rest was up to the vanguard.

When Gringham stepped forward, the thief, having oiled the door, put his

hand to it. Right behind the thief was a warrior with a shield.

Gringham abruptly gave the door a shove, and it slowly cracked open.

Whether thanks to the thief's oil or the methodical care of whoever was

looking after this place, the door fell away fairly smoothly for its weight.

The warrior standing by next to Gringham moved between him and the

entrance to defend against any sudden ambush or trap.

But the door opened all the way up without spewing any arrows or other

projectiles, and a gaping darkness appeared before Heavy Masher.

"Continual Light."

An arcane caster's staff glowed with magical light. It was possible to

control the level of brightness to some extent, so the caster brought the

mausoleum's interior into view. With another cast of the spell, the warrior's

weapon also began to shine.

Illuminated by the two lights, the place could have been mistaken for a

room in a noble or even royal mansion.

In the center was a white stone coffin that could have doubled as the altar

in a shrine. It was over eight feet long and covered in carvings that were

elaborate without being gaudy. In each of the room's four corners stood a

white statue clad in armor and outfitted with a sword and shield.

And then—

"Hmm. Does anyone know what that crest might be?"

"Nope, no idea."

A flag with a crest embroidered on it in gold thread that Gringham had

never seen before hung on the wall. If a caster and thief who had memorized

most noble family crests (even those from other countries) didn't recognize

it, he figured the conclusion was valid that it wasn't a kingdom noble's crest.

"Maybe it's the crest of a noble from before the kingdom was

established?"

"Thou believest it's from over two hundred years ago?"

Many countries had been destroyed by the evil spirits two hundred years

ago, and in fact there were quite a few countries in the area that had a history

of more than that. The kingdom, the sacred kingdom, the council state, and

the empire had all been established in the past two hundred years.

"If that were the case, what would that have to be made out of to survive

so beautifully after all these years with nary a blemish?"

"It's probably protected with preservation magic, don't you think? Or

maybe there's a spell that repairs it."

"But, leader, how about you knock off that weird way of talking? We're

the only ones here, you know."

"Hmm…" Gringham's eyebrows bent to a dangerous angle, but then he

broke into a smile. "Agh, I'm bone-tired! All this thee and thou hogwash.

What kinda lunkhead talks like that!"

"Nice work, but like he said, when it's just us, we really don't mind if you

talk normal."

"Nah, I shouldn't. Talkin' all formal-like makes you sound like a worker

people can rely on. You know it's my policy to talk that way for work 'cause

it's a pain to switch gears!"

Gringham responded to his teammates' wry smiles with one of his own.

He was the third son of a farmer in the kingdom.

Everyone knows that splitting up land among heirs forever is foolish

because the shares get smaller and smaller to the point where barely anything

can be harvested, and the family's power withers. That's why the eldest son

inherits the estate. The second son has the option to stay on to assist, but the

third son is just in the way. For that reason, it wasn't rare for third sons to

head to the city to earn a living.

Gringham had been blessed with both physical ability and friends, so he

was able to make a success of himself, but because he'd been born a peasant

—and the backup of the backup to maintain the household at that—he'd

received zero education. He couldn't read or write, and he didn't know

anything about manners or etiquette.

Certainly what was prioritized in workers wasn't education but perfection

in request fulfillment, but for the leader of a team, that alone obviously

wouldn't cut it.

He'd studied desperately but didn't have as much aptitude in that realm as

with physical ability, so he'd ended up in a fairly shabby state. The only

reason no one had usurped his position as leader was that his teammates all

valued him for everything besides his education level. He'd started in with

the strange way of talking in order to not embarrass them.

He wanted requesters to think, This guy talks funny because it makes his

team stand out.

He probably still got teased for it, but that was better than having someone

think, Well, he's just a not terribly bright farmer who became a team leader,

so we can't expect much more than this.

"Very well, break time is over! In we go, men!"

No one had any objections to Gringham's declaration, so they began to

move.

First, the thief went inside to make a careful search.

The remaining members jammed some thick iron rods in the door so that

even if some trigger was tripped it wouldn't shut on them. Then they closed it

more than halfway so the light wouldn't leak outside. While the thief

performed his careful examination of the interior, Gringham and the others

kept a vigilant watch outside. They'd had no choice but to use light, so

someone might have seen them.

