Rumble!
But the moment they stepped outside, thunder crashed around them and it was clear this would not be an easy trip. The rain came down even harder. Jeanne let out a faint groan at his side, sounding like she really did not want to go. It should have been drowned out by the rain, but he heard it all too well. After that, dragging her along by force pricked his conscience. Once they entered the dungeon, they would not be able to rest even if they wanted to. Perhaps sensing his hesitation, Jeanne glanced back at him with a regretful look and called his name.
“Yuda…”
“No.”
He already had a good idea what she was going to say, so he did not give her the chance. Of course, Yuda himself would have liked to rest today and leave tomorrow, but he was far too on edge for that.
Too many things were out of place.
A village that should not have had any survivors was full of people. Arhil, of all people, was here, something he had never once imagined. At this rate, he would not be surprised if even Edron turned out to be alive. Above all, he could not shake the thought that the master of 〈The Nightmare of Kalypso〉 might have actually succeeded in the ritual he was working on right now.
“Let us go quickly, finish this and rest after. If we rest today, we will just be walking in the rain again tomorrow. This is still better, right?”
“…Yes.”
She answered in a way that said she had no more to add. She looked full of dissatisfaction, but Jeanne followed in silence. Luckily, the path through the northern forest was thick with branches and leaves overhead, so the rain felt weaker there. Without talking, they walked along the forest trail while Yuda checked his 〈Map〉 again and again as he searched for the dungeon. The forest was gradually growing darker, proof of their approach. It was not a natural change, but a trace of artificial magic. Jeanne must have noticed it as well, because her steps had slowed and she was watching their surroundings carefully.
“Are we not going in too deep? I know you learned tracking from Lady Zentia, but in conditions like this, I do not think any of his tracks would remain.”
In other words, she wanted to turn back. It made sense. They had been in the forest for two hours with nothing to show for it, so it was natural to think they were wasting time, and dusk was creeping closer too. Her concern was understandable. Unfortunately for her, the timing of her complaint was bad. Yuda had just spotted a small but clear trace.
“Look over there.”
In the direction he pointed, a sword lay abandoned at the base of a tree, as if someone had simply thrown it there. It would have looked less pitiful if it were at least stuck in the ground. He walked over with Jeanne and picked it up. The blade seemed well maintained, sharp and without a single chip.
“There is a scabbard as well.”
Jeanne picked up a scabbard that was poking out of the bushes and spoke. She looked down at it, examined it from several angles, then nodded.
“It seems to belong to someone named Edsen. Please check it yourself.”
He took the scabbard from her. At the very end of it, the words “Aslan – Edsen” were engraved. When he slid the sword he was holding into it, it fit perfectly.
“Right. There is no reason Edsen’s sword would be here by coincidence, so it is fair to say this was Edron’s.”
His tone sounded a bit like he was acting, but Jeanne did not seem bothered.
“Then if his sword was abandoned here…”
“He is probably dead, right?”
Yuda replied as if it were nothing special and stored the sword and the bronze adventurer’s badge in his 〈Inventory〉. He planned to return them to Aslan if he ever went back there. He turned to tell Jeanne they should move on, only to find her staring at him with wide eyes. It was probably because he had said Edron was dead too easily.
“What? Is that not what you were thinking too, Jeanne?”
“That is true, but still…”
Her voice faded out at the end. He could see what she wanted to say even without reading minds. She was asking how he could talk about someone’s death so easily. He did not bother answering that.
Well, he might still be alive.
The village had survived, and a priest named Arhil was here. If that was possible, then Edron might have twisted the future with the tenacity of a cockroach and survived too. If that were the case, his plan to use Edron’s death as bait to say “something is wrong here” and drag Jeanne into the dungeon would fall apart, but that did not really bother him.
“We have found the sword, so let us look around a little more, then head back.”
Yuda could feel the game’s story replaying in his mind from the player’s point of view, like a picture being drawn. After finding the sword, the next thing to find was the corpse, and the odds were high that it was not far from here.
“Ah! Over there.”
As they went deeper into the forest, Jeanne stretched out her hand and shouted, having spotted something. A white skeleton lay face down on the wet ground, still dressed in its clothes. Because of the rain, the bones were half buried in mud. The moment Yuda and Jeanne approached, the skeleton crumbled apart. The powdered bone washed away with the rain before they could even react.
“…”
Only the leather clothes remained in place. Yuda pulled them out of the mud and searched the pockets, finding a single bronze badge. The name 〈Edron〉 was clearly engraved on the front. The name they had been looking for, and the corpse they had been searching for. Before Yuda could say anything, Jeanne stepped in, checked the badge, let out a small sigh, and looked around.
“Yuda, something is wrong.”
