"These creatures aren't afraid of us."
Illumi watched the peculiar creatures gradually moving away. He didn't give an attack order. Instead, he led his group to follow them.
When these creatures saw them, there was no curiosity in their eyes, nor fear of unknown beings. From their reactions, they were only slightly surprised.
These peculiar creatures weren't very fast. They would occasionally look back at Illumi and his group.
They seemed to be strolling, as if deliberately guiding Illumi and his party.
"Illumi, have you found the longevity food, Nitromi?"
Beyond's deep voice resonated from his helmet, asking Illumi about the longevity food. Judging by the distance, they should also be leaving the swamp and landing on solid ground.
"We found it, but the longevity food is biological tissue."
"Biological tissue? Not a plant?"
Beyond's voice held a hint of surprise. He had always subconsciously believed that anything that could be labeled with both "longevity" and "food" was likely related to plants, such as certain medicinal plants.
But he had never imagined it would be part of a creature.
"Gulu~"
As Illumi was talking to Beyond, the peculiar creatures that had been joyfully hopping ahead suddenly stopped. They raised their heads and cried out. Then, they scattered and grazed.
They showed no intention of leaving, as if this was their territory.
They seemed completely unafraid that Illumi and his group would do anything bad to them. Instead, they accepted them, treating them as companions.
"This is... ruins?"
But Illumi and his party's attention was not on these peculiar creatures now, but on the stone wall in front of them, which was built with a large number of stones and covered in moss.
The wall formed a square, like a temporary camp. In the middle of the wall directly facing Illumi, there was a stone archway without a door.
"Rustle... rustle..."
Illumi's footsteps were light. His combat boots rustled the vibrant grass. Dewdrops slid off the blades, washing away a little mud from his boots.
"Even in a forest like this, the walls are severely weathered, at least a thousand years old."
Illumi stopped in front of the archway. He reached out and touched the grooves on the archway, then looked up. The wall was very high, estimated to be at least six meters.
"These grooves on the gate should be some kind of ancient writing."
Illumi led King Bradley and the others through the stone archway into the ruins. The space inside the ruins was not large, and there was no ceiling. Several walls had already collapsed.
And on the walls that were still standing, many strangely shaped grooves were carved, just like the grooves on the stone archway.
The ruins covered an area estimated to be about one hundred square meters. Besides the collapsed walls and stones, there were also some benches and tables clearly built by intelligent beings using stones.
The ground was covered with lush green grass and vegetation over a meter high.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
Deep in the forest, a gentle breeze blew, rustling Illumi's short hair, and also the grass and vegetation on the ground, creating ripples of green.
Taking advantage of the vegetation swaying in the breeze, Illumi peered through the gaps in the vegetation and saw something that piqued his curiosity.
Illumi lifted his foot and stepped forward, trampling numerous plants along the way. He arrived at the stone table and stone benches in the center of the ruins, looked down at the underside of the stone table, and his expression subtly changed.
"Is this human property?"
Pride, King Bradley, and Greed also gathered around Illumi, their eyes narrowing slightly as they looked at the rectangular green leather box quietly resting under the stone table.
This rectangular box, moreover, was colored. Both in terms of craftsmanship and appearance, it differed significantly from this thousand-year-old ruin.
But even this box should be a relic from over a hundred years ago, perhaps two hundred or three hundred years old, who knows.
"Open it and see."
Illumi ordered. For safety, he had an Avenger come forward to open the box.
"Click."
With a soft sound, the box opened. This rectangular box was made of wood, but the lock was rusty iron. It was easily opened by the Avenger soldier's rough pull.
The Avenger took out the only item inside, a gray-covered notebook resembling a journal, and handed it to Illumi. He then stood up and retreated.
"This is a journal, an exploration journal."
Illumi used his hand to wipe off some dust clinging to the journal's cover. His fingers lightly stroked it, feeling a smooth texture. It seemed some method had been used to preserve it.
Presumably, this was the reason why this journal had not naturally decomposed after so many years in such an environment.
Illumi gently opened the gray journal cover. The pages inside were somewhat yellow, and his fingers touched the yellowish paper, still feeling a smooth texture.
Clearly, the owner of this journal had used special methods to preserve every single page.
The journal was filled with densely packed, tiny characters. Every single character was incredibly clear, and every line was perfectly neat.
"I can't understand it at all."
Illumi continued to flip through it. Every page was written in the same script, and there were also illustrations of peculiar plants or animals.
But the writing on it was not any language he recognized, which made him frown.
"This type of writing, it looks familiar."
At this moment, King Bradley, who had been silent, spoke up. He took the journal from Illumi's hand, examined it carefully, and touched its pages.
King Bradley stopped his movements, staring blankly at the journal in his hand, seemingly lost in thought.
"Ancient Capetian language."
After a full minute, King Bradley spoke again, stating the name of the ancient script in the journal.
"As a ruin hunter, I've read many books on ancient scripts, including this ancient language, 'Capetian,' that we see here."
"However, I only recognize it; I cannot translate it."
As King Bradley spoke, he handed the journal in his hand to Pride, allowing him to examine it.
Unfortunately, King Bradley had only been alive for five years since his birth, and during those five years, he had only been active as a Hunter for about a year.
"Then put it away. We'll find a linguist to translate it when we get back. Or you can try to research this language yourself. We'll translate it ourselves," Illumi and King Bradley discussed.
"Boss, this symbol..."
Just as Illumi and King Bradley were discussing, Pride raised the journal, showing the last page's content and illustration to Illumi.
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