Ben and Bella continue their journey after staying in Port Town for a few days. They head west, towards the forest where they saved the hostages. The forest was smaller than Waas Forest, so they can cover it in 2 weeks.
There was nothing noteworthy in the forest. Maybe because it's close to a town, so it was explored many times before. The valuable spots or things have been exploited or taken.
They then head to the mountain range to the southwest. The area is also smaller than the one where they encountered Morgbitt for the first time. But now they don't have a guide, so it took longer for them to explore the area.
After exploring the mountain range for a week on foot, they find an abandoned fort on one of the peaks. It has been abandoned for a long time because the vegetation has grown on it's walls and floor. One side of the fort was destroyed, so it's clear the owner left after that happened.
"Was there a war in the past that required a fort to be built here?" Ben asked as he walked inside the fort.
He tried to find any clues about this fort. But most of the items here had been destroyed by age, especially papers and fabrics. There were other items too, like weapons, but they were in poor condition.
Finally, he found a carving on the wall. It was a picture of humans fighting with dragons. Now Ben can guess that this fort was from the age where dragons ruled this land. This place was probably destroyed in a war between humans and dragons.
"If the cause was war, then this place must've been abandoned for hundreds of years. No wonder plants are growing on the wall now." Ben said as he continued to look around.
Ben checked on the weapons that remained and scanned them. He found that none of the weapons are magical weapons. It wasn't strange because humans' magic wasn't well developed in the past. Even now, Ben still felt that development of magic wasn't good enough.
For a whole day, Ben investigated the abandoned fort. He scanned every part and found other carvings that confirmed his suspicions. Also, he found out that this fort wasn't owned by Fiore, but a kingdom named Elsia, which was certainly destroyed in the past.
There's no other interesting discovery except this fort's history. But finding out more about the past was satisfying. He had never known about Elsia before.
Ben and Bella spent the night in the fort and called Wendy and Carla like usual. They also talked to Roubaul and he confirmed that the kingdom of Elsia did exist at one point. As Ben guessed, the kingdom had been destroyed by dragons.
"Ben-boy, you need to investigate that fort carefully. A place where a war with dragons took place usually has some treasure." Roubaul instructed.
"Treasure? They kept gold here?" Ben asked.
"Not that kind of treasure. Treasure from a dragon's body, dragon scales." Roubaul shook his head.
"What?! Is that true?" Ben exclaimed in surprise.
"There's a possibility. But it is small because they might've taken it to their capital or other places. Those scales are very valuable, after all. Still, there might be leftovers, so you need to search carefully." Roubaul said.
"Alright, I will start a thorough search tomorrow." Ben told him.
Ben and Bella then talk to Wendy and Carla until they felt tired. Then they fall asleep after Ben established a defensive formation to protect them. They woke up in the morning and investigated the fort after breakfast.
They try to find the dragon scales like Roubaul suggested. But they found nothing even after investigating until that afternoon. Even with A.I Chip's scanning ability, they can't find a trace of dragon scales there.
"It's almost dark now. Let's continue tomorrow." Ben sighed.
"Kay." Bella replied, exhausted.
The next day, their search continued, but they didn't really find anything. So Ben decided to end the search because they were wasting time. Besides, he really didn't need a dragon scale, although he'll take one if he can.
Ben continued his exploration of the mountain range. He explored every location with Bella while using A.I Chip to scan his surroundings. There was nothing interesting after they left the fort and finished exploring the mountain after 3 weeks.
From the mountain range, they head south. There are 3 towns and a mining camp there and they visited all of them. They had never been to these towns before, so they were curious.
There's an unfinished railway that went through the towns and mining camp. It was planned to go all the way to Magnolia and merge with the active railway. But the distance was very far, so it would take a long time to finish.
Ben and Bella head to the mining camp first which had turned into a small town. This is a camp town for miners who work in a mine near the town. It's a big mine where many types of metals and minerals can be found.
There's no specialty in this town because they just serve the basic needs of miners here. But at least the food that is sold in this town always had big portions and was cheap. It's because the workers eat a lot, so the portions are big too.
Ben can easily fill his stomach without spending a lot of money. He and Bella stayed there for a day before heading to the next town, Gallows Town. They just need to follow the railway and reached the town after 8 hours on foot.
Gallows Town was located near the sea, so it was a port town. This town connected Fiore to other countries through trading, especially countries on other continents. The sea trade route is passing the sea around here.
The trading activities here are massive and Gallows Town alone isn't enough to handle it. So the kingdom established another city, Dawn City, to the south. They split the activities between both regions to make trading easier.
Ben and Bella spent 4 days exploring Gallows Town and bought some supplies there. Then they head to Dawn City and explore it for 3 days. They wanted to stay longer, but they can't waste too much time there.
Then they head further south to Matza Valley. The valley is located on the north side of the mountain range where Ben obtained his Devil Slayer Magic. There is a small town there and that's where the unfinished railway started.
Ben and Bella spent a day there before resuming their journey. They explore the beach first because it will take less time than exploring the mountain range. It took them 3 days to explore the beach.
They immediately start to explore the mountain range after that. Ben had only explored the Dark Valley inside the mountain range, so there's still a lot of areas left to explore.
The mountain range is very wide, just like the one near his village. There was no guide like Morgbitt and they needed to explore every location. So it will certainly take a while to explore the entire area.
After 2 weeks, they find another old fort, but this fort had not been destroyed, although it's no longer used. It's also owned by the Kingdom of Fiore and was built in the distant past. Ben explored it and found nothing there. The kingdom must've taken everything inside before ceasing it's use.
Their resume their exploration after that and find the Dark Valley after a week. Nothing had changed since he was last there, so no one successfully reached the center so far. He was disappointed that his trap hadn't been triggered, but he ignored it and resumed his exploration.
Then after another week of exploration, several km east of Dark Valley, they found something that made them excited. It was something Ben had always searched for, the Magic Library.
"Finally." He said with an excited smile.