Chapter 79

Day 307 of Banishment: Beautiful Ruins (3)
Marylia was confused. Greatly confused!

Something that shouldn’t exist was here! Something that shouldn’t have been necessary was gathered in vast quantities, as if to say, “It was absolutely essential!”

Faced with this situation, Marylia was bewildered...

“Let’s sleep! Good night! Wake me up in 30 minutes!”

She slept! Marylia decided to stop thinking for a while!

… And then, 30 minutes later. Just before Jade gently shook her awake, Marylia opened her eyes with a snap.

“Fwaaah... Mmm, so it wasn’t a dream~ Ehehe, oh dear~...”

Then, spotting the mountain of gold coins in the corner of her vision, she smiled and gazed into the distance.

… Indeed, the gold coins were real. There were so many. Which meant... she understood even less about the true nature of this island!

“... If there was money, then this island must have had an economic foundation.”

She picked up one of the wax-sealed coins and examined it. It was different from the currency of any known country, seemingly unique. The only thing that stood out was the emblem stamped on it—it was an old emblem of Baltoria. That detail caught Marylia’s attention for a moment, but what concerned her more was the mere existence of currency itself.

“If there was a need for money transactions, that means there were a considerable number of people living here freely, doesn’t it?”

Money symbolizes an economy. And an economy symbolizes freedom.

… That’s right. If a single ruler was simply living here with enslaved people, an economy wouldn’t be necessary. Unless the slaves were living freely, earning money through labor, and using that money to obtain goods, there would be no need for currency.

“This place is truly mysterious...”

Looking at the coins, Marylia found herself increasingly puzzled, wondering, “How exactly did things end up like this here?”

Something was strange. Many things were strange!

“The craftsmanship isn’t particularly advanced, I think.”

Next, she examined the manufacturing technique of the coins.

“They just roughly stamped a crude anti-counterfeiting mark and didn’t even bother making them uniform in shape.”

The coins were extremely simple in design.

Molten gold was merely poured into small molds, solidified, then stamped with an emblem. That was it. In other words, they were extremely basic. So basic, in fact, that Marylia herself could probably make them given the right materials.

“Which means, these were probably made on this island...”

Tilting her head, Marylia turned her attention to the other treasures.

Smooth, polished gemstones. Beautiful seashells. Rusted parts of something that might have once shone brilliantly. Among them were polished jade beads, gold-crafted necklaces, and wooden carvings.

Essentially, all of them were objects that could be made using technology on par with or slightly more advanced than what Marylia possessed.

“But I don’t recognize these gold coins. That means they weren’t used for trade outside the island, doesn’t it?”

Observing these items, Marylia tilted her head again.

Unless the population had grown to the point where management became necessary, there would be no reason to create currency. Or... unless the captured slaves or vassals were allowed to live freely.

“... If they were allowed freedom, and this place was intended to become a new country, then the existence of money makes sense. Though, it’s unclear if there were enough people for that to work, and since no country exists here now, it must have failed.”

“But if that’s the case, the story that skull was telling doesn’t match up with this impression...”

From what the skull had said, the prince who fled from Baltoria seemed like the kind of person who would even put noblemen in slave collars. If that were true, it was hard to believe he had intended to create an economy.

“I don’t get it... If only that skull had known a bit more...”

Most likely, that skull... had died before understanding the full truth of things!

Thanks to that, there were missing pieces of information. That’s probably how things were, Marylia speculated. Yes! Everything was the fault of that skull for dying too soon!

“... Oh well, it can’t be helped. Let’s keep exploring.”

What’s done is done. Next time, the skull should be more careful... No, there probably wouldn’t be a next time... Marylia said a silent prayer for the skull and resumed her exploration.

She decided to stop thinking about the gold coins. But gold was still gold. Since gold had a strong affinity with magic, Marylia planned to take as much of it back as she could.

"A Gold Golem has significantly lower durability compared to an Iron Golem, but it does have an affinity for magic. Its resistance to magic is also quite strong…"

Well, setting aside whether to turn it into a golem or not, gold is gold, and it’s a metal with its own uses. Since Marylia has the opportunity, she might as well try crafting some accessories with gold, like the ones found in these ruins…

"Well, let’s move a little further ahead."

