With the entrance open faster than anyone had expected they couldn't help but inwardly praise Lady Rose for her ability, more especially Sebastian who had a plethora of questions he wanted to ask her but didn't dare to.
In truth the runes were nothing hard to crack for someone at her level, she knew a few other capable scholars could do the same given time so why feel accomplished.
Neither she nor Aron wanted to waste anytime and only had the bigger picture in mind. "Everyone gather your teams and get ready to advance."
Aron's instructions came across as a bit brash when the others heard them. Although none of them can say they have adequate experience with ruins it was common knowledge that one doesn't simply rush in.
Novel Top1.OR G
The proper way to go about it was to send a small team of people in first to scout for dangers and give a general layout to better plan the path ahead as ruins always held too many unknowns.
If this were the case months earlier then Aron would have most definitely taken a slow approach but he fairly confident he could handle whatever dangers lay ahead. This wasn't certain but given what he had seen so far he was at least more than fifty percent confident.
The expedition group was mostly made up of second tier mages and augmenters making them pretty much useless should they encounter a tier four entity as even numbers couldn't cover for that margin.
He only had rough estimates about Evanora and Lady Rose's capabilities as he hadn't seen their full capabilities yet, the same could be said for Juliet and Sebastian although he didn't have much hope for the latter.
When he fought Brutas and the other aristocrats during the journey he pinned them to be anywhere between tier three rank D and rank C, so even they had very little chances of survivor. The best they could with their capabilities was act as canon fodder but that wasn't their true purpose here, if anything Aron hoped the expedition could rather smoothly.
"What's wrong?" Juliet arrived on the scene as the rumbling the entrance made when it opened caught her attention, however she wondered why everyone was glancing at Aron so worryingly.
It was only when Anastasia explained his suggestion to her that she caught up. "…I see. But what's wrong with that?" Juliet asked seeing nothing wrong with proceeding immediately.
A person who knows no defeat shall remain fearless and this was somewhat the case with Juliet, pure unbridled confidence in her ability. Even Aron chose caution more times than not, being only in his second stage of evolution could still regard him as a child among beast mongers. Juliet was indeed a special case, with both pros and cons to her personality.
Before an argument concerning the matter could break Aron suggested something. "Those who want to proceed with caution do so, we don't need to enter all at once anyway."
Lady Rose was the first to make a move by sending one scouter in and using another to form a barrier around herself and Evanora as the two began walking in.
Aron soon went in next but was soon followed by Juliet with whom he only exchanged glances with. The others remained hesitant and didn't let greed blind their decisions, they chose to still send in scouts first before making a move. Just because four freaks of nature are confident doesn't mean they need to be do and die a pointless death.
….
Meanwhile inside the entrance run like a sort of long straight tunnel, although unlike the tunnels they had been using up until now, these were very well made and even had neatly drawn cravings on the wall and ceiling.
What's more unlike the name ruin would suggest it was in surprisingly good condition with no signs of it being a part of a fallen civilization.
If it wasn't for the carvings resembling those in the Newman highlands Aron would have thought this was made by the Veldra. After walking for what seemed like a good while the duo saw that Lady Rose and Evanora had come to a stop at the end of the tunnel and were no longer even using a barrier.
It was only after they arrived that they understood, at the end of the tunnel was a large open square ground spanning several meters deep. It had a proper system of stairs and lifts in place with many crate like objects, pedestals, bookshelves, weapon racks and more.
To reach such a stage without encountering any danger had Aron very skeptical, to the point it was visible for all to see. Even Lady Rose had looked towards him for answers but saw he was equally caught off guard by this.
"It's not a ruin, it's a storage bunker." The one to give this revelation was Juliet who looked with almost anger written all over her face and her fists clenched but only for a moment. This was the first time Aron had seen her show such a look but he chose to just put it to the back of his mind and pay closer attention to her.
"You're familiar with this?" Aron instead asked the thing on both his and Lady Rose's minds to which she nodded. "Our family has discovered quite a few bunkers like this back on Ettenheim, it was was helped our family rise to where it is today. I'm sure this is the case for every other family, as for why this wasn't made public knowledge…" Juliet didn't continue and just looked at the vast array of goods present.
Anyone could see what she was implying, each family kept must've made prominent discoveries but kept them to themselves to increase their own position. Such a thing couldn't go on unless every family was doing it, if lacking the one in a lesser position would most certainly encroach on the other but no such dispute between the pillars of Ettenheim had ever occurred, at least on a large scale.
