The Regressor Is Panicked (4)
The Regressor Is Panicked (4)
"Who are you people! Are you residents of this place?"
Snow whips through the air.
The self-proclaimed Baron Jorge's clothes were never meant for a bitter winter like this. A little worn, a little flimsy, a little gaudy—in short, thin.
"We... it's hard to explain the details, but we only need to survive five days. We'll repay you somehow, please..."
Yet Baron Jorge didn't flinch. Or rather, he was determined not to flinch.
His fingertips had already gone red, the tip of his nose was strawberry-red, and his wrinkled face twitched uncontrollably against the sudden cold. But his voice didn't tremble, and his eyes were resolute. It was an attitude hard to believe from someone who'd supposedly just been summoned.
"..."
"..."
But... even if they asked for help, how the hell were we supposed to help them? We'd also just been summoned, and we didn't know a damn thing. Help? We're the ones who needed help!
"Ugh, uuugh..."
"Cold, it's so cold..."
Still, turning our backs on the hundreds of people trembling behind him would be absurd. They wore clothes just as thin as Baron Jorge's, but they lacked the sheer mental fortitude that let him endure the snow.
"First... let's go inside."
"First... let's go inside."
Our voices overlapped, and my eyes met those of the middle-aged white man. We'd both reached the same conclusion—it was too cold outside, and there were too many people. They should come inside the castle.
"I offer you my gratitude. I swear I will repay this kindness."
Baron Jorge still hadn't fully grasped the situation, but he seemed to understand one thing: that we had extended goodwill. He nodded to me and the middle-aged white man, then turned toward the hundreds behind him and called out.
"Follow me! We will survive! Is that clear!"
"Y-yes, my lord Baron!"
"We'll follow you!"
The situation was hopeless, but people's eyes shone with a spectrum of light. Through those gazes, a heat pierced the icy winter wind.
"..."
Faith. That was faith. Faith that Baron Jorge would somehow see them through. The absolute trust given only to the capable and the prestigious.
"Alright, let's go."
With hundreds following without a word of complaint, and ten players leading the way, they moved their steps toward the castle.
To escape the Blade Wind.
-119 : 50 : 12
**
Step. Step. Step.
Hundreds of footsteps echoed across the dried earthen floor.
"..."
The walk to the castle was short, but my mind stayed a mess the whole time.
These people. Why did they appear all of a sudden? The message window that had flashed earlier hadn't said a single word about anything like this.
A freezing winter. An old castle. Five days to survive. That alone was already giving me a headache, and now suddenly hundreds of Otherworlders show up? Without even a single proper piece of cold-weather clothing?
If we saved them, would we get some hidden reward based on the headcount? Or were they actually monsters pretending to be humans? Would killing them give us a ton of experience points?
...Or maybe... were they given to us as food? It's a serious possibility.
It's utterly repulsive, and you might think it goes against the Tower's principles... but this place is Archangel Raphael's domain. Back on Floor 2, he'd made remarks treating people other than the climbers as nothing but insects. It might not just be my delusion; it could be reality.
"Let's go inside."
As mentioned, the castle wasn't far away. My disgusting imagination came to an end, and we arrived in front of the old castle.
"...The gate is a bit small."
Normally, when you hear the word 'castle,' you'd imagine those spiky, flashy fantasy fortresses. If you're a step ahead and interested in history, you'd probably picture the stone castles that still stand in Europe.
But the castle before our eyes was even more disappointing than that.
This was the main entrance, a path extending from a large drawbridge on the castle wall...
Yet it was so narrow that three grown men would struggle to pass through it shoulder to shoulder. How in the world were hundreds of people supposed to cram inside?
"...Let's go, for now."
But that didn't mean we weren't going in, so I quickened my pace. At some point I'd ended up in the lead—probably a habit from my experience on Floor 3.
Step. Step. Step.
I walked straight down the corridor. The floor was made of stone, so every footstep rang out. There was no light except for the torches hung here and there.
Whooooosh.
The wind rushing in from the entrance whistled desolately past my ears.
The atmosphere felt very similar to the cave on Floor 3. Narrow, damp, and dark. To think that after enduring what felt like eons and finally escaping that cave, I'd end up in a place like this again.
"Are they still following us well in the back?"
Moreover, the corridor was so narrow that my field of vision was limited. The ceiling was low, so even if I turned around, I couldn't really see anything. It was like we'd walked straight into a cramped tomb.
