Claude had never imagined that he would see the ruins of such a large magic tower on a cliff facing the sea.
According to Welikro's description, the ruins were about as wide as his red-bricked house, which was around 40 to 50 meters long.
But when he saw it with his own eyes, he realized how huge the difference between the two was.
"This is practically a castle," Borkal exclaimed.
"No, I think it's even bigger than Renaissance Square," said Eriksson.
Renaissance Square was the camp where Stellin IX fired the first shot. It had now become a memorial square.
Before the four of them came to Egret, they had attended the Renaissance Festival celebration organized by the school.
A square that could hold two to three thousand people was indeed huge in the eyes of Eriksson and the others.
Welikro walked to a broken wall and knocked on it with his stick. "Claude, come and take a look. I wasn't wrong, right? This wall is exactly the same as the rocks on the mountain path."
Indeed, Welikro wasn't wrong. When they got closer, they could tell that the material of the wall was the same as the flat rocks on the mountain path. Even though the wall was covered in moss and vines, it was clear from the cracks on the wall that they were made of the same material.
The only difference was that the rock on the mountain path was only flat on the side facing upwards, while the rock on the wall was very smooth on both sides.
The tallest wall in the ruins was two to three meters high, while the shortest was half a meter high. The moist sea breeze blew day and night, causing the lower part of the wall to be covered with moss, and specks of white powder had condensed on the top of the wall.
Welikro said, "That's all salt. It's edible, but it's a little bitter and hard to swallow."
The ruins weren't flat. On the contrary, there was a small mound of rubble on the left third of the area. The entire area from the ruins to the cliff outside was covered in rubble.
However, time would erase all traces. Currently, there were already a few short trees growing on top of the pile of rubble, and weeds and shrubs were growing underneath …
"I really don't get it. Why did the magic tower collapse? Look at how thick the walls are! Don't tell me it was blown down by the sea breeze. That would be a huge joke," said Borkal as he patted the broken wall thoughtfully.
Eriksson propped up his chin with his hand and stared at the stone wall with a frown, "It's impossible for the sea breeze to topple a magic tower. Perhaps a tsunami could.
But if the tsunami could reach the height of the cliff and destroy the magic tower, Whitestag wouldn't have existed for a long time.
Over the past few centuries, Whitestag hadn't experienced any natural disasters like tsunamis. At most, there would only be a few storms in August or September.
Apart from the roar of the sea, the only other thing that could harm the magic tower was an earthquake. Whitestag had been built for a thousand years, yet there had never been an earthquake.
Oh, by the way, my father told me that there are ruins of a magic tower on Bariama Island.
Bariama Island is a thousand kilometers away from Whitestag. It's impossible for an earthquake to happen to collapse two magic towers from such a distance. "
Welikro laughed. "Hey, you two, come over here and carry your things properly. Don't find excuses to slack off. What are you thinking about?
My father told me that the magic tower was destroyed by explosives. "
Borkal wasn't convinced. "How did your father know that? It's been centuries since the magic tower collapsed. How can he be so sure that it was destroyed by explosives?
What kind of gunpowder could be so powerful to be able to destroy such a sturdy magic tower? "
Your father is right … The diary mentioned that the magus named Landes invented a type of explosive gunpowder. He said that it could blast a mountain into a crater, so it should be more than enough to destroy the magic tower.
Welikro shrugged. "I don't know either. That's what I asked my father back then and he knocked me on the head.
He said that I was too old. Even though it's been a few centuries, the traces left behind by explosives can't be erased. Look at the broken walls and the pile of rubble. It's obvious that the bottom of the magic tower was damaged by a huge shockwave, causing the tower to collapse.
"You know that my father was a guard at the firearms research facility in the royal capital for two years when he was young. He said that he had seen many explosions in the facility and the traces left behind by the explosions were similar to the ones here. That's why he was able to tell with a single glance if it was caused by an explosion.
As for your claim that gunpowder isn't that powerful, that's because you haven't seen it before.
My father said that there was an explosion in the gunpowder warehouse of the research facility that destroyed the stone walls thicker than this one. All that was left was a huge crater on the ground. "
"Alright, stop arguing about why the magic tower collapsed," Claude said as he tapped the ground with his stick. "Shall we camp here tonight?"
"Oh, no …" Welikro pointed at the ruins. "Let's go a little further. That's where my father and I camped the last time we came here.
The wind is strong on the cliff and there are four walls there to block the wind. Let's set up camp there. "
Borkal and Eriksson picked up the luggage they threw on the ground and slung it over their shoulders again. The four of them continued deeper into the ruins.
The campsite Welikro pointed out wasn't bad. It was a room on the far right of the ruins. The remaining stone walls were about two meters tall and it was probably a separate room from the magic tower. It was around 20 square meters in size.
The ground was also made of gray stone and it was probably a storeroom or a storeroom.
