The air was as silent as death, tinged with a hint of awkwardness.
"Ahem." Alka coughed lightly and nonchalantly approached the wall from which the sound had just emanated. Dust sifted down from the trembling surface. He raised his hand, brushing it over the wall, and indeed, felt a slight unevenness. He traced a seam with his fingers. It was a stone door, about two meters wide.
"There's a stone door here," Jason said, having already deduced the situation from Alka's earlier actions. "The thing I rotated before must have been the switch. But perhaps it's been too long without maintenance, and the mechanism is broken."
He walked over to stand beside Alka and began tapping gently against the wall. The dull thuds echoed in his ears. Alka also pressed his ear to the wall, listening to the reverberations. Only Siegert stood by, looking bewildered, his eyes wide with an eagerness to learn.
Suddenly, the way Jason tapped changed slightly, and the returning echo altered. He tapped all around the stone door and its immediate surroundings. Then, he lifted his head again, patting dust from his ears.
"This looks like a push-in stone door. That's a bit tricky."
"Why do you say that?" Alka asked. After all, Alka was a treasure hunter who'd gotten into it relatively recently and was still learning the ropes. He didn't know many things, while the man before him, Jason, clearly looked like a seasoned professional.
Jason placed both hands on the stone door and pushed forward with all his might, but the door didn't budge an inch. "Because with this type of stone door, you have to push the entire massive stone slab inward to find the entrance, which could be on one or both sides. This hidden space should have entrances on both." He explained, "If it were a revolving type, we'd just need to push one side of the door, and it would rotate, letting us in. That would take far less effort."
Alka nodded in understanding. No wonder the difficulty was labeled as [Strongman]. It meant they had to push this entire heavy stone door inward to reveal the passage.
Siegert walked over. "Let's push it together; maybe it'll work."
"Alright, let's try," Alka agreed.
With that, the three of them braced themselves, pressing their shoulders and elbows hard against the stone door.
"I'll count to three, then we push together," Alka instructed. "Three, two, one... PUSH!"
At Alka's command, the three of them threw their weight against the stone door. As they pushed, they all began to grunt, their faces flushing slightly with the effort. However, their feet began to slide backward. The stone door in front of them merely trembled slightly; it hadn't moved inward at all.
Jason sagged, bracing his hands on his knees as he panted heavily. "It's no use," he gasped. "Not enough strength."
Alka was also panting as he stared at the stone door. I underestimated the [Strongman] difficulty, he thought.
Of course, it would be a terrible shame to give up now. If we went to find others, it might cause jealousy and unnecessary trouble. We'd also likely have to split the Treasure further. Naturally, none of them were willing to do that. An extra person would mean a smaller share for each of them.
Alka scanned their surroundings, looking for anything they could use. His gaze fell to the floor beneath them. He rubbed his chin.
"Let's carve some footholds into the floor," Alka suggested. "That should give us better leverage. The stone door did move a little just now, didn't it? It means we just need a bit more."
"Good idea! Let's do it," Siegert said, nodding at Alka's suggestion.
Jason, seeing no better alternative, sighed. "Alright then." After all, they couldn't think of a better plan at the moment. He then took a small hammer, about the length of his forearm, and a shovel from his bag.
They all set to work. Before long, three shallow hollows were carved into the ground in front of the door.
"Let's try again."
With that, Alka wedged his feet into one of the carved hollows and braced his shoulder against the wall. The others did likewise.
"Three, two, one... PUSH!"
This time, with the footholds providing better leverage, the three of them strained with every ounce of their strength. Finally, the stone slab noticeably gave way.
"HYAAH!" Sensing the movement, the three of them roared and threw all their remaining strength into pushing.
The stone door slowly slid inward, eventually revealing openings on either side.
"Phew... We finally did it."
The three men eagerly stepped through one of the side openings.
It was pitch black inside. Siegert was about to go back outside for the torch they had left there. Just then, Jason took a palm-sized lantern from his backpack, gave it a twist, and a flame flickered to life.
They rounded a corner and entered a small room, about three meters wide and six or seven meters long. On a large table lay various tools, all rusted and completely unusable, their original purpose impossible to discern. There were also some hand-drawn schematics, but they were so stained with dirt and grease as to be illegible.
Even in the dim light, Alka had already spotted the Treasure he was searching for, as its outline was clearly indicated.
Seeing this, Alka suddenly spoke. "Alright, as per our agreement, we split everything three ways. The order of choosing items will be based on contribution." He continued, "If there are multiple Treasures, the picking order will be me, then Jason, then Siegert."
Alka looked at Jason. "Any objections? Let's sort this out now to avoid arguments later."
Jason nodded readily. "Of course. We'll stick to that order. I have no problem."
Then Alka turned to Siegert.
"I have no problem either," Siegert confirmed.
"Good. Then that's settled."
The three of them then worked together, searching the small room for any Treasures. Among their finds was the weapon Alka had noticed earlier. Eventually, all the items were placed on the table.
All the items were Vibrating Stone Guns: four pistols and two that looked like short-barreled versions.
Jason and Siegert both looked at Alka.
Alka immediately chose that short-barreled gun—the one whose outline he had recognized earlier.
None of the firearms looked identical; in fact, their styles were vastly different. Though they were weapons, they had an ornate, almost decorative quality. So, their outward appearance gave little clue to their true worth. Alka's choice of a clearly different short-barreled model was logical, perhaps because it simply looked more valuable.
After Alka made his choice, Jason picked one of the pistols.
Seeing this, Siegert wasted no time in claiming the other short-barreled gun.
In the end, Jason had two pistols, while Alka and Siegert each had one short-barreled gun and one pistol.
"Well, I suppose our collaboration ends here," Alka stated. "We'll be leaving first."
Hearing Alka, Jason shrugged. "Of course. Be my guest."
Then, Alka and Siegert left without hesitation, retracing their steps.
Making the most of the fading daylight, they left the manor grounds. As they departed the estate, they saw Jason at the main building's entrance, waving them goodbye.
"It's getting late," Alka said to Siegert. "Let's pick up the pace and head back."
The pair concealed their newly acquired firearms under their clothes and made their way across the muddy, stone-strewn path.
They hurried back to the port city.