Henry stared up at the ceiling and the shadows casted by the faint light that made the crumbled stone ceiling visible. He laid on his back, the shock of the fall still numbing him. For a moment, he ran through what brought him to this position in his head.

  “Brother! Are you all right?” Ash’s urgent voice echoed from above him and he could see the silhouette of his brother looking down.

  Ah, yes. Ash took on a ‘simple’ retrieval quest from the local guild despite Henry saying they didn’t have time. Henry shut his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. As the responsible big brother, Henry of course accompanied Ash into a nearby forest. Also, their room at the inn wasn’t ready yet, so they had time to waste until it was. They walked into the nearby forest, squeezed through the mouth of the cave, where he was swarmed by night beetles and slipped down a steep embankment to land on his back. On top of something...wet. I love my brother. I love my brother.

  “Brother!?” One of Ash’s slips began to glow as Ash flung it into the ditch. It embedded on the opposite wall, not too far from Henry. Using it, he could see his brother looking down into the ditch. “Are you dead?”

  Henry’s eye twitched. He turned his neck, moved his shoulders, and continued to check his movements all the way down to his toes. No sharp pain, no resistance. Limbs were moving as he willed. He sat up, pausing to feel for pain. When nothing but a gentle throb was felt, he stood up and took two steps.

  “I’m fine.” He looked up at the hole, giving his brother an irritated glare. “After this, no more side quests.”

  Ash shrank his head back a bit, appearing guilty for having insisted. They were a week into their journey and they would’ve made more progress if Ash didn’t keep taking on random local requests from the guilds they passed. “Okay....”

  He had no choice.

  “Increase the light. Let’s see if it’s down here,” Henry called up. Ash nodded and the light coming from the card increased. It was a bright white light and Henry had to turn his head away to get used to it in the dark cave.

  The walls were too steep to walk up. It looked like layers of hard packed sediment. He tried to grab on and found that the sediment wasn’t compacted enough. If he put his weight on it, the dirt and stone would crumble.

  “Brother, I can levitate you with a slip.”

  Henry took a deep breath. Did he trust his brother to levitate him? It actually took a lot of energy to levitate another person, as well as concentration. “How many did you bring?”

  “Enough!” Ash patted his bag.

  “Never mind, just save them. I’ll have Naali make some ice stairs. Let me take a look down here.” He turned around and pulled the slip from the wall, shining it around the ditch.

  “Sorry,” Ash said, scratching his head. “I didn’t realize there were night beetles here.” Night beetles were, on average, as long as one of their hands, from wrist to fingertip. Their shells were easy to break, but their insides were poisonous. “Did any of them touch you? Did you break any? Do you feel any numbness?”

  Henry shook his head. As long as he didn’t swat at the night beetles, they’d fly around him when they swarmed. The restrained aura of Simir around him tended to scare most insects away, but the sudden swarm coming towards him still caught him off guard, causing him to slip and fall. Henry checked his clothes to see if he got any of the sticky purple beetle insides on him by accident. He really hoped not to touch anything wet and sticky.

  When wet, there would be temporary numbing around the contact area. It wasn’t fatal, but it was annoying. Once it dried, it would make a good dye and the toxic properties were gone.

  “Check my back. I landed on something wet.”

  “It’s water, Master!” Naali’s voice chirped. “There is a tiny, moss-covered stream at the bottom.”

  “Never mind, Naali says it’s just water from the stream at the bottom,” Henry said. He looked around . “I can see that this place floods during the rainy season.”

  Ash let out a hum. There were water marks along the walls and even now, there was water on the floor. The rainy season had yet to begin and the request at the guild had become urgent. They were down in the caves and the entrance was a wide, but narrow opening well above them.

  It did a good job of letting in some light despite how small it was, but a person had to lay on their stomach and do an awkward side crawl get beneath the top lip of the cave mouth. Inside was a cavernous space and they were able to make their way down along the sides of the cave, where the stone was worn smoothly, but still solid.

  However, their movements disrupted the beetles that flew up. Henry was in front and was caught by surprise, and then slipped, sending him sliding down the steep edge, into a ditch.

  “Do you see anything down there?” Ash asked.

  Henry had glanced around, moving the light slip with him as he surveyed the ditch. The embankment he’d slid from was steep, but the opposite side was a wall that was two and a half times his height. He turned around and noticed the narrow path against the wall that had been carved out to connect the side Ash was on to the opposite side.

  Beneath his boots was muddy ground with a tiny sliver of what sounded like running water. Henry bent over to get a better look. He followed the stream towards a crack on the right wall. A river wasn’t too far away, and the two had followed the river part way to get to the cave, as instructed on the request form.

