Well, I wonder why I started the recording now of all time. After all, I have already missed recording so many things. Well, I didn't feel like recording until now. Now I have to. Any more of a delay and I might never be able to do it anymore.

  Things were going pretty well until we noticed the smoke coming from inside the tomb. The smoke was clearly campfire smoke. That can only mean one thing, regardless of how unlikely it is. It looks like somebody is quite busy cooking inside the damn tomb.

  To describe our present situation. We have presently set up camp in the southern part of the tomb. As I was saying, things were going well until we noticed the smoke. Everybody was doing the work that they were supposed to do.

  The Sentinels had begun to set up a base around us. (They are very good at that.) The Mayfires had begun their preliminary patrols of the place. The Searchers had begun to decode the astral coordinates.

  Most importantly, I had begun to patch up the holes in my ship. (I have to admit that my carpentry has begun to improve, given how much I have had to fix this ship.)

  I couldn't believe how perfectly things were going until Eric saw the smoke. That managed to completely pause everything that we were doing. Well, it wouldn't have been much of an issue if that were the only case. The smoke managed to put all of us into chaos.

  Even now, all the captains are around me trying to make a plan. Well, a plan has already been made. After all, we don't know what is making that smoke. We will have to enter the place and confirm the nature of the threat. If it is something truly dangerous, we should be packing up and running right now. Now there is only one real way of finding out if this threat is dangerous. That is to enter the tomb and check out the source.

  We just need to decide who will be going in. Thankfully, that list is actually pretty small, or the fighting will never end. Three people have the durability (and the strength) to survive this. That would be me, Anthony and John.

  That is why the two of them are arguing with each other as if their lives depend on it. The two of them look like they are ready to strangle each other at a moment's notice. Now, both the Sentinels and the Aegis have been trying to push this task on each other. After all, only a fool would like to risk their life like this.

  Alfred Mayfire has been trying to keep the peace between them. The man is utterly failing at this task, right now. Well, I guess that I can understand the reason for that. The mayfires have been utilising their neutrality to keep the situation under control. Now, that has come to bite them.

  After all, during a war, nobody will be listening to a man on the fence. Still, at least Alfred is trying to maintain the peace. The searcher Amelia is busy with her own thoughts. I guess I shouldn't blame her. I have heard that it is not an easy task to decode astral coordinates. Especially when the person who knows the coordinates doesn't know how to decode it. Still, I would have liked it if the lady had interfered even a little bit to help here.

  After all, it looks like John has finally reached the limits of his patience with the Aegis. On top of that, Anthony never really had any patience for anybody.

  That means that the only thing that is keeping the two of them from fighting is the fact that there is an enemy. Even now, they look like they might be forgetting this fact any second now.

  I guess that I should be repeating their argument. The scholars would be able to learn so much from it. (Mostly about the two people arguing right now, to be honest.) Then again, what is the use of it? It is not like their relationship is any complex.

  Let's hope nothing actually ends up attacking. It is not really a situation in which the two of them can afford to get injured. They are, after all, the strongest fighting force that we have here.

  That only leaves me. Only my actions right now will be able to do something. The only question that I have is whether I actually want to do anything. After all, these two people fighting each other is the best case scenario for me. That would force the scholars to support me to get any work done.

  The only problem is that there is not much that I will be able to do to counter this problem. Well, I actually have an idea of what I can do. I just need to work up the nerve to propose it. That is why I guess I started recording in the first place.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Screw it, I am thinking too much about this. Right now, the enemy is the thing that we should be focusing on. There is only one way that will happen.

  "I will go into the tomb." I speak. I have to admit that I did this mostly on an impulse.

  If I were to think too much about it, it is pretty likely that I will convince myself that I don't need to do this. Compared to the screaming of the two idiots, my voice is almost a whisper. Still, the voice is enough to shut everybody up in the room. The only reason for that is how unexpected my present offering is.

  "Are you sure?" The Searcher speaks. Even as she asks this, I can see that the lady has finally returned her focus to the table.

