After returning to the real world, both Gawain and Amber looked rather grim.
Sir Byron who had waited for a good while approached them at the first moment. “Lord, are you alright?”
“I saw the uncanny workmanship of nature.” Gawain let out a breath, slowly getting rid of the discomfort in his heart from confronting the big void. At the same time, he shook his head helplessly. “I hope that was the uncanny workmanship of nature.”
Sir Byron wore a puzzled look; even with his experience as a wily old fox, he couldn’t deduce what exactly Gawain had seen in the shadow realm. But he cleverly did not pursue further —— since Gawain did not actively share about it, it meant that the information could not be made public at the current stage. There were also many ordinary soldiers present, so he decided not to inquire too much.
After calming his emotions, Gawain looked towards Byron. “Other than this new area, are there any more explorations to be reported?”
“Yes, our progress has been smooth-sailing recently. There were many discoveries.” Sir Byron nodded and immediately began to give a simple report of the information that he had accumulated at present. “Where we are at should be the lowest level of the ruin. If no more ramps or staircases appear, then this hall should be the ‘base’ portion of the entire facility. At this point, the entire ruin can be roughly divided into three levels — top, middle, and bottom. The middle level is connected to the entrance hall that we found at the very start. Spacious rooms, structures of the corridors that are perfectly straight and symmetrical, this should be the main area of activity for the personnel back then. The upper level leads to the summit and front of the Dark Range. There are many hidden air vents and probably exits in emergency passageways. However, the majority of the exits have been blocked off due to weathering and collapse of the mountain. They cannot be cleared up for now. Meanwhile, the bottom level is where we’re currently at. It is the smallest of the three areas but has the most complicated structure. There are lots of rooms piled with abandoned equipment and mezzanines with unknown uses, and also this hall that we found. These three areas depend on the ‘big ramp’ located in the center of the facility, as well as shafts and narrow stairs scattered at various spots, to be connected. In addition, there are also some uneven storeys within every area. I’ve sketched out the structural plan of the storeys in detail.”
Sir Byron paused for a moment before going on, “We plan to explore the southern and eastern parts of the middle level next. We found extra connecting passageways in these two places. There was junk piled up in them, but the passageways showed no signs of collapse. When the manpower is in place, we would be clearing up the obstacles and carrying out further exploration. I suspect that the undiscovered area in this ancient ruin is still very big.”
Gawain frowned after comparatively outlining the diagram of this ruin and the overall shape of the Dark Range in his mind. He said slowly, “Southern area… If the entire middle level is a symmetrical structure, then the southern area might lead towards the southern foot of the Dark Range. You must be especially cautious in that exploration. Once you find that buildings have passed through the mountain, immediately seal up the passageway and come forth to report it. You must not casually enter the Black Forest at the southern side of the range. As for the east…”
Amber utilized her limited knowledge of the continent’s geography at the side and suddenly blurted out, “It can’t be leading towards the Typhon Empire?”
Sir Byron was startled at once. “Is that possible?”
“Nothing is impossible.” Gawain was rather indifferent about this. “The region where we are located is in the southeastern corner of Anzu, and the Dark Range extends all the way into the Typhon borders. Supposing this ancient facility had really been built by digging out the mountain range… then it is also possible that its tail end enters the Typhon borders. After all, during the Meteoric Era a thousand years ago… there wasn’t anything like the borders of Anzu and Typhon.”
At this point, he looked at Sir Byron’s eyes, his expression especially serious. “If that really turns out to be the case, you’ve got to be even more careful, understand?”
Sir Byron was, to some extent, also a Knight —— even if he’d had a midlife career change, he also had some general knowledge about military affairs. He immediately realized what it meant if there was really a passageway in this ruin that could lead into Typhon. Thus, he stood up straight at once. “Yes! I understand!”
After he was done settling proper business, Gawain decided to return to the territory first. But before he left, he patted Sir Byron’s shoulder and reminded, “Your exploration work in the mountains is very important, but the vacation that you ought to have should still be taken. After wrapping up here this time, go home and get a few more days of rest.”
Sir Byron chuckled. “Actually, I’m still alright. Back when I was a mercenary, I dug through all sorts of ruins all day long. Sometimes, when we got inside the crypt, spending half a month inside was also…”
“But you didn’t have a daughter back when you were a mercenary.” Gawain glanced at him. “Pea really misses you.”
Byron’s chuckling expression instantly stiffened, taking its place was some awkwardness. “Oh… oh… then I’ll go back and spend more time with her.”
