The Day My Common Sense Collapsed
Today, my common sense collapsed.
Click.
The moment the cube slotted into the groove on the stone pillar, a crisp, refreshing sound rang out like a magnet snapping into place, followed by a burst of light. The released light traced intricate circuits across the floor and raced toward the stone gate. Upon contact, it activated a complex mechanism. Grind, grind, grind. With the sound of stone scraping against stone, the gate swung open automatically. As the door parted, a vast hidden space revealed itself to the world.
"Whoa. This place has a lot of stuff."
"From the outside, it didn't look too bad."
Stepping inside, we stared in surprise at the surprisingly intact interior of the ruins. Every ruin we'd discovered until now had been weathered and broken, so this was our first time seeing one in such good condition. Even the ruins we'd visited through Protisha had only looked fine from the outside—the inside had been completely eroded. We couldn't afford to get our hopes up, so we began searching the interior cautiously.
The inside was enormous. Judging by the numbers marked on every corridor and the doors labeled "Experiment Room," this had once been an important facility. Moving together would only slow us down, so we split into smaller groups. After dividing into teams of two or three, I ended up with Rata and Adela.
Entering a corridor with them, I muttered as I opened each door in turn.
"It's cleaner than I expected in here."
"Argo, why do you keep saying the same thing?"
"It's a kind of superstition. If there's really nothing inside, that'd be a problem, so I'm praying for something to appear."
"Really? Then I'll do it too. It's cleaner than I expected in here."
I searched the rooms with Adela repeating the same line beside me. We moved along the long corridor, opening door after door. As expected, most of the contents were either weathered or in poor condition. So this place was the same as the Protisha ruins. I'd known it would be like this, but I'd secretly hoped otherwise, so I sighed and left the door open as I stepped back out.
Whether our flag-raising had helped or not, once we ventured deeper, something reacted.
"Kii?"
"Rata? What's wrong?"
"Kit!"
Rata, perched on my shoulder, suddenly perked up his tail and stared toward the fork at the end of the corridor, as if he'd sensed something. I followed his gaze. It looked like an ordinary corridor. But Rata must have seen something.
"Kit!"
"Kii!"
Rata leaped onto the giant squirrel's head and pointed forward. The giant squirrel responded energetically and moved as Rata intended.
"Wait! Take me with you!"
"Is there something over there?"
I chased after them with a puzzled expression as they vanished beyond the fork in an instant. They were incredibly fast, but I managed to catch up through sheer physical effort and arrived at a dead-end corridor. Rata leaped down onto the floor and dashed straight toward the wall. Tap-tap-tap. He slipped into a small hole in the corner of the dead end. A faint sound echoed from beyond the hole, then silence fell.
Adela and I exchanged glances and shrugged. Normally, Rata stayed quietly in my pocket so as not to get in the way. For him to suddenly move like this meant there had to be something beyond that wall. Trusting in Rata, with whom I'd spent over ten years, I waited.
Clack.
Something clicked beyond the wall, as if Rata had operated a mechanism. The solid wall split apart. Even though it hadn't been maintained for ages, the intricate device activated, and the wall blocking our path vanished like an illusion, revealing a hidden space.
My heart pounded at the unexpected find. I steadied myself and muttered,
"Feels like treasure hunting. But how did Rata find this place?"
"Isn't Rata from here too?"
"Rata?"
"He looks just like the giant squirrel."
"I guess that's possible."
Chatting with Adela, we entered the space. It was peculiar in many ways. Monster statues identical to real ones stood at regular intervals across an area the size of an elementary school playground. Most of the pedestals were empty, but the positions of the remaining statues told us plenty.
"Statues all of a sudden? Why are they here?"
"I don't know either."
We examined the statues closely, wondering if they hid compartments or secret mechanisms, but found nothing. Swallowing our disappointment, we moved toward where Rata and the giant squirrel were hopping about.
"Kiiit! Kit!"
"This is the place you wanted to show me?"
"Kit!"
"What's here?"
At Rata's vigorous nod, I looked around. The space contained nothing but a few long tables. I examined the tables, which had likely once held experimental tools. Most had turned to dust or were on the verge of it, but a few tools and papers remained intact in appearance. I checked the papers on the table without touching them, afraid they might crumble. The writing was faded, but fortunately still legible. There was more written than I'd expected, so Adela and I read the contents together.
World Calendar ■■■ Year ■■ Month ■■ Day.
Three years have passed since the world was reduced to ruins by humanity's arrogance. The plan prepared by the King of the North is nearly complete. I worried whether civilization would hold until the plan finished, but the warriors on the front lines held out far better than expected, allowing us to reach this point. ...I only hope their sacrifices weren't in vain. Still, the situation isn't bad. Most cities have been destroyed, but thanks to the plan proceeding smoothly, our descendants will be guaranteed safety if we succeed. Although regions outside the Central Continent will remain relatively dangerous, that can't be helped. Sacrifices are inevitable if we are to prevent civilization from being reset—nay, completely annihilated. This is all because of that damned King of Central. If he was going to die like an idiot, he should have died alone. Why did he drag us into this and escalate the situation this far? I didn't know anything until the world suddenly turned to ruins. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened without the King of Valor.