Gringham was on his belly keeping an eye on their surroundings when the

thief inside, having reached the flag, was taking a focused look at its bottom

edge. Finally, he held out a hand, as though he'd steeled his resolve, and

touched it, then withdrew in a hurry.

"Okay, no problems that I can see. You guys can come in." Watching

Gringham and the others enter over his shoulder, he pointed up at the flag.

"This'll probably fetch a good price. It's woven with precious metal threads."

"Whaaaat?! Precious metal?! Who would hang something like that up in a

place like this?!"

The entire party gasped in shock. Then they all hurried to the flag and

took turns touching it. The coolness they felt really was metal.

From the way it sparkled, the thief's assessment was probably correct.

Estimating the weight from its size and then adding the artistic value would

make it worth quite a lot.

"This is a win for the requester. Though we can't say he's recuperated the

cost of hiring us—no, all four teams—there must be a pile of treasure just

waiting for us here."

"Should we take it right now?"

Gringham answered the thief's question. "This will be rather unwieldy.

And probably heavy, as well. Let's recover it later. Any objections?"

"No. It would definitely be hard to do our job if we were carrying this.

Regarding the results of my inspection: no traps and no hidden doors."

"…Very well. I'm counting on thee." Gringham turned to the arcane

caster—a wizard—who cast a spell as if taking the cue.

"Detect Magic… Can't sense any magic tricks. Of course, that doesn't

count anything they might be hiding with stealth magic."

"…Then I guess there's nothing left to investigate. Shall we head to the

main building?"

Everyone's eyes gathered on the sarcophagus in the middle of the room.

The thief took his time giving it a thorough once-over before announcing

there were no traps.

Gringham and the warrior nodded at each other and began sliding the

stone cover off. It was fairly large, so they figured it would be heavy, but it

was far lighter than expected, to the point where when they put some muscle

into it they nearly lost their balance.

Once the lid was off, light reflected from inside—innumerable brilliant

sparkles.

Gold, silver, gems of various colors, all kinds of accessories giving off

countless polished gleams. Over a hundred gold coins were scattered in

between.

The flag had given Gringham a hunch, but this sight made him grin from

ear to ear in spite of himself. The thief, after making careful observations,

reached inside and pulled out one of the myriad sparkles—a golden necklace.

And it was a gorgeous piece. It looked like a simple gold necklace, but the

chain was ornamented with minute carvings.

"A hundred gold would be a cheap estimate… Depending on where you

took it, you could get a hundred and fifty."

Everyone reacted differently to the thief's appraisal. One person whistled,

another smirked. The one thing they all had in common was the flames of

delight and greed dancing in their eyes.

"We get half, so at the very least this is fifty additional gold pieces. Ten

per person? That's a marvelous bonus."

"This…these ruins might be a mountain of treasure."

"Wow. This is ridiculously amazing."

"It really is. But what a waste to put all this treasure out here. I'll find a

good use for it." At that, the wizard plucked a ring set with a huge ruby out of

the pile and kissed the jewel.

"It's ginormous!"

The priest scooped some of the gold coins into his hands and let them spill

back out.

The bright clinking of coin on coin echoed throughout the room.

"I've never seen gold pieces like this before. I wonder what era, what

country they're from…?"

The thief put a scratch in one using a knife and smiled in admiration.

"These are quality coins. They're double the weight of the trade currency,

and if you consider them works of art, you might be able to even get a little

more."

"This is…heh…heh-heh-heh."

A couple more members joined in as if they couldn't hold back the

laughter. Even their share of this alone was no joke.

"Men, let us save our prayers for afterward. Let us recover these items as

quickly as possible and head to the main building! If we're late, our share

will decrease!"

"All right!" A spirited response to Gringham's call rang out. It was full of

excitement and enthusiasm.

4

The huge warrior statues, so lifelike they seemed liable to move at any

moment, guarded the large mausoleum in the center of the ruins like knights

protecting their king. Hekkeran, at one of their feet, was watching one of the

four smaller mausoleums.

After a little while, he caught sight of five figures rushing out of it like the

wind. He confirmed to a neurotic degree that nothing seemed off as they

sprinted, trying to stay out of sight, and that there was no one in the area

watching them. A few seconds later, seeing there were no issues as they

approached, he let out a small sigh of relief.

He stepped out from the shadow of the huge statue and gave the sign.

Gringham, running at the head of the line, caught it immediately and jogged

over to him.

"Gringham, took you long enough."

"My apologies. We seem to have kept you waiting."

