Chapter 691 - Chapter Seven: The Ruined Town
As a result of the second ancient document investigation, there were no materials that directly described Testament. However, since important small boxes still remain, we can have expectations. And from among the large-format scrolls, several maps and sketches came out. Price-sama says they are apparently quite old drawings and are quite different from the maps around the Ruined Town made by the Medioland Royal Capital Great Church after the previous war.
"This... the temple shown on this map... no, at this period it should already be called a church. A church organization should have been established. It's highly likely that that church was rebuilt in its current location."
The structure of the building is said to be very similar to the one currently standing. Apparently, the surrounding terrain on the map is completely different.
"Look at this. The surroundings of the church look like sloped land. Perhaps it was built on top of a hill or plateau. However, the current Ruined Town is in a flat area surrounded by forest, and the surroundings are a forest with no elevation difference. Where on earth was it built?"
When I look in as I'm told, it certainly looks like that. If the church itself wasn't that large, the surroundings would be forest. And beyond that is sloped land. But where on earth is it? A thousand years ago is one thing, but now we have Flight Magic. I don't know if it's a plateau or a hill, but you'd find something like this in one shot from the sky. Probably, since the delinquent old men are flying all over the White Island, it should have been found already. Wilson-san is here too, so we can get confirmation. Since the church is investigating, they would use Flight Magic too. Despite that, the fact that there's no such building... what does that mean? Was it destroyed in the conflict a thousand years ago?
"No, I think it was probably newly built. Wasn't it because it was inconvenient on top of a mountain?"
In other words, does that temple still exist now?
"That possibility exists. However, we cannot deny the possibility that the upper structures were destroyed and only the entrance to the basement was left."
If so, are we going to search all over the mountains with just this map or sketch?
"Let's ask King Seldic to investigate terrain where it wouldn't be strange for this building to be. We should search the surroundings."
That was the Engrio Archbishop. It's a story like trying to catch a cloud. It's impossible unless we mobilize personnel. Even if we mobilize, it might be impossible.
But a temple ruin on top of a plateau, why on earth did they build it in such an inconvenient place? And the surroundings are forest to boot. Just going there would be hard.
"Um, is it alright?"
It's Sianya. It's rare for her to speak up at a time like this. No, she's a royal advisor. Is it just that I don't know?
"Yes, what is it?"
"You mentioned the surroundings are sloped land, but are there cliffs?"
"Who knows? I can't say for sure from this drawing. Why?"
"Sunlight must be drawn in, right? If the church or its ruins are on top of a mountain and the magic circle of Testament is in its basement, I thought that unless there's a place like a cliff nearby, the sun's light wouldn't shine in."
I see. That's logical.
"That's a wonderful thought. I will inform the person currently managing the Ruined Town to investigate the presence of cliffs. Perhaps a hole for letting in sunlight is open. I'll tell them to explore using Flight Magic if a likely cliff is found."
"Thank you very much."
She looks happy to be praised by Price-sama.
"A cliff with a hole would probably be south- or east-facing."
This time it's the Engrio Archbishop. Clue-like stories are coming out one after another. It's very encouraging.
"Perhaps it's made so that the sunlight at noon or sunrise shines in. Otherwise, a quite large hole would be necessary, wouldn't it? I don't think such a hole would have gone unconfirmed until now."
That's true too. Then, as a guide, we just have to look for south-facing cliffs. If so, it might be narrowed down considerably. Actually, since Price-sama has some spare time for a few days, he's scheduled to go to the Ruined Town after this investigation. If so, those who are doing the document investigation can inspect it in person, so it might be found.
After the investigation was over, when I returned to the fortress and talked to King Seldic, he told me I should go to the Ruined Town too.
"Bishop Jeanne is going anyway. Although she is unaffiliated, she is a priest, so there should be no problem. Why not go and see the site once along with Archbishop Price?"
"What will happen to the Demon Lord's cave?"
"The Henry Party and one member of the Class of 175 are there. Thanks to them, our army's soldiers have also become quite used to handling illuminators. We can leave the conquest of the third floor to them."
"Then, I'll borrow her. Jeanne must return to Sertoria around the full moon to fulfill her duties, so the next time she goes to the Demon Lord's cave will be after that, but is that alright?"
"I don't mind. Regarding the participation reward, I'll guarantee an amount equal to the number of days the Henry Party worked."
That's helpful. Since I'm going to the Ruined Town voluntarily and not by the church's instructions, no allowance will be given. They'll guarantee food and a place to stay, though.
