Once the topic of witches came up, it reminded Sean of Lucille from back then.
If his mother was also a witch, why would she come to this place? The only reason he could think of was similar to Lucille's situation back then... That so-called ancient tomb was something he had never personally visited, so he decided to go take a look this time.
Why had so many wizards kept coming to the town over the years to search for treasure? He figured he'd check it out now.
It was still noon, the usual time for townsfolk to take their afternoon naps... Very few people went up the mountain at this hour. And since the tomb occasionally attracted record-keepers and travelers, Luke never considered that area when arranging the orchard, making it even less frequented.
"You said there's an ancient tomb in town?"
"Yeah, a team of archaeologists came once, but they didn't find anything... just some old items and tools from ancient times."
There was no concept of antique hype in this world, so those ancient items wouldn't fetch much at the market. Even if enthusiasts were willing to pay, finding a buyer was rare, so shops rarely sold them.
Thus, despite wave after wave of travelers passing through, not everything there had been carried off.
What remained were probably things too heavy to move. Going there now would be pretty uninteresting... but Sean still wanted to see why that place attracted so many people.
If it was about the stone tablet, he already had it on him. And back then, news of the Kain tablet should have been in Koga City, not his little town.
"So what are we going there for?" After hearing Sean's explanation, Ignia also showed little interest.
After all, everyone had their specialty...
What record-keepers treasured might mean nothing to a wizard!
"You said my mother was a witch, right? I used to hear that wizards often came around here, so I want to take a look... By the way, what kind of organization is the Sun Crown?" Sean deliberately downplayed the matter of the Kain tablet.
He didn't know how word had spread that the Kain tablet's whereabouts might be here, but wizards who caught wind of it would show up from time to time.
Years had passed, and people were still spreading that rumor!
"I've only seen it in books. You know, Sean, when we studied magic, we also had to learn common knowledge about the wizard world. We had to memorize the names and traits of many famous organizations. The Sun Crown was one I came across back then..."
"Sounds painful!" Sean said with a smile, turning his head.
"Of course it was. You have no idea how many wizard organizations exist in this world. Even if their names aren't common anymore, if they were recorded in history, we had to memorize them. As Instructor Ashur used to say: 'They might rise again in some era!'" Ignia mimicked Ashur's tone.
And she did it pretty well, too!
Sean had actually chatted with Ashur before. Though his level was slightly lower than Freya's, he was very specialized in academics and knew a lot about wizardry. As his student, Ignia was probably good in that area too.
"...I remember the book didn't have much about the Sun Crown either. It mostly said it originated from the famous city of Shailer, the Sun City in the Adak region. Then one of its leaders became a king's tutor, so it was recorded. Their most notable symbol was six birds holding up a sun..."
That matched the design of the necklace in the portrait around Sean's mother's neck.
"Does it have any meaning?"
"It probably does, but the book didn't say."
Books alone couldn't fully explain everything, so Sean just nodded and didn't ask further.
The ancient tomb wasn't far from the town. Anyone interested could visit anytime. The place had long been dug up by treasure-seeking travelers, and the cave entrance had been widened by at least double.
It looked more like a grand doorway than a cave now...
"Is this it?" Ignia asked.
"Yeah, should be right. Townsfolk come up here often, but it's been dug through so many times there's nothing valuable left. It's just considered a landmark now."
True.
For the townspeople, "near the tomb" had gradually become a term for a location. Many said it just to indicate a place, not taking the tomb seriously. Sean had even heard that local kids played here, so it had lost all its mystery.
He led Ignia inside...
It felt like an ancient cave, with stone steps descending layer by layer, but there was nothing left inside.
The only things worth studying were the murals and the faded hieroglyphs around them. Sean didn't know ancient scripts, so he couldn't read them. He remembered that Chris from the archaeology team had said everything portable had been taken, and even he had taken some things. Now it was completely empty.
"Looks like there's nothing here," Ignia said.
The empty underground chamber was visible at a glance.
"If there's nothing here, we'll check other places..." Sean said, leading Ignia out.
His mother being a witch was almost certain, but why his father hadn't pursued her puzzled Sean, especially after connecting these findings to what his father had said when he first arrived.
But he hadn't found any clues at home, so he hoped to find something elsewhere.
"Where to now?"
"The cemetery."
Sean said.
Taylor Mian Town had a cemetery reserved for the Weigel family. The newest grave was that of the previous Baron Weigel, buried three or four months ago, around the time Sean first arrived in this world...
"This is..."
"The Weigel family tomb. My father is buried here," Sean explained to Ignia.
Though not entirely sure, Ignia could guess what Sean was trying to do. Otherwise, he wouldn't come to a place like this...
"Sean, you're trying to confirm if your mother was a witch, right? But it seems you haven't found any clues except for the Sun Crown necklace."
"That's why I'm here..." Sean said.
"Wait, Sean."
Suddenly, Ignia stopped him.
"What?"
"There are signs of corrosion here," Ignia said.
Watching her crouch down and feel around in the grass, Sean figured it was caused by some substance, so he didn't see anything unusual. Of course, another possibility was that the source was underground.
"It's summer now, but there's not a single weed here, and the soil has gone bad." She scooped up a handful of dirt.
Then, in Sean's vision, attributes finally appeared:
[Barren Land]
The dirt in her hand crumbled like sand, impossible to hold together.