Inside the Ancient Ruins, sunlight streamed in from various places, but it wasn’t enough to serve as a reliable light source. So, I used Light Magic and began our exploration.

“I’ll watch out for traps… It would be great if the people ahead had already triggered them.”

Gilbert said that as he walked at the front. In the game, there were traps in the Demon Lord’s Castle, but not in the Angel Ruins… However, since this is a location not featured in the game, there’s a possibility of traps existing here.

If we encounter a trap, we could force our way through using Magic or something… If it’s a magic trap, there’s a high chance we’d notice it right before it activates, but for physical traps like pitfall traps, it’s difficult. I’ll proceed with caution to avoid falling into such things.

The three of us advanced, looking around… Meanwhile, the metallic sounds emanating from deeper within grew louder.

“They’re definitely engaged in combat with a monster.”

Gilbert said. Then, he turned his head to me and Sofia once before speaking.

“If we encounter the people who are fighting… there are two possible outcomes. Either they show hostile intent, treating us as intruders, or they propose cooperation.”

“It seems unlikely they’d team up with us, their competitors.”

When I said that, Gilbert shrugged.

“If they’re struggling, that might not be the case… There’s also the option of outsmarting them and taking only the artifact, but what do you want to do?”

“If we did that, you’d get nothing. So you’d rather we didn’t, right?”

“I appreciate your perceptiveness… Let’s face them. We’ll decide what to do based on how they react.”

If they become hostile, there’s a possibility of combat—I’d prefer to avoid that if possible. Depending on the situation, we might even need to negotiate.

It seems this won’t be a simple dungeon exploration. Well, I thought, this is also experience… and we proceeded in the direction of the sound.

Eventually, the metallic sounds grew very close. There were probably two of them.

“It’s a pair.”

Gilbert muttered, confirming my thoughts.

“There are three of us… I don’t know their abilities, but can we handle it?”

“We’re not just going to attack them, are we?”

When I asked, feeling uneasy, Gilbert gave a meaningful smile. Oh boy.

Even Sofia’s face tensed up. Her expression seemed to say that if that happened, we wouldn’t fight. However, Gilbert seemed to understand this, and his expression softened as he told us,

“It’s fine, for now, let’s just observe—”

It was at that moment. Suddenly, a man’s scream rang out.

The moment we heard it, we snapped back to attention and rushed to the scene. Upon arriving, we found a male and female pair, who appeared to be Warriors, in a desperate situation facing a monster. The man had fallen on his rear, and the woman was trembling, unable to move.

The monster they faced was a Golem made of stone… a being of hard, rough rocks in human form, and the one before us had a green body.

There are various types of Golems, and their strength, like Goblins, changes with color… The one before us is green. Its name is the straightforward ‘Green Golem,’ but… with Sofia and Gilbert’s current attack power, it has enough defense to take a little time to defeat. I should warn them.

“Golem—its defense is high, and its attack power seems high too. Be careful!”

At my words, Gilbert and Sofia’s expressions tightened, and they began combat. Meanwhile, I rushed towards the Warriors, saying to the two of them,

“I’ll handle the two Warriors!”

Simultaneously with those words, Gilbert engaged the monster. He quickly unleashed a barrage of attacks on it… This was ‘Double Slash,’ a low-level Generic Technique.

The Golem flinched immediately. Next, Sofia held up her arm,

“Explode!”

She uses “Aerial Sword,” a lower-tier wind magic. The wind explodes, blowing the Golem back considerably.

Their coordination is excellent. However, the Golem doesn’t fall… The weaknesses of Golem types vary, but for a Green Golem, I believe it’s water. Even if I advise her, can Sofia use it—

“Ugh…”

At that moment, the man groaned. He seemed surprised by the battle before him. Looking at the man and woman, they both wore similar types of leather armor and both had brown hair, giving them an unremarkable appearance. For now, it seemed they had no noticeable external injuries.

After confirming their appearance, I understood despite their lack of distinct features—they were NPCs from the game.

“Hup!”

Sofia’s voice. When I looked back, she was unleashing a “Gale Sword” on the Golem. The power should have increased after adding Sylphs to her party… but it still wasn’t enough to defeat it.

Perhaps magic attacks are better than physical attacks? Just as I thought about giving advice—Gilbert launched a follow-up attack.

It was just a horizontal swing, not a special technique, but perhaps due to the accumulated damage, the Golem staggered slightly. This is a chance—Sofia and the others must have thought instantly. Both immediately moved to launch further attacks.

Gilbert added another sword strike without losing the momentum from his horizontal swing. Then Sofia unleashed “Gale Sword” again. The wind strike hit the Golem… and finally, the Golem’s body shattered and crumbled.

The enemy could do almost nothing… They coordinated well and gave it no chance to counterattack. They must have also been saved by the Golem’s inherently slow movements.

“Well then…”

I looked at the man and woman. Their expressions had completely changed from earlier; they both looked dumbfounded.

“Should we move to a different spot… We need to introduce ourselves, at least.”

We entered a nearby small room and first introduced ourselves. In addition, we exchanged information about the Ancient Ruins.

The man’s name was Reitz, and the woman’s was Mira. These names were exactly the same as the NPC names I had in mind, so I was sure they were the characters I expected.

—They are fellow adventurers of Alto Moonrayt, the third protagonist, and they encounter him in an early dungeon. They are rivals vying for treasure.

Alto, the third protagonist, works as a Treasure Hunter (though whether such a profession truly exists is debatable). Even before the Demon King’s army arrived on the continent, he was searching for Ancient Ruins left by Angels, like the building we are currently in, seeking the treasures within.

Such Ancient Ruins were difficult to access before the Demon Race’s invasion. It was already hard to even locate where Ancient Ruins were, requiring extensive research through various texts. Furthermore, even if the location of Ancient Ruins was known, entering them involved complex procedures that rarely yielded results… Honestly, I can confidently say it wasn’t worth the effort.

However, people seek romance—or rather, there are quite a few people across various parts of the continent who have found such Ancient Ruins and struck it rich. So, many people spend their days as mercenaries, digging for treasure in pursuit of the possibility of gaining wealth. Alto and Reitz, who are before me, are prime examples of this.

The current situation is an excellent opportunity for Treasure Hunters. Many Ancient Ruins are surfacing due to the Demon Race’s invasion. Alto will also visit Ancient Ruins found as a result of the Demon Lord’s Invasion in the early stages, and Treasure Hunters across various parts of the continent may be actively working, ignoring the Demon Race.

And as for Reitz and his group… Alto leaves to search for treasure in a different location after clearing the early dungeon. Later, there’s an event where they are surprised to see Alto fighting the Demon King… It’s likely they traveled around various parts of the continent, parted ways with Alto, discovered these Ancient Ruins, and explored them more than we did.

Hmm, an encounter with NPCs this time… While I was pondering what this might mean, we finished exchanging information with Reitz and his group.