Sword, Magic and Academic Society
Vol. 1 - Ch. 239 - Ruins (4)

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After steeling myself, I cautiously walked down the path.

Fortunately, the tunnel wasn’t a straight shot, and it had gentle curves and dead ends, offering plenty of hiding spots.

My guess was they'd dug it in this shape in search of specific geological formation, or maybe they just were avoiding hard rock layers. I would have most likely jumped on by all the monsters possible in this area if this had happened to be a linear path.

From the shadows, I used wind magic to create disturbances, luring one or two frogs at a time, and decisively cutting them down. I also learned Steinfrosch didn't react aggressively against my wind magic, unlike what was the case with Dark Wolf and Railgator. 

In fact, they were among the more dull-minded monsters, and I had to deploy various tricks—like making noise or releasing some kind of scent to lure them—when they showed no reaction to wind magic. 

The route was approximately 2km long if calculated in a straight line. It was a distance I could cover in a couple of minutes, though I proceeded cautiously, and after what should have been 2 hours, I finally found the frog monster's nest. 

It was a dome-shaped space, and as wide as three soccer fields, where at least a hundred small frogs hopped about.

To the lower left, there was a subterranean lake, similar to Area 81. This one had a visible current.

Around the lake's shore, there were reed-like plants growing, and glowing butterflies fluttered through the air while the chirping of grasshoppers echoed around. Several of the frogs positioned themselves around it, their tongue extended to the water, perhaps trying to catch the fishes.

The most striking feature of the place was faintly glowing walls of dome. 

The shine was subpar to say the least, but I had a hunch the illuminating road—the path that had lit up when I randomly fiddled with mana tools—must have used these exact materials in use. 

The radiance illuminated the whole place, expelling any need for me to use wind magic. 

And it was—no, they were there; the Steinbergs. 

One of them was the exact figure I had encountered in Area 81. The second was a size smaller, with its skin color subtly different. 

The big frog, basically the Area-81 Steinberg, was taking a nap as to be presumed from its closed eye, devoid of any movement. 

The smaller one, however, had its eyes open and was rhythmically inflating its throat. However even its movements were more rhythmic, seemingly resti—

"Ribbit!"

Suddenly, the small Steinfrosch made the sound, and extended its tongue toward the wall some twenty meters away with an incredible speed. With a single flick, it snagged a medium-sized lizard-like creature that had been clinging to the wall.

I shuddered. There was like—, absolutely no movement until the frog actually took action. Besides, the speed was absolute in another league compared to the Steinberg I knew. 

I definitely couldn't dodge the tongue, not in this spacious place, if I confronted it. If I had any ounce of courage, then everything was shattered by the sight. 

I only foresaw my inevitable death, especially when I was alone to fight. 

I quickly shifted my focus, using wind magic to guide the breeze into several open cavities, trying to assess what lay further ahead in the area. However—

A jolt suddenly went down my spine feeling an ominous presence, and a premonition of death suddenly seized me. I forsake all thoughts and sprinted full speed deeper into the tunnel I had come from. 

“Ribbit!”

The Steinberg, that had kept its posture low so far, took an unforeseen jump at the spot I was, raising a sound. It closed the distance in one breath, and then extended its tongue toward the interior of the tunnel. 

I narrowly avoided the tongue as it brushed past my chest. My heart drummed loudly like an alarm bell. 

The tongue flicked about inside the tunnel, feeling around as if tasting the air, before it finally retreated—snapping back with a sharp crack.

Ugh... I nearly got a heart attack. I wasn't expecting it to notice my wind magic so acutely. But 25 metres, huh? I quickly jotted down the tongue's range into my memory, and decided to fall back to the base for the time being. 

I had to make it through that place, and this was undisputable, but I needed the monster to wear down its variness. 

Then again… maybe I should deal with that sealed door I found earlier. Break it open and see what’s inside. There could be a trap, or it could lead to a cave-in of ruins, but then, everything would lose its meaning if I die here. 

It didn't have to be anything that lead me to exit, but I would be really glad to find anything helpful.

◆◆◆

"How do you do, Master? The thing is, I am here to ask for a favour."

There was a dilapidated shack deep in the mountain at the outskirts of Dragreid. Nevertheless, the area was completely devoid of monsters. 

Fey bolted through the doorless entrance of the shack, and wasted no further in jumping to her purpose.

"Have you heard? Steinberg’s appeared in the underground quarry. One of the explorers is trapped inside. …I have to save him, no matter what.”

"..........First, I am not your master. The relationship ended with your expulsion. You just can't come and call your disciple at your whims. But, yes, I happened to hear it when I visited the city. However this is not a concern to me."

A woman in her 50's curtly replied, her gaze brimming with unconcealed abhorrence as she gazed at Fey.

"Hehe. You're still in your character huh, Master."

"The audacity to speak. You should know there are three things I despise the most in this world; Women, Dragoon Family, and old folks. I must have stepped on the cat's tail that day when the handsome boy I scouted as assistance turned out to be the successor of that woman, and moreover a girl. Though you'd have to be talented to be even considered worthy by her. Tsk, this is why I hate girls."

