Chapter 7: Ruins

Once everything was settled, Sidelika immediately led Ryan out of the meeting room.

Ryan followed behind her, passing through several lavishly decorated corridors before arriving at an inconspicuous storage room.

Sidelika took a brass key from her clothes, unlocked the door, and pushed it open.

There were no windows in the room.

The only illumination came from several magic stones embedded in the walls, giving off a soft glow.

At the center of the room was a complex magic array that occupied most of the floor.

Silver patterns slowly flowed beneath the dim light.

“This is a teleportation array. It can take us there directly,” Sidelika explained.

‘This is quite something…’

Ryan clicked his tongue inwardly.

Although the ruins were some distance from Ilid, they weren’t particularly far away.

And yet the Golden Wind Merchant Guild had gone to the trouble of constructing a small-scale teleportation array just for this?

Maintaining an array like this must burn through enough gold every second to bankrupt a minor noble family.

Even after seeing just how wealthy Sidelika was, Ryan still couldn’t help being stunned.

“Oh, right. Are you not bringing your little maid?”

Sidelika stood in the center of the magic array and glanced back at Ryan, giving him a playful wink.

After the awkward scene earlier, Vidia was probably still hiding in her room.

“She…”

“There’s no need to worry about her. Let’s go.”

Ryan sounded somewhat helpless.

Besides, they had a contract between them.

If anything really happened, Vidia could instantly appear at his side.

“Then, let’s go!”

The moment Sidelika finished speaking, the magic array activated.

A powerful sensation of weightlessness flashed by in an instant.

When Ryan regained consciousness, they were already standing in a clearing in the middle of a forest.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees, while the rustling of leaves sounded as the wind passed through the treetops.

They were already at the edge of a dense forest.

Several tents bearing the Golden Wind Merchant Guild’s emblem had been erected not far away, while more than a dozen fully armed guards stood watch around the camp.

Seeing the light of the teleportation array, a female knight in full plate armor quickly approached.

She removed her helmet, revealing a strikingly handsome face.

Her short flaxen hair made her look particularly neat and capable.

She respectfully bowed to Sidelika.

“Milady. This is my captain of the guard, Ayla.”

Sidelika introduced her.

“Ayla, this is Ryan, the consultant we hired for this operation.”

Ryan’s attention also fell on her.

[Name: Ayla Heinrich

LV: 42

Race: Human

Class: Guardian Knight

Strength: B

Speed: C]

A level-40 Guardian Knight…

A heavily armored class specializing in defensive counterattacks, possessing both excellent damage mitigation and breakthrough capabilities.

Its innate class skill, Guardian Knight’s Oath, could also help allies share damage and provide buffs.

Without even mentioning how valuable such an excellent frontline class was… simply being at this level meant that she would be an absolute core combatant in practically any A-rank or even S-rank party.

When Ayla’s eyes landed on Ryan standing beside Sidelika, her movements paused for a moment.

Clearly, she didn’t trust this stranger who had suddenly appeared.

But her professional discipline kept every question buried.

She merely gave Ryan a slight nod and squeezed two words through her teeth.

“Hello.”

Ryan was already accustomed to reactions like this.

He calmly nodded in response.

Sidelika cleared her throat.

“Ayla, bring the materials over.”

“Yes.”

Ayla handed a document to Sidelika, who then passed it to Ryan.

“Here’s the exploration report from the advance team. Take a look first.”

Ryan accepted it and flipped through the pages.

They were mostly simple observation records documenting the surrounding terrain, vegetation, and other basic information.

“How deep did your people get?”

“We conducted a brief exploration of the outer perimeter. We haven’t entered the only teaching building that remains intact.”

Sidelika raised one finger.

“So basically, you’ve made no progress…”

“Hehe~”

Sidelika stuck out her tongue.

“We were waiting for you.”

Ryan closed the report.

“Then let’s go. Let’s see the place for ourselves.”

“Ayla.”

Sidelika turned toward the female knight beside her.

Ayla nodded and turned around, issuing an order.

“Everyone, prepare to enter the ruins.”

The group quickly assembled.

Under Ayla’s leadership, they headed toward the depths of the dense forest.

After passing through the woodland, a vast abandoned garden appeared before them.

