Lucy Heartfilia finally was able to wake up with a clear mind. Shocking, right?
It shouldn't be. She did know that baring your heart out has amazing stress-relieving effects and was able to clear her head after that night. Now, she was back in the rhythm of being a magic knight, minus her impending doom at the hands of Mereoleona Vermillion. That woman was terrifying!
I suppose I should be preparing for that and actually going after my own goals. Since arriving in Clover, I only deliberately went after one key, which was before I even joined the magic knights. I still need to get all my keys back and actually use the new spirits that didn't have keys on Earthland. The only one I've used so far is the Map spirit, but there's got to be so many other new constellations here. That's not even mentioning that there's still 7 zodiac keys out there of my closest friends I need to find. Yeah, before going to Mereoleona's training session, I'll at least try to find one more gold key. That should be good enough preparation. Good thing I do have a key searching spell from the Spirit King before I even landed here. It's about time that spell got more than one use.
Well, might as go after a key today. Not like I have anything better to do. All the materials I need are here. With my grimoire in one hand and a piece of paper in the other, I start the incantation. A golden glow fills the room as the hologram of the continent appears in front of me. "Where can I find the closest gold key to me?" I demand the spell. The response is extremely quick. The symbol of the Capricorn constellation appears just outside a city straight north of the capital. Without thinking I throw my paper at the hologram and the map is copied down. I love this spell! A quick check in an atlas later and I found out the city close to this dungeon is Nean, a fairly small town in the common realm. Great! I have a plan for what to do today. I'm not going to go horribly off track because another mission called. For one, I'll get a plan to go to plan.
Much like any other day, everything started in the cafeteria and hallways of the base. They're more than just a place for eating or walking between places, they were where I first see everyone else and find out what the day's plans are. Today, I'm not scheduled for any missions so I'll have the time to dive a dungeon. As for Mereoleona's training sessions, let's just say not even Vangeance wants to mess with her. I was out really early today and the halls were quite empty. I only passed by Klaus on my way out, who was headed to the training yard already. He's really been taking training seriously since his eyes were opened to what hard work can do, and I'm glad for it. It'll be fun to see what new techniques he has planned next mission. Klaus just gave me a brief greeting before going off. He still had a lot to learn socially. Meanwhile, I wasted no time mounting a broom and heading south for Nean. Traveling to a different city is going to take a few hours and I want to have plenty of daylight left once I get there.
I arrived in Nean right around midday, which was honestly not too bad of timing. It would give me time to find a place to stay for the night, then spend the rest of the day searching the landscape for wherever this dungeon is. I can't expect every one to be completely, and I only had a very rough mapped point to base it off of. As far as I know, it could be anywhere within the next 3 leagues north. I decided to land in central Nean for now, knowing I'll need the help of a local to find the exact spot of the dungeon. Good thing I do know a local in Nean. I hadn't seen her in quite a while, so it'll be good to catch up.
A few minutes later and a few locals questioned was all it took to find the right house. I didn't wait long at all and knocked on the door. The door opened and I saw my first Clover friend Rebecca once again. She was completely shocked at seeing me and couldn't believe it at all. "Lucy, what are you doing here. I don't see you in months and you just show up to my door unannounced?"
"Are you complaining, I had some personal business in the area and decided to stop by. I missed you."
"Since you're here you might as well come in and tell me what's going on. All my siblings are here and they'd love to meet a magic knight."
I could barely take one step inside before being swarmed by kids. "Woah calm down, I'll tell you all my stories don't worry."
I ended up staying quite a bit longer than I planned, and most that time was spent telling Rebecca and her siblings my tales as a magic knight so far, including all the sad. I eventually got to the reason I was here today, locating the dungeon outside Nean.
"Good thing I know where that dungeon is," Rebecca told me.
"You do?" I didn't expect that answer.
"Yeah, just a bit north there's a forest. Go a bit into it and you'll find a ruins, and the ruins itself is a dungeon. No one knows how to get to the underground section where the treasure room is, so it's just been left there."
"I know this is a lot to ask with you needing to take care of the little ones, but can you take me over there?"
