The Archipelago (9)
Maybe it was because the number of people learning dungeon strategy from me had grown from one to two?
The raid on the Archipelago dungeons went far more smoothly than it had yesterday. Joy's quick thinking laid down the overall framework, and Arthur patched up the parts her scatterbrained mistakes left open, so it was only natural that our pace picked up.
Of course, I had seen all of this coming, which is why I'd set the time limit for the dungeon runs at three hours.
When they heard that, Arthur and Joy both whined about how cutting a whole hour off yesterday's time made no sense whatsoever — but faced with my counter-threat of fine, then try doing it in two, they had no choice but to nod meekly.
"Don't worry. It's not like I don't know exactly how hopeless and dumb you two are. Today, just for you~, I'll generously give you two chances."
In exchange for the shortened time limit, I granted them one extra attempt. If they succeeded on even one of today's two dungeon runs, they'd win the bet.
I said it because I was absolutely certain they'd fail even after three hours of desperate flailing — and yet by the time the first dungeon run was wrapping up, I found myself cursing my own arrogance from that morning.
"Damn it. If we'd been just twenty minutes faster."
"But we saw hope, didn't we? At this rate, it's definitely doable."
"Right. Let's shore up the weak points before we enter the next dungeon."
There were several reasons my prediction had been wrong.
First and biggest of all: Joy was far, far smarter than I'd given her credit for.
She'd received the dungeon strategy guide from me last night, and despite wearing a sulky I don't want to do this expression, she tore through the book at blinding speed.
From the sidelines it looked like she was just skimming — but the reality was different. Joy was speed-reading and memorizing everything inside it.
Sounds like nonsense, right? I thought the exact same thing when she told me she'd "roughly memorized it." But this girl had genuinely committed every important part of the book to memory.
The moment we entered the dungeon, she started applying what was written in the guide exactly as written, and I was just like — wow. It was true that Joy had top-tier talent among mage characters, but I never imagined her intelligence was THIS high! I nearly blurted out asking the heavens to give me half that brainpower on the spot?!
That said, Joy is still Joy, so she fumbled things here and there, as always.
But Arthur standing beside her corrected every single mistake instantly, which effectively doubled her output.
Frey being unusually fired-up today was another major problem. Why was the girl who'd normally charge off on her own suddenly cooperating so eagerly with Arthur and Joy?!
Thanks to them, things were moving so fast that I seriously considered stirring up some infighting mid-run just to slow them down! If this kept up, I was honestly going to lose the bet!
Still, we managed to survive the crisis this time. There was one more chance left, but that was no big deal. All I had to do was take them somewhere harder than the dungeon I'd originally planned.
Now that I had a rough read on those two's level, as long as I steered us toward a place they couldn't clear within three hours, I was safe! I could protect my pride and win the bet!
"Ugh!"
"If only we'd been a little faster. So close."
I'd picked that dungeon fully intending to win the bet, but the result had been razor-thin.
Why are these two growing so fast? Is this what the two absolute top-tier companions you can recruit at Soul Academy are capable of!?
If Phoebe had been added to their side too, I really would have lost, I thought — and yet I couldn't help laughing.
Because no matter how outstanding those two were, the winner of the bet had been me.
Standing between the two of them as they replayed the day's run just outside the dungeon's exit, I flashed a smug little grin.
"Congratulations, losers. Time for your fun~ punishment. Have you been waiting? Hearts pounding, I bet?"
At my words, Joy turned pale the instant she looked at Arthur's bunny ears, and Arthur, head hanging in resignation, let out a voice thick with suppressed anguish.
"Lucy Aln. Remember this well. We still have plenty of chances left."
"Waaah, so~ scary~ I can't even imagine what kind of shameful things the Poor Prince, slowly transforming into a pervert, is planning to make me do."
"No. I'm not—"
"What do I do, Scatterbrain? What if the Poor Prince jumps me?"
"...Good grief. Your Highness."
"The Prince. A colossal pervert."
"Won't any of you let me say I have no such intentions?! I'm rather attached to my own life! I have no desire to be murdered by Count Aln!"
Under the crossfire of all three of us, Arthur's voice rose into something close to a shriek before he finally let out a long sigh.
"Enough. Do as you like. Being your entertainment is not on my list of ambitions."
"Well, that worked out. See, Scatterbrain? The Prince is taking the punishment for you. Pfff. Trying to act all noble just because he's a man, I guess."
"What?"
"Huh?!"
The moment Joy's eyes — faint hope flickering in them — met Arthur's, which clearly read what is this nonsense, I burst out laughing before I could stop myself.
The contrast with how brilliantly talented they'd both looked mere minutes ago was more than I could bear.
After giggling for a good long while, I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and curled my lips upward.
"What's this, Scatterbrain? Planning to survive on your own? How petty and mean of you."
"Th—that's not— I—"
"And I see the Poor Prince is too stingy to make even that small a sacrifice. I understand your true nature perfectly now, Your Highness."
"...Damn it. I fell for it again."
Having thoroughly teased the both of them, I handed out the punishments as fairly as I could, so that Arthur and Joy wouldn't end up on bad terms with each other.