"It's not as if we decided on a meeting time, so it's no problem. More

importantly, let's get out of here and decide what to do next."

Hekkeran ducked down and began leading them while keeping an eye on

their surroundings.

As soon as they had started walking, Gringham asked, "I must know.

Didst thy team discover any riches?"

Hearing his voice full of excitement he couldn't quite contain, Hekkeran

remembered his own team a few minutes before and grinned. "Quite a bit!

We're thrilled. And the old man said the same thing."

"Thy team as well, then? Coming here was the right decision."

"Sure was. We'll have to thank the great man buried here."

"Indeed. Still, after discovering so much, we must be prepared for the

possibility that the main building contains nothing."

"Oh, I bet there's more."

"Well, then… How much would you wager?"

"Now you're talking. We'll find more treasure in the tomb and I'll win

some off you! Awesome. The only problem is that it seems like we'll both

bet in the same direction…"

The pair didn't say anything, but the corners of their mouths curled up

sharply.

"Without a doubt. I have a question for thee, however. What is that?"

Gringham was eyeing something that could have been called a stone

monument standing at the base of one of the huge statues' feet.

"That?"

Hekkeran filled him in on the results of the investigation without

stopping, explaining how no one from the other three teams who had already

arrived knew what the writing said. Everyone had sort of been hoping

someone on Gringham's team would know.

"It looks like a stone monument, and it's got some kind of writing carved

in it."

"What dost thou mean by 'some kind of writing'? That's awfully vague."

"We don't know what language it is. It's not the kingdom's language or

the empire's. And apparently, it's not one of the ancient languages from this

area, either. It might not even be human. The only thing we can make out is

the number two-point-zero."

"A number? Common sense says that would be the year this place was

built, but it's too low."

"Arché was saying maybe it's the key to the riddle of these ruins, but…

well, maybe we should remember it for later just in case."

"Hmm, yes. Let's."

They passed by the statues and went up a long, shallowly inclined, white

stone staircase, and the entrance to the central mausoleum loomed before

their eyes.

"Smells of dead people."

"Yeah, sure does. I've smelled this many times in the fog on the Katze

Plain," Hekkeran agreed with Gringham's murmur.

What hung in the air mingling with the cold wasn't the putrefying kind of

stench that triggered nausea but a smell peculiar to graveyards—and undead.

The tomb may have been tidy, but there were definitely undead inside.

The party was ready, and when they entered, they found themselves in an

open hall. To each side were too many slabs of rock to count, and on the

opposite side was a staircase leading down. The door at the bottom was wide

open. The air coming from inside was terribly frigid.

"This way."

With Hekkeran acting as their guide, Gringham and his team began

descending the stairs.

At the bottom, straight in front of them, was a door to a burial chamber.

There didn't appear to be any other doors.

And there were all the others—Hekkeran's team, Foresight; Elya's team,

Tenbu; and Palpatra's team were all gathered in a space smaller than the

mausoleum but still plenty spacious at the top of the stairs.

"Okay, what should we do now? The plan was to split up and gather info

on the interior, but does anyone have any other ideas after exploring the

smaller mausoleums?" After Hekkeran spoke, he surveyed the group.

It didn't seem like anyone had come up with any new proposals. Was it

ambition or just the light making their eyes glitter? He didn't know, but they

sparkled for certain. The excitement on their faces said they were ready to

dive right into this tomb.

"Then I have an idea. My team will check around the outside to search for

hidden doors."

The members looked put out despite the fact that it was their leader who

had spoken.

They'd seen such a pile of riches! Who could agree with that idea, even if

he was a veteran? They were probably visualizing the treasure escaping their

grasp.

"How about it? We may have investigated the ground level, but we didn't

do a thorough job. Maybe there's another way in hidden beneath the

mausoleum. And shouldn't we examine the graveyard?"

"He's right. I once heard a bard sing of the vast Sasacharre ruins, which

had a quick, safe route to the center hidden near the main entrance."

"Yeah, Gringham. We already examined this room and unfortunately

there aren't any secret doors here."

"So, rather than taking a loss, I'd like you to split anything you guys find

on this level with us. Hmm. Maybe ten percent from each team? And then if

you find a lower level, will you give us first dibs tomorrow?"

"I have no objections to that proposal."

Gringham was the first to reply. Hekkeran agreed a beat later.

"Okay, then, no one seems to have any objections. But what about you,

Uzruth?"

"Personally, I take issue with it, but if it's only ten percent, then it's fine."

