"It happened five weeks ago. All six cities on the eastern border were attacked by great number of monsters."
Jeanine began. She went on.
"I heard Rapol, Ijhari, and Mailan were invaded by fire-spewing wyverns. While Farasus south of them by poisonous scorpions each the size of a house. Loro on the northern coast by some goblins and few ogres. Pelin, the easternmost on the border, by gigantic three-headed beasts. "
"Did any of the cities fell?"
I asked.
The merchant frowned.
"Of course not! No monster has been able to claim a city in all of Dunia, young lady. They never will!"
She took a sip of her tea and continued.
"I did hear Loro was almost done for. But the imperial army managed to get there in time. Farasus almost fell as well, but the city neighbored with the Ariam Fortress in the Great Desert as well as the domain of the Shining Boar sect in the east. So the city was saved in the end."
Loro was saved.
So the history of this world followed the altered events done in the Quintal Trial.
I assumed the world inside the Exploration Dungeon would progress according to our climb in the tower.
"Did anybody figured out why the monsters invaded those cities?"
I asked.
Jeanine shook her head.
"Nobody knew so far. The monsters simply came out of their habitats and attacked those regions."
That was what happened in the history I was familiar with.
But since events were altered in this world, perhaps I could still find some clues.
"Was there anything odd happening before the invasions?"
"You have to be more specific, young lady. Though I did hear a horde of thousands of ogres were supposed to be heading toward Loro from the east. But then they suddenly turned the other way around toward where they came from and never made it to the invasion."
I quickly stole a glance at Jonah. He was looking at me as well.
On the fifth floor, our party was chased by thousands of ogres.
We were indeed 'leading' them toward the east back then.
And the ogres invading Loro on the tenth floor were not as many as I expected too, given the supposed history I read of the invasion.
Turned out our first Quintal Trial had an effect to the latter one.
I needed to take note of this connection between the floors of the tower.
"Other than the monsters themselves, was there any oddity that caught your attention before, during, or after the invasion, Miss Caramille?"
The woman tilted her gaze upon my asking this time, mulling.
She did not seem sure if she should speak her mind or not.
"I'm not trying to imply anything here and I'm not sure if this is even an oddity,"
Jeanine said with quiet voice.
The experienced merchant was eyeing the door and the window behind her, wary of nonexistent eavesdroppers.
She continued.
"but I have not heard any words of the Seven Great Houses yet."
This time I was the one who formed a frown.
"Care to elaborate your thoughts, Miss Caramille?"
"Well, usually in times of crisis the Seven Great Houses would compete to make a name for themselves. Donating the most aid, deploying the most soldiers, being the one who solved the crisis. But so far I haven't heard a word of that happening."
Jeanine quickly shook her head and chuckled. Waving the thought away.
"Maybe my connection isn't that good. Perhaps the Seven Great Houses did help and the news just did not reach us yet. The eastern border is a long way from Damai. Forget what I just said, young lady."
It was odd though.
When Loro fell in my world, news of the Seven Great Houses reinforcing the eastern border were spread all over.
I was just a child back then but I still remembered how much people talked about it at the time.
Thanks to the communication equipment, words travelled fast all over the empire.
It had been a month since the invasions. There was no reason for news about the Seven Great Houses not to reach here yet.
Was there any significant meaning as to why we did not hear anything this time?
Had I more time, I would love to visit the imperial capital and investigate this matter. Though I doubted I could even leave Damai if I could stay longer in the dungeon.
I simply had to save the matter of the Seven Great Houses for another time.
There was another thing I would like to confirm.
Something that also happened 15 years before the end of the world, which was around this time.
"Other than the invasions, is there anything weird happening in the empire, Miss Caramille?"
"Well, in case you truly don't know, though I'm not sure how you could've missed the news, ancient ruins emerged all across the empire sometime after the invasions. All across Dunia, actually."
So that happened in this world as well.
Ancient ruins from where endless monsters would pour out near the end of Dunia. Not to mention, titanic monsters that would break the world into nothing.
The ruins had barrier in place preventing anyone from coming in. That was why we could never handle what was going to come out of it.
The Taga region had two of these ruins.
In Damai, there could be found only one, in the Sherefiah basin beyond the Danau river.
Only one, but it was from that ruin a gigantic golem emerged and decimated the entire Zeref army, including my father and brothers.
"The ruins just suddenly appeared one morning, out of nowhere. You can find one right here in Seraphold, if you haven't known already."
I jerked my head toward the merchant.
"There is one ruin inside the city?"
I asked slowly to make sure she heard every word.
"Yes! Right in the middle of the Leonin Park in the central wall district. If you want to see it, you'll have to get past the mercenaries that are lining up to enter it."
"Mercenaries could enter the ruin?"
"I heard there is a barrier preventing people from getting in. But some could get past it just fine. Those that could make it out alive often brings rare treasures."
Now that was different.
Not only the ruin emerged in a different place, it could be entered as well.
Why?
What was the difference between the ruin in Sherefiah basin and the one in Seraphold?
Did the forged land had something to do with it?
Wait, did Jeanine even mentioned there was no ruin in the basin?
"Is there another such ruin in Damai other than the one in the Leonin Park?"
I asked.
"I heard there is one on the Aisenred hill. And another one deep in the Belingrad forest."
Dear me, two more?!
"What about the far northwest? Beyond the Danau river, around the Sherefiah basin?"
"Oh I don't know. That part of the region is quite remote. I doubt people have been going there."
I tossed another coin on the table.
"You will find it out for me, Miss Caramille. It is important that you discover this piece of information. You can tell me tomorrow as I return to fetch my maps."
Jeanine smiled softly as she stared at the third coin I gave her.
She reached down for a drawer on her bottom right, pulled a small chest, and set it on the table.
"I only need a quarter worth of that coin to look for your information."
The woman picked a few dozens of smaller silver coins from her chest and pushed them toward me.
She continued.
"You remind me of another mage. She looked just like you. Not just your face and dress, but your behavior and speech too."
Jeanine returned the chest to the drawer and took another sip from her Sherefin cup.
She sighed.
"Marla often made me do her secret errands. She knew how to make me say yes every time."
"Lady Marla? The late matriarch of the Zeref Household?"
I asked, though I already knew of her relationship with my mother.
"The Zeref is a strong family. Belgard has the spirit and determination. But it was Marla who had the cunningness and foresight. She was always plotting something. A grand intricate plan in the middle of brewing. Always thinking ahead of everyone."
Jeanine turned her gaze at me.
"I could always see it in her eyes. How she was staring at me and knew I had done things according to her design. Just like how you're looking at me right now."
I had heard people saying I was just like my mother.
But they were wrong.
I was never half as brilliant as she was. Not even a quarter nor an eighth.
"It was a shame she died two years ago in that horrible siege."
Jeanine ended with another sigh.
That followed the history I recalled.
There was another invasion two years before Loro's and the other border cities.
Various monsters numbered in hundreds of thousands were invading Fajar, the capital of Tsahanam Sultanate.
My mother along with hundreds of mages from the Tower of Circle, thousands of the sultanate soldiers, and tens of thousands of mercenaries died trying to defend the city while they waited for reinforcement from the empire and the eastern provinces.
Of course, at the time, we thought the invasion was just a freak accident. Just the monsters acting aggressive due to natural disaster which destroyed their habitats.
We did not know it was an early omen for the end of the world.