"Most days I'd say no, but today I will have someone else over who can stay with the kids while I take you there. Of course it's also a good way to catch up with just you, don't think you'd tell everything here."
"Well, you're right about that, who else is coming here."
"My question got answered really quickly. The door opened and there stood Asta of the black bulls. When did the two of them meet? Yeah, I will have a lot of questions to ask Rebecca when we are alone.
"Lucy, you're here too?"
"Yeah, I was in the area and stopped by. Haven't seen Rebecca since I joined the knights. You?"
"Just met her yesterday, she invited me over. I was going to play with her siblings."
"Seems like you'll have a lot of time for that. Me and Rebecca are going out for a while. Just keep them company for now."
"Where even are you going?" Asta asked.
"Lucy wanted me to show her to a dungeon of all things. It's no standard hangout," Rebecca responded.
"Can I come along, it'll be good training?"
"Someone has to stay back with the little ones, and since you came prepared to do that, it might as well be you. It's good to have someone watching over them, who knows what will happen."
"Alright fine, be that way," Asta said. "Come back soon you two."
"Will be sure to."
With that, we left Asta to handle the kids while I got on a broom and took to the skies. Rebecca did the same and took the lead. We both knew it wouldn't take long before we arrived.
"You really need to say how you met Asta. Met a boy yesterday and you're already inviting him to your house? Even having him meet your family?" I teased.
"Do you really have to go there? Fine. I met him at a mixer yesterday where some of the black bulls were then."
"Already finding a boyfriend then?"
"No, what do you mean?" She couldn't quite hide the small blush. Well, that makes good teasing material.
"You're not hiding anything from me you know."
"Is it really that obvious?" She asked.
"Well to me it is. To others probably not, I tend to be a bit more observant, and most magic knights, especially Asta, can be really thick when it comes to feelings."
"That's a relief. Look down below, we're nearly here!"
Indeed, there was a gap in the trees that Rebecca dove straight into. I followed closely and landed.
When she told me there was a ruins here, I was expecting maybe a few destroyed buildings. What I saw looked like an entire grand city with architecture I'd only seen the likes of in old-fashioned buildings in Fiore. Everywhere I looked there was a fallen column. Walls of stone surrounded the entire city, and those remained remarkably intact. While most the houses were stone boxes with plenty of window openings, the streets were really where the architecture shined. The clover kingdom's style looks similar to what I found in the oldest parts of Crocus in Fiore. The Fiorean Kings castle would fit in Clover, but everything else would be very out of style. Clover cities focused on building high with wide market streets and narrow everything else streets, and all the grandeur was on the centerpiece of the city, either a noble's manor or a church. Here, the fancier buildings all had the same style of columns surrounding the outside wall if it existed supporting a slanted roof. The main difference was that more than just the centerpiece used this style. That alone says that whoever lived here probably had more equality than modern-day Clover. The other thing it shows is that whoever lived here are probably not related to the modern Clover kingdom, but rather a separate civilization that died out. Who could they be?
In the far edge of the city stood one intact building larger than the rest. It had no walls, and only the columns supported the ceiling. The single room was quite large and housed a statue as well as many rows of benches. It looked like a religious space, but the statue in the center didn't depict the god of Clover's churches. Yeah, this was a different society.
"This place, it's really beautiful. It must be barely touched," I asked.
"From what I hear it is, very few outside of Nean even know it exists, and those of us in the city rarely come here. Doesn't matter since none of us have been able to find the dungeon that's supposed to be here."
"So no one knows where it is?"
"That's right, it's kinda a myth if there even is a dungeon here, but your tracker spell doesn't seem like it led you wrong. it's time to search for clues more deeply than the last 200 years of NEan residents if we want to find it."
"We?" I asked.
"It's been too long since I've done something like this with a friend. As much as I love my siblings, it doesn't hurt to have a small bit of time for myself you know?"
"Yeah, I got you, let's go crack a dungeon together!"
"Yeah!"
