Chapter: 602
It’s been about two years since I stepped into this world, and some things are starting to fade in my memory, but there are certainly a few things I can never forget.
One of them is the dungeon.
Memories engraved in my body, not just in my mind, bring everything back the moment I face that place.
So, I can say for sure. There’s no way this dungeon, where Ruel’s doll waits, could smell like blood. How could a holy knight, noble and finicky, let a stench permeate his domain?
Ugh. Damn it. Nothing ever goes as planned. Variables when I can’t even swing a weapon properly?
“…What’s going on?”
“What do you think? Another sloppy one discovered this place first.”
To enter here, it’s not about having ‘the Divine Grace of God’; it’s about ‘infusing Divine Grace.’
The former is something no one but Phoebe and I can do, but the latter? There are countless ways to achieve it.
I could storm into the Arteia family’s warehouse and get a ton of entrance tickets.
So, if someone happened to stumble upon this place, it wouldn’t be that strange.
Especially considering this place is a holy land full of clergy.
The real problem lies elsewhere. The doll mimicking Holy Knight Ruel is far more picky than my grandfather.
There’s no way he’d stand by and let his domain become a mess.
If someone has stirred something here, Ruel would definitely act to eliminate the intruders.
And yet, they couldn’t stop it. They had no choice but to leave the underground filled with the stench of death alone.
Why? Because the intruder defeated Ruel’s doll.
“Should we step back for now? This place has turned into enemy territory. We never know what might happen if we pry too deep.”
Arthur’s suggestion was quite rational. With unpredictable variables now in play, backing off is probably the best option. Even if our combined powers are substantial, we can’t possibly take on the church as a whole.
I think that in my head, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
“Y-Yeah.”
As I said that, I couldn’t help but notice Phoebe clasping her hands over her heart, unable to tear her eyes away from the front.
“Useless prince, are you scared? Your legs are trembling because you’re afraid to move forward?”
“It has nothing to do with my will. I simply think it’s the best course of action.”
“I don’t see how that’s any different from being scared!”
Phoebe is probably reliving moments from her past in the underground. Memories of when she was made a saintess.
Although she succeeded in confronting and overcoming her forgotten past, she can’t fully erase that day’s nightmare.
“If you think you can’t win and want to run away, then why are you carrying a sword? Wouldn’t it be more pathetic to go barehanded and evoke sympathy?”
“Lady, I’m fine. So please, just—”
“Shut up, Sloppy Saintess. I wasn’t asking you!”
I forcibly shut Phoebe’s mouth, who seemed to catch on to my thoughts.
Not everything is for you, Phoebe.
It’s also a chance to mock my grandfather, who’s being trampled by these sloppy ones.
Even now, I can hear Garad’s boisterous laughter mixed with my grandfather’s yells.
I can’t wait to see how much more fun it’ll get once the truth unravels.
“Are you sure you’re okay? We may be fine, but your condition isn’t normal, and it could be dangerous in case something happens.”
Hahaha! “Is the useless prince worried about me!? I could toy around with a pathetic prince like you with one hand!”
“…Why does your hand look like that?”
“What? Am I doing something weird?”
I just pretended to grip my mace, and I don’t get why he’s coughing awkwardly.
Regardless, I obtained Arthur’s approval, and turning my gaze towards the other two, I saw Frey fidgeting, trying hard to suppress her desire to rush out, while Joy had already conjured several magic circles around her.
“No matter what’s waiting in here, it can’t be as dangerous as the fairy forest, right?”
“Of course not. The things in here are little trash that could be handled with just that word.”
“So, what does that matter? It’s actually good. It’s a chance to apply what I learned from Lord Erginius.”
This time, with determination not to make a mistake, Joy’s posture looked… reliable? Not really, honestly, I felt uneasy.
The more confident they are, the more likely they are to screw up at the crucial moment. Isn’t that how things have gone so far?
“What’s wrong with that look! You’ve seen how well I handle magic on the way here, right! Trust me!”
“I didn’t say anything, though? Why are you going wild all of a sudden?”
“With your eyes! You spoke with your eyes!”
“What are you talking about? I’m just really curious how a weirdo like this could be a duchess.”
“Ugh!”
Using Joy as a scapegoat to ease the heavy atmosphere, I turned my gaze back to Phoebe.
She looked at me quietly, biting her lip, and nodded. Her eyes were slightly red, suggesting tears were on the verge of falling.
“Everyone knows this, but I’m fragile right now, right? So focus on the orders I give. There won’t be a shield to protect you from your foolishness.”
If this were a game, just my friends’ specs alone could toy with the final boss. But this is reality, and there are areas beyond game logic.
