The next day, Zaos left after preparing several magic stones that Aleni could use to charge the magic glove that Milliendra was using. Although Milliendra questioned why everyone had to work away so often, in the end, she didn't make much of a fuss after Zaos hugged her for a couple of minutes. After that, he went to talk with Kat, who was suffering from a terrible hangover. she was pale as a ghost.
"... I didn't expect that you would come so early," Kat said with her bloodshot eyes.
"It is almost noon… I tried to show up a little late because I heard you guys partying all night," Zaos frowned.
"That so? Well… I am the type of person who needs to sleep a lot," Kat forced a smile while she scratched her right cheek.
"I am going to leave town and work on building my group from next week onward," Zaos said. "So, it would be helpful if you could spread some good rumors about me."
"Are you going alone?" Kat asked while seeing Zaos's horse behind him and no signs of the wagon. "What about your daughter and wife?"
"I will return for them in a few days," Zaos replied. "Well, I will be counting on you."
Although he didn't have boobs, Kat made Zaos recall Cohnal, so he had a good feeling about her. One week would be a good start to spread some rumors about him, and after that, some people will head to see for themselves the man who wanted to create a mercenary group from scratch.
While riding Moody, Zaos left the town, and for the next two days, he rode toward the ruins that Aleni had mentioned. The ruins could be found in a sandy area on the southern side of the region. It didn't look like a proper dessert since it was close to the beach and there were some signs of vegetation, but Zaos felt that the area had seen greener days. In any case, Zaos had a hard time finding the ruins since it was hidden between some dunes and it was almost buried in the sand.
"Great… this place looks like it is about to collapse and knowing my luck, it certainly will," Zaos said as he watched the entrance of the ruins.
Although it was buried in sand, Zaos could see that the ruins' entrance was pretty large, and he was only seeing one of the probably many others. The place had some rectangular stones lying around, and in front of it, Zaos could see some pretty tall pillars… the entrance probably had a ceiling. Still, due to the erosion, it broke and became those pieces in the ground.
"I can't feel any mana around… either they have been there a long time ago, or their mana pool is too small to begin with to leave any traces." Zaos thought.
Zaos looked around for a while, but he didn't find any traces of footsteps. It was only natural since he was so close to the beach, the wind would erase any traces in a couple of hours.
"I guess it can't be helped, we will check things inside and see if we can find anything useful to track the targets," Zaos said.
"HIIIIINNNNNNN!" Moody protested.
"I don't like confined places either, but I can't leave you behind," Zaos said. "If everything collapses and you are tied up in one of those pillars, you certainly will die faster than me."
Moody looked at Zaos as if he was telling him that he could always tie him up in one of the curved trees near the beach. Still, Zaos shook his head since that would be the same as informing anyone who passed by that he was a Moody rider was nearby. Moody protested for a while, but eventually, he gave up.
As soon as they entered the ruins, Zaos frowned since the interior was surprisingly well illuminated. The ceiling was still standing, but Zaos could see some cracks in it. Weirdly enough, the ceiling was what was illuminating the interior, but Zaos couldn't sense any mana coming from it. After taking a few more steps, Zaos left the entrance corridor, and then he found a strange room. It was pretty large, but he didn't find anything interesting aside from a large circular staircase made of stone.
"Ah, come on… do I have to go even more underground?" Zaos asked after a long sigh.
Zaos didn't notice it until now, but it seemed he really hated small and underground places. While he had brought Guardian's Heart and some magic crossbows, he obviously will have to be careful if a fight breaks out in such a place. Otherwise, he will bury himself alive.
"All right… you stay here and don't make any noise," Zaos said. "Unless you notice someone approaching, if you do, you can make noise and try to reach me."
Zaos acted as his horse had some crazy level of intelligence, but until now, Moody didn't disappoint him. Until that happens, he will trust his allies, even if they were animals.
Zaos began to climb down the stairs while wondering why he didn't find any symbols on the walls or some kind of statue. He felt like ruins like that were supposed to have both. Perhaps the leaders of the assassin's organization already stole everything they could find in those types of places.
In any case, from that point onward, the interior of the ruins really got dark, so Zaos had to issue Light in the Darkness to enhance his vision and then see things clearly inside it. Despite that, he started to wonder if he wasn't wasting his time. After all, until now, he didn't feel any signs of mana inside the ruins. Never mind, mana, there weren't even traces of people going there for who knows how long.
"Well, I can't give up now since I can't see any other way to find the traces of the assassins organization," Zaos shrugged.
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