Should've asked her where to even get started, because I was completely clueless once she entered the first house. To me, it seemed like the temple had to have some clue. Okay, if an ancient culture was going to leave records behind, how would they do it? Write it? Maybe. Parchment wouldn't last that long and I wouldn't be able to read the language in case there were inscriptions in stone. That only left murals and paintings as options. Paintings done straight on a wall are probably my best shot. They don't need me to learn a language and generally can last thousands of years. Now, where to find a painting? Obviously not in the temple with no walls, but the statue in the center is the biggest work of art in the city. Maybe I could base other paintings on it?
I left the temple and looked for other important-looking buildings. The first one I entered turned out to be a bathhouse, which was surprising, to say the least. Why did a communal bathhouse belong with the most ornately designed buildings? Whatever, I won't judge ancient cultures. The next one I entered was also mostly intact and seemed to be a government office. On the front wall was a painting showing an open courtyard with a gathering of people listening to one man who stood in the center seemingly giving a speech. Great symbol of politics, but why was an important political meeting happening in a crowded open courtyard? What kind of rulers would do that?
Going deeper into the office building left me finding a lot of rooms for administrative work, but none for meetings or court sessions. There was also a strange lack of a ruler's mansion in the whole city. Was it possible they had no permanent ruler? If so, they must have been the most radical city of their time. I left the building and walked down the nicely paved streets. Soon enough, I came across the same large courtyard from the painting. It included a few steps for the speaker, but otherwise was just a large flat region of stone. In the far back was another painting, this time showing a much larger assembly. There must have been thousands in it. Below that was an inscription I couldn't read. Yep, makes sense. So the city had a large assembly that met to discuss politics unlike the current system where a lord or the king can make any decision they please. Yeah, would've been nice to live in those times.
The problem is that for all I learned of the cities government structure and religion, I wasn't any steps closer to solving the dungeon puzzle. I met up with Rebecca in the courtyard to share findings.
"All I've found so far is art and government structures. Though I have to say, having a voice on major issues would be great," I said.
"Yeah, that seems about right. Everything else is fallen apart, but I was able to get the meaning of one of the wall inscriptions?"
"Wait really?"
"Yeah, I've seen this kind of thing before and it isn't too much different from our language, just written differently. If I have it right, it says The home of Democracy. Any idea what that word means?"
"I can tell what that means. I was a rather avid reader back in the day. It means 'rule of the people.' From what I'm seeing the paintings, that must be how they worked. Votes by all the people would make decisions, and they had no need for a lord," I deduced.
"Amazing! I can only imagine living in a city like that, where no noble lord could control what we do. Just by living in Nean, I'm among the most well-off commoners, but it's still bad. Just outside Nean is the manor of the local lord. They usually don't mess with the city much, but if the lord wanted, he could make our whole lives miserable, just like that. They really had it all figured out in the past. If this was known, the people would rebel like crazy. No wonder they never wanted anyone to figure it out."
"If this got out, it would cause an uproar to be sure. Everyone would want to be part of the next democracy. I think it would be a good thing, it could finally bring down the powerful nobility."
"Uh Lucy, I don't think that'll quite work. They're still too magically powerful and fear would stop them from losing power. I may wish it to happen just like you, but I don't know how many would be willing to give their lives to see such a kingdom become real."
"I get your point, but I've finally found a solution. After I got out of the first dungeon and saw Klaus open his eyes, I decided that dampening or even eliminating the woes of the commoners would be my goal as a magic knight. For weeks I've struggled not knowing how to even go about doing that until now. These ancients who had the genius to come up with such a system deserve praise, and if there's ever a way to get the commoners more rights, this is it. It's given me hope that a city without lords can exist. For now, that's all I want."
"I'd love to help out if you try to go for that. Until then, I should probably tell you what I found about the dungeon."
"You found something else."
"Kind of. Think of it like this, the only two things intact in the city are the symbols of this democracy government and the temple. If there's anywhere the dungeon could be, it's probably the temple. Maybe this one other intact part is the key to opening the dungeon."
"That ... actually makes a lot of sense. Back to the temple then."