Smooth white stone pathways were barely visible beneath the overgrown weeds.

Strange plants Ryan had never seen before grew along the sides, their flowers gently swaying despite the complete absence of wind.

A ruined fountain stood silently in the distance.

Although it had long since run dry, the statues flanking it remained incredibly lifelike.

Everything here carried an air of elegance.

Even after being eroded by the passage of time, the grandeur of its former glory remained impossible to conceal.

‘This is Enkidu’s ruins…’

Ryan’s heartbeat unconsciously quickened.

Compared to dealing with all those messy interpersonal relationships within the party, this pure desire to explore was far more capable of igniting his soul.

It seemed like it had been a very long time since he had been able to immerse himself so completely in an exploration.

Perhaps leaving “Dawn” really wasn’t such a bad thing for him.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Sidelika walked over to his side.

There was a different kind of light shining in her emerald eyes as well.

“When we first discovered this place, everyone was completely stunned. The entrance is just ahead.”

Ayla pointed toward a partially collapsed white building in the distance.

The main structure was made of pure white stone, its surface covered in the marks left behind by countless years of wind and rain.

The very center of the door was densely covered in characters glowing with blue light.

Radiant Script.

Ryan stepped forward and practically pressed his face against the door.

He carefully scanned the Radiant Script one character at a time before reaching out and placing his hand against the massive door.

The greatest difference between Radiant Script and ordinary writing was that its visible characters possessed no inherent meaning.

One had to make contact with it through mana and interpret it using a specific frequency before its true meaning could be understood.

That peculiar frequency had been lost long ago.

Ryan had only managed to obtain a small portion of the method for deciphering it through sheer chance.

“Can you decipher it?”

Sidelika leaned closer.

“No need. This is just a warning. It isn’t a seal.”

“Huh?”

Ryan pointed toward the Radiant Script at the very top.

“Those who do not seek knowledge are forbidden from entering this door. Basically, it means something like ‘Study hard and improve every day.’”

“…”

“That’s it? It’s actually that simple?”

Ryan removed his hand.

The instant his fingertips left the door, the Radiant Script engraved upon it began to glow.

Then…

The massive door silently slid open to both sides.

But what awaited them was an entirely different sight.

Inside the building was a vast, empty hall.

The ceiling was extraordinarily high.

Sunlight streamed down through the tall windows, illuminating tiny specks of dust floating in the air.

But aside from that, there wasn’t the slightest trace of dirt.

“This… Is this really a ruin?”

A young guard couldn’t help muttering under his breath.

“There isn’t even a single spiderweb.”

Ryan crouched down and gently brushed his fingers across the floor.

There was no dust.

Not even the slightest trace.

It was as though someone had just finished cleaning it.

How could a ruin that had been sealed for more than a thousand years possibly be this clean?

Ryan stood up.

He moved around the crowd in the center of the hall and began carefully examining the walls.

The members of the advance team had already begun spreading out in groups of two or three, their faces filled with curiosity toward this “brand-new” ruin.

Only Ayla and a few of the more experienced guards remained highly vigilant.

Neatly arranged classrooms lined both sides of the corridor.

Ryan casually pushed open the door to one of them.

Creak…

Inside the classroom, rows of desks and chairs were arranged perfectly.

Various books and writing implements were still scattered across the desktops.

Ryan walked to the front of the classroom.

A line of writing had been left on the blackboard in elegant handwriting.

It appeared to be the derivation of a magical formula, but the process had stopped halfway through.

A piece of chalk, barely half a finger long, lay abandoned on the floor.

Ryan then walked toward a desk against the wall.

A delicate teacup sat on top of it.

There was even half a pot of black tea still inside the teapot.

“This tea is still warm!”

One of the team members touched the teapot and cried out in astonishment.

“Warm?!”

Everyone was shocked.

Ryan said nothing.

He continued walking slowly through the classroom, his gaze sweeping across every desk.

His Eye of Annihilation had already been activated.

But in his vision, all of these were ordinary objects.

There was nothing special about any of them.

Everything here was as pristine as the day it had been made.

It was as though, one second ago, this place had still been a bustling classroom filled with the voices of students listening attentively to their teacher.

And in the very next second, everyone had simply vanished into thin air.

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