Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: I'll Get You Out
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I'll get you out.
Whether it was intentional or not, Aren’s choice of words was nothing short of miraculous.
In a medieval-based world like this, “paying respects to your parents” was practically the final step before marriage proposals started flying around.
It was one of those moments that really drove home how misunderstandings were overwhelmingly harder to resolve than to create.
In the first place, meeting the parents was Aren’s business, not mine. I’d only decided to stop by Baran, that was all.
That said, since no one else seemed convinced, I had no choice but to bore the assembled group with a tedious, pedantic explanation of the misunderstanding.
Even after my desperate clarification, Cecilia, Senia, and Mine’s gazes remained ice-cold.
Richard and Ran’s stares weren’t any kinder, either.
‘You don’t mean… you’re into that sort of thing?’
‘M-me, male-male romance…?! I-I’d respect your tastes, but…!’
The contempt in their eyes was clear, since they still saw Aren as a guy.
Please don’t look at me like that. I’m begging you.
“…Fine. But only if you come visit my family home too.”
“You’ll stop by Rose Church as well, right?”
Thanks to that, my vacation schedule ballooned in an instant.
Aren just grinned like an idiot, all “Sure, sounds good!”
As I seethed inwardly, wild Alicia suddenly burst in from afar.
“You’ll visit the imperial palace too. Give me a chance as well!”
And what are you on about?
Anyway.
That wrapped up the chaotic end-of-term ceremony, and I returned to my mansion in Neivil.
A few days after the Undead Dungeon raid wrapped up, the place was finally complete.
No more freeloading at inns for me.
The finished mansion wasn’t quite a grand estate, but it was a solid two-story stone building in one of Neivil’s upscale neighborhoods.
It came fully furnished, complete with a personal training ground—way more space than one person needed.
“Haa…”
Sinking into the plush reception room sofa, the morning’s nagging doubt resurfaced.
‘Halibal Belder.’
Who am I?
No—who was the original owner of this body?
There must have been a life as ‘Halibal Belder’ before the church captured me.
‘Maybe I should look into it.’
Who knows? The body’s past might hold variables or clues I don’t know about.
I got up and headed straight to the desk.
Pushing aside complicated thoughts, I jotted down my vacation plans.
Optimizing routes efficiently?
That was my specialty.
Thanks to all the pointless additions, my schedule was packed.
I’d have to start moving early tomorrow morning.
It was dawn by the time I finished the timetable, which had ballooned to over two full sheets.
I packed light and caught a quick nap.
Soon, consciousness sank deep.
⁎⁎⁎
‘What?’
I opened my eyes to find myself in Halibal Dungeon.
I could come and go freely now, but I hadn’t expected to drift in like this while sleeping.
That was one thing; this was another.
And right in front of me…
‘…Why’d they grow so much?’
A flock of sheep, their wool several times fluffier than before, circled a woolly pile burying Rene.
Two slender arms poked out from the wool heap—one clutching a cheesecake, the other a teacup of jasmine tea.
The drink she’d asked for last time.
Adelrin’s jasmine tea must’ve stuck strongly in my memory.
『Save me.』
“Yeah, yeah.”
I reached into the wool and pulled Rene out in one smooth motion.
Her tiny frame fit perfectly in my arms.
“Anyway, why’d these guys grow like that?”
The sheep were products of my perception, right?
Did they even grow?
『Maybe because you think life naturally grows in your head.』
“Huh. Could be.”
『Next time, call a shearer…』
Holding Rene, I looked around.
As if it were natural now, a new skull statue stood beside the Rose & Lirian ones.
Necredin’s statue. Meaning Rene had more to tell me.
I set her down somewhere comfortable and sat across from her.
“Alright, spill. All the new memories that surfaced.”
But Rene looked downcast.
As if sensing her mood, a few sheep approached and rubbed against her.
Rene let out a sigh and spoke.
『…Remember what I said last time? That someone made me stay here.』
“Yeah.”
『Correction.』
She stroked the wool with sunken eyes.
『It’s not staying. I’m trapped. Here, in Halibal Dungeon.』
“…Trapped?”
『Yeah. I didn’t come here by choice. And I can’t leave by choice either.』
“Is that my fault?”
This was my mental dungeon.
So doesn’t that mean I’m the one holding her?
But Rene shook her head.
『Probably not you.』
“Why?”
『Because… I called you.』
She did call me, that’s true.
When I lost to Barhatan and stood at death’s door, I heard her voice and was pulled here.
That means even before I recognized Halibal Dungeon’s existence—maybe from the moment I fell into this world as Halibal—Rene was already inside me.
