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“Hupp!”

Kafal exerted all her strength to lift something even larger than a massive dragon from the depths of the water.

It could be described as an incredibly smooth black box, perhaps. Whatever had been buried deep in the water seemed to have been unearthed by the Sea Serpent’s rampage, but its surface was as beautiful as a freshly sharpened knife. Even when Kafal grabbed it with her sharp claws, not a single scratch appeared, and even the mud and dirt that had adhered to it simply slid off when she touched it.

“…What could this be?”
“I don’t know… maybe an ancient ship or building… in any case, it’s an ancient relic.”
“You mean something made by humans from before the Human-Dragon War?”
“Yeah, or maybe something from during the war.”

Lucella looked up at the strange and gigantic square object in sheer amazement.

She knew that such things existed, but seeing one was a first for her.

About a thousand years ago, the War of Humans and Dragons had taken place, where the human population had grown too much, and they fought against the dragons for dominion over the surface world. The war had reduced the numbers of both humans and dragons until there was no longer a need to fight, but at the same time, it had also led to the collapse of the advanced human civilization that had once coexisted with the dragons.

When ancient relics or items suspected to be such were discovered, adventurers were obligated to report them to the guild.

The first reason was that many of these relics held hidden valuable technologies. The technology of the ancient human civilization that thrived alongside the dragons surpassed that of the modern humans, and there were still numerous lost technologies that could not be reproduced today.

The second reason was… that they were often extremely dangerous. Accidents or disasters that could not be dealt with using modern technology and common sense were also possible. While it was unlikely that people would accidentally come here, in the heart of this wilderness, or that it would affect the nearby villages, it was better to report it, just in case.

“I wonder if we should bury it again. It looks like it might get carried away if we leave it like this…” Lucella gazed up at the sky, contemplating.

The weather was fine now, but in this inhospitable land, torrential rain and floods struck at least ten times a day. This square object had been completely buried at the bottom of the water until now, but if they left it lying around haphazardly, it would quickly drift away. It seemed to have enough buoyancy to float on the water’s surface.

Lucella circled around to the back of the massive square but found it to be just a square, with no oars or anchors in sight. Despite its enormous size, she couldn’t identify it as a ship.

As she pondered what to do, a single point on the otherwise pitch-black surface of the square began to glow blue.

“Welcome, Guest. By the appointment of Senior Researcher Jamie Hackathon set 532,786,491 minutes ago, you are granted access. Initiating transfer sequence to the interior. Please wait a moment.”
“…Huh?”

Out of nowhere, it spoke. In an archaic form of human language. A voice of a woman, clear and devoid of any emotion, easily audible as sound alone.

The scenery warped. Lucella’s view of the world seemed to stretch out like dough rolled with a rolling pin, and for a moment, all weight vanished from her body.

First, Lucella felt the scent of greenery. Under her feet, there was soft grass. A vivid, life-blessing light surrounded her. It felt like a peaceful part of a rural village. Beyond the lush low grass, she saw a wooden house, even its roof weathered to a shade of green.

The sunlight cast deep, dark shadows at Lucella’s feet. However, what she saw beyond the house wasn’t a forest or a mountain; it was a towering white wall that reached up to the sky.

Looking up, there was no sun there, only embedded lighting fixtures in the ceiling. In essence, this place was a miniature garden created inside a giant room.

“Is this…”
“The inside of that structure…?”

Beside Lucella stood Kafal. The ceiling was high enough that the tip of her nose would barely reach it if she stood up on her hind legs and stretched up.

Turning around, Lucella noticed that there were windows-like glass, but not made of glass, allowing her to see the landscape of the inhospitable land submerged in water.

“Wow, amazing. You couldn’t see inside from outside, but you can see outside from inside. And this place… it’s definitely bigger from the inside than it looked from the outside.”

The massive square was indeed larger in both height and width than Kafal, but it should have been only about one size larger at most. However, this abandoned farm-like miniature garden had enough space that ten Kafals could comfortably sleep side by side.

It was a space expansion technology distinct from item pocket dimensions, one that could accommodate humans. It was a technology that no longer existed in the modern world, or perhaps it had been lost to history.

With that technology, someone had created this miniature garden inside that mysterious square building. Who had made it and for what purpose was a complete mystery.

“…Wait a minute. Where’s the exit?”

Lucella, who had been stunned by the sight, suddenly realized something. She had been sucked into a building where she couldn’t tell where the entrance was, and even from the inside, there seemed to be no way out. Normally, the entrance should also serve as an exit, but here, there were only walls and viewing windows.

Lucella decided to lightly tap on one of the transparent viewing windows. Despite appearing thin as window glass, the sensation was incredibly hard.

Considering that even Kafal’s claws hadn’t damaged the city walls, Lucella expected this to be quite challenging to break through. In other words, Lucella was trapped.

Among the traps encountered in dungeons, one of the most malicious was the “teleporter.” It could send adventurers right into the heart of a monster’s nest, lock them in a cage with no way out until they died of exhaustion, seal them within stone walls to suffocate, or toss them into a grinder designed to crush adventurers.

Fortunately, this situation didn’t lead to instant death, but Lucella’s predicament was similar to getting caught by a teleporter.

Contacting the outside world seemed… impossible. They were in the heart of an inhospitable land. Broadcasting an indiscriminate distress signal wouldn’t reach anyone.

Waiting for rescue was also… a tough option. While someone might worry if Lucella was late returning, this vast wilderness made it impossible to pinpoint her location. Even if they did know, rescue would likely be impossible, and if they miraculously made it here, there was a risk of getting trapped with them.

So, the only option was self-rescue. But were there any exits or means of escape? … Lucella and Kafal might be able to create a hole and escape if they thrashed about with all their might. However, they needed to confirm if this was a safe place to do so. Lucella had just learned the hard way that ancient relics could cause all sorts of unpredictable mayhem just by getting too close.

“Lucella, there’s something written on that stone.”
“A stone?”

Kafal, who had been looking around, tilted her head and tapped the ground.

Partially buried amid the overgrown grass, there was a stone tablet. It seemed to be more visible from Kafal’s perspective, looking down at the ground (or floor?).

On the surface of the gray stone, which was flat and tile-like in shape, there were rough, makeshift-looking characters carved, as if someone had chiseled them with a nail or something.

If Lucella had taken a few steps forward from where she had initially stood, she might have noticed it with her foot. If there was any intention behind placing it like this, it seemed to practically say, “Read me.”

Bending down, Lucella read the characters.

Although they used archaic words, she could understand the meaning, and the characters themselves were the same as the human language she knew.

“It’s not ancient language. It’s early common human language. …In that case, this might be a building from the Human-Dragon War.”
“What does it say?”
“Um… ‘H-e-l-… Help?’”

【To whoever found this ship: Please help my mother.】

Author’s Note:

532786491 minutes is roughly 1012 years ago.

Translator’s Note:

It’s actually 1013.67