บท 31: Taking a Rest
The fog had already reached Edol's shoulders when Ghost suddenly called for the trio to pause their advance.
"There's a light up there, blue. Keep an eye out for danger as we get closer."
The trees began thinning out into a small clearing, and soon the blue portal fell into the vision of the group. The light emitted by the portal combined with the faint light of the moon, allowing Edol to more clearly see his friends.
Even in the darkness earlier, he'd been able to make out the dampness of Willow's clothes and that Ghost was soaked in blood, but now he noticed something he'd missed before. Cloth had been wrapped around one of the girl's arms, and a faint splotch of blood could be seen soaking through the makeshift bandage.
Noticing where Edol was looking, Ghost reassured Edol that he'd sneakily used his water legacy to ensure the bandage was clean.
Before Edol could scold Ghost for letting their new companion be injured or ask Willow if she was ok, the girl pointed to the portal in excitement.
"Look! Doesn't it look a bit like Danu's cleansing spell?"
Edol and Ghost's attention snapped over to examining the portal, but the patterns within it had already changed.
"Wow… I didn't think a tomb within a tomb was possible. I never saw anything like this in my past life. I guess the tomb of a legend is different."
Willow had a similar expression to Ghost. While she hadn't been in nearly as many tombs as Ghost had, She'd traveled all around the continent with her father and had never heard of such a thing.
The girl's eyebrows knit as she thought of a frightening possibility.
"What if this isn't a tomb within a tomb, but is just someone's fear? Maybe someone buried here once ventured into Danu's tomb, and whatever they saw in there scared them enough that it ended up imprinted here?"
Not a bad idea, but the timelines didn't match up. According to what Willow had shared with Ghost and Edol earlier, Danu had been born a good sixty years after refugees moved north into the villages, and the northerners hadn't had to deal with war or attackers since then.
The men who ambushed the group earlier had been identified by Willow to likely be soldiers who'd pushed the northerners out during the Gate War- they could only have been in the memories of someone who'd lived during that time.
"Either way, it's dangerous. If there's something in a tomb that you can't approach, it's better to back off and make a plan."
Ghost motioned towards the flowing blue portal.
"Who knows what'll happen if we try to enter that. Also, we spent most of the day traveling and exploring the forest part of the tomb. We haven't rested for a long while. Remember how I would always take regular breaks back when we were fighting? Rest is imperative to survival."
Edol agreed with Ghost's decision to back out, as he was also growing quite tired. He'd already been forced to walk multiple kilometers through the northern woods before entering the tomb and fighting off ambushers, so taking a break sounded like heaven.
"Willow, let's back out of the tomb for now. It'll probably be getting dark out back outside right about now, we shouldn't leave Pepper alone out there."
A bit of disappointment seeped into Willow's eyes at the idea of not being able to finish their expedition. Her dissatisfaction was doubled by the fact that they'd yet to find any loot in the tomb.
So far, the only things that possibly could've been worth something were the swords and leather armor used by the ambushers- items that were of such low quality that no one among the group had bothered to loot the bodies. No one would care to buy a trashy sword that would probably break from swinging it a bit too hard.
This was one type of loot that could be acquired from tombs- taking items off whatever was conjured up by the tomb maker's fears. In most cases, this stuff was largely worthless. Rusty, worn gear was the norm for most tombs.
Another type of loot was stuff the owners had been buried with. It could be hidden randomly throughout the tomb, or buried all in one place near the deepest part of the tomb- this was likely the case here, as the group had yet to discover anything of value.
The final loot to be gained from tombs were legacies- these always being located at the deepest and hardest-to-reach area within the tomb. Depending on the strength of the legacy, they could be huge sources of profit for relic hunters.
Even after making zero profit from the tomb, most relic hunters wouldn't consider the expedition to have been a total loss. Gaining valuable experience in exploration without losing any members of the team was always positive, and outweighed the loss of potential profit.
'I should get more established here in this world before we return to finish exploring this tomb. I also can't forget that the original goal of coming in here was to learn more about spells and the northern villagers. Wait… how exactly was coming in here supposed to make me better at designing spells?'
The trio was already walking out to the entrance of the tomb, and Ghost began explaining another use of tombs to Edol as they walked. Along with the fears given physical forms, many tombs would contain traps in the form of natural spells. Examining said trap spells could give insights to prospective mages. Many relic teams included at least one member knowledgeable in spells, as someone was needed to unravel some traps.
Finally reaching the exit, the gloominess of the dark forest faded away as the group stepped outside… into another dark forest.
'Ahh, so nice to finally be back out! We were only in there for a few hours at most, but with that nasty atmosphere, it felt like ages.'
Edol ignored that his surroundings had hardly changed while leaving the tomb, and walked over to where a bored-looking Pepper was chewing errantly on some grass.
"Yo, Peps! How's it hangin, broman?"
Receiving a look that conveyed the feeling of "I'm not with this guy" from Pepper, Edol grabbed his heart and staggered away from the horse. Looking around, he saw that Ghost had already burrowed into the undergrowth, making a mini nest for himself a few meters from Pepper.
The sky was still clear and glimmers of moonlight were breaking through the canopy- there wasn't a cloud in sight. After having spent months in 'hell' without a bed, Edol had already grown used to sleeping on a hard dirt floor. After confirming that the weather looked fine, the young Brit quickly picked out a random spot under a bush, curled up, and promptly fell asleep.
Taking a hint from Ghost and Edol, Pepper joined the duo in sleeping on the ground, leaving Willow to question their actions.
"Huh? What is he doing… Oh!"
'Wow… Edol is such a dedicated father to Nibbles. He even forsakes simple bedding and a tent just to sleep closer to his treasured son. Maybe I should try sleeping out in the open too!'
Willow had packed a small tent and blankets to rest in for her trip, but after witnessing Edol's incredible display of fatherhood, she decided to just sleep on the ground beside Pepper instead.
The next morning…
"Ack! Why is everything sore? My neck…"
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง