Temple of the Desert - 4

It's Coil.

He said he couldn't properly convert liquid mana stones into gold, so he should've already left this town.

Coil looked disheveled, perhaps even a little out of breath.

"Why are you here? You were supposed to head to the next town, weren't you?"

"Well, about that..."

When he explained the details, it turned out he’d bought a woman for morale before leaving town, only to fall victim to a well-executed scam. He’d been running from a strong man, losing nearly all his belongings in the process.

“What do you expect us to do about it?”

He already knew the answer, but he asked anyway.

“Please! Just a little bit—can’t you spare some supplies? I’m not asking for free. I’ll help with your work in return.”

“I don’t mind… but…”

As he said that, looking toward Erinn and the others, Erinn approached with an expression that seemed to say, "Well, I suppose there's no helping it."

"If you're willing to work, then I suppose it's acceptable. But I'll only offer assistance after you've put in a full day's labor. Understood?"

"Yeah, no problem. I really appreciate this."

Thus, Coil was welcomed into the group, and they returned to Luna Village.

"Hmm, so this is Luna Village... It's bigger than I imagined."

Coil looked at the village through the binoculars he had made with his own hands, its outline becoming faintly visible.

The weather was good, and thanks to the full power of the magical tricycle, they were progressing smoothly, and before they knew it, they had reached just outside the village.

"What kind of village were you imagining? If you keep up that disrespectful attitude, I won't let you in."

Rilka clearly narrowed her eyebrows into a scowl and stared at Coil with a commanding expression.

"Y-You're misunderstanding me, Miss Rilka."

Rilka turned her head back toward the path with a crispness that seemed almost audible.

"Hey, Taro, why do I hate Rilka so much?"

"Why don't you ask yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"Rilka isn't used to the outside world yet. That's why she can't keep up with adventurers like me and you. If she pushes forward too forcefully, she'll just make people wary."

I thought Rilka was friendly by nature, but she's surprisingly delicate.

"What's this? A sheltered little girl? That's a real shame. Well then, I'll show you my good side from now on, no holds barred."

A fickle one, always swinging between joy and sorrow, but it's handy in times like these.

We were chatting about trivial matters when we arrived at the village.

Upon entering, just as before, a few villagers were outside working.

After a while, Gram came running over.

"Ellin, how did it go?"

"No problems, brother. I gathered the magic stones as planned."

"Good to hear. I'm glad everyone's safe. ···Hmm?"

"Hey! Master, long time no see."

"You're Coil, right? I heard you were planning to sell liquid magic stones. What happened?"

"Yeah, well, the nobles in Puetji have gotten too powerful. I called it off. Now I'm sticking with Taro and the others, heading toward the next town."

Coil explained the situation to Gram.

"Ah, that's unfortunate. So we'll be traveling together for a while then. Nice to have you back."

"Likewise, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The acquired crystals seemed destined to be stored in the village's warehouse. Though I had expected to take them all, Gram pulled out a few from the burlap sack and began distributing them to villagers showing strong reactions to the crystals.

I just hope we don't run into another shortage of mana...

That day, they stayed in the village, and the next day, they resumed their exploration of the ruins.

The next day, they began their activities early in the morning. From today on, they planned to thoroughly explore the underground areas and delve even deeper. The team consisted of Rilka, Gram, and Coil had also joined.

"Ah, so this is the legendary ruin you mentioned. Was it originally a temple?"

Coil expressed amazement.

"That's right. But you, the information broker, might find something interesting here."

With that, we descended into the underground.

"Whoa, what in the world is this? I've never seen anything like it!"

Coil began the investigation by touching the geometric patterns drawn on the wall.

He walked around various spots, carefully observing.

"It seems magical energy is flowing through it. This wall was activated by channeling magical energy into the embedded gemstones."

"Flowing patterns of magical energy? I've never heard of anything like that. What exactly is this made of?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be struggling. Right now, we don't understand anything about those patterns."

"Hmm... I feel like I've seen something like this before, but I can't remember."

He seemed to be trying hard to recall something, but it would take time.

Anyway, today we're heading down to the second basement level, the deepest part. The stairs leading underground had already been found.

The unease I noticed in the floor on my previous visit, when I compared it to the map Gram showed me, revealed a staircase leading down into the underground.

Having found a magical stone connected to the hidden staircase nearby, I opened the floor door.

Descending the stairs, built unusually wide and large while maintaining maximum vigilance. The stairs were dark, but as we walked forward with the magical stone lamp glowing, a straight-lined room came into view.

The room was entirely covered in geometric patterns on every wall, similar to the first underground level—but far more vivid and numerous.

"Looks like just an empty room."

Coil voiced a similar thought.

At the far end of the room, there is only a stone monument inscribed with what appears to be text, nothing else.

The text is fragmented in places, making it unreadable. However, the missing sections seem to be filled in with the same material that reacts to mana. Perhaps it could be read if mana were flowed through it.

"Hey, hey, we just need to run mana over this wall, right? I'll do it!"

"Wait!"

Rilka touched the gemstone embedded in the wall without heeding Gram's stillness.

Yet the gemstone only glowed for an instant before nothing happened.

"Hey, that was reckless. What if it had been a trap?"

It was fine to leave Rilka's safety to Gram.

The problem was that nothing happened. The embedded magic stones here, unlike those on the first basement level, hadn't degraded. Though we couldn't explain why they hadn't degraded, if we infused them with magical essence, they should have triggered some change, just like the ones on the upper floors... yet nothing happened.

For now, let's start with checking the surrounding area's safety, then tackle the mystery of the enigmatic stone monument right in front of us...

That said, the room was small, the walls solid, and there was little to investigate—so it didn’t take long.

Everyone has gathered in front of the stone tablet, its inscriptions currently unreadable and illegible.

Well now, what should we do about this?