Novel Full Chapter 1926 We Go Under
Chapter 1926: Chapter 1926 We Go Under
— Kat —
The decision was made to break inside. Not just because they wanted to know what was going on, but because if they encountered something similar elsewhere in the biome they’d be just as stuck the next time. There was a limit though. One day. If come the next morning, after the group worked all day and Kat continued onwards into the night, they hadn’t gotten in then it was time to give up.
Lily was a big help here, not only was she able to clear away large amounts of snow but she’d always worked out how to make a shovel for the others to use. It was mana intensive to do that plus her usual efforts, but that just meant a few mandatory breaks throughout the day. Progress was faster with the shovels but honestly still slow. They got through the snow fast, but the ice wasn’t as easy to clear away as they’d assumed.
The big issue was that for as helpful as the shovels were, Lily had to constantly concentrate to keep them in a good condition and hitting the ice too hard with them caused the shadows to lose cohesion and required Lily to specifically focus on patching them up. Kat got around this by slamming into the ice with her foot and breaking it up a bit first, but Hedera had issues doing the same.
It was a bit after lunch when they managed to break through into the stone, and a quick check revealed that the dome did extend into the rock somewhat. “Hmmm…” mumbled Kat as she saw the glass through the small hole she’d dug out. “Do we think the glass goes all the way around? If it does we might be in trouble,”
“Should we be trying to dig up from underneath then? Assuming that other towns are out in the open we’re going to need to do that anyway… so perhaps it’s best we try that straight away?” asked Hedera.
Kat sighed, “We all agreed that the door at least probably had extra stuff all around it including in the ground… but we might be far enough in that it’s time to test that. I guess I just don’t want to waste the time.”
“Right, but we also agreed that this was more about testing things out for the future then actually wanting to get inside this specific… building?” Hedera offered, a little uncertain at the correct term but firm in the rest of her conclusions.
Kat shrugged and decided it was worth trying. It took them around and two and a half hours to get into position. Kat was expecting something to stop her along the way… but there wasn’t anything. Apparently, for all of their efforts in being safety conscious they didn’t bother with blocking the underground route.
Kat knocked away a bit more dirt with her shovel revealing an opening. A few good hits and some scraping away and Kat was able to pull herself up into the dome. Kat coughed a bit, breathing in the dirt she’d kicked up and struggling as her wings got a bit caught on the hole. Flexing them sent more dirt flying away as Kat scrambled inside. The place was dark, with the light barely reaching inside.
Before looking around, she bent down into the hole and dragged Hedera up with her arm, leaving plenty of space for Lily to jump up afterwards. Kat summoned some demonic fire to see around and it was somewhat telling. The entire area was silent. The few buildings showed no signs of habitation and everything had a thin layer of dust including the roads.
The dome did seem to extend further into the back of the into stone, but it was hard to tell with just how dark it was. Didn’t matter that her eyes were better than human, a purple flame just didn’t put out all that much light to see by. Kat raised it up and split off a few little bits of fire, sending them out to the corners to try and expand her vision without it going out of control.
The houses were squat, square things, often pressed right up against another house or a neighbouring fence. There were hints of backyard gardens but not a single one had anything in display out the front, it made the entire space seemed cramped and ugly. The paint coating the houses was a mix of dull grey and rainbow vomit. It was like two factions couldn’t agree on the best way to keep the place looking nice, with one side deciding that there needed to be colour everywhere, and another saying that uniformity was the best.
Kat wasn’t really a fan of either. One of the colourful houses had a lime green door, orange glass windows, bright yellow walls and a purple roof. That wasn’t even getting into the little decorations strewn across the place. It was… certainly a sight to look at. Many houses were a bit better put together with the colours complimenting each other. One such house, just barely in range of Kat’s light was made up of greens and blues, reminiscent of the ocean. Still looked a bit garish though.
“You guys hear anything?” asked Kat.
“N-n-n-o?” asked Hedera, her teeth suddenly chattering like the temperature had dropped twenty degrees. “A-m-m I m-m-mea-an-nt t-t-t-to?”
Kat rolled her eyes while looking away from Hedera. She should’ve expected it but it still felt a bit silly. “No, or at least, I don’t think so. I can’t hear anything at all. The place seems empty… but I wanted to check. You and Lily both have better hearing then I do.”
[And I don’t think I heard anything either. As far as I can tell, not even monsters managed to get inside this place.]
“Oh,” said Hedera, some quivering still in her voice but much recovered in those few moments. “Um… err… hmm… what’s next I suppose?”
“That’s my question. We’ve confirmed we can get inside these things by tunnelling our way up, do we want to look around? I’d expect to see some signs of light if there were orbs around but they could be in boxes or cupboards I suppose. Not sure how I feel about looting random houses for them. Even if nobody seems to have lived here for a long time…” offered Kat.
Hedera shrugged. “Eh, that sort of thing doesn’t bother me. If the house hasn’t been lived in for a year then it’s fair game,”
“A year? Just a year?” asked Kat. “How do towns and cities deal with that sort of thing?”
“I don’t understand the question?” returned Hedera.
“How do they prevent looting when people are on vacation or whatever?” asked Kat.
“Oh, that. Well normally they’ll put up a sign or more likely, they’ll let their neighbours know they’re going to be away and ask for them to keep an eye on the place. When I say ’nobody has lived there for a year’ I don’t just mean the one house, I mean the whole street,” explained Hedera.
*Not sure that really makes it better… but… well no it IS better but not sure if I’d call it ’good’.* “And that really doesn’t lead to issues?” asked Kat.
“Not really?” said Hedera a little uncertain. “What sort of issues would it cause?”
“Looting? Squatting?” offered Kat.
“If someone leaves behind a perfectly good house with no plans to return, then that’s a free house,” Hedera informed them firmly.
*That’s… I mean… that’s just not what I was expecting to hear I guess?*
[Yeah it is a bit weird… but with no great long distance communication I suppose it’s not like you can check. A year is a while… but not that long for elves I would’ve thought. Though she did say the whole street.]
“Ok… so… what happens if someone moves in after like… six months?” asked Kat.
“The neighbours usually see if it’s a relative, and if it’s not you report them to the town guard,” explained Hedera with a shrug, as if this was totally normal and just to be expected.
Kat decided to just shake her head. If it was a cultural thing there was no sense getting caught up in debating it. “Alright then. So… you’re all for going into a few of these?” asked Kat.
Hedera nodded, “Well, even if it wasn’t for the fact they look to be long abandoned, Thyme created this place recently. I’m not sure if any real people ever actually lived here. Of course, checking every house individually might be a bit slow time wise… I guess we peak inside a few to see if they’re properly furnished and then… I dunno focus on the colourful ones maybe? Think that’s a signal they have better stuff?”
“I’ve got no idea,” sighed Kat with a shrug. “Still, I suppose you are right on how possible it is nobody ever lived here, and it does remove what few issues I had with the idea of casing the place. Time… well I suppose we’ll just see how it goes. It might be worth spending the night here. It’s a lot warmer after all,”
“Let’s see if the beds here are any good before committing to something like that,” countered Hedera.