On February 17, a survey team of the Nostalgia Party started to investigate the ruins of Dodola on the eastern coast.

This is a site that the "Mere Old Man" has not yet investigated in detail.

"I wonder what we can find here.

Donald said to the happy Elena as if to interrupt her.

"Well, in my experience, ruins near the sea are not very interesting.

"Oh, really?"

"Oh, is that so? Except for a few exceptions, the lack of mineral resources makes it difficult for industry to develop.

"Is that so?"

Elena is skeptical.

"Let's check it out anyway."

They are called ruins, but in essence they are the remains of an old city.

They are called ruins because they have been weathered over the years and no longer look like cities, but they vary in size.

The former Kingdom of Leonard was destroyed by about 240 years ago.

In those 240 years, most of the cities, towns, and villages have been returned to the earth.

"One of the reasons is the building materials."

Elena looked at the remaining buildings and spoke to Donald as if to confirm her suspicions.

"Yes, that's right."

Donald replied, touching the wall of the remaining building.

"It is made of stone, but it is quite soft. I think the Potrocks of the Kingdom of Elias used a lot of similar stone."

"Yes, that's right."

Oyaishi, a pumice tuff. It is easy to process, insulates well, and is fire resistant, but it is also brittle and easily weathered.

Elena and the others have concluded that this is the reason why few buildings have survived, although there may be other factors as well.

"The last time we were in Diaa was amazing, wasn't it?"

Elena muttered as we continued our investigation. Diaa is the former capital, so its scale cannot be compared to that of Dodola.

"It must be because of the sea winds and the rain..."

Donald muttered back.

Oya stone absorbs water easily and seems to deteriorate when it rains a lot.

Most of the buildings have crumbled beyond recognition and are covered with bushes and vines.

Among them, there were a few buildings that had retained most of their original shape.

"This is the wrong building material. ......"

Donald touched the stones, which were obviously of different hardness, to make sure.

"Maybe it was built in a different period."

Elena also speculated.

"If so, we might be able to get something out of it.

Elena took the initiative to enter the building.

There were no doors, probably long since decayed, and the windows were just holes.

In other words, trash, dust, and other things were blowing in, and even bushes were starting to grow, let alone grass.

"This place is as old as the rest, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

"But the buildings haven't been weathered. Why is that?　Because it's made of different materials. What's the reason for that?

"It must have been built for some special purpose."

Elena and Donald had a light-hearted conversation and got to the bottom of the matter.

"From its location, could it have been the residence of a lord or its equivalent?"

"That's a strong possibility."

Then there should be something left of it. ......

"Yes. Maybe there is a hidden room or a basement."

Donald agreed with Elena's opinion and decided to search the basement first.

"<>"

Elena used "<>" on top of her beginner's level earth magic. It is a magic to search for underground veins, but it can also tell whether there are cavities or not.

After several times.

"There is a cavity under here.

Elena has successfully found a cellar.

However, the entrance and exit are unknown.

It's possible that the room was sealed off.

"Yes, I suppose so."

Jin told me that the old Leonard Kingdom was destroyed by , so I realized that this basement might have been built to escape from that plague.

"If there were people sheltering inside at the time ......"

Donald shuddered.

* * * *

On the other hand, in Horai Island, the old man found out about this discovery and immediately checked it with a .

If something harmful was sealed inside, it would be dangerous.

But....

<>.

The old man decided to go with the flow.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"In any case, I think we need to look into it."

Elena said in a firm voice.

"Yes,......."

"But, Donald and the others, please stay away for a while. I'm the only one who can check it out."

"But, Elena, ......

"Don't worry. What danger could there be in a 240 year old cellar in the first place?"

Elena dared to ignore the events at the Botsuffa site to reassure Donald.

"Okay. Be careful."

"Yes. If there is no danger, I will call you as soon as I can.

Thus, Elena started to make a hole in the floor by herself. She intends to pull out the ceiling of the basement.

Instead of engineering magic, she uses earth magic <.

This is a good idea, since stone is easy to process with earth magic. But Elena can hardly use engineering magic at all.

In about 15 minutes, a hole is made in the basement, which is barely big enough for one person to pass through. It took a long time because the floor = ceiling of the basement was about one meter thick.

"That's enough for now. I have to do some reconnaissance first.

Elena danced into the hole without hesitation.

After a fall of about 5 meters, Elena landed on the floor.

"This is ......."

It was an empty room. In fact, it was the front room to the reference room.

It looked safe enough, so Elena called Donald.

"What's wrong, Elena?"

Donald literally came running. His guards followed him.

"Oh, there's a hole, Elena, are you in there?"

"Yes. There is nothing where we are. But there is another room ahead. I don't sense any magic, so I don't think there's any danger.

Donald is delighted to hear that.

"So I can come, too?"

"Yes, you can come."

"Yes, come." "Okay."

So Donald ordered his guards to hang a rope down into the hole.

"I'm going to go now, but keep watch. If we don't come back for too long, you'll have to make your own decision.

With these words, Donald disappeared into the hole.