Several days later, at the surface of the excavation site.
Inside Kaluk's tent, Baron Weiss sat across from him.
Two fully armed knights stood behind him.
Kaluk was describing the discoveries made over the past few days.
“Miss Rosie activated that ancient ruin?” Baron Weiss's voice carried a hint of confusion after hearing the explanation.
Kaluk wore a smile on his face. “It truly was unexpected. Miss Rosie actually recognizes those complex ancient characters. Thanks to her, otherwise we would still be foolishly digging further down.”
The dwarf Ginli sat on a low stool nearby, holding a clay cup. His beard was clumped together in sticky strands from the alcohol, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest as he grinned and chimed in:
“Thanks to the young lady's help, otherwise I would have kept thinking it was an altar! Turns out it was actually a portal activation console! In all my years of archaeology, this is the first time I've ever seen such a...”
He paused, searching for the right words.
“...such an easy-to-understand ruin user manual.”
Baron Weiss turned to look at Rosie. “Miss Rosie, you certainly know a lot.”
With her helmet's visor raised, Rosie's lips curled upward. “Just a little...”
“So, what do we do next?” Baron Weiss's gaze fell back onto Kaluk's face.
Kaluk cleared his throat. “Lord Weiss, I plan to organize an expedition team to enter the portal and investigate the situation inside.”
“What is inside?” Baron Weiss asked.
Ginli set down his clay cup and wiped his beard with his hand. “An underground world!”
“An underground world?” Baron Weiss repeated.
“Indeed, a massive underground world. I never would have thought such a thing was hidden beneath this land.”
Kaluk picked up where the dwarf left off, his voice carrying an irrepressible excitement.
“Are there other ancient ruins?” Baron Weiss pressed further.
“Most definitely, and likely more than one,” Kaluk said with absolute certainty.
Baron Weiss fell silent for a moment, then raised his head. “Very well, I'm in.”
Rosie followed immediately. “I'm in too.”
Ginli slapped his thigh. “Of course I'm going too! How many times in a lifetime does one get to encounter a place like this?”
Kaluk's gaze swept across the three of them in turn, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. “Then please make your preparations. We set out first thing tomorrow morning.”
The group stood up and left one after another.
Rosie followed behind Baron Weiss, walking across the open ground of the excavation site.
Torches flickered at the entrance of the pit in the distance. The winch of the hoist was still turning with a creaking noise, lowering baskets of expedition supplies one by one.
The Baron's camp was pitched about a bowshot's distance to the west of the excavation site.
Dark gray tents formed a circle around a central campfire, where dry wood crackled softly, occasionally spitting out a spark or two.
The Baron's men were scattered around, keeping watch.
Baron Weiss stood by the fire and spoke:
“Miss Rosie, have you noticed anything during this time?”
Standing opposite him, Rosie said, “Kaluk is definitely up to something. If I had a bow and arrow, just shooting the birds flying in and out of his tent every day would be enough to feed me.”
“It likely has to do with Count Morris.” The Baron's voice carried a trace of helplessness. “I only hope they do not go too far.”
A piece of dry wood in the fire snapped in half. The upper portion slid down with a soft sound, throwing up a shower of sparks.
Rosie watched the wood slowly darken on the ground and asked, “Are Lady Rhine and Daisy doing well?”
Baron Weiss smiled. “They are both doing very well.”
Rosie nodded. “That is good to hear. It seems I was overthinking.”
The wind swept down from the ridge, flapping the door curtains of the tents and bending the tongues of fire to one side before they shrank back into the charcoal ashes.
Early the next morning, before the sky had fully brightened.
The expedition team had gathered on the open ground at the edge of the excavation site.
Rosie fed Carrot a handful of beans.
Carrot lowered its head, its lips moving as it crunched on the beans.
She stroked the mane on its forehead and gently patted its neck.
“Be good and stay out here.”
Rosie said to it, then handed the reins to one of the Baron's soldiers waiting nearby.
Horses could not be ridden in the underground world.
She had no choice but to leave Carrot on the surface, to be cared for by the soldiers the Baron left behind.
Baron Weiss stood at the front of the line.
Fifty men stood behind him, all clad in chainmail or breastplates—clearly the Baron's elites.
“Lord Weiss, you are going in yourself?”
Rosie walked up to Baron Weiss and asked in a low voice.
She had assumed the Baron would only send a few knights, not expect him to go in person.
Baron Weiss's gaze rested on the entrance of the pit. “That old fox Kaluk is definitely keeping something up his sleeve. I won't feel at ease unless I keep an eye on him myself.”
Kaluk's side had even more people.
Forty mercenaries, wearing a hodgepodge of armor with swords and sabers at their waists, stood scattered around the pit's entrance.
Some of them were smoking, the grayish-white smoke dispersing in the morning wind, carrying a pungent smell of tobacco.
Dozens of workers carrying tools and dry rations lined up in several rows outside the mercenaries' perimeter, waiting in silence.
Beside Kaluk stood an unfamiliar figure.
It was a woman around thirty years old. She wore a dark blue robe with a hem that dragged down to her ankles, but high slits were cut on both sides nearly up to her waist, revealing her shapely legs.
Her dark brown hair was styled in a low bun, exposing her slender neck.
Her features were delicate, with a straight nose and a faint smile at the corners of her lips, as if she were constantly observing everything.