Gawain and Amber returned to the feudal lord residence. After being busy the whole day, the sun was already setting by the time they arrived home. It was close to dinnertime.
At present, other than two temporarily recruited servants, Betty was the only maidservant at the feudal lord’s residence. The young lady was responsible for everyone’s meals and the chores. Gawain’s family, counting the freeloading Amber and newly moved-in sea demon Tiel, was only five people. Though Gawain was a man of simple style, with simple food every day, together with the servants’ food and daily chores, this was no longer a small burden.
Looking at the young lady running around the dining room like a blast of wind, setting out the plates, distributing the bread, Gawain could not help but go forward to help, with Amber in tow. He helped to set the plates while asking Betty, “Can you manage the work every day?”
“I can!” The maidservant answered in a clear and sharp voice while carrying the big bottle containing wine. “Ah, Lord, don’t set the plates yourself!”
“I am idle anyway.” Gawain wasn’t used to the kind of life where he would sit at the table, and a row of servants would stand and watch him from behind. In fact, even if there was one person specially waiting on him as he ate, he would have indigestion. Thus, he was always trying hard to change such a tone. Unfortunately, it seemed completely ineffective at present. Seeing that he’d snatched her job of setting the plates, the little maidservant looked so anxious that she was about to burst into tears. He could only put the plates in his hand down. “Let me know if you can’t cope. This house is much bigger than the tent in the past. You’re bound to be short of hands taking care of it.”
Gawain did not plan on having a few dozen or even a few hundred servants in his residence like most aristocrats of this era, extravagantly having two servants at each post for even work like planting flowers or raising dogs. However, he also admitted that such a big residence required more manpower to take care of things; having necessary staff at the necessary posts was still required. Betty was a diligent young girl, but she didn’t have the capabilities of three heads and six arms either. It wasn’t right to have the heavy household duties all weigh down on her.
Betty didn’t think that much. She was originally only a low-ranked maidservant assisting in the kitchen; she’d never thought about what to do if she was the only maidservant by the lord’s side. When she heard Gawain now, she stood dazedly and nodded —— she completely had no idea what this nod meant.
Some time passed again. Heidi, who was busy handling the matters for the transfer of personnel, and Rebecca, who was inextricably obsessed with runes, finally returned home too. And by the time they walked into the dining room, Amber was already 70% full from filling herself up with all kinds of appetizers and cheese.
Gawain reckoned that if dinner was started any later, Amber would have mixed the mustard on the table with butter and finished it up… Did this half-elf die from lack of eating foods of sickeningly strong tastes in her previous life?
After his family members had taken their seats, Gawain shared what he found with Amber in the shadow realm.
“You said you found a kind of ‘enormous void’ in the shadow realm?” Listening to Gawain’s description, Heidi showed great surprise. “And that big void doesn’t correspond with the terrain of the Dark Range in the actual world?”
“That’s right. The scale of the void is such that I’m afraid our entire town at present could fit into it. And it’s very tall. The top has even breached the Dark Range’s peak, such that a part of the sky could be seen. Light inside of the void is exceptionally dim. It’s so dark that it makes one uneasy.” Gawain described the situation in the void. “There is some kind of natural phenomenon inside the void. I saw huge boulders floating in the darkness like they’d lost their gravity.”
“I’ve heard descriptions from you and Amber that the shadow realm is a corresponding projection of the real world. And besides being black and white and deserted, there are no distinct differences in physics…” Heidi frowned. “Could that big void imply some ‘shadow realm rule’ that is unknown to us?”
“I’m more worried that it is caused by some external forces. That some force that exceeds humankind’s imagination had been active in the shadow realm and had ‘dug’ away a big piece of the shadow realm matter and even changed the physics of that area.” Gawain wasn’t without worry. “What is even more worrying is that… the Gondor Master Mages a thousand years ago had clearly realized the existence of this big void. They installed a device that resembled a magic door at the bottom level of the ruin in the mountain. The other side of this magic door should be linked to the big void or some place related to the big void. Unfortunately, that magic door can no longer be enabled.”
Heidi bowed her head in thought, and Rebecca fought the butter on her bread that couldn’t be spread evenly no matter how she did while casually commenting, “Then will you still proceed with the plan that you mentioned previously about moving part of the territory’s facilities into the mountain?”
Gawain watched Rebecca’s act of wielding the butter knife slightly apprehensively —— her imposing manner was as if that slice of bread had killed her whole family. “Easy there, do you need such big movements to spread butter.”