  Henry let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t see anything, but if it tumbled down here, it could’ve been covered with mud...let me do another pass,” he said. This time, he paid more attention to the ground opposite the steep embankment, in case the object they were searching for had rolled further away. “It’s as long as your forearm?”

  “Yeah, and it had a little metal clip that held it closed, so the fan should still be closed,” Ash said. “It had metal findings and a frame, so even if the ivory broke, it should still be in one piece.”

  In a proposal gone somewhat wrong, a local young landowner had his friends hide with gifts for the young woman who would become his fiancée. During the last Bloom Festival, which in West Iveria was considered a couple’s holiday, the landowner walked with his beloved along the river to watch the Bloom Festival lanterns open on the river.

  The idea was that once they reached the top of a small hill, which was above the cave, he would propose. His friends were to step out and hold several gifts to present to the young lady. Everything had been going well, until one friend tripped and fell, sending a family heirloom ivory fan down the small hill.

  During the dry season, the fan would’ve probably ended up at the bottom of the hill and it would’ve been a small matter to retrieve it, and embarrassingly apologize to the soon-to-be-wed couple. However, the Bloom Festival also ushered in the start of the wet season and there was already water draining into the cave.

  All six friends, the landowner, and his bride watched helplessly as the fan was swept inside.

  They had to wait until the water receded to check, but they couldn’t get past the mouth of the cave.

  Furthermore, the smoke from torches made it difficult to see, so they posted a request at the nearest Adventurer’s Guild for assistance. The amount being offered was fair for the request, and there had been several attempts, but no one had any luck.

  To Ash, it seemed like easy money as long as they could find it. After all, they didn’t need torches with Ash’s slips, plus the two of them had experience searching for items.

  Henry carefully walked along the small stream, looking for anything that could resemble a closed fan; something long with straight lines, possibly with some exposed white from the ivory. Above them, Ash walked across the path to the other side to check out the rest of the interior.

  “There is a chance that it could’ve been swept out of the cave,” Henry said.

  Ash let out a small grumble. “Yes, but they’ve already combed the area around here. They should’ve found it by now. The request director at the Guild said that the man’s grandmother was furious that he lost the fan. That’s probably why he’s trying so hard to find it.”

  “The monetary worth of an item can often be outweighed by the emotional value of it to someone,” Henry said. “It shouldn’t cost as much as the reward to replace, but it has value to the family.”

  Ash hummed. Henry glanced up and couldn’t see his brother at the top of the opposite side, but he could see the light from one of Ash’s slips glowing as he wandered further away. Henry returned to his search.

  He reached the other side and turned around to do another pass. An ivory fan with metal would’ve likely sunk to the bottom once it was pushed into the cave. The ditch had all sorts of rocks, debris, and some discarded trash in it. He was almost certain that the fan was there, lying amongst the muck.

  He narrowed his eyes. Perhaps he had to push aside some of the muddy debris, but he didn’t want to touch it with his bare hands. “Naali, make me a stick or something to move away some of the mud.”

  “Okay!” Henry held out his empty right hand and waited. Crackling was heard as a long ice shaft appeared, ending with a sort of clawed rake at the bottom. He nodded, satisfied. After praising the ice spirit, he began combing through the mud.

  He didn’t make it halfway, before he found something unnaturally shaped and as long as the item he was searching for. He knelt down and used the ice rake to sweep off what he could of the mud.

  “Naali, cup.”

  “One cup coming, Master!” He put the ice rake down as a cup made of ice appeared. He grabbed it and leaned over to the little stream to put some water in it. It was a bit muddy, but it would do to rinse off the item.

  As soon as the water hit it, the ivory was revealed. A wide smile appeared on his face. Perhaps searching for the fan was easy money.

  “Ash! I found it!” Henry rinsed it off with two more cups of water before plucking it out of the mud. He pinched the bottom with two fingers. The entire bottom was still caked with mud. He sighed and brought it to the stream to try to rinse more of the mud off. “Ash!”

  His brother hadn’t replied, so he called out again.

  “Brother, I found something!” Ash’s voice almost echoed, meaning he was deeper in the cave. Henry sighed once more. He lifted up the somewhat rinsed fan, opened it, and shook as much water off. He then slid it into his preservation bag before telling Naali to create some stairs.

  “I’m sure there is a lot of trash that ends up here,” Henry said as he trudged up the ice steps. Once he was on the opposite side, Naali allowed the ice to melt and fall to the bottom of the ditch. “What did you find?”

