Volume 4 - CH 2

We found an anomaly in the mana flow of wilderness and tried to find the cause of it which led us to discover an underground shelter of the ancient magic civilization buried underground for 2000 years. We found the remnants of human skeletons and mummified corpses when we made our way inside.

"So that means not all of the ancient magic civilization was immediately reduced to ashes by the runaway magic experiment? There seemed to have been some delay so they were able to retreat to this underground shelter, got locked up inside, and ended up like this......"

"It's sad."

Whatever the case, I decided to bury them above ground under the sun after 2000 years of being stuck here.

Rattle

I had just taken one step forward when the mummies and skeletons scattered around made rattling sounds and poisonous-looking smoke came out from the underground shelter to envelope this place filled with stagnant air.

"Majou-sama, there are enemies!"

"I wonder if it's a spirit-type monster or something."

The growing poisonous mist took the shape of a huge gaseous spirit monster that let out resentful voices.

«一It hurts, It's painful, it's cold, no food.»

«Help, anyone, take us, out, from here.»

«I don't want to die, I don't want to die like this.»

"A monster born out of the accumulated grudges of people's grief and their fear of death which then brewed deep underground for 2000 years. I think it's some sort of Fear Spirit."

The Fear Spirit tried to chase after us when I grabbed Teto's hand and escaped to the surface through the big hole I had made using flying magic but it couldn't leave after reaching a certain range.

"Hmm, so it's like an earthbound spirit. It's tied to the underground shelter."

I understood the situation by looking at the Fear Spirit and the underground shelter through my mana-enhanced eyes.

The whole story could be summarized as the resentment of the deceased who had been left behind 2000 years ago had fermented here for all these years and it began to absorb mana from the «Empty Wilderness» when the mana density of the land increased. After saving enough mana, it bound itself to the underground shelter and manifested its existence.

This whole situation gave birth to an earthbound spirit that couldn't leave the premise of the underground shelter.

"It isn't much of a threat since it was born in a low mana environment even if it's a 2000-year-old collective spirit."

"Majou-sama, I can't bear to look at the pitiful state of these children. Let's free them quickly."

Teto requested me with a sorrowful voice.

Earthnoid Teto was originally born out of a clay golem that had taken in an earth spirit who had its ego destroyed after being trapped in a dungeon.

She might have been influenced by the feeling of the earth spirit which couldn't bear to see someone else being trapped in the same way.

"Of course, let's help them. 一一«Purification»!"

I used the purification spell from above the underground shelter. The waves of purifying magic passed through the building and rained down on the Fear Spirit.

« « «Aaaahhhh一一» » »!

The surge of cleansing mana destroyed the mist form of the Fear Spirit which caused it to howl in anguish.

However, that voice gradually faded alongside the disintegrating mist body of the Fear Spirit. After that, the grudge and soul of the Fear Spirit also got purified.

"Is this the end, Majou-sama?"

"Yeah, there shouldn't be any more evil spirits left behind."

I had fired that purification spell using 50,000 units of mana, which was almost half of my whole reserve. All of the evil spirits were cleansed without getting any chance to escape from the overwhelming mana.

Then I used wind magic to send fresh air inside the building and carried out the corpses and trash with Teto.

"Majou-sama~, is it alright to cremate all the bones and dead bodies?"

"Yeah, we’ll burn them later after collecting them in one place."

"Roger!"

Teto and I carefully carried the bones and dead bodies to the surface, burned them with fire magic, and scattered the leftover ashes with wind magic.

"May you all reincarnate and lead new lives."

I faced the scattered ashes and prayed for their souls to lead new lives just like how I had been reincarnated into this world.

«一一Thank you, we're finally free.»

We felt like the wind carried these words to our ears.

"Now that this is sorted out, let's restart our investigation of the underground shelter."

"Right-nanodesu!"

There was the incident of a resentment-filled spirit monster halting our advance but we finally resumed our investigation regarding the inner part of the shelter.

There were wreckages of disaster prevention tools for emergencies mixed in with the garbage of the underground shelter.

In fact, there were also residues of preservation magic on the remains of the tools which had modern catchphrases like “A disaster relief item guaranteed to last for 1000 years.”

But sure enough, even they couldn't withstand the passage of time and were in a half-weathered state.

We also found broken remains of guard golems and other similar things, most likely due to the strife underground. As we were carrying them out, we spotted something that was absorbing the mana we released in the same way as the underground shelter did the last time.

"This is, a human? I thought we already took out all the dead bodies. There are still some left?"

"No, Majou-sama. That's not a human."

"Not a human...... So it's a doll?"

Its outer skin had peeled off due to degradation over time and it may have been damaged during the strife among the refugees as the limbs of the bare metal skeleton were shattered.

The doll, carved to look like a human, was absorbing mana as if breathing.

"I wonder if it's functional."

"It might be dangerous, Majou-sama.”

"Don't worry. 一一«Charge»!"

I held my hand over the doll and transmitted my mana in the same way as when I replenished Teto's mana.

The doll shined slightly as it absorbed my mana and opened its eyes.

«...... Good morning. I'm Service Doll Model B20984. Current status, to be sent to the manufacturer due to damages incurred, requesting repair.»

The doll's voice was hard to listen to, maybe its vocal cord had degraded.

"Service doll...... Do you remember the situation?"

«Situation...... I was deployed in order to take care of the refugees inside the shelter and was damaged when I attempted to mediate the infighting among fellow humans on the 67th day. I confirm that I went into long-term sleep mode due to low mana reserve. Are you a rescuer?»

"No, you can say we're Archeologists. Everyone that had been inside this shelter had already perished and we just cremated them above ground. Also, 2000 years have passed since the era you have lived in."

«......I see. The situation, if you don't mind, can you tell me in detail?»

"I don't mind. Let's talk after carrying you to our home. Teto."

"Leave it to me-nanodesu!"

Teto gently hugged the service doll and carried it while I searched for its broken limbs to take them back with us.