After clearing the dungeon and returning to the lodging, Arthur and Joy pulled Frey in with snacks and began holding a war council on strategy to win the bet.
The reason the two of them were moving this desperately was simple. If they kept falling victim to whatever punishment Lucy dreamed up, the ending was guaranteed to be ugly.
"First it was the bunny headband, then she drew bunny whiskers on us in ink. Lucy Aln's aim is obvious. She intends to have us dressed in rabbit paraphernalia from head to toe."
Joy, currently wearing nothing but the bunny headband, stared at Arthur as he spoke in his gravest tone — and failed utterly to keep a straight face, dropping her head.
The gap between his earnest delivery and his face, complete with bunny ears and inked whiskers, was simply too enormous.
Seemingly aware of the absurdity himself, Arthur forced an air of calm, both cheeks burning red.
"Joy. When you think of a rabbit, what comes to mind?"
"Urk. Th—the. Kheup. Um—"
"Never mind. Don't answer. In my judgment, the next thing to come will be a rabbit's nose, or its tail."
Arthur reasoned that if she'd added whiskers on top of the ears, it was a declaration that every subsequent punishment would be rabbit-themed as well.
"The problem is that I doubt this ends here."
Five days of dungeon clearing still remained ahead of them. And yet the stock of expected punishments was far too small. Even if Lucy mimicked the rabbit's nose, tail, and limbs one by one, days would be left over.
Only then grasping the full gravity of the situation, Joy stopped laughing and spoke up carefully.
"What sort of punishment do you think we'll be given, Your Highness?"
"I have heard, from somewhere or other, of an outfit made in imitation of a rabbit. I suspect Lucy Aln intends it as her final punishment."
Joy found herself remembering what Lucy had worn on a Field Trip about half a year ago. That scandalously revealing outfit she'd put on to negotiate with the Lord of the Forest.
If. If that was the final punishment—
"Absolutely not!"
Imagining herself wrapped in that outfit, Joy flushed scarlet and shrieked.
"That. That alone I could never wear! This is a matter of honor before anything else — the honor a daughter of House Patran must uphold!"
"So you do have something in mind. Have you seen it?"
"...You haven't seen it, Your Highness?"
"Only in stories. Could you describe what it looks like?"
"It's— th—the thing is, you seeee—"
Joy wrestled with how to explain it, but in the end she couldn't force the words out and sank into silence.
Frey, munching on a cookie beside them, glanced at Arthur as he shrugged, and tossed out one flat remark.
"Your Highness. Pervert."
"Where in that entire conversation was there a single opening to call me a pervert?!"
"Pervert. Pervert."
Slipping out of the lodging right after dinner, I followed wherever the map pointed.
This time, too, I was the only one who could pass through the barrier.
Perhaps because of what had happened in the small hours yesterday, everyone except Karl sent me off without much fuss.
Karl, as always, insisted he couldn't allow the young lady to walk into danger — but as long as he couldn't cross the barrier, every word of it was meaningless.
And so, entering the impassable zone, what greeted me was — just like the last dungeon — a dungeon I had cleared in the past.
Its brutal difficulty meant a single moment of carelessness could cost you your life, but to me it was nothing at all.
By now it should be obvious, but the end of this dungeon differed little from yesterday's. Once again, I came face to face with the past memories that the original Lucy had carried.
'It's all right, Lucy. Do you really think your mother would die so easily?'
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Mira's face looked haggard in a way it hadn't yesterday. Illness had taken hold of her.
Benedict, who loved his wife, reached out in every direction he could to find a cure for Mira's sickness, but every attempt came to nothing.
No priest, no mage of any standing could even begin to fathom what the illness consuming Mira was.
'I will be at our Lucy's side until she's a grandmother herself.'
As the sickness worsened around her, Mira struggled to hold even her own mind together — yet before Lucy, she always strove to be the dependable mother her daughter needed. She wanted to be the pillar for her fragile, delicate little girl.
'So don't you worry, Lucy.'
But human will could not, in the end, overcome fate. Just before Lucy turned ten, Mira slipped into an eternal sleep, and just like that, Lucy was alone.
Benedict, who should have been the one holding the crumbling Lucy together, could barely hold together his own heart, torn cleanly in two.
The servants who lingered around Lucy did not pity her. The tutors hired to teach her, rather than persuading the girl who refused to attend her lessons, simply and willingly gave up their posts.
Alone in a manor bustling with hundreds of moving bodies, Lucy shut herself inside her room and slowly began to rot away.
Why couldn't I say a single word of love to Mother, not even at the very moment she died?
Why couldn't I offer Mother even one decent, proper word?
Why did I have to hear good for you instead of a single word of sympathy?
What did I do wrong?
What sin did I commit?
Why do I alone have to suffer like this?
Why do I alone have to be hated?
Why.
Why.
Why?!
Two months after Mira's death, the child who had tried so hard to stay gentle — just as her mother would have wanted — even under the weight of her curse, was gone.
What emerged from that dark room was nothing more than a pitiful little girl who wanted to pour every ounce of her resentment out upon the world.