At noon, when the sun was at its most merciless over the wasteland, the squad found an abandoned village and prepared to take an hour's rest in the shade.
Professor Duncan did not seem tired at all, he simply ate a few mouthfuls of dry rations before leading his students around the ruined village with their detectors, scanning everything in sight.
Ansu watched Celia, who had silently put on a headscarf, wrapping her small face until only her eyes and nose were visible, and let out a chuckle.
"What are you laughing at? It's the sun's fault!" Celia rolled her eyes at him irritably, then shot a frustrated glance toward the clergymen.
"If it weren't for those guys, I could use magic, and we wouldn't have been baked like this on the road..."
Ansu nodded silently. For a mage, especially one of Celia's level, waving a hand to lower the temperature of the surroundings would be easier than breathing.
"Do you still like the Eastern Wasteland now?" Ansu teased with a smile. "Don't you think Benalu City is better after all? At least you could sit in a coffee shop and have a freshly squeezed cold drink."
"You're always teasing me!" Celia snorted. "I won't change my mind. Nature is always better than the city! I just don't like Benalu City!"
Ansu looked at the stubborn witch, thinking that she didn't just have a bit of a reclusive nature; she truly disliked places with people and urban life from the bottom of her heart...
This was bad; Benalu City was a bit too urbanized...
Wait, were all great villains like this?
After some random thoughts, Celia sat down beside him, and Ansu took out some dry rations, handing her a portion.
Celia watched Ansu eating his rations, her beautiful eyes flickering, and she suddenly asked with a beaming smile:
"Just now... I heard Professor Duncan's little whisper behind my back~"
"Oh, really?" Ansu looked up.
Celia let out a playful giggle and leaned in close with an ambiguous air. "So... in the eyes of outsiders, we are in that kind of relationship?"
"Well... maybe..." Ansu remembered he had tried to explain it to Professor Duncan before, but the man hadn't believed him at all.
That guy always teased him mischievously, saying that the atmosphere between the two of them was so obvious that anyone could tell they were dating, and told him to stop pretending!
It made Ansu feel very strange. Did they... really?
Was it that obvious?
"Since others already think that way, we can't let them have any doubts!" Celia's eyes were full of craftiness as she blinked. "Ansu, you have to act the part a bit better~"
"Just eat your food!" Ansu tore off a piece of flatbread and stuffed it near her mouth. "You didn't eat much this morning. Come on, open up!"
Celia smiled and opened her mouth, biting into the flatbread Ansu offered.
"Ugh... this stuff still tastes so bad..." Celia chewed the tasteless flatbread with a frown, asking indistinctly, "Ansu, you haven't answered me yet? Do you agree or not?"
Celia felt choked by the dry food and twisted open a bottle cap to gulp down some water, finally letting out a sigh of relief. Then, her gaze, filled with both anticipation and nervousness, fixed on Ansu again.
"Am I not already acting?" Ansu smiled gently, reaching out to wipe a crumb of flatbread from the corner of her mouth.
"How can you be so careless while eating?"
Feeling his tenderness and consideration, Celia's eyes shimmered, and the smile on her face grew even softer.
She quietly scooted closer to Ansu, huddling intimately against him.
Ansu naturally saw these little movements of hers. Now the witch was almost lying in his arms, and she didn't move at all, just peacefully enjoying his feeding...
"Isn't there anything better to eat..." Celia gave him a resentful look. "My acting boyfriend isn't considerate at all. I want something sweet and cold!"
"Where am I supposed to find that for you..." Ansu thought that while he had prepared some normal food in his warehouse in advance, things like ice cream cones... wouldn't that be a waste of space?
Seeing Celia in his arms pouting with an increasingly dissatisfied expression, Ansu helplessly nodded repeatedly. "Fine, fine. Just wait until we split up from those clergymen, and I'll use ice magic to figure something out for you."
"Hmph, those clergymen are indeed in the way!" Celia narrowed her eyes and shot a cold glance toward the captain. "Why don't we just split up now? I'll kill them all, and then we can act alone!"
Ansu looked at Celia speechlessly. Why was the witch's bloodlust still so heavy...