Then, he answered Iron-Headed Girl’s question. “The relocating work still has to continue. At the very least, the workshops manufacturing grenades and all sorts of explosives have to be shifted out of the territory. Then there’s also the production lines in the military factories —— it won’t do for these things to remain right next to the residential areas. How is the training of the craftsmen team for the laying of the Magic Web going?”
“They’re all learning rather well. Once I said that the remuneration for Magic Web technicians was double that for average construction workers, they became very eager. Moreover, the literacy of all those craftsmen is pretty good. The most outstanding ones among them had even already mastered how to arrange the connection of Honeycomb Magic Web units by themselves according to the target environment and blueprint manual. The success rate is just like that of Grade 1 and 2 Runemasters. Now, they can independently complete the task without needing my guidance.”
Gawain nodded in satisfaction. “Very good, send the most outstanding team into the ruin in the mountains. Begin laying the Honeycomb Magic Web with the entrance hall as the starting point, and restructure the magical power supply inside the facility as preparation for the subsequent admission of the machinery.”
Heidi let out a heartfelt sigh after hearing that. “To be honest, who would’ve thought that laymen without spellcasting abilities or even the ability to sense magical power could actually use such means to control magical power… Magic Webs, Magic Powered Engines, heat-ray guns, Rebecca Crystals — these things have arrived at the extent of being produced by laymen craftsmen without any input from Mages or only require minor guidance from Mages…”
“Right now, they’ve only stopped at the stage of following the blueprints to ensure that there are no errors. This is only ‘imitation’.” Gawain smiled. “And when the Rune Research Center led by Jenni obtains their results for the first stage and the center’s first batch of students in rune specialization graduates, you will see some true laymen’s ‘creations’ in the magic domain…”
Heidi could not imagine what kind of picture that would be. In fact, even Rebecca was unable to.
But Gawain could vaguely see that new generation —— it would be an era where even without spellcasters, even without magical talent, laymen could rely on their brains and calculations, rely on strict scientific analysis methods and mathematical tools to grasp magic, and even develop and create all sorts of magical techniques.
At this point, Amber who’d been engrossed in eating suddenly lifted her head and interrupted, “But then again… Where’s that sea demon?”
After returning to the real world, both Gawain and Amber looked rather grim.
Sir Byron who had waited for a good while approached them at the first moment. “Lord, are you alright?”
“I saw the uncanny workmanship of nature.” Gawain let out a breath, slowly getting rid of the discomfort in his heart from confronting the big void. At the same time, he shook his head helplessly. “I hope that was the uncanny workmanship of nature.”
Sir Byron wore a puzzled look; even with his experience as a wily old fox, he couldn’t deduce what exactly Gawain had seen in the shadow realm. But he cleverly did not pursue further —— since Gawain did not actively share about it, it meant that the information could not be made public at the current stage. There were also many ordinary soldiers present, so he decided not to inquire too much.
After calming his emotions, Gawain looked towards Byron. “Other than this new area, are there any more explorations to be reported?”
“Yes, our progress has been smooth-sailing recently. There were many discoveries.” Sir Byron nodded and immediately began to give a simple report of the information that he had accumulated at present. “Where we are at should be the lowest level of the ruin. If no more ramps or staircases appear, then this hall should be the ‘base’ portion of the entire facility. At this point, the entire ruin can be roughly divided into three levels — top, middle, and bottom. The middle level is connected to the entrance hall that we found at the very start. Spacious rooms, structures of the corridors that are perfectly straight and symmetrical, this should be the main area of activity for the personnel back then. The upper level leads to the summit and front of the Dark Range. There are many hidden air vents and probably exits in emergency passageways. However, the majority of the exits have been blocked off due to weathering and collapse of the mountain. They cannot be cleared up for now. Meanwhile, the bottom level is where we’re currently at. It is the smallest of the three areas but has the most complicated structure. There are lots of rooms piled with abandoned equipment and mezzanines with unknown uses, and also this hall that we found. These three areas depend on the ‘big ramp’ located in the center of the facility, as well as shafts and narrow stairs scattered at various spots, to be connected. In addition, there are also some uneven storeys within every area. I’ve sketched out the structural plan of the storeys in detail.”
Sir Byron paused for a moment before going on, “We plan to explore the southern and eastern parts of the middle level next. We found extra connecting passageways in these two places. There was junk piled up in them, but the passageways showed no signs of collapse. When the manpower is in place, we would be clearing up the obstacles and carrying out further exploration. I suspect that the undiscovered area in this ancient ruin is still very big.”
