The Secret of the Stopped Kingdom
"No way, how far are we falling?! Aaaaaah!!"
"Sh-Shi-hyeo-ni...!! I-I'm scawed...!!"
"Shiny Oppa, we've been free-falling for 60 seconds now. That's roughly 17km down."
"That's way past breaking through the atmosphere! And you don't need to calculate that right now, Emilia!"
—Whoosh!!
An endless drop. We'd escaped those killer toys charging at us with their eyes wide open, only to land in this ridiculous situation.
"First off, both of you grab my hands! We can't get separated!"
"Ung."
"Waaah, w-we're gonna diiiie...!"
"Who's dying?! Hurry up and come here!"
I pulled the little girls into my arms and glanced down.
—Twinkle.
A faint, cold blue light trickled in from what looked like a pinhole far below.
It's super faint, but there's light—proof we're finally reaching the end...!
The end of this endless fall was good news, but one massive problem remained: the impact.
A normal human couldn't survive a drop from this height. We'd shatter like toy blocks the second we hit the ground.
No time for second thoughts. The moment we passed through that hole and saw the bottom, I'd activate the beginner package right away. My Phantom form, infused with apocalypse energy, ought to handle it!
"Emilia, Victoria! Listen up from now on. Cover your eyes with both hands and don't open them until I say so. Got it?"
"Ung, Shiny Oppa."
"Sniff...! O-Okay."
Huh, they're actually listening? Emilia always did, but I didn't expect tsundere Victoria to be so obedient.
"You two are such good girls. Even in a pinch like this, you trust me completely."
"I trust Shiny Oppa no matter what... because you took my first—"
Chomp!
"Haha, Emilia? That's not something you blurt out like that."
"Mmph...!"
(I see, Shiny Oppa.)
"I-I can trust Shi-hyeo-ni 100% now... You fought all those toys to save me."
"Yeah, yeah. Alright then, my little princesses—eyes shut tight!"
—Whoosh!!
The tunnel of light rushed up to meet our feet. The cold blue glow seeped in from my toes, scanning us like some kind of device.
Fwoosh!!
The instant I thought we'd reached the end, I tried to activate my power.
But...
Huh...? What the—?!
Suddenly, the fall slowed to a crawl, like syrup. Then, in utter stillness as if time itself had frozen, our bodies lost weight and began drifting downward oh-so-slowly.
It felt like swimming through a dream. I cautiously opened my eyes and looked around.
There was...
"Whoa... A place like this hidden underground in Krahim...?"
A miniature universe.
A sparkling galaxy stretched beneath our feet, while clusters of stars in ethereal colors swirled through the space around us. Against a backdrop of deep blue and purple cosmos, white and golden stars gleamed, flaunting their beauty like a masterpiece painting.
This is a whole other world.
I let Victoria and Emilia know it was safe to open their eyes.
"Whoaaa... Shiny Oppa, this place is so pwetty. How can something like this exist underground...?"
"Shi-hyeo-ni, where awe we? Did we go inside a jewel box?"
"Dunno for sure, but doesn't it feel just like space?"
Emilia and Victoria gazed at me with sparkling, childlike eyes, like actual little kids. And who could blame them? This inner realm was worlds apart from the "upper" Krahim.
If the outside was a cute, lively toy kingdom, this was a deep abyss of flowing blue stars—or maybe a forbidden garden harboring time's secrets.
Clocks and puzzle pieces floated lazily in the air. Tiny gears meshed together, turning slowly in a fantastical dreamscape straight out of fantasy.
"Man, I never read about a hidden underground like this in Krahim—even in the novel."
Honestly, I still had no clue what was going on... but hey, we survived. Good enough, right? Haha.
—Thud.
"Haa... Haaa... G-Gwound...!"
"Shiny Oppa, we weached the gwound."
Our gentle descent finally brought us down to solid footing. Victoria and Emilia were so thrilled to feel earth underfoot that they rolled around on it, expressing their joy with their whole bodies.
"Having gwound to walk on is happiness!"
"Yeah, I agree."
Seeing crybaby Victoria bounce back, it seemed safe to start exploring.
"Hey, stick close—don't wander off."
"...Hold on, Shiny Oppa. I hear that voice again, like when we first entered Krahim."
Emilia stared into space with half-lidded eyes, and just like our first visit, the ghost story's rules echoed through the air.
"Shiny Oppa, this must be the rule to escape Krahim."
