Sewers.
It’s a place nobody wants to enter unless absolutely necessary. It’s important enough that regular folks can’t just waltz in there, so why would I, of all people, need to venture into such a notoriously dirty space?
Of course, Chronicles of Aetherna isn’t a hyper-realistic game or anything. Sure, there are creepy monsters lurking around, but that’s just for the design; it mostly features typical, animated-style characters geared towards otaku culture, and has a story so long that you wouldn’t be surprised if the word ‘epic’ was slapped on it.
They didn’t exactly depict cockroaches crawling on the floor and ceiling or floaty bits of filth in a graphic setting, right?
The sewers are sprawling under the Imperial Capital, and recreating the vastness of that system in-game would be impossible. But since portions of the Capital were accurately represented, I assumed the sewers might look similar.
At first, I thought about getting the sewer blueprints, but I quickly concluded that doing so in just one Sunday would be impossible. Plus, if I got lost in there, I could just rewind time and easily exit, so I didn’t think it would be a big deal.
“……”
“……”
That was until I found myself followed by the Crown Princess and the Princess.
Leo and Claire had gone off to tackle another request. Even if they were doing a different side quest, the rewards wouldn’t exceed what I got this morning, so rather than suffering the fatigue of considering every possible outcome to get ahead of them, I figured I might as well check out something else first.
However, it turned out that even in this game-like reality, the main character and crew were just as dedicated to their work as they were in the game.
In the series, there were times the party would split up due to various events, or they’d start in different regions, but even then, the lore stated they worked hard wherever they ended up.
For the people designing the game, these characters were practically their children. Besides, as popularity among characters needed to be evenly spread for merchandise and sequels to sell, I felt slightly optimistic even when it came to choices that would lead to one of the heroines’ deaths, and it didn’t spawn much controversy among players either.
Some of those heroines were quite popular, which certainly helped.
Considering the sales for sequels and the impossibility of crafting routes for every significant choice, the resurrection of heroines felt inevitable. Even Claire, who was supposed to die, was so popular that some were skeptical about her demise.
Anyway…
So, the protagonists were supposed to roll with the punches, but to avoid the image of the heroine just lounging about, the creators often made it so that the heroine in a different region was ridiculously diligent.
And that diligent characterization seemed to hold true in this world too.
“Crown Princess, and Princess.”
I spoke to the two following me at the entrance of the sewers.
“Alice.”
“Please call me Charlotte.”
“……”
If they had looked determined, I wouldn’t have had much to say, but these two looked annoyingly nonchalant, as if their presence here was totally normal.
Well, I guess it’s no surprise Alice is here, but Charlotte?
What reason would the Princess of Velbur have to crawl into the Imperial Capital’s sewers?
“This place can be much dirtier and more unpleasant than you both might think.”
It probably would be dirtier and more unpleasant than I imagined. There’s definitely an experience of reality that you can’t depict in a game. The developers were notoriously infamous for their optimization blunders. The absence of small bugs or rats wasn’t because they didn’t want them, but rather they thought including them would drop the frame rate dramatically in comparison to the graphics.
After all, the door I was about to enter compared to what I’d seen in-game displayed major signs of rust.
But up to this point, it didn’t look too different from what I remembered. Expecting a small company to create textures that were realistic was ridiculous.
So… I suspected at least the interior of this sewer wouldn’t deviate much from what I remembered.
“So? I’m the Crown Princess of the Empire. No matter how unpleasant a place is, if it belongs to the Empire, it will be beneath me. Why would I shy away from being here?”
“……”
Well, with a statement like that, I was left speechless. It was I who instilled that attitude in Alice, after all.
But I wondered… one day she’d get a rude awakening. It’s the same in the original as well.
There’s a massive gap between knowing something intellectually and seeing it with your own eyes.
Ah, wait. Now that Claire hasn’t fallen, maybe Alice won’t need to witness anything shocking after all?
“……”
I glanced at Charlotte, standing confidently by Alice.
“Well, there wasn’t much else on my schedule. The Velbur royalty isn’t the type to ignore a friend in need.”
I never asked for help, though.
I simply bumped into Charlotte while walking with Alice, and she just naturally decided to tag along after hearing our conversation.
Still, I had something to say to Charlotte.
“The sewers are a critical governmental facility. No matter how you slice it, I don’t think it’s right to bring a foreigner in—”
“Oh my.”