She spat the words like venom, her voice twisted with bitter resentment. But Fey ignored them and stepped further into the back room where the woman stood.

“Well, it’s not like I ever said I was a man, did I? Lucky for me you never felt the need to check. ‘Precious things are best admired from a distance’—wasn’t that your line? You’re the one who fed Satowa that information, right? I have seen reports of you frequently investigating Rootzenia Mine's Ruin."

Fey further closed the distance as she spoke. The woman scratched her arm lazily and shook her head. 

"Do not take a step further than that... or you can, if you don't cherish your life, that is. You should be well aware I get goosebumps crawling all over me when a woman tries to get close."

Fey stopped exactly two meters away from the woman. 

Affirming that, Blanca, Fey's master, shot a glare at Fey while grasping a suspicious looking mana tool in one hand.

"And what are you telling me for? I would rather die than to work with you.Now hurry up and leave."

Fey gave a small shrug, and then quietly set a few blueprints she had brought onto the nearby drafting table. They're the blueprint of modern cleaning robot—Runpo-kun.

After setting them up, she sidestepped to open the view, sitting on the stool by the window. Blanca's gaze settled on that blueprint, a gleam promptly appearing in her eyes.

"......A golem?"

She flipped through the blueprints with a furrowed brow, then gave a dismissive snort.

"Tch, if you only had been as incompetent as annoying you're. This is quite... a lot of progress in these two years since I expelled you. How much fortune you'd wasted? And these seem like clones of legendary golems Moon Dragoon built, huh? But this hasn't cleared the two key aspects that would fully resolve his legacy."

 Despite the criticism, Fey chuckled to herself.

“There’s a limit to how many conditional behaviors you can pre-program, sure. If you want true autonomous control, then unless it’s a piloted model, you’d need a way to transmit real-time data from a distance. But—, I’m already making progress on that.”

That made Blanca’s eyes widen in shock.

"Hehe. Now this is a new face you're making, Master. But well, I am not the one heavy lifting on that research. I just found myself an acquaintance who's talented to say the least, something that even I can't comprehend."

"Is... he a boy?"

"Fufu, unfortunately it's a girl. The kind you hate the most—sweet, and air-headed. She would not look at your status, or position or anything, and mercilessly cause a rain of blood to descend. There are even rumours that she feigned an attack on His Majesty just to catch Knight Commander off-guard. I think you might just get along well since you also don't care what method you use in research of mana tools."

"......So eccentric she wouldn't even faze from targeting the king? I—, no, I don't want to have anything with a girl."

"Hahaha! ...Wait, there's one more thing. We would need a reformation in our mechanism over mana control, mana amplification, and mana energy conversion to replicate the function of legendary golems. You had proposed in Blanca Theory that this problem can be greatly resolved if we manage to find one material that lets the mana pass only under certain situations. So, regarding that, we found it." 

Fey's eyes gleamed and showed an ore, her eyes fixated on Blanca with a serious expression.

"This has been excavated from the deepest part of Rootzenia Mine's ruin. What do you think of it, Master?"

Blanca peered into Fey's eyes, seemingly probing for something, and eventually released a sigh, shaking her head. "Just tell me what you want." She urged her to continue, not bothering to ask anymore questions.

"An explorer, Ren, who holds the key to everything and had been settled to take on Satowa's nomination request, has gone missing after the legendary Steinberg appeared in the mine. The words of Satowa are that Ren's ability is absolutely indispensable to explore the deepest region. He mustn't die. I want to borrow your mana tools for that purpose. Ah, and rest assured, there will be no blame on you over their illegality. Also, any information we learned about the deepest region of Rootzenia will be shared with you. Ren would surely hand over the information to me, taking account of his goal/"

The two exchanged a glance for a short moment, and eventually Blanca broke the silence with her exhale.

"......Now, aren't you completely on your maiden's route. ...I can't stomach it."

◆◆

Where to begin, huh? 

Let's see... First, there was no second exit behind the door where the pedestal was. 

Fortunately, not everything was futile. I tried digging into the stone wall beside the door. Of course, I avoided using an arrow or dagger that were my lifelines in this mine. 

So, I pulled out MY BBQ skewer and using its pointed, pencil-end, I started scraping at the stone.  I have to say; MY BBQ skewer was a hell lot of tough. 

I had even gone forceful, like I was driving a piton into solid rock, hammering the skewer’s handle with the hilt of my dagger as hard as I could. And yet, the tip barely dulled. Not even a scratch.

I think... I might have underestimated the significance of this discovery. I certainly wasn't an expert, but with the knowledge I had crammed in my head to make use of in the nomination request, the metal was completely unknown. 

If it turned out to be the long lost material from the river of history, wouldn't I be the sole person to  have the most exciting stuff? But then, I would need to keep myself in check. Who knew if at the end of bragging, Fey disputed the ownership of it? 

Alright, let's keep it a secret where I find it!