Chapter 3: 2. In The Ruins

—3rd Person POV—

 

A clearing in the woods was illuminated by the sunlight, the sun stood on its rightful place at the center of the skies and refused to let anyone ignore its shine. It was from the gaps of such a bright forest that a pair of girls walked out.

 

Holding tools of woodcutting and rock mining on their backs, alongside large bags made of leather, they managed to cut through the foliage and step into the grassy open area; a place with severe semblance to a pasture, where animals could freely come and go on a whim.

 

Their faces would continue to drop beads of sweat regardless of their efforts to wipe it dry, but it was a price they were willing to pay for the greater reward that awaited for them not so far.

 

A building, hidden by the tall stalks of grass that covered any trails that they may have made as they walked forward, one behind the other, it was in a state of disrepair; a decrepit residence, wherein lies their goal.

 

And once the pair spotted the entrance, they held their excitement in check and discussed their next move.

 

“The place is just as we were told,” the taller and blonde, long haired girl pointed to the outside walls, “how can something important be left here?”

 

The girl right behind her had short and dark brown hair. Her hand brushed one of the fences next to the entrance, and wiped off a thick layer of dust from it, “I cannot disagree, but since we were sent here by the oracle, we mustn’t return for a reason as small as that,” she then proceeded to clean her hand with a handkerchief but didn’t dispose of it, instead she stored it in her bag’s side pocket.

 

“I wasn’t trying to— forget it, let’s get this over and done with,” She put her bag down. And, then, took a mace out of it, held it up with her left hand and gave it a quick check-up.

 

The other girl gently put down her bag and took out a clean but extremely adorned piece of cloth, one so big that it might cover a whole vase if necessary, “now, if you will,” she gestured towards the decaying wooden door.

 

“Sure, don’t mind if I do.”

 

Her right hand reached out to the door, and with the slightest strength in it, she slowly pushed it open, as anything that could resemble a lock was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Crap,” she pulled hand back once several insects ran out of the small opening, and one tried to run directly towards her hand, “I hate those things.”

 

“Hu fufu.”

 

A chuckle escaped from her companion’s lips at the sight, but she chose to let it go after a stern, and momentaneous glare. 

 

As soon as the insects stopped crawling out of the gap, she reapproached the door and carried on with opening it, slowly allowing the room to be completely illuminated by the sun above their heads.

 

Their shadows entered the room before they could take a step inside, and a single glance around the room was enough to tell them how unkind the passage of time could be.

 

Blonde girl covered her nose, “so dusty that it could kill,” and then waved the floating particles in front of her away with the same hand.

 

“Such is the case,” the short-haired girl squints her eyes as they try to adjust themselves to the less illuminated parts of the room.

 

She ignored the extremely worm filled stone sink to her left, and noticed the signals of decay on the furniture. Such as the broken down wooden table at the center, with the surface on the floor and the four broken legs spread randomly across the room.

 

Some books were on the ground in front of a broken tall shelf.

 

“What an odd way of breaking,” her companion pointed out at how every single plank had broken specifically in the middle, as if something external had caused it.

 

“Who knows, since the windows are broken, some small animal must’ve gotten inside and made a mess.”

 

“Perhaps,” the short-haired girl wasn’t very convinced but didn’t dwell on it any further. Instead, she thoroughly inspected the area with her eyes, looking for something specific.

 

They circled around the remains of the table and the blonde girl started to, absentmindedly, look through the windows. While the other noticed a fallen cabinet, it had a part of its top broken even without any hint of mold on that area.

 

“What may this be?”

 

“Huh? Found something?”

 

“This apparel, do you recognize it?” She picked up a cubic shaped machine from the floor beside the side of the cabinet, with some sort of circular glass on the front and intricate design.

 

“No, I’ve never seen something like this.”

 

“Could it be,” she kneeled and laid the machine on top of the embroidered cloth, and on her lap, and started to talk in a softer tone as her eyes closed, “o’ lord of knowledge, father of wisdom, reveal thee form and share thee vision—”

 

“Appraisal.”

