“Is this… for real?”
As Rin pointed to the statue, Kurika awkwardly coughed, trying to avoid eye contact, but since it was just a casual question, he couldn’t come up with a proper excuse.
“Are you saying the Emperor Kalius is actually you, Kurika?”
Adriana stepped closer, facing Kurika directly. She had been uncomfortable with him until now, but it seemed her surprise made her forget all of that.
“It’s a long story.”
Kurika didn’t deny it. It was the moment that explained why that beastman was covering his face in the land of beastmen.
By the way, he had once shared with me about what we did outside the forest while we were having drinks in our past life.
I had simply said I was just a student of the academy, but Kurika, who had brought up the topic at the time, had elaborated quite a bit.
He probably wanted to share a little of what was inside him. Back then, he felt less like the powerful warlord traveling through the Forest of the Demon Realm and more like just a regular beastman.
That’s why I stepped forward.
“Let’s just go for now. Everyone already knew Kurika was amazing, so knowing he was someone even greater doesn’t really change anything.”
“Is this something we can just brush off?”
Adriana’s expression was incredulous. Sen and Rin both had curious looks on their faces too, but they didn’t have the right to pry into Kurika’s past.
So we just moved on.
“I never thought there’d even be a statue.”
I whispered to Kurika, who was lagging behind, and he looked back at me with a puzzled expression.
“I’m surprised you know about it.”
“Ah, did I not mention it? You told me in our past life.”
“…What on earth was I saying back then?”
“If you think of it as being that close, it makes it easier.”
“Hmm.”
Kurika looked like he wanted to ask how much I really knew about his secrets, but he shut his mouth, probably because he didn’t want that information getting to the women in front.
We stopped walking near the entrance of the palace.
Entering further required either an invitation or being a noble who came and went from the royal palace.
“There are plenty of ways to get in.”
There were many methods of sneaking in.
I could stop time, or I could just slip in through Rin’s darkness.
“I’ll handle it. I’ll need to help Eris and the others get out, and my ability is way more handy for that than stopping time.”
Rin raised her hand with a suggestion.
She wasn’t wrong. My ability to stop time wasn’t really suitable for widespread use, nor was it fit for extended periods.
Rin had once been imprisoned because of Prince Oliver in Bairn, but I could trust her since she had experience sneaking everyone out while trapped in darkness.
“Hmm, I’m not doing it.”
But Sen immediately waved her hand, rejecting the idea. It seemed her experience of escaping from that prison wasn’t pleasant.
“Cough, I’ll wait outside too.”
Kurika also declared he wouldn’t participate, visibly uncomfortable with the power given to him by the Goddess of Death. In fact, he was quite large for a beastman, so sneaking around wasn’t his style.
“I’ll go. I’m going to save the people I was with.”
Adriana picked up her staff and declared her participation. It was the staff used by the Grand Witch, and she said she inherited it. By the way, the Grand Witch was resting at an inn in a village outside the Forest of the Demon Realm.
What a tenacious old lady.
In the end, the ones going in were me, Rin, and Adriana.
Sen and Kurika decided to hide nearby, a bit away from the palace.
“…”
As we entered Rin’s darkness, I felt a wave of tension, and Rin seemed to sense it, playfully asking,
“So, Daniel, you’re coming inside me?”
“Th-That’s not how it sounds.”
“If I don’t let you out, will you be stuck with me forever?”
“Don’t say things that give me chills.”
Honestly, it was starting to get scary. A similar dream I once had popped into my head, and I shook it off, trying to forget. That was a nightmare like no other.
“Wait, if storage magic is possible, can’t we also transform into mounts?”
Adriana suddenly seemed to have an epiphany, crossing her arms thoughtfully, so I slapped the back of her head and grabbed Rin’s hand.
“Ow!”
“Let’s hurry.”
And so, we were engulfed by Rin’s darkness.
Inside, there wasn’t a place for any particular thoughts. I simply felt like I was blankly sleeping, but once we came out, those moments would come back to me.
In dreams, you don’t know it’s a dream, but it’s similar to realizing it after waking up, as Sen had explained.
So perhaps that’s why, in the blink of an eye, we arrived at the palace’s interior.
“Wow, this is a pretty novel experience.”
