The Underground Dungeon, Once More (1)
The order of entry had been somewhat rearranged.
Last time, the plan had been for the adventurers to enter first, with the knight order following after — but an unexpected mishap had thrown a wrench into that. This time, adventurers and knights would enter mixed evenly, half and half.
Once again, Alec stood at the head of the vanguard party.
Behind him came Yona the healer, and behind her stood Lud, the self-proclaimed Hero.
Ten adventurers formed three parties, and interspersed among them were ten knights and three priests, with Vigrind among them. Then came another ten adventurers, and at the rear stood ten more knights, two priests, and Aize.
The arrangement was deliberately mixed so that even if the column was cut in half like last time, each fragment would still be able to fight the demon.
"—And so, I smashed that monster's head clean open, just like that."
Listening to Lud drone on and on with his tales of battlefield glory, Yona silently rested a hand on Alec's shoulder.
Torchlight flickered, filling the corridor with a murky half-brightness, and in between came the footsteps of adventurers and knights alike, all holding their breath.
Everyone's tension was plainly visible — everyone except Lud, who was grinning away, entirely at his ease.
"Hey, uh, could you maybe shut your mouth? Everyone's on edge here."
"What's the matter, hmm? There's no monsters down here anyway."
And how exactly would you know whether there are or aren't?
Yona found this man Lud thoroughly distasteful.
"Alec, hips."
When Yona tapped his shoulder, Alec answered without a word, only drawing his hips back a little. Rummaging through the sling bag hanging at his waist, Yona fished out a luminescent stone, caught his eye for a moment, then crushed the stone's core and hurled it with all her might.
The corridor blazed bright in an instant.
But the monsters that had come scattering with that same shaaaa sound as before were nowhere to be seen.
Silence, in the truest sense of the word, hung over everything. And within that silence, that eerie, unsettling presence still lingered.
"Hn…"
Without thinking, Yona rubbed the right arm wrapped tightly in her Holy Shroud.
Somehow, it gave her chills. She was only a half-pint priestess who couldn't even perform purification, but she was still someone who wielded holy power — and people like her were extraordinarily sensitive to places like this, places that felt wrong.
"You okay?"
Alec, who had been walking ahead, stopped briefly and turned to look back at her.
"I'm fine. What kind of vanguard looks backward? Keep your eyes forward. You'll get us killed."
"I've got eyes in the back of my head, you know."
At that, Yona gave a light snort. Yeah, right. Funny guy.
Then, suddenly, she thought of money. Her reason for working this hard.
"Shit. Get through this, and that's seven gold coins."
Yona thought of the coin pouch she kept so carefully hidden in her inn room. With this job's pay added in, she'd have seven gold coins. A few silver and copper pieces were tucked in there too, but still — seven gold coins.
"You've saved up quite a bit, huh?"
"Saved every copper. You need money if you want to get into the Community."
The Wizard Community. The name of that colossal tower that stood between the Viridien Principality and the Infula Holy See — a tower on a completely different scale from that glorified stub of a thing they had here in Evian. The place where, rumor had it, every famous mage on the continent had gathered under one roof.
"…Are you seriously going there?"
Between the dull thud of boots on stone, only the voices of Alec and Yona carried aimlessly down the corridor. Alec's gaze never wavered from the front, and Yona behind him kept watch on the front and flanks, yet somehow their conversation flowed on without a hitch.
"I'm going. I told you — I'm going back to being a man no matter what. I will go back."
"You mean that?"
"How many times do I have to say I mean it?"
Yona gave the back of Alec's head a light tap, then settled her hand back on his shoulder.
"I'm going back. No matter what."
She burned with resolve. Returning to her original world — and returning to being a man. If she couldn't have both, then at the very least, she wanted to be a man again. That much, she would make happen.
And as she burned, the self-proclaimed Hero Lud watched her with an intrigued gaze.
*
"Don't even think about dealing with the bodies. Just gather up their effects. We'll collect everything when we pull out later and carry it all out at once."
Kayak spoke quietly as he surveyed the surroundings. His voice was low, but the silence was so absolute that it carried clearly.
The corpses of adventurers strewn about were beyond any hope of proper burial. Anyone facing the demon might well end up sprawled on this ice-cold floor right beside them. But there was no need to let thoughts like that drag at their feet. Better to stride out, kill the demon in broad view of everyone, and gather up what little remained of the already dead on the way.
"Even the little bastard's corpse is gone."
Yona looked around at the second floor of the Catacombs, where even the bodies had vanished as if the last battle had been nothing but a lie.
There had been a vicious fight here — a fight to the bone. And yet the corpses had disappeared without a trace.
"Yona."
"Teacher."
Aize, who had been split off into a different party and had entered from the opposite entrance, came up beside her.
"How is your arm? Nothing feels strange, I hope?"
