On the Proper Way to Hunt for Treasure

"Let's go. We're heading in."

Standing at the entrance to the ruins, Ron stubbed out his cigar and signaled for the soldiers to begin.

The biggest flaw in treasure-hunting stories was that only a tiny handful of people ever went exploring. Whenever something unexpected happened, they never had enough manpower, making the story thrilling and dangerous, with the protagonist liable to die at any moment.

But Ron had not come here for thrills.

At his command, heavily armed Navy soldiers raised great shields, climbed to the top of the ruins, and slid down vines through the hole they had blasted open.

Rather than entering through the main gate, they had used experienced veterans to break open the ruins and dig a tunnel leading straight inside.

This was a textbook practical example of strength in numbers.

The traps that had caused the treasure hunters in the original story countless deaths and injuries were simply destroyed. The javelins and arrowheads lining the passage were outflanked, removed one by one by the soldiers, and discarded outside.

Alva stared at the battered, hole-ridden ruins before finally coming back to his senses.

This wasn't how I imagined treasure hunting would be!

You're here to demolish the place, aren't you?

If Ael had known what Ron was doing, he would undoubtedly have been dumbfounded on the spot as well.

Where were my traps?

Where were all my traps? They were just here a moment ago?!

As they entered the passageway, scouts had already lit torches along the walls, illuminating the corridor brightly.

Ron strolled deeper along the passage as leisurely as if he were on an outing. Every projectile trap and collapsing pit along the way had been cleared by the soldiers, with wooden planks laid down to make travel easier.

If no one said this