Gawain frowned after comparatively outlining the diagram of this ruin and the overall shape of the Dark Range in his mind. He said slowly, “Southern area… If the entire middle level is a symmetrical structure, then the southern area might lead towards the southern foot of the Dark Range. You must be especially cautious in that exploration. Once you find that buildings have passed through the mountain, immediately seal up the passageway and come forth to report it. You must not casually enter the Black Forest at the southern side of the range. As for the east…”
Amber utilized her limited knowledge of the continent’s geography at the side and suddenly blurted out, “It can’t be leading towards the Typhon Empire?”
Sir Byron was startled at once. “Is that possible?”
“Nothing is impossible.” Gawain was rather indifferent about this. “The region where we are located is in the southeastern corner of Anzu, and the Dark Range extends all the way into the Typhon borders. Supposing this ancient facility had really been built by digging out the mountain range… then it is also possible that its tail end enters the Typhon borders. After all, during the Meteoric Era a thousand years ago… there wasn’t anything like the borders of Anzu and Typhon.”
At this point, he looked at Sir Byron’s eyes, his expression especially serious. “If that really turns out to be the case, you’ve got to be even more careful, understand?”
Sir Byron was, to some extent, also a Knight —— even if he’d had a midlife career change, he also had some general knowledge about military affairs. He immediately realized what it meant if there was really a passageway in this ruin that could lead into Typhon. Thus, he stood up straight at once. “Yes! I understand!”
After he was done settling proper business, Gawain decided to return to the territory first. But before he left, he patted Sir Byron’s shoulder and reminded, “Your exploration work in the mountains is very important, but the vacation that you ought to have should still be taken. After wrapping up here this time, go home and get a few more days of rest.”
Sir Byron chuckled. “Actually, I’m still alright. Back when I was a mercenary, I dug through all sorts of ruins all day long. Sometimes, when we got inside the crypt, spending half a month inside was also…”
“But you didn’t have a daughter back when you were a mercenary.” Gawain glanced at him. “Pea really misses you.”
Byron’s chuckling expression instantly stiffened, taking its place was some awkwardness. “Oh… oh… then I’ll go back and spend more time with her.”
Gawain and Amber returned to the feudal lord residence. After being busy the whole day, the sun was already setting by the time they arrived home. It was close to dinnertime.
At present, other than two temporarily recruited servants, Betty was the only maidservant at the feudal lord’s residence. The young lady was responsible for everyone’s meals and the chores. Gawain’s family, counting the freeloading Amber and newly moved-in sea demon Tiel, was only five people. Though Gawain was a man of simple style, with simple food every day, together with the servants’ food and daily chores, this was no longer a small burden.
Looking at the young lady running around the dining room like a blast of wind, setting out the plates, distributing the bread, Gawain could not help but go forward to help, with Amber in tow. He helped to set the plates while asking Betty, “Can you manage the work every day?”
“I can!” The maidservant answered in a clear and sharp voice while carrying the big bottle containing wine. “Ah, Lord, don’t set the plates yourself!”
“I am idle anyway.” Gawain wasn’t used to the kind of life where he would sit at the table, and a row of servants would stand and watch him from behind. In fact, even if there was one person specially waiting on him as he ate, he would have indigestion. Thus, he was always trying hard to change such a tone. Unfortunately, it seemed completely ineffective at present. Seeing that he’d snatched her job of setting the plates, the little maidservant looked so anxious that she was about to burst into tears. He could only put the plates in his hand down. “Let me know if you can’t cope. This house is much bigger than the tent in the past. You’re bound to be short of hands taking care of it.”
Gawain did not plan on having a few dozen or even a few hundred servants in his residence like most aristocrats of this era, extravagantly having two servants at each post for even work like planting flowers or raising dogs. However, he also admitted that such a big residence required more manpower to take care of things; having necessary staff at the necessary posts was still required. Betty was a diligent young girl, but she didn’t have the capabilities of three heads and six arms either. It wasn’t right to have the heavy household duties all weigh down on her.
Betty didn’t think that much. She was originally only a low-ranked maidservant assisting in the kitchen; she’d never thought about what to do if she was the only maidservant by the lord’s side. When she heard Gawain now, she stood dazedly and nodded —— she completely had no idea what this nod meant.