  Henry saw his brother’s figure far deeper into the cave than he thought. While the mouth of the cave was low and narrow, the further in they went, the larger the open area was. There was a slight decline, and as such, the ceiling seemed to become higher.

  Ask was standing in place, looking down as he held up a light slip. “Brother...take a look at this.”

  Henry reached him and held up his own light slip over another embankment. He narrowed his eyes. The embankment was covered with sediment, but it was an even way down for the most part. At the bottom, there were numerous pieces of stone placed neatly on the ground, and against the back of the cave, there was a long, rectangular piece of stone that jutted out.

  More dirt and debris was piled around it, almost covering it and making it appear as a piece of random rock.

  Henry narrowed his eyes. There were plenty of rock formations that had angles, but the kind of stone that the cave seemed to have consisted of was not one of them.

  “Toss some more light slips around,” Henry said in a low voice.

  Ash flung three light slips down. One towards the rectangular rock that landed at the foot of it, into the sediment at the base, and two more on their left and right, to further expose the stone boxes and clay jars.

  Ash’s eyes crinkled up. “Is this what I think it is?” he asked in a tired voice.

  Henry took a deep breath and released it. “Can I not go one outing with you without running across the remnants of a dead body?”

  Ash shot him an insulted look and then waved his hand over the remains of what was likely a sarcophagus. “We haven’t opened it yet! You don’t know that it’s a dead body.”

  “What other thing would be deep inside a cave, in a rectangular stone box, surrounded by funeral offerings?”

  Ash’s lips pursed, defeated, and looked down at the burial pit below. “Dammit.” He lifted his head and looked up, raising his arm, and increasing the light from his slip. He narrowed his eyes. “I thought that the ceiling was too even to be natural....” His shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes. “Brother, this isn’t a cave under a hill, is it?”

  “Nope.”

  “It’s a burial mound, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  Ash tilted his head back and let out a low breath. “You’re right, I should stop taking random side quests.”

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  A clatter of pens and some books fell to the ground as the request director of the local Adventurer’s Guild shot up from his chair. His eyes were wide with excitement as he looked at the two brothers seated across from him.

  Henry kept a calm, passive look on his face, unperturbed by what they just told the man, while Ash watched the items hit the floor with a raised brow.

  “You...you’re...you’re serious?” the request director asked with a choked voice.

  Ash nodded. “Yes, we even walked around the base of the hill. Considering the shape and the protruding stone, it’s a burial mound.”

  “Specifically, a burial pyramid, likely nine to ten centuries old,” Henry said.

  “It should be a remnant of the last Gudan Period,” Ash told them.

  The request director’s mouth opened and closed; his eyes were still huge. “Tamal Hill is a burial pyramid?” He seemed to repeat their words slowly. The brothers nodded once more.

  Henry raised a brow. “For the last hundred years, has no one noticed that there was a single hill in the area that was so close to the river?”

  “They have. That’s why it’s considered such a special place to the local villages,” the request director replied. “It’s part of the local forest park and many people go up to see the view during festivals and holy days.” His face suddenly paled. “I got married there....”

  The two brothers exchanged looks. Henry sat up straight and let out a low breath. “It’s just a burial pyramid. It’s not cursed.”

  Ash nodded. “Yes, from our first look, there was nothing to indicate that it was a tomb imprisoning someone terrible who committed heinous acts. No religious seals warding off evil, no magic negating seals, no epitaphs mentioning crimes and punishment. There were also a lot of funerary offerings, so it was likely the tomb of a well-to-do person.”

  From the look of the request director, their attempt at calming him didn’t seem to help. Ash couldn’t really blame him. Many people had concerns when it came to burial areas, either regarding how sacred they were or concerns that there was lingering resentment from the dead that could carry over to the living.

  “Director Olman, we’ve retrieved the fan, as well as numerous other items found in the cave for claim here at the guild,” Henry said, his voice still calm. “My brother and I are still on our way to fulfil a request. Can we....” He extended hand and revealed a metal card with the crystal sliver.

  Director Olman blinked and nodded. He seemed to shake himself out of his stupor. “Yes! Yes, of course. My apologies, I was just...caught by surprise. We never dreamed that the cave was actually a sunken burial pyramid.” He gave them a sheepish smile as he motioned for them to sit and wait. “Denari Gold Standard, yes?”

  Both brothers nodded. The director left to get the payment device and Henry looked at Ash. “Since we reported it, they’ll want our names.”

  Ash scrunched his face, unwilling. “Can’t we use our aliases?” In order to avoid more attention from the Magic Tower, Ash took the request for the fire proof suit under his new alias of Guillermo von Sails. He even created a new guild payment account to use and encouraged Henry to do the same under Rutherford von Sails.

