Purple hologram screens covered multiple stone and steel walls as warriors clad in leather and metal armor walked past.
They carefully moved forward, brandishing their primitive weapons to protect themselves from any machine in hiding.
Staying close to the right wall, one of them swung his composite club into a row of stalactites before entering the room.
It stayed relatively well lit through the different holographic images and LED's so he immediately knew the room was safe.
"Clear!"
His colleagues followed behind him as they, and many other such groups, repeated this process again and again within the west district beyond the tunnel.
Since the beginning of the week, they had gone through this process again and again within all the ancient sectors of Valhalla.
Most spaces were quite similar in appearance with cold stone or metallic surfaces and weak lightning.
They had encountered a few machines in each one, especially the North-eastern sector. Following the orders they had received, they caught the specimens alive by restraining their mechanical limbs or straight up destroying them.
The other objectives they had been given other than to clear everything out was to draw a map, or at least an outline of the entire Valhalla.
A slim but fit man with a ginger mustache walked closer to the one at the front and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Alright pal, this is the last one for today. I've noted everything down and finished the global map. Still need some time to finish the detailed one for this sector."
"Finally… Greg, prepare the dried meat and other rations I'm starving!" He shouted to someone completely covered in a green cloak wearing a leather backpack before talking to the ginger viking again "Show me."
The ginger complied and handed him two pieces of parchment on which rough but easy to read maps were drawn.
The first one showed a large circle sprouting out in a fork-like hallways resembling a clock or a nordic compass.
The second one seemed to be a detail of one of those "forks", showing multiple hallways, rooms with some scribbles and sketches that explained the space.
"They sure as hell had a weird way of building stuff. Anyways, who got the booze? We got free liquor from the boss so there's no way we ain't gonna party! Drink up boyz!"
Inside the south-east sector that was already cleared, a team of crafters and mages walked around the cold hallways. They kept on touching the floors, walls and furniture around them, following which they marked some with a piece of chalk or charcoal.
"Section 3 of the east sector is completely marked, proceed to dismantling and research." A thin man in a stained blue robe spoke calmly.
"Alright, Maurice and Bara take care of the desks! Ger and Whefy you dismantle the beds, the rest come with me." Another bulkier man cried out.
The group of crafters separated themselves and got to work dismantling and tearing down all the black marked objects. The mages, now called scientists, studied and expertly disassembled the technological devices and decorations within the rooms.
After all of them were done with their respective tasks, all of them packed the différent broken down materials in bags that the crafters brought to the sector's entrance while the scientists finished their sketches and notes.
As the leader of the crafter group came back, he signaled the scientists to keep moving.
They left that section and headed to the last section of the "fork", as they walked through the hallway they passed a strange banner with some kind of steaming bowl symbol.
"Is it just me or is it getting warmer ?" One of the scientists spoke
"No you're right. It might be a machine that the warriors didn't find so be careful."
The team nodded as some of them took out short spears, daggers and hatchets. All Valhallans knew how to fight, even the frailest scientist.
They carefully stepped closer from the heat source as they turned around a corner. Steam filled their sight as it covered a quiet bubbling and flowing sound.
"It's a lake."
"False alarm, let's continue with our job."
"Great, everyone split up!"
Inside one of the castle rooms, a young man sat on a pale birch chair while facing a pile of manuscripts and leather documents a man had just brought him.
Sighted from the workload that he had brought upon himself, he started the administrative system within Valhalla a few weeks prior to get a perfect hold of his nation's people, resources and transfer of knowledge.
It was only today that he learned of the exact number of Valhallans he now ruled over, 2851 citizens, children and elders included.He didn't know whether this was too much responsibility or too little influence.
His despair didn't go unnoticed by the beauty watching a hologram coming out from a tablet in her hand. Her focus shifted from the mongol war recordings to her one and only hubby.
"Too much work?"
"Yeah…" Matt sighted again. "Do you want to help me?"
"Nope, I wanna continue watching this. Try to sigh less hubby, it's bad for your health."
"I really want to go outside."
"No one is stopping you, and no one would dare, you are the king after all."
"I mean outside, outside. But I can't. The king can't leave his land when there are still so many troubles plaguing us."
"Nhh, I love it when you're so diligent."
"So you'll help me?"
"Nope." She giggled and continued to watch the video feed before her.
"I should have never given you a focus to fuse into your nanites."
[But now I can talk to you through this and always reach you.] Astrid's voice came to him directly from his head and he responded to her in the same manner. [Yes but please refrain from using it too often, we don't know if anyone can listen in to what we say.]
She audibly pouted but stayed silent afterwards.
Matt too resumed his work with a snicker as he read through the reports, wrote an answer on another and signed everything with a bioluminescent inc stamp in the shape of the Valhallan crest.
The hours flew by as he stayed immersed in his work until the door flew open with incredible force.
Lifting his eyes from the document he was reading, Matt saw no one until he pushed one of the piles of paper to the side.
It revealed a hilariously small woman clad in a white and blue robe decorated with metallic stars and trinkets. She dragged her long sleeves along the floor until she reached his desk and hit it with her fist.
"WE FINISHED EXPLORING THE NORTH-EAST AND SOUTH-EAST SECTORS! BOTH HAVE VERY INTERESTING STUFF!" The kid-like woman shouted out in a manner unbefitting her size and status.
Matt only heard half she said as he lamented at the giant crack that had appeared on his desk and the documents he just took care of that were thrown into the air.
"Isabelle… Please, I beg you. Don't act like that again or I don't know what I'll do to you, and I really don't want to lose a great scientific counselor like you because of your bad character and… lack of physical restraint."
"OF COURSE YOUR HIGHNESS!"
"Ugh. Please tell me what you found and leave."
"YES! A LOT OF STRANGE POTIONS AND STRANGE CONTRAPTIONS IN THE NORTH-EAST SECTOR WHILE THE SOUTHEASTERN ONE IS SIMILAR TO THE NORTHERN ONE WITH A HOT LAKE!!!"
"Good to know, please give me the written report. You can have the rest of the day for your experiments."
"YAY!"
She hopped out of the room and closed the door behind her, a blast ensued as the door slammed into the frame that broke the hinges and made the door fall to the ground.
"..."
"That's baba yaga for you… Are you sure you want to keep her as a counselor ?"
Matt massaged the bridge of his nose, "She's incredibly clumsy but she's also a brilliant researcher. I gave people the chance to join the council as long as they were the best in their fields and she wrecked the competition. I honestly didn't expect anyone to understand the schematic I used as the test… It would be unfair and dishonest of me to take that away from her…"
"In that case I'll just get one of the workers to replace the door." Astrid jumped up from her seat and walked closer to Matt before planting a kiss on his lips. She then made her way out of the room where she disappeared from his sight.
Matt proceeded to read the report that came along with a little hand drawn map, he took his time reading everything before comparing the report with the map.
"A map of Valhalla's main lanes by Irled. Interesting… I think it's time to start the second part of the plan."
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