Her Fear (2)
Whoosh—! Splat! “Kieeeek—!!”
The gray rat monster, the size of a retriever, was cleaved in half by my swinging sword. Its guts spilled out, blood pouring everywhere. Soon it crumbled to dust, leaving only a magic stone behind.
“Whew… At this rate, I’ll end up with a ton of magic stones.”
I’d already scoured the central part of the dungeon and was now checking the side paths branching off from it like roots. The one I was on now dead-ended.
Not here either…
Based on my experiences from the fourth loop and my knowledge of the original story, Chris was probably still in the same spot. She wasn’t moving, so no chance of us missing each other just because I was wandering. But this beginner large-scale dungeon was vast.
Finding her is a whole job in itself.
It was no small ordeal searching while taking down monsters in a place this huge, even just to navigate.
After wandering for a good while and checking yet another dead-end side path, I headed back to the central area.
“Uwaaaah…!! Scaryscaryscary…!!”
In the distance, I spotted a student bursting out of a side path in sheer terror.
“……What the?”
He was chubby, wore glasses, and looked extremely timid. He bolted desperately toward the exit, and sensing something was off, I ran after him and called out.
“Hey!”
“Uh, u-uh?”
“What happened?”
“I-Inside, g-g-ghosts!”
“……Ghosts?”
“I haaaate undead—!!”
With that short explanation, the student bolted for the exit without looking back.
Ghosts…
I watched the terrified kid go, then a thought struck me. I turned to the path he’d come from.
This is it…!
Looked like I’d found Chris.
I hate dark places.
Dark, enclosed spaces are even worse.
That’s why Chris always avoided them. Being in such a place brought back memories of that closet from her childhood.
She always lit candles before bed and never drew the curtains.
And so, she sat there hugging her knees, tears streaming down her face.
“M-Mom… sob… hic… Mom…”
She murmured the name of the one person she longed for endlessly.
It was the year she turned ten. Born the daughter of ordinary farmers, she’d just finished helping her parents with the day’s work.
Rumble rumble rumble—!
Then the ground began to shake.
Oh no, an earthquake…?
She remembered her mother pulling her into her skirt and muttering that.
But it wasn’t an earthquake.
It was vibrations caused by humans. Countless people charging toward her city, creating an earthquake-like roar.
“Kyaaaaah—!!”
Soon after the truth dawned, frail screams echoed around her.
Her parents dropped their loads and scooped her up.
“Honey…!”
“Get Chris somewhere safe—! Hurry—!!”
Everyone else was the same. They ran home to gather their families. Mothers clutched their children. Fathers grabbed anything that could serve as a weapon.
“Mom…”
“Stay here. Don’t come out no matter what.”
“Mooom…”
“You can’t come out until Mom comes back!”
Her mother hid Chris in the closet of her room.
“Honey—!!”
Then she ran to her husband.
“……”
And so Chris was left alone in the closet, trembling in fear.
Even at ten, she knew what was happening was dangerous.
This was war. Where people killed and died.
“Hic… sob… Mom…”
Doing as her mother said, she huddled in the closet’s darkness, muffling her voice, waiting.
Tears flowed, the urge to run out surged, but she held back.
She waited for her parents.
Endlessly.
And then.
“Kyaaaaaaaah—!!”
“Eek…!”
Screams began pouring in from outside.
Crash! Boom—!
“Waaah—!”
Sounds of things breaking, a child’s wail.
“Please…! Just once…!”
Begging for mercy reached even inside the closet.
I hate dark places.
But in that moment, she instinctively knew this spot—where she couldn’t see the hell outside—was safe.
“Mom…”
Listening to screams and smelling blood, she held her breath and waited.
The endless screams gradually faded, and the outside fell silent, as if everyone had fallen asleep.
But her mother never came.
She’d said not to come out until she returned.
“Hic… sob… hic…”
Chris endured the nonstop tears, waiting in the closet for her mother.
Step… step…
Creeeak…
“Any survivors?”
“…Doesn’t look like it.”
“Rescue’s priority. Search everywhere.”
Then voices entered her quiet home. Unfamiliar ones.
“……”
Chris clamped her small hands over her mouth, stifling any sound.
“……”
Just pass by quickly. Pass by, and please let me see Mom.
She prayed and endured in the darkness.
And then.
