LET’S ENTER THE RUINS! ①

“No matter how you look at it, it’s a door.”
“It’s a door, no matter how you look at it.”

Through Reno’s guidance, we arrived at what were supposed to be ruins.
There, we found what could only be thought of as a man-made door.

The building itself was covered in plants found in the Demon Forest, which didn’t allow you to see the whole picture, but these were definitely ruins.

Somehow, seeing a wooden door attached to a cliff felt so surreal, it was almost creepy.
Perhaps it was just made to look wooden, while it was actually made of something else.

From a fantasy perspective, you could imagine a dwarf or a half-ling walking out from inside at any moment, but this was the Demon Forest.
Such a thing was impossible.

“Reno, for the time being, could you open it after checking for traps?”
“Eeh!? I’m going to open it?”
“Of course. After all you’re the one who found it, plus you’re the scout for this party.”

As unsettling as it was, ruins had to be checked thoroughly.
Using trap detection on the door, if there were any traps on it, we’d have to dig up the cliff in order to find another entrance.

It would have been just as well for me to perform [Trap Detection], but that would be detrimental for Reno’s growth.
I wanted her to grow capable enough to do these things on her own.

Although, I had already cast [Trap Detection] on the door unbeknownst to Reno, in order to confirm that there weren’t any.
It’s better if she also did it as practice for later.

“…Okay, I’ll do it!…[Trap Detection].”

Reno walked ahead of us in front of the door.
She then cast [Trap Detection] on it.

After waiting a while for a reaction, she turned back towards me with an anxious face.

“…Lain nii-chan. It’s fine, probably…”
“Good. Now use the [Unlock] spell to open the door.”

As I say that, Reno breathes a sigh of relief.

If there were no traps, [Trap Detection] would simply give no reaction.

It’s difficult to judge whether your magic was successfully cast sometimes, like in case of traps.
Reno had practiced [Trap Detection] a number of times before, but doing it for real here must have made her nervous.

Relieved at knowing that she didn’t make a mistake, she faced the door again with pride.

“Got it!…[Unlock].”

This time, having definitely heard the unlocking sound, she showed us a face filled with excitement.

“Lain nii-chan! It came off!!”
“It did. As expected of Reno.”
“Ehehe~!”

As I praise her while patting her head, Reno starts playing around like a dog.
She must have been anxious about the real deal, so her skin-ship was more intense than usual.

“Aria, you can now open the door.”
“Got it.”

After patting Reno till she was satisfied, I allowed Aria to enter since she seemed raring to do so.
No matter how much she wanted to go in, she couldn’t enter on her own before everyone else was ready.

The door opened slowly with a creaking sound.

There weren’t any monsters inside as far as I could tell.

Inside the ruins, a corridor extended towards the back.
There were a total of three doors in that corridor. One on each side, and one at the end of it.

There were no objects, and it didn’t feel lived-in at all, but calling it a private residence made the most sense after seeing it.

“Is it someone’s house, perhaps?”
“It feels like that.”

Buildings which were capable of becoming ruins, were pretty strong to begin with.
That’s why they were commonly libraries, museums, laboratories, schools, and other public facilities.
On rare occasions, the residences of aristocrats also became ruins, but it was rare to find common residences turned into one.

Well, it’s not simply rare.
If you survive while your house got consumed by the forest, because the house was made sufficiently robust, then it had a high chance of becoming a ruin.
This was the first time I was seeing one though.

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This house must have also been strongly built.
It was in a shallow area of the Demon forest, so the erosion power here must also be weaker when compared to deeper regions.

“Well, we’ll know once we explore it. Reno, could you explore the insides while keeping [Trap Detection] on?”
“Got it!”

Having gained confidence from using the [Unlock] spell earlier, Reno took the lead proudly.

“There aren’t any traps here-“

As she skipped around full of energy, we followed after her with bitter smiles on our faces.

***

“This has to be someone’s house for sure.”
“”You’re right.”

It was undoubtedly a private residence.
The room furthest in the back lead to a living room, while the one on the left turned out to be a bedroom, and the door to the right lead to a study room.

Each room had possessions left behind in it, and though I had no idea what happened to the owner of the house, I’m sure they never came back for them.

“Aren’t you glad though, Lain? About finding books from ancient magician civilization?”
“Yeah, I could never have believed I could find so many books in one place.”

We could only find things like household goods from the living room and bedroom, but we found a lot of books in the study.
In the latter half of magician civilization, most books were exchanged in an E-book like format, rather than print, so you couldn’t find that many books even in libraries, but the owner of this house had as many as 10 in his possession.
There were other books, but they had deteriorated enough to the point of being unreadable. However the 10 books we found, which seemed to be from the middle periods, were perfectly readable as long as we used [State Preservation] on them.
This is seriously lucky.

“Oo-i, Lain nii-chan, there’s something over here.”

While I was in a good mood flipping through the books, Reno called me towards the back of the study room.

“Did something happen?”
“There’s something like a door, behind these bookshelves.”

As I shut the book in my hand and head towards Reno, I saw her peaking inside the gap between a bookshelf and the wall.
She supposedly noticed a door in that gap on the wall.

“Let’s see.”

As I mimicked Reno and peaked inside the gap, I saw what resembled a door there.
That was really sharp of her to find it.

“You’re right. We might be able to shift this bookshelf.”
“Really!?”

Everyone loved gimmicks like these.

As I said that, Reno searched all over the bookshelf.

There, she found casters attached to the bookshelf, which let her know it could be slid sideways.

“Then let’s move it.”
“Yep!”
“”Ready, set-!””

Reno and I worked together to slide the bookshelf.
Doing so allowed us to see the black door hidden behind it.

“Ooh! Let’s open it!!”
“Wait, Reno! [Trap Detection]?”
“Ah!”

As I warn her, Reno stiffened her shoulders immediately.
She then turned towards me with a guilty look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I love these sort of hidden doors as well, so I get how you’re feeling. However, these are also the places where traps are most likely to be set, got it?”
“Yes…”

I lightly stroke Reno’s head.

I am a boy, after all.
I know just how easy it is to get excited when you find these things.

“Don’t worry about it. Just act more cautious next time. I’m here with you, after all.”
“Yeah!”

I looked over Reno who had somewhat regained her energy, as she performed [Trap Detection] magic on the door.

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