Chapter 134: A Similar Conclusion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 134: A Similar Conclusion
We discovered a dwarf in the basement.
Judging by his appearance, he looked more like a Half-foot—a member of the small-statured race—rather than a bulky Dwarf.
Was this fellow the master of the mansion?
His was a race often seen in the city. Their lifespan was similar to humans, but they were a people who barely seemed to age.
“Even for a race that doesn't age... this is a bit much.”
“This mansion was built well over a hundred years ago. This man still looks young.”
“Could it be that he truly achieved eternal youth?”
“Who are you? What were you doing here?”
Yuria leveled her sword at the trembling dwarf.
With the blade at his throat, the dwarf fidgeted restlessly, his eyes darting around as if searching for a corner to escape into.
I could practically hear the gears turning in his head. I could smell a lie being manufactured.
“Look, if you take too long to think, we’ll have no choice but to be suspicious. It’ll be better for your health if you answer quickly.”
When I pulled an axe from my inventory to renew the threat, the dwarf squeezed his eyes shut and let out a torrent of words.
“M-my name is Henz Ainhel. I am a mage! I entered this mansion by chance and got trapped!”
A dwarf who got trapped after entering by chance?
He was claiming to be a visitor, not the master of the mansion?
Could I believe the claim that he was simply trapped? Above all, the core of the amorphous monster was nowhere to be seen in this room. That meant this guy was the practitioner controlling that creature.
Just then, Helena, who had been spying on the situation from within the Bracelet of Growth, shared some suspicious information she knew.
—Ainhel. That’s the same name as a famous mage from the past. But the Ainhel I knew wasn't a dwarf.
‘He wasn't a dwarf?’
—The Ainhel in my memory was a tall man. A frail man who looked scrawny and lacked any strength. But he was strangely tall. A man who had nothing going for him but his height has become that small? In the first place... are you sure that’s a dwarf? Maybe he’s not a dwarf, but just a child.
‘....’
If he wasn't a dwarf as Helena said, it meant he was just a boy in his late teens. Did that make sense?
‘Is he using the name Henz Ainhel as a cover?’
Perhaps the method of eternal life he found was a technique of rejuvenation. Or maybe it was a complete body reconstruction. He might have even ripped out his own soul and moved it into another body.
In any case, there was no credibility in his words.
“Hey, dwarf. Henz Ainhel wasn't a dwarf like you. That means you either used some trick to become a child, or you’re someone else entirely using the name of the mage Ainhel.”
“N-no! I am Ainhel!”
Of course, there was the possibility it was a different person with the same name.
The name Sion was common enough if you looked for it.
It was possible there was another person in the Ainhel family using that name besides this guy.
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s say you are Ainhel. Your identity isn't actually that important. What really matters is what you were doing here. Don't try to confuse us with useless information. Tell us what we want to know. What were you doing here? There’s no such thing as a coincidence. This isn't a place you can just stumble into. Why did you come here?”
“That... I cannot tell you.”
“Yuria. Hold his right arm so he can't move it.”
“Okay.”
“Gaaah!!! Wait, wait!!!”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something, Mr. Dwarf. This is the perfect place for someone to die without a soul ever knowing. Understand? This isn't a space where secrets can exist. I tried being nice, but I guess that won't work, right?”
“Eeeek!!!”
When I pulled out a dagger and began to rhythmically graze it against the dwarf’s fingers, he completely broke.
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! I entered this mansion to discover the secret of eternal life! That’s all! That’s everything!”
“The secret of eternal life? You crawled all the way here to find that? That means you entered knowing exactly what state this mansion was in. Right?”
“Y-yes! I heard rumors that the master of this mansion researched the secret of eternal life, so I came in! I ran into a monster and ended up tumbling down here while escaping! That pitch-black monster can't come near this room! That’s why I’ve been trapped here!”
The pitch-black amorphous monster we met today was a new existence not mentioned in the rumors. If people knew such a monster appeared here, Moira would have come herself to tear the mansion down. Therefore, his excuse was a lie.
“Right, right. So a pitch-black monster that has never properly shown itself until now reacted to you and attacked? Fine, fine. Then where did you hear the rumor that the secret of eternal life was here?”
“A mage from the Magic Tower told me!”
“Hmm. You just blindly believed information given by a mage from the Magic Tower and came here? That makes no sense. Are you going to keep lying? Should I use Lie Detection? Or should I take you out and drag you to the Magic Tower? Friend, I’m close with the Tower Lord. If you get dragged there, you won't die a peaceful death.”
If I took him to the Magic Tower, I’d have to share him with the Tower Lord, but if he wouldn't open his mouth, I had no choice.
Or I could beat him within an inch of his life, knock him out, and then pull his soul out with the Spirit Chain. Of course, that was a last resort.
There was a high probability he sought eternal life using his soul; if I pulled it out and something went wrong, I wouldn't be able to use him.
“Well? What’ll it be? Shall we go to the Magic Tower together?”
At my threat, the master of the mansion finally began a proper conversation.
“...What exactly do you want from me? If you want me to leave the mansion, I will... I’ll leave the city and never return. I promise.”
“Go where? If you’re going, leave behind everything you gained in this mansion. Including your life.”
“Urgh.”
“First, tell me your true identity.”
“I am indeed Ainhel.”
“For real?”
“Yes. However, I have a request.”
“What is it?”
“I will hand over all the information I have from this point on. So please, just don't drag me to the Magic Tower. As you said... I won't be able to die easily there.”
It was an open secret that all sorts of experiments were being conducted at the Magic Tower.
