Chapter 010 – The Ruins of the Ancient Kingdom of Alandal

The Mountain Lam’gurd uses as his lair were big. When we were about to get out of the Istreadore Mountain Ranges, Lam’gurd asked if it is possible to come to his lair first as there would be useful treasure that we could use for our journey.

And what do you say? It is because his a Dragon?

They say that Dragons loved to collect things that were valuable and sparkling. And Lam’gurd, as a 1002 years old Elder Dragon, it should be obvious what kinds and how many treasure he has.

We’re inside a huge cave that’s hidden by the high altitude, vast forestry and thick fog from the entrance. With a huge opening of a sinkhole that could only be traverse by flying down, that’s where Lam’gurd resides.

Even though we’re underground, the huge dome shaped cave was bright with the glowing moss on the wall, and the clear running water that’s the size of the river with its crystal clear mineral water was what we saw. Add the space in the corner that’s impossible to not notice. It’s a sea of treasures.

“I know that compared to other Elder Dragons, my treasury is nothing but small portions to them, but if ever that you find something interesting in my collection, I will be more than happy to provide it to you.”

….This is only a small portion he says.

“Thank you Lam’gurd. Don’t worry! We’re plenty enough thankful that we’ve met. I’ll just check what I could use within all this treasure.”

“What the Young One is saying is true, Elder Dragon Lam’gurd. We are very thankful to have met you.”

I know that the time we spent together is short, but like how Messiah started to understand me by instinct, I also understand how Messiah thinks now. He sure sounds holy, mature and wise but he really is just a cunning glowing piece of Orb. I clearly felt like he really was just using Lam’gurd to get what we needed.

“I’m honored to hear this from the Dragon Kings Descendant and his Greater Spirit Guardian. If ever that my assistance is needed, just contact me and I will exert all my strength to assist you.”

See that~. Well, Good job Messiah.

*Swoosh~ *Swoosh~

“Right~, don’t worry Wendy, you’re very much helpful, so just ask Lam’gurd if you need something from him, is that right Lam’gurd?”

“You do not need to worry. You are absolutely right. I know that the Lesser Wind Spirit will grow into a legendary being if it’s with you, Dragon Knight Carlos. It is the same as assisting you when I assist the Lesser Wind Spirit now.”

With the overly serious reply of Lam’gurd, Wendy was also happy. I don’t really care about the things Lam’gurd say, I just wanted to make Wendy happy~. She’s just so cute!

After rummaging the sea of treasure, we’ve founds some things that could be useful in this world. We didn’t took any equipment or weapons as the highest ‘Grade’ we’ve found were only ‘Legend Grade’, because our inventory were over flowing with Equipments and Items with this Grade.

And if you’re wondering how am I able to check the ‘Equipments’ and ‘Items’ details, I sure as hell don’t have a skill, magic or technique such as appraisal. It is exclusive only for ‘Production’ type ‘Jobs’, but for some reason whenever I touched any items and recognized it as my own, the details will appear in the ‘Game System’. I guess that just how it as I’m not able to view the details of other people in game but view mine, just like how the [Fantasy End] works.

Satisfied with what we’ve gotten we set off to the forestry that enveloped the richest civilization that one’s ruled this lands. The Forgotten Forest, it is the name of the forest that enveloped the Kingdom of Alandal.

 *****

With the majestic, terrifying, huge built of Lam’gurd, I feel like I’m sitting in a small, red mass of flying land. With the pressure Lam’gurd is excluding, the ‘Creatures’ that we would have encountered on the way, naturally avoided us and made way to make our travel time faster as if they were saying to get away from here as fast as possible.

The steep descent from the top of the highest mountain to the entrance of the new forestry was quite trilling. If it was me in Earth I would have passed out.

Messiah and Wendy were able to catch up with us. I understand how Messiah could do it, but it was a little surprising that Wendy can fly side by side with this two monsters. It was explained that even though Wendy is a Lesser Wind Spirit that can’t exclude strong combat prowess, as a Wind Spirit, flying fast is only a basic activity to them as much as breathing air for humans.

I was actually kind of amazed and ended up complementing Wendy which made her a little embarrassed. It also part that Wendy was just so cute~!

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The Forgotten Forest was, as expected, also vast. We encountered what seem to be some Towns and City Ruins that could have been part of the Kingdom of Alandal. We checked them, along with Lam’gurd to find some clues if ever there is one, but given that we don’t have any ‘Mining’ or ‘Exploring’ type of ‘Job’, we ended up not finding any good clues or hints that could help us.

This continued for 2-3 days until we found what seems to be that Capital City of the Kingdom of Alandal. With a triple walled City that was 30 meters high and 10 meters thick, it was without a doubt, a very safe city. With the largest and the vastest outer wall, it can be said that this is the Residential Area. Then the second inner wall where some fancy huge mansion ruins stands. It should be obvious that this is the Noble Area, and finally the Third inner wall where the old, huge, majestic castle was pointing its spiked roofs to the heavens.

We encountered some city ruins and fortress ruins but all of those have something like 1 huge, thick walls or 2 standards wall to protect them, but this Capital City sure had invested great effort to the protection and development of the city.

Makes you actually think what they did to anger a God to fully eradicate them from the canals of history.

If you know that they were annihilated by the Gods then it will be unusual that there were no signs of war or destruction to the places we’ve gone to, same with this Capital City. Lam’gurd told us that it was an Apostle of the Dragon God who did the cleansing. I just concluded that it was not an Armageddon type of judgment, as it’s more like a plague that made the Races of this Kingdom to die out. It’s not like this is what actually transpired, but it will be very helpful for future investigation.

Exploring the whole Capital City Ruins took almost half a day, and half of that was inside the Castle itself. Lam’gurd then reminded me that all the treasure here was either already been acquired by Lam’gurd himself or was already been robbed before Lam’gurd was the Guardian of the Istreadore Mountain Ranges, which is the closest place here.

With the vast ruins enveloped by forestry, creatures obviously made a habitat out of this place but our exploration was actually faster because of Lam’gurd presence.

Encountering them could actually be helpful as there many new creatures that I haven’t encountered yet that was residing here, and there information could be added in the [Bestiary] for future references of this place. Well, it was not our priority and we could always come back here for the continuation of our investigation.

We were quite disappointed that we didn’t really get anything useful here, but we learned a lot while we were exploring alongside Lam’gurd. Even though he didn’t know much about the Kingdom of Alandal, he at least known the general information about this Kingdom and was able to give answers to the question in regards to some infrastructure or things that was standing out here.

What can I say, for a Fantasy Kingdom, they’re technology are quite advance. The mixture of some Magic and Science was the staple production process of this Kingdom. Unfortunately, a lot of this technology had withered up with the Kingdom itself and cannot function anymore. Some was kind of hard for Lam’gurd himself to understand, but a lot of this technology resemble the ones from Earth.

After the exploration we camped at the outskirt of the Capital City Ruins as Lam’gurd could barely fit inside the Castle despite its size. We spent the night there and prepared our self for the departure tomorrow to finally start our journey to one of the Race Civilization in the Dracoia Continent.

We enjoyed one last time the accompaniment of Lam’gurd and ate with me, with Messiah and Wendy that also enjoyed the night and the stories of each of us before finally sleeping.

And the morning of departure finally came.

*****

“Dragon Knight Carlos, it was a fulfilling experience to have met you. The journey of the two of us, even though was quite short, was very honoring for me, as one that guided the Dragon Kings Descendant to the right direction.”

What are you, my teacher or master? You didn’t even give us the information we needed!

“Don’t worry about it. Thanks to you too, we became familiar to this world because of you. So we’re even. Just when we come back, ready some welcoming for us, okay~?

“That is right, Elder Dragon Lam’gurd. I just want to leave a reminder to you too; it is a must for an Elder Dragon to be wise. Collect all the knowledge that you can acquire, learn all the things that can be learned and exercise the things that can be developed. It will be the foundation of a full fledge, Elder Dragon! For an Elder Dragon, you are quite young, but that doesn’t mean that you will not be great! Start to carve your name in the hierarchy of the Dragons!”

“I understand! Greater Spirit Messiah, your advised is very much appreciated!”

Uwah~, with the motivated tone of Lam’gurd, Messiah just straight up fooled him to do the investigation for us. Did he perceive that doing all of this is a pain in the ass for me, and just asked Lam’gurd to do it?

Well~, whatever. As long as it works, everything alright!

“Are you really okay for me not to guide you to your destination?”

“Yes, it’s okay. If we want to make it fast, we could just fly. But we need to familiarize our self with the ecology and the environment of this world. This is just like training for me, so don’t worry about it.”

“The Young One is absolutely correct, don’t put it up and pressure yourself. You’ve been plenty helpful to the Dragon King Descendant. If you would like to continue the hospitality you are giving us, then we expect it in the future.”

*Swoosh *Swoosh

With the fool-inducing statement of Messiah and Wendy agreeing with a cute flicker, Lam’gurd was convinced and gave a final advice.

“Just remember that after the Forgotten Forest is the Wyverns Valley, after that is the Pighead Forest that will eventually take you to one of the fortress that is under the rule of the Kingdom of Avalon. I trust you that you will not lose your way, but I will still give you a wish of luck to successfully get there. That place is called the ‘Frontier Fortress City • Monmouth’”

“I got it. Then again Lam’gurd, thank you for the short time. Let’s talk until we meet again.”

“You too, Dragon Knight Carlos, until we meet again. Now then, I, first, will take my leave.”

Lam’gurd started to unfold his massive 2-paired of wings, and with a powerful gust of wind Lam’gurd finally started to levitate from the grass-filled land, Lam’gurd gave us one final look as if to say the phrase ‘Goodbye’ without saying anything.

He then finally flew up and leaves the open area that can support the huge body of Lam’gurd, and headed back to the top of the highest mountain to the direction of the Istreadore Mountain Ranges.

“Now then~, Let us start the long fun journey again~!”

“Umu”

*Swoosh~! *Swoosh~!

At the end of that day, we’ve arrived outside the Forgotten Forest, and we’ve reached the ‘Wyverns Valley’ to start the training experimentation all over again~.