With the glass globe providing light, the pair slowly floated down toward the bottom of the cave they found themselves inside of. The globe followed and illuminated the area around them while still growing brighter. Sadly, that didn't mean much until they came closer to the ground. The first thing either noticed as the floor of the cave was illuminated was the small glitters of dust covered gold coins. Their landing, even as gentle as it was, sent up a small cloud of dust and revealed more treasure just scattered about.
Junichiro looked up at where they'd come from and hummed, "At least a hundred meters between us and the entrance we made. Combine that with the ramp and vertical shaft... a kilometer and a half below street level? Somewhere around there."
He looked to Mittelt as she bent over to pick up a gold coin. She whistled a little, the sound echoing around them, "This is a roman coin. It's at least twenty-five hundred years old, probably older. I'm not an expert on that kind of thing. I just remember using coins like this about that long ago."
Junichiro stroked his chin as the light continued to build and reveal more of the massive open space. He could see the shadows of stalactites and stalagmites here and there. The glitter of treasure was also becoming more prominent as the distance they could see improved. He looked back to Mittelt, "Dragon hoard?"
Mittelt froze at his question, then groaned while nodding her head, "Seems likely. If it is though, it's either abandoned, or the dragon is dead. There's only a few places where dragons can live in safety and the Earth isn't one of them. I believe most dragons live under the protection of the Meteor Dragon in the underworld. I can never remember his actual name. There's also a few young ones of the smaller breeds in the Familiar Forest. But any dragon old enough to collect Roman gold coins? Dead or lives in the Underworld."
Junichiro nodded in understanding. He knew who she meant when talking about the 'Meteor Dragon.' It was the huge bipedal one that was in... Sirzech's? At least he thought it was Sirzech's peerage. Either way, it was the huge purple one that trained Issei for a while, if he wasn't completely mistaken. They continued to poke and prod at the various coins, gems, and odd bits of rusted metal that likely used to be non-magical weapons or armor while the light continued to grow brighter and spread. As the light grew brighter it flew up higher to keep from blinding the pair with its brightness.
Eventually it was bright enough for the pair to see the entire interior of the cave they found themselves inside of. It was massive, easily a couple of kilometers wide, another kilometer long, and they had no idea exactly how deep as the floor seemed to sink down in the direction the treasure led. Almost like a pool filled with gold, jewels, and other items. The amount of wealth within the cave was ungodly, they'd found raw diamonds the size of their heads!
In addition to all the mundane treasure, Junichiro's magical senses had felt a number of magical treasures buried within all the gold. None of them felt strong enough to be Excalibur's Scabbard though. As the light finally filled the last of the cave, they got the biggest surprise at the very end of the cave on top of the deepest part of the treasure pit.
Junichiro picked up one of the multitudes of the item and held it up to inspect while asking Mittelt, "Is this what I think it is?"
Mittelt carefully ran her fingertips over the item and slowly nodded, "I think so."
The pair of them were closely examining a dragon scale of rather large proportions. It was the size of Junichiro's torso and only one of hundreds laying around the cave. All of them were stark white, but several of them had blue accents making for a color combination that was very familiar to the pair.
"You think this was one of his caves?"
Mittelt shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe. He is an English dragon, after all."
Junichiro nodded and slowly lowered the scale to look at the collection of them laying around, "Albion's scales."
Mittelt nodded, "Yes, my best guess, given what we know happened to Albion and when Excalibur's Scabbard went missing, plus their size. They were the last scales shed by Albion before his death and subsequent sealing into a Sacred Gear." She looked at some of the smaller ones nearby, "Or at least some of them were. I think there's scales here from various points in his life. Those small scales definitely came from when he was much younger." She looked at Junichiro seriously, "This could be his primary horde."
Junichiro nodded in understanding. There were significantly more of the smaller scales than the larger ones indicating that fewer scales were shed as Albion grew older. He slowly smiled until he almost looked manic, "Even so, there are so many of them for me to work with! I've only been able to get small amounts of scales from young dragons. Even if these are three thousand years, or more, old, they will still make amazing things!"
They would too. He'd checked them with his Artificer abilities and couldn't believe the properties they contained. The only way they could be any more amazing is if they still contained Albion's ability to Divide the power of his enemies. Despite not having that ability within them, they would still make amazingly powerful weapons, items, and armor. He could picture and unbelievable amount of things he could make with them, "These alone make the trip here worthwhile."
He tilted his head a bit, "The time line doesn't make much sense though."
"What do you mean?"
Well. The roman coins suggest that this place is at least something like twenty-five hundred years old right?"
At her nod he continued, "The scabbard for Excalibur only went missing some twelve to thirteen hundred years ago, right?"
Another nod, "So... if this was Albion's place, then his last visit would have been about twelve to thirteen hundred years ago. When was he sealed?"
Mittelt thought for a bit before answering, "About that long ago. I'm not sure of exactly when. But within a couple hundred years of the scabbard's disappearance. Though that does bring up the question, why has no wielder of Divine Dividing ever been told of the scabbard's location?"