Plan (2)
Plan (2)
The sewers.
Barring something extraordinary, it was not a place anyone particularly wanted to enter. Unless one had some business to conduct inside, or their profession was related to such work...... In the first place, the sewers were essential infrastructure, so ordinary people couldn't easily gain entry anyway.
Of course, Aetherna Chronicles was not a hyper-realistic game. A few grotesque monsters did exist, but that was simply the monster design. Fundamentally, it was a subculture game targeting otaku, featuring ordinary animation-style characters and boasting an epic story so long that the word "saga" wouldn't have sounded out of place.
It surely didn't render cockroaches crawling across the floor and ceiling, or all manner of filth drifting about, with its graphics just because it was a sewer.
Since the sewer system itself spanned the entirety of the imperial capital, depicting that entire vast network was impossible. However, considering that the parts of the imperial capital implemented in the game had matched reality, the sewers would likely resemble their depiction as well.
Initially, I had considered acquiring the sewer schematics, but my impatient self concluded that obtaining them in a single Sunday was impossible. I judged that even if I got lost inside, it wouldn't be a major problem since I could simply rewind time and easily exit.
"......."
"......."
That was, until for some reason, the imperial princess and the Princess attached themselves to my tail.
Leo and Claire had gone to handle other requests. Since no other side quest offered a greater reward than the one we'd already completed at dawn, I'd figured that instead of exhausting myself calculating every possible move to stay ahead of those two, I might as well confirm something else first.
But apparently, in this reality that so closely resembled a game, yet wasn't one, the personalities of the protagonist's party, who had been incredibly diligent about their tasks even in the original story, weren't much different.
In the game series, various incidents sometimes caused party members to leave the group or to be in different regions at the start, and the established lore was usually that even under such circumstances, they were diligently doing their jobs in that area.
By the standards of the game's creators, the characters were like their own children. Most importantly, for merchandise and sequels to sell evenly, the characters needed to be popular across the board. For that reason, I'd been somewhat optimistic when I saw choices where a heroine could die, and it hadn't caused much controversy among players either.
That was because some of those potentially fatal heroines were genuinely very popular.
Considering the sequel sales and the studio's scale, which made creating routes for every major choice practically impossible, a heroine's resurrection was inevitable. I'd even suspected that they would save even Claire, who, despite being a popular character, was fated to die no matter what.
Well, anyway.
Therefore, so that the heroines wouldn't gain an image of coasting while the protagonist worked himself to the bone, the creators frequently used the setup that a heroine located elsewhere was genuinely working incredibly hard.
And that "diligent" setup, it seemed, applied in this world as well.
"Your Highness. And Princess Charlotte."
Standing before the sewer entrance, I spoke to the two people who had attached themselves to my back.
"Alice."
"Please, call me Charlotte."
"......."
If their expressions had shown some tremendous resolve, I would have had nothing to say, but these two looked perfectly nonchalant, as if their presence here was only natural.
No, well, fine. Even if it wasn't strange for Alice to be here, what about Charlotte?
Did the Princess of Belbur really have a reason to enter the sewers of the imperial capital?
"It may be far more unsanitary and unpleasant inside than you imagine."
It was probably far more unsanitary and unpleasant than I imagined. There would be a visceral reality that a game couldn't express. The developer was infamous for its horrendous optimization anyway. The reason small creatures like rats hadn't existed wasn't because they didn't want to include them, but likely because adding them would have tanked the frame rate relative to the graphics to an absurd degree.
Even the actual sewer doors I'd seen firsthand were proof of that. What had been a generic iron door texture in the game was rusted all over here.
Still, up to this point, the surroundings weren't too different from what I remembered. As for textures, expecting a cash-strapped company to produce near-photorealistic textures was absurd in the first place.
So...... I'd thought that, at least, the interior wouldn't differ greatly from what I remembered.
"So? I am an imperial princess of the Empire. Any unpleasant space will be under my authority if it's within the Empire. Should I, who will stand atop it all, shrink away from that?"
"......."
When she put it that way, I had nothing to say. After all, I was the one who had instilled that mindset in Alice.
However...... if she thought like that, she would one day receive a massive shock. She had in the original story, too.
Because there was a great difference between knowing something intellectually and witnessing it with one's own eyes.
Ah, no. Now that Claire hadn't fallen, perhaps Alice wouldn't have to witness such a spectacle?
"......."
I looked at Charlotte, who stood confidently beside Alice.
"I happened to have no particular schedule. The Belbur royal family is not so heartless as to ignore a friend in need of help."
No, I never asked for help.
I'd simply been walking with Alice, met Charlotte, and Charlotte, having listened to our conversation, just naturally tagged along.
But still, there was something I had to say to Charlotte.
"The sewers are important national infrastructure. No matter what, allowing a foreign national inside is—"
"Oh, my."
As I was speaking, that sound from Charlotte cut my words off mid-sentence.
Charlotte's eyes were fixed on my hand.