"Then, shall we go together from tomorrow? I too must request various things in advance from the priest managing that land, so I'll contact them at the same time."
And so, I finally ended up going to the Ruined Town. I thought it would be only Price-sama and me, but the Engrio Royal Capital Great Church Head, Harris-sama, and Sianya also went. When I asked Sianya, who is busy as a royal advisor, it seems her schedule has been adjusted. Apparently, the reason I was suddenly included in the investigation was that depending on the situation of the cave exploration for which I'm currently under a contract of employment, they intended to take me to the Ruined Town too.
The Ruined Town is in the forest spreading to the northwest of the Engrio Royal Capital. Geographically, to the north is the southwestern part of Nakanohara in Sertoria, to the east is near the border of Sertoria and Engrio, to the south is of course Engrio, and to the west is the mountainous zone of the Primordia border. The elevation itself seems to be higher than the southern plains, and the whole area is a slope... though I don't feel the slope much... that gently descends from north to south. The hilly terrain where the temple shown in the drawing might be is located in several places to the north and west.
When I actually came to see it, it was a village centered around a church. There's a clearing in the forest and a settlement is there. It's a landscape just like a beastman village. A river is flowing, and there's a pond. There are also fields of a reasonable size, and about a hundred people could be self-sufficient. It's separated from the forest by a wooden fence for warding off magic beasts, and there are watchtowers. There are people who seem to be garrison soldiers in the watchtowers.
The place where the dwellings are is surrounded by a stone outer wall about the height of a two-story building, covered in moss and showing the passage of years. The main gate is one story higher than the outer wall. There are three slits for windows and reconnaissance, and it's more imposing than the watchtowers of the fortresses around here. Currently, it's under church management. To show that, soldiers of the guard like those in the Temple of Oracles are stationed at the main gate like gatekeepers and are patrolling on the outer wall.
When we came, we came near here in an Engrio army bowl by King Seldic's consideration. There was a station for the guard unit newly built by the church when they took over management of the Ruined Town. The captain of that station is the person in charge of security. Price-sama talked to that captain about the circumstances, and when we went along the road by the small stream in a carriage... the captain and several knights were on horseback... we came out at the main gate. At the main gate, of course, we passed through without any problem and entered the interior.
"How is it? This is the Ruined Town, which had a bad reputation."
In front of us is a quite large church. The Southern Church. Some renovations must have been made, but it still existed. Currently, it doesn't function as a Great Church, and a Bishop dispatched from the Medioland Royal Capital Great Church is the church head. After the greeting with the church head who came out to meet us, those were his first words.
The interior of the church is also mostly the same as other churches. There's a stone statue of the Goddess at the back. It's a grand thing, with a height nearly twice that of an adult woman. It's Edward-sama size. She's holding a staff in her right hand. The staff had a crystal decorated at the tip. There's a basement under the stone statue, and apparently, you can go down from the stairs on both sides, but of course, whether there's anything further there has already been investigated.
However, the glass window behind the Goddess statue at the back of the altar was one fitted directly above the stone statue and was not a decorative window. It's said to be because it was a thousand years ago.
"Look, outside the window. There's a gap between the mountains. Sunlight shines from there. Since it's inland, you can't see far, but when the sun rises, you can see a splendid sunrise."
It's a mechanism where when the sun rises, it looks as if the Goddess has a halo. Depending on the time, wouldn't it have been quite dazzling?
The surroundings of the church are, to be honest, just an ordinary country town. I don't know why they made it in the forest, but considering floating a boat on the river to go downstream, it's not that inconvenient.
"This was a monitoring base for the west coast region. Setting up an altar there was the beginning of the Southern Church, so it's said."
Have there been conflicts between the east and west coasts since such a long time ago?
Apparently, roads heading north and west used to run here. That said, since they were roads from ancient times, they weren't much, and after it was conquered a thousand years ago, the roads were apparently dug up and trees and plants were planted to destroy them. To get to the roads that currently exist, you have to go through a deep forest.
