Ben & Bella continue their journey after staying in Port Town for a few days. They go to the west, toward the forest where they saved the kidnapped people. The forest is smaller than Waas Forest, so they can cover it in 2 weeks.
There's nothing noteworthy in the forest. Maybe because it is close to a town, so it has been explored many times before. The valuable spots or things must have been exploited or taken.
They then go to the mountain range in the southwest. The area is also smaller than the one where they met with Morgbitt. But now they don't have any guide, so it takes a longer time for them to explore the area.
After exploring the mountains range for a week, they find an abandoned fort on one of the peaks. It has been abandoned for a long time because vegetation has grown on its wall & floor. The fort is also destroyed on one side, so it's clear that the owner left it after it got destroyed.
"Was there a war in the past that required a fort to be built here?" ponders Ben as he gets inside the fort.
He tries to find any clues about this fort. But most of the items here have been destroyed by age, especially papers & fabrics. There are some other items like weapons too, but their conditions are not good.
Finally, he finds a carving on the wall. It is a picture of humans fighting with Dragons. Now Ben can guess that this fort is from the age where Dragons still ruled this land. This place must have been destroyed by a war between humans & Dragons.
"If the cause was war, then this place must've been abandoned for hundreds of years. No wonder that plants have even grown on the stone wall now," says Ben as he continues to look around.
Ben checks on the weapon that remain and scans them. He finds out that none of the weapons are magic weapons. It is not strange because humans' magic wasn't that developed in the past. Even now, Ben still feels that magic development is still not good enough.
For a whole day, Ben investigated the abandoned fort. He scanned every part and found other carvings that confirmed his guess. Also, he found out that this fort wasn't owned by Fiore, but a Kingdom named Elsia, which surely has been destroyed in the past.
There's no other interesting finding except this fort's history. But it is satisfying enough to know about the past that he never knew before. It's the first time he knows about a destroyed Kingdom named Elsia, after all.
Ben & Bella stay in the fort for the night and call Wendy & Carla like usual. They also talk with Roubaul and the old man confirmed that there was a Kingdom named Elsia in the past. It has been destroyed by Dragons just like what Ben guessed.
"Ben-boy, you need to investigate that fort carefully. A place where a war with Dragons happened usually has some treasures," says Roubaul.
"Treasures? They kept gold here?" asks Ben.
"Not that kind of treasure, but treasures from Dragon's body, Dragon scales," says Roubaul.
"What?! Is that true?" asks Ben 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," says Roubaul.
"Alright, I will search more thoroughly tomorrow," says Ben.
Ben & Bella then talk with Wendy & Carla until they get sleepy. Then they sleep after Ben puts up a defensive formation to protect them. They wake up in the morning and investigate the fort again after breakfast.
They try to find the dragon scales like what Roubaul told them. But they can't find anything even after investigating until afternoon. Even with AI Chip's scanning ability, Ben can't find any trace of dragon scale there.
"Sigh, it's almost dark now. Let's resume it tomorrow," says Ben.
"Kay~," replies Bella with a tired face.
The next day, they continue their searching, but they really don't find anything. So Ben decides to end their search because it's just a waste of time. Besides, he doesn't need a dragon scale that much, although he'll take one if he can.
Ben continues his exploration in the mountains range. He explores every location with Bella while using AI Chip to scan his surroundings. There's no other interesting thing after they left the fort and finished exploring the mountains in 3 weeks.
From the mountains range, they go to the south. There are 3 towns & a mining camp area there, and they visit all of those. They have never gone to these towns before, so they are very curious.
There's an unfinished railway that goes through the towns & mining camp. It is planned to go all the way to Magnolia and merge with the active railway. But the distance is very far, so it will need a long time to finish.
Ben & Bella go to the mining camp first which has become a small town. This is a camp town for mining workers who work in a mine near this place. It's a big mine where many types of metals & minerals can be found.
There's no specialty in this town because they just serve mining workers' basic needs here. But at least the food that is sold in this town always has big portions and is cheap. It's because the workers eat a lot, so the portions are big too.
Ben can fill his stomach easily without spending too much money. He & Bella stay there for a day before going to the next town, Gallows Town. They just need to follow the railway and reach the town in 8 hours on foot.
Gallows Town is located beside the sea, so it's also a port town. This town is a place that connects Fiore with other Nations through trading, especially Nations from other continents. The sea trade route is passing the sea around here, after all.
The trading activities here are massive and Gallows Town alone isn't enough to handle it. So the Kingdom built another region, Dawn City, in the south. They split the activities in the both region to make the tradings easier.
Ben & Bella explore Galow Town for 4 days and buy some supplies there. Then they go 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 go to the next location in the south, Matza Valley. The valley is located on the north side of the mountain range where Ben got his Devil Slayer Magic. There is a small town there and it is where the unfinished railway started.
Ben & Bella just stay there for a day before resuming their journey. They explore the beach line first because it will take less time than exploring the mountain range. It takes them 3 days to explore the beach line.
They immediately start to explore the mountain range after that. Ben only has explored the Dark Valley inside the mountain range, so there's still a lot of locations that they need to explore.
This mountain range is very wide, just like the one near his village. There's no guide like Morgbitt here, and they need to explore every location too. So it will certainly take a longer time to explore the whole area.
After 2 weeks, they find another old fort, but this fort is not destroyed, although it's not used anymore. It's also owned by the Fiore Kingdom and was built far in the past. Ben explores it and finds nothing there. The Kingdom must've taken everything there before stopping all its activities.
They resume their exploration after that and find the Dark Valley after a week. It hasn't changed at all since he left it, so no one has succeeded in reaching the center so far. He is rather disappointed because his trap hasn't been used, but he let it be and resume his exploration.
Then after another week of exploration, some km in the east of Dark Valley, they find something that makes them very excited. It is something that Ben always searched for, Magic Library.
He smiles excitedly as he says, "Finally."
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You can read up to 30+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 155 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 166 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)