Allison
Chapter 8 : A black fighter plane was flying over the forest.Allison, sitting in the front seat, spo

They saw a tributary flowing in on their right. And beyond the woods, they saw the land rising up without end. They were at the foot of the Central Mountain Range.

The two planes turned right. Unlike when they were in flight, centrifugal forces forced the planes into a leftward tilt. The supporting floats under the left wings tapped the surface of the water.

The river narrowed considerably, its width now at about fifty meters. Allison informed Benedict and closed the throttle even more. They slowed down.

The edges of the river grew crooked and began to zigzag. The two planes maneuvered towards the center of the river, trying to keep away from the sh.o.r.es.

“Urgh… C’mon…”

Allison grumbled as she carefully controlled her heading with the rudder alone. Cold sweat dribbled down her face.

“Amazing…”

When she looked around, Benedict’s plane was following her easily at an even distance.

“Agh… d.a.m.n it…”

Benedict grumbled as he carefully controlled his heading with the rudder alone. Cold sweat dribbled down his face.

“Amazing…”

Allison’s plane was leading easily at an even pace.

Wil observed their surroundings in awe and mumbled with a chuckle,

“It feels like I’m on a field trip.”

Eventually, the river began to run straight again. Its either sh.o.r.es rose up as though encasing it, turning into ten-meter-high cliffs just as Walter described.

The two seaplanes continued down the river. The roars of their engines echoed loudly.

Allison commented.

Benedict replied.

Allison and Benedict agreed with Wil. The cliffs on either side had given way to gentle slopes, and on their left they could see the mountain.

They found the river that encircled the mountain. It did not branch out into smaller streams, and instead flowed straight into a field at the foot of the mountains.

Wil said.

Benedict said, opening the throttle and taking the lead.

Benedict chose a sh.o.r.e on the inner side of a leftward curve in the river. It was a gentle slope where the current was slow. Keeping up an awkward pace, he pointed the nose of his plane at the sh.o.r.e, and shut off the engines a second before making contact with land. The plane stopped when the floats were about halfway on the sand.

Benedict took out a rope ladder from under his seat and climbed it down onto the sh.o.r.e. He grabbed a rope that was stowed under the frame and secured it onto a pair of hooks on the floats, and tied either end of the rope on two trees nearby.

He then guided Allison as her plane came to a stop beside his, and expertly secured it with another rope.

Allison stepped onto the sh.o.r.e, taking off her jacket.

“Thank you, Second Lieutenant. Would you like a tip?”

Benedict was bewildered to see her in a Royal Guard uniform, but managed to shoot back.

“Not at all, Warrant Officer. Where in the world did you get a hold of that uniform?”

“That’s a secret.”

Wil disembarked, carrying their suitcase.

“Let me introduce you, Second Lieutenant Carr. This is Wil—Wilhelm Schultz. He’s an old friend of mine. Wil, this is Second Lieutenant Carr.”

“Carr Benedict. As you can see, I’m from the Sou Be-Il Royal Air Force.”

Benedict offered Wil a handshake. Wil accepted it.

“Th, thank you.” Wil said.

“Hm? What for?”

“For making sure Allison wasn’t shot during that dogfight.”

Benedict was a little surprised.

“Oh… You’re an interesting person. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wil.”

“The pleasure’s all mine.”

“What happened with your head? Are you injured?” Benedict asked, looking at Wil’s bandages.

“No, I just got into some trouble trying to play hero.”

“I see.”

“As someone who saw you playing hero, I’ve gotta say you looked pretty cool.” Allison said. Wil grinned.

“Let’s be off, then. We’re going on a treasure hunt.”

They looked up at the mountain. Before them was a vast forest.

Wil suggested that, at the very least, they should change their s.h.i.+rts. He and Allison put their Royal Guard jackets and hats into their suitcase, and changed into their own shoes.

Allison tied her own jacket and bag around her waist. Wil put on his bloodstained s.h.i.+rt and slung the suitcase over his back like a knapsack. The gun, however, would not fit inside. He kept it on a holster at his side.

Benedict put on a black jacket, and clipped a survival pack from the seaplane onto his belt.

Allison wondered if he wouldn’t get hot, to which Benedict replied,

“Patience is an officer’s virtue. …Or I should say, a man’s virtue.”

<=>

They walked through the woods. All kinds of trees were growing on the gentle, gra.s.sy slope. Although the way was by no means overgrown, it was still difficult to see where they were going.

“Stay close. We’ll have a lot of trouble on our hands if we get separated.” Benedict said, taking the lead and clearing a path through tall gra.s.s and branches. He also kept an eye out for caves to his left.

“I get it.” Wil mumbled. Allison asked him what he was talking about.

“He kept his jacket on because he was going to take the lead and clear out a path for us.”

