While nagging and cursing inwardly, Kairen entered the teleportation room after team leader Dains and Darren. Mages were always present in this room to activate the teleportation circle when necessary so they didn't have any problems when going back.
Kairen closed his eyes after stepping into the circle like always. Soon after, he sensed a cold wind pass through his cheek. He could see a building in front of himself once he opened his eyes.
The door of the building opened at the moment and some people rushed out, holding weapons.
"What was that?"
"Who?"
"Oh, it's them."
They stopped upon seeing the team leader and lowered their guards.
Deputy team leader Bray, standing in front of everyone and holding a greatsword nearly as big as Asa's whole body, placed her sword down and asked.
"Did you find anything?"
Team leader Dains shook his head.
"Not much. We will keep that man in prison until we make sure he is innocent. Besides that, we are going to visit the last location."
"Now?"
"Yes."
People standing at the door moved aside and the three newly-arrived people entered the house.
"Did something else happen?"
Deputy team leader Bray asked carefully while observing her team leader's expression.
"More or less."
Now that they entered the house, Kairen could see everyone gathered on the first floor. He could see Reyan standing beside the sofa and Serria sitting on one of the steps of the staircase.
"...."
Reyan's head tilted slightly when he saw Kairen suddenly glaring at him, but he couldn't say anything because team leader Dains started talking again.
"The mascry case is causing great commotion. The situation is out of the police's control. Unable to find the culprit, they requested help from SMF."
"I thought that was a mission for unit 3?"
"They've requested our help."
Asa's eyes started to sparkle after hearing that they had another mission. She mumbled something about 'not studying anymore' under her lips before smiling. Unlike her, Darren frowned heavily with a tired face.
"What about here? Did anything happen when we were not here?"
"Nope."
Team leader Dains paused for a moment as if he was thinking about something. Deputy team leader Bray used that chance and started talking.
"But, is it alright to rush? We still need to investigate carefully. This case might be helpful in finding out something about Philomns. I'm not sure the mascry case is something unit 3 can't handle. In addition, kids are tired. They need to rest a little bit."
Deputy team leader Bray just called them all 'kids', but everyone in the room was more than grateful to her for trying to buy them some time to rest.
Even though most of the team had stayed behind in the warm and cozy house, they couldn't rest as they needed to be alert the whole time.
Team leader Dains sighed after seeing others' faces and nodded his head.
"Rest till morning. We will move out once the sun is out."
"Yes."
. . . .
As the team leader said, they left the place once the sun was out. Three people, including Serria, Carlson, and Elsie, were still left in the ruin. They agreed that they couldn't just leave the place like that, they still weren't sure if Alan was innocent or not. So they decided that the two mages could install some devices and place some magic spells in the house. It was so that they could observe the house even if they were far away and know if anything happens.
The rest of the group used a teleportation device again to move to the next location.
The third and last ruin was located in the southwest of the country. Unlike the other two locations, this place had nice weather and nice scenery. The group stepped into a plain full of trees and beautiful flowers.
The few hours of rest weren't enough at all. Kairen's whole body felt sore and his eyes were barely open. He nagged inwardly again while walking towards the last ruin. He also glared at Reyan from time to time and nagged even more.
"....??"
Reyan tilted his head seeing Kairen's gaze. He walked beside him and asked in a lowered voice.
"What's the matter?"
"..."
Kairen shook his head.
"Nothing."
Kairen knew that what he was doing was stupid. He was well aware that he himself was the one who made all the decisions in the end and there was no one else to blame other than himself.
He also knew that he was acting like a child, nagging and cursing once he felt a little bit tired and saying that he didn't like the job anymore. He had chosen to work here knowing that it would be hard, but still, he couldn't help but nag. Nagging and cursing made his sleepiness go away a little bit and calmed his frustration.
"Are you sure? You keep glaring at me since last night..."
"Nah, there is nothing."
Pat
Reyan placed his hand on Kairen's shoulder.
"Tell me if something is bothering you."
"Okay..."
Kairen suddenly felt guilty for cursing this man. He had chosen the wrong person to blame.
"Is it... that place?"
Kairen snapped out of his thoughts and looked at where Rai was showing.
"Can that thing really be called a ruin?"
What they saw once they walked a little bit closer was a mass of soil and stones. The large field was definitely different from the plain. It was a little bit taller, like a small hill. They could see some broken stones here and there, they could also see a few small tiles scattered around, but the whole thing was hidden under a layer of grass.
The grass had carpeted the whole thing. Judging by the other ruins, the ground must have been covered in stone tiles, but it was now only grass and flowers.
The only sign that could confirm that this place is where they were looking for was a platform-like structure in the center. It almost looked like the one that they had seen in the first ruin, but unlike that one, the platform here was almost destroyed. Grass and small flowers had grown on top and sides of it.
The walls were also crumpled. They were broken down and also had grass on them.
"Wow, this place looks like shit compared to the first ruin."
Darren said that and walked forward. He lightly poked one of the walls with his foot. The wall, barely standing, broke and fell down. It fell down so easily.
Darren, not expecting the wall to be destroyed like that, walked back in surprise.
"Ah? Sorry..."
He peeked at the team leader and hurriedly ran away from the wall.
"I wonder if there are any hidden rooms here as well..."
"Even if there is, I don't think we can find them now that this place is in such a condition."
"Yeah..."
The group started to wander around the place, looking for anything useful.
Kairen walked to the platform and observed it like last time. He leaned forward and looked at the surface of the platform. It was ruined, but it seemed that this one also used to have a similar appearance to the platform in the first ruin.
'What is it?'
Kairen looked at the surface of the platform. In a small area in the center of it, there was no grass or plant.
Kairen carefully brushed off the soil covering that place with his hand and looked at it once more.
"There is a hole here."
He could see a hole, more like a pipe-like small pass, in the center of the platform.
"What is this?"
Reyan also leaned forward and looked at the pipe-like pass. They couldn't see much, the end of the pass was dark.
They looked at the pass for a minute before Reyan decided to call the team leader.
Rustle
'Hmm? What was that?'
"Team leader, can you look here for a moment?"
Rustle Goo Rustle
Kairen turned back. He sensed something weird from behind.
Rustle
He looked around. No one else seemed to have sensed anything.
'Am I imagining things?'
He stood still, looking around.
GOO SHHH
Kairen looked in that direction once more. He was sure he wasn't imagining things. He was sure that there was something around. He looked at the others once more and took a step closer to where the sensation was coming from.
SSS GOO SSS
Kairen left behind Reyan and Team leader Dains who were discussing and walked towards the place where he felt that weird sensation was coming from.
It was an eerie and ominous feeling, a disgusting sensation that crept over his whole body. He almost got goosebumps at the eerie feeling.
Kairen stood near the wall that Darren destroyed just now and looked around. He searched for the source of the sound but didn't see anything at all.
GOOO GOOO
"Huh?"
He looked down.
'Did it shake just now?'
He felt the ground shake for a moment. He started at the ground. The sensation he was feeling was getting stronger with every passing second.
'Was that coming from under the ground?'
GWAK
The ground shook again at the moment. Not like the first time that only Kairen had felt it. It shook so strongly that everyone could sense it.
"Ah?"
"What was that?"
Kairen sensed something under the ground. Something dangerous. He felt something scary and dangerous moving towards him.
'I have to move back.'
But it was too late. The ground shook once more, making him stumble and fall down.
BOOM GWAK BOOM
And then, the area under his feet collapsed.
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