Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Rat Trap Cleanup
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[Chapter 90 - Mirror Ossuary (3)]
The wall that spoke.
It was a bit different from the wall in the Narvik ruins.
The voice there had sounded like a canned, pre-recorded message to anyone who heard it.
But the voice from moments ago was different.
It had analyzed the types and numbers of the visitors and informed them.
And it had opened the door through voice recognition.
From that, Arsen wondered if perhaps he could converse with the wall.
Even if not a proper conversation, maybe he could obtain some information.
“Knight Marun.”
“Yes?”
As Marun turned his head, Arsen tried to speak in as calm and emotionless a tone as possible.
“I’ll step out for a bit. I need to talk to the person we rescued earlier.”
“Understood.”
Marun looked like he thought it was unnecessary, but he didn’t seem to find it strange.
On the way out, Arsen called to Eloise, who was reading a book with her staff hooked on her arm.
“Ellie, come with me.”
“Me too?”
“Just in case you have any injuries in a spot you can’t see.”
“Got it.”
As they headed out, he placed his hand on the door again, and the door’s voice rang out.
-Please state your business, visitor.-
“Open the door.”
-Understood. The non-human entity currently with you cannot open the door, so please take it with you when leaving.-
With that advice, the door opened just like when they had entered.
Once outside again, they saw the survivor still unconscious and the soldier standing watch beside him.
The soldier, who had been leaning bored against the wall, straightened up quickly at the sight of Arsen.
“Captain!”
“At ease. Has that person woken up yet?”
“He came to briefly just now. He was delirious, so I gave him some water, and he drank it before collapsing again.”
After glancing at the fallen man for a moment, Arsen instructed the soldier.
“Take him to a corner and have him face the wall. I need to check something here for a bit.”
“Understood.”
Without questioning Arsen’s odd order, the soldier obediently hoisted the survivor on his back and moved him to a secluded corner.
After confirming the man was facing the wall, Arsen placed his hand on the door again.
-Welcome back, visitor. Confirmed with three combat doll subspecies accompanying you. What is your business?-
Subspecies, three.
Arsen repeated the door’s words to himself as he glanced at Eloise watching him beside him, and at the soldier and survivor off in the corner, far from the door.
The door had judged these three people as “combat doll subspecies.”
‘So, combat doll refers to Marun?’
When Arsen first heard those words, he had formed two hypotheses.
That either Marun or Eloise was a combat doll, and the rest were classified as subspecies.
Marun was the only knight in the group aside from Arsen himself—and a magic knight at that—while Eloise was the sole heir to an estate lord’s bloodline.
‘Wish Vazkal had come along too.’
Then he could have confirmed whether magic knights were treated as combat dolls, or just knights in general.
In any case, the results showed Eloise was treated as a “subspecies” like the others.
The door couldn’t distinguish between mages and commoners, but it could distinguish between commoners and knights.
And Arsen himself was classified as yet another kind of existence.
‘Just what the hell is a combat doll?’
Various hypotheses and questions flashed through his mind in an instant.
Byulburmi had said she didn’t know exactly what “successor” meant, but even that word alone allowed for quite a few inferences.
For starters, why hadn’t they told him this crucial information?
If they were coming to the ruins anyway, he would have heard this voice naturally and learned it. Wouldn’t telling him in advance have built more trust?
Perhaps the previous successor hadn’t told Byulburmi about this voice?
If not, why? Did she hold a grudge against Byulburmi?
Harboring these questions in his heart, Arsen asked in a voice low enough that the distant soldier couldn’t hear.
“What’s a combat doll?”
“Huh?”
Thinking the question was directed at her, Eloise responded.
[Wait a moment, hold on.]
The moment he transmitted the words through the earring, a reply came.
-I’m sorry. Unrecognized command.-
At that response, Arsen felt deflated and let out a sigh.
He had hoped, but apparently expecting artificial intelligence level was too much.
He tried a few more questions after that, but got no satisfactory answers.
The only commands this door recognized were “open the door” and “keep the door open.”
To any other question, the door’s sole response was “unrecognized command.”
Eloise watched this with a peculiar expression.
While Arsen was regretting it, a faint groan came from afar.
The survivor had woken up.
Arsen headed toward the survivor with Eloise.
The survivor shook his head as if his head hurt, looked around in confusion, and asked.
“Where is this? And who are you people?”
“This is inside the labyrinth. We rescued you after you collapsed.”
At Arsen’s words, bewilderment spread across the survivor’s face.
It was only natural. He had collapsed thinking he would die in the middle of the labyrinth, only to wake up suddenly at the destination.
“Am I... hallucinating because I died?”
“No, it’s real.”
Hearing that, the survivor suddenly burst into tears.
Muttering things like he had survived, that he could finally go home, kissing the floor, committing all sorts of bizarre acts. Then he hurriedly turned to Arsen and asked.
“Wait, you said inside?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a way out, right? Please, please say there is.”
His desperate attitude made Arsen worry he might get stabbed if he joked about not knowing the way out.
Not wanting to tease this pitiful man, Arsen answered straightforwardly.
“There’s a way out, so no need to worry.”
“Really?”
A joyful retort.
Arsen nodded calmly and said.
“For now, wait here. If you go that way, you’ll get lost in the labyrinth again. I can’t guarantee I’ll rescue you next time.”
In truth, he could pull him out anytime even if he entered the labyrinth, but to avoid the hassle, he threatened him like that before turning his head toward the door.
