A new ruin has been found. I'm worried. It has been 2 years since the last ruin exploration. This ruin is the largest one has ever been discovered for the past hundred years. There are too many uncertainties in a large ruin. The larger the ruin the more the variables.
Bizarre creatures especially. A totally new species not the proclaimed extinct one. I'm afraid of what we will found there. They said the place used to be an industrial district with a lot of skyscrapers. Mostly the skyscrapers has already fallen leaving only rubbles.
I was preparing right now. Calculating the budgets, supplies, possible variables, possible situations, expected time spent, possible area covered, possible damage, possible risks and etc.
When all things done there is quite a high chance that we will make it out alive. The percentage still could be change depending on the variables. The margin error is 10~30 percent. Quite a lot I must say.
These were the things I learnt spending years and a lot of ruins exploration. Not everything will went according to the calculations. Sometimes there were totally unexpected variables appeared outside of my calculation but well that is life. Full of uncertainties.
"Sir a group of people has come saying that they are your exploration team."
"Ah.. yes yes. I forgot to tell you that today my friends will come here to introduce themselves to you and to discuss a few things." I rub my eyes as I said that. These days I've been forgetting a lot of things. This must be the age gaining up on me.
"Tell them to come here and please prepare tea and coffee."
"Yes sir"
I lay my back on the chair. There were not that many information about the ruin. I've been going through records to find the possible past location of the ruin. Most people that have already took a peek said that there are traces of skyscrapers, wide tar roads, cement rubbles and window glasses. I need more insights.
*Knock*Knock*
"Come in"
The door opened. There are two women and two men, one of them is Alex.
"Sir I've brought them here."
"Thank you Alex. Thank you guys for coming here. And Alex you also stay in the rom for a bit. Please" I gestured my hand to the sofas.
"Stop with the formalities Faust. We are here because we want to come here." A man with shoulder length black hair said while sitting crossed leg on the sofa.
"Behave Mark. We are here to discuss work." A girl with neck length wavy brown hair said to the man.
"I am behaving right now, Jean. It is not like I was rude or anything." Mark retorted.
"Ahh it's such a long time since I've been here"
"It's not that long. Stop exaggerating Evelyn." Jean nudge Evelyn.
I clapped my hands together.
"Alright, alright. Let's start the discussion but before that--"
I grabbed Alex shoulders.
"Here. This is Alex. He is my current secretary and he will be joining us as a porter."
"H-Hello. Nice to meet you."
"This is Mark. He is our cook and biologist."
"Sup kid."
"This lady is Jean. Our pathfinder and historian."
"Hi~. Nice to meet you too kid"
"And you have already met her before. Evelyn is our vanguard and geologist"
"We meet again"
"And my role is the logistics."
I sat on the single sofa and Alex sat beside Mark. Alex looked at me with a worried face.
"U-Um sir. Will we be exploring with just this many people?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Is it somehow too little?"
"This is just the right amount of people for ruin exploration."
"But the book said the minimum is 15 people."
"Ahhh that book is not accurate. 15 people can only be afforded by wealthy people. We are not rich."
Jean sigh. "Let me explain. Your boss here sometimes can't explain things properly." Jean looked at me in disbelief.
"Yes 15 people is actually the minimum requirement for a safe exploration but the supply needed for the exploration are also enormous. Especially edible foods and clean water. The book 'Introduction to Ruins' originally aimed at organizations."
Jean took a sip of tea before continuing her explanation. "A small organizations can meet the minimum requirement for it and larger organizations can send more people. But. There is a but. They usually split up to groups of five. It is more efficient after all. They want to cover as many areas as possible in a short amount of time."
"Why do they want to do that? Isn't it more safe to move in a big group?"
"Faust. Do you not explain this one to him?" Jean looked me in disbelief once more.
"Ahh I-I forgot. I thought I've included it in the written information I gave Alex before but maybe I forgot to put it in?" cold sweats running down my face.
"Sigh. Listen, Alex. People explore ruins are not to find Artifacts or Grimoire."
"I thought that was the main purpose. Is it wrong?"
"No it is not wrong. It is just not the main purpose. Most of the people explore ruins to discover new ecology there and to record and confirm history. It takes a certain amount of time to fully explore and map up a ruin. The larger it is the longer it takes. After the ruin is fully explored then that is the time when people fully on searching for Artifacts and Grimoires."
"So we will be doing this for a long time?"
I intercepted the conversation between Alex and Jean.
"No. We will be exploring only a small part of the ruin. We record our findings and report it to the Archive. Then we will be paid for the findings and our names will be put into the record along with the confirmed finds. Then when people come searching for Artifacts and Grimoires, they will be paying for information about the ruin from the Archive and a bit of it will go to us as royalty."
"So this is all for--"
"Money, adventures, new knowledge and a little bit of an advantage when we start our search for Artifacts." I put my hand together and rest my chin on it.
"And I've told Archive the area that we will be exploring."
"Where is it?" Mark seems intrigued by my statement.
"Northeast of the ruin. There are less people exploring there and most of the area are covered in trees and moss. I estimated we explored the area for a week minimum. More if we meet some unavoidable circumstances."
"So the reason we're here?" Evelyn asked me.
"I want to know you guys opinions and speculations about the ruin." I need to know. I feel uneasy about this. The ruin was found a day after I had that dream. I thought it might be a coincidence but I feel quite uneasy about this ruin. I felt like there will be something for me at the ruin or it might just be my feelings. I don't know. I don't know what future has in store for me.