60. No Shackles (1)
60. No Shackles (1)
At a time when she would normally have been fast asleep and deep in dreams.
But Sonia, far from falling asleep, was on the verge of burning every pattern on the ceiling into her retinas all night long.
It was because of two worries she was carrying right now.
"...Haaah..."
'What is my teacher trying to do?'
The first was what Libertas was doing after she had separated herself from the group.
From the start, she hadn't told the people she was accompanying about the purpose of this journey.
She had merely told them to prepare for travel and a fateful reunion, nothing more.
'I don't resent that.'
She had indeed asked to be let in on the secret directly, but she hadn't expected to be accepted from the start.
Even Sonia herself called her teacher but didn't truly trust her on a human level, so what could she say?
In other words, this was... just the process of letting her know that she 'had the will' for it.
[Tell me whenever you need something. I have high hopes for you.]
Libertas, that 'ironically cruel yet kind' Dungeon Lord, had been subtly letting her know that she was always ready to accept her.
What she had said today was merely the response to that.
It was the process for Sonia to approach Libertas's heart. With the wish that she would become a more 'human' being.
'The only one who knows all of my teacher's thoughts... is probably that person, isn't it.'
Into Sonia's mind came the Skeleton who wore a bastard sword at the hip, who bizarrely maintained the appearance of a 'neat undead' and always exuded a refined atmosphere.
The Skeleton who bore the name Evangeline.
At present, the only one Libertas had brought inside her 'deepest fence' was Rosie, just that one person.
Lately, especially today, she felt that Lin Xue was teetering precariously on the edge of that fence, but still, not yet.
Right now, there was only one.
'With high probability... it's going to be something cruel.'
The reason Libertas had deliberately kept people apart was likely because this wasn't something she could use to get them 'accustomed' to her.
Adapting them to life as monsters in the dungeon was a natural procedure, but what she had to do now was something that couldn't be utilized for that kind of adaptation...
Which meant Sonia's current worry was the suspicion that it wasn't something simple like mere slaughter or violence.
"...Is someone talking about me?"
- Tap?
"No. It seems I was mistaken."
"S-save me...! Please...!"
Puhwaak!!
"Kuaaak!! Aaak!! Aaaaaaak!!!"
And that thought was correct.
Right now, Libertas was in the process of turning Haley's escorts into beings of a different nature, all while leaving their reason intact.
Though the realm that Sonia, ignorant of that, could imagine was at best something like 'ordinary torture.'
[I love you from the depths of my heart.]
"Ugh..."
While thinking about Libertas like that, the 'real reason' keeping her awake tonight flashed through Sonia's mind.
It was true that she was worried about what Libertas was doing, but she was also someone who gave up fairly quickly on things beyond her reach.
She had already grown accustomed to such situations.
She had lived that way for a long time.
It was an attitude that, had her teacher known about it, would have prompted her to say, 'I'll have to fix that thinking quickly'—and Libertas was indeed working on that—but it was still an attitude she hadn't yet shaken off.
[If possible, I'd like you to go out with me. I swear on my mana, I won't leave you alone.]
So the reason she couldn't fall asleep tonight was the same as the reason she was now forcing herself to think about Libertas: Leonis's confession.
That incident that happened at the ballroom today.
'Why did my senior suddenly... no, it wasn't sudden. In the past too... yes. Probably back then when he held me too...'
With her face half-covered by the blanket, Sonia let out a heavy sigh, her face dyed bright red.
'How embarrassing...'
Though the reason wasn't 'fluttering feelings.'
It was closer to 'shock' at experiencing romance for the first time in her life.
Whatever anyone said, she still possessed a heart too 'young' to know love. Just as Libertas had said.
Though she would probably deny it thoroughly.
[You don't have to say it with words. If you'll accept this ring...]
[I'm sorry!]
So Sonia's rejection hadn't happened because she disliked Leonis. She simply found it far too burdensome and wanted to defer the decision.
She hadn't had the composure to express all those feelings and had blurted out what sounded like a simple rejection, causing Leonis to become dejected, but she wasn't even in a position to worry about him.
'I don't know what kind of face to look at my senior with...'
"Hooah."
In the end, Sonia, who let out another heavy sigh, finally felt drowsiness wash over her and closed her eyes.
- Kwang - !!!
"Ueok...!"
Then, startled by an impact that struck her ears and entire body, she snapped out of her drowsiness.
Beolkeok!
"Sonia! Get up, quickly!"
"Uh, unnie...? What's going on?"
"It's monsters!"
"What?! Don't tell me... my teacher...?"
At the explanation from Maria, who had burst into the room, Libertas momentarily flashed into Sonia's mind.
If she had thought for just a moment, she would have remembered that her teacher had never chosen this kind of method before, but it was a reaction from having been thinking about her until just moments ago.
Maria shook her head.
"This isn't her way. Monsters have been summoned inside the city. It's probably the work of fanatics."
"Ah...!"
The summoning of demon realm or demon world monsters by fanatics.
It was rare but not unheard of. And in such cases, what the adventurers staying in the city had to do was fixed to one thing.
Protecting the citizens.
With that realization, Sonia rose from her spot and gathered her equipment.
And at the same time, she realized one more thing.
'Unnie said she can't use her sword right now. Then...'
The people remaining in this house right now were Sonia, Maria, and Leonis.
Leonis was a detection-type mage who knew almost nothing about combat magic from the start, and Maria currently had nearly all her abilities sealed, as her teacher Libertas had said.
If that was the case.
'I'm the only one who can protect these people.'
"Sonia? Let's go quickly. We have to move, I said."
Feeling as though a heavy burden had suddenly been placed on her shoulders, Sonia stopped in place and looked at Maria.
She was the only one. The only one who could use proper force.
Which meant.
"Where were you planning to go?"