With a worried expression, Aize gently stroked Yona's right arm. Yona had already been paying unusual attention to it, alert for anything she might feel. But there was nothing. Not really.
"Nothing like that. I don't feel anything at all."
"I see."
"Sister Aize."
Vigrind came up to Aize's side as well. Her face, already pale from lack of sunlight, had gone even more deathly white — pitiable to look at.
"Sister Vigrind, are you all right?"
"…I would like to say I'm fine, but I'm afraid I can't."
Yona had it somewhat easier, but the stronger one's holy power, the more keenly one felt what this place truly was. Aize, and Vigrind too. It seemed the demon had indeed sunk its roots deep into this place.
That dreadful, frigid aura warred directly against holy power — and the stronger the holy power, the heavier the pressure it bore down upon them.
Nothing but pitch-black darkness everywhere. Even carrying a torch, the stone brick walls on every side had darkened to a sickly black, so they could barely make out the ground beneath their feet. Cutting through this darkness was beyond the flames' power.
"Sister Vigrind, this is exactly when you must steel your heart. You must not give in to fear."
At those words, Vigrind bit down hard on her lower lip.
Yes. I was scared. Vigrind was afraid. And Yona, by contrast, seemed perfectly fine — even trying to console herself with the thought that it was only because Yona was a healer carrying a half-measure of holy power did nothing to ease the ache. Yona was this unshaken, while she herself — the overwhelmingly superior one — was trembling with fear?
It made no sense.
"Wh-who says I'm scared? I'm perfectly fine. A demon like this is nothing to me. Nothing at all. I'll purify it in an instant."
"Yes, that's the spirit. Demons always bore into the weak of heart."
"…Yes."
Whether or not Vigrind actually understood, she gave an answer — so presumably it had gotten through somehow.
Yona decided to stop paying attention to her. Once this business was over, she was headed for the Wizard Community anyway, to break the magic — it had to be magic — laid on this body and become a man again. And after that, she'd scrape together whatever money it took and return to her original world.
There was no room for Vigrind anywhere in that plan. She didn't want to be bothered.
*
It must already be deep in the dead of night.
After taking a short rest on the second floor, the commander of the subjugation force — who doubled as captain of the knights — ran through his checks and summoned the party leaders to announce that the break was over. The party members assembled with their gear strapped on as if they'd never been resting at all, headcounts were taken, and now it was time to descend to the third floor.
Vigrind stepped forward before the assembled company. Her red hair tied up on either side, dressed in a neat white cassock, she looked every inch the figure of a saint — and the adventurers' eyes turned toward her.
A soft white radiance began to rise from Vigrind's cupped, joined hands. The round glow soon swelled until it was as large as a person's head, and then it drifted up into the air. Under every watching eye it rose until it nearly touched the second floor's ceiling, where it burst in a wash of brilliant light, showering its sparkle down over the heads of the subjugation force below.
"I have bestowed the Blessing of Miasma Resistance. Even facing the demon, you should be able to withstand its miasma for some time now."
At Vigrind's words, a murmur ran through the crowd. Is this the first time anyone's gotten one of these? Mine too. Doesn't something like this cost a fortune? Wait, are we invincible now—
The overwhelming majority were receiving such a blessing for the first time in their lives, and that alone was something to be grateful for.
The dark gray stone door stood shut fast. In the past, it had been covered in the same filthy black moss as the rest of the rock-brick walls, which was why no one had ever found it — but some curious adventurer or other had evidently dug it out one way or another.
"…So, uh, opening that stone door gets us to the third floor."
And of course the task of opening it fell to the vanguard party. Worse — it fell to the guard standing at the very front of the vanguard party. Alec!
Alec spat on the ground, tch, and chewed down the curses muttering in his throat.
"If I'd known in advance, I never would've signed up for vanguard."
"Scared?"
Alec shook his head fiercely at Yona's voice from behind him. He was, in fact, terrified out of his mind — but he hated showing it.
"You little rascal, you are scared. Here, big brother will show you some kindness. You make it out of here alive, and I'll let you touch my tits. For real."
"For real?"
Alec whipped around at that. And came face to face with Yona, grinning ear to ear.
"For real, you brat. You don't trust your big brother?"
"I do trust you, but, uh. Letting me touch them is a bit much."
"Huh?"
Back then he'd been all but singing for the chance, and now it was a bit much? Alec had not expected this. Yona genuinely wondered if something was wrong with him — whether the miasma had addled him after all.
"Just touching them is a bit much, so let me give them a good grope instead."
"…You little shit. Fine, fine. Grope away to your heart's content. Happy now?"
Yona flashed a grin, and Alec grinned right back.
Courage, a hundredfold. How many nights of fevered torment had he endured, watching those breasts sway with every step Yona took? For the sake of freely kneading those luscious, magnificent breasts — for that alone, Alec swore, and swore again, that he would survive this.