Having received Miss Bayes's signal, Shade grabbed the two ladies before and behind him, then lit the Bordeaux Candle. The three of them vanished in voice, heat, and form, while the candlelight illuminated the space ahead.
The three of them practically charged out of the tunnel. Raising their hands in preparation for attacks from every direction, they found no vicious-looking people waiting outside.
The candlelight illuminated the surroundings, and they finally relaxed.
The passage connected to an underground space roughly the size of Shade's bedroom, barely qualifying as a cubic room. Opposite the wall excavated by the Blood of Mercury stood a closed stone door. Other than that stone door, the place was completely empty.
This was the official entrance to the ruins. "Shabby" was probably the most fitting word to describe it. It was not the massive building complex within an Underground Cavity that one might have imagined, nor was it the Ancient Witch Emperor's tomb from the legends. It was merely a dark room buried deep underground.
"If this really was built by the Innocent Creator's final Believers, they must have been nearing their end by then."
Miss Bayes commented mournfully. After all, they had also been Believers of a Good God, yet they had persisted for a thousand years after their deity's departure.
Rather than immediately pushing open the door, the three split up to inspect their surroundings. Shade raised his finger and carefully examined the Rock Walls. Apart from the wall containing the stone door, the other three were all carved with writing. Though the ruins had been established in the Early Sixth Epoch, the script used was not from this epoch.
Fortunately, regardless of what era those words belonged to, it made no difference to Shade. He began translating:
In the year 532 of the