So, I have to stay alert.
The enemies we encounter here must be clergy from the Jushin Church.
More specifically, probably the inquisitor type.
If those guys have made this place their base, they must have set up several traps.
The number of enemies won’t be that high, but those few won’t go down easily.
From the moment they recognize us, they’ll engage in guerilla warfare to create a battlefield in their favor.
Their specs shouldn’t differ greatly from what I know. Hmm, I can roughly see what needs to be done.
“Let’s go, sloppy ones.”
Stepping into the underground corridor, I was certain my assumptions were correct. The traps laid in the corridor clearly reflected the inquisitor’s methods.
“Foolish swordsman. Get ready.”
“Okay!”
Pretending not to notice the presence felt beyond the fork in the path, the moment I touched the trap, the enemy moved.
They must be waiting for us to fall into the trap and looking for an opportunity to strike.
“Aah!?”
So, I intentionally let out a scream to lead them. My high and clear voice filled the corridor as a man draped in robes appeared from beyond.
Hahaha! Did you expect it?
While he was blankly staring at my grin, Frey, wrapped in wind, reached the man in an instant.
The man, belatedly realizing his danger, turned his head, but by then, Frey’s sword was already at his neck.
“…Guh!?”
Frozen by the sensation of death, he easily got caught in the rope that sprang from his shadow.
The man struggled to escape from the bondage, but that rope isn’t something a traitor inquisitor can handle.
How could something created from the Power of Darkness be broken by human strength?
Hmm. Too easy, right?
No matter how much they fell for my provocation, isn’t it a bit much to not react at all?
Is this really an inquisitor of the church?
Tilting my head, I approached the man, kicking him in the gut a few times until he froths at the mouth.
“…Subduing him is fine, but wouldn’t it have been better to interrogate him?”
“You think it would make sense to talk to a bunch of fools? Look at him now. He’s so pleased he’s foaming at the mouth. Do you think I can extract information from a massive magical trash like him?”
“I don’t think he’s fainting because he’s pleased.”
“Like the lady said, it’ll be hard to expect any information. Inquisitors learn how to withstand torture as well.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Still, they wouldn’t have prepared for those times.”
As I glanced past the nodding Arthur and turned my attention to the darkness, I saw the bones and flesh of something that was once human. The traces on the flesh were clearly bite marks.
…Cannibalism? They ate people?
[The one we just tied up. He doesn’t look like he’s been here for just a day or two. He’s completely starving.]
[Moreover, look at the wounds etched beneath his tattered clothing. He could have killed, but he deliberately let them go.]
‘W-What does that mean?’
[Those guys are the prey, not the hunters.]
They were being hunted? Inquisitors?
Who by, I don’t need to ask. When I recall whose territory this underground originally belonged to, the answer comes quickly.
<Hahaha! Things just got fun in a different way. The fall of Holy Knight Ruel.>
[That Erginius guy. Can’t even make a proper doll? In his past country, he could have subdued them ruthlessly but wouldn’t have played with them like this.]
…I didn’t expect this kind of variable.
Ah. Damn.
Had my body been normal, I could’ve checked the history of what happened, but right now it’s impossible.
History Check is pretty taxing. If I use it now, I’d probably collapse before even seeing the content.
After mulling it over for a moment, I couldn’t help but let out a self-deprecating laugh. In the end, nothing will change. It’s just going back to the beginning. If so, there’s no reason to back off.
“…May the dead find peace.”
Confirming that Phoebe had finished her prayer for the deceased, I moved forward again for the dungeon strategy.
And what we saw next was the very embodiment of brutality.
Corpses deliberately dismembered to intimidate the living. The face skin of someone who had screamed. Rotting flesh. Inquisitors trembling in fear as we overpowered them. Waste and black blood splattered everywhere.
Phoebe and I guessed that the underground’s malevolence was born from the sacrifices of the unsullied, but the reality was different.
This hell was made from the death of the sullied.
“An alchemist? It reminds me of when we entered that guy’s dungeon.”
“…That place was truly horrific.”
“Who could have done such a thing?”
As I took step after step deeper into hell, a chill ran down my spine.
Grandpa raised his voice. I instinctively reached for my shield, trying to move my body. However, my moves were in vain.
Frey, who zipped past me, deflected the mace with her sword.
“It’s here. Creepy enemies.”
Instead of answering, the opponent swung their mace again.
As Frey stepped back, the mace struck the ground with enough force to cause a small tremor, leading to a menacing situation.
“Sloppy ones. Get ready.”
The ruined doll of Holy Knight Ruel approaches to kill us.
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