Chapter 557 - Episode 4: Regnentes Mine Exploration (5)
After proceeding for about an hour while defeating centipedes and burying slugs, we came across a place where a cave-in had occurred. The hole is completely buried. However, there's a reaction of centipedes beyond the soil. The range of the collapse doesn't seem to be that long. At most, it's about ten to fifteen steps.
"Wolf, can you dig a secret passage?"
"I can do it if I have to, but it might collapse. From the look of it, not many years have passed since it collapsed."
The way the soil has solidified is apparently different. I honestly don't understand well, but the expert in earth magic says so. There's no doubt.
"Hmm. Is there no good method?"
For some reason the prince looks at me. Wouldn't it be faster to hire a dwarf?
Since everyone looks at me, I couldn't be cold.
"Um—, how about making a cylinder or something like one cut in half with Wind Barrier, and inserting that after digging?"
At the time of the mountain investigation, James-sama was doing something similar. It should be possible.
When I told the prince, it was an immediate decision this time too. It was put into practice immediately. The Wolf Man digs, and the prince and Harold-sama support it with Wind Barrier. In about half an hour, a passage to the other side was made.
At the prince's proposal, they dig a hole in the ground that appeared after digging the soil, and build an underground path by lining up blocks on top of it. That way, even if it collapses after deactivating the Wind Barrier, they should be able to pass through somehow.
When we pass through to the other side, it's completely different from the cave we've come through until now. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling are made of stone. The cave-in apparently occurred exactly at the place that becomes the boundary. Proceeding further while defeating centipedes, there was finally an altar. However, I feel like the appearance, or rather the atmosphere, is different from the altars I've seen until now.
As a result of Godwynn-sama, who held a Firefly, investigating the surroundings carefully, it was judged that there were no traps. Everyone approaches.
"Bishop Jeanne, is it this?"
"I think so. Um, if you shift this, the entrance to the underground path should appear."
"I just have to move this, right?"
When it comes to power, it's a beastman.
Saying, "I'll do it," and rolling up his sleeves, he suddenly grappled with the wide side of the altar and began to push.
"Ah! No! You have to move a specific pattern. If you don't, it won't shift."
I hurriedly warned him, but...
With a thud, the altar fell over sideways. At the place where the altar had been, there is an entrance to an underground path.
"Eh? What? This is fine, right? There was an entrance."
Um, is it okay?
"According to what Jeanne said, you shift it after moving the pattern."
"Is that so? But it moved."
Rather than moving, he rolled it... Perhaps the mechanism broke.
It's the first time I've seen the back of an altar. There's nothing. Not even a pattern.
"How do you normally move it?"
Harold-sama asked.
"Um, if you move a part of the altar's pattern, you'll be able to shift it vertically."
"Forget shifting, it only looks like it was just placed there."
Everyone looks at the back of the altar, but there's nothing. Not even a pattern.
"Just how did you move it when you explored until now?"
I explain it's like this and like that.
Harold-sama investigated the entrance to the underground along with Godwynn-sama. The two were doing this and that, but they said they understood and began to explain.
Look here, he points to the entrance to the underground. On the wall of the stone entrance, there are horizontal grooves on two sides. The ends and the center of the grooves are connected to vertical grooves extending downward, and at the very bottom of the two vertical grooves, there are further small horizontal grooves.
"With these holes, it must have been possible to fix and move the altar."
Protrusions at the ends of rods extending from the altar fit into the grooves, and it can only be moved according to the grooves. And the rods themselves are linked to the patterns that are moved, and normally they are caught in the hollows of the horizontal grooves at the very bottom, and the altar cannot be shifted forward, backward, left, or right, let alone raised. Apparently. Of course, Harold-sama and the others didn't know that shifting the patterns would make it possible to move the altar. It must be a scout's observation skills.
Furthermore, Harold-sama spoke the movement of the patterns I said and, using his sword as a rod, explained the actual movement.