At that moment, the survivor shouted urgently.
“Ah, wait! My comrades are inside too!”
At those words, Arsen recalled how many people had been outside earlier.
Six in total, including a knight.
“Eight comrades total, right?”
“Yes. How did you...?”
“Everyone except you is already outside.”
The survivor smiled as if it was truly fortunate.
“I see, no one died. That’s really a relief...”
Even though his comrades had left him behind, he called it fortunate. This guy had a peculiar personality.
A saint, or a sucker?
Amid that, the memory of the suicide who had ended his own life surfaced, leaving a bitter taste in Arsen’s mouth.
“For now, let’s head insi—”
As he was about to say let’s go inside, a voice began echoing in Arsen’s head.
-Announcement. Beginning rat trap cleanup. Visitors, please wait inside the door for the time being. Announcement, beginning rat trap cleanu—
Shortly after the voice, a humming sound started coming from all directions.
Above, below, left, right—everywhere.
Arsen, with his sensitive hearing greatly affected, grimaced and covered his ears.
Then Eloise transmitted through the earring.
[Sen, look ahead!]
Turning his head, an astonishing sight unfolded.
The floor of the illusion zone began moving horizontally, like an escalator.
The movement started from far away and slowly approached from the inside.
Arsen hurriedly placed his hand on the door and shouted.
“Open the door!”
With a polite reply, the door opened, and Arsen and the others quickly jumped inside.
The first to greet them upon entering was Marun’s urgent voice.
“Knight Arsen!”
Marun was frantically looking for Arsen.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, good... Strange noises have been coming from inside since earlier. I thought something happened outside. We can’t open the door, after all.”
Hearing that, as they went further inside, it wasn’t hard to tell what the strange noise was.
A constant “whirring” like a motor turning echoed nonstop.
This was probably related to the “cleanup” happening outside.
“For now, let’s wait a bit. Better not to move recklessly.”
Unable to explain the reason, Arsen gave that vague instruction and started walking.
A few minutes later, when the eerie mechanical noise stopped, Marun asked.
“Do you happen to know what this is about?”
“Probably one of this ruin’s functions.”
He explained that the floor outside was moving, and it seemed this method was used to periodically clear away intruders’ corpses.
Marun adopted an attitude as if he couldn’t quite picture it.
Certainly, it was hard to imagine without seeing it.
The sight of a floor larger than a massive parking lot rippling slowly like waves was surreal even to Arsen’s eyes.
“Anyway, are preparations to leave complete?”
“We’ve packed up. From the junk to the books—heard they’re valuable, so we took them... What about that one?”
What Marun pointed to was the massive water generator.
Arsen pondered for a long time before shaking his head.
“We’ll leave that... Let’s go. We’re done here.”
In the end, they decided not to take the water generator.
It was too cumbersome, and most estates or citadels already had ample water sources anyway.
Meaning it was only useful out in the field, but traveling with such a thing was impossible.
In other places maybe, but a useless item like that wouldn’t fetch a high price in this ruin city just because it was an artifact.
All in all, a chicken-rib item—better to leave it as a gift for future generations than bother carrying it.
“Alright, now for the last task... Grab him.”
At Arsen’s command, two soldiers immediately seized the survivor.
The survivor shouted in panic.
“W-what’s happening? Why all of a sudden?”
Arsen didn’t answer. He didn’t explain that he didn’t want anyone knowing they could pass through the labyrinth, so they would erase his memory.
He wouldn’t remember anyway.
As the atmosphere turned strange, the survivor began pleading desperately.
“P-please spare me! I have five younger siblings waiting at home! No parents, so without me, they’ll all die! Please...!”
One soldier covered his mouth, annoyed by the noise.
He tried desperately to speak through muffled sobs, but with his mouth covered by a pot-lid-sized hand, it was impossible.
“Please, Jeron. Half a day’s worth is enough.”
“Got it.”
Jeron, the expert in memory deletion magic, placed his hand on the survivor’s face.
Unlike in the Darkwood Forest before, it took much less time—a brief scream rang out, and it was over.
“Wiped just a little, so he’ll wake up soon. In about twenty minutes?”
“We need to get out quick.”
They immediately crossed back through the labyrinth the same way they had come.
On the way out, Arsen looked at the spot where the suicide’s body had been. Nothing remained.
No corpse, no spilled blood, no dagger.
‘Cleaned up, huh.’
All the countless people who hadn’t escaped the labyrinth. Where had their bodies gone?
Imagining traces of countless people buried somewhere beyond the walls, or perhaps beneath the underground, sent chills down his spine.
Arsen averted his eyes forward, trying not to think about it.
After walking hand in hand for a few minutes, the ascending stairs welcomed them again.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the labyrinth conquest that ended far more simply than before.
At that moment, a voice came through the earring.
[Sen.]
Eloise’s expression was full of questions.
Seeing it, Arsen nodded.
[I’ll tell you. Let’s talk after we get back.]
Eloise nodded silently.
During the Narvik ruins conquest in the past, Arsen hadn’t told Eloise about the door’s voice.
He had thought sharing secrets with Eloise, who was still young and needed protection, would only burden her unnecessarily.
But during the journey—especially in the Darkwood Forest—Eloise’s actions had changed Arsen’s mind.
Eloise was no longer someone to protect, but a comrade.
One Arsen trusted the most.
And right now, Arsen needed his comrade’s wisdom.