"So if we find the king and pay respects, me and Emmy can go back to normal too??"
"Probably? Not a hundred percent sure, but we gotta try."
The ghost story rule: find the king and pay respects. Now I got why novel visitors entered Krahim and never left.
How's a newbie supposed to find that one hidden hole in a massive toy city?
Even I, who'd read the novel, couldn't have reached here without the hooded girl's secret passage.
...Come to think of it, where'd that girl go?
I'd forgotten amid the stunning scenery. The hooded girl who'd guided us here, appearing out of nowhere in our dire moment, showing the escape route, then vanishing.
—Kyah ah ah!
Obviously, finding a tiny girl in this vast underground space? No way. Splitting up might be efficient, but too risky—we knew zilch about this place.
—Kyah ah ah!
But overthinking changed nothing. Options: find the girl, find the "forgotten king" and pay respects.
"Alright, guess we grab the kids and wander till we find something."
—Kyah ah ahhh!!!
That said, what's with that noise since earlier?
"Guys, I get you're acting like kids, but quit screaming."
"Ung? Shiny Oppa, we've both been quiet."
"Yeah yeah."
"Then whose scream is that kyah ah ah from?!"
Right then—
Screee!
Something sliced through the air, hurtling toward us. I thought it was my imagination at first, but the sound grew clearer, closer.
"...No way?"
I instinctively looked up. From the ceiling—the pinhole we'd fallen through—a small, pale shape plummeted, shrieking.
—Waaaah!!
S-Save meeeee!!!
I couldn't make out details, but I knew instantly.
"That hooded girl from before...?"
It was definitely the hooded girl who'd guided me. Arms outstretched, she desperately reached for me.
"C-Catch meee...! Catch meeeee!!"
Tears and snot streaming down her face, she pleaded with desperate eyes. But I slowly shook my head, crossing my arms into an X toward her.
"Sorry, physics says no."
Free-fall speed hits 200km/h—catching that? Straight to the afterlife!
"Waaaah?!?!? Y-You're so meeean...!!!"
—Boom!!
A heavy thud against the ground. The girl embedded herself pillar-like into the block floor, hood flipped over her head.
"...Dead?"
Twitch twitch.
Her little feet flailed, so thankfully, no.
"Sh-Shi-hyeo-ni! You just wefused to catch hew?"
"Shiny Oppa is... a cold man."
"Hey, I'm not Superman. How was I supposed to catch that?"
* * *
After yanking the embedded girl out, Emilia and Victoria patted her back as she sobbed pitifully.
"Shiny Oppa was mean."
Victoria and the hooded girl nodded furiously at Emilia's scolding.
"Hic...! I-I asked you to catch me... but that guy ignored me... sob!"
"Look, how was I supposed to? We'd both die."
My perfectly logical defense fell on deaf ears with a crying girl.
"I saved you from the toys, and this is how you treat me...! Waaaah!!"
She plopped down, hood over her head, bawling.
This'll drag on forever. Better apologize quick and move on.
—Pat.
I gently stroked her head, begging forgiveness.
"I was too shocked to react. Sorry."
"Sniff...! This once, I forgive you...! Do it again and I'll cry all over!"
Haha, easier to handle than I thought? Kinda like Lea?
Her simple mindset and quirky speech reminded me of the redheaded knight lady.
"Yeah, yeah, thanks. So who are you? Why'd you save us?"
Still sniffling, the girl explained everything.
—Everyone entering Krahim turns into a little kid, so my unchanged form intrigued her.
—She figured I was the "first explorer" to end Krahim's tale.
—That's why she lured us here to dodge the toys.
"And you landed safely thanks to my magic. But focusing mana on you left none for me, so I crashed... uuu..."
"Knowing the story makes me feel even worse."
"Sniff...! No need to apologize more. I don't hate those I forgive."
"Got it, I understand now. But to resolve Krahim, we need the king—and we don't know the layout."
Even eyeballing it, this place was vast and irregular like space. Ruined clock towers and shattered blocks formed a cityscape. One wrong turn, and we'd wander till we died of old age.
"Finding the 'forgotten king' in this huge space? Impossible."
"Hehe, no worries there."
"...?"
—Whoosh.
With those words, she pulled off her hood with both hands, revealing her face. Snow-white hair, pale skin. Ruby-red eyes gleamed as she smiled faintly and introduced herself.
"I am Ciel. The great mage who served the Knight King, sovereign of Krahim—Ciel Merlin!"