Frozen Hell (Part 3)

Once everybody indicated their understanding, Namur opened a drawer beside his desk and took out some old looking parchments.

He turned towards Leo's group and he stated, "Recently, records have been discovered around these lands that depicted lost technologies of the distant past.

"Some of my land's residents have attempted to seek out the remains of these ancient artifacts and technologies to help improve our civilization. However, there have been no small amount of troubles along the way."

Namur paused for another moment as he seemed to be lost in thought. A few seconds later, he continued again.

"Although it's been reported that certain artifacts have been dug up, there were a handful of unexpected accidents that suddenly appeared. As a result, we've lost some valuable treasures.

"I have called your team here to help with our archeological excavation to retrieve these items that have unfortunately remained abandoned."

Alex stood up from his seat and slightly bowed his head.

"Chieftain Namur, we will do our best to help recover them."

His response prompted the others to stand up alongside him.

"But may I ask," Alex raised a question, "do you happen to know which areas they were lost in?"

Namur drew up a map from the sheets of parchment in his hands.

Placing it before the group, he said, "While we do not know exactly where they were lost, we do have markings of the places they've been excavated. I hope you can use this as a frame of reference to start your investigations."

"Got it." Alex took the map and scanned its features.

Namur went on, "I do not expect you to find every single piece. Just a sufficient amount of them will be enough to earn this quest's reward. For the time being, you can make yourselves home at this manor; my servants will provide you with all the provisions you need."

When the group nodded to show their understanding, the chieftain took up to leave.

"Then I will leave you to it." the beastman waved his hands. "My butler Walter will help direct you around the areas."

Namur started walking away.

"Wait a minute, my lord," Leo suddenly called out, disturbing the peaceful atmosphere.

The chieftain halted his steps, before slowly turning back around.

"Yes?" Namur's voice contained a faint bite of impatience.

"I don't mean to be nosy," Leo began, "but may we know what exactly were the accidents that caused the previous expeditions to fail?"

The Chieftain Namur stayed silent as he gazed into Leo's eyes. His wolf-like face made it difficult for the other humans in the room to determine what kind of expression he held.

"Of course, you can speak to my butler," Namur spoke slowly. "Walter will fill in all of you on the details."

After that, he turned around and left.

----------

Outside in the freezing cold...

"I think that was a little bit tactless, Leo," Judy commented. "You may have offended him."

"I had to ask." Leo held his hands up defensively. "We need to know as much information as possible if we want to keep ourselves safe; I don't want to go into a quest completely blind."

After they finished their conversation with Namur, the group grabbed their fur coats and were already heading to the carriage with the butler Walter.

"To be fair, I think Leo's got a point," Alex said as the cold wind caressed their bodies. "If we want to avoid another situation like the Goblin King, it's important to gather as much intel as we can."

"I suppose so..." Judy still looked uncertain. "But don't you guys think we may have touched upon something we weren't supposed to?"

Walter, who was walking ahead of them, suddenly spoke out, "My lord is a very busy man. He is currently under duress for this month due to his many responsibilities. I humbly ask each of you to please take it no heed."

Leo and the rest paused their conversation before turning towards the beastman butler.

"I-is that so?" Judy looked a little awkward. "Then please forgive my assumptions."

"It's quite alright." Walter remained composed. "In my master's place, I hope to seek your group's forgiveness for my lord chieftain's attitude."

"Don't worry about it," Sarah replied bracingly. "Other than Leo, we've each encountered worse quest givers before."

"..." Walter chose not to say anything further.

The group continued ahead and eventually reached the carriage again.

"I will inform you of all of the dangers that our expeditions have recorded once we arrive near the locations on the map," Walter addressed to them. He then walked forward and opened the carriage door. "Feel free to ask any further questions when we get there."

As the butler spoke, a gust of cold wind quickly blew past their surroundings, causing the temperatures to drop drastically.

"Al-alright," Alex spoke for the team while attempting to hold back a sneeze.

Behind him, Judy and Sarah were rubbing their fur-covered forearms. After waiting for a second, Alex then stepped aside and gestured for his friends.

"You guys should go first."

Immediately accepting the invitation, Judy quickly headed into the carriage with a grateful look.

----------

Sitting up in his own personal quarters, Chieftain Namur was examining the leaving adventurers. His gaze was filled with traces of sorrow as anguish slowly began filling his heart. Soon, all the emotions which he tried to keep in check started bursting out of him.