After reading the paper, I wore an intrigued expression. It felt like uncovering hidden lore in an open-world game. Discovering forgotten history was more entertaining than I'd thought.
"Did they write a diary in an experiment log?"
"Whoever wrote this must have had a strong personality."
The contents ended there. Just in case, I touched the edge of the paper and watched it crumble like sand, so I gave up on flipping the page. Was this all the information we could find? While I was wondering whether I should be satisfied with this meager harvest, Rata, who had gone under the table for a reason, called out.
"Kii!"
"There's more paper down there?"
"Ooh, there is."
We found more diary entries among the scattered papers under the table and read them with shining eyes.
If everything proceeds according to plan, we can send most of the core devices... no, the Named Monsters to the Demon Realm. Those creatures that invaded our world whenever we let our guard down—let's clean them all out this time. Of course, most of the Named Monsters that survive the plan will be driven to the North. But we'll take all the dangerous ones with us, and we've prepared plenty of arrangements in the North, so there's no need to worry. Most will weather away and be forgotten according to the laws set by the World, but the arrangements we've left behind aren't just objects, so we'll be able to get by. ...However, there's one thing that worries me. The ecosystem creation device... no, the state of the Mountain Dragon Magranas. Ah, the world changed so suddenly that I keep using the monsters' old names. Anyway, Magranas's condition is strange. After escaping our control, the creature that used to rampage and destroy indiscriminately has become less active. It keeps stopping its movements and stockpiling energy, as if it's trying to create something. I'm worried it won't follow the plan. If it doesn't move according to the plan, it will become the strongest among the remaining Named Monsters after we head to the Demon Realm. I don't know if our descendants will be able to defeat it once civilization's technology is reset. We can only hope our arrangements don't weather away with time and reach the future intact. O World, please sever this endless chain of hatred with our lives. Punish us for our arrogance, and in return, untangle the causality between humans and monsters. And please, when civilization is reset, allow my kin, the goblins, to retain their civilization and intelligence. They're my kin, but I can't trust what they're doing at all, and it makes me anxious to death.
After finishing the last entry, I rubbed my chin with an intrigued look. Jackpot. Having obtained important information about the ancient civilization, I grinned and took out a recording crystal from my inventory.
"Let's preserve the evidence on video first."
I quickly recorded the contents, worried the paper might weather away, and wore a satisfied expression. Thanks to discovering multiple ancient civilization ruins recently, I'd gained fame as a ruin hunter. This discovery would spread my name even further. With a find of this caliber, the Grand Duke would surely reward me handsomely. The moment I finished recording, the paper crumbled into dust and vanished. I muttered quietly,
"Central's reputation was bad back then, and it's still bad now."
There was a lot of personal rambling in the entries, but that made them feel more trustworthy. Thanks to that, I learned that the King of Central was the culprit behind the civilization reset. Maybe they'd written it in diary form on purpose to pass on the information. Things related to the ancient civilization tended to weather faster the closer they were to secrets the World wanted to hide, but this paper might have been written to circumvent that. Or it could simply be a goblin scholar's diary written out of boredom. I chuckled as I pictured the goblin scholar who must have written the log.
"I don't know who you are, but in exchange for this valuable information, I'll share something you're curious about. Though few in number, goblins are living as civilized beings."
Due to their physical disadvantages, intelligent Green Skins active in the North were the fewest in number, but they were still managing well. There were even a few famous goblin warriors active in the field. Hoping my words would reach the goblin scholar, I put the crystal back in my inventory.
Click.
"Huh?"
At the sudden sound near my ear, I turned toward it with a puzzled expression. There, Rata, the giant squirrel, and Adela were pressing a strikingly alluring red button.
"What are you doing over there?"
"The giant squirrel said to press this."
"That?"
If the giant squirrel said so, it probably wasn't dangerous. I looked at the button skeptically. Light flowed from circuits originating at the button and spread throughout the entire space. I clicked my tongue at the incredibly complex diagram and gave up trying to understand the vast amount of information. I waited for the light to subside. The circuits moved as if alive and completed a magic circle centered on the monster statues. When a bright light burst from the magic circle and faded, the statues twitched. The petrified skin regained its original color, and bodily functions that had been suspended began operating again. The monsters that had remained in place for a thousand years were finally freed from petrification, and their gazes turned toward me all at once.
"......"
"......"
Their eyes held a docile emotion I'd never seen before. It was as if the aggression and belligerence they'd shown in the wild had been a lie. Faced with a sight unimaginable for a Northerner, my mouth fell open. No—other monsters I could accept with a hundred concessions, but one particular monster staring at me from the front made my thoughts grind to a halt.
"Kiik."
"Nepentula is... docile...?"
Eight round, sparkling eyes stared at me. No matter how many times I rubbed my eyes and looked again, the monster before me was undeniably a Nepentula. When I cautiously reached out and touched it, it closed its eyes and purred. Unable to contain my shock, my consciousness grew hazy.
Today, my common sense collapsed.