"I see. That explains why it holds no traps, it was made to preserve items belonging to the old era. We have a few similar places in the Galos region, I'm sure you both encountered it if you recall?"Lady Rose muttered as she walked down the stairs and began making her way towards the bookshelves, the only thing she found remotely interesting in the place.
When Lady Rose said this she reminded Aron and Juliet of their first encounter in that cave during the journey that housed a sort of bunker as well with treasure.
Aron soon followed and also made his way towards the bookshelves. "Evanora check what's in the crates." He instructed while Juliet didn't descend at all and just stood where she was without uttering a word.
When Aron walked over to the bookshelves, he immediately began siphoning knowledge to his legacy ring while also taking the chance to skeem through the books. Those possessing knowledge he quickly put back as his main interest was anything concerning Limbo, which he soon found in the form of an old looking journal with a red faded cover.
However it seemed to be a continuation as it started with the words. "Ever since they returned from Limbo…"
Whatever the case it was something worth getting and he quickly tucked it into the back pocket of his trousers and began looking around for other things. Weapons, trinkets, odd devices, they were quite a few things present one could consider priceless… however given their functions and tiers, they were of no use to Aron.
"Can Evanora keep this?" She asked while playing around with two oddly crafted daggers she had found on a pedestal. What attracted her wasn't the quality but rather that the color matched with her grim looking outfit.
Aron gave her a nod before ascending the stairs without taking any time. This surprised Juliet and so she proceeded to ask why he did this. "Nothing is of use to me here…" he muttered with clear disappointment in his voice.
The amount of things present here could clearly fetch a good sum of money so Juliet was now at least certain that wealth or power alone wasn't what Aron was seeking during the expedition.
…
Soon the few scouts the others had sent inside soon arrived at the seen and were amazed at what looked to be a treasure trove to them. One could clearly see some greed flash on their faces but they quickly returned to their senses before rushing back to report what they found.
No matter how greedy they were, it was common sense they could do nothing against the powerhouses present on the expedition. The only thing they could do was hope they gain at least one item or a goof sum of money and even that was pushing it.
Juliet watched them scrabble indifferently just as Lady Rose was walking back with only a single book in hand. This made Aron wonder if there was perhaps something he missed when skimming through it, but since he had already secured the knowledge he could only wait till later to properly go through it.
"They are certainly some interesting pieces to read here but nothing ground breaking or capable of bringing about a new age." Lady Rose revealed with clear disappointment in her voice as she approached the duo.
The others would soon arrive and showed similar looks of amazement to that of the scouts earlier with the exception of Anastasia and Esmeralda who seemed familiar with such a setting, just like Juliet.
Before any of them could voice their thoughts on the matter however, Lady Rose made an announcement. "Take one item each and let's leave, the rest will be handled once a proper mode of transportation is arranged." She said in a low tone causing the some like Sebastian to look quite deflated.
As she was doing this, Aron was debating wether or not to reveal the existence of the other possible bunkers he knew about in the tunnels. As of now it didn't seem he would find anything of note but the possibility did indeed exist, it was now just a matter of wether he was willing to take that gamble or not.
'I'm better off keeping it to myself, it won't be too late to investigate another time if I can't gain results from the ruins in Aethel.' He thought before choosing to keep quiet about the existence of the other bunkers.
The whole purpose in bringing people was because he thought it would be a dangerous ruin but a bunker held very little to no dangers from the looks of it. Thus their usefulness here had become obsolete, making it better for him to just head to Aethel directly where the ruins may actually hold dangers that would require these guys.
"Do you think we should keep exploring the tunnels?" After Lady Rose made this announcement, she turned towards Aron and asked this in a low voice while the others made their way down to check out the items present.
Aron feigned pondering her question before shaking his head. "No, it won't be too late to explore later on. Our aim after all are ruins." He replied to which she nodded.
It was at this point that Juliet brought up a very important point both Aron and Lady Rose hadn't mentioned out loud. "The presence of ruins means it's entirely possible they were already explored by the Aethelians, what shall happen in that case?" She asked out of genuine curiosity but neither Aron nor Lady Rose looked bothered in the least.
"…we'll adapt to the circumstances." Aron answered vaguely before turning to leave.
