act7mini

They already pay too high a price, and they wouldn't want to see any of this.

It's just like how I never wanted to look at my legs when I was a kid. No matter how much I tried, they just couldn't run. Iberia as it is now doesn't want to see any of these broken parts.

Look at you, using yourself as an analogy again. I'm starting to feel bad.

Hm, I can tell you are joking this time.

Electromagnetic Pulse Field released.

So, should we go up? Or down?

Your call.

I'm thinking up. I'm not entirely sure why, but I feel up is the way to go. This place is like... a tower.

A tower? How tall do you think it is? The part that stands above ground is at most three stories. What could its purpose be?

In that case, I guess we should go down.

Hm?

You just reminded me that we have no idea how far down it might go.

Let's find out, then. And don't worry. I got your back.

That puts my mind at ease, though I do hope we won't end up in a fight.

Hm, it's dark in here.

The lighting system is busted.

You can't fix it?

The Iberian technology here is several decades old. Their wiring is nothing like Raythean's. If you gave me a few days...

Don't worry about it, then. We'll let Closure and Engineering worry about it later. We won't be staying in this coffin pit for long.

Coffin?

It's an analogy, or maybe not. There is a foul stench lingering in this building.

It's been abandoned for years, and then it was flooded with seawater and buried by mud...

Shh.

Hm?

Say, if we don't talk, do you suppose we'll hear ghosts screaming?

G-Ghosts...?

Oh, it's just a joke. Try not to tug so hard on my clothes. I like this new outfit a lot.

Oh... We should switch on our portable Originium lamps.

Now it's much brighter.

Hm...

You seem to be a big fan of these technological ruins.

This kind of technology only existed in the coastal towns of the past. You don't see them much in Iberia these days.

What... are they for?

For observation? To relay signals? Or could it be... for sightseeing?

Perhaps it was for locking people up.

Possibly...

When we look at the Iberia of the past, we some see the technology that they left behind, like gold covered in dust.

Yet, during those radiant times, there were countless bones buried underneath El Dorado.

I'm sorry...

What are you apologizing for? The bones of the Ægirs who took my ancestors away to Iberia have long been eroded by the sea waves.

I don't hate Iberia, nor do I hate the Ægir people. Now, I suppose I don't even hate myself as much anymore. This is all thanks to the Doctor and you, Glau.

Does this technology... give you any bad memories?

All I care about is whether this place will be of any use to Rhodes Island.

In the end, this is what we are here for, no?

Right... We're here to scout out the surroundings, to analyze the data, and to confirm what we can retrieve.

Too bad that this place has been torn apart inside and out, though. If it was just the time and the environment, the parts wouldn't be this wrecked.

Look at this part here. It went so far... Ah!

What's wrong? Why did you pull out your Franker all of a sudden...?

T-There's a ghost!

A ghost...? You mean the shadow in the path ahead?

It isn't moving. Doesn't seem to be alive.

Judging from his getup... It seems he was a bounty hunter.

We haven't made it very far from the entrance. Perhaps he was the one who cracked it open, and he died here after he came inside.

Oh, I see.

Wait, let's not get any closer yet.

Hm?

We still don't know how he died.

You think it could be dangerous?

A bounty hunter died so close to the entrance.

We'll have to watch out for whatever killed him.

Hm...

Stand back a little more.

I can smell... the scent of the seawater.

Seawater? We're pretty far away from the shore.

You don't mean...

Though Blue Poison told Glaucus to stay where she is, she continues to walk toward the corpse. She kneels down about a meter away, observing it closely.

Okay, it's just some seagrass.

It's a full skeleton. No sign that he was eaten by any monsters, and there are no other fatal injuries.

*Sniffs*

No trace of any common toxins that could lead to death either.

Judging from his posture, he likely got himself tied up in the seagrass and drowned.

I don't see any water, though. It's dry everywhere.

Take a closer look at the rust left on the wall.

Hm... I can see some areas are more rusted than others.

So this place was flooded twice, then?

The seawater destroyed the building the first time around. Whatever its function was, that was when it failed. The second time, the seawater gushed into this place again, flooding its insides once more.

And this poor bastard happened to be in here at the time. He likely thought he'd hit the jackpot, and was happily tearing away at the things in the wall.

He didn't manage to escape in time when the seawater began to flood the building, and the seagrass had his arms and legs caught. He lost his life after struggling for a while.

You can't really blame him. He was a Kuranta.

Poor guy... They don't know the strength of the sea.

The Doctor once mentioned that research on the ocean is for the most part done only by a handful of oceanologists. It's not a very popular field.

Well, it's not really that strange. We are only interested in the things that we can see and conquer.

Perhaps... the Iberia of the past was the sole exception.

It's all in the past. I haven't seen the ocean myself either.

Hm... I'm not even sure why you're so sensitive to the scent of seawater.

Have you heard that rumor?

Ugh...

About the disasters?

We... don't talk about that. That's not allowed in Iberia.

You're all used to avoiding the subject.

It's hard to kick your habits. We don't talk much about... our homeland at Rhodes Island. Besides, each of us has a different impression of that incident, and sometimes even about that whole area.

I've talked to Weedy about it. Both of us are Ægirs who grew up in Iberia, and I've come to realize the Iberia in her eyes is totally different from the one I see.

That's nothing strange, no? If you are not allowed to discuss the incident, then the only thing you will remember of it is the small fragment that you saw with your own eyes.

They... are taking the chance to piece the fragments together, from the people.

Hm, there's only the two of us now. I could talk about it, but... I'm afraid to do that. It's like something has my throat blocked.

I'm worried that as soon as I talk, the shadows cast on the path here will charge toward me.

And I say that even though I know it's just shadows cast by the Originium lamp.

Shadows... What a fine analogy. They skillfully redirect everyone's attention away, such that they fear the shadows rather than the enormous truth that lies behind.

It's so cold... but I'm sweating.

In the past, I would never even imagine that I could stand here and talk to you about this.