E z
◇[The Inspection Team of the Discarded Ruin]◇
Several men walk through the Forest of Dark Colors.
One member of the inspection team stops and looks back.
"What do you think that corpse was about?"
The captain also stops and turns around.
"Who knows. Probably just some dead mercenary who collapsed on the way."
"Were they heading to Mills, maybe?"
"Could be. Not many people have business in this forest except those aiming for Mills. Aside from us."
The captain notices one of the members looking pale.
His face is deathly white.
"First time seeing a corpse in that condition?"
"Y-Yes…"
The corpses had been in terrible shape.
Four of them.
None of their faces were recognizable.
Probably eaten by beasts or monsters.
A burly member taps the hilt of the sword at his waist.
"If they died just walking through this forest, they weren't much of a mercenary."
"None of those corpses had any money on them, right?"
Dead bodies that collapse on the road can occasionally be a nice little bonus.
Of course, they had searched the corpses.
But no money was found.
"Maybe bandits got them. I hear there are rumors of some around here."
"Or maybe after monsters killed them, other travelers looted the bodies?"
"If they died to the monsters in this forest, they weren't cut out to be mercenaries anyway."
"What if the monsters from the discarded ruin finally came up to the surface?"
"Hahaha, if that were true, we'd have to call in the Demon War Knights."
"Yeah, right."
The members trade jokes as they speculate.
"Oh, there's our workplace."
The discarded ruin.
A familiar sight.
No changes this time either.
As expected, the captain thinks.
"Same as always—no abnormalities."
A member cracks a light joke.
"This job really never changes, does it?"
"That's why it's good. All right, let's finish the usual checks quickly."
"Captain, you're so serious."
"It's work."
This job comes through their ally nation, Alion.
Periodic inspection of the discarded ruin.
Ulza and Alion have long worked hand in hand.
Their relationship has remained favorable for ages.
The captain is glad to have this job.
First, the pay is good.
And yet the work itself is easy.
He takes a magical tool from his backpack.
A magic crystal.
A magical device handmade by Goddess Vysis.
It has been passed down through the inspection teams for years.
They walk along the ruin's wall.
They press a seemingly ordinary section of the wall.
Gach.
A depression appears.
A narrow, elongated hole wide enough for an arm.
They bring the crystal close to the hole.
The black crystal.
Once it turns platinum, the job is done.
They don't understand the principle behind the color change.
But they have no intention of investigating the reason.
Easy work.
Every member of the inspection team enjoys that ease.
They all know what kind of place the discarded ruin is.
But they're not interested.
Whoever gets sent there has nothing to do with them.
It's unrelated to their own lives.
As long as they can live safely and easily, that's enough.
They don't want change.
Everyone has grown completely accustomed to this ease.
The captain is the same.
He wants nothing to do with trouble.
He wants to keep doing this easy, well-paying job forever.
"Hm? Huh?"
"What is it, Captain?"
"The color isn't changing."
The black crystal doesn't react at all.
Normally, something deep inside the hole glows platinum.
In response, the crystal in their hand should change color too.
"Captain! This means—"
"Yeah."
The captain's expression turns serious.
He places a hand over his mouth with a grim look.
"This crystal has finally reached the end of its life."
"Even a magical tool handmade by the goddess has a lifespan, huh~"
Tap.
He lightly taps the crystal with his fingertip.
"We'll have to get a new one."
"Does that mean we report back to Alion when we return?"
"No—"
The captain pauses for a moment before answering.
"We can bundle it in with the regular report six months from now. We'll get it replaced then."
"Is that okay?"
"Reports like this have to go through Alion, so the paperwork's a pain. If it were just our kingdom's business, it'd be simpler. Besides, I've never been good with those document officials."
"Ahh, I get that."
The inspection team begins preparing to leave the ruin.
"Well, this report can be the usual 'no abnormalities.' There really wasn't anything different."
"What if someone actually made it out of the discarded ruin alive~?"
"Hahaha! That's impossible!"
Laughing off the joke, the captain turns back toward the ruin.
"There's never been a single record in the past of anyone surviving this place."
The discarded ruin with zero survival rate.
There's no way anything has changed.
He puts the crystal that failed its duty back into the leather pouch on his belt.
"Such easy work, honestly."