...... Because what I was holding in my hand was a lockpick.
Indeed. That item often used in overseas RPGs to boost infiltration skills and pick locks, or that oddly appears as a de facto one-time-use master key in horror games.
No matter who looked, this wasn't the picture of someone entering with 'permission.'
Indeed. I was never granted permission. In the first place, this was an area that became accessible only after the related main quest.
And game-wise, this was still the extreme early phase. There was plenty of time left before this place was supposed to open.
"These days, keys have a very peculiar design. Could it be they're making them single-use for security purposes?"
"......."
Faced with her pointedly unchanged expression, I simply turned my head away wordlessly.
The lock looked somewhat unusual. Though it was a setting where words like magic and energy were tossed around casually, it was fundamentally steampunk, was it not? The brass lock looked quite sturdy.
But its internal structure was far simpler than those used in modern-day Earth.
They could make it as complex as they wished, but these were merely sewers. There was no reason to use a lock as expensive as one on a pocket watch on a place like this.
And because of that, a lockpick worked easily on it.
Upon realizing my physical abilities were incomparably weaker than the other monsters in this game, I had resolved to expand my talents toward 'utility.' One such talent was this lockpicking.
Since there was a scene in the original where a lock was picked to open a door at a crucial moment, I'd thought I could do it too. It required time and patience, but eventually, I had managed to learn how to pick locks.
"What? No matter how you stare at me, my decision won't change."
Seeing my gaze return to her, Alice raised her chin and spoke.
No, I was about to ask her to do something about Charlotte...... Well, never mind. The main reason this place had been sealed off was to prevent people from entering and getting lost, anyway. It wasn't as if Charlotte was going to plant a bomb in here.
When the stench inside hit their noses, they'd probably flee on their own.
Suppressing the sigh that threatened to escape, I turned back to the lock.
Kneeling on one knee, I inserted the lockpick into the lock.
I attempted to pick the lock for a while,
ting—
and with a clear sound, the lockpick snapped.
The lock didn't open.
As a bonus, the broken lockpick jammed the keyhole, making a retry impossible.
"Ah."
"......."
"......."
Not a single sound came from behind me.
.......
But I could roughly imagine what kind of expressions they were wearing.
Without bothering to turn around, I thought.
Again!
*
Click.
The lock opened with a cheerful sound.
"You truly are quite skilled."
As I opened the maintenance access door into the sewers, Charlotte said, sounding genuinely impressed.
Both Charlotte and Alice were swordswomen who had reached the level of being able to project Sword Aura, but apparently, they lacked this sort of knack. Not only Charlotte, but Alice was also watching me with an impressed look.
"It's nothing special."
I answered and stepped into the sewer—
—It was a relief that I had entered first, so the two behind me couldn't see my face.
My expression must have crumbled miserably.
Though I barely managed to rearrange it back into a blank mask, I'd seriously considered turning back the moment the piercing stench hit my nose.
"......."
And apparently, the same was true for the two who had followed me in.
"Urk."
Alice's voice was cut off as if she'd clamped her hand over her mouth to stop the sound from escaping.
Having barely succeeded at managing my own expression, I turned around and said,
"If you wish to turn back even now, you are free to do so."
At my words, Alice, who had been wrinkling her brow and covering her mouth, removed her hand.
And, surprisingly, the mouth underneath was smiling.
"Look who's talking. Your expression is a complete mess."
"Is it a mess?"
At Alice's remark, Charlotte peeked at me from behind her and tilted her head, but actually, Alice was right.
"If you want to go back, you can always do so now. Isn't that so?"
"......."
At those words from Alice, I turned back around.
Yes, that's right.
If I had come alone, I would have just given up and gone back, but with Alice acting like that, any thought of giving up on my part was instantly dispelled.
Well, let's see who gives up first.
*
"By the way, that weapon you're holding......."
Charlotte asked, looking at the weapon in my hands.
The weapon I held wasn't my usual firearm. It was a crossbow, with brass and what looked like steel parts intricately intertwined. Its size wasn't much different from the Ergensen rifle I usually carried.
All kinds of cranks and gears were complexly situated inside, allowing it to be loaded with minimal force, but honestly, its sole advantage over a firearm was that it was relatively quiet. Compared even to a bolt-action rifle, there wasn't a single superior aspect in terms of reload speed, rate of fire, projectile velocity, or durability.
"A precaution."
Right now, there was only the 'smell,' but these were sewers, after all. If we were in a gas-filled area, it wouldn't be strange for a firearm to cause an explosion.
Of course, if the gas concentration was that high, our bodies would probably show symptoms first.
"Is that so?"
Fortunately, the stench wasn't absolutely unbearable, and it didn't seem like there was enough gas to cause a headache or dizziness......
...... But I still didn't want to stay any longer. Let's just quickly confirm what needed confirming and get out.
I steeled my resolve, raising the light-emitting Mana Stone lamp to head height.
In truth, I had intended to come alone and explore a bit more, but that seemed absolutely impossible now.