"Just where did you go..." Namur helplessly asked to open air.

It had already been five days now and there were still no signs.

A moment later, the beastman of proud heritage leaned forward as he helplessly buried his face in his hands. Namur would remain in this posture for a whole hour before finally falling back into his chair.

----------

It was rumored that, in the early days of the Adventurer's Guild's establishment, the first guild master desired for its guild members to become explorers of the known world. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of various promotions and advertisements, most people would come to see the guild as merely a gathering of a ragtag group of wanderers who would only serve to accomplish the occasional odd job.

There was no great respect for those who designated themselves as adventurers, though these members have at least gained a nicer reputation than the common mercenary.

While the occupation of an adventurer was new, its intended task was something that had already existed in other organizations. Guilds like the Mage Association possessed members of their own who would conduct secret research of certain parts around the world. Having a new organization solely dedicated to this previously established role would naturally be seen as unnecessary by many.

It is because of these reasons that the past Adventurer's Guild failed in delivering their intended career.

Fortunately, this trend has managed to take a slight upward turn as the modern day guild has received a steady rise in succeeding its predecessor's dreams.

The recent assignment that Leo's team accepted was one of the handful of quests which partly recognized the true occupation of an adventurer.

However, the team's current situation did not live up to much excitement.

"Haaaahhhh..."

A person breathed out a cloud of cold air. It was Alex, who was presently trudging across a snowy wasteland.

"There's nothing here either," he mumbled quietly.

Doing his best to withstand the climate, he swung his sword horizontally in a short arc.

The blade of Alex's sword stirred the surrounding air and caused it to blow away the piles of snow in front of him. This formed a clearing that allowed one to peer onto the mound of earth that had been previously covered.

During the first day of their search, the group had spent a handful of hours scanning across the icy fields that inhabited the Frozen Plains. Despite the efforts, they were unable to find anything that resembled an ancient artifact, and eventually had Walter drive them back to rest at the manor.

The second day they were taken out yielded the same results as the first, with the only minor difference being that they explored more fertile lands.

It was now already their third day, and the group was still wandering around aimlessly in their investigation as they still haven't caught a glimpse of anything remotely ancient or valuable.

Initially, Walter had strictly warned the team of various sightings around the Frozen Plains. There was deadly terrain hidden under shifting snow, magic traps that've been planted by lost civilizations, and some dangerous animals that hunted in packs near the locations they were visiting. These warnings had previously kept their guards up, however...

"We still haven't encountered anything," said a slightly irritated voice.

This belonged to Judy, who was walking along a couple feet away from Alex while resisting the urge to shiver. For their third day of expedition, the team had chosen to spread themselves out a bit in order to cover a wider area, remaining at a close enough distance where they could still see one another to provide aid. But lately, some of the members were already beginning to doubt the potential dangers that inhabited the Frozen Plains, even becoming steadily demotivated as they continued to come back empty-handed. As a result, a sense of frustration began to brew.

This outcome should've been expected; the sheer amount of time spent concentrating on their quest has already taken a toll on their minds. This stress was exacerbated even further as the group continued to fail in their intended task.

Walter's warnings had been extremely explicit, yet not a single trace of danger appeared before them. Throughout the three days they've been here, the team already spent several hours searching across blank fields covered in white snow without engaging a single threat.

[Immolation]!

Suddenly, without warning, a trail of flames shot out from a magic blade and trailed through the cold air before landing on a patch of snow.

Heading the front of the group, Leo was walking forward with his magic sword raised while peering into his orb. Just a moment ago, he spotted something with the orb's ability and immediately cast the spell to clear away the nearby area.

After the flames of the spell dissipated, Leo walked over to observe the pile of muddy, wet earth before quickly casting the [Immolation] spell once more; he carefully controlled the heat output to prevent any severe damages to the surroundings.

"Did you find anything?" Judy raised her voice in anticipation after noticing his actions.

The repeated casting caught the attention of the rest of the group and attracted them over.

"Is it an artifact?" Alex asked loudly as he quickly ran to meet up.

Leo, who heard his companions' questions, slowly shook his head as he continued studying something on the slightly scorched earth.

"I'm not too sure what I'm looking at, but it may be a clue."

Unexpectedly, inscribed on the ground in front of him, was a highly complex magic symbol. And as Leo continued observing it, he faintly recalled a resemblance to a spell he studied back at Halo Academy.