Deciding to collect these on the way back, Marylia proceeded deeper into the building.

At the back of the temple-like structure, as expected of a temple, there was an altar.

… And upon seeing what lay atop the altar, Marylia let out a surprised, "Oh my."

"Oh no, necromancy is swirling around here—"

The mana presence lingering over this island—its cause seemed to be right here.

Marylia circled around the altar, examining the magic emanating from this place.

… Marylia specialized in golem control, and she couldn’t use any other magic. However, that didn’t mean she didn’t understand other forms of magic. Magic was a matter of education. Even if one couldn’t use it, one could still recognize and deal with it.

"I see… I’ve got a good idea now."

Having completed her analysis, Marylia let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. The magic swirling above her seeped into the entire ruined town and even leaked beyond the island. Naturally, that meant…

"It’s necromancy."

Yes. Necromancy. The magic that bound those zombies earlier was undoubtedly coming from the altar.

Given how large-scale it was, it was also likely that this necromancy was what allowed that skull to appear in her dream.

This necromantic magic seemed to have the effect of binding souls to a location. In other words, it anchored them to their bodies, and at the same time, it also bound them to "this land."

Moreover, the targets of the spell ranged from decayed corpses like zombies to fully skeletal remains like that talking skull. It showed no discretion.

… Indeed, it had no sense of restraint.

The magic’s range was absurdly wide, and its scope of effect was equally broad. And this necromancy had one particularly glaring trait.

"But… it’s so incredibly sloppy!"

Yes!

This necromantic magic—it was astonishingly poorly constructed!

"Ehhhh… this is impossible… what even is this…?"

The more Marylia observed the magic, the deeper the crease between her brows became.

"It’s so sloppy… Oh no, look, here! They miswove the spell! And here, they made a mistake and just forced it together to keep going! This is so awful~!"

It was crude. The magic was absurdly crude!

Despite being widespread enough to create a general presence of mana over the entire island, this was simply because "the effective range wasn’t properly defined." Furthermore, the spell completely lacked any efficiency in handling the mana itself, which meant it was "recklessly wasting an enormous amount of mana."

On top of that, the spell was full of holes. The only reason it was still functioning was that someone had patched it together with makeshift fixes to keep it running.

"This… looks like magic created by someone with little education, relying only on a bit of talent, an immense amount of mana, and pure luck."

For a magic user, this was an unthinkable spell. It wasn’t even a case of someone working with limited resources—it simply seemed like an uneducated person had brute-forced their way into casting magic. Probably. And the result was this "extremely sloppy" spell.

"I just witnessed something ridiculous~… Good grief~…"

Having finished her analysis of the magic, Marylia sighed and rubbed her temples. A spell that lacked elegance was exhausting to look at.

It was completely unstructured, jumping from one part to another, full of mistakes—some left uncorrected, some hastily patched over, leading to even more unnecessary complexity. Simply observing such a mess was mentally draining!

"But at least I learned something, so it wasn’t a complete waste."

Still, Marylia was the optimistic type. Smiling despite her fatigue, she turned her gaze downward.

… This mysterious altar was the source of the large-scale necromantic magic spread across the island. The markings on it were nothing more than a simple pattern designed to "distribute mana." It was a very basic concept. Of course, its execution was poor, and the design was primitive.

… Yes. Extremely primitive.

Yet despite that, it was still powerful enough to spread said mana across the entire island. That could mean only one thing.

"As I thought, this island must be storing an absurd amount of mana underground."

Even a spell this crude had lasted nearly a hundred years and continued to produce this level of effect. Considering the presence of mana that could be felt even from the island’s outskirts… the conclusion was obvious.

"The island itself contains an overwhelming amount of mana."

… This was merely one manifestation of the "power" slumbering within this island.

"Hmm… I wonder if I could find a way to use this."

Pondering this, Marylia’s lips curled into a grin.

Even magic as poorly constructed as this had lasted for a century, maintaining a significant effect. If that power could be redirected into a properly structured and refined spell, the potential would be staggering.

"… Alright, let’s try digging down and see what’s beneath this."

And so, Marylia decided to start mining beneath the altar!

What do you think about this chapter?