The patterns to be moved are in four places. There are four per place. Of the four patterns, three are lined up vertically. The fourth is to the right of the bottom pattern. The three lined up vertically can be shifted to the left. Doing that reveals the vertical groove hidden behind the patterns. It's a fairly long groove. The fourth pattern can be shifted up along the vertical groove after being shifted to the left. If a rod was connected to the fourth pattern, that rod would be pulled up after moving to the left. In other words, after shifting the catch of the protrusion to the side and unhooking it, it is pulled up. As a result, the protrusion reaches the horizontal part of the groove, and the altar can be shifted in the vertical direction.
I see, a magnificent inference. As expected of a former hero and the scout who inherited his blood. I reflexively applaud with a clap-clap.
"Then, is this altar a fake?"
It's the Wolf Man. It inevitably becomes so.
"I see, phew, that's good. I didn't break the real thing."
Ah, that way, huh. Well, that's so.
Why is a fake that easily flips over even with a beastman's power blocking the entrance?
"Someone has intruded. Presumably, that collapse site is the key."
The prince summarizes, but the problem is who, for what purpose, and what did they do.
"Harold, do you have an idea?"
"Somewhat."
Harold-sama said so while looking at me.
"Sh-shall I leave?"
No matter how you look at it, military secrets or diplomacy must be involved.
"No, I don't care. Rather, I want to hear Bishop Jeanne's view too. She's also made a Vow of Silence."
Eh—, are you going to involve a stray priest in the world of politics...
Well, however, it's a problem that there's someone interfering with our investigation. Since the participants are, so to speak, comrades, information exchange is essential.
For some reason I was asked for my view first, so I speak as I think of it. According to the Wolf Man, not many years have passed since it collapsed. Since the related parties here now don't know, we don't have to think about the Regnentes Royal Family, the military, and the beastmen.
First is the remnants of the Ruined Town. I was actually attacked at the mountain. Currently, the leader is imprisoned and the town is placed under the church's surveillance, but that's a talk after the previous war. Considering their activities before that, they become the top candidate. However, I can't talk in detail. I could only say they seem suspicious.
Next is the Demon Lord worshippers. Their purpose is to seal the Demon Lord forever. For a Demon Lord worshipper, it becomes a great enemy. However, I don't understand the circumstances of how such people could have known what we are doing.
The third is Engrio. This would also be a pre-war talk. After all, currently King Seldic is participating in the investigation. Also, even if it were before the war, it's unreasonable for Engrio to have targeted this place alone. In fact, King Seldic didn't know until he heard the talk at the hot spring town. Since it's a talk from when Eleanor-sama was there, there's no mistake. Besides, I can't talk about this in detail either.
The fourth is the faction of the King's younger brother in Regnentes. To be precise, it's the family of the younger brother's wife. If it were alone, rather than interfering, they just conducted an exploration without the Royal Family's knowledge.
The fifth is the involvement of demons. This is honestly difficult. No shadow of a demon was visible at the investigation sites until now. However, the possibility itself cannot be excluded.
And as the sixth, the case where those forces coordinated can be considered. Personally, I think it's the result of the people from the Ruined Town trying to force their way inside before the war. At that time, there's a possibility they were coordinating with the family of the younger brother's wife.
I thought of that far, but because there are many things I can't say, the only ones I spoke as my view were the fifth and sixth.
Regarding the prince's reaction after hearing my view, he had a puzzled face regarding the Ruined Town, but he had an overtly unpleasant face regarding the faction of the younger brother.
"Hmph. For someone from another country, you are quite familiar with our country's internal affairs. To be known this much, there is a bit of a problem with maintaining secrecy."
The prince looked down at me with his chin raised.
You, who are disliked to the point that people from other countries worry and collect information, are the cause of the problem.
The Wolf Man's view was, "I don't know." Since they have no business around here, they apparently didn't approach.
Harold-sama and Godwynn's view was the faction of the younger brother. However, even if there was a relation, they thought it likely wasn't very serious. In short, they just explored trying to dig silver without permission from the Royal Family, and because there was a strange altar, they forcibly destroyed it. Presumably, they gave up further exploration after hitting the wall. There's a full possibility centipedes and slugs intruded during the exploration.
"Return this altar to its original position once. Before exploring the inside, investigate the surroundings of this place."
As for the prince, he's likely concerned about the faction of the younger brother. It's a topic of a family feud that's been smoldering since before. If possible, he likely wants to keep those who know to a minimum. The search for the wall is entrusted to the current members to some extent. He likely wants to do it while he can.
