Of course they do!

With a small grunt of effort from him and a large creak of complaint from the metal and wood, Stark **** open the side door the trio had found.

The red haired warrior flexed comically, patting his lean muscles with a smug grin. "Eh? Ehh?"

Fern brushed past him without so much as a glance of amusement, tapping her staff against a nearby sconce to light the crystal set inside. The empty room was quickly filled with a gentle glow reminiscent of moonlight.

Stark deflated a bit before turning to Frieren with a slight grin.

She got on tiptoe to pat him on the head. "Good boy," she said in a dull yet still kind tone. "Big and strong." The elf then skipped forward to examine a crate left behind in a pile of scrap, eager to check for treasure. So eager in fact, she tipped forward and had to scramble with her rear in the air for a moment to keep from falling in, until a nudge from Stark set her back on her feet.

"Thank you again, Stark!" Frieren called over her shoulder as she scurried to the next room.

"I'll take it." Stark shrugged, joining in on the exploration.

The castle was tony, barely more than a dozen small rooms surrounding a central hall that was also only the size of a normal house. The warrior and mages searched every inch of the building, and found little of interest.

"Well, at least there's no stink?" Stark commented at the dust and cobwebs that filled the pantry. "Must've cleaned this place out decades ago."

Fern sniffed and raised her glowing staff to examine the shattered remains of a barrel. It once held potatoes, now only the shriveled corpse of a spider. "There is a slight mustiness, but it could be far worse..." Her gaze turned to Stark, an eyebrow raised ever so slightly.

"Don't look at me like that!" He protested immediately. "I bathed as recently as you did."

"I said nothing!" She actually smirked, tapping her nose as she turned out of the room. "Nothing at all."

Stark sighed and followed her, taking the slight bounce in her steps to mean Fern was back to her normal mood. Though the subtle sway to her hips was something her tried to ignore.

Tried.

"Good thing we're stocked on rations... And I saw some deer tracks on the way in. We won't starve if we're stuck here all winter." He said to himself. "It'll still be kinda rough though..."

In the main hall, they found Frieren tapping at the brickwork with her staff, faint lines of shining blue tracing the mortar.

"Did you find something, Miss Frieren?" Fern asked.

"More the lack of something. The wall is hollow." Frieren knocked a dainty fist on a particular brick, and the sound was indeed hollow, as the brick shifted out of alignment and fell back with a clatter. Leaving a rectangular void where it had once been.

With another tap, more brick crumbled away, until there was a hole big enough for Stark to walk through with axe at the ready.

Which he did. Finding himself on a staircase. Oddly clean and free of dust, the walls were a different kind of stone too. Pale gray with veins of darker or lighter color winding through.

"Oh! This is so exciting!" Frieren bounced and clapped like a girl a hundreth her age, nearly skipping down the stairs.

""Wait!""Stark and Fern called at the same time, hurrying after the elf to the bottom of the staircase. Finding a near copy of the central hall from above, just in the same strange stone and lit from more crystals.

"Miss Frieren!" Fern called after her teacher. "We have no idea what could be down here!"

"That's what's so exciting! I've never seen this stone before! It looks like it was poured into place like a liquid somehow..." She stopped for a moment to caress the smooth wall, feeling for tool marks. "It's smoother than fine glass. Amazing."

"Really?" Fern stepped forward in interest, prior hesitance gone. "It looks like normal carved stone to me... Maybe granite?"

"No, no. Natural caves aren't this uniform and stonemasons or magic would leave different traces. This was solidified to be like this, I'm sure of it!"

Fern was quickly caught up in her teacher's excitement. "How? What kind of magic could have done that?"

"I have no idea. Stone melts if it's made hot enough of course, but it looks nothing like this..."

Stark rested the butt of his weapon on the floor gingerly as the two mages marveled over the fancy stone. "What about traps? Cave ins?"

Frieren waved an errant hand without looking away from the wall. "The construction I can see is far too sturdy for that. And the area around us should be stable."

"Should be?"

"Yes." She said distractedly as she knelt to study the base of the wall. "Safe as something like this can be."

"That's reassuring..."

The three of them explored the underground hall, finding more rooms and passages branching out at irregular intervals. There were no proper doors. Instead there were elegant archways marking the various exits and entrances.

Stark was the last to retain the slightest hint of unease, staring suspiciously at every shadow. Something about this place set off his warrior's instincts. Except it wasn't dangerous like a dungeon or wilderness... Anticipatory was the closest word he could think of.

Like something was waiting for them. Or him.

"Ohoh!" Frieren chuckled as they entered a grand room after a short passage. "I knew there was treasure here! My mage's intuition sensed it."

Stark gasped in awe at the literal knee-high mound of gold and gemstones gathered in the center of the chamber. Strange suits of armor bearing stranger weapons and tapestries depicting mythical creatures lined the walls, along with a whole host of expensive furniture and shelves upon shelves of scrolls.

The center of it all was a small statue made of gold. It was of a woman, divinely voluptuous and draped in the impression of fine silks and tasteful jewelry. It shone with magic even to Stark's untrained eyes. So much so that Fern had to look away or get a headache.

Frieren squinted in puzzlement. "I have no idea what kind of enchantment is on that statue, but it is certainly quite powerful."

Fern winced again and backed away. "Whatever it is, it's powerful enough to sting. Like I'm looking into a furnace..." She looked at her awestruck companions and then to the rest of the treasure. "I will let you two sort through this while I get started on dinner."

"Thank you, Fern..." Frieren said airly. "You're a good student."

Fern raised an eyebrow at the response, but the ache in her eyes and the emptiness in belly made her shrug off any suspicion she may have had. She left, neither Stark nor Frieren really noticing.

Powerful huh? Stark felt himself drawn towards the statue, his feet moving across the smooth stone without his awareness or intent. Frieren followed a step behind, staff at the ready. His hand hovered over the shining gold, a warmth emanating from it, filling his chest.