It was no easy task to pry Magreta off when she came rushing at me.
Only after I had struggled to calm her down was I finally able to explain to the two of them how I had learned what I knew.
“After the door closed, there was nothing I could do here.”
A vast underground plaza, an empty glass dome in the center, and an empty shelf before it.
The two of them would surely feel that there was nothing left in this place either.
Just a short while ago, it had looked completely different, but I had no intention of telling them that.
“I had no choice but to stand in front of the shelf, and then I saw an image. The person who appeared on the screen gave a basic explanation, along with instructions on how to temporarily stop the storm and open the door.”
What I had been told was different, but it was true that I had seen an image.
“You’re saying an image appeared in midair and told you? This isn’t a movie. Does that even make sense?”
Carlo did not believe me.
It seemed he had never seen such a projection before.
Come to think of it, spatial movement had a similar feeling to it.
On top of that, he was the one who had mentioned movies when the door opened.
And yet he couldn’t believe it because it was too much like a movie…
Just as I was trying to come up with another excuse,
Magreta stepped in.
“There are cases like that in ruins where the functions are still alive.”
Magreta believed me.
She knew of ruins where holographic images remained.
Since I had been the only one to see a hologram in the last ruins, the ruins she knew of had to be either on Earth or on another planet.
I wanted to ask where those ruins were, but once again, I did not.
Once time passed and trust built up, I would find out.
There was no need to invite needless suspicion.
“And what else did you learn?”
“That’s all. I only learned that the ruins are still active, and that this planet’s environment is being maintained because of them.”
The translation artifact was far more useful than I had thought.
If I hadn’t had the artifact, I might not have been able to make excuses this time either.
I had thought of it as a substitute for a translation app, but I had been wrong.
At my words, Magreta furrowed her brow and asked me,
“This facility is also operating by magic, isn’t it?”
“Yes. They said it absorbs the dark energy in the surroundings to maintain the facility. They also said that’s why the surrounding area turned into sand.”
She let out a small sigh.
“So this is the same too…”
Along with the sigh came a meaningful mutter.
Before I could even wonder what she meant, her expression relaxed.
“Still, finding a terraforming facility is a tremendous achievement. If we report this to the higher-ups, you should be able to receive a separate reward.”
She was talking about the per-operation allowance from the contract before.
I had almost forgotten about it because of the enormous transport costs I had heard afterward, but there was no way I would refuse money.
“I’ll get one too, right?”
“Carlo, you’ll have to ask David about that.”
“David is fussy. Honestly, it’s not like I did that much.”
“As long as you know.”
Carlo tried to slip into the conversation, but Magreta’s words left him with nothing to gain.
“Let’s hurry. We need to inform Earth as quickly as possible that we’ve discovered ruins.”
At her words, I had no choice but to tilt my head.
“Even if we leave early, we won’t be able to go straight to Earth, will we?”
“It took time because two people were traveling together. If it’s just one person, it won’t even take a week.”
“You’re saying you’ll go alone.”
“Ah… I suppose that’s how it works out.”
At my words, Magreta looked troubled.
I shrugged.
“It can’t be helped.”
I wasn’t a little duckling who couldn’t do anything without her.
When I showed that I didn’t mind, she let out a sigh of relief.
After that, we quickly searched the underground plaza.
The shelf, the walls of the plaza, even the inside of the empty dome.
Naturally, there was nothing.
There was at least the glass dome, but Magreta shook her head after looking at it.
“Let’s leave it. The researchers who come here will prefer an intact dome.”
I also pretended to search diligently, and after a while, we left the plaza.
As we passed through the open door and returned to the entrance, no enemies blocked our way.
There were no clay dolls, no guardians, and no monsters barged in either.
We were able to reach the entrance soon.
Hannah waved when she saw us.
Tom also relaxed.
“Is everyone all right?”
At Magreta’s question, both of them nodded.
“Yes. Sergeant An has stabilized as well.”
As Tom said, Sergeant An was sleeping with a peaceful expression.
Tom, who had greeted us warmly, tilted his head.
Because one person was missing.
“Why are there only three… Ah!”
He stopped in the middle of his question.
“Team Leader Park died fighting the clay dolls.”
Tom silently nodded at Carlo’s words.
Hannah didn’t ask at all.
She was simply glad that I had returned.
“I knew you succeeded when I saw the sandstorm stop.”
That was what Hannah said as she handed me water.
The water she gave me was the water I had left behind for those who remained.
I drank the water from the leather pouch and looked outside the entrance.
The darkness was slowly receding.
“Is it almost dawn?”
At my words, the others also looked toward the entrance.
Seeing the brightening outside, Carlo asked Tom,
“Would it be impossible to get some sleep before moving?”
At Carlo’s words, Tom checked Sergeant An once again.
“It would be best to leave early. This isn’t a good place for him to rest.”
“Then everyone’s tired, but let’s move as soon as the sun rises.”
As soon as Carlo finished speaking, Sop said,
[You’ll have to hurry. There isn’t much time left.]
At the words of those two, I immediately got moving.