As I was speaking, Charlotte unexpectedly interrupted, causing me to stop mid-sentence.
Charlotte’s eyes were focused on my hand.
……What I was holding was a lockpick.
Right. That item you often see in overseas RPGs; a one-time-use master key that looks like it belongs in a horror game.
There’s no way I look like I had permission to go in here.
That’s right. I had no permission. It was a place that only opened up after a related main quest.
And right now, we were still at the very beginning, still waiting ages before this place would unlock.
“Key design is certainly unique these days. Are they making keys one-time-use for security?”
“……”
Her expression didn’t change as she openly made a jab, and I simply turned my head in silence.
The lock indeed looked somewhat unique. This world had terms like magic and aura casually floating about, but fundamentally, wasn’t it basically steampunk? The brass lock looked quite sturdy.
Yet, its internal structure was way simpler than ones used on Earth.
It could’ve been made complex if they wanted to, but it’s just sewers. No need to use an expensive pocket watch-grade lock here.
And that’s why the lockpick worked easily.
I realized I was significantly weaker compared to the monsters in the game and decided to expand my skills toward ‘utility.’ One of those skills was lockpicking.
In the original, there was a significant moment where a lock was picked, so I assumed I could do it too. It took time, but eventually, I learned how to pick locks.
“Why? What’s with that look? My thoughts haven’t changed.”
I saw Alice looking back at me, and she raised her chin as she spoke.
No, I was about to complain about Charlotte… but never mind. It’s fine. The reason this place was blocked off is primarily to prevent people from going in and getting lost. Besides, Charlotte wouldn’t set any bombs inside.
If it starts smelling atrocious, would they just run away?
I suppressed a sigh and turned back towards the lock.
I knelt down, inserting the pick into the lock.
After attempting to pick the lock for a moment,
Click—
With a bright sound, the lock released.
“You certainly have a lot of skill.”
As I opened the maintenance door to the sewers, Charlotte genuinely expressed her admiration.
Charlotte and Alice were skilled swordmasters, but it seemed they didn’t possess such handy tricks. Both Charlotte and Alice were looking at me with a hint of admiration in their gazes.
“It’s nothing special.”
I replied in that manner and as I entered the sewers—
—thankfully, I entered first so the two behind me couldn’t see my expression.
My face probably crumbled to bits.
I barely managed to return to a poker face, but the smell in the air was genuinely strong enough to make me consider turning back.
“……”
It appeared the two trailing behind me were feeling the same way.
“Ugh.”
Alice’s voice caught in her throat, muffled by her hands.
Having barely succeeded at maintaining my expression, I turned back to speak.
“If you wish to turn back even now, feel free.”
Alice, who had been squinting and covering her mouth, pulled her hand away.
And surprisingly, the mouth beneath her hand was smiling.
“You’re the one with the questionable expression, aren’t you?”
“Is my expression questionable?”
At Alice’s comment, Charlotte, who was glancing at me from behind, tilted her head, but actually, Alice was right.
“If you feel like turning back, you can do it right now. Right?”
“……”
In response to her words, I turned back again.
Yeah, that’s true.
If I’d come alone, I would’ve given up and turned back, but once Alice said that, I completely lost the desire to give up.
Let’s see who gives up first then.
*
“By the way, that weapon you’re holding…”
Charlotte asked, noticing what I was gripping in my hand.
The weapon I held wasn’t the typical firearm I carried. It looked like a complexly intertwined crossbow, showing brass and steel parts. The size was nearly the same as my usual Ergensens rifle.
Inside, various cranks and gears were packed intricately enough to load ammunition with minimal effort, but compared to a gun, its only advantage was being somewhat quieter, and even when compared to a bolt-action rifle, it lacked in reloading speed, rate of fire, projectile speed, and durability.
“It’s for precaution.”
For now, it only smelled bad, but being in the sewers meant explosion from firearms was a risk.
Though if there was enough gas here to explode, we’d probably be sick long before that.
“Is that so?”
Fortunately, the foul stench wasn’t unbearable nor was it causing me headaches or making my head dizzy, but…
…still, I didn’t want to stay here any longer. I decided to quickly confirm what I needed and head back.
I held up a glowing magical stone lamp at head height, resolving myself.
Honestly, I planned to wander a bit more if I came alone, but it was obvious that wouldn’t be possible.
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