The Frozen Staircase
“You should keep in mind, Your Grace, that you’ll eventually have to climb those stairs too.”
“Ah!”
The princess couldn’t quite hide her flustered expression as she explained why she had stepped forward. She was willing to take the risk for my sake. I knew I ought to tell her that wasn’t necessary, but unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to say it. From the moment I saw those stairs, I had been praying to the gods harder than anyone else here.
“I was planning to carry you up if possible, but that doesn’t guarantee complete safety, does it? There’s still the chance that someone else could put you in danger.”
That was why she had resolved to take the lead herself, ensuring the entire party could ascend the stairs safely.
“The stairs are made of ice and look incredibly treacherous. Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“It’s actually safer when there’s no one around me. The problem is climbing together.”
Her confident tone when she said she’d be fine moving alone left me with no choice but to entrust the task to her. Truthfully, I was relieved she had volunteered first. No one else had shown any willingness to step up, and I had been at a loss about what to do.
“Here’s the equipment.”
Nails and a hammer to drive into the wall. Rope to support us. It was rather pathetic as far as safety gear went, but this was the best we could manage.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Please be careful.”
Melody stepped onto the stairs first. Even when I looked up, it was impossible to tell where they ended. I was listening carefully to the sound of her climbing when her voice drifted down from above.
“I’ll stop here for a moment. Everyone, grab the rope and climb up to this point.”
She had hammered a nail into the wall to secure the rope. Following the plan, we each gripped the rope with one hand and began ascending the stairs one careful step at a time. We kept a full step’s distance between each person so we wouldn’t be too close if something unexpected happened.
Slip—
“Whoa.”
When I staggered, the leader caught my back from behind.
“Careful, sir.”
“Thank you.”
It felt like someone had poured oil all over the floor. Even with shoes designed to prevent slipping, climbing these stairs was no easy task. At least gripping the rope tightly gave me some psychological comfort. Not to mention the leader was staying right behind me, looking after me personally. Step by step, I made my way up until Melody came into view ahead of me. And beyond her, the moving staircase.
“Ah…”
The true terror of these stairs was only just beginning. It almost felt like I could see a sign behind her that read, Welcome to Hell.
When we had first encountered Prince Loras’s subjugation force, I felt a pang of regret that we had reduced our numbers too drastically. But now, while actually climbing these stairs, we were all breathing sighs of relief that our party was so small.
“I bet the larger teams lost quite a few people here.”
“Exactly. It’s a lot harder than I expected.”
In a game, this would have been an entertaining obstacle to overcome. In reality, crossing it felt like a nerve-wracking form of torture. Thankfully, the rope proved incredibly helpful. Not a single one of us slipped, and we all reached the top of the stairs safely.
“Do we really have to go back down these stairs on our way out?”
“……”
“……”
Everyone froze in horror at someone’s muttered question. None of us had considered that possibility.
“There must be another way, right?”
“We absolutely have to find another route.”
We decided to stay positive and focus on examining our new surroundings.
“There are traces everywhere, so we won’t even need to search hard. Hmm… from the looks of these marks, it seems they passed through only a few hours ago. At most, I’d say about five hours.”
Five hours might sound long, but since a single monster fight could easily eat up an hour, the actual distance between us probably wasn’t that great.
“If the gap is only a few hours, that means they could still be nearby.”
The distance was close enough to practically bump into them. Princess Reciel’s face crumpled at the thought. She clearly didn’t want to run into Prince Loras here and ruin her mood.
“There’s only one path, so we have no choice but to head in the same direction.”
“We’ll move slowly and search as we go.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The most important thing was finding the map fragments. We couldn’t turn back just because we didn’t want to encounter the prince after struggling all the way up those stairs. Going down would be far more dangerous than coming up. Knowing how much Princess Reciel dreaded the idea, we searched the fourth floor with unusual thoroughness. And because we were being so meticulous, we ended up finding far more map fragments than expected.
“We’ve already found six of them.”
“Your Grace, may I ask for your help?”
The collected fragments naturally made their way to me. I wasn’t sure how well I would do, but I tried to keep my mind light.
I’ll just give it a try. If it doesn’t work, then that’s that.