“That makes sense. You’re really good at this, aren’t you, Second Lieutenant?”

“Well, yeah.” Benedict replied. “I did this a lot back in the army.”

“It really was a good idea to bring him along.”

“…You don’t have to put it that way, Allison…”

“You think so? But I’ll make sure the three of us split the treasure fairly once we find it.”

“No, I mean…”

Benedict chuckled bitterly as he made a way through the foliage.

Eventually, they spotted a cavern. It was overgrown on top, but the opening was large enough for a person to enter without crouching.

They scanned the interior with a flashlight. The dank cavern continued, but they spotted no rifle.

“Not here.”

“Let’s make a note of this place and search for the next cavern.”

They discovered several more similar caverns along the way. Some were too small to enter, and others suddenly dropped off into a deeper level. They did not find a rifle anywhere.

“It might have fallen, or it might have been buried. It has been thirty years since then.”

“Maybe.”

They took a short rest for Wil’s sake and quickly wolfed down some rations. Then, they set off once more. The sun began to set between the trees.

“This is the tenth one.” Allison said, pus.h.i.+ng aside the foliage and peering inside with a flashlight.

“Hey, guys… I don’t think we’re going to have to look for cavern #11.”

Benedict and Wil looked inside.

The cavern opening was large enough to enter upright. The light from their flashlights were focused on an old rifle. The metal was rusted red with age, and the wood was on the verge of rotting completely. But the rifle was still firmly stuck in the floor of the cavern.

Just as Walter had told them, when they stepped inside they found themselves in a large cavern. It was about the size of a cla.s.sroom, and was located partly underground. Underfoot was damp stone, and stalact.i.tes were hanging from the ceiling. The light from the entrance dimly illuminated the interior.

“This must be it.”

Allison’s voice echoed loudly against the walls of the cavern.

“This must be a limestone cave. There must be a lot of these in the area.”

“Okay. Where to next?”

“Wil.”

“The twelfth hole on the right.”

Benedict pointed his flashlight at the right side of the cavern. The three began to walk, counting the openings.

“Twelve…”

“Here.”

“This must be it.”

The three flashlights stopped over one large opening. It was large enough to pa.s.s though upright, and the path led down in a gentle slope.

Benedict hung his handkerchief in front of the opening.

“I’m putting this here just in case. Now we take twenty steps, correct? Would you mind if I took the lead?”

“Not at all. Go ahead.”

“It’s an honor.”

Before Benedict could finish his sentence, Allison added,

“You’re the tallest one here. Please tell us if you hit your head on something along the way.”

“…”

Wil was astonished. Benedict chuckled wryly.

“Aren’t you nervous at all, Allison?”

“In my own way, yes.” Allison replied.

“Nineteen… twenty… there.”

Benedict took several more steps forward, then moved aside and led his companions into the large area.

“Wow. This is amazing.”

“It’s just like the old man said…”

The path quickly gave way to a wide s.p.a.ce with high ceilings. The floor was nearly level, and it was impossible to see where the cavern ended even with the flashlights.

The beams of light moved from one place to another in the pitch-black darkness.

“This must be it. Look over there.” Wil said. His flashlight was pointing at a rifle stuck in the ground about twenty meters away.

“Wait, Allison.” Benedict said as Allison moved. He took out a mirror from his bag and propped it up near the path from which they had come.

“Once we go all the way inside, we won’t know how to get back out.”

“Oh. Thank you. Can we go in now?”

“Don’t rush.”

Keeping their flashlights trained on the damp ground, the three carefully approached the rifle.

“I can’t be sure, but this gun doesn’t look Bezelese.” Benedict said. Allison spoke up.

“The treasure must be here somewhere. Congratulations, everyone.”

“But…” Wil trailed off.

“It might be a lot of work to try and search this entire cavern.” Benedict said, surveying their surroundings.

“But we have to. We’re going to comb every inch of this place.”

“It’ll be trouble if we get separated in here.” Wil said. Benedict agreed.

“That’s right. And we can’t go too far from the entrance. Both of you, turn off your flashlights for a second.”

The three turned out their lights, one by one. The cavern was filled with darkness. They could see nothing, even with their eyes wide open.

“See? I can’t even tell where the two of you are from here. If we run out of batteries while we’re inside, we won’t make it out alive.”

Benedict turned on his flashlight once more and pointed it at the mirror by the entrance.

“We’ll need a lot of rope, some stronger lights, and some more people.”

“I wish he’d have at least left us a clue.” Allison pouted.

“…”

Wil brought his light to the rifle again. The wooden stock was not as badly decayed as the one outside.

“Here!”

“What?”

Wil crouched by the rifle and leaned in close to the stock.

“This must be a hint. I see letters carved into the wood. It’s in both Roxchean and Bezelese.”

“Read it.”

“Read it.”

