Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 83

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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83. Pharva Ancient Ruin (3)
“So, you’re saying all we need to do is provide escort during the excavation work?”
“Exactly. Something feels off about those people over there. Dr. Felime didn’t call you all separately for nothing!”
Proni, the assistant wearing glasses, nodded in agreement. The mission for this narrative-type Gate wasn’t particularly complicated.
Archaeologist Dr. Felime had discovered clues about the ruins during her research and secured investment from nobles to assemble a large expedition.
However, once she arrived here and began the excavation, she sensed an unsettling atmosphere among the expedition members.
So through her closest friend, she had hired us to serve as escorts for the ruins exploration.
‘This is something you’d only see in movies.’
Weren’t there films where pyramid tomb raiders competed against each other or fought over treasure during their search?
This situation was similar to that kind of scenario.
“Sounds simple enough.”
“It’s not that simple! There are quite a lot of them over there. They even have knights. I’m not sure if they’re all on the same side.”
Hmm. I was referring to the simplicity of the mission itself, but she had interpreted it as the difficulty level.
“So we just need to protect her during the chaos.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“We’ll do our best.”
“Since Gerom sent you, I suppose we can trust you.”
A Gate transformed by the profession of princess. There’s no way there wouldn’t be any problems.
What kind of problems would arise?
The first thing that came to mind was Dr. Felime discovering something, and those people attacking.
How that would lead to a volcanic eruption afterward was unclear. There was simply too little information.
I planned to go with the flow of the Gate, but I had no intention of just sitting idle.
‘Now that I know narrative-type Gates have plenty of hidden secrets.’
Just look at the Snow Field Gate—I obtained an elixir from White Tiger’s cave and discovered the remains of a hero.
In places completely unrelated to the mission.
Not every Gate would be like that, but this one could have something similar.
While providing escort, wouldn’t it be better to use my spatial sense to explore the surroundings a bit?
“Could you tell me more details about this ruin?”
Since Dr. Felime was said to be in the middle of exploration, I asked the assistant for information about it first.
After all, a small detail in conversation might be connected to something hidden.
“Ah. You know about the legend of Hwarba Mountain, right?”
“I don’t.”
“…?”
Proni tilted her head with a look of disbelief.
“You don’t know that?”
“We’ve only been in combat.”
“Even so, that’s… I mean, did you really send proper people?”
Proni muttered to herself for a moment, then pushed her glasses up and continued.
“Long ago, the Flame Spirit King Hwarba lived in this place.”
The Flame Spirit King, no less.
As I suspected, whenever something is discovered in this ruin, the volcano erupts catastrophically.
“Hwarba despised mana, or so the legends say. That’s why he tried to burn away all the world’s mana with fire.”
“Burn mana with fire?”
Min-jae tilted his head in confusion. As a mage, he clearly didn’t understand.
Normally, mana was used to create fire. I wondered if it was different because he was a spirit.
“Well, I’m not entirely sure of the method myself. It’s all legend, after all. In any case, he apparently tried to use this volcano to burn away all the world’s mana.”
Proni shrugged.
“Of course, it failed. The volcano erupted catastrophically, and this village—which served the Flame Spirit King Hwarba—and the surrounding areas were buried under lava and volcanic ash.”
The exterior certainly resembled the photographs I’d seen of Pompeii.
“Dr. Felime heard this legend and discovered this ruin based on it.”
“What exactly are you searching for?”
“What? What do you mean what are we searching for? We’re conducting a ruin exploration. We want to verify if what happened in the past was real, and since this was a place that served the Flame Spirit King, there could be artifacts and such.”
Proni spoke casually, but something about her tone struck me as odd.
It felt like she was hiding something.
I had no concrete evidence. It was more of an intuition. If we were outside, I probably wouldn’t have paid it much attention.
But we were inside a Gate. The very fact that a volcanic eruption had occurred suggested something was amiss.
‘They won’t be forthcoming with the truth anytime soon.’
Trust hadn’t been established yet.
Perhaps they’d summoned us because they sensed something was wrong with these people. Humans often became blinded by desire.
‘I’ll find out soon enough.’
It wouldn’t take long.
We had three days within the Gate. That meant something would likely change by tomorrow at the latest.
* * *
Our immediate task was to guard the perimeter—specifically, the entrance where Dr. Felime had entered.
The exploration team was divided into four factions, each entering through different entrances.
-Monsters do emerge from inside, but since you just arrived, please rest here and stand by.
-If an emergency occurs, just head in immediately!
I thought it wasn’t a bad arrangement. We could observe the other exploration teams from out here.
Mister, who had been surveying the surroundings, spoke.
“The atmosphere here is definitely strange.”
I agreed. It was like watching thugs with concealed blades. Not that they actually looked like thugs.
It was a subtle atmosphere that was difficult to put into words.
They were openly observing us, the newly arrived members. Their gazes weren’t friendly—they were sizing us up.
Their eyes gleamed with calculation rather than goodwill.
“Brother, but why did they proceed this way in the first place?”
The four factions of this exploration team consisted of Dr. Felime and three noble factions.
It was a result of seeking investment for the ruin exploration.
“Well, I suppose they thought that relying on only one faction would risk being backstabbed. Though in the end, it just means there are three wolves instead of one.”
“How do they plan to divide the spoils?”
“Who knows. Judging by how they entered separately, I can’t tell.”
I did wonder if it would’ve been better if we’d settled everything first and then distributed the rewards. Wouldn’t you agree?