 

Her surroundings began to glow, the particles of dust were swapped by particles of cyan blue lights and a similarly colored circle materialized below her feet, displaying a four-point star at its center.

 

[Category: (Ancient) Camera.]

[Grade: Relic]

[Level: 1 | F-Rank]

You are reading story Reincarnated as a Camera: I Will Build up a Worldly Portfolio at novel35.com

[Features: (Photo Shooting), (Manual Trigger)]

[Remaining uses: 10]

 

And right after the glow disappeared, a status screen was displayed.

 

“As I thought.”

 

“Jackpot!” Blonde girl almost hit the windows when she jumped with joy on her face.

 

Before getting up, she wrapped the object with the cloth and made sure to tie it firmly, so as to not damage it in any circumstances.

 

“Oh, man, we are getting a relic out of this,” the blonde girl was spinning and kicking around without a care, “the pay is finally becoming worth the efforts.”

 

“Do not fail to recall what we were sent here for,” but her companion didn’t share such joyful emotions.

 

“Yes, yes, your strict-ness.”

 

They inspected every corner of the room, turning the place upside down before the blonde girl pointed out a construction at what would be the backyard of the house. So they went back outside, stored the wrapped object cautiously, and her mace, and then headed to the backyard with their bags.

 

An open and stone made building that resembled a sanctuary. With a statue of the well-known deity in the center of a pedestal, and a man-made pond around it, with a single stand  set up in front of the pedestal for kneeled prayers to be done.

 

The duo inspected all corners and even under the pond’s shallow water, but their search came to bear no fruits.

 

“No one is here anymore.”

 

“Indeed, it is possible that we were too late to welcome the visitor.”

 

They stood in front of the makeshift sanctuary for a while, and then took their leave before the sun could decide to rest on the bed that is the horizon.

 

Their steps caused the cracking of branches and thick foliage to echo as they proceeded through the same path that they had taken to reach this place. Having to navigate through a jungle of bushes and vines, where trees were in minor numbers and smaller creatures reigned supreme over the medium sized ones.

 

Serpent-looking animals, furballs holding onto hazelnuts as they hang upside down on trees, felines with scales all over their bodies instead of fur, and many other species were seen, scared off, and killed on their way back. But it wasn’t until the cracking sounds became the crackling of a bonfire that they stopped walking.

 

"What's a camera though," the blonde girl held the relic they had found in the ruins, motioning it on several sides to get a better understanding of its structure.

 

“I beg that you do not damage the relic, if you please,” the short-haired girl sat on the other side of the bonfire, with a porcelain cup filled with a warm and densely blue liquid, “we do not wish to depreciate its value, do we?” She sipped on it and her stoic expression slowly changed into a smile.

 

“You may say that, but I know you’re also curious. What can this thing do? Is it better to keep it than sell it? Yeah, we know it has limited uses, but they can be life-saving, no?”

 

“I believe it would be a proper course of action to show it to the contractor before making any decisions.”

 

She sighed, “you temple dwellers…” But then she noticed a small glass part on the back of the camera, “hm? What is this?”

 

Looking into the glass she realized that it was possible to see through the relic, as if she was looking through a window. And with both of her hands on the handles, she thought that it was just the right position to reach that spherical part sticking out of the top right surface like a sore thumb.

 

“Maybe if I press this,” she placed her right hand’s index finger on top of the spherical button.

 

“What are you planning, pointing that towards me?”

 

Click

 

““Huh?””

 

The duo reacted in the same way as a not so loud but distinguishable sound came out of the machine. It was the same noise as when a branch or a finger snapped, so they both started to grow beads of sweat on their foreheads.

 

“What did you—” the short-haired girl stood up immediately.

 

“No! No, calm down. I didn’t do anything.”

 

Schwiii

 

Another noise was made by the camera, and this time it came along with a piece of paper that slid out of the bottom and dropped onto the grassy ground.

 

“Hey,” the blonde girl picked it up and waved it a bit to drive away the leaves that held onto the paper, once she saw that one side was completely white she turned it around, “isn’t this—”

 

“—You?”

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