The old man smiled naively in response to Elya's half-sarcastic remark.

Elya made a sour face upon his attitude being evaded so simply.

"Oh, sir, in that case, I'd like to ask you a favor. There was a flag woven

out of precious metal thread in the mausoleum we searched, but it was so

unwieldy that we didn't bring it back with us. Could we have you go and

recover it?"

"My team is in a similar predicament to Hekkeran's. Sorry to make extra

work for thee, but we would much appreciate if you recovered ours as well."

"Then take our stuff, too." Elya jerked his chin at a slender elf, and she

stumbled as she put down the huge sack she was carrying.

"Got it. Is there anything else you want to leave or have us grab?" No one

replied to Palpatra's question. "Okay! Then as I proposed, we'll search the

ground level. Do be careful in the tomb. If you see anything with monetary

value, feel free to leave it for us."

"Ha-ha. Monsters we'll leave, but unfortunately for you, sir, we'll be

taking every last bit of treasure."

Some of the workers chuckled and Hekkeran said, "Okay, then, shall we

go?"

Everyone accepted his suggestion immediately, and so they took a step

forward. Eyes bright with anticipation and greed, they took a step into the

unknown ruins, this subterranean tomb.

Hekkeran opened the door at the end of the room, and a hallway extended

farther in. By this time they were expecting it, but this hallway had been kept

clean as well.

There wasn't a speck of mold or moss on the stone pathway, and in the

walls on either side were double levels of hollows containing things the size

of human bodies wrapped in shrouds. It didn't have that corpse stench, but

there was some kind of smell—the chill in the air or perhaps an atmospheric

hint that someone had died.

Every so often pale light shone from the ceiling, but there were definitely

gaps, so darkness remained here and there. Hekkeran didn't have any trouble

walking, but it was dark enough that he worried they might overlook

something. He felt like he should have brought a light.

"Rober, is that body registering as an undead?"

"No."

Arché responded, "Oh yeah?" and turned toward a body, took out a

dagger, and sliced open the shroud. Seeing that, two others left the main party

to inspect the body with her.

"…Judging from height and build, there's an extremely good chance this

is human—adult male."

"No clothes, so we still can't tell what era these ruins are from, huh?"

"These ruins really are a mystery. The style of architecture doesn't

indicate a time period, and neither does the burial method. They could even

be from over six hundred years ago."

"If they were, it'd be a historic find."

Among informed experts, it would be a point of debate, but these people

were there to work.

Flustered upon realizing Hekkeran and Gringham were staring at them

coldly, Arché hurried to give the results of their inspection. "We still don't

know which era these ruins were built in or what their story is."

"Understood. Can we move on? I want to get to the monster killing."

Going along with disapproving Elya, the party proceeded down the hall,

but only a couple of steps later they stopped again.

They tensed into battle stances holding the weapons they had already

drawn.

From somewhere up ahead, they could hear the sound of numerous bones

clacking.

Glimpses of the undead running down the hall flashed in the ceiling lights.

As the distance closed and the identity of their opponents became clear,

the workers couldn't believe their eyes, and a shock rippled through them.

"This is just ridiculous…"

"Whoa, are you serious…?"

"Huh? Skeletons? Really?"

As soon as someone said the name of the monsters, the laughter they

couldn't hold back filled the hallway.

"C'mon. Skeletons? Look how many of us there are!"

Skeleton-type monsters didn't look all that different from one another, so

it could be difficult to tell what type one was facing at a glance.

But from their presence, it was easy to assert that these were plain old

skeletons.

"If someone were sending out scouts to test our strength, they probably

would have sent something stronger… I got it! There isn't actually any

monster ruling these ruins. Either that or it's one so incompetent it can't even

estimate our fighting power. Or it could be a half-wit who hasn't even figured

out there's a raid happening."

They couldn't stop laughing.

"Ah, but I just can't believe it's skeletons. Maybe all the treasure was in

the mausoleums up on the ground level."

"That would be the worst."

For workers equivalent to mythril-rank adventurers, skeletons were

incredibly weak. And whose idea had it been to send fewer skeletons than the

amount of workers?

Facing the six skeletons standing in their way, they exchanged glances

that said, Who's going to take 'em?

"Not it." Elya was the one to clearly assert himself. Everyone understood

how he felt.

"Then I shall lead."

Gringham stepped to the front in a single smooth motion.

What were the skeletons, with their barely existent intelligence, thinking?

