Chapter 15

There is a saying that misfortunes never come singly, but that didnt seem to happen to Loren this time .

After a while pa . s . sed since Loren and the others had found the remains of the armor, Lapis tapped Loren on his shoulder .

Of course, she tapped the shoulder that wasnt injured, and Loren realized that she was able to move her limbs again .

You alright now?

Yes . Sorry about all the trouble .

Loren made sure to check with her before he softly let Lapis down from his back .

Lapis stomped her feet a few times and stretched out her arms over her head, then nodded .

Did you unfreeze, young lady?

Ritz said to Lapis with a smile, without any sort of sarcasm in his voice, and Lapis didnt detect any either .

Yes . Riding on Lorens back was so comfortable, so I wanted to stay a bit longer, but I would be in the way, so .

Are you guys in that sort of relationship, by any chance?

Loren was immediately about to say no, but Lapis covered his mouth with her left hand .

Loren was surprised at her actions, but was even more surprised at what came out of Lapis mouth .

Yes, we are .

Well thats something that cant be overlooked . You managed to catch quite the jewel there, brother .

Jack sounded very happy for some reason .

As Jack was about to cheer them on, Nim calmly landed a kick from behind .

If you want to draw attention, do it alone .

I feel like Im going to get killed by you before monsters ever get the chance to

I think so too .

Quartz agreed with Jack, who was lying face first on the ground, groaning .

Although it looked like Nim didnt go easy on him, it seemed like it didnt do much damage, as Jack quickly got up and stroked his back .

This means that you can fight now, right?

Loren nodded at Ritz .

It wasnt that he couldnt partic . i . p . ate in fights until now, but it was awkward to do so, because he would have had to let down Lapis first .

If it were an emergency, Loren was going to drop her, but he did feel some guilt to dropping a girl from his back .

Then I count on you to keep watch behind us . Young lady, you can support him .

You can count on us .

Now that they were a six-man party, Ritz and Jack were in the front line, and Nim and Quartz were in the middle .

Now with Loren and Lapis in the back line, they continued on their way down the corridor .

Loren, this is quite the rare experience were having right now . Were helping investigate Ancient Kingdom ruins, and even better yet, its an unexplored one . Its a job that copper ranks never get to do .

Just when he thought Lapis was finally able to walk by herself, she kept talking to him with a small voice, sounding very excited .

The party that was competing with Ritzs party .

In a situation where a silver rank party may have suffered extreme losses and where there shouldnt be anything to be optimistic about, her happy expression and excited atmosphere didnt match .

Loren thought that maybe this was one of the personalities of demon kind that other species hated, and nudged Lapis, who was looking around here and there next to him, with his elbow .

You do realize the situation were in, right?

Loren asked Lapis in the softest voice he could . Lapis looked back at him, puzzled for a second, then after a moment, suddenly clung onto Lorens left arm and said with a quiver in her voice .

Loren, Im scared .

Thats way too forced .

To Lorens luck, Ritz and the others, who had completely left the back to the two of them, didnt notice them talking quietly . Loren wondered what to do with Lapis excitement, but he couldnt think of a way to act in the situation they were currently in .

It was a bother if she did a poor job of acting frightened, but her current state of looking excited and interested with no trace of being scared didnt seem right either .

I got that youre intrigued and all, but keep it down a bit . Alright?

It cant be helped, I guess .

Lapis looked like she wasnt convinced, but she let go of Lorens arm and nodded .

By the way, what is the goal we are trying to accomplish?

Investigating the ruins is the main objective, but were also investigating what happened to the other party . Not sure what we should prioritize .

Lapis nodded at Nims upright response, then continued .

If thats the case, I recommend that we return to the pit fall where everyone fell down .

Lets hear why, young lady .

Ritz asked Lapis, who suddenly suggested, for an explanation .

Lapis started to explain her suggestion to everyone like it was nothing .

The pit fall that everyone fell through was most likely a trap for intruders .

Of course, it was .

Jack wondered why she was pointing out the obvious, but Lapis just continued .

Since the trap wasnt set up to kill, its likely that this whole floor was made for intruders who fell into the trap .

So, youre saying that they kept monsters loose in here and let them deal with the intruders . But why would they go through all the trouble?

I dont know for sure, but in any period and country, it didnt really matter how they treated intruders, so .

