"Shush, shush, shush..."
Digging continuously, they had reached into the evening in a blink.
With the efforts of many soldiers and four wizards, including Teddy, they successfully excavated half of the planned area. The unearthed items piled up like a small mountain, bizarre in every sense, but the relics of Yadisi Village were nowhere to be found.
Richard wasn’t too perturbed by this; after all, he had anticipated such a possibility. While allowing the soldiers and wizards to rest, he picked up a scroll and, at the position of Auburn City on the map, marked half an X with a quill—the decision to complete the symbol depended on the next day’s excavation results.
As Richard studied the map on the scroll and prepared to refine the forthcoming battle strategy, Commander Wu Long rushed over and reported, "Master Wizard Richard, there’s an unusual discovery down the mountain."
"Hm? What discovery?" Richard raised his eyebrow, puzzled. The foot of the mountain wasn’t part of the planned area; he hadn’t ordered any digging there. What could possibly be amiss?
Wu Long quickly explained, "We found a caravan, a large one, attempting to pass below the mountain. We stopped them. After all, with wars raging everywhere, no caravan dares to travel.
This large a caravan appearing here is obviously abnormal, and the people in the caravan seem a bit off. I feared an incident might occur, so I thought it best to have you, Master Wizard Richard, take a look."
"So that’s the situation," Richard put away the map scroll and, after a moment’s thought, nodded, "Alright, I’ll go have a look."
With that, Richard followed Wu Long down the mountain.
Reaching the base of the mountain, Richard saw the so-called massive caravan.
It was indeed huge, consisting of over twenty horse-drawn carriages, each loaded with a plethora of items, as eclectic as those excavated from the mountain.
On one of the carriages, Richard saw a stone statue, tightly wrapped in blankets to prevent damage, and secured with numerous ropes. Yet, despite these precautions, several fine cracks were still inevitably present on the statue.
After glancing at the stone statue, Richard’s eyebrow twitched, feeling it looked somewhat familiar. Just as he was about to take a closer look, a voice from the caravan called out in surprise, "Richard, is it you?"
"Eh?" Richard turned his head and saw a blonde youth in pink clothing, equally surprised, "Sherlock, is it you?"
The leader of the caravan was none other than Sherlock—Sherlock Melrose.
"What are you up to? Moving house?" Recognizing Sherlock, Richard asked with curiosity, "Weren’t you comfortably settled in Florence before? Why come here?"
"That...," Sherlock’s expression dimmed slightly, "it’s a long story..."
Outside Auburn City, on the Rocky Mountain, a bonfire crackled vigorously. By the fire, Richard and Sherlock were talking.
Sherlock’s maid, Lucia, exhausted, had already fallen asleep, nestling against Sherlock like a cat, her head on his lap.
Sherlock, seemingly used to this, continued speaking to Richard with an unchanged expression.
After a long conversation, Sherlock sighed, "So, that’s the situation."
"So, you mean to return to the Main Continent, back to where you came from?" Richard confirmed.
"Yes." Sherlock nodded. "I didn’t want to go back originally, but now the East Coast is too dangerous. With wars everywhere, it’s hard to predict what might happen. In that case, it might be safer to leave the East Coast and return to the Main Continent."
"You speak the truth," Richard was certain of Sherlock’s words, "The East Coast is indeed dangerous right now. In fact, if it weren’t for certain things that must be done, I would like to leave now and take a look at the Main Continent."
"You want to go to the Main Continent?" Sherlock was startled and looked Richard up and down, speaking slowly, "Well, for someone like you, going to the Main Continent would indeed be better. After all, the East Coast is comparatively peaceful and, in some aspects, it is vastly different from the Main Continent."
"Speaking of which, I am curious to know what the Main Continent is actually like," said Richard.
"The Main Continent," Sherlock reminisced with a reflective gaze, pondering for a moment before speaking, "How should I put it? In a sense, the Main Continent is like an enlarged version of the East Coast. Many things are fundamentally the same between the Main Continent and the East Coast, but the Main Continent has more to offer.
For example, the Main Continent possesses more resources, more magical potions, stranger demonized creatures, more mysterious areas, and more formidable wizards. Of course, it also harbors more dangers."
"Yes, more dangers," Sherlock affirmed seriously. "The Main Continent isn’t some paradisiacal realm; opportunity and danger coexist. There are more opportunities to get what you desire, but also more dangers that can instantly put you in mortal peril. You might not have a clear impression just from my words, so let me give you a few examples."
Sherlock began, "The first example occurred in Neese Swamp.
You don’t need to know exactly where Neese Swamp is or what it looks like; I don’t know much about it either. You just need to understand that it was a treasure trove of resources a long time ago. It contained numerous resources, most of which could be used for wizardry casting.
The soil around it was also exceedingly fertile, with many farmers settling there. Before the disaster struck, there were over a hundred thousand people living near Neese Swamp, with hundreds of wizards and countless wizard apprentices coming and going daily to gather resources. Then, one night, a Lerna creature suddenly appeared in the swamp, and disaster followed."
"Lerna?" Richard asked.
"Yes, Lerna," Sherlock nodded.
Richard’s eyes flickered as he realized, Sherlock’s mention of Lerna likely referred to the so-called Lerna Hydra. This was similar to the term used in Ancient Greece on Earth, though people were more familiar with other names for this mythological creature, such as Hydra or Chudra.
This mythical creature was popular in Earth’s history, with many versions describing it. Some versions claimed the creature had a single head, others said it had five, seven, or even as many as a hundred heads. However, most people believed that nine heads were more plausible, and it was generally accepted to have nine, thus being called nine-headed snake.
However, as a mythical creature from Earth, it existed in the current world as a powerful demonized creature, posing a threat to many.
Reflecting on these thoughts, Richard looked at Sherlock, indicating for him to continue, listening intently.
Sherlock continued, "The appearance of the Lerna creature was completely unexpected by many and even unbelievable until Lerna killed more than a dozen wizards and invaded a village of ordinary people, slaughtering them extensively. Then, many wizards took action to eliminate the Lerna.
But they greatly underestimated Lerna’s strength and completely failed to clarify that in the swamp, Lerna could exert several times its strength, resulting in over half of them being killed and the rest severely wounded and fleeing.
In the end, having no other choice, some truly significant figures rushed over from afar. They first collaborated in casting spells to dry up large areas of the swamp, forcing Lerna onto land. Then, they used various spells to weaken Lerna’s defenses and eventually decapitated all nine of Lerna’s heads, killing it.
It is worth mentioning that during this disaster, a very famous wizard prodigy died. He was a real prodigy—at twelve, he became a wizard apprentice, at thirteen, a First-level Wizard, and by fourteen, he had reached the First-level Wizard Peak.
He was the heir to a very ancient wizard organization, which had high hopes for him, hoping that once he fully matured, he could lead the organization back to its pinnacle. Unfortunately, he had the misfortune of encountering Lerna and was devoured almost without the ability to resist."
"Phew—" Sherlock exhaled, looking at Richard and asked, "So, would you say the Main Continent is dangerous?"
"Well, indeed it is quite dangerous," Richard replied, his eyes flashing as he asked, "However, are there many such powerful demonized creatures like Lerna on the Main Continent?"
"That... well, how should I put it?" Sherlock frowned, pondering for a while before speaking, "Actually, it’s hard to give a definite answer."