Did they imagine the warrior who stepped forward had been shoved out of

formation? Or was it something else?

They attacked all at once; however—

The ax and shield clobbered them.

It only took a few seconds. No, even less than that.

Gringham smashed the skeletons, stomped on their remains, and let out a

tired-sounding sigh. It was due not to exhaustion from combat but to the

utterly pathetic fact that his first battle in these huge untouched ruins that he

was so happy, as a worker, to have the chance to explore was against

skeletons, the lowest tier of undead.

"How fragile. It seems they really were just skeletons. But it wouldn't be

wise to let our guard down. Let us proceed cautiously, keeping in mind the

possibility that stronger undead could appear."

Everyone pursed their lips and proceeded farther into the ruins, heads

filled with fantasies of the mountain of treasure that surely awaited them.

"Sheesh. They've gone."

"Yes, they have. They may be workers, but we all shared a meal, and

they're our teammates on this job. I hope they make it back safely… What do

you think, Momon?"

"They're probably all going to die."

Ainz answered in a low voice, and the adventurer team leader who'd

asked the question was taken aback.

Crap, I just said what I thought.

"N-no, I mean, they should all be prepared to. These are untouched ruins.

Who knows what kind of danger awaits? Wishful thinking will only get them

hurt."

"I see… Thanks for your…concern."

That seemed pretty forced…but I guess he's taking it at face value? Works

for me…

The leader must have been nodding because he had blindly taken the

adamantite-rank adventurer's words in a positive light. Ainz's work—being

friendly with him during the whole trip to Nazarick to get him to show

goodwill—had paid off.

"Well then, I think I'll take the first rest, as we planned."

Ainz walked toward his tent—which he naturally shared with Narberal.

He knew some of the humans suspected their tent was at a distance from the

others so no one would be able to overhear any rough, heavy breathing. Or

rather, the leader of the other team had told him as much.

The man seemed to want to get closer to fellow adventurer Momon more

than the workers and had been passing information he'd gotten from them to

Ainz.

Ainz entered the tent with Narberal, shut the opening, and took a look

outside just to be safe. No one was paying attention to them. On the contrary,

it seemed like they were purposely avoiding looking in their direction.

"I was right to not outright deny that our tent was a love nest. Now no one

thinks it's weird that we pitched it at a distance, and no one will approach or

pay too much attention to us."

Instead of losing anything by doing that, they had actually gained a lot.

Ainz took off his helmet and revealed his skull face.

"Okay, Nabe—er, Narberal. I'm returning to Nazarick. The plan is to send

Pandora's Actor in my place, but until then, if anything happens, find a way

to handle it."

"Understood, Lord Ainz."

"Right. Then contact me immediately in an emergency."

Ainz canceled the magic that had created his armor and swords. The

weight of the helmet in his hand disappeared at the same time.

The restricting sensations that had been enveloping his body thus

removed, he sighed in relief, even though he wasn't tired. It was probably the

same for the way he rotated his shoulders even though there was no way for

them to get stiff—these things had to be vestiges of his humanity.

"Phew."

The remnants of human emotion were a bother at times.

If he had been able to handle everything in a calm and collected manner,

things might have turned out differently. But if he didn't have vestiges of his

human self, would he still have been so attached to the Great Tomb of

Nazarick? He probably would have lost the feelings he had toward Satoru

Suzuki's memories, as well as the memories he'd made with his friends.

Ainz smiled bitterly and cast a spell. The thoughts of his human vestiges

could no longer be found in even the smallest corner of his mind. Ainz wasn't

the outstanding sort of person who could do two or three things at a time.

Now he had to discard any unnecessary thoughts.

The spell he cast was Greater Teleportation.

Thanks to a ring he was wearing, he was able to get through the barriers

inside the Great Tomb of Nazarick, and he instantly arrived outside the

Throne Room.

"Welcome back, Lord Ainz."

He was immediately greeted by a woman's beautiful voice celebrating his

return.

"Thank you, Albedo."

After straightening up from her deep bow, a smile that reminded him of a

riot of blooming flowers appeared on her peerlessly beautiful face as she

stared at Ainz, as if she could see nothing else.

Urk…

When he noticed the tender light in her sparkling golden eyes, he nearly

wriggled in discomfort. But that would have been unbecoming of the ruler of

the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Ainz Ooal Gown, so he held it in.