‘But that doesn’t add up.’
How could someone else exist in my mental world before me?
Unless this isn’t just my mental world?
Or.
‘The dungeon’s master… changed?’
Since Rene stayed silent, she probably hadn’t recovered memories that far back.
I changed the subject.
“So why are you trapped?”
『No idea. But probably because I did something trap-worthy.』
A girl flailing because she couldn’t shear sheep? Only one thing came to mind.
The keyword Mine mentioned recently.
‘Trapped for wielding the power of time and space?’
Power of time and space. The heaven-defying ability to flip death like turning over one’s hand.
If that got out, even the empire would sentence her to death. That’s why I hadn’t told anyone else.
But how many in this world could imprison someone with that power?
If anyone…
‘Probably the God of Light or the Evil God.’
Rene stayed quiet.
She could read my mind, so she was thinking it too.
‘Hold on.’
Trapped ‘here’?
Doesn’t that make this place a prison?
I’d been casually entering a mental prison all this time?
And beings who could freely enter prisons numbered only one or two in my knowledge.
‘Prisoner, or warden.’
…Which one am I?
I wasn’t acting like a warden with what I’d done so far.
I’d been actively helping the imprisoned Rene recover her memories and grow stronger.
So was I a prisoner too?
Trapped here with her in this mental prison?
But I could enter and exit at will, reshape it freely.
Statues rose based on my experiences, sheep grew by my perception. I could even refight bosses I’d beaten.
Like the name Halibal Dungeon implied, this place clearly belonged to me.
I was definitely the prison’s master.
Master of the prison—and prisoner.
Warden—and helper of the prisoner.
Full of contradictions.
Only Rene could answer this.
“Why’d you call me?”
『Just… felt it. A sense that you existed somewhere.』
“Felt it?”
『Yeah. I’ve been here a long time, but you’re the only other presence I’ve sensed.』
Rene glanced at the statues.
『So I called. Hoping maybe you’d get me out someday.』
Someday you might get me out.
Her third memory yielded results.
Rene’s third memory.
It was her ‘purpose.’
She wanted out, so she called me—and lent me her power.
Just that cleared a lot of the fog in my head.
Finished speaking, Rene looked up at the clogged gray ceiling.
The unchanging ceiling, dimly lit by light reflecting off the blue crystal.
She’d been trapped here a long time.
How long, exactly?
“How long have you been here?”
『……No idea.』
Rene shook her head.
『No sun, no moon. Can’t even tell if time passes.』
“…”
『But one thing’s certain.』
She looked at me.
『Time started flowing here after you came.』
She gave a soft smile.
Like when she first blessed me with the axis of time.
Prisoner or warden, I might be one—but Rene was definitely a prisoner.
What crime did she commit to end up in this prison?
Either way, freeing her meant releasing a prisoner into the world. Shouldering her crime’s weight too, probably.
But I’d received too much from her to fear the consequences.
Without Rene, I wouldn’t even be here.
All the connections I’d made here would’ve been lost.
Repaying kindness.
That law held true in my old world or this one.
Unchanging.
“Got it. I’ll get you out.”
『……Really?』
“Just wait a bit longer. I’ll shatter this prison with the power you gave me.”
I glanced at the four empty pedestals.
To do that, I’d need to fill those.
『……Yeah. I’ll believe in you.』
[René's Favorability Level has increased.]
[René]
[Favorability Level: 3]
⁎⁎⁎
I opened my eyes to the familiar mansion ceiling.
Morning sunlight filtered through the curtains.
Glancing at the time: already nine o’clock.
I’d planned to hustle from dawn, but couldn’t even last one day.
Maybe because it’d been a while since I met Rene like that. Or the magic of “vacation.”
Either way, I’d relaxed.
I got up and stretched.
First day of vacation.
Mountains of tasks ahead.
‘First up: nearby Holy Light Mountain.’
Train to Verhart took three hours.
Rugged terrain, but if you knew the paths, it wouldn’t take long. A day trip, easy.
So day one: hiking.
I’d prepped the gear yesterday.
‘Alright. Let’s roll.’
Stepping energetically into the living room—
“You’re up now?”
“…?”
“Not slacking too hard on vacation?”
A guest was there.
No—a trespasser.
Jasmine scent wafted faintly amid the warm morning sun.
“Hi? Stopped by for a house call.”
Adelrin.
She sat on the sofa, smiling brightly.
“But now I have questions?”
In her hand: my two-page vacation schedule from yesterday.
Packed with church branch locations, rare item sources, and more.