The Invaders of the Large Tomb

Greenham and the warrior nodded at each other and began the task of opening the stone coffin. It was rather big and should be very heavy, but it was lighter than they thought. They used too much strength and almost lost their balance.

The stone coffin’s cover opened, revealing numerous sparkling lights from within.

Gold, silver and gems of various colours, in addition to numerous sparkling accessories. And more than a hundred gold coins scattered all over.

They had been expecting something good after seeing the banner, but Greenham still grinned from ear to ear at this sight. The thief who was observing carefully picked up one of the items inside— a gold necklace.

It was an impeccable piece of jewelry. It seemed to be a simple gold necklace at first glance, but on close inspection, the chains had fine engravings on it.

“...A conservative estimate would be one hundred gold coins. With the right buyer, one hundred fifty would be possible.”

The reaction to the thief’s appraisals were different. Some of them whistled while others smiled.

One common point was the joy and flames of greed burning in their eyes.

“Just the half we can get will be a bonus of fifty gold. Ten gold each, that’s a scary amount of additional payout.”

“That is really… Maybe these ruins are a treasure trove.”

“Incredible. This is so incredibly amazing.”

“Really. It would be a pity to just leave the treasure here. Let’s put it to good use.”

As he spoke, the wizard picked out a ring with a large ruby on it and kissed the gemstone.

“That’s huge—”

The priest stuck his hands in, picking up the coins and letting it slip through his fingers.

The crisp sound of gold coins clinking against each other were heard.

“I have never seen such gold coins before. Which time period and country are they from?”

Using his knife to lightly nick the surface of the gold coin, the thief said with a sigh:

“This is pure gold. Just the weight is double the norm, the value would probably be higher, considering the aesthetic value.”

“This is really—Kukuku…”

Laughter leaked out from the group who couldn’t help smiling.

Just dividing the loot here would not be a small amount.

“All of you, thank your gods later. Let’s take what we can and head to the main objective. Our share will be taken if we are late.”

“—Ho!”

Greenham received a spirited reply, filled with excitement and fervour.

Part 4

The grand mausoleum was situated at the centre of the ruin. Giant statues of warriors that looked as if they would come alive at any moment surrounded the grand crypt like knights defending their king. Hekkeran hid himself at the feet of the warrior statue that was staring in the direction of one of the smaller crypts.

After a short while, Hekkeran noticed five men running from the smaller crypt. They moved fast yet still managed to conceal themselves Hekkeran watched paranoidly for anyone that might be spying on them or anything strange happening. Finally, after confirming the group coming this way was fine, Hekkeran sighed in relief.

He signalled by peeking out of the shadow of the giant statue and Greenham rushed over after noticing him.

“You sure are late Greenham.”

“Thank you for waiting for us this long.”

“We didn’t decide on the time to meet up so it’s fine. Instead, let’s change the location and then decide what to do next.”

Hekkeran crouched and lead the way cautiously.

A few steps later, Greenham asked.

“Just want to ask, did your team discover any treasure?”

Unable to hide his excitement and remembering how he had felt, his mouth curved into a smile and said:

“Of course, a motherload. Elder said the same thing.”

“You all as well, huh. Coming to this cemetery was the right move.”

“That’s true. I am grateful to the great men buried here.”

“Hmm. That might be so, but since we found so many treasures, should we consider the possibility that there might be nothing where the master of this tomb is buried??”

“Well, I bet there would be even more.”

“Hmm—how much are you betting?”

“Great. I will find more later and I can get a decent sum from you, too. This is the best. Ah, the problem is we would both be betting on the same thing.”

Both men didn’t make a sound as the corner of their mouth rose into a smile.

“That’s true. By the way, what is that?”

In front of Greenham, besides the feet of a giant statue, was something like a stone tablet.

“That?”

Hekkeran didn’t stop, while giving Greenham his answer. The words written on it were something the first three teams that arrived before him had never seen before. They held on to the faint hope that Greenham’s team might know about it.

“Something like a stone tablet, engraved with what might be words.”

“Engrave with what might be words? Why are you being so vague about this?”

“It is an unknown language. Not the national language of the Kingdom or the Empire, or even the ancient languages around the region. It might not be human language either. But I can read the number 2.0 here.”