Still, I’ll make sure to deal with anyone who tries to stab us in the back.
“I’m going to look around a bit.”
“Sure. If anything happens….”
“Min-jae will shoot magic into the sky.”
Since there wasn’t much else to do, I decided to explore the surrounding area. With my companions here, I wasn’t too worried.
Even if something went wrong, it wouldn’t happen immediately.
So I spent some time wandering around near the Ruins. Unfortunately, I found nothing of note.
Even when I examined the area with my spatial sense, nothing caught my attention.
“Find anything?”
“No. I think we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Can’t be helped.”
“Just being inside an Ancient Ruin is already fortunate enough.”
Truth be told, we were incredibly lucky at the Snow Field Gate. We discovered an unexpected hidden dungeon.
Now that we’re inside the Ancient Ruin Gate, what’s in here should be enough.
Well, we did end up traveling back in time inside the Ancient Ruin to the era when it was still standing….
But what’s inside might actually be better now than it was then. It was the same last time.
“But think about it. Wasn’t the last one also a Ruins Gate? Does your ability activate whenever you enter a Ruins Gate?”
While I was away, Mister seemed to have thought it over carefully and spoke up hesitantly.
“It does tend to happen. Though there are exceptions.”
I’d been thinking along the same lines. This was the second time my Princess job had transformed a Gate.
Coincidentally, both times it had been Ruins Gates.
‘The Godmon Ruins showed no changes, though.’
Two out of three times.
A 66% probability isn’t low at all. Does it activate when I enter Ruins, places where events from the past occurred?
If that’s the case, revealing the truth to the Hunter Association wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Since they care about us quite a bit, wouldn’t they assign us one more Ruins Gate?
‘What’s the principle behind this activation? Is it the Ruins?’
-Negative. I haven’t seen much myself, but it’s possible even without Ruins.
‘Then what is it?’
-To be precise, the activation probability increases when there was a significant event in the past.
‘A significant event?’
-As you know, Han Hye, last time it was a place with the lingering resentment of an evil god, and this time it’s a place with the Flame Spirit King.
I could roughly understand what that meant.
The reason it didn’t activate at the Godmon Ruins might be due to a difference in scale.
-That’s merely a possibility. I don’t know everything about the Princess job myself.
Right. Chun-bae had also called it fate when he first obtained the Holy Stone.
‘Still, it means the probability is higher for Ruins Gates.’
-Somewhat affirmative. Past events are likely to have occurred in Ruins that appear in Gates.
After discussing it with Chun-bae, it seemed I couldn’t obtain this Princess effect through deliberate effort.
As we were discussing this, Dr. Felime emerged from the exploration. At a glance, one could tell she was a scholar.
“You’re the people Gerom sent?”
The somewhat weary doctor examined us with an expressionless face.
“Yes.”
“Three men and one woman. That matches.”
I wondered how she knew, but it seemed the verification method was determined when entering the Gate.
“Let’s go inside. Starting tomorrow, we’ll venture deeper together, and there are things we need to discuss.”
“Things to discuss?”
“You should know the precautions for exploration, shouldn’t you? We can’t have you accidentally touching something dangerous.”
The moment we entered the doctor’s tent, her expression transformed. She seemed urgent, almost frantic.
She quickly signaled Proni with an anxious glance, and soon a wave of magical energy emanated from the assistant’s hands.
“It’s a soundproofing spell.”
And a glimmer of excitement appeared in the previously expressionless doctor’s eyes.
“Proni.”
“Doctor, could it be…?”
“Yes. I found it! Traces of the past!”
Had that expressionless face been a mask to avoid drawing attention? The doctor seemed like a completely different person now.
“Did you see it?”
“Somewhat. It was hidden, but this isn’t an extinct volcano. This is where Hwarba is sealed.”
“It was exactly as you suspected, Doctor!”
“Yes. The deeper we went, the hotter it became.”
The doctor and her assistant continued their conversation excitedly, though naturally we couldn’t immediately understand everything.
Well, the fact that Hwarba was sealed here was enough, wasn’t it?
“Oh, I’ve forgotten about my guests.”
“Well, we’re here as escorts, but what exactly did you discover?”
“The truth about the Hwarba Ruins. Records from the past, you might say. This is a historical discovery.”
“Is it something like treasure?”
Mister asked with gleaming eyes, but the doctor shook her head with a stern expression.
“Far more valuable than mere treasure. Records of the past!”
“I see…”
Just as Mister seemed about to be disappointed, the doctor continued.
“Of course, if we venture through that passage, there will be treasure-like things as well.”
Mister’s expression brightened again.
“We’ll go in together tomorrow. Be prepared. We’ll need to investigate discreetly. From the ancient script I glimpsed, there are Fire Knights and Magma Golems guarding the place.”
Fire Knights and Magma Golems?
I knew about Magma Golems, but Fire Knights were unfamiliar. Were they entities guarding the seal or treasure?
“Well, since these are people Gerom sent, we shouldn’t worry about combat.”
“Yes. You needn’t worry.”
Though I wasn’t sure how capable we truly were. My level had risen to 45, but that was likely assuming a major explosion scenario.
In other words, we could handle monsters of a certain caliber.
‘What could possibly be inside?’
My anticipation was considerable. Last time, even after forgoing the job skill acquisition right, I’d obtained a C-rank spear.
This time, surely there would be at least an A-rank weapon or a skill tome of comparable rarity?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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