  Henry gave him an irritated look. “Had I known we were going to use our aliases from the ship, I would’ve picked another name.”

  Ash nodded. “You can always have it recorded under your regular name.”

  Henry shook his head dismissively and lowered his voice. “No, because then you’ll be associated with it. There are only four Atractas. We don’t need the Magic Tower tracing you through me.”

  Ash hummed once more. One of the reasons he had been so hesitant to make money from selling magic products was that the Magic Tower was waiting for him to produce something profitable that they could counterfeit and exploit. He couldn’t give them that satisfaction.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Almost all of Ash’s products that were sold had been direct to consumers through private agreements and pre-established relationships. No fanfare, no marketing, just addressing needs.

  Aside from making things for his family’s company, he also assisted with things for other merchants in the Mt. Asae Merchant Guild, West Wind Abbey, the diaspora at West Wind Valley, and merchant partners of his family. Things like transport improvement, advances in preservation, monitoring of trade transport, and basic technology in homes had been implemented without the Magic Tower knowing.

  Two years prior, not long after he sent a vaguely threatening letter to the Magic Tower, he and Hana had created Moonflower, a workshop that combined Hana’s mechanical knowhow and Ash’s magic to improve upon existing technology. It was the reason why he had little spare money before he went on his last major quest; he and Hana had just reinvested to buy a workshop in South Village where they could work on larger things.

  It was a private endeavor of theirs and they didn’t accept investment from family members. Ash wanted to build it himself and Hana’s family did not approve of her starting a business with him. She was upset and refused to take the money offered when they realized their disapproval wasn’t going to stop her.

  Before, the two of them tinkered in his studio at home or at Hana’s family’s smithy.

  Purchasing the property wasn’t expensive, but Hana had specifications for their building, which needed to be built from scratch, and both of them wanted to ensure there was privacy so their creations could be classified until they were ready. At the moment, it was still in the process of being built.

  Ash had also bought more land than necessary as Effie had planned to farm medicinal plants, but hadn’t mentioned an area to prepare and manufacture medicine. He reserved a section for his little sister’s future business. Henry had agreed to pay for the buildings on the site.

  “Once the Moonflower Campus has been built, we’ll be able to work on larger scale things,” Ash said. “Hana hopes to invite some friends of hers, too.”

  “Do you two have enough money?”

  “We never have enough money.” Ash sighed. “And now I have to save up for the recovery project.” He’d calculated some numbers with his mother, and they had enough to start the project, but there was preparation work for restoring and housing the recovered items that needed to be done.

  In addition, the fact that Ashtar was moving to encroach on their ancestral land was alarming. It made the issue of recovering what was left of Samelu more urgent.

  Henry tapped his fingers over his knee as he leaned back against the wooden chair. “What are you and Hana working on right now?”

  Ash looked over at him and smiled. “Good stuff, Brother. Don’t worry.”

  Henry narrowed his eyes at him. “It’s always worrisome when you say that.”

  “Here is the payment!” Director Olman reached with a device in hand. “Please tap your cards.”

  Henry had agreed to split it with Ash, twenty-five to seventy-five, with seventy-five going to Ash. Henry tapped his card first and then Ash followed. Once the amount had been transferred, they prepared to leave.

  “Ah, Mr. von Sails....” Director Olman called out to them as they stood and turned. The two brothers turned around, not knowing which ‘Mr. von Sails’ he was addressing. Director Olman gave them a hopeful look. “How long will you be in town?”

  “We’re leaving tomorrow morning,” Henry said. “If you need to record who found and identified the burial pyramid, you can put it under von Sails.”

  Director Olman looked disappointed, but nodded. He thanked them again and the two left. Henry held open the door as a young man rushed past him, giving him a grateful nod and ‘thank you’ before he ran inside.

  “Do you think there are more tombs in the area?” Ash asked as they walked down the street to the inn. The sun was already setting and they wanted to make sure their horses were fed before they went to dinner.

  “Likely,” Henry replied. He furrowed his brows. “The area’s fertile and a farming region. Some floods had reshaped the river though and there was a civilization here predating the current settlements.”

  “The Gorans, but I didn’t study much about them,” Ash told him. “They migrated en masse after a particular flooding, though. Who knows where they went.”

  “I’m sure many people here are descended from those who came back after the flooding subsided,” Henry replied. “The name of the people may have changed, but their bloodlines still exist.”

  “Now I wish there was a Cultural Center nearby so I can ask the elders to look for histories on other kingdoms and such during that time period,” Ash said. He looked at his brother. “Did you notice anything in there that may have shown contact with Samelu?”

