6
Chapter 6
I found myself at a loss for words.
In a way, it was only natural.
If you heard that a stock your friend bought dropped by about 10%, that was actually good news.
If you were close friends, you would be too busy teasing them.
You'd have a blast making fun of them in every way possible.
But what if you saw the news that a stock your friend had poured their entire fortune into was being delisted?
What if you knew they had even gone into debt to invest in it?
Would you really be able to tell them the news?
"......Are you okay?"
I looked down at Ciel, who had suddenly collapsed shortly after leaving the Mining Site.
Drained of all strength, Ciel lay on the floor, shaking her head.
I had seen this kind of scene a few times in the original work.
It was a phenomenon that occurred when one overused the power granted by a contracted spirit or demon.
But the important thing was, she had only used her power once.
The Overseer wasn't a weak opponent... but they weren't exactly world-class like the Imperial Knight Order either. And she had even paid the price of half her soul.
The answer these facts pointed to was clear.
This naive girl had been completely scammed on her contract.
To think she gave up half her soul only to receive that meager amount of power.
Just how petty and useless of a being did she contract with?
It was enough to make even me depressed.
'Besides, if it weren't for me, she would have contracted with someone much better.'
Obviously, Ciel—who would have taken the core companion role to the original protagonist—couldn't possibly be weak.
Nor would she have contracted with some filthy scum like a demon.
She probably would have contracted with someone like the Spirit King and won victory after victory.
I debated whether I should tell Ciel about this, but soon came to a conclusion.
There are times when ignorance is bliss.
Let's just bury this story.
Telling her would only hurt her feelings for no reason, and nothing would change anyway.
It wasn't like she could back out of the contract even if she regretted it.
"Can you walk at all?"
At my words, Ciel tried to push herself off the floor to stand..., only to flop right back down.
If I hadn't caught her, she probably would have slammed her head against the floor.
I supported Ciel and sat her back down on the nearby steps.
What should I do about this? I was in the midst of pondering that very question.
"......Now you're not even talking at all."
Ciel had moved beyond simply being a woman of few words, reaching the point where she expressed her intentions entirely through gestures.
Sitting there as if waiting for something, she held her arms out in front of her.
She understood everything even with short answers, so now she was really pushing her luck.
I had no choice but to comply with her blatant gesture demanding a piggyback ride.
Her presence on my back felt strangely ticklish.
I could feel her breath.
The sensation of her hair brushing against my neck with every step I took was peculiar.
And...... where I had to hold her with my hands weighed heavily on my mind.
Where could I hold her without looking like a creep?
The fact that seriously calculating the possibilities already made me a creep was an incredibly vicious catch-22.
I tried my best to distract myself from the tactile sensation in my hands.
Fortunately, that wasn't as difficult as I had thought.
Before long, scenery capable of capturing my attention appeared before me.
A scene that looked like walking through the streets of the Middle Ages.
The night sky slowly growing darker.
There were no concrete buildings or anything like streetlights around here.
Because of that, the stars shone all the brighter.
However, if there was one thing interrupting that starlight...
'That place is definitely more developed.'
It was that city in the distance, sparkling brighter than the stars themselves.
A world completely different in genre from this place.
The Mana Train that appeared in the original work, as well as the newly distributed mana-engineering machines, were all exclusive products that could only be used in the Capital.
All of the Empire's development was concentrated in the Capital to a grotesque degree.
In other words, all the technology and facilities were the exclusive property of the select few who got to enjoy them.
......In the original work, the protagonist was a Noble, so I didn't know it well. Looking at it now, this was absurd beyond belief.
No, one side was medieval fantasy while the other gave off a steampunk vibe—did that even make sense?
Just how was this crazy Empire even functioning?
As I let out a sigh while having those thoughts, I felt a strange sensation.
Near my head, it felt like I was being caressed by something soft.......
"......What are you doing?"
It was an entirely abnormal act.
Because of that, I panicked and asked.
However, Ciel's reaction was nonchalant.
"I was petting you."
"......Why?"
"Because you sighed."
"What does that have to do with petting me?"
Maybe she was trying to comfort me because I looked troubled.