The captain, who was talking incessantly with Professor Duncan, suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He paused and quickly looked behind him.
In front of a broken house in the ruined village, the young couple was sitting together feeding each other, the atmosphere looking very warm.
The captain suspiciously cast his gaze elsewhere. Many squad members were patrolling outside the village, and there seemed... to be nothing wrong.
Strange...
Why did he feel a bone-chilling killing intent just now?
Could it be the shadow wolves again?
The captain felt alert and quickly instructed a squad member beside him, "Those shadow wolves have been following our team. Tell the others not to act alone while patrolling. Also! Arrange for a few people on the rooftops so they can see further..."
While Ansu and Celia were eating affectionately, Professor Duncan hurried over again with an excited look on his face.
"Ansu, Hailey! Stop being busy with your romance! Look, I've found something else!"
Celia shot a helpless glance at the killjoy dwarven scholar.
She reluctantly let go and sat back more properly. At the same time, she mentally retracted her 'pleasant to look at' evaluation of Professor Duncan.
"What did you find?" Ansu saw the surprised and serious look in Professor Duncan's eyes and knew that this man wouldn't actively come to be a third wheel unless it was important. He must have found a significant clue.
Professor Duncan carefully glanced toward the captain and vice captain, then revealed a broken metallic fragment from his sleeve.
Although it was covered in dry mud, the metallic fragment still shimmered with a smooth, polished texture under the light.
"This kind of alchemical material, this level of forging craftsmanship... there's no doubt about it!" Professor Duncan suppressed his excitement. "This is definitely a structural fragment from a complex magic facility. I just fished it out of the dry well at the village entrance!"
"The dry well at the village entrance?" Ansu was also surprised as he looked in that direction. "Could it be that underneath..."
"The detector has been flashing constantly. There should be a secret passage leading all the way underground." Professor Duncan pointed at his students. "I've already had them start preparing the geological survey instrument, but that thing makes too much noise, and the people from the expedition squad are all here..."
Ansu nodded. "We need to find a way to distract them. By the way, Professor, are you sure it's really down there?"
"I can't be wrong!" Professor Duncan looked around. "I felt something was strange about this village the moment I arrived. It doesn't look like a village that could last this long in the wasteland, and its scale is too small. I suspect..."
He narrowed his eyes and said with certainty, "This must be a building constructed by civilian grave robbers as a cover-up. I'm far too familiar with this! And those grave robbers must have found something, otherwise they wouldn't have brought this fragment out."
"You're very familiar with this?" Celia examined the dwarven scholar with a beaming smile. "It seems Professor Duncan isn't simple either?"
Professor Duncan froze for a moment, then coughed awkwardly. "Field archaeology, you know. It's inevitable to cross paths with such people. Of course, what I mean is, I'm certainly not a grave robber..."
Professor Duncan's eyes held only a longing for magitech science as he smiled and said, "I wouldn't even care for those treasures underground if they were given to me. I only want to research those ancient magic facilities."
Just as the three of them were whispering and studying how to distract the expedition squad...
A few clergymen who were out patrolling ran back in a hurry. "Captain, shadow wolves! It's those monsters again!!"
Everyone in the village looked toward the entrance.
Bursts of unpleasant monster howls suddenly echoed across the wasteland in broad daylight. This time, the number of monsters was even greater than that night, and the howling of the pack rose and fell in waves.
"Shadow wolves... those guys again." The captain drew his sword in surprise. "It's broad daylight. What exactly do they want?"
The momentum of the wolf pack's attack this time caused Ansu and Celia to share a knowing look.
"It seems we don't have to bother thinking of a way anymore," Celia said with a smile.
"Professor, tell your students to get ready," Ansu instructed, then began to think silently.
Since the location of the ancient ruins was basically confirmed, it was time to start a simulation and scout the situation deep underground in advance...
But if he wanted to map out the situation of this underground ruin, a short-term simulation definitely wouldn't work; the environment below was bound to be exceptionally complex.
Therefore, Ansu decided to use the 【100-Hour Simulation】 which he had never used before.
Rate on N.U.