Kaluk walked over to her side and introduced her to the crowd: “This is my partner, Lady Anna. She just arrived last night and will join the expedition team in my stead.”
Anna took a step forward, the hem of her robe fluttering slightly with her movement, revealing more of her legs.
Her gaze swept across everyone present before finally resting on Rosie's face, and she smiled slightly.
“Hello, everyone. I am Anna. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation.”
Baron Weiss's gaze lingered on her for a moment. “Lady Anna, you are a mage, correct?”
Anna looked at Baron Weiss, the curve of her lips deepening. “You have a sharp eye, Your Lordship. Yes, I am an elemental mage.”
Having said that, she turned to look at Rosie. Her gaze lingered on Rosie's plate armor for a split second before landing on her face:
“I am quite interested in you, Miss Rosie. I hope we can become good friends.”
Meeting her gaze, Rosie nodded gently. “I hope so too, Lady Anna.”
Anna smiled and said nothing more.
She turned and walked toward the rear of the group.
The sun rose a pole high, the morning light spilling diagonally across the camp's ground, casting long shadows.
Standing before the pit's entrance, the Baron glanced at everyone, then waved his hand. “Let's go!”
The hoist platform began its creaking work once again.
Squad after squad of personnel descended underground.
...
Large torches were planted all around the teleportation platform, casting distinct highlights and shadows across the grayish-white stone structure.
Rosie was currently standing before a raised stone slab on the platform, operating it step by step.
Just as the dwarf had said before, as long as one understood Ancient Gnomish, it was a completely foolproof operation.
First unlock the safety protocol, then select activate portal, and finally confirm activation.
After she pressed the confirmation key,
the stone slab instantly retracted.
The platform began to pulse, emitting a brilliant blue light.
A dozen seconds later,
a black-hole-like object manifested out of thin air above the platform.
Its edges shimmered with a faint, deep blue light, while its interior looked as if a piece of space had been hollowed out—dark, empty, with nothing visible on the other side.
Once activated, the portal could only last for one hour.
When the time was up, it would automatically disappear, and activating it again would require waiting a full day.
“Hurry, hurry! Time is limited!”
The dwarf, carrying an axe nearly as tall as himself on his shoulder, charged inside with a swift stride.
The moment his figure crossed the boundary, it was wrapped in what looked like a layer of deep blue water film, and then he vanished.
Baron Weiss followed closely behind.
He took a deep breath and stepped inside as well.
Rosie walked up to the portal and stood by its edge.
A faint draft drifted out from within the portal, bringing with it a strange, dry chill.
She took a step forward.
A sensation of weightlessness instantly surged over her, and then the blue boundary swallowed her whole.
Her vision blurred for a moment, and then she stood firm.
What met her eyes was a bizarre space.
A dozen meters above was a rugged stone dome, its uneven surface dotted with star-like specks of light.
Beneath her feet was an identical teleportation platform.
Below the platform lay some sort of black rock formation.
In between the black stone, peculiar plants were scattered about.
There were tiny vines growing from cracks in the rocks, the edges of their leaves glowing with a pale green fluorescence.
There were also fungi with translucent blue caps, scattered among the stones like miniature lanterns.
Standing at the edge of the teleportation platform, Rosie hoped in her heart that they wouldn't run into anything like a War Golem this time.
The rustling of clothing came from beside her.
“To think that in my lifetime, I would get to experience portal technology that has long been lost to history.”
Anna stood beside her, looking down to inspect her own hands before raising her head to survey her surroundings, her gaze carrying an undisguised appreciation.
Baron Weiss had already stepped off the platform, standing on a protruding black rock as his gaze swept across the area ahead.
“John, take a few men and scout the surrounding area.”
“Yes, Lord Baron.”
The old knight John responded, singled out three squires, and quickly walked into the distance with sword and shield in hand.
“The rest of you, establish a defensive perimeter outside the teleportation platform.”
Baron Weiss continued to issue orders.
“This is our retreat path. Nothing must go wrong here under any circumstances.”
The soldiers who had entered immediately sprang into action, beginning to gather stones on the spot.
Suitable rocks nearby didn't seem hard to find; black stones lay scattered everywhere on the ground.
The workers who entered afterward also helped with their digging tools, the sound of iron striking stone echoing in the vast underground space.
Rosie stepped down from the teleportation platform and walked slowly around the nearby area, her gaze scanning the ground, the rocks, and the gaps between the plants.
After walking several dozen paces, her steps suddenly came to a halt.
A grayish-white stone monument stood between two black rocks.
It was about half a person's height. It had clearly endured countless years of erosion, yet its edges remained sharp and the writing was clear.
Rosie squatted down and brushed away the dust on the surface of the monument with her glove.
The symbols revealed themselves one by one.
“Never-Ending War Co., Ltd. Biological Weapon Testing Ground.”
Rosie knitted her brows. No matter how she looked at it, this didn't seem like anything good.
“What is written here?”
The dwarf ran over and asked, looking at the stone monument with curiosity.
“Probably something like a beast park,” Rosie replied as she stood up.
The dwarf blinked. “A beast park?... Then doesn't that mean there might be ancient exotic beasts inside? I wonder if any are still alive...”
He rubbed his palms together in excitement, his voice carrying an eager anticipation.
Rate on N.U.