"My mom used to do this for me?"
How could she suddenly become so talkative at a time like this.
It was a bit annoying, but since she put it that way, I had nothing more to say.
"Do you not like it?"
Ciel suddenly asked.
My head started to spin.
"It's not that I... dislike it."
"Then do you like it?"
If I had to choose, it was definitely the latter.
......But saying I liked it out loud would make me sound like a total creep.
I racked my brain desperately for a way to change the subject.
"If you have the energy to spout nonsense, help me look for a guild."
Fortunately, that wasn't too difficult of a task.
We genuinely needed to find a guild anyway.
Whether this era was set before or after the original work, guilds would definitely exist.
There was no place better for gathering information.
'I need to find the others, too.'
Successfully recruiting Ciel as a companion was a win.
......Even if her skill tree ended up messed up because of me, let's just call it a success for now.
In any case, Ciel alone wouldn't be enough.
To stop the crises ahead, there was no such thing as having too much power.
'......The Empire definitely turned into a sea of fire in the trailer.'
This was the problem with transmigrating into a game I hadn't even played.
Spoiler posts were kind enough to give me some information, but it was far too little.
I didn't know exactly why the world was ending, yet I had to stop it somehow to avoid dying.
This level of hopelessness was just absurd.
A sigh naturally escaped my lips.
And then,
"......I really didn't do it on purpose."
I got petted again.
"I know."
"I'm telling you I didn't do it on purpose!"
"Why do you keep repeating the same thing?"
"......."
I eventually decided to keep my mouth shut.
Was she actually good at talking, or just terrible at it?
I couldn't tell if she was making fun of me or if I was just getting defensive on my own.
"Ian."
"I told you I didn't sigh on purpose just to get petted!"
"Not that. Look over there."
I turned my gaze toward where Ciel was pointing.
Soon, a familiar sign featuring a sword and shield came into view.
That's the familiar Adventurer's Guild.
*****
"It's loud."
"Well, that makes sense. This place doubles as a tavern."
I answered Ciel's question as she was being carried on my back.
It was definitely exactly as I had seen it in the original work.
A place where people of all statuses, races, and backgrounds gathered.
I felt my mind ease a little.
Because this was one of the few safe zones in the game.
As if proving the grim worldview, all sorts of terrible things happen outside.
Like approaching a sobbing kid asking for help to take on a quest, only for the kid's eyes to suddenly roll back as they try to slit my throat.
Or killing that kid while wondering what kind of crazy lunatic would do such a thing, only to realize later that the child was actually being controlled by a Black Mage.
When the child's parents approached, wailing in grief over the loss of their child, if I chose the option to apologize...
-Stupid.
The parents were actually Black Mages who had modified their own child into a doll for their use,
Leading to a bad ending where the careless player gets killed and turned into the Black Mage's next doll.
I wouldn't have to experience such filthy events here, which made my head spin just recalling them.
An unspoken agreement.
No one could harm another here.
The moment someone broke the rules, they would make an enemy out of the entire guild.
That was how this peace was maintained.
"It should be around here somewhere."
I pushed my way through the crowd and checked the bulletin board plastered with all sorts of papers.
Well, I guess it's because this branch is located in the Slums, even if it is a guild. It was completely disorganized.
"......?"
While searching for my target for a while, something strange caught my eye.
'Black Fang? Was there an organization like this in the original?'
Looking closely at the notice, they were a bigger deal than I thought.
They apparently killed a Knight Commander and took out a Noble who ran a factory illegally exploiting children.
It said they were an emerging revolutionary organization rising up against the Empire.
'Well, it doesn't seem to have much to do with me.'
A substantial bounty that could be obtained just by reporting a member's identity. On top of that, the reward of being granted anything I desired upon capturing them was quite tempting.
But even so, this was asking too much.
Someone on the level of a Knight Commander was a powerhouse you could only defeat at the very end of the game. How could someone like me possibly catch a crazy monster who killed a guy like that?
"Stay still, Ciel. It's hard to carry you like this."
Anyway. This had nothing to do with me.
So I turned my eyes away and scanned the request list again... before finally finding it.
My second target.
The location of the next companion I had to recruit.