In order to suppress the low-intensity and thus lingering emotions, he

conspicuously cleared his throat, though his bony body didn't require it.

"The raiders should be here soon, according to plan. Actually, they might

be here already. How is the welcome party prep coming along?"

"Swimmingly, my lord. Our guests are sure to have an enjoyable time."

"I see… Albedo, I'm looking forward to seeing your style of hospitality."

He stepped into the heart of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, the Throne

Room. Albedo followed after him a moment later.

He'd given her one order with regards to the raiders. He wanted to

examine how her idea of a defense system fared in a real battle.

His old guildmates were the ones who had thought about which monsters

should spawn where and stationed them accordingly. There was nothing

wrong with that. But now that Nazarick's situation had changed, he couldn't

say for sure that there wasn't a better way to position them.

Thus, an overhaul of the defense system was critical. Now, they were

going to test it.

"The raiders are weak. We won't be able to test everything. Still I'm

hoping there will be something we can gain from this."

"Understood. I guarantee we will perform up to your expectations, Lord

Ainz."

"Good. As we agreed, I've cut down the amount of cost-incurring traps,

like the one where we send undead charging into poison gas. Make do with

traps that use auto-spawning minions. No issues with that, right?"

Albedo smiled in response, and Ainz nodded.

"Okay. Then I'll have some fun in here for a while. By the way, what are

the other floor guardians up to?"

"I gave orders to gather the moment you returned. Shall I let them in as

they arrive?"

"I'll allow it. The more the merrier."

Ainz leisurely took a seat in the throne, and a number of monitors just like

television screens floated before him. They all showed scenes of what was

happening inside Nazarick, things Albedo wanted to show him as she

controlled the displays.

Most likely, they showed parts of the defense network that Albedo had

adjusted, but he didn't really know what was different from before.

In order for this to be a fruitful exercise, I have to get something out of

watching this, too. Otherwise I'll be in a pinch if we're all sharing our

opinions afterward.

Ainz was the absolute ruler of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. He couldn't

very well tell his subordinates he knew nothing about its defense network.

"And just to make sure, there's no chance of Ariadne activating, right?"

he asked, even though he had the console open and had confirmed, flipping

through the tabs, that there were no issues.

"I don't believe so. There is one thing I wanted to ask. If the raiders built

a blockade, would it end up activating?"

Ainz remembered a Yggdrasil Q and A he'd seen a long time before. Or

had it been patch notes from the developers?

"It shouldn't… Yeah, I don't...think so."

That's how it would have been in Yggdrasil, but there was no guarantee

those rules would hold in this world. Actually, he wasn't even sure if there

was any Ariadne in this world.

"What about manipulating the humans to activate it on purpose?"

"There's a chance it wouldn't work, but considering what we'd lose by it

activating, I don't think it's an experiment we'd want to perform."

The Ariadne System…

It was the evaluation mechanism of Yggdrasil's base-building system.

There was an easy way to build an impregnable fortress: Blockade the

entrance and make it so no one could invade. The Great Tomb of Nazarick

would have been pretty much perfect if they had buried it completely

underground. But from a gameplay perspective, that couldn't be allowed.

The Ariadne System existed to keep guilds from building bases that

couldn't be raided.

There had to be a route from the entrance to the heart of the dungeon.

Other things Ariadne checked included distance walked inside and number of

doors; there was a wide array of specifications.

If a dungeon that didn't follow the rules was uploaded to Yggdrasil, the

guild would be penalized and its resources would sharply decrease.

In the case of Nazarick, they were able to maintain such a vast dungeon

because they had solved all those issues on levels five and six, not to mention

put in tons of real cash.

The workers appeared on one of the monitors Ainz was controlling.

"Tch! Okay, they're finally in. They kept me waiting long enough."

Ainz was filled with disgust as he watched the video of them tramping

with their dirty feet into the sanctuary he'd built with his friends. If his

emotions became too unbalanced, they would stabilize immediately, but this

smoldering sort of irritation couldn't be completely suppressed.

"Albedo. Don't let a single one of them out of here alive."

"Of course not, my lord. Please enjoy witnessing the fate of these thieves

who dare trespass on your most sacred home. Oh…but who will you use as

the guinea pigs for your sword experiment, the ones you requested?"

"Ahh, right. I sparred with the old man for a round. This guy I fenced with

a bit on the way here. That team won't be good for practicing. So, by process

of elimination…they'll be good." Ainz pointed at the monitor, turning it so

Albedo could see.