Some time passed again. Heidi, who was busy handling the matters for the transfer of personnel, and Rebecca, who was inextricably obsessed with runes, finally returned home too. And by the time they walked into the dining room, Amber was already 70% full from filling herself up with all kinds of appetizers and cheese.
Gawain reckoned that if dinner was started any later, Amber would have mixed the mustard on the table with butter and finished it up… Did this half-elf die from lack of eating foods of sickeningly strong tastes in her previous life?
After his family members had taken their seats, Gawain shared what he found with Amber in the shadow realm.
“You said you found a kind of ‘enormous void’ in the shadow realm?” Listening to Gawain’s description, Heidi showed great surprise. “And that big void doesn’t correspond with the terrain of the Dark Range in the actual world?”
“That’s right. The scale of the void is such that I’m afraid our entire town at present could fit into it. And it’s very tall. The top has even breached the Dark Range’s peak, such that a part of the sky could be seen. Light inside of the void is exceptionally dim. It’s so dark that it makes one uneasy.” Gawain described the situation in the void. “There is some kind of natural phenomenon inside the void. I saw huge boulders floating in the darkness like they’d lost their gravity.”
“I’ve heard descriptions from you and Amber that the shadow realm is a corresponding projection of the real world. And besides being black and white and deserted, there are no distinct differences in physics…” Heidi frowned. “Could that big void imply some ‘shadow realm rule’ that is unknown to us?”
“I’m more worried that it is caused by some external forces. That some force that exceeds humankind’s imagination had been active in the shadow realm and had ‘dug’ away a big piece of the shadow realm matter and even changed the physics of that area.” Gawain wasn’t without worry. “What is even more worrying is that… the Gondor Master Mages a thousand years ago had clearly realized the existence of this big void. They installed a device that resembled a magic door at the bottom level of the ruin in the mountain. The other side of this magic door should be linked to the big void or some place related to the big void. Unfortunately, that magic door can no longer be enabled.”
Heidi bowed her head in thought, and Rebecca fought the butter on her bread that couldn’t be spread evenly no matter how she did while casually commenting, “Then will you still proceed with the plan that you mentioned previously about moving part of the territory’s facilities into the mountain?”
Gawain watched Rebecca’s act of wielding the butter knife slightly apprehensively —— her imposing manner was as if that slice of bread had killed her whole family. “Easy there, do you need such big movements to spread butter.”
Then, he answered Iron-Headed Girl’s question. “The relocating work still has to continue. At the very least, the workshops manufacturing grenades and all sorts of explosives have to be shifted out of the territory. Then there’s also the production lines in the military factories —— it won’t do for these things to remain right next to the residential areas. How is the training of the craftsmen team for the laying of the Magic Web going?”
“They’re all learning rather well. Once I said that the remuneration for Magic Web technicians was double that for average construction workers, they became very eager. Moreover, the literacy of all those craftsmen is pretty good. The most outstanding ones among them had even already mastered how to arrange the connection of Honeycomb Magic Web units by themselves according to the target environment and blueprint manual. The success rate is just like that of Grade 1 and 2 Runemasters. Now, they can independently complete the task without needing my guidance.”
Gawain nodded in satisfaction. “Very good, send the most outstanding team into the ruin in the mountains. Begin laying the Honeycomb Magic Web with the entrance hall as the starting point, and restructure the magical power supply inside the facility as preparation for the subsequent admission of the machinery.”
Heidi let out a heartfelt sigh after hearing that. “To be honest, who would’ve thought that laymen without spellcasting abilities or even the ability to sense magical power could actually use such means to control magical power… Magic Webs, Magic Powered Engines, heat-ray guns, Rebecca Crystals — these things have arrived at the extent of being produced by laymen craftsmen without any input from Mages or only require minor guidance from Mages…”
“Right now, they’ve only stopped at the stage of following the blueprints to ensure that there are no errors. This is only ‘imitation’.” Gawain smiled. “And when the Rune Research Center led by Jenni obtains their results for the first stage and the center’s first batch of students in rune specialization graduates, you will see some true laymen’s ‘creations’ in the magic domain…”
Heidi could not imagine what kind of picture that would be. In fact, even Rebecca was unable to.
But Gawain could vaguely see that new generation —— it would be an era where even without spellcasters, even without magical talent, laymen could rely on their brains and calculations, rely on strict scientific analysis methods and mathematical tools to grasp magic, and even develop and create all sorts of magical techniques.
At this point, Amber who’d been engrossed in eating suddenly lifted her head and interrupted, “But then again… Where’s that sea demon?”
