Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 333 The History at Your Fingertips

Without further ado, the archaeological team in Ohara quickly dispersed into smaller groups to conduct on-site research and record-keeping.

After all, this complex of buildings looks to be quite large, at least at the town level. In order to avoid missing any crucial information, they need to carefully examine each site.

Fortunately, this group had already developed a mature and reliable field investigation process, so everyone seemed very familiar with it, and each group had a clear division of labor.

"Hmm... the stone used in construction dates back a long time, but the techniques used were very advanced. Even today, it's difficult to achieve the same level of cutting precision."

"Huh~ What a strange vessel, could this be... a ritual object?"

"I think it's just a toilet with weird taste."

"..."

"Olivia, come over here! There are some stone tablets here, and it looks like there are words carved on them!"

"..."

"Hmm... this structure, could it be a large public toilet?"

"To me, it still feels more like a cafeteria. What do you think, team leader?"

"Team leader?"

"Hmph~ Hmph~ Fossilized poop~ Fossilized poop~"

"..."

Scholars gradually began to make discoveries, and they started to make notes and discuss them with each other...

These discussions were also recorded in notes. After all, although some of the conjectures in the discussions sounded very far-fetched, past experience and lessons have taught these scholars that those outrageous conjectures are not necessarily wrong.

For example, they once unearthed a beautifully crafted wine vessel at a certain site, which contained fine wine from a hundred years ago.

The head of the artifacts group, who was the first to discover the wine vessel, couldn't resist taking the lead and downing a cup himself, then exclaimed, "Wow, what great wine!"... However, after a series of cross-verifications, it was later determined that the wine vessel was actually a uniquely shaped chamber pot.
Later, the old team leader announced that he would quit drinking.

……

Hearing the noisy discussions around him, Dr. Clover adjusted his backpack and walked alone toward the center of the ruins... He planned to take a look at the ruins as a whole first.

[If the deciphered historical text is correct, there should be a church in the center of this city, and beneath the church...]
Looking at the well-preserved houses on both sides of the stone-paved road, and the buildings that get taller as you get closer to the center, Dr. Clover had already guessed that this deserted island was probably the destination of their scientific expedition.

slap~
After walking for about half an hour, Dr. Clover stopped in front of some ruins...

"This……"

"What kind of natural disaster has occurred?"

He arrived at the church, but the sight before him was somewhat unacceptable.

The cathedral, which was originally supposed to be located here according to records, is now only a faintly visible foundation and scattered stones of various sizes.

And from this point onward, the other half of the city, which should have been lined with houses as it was when we arrived, has completely disappeared, leaving only an endless expanse of low shrubs.

It was as if the other half of this ancient city ruins had been forcibly erased by some sudden natural disaster.

……

Dr. Clover crouched down and picked up a piece of gravel from the ground.

Then, with a slight exertion, the pebbles in his hand turned into even finer gravel, which spilled from between his fingers.

"how come……"

The blue stone, which should have remained sturdy for thousands of years, was now as fragile as tofu... This was not due to the erosion of time, but rather some external force that forcibly destroyed the stone's structure.

To make a hard stone this fragile... Dr. Clover thought of an ancient quarrying method.

"It shouldn't be..."

To verify his hypothesis, Dr. Clover did not linger in the same spot. He pushed aside the low bushes and walked a distance further, eventually finding several black stones in a sparser area of ​​vegetation.

"Volcanic glass... So it really is because of the high temperature that the building stones become brittle."

"But how is that possible? There are no volcanoes on this island..."

"Could it be an underwater volcano?"

Dr. Clover shaded his eyes with his hand and looked around.

The surrounding area is almost entirely flat, with no trace of volcanoes, not even a large hill, as if it had been plowed by someone...

"..."

“It’s very strange. Something huge must have happened on this island not long ago.”

"Moreover, these shrubs and grasses... the ecosystem in this area was completely destroyed." "Judging from the recovery, the upheaval must have happened a few years ago."

For this scholar, who is knowledgeable in astronomy and geography and has published extensively, it is not difficult to reconstruct major changes that occurred in the past based on some changes in the environment...

Or rather, that's what archaeologists do.

Looking at the abruptly flat terrain around him, and the low bushes that seemed out of place in the distant dense forest, Dr. Clover came to a surprising conclusion—the half of the ruins he was in had been completely destroyed by some force not long ago.

"What a pity! If it had been some major geological event, that place would probably be buried by now—sigh!"

Just as Dr. Clover was still trudging along, trying to see if he could make any new discoveries, he suddenly lost his footing!
Then he rolled right into a hole in the ground.

Glug glug~ Thump!
"Hey!"

"my waist!"

Dr. Clover first exclaimed in surprise, then cried out in pain.
Although the hole wasn't deep and there was a gentle slope for him to roll over and lose some of the force, Dr. Clover was quite old after all, and he still twisted his back a little.

"Ahem! Ahem!"

"Tsk! Why is there such a big pit here?!"

"This is troublesome!"

Supporting his back as he stood up, Dr. Clover looked up and frowned when he saw the three-meter-high opening.

This is definitely a problem.

Normally, he could easily jump up to that height with a couple of hops... but now he's hurt his back and can't use the spacebar for the time being.

Fortunately, Dr. Clover had a good mindset and quickly calmed down after a brief moment of panic.

He slowly sat down against the inner wall of the cave to ease his back pain, then opened his mouth and shouted:

"Help--"

"Uh... sigh~"

Dr. Clover stopped after only one cry for help.

"never mind."

"Since things have come to this, let's just wait and see..."

It's too early to call for help now. We're quite a distance from the main force, so there's no need to waste our energy.

"At their pace of exploration, they probably won't reach this area until before dinner, or Marcus will likely discover I'm missing sooner... but that won't be too early either."

Thinking that everyone knew he had a habit of conducting field research on his own, and that they were unlikely to discover his disappearance so soon... Dr. Clover sighed again.

There's nothing we can do but wait.
Anyway, that group of people will come looking for me by evening at the latest.

"I didn't bring a Den Den Mushi either..."

"Ah~"

"hiss--"

The sigh aggravated his lower back pain; even this once-tough, muscular archaeologist couldn't help but lament the relentless passage of time.
The wait for rescue was tedious, so Dr. Clover took advantage of the faint sunlight streaming through the cave entrance to take a look around at the pit he was in...

Upon closer inspection, he immediately noticed the problem.

"..."

"Ok?"

"Is this... a stone?"

"The walls are actually made of stone slabs?"

"And this floor too... isn't this a natural pit, but a man-made basement?"

Upon discovering that this was actually a basement, Dr. Clover, driven by curiosity, endured his back pain and stood up, taking a few steps forward.

When he reached the boundary between sunlight and darkness, he stopped in his tracks, looking at the complete darkness before him... Dr. Clover could sense something sitting in that nearby darkness.

Reach out.

Ta~
Dr. Clover's eyes widened as his fingers touched a cold object and the familiar sensation made him open them wide.

"This is……?!"

(End of this chapter)