Creeeak…
The closet door she’d been told never to open swung wide.
“……Hic.”
“It’s okay. I’m not here to hurt you.”
That was the moment Chris met her second mother.
The kind woman, who looked at her gently despite being a stranger, carefully picked her up.
Later, Chris saw her parents’ bodies.
Her father had his throat slit while clutching a farming tool.
Her mother had been shot with arrows while embracing him.
“Want to come with me?”
“……”
With nowhere left to go, the woman who found her took Chris in.
Ironically, that woman was a mercenary.
“Mom…”
The dungeon dragged those old memories out of Chris by force.
Thrusting her back into that closet.
Once inside, the brave Chris vanished, replaced by the frail, worthless ten-year-old girl.
So Chris hugged her knees and sobbed, tears flowing.
Just like back then.
Waiting for the mother who’d told her never to come out.
And then.
“Haa… Found you…”
“……”
Like the foster mother who’d pulled her from that closet on that day.
Someone extended a hand to her in the darkness.
“……”
“You okay?”
Calluses from recent sword work. Some spots were burst open and scarred from harsh training.
The girl remembered whose hand this was.
“……E-Emil.”
Only then did Chris look up and gaze at the boy before her, wondering why he was here.
Emil Tier.
The male student who’d recently taken beatings from her just to beg for sword lessons.
He caught his breath, weary, then grinned and grabbed her arm, pulling her up without asking.
Just like the new mother who’d freed her from the closet.
“Let’s head back.”
With that, the space around Chris reverted to the dungeon’s original scenery.
I walked through the dungeon holding Chris’s hand.
The reason was simple: she wouldn’t let go.
“W-Wait… slow down a bit…”
“Oh, yeah.”
I’d noticed it in the fourth loop too, but Chris was utterly helpless in dungeons.
Whoosh—!
“Keeek…!”
“Done, Chris.”
“……”
When a monster appeared midway, she’d collapse again, squeezing her eyes shut.
After the fight, she’d clutch my hand tight and cling to my arm.
Even after conquering it once, she never gets used to this.
The trembling transmitted through my arm told me just how terrified she was.
The fiercer and bolder she was normally…
“D-Don’t let go…”
The more fragile she looked clinging like this.
That’s war for you.
Feeling the warmth of Chris hanging on my side, I recalled her backstory.
Chris Bellmore.
She lost her parents to war and became the adopted daughter of a mercenary band leader who fought in it.
Fortunately, the mercenary who took her in was an ally defending her city, not the enemy who attacked it.
Thus, Chris grew up in the mercenary band from childhood, amid battlefields.
By the way, in the original story, the one who rescues her from this panic during the dungeon event is her fiancé, Edric.
That’s what starts her slowly developing feelings for him, turning her into a rival to Sierra.
I’d exploited that in my strategy.
Same with Marie—I’d inserted myself at the exact moment they realized their love.
No guilt, of course.
They were heroines destined to be discarded anyway.
If they were going to be thrown away, I wanted to take that spot and make them happy.
Didn’t expect the backstabs, though.
I glanced at Chris, who was barely walking while clinging precariously to my side.
Unlike her usual valiant self, she was all hunched and wilted. Tears welled in her eyes, her face pale as a ghost—like a kid who’d just watched a horror movie.
With her hanging off my arm, we soon passed through.
“Oh, you made it out. Was getting worried since you took so long.”
We exited the dungeon.
Unlike the dark inside, bright sunlight greeted us outside.
A professor waiting at the exit welcomed us.
“Huh…? That girl, is she hurt?”
Seeing Chris clinging to me, he looked puzzled.
Chris, catching our stares…
“N-No… ah, aah! No! …I’m fine.”
Out in the light, she snapped back to her senses, cheeks flushing as she let go of my arm.
We headed to the waiting area together, and I couldn’t help chuckling.
“What… why’re you laughing…”
“Nothing, it’s just funny. …You’ve got a cute side, Chris.”
“Grrrrr…!”
Teased, she blushed furiously, bowed her head, and stormed ahead with quick steps.
I thought she’d just go without a word, but.
She stopped dead in front of me.
Bowing her head for a moment…
“……E-…mil.”
“Yeah?”
Face beet red, she glanced back at me shyly.
“……Thanks.”
“……”
With that single word of gratitude, she bolted away.