"Luke, where are the three of you actually going?" I asked.
I didn't know anything about Luke, Hime, and Yuu-chan going out during the day today.
Then, when I asked him about it, he didn't answer at all and instead tried to change the topic.
What is actually going on? Is it something that I'm not even allowed to know?
"Yukito, it's better for you to spend today with Iris. You need to awaken her power, right?" Luke said before leaving the room.
All I could do was lie on my bed, my head filled with thoughts about them.
Hah… rather than doing nothing like this, it seems I really should spend the whole day with Iris.
If Iris manages to awaken her power, then our party will have no further reason to stay here.
But yeah… if Iris is the one who asks for it, I think the others and I wouldn't mind staying a little longer.
——
(Luke side)
As Hime-san said yesterday, the three of us are going to the ancient ruins that Loki-san talked about.
If my guess is correct, Abbys might be trying to attack Riruyo through underground routes.
Those ancient ruins must be very deep, so the barrier on the surface won't be able to affect the depths underground.
Because they are called ancient ruins, if there are additional rooms, then it feels more like a dungeon.
However, since elves are a race that lives for a long time, they surely wouldn't lie about the ancient ruins.
And most likely, the additional room on the deepest floor of the ruins was created by something.
Whether by humans, elves, or Abbys and its monsters.
"Luke, hurry up."
"Yeah, yeah," I replied.
——
(Hime side)
Yuu-chan, Luke, and I went to the ancient ruins that Loki-san mentioned earlier.
As we had agreed, only the three of us would go there, and we didn't invite Yukito-san because he should be building a closer relationship with the princess.
Even though it feels a bit lonely without Yukito-san, this is the best thing we can do.
If Yukito-san were to come with us, I'm worried that Iris might feel like she isn't being given enough attention by him.
If that happens, the relationship between Iris and Yukito-san could grow distant, and at worst, our mission here could fail.
—
Loki-san gave us a map, and the location of the ruins was marked within this fairly large map.
"Hime, Luke, look at this!" Yuu-chan called out to the two of us.
While Luke and I were still reading the map, Yuu-chan had already gone ahead to see what was in front of us.
If she called out to us like that, it meant she had found something.
Luke and I immediately ran lightly toward where Yuu-chan's voice was coming from.
"What is it?" Luke asked.
When we arrived behind Yuu-chan, we saw something.
In front of us stood a fairly tall building, but it was damaged and nearly collapsed, with its walls covered in moss.
This place seemed to have been abandoned for a very long time, making it look completely derelict.
But if we found a place like this, then there was only one conclusion. We had arrived at the ancient ruins.
"It seems this really is the place. So, what do you think—should we go in right away?" I asked the two of them.
"Aren't we supposed to go in anyway?" Luke asked.
"That's right. We should finish this investigation quickly," Yuu-chan replied.
——
Inside the building on the surface, there was nothing at all—just an empty, dark room.
Along the walls were small torch-like flames that seemed to be created by magic.
When I tried to touch them, I didn't feel any heat at all; in fact, the flames didn't move in the slightest.
Still, the light from the torches was enough to illuminate part of the room, so it seemed to be some kind of illusion magic or something similar.
At the far end of this large room, there was a staircase leading downward, which meant it was the way into the ruins.
The three of us slowly entered, remaining cautious since we didn't know what awaited us inside the ruins.
Yuu-chan and I walked at the front, while Luke stayed behind us.
Luke himself said that he could watch over us from the rear while also keeping a close eye on the surroundings.
After the staircase ended, we arrived at a large room with nothing else inside it.
There was only another staircase leading to the lowest floor, and if this kept up, the three of us could only continue descending until we reached the very bottom.
—
Hah… hah… we finally reached the lowest floor of the ruins. Since there was nothing on the previous floors, we kept descending the stairs without stopping.
Luke went ahead first, leaving Yuu-chan and me to rest briefly on the stairs.
It was only natural that the two of us were exhausted; most magic users don't have much stamina.
But Luke was different. I had never seen him fight before, so I didn't know what kind of weapon he used.
If he still had stamina left even now, I guessed he must be a sword user or someone who fights at close range.
Those kinds of weapons can only be used by people who train hard and have strong stamina.
With the help of my Light magic, I created a floating sphere of light above us, which illuminated the path leading to this floor.
I had already given one to Luke since he went ahead, while I kept another for myself and Yuu-chan so we wouldn't be swallowed by the darkness.
Only a few dozen seconds passed after Luke left us before he finally returned.
"So, how was it?" I asked.
"There's nothing there. I did find that new room, though. It's better if you see it for yourselves," Luke said, urging us on.
Yuu-chan and I stood up from the stairs and followed Luke.
Eventually, we arrived in front of a large room that looked as though it had been built by someone.
That additional room was almost like a large corridor connecting the ruins to somewhere else.
But because we were worried about what might be inside, we only observed the exterior.
No monsters appeared here either; these ruins truly had no life within them at all.
"So… does that mean we came all this way without gaining anything?" Yuu-chan asked.
"Not necessarily. We've confirmed that, for now, there are no monsters or anything like that in these ruins. As for the additional room, we'll discuss it again with Loki-san," I replied.
Luke nodded, and I could tell he agreed with my opinion.
"We don't know much more about these ruins yet. So it's better if we head back for now and discuss it again," Luke said.
Luke and Yuu-chan started climbing the stairs, while I remained behind, wanting to take one last look at the room.
There really was nothing there, but for some reason, I had a bad feeling when looking at this place.
"Hime, what are you doing?"
I turned forward and saw Yuu-chan looking at me as she called out.
"Ah, right. I'm coming," I replied.
I lightly ran toward her, and the three of us managed to leave this place without obtaining a single item.