  “Two Lunapsar vases, but rather mediocre quality,” Henry replied. “Covered with sediment and broken, but I can tell at a glance.”

  “Gifts of ire?”

  “Gifts of ire.”

  Ash let out a heavy breath. “I’m starting to think my ancestors just got mad at everyone.” Henry laughed and patted his shoulder.

  “Well, if they’re anything like you, they hold grudges.”

  “I only hold one grudge,” Ash said in his defense. He scowled. “And if the Magic Tower doesn’t start anything, there won’t be anything.”

  “Let’s just get dinner and rest so we can leave early tomorrow,” Henry told him. “The sooner we leave, the less likelihood of them coming to find us to assist with the burial pyramid.”

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  Perhaps they should’ve left town as soon as they could rather than tried to get some sleep first. Dawn had yet to break when a knock came from their inn door. On one narrow, single-person bed, Henry heard his brother grumble from the bed opposite him. Henry turned his head towards the direction of the door and frowned. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was already filled with regret.

  He looked towards the window; the curtains were down, but no light was coming out.

  “Why so early?” he heard Ash mutter with annoyance.

  “Stay there,” Henry said, flinging the blanket off him as he slid his legs off the side of the bed. “I’ll see what’s going on.”

  He walked past his brother’s bed. Ash’s hair was tousled in different directions and he had sat up in bed. He held three slips in his hands and narrowed his eyes towards the door. Henry briefly wondered if his brother slept with the slips.

  Henry got to the door, and whoever was there was still knocking. “What is it?”

  “Mr. von Sails, the Magistrate is here to see you and your brother,” a woman’s urgent voice said. It sounded like the middle-aged woman who staffed the lobby of the small inn the night before.

  Henry heard his brother let out a tired groan and then swear. Henry rolled his eyes. He knew they should’ve left earlier. He looked over at Ash, who had fallen back into bed and covered his face with a pillow.

  Henry sighed. “We’ll be down in several minutes.”

  “I’ll let them know, sir!”

  “Brother, why’d you tell them that?” Ash sat back up and slammed the pillow that he’d used to cover his face on the bed. “I thought you didn’t want to get involved.”

  “I don’t, but they’re already here,” Henry said. “What are we supposed to do? Pretend we’re gone?” Ash opened his mouth, but Henry waved a hand to stop him. “Just go wash your face and get ready to go. After we answer any of their questions, we can leave.”

  Grumbling, Ash did as he was told. Once they were changed and packed their things into the preservation bags strapped on their bags, they exited their room with the key in hand so they could check out. The Adventurer’s Guild paid for the room as part of the arrangement for Ash to deliver the fireproof suit, so it wasn’t a surprise that they were found.

  When they arrived at the lobby, there were three people waiting for them, standing around the small, modest space looking anxious. Henry first went to return the key to the innkeeper before approaching the group with Ash.

  “Are you looking for the von Sails brothers?” Henry inwardly grimaced at the name.

  Two older men and a woman turned around. They seemed to rush towards him. The eldest of the group, a thin man with a slight belly and receding dark hair line, looked at them with excitement as his eyes lit up. “Yes, are you the von Sails brothers? I’m the area magistrate and this is the town historian Pachezo, and the head of the local temple, Priestess Yrona. We came to see you about the burial pyramid.” The Magistrate showed them his identification seal to assure them he was legitimate.

  “Yes, thanks to your hard work, we’ve stumbled upon something amazing!” the town historian said as he joined the Magistrate and the priestess to shake their hands.

  Ash and Henry gave them polite smiles. “It’s nothing,” Henry said. “We just figured it out while looking for a fan for the Adventurer’s Guild.”

  “It’s all in a day’s work,” Ash said, giving them a small nod of his head.

  “It may be nothing for you,” the Magistrate said, his voice trembling with excitement. “But this is huge news for our town! To think, there is a Goran structure hidden so close!”

  “We wanted to visit it last night, but it was too late,” Priestess Yrona told them. “The Guild said that you were leaving today, but is it possible for you to postpone?”

  “Yes, we’d like your help excavating the site. Or at least your help to get started,” the Magistrate said.

  Henry and Ash both gave shakes of their heads. “Unfortunately, we are already on a quest response with the Guild and are under a time constraint,” Ash told them. “I need to deliver something, so we don’t have much time to stop.”

  The faces of the three older people dropped. Their disappointment was palatable. They looked at each other, as if silently asking what they should do.

  “Can you at least spare the morning to come with us and see?” the Historian asked with a hint of desperation in his voice. “It’s always been difficult to explore inside, as torch light only goes so far...and the smoke can become a problem when there is too much.”