I took a piece of leather out of the box and cut it into a rectangle.
Then I took out the spear shaft I had with me and tied it to the cut leather.
“Are you making a stretcher?”
Hannah, who had quietly approached, asked me.
“The terrain isn’t rough, so I think a stretcher we can drag along will be enough.”
Since we had a patient, we needed a stretcher.
I could make a stretcher better than anyone.
During the war, there had been many injured people, so I had made stretchers several times.
During operations, we couldn’t carry stretchers separately, so we had no choice but to make them from materials procured on-site.
At my explanation, Hannah looked back and forth between the spear shaft tied to the leather and her own spear.
“It looks like you need one more pole. Should I give you my spear?”
“No. You need to use yours too. I have another usable pole, so it’s fine.”
[Don’t tell me… you’re planning to use that, are you?]
Ignoring Sop’s words, I took a pole out of the box.
A rough, untrimmed pole—the tree branch I had obtained from the dome.
[You said it was good for recovering from fatigue, and that it was often used for beds, right? Then it should be perfect for a stretcher.]
[…]
Sop said nothing.
He seemed dumbfounded, but since he had gone quiet, I decided to take it positively.
I tied the energy-filled branch to the other side.
The stretcher was complete.
A stretcher full of energy that was good for relieving fatigue.
It was the first “Myeonghan Ambulance No. 1” ever made on this planet.
[I did think you weren’t normal, but…]
It seemed Sop did not like my naming sense.
When the stretcher was finished, the sun rose as well.
In truth, it was not the sun.
It was this planet’s star, TRAPPIST.
This planet’s sun, slightly different in size and color.
[That sun is called Shemesh, and this planet is called Adom Asad. It means “new home.”]
“Did you remember?”
No answer came to my question.
I did not ask again and shouldered my backpack.
It was time to depart.
After laying Sergeant An on the stretcher, Tom and Carlo took hold of the handles.
On the grounds that I had to carry the box and keep watch on our surroundings, I did not drag the stretcher.
Now, there was no one who opposed that decision.
[You killed everyone who would have opposed it.]
As always, they were people who deserved to die.
Sop was merely grumbling too.
We formed up and left the building.
Magreta and Hannah took the lead, Tom and Carlo dragged the stretcher in the middle, and I stayed at the very rear.
We moved quickly.
The stretcher I had made also slid across the sand as if gliding.
Before we left the sandy region, I slipped away for a moment.
Before the others could see, I took the corpse out of the box and buried it in the sand.
[Are you aware that you keep using magic and artifacts for strange things?]
Sop grumbled, but he buried the corpse properly under the sand.
Whether it was an artifact or magic, using it where needed was best.
Since I had newly learned earth magic, making a grave was the best way to put it to use.
After burying the corpse properly and catching up with the group, Magreta glanced at me.
She seemed to have realized what I had done.
But Magreta said nothing and simply hastened her steps again.
Only after walking for quite some time were we able to leave the sandy region.
“This place is practically a desert.”
Carlo grumbled as he shook sand out of his shoes.
The others were also busy shaking out sand.
“Still, at least the weather is nice. If the wind had even been a little strong, it wouldn’t have been easy to get out.”
Everyone nodded at Magreta’s words.
They were people who had experienced the sandstorm up close.
Even if it hadn’t been that bad, everyone knew very well how powerful a sandstorm could be.
“I’m never coming here again.”
Carlo said with a shudder.
At that, Magreta laughed.
“Well, I’m not sure. Carlo might have to come. You said you needed the allowance.”
“Why?”
“When the researchers come, someone will have to guide them.”
“Ah… They’ll need someone to guide them, huh.”
Carlo let out a sigh, and Magreta laughed again.
I asked Magreta,
“If researchers come to this planet, who will guide them here?”
“Let’s see. Carlo could do it, or I could. Or someone else could do it. Are you thinking of doing it, Hyun?”
“I think I’ll have to.”
At my words, Magreta tilted her head.
“That doesn’t sound like you want to do it, Hyun. What do you mean?”
I looked back.
Below the ridge we were standing on, a sandy desert stretched out.
They said it was not a large area, but the desert filled our entire field of view.
The ruins were hidden by the hill and could not even be seen.
I turned back around and spoke to the puzzled Magreta.
“Because I’m the only one who can let people into these ruins.”
Fwoooooosh!
Along with my words, sand surged upward.
Wind blew together with the sand.
A typhoon-like gale swept across the sandy desert.
The sand that shot into the air covered the sky.
The ground, the sandy desert, could no longer be seen.
Ruuuumble!
The wind mixed with sand began grinding away everything in the desert.
Magreta and the others stared blankly at me and at the sandstorm raging behind me.
The calm voice of the mage reached my ears.
[The energy has finally started to replenish.]
Just as Sop said, the energy consumed to repair the black stone had been replenished.
Now that the energy had been restored, the defensive magic had been activated again.
In truth, from the moment the black stone was repaired, the ruins had been under Sop’s control.
If I wanted, I could have stopped the sandstorm from blowing.
But there was no reason to.
These were my ruins.