"There are people on the streets. We have to save those people...!"
She had no leeway to expend effort on other people whose faces and voices she didn't even know.
"Unnie. We must not move."
"What? Ah..."
Maria stared at Sonia as if she couldn't understand for a moment. But soon, she too grasped the situation.
'Right. My sword right now is...'
The sight of Maria looking down at her own hands and going blank made Sonia's heart ache, but she didn't stop there and recalled what needed to be done.
She had to turn this house into a fortress.
At least until Libertas arrived, she had to protect their bodies.
- Kieeeek!!
"「Ice Wall」!"
She rammed a shield made of cold air into the face of a goblin that was charging at the window after seeing her face, then fixed that shield in place over the window.
- Kuaaak!! Save me...!!
'I'm sorry.'
The screams of a person dying on the other side could be heard, but Sonia, having already steeled her heart, did not let her resolve waver.
She knew it too.
That 'fairy-tale' story about how those with power must protect people.
She had never really possessed proper power in her life, so she had hardly ever put it into practice, but that those with power must protect the weak was the first oath she had taken as an adventurer.
'But no one keeps that.'
However, as she lived, Sonia hadn't seen many people who kept that oath.
Aside from a few of her friends and acquaintances.
[With that body, you're going to be an adventurer? Wouldn't it be more helpful to just die?]
If anything, she had heard voices mocking her.
Those mocking voices had been a factor that made her rely more blindly on her friends, but...
'The me right now can do it. I can protect unnie and my senior.'
Look.
In the end, she had turned her curse into a blessing.
Though it wasn't by her power alone but thanks to her teacher's help, it was proof that her life, endured until then, had value too.
'The guild in Solemio had normally been fairly friendly neighbors, but as soon as something big happened, they immediately turned their eyes away from our matter. Even the guild master and the clerks, with whom we usually laughed and got along.'
And based on what she had experienced so far.
Someone who couldn't even protect the people close to them had no room to cast their eyes toward anything beyond that.
'If Maria unnie hadn't been there, we couldn't have even hired adventurers for the investigation request in the first place. So why must we protect others?'
Even friendly neighbors acted like that in this world.
So in such a world, helping others in a situation like this where it was hard to even protect oneself?
That was arrogance.
Arrogance that could, at the slightest misstep, lose the people around you and, further, even lose yourself.
And decisively.
'Unnie said no, but we don't know.'
She was suspecting one more possibility.
To prevent that possibility from being realized, they must not join up with the people.
On the contrary, keeping apart might end up helping them after all.
"Miss Sonia? What are you doing...! If you block the door here, the people...!"
"We can't go out. Senior."
Naturally, that kind of thinking met with resistance from the other person in the house.
Of course, Sonia had anticipated that as well, but... she flinched inwardly for a moment at how coldly her own voice came out.
"...And I can't let other people come in either. Please block off the second floor."
"But...!"
"Have you forgotten? We belong to the dungeon. What we have to do is protect ourselves until our master arrives."
Abandoning the perpetually expressionless face with which she had normally observed situations powerlessly, Sonia glared at Leonis with eyes as sharp as she could manage.
Although still lacking in force, her gaze that clearly conveyed her will made Leonis stiffen his face as well.
She paid attention to his gestures.
The Leonis she knew was a kind person. The likelihood was high that he wouldn't be persuaded by such simple words.
As expected.
"I'm sorry, Miss Sonia."
Leonis didn't stop at that.
"「Rift Cre」...!"
"「Ice Hammer」!"
"Son...?!"
The moment she saw Leonis reach his hand toward the ice-covered window and chant a spell to escape, Sonia used an attack spell without hesitation and knocked him out on the spot.
In the midst of that, seeing that he had chosen a way out through a window that was easier to block again, it could be glimpsed that he intended to throw only himself into danger, but Sonia had no intention of letting him go out.
It would be difficult to protect this place alone, but letting someone who could immediately ruin things go was more dangerous.
"Sonia?"
"Will unnie interfere too? With me protecting us."
Kwang!
- Kieeek!!
The sight of Sonia, with mana-light glowing in both eyes and a chunk of ice that could knock Maria out at any moment summoned in one hand.
Even as the sounds of monsters invading from the second floor could be heard, Sonia, focusing as if her will were more important, looked extremely unfamiliar to Maria.
That she, who even inside that dark dungeon, even in a hopeless situation, hadn't hesitated to extend her hand to her, would coldly push others away like this.
'But right now, I'm the only one who can understand this child.'
However, it wasn't that Maria couldn't accept the reason.
Adventurers were not volunteers. Prioritizing protecting oneself was what allowed one to even attempt to protect others.
Even more so, rather than an adventurer who prioritized protecting people, she was a mercenary who could gain nothing if she couldn't achieve her own preservation first.
The man called Leonis was simply too kind, that was all.
"...No. But as I am now, I'd just be in the..."
"The numbers seem high, but fortunately, I don't see any large monsters yet. Unnie. You'd better arm yourself so you can protect yourself. And please take care of senior."
"What are you going to do?"
"Enemies have come in. I'll block them."
Immediately, Sonia handed Maria the sword she had worn at her waist, pulled a hand axe from her thigh, entrusted Leonis to her, and immediately began to move.
Kung! Kung-kung-kung!
- Kirrrr...
- Kiee...
From the second floor that hadn't been blocked yet, the commotion gradually increased, and dolls with a red glow in both eyes began to appear one by one.
The monsters outside had realized there was prey here and had rushed in.
Kkeudeudeuk...
"Come in."
As Sonia, putting all her strength into the hands gripping the hand axe and wand, glared at them and spoke.
As if understanding those words, immediately.
- Kieeeek!!
- Kyaaak!!
Numerous silhouettes made entirely of green leapt out at once.