126 069. Ancient Ruin -2 Part Two

Things like this happened pretty often in fantasy novels, didn’t it? Humans intruding upon the dragon’s lair would either get devoured by the creature or end up as spit-roasted lumps of charcoal.

“T-there shouldn’t be any dragons there. I mean, what era are we even living in…”

When Hans muttered that out, I glanced at Damon for confirmation.

“It’s as he says, my lord. No one has witnessed a living dragon in our current era. It’s just that various scales and bones of the dead dragons have been discovered, and those tell us that some must be still alive somewhere.”

Hans frantically nodded when Damon explained to me.

“A man who sold that dragon’s scale to me said this, sir. He said that he saw a living dragon inside the ancient ruin. However, he also made some outlandish claim about him fighting and fatally injuring the dragon before making his escape from the ruin,” Hans spoke with a face filled with confidence. “But such a thing is utterly impossible, sir. Just how many people in this world are capable of fighting a dragon alone? Honestly, he probably got his hands on the scale from a dead dragon or some such.”

1

I contemplated deeply on everything I’ve heard so far while staring at Hans. To be honest, I was getting rather suspicious of Hans’s tale.

So I asked him. “If that’s true, why did that man tell you all about this treasure trove in the first place?”

2

Along with the scale and the words of gratitude, the man then told Hans of the location to the ancient ruin.

-It’s really dangerous there, so I advise you to drop all thoughts of going there yourself. As a matter of fact, I advise you to just sell this information to a noble for a good price and move on.

Those were the parting words of the mystery man.

But this was a dragon’s lair, wasn’t it?

Advising Hans to simply sell the information on a treasure trove to someone else – now that was one hell of a crazy notion.

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Hans decided to take the gamble since he had already squandered away his fortune anyways. He sold off a portion of his remaining wares and hired the mercenaries to accompany him.

“According to the man, there is drinkable water and food in that location. I thought that there shouldn’t be any real dragons in that place, and even if some monsters are hiding in there, they shouldn’t be any more dangerous than some Goblins or Orcs. In that case, maybe I…”

So… He thinks there’s no dragon to worry about, eh?

I glanced at Damon and Tina. They seemed to be waiting for me to make a decision.

There was supposedly a village in that direction, one that was the closest to our current location, and we could potentially procure extra drinking water and some food on our way there, so I had no choice but to trust the words of this flaky merchant.

Our group trudged forward for a few days, and sure enough, we did discover a huge pyramid-like structure buried under all that shifting sand.

“It, it’s really here?!”

Even the man who guided us here, Hans, seemed to be shocked beyond words. The mercenaries also looked rather excited as well.

They all thought this trip would be in vain, yet they had really discovered an ancient ruin.

The ruin was half-buried in the sand blown around by all the desert winds. I couldn’t help but say something in admiration while staring at this structure, “Well, it wasn’t a total lie, at least.”

Hans quickly responded to me. “I do not know how to lie, sir.”

“…Oh, so you were planning to truthfully run your mouth off that you saw me out here, then?”