“I can see why you wouldn’t want to do it again. It’s weirdly unsettling, even though my body feels fine.”
I was flexing my hands, and Adriana was expressing her impressions. Looking around, it seemed we were in the underground part of the palace.
“Uh, whoa!”
Rin collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily.
We were fine, but Rin, who brought us here, seemed off. She was clutching the imprint on her chest, sweating profusely in pain.
“Rin!”
I rushed to Rin and picked her up, and Adriana quickly moved forward, gathering mana with her staff.
“Hold on tight.”
Adriana used Healing Magic on her. Only then did Rin’s breath start to normalize as she slowly eased from my arms.
“I-I’m okay. I think it’s just because I used it after a long time.”
Yet her pale expression worried me.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. If it really gets bad, we can just use my power to escape.”
Rin nodded in response.
“Th-this is the underground entrance. The place that looks like a prison is a bit further in, but I couldn’t get that far.”
“Just getting here is enough. I’ll take the lead, so Adriana, please help Rin.”
“Okay, I’ll keep using magic.”
Though Rin said she was okay, I couldn’t help but worry. No matter how useful her ability was, since it was tied to the Goddess of Death, she would avoid using it unless absolutely necessary.
‘I’ll have to manage the exit with my power.’
Rin’s death might trigger the beginning of the end, but I couldn’t predict what else might happen. Especially remembering how she had been consumed by her power that night at the Bairn Stadium…
‘No, rather…’
In an instant, I felt like I grasped something, and my hand moved to the dagger in my possession. What if Rin didn’t die but flourished as the end?
What would happen if I used this dagger then?
An unexpected possibility danced in my mind. But right now, Eris was more important, so for now, we headed toward the underground prison.
It wasn’t particularly difficult.
The deceitful nature of my time-stopping ability came to light once again.
I easily subdued the guards who were on watch while time was stopped and entered the interior. With the keys, I also easily found the location of the prison where Eris was being held.
Meanwhile, Rin’s condition was worsening. Even the Healing Magic that had been somewhat effective from Adriana was now completely futile.
“D-Daniel, too fast.”
“Sorry.”
My anxiousness seemed to have made my pace quicken. Deep underground, Eris and her group were imprisoned.
Seeing that the beastman Regua, who was directly under the Beast King, was also locked up, things didn’t seem good at all.
‘If he refuses to escape…’
Honestly, I wouldn’t care.
Truthfully, the dwarf didn’t matter much to me. I just needed to take Eris away, so if Regua refused, I could just knock him out and leave him behind.
Once we reached the deepest part of the prison.
Only the flickering light of a torch illuminated the dark prison, where a brilliant blonde caught my eye. Regardless of her predicament, a noble elf was calmly keeping her composure, eyes closed.
Somehow aware of our presence even from a distance, she suddenly opened her eyes wide and spoke.
“Daniel?”
An overwhelming wave of emotion surged within me.
“Eris!”
I rushed toward her cell, wishing to beam a bright smile, but…
Due to the aching in my chest, I couldn’t smile freely, knowing well the reason for this pain.
It was Rin.
That girl was suffering like this for me, using her power to save Eris.
I couldn’t just smile at Eris in front of Rin.
“D-Daniel?”
Eris tried to greet me warmly, but perhaps sensing something in my expression, her voice trembled with unease.
“Wait? Little one?”
“How did you get in here?”
The tension was cut momentarily by Regua, the beastman locked in a different prison cell, and Hatsim Velok, the dwarf. Honestly, I was relieved. I could only imagine what kind of words would have come from Eris just now.
It was easy to imagine, and that made me more uneasy.
“Let’s get out, and then we can talk. We don’t have time for a chat right now.”
Rin is hurting.
That’s what I thought as I inserted the key into the prison door, but Eris reached out her hand between the bars, stopping me.
“Wait a moment!”
“What’s wrong?”
In a hurry, I responded somewhat irritably, and Eris’s eyes flickered with alarm, but she quickly explained.
“I’m really grateful for your coming here, but we can’t escape right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means we’re tangled up in a really messy web of interests.”
Hatsim Velok answered from the back of the prison. I wanted to listen to the explanation calmly, but…
It seemed they had caught wind of the guard I had knocked out outside, as the urgent footsteps of soldiers echoed in the prison.
