"Is this the Oykot Kingdom?" Ryuen looked at the ruins in front of him with curiosity in his eyes. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on NovᴇlFirᴇ.ɴet
Nami looked at the desolate country and felt a bit overwhelmed. This was her first time going out to sea!
She had hoped to earn some Berries, but in such a barren place, there might not even be 1 Berry!
Seeing Nami's disappointed look, Ryuen knew what she was thinking.
"Come on, Nami, maybe there's still treasure left here? Let's go treasure hunting!"
"Treasure hunting? Oh right, there must be treasure here! Let's go, Ryuen, let's find the treasure!"
Hearing Ryuen's suggestion, Nami thought it must be true. There must be treasure left in some parts of this abandoned country!
Nami immediately pulled Ryuen and started their treasure hunt!
"Slow down, Nami, there might still be people living here. We need to be careful!" Seeing Nami's excited look, Ryuen quickly reminded her.
Hearing this, Nami immediately stopped and hid behind Ryuen.
"Ryuen, you go first. You promised Bellemere to protect me!"
"Hehehe, no problem, follow me, and we'll definitely find some meat to eat!"
The two kids then started searching through the ruins for the so-called treasure, busy and happy.
After more than an hour, Nami finally got tired. After all, she was not even ten years old yet and didn't have much stamina.
"Ryuen, what should we do? It seems like there's nothing here." Nami suddenly felt a bit down.
She had hoped to find a lot of treasure on this trip and bring it back to Bellemere.
"How about we go deeper inside, Nami? We should find the original palace of the Oykot Kingdom first. Maybe there will be treasure there." Ryuen thought for a moment and said.
"Hmm~ wait a minute, let me draw a map of this place first, then we can look for the palace!"
Nami thought Ryuen made sense. She immediately took out her drawing tools from her backpack and started drawing the map of the area on a flat spot.
Ryuen stood quietly beside Nami, watching her draw with a cute and serious look. He couldn't help but like her more.
Apart from the occasional sound of the wind and the scratching of Nami's pen on the paper, there were no other sounds.
Nami occasionally climbed to higher spots to look around and used measuring tools to measure the terrain. Ryuen felt that Nami was really serious and responsible at this moment.
Half an hour later, little Nami puffed out her cheeks and blew out a breath. She finally finished drawing the map of the area and recorded some climate information based on her judgment.
"Done, hehehe!" Nami was very happy. This was the second map she had drawn besides the one of her home island.
"Good job, Nami. Here, have some water. I'll help you pack up." Ryuen handed a water bottle to Nami.
"No need, I'll pack the map myself. What if you damage it? You're so strong." Nami refused Ryuen's help.
She then carefully packed the map and drawing tools back into her backpack.
"Now you can drink some water." Ryuen said softly.
"Hehehe, thank you, Ryuen." Little Nami put on her backpack, took the water bottle from Ryuen, and drank a few sips with her small cherry-like mouth.
"Ha~ I've finished drinking, let's continue our journey to find the palace treasure!" Nami closed the water bottle and handed it back to Ryuen.
"Yeah, let's go, continue treasure hunting!"
Ryuen held Nami's small hand and continued walking deeper into the island.
"It's really empty here, it feels a bit spooky. Ryuen, you have to protect me." Nami held Ryuen's hand tightly, nervously watching the surroundings.
"Don't worry, Nami, I can lift a thousand pounds of stone now!" Ryuen said proudly.
But he didn't let his guard down. It was too quiet along the way, with only some low bushes and broken buildings, not even a bird.
Nami remembered Ryuen's great strength and instantly felt less nervous. Her charming little eyes rolled around, checking everything.
They didn't know how long they walked, but the two kids finally saw a large group of buildings, looking like a huge city.
All the houses were destroyed, but the central buildings still showed their grand appearance before the destruction.
"Wow~ What a big city, Ryuen, this should be the old capital of the Oykot Kingdom, right?" Little Nami exclaimed cutely at the large group of buildings.
"Well... it should be. Look at those broken buildings in the middle, don't they look like a palace?" Ryuen pointed to the partially destroyed palace and said gently.
"Let's start, I must find the treasure here!" Little Nami said fiercely, frowning.
"Yeah! The treasure here is ours, let's go!"
Ryuen led Nami, starting to search from the edge. He didn't believe it, could it be that the place was completely looted?
The small figures of the two kids appeared and disappeared among the broken buildings.
"Ryuen! Come quickly! Look what I found!" Nami excitedly waved at Ryuen in front of a broken house.
Ryuen immediately ran towards Nami, curious about what she found that made her so excited.
Soon, Ryuen arrived at Nami's place. It was a relatively large house, even though it was broken, it still had two floors.
"So, Nami, what did you find?" Ryuen asked as soon as he reached the door.
"Come with me, I found a mechanism inside, but I didn't dare to open it alone!" Nami excitedly pulled Ryuen's hand and ran inside.
A mechanism? Ryuen was a bit surprised and then got excited too. Could it be a secret room? The kind filled with treasure?
Nami led Ryuen to a room that looked like a study and walked to a bookshelf.
"Here it is, there's a mechanism here, but I can't move it. Ryuen, you try." Nami pointed to a hidden statue behind the bookshelf.
The statue wasn't big, about forty centimeters high. Nami had already pushed it a bit, revealing a small door shape on the originally flat wall.
"It really is a mechanism. Nami, step back a bit, I'll push it open."
"Okay, be careful. I heard there might be traps in places with treasure."
"Don't worry, I'll be careful!" Ryuen patted his chest.
Then he looked around, took a piece of wood from the bookshelf, and used it to push the statue slowly.
As soon as he started pushing, Ryuen felt something was wrong. How could such a small statue be so heavy?
Until he pushed the statue away, a small door on the wall opened!