“Wolf Rock seems to have been found… so, what’s next?”
“We need to go down. To the ruins beneath the river.”
I threw off my uncomfortable dress and put on the tattered armor over my quilted clothing, replying back.
Friede, with her cleanly washed fingers, pointed towards our next destination.
Like a drunken gaze at the night sky, the dark flowing waves of the river scattered with a faint blue glow.
The dim moonlight, unable to fill the space, seeped in, weaving a pale thread above the surface.
I swallowed hard. It felt similar to the first time I entered a dungeon; excitement and tension pounded in my chest.
Was what awaited me down there truly the hope I desired? Or was it just an empty void?
Now was the time to find out for myself.
“Huuh…”
I took a deep breath, filling my chest with the night air, then leapt from the riverbank into the water below.
◆◆
An abyss of darkness where even the bottom was invisible.
I grabbed Friede’s hand as she jumped in after me, and we sank down, using the thinly sparkling moonlight as our guide towards the Rhine River’s bed.
Thanks to the armor I was wearing, I could see the surface darting away from me. I was literally falling.
Into the increasingly cold river water, toward the unseen bottom.
Minutes passed like that.
Thud.
With a feeling of something blocking my shoulder, a cloud of sand erupted and lightly brushed past my face.
Is this the bottom? It’s deeper than I expected. I could only estimate it to be around three hundred meters from the sensation, though I had no idea what the actual depth was.
I gently tapped Friede, who was clinging to me, signaling we had arrived at the riverbed, then I groped around to regain my balance and stood up.
‘Alright, now that we’ve reached the riverbed as per the story, what’s next…’
Maybe it was because my body felt so light, I steadied the wobbling Friede before taking off one of my gauntlets and slotting it into my side while pulling out a dagger from my waist.
To announce to anyone sleeping nearby.
That I had come here.
As per Eisenstein’s words, Brunhilde Eisenstein stands before you.
– Swish.
The blade glided along my forearm, leaving a deep red mark. The blood that spilled mixed with the river like a fog.
“…!”
Friede widened her eyes and grabbed my shoulder. She was so startled that bubbles escaped her open mouth.
Ah, I didn’t mention I needed my blood, did I? Totally slipped my mind.
I smiled reassuringly and drew a short sentence on her palm with my finger.
‘It’s okay.’
To let her know there was no problem.
There was no reason to be shocked in the first place. I wasn’t trying to commit suicide or anything, am I crazy enough to touch my main arteries?
The dagger merely grazed my skin and a few capillaries. Kids wouldn’t die from this kind of wound. They might cry about it, but they’d be fine.
Honestly, it did sting like crazy, though.
Anyway, after calming Friede down, I gently pressed on my arm to squeeze some blood into the river, waiting for something unusual to happen.
And so, after several seconds.
With all my might, I drilled my eyes into the darkness, waiting.
– Whoosh!
Finally, it seemed Friede sensed something, as she quickly turned, reached into the air, and summoned the Nibelung.
Did something finally appear?
I drew the longsword from my waist, turning to scan the surroundings.
Weeds and pebbles littered the riverbed, fish hurriedly fleeing somewhere, and small crustaceans sneaking between the rocks.
Everything looked so vivid.
The ruby light emanating from the Nibelung chased away the veil of darkness, illuminating everything around us.
Ah, come to think of it, if I had summoned the Holy Sword right from the start, I wouldn’t have had to strain my eyes to see in the dark.
Why didn’t I think of that? Am I really that dense…?
…Yeah, let’s say it was due to tension making my brain fizzle out.
No, that’s the truth. I’m not dense. I just, you know, was overly tense. It’s whatever.
Of course, it was a situation where I had to be that tense. Just looking at Friede drawing the Holy Sword was enough proof.
It meant a situation where we would need a Holy Sword was approaching.
– Boom!
Sure enough, a deep, resonant sound echoed through the river, warning me.
A warning that something was starting.