Everyone made an unpleasant face at her words .

She was implying that they were making use of intruders that couldnt move anymore or killed by monsters for something else .

They didnt know what exactly, but everyone guessed that it was something unpleasant .

Putting all sentimental thoughts aside, there is no way theres anything important on this level . So if our objective is to investigate the ruins, staying here would be meaningless .

Whats your reasoning for going back to the pit fall?

I think there is a maintenance hatch near it . Or some path to collect the people who fell here . Whatever it may be, it would lead back to the upper levels .

Ritz stopped and thought about Lapis suggestion .

Its worth a shot . Even more since we dont have any other thoughts .

Nim easily agreed with Lapis, but Jack seemed against it .

Wait a second . There was nothing like that where we fell down .

Since the trap doesnt kill instantly, I believe that the pathway to the upper level is hidden somewhere .

I didnt detect anything like that .

Well, its you were talking about, so

Nim and Quartz both nodded at Ritzs words .

Lapis seemed to understand that she shouldnt agree with them and let out a troubled laugh, while Loren, who didnt want unnecessary trouble, kept a straight face and looked away from Jack .

d . a . m . n it, I cant argue with that .

Its settled then . Lets go back and search the place where we fell .

Since the leader made the decision, everyone in the party reacted quickly .

Although they were just going back the way they came, they were able to reach it without any problems thanks to Quartz, who had made sure to map the paths they took .

Is there really a way to go back up?

The place was right in the middle of the corridor, and other than it stretching in front and behind them, there was no sign of a hidden pa . s . sageway Lapis had talked about .

They could see the hatch of the pit fall on the ceiling, but it was already closed and the ceiling was too high for any of them to reach .

As much as I would like to say to shut up and search, I really dont see anything like it .

I mean, were silver adventurers . If there was a hidden pa . s . sageway we wouldve found it already

The sound of something heavy and hard moving sounded as Jack was talking .

Everyone braced for whatever was coming next .

Loren looked up and saw the hatch open with a pole coming down from it .

Everyone, confused at what was happening, stared at Lapis, who had her hand on the wall .

What did you do?

No one said anything, so Loren asked Lapis, who was standing next to the wall, on the behalf of everyone else .

Its hard to see because of the mana material, but there is a control panel here .

Loren looked closely at the part of the wall Lapis was pointing at .

He couldnt believe that there was such a thing on the dimly glowing wall, but after staring at the wall for a while, he could make out pale lines etched onto it .

Loren, who wasnt a magician, wasnt sure what kind of device it was, but apparently, those who were knowledgeable about these things realized that it was indeed what Lapis said it was .

Isnt this something you shouldve noticed old man?

Idiot . A thief like you should be able to notice those sorts of mechanisms .

Jack and Quartz immediately started blaming each other .

Meanwhile,the pole continued to descend, and when it hit the floor, handles extended from either side of it .

Man, it feels like weve been walking around for nothing .

Lucky for Loren and I though . If you had returned to the upper floor, we wouldnt have run into you .

I guess you guys were lucky . But still, can we even climb this?

The ladder wasnt thick, and it wasnt wide either .

It seemed st . u . r . dy enough for the girls to climb, but looked like it would break if a warrior with full armor like Ritz tried to climb it .

Its from the Ancient Kingdom . I doubt that climbing it would break it .

Although thats what Lapis said, she wasnt that confident in her words .

The ruins were quite old .

No matter how technologically advanced the Ancient Kingdom was, there was no way it could stand against time, and it wouldnt be strange if it got weaker over time .

Ill go first .

Jack was the first one to volunteer .

When it comes down to weight, Nim could go first as well, but Im the only one who could jump back down if there are monsters up there .

Good decision . Hurry up and go . *

Youre saying that with a different nuance, arent you?

Jack made a pathetic face for a moment at Nims words, which sounded like she wanted him to take responsibility for not being able to find the ladder . But he grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing up with light, swift movements, as expected of a thief .

Jack reached the top in no time, grabbed the edges of the hole, and pulled himself up .

Its alright . Coast is clear . The ladders st . u . r . dy, too . Come up one at a time .

They could see Jack leaning over the hole, telling them to come up .

The remaining members looked around at each other, trying to decide who should go next .