While clearing the remains of the leader's residence, Liang En noticed that all the items were found in the corners of the rooms rather than the center. Additionally, there were several charred pieces of wood scattered around.
This could only indicate one thing – the attackers had meticulously looted most of the valuable belongings from the settlement after their attack, before leaving. Only a small portion had escaped the looting due to being in rooms that were set ablaze, and these remnants remained until today.
Realizing that there might not be many significant findings left at these core locations, Liang En expanded his search to the residences of the common folk, following the mental map he had created.
As his search extended, Liang En discovered various houses belonging to ordinary people. Unlike the effort put into searching the leader's house, the attackers clearly hadn't spent much time scouring the homes of the common folk.
However, whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, the houses that had not been burned down had clearly been completely dismantled later on, leaving no trace behind, not even a single nail.
This situation was reasonable in the context of the era – in a time when productivity was limited, processed wood was a valuable resource, making it natural for ruins to be torn down for the construction of new houses.
In the rooms that had been dismantled, naturally, nothing could be found. During the demolition process, those who were tearing down the structures would have undoubtedly taken everything from the rooms.
Only in the rooms that had been previously burned were there some remnants left, although these couldn't compare to what had been found in the demolished leader's room.
This circumstance was determined by the architectural characteristics of the ancient Vikings. Looking at the bigger picture, their houses were both crowded and spacious compared to modern dwellings.
They were crowded because activities such as cooking, eating, sleeping, and even tasks like cleaning, spinning yarn, weaving, and mending clothes all took place within the same room, with limited living space per person.
To exacerbate matters, their houses lacked windows due to insulation considerations. So, despite the Vikings' relatively advanced outdoor sanitation practices and regular bathing, their houses still retained unpleasant odors.
However, the Viking houses also had their spacious aspects, as they didn't possess much furniture. Even the affluent mostly bought comfortable cushions and colorful tapestries, which served not only as decoration but also as wind barriers.
Apart from these, the only other furnishings were pottery vessels for food storage, wooden barrels, storage chests for clothes, and perhaps a few versatile benches.
Consequently, the possessions of these common folk were often quite simple, and very few of these items have survived to the present day. Therefore, by the busy afternoon, around 4 o'clock, Liang En had only managed to find seven or eight stone rings resembling donuts from the residences of common folk.
These stone rings were components of vertical weaving machines, where the warp threads hung from stones at the bottom to keep them taut while the weft threads were woven in.
"Finally done," Liang En exclaimed as he straightened his body after searching the last burnt-down house, giving his lower back a firm pat and letting out a long sigh of relief.
After all, the items buried in this area were quite shallow, and using a pickaxe standing upright risked damaging delicate artifacts due to the lack of control. He had to bend over or squat down while digging.
Perhaps because the items he had found previously were rather ordinary, lacking any significant historical context, Liang En hadn't obtained any new cards from them.
Therefore, after completing the search for potential riches, he began to measure the fortress ruins, now completely concealed by the surrounding forest.
In theory, this type of work often took an archaeological team several weeks to accomplish.
However, considering that Liang En had the map of this site and didn't need to excavate it, he managed to determine the rough layout of the site in just two hours.
From the traces left behind, it was apparent that the attackers from back then had assembled a well-armed force with a clear numerical advantage and launched a brief yet intense assault during the early hours of the morning.
The defenders of the small town had evidently not anticipated such a large-scale attack, resulting in the town's complete capture after a short fight. This was also why numerous scorch marks were found within the town.
When Liang En finally concluded his assessment, two new cards appeared in his mind: a [Detection (N)] card and an [Appraisal (N)] card.
Seeing these two cards, Liang En smiled. For him, the greatest achievement this time wasn't the small trinkets that, when combined, would fetch a mere seven or eight hundred pounds, nor was it the cards themselves.
What truly mattered was realizing that, apart from searching for various antiques, discovering previously undiscovered ruins and identifying them would also yield new cards.
Besides the validation aspect, as Liang En already had accumulated six copies of [Detection (N)] but lacked a [Detection (R)], he chose to use four of the [Detection (N)] cards to synthesize a [Detection (R)] card.
As the evening grew darker, Liang En habitually reported his activities to the local authorities and then returned to St. Petersburg with his spoils. When he reached the hotel he was staying at, he found Pierce had been waiting for him.
"I found something good this time." As soon as he entered his hotel room, Liang En saw Pierce put down the phone he was playing with, then excitedly retrieved a package from under the cabinet.
"You didn't go and steal something from a museum, did you?" When Pierce unzipped the package after Liang En's unintentional remark, he had noticed a shiny crown inside.
"Of course, I didn't steal it. I'm a law-abiding citizen, after all." Pierce chuckled. "I bought this from a store. They sold it to me at the price of modern crafts. Can you tell what this actually is?"
"Let me take a look." After receiving the crown from Pierce's hands, Liang En observed it closely. Soon, he spotted the peculiar aspects of this crown.
In terms of weight, it seemed to be a small, silver-gilt crown. The reason the seller might have considered it a modern craft was likely due to the well-preserved gold plating, making it not appear like an old object.
While the crown appeared quite elaborate at first glance, upon closer inspection, it exuded a sense of cheap craftsmanship:
The patterns on the crown were quite rough, resembling gilded plastic parts. There was a silver ring inside the upper part of the crown for stability. Even the areas he initially thought were gemstones turned out to be geometrically polished, shiny metals.
Beneath the crown was engraved the name "Jonas Jörnsson," likely the person who crafted this crown. Unfortunately, this silversmith wasn't well-known, and no information about him could be found. Only from his name could one speculate that he hailed from the Nordic region.
"I really have no idea what this could be." After scrutinizing the crown for a good ten minutes, Liang En finally chose to give up.
"This crown is unlike any I've seen before, even those similar to noble headpieces that I know of. It's truly baffling, one can't even guess what this might be."