Chapter 560 – The Investigation Begins

The investigation of the underground ancient ruins began the next day, with Blue Thunder Beast, the quest leader, taking the lead.

They began with the large building that had been guarded by the Guardian Stone Golems. Even at that stage, they discovered numerous objects suggesting that the civilization here had been more advanced than the present one.

However, after the passage of many long years, most of them had weathered and fallen into disrepair, or showed signs of having been destroyed intentionally, making it seem impossible to restore them.

“These ruins are an extremely valuable cultural heritage site for researchers, but there’s hardly anything here that looks valuable in monetary terms. One thing we do know is that their magical culture was highly advanced. Then, at some point, the inhabitants suddenly abandoned this place. And of course, the greatest surprise was that the Guardian Stone Golems were still functioning. As for that, everyone must keep it strictly confidential. If that technology were misused, I don’t think I could take responsibility for what followed.”

As Jack, leader of Blue Thunder Beast, explored the central building alongside Tauro and the others, he reiterated the warning and continued.

“We can tell the writing in these ruins is ancient script, but deciphering it would require research. It appears so old that even specialists might not be able to read it.”

Returning to the mausoleum hall where the Guardian Stone Golems had been stationed, Jack sighed as he examined the largest stone sarcophagus. The carved letters on it had nearly vanished with age.

“…It says, ‘Here sleeps Gif, the last king of the dynasty.’ If that’s the case, then after the final king died, the ruins may have been abandoned just as you suggested, Jack-san.”

Tauro casually read the faded inscription aloud and offered his honest thoughts.

“W-What!? Tauro-kun! You can read that!?”

Jack was an adventurer who devoted himself to discovering ruins like this and even conducted investigations and research on ancient sites, so he could read some older scripts.

But this ruin was so ancient that he had never even seen this script before. He couldn’t read a single character.

Naturally, he was stunned that Tauro had read it so easily.

“Ah…! (This must be related to how I suddenly became able to read and write this world’s language when my memories returned after reincarnation… Does that mean I can read ancient script too?) …Why, I wonder? I could just somehow read it. Ahahaha…”

It was only at this moment that Tauro realized he had gained the ability not only to read and write the modern script of this world, but even ancient writing.

“I don’t know where you learned it, but you truly are something else… I wish you could read the other inscriptions too, but most of them are too weathered to make out.”

Though surprised by Tauro’s talent, Jack prioritized investigating the ruins and chose not to pursue the matter further.

“…Tauro, are you still keeping secrets from us?”

Aeris asked, half exasperated by his unexpected ability.

“No, I’m surprised myself. I didn’t even know I had this talent…”

Tauro raised both hands and shook his head to show Aeris that he wasn’t hiding anything.

“He’s the leader. It can’t be helped.”

Ankh placed a hand on Aeris’s shoulder as though mediating, speaking about Tauro like he was some rare creature.

“That’s right, Aeris. Tauro has always been strange. Just having a garbled-text skill is rare, and awakening it’s unprecedented. If we blame the skill, that explains it easily enough…”

Ragune offered an explanation that seemed reasonable enough.

“…You’re right. It’s Tauro, after all!”

For some reason, Aeris accepted that explanation simply because it was him.

“That’s what convinces you!? Not the part about the garbled-text skill!?”

Tauro protested indignantly.

“Please calm down. We’ve all thought from the very beginning that anything is possible if it’s Lord Tauro!”

Zion added what she believed was supportive encouragement—though it wasn’t exactly reassuring.

“…Fine. Anyway, all we can tell from this inscription is that this stone sarcophagus belongs to the last king of these ruins.”

Tauro refocused the discussion.

“…Right. Let’s check for traps and take a look inside. We might find more information.”

Jack began circling the massive stone sarcophagus, checking for traps.

Jack was originally a claw-sword user, but he also possessed [Ranger], an advanced thief-type skill, which made him highly capable at detecting traps.

Budar of Silver Twin Mages, who was both a ranger and a pharmacist, joined him in inspecting the area around the sarcophagus.

Tauro also decided to inspect the stone sarcophagus in his own way.

Using [True Eye], Tauro examined every part of the sarcophagus.

Yet even [True Eye] couldn’t see inside.

That suggested some kind of defensive magic had been applied. Since Tauro possessed [Anti-Inhibition], it was clearly something different from ordinary obstruction magic.

The sarcophagus lid was enormous—so large that Tauro wondered whether even the entire group together could move it.

“…Nothing looks suspicious. For the tomb of a civilization that seems to have possessed technology this advanced, could there really be no magic protecting it from grave robbers?”

Jack exchanged a glance with Budar, and the two confirmed that they had found nothing dangerous.

“Jack-san, I think magic has been placed inside this sarcophagus. Maybe the mechanism is designed so it can’t be detected from the outside.”

“Inside? You can tell that? …Hmm. There are precedents for mechanisms like that. It might be dangerous to open it immediately.”

Jack looked disappointed.

“No, I think there’s another option. I could collect this entire sarcophagus with [Magic Storage].”

Tauro made an outrageous suggestion.

“Are you serious!? …No, I suppose if your [Magic Storage] can hold an entire Guardian Stone Golem, it could work. Nobody else could imitate that—or even think of it…”

Rather than being appalled, Jack was impressed.

“All right, I’ll try it. [Magic Storage].”

Tauro activated [Magic Storage], and the enormous stone sarcophagus vanished in an instant.

“!?”

Everyone present stared in stunned silence as the massive stone sarcophagus disappeared before their eyes.

“N-now we can take it back safely and investigate it at our leisure.”

Jack voiced a practical conclusion, once again astonished by Tauro’s overwhelming abilities.

Just then—

“Jack, this is bad! A horde of monsters is heading our way!”

Longa, the longsword user, Akku, the battle-axe user, and Bomarne, the blast-fire mage—who had been keeping watch and scouting outside—burst into the room in a panic to warn them.