It Was Me
The underground cavern was far larger than I had expected. From the entrance alone, I’d wondered why anyone would get lost in here, but after descending a little further, an endless cavern opened up before us.
“...It doesn’t seem that deep, yet something like this is possible?”
“It’s incredibly vast. At the very least, several thousand people could fit inside.”
Listening to the knights’ words, I examined the walls. There was nothing there. I couldn’t feel anything either. That meant this place was nothing more than an extremely simple entrance—nothing more, nothing less.
To start off with such an absurd scale… I had roughly guessed what to expect from an ancient kingdom’s capital, but this might be even more impressive than I thought.
“Master. We’ve barely even begun, yet it’s already incredibly wide.”
Iris was also accurately conveying the message that this is nothing. It meant that beyond this point lay something incomparable to what we were seeing now. I expanded my senses to the maximum and continued scanning our surroundings.
“Are you nervous?”
“Master? Weren’t you supposed to wait outside?”
“I was planning to, but it seemed even more boring out there. So I came in.”
“It would have been better if you had just waited outside…”
“What a strange thing to say. Are you telling me that having me accompany you is uncomfortable?”
“Absolutely not. I was merely concerned that Master would be in such a dark and damp underground…”
“Worry not. Compared to the place where I did my closed-door training, this is like a palace.”
…That’s not really the important part here.
I let out a quiet sigh and glanced at Iris. I was asking whether there would be any problems now that Master had decided to follow us. In response, Iris simply gave a light shrug. It seemed that even in the future she had experienced, Master had tagged along like this.
“Master. The path continues deeper inside.”
“Let’s go. I can’t sense Iris’s presence, but there’s only one path anyway, isn’t there?”
“Understood. Everyone, maintain maximum vigilance and continue moving forward.”
At Gerard’s command, his knights responded with a powerful shout. They quickly and efficiently moved to surround us and our group.
“…How cute.”
“Still, their formation looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?”
It appeared they had formed their own protective perimeter. Unfortunately, rather than them protecting us, it was far more likely that we would have to protect them. Even Iris would be stronger than all of them combined.
“Haha.”
Gerard must have noticed what I was thinking. He gave an awkward laugh but didn’t stop his subordinates. Actually, if he had tried to stop them, I would have stopped him instead. Whether the opponent was stronger or weaker than him, he simply did his duty without being swayed. He was showing the utmost respect and courtesy to his hero’s master and companions. This was the best a knight could do. There was no need to shove harsh reality in their faces.
“…Something is visible up ahead.”
After walking for about thirty minutes, the scenery ahead finally began to change. Pictures started appearing one by one on the previously blank walls, and something sparkled on the empty ceiling like embedded stars. The only light source should have been the torches we were carrying, yet these were emitting light on their own.
That wasn’t all. Tiny clusters of light with unknown origins began appearing from somewhere. They started hovering around us, as if wary of the sudden intruders.
The faint lights scattered in all directions, wary of the intruders.
⟨ Unknown Light Clusters ⟩
Clang! Clang—!
The knights around us immediately drew their swords in unison. The lights looked far too lifelike to be ordinary illumination. These men had fought monsters and demonic creatures under Gerard’s command many times before. It was only natural for them to react this way and raise their guard.
“Everyone, lower your swords.”
But Gerard stopped them. As expected of a hero on a completely different level, he seemed to have realized that the light clusters only carried caution and held no hostility.
“…How fascinating. Both those light clusters and the lights on the ceiling.”
“Don’t they look like stars, Master?”
“Hmm. To me, they look exactly like luminous orbs.”
“Luminous orbs? You mean those glowing spheres you mentioned last time?”
“Yes. They seem quite similar to the ones up there.”
They might not just be similar—they could be exactly the same. The game’s main world was clearly fantasy, yet the developers had mixed in elements from various other genres. The ancient kingdoms that served as dungeons were designed with that kind of setting in mind.
“Master. Those light clusters are disappearing toward somewhere.”
The direction the lights were vanishing was exactly where we needed to go. I wanted to find another path, but from the beginning, there had only been one path.
“It looks like we’ll have to follow them.”
“I suppose so. Stay alert and move slowly.”
“Understood. Everyone, maintain current formation and advance.”
To prepare for any unexpected situations, the knights gradually widened the gaps between them. Traps could be lurking in a place like this. Their decision and actions were clearly the right ones.
“Iris.”
It was about time to hear the regressor’s opinion.
“This is your first time in a place like this, right? How is it? Exciting? Or not really?”
“Why are you asking such a stupid question?”
Master seemed to find my question quite odd and spoke up. As if to say, who in their right mind would find a place like this fun? That was the meaning behind her words, but I hadn’t asked with that intention.
“It’s not pleasant. But… it can’t be helped. After all, there’s only one path.”