It was destroyed in the disturbance a thousand years ago, but as expected, they couldn't destroy the church. They disposed of the main people and those who were rebellious and left those who obeyed quietly. It's simple when expressed in writing, but quite terrible things must have happened. And it was put under the joint management of nearby lords. However, it's anyway far from other churches. They had entrusted it with a certain amount of autonomy. As a result, it was completely left alone. Eventually, something like a neighborhood association began calling itself a council and started doing various bad things. 'Apparently', because a certain amount of secrecy must have been maintained. And the nearby lords were driven out of their countries by mercenaries who came from the continent, their lands were stolen, and those who knew the past history disappeared. Eventually, they ended up joining with King Seldic of the Engrio Kingdom, an infidel who rose to power and grew large. After that is just as I know, and currently, it's just a settlement. All Revenants were treated as captives. Most of the living people were descendants of serfs who fled from noble territories and were employed by the church as tenant farmers. Currently, they are engaged in agriculture and hunting just as before the occupation. When they occasionally go to the church, the priests dispatched from the Medioland Royal Capital Great Church give sermons and prayers. Since the doctrine itself hasn't changed at all, the fact that a peaceful life is maintained is the same. Currently, they are not serfs. They are not tenant farmers. As a result of the previous war, they were made free farmers who till their own farmland carved out from the Ruined Town as long as they stay in this land. This measure is probably a fine play by the Medioland Royal Capital Great Church, which decided to make this land such a church territory. The residents apparently welcomed the new church head and the tax system with joy.
Testament, a somewhat dangerous magic that seals the Demon Lord, lies dormant in a land that can be called a utopia for serfs in countries with a class system.
After having lunch, the church head guides us. When we leave the church and go to the village, everyone we meet comes toward us seeing Price-sama's figure.
"Price-sama, it's been a long time. Please, by all means, a blessing."
Saying that, they kneel before Price-sama, fold their arms, and bow their heads.
"May the Goddess's blessing be upon you all."
Price-sama is also used to it, and after giving a blessing, he crouches down to match his eye level with the other person and asks about this year's wheat harvest and the state of hunting.
According to the church head's story, the one who exerted himself to make this land into its current state and came all the way here to explain to the people was Price-sama. No wonder everyone adores him. The residents who received the blessing are watching his departing figure as if they are reluctant to part.
"It wasn't me. The one who proposed to treat everyone as free farmers and liberate the farmland was the Primordia Liberation King. He said that if we did that, the residents here would place their faith in the Northern Church and it would be easier later."
I see. I had heard that various things were discussed after the war, but there was such a story. The Liberation King's words must have been persuasive precisely because he had his own achievements.
When we go to the settlement, there's a building for the residents to hold meetings. Price-sama talked to the people of the neighborhood association who were there and requested them to gather hunters. It's for gathering information for the cliff search. He must have made the request thinking it's not that far. As a result, it was found that there are several cliffs if you go up the river. In a river flowing through hilly terrain, it's a common topography where there's a meander and the flow from upstream hits it.
Among the garrison soldiers are two bowl users, so he arranged for one of them and had them fly immediately.
The river is flowing from the direction of the mountainous zone on the border of Primordia and Engrio... in other words, from the northwest. When flying along the river in a bowl, there was a cliff around where the gentle slope gradually shifts to hilly terrain. The river flow hits the cliff at the end of a hill-like swell on the north side and changes its flow from east to southeast. In other words, the east side of the cliff faces south. It's not that high, but it's certainly a cliff. And the opposite bank is a riverbed and grassland spreading out, with a pond further back. The grassland is a little away from the forest. The forest begins from the edge of a step. Probably when it rains a lot and the water rises, it submerges up to the edge of the step, including the pond. In other words, it's sufficiently open. When it becomes noon, the cliff receives the sun's light from directly in front.
Once I went up to the air above the cliff and looked at the terrain, the top part of theこんもりとした swell was like a wasteland, with only shrubs and grass. Rocks were peeking out here and there. Perhaps the topsoil is thin and tall trees can't take root. It's possible they covered it with a little soil. The surrounding terrain is forest. For some reason, only here is it swelling up. That said, it's not a very large thing. It's about the same size as the swell where the silica mine in the Flatlands or King Griffith's tomb is. At the highest point, it would be one and a half or two stories. The slope of the swell is gentle and trees are growing. The top part, which was like a wasteland, is suspicious if you ask.
For now, I tied a red cloth to a shrub as a marker on the top. After that, I observed the entire swell and finally conducted an investigation of the cliff. As a result, I didn't find anything in particular. There are no holes. I did a magic detection considering the possibility of camouflage, but there was no particular reaction. More detailed investigation might be necessary.
"As expected, it's not found so easily. But if we go up this river, there will be similar cliffs."
Taking heart at Price-sama's calm words, we went further upstream and found several swells, and the parts facing the river were all cliffs. We observed those cliffs, set markers on the tops, and the day's work ended. The only one where the top part was like a wasteland was the first cliff.