  "I certainly won't be beating whoever is inside the place. I will be able to survive whatever they throw at me, though." I reply. "Unless somebody is ready to feed the vampire, you have to agree that I am the most durable person on this ship right now. "

  "You might be durable, but we have no idea what is in the tomb. Why are you so confident that you will survive whatever is in there?" John questions me. "Whatever it is, it is not anything weak. It can start a fire in a dragon's tomb. I didn't think something like that was possible."

  "Well, I am sure that I will survive. Even if I can't, I still have the greatest probability of surviving among you all." I reply. "Anyway, it is not like we are really any safer out here. Whatever is in there could just as easily come out even now."

  That shuts them up, thankfully. They are not going to be arguing against me. After all, as I was saying before, the only alternatives to me are each other. They still don't stop giving each other a stink eye as the discussion finally ends.

  (After about an hour or so.)

  Well, I finally get to see the place where fire has been lit. I can't see the plume of smoke that started this entire mess. Looks like whoever is in there has put out the flames.

  I guess that I have to give this clarification before proceeding. The place that I need to enter is not the tomb itself. (I am not that suicidal,) It is an outpost that had been placed right outside the tomb.

  It is a pretty impressive outpost as well. Whoever has set it up has spent a pretty penny to make this place. Even looking at the place, I am left wondering if this was left by a group of scholars.

  After all, an outpost this close to the tomb must have been put up for the purpose of exploring the place. The scholars are the only ones who would be willing to spend so much on exploring a ruin.

  Then again, it could be the locals of this place. After all, the place would be full of ancient artifacts. Artifacts costly enough that they could make a person forget about the risk of making a base here.

  Well, regardless of who made it, it is clear that it has been abandoned for a long time now. I certainly can't feel any mana in the place. That is why the plume of smoke had shocked us so much in the first place. It was just something that we were not expecting to see something like that in such a place.

  Well, I guess that I should start walking into the place already. After all, everybody in the strikeforce is waiting behind me. They are waiting for me to enter the place and confirm the dangers in there. If I were to return now, then things would go to shit pretty quickly. John and Anthony will end up killing each other before the enemy does anything.

  With that, I begin to walk into the outpost. I guess that I should be feeling scared right now. After all, I am entering into enemy territory after all. There is a pretty significant chance that I will be attacked. That too by somebody quite a few times stronger than me.

  I guess that I can feel it, but I have shoved it to the back of my mind. After all, fear is not a very useful emotion now. It would just cause me to lose focus. Thus, I walk on.

  Even as I walk on, it becomes clear that the place is not made by the scholars. The formation corps has been supplying formations to the scholars for a long time. I would be able to tell if these were our formations.

  Anyways, our formations tend to be more than durable enough to survive a few decades of disuse. They would certainly not have failed in such an embarrassing manner.

  Anyway, even as I am studying the place, I have been going deeper and deeper into it. I have an approximate location based on the smoke. Right now, I have been making my way to this exact location.

  It doesn't take me long to reach the area. (Regardless of how big it is, it still will take me a few minutes to go from one end to the other.) I have begun to move through this place very carefully. The formations here are really unstable. The weird thing is that I can't really tell why.

  Time is not the only reason that these formations are a problem. After all, if time were the issue, then the formations would have been left completely useless. I wouldn't be able to activate them even if I were to try. There is no formation I can think of that gets unstable with time.

  There is something else that is causing this issue. A type of mana, I think. I bend down to a formation next to me. (Some kind of a preservation formation.). Just as I am about to touch it.

  "I wouldn't be doing that if you don't want to lose your limb, kid." A voice speaks from somewhere left of me.

  I can feel myself enter into action as the sword leaves my scabbard. I certainly won't be able to fight this man. He did not appear in my mana sense at all. I wonder if I should run away now. I certainly can't fight him.

  "Don't bother to run away now." The man speaks with a hearty voice. "You wouldn't want me chasing you. Come, come. I was just about to eat."

  Saying that, he points to a dish next to me. Even as I look at the plate, I can tell that it is some kind of meat. I can't tell which meat it is. (It does smell pretty good.) I know that it is useless to run away from him.

  I don't put my sword back in. It is primed to activate the moment that I get injured. That might be the only chance of running away. I can feel my heart drop as I step towards the man.

  I take the plate in one hand as I sit next to the man.