145 Key

The next morning, they continued entering the empire, leaving the fortress behind. There wasn't much to see there, so they decided to continue as early as possible.

Atlas was inside a carriage along with other clan mages while Faun was in a carriage at the back of the convoy. They didn't have much time to share during the day so dinner like the previous day or stops in the cities were the only moments they could share.

But now that they had entered the kingdom, Atlas doubted if they could find a city for sightseeing.

According to the information Basgran had obtained, there was a city near the fortress, being the limit where the explorers sent by the kingdom could advance without fear of moving forward.

That was the limit where the clan would seek to delve into the depths of the empire to see what had happened.

They had left at noon; it took them until the afternoon of that same day to reach the city. As with the fortress, Basgran sent several groups to investigate and again Atlas was walking with Mika, Veronica and the other two mages through the streets of the city.

"It's horrible…" one of the mages murmured, seeing the completely abandoned houses on each side of the street.

They were passing through a poor part of town, which brought back some memories for Atlas of his stay in Dewborough. But unlike there, this city was completely deserted.

They could see through the windows of the houses the tables with completely empty plates on them, but 10 years ago those same plates had been full of food in the morning at the time of the disappearance of the entire population.

"…I sense some beasts hiding in the houses" Mika murmured, looking at a specific house.

"Don't bother them and they won't attack us" Veronica said behind them.

Mika nodded somewhat reluctantly, but listened to the woman.

Atlas instead kept his staff in his hands against any possible confrontation, but after a while, the beasts never attacked them.

Not all beasts were violent and aggressive by nature, and apparently the ones that had taken over the city were not of that type. Although having passed 10 years, surely a more powerful beast must be somewhere.

Everyone continued walking deeper into the city.

Atlas saw shops still with many things on display, but again the important things seemed to have already been taken away.

Not only could the kingdom's explorers reach there, but possibly also bandits who saw opportunities to loot the abandoned stores.

But that was not their goal, so they continued their search until they reached a house much larger than the others he had seen.

Being a small city near the border, no noble lived there, but surely a representative did... although not anymore.

"I feel a lot of beasts inside…" Mika murmured with half-closed eyes.

"It's like a nest" Atlas also murmured, slightly feeling some mana marks inside the house, although he couldn't sense the entirety of the beasts compared to Mika.

"Should we go back?" one of the mages asked, looking at Veronica for an answer.

The woman looked at the mage and then at the house.

"No. We are going to go in and look for any useful information"

The mage nodded, then everyone approached the entrance and slowly one of the two mages slowly opened the door.

At that moment, an unpleasant aroma spread around everyone, making both mages frown while Mika made a face of displeasure.

Being a beast person, her senses were more developed, so her strong smells affected him more than others. Atlas also felt somewhat uncomfortable while Veronica remained silent without any change in her expression.

"Okay, let's go"

One of the mages entered, raising his sword while the other waited for the others to enter before entering last since he was an attack mage.

Upon entering, the first thing Atlas did was look around, finding that the hall of the house was a complete mess.

There were bones and dried blood all over the floor, also mold and moss on the walls and ceiling. Although they still did not see any of the beasts, they knew that this was the place where they used to feed.

"How disgusting" Mika murmured, cautious of her surroundings.

Everyone advanced until they reached the stairs that led to the second floor where Atlas could sense some hidden beasts, but most of them were under his feet in the basement.

"Let's investigate the second floor first" said Veronica, making the others advance.

They climbed the stairs slowly and soon came to a wide wooden door. It reminded Atlas of the entrance to Viscount Clark's office, but on a lesser level.

The mage who was ahead with Mika looked back and nodded when he saw that everyone was ready. He then slowly opened the door effectively revealing a small office.

They did not enter immediately according to Verónica's instructions, she entered first followed by Atlas. The instant he entered, Atlas quickly raised his staff and, materializing the ethereal edge, turned his weapon into a spear, stabbing the beast that was hiding in the corner of the room.

[You have killed an inferior harvester]

At the same time Veronica did the same with two other beasts on the other side, then they cleaned the room.

Atlas pulled his spear out of the dead little beast's chest and looked at it with some curiosity and disgust.

"What are they?" Atlas asked, not knowing the beast in front of him.

Mika entered after the mage and looked at the beast that Atlas had killed.

"They are harvesters" Mika said the same name that Atlas had heard of the system.

"Harvesters?"

Mika nodded and began to explain.

"They are beasts similar to goblins, but smaller and usually live in dark places. They like jewelry and other shiny objects, their name comes from the fact that they usually ambush their prey from high and dark places"

'Just like now' Atlas thought.

He knew goblins existed, he just had never encountered them. The most goblin-like beast he had seen were the Enks he saw in the ruins of Bleakrun.

Without thinking much, Atlas crouched over the harvester, pulled out his knife and opened the wound in his chest that he had made earlier with his spear. He then took out the mana core from inside the beast and stood up.

"Investigate the surroundings in case you find something important" said Veronica, making everyone start looking at every corner of the office.

Atlas himself approached the desk that once belonged to the owner of the house and opened drawer by drawer.

He didn't find anything important beyond papers until he opened the bottom drawer of the desk where he found a small wooden box.

"Did you find something?" Mika asked, watching Atlas put the wooden box on the desk.

At the same time Veronica and the two mages looked at the box and Atlas opened it.

"A key?"

Atlas lifted the metal key that was inside the wooden box and looked at it with the little light that came through the window.

"The most likely thing is to open the treasury in the basement" said Veronica, looking at the key in Atlas's hand.

The usual thing in each house of this style was for the treasure or valuable things to be in the basement. The only reason he had not looted the house was because of the presence of the harvesters.

"Finish searching this floor and let's go to the basement" Verónica indicated, to which everyone nodded and left the office to clean the other rooms on the second floor.