Wil nodded and read out the message.

“‘A beautiful sight’.”

Several seconds pa.s.sed by in silence.

“What?”

“Is that all?”

Allison and Benedict asked.

“…That’s all. It’s the same thing in both languages. ‘A beautiful sight’.”

Wil examined the flip side of the stock.

“Nothing. That’s it.”

“Seriously… that old man…” Allison grumbled.

“A beautiful sight…?”

Wil stood.

“A beautiful sight…”

Mumbling quietly to himself, he looked up, holding up the rifle in his hand.

Wil looked up at the rocky walls.

“There… Both of you. Look up at the wall behind us.”

Allison and Benedict pointed their flashlights at the walls in unison.

Three lights illuminated the smooth stone walls. There they saw pictures. Pictures on the grey surfaces.

Humans drawn in black, leading along a brown bull. Next to them was a small, four-legged creature, likely a dog or a monkey.

“Murals…” Benedict said, following the images with his flashlight.

There were other pictures on the walls. People surrounding a red fire. Men carrying what looked to be bows. Although the people’s faces were not drawn in, everything else was surprisingly realistic. The images were even shaded.

“These murals… they’re from a time when written script didn’t exist.” Wil said.

“Is this what we were looking for? That treasure the old man was so excited to find?” Allison wondered. There was a moment of silence.

“I don’t think so.” Wil said tentatively.

“I agree.” Benedict said.

“Why?” Allison asked.

“This definitely is a rare find. It’s a valuable academic resource. But murals like this have been found in several other places.” Benedict replied.

“Is that true, Wil?”

“Yeah… There’s a place called Ban’na Valley in the Princ.i.p.ality of Touls on the southeastern tip of Roxche. They found murals like this there. The geology is similar—lots of limestone caverns. They found tools and bones of ancient people. The people who lived there are called the Ban’na people. And I heard about this on the news, but they found archeological evidence just like that in Sou Be-Il, near the capital. And there are a few other places, too. Although none of the discoveries were near the Lutoni River.”

“Huh. So there were a lot of them, huh. Then even if we report this—”

“It won’t be earth-shattering news by any stretch of the imagination.” Benedict said firmly. “But there will be conflict.”

“What?” Allison gasped. Wil chimed in.

“I agree. I think this might cause strife between Roxche and Sou Be-Il. Let’s say both sides dispatch archaeologists to the cavern. The Roxcheans will just say, ‘these murals were drawn by the Ban’na people. This is evidence that their civilization expanded to this area, and even to the West’.”

“I think so too. The scholars from the Royal Academy of Science will claim that these are similar to the murals they found in Sfrestus, and claim this as evidence that humanity originated in the West, and that the Roxchean people and their culture were an offshoot of ours.”

“Oh. That argument again. This is stupid.” Allison groaned.

Wil surveyed the mural, moving his flashlight.

A scene of many people lined up to listen to one person’s speech. A person sleeping in the midst of splotches of particularly vibrant colors. It was probably a funeral scene.

“Still, this is fascinating. I’m happy I got a chance to see this, if nothing else.” Wil said.

Allison sounded a little angry.

“But Wil. The old man said that the treasure could bring peace between Roxche and Sou Be-Il. If this is the treasure he was talking about… he was really blowing things out of proportion.”

“Maybe. But this is still something very important.”

“…”

“Wil. Can you tell me when the murals in Roxche were found?” Benedict asked.

“Twenty-four years ago.”

“Of course… That’s about the same time as the ones on our side, if I remember correctly. In that case, it’s understandable.” Benedict said, crestfallen.

“You’re right. That’s probably what happened.” Wil agreed. Allison demanded that she be told what they were talking about.

“The old man found this mural during the Great War. In other words, over thirty years ago. At the time, no one knew that ancient people left such intricate drawings on the walls that still survived, almost completely intact.” Wil explained.

“Oh. I get it.”

“It’s not surprising that he was ecstatic to see something like this. I’m sure I would have reacted the same way if I were in his shoes. And if he never paid attention to the news afterwards and continued to remind himself that he found something great, he might have ended up inflating the value of these murals in his head.”

“Right… you’re right. You’re probably right.”

Allison turned off her flashlight.

Wil turned his flashlight towards her hand.

“Can I borrow that?”

“Why?”

“I just want to take a closer look at the murals. These people lived here over ten thousand years ago and left such amazing works of art. And the colors haven’t been distorted or changed at all, just like frescoes. This is a really valuable sight. Even if, in the worst-case scenario, the old man was mistaken, I still think this is a treasure in and of itself.”

“A treasure in and of itself, huh. …Here.”

Wil examined the murals, holding Allison’s flashlight in his left hand. There was a person riding a horse. People putting on some sort of clothing. A woman who looked to be pregnant. A pair of animals—mother and child—most likely sheep.