The walk back was filled with lots of small talk giving the city more life than it's heard in hundreds of years. We arrived to see the same old temple building staring us down. Rows of benches still faced the statue depicting what I assumed was a goddess in their religion. I need to look a bit deeper to see the secret. This city is all about rule of the people and equality, so how can I use that. Other than the statue, the only things are benches, so they must have something to do with it. I tried to push a bench, and noticed it actually moved very easily and let off a magic pulse. That's it. Equality. Some benches were farther away than others and didn't fit the paintings. With great effort I moved all the benches into a circle shape surrounding the statue such that all the audience would be an equal distance from their goddess.
Sure enough, I felt a spike of magic in the air and a lot of shaking. The statue was moving. That 40 foot tall statue was gracefully sliding across the floor, exposing a staircase beneath it. Finally, the dungeon entrance. Capricorn, I'm coming for you.
The dungeon really wasn't much of a dungeon at all. It simply consisted of one room with the same architecture styles as before, and a sealed door leading to the treasure room. I walked forward and touched the door to feel what magic was on it. It had a magic seal on it, but there was no star-related symbols this time. Without something like Asta's swords, I would have to undo the spell.
"This never gets any easier does it," I complained aloud.
"We're already so much farther than anyone else has gone, We'll figure it out okay."
"Thanks Rebecca, but I'm really not sure what to do here. Something that strong could only be removed by the one who sealed it, and she's been dead for 500 years.
"Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I can't affect the world."
"AHH GHOST!" Rebecca screamed.
"That's your voice again spirit mage, I remeber hearing it back in the Heart kingdom dungeon, and here you are again."
"You're right on that one. I'm not really a ghost, more of a memory of myself to watch over this room, ensure only a kind-hearted spirit mage can take my keys. Getting past the dungeon must have been hard enough, and I already know your kindness from Heart. Oh don't act so surprised. Yes, all the memories I left in dungeons have links, that's how I know.
"We barely went through a dungeon to get here, it was just one room."
"You didn't realize it? The city above you IS the dungeon!"
"Really, it didn't have any of the traps or magic I'd associate with dungeons."
"Not all of them are like that one on the Diamond border. The ones I made tend to be more about puzzles and tests instead of killing anyone who touches my stuff. I do want the spirits to have new owners after all," The voice spoke. "I'd only ask of one thing, to see one of my friends again. Could you call out one of the keys you found in a dungeon?"
"Of course, I can do that spirit mage, I wouldn't deny you a goodbye to your friend."
"You can stop calling me spirit mage now, use my name, Lucina."
"Nice to meet you, Lucina. Open, gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius. The mermaid appeared in a flash and immediately had a shocked expression. "Lucina, you're here?"
"Not really Aqua, just a ghost of a memory from the past. Seeing you one last time is enough for me. I miss all those times we spent together playing in rivers by the village."
"Glad to see you still remember. I can't believe what they did to you and the village, I wanted to drown them all so badly."
"So, Lucina. I'm hearing some stories from the past, do you mind sharing what happened here?" Rebecca asked.
"I can share it with you, though I warn you it's not a pleasant tale. I lived in a village around the area now called Hage with my tribe. We were very peaceful, choosing to stay close to nature instead of building cities and towns like the neighboring Clover kingdom. As a rule, we didn't talk to anyone outside the village, that is, apart from myself. While others had no need to leave, I was forced to in order to find the keys and make friends with spirits like Aqua here, who aren't part of the tribe. One of my travels brought me here, back when I only had Aqua as a spirit. Unlike every other human city, this one had a lot more freedom and less warmongering aspirations thanks to their elections and democracy. I quickly became friends with them. That didn't last long, and the city was razed to the ground by the Clover kingdom, and the surrounding land was captured. When the prince met with us and wanted to marry one within our tribe, I begged her to not do it, that even if that prince, who you would know as the first Wizard King was good, the Clover kingdom wasn't to be trusted. Sure enough, we were attacked, and I died in battle when Clover slaughtered my tribe. I've wanted revenge and for the kingdom to be brought down since then, but my spirits take priority. Lucy and you, Rebecca, are good people who can make this world a better place, and I'd love for all my spirits to enter the world again at Lucy's side. I hope you learned some lessons today. here, I've taken down the seal on the gate, Capricorn's key is inside along with Crux. Treat them well."