Not pleasant meant that something rather unpleasant was going to happen. But it can’t be helped implied that they had no choice but to endure it. That was roughly how I could interpret it.
Thud—.
“Hmm?”
One of the knights walking ahead suddenly bent down. He picked something up from the ground and hurriedly brought it to Gerard.
“Hero. No matter how I look at it…”
“…A scabbard that’s far too pristine to be lying around in a place like this.”
Gerard approached me and showed what the knight had found. I didn’t know whose it was, but one thing was certain—this was absolutely not something that should be in an underground cavern.
“There isn’t much dust on it. It looks like one of Iris’s people dropped it.”
“Could there have been a battle nearby?”
“That is not the case, child.”
The answer came from Master, who was standing beside me. The moment she called the Guardian Hero “child,” the knights’ expressions grew strange, but they soon realized she was an existence even their hero’s master treated with respect and bowed their heads.
“There are no traces of battle, are there?”
“Is it possible that someone cleaned it up, Grandmaster?”
“Foolish. Are you underestimating your junior sister that much, child? Both you and that girl are disciples I taught with all my heart and soul. You may be able to erase traces, but you cannot erase the energy that clings to them. Yet you feel nothing at all, don’t you?”
Just as Master said, if a battle had occurred, Iris would have definitely stepped in. She was the type who came in second to none when it came to being hot-blooded. Her personality was so fiery that even Garam would shake her head at it. If that girl had fought, the traces would have remained intensely. Even if someone erased them, they couldn’t remove the energy embedded in those traces. And detecting that was not difficult for either me or Master.
But right now, I couldn’t sense Iris’s energy anywhere. Aside from the trace she had left at the entrance, there was no sign or presence of her after we entered.
If the opponent was a Fragment of the Demon God, there was a chance they could erase all of it. However, Iris didn’t seem particularly worried. That meant there hadn’t been any major battle. Iris had probably left her energy at the entrance thinking it was a demonic creature’s lair, but afterward felt no need to leave any more traces.
“Then why on earth would they leave items in a place like this…”
“Hero. We’ve found several more items up ahead.”
“Are they all presumed to belong to those who followed the Fighter Hero?”
“Yes. And the number is gradually increasing.”
The items the knights brought were all sorts of miscellaneous objects, starting with scabbards. There were no weapons, though a few backpacks were visible. That was all.
“…Master. What exactly is going on here?”
Gerard looked somewhat flustered by the completely unexpected situation. There were no traces of battle, yet the people had vanished without a trace. Since he had never experienced anything like this before, it was natural for him to be shaken.
“….”
I subtly turned my gaze toward Iris. She showed no signs of great agitation and simply stared beyond where the light clusters had disappeared.
“For now, let’s keep moving. There’s only one path, so if they’re somewhere in here, we’ll eventually meet them.”
“Understood. We will follow Master’s will.”
While Gerard went to get the group moving again, I left Master for a moment and approached Iris.
“Iris.”
“Master. There was something you once told me. Even if you feel flustered, don’t panic.”
“…I certainly did say that.”
“That phrase suddenly came to mind.”
It was an expression and tone I had rarely seen from Iris—deadly serious. It seemed there really was something ahead. Even if you feel flustered, don’t panic was practically nonsense, yet the fact that Iris was saying it made me wonder if there was something that could even rattle me.
Step, step—.
The group continued walking. Then the light clusters that had been lingering ahead suddenly changed direction and flew toward us. Before we could even react, they scattered in all directions. And in between them, a faint mist began to spread rapidly.
At first I wondered what it was, but in the blink of an eye, my vision blurred completely. It felt as if an unbearable drowsiness had swept over me, making it impossible to keep my eyes open.
“…What is this?”
Not only I, but even Master had failed to notice this change in time. How could something like this be possible? A change that even the Heavenly Demon couldn’t detect. For a moment, bewilderment surged up, but I recalled Iris’s words.
— Even if you feel flustered, don’t panic. —
In that moment, the entire world turned hazy, and my vision was completely cut off. The only thing I could see was myself. Everyone who had been beside me had vanished.
I looked down. Sure enough, thick mist covered everything below my feet. I wondered if stretching my leg would cause me to fall into some deep abyss. I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t figure out anything. The world was filled with nothing but mist and faint light.
In that situation where those were the only things visible, something blurry began to take shape up ahead. At first, I thought it was one of my companions. So I carefully walked closer. When I got near—
— That’s… —
No sound came out, but it was as if someone was screaming toward the sky. They pounded the ground, threw a tantrum, then stood up as if they had made a decision. They approached someone and knelt before them. Afterward, they grumbled while chopping firewood, drawing water, and doing all sorts of chores. Eventually, they began learning something from a woman.
A man.
— It’s me. —
There was no doubt about it. That was unmistakably me after I had fallen into this world.