  Henry looked at his brother, fully expecting him to suggest something like crystal lanterns, which could illuminate the entire cave and didn’t produce smoke. It was just that for commoners, they were somewhat expensive. Ash lowered his eyes and thought for a moment.

  “Have you tried crystal lanterns?” he asked.

  “We have ordered a few, as they are expensive,” the Magistrate replied with some embarrassment. “We ordered them as soon as we were informed of the burial pyramid, but the local Merchant’s Guild said it would take some time to procure them.”

  Henry cocked his head to the side. “Has news of the burial pyramid spread already?” It hadn’t been a day yet, but considering it was a tomb, security to prevent tomb raiding before it was excavated and preserved needed to be set up. “I advise you to keep news of the burial site quiet to prevent theft.”

  The Magistrate shook his head. “No, the Adventurer’s Guild came to tell me and I told Historian Pacheza and Priestess Yrona, but we have not yet announced it.”

  “But did you set up a guard already?” Ash asked. Ensuring the protection of the site would’ve been his priority. However, from the blank looks of the local officials, they had not set up a guard. Ash took a deep breath. “Contact the local town guard and assign someone. Even if you didn’t announce news of the burial site, someone else could stumble upon it.”

  Or have overheard and gone tomb raiding.

  While both tomb raiding and excavation involved entering the tomb and removing items, excavation was sanctioned by the local government with priority placed on preserving items and recording findings. Religious ceremonies and prayers were also performed to appease the dead. In addition, items were often kept together. Sometimes, if a site was suitable, it would be turned into a place of interest where those interested in the subject could visit to learn more. If it was possible and safe to do so, the bodies of the entombed remained, and new, more modern offerings were placed.

  Tomb raiding paid no attention to preservation, with some cases devastating a location so badly it was almost impossible for archaeologists and historians to piece together what was left. Then the raiders would start illegally trading and selling items looted. Things of historical, cultural, and religious value were lost.

  The Magistrate seemed to realize the importance of securing the site. He stood up straight. “I’ll go notify the patrol station at once!”

  Henry caught his brother looking at him and for a moment, he tried to avoid eye contact.

  “Brother....”

  “We have to go.”

  “Just a few minutes?”

  “It’s an hour’s walk from here.”

  “Can’t we just check? Just for peace of mind.” Ash pressed. Henry ran a hand down his face. “Brother, the site is on the way.”

  Technically, it was on the way south, but a little off course. Henry gave his brother a stern look, but Ash seemed intent to go. “After this, we won’t pick up any more side quests.”

  “Agreed.”

  “All right, fine.” Henry looked at the officials. “We’ll head out at once to ensure that the site is secure. We’ll bring you inside to familiarize yourselves. The Magistrate should bring some guards with us to post there.”

  Several exclamations of gratitude were showered on the brothers before they headed to the public stables to pick up their horses. They waited another few minutes for some guards on horseback and a small carriage with the officials to join them, along with someone who was from the local Adventurer’s Guild.

  They set off as the sun was rising, with the brothers eating some food they prepared the night before while seated on their horses.

  Torches were used to light the way before there was enough daylight. Ash and Henry rode beside the carriage to listen to Historian Pachezo fill in their knowledge gaps on the Goran civilization of the area.

  The Goran Period lasted a few hundred years. They were primarily an agricultural society dependent on the river, which was why during a historic flood, the entire civilization that survived relocated, as river levels did not return to normal for several years, keeping the formerly fertile farming area submerged.

  During the Goran Period’s peak, there were several towns in the area with modest stone structures. Many sites had been built over when people returned. There were also a few modest hills at one point, but they’d been leveled by the flood waters to sections of land that had a slight elevation increase over the rest of the area.

  The only remaining ‘hill’ was near, but not directly next to the river, which had moved after the flood receded. It was assumed that since it was stone, it hadn’t been washed away so easily. As for it being a burial pyramid, there were numerous dotting the area, but they’d all been built near the foothills. Several of them were well-known in the area.

  It seemed that the burial pyramid they found had been treated as a regular hill and scenic view point for the towns and villages nearby, and largely ignored. This wasn’t unheard of, as different groups of people built things on top of or around ruins of an earlier group, completely disregarding what could be hidden underground, all the time.

  “The question is, who did that tomb belong to,” Historian Pachezo said with excitement lacing his voice.

  “Do you have any theories?” Ash asked, sounding genuinely curious.

  “If it was a pyramid, it must’ve been someone important,” Henry said. Historian Pachezo nodded enthusiastically.

  “Burial pyramids during the Goran Period were built not for individuals, but for important clans.”