The Wolf Man returns the altar with Clump Stone, and we return to the collapse site once. Because this is the most suspicious place.
What will we do? It's simple. Dig a hole upward. We need to confirm exactly where this is.
Digging is fine, but a collapse might occur. I made a wall of Light, and the prince and Harold-sama reinforced it doubly with Wind Barrier. The Wind Barrier is circular but has a hole in the middle. Through that hole, they fired magic and had the soil dug almost directly upward.
Taking advantage of having a defense wall that prevents falling soil, we dig more and more. Since the defense wall is tilted, the falling soil falls to a distant place.
The width of the hole is not much. It's enough for one human to crawl through. In short, it's fine as long as a secret passage is made. They just dug without even making the dug soil into blocks. It collapsed several times, but they didn't care. When they proceeded digging just like that, light shone in.
"I-it broke through!"
When I peer through, I can see the sky. The height is two stories... no, about three stories? It's quite a lot.
When the Wolf Man solidifies the wall of the hole, a fair width was made. The prince reinforces the wall of the hole with two cylinders made of Wind Barrier connected together. With this, the hole shouldn't collapse.
Harold-sama made a thick-bottomed cylindrical object with Wind Barrier and went up while riding on it.
"Oh—! It's the ruins of open-pit mining!"
I can hear the Wolf Man's voice. Since it's the ruins of open-pit mining, had we not entered that far inside?
We go up with Harold-sama's Wind Barrier according to the order we walked. I am the third. Since it's unstable if I stand, I crouched so as not to fall. When I go outside, it's in the middle of a cliff. Even if I say cliff, it's greatly gouged out, presumably because it's the place that collapsed. There's no place to stand, and I was pulled up onto the Wolf Man's plate.
I looked down to see where the shrine we entered was, but it was nowhere to be seen. When I asked, it's apparently a different slope.
Once everyone has come up safely, we changed to a bowl made by the prince.
"Look at that."
What the Wolf Man is pointing to is the outside of the place gouged out by the collapse. A crack is running. There are several similar cracks.
"As a result of the collapse, the cliff part has sunken and is gouged out, right? Look at the direction of the cracks. Doesn't it look like they ran from the center of the gouged part?"
When he says so, it might be so.
"It's a crevasse. Someone must have collapsed this place with magic."
A crevasse is upper-level magic.
"If it's Crevasse and Colossus Crops, you could collapse it, but only the outside. I don't think a way of collapsing toward the inside like a cave-in is possible."
"If they had collapsed the inside first, what would you do?"
"You wouldn't be able to escape. Since we didn't explore inside the altar, it's not certain, but there was no teleportation magic circle."
"There are lot who can teleport even without using a magic circle, right?"
Dwarves are so. However, dwarves are gatekeepers. I don't think they'd break an altar. If that's the case...
"It's a demon. And an upper-level demon at that."
At the Wolf Man's words, even the great prince gasped.
Since the opponent is a demon, we have to take measures. They might not be right there, but there's a possibility of being attacked. We decided to return to the fortress where Price-sama and the others are waiting on Harold-sama's bowl immediately.
"Assuming a demon was involved, what will the beastmen do?"
"I don't know. Ask the Elder."
The Wolf Man is blunt toward the prince's question.
The beastmen's history regarding that area is complex. Sometimes they fought demons along with humans, and sometimes they fought humans along with demons. There were even times when beastmen alone fought humans. If anything, in recent years, the period of discord with humans is long. However, even during that time, they were negotiating under the surface or conducting dark deals. Besides, even if I say beastmen, there are various races, and there are settlements in various places. Whether to join with humans or demons, or maintain neutrality, was different each time and for each settlement.
"If possible, fight together. If impossible, at least maintain neutrality."
The prince says while looking straight ahead, without even changing his expression.
"I'll tell the Elder. After all, Jeanne came and laid the groundwork for the trade to be resumed. Besides, everyone quite likes the deals with you."
The Wolf Man said so and put his hand on the prince's shoulder.
After Harold-sama and Godwynn-sama looked at each other, they smiled with only their eyes.