"..."
A typical castle served as a strategic stronghold and the lord's living space, so it should be outfitted with all sorts of facilities.
There'd be windows here and there for light and decoration, a drawing room to greet guests, a large hall for banquets, a dining hall where everyone eats together, and other amenities in abundance.
But here, there was nothing. No windows, so torches were the only light source, and forget about a dining hall—there was just this endless corridor.
We walked for about three minutes.
The path ahead was blocked by a wall, and corridors branching off to the left and right revealed themselves. A fork.
"...Tsk."
What, is this a damn maze or something? Could something actually pop out from the castle basement? Was the outside a fake?
All sorts of ominous thoughts rushed through my head, but the decision to be made was already clear.
"...We'll go right."
Splitting up here would be suicidal. I led the group to the right, and once again the corridor stretched on.
"Oh?"
This time as we walked, there was a wooden door on the right side.
Rattle.
"..."
I grabbed the handle and pushed, but the door wouldn't budge.
"...It's barricaded."
The feel was different. It wasn't simply locked; it was blocked from the inside.
"W-we were here first."
A trembling voice came from beyond the door.
"You're superhumans too, so breaking down a door wouldn't be hard for you... but if you fight us, we'll resist to the death. Just go."
"..."
A cute threat. I glanced sideways, and a man with narrow eyes shrugged his shoulders, raising both palms upward.
It was a 'What, is he an idiot?' gesture. Because if we decided to force our way in, the people inside would clearly stand no chance.
"...You don't have to open it. Just tell us what's inside."
"..."
"If you don't talk, I'll break the door—"
"F-food... and winter clothes... and torches... that's all. I swear."
"...Alright."
Once I had my answer, I moved on without any lingering regrets.
Based on how his voice echoed, the room didn't seem very large. It would've been woefully insufficient to accommodate the hundreds of people following us, so I decided to let them be.
I passed the locked door and walked a little farther.
"Oh..."
The path was blocked again, and only a route to the left was visible. But this time, there were stairs leading to the upper and lower floors on the right, and directly ahead was a wooden door of the same design we'd just seen.
The peculiar thing was that this wooden door was just casually left open.
"..."
I poked my head in to check inside, and just like the man had said earlier, all kinds of food and winter clothes were strewn across the floor. The room was equally windowless, so there was no light aside from the torches.
More importantly, why was the food in this room still here? There were no people, only food left behind. As I felt the strangeness and carefully scanned the room.
Step. Step.
"Whoa, it's humid as fuck."
"You idiot, it's still better than Floor 3. But damn, this place is fuckin' huge... Huh!"
Two men who were coming down the stairs while cursing stopped in their tracks when they saw us.
First they looked at me peering into the room, and then at the hundreds of people following behind us.
"...What is all this?"
One of them asked, his tone slightly bemused.
"That's what I'd like to ask you."
I pointed into the room and asked the two of them.
"This room... with food and winter clothes. Did you know about it?"
"Well, yeah..."
The man answered, scratching the back of his head. His reaction was totally casual. It seemed he really did know it was there.
"...Then why did you leave it alone?"
"What do you mean?"
"The food."
What was the reason we'd all rushed into the castle in the first place? To monopolize the food. But now that we'd actually entered the castle, they'd just left a room full of food lying around like it was nothing? I couldn't easily understand it.
"Ah, aaah... you just got here, huh."
"Figures."
But after hearing my question, the two men reacted as if they suddenly understood something.
"Well, at first it was total chaos. Lots of people were running inside using their skills, and it almost turned into a knife fight..."
"...And?"
"There are a shit-ton of rooms like that one here."
The man clicked his tongue.
"The corridors are stupidly narrow, and the rooms are so tiny they can't hold many people anyway... but there are a ton of these rooms. They're scattered everywhere."
"..."
"There aren't many on the first floor... but the second floor and basement have a crazy amount of rooms. So right now, everyone else is running around all over the place thinking there might be a hidden piece in one of them."
The man went on to explain more, but it didn't register in my ears.
There were many rooms. And each of those rooms was packed full of winter clothes and food.
When the situation is pushed to the extreme, people become selfish and violent, but when the situation is peaceful, people grow generous.
The reason the others weren't fighting was simple. The food was so abundant that it was more than enough to last five days.
And if the resources were abundant...
"...This is serious."
It seemed the situation was worse than I'd thought.