They were asking so carefully, worried I might feel burdened, that I couldn’t possibly refuse. Besides, I had a growing suspicion that the Sun God had shown me the completed map in my dreams. I couldn’t turn down a request to assemble the pieces.
“This one goes here… and this should fit right about… there. Connected.”
As I began fitting the new fragments into the empty spaces of the partially completed map, it came together with surprising ease. It felt almost too simple. I found myself strangely confident that these seemingly random, isolated pieces belonged exactly where I placed them.
In my previous life, people would have called me a shaman.
Even I was astonished at how perfectly everything fit.
“I think it’s all done.”
“Already?”
“That fast?”
The leader and Princess Reciel examined the map I had assembled.
“Hmm… is this really correct?”
Princess Reciel seemed troubled by the fragment that sat alone like a remote island. She asked hesitantly.
“Yes. I believe that’s the right spot.”
“…If you say so, then it must be. I’ll secure it here.”
She began fixing the fragments to a cloth using thread. It was an act of trust in the puzzle I had completed. I had already felt that strange sense of déjà vu twice before. There was no point in doubting it now.
Then why did You smack me on the forehead? Did You really hit me just because I complained about Prince Loras’s subjugation force?
That person’s thoughts were truly impossible to read. Surely the Sun God wouldn’t have inflicted Divine Punishment on me for no reason. But not knowing the reason made my chest feel tight. Still, asking someone else if they had any guesses would be…
I am a priest, after all.
It was far too embarrassing and shameful to speak aloud.
“Thanks to you, Your Grace, finding our way has become much easier. Thank you.”
The guide checked the completed map and offered me her gratitude. The more perfectly the map came together, the greater the benefit to her as our pathfinder.
“The fourth-floor map was quite large, so it was easier to assemble than I expected. Oh! Have you looked closely at this section?”
Something suddenly occurred to me, so I asked the guide.
“Pardon? Which part do you mean?”
I pointed at the section that sat apart like an isolated island.
“This area here.”
“I see. Let me examine it. Is there something about it that bothers you?”
“Right here. It cuts off abruptly, but doesn’t the path feel… unnatural?”
“Hmm…”
Since she handled maps far more often than I did, I thought she would notice things I couldn’t. At first the guide scanned it casually, but her expression gradually grew serious. Then she suddenly called out to the leader.
“Leader!”
“?”
The leader approached the guide who had called him.
“You still have that piece, right?”
It was the fragment showing the first secret room we had discovered. The leader had been keeping it under special care. While anyone could look at the other pieces, that one could not be handled carelessly.
“You mean this one?”
“Yes. Bring it over here for a moment.”
The guide took the fragment from the leader and began explaining her hypothesis in earnest.
“Based on my knowledge and intuition, I think this map connects right here. Let’s take a look.”
She placed the fragment against the isolated section of the map.
“It doesn’t fit?”
“Huh? That’s strange. I was so sure…”
But the piece refused to align the way she expected. As the guide fumbled with it, turning the fragment this way and that in confusion, I raised my hand.
“May I try?”
“Oh! Of course. This is practically your discovery anyway. I shouldn’t have tried to show off in front of the expert.”
“In my opinion, this fragment belongs here.”
I placed the secret room fragment a short distance away from the isolated island section.
“Here?”
“Yes. There’s still one connecting piece missing. I suspect it’s the fragment that shows the path leading into the secret room.”
“Finding the route that leads this far seems important too.”
“So we don’t even need to climb to the fifth floor. We can clear the fourth floor and reach it from here?”
“We need to find it before the people on the third floor catch up.”
At last, the vague information about the secret room had been unraveled. The leader and the guide began to grow excited.
“We should report this to Her Highness.”
The leader glanced at me as if asking for permission. I nodded readily. Having come this far, I had no intention of backing down like a coward.
“Your Highness, a moment please.”
The leader soon brought Princess Reciel over and shared everything that had just happened. The problem now was reaching the location indicated by the map fragment.
“For now, let’s head this far.”
Princess Reciel pointed to a spot where the path split into three directions. The leader spoke up.
“If we move too quickly, we might run into Prince Loras’s group.”
“If the map fragment we need is in that direction, we can’t afford to hesitate. We’ll push forward too.”
Fortunately, no one opposed the princess’s decision.