  The brothers perked up. Both of them looked at the carriage. “Then, there is likely more than one person buried there?” Ash asked.

  The Historian’s eyes were sparkling as he nodded. “Clan burial pyramids could contain generations of direct descendants. Who knows how many people are buried there!”

  Henry’s eyes crinkled up. “I’m starting to think that the ditch I fell into wasn’t just a ditch....”

  “How did they entomb the family members?” Ash asked.

  “Fetal position and upright, with the arms and legs curled up while they are in a seated position,” Historian Pachezo replied as he curled up his arms against his chest and crouched down a bit in his seat to bring his chest closer to his knees so they could see an example. “It is thought that the position was returning the body to its native state, as it was born.”

  Ash nodded his head, thoughtfully. “Lunapsar follow a similar practice.”

  “I thought you were Lunapsar,” the Historian said, looking at Ash with interest. “But I thought those who followed celestial beliefs were cremated.”

  “They are,” Ash replied. “But for Lunapsar, there is a period of mourning in which the deceased is dressed and entombed in a vessel. Afterwards, they are cremated at the funeral pyre.”

  Henry nodded his head. There was one general exception, and that was royal family members. His Aunt once told him that after the mourning period, they would be carried up the volcano and released into it. After the fall of Samelu, the process had been altered to use a funeral pyre using sacred fire.

  “Out of curiosity,” Henry said. “How many family members can be buried in one pyramid?”

  “The highest count comes from a burial pyramid northwest of here belonging to a noble family,” the Historian replied. “One-hundred and twenty-seven burial plots had been excavated in the burial pyramid.”

  “What about the funerary offerings?” Ash asked. “My brother and I couldn’t make out a lot for the possible number of burials there.” If there were over a hundred and twenty people, then the amount of items buried with them was small.

  “I believe that most of the usual offerings were food, drink, and fabrics,” Historian Pachezo answered. “The stone boxes you said were there would’ve contained the initial offerings to be the foundation of wealth for the family in the afterlife. After the foundation had been laid, there was no need for the family to add more precious minerals and gems. With each new burial, consumables were offered. I only hope that the foundation remains intact.”

  At the very least, there wasn’t an overwhelming amount from over a hundred burials worth of treasure. If there were, it would undoubtedly be a target for tomb raiders.

  When they arrived at the site, Ash and Henry walked around the half-buried pyramid with the Historian and Magistrate to explain their findings. Historian Pachezo confirmed that it matched with the other burial pyramids in the area.

  Two of the patrol guards stood by the mouth of the cave and Priestess Yrona did a prayer for the dead.

  “Someone prepare the torches,” the magistrate said, turning towards the carriage. Ash shook his head and held up some slips.

  “I purchased some instant light cards. They’re brighter than torches and don’t have smoke,” Ash told them. “They last an hour at most, but it should be enough for us to use to go in and out.” He made a small show pricking his finger and putting a tiny bit of blood on each card to ‘activate’ it.

  Henry didn’t say a word as he accepted one of the glowing slips. He knew that Ash had just activated them with his magic, but Guillermo von Sails wasn’t a mage, so the show had to be put on.

  The magistrate and others were impressed as Ash handed one to each person, telling them to keep a hold on it and they only had a limited time.

  From what Henry knew of the slips, if Ash activated them, they lasted as long as Ash wanted them to last. It all depended on how much magic Ash used.

  He led the group towards the mouth of the cave, telling them to be prepared to crawl through the low opening. The Historian and Guild representative didn’t hesitate to get on their stomachs to wiggle through the cave entrance, but the Priestess had to put on another layer of clothes to keep her robes clean.

  “Next time, I’ll be better prepared,” she said, embarrassed. “Forgive me for holding everyone back.”

  “No, no,” Ash assured her. “We know you have a uniform. We overlooked what we’d have to do to get in. We should be apologizing to you for making you crawl through dirt.”

  She laughed and gave him a gentle nod. “I do not mind doing so for the sake of prayer.”

  The magistrate nodded in agreement, though he also had to wear another layer of clothes. For him, it was a bit more embarrassing. “My wife will scold me if my clothes get muddy.”

  After warning them about the beetles, Ash led the way towards the back of the cave with Henry rounding out the back. Every step of the way, Ash let them know where to step and what to avoid.

  Henry wrinkled his nose and took a deep breath. “Do you smell that?” He called out to his brother in Ashtari.

  Ash lifted his chin. “Something was burned?”

  Henry frowned.

  “Is this a moat?” The Magistrate appeared interested in the ditch that seemed to separate the outer part of the cave from the inner part. It was the same ditch that Henry had slid into the day before.