There was a pile of firewood about a meter tall in the corner of the room. Welikro said that it was left behind by his father and him when they came hunting during the winter.
Welikro took a piece of wood from the bottom of the pile and looked at it. He was satisfied that it was dry.
Originally, he was worried that there was a thick layer of snow on top of the pile of firewood when they left last time. When the snow melted, it would make the firewood wet. There was also the two weeks of continuous rain at the end of March. But now, it seemed that the sea breeze had dried the firewood very much.
"Looks like we don't need to cut wood anymore," Welikro said, "That saves us a lot of time.
Alright, put your bags down. We'll be staying here tonight. "
Claude and the other two were satisfied. The stone floor of the room was very clean and the sea breeze had blown away all the dust. There weren't any gaps between the stone walls and the floor. There wasn't a single insect or ant to be seen.
"We're going to set up the tent here?"
Asked Borkal, pointing at the corner opposite the pile of firewood. There were still traces of a tent being set up there.
"Yes, that's where my father and I set up the last time.
Wait, don't set it up like last night. This tent of mine can be taken apart. There are three walls there and you only need to set up a roof. The four of us can sleep under it. "
Eriksson was dumbfounded. "Then why did I have to carry this tent all the way here? I would've left it on the boat if you had told me earlier."
Welikro scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "I was worried that you wouldn't be able to sleep. After all, this is a ruin filled with all sorts of terrifying legends.
That's why I want to stay in your tent during the night watch. "
Eriksson turned to look at the broken walls of the room. "But the walls of this room are two meters tall. How are we supposed to keep watch if we can't even see outside?
Are we supposed to use this tent to block the entrance? "
Welikro pointed at the pile of firewood in the corner. "I'm going to set up your tent over there. The people here will be able to see what's going on outside from the tent.
Also, you don't have to set up the tent completely. Just half of it should be enough to block the wind from the sea. That way, it'll be easier for the Night Watchers to move around if anything happens. "
Since Welikro said so, they had no choice but to do as he said. However, they had to be careful when taking the firewood. They had to take it from the outermost area and not the middle area in case the firewood collapsed and they couldn't set up the tent on top of it.
Welikro picked up a few sticks from the ground beside the firewood. "Good, they're all still here. The drier they are, the tougher they get. Here, these are the ones my father chopped down to set up the tent. You guys lend me a hand and set up the tent first."
Setting up the tent Welikro brought with him was rather simple. All they had to do was tie a dozen or so rocks around it and throw them to the other side of the broken wall. The tent was flattened by the rocks and in the blink of an eye, there was a flat roof in the middle of the three broken walls. As for the side that was still empty, they used the wooden sticks to prop it up with ropes to form a simple tent.
Welikro tested the sturdiness of the wooden stick frame and was very satisfied. The sea breeze wouldn't blow it away no matter how strong the wind was.
Borkal studied it for a long time. "Welikro, you said you and your father set up camp here during the winter. Won't it collapse if we set up a tent like this?"
Welikro smiled. "You're right. The first time we came, it collapsed under the weight of the snow and we had to get up in the middle of the night to clear the snow.
Now that we've experienced it the second time, we didn't do it that way. We'll just do it like before.
But this time, there are four of us and it's not winter yet, so we don't have to worry about snow. Judging from the weather, it's not like it'll rain at night either, so don't worry. We're leaving tomorrow anyway. "
Claude was about to prepare lunch. "Welikro, where's the water?"
Welikro pointed downwards. "There's a spring about fifty meters down there. The water is really clear and it's hot like a hot spring in winter. I always take a bath there."
So, Welikro brought Borkal and Eriksson to get the water while Claude started a fire to cook.
After a simple lunch, the four of them discussed how they were going to hunt in the afternoon.
"I'm not going. Eyke will take the hunting bow, Boa will take his stone crossbow, and Welikro will take your gun. The three of you can go. I'll tidy up the place a bit and take a look around.
I'm really curious about the ruins of the magic tower and want to study it properly. Perhaps I'll make some amazing discoveries. "
Claude couldn't wait for the three of them to leave and go hunting so that he could go to the first floor of the magic tower to search for the item left behind by Landes.
Even though it had been six hundred years and it was still unknown whether that item was still there, he couldn't help but feel disgruntled if he didn't go look for it since he was already here.
That strange coincidence in particular gave Claude hope that if his transmigration and the recipe book were all part of fate, then he was certain that Landes' item was still there.
"You really don't want to go hunting?"
His friends didn't take Claude's claims seriously, but they were well aware of his hobby of reading history books in the past half a year. It wasn't surprising that the ruins of a centuries-old magic tower piqued Claude's interest.
"Alright, you guys go ahead. I'll be fine here. If it's possible, go hunt a few wild pheasants. I'll make you a new way to roast them tonight. I'm sure you'll be satisfied," said Claude.