If this man were dragged in, he would likely be sliced and dismantled by researchers trying to uncover the secret of eternal life, preserved forever as a subject of study.
In a sense, wouldn't that be a state of eternal life? Since he’d be embalmed and used semi-permanently.
“Fine. Then, first question. Was the eternal life successful?”
“One could say the eternal life itself was a success. However.”
“However?”
“My body will not grow from this state. If I am exposed to sunlight for too long, I suffer burns... and I can never have descendants again. Furthermore, eating or digesting food has become nearly impossible. I have become a body that can only... only survive on ectoplasm squeezed from the souls of others.”
“What does that mean?”
“Unless I kill people, harvest their vengeful spirits, and squeeze them to create highly concentrated ectoplasm to consume, I cannot survive. It is, quite literally, an incomplete eternal life.”
Just as he said, the eternal life Ainhel achieved was extremely flawed.
Could it be seen as a state similar to an artificially created vampire?
No, he was a vampire. Aside from sucking ectoplasm instead of blood, he was no different.
“This is ridiculous. To maintain that pathetic life of yours, you’ve been killing the people who entered this house by draining them to death all this time?”
“....”
“You can't eat food, you can't even pleasure yourself, and yet you’ve continued to live cooped up in this suffocating back room? Why? Is there any meaning to living like that? Why go to such lengths to pursue eternal life? What’s the reason?”
“...Because I fear death.”
To think he lived by squeezing the lifeblood out of people while hiding in a back room just because he feared death. He seemed out of his mind.
“Sion. What are you going to do? We haven't gained anything other than this dwarf.”
“I know. I was hoping for some valuable items or helpful relics.”
We had gained nothing but a dwarf modified into a vampire.
“Look, Mr. Ainhel. I’m seriously considering whether I should just sell you to the Magic Tower. Give me a reason why I should take you in.”
“...A reason. There is a reason you should take me in.”
“What is it?”
“I am skilled at handling souls. I commune and communicate with souls in a way slightly different from a necromancer. That is why I can tell. I can feel the weight of the binding spell placed upon your heart.”
He must have noticed that I had the Three Villainesses with me, which was why he had shown such an overreaction earlier.
The fact that a man who usually let people slowly wither to death had brought out an amorphous monster to launch an all-out attack was because of me.
“I guess you can see something?”
“I can't see it perfectly... but I can guess what kind of beings placed that curse on you. Are they not the ancient spirits known as Roas?”
“You know about Roas too?”
“I do. I once dabbled in voodoo as well. To have met the Roas, who have almost vanished now... it means you must have discovered an altar in the Labyrinth. Like I did. I can help you fulfill your destiny!”
“Wait, hold on. An altar?”
I never found anything like that. The Villainesses just beat me up and forced me into a contract.
“Did you not discover an altar and form a contract?”
“No? What is that?”
“What? No, that’s impossible. Those are clearly traces left by Roas.”
“That part is right, but I don't know about any altar.”
“...Did you not take on a destiny and form a contract?”
“I did take on a destiny, I guess.”
I did have the destiny of having to liberate the Three Villainesses in the city.
“No! Dammit! Are you mocking me! There is no other way to find a Roa except in the Labyrinth! Unless you enter uncharted territory, there is no way to shoulder such a heavy binding spell through normal means!”
Ainhel seemed agitated. After calming him down, I decided to ask about the contract he had made with the Roa of the Labyrinth.
We still had almost no information about the Roas on the 8th floor of the Labyrinth.
“Wait. Don't get so worked up. What is this destiny you’re talking about? Under what conditions did you make your contract? And tell me in detail about the being you contracted with. Where, how, and with whom did you make it?”
“That... that is....”
“Is it a condition you can't speak of?”
“It’s not that. The destiny I received was... to witness the end of this world.”
“What?”
“The end of the world? What is this guy talking about? Is he saying an apocalypse is coming?”
Yuria shouted, flaring up.
I calmed her down and ordered the dwarf to continue.
“That being... wanted me to see the end of the world. He gave me the secrets and knowledge of eternal life. I researched based on that, and the result of my success is this mess. Not only was it not a proper eternal life, but I was placed in a position where I am forced to see the end of the city. Because if I die, my soul will be dragged away by him.”
So that was why he feared death.
“Tell me what kind of being you contracted with.”
“It was an idol I found on the 7th floor. While fleeing from monsters, my party and I hid in a cave. I don't know the exact location. However, we found an idol in that cave, and it presented us with a condition.”
I will create a transfer stone for the one who kills their comrades and is the last one standing to return to the surface.
“So... you killed your companions and came up?”
“Yes. I killed my comrades... and escaped alone.”
“And in exchange for letting you live... he told you the secret of eternal life and told you to witness the end of the world? And if you fail, your soul is structured to be dragged back into the Labyrinth.”
“Correct. That is why I hid here. If my identity were revealed to the world, pests would swarm. I could end up being stabbed and killed. So, simply continuing to live quietly inside this room... was the safest way.”
However, his plan had been shattered by my appearance.
“Alone... to the surface...”
Meanwhile, Yuria, who had been listening to the story beside me, fell into deep thought with a serious expression.
“Yuria, what’s wrong? Is there something bothering you?”
“No. It’s just... my mother. Mom... she also returned alone from the 7th floor. Doesn't it... sound similar?”
“Huh?”
The moment I heard Yuria’s words, I felt a slight chill.
I had heard that Moira also once returned as the sole survivor from the 7th floor in the past.
And that she hadn't entered the Labyrinth since then....
“Oh boy.”
Ainhel’s case and Moira’s case were identical.