  “That’s a retaining wall,” the Historian said as he knelt down by the edge of the ditch. He turned to look deeper in. “If I’m right, there are vertical burial vaults right beneath us.”

  The Magistrate gasped and jumped in place, looking down at the dirt and dead leaf-covered ground. “Is it all right to be stepping on them?”

  “It should be fine, as new burials would need to be carried in,” the historian replied. “Just in case, perhaps a prayer?” He looked towards Priestess Yrona, who nodded.

  “I do not feel lingering pain or regret here,” she said. “It is not surprising, as these burial sites are meant to be peaceful resting places.”

  The Historian nodded. “Yes, and this area before the retaining wall, that area below; it would’ve been where offerings from family members were placed. The food, drink, and lighting candles for prayer. The area for daily offerings are always near the entrance for practical reasons.”

  Henry frowned. “Aside from the fan, we picked up a few more items there thinking they might have been lost. Could they have been offerings?”

  The historian shook his head. “We can look over what you returned to the Guild to check, but I doubt it. Offerings should’ve been food or drink, sometimes clothing, but things like jewelry and precious items offered after the foundation funeral offerings would’ve been buried with the deceased, usually in the form of adornments.”

  Ash looked around. “Since the ground seems untouched, I doubt any of the vaults have been opened and raided.”

  “That’s a relief!” Historian Pachezo let out a relieved breath. “I’ve been to sites where the ground has been uplifted and remains strewn about so tomb raiders could steal the adornments buried with them. The Asrema Pyramid was a tragedy.”

  The Magistrate shuddered. “Are they not afraid of the wrath of the dead?”

  Ash led them towards the back of the cave. “Careful where you step. There is another embankment here. My brother and I didn’t go down, but you can see the stone boxes. Historian Pachezo, is the stone box in the back a tomb?”

  The older man rushed to join Ash and craned his neck. He pointed to the stone jutting out from the back. “That one?” Seeing Ash nod, he shook his head in response. “No, that was an altar,” he said with a smile. “The deceased was first laid there and prayed over before burial. When we clear out the sediment burying it, we should see some iconography of the burial process engraved on the sides. This is in every burial pyramid in the area.”

  “Huh...I learned something new,” Ash said with a slight nod.

  Henry walked towards the edge and froze. He extended his hand with the light slip over the edge. “As-Guillermo, increase the brightness.”

  Ash glanced over and then walked to touch the light slip. The light was bright enough to illuminate the entire lower portion of the back of the cave.

  “What’s wrong?” the Magistrate asked. He seemed to notice Henry’s tense expression.

  Henry narrowed his eyes as his lips pulled into a frown. Beside him, Ash frowned, as well. “Take a look,” he said, without looking back at his brother. He took a step forward and began to slide down the embankment, down towards where the stone boxes were. Ash followed behind him.

  “What’s going on?” the Priestess asked as she looked over her shoulder from where she was preparing to do another prayer.

  “Yesterday, there were vases here,” Henry said, looking around. “Lunapsar vases.” He carefully stepped on top of the boxes to get to an empty space. He knelt down and lowered his light slip over one. Sure enough, there was a hole in the ground with disrupted dirt around it.

  “Brother, there is some more broken dirt here,” Ash said. He increased the brightness of his light slip as he looked down at a patch of dirt.

  “The ground is moist. Look for footprints,” Henry said. He began to wave his light slip around the ground.

  “Brothers von Sails.” Historian Pachezo began to look worried as he looked at them walking over the stone boxes. “Is something the matter?”

  “Found some!” Ash called out.

  “Same,” Henry replied. He took a deep breath. “Those vases were here when we left.”

  “Is something missing?” the Magistrate asked.

  Henry looked up from a set of muddled footprints near a pile of dirt that had been pushed down near the base of the embankment. “We didn't record of everything here yesterday, but I identified two Lunapsar vases mostly buried in the dirt,” he said, looking up at the four who remained at the top of the embankment. “It was in the report we submitted to the guild, but those vases are gone.”

  “And there are more footprints,” Ash said. “We didn’t come down the embankment yesterday. We just looked through the ditch closer to the front of the cave.”

  Henry ran a hand down his face. “Someone came,” he said. “Someone knows this is a burial site.”

  insisted this. Then driving home, I realized that I did, indeed see human remains of bog bodies at the National Museum of Ireland, so I had to text the group chat to admit this. To be clear, I don't go out of my way to see stuff like this. Okay, now that I think about it, maybe I do because I like going to museums. It's not like I magically end up...

  Thank you for taking time to read!