“What is it?”
“The weather is not hot, so there is no way the body would decay this fast and be reduced to bare bones like this. With all this rain, it should have swollen up into a horrible sight instead. If beasts or monsters had come and eaten the body, that would make more sense, but then he would not be lying so neatly on the ground. On top of that, I have never heard of bare bone turning into powder and washing away with the rain.”
She touched the tree right in front of her. The moment her hand brushed the bark, something powdery dissolved in the rain and clung sticky to her skin. She clenched her hand, then opened it again, watching it wash away. There was no life in it at all. It was not just this tree. Everything in the area was like that.
“And with this much rain, the plants are dying instead of thriving. That is very suspicious, is it not?”
Things were going smoothly. He did not have to explain much at all for her to grasp the situation. She swept her gaze around with a wary look, then shrugged off her coat and robe, summoning her armor, shield, and lance and arming herself completely. Maybe because the forest atmosphere was so dark, her silver armor seemed to shine even brighter.
“In that case, let us investigate a bit more.”
Surprisingly, Jeanne, who until now had wanted to go back quickly, nodded right away. As they followed the path deeper in, the leaves steadily turned purple. It was the clear sign of things dying. Jeanne walked in front, and when he checked the 〈Map〉, she was heading straight for the dungeon’s position. She even slipped onto faint side paths as if guided, so much so that he wondered if she already knew this dungeon existed. And finally, they arrived.
There was a single building there, a manor with an old and elegant air.
The strange thing was that from a distance there had been nothing at all, but once they came close, the house appeared as if it had always been there.
“This is suspicious in the most obvious way.”
Jeanne muttered as she looked up at the manor, and she was right. The fact that it had suddenly appeared was suspicious enough, and on top of that, a purple barrier wrapped around the entire building, just like the one the priest had used to protect the village. Every plant near the manor was dried up and dead.
“They say mages in Kalypso hide in remote mountains and valleys to conduct shady experiments. What will you do, Yuda? Shall we return to the village and come back later, or go in now?”
Yuda fell into thought for a moment at her question. Should he go back to the village and bring that priest, Arhil?
Originally, he had planned to go into the dungeon with only Jeanne and clear it without overthinking it, but now that he stood at the entrance, three people sounded better than two. The monsters inside would be undead types like ghouls and wraiths, so he hesitated a little, but soon gave up on the idea.
“No, let us go in now.”
Yuda walked up to the barrier. The way the rain flowed down its purple surface showed that it had physical substance. He summoned Altemia and struck the barrier several times. Cracks split across it and it collapsed in an instant. The ground that the barrier had kept dry was soaked through in moments.
“Hmm, do you not feel uneasy? I am worried about what kind of tricks a mage might have set up inside.”
This was the mage’s home ground. It was only natural she felt uneasy when they had no idea what traps might be waiting for them.
“Then I will go first. Once the fighting starts, you can take the lead, Jeanne.”
“No, Yuda, I will go first. I have a shield, so that is safer. Even if a trap is triggered, I can block it all.”
Before Yuda could say anything else, she stepped ahead of him, opened the mansion door, and went inside. The interior was lit by softly glowing magic lamps, so it was not dark at all.
“Footprints…?”
What greeted them inside was not a floor thick with dust, but numerous footprints stamped into it. From the dried mud, it was clear many people had come through not too long ago. There were only footprints leading in, and none leading out. That likely meant they had all died.
“Let’s go this way.”
There was no need to search every room of the mansion like a madman. They simply followed the footprints on the floor, which led them down a hallway and to a staircase that descended into the basement. It did not look like anyone had tried to hide it. Thankfully, the stairs were wide and the ceiling high, so even Jeanne with her shield and lance could walk comfortably. Magic lamps were set into the ceiling at intervals, so it was not dark at all even as they went underground.
At the bottom of the stairs, a wide room connected to another hallway spread out before them. It might have been a study. With its fine carpet and bright lighting, it was actually much cozier than the upper floor.
But.. what is that smell?
Yuda sniffed and tilted his head at the familiar scent.
“Coffee?”
As soon as he said it, a door on the left opened with a clunk and a shabby looking man appeared. His face was as worn out as his clothes, and his beard was thick, like he had not shaved in a long time. He wore square glasses and held a steaming mug in one hand as he looked up at Jeanne and Yuda standing on the stairs. Jeanne, fully armed, raised her shield at once.
“Guests are here, I see.”
The man muttered as he took a sip from his mug. White steam fogged up his glasses for a moment and faded. Even with intruders in his home, he did not look very surprised. The one who was actually shocked was Yuda.
Count Jinmu!
He was the master of this dungeon, known as 〈The Nightmare of Kalypso〉.