A warning that something was approaching.
Eventually.
– Grrr…!
– Goom!
– Grreeeeek!
The faint cries were steadily growing closer. Since we were in the water, the sounds twisted and blurred grotesquely, giving off an ominous vibe.
That cry gave me certainty. Assurance that I had indeed come to the right place. That ahead lay the ‘ruins’ I had been searching for.
I gave Friede’s shoulder a couple of taps, turning her face towards me, and pointed the tip of my sword in the direction of the noise, opening my mouth.
“Let’s go. Over there.”
Friede nodded.
And thus, we swam along the riverbed, relying on the Holy Sword’s light, using the increasingly closer monstrous roar as our guide.
After roughly about a hundred meters.
– Graaaaah!
With the now clearer cry, a burst of bubbles came crashing towards us like waves.
Found it.
I raised my sword, staring beyond the bubbles.
In the whirl of turbulent bubbles, a glistening form tinged a scarlet hue from the light of the Holy Sword.
“Isine…stein….”
A chainmail, rusted and tattered, now a filthy rag. Flesh repulsively bloated and rotting from the water. Crustaceans and fish stuck to decaying skin.
Half-ruined around the head, eyestalks protruding like a snail’s antennae lit up blue while glaring at me.
「 The Drowned Dead 」
Was that the name from the story?
Despite its grotesque appearance, it was a monster not too different from your average undead revenant, except it lived in the deep waters.
Since it was an undead revived with magical power, it could move in the water with ease, which made it a bit tricky to deal with.
“Val…kyrj…aaaah!”
Fast as expected.
The undead charged from below, stirring up the sand as they rushed towards us like moths to a flame.
Rusty spears and swords tore through the river like they were swimming.
I furiously waved my raised longsword to deflect their weapons.
Sure, the water pressure slowed me down a bit… but I wasn’t about to be overpowered by these punks.
– Brrroooom!
The sound of rusty weapons clashing with my gleaming sword sent bubbles flying.
I twisted my wrist, gliding the undead’s spear off to the side, then thrust my sword right through its head.
The squishy sensation as the blade pierced through rotten flesh sent black blood swirling in the river.
Quickly, I kicked its abdomen and swiped my sword to throw the undead’s head aside, spilling its innards like freshly popped pomegranate seeds.
Alright, one down.
I swiftly turned to block another undead’s sword with my gauntlet, seizing the blade and pulling it towards me while smashing its skull with the pommel of my sword.
Crushed, the undead slumped down, its remains sinking beneath the riverbed.
Two down.
As I took out two undead, Friede swung the Holy Sword, slicing vertically through the sixth undead with its crimson blade.
No wonder it’s called a Holy Sword; just a brush of it cleaved undead apart, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit envious.
Seriously, when would I get a sword like that?
The original Brunhilde ended up acquiring weapons that could rival the Holy Sword later on, but it would take quite a while till I reached that point.
The weapon given to Brunhilde by the Rhine Royalty was likely too recognizable for me to have sold it off early on in my possession.
If I was going to be discovered this easily, I should have hung onto it.
While it might not compare to the Nibelung, it was definitely on par with Irina’s bow or Imelia’s emblem-level sword.
Remembering it now made me sigh in frustration.
Yeah, I was surely disappointed, but…
…Heh, how laughable is it that I’m lamenting about a weapon I sold off myself?
There’s a saying in this world that you should treat weapons like your lovers. But here I am, the one who broke up first, whining about reuniting a few months later.
Truly, that would be the height of absurdity, huh? So I promised not to dwell on the sword I had already lost.
After all, I couldn’t retrieve it anyway, and perhaps I could find an even better sword down the line.
It might take time. It might involve a bit of effort.
“Grrrrrr….”
Anyway, this wasn’t the time for regrets.
It was the time to press forward, slashing through the increasing numbers of undead towards the source of my blood fragrance, to the ruins that lay beyond.
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