Chapter 26: First Relic Tomb (1)
After touring around the entire destroyed village looking for clues of her father, Willow led Pepper over to the shrine.
"It looks like the village was destroyed around the same time people in Edain saw the Easthill soldiers gathering around here… so my father shouldn't have been up here when they attacked! Dad must be ok, and is probably helping the villagers who managed to escape from this attack!"
Edol nodded, hoping that the girl was correct, for her sake. Neither he nor Ghost knew anything about the situation of the area or the motivations behind the attack, but being caught up in a massacre didn't sound like anything good.
"Willow, what is all this attacking stuff about? I kinda just wandered up here looking for relic tombs, I don't know anything about the area. Why would Easthill attack some random villagers?"
The girl frowned, her dark eyebrows knitting as she tried to think of why they would attack.
"I don't think they would. The people from the villages were refugees who fled north to escape from the Gate War a few hundred years ago, and decided to stay in the woods even after their ally Easthill managed to pull a reverse sweep and took control of the entire eastern half of the continent."
Ghost nodded, confirming that this was among the history he'd learned while fighting in the West.
"They are really good leaders- any attempts of corruption or slavery are quickly struck down, their track record the past two hundred years is nearly flawless. Rather than their soldiers attacking the villagers, what if they were sent here to protect them from something?"
Ghost's voice broke into Edol's mind, and the Brit then repeated it to Willow.
"Could it be the Cult of Gale? If Easthill caught wind of a pending attack on these villages, surely they would send reinforcements, right?"
Willow grit her teeth, cursing the cult in her mind.
"If Easthill's reinforcements made it here in time, then the villagers probably managed to evacuate. I already traveled to the capital to look for Dad, so they must've been forced to flee west to Miaan!"
Willow thanked Edol for showing her to the village, then walked back to her horse.
"Alright, I'll show you back to Edain before I head west!"
Just as she was about to mount Pepper, a glimmer of light near the giant oak tree caught Edol's eye.
'Hm? What's that?'
A greenish pool of light expanded from beneath the tree, and Ghost started jumping in excitement.
"Relic tomb! How lucky, we found it just as it's being revealed!"
After a moment, the green light stopped expanding and stood still, a meter-wide pool of dull light.
"Ghost I thought you said it was a tomb! What is that, a magic portal?!"
The bird hopped a few times, the possibility of adventuring through the green light clearing sparking his excitement.
"Yep, relic tomb! A miracle of the first legendary mage, the tomb spell dude! As I said before, it's useless to question how it works. If someone inscribes the tomb spell over a grave containing a legacy, eventually a relic tomb will pop up! A lot of rich people like to bury cool stuff, and the tomb spell can give rise to some pretty neat items too."
'This… just sounds like a dungeon from video games back on Earth…'
"Mm, but relic tombs aren't all fun and games! They normally form around the ex-legacy holder's worst fears. It's better to scout out a tomb before committing to exploring it fully, as some people's personal fears can be pretty freaky. It's better to aim for tombs that were created in times of war, at least you can deal with them through violence!"
Edol nodded, acknowledging the unimaginable terror whoever decided to explore his own relic tomb would experience.
A dark room, eerie screeches in the distance.
A faint clitter-clatter of countless legs getting closer, and the wooshing of wings cutting through the air. Just as the explorer's nerves reached a breaking point, Mr. Spider's terrifying form would emerge from the darkness.
It would just be the beginning of the explorer's nightmare. Soon, all of Mr. Spider's friends would join the party, accompanied by unrecognizable shapes swooping down from the air to tear into their face with fearsome talons.
Edol shivered, second-thinking his plan to explore relic tombs with Ghost.
"Don't worry about it, I can handle anything that comes our way! If we run into anything too bad, we can always just back out. Let's take on this tomb right now!"
Edol looked over to Willow, who had also taken notice of the budding relic tomb.
"Edol, are you an experienced relic hunter?"
Edol wanted to say no, but a scathing glare from Ghost cut into his back. The bird didn't want their guide trying to keep the duo from entering to explore their first tomb together.
"Ah, yea. You could say I have a bit of experience."
"Then if you're going in there, can I follow you in? I promise I won't make it ruckus- I've been in a few tombs before with some of my father's friends. I still don't know a lot about these villages, they like to keep their secrets and Dad agreed to only share what he knows with whichever of my siblings decides to take over his northern trade route when he grows old. If I can join you in there, I might get some clues about how to find my father and the rest of the villagers!"
Edol paused for a moment before accepting Willow's proposition. If she'd been in a tomb before, then she was already more experienced than himself. Even with Ghost's instructions in his ear, he knew he would still feel better with another experienced adventurer along for the ride.
"Alright, Pepper, you watch over our stuff! We'll be back in no time!"
Waving to the horse that probably couldn't understand a word he was saying, Edol, along with Willow and Ghost, stepped into the green portal and disappeared from the world.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone