Seraphina POV
We descend deeper into the ruins of old Meridia, and what started as tight tunnels slowly open up into a large underground facility. Of course, it's all still in ruins, with some sections completely sealed off by collapsed passages.
But it's still pretty impressive that even this much of their civilization has survived after withstanding the power of six evil gods at once.
I think to myself while still very carefully examining our surroundings as we move along, ready to engage at any moment.
This is my first time in the dungeons, and I'm still not used to being unable to rely on my fire magic, so I try to pay extra close attention to everything while maintaining my usual composure.
"Uwah!"
"...! Lucy, are you okay?"
It seems like I'm not the only one fascinated by the sight of this place as I hear Lucy behind me stumble. But since I was already on alert, I quickly reach out to steady her.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry, I was just a little distracted. Thank you."
"There's a lot of rubble so keep an eye on your feet."
"Hm…"
She thanks me with a slight blush on her cheeks. This would be a good chance to build some extra rapport with her, but I should focus on making sure everything goes smoothly with this mission.
We've already run into some monsters before so this isn't the time for that. Though they were pretty easy to deal with, I know from the stories of the knights from my family that there are many more dangerous monsters we could run into.
"I believe this is the place we're looking for."
Miss Julia says as she leads us into a chamber with rather thick walls, though the door's been blown open at some point in the past with parts of it lying all around.
The inside has been pretty much picked clean, with barely any rubble left behind. Miss Julia walks all the way to the back of the room and stops in front of a closed door that has a small hole next to it.
"This is where Magnus Latimer's study is believed to be located. All the artifacts and documents here were taken long ago, but nobody was ever able to get through this door. Eventually, this place was just abandoned and forgotten. This is why I wanted Lucy to come along, since no matter who was sent in here, nobody was able to get it open. Observe."
Miss Julia explains and then puts her hand in the small hole. After a moment, a monotone, somewhat feminine voice suddenly speaks up from somewhere:
"Authorization failed, initiating defensive formations."
"...!"
"...!"
Everyone except Miss Julia suddenly tenses up and gets into battle positions upon hearing this announcement, but even after a few moments pass, nothing happens.
"Like I said, a lot of people have been sent down here to try to open it, but none of them succeeded. All the defensive structures have already been disassembled by the previous visitors."
"Phew."
"You could have said that from the beginning…"
I can't help but mutter to myself upon seeing Miss Julia's somewhat satisfied expression. Then Hugh walks up to the closed off door and examines it closer.
"Hm, this seems to be quite an intricate mechanism. Do you have to send some of your mana into this hole here and it determines whether you have access to the next section?"
"As expected of Lord Hugh, that's how it is believed to work. But it never let anyone pass and reverse engineering the technology was abandoned pretty soon too. It is supposed to be a study of the greatest mage that ever lived after all."
"Why not just break through this wall? I can give it a try right now."
"That method was thoroughly explored as well, as you can see from all the burn and scorch marks along this wall. Needless to say, that didn't go anywhere either. Well, you can give it a try as well if you insist, Bernard."
"Actually, never mind. I am curious about what it feels like, though."
Miss Julia further explains the circumstances of this place and in a rare display, Bernard actually backs down from his stupid idea and lowers his gauntlets. Instead, he just puts his hand in the same hole Miss Julia did and that same voice speaks up instantly, repeating:
"Authorization failed, initiating defensive formations."
"It feels weirdly tingly. Ah, Arthur, give it a try as well. Doesn't it feel strange?"
"Huh? Why? Okay, okay. You don't have to drag me."
"...?"
"Um… Did it break?"
For some reason he decides to pull Arthur into his antics as well, however the usual announcement doesn't come for a few seconds.
"...Authorization failed, initiating defensive formations."
But in the end the voice speaks up again.
"Okay, enough fooling around. So, are you sure this is completely safe? It's not gonna do anything to Lucy, right?"
"Like I said the specifics of the inner workings of this door are still unknown so I can't promise anything. But I'll be right next to her in case anything happens. If it makes you feel better you can stand on her other side."
"It's okay Hina, let me do it."
I decide to get things moving along and turn to Miss Julia to voice my concerns. But then Lucy reassures me and steps up to the mechanism.
"Isn't this favoritism? She didn't even say anything when we touched it."
"Hm, definitely favoritism."
In the meantime I can hear two voices complaining behind me, but I decide to just ignore them.
Miss Julia and I take our spots next to Lucy and then she carefully puts her hand in the hole. She takes a deep breath and a faint flow of mana spreads from her hand.
"Bzzt…"
"Identity confirmed. Welcome back, bzzt, Lady Cecilia."
"...!"
After a round of weird noises, that voice suddenly speaks up again and apparently accepts Lucy's mana. A moment later the wall next to the hole begins to open up, the old mechanism creaking and causing the building to shake lightly.
"Is everyone alright?"
Miss Julia asks as she quickly looks everyone over, but all of us are fine.
"Good. Let's head inside, I'll lead the way."
"...Um, Lady Cecilia…?"
"D-Don't look at me. I have no idea what this is about either."
The others begin to head inside and I quickly come up next to Lucy and ask her about that weird name that voice addressed her as.
"That game didn't explain it?"
"I told you, this entire mission wasn't in the game at all. I'm as lost as you are on everything connected to it."
"Hm. Let's keep going."
This facility was made by Magnus Latimer so if it recognised Lucy as someone else, it must have been another member of the heroes of old, or someone connected to them. But as far as I remember there are no records of someone called Lady Cecilia from that time.
I quickly gather my thoughts as we head into the newly revealed room. But it appears to be an ordinary research station, with tables full of papers and all sorts of strange machines scattered throughout.
"Okay, it seems like there are no further security systems set up. You can relax a little bit, though don't wander off on your own. Let's take a look around and search for anything that might hold some answers."
"Um… Miss Julia? What would you have done if the door didn't open for Lucy?"
"...? What could I have done? Some of the most powerful people in the world couldn't break this door open so I'd probably have given up on this lead."
"Huh? So your entire plan was hanging entirely on Lucy being able to open this door…? A door nobody was able to open before?"
Arthur asks Miss Julia about her plan and she just nonchalantly answers. But seeing his bewildered expression she continues:
"What would you expect me to do? I'm just a single light mage after all. But since Lucy's seal holds some sort of connection to Magnus Latimer, if anyone, she should be able to enter this place. And well, it's not like I could know in advance if she'd be able to open it, we still had to bring her here to try."
"I see…"
While they were talking the rest of us began to look around. But after taking a quick look at some of these documents and books, I quickly realize that I won't understand any of them no matter how much time I spend with them. I feel like only Miss Julia or maybe Hugh could make sense of these.
"Hey, hey! Take a look at this."
Bernard, seemingly uninterested in any papers, instead heads towards a wall with a cluster of weird machines set up near it and calls us over as well.
"Isn't it weird how they seem to point at this wall here? Do you think there's something behind it?"
"Can you stop wanting to demolish walls all the time?"
"I didn't even say anything like that yet!"
Seeing him start touching the part of the wall surrounded by all the equipment, I call out to warn him, but not like my words do much for that idiot anyway.
"But it is true that this place seems pretty weird."
"Hm, let's see."
Lucy also speaks up while looking around and then Hugh picks up a few documents lying around and skims them for a minute or two.
"It seems like this place is referred to as the 'source of darkness' and they seemed to be experimenting with the dark magic it constantly radiates."
"...!"
Suddenly a warm and comforting light envelops us and we turn to look at the source.
"Ah, I just wanted to make sure it didn't give you any curses. But the dark magic here feels rather weak."
"Thanks."
Lucy shyly explains herself. Then I turn to Hugh and ask:
"Why would they be experimenting with something like that?"
"I don't know, all it mentions is that it was for something called 'Project Last Light' and that was the reason for this workshop's existence."
"Well, it would be weird if the greatest mage in history set up his workshop within the ruins of another civilisation for no reason. Did they ever figure out why this part was radiating dark magic? Or what happened to it?"
"From a quick glance, it doesn't seem like the purpose of the research was stopping the dark magic here, it was more like an optimal test environment?"
After Hugh's initial explanation I ask him a bit more about the details of this research, though it doesn't seem to hold any solid leads. Then I look over at Lucy, who seems somewhat distracted looking at the wall with an curious gaze.
"...? …!"
It takes her a moment to notice me staring at her and then, probably understanding the meaning of my gaze, shakes her head.
So she doesn't know anything about this either... Huh? What is that idiot doing?
"Hey! Just because we're not always looking at you doesn't mean you can do what you want!"
"...! Wh-what? No, it's just the gauntlets, they…"
While everyone was distracted, Bernard moved closer to the wall and took out his gauntlets. Thankfully I listened to my instincts and knew that idiot was going to try something so I caught him before he could actually try to break a hole in the wall here.
"Curious, huh? Why don't you use your head more instead? This place belongs to the great mage, Magnus Latimer. If he didn't open up this wall that means that either it's similar to that previous door that can't be opened by brute force or he intentionally didn't break it because it's holding something back. So you better put down your gauntlets or I'll beat you with them."
"That's not it, I'm telling you! I just suddenly got this weird feeling from them…"
"What, were you just itching to try out your new toy?"
"Hina…"
"What? He was clearly endangering our mission for no reason."
"Oh ho~ You're snooping around some really interesting places, aren't you? Fine, I guess I can let go of my past grievances and help you out a little~"
"...!"
"...!"
Lucy's voice… or maybe it's more accurate to call it a voice that somewhat resembles Lucy's. Either way, it's all too familiar to Bernard, Lucy and me.
So the next moment, the three of us move simultaneously. Bernard throws his gauntlets to the ground, Lucy puts up a shield around all of us, and I take out the most powerful magical gems I have and ready myself for a battle.
"What is it?"
Hugh, who was also nearby quickly picks up on our movements and follows along as he unsheathes his sword and steps next to us.
"..."
However as a few more moments pass, that dreaded voice doesn't reappear, making me question if it was just an illusion. But since the others reacted as well, her voice must have been real.
"You also hear her, right?"
"Hm, but it doesn't seem like she did anything?"
"What was that voice? It kind of sounded like Lucy."
Bernard speaks up first and then Lucy answers him. Hugh also relaxes slightly before asking for more details, making the three of us flinch.
"N-nothing important."
"Yeah, that's right."
"It must have been the wind, haha."
I answer him awkwardly, with Lucy and then Bernard quickly following up as well. We're all in tacit agreement about not bringing up any unwanted memories. Hugh still seems a little suspicious, but then…
"Grrrk…"
With a deep grinding sound, the wall begins to slowly slide open, revealing another dark room behind it.
"So there really was something here!"
"Everyone, stay alert."
"A hidden room within a hidden room?"
Bernard seems pleased with himself, so I warn everyone to get ready. But for some reason, Lucy seems thrilled about this discovery as well.
Well, it's certainly a little exciting to find such a hidden place, though I don't like how it seems like that woman was the one who triggered it…
I think to myself as we peer into the newly opened darkness, wondering what it might hold.