"I will Lucina, it's good to meet you properly at last. We'll speak again I'm sure."
"I believe we will Lucy, You can rest here, you may not have noticed but it's completely dark outside and flying back is going to be a challenge. There are a few good beds left over in the city, and nothing can get in and harm you through the barriers I'll put up for you."
"Thanks again, for everything. I'll treat them well."
With that, I took the gold and silver key and attached them to my keyring. I'll summon him in the morning. I followed Lucina's request and found a house with a decent bed and crashed for the night. Rebecca did the same next door, all the while talking of how long it's been since she slept a night without 5 kids waking her up. I thought about them too but put that aside. Asta should be handling them just fine.
The morning came quite peacefully. In the morning sun, the ancient city looked ever the same, just an arrangement of stone long past its better days. With nothing else to do here, I got Rebecca up and we flew back to her house.
When we got back, we arrived to a very eerie sight. There was snow on the ground, which doesn't make any sense in Nean, and the streets were crowded with adults. Not a single kid was in sight. As for Rebecca's house, it was surprisingly empty for being early in the morning. As soon as I landed, I got a call on my magic knight issued communicator. I opened it to a hologram of someone wearing a crimson lions cape.
"Lucy Heartfilia reporting, what's going on."
"We've got a call for backup from the Black Bulls in Nean. Any magic knights in the area are to reinforce them."
"Nean? I'm already there, what's going on."
"Supposedly, there were kidnapped children and the Eye of the Midnight Sun is believed to be responsible. I'm struggling to get through to the Golden Dawn, you're the first to pick up the call."
"Okay I'll try to get through to the others." With that, I canceled the call and looked at Rebecca. "They say all the kids were kidnapped, have you seen your siblings anywhere."
"I haven't. Oh god this is bad. I can't even imagine what they're doing to them. Hopefully Asta is protecting them right now."
"That's the problem. I just got a call for reinforcements, apparently Asta alone wasn't enough. I need to head over there."
"Be safe Lucy and bring them home. You'll succeed I'm sure."
I got on the communicator and immediately contacted base. I actually got an answer from Klaus of all people.
"Lucy, what's the deal? You're only supposed to use this line in emergencies."
"Shut up Klaus, this is an emergency. The Eye of the Midnight Sun was spotted in Nean and there's been a lot of kidnapped children. I need more help if the leader is here. Can you get the word to captain?"
"If I could I would, but captain's been missing all day. He tends to do his own thing some days and he hasn't been around at all."
"What about Yuno or Mimosa?"
"Also both out on missions."
"Can anyone else come here?"
"I should be able to come with Alecdora and Hamon, but we may be delayed. The distance is a bit far."
"No worries just start coming over. Wait, I'm seeing other magic knights coming in right now, let me see who it is."
Up in the air the three newcomers started their descent into Nean. It didn't take long at all for me to recognize them. All three were captains of different squads. If they needed three captains, the situation must be terrible. Where were you, Vangeance? We need you here.
"It's captains Nozel, Jack, and Charlotte," I told Klaus. "This must be worse than I thought. I'll enter the battle with them, but still, come over for damage control."
"Got it Lucy, stay safe out there."
"I will, but it's a job, you know what can happen."
I dropped the communicator and went straight after the captains. They didn't wait around and charged straight for a hill in the distance. The fight must be there. Rebecca already started getting more information from the gathered crowd. Good, I had no time to waste. I got back on my broom and followed the captains to the hill. At the base of the hill were some gathered kids, and I recognized the red hair of Rebecca's siblings. They were safe. With a bit of relief, we entered the tunnels and eventually arrived in a large cave where I immediately recognized Licht from the capital attack. They were here in force then. Asta was standing at the ready, alongside two other black bulls and Yami.
"Asta, you've got your reinforcements. We're all here now."
"Lucy! You finally showed up huh. About time, these guys just keep sending reinforcements and it's getting annoying now."
"I'm joining now." Licht, you're not getting away unscathed this time. This is my best shot at payback for Leopold, and I won't miss.