– Woooooong!
At the top of the hill of Banafitza Fortress, a massive amethyst floats above the hexagonal structure, constantly huming and emitting an immense magical power.
The magic released by the amethyst flows like a pale river of the Milky Way, splitting into five branches and seeping into the tops of the watchtowers erected on the plains.
Although battered in places, five watchtowers still stand strong, shining like lighthouses and illuminating the ruins below them.
Ruined barracks. A cold blacksmith shop. A garden stripped of leaves and a frozen puddle.
The path is a messed-up tangle of dips and rises. Even the rusted remnants of weapons and armor lay scattered across it.
It was a landscape reminiscent of a fortress left abandoned for over a thousand years after the war.
“Wow… something, really, beautiful…? No, it’s magnificent….”
“Right?”
Some might say it’s a bleak scene, but perhaps due to the densely visible magical aura, it felt strangely dreamlike.
Slightly… what’s the term… charm? Yes, it felt charming, as Friede said.
However, my thoughts would change once I stepped inside the fortress.
“But don’t let your guard down too much; I heard that the inside is quite dangerous, contrary to its appearance.”
After helping to tidy up Friede’s hair while surveying the view of Banafitza, I sat beside her, drying my clothes in the cold wind as I took a break.
Having just been engaged in a fierce battle with the dead in the water, both I and Friede honestly felt a bit exhausted.
In that state, crawling inside could easily lead us to never crawl back out again.
What looks like an empty ruin is just the surface. After all, that place is distinctly one of the hidden dungeons.
“Ah, right. Hilde, give me your arm! Quickly.”
While we were resting, Friede suddenly turned to me and firmly grabbed my left hand.
“W-wait, why my arm all of a sudden…?”
“Why? Because you got cut with a dagger earlier!”
Oh, right.
In the heat of battle, I had half-forgotten about it, but suddenly remembering made my arm throb again.
“Do you know how startled I was when you suddenly grabbed my arm…?”
With a mix of concern and scolding, Friede peeled off my gauntlet and rolled up my sleeve to check the injury on my arm.
A bright red cut was clearly etched on my fair skin.
The wound itself wasn’t deep, but perhaps from swimming through the river, blood continued to drip down without stopping.
“Look at this, what’s with this on your pretty arm….”
Sighing as she gingerly touched my arm, Friede rummaged through a small bag at her waist and pulled out a tiny potion bottle.
…That stuff hurt more than expected.
A proper potion would mix anesthetics with the medicine to heal wounds without pain, but cheap mass-produced stuff had no such numbing effect.
As a couple of runaways, the only potions we could scrounge up were those cheap varieties.
We kept using them out of necessity, but each time it felt like pouring sulfuric acid on the wound, making it honestly quite off-putting.
“Uh, Friede? Isn’t using a potion on a wound that will heal by itself a bit wasteful…?”
Thus, I awkwardly smiled and suggested that perhaps there was no need for a potion for this simple cut.
“No way! If you leave it, you’ll get a scar!”
Of course, my reasoning had no effect. Friede shook her head firmly like a wet puppy and tugged on my wrist.
This was a statement of absolute logic, so I had nothing to argue against it.
Even though the wound would eventually heal by itself, it would indeed leave a clear scar as Friede said.
…Guess there’s no helping it. Given her attitude and expression, it seemed like excuses wouldn’t suffice, claiming a scar was like a medal for a knight.
“…Fine. Here.”
I slightly closed my eyes and obediently held out my arm. As Friede pulled the cork from the potion bottle with her teeth, she poured the potion all over my arm.
– Chiiiiik…
The red fluid covering my wound bubbled and let out a wisp of smoke. The gaping flesh curled and knitted back together, adhering to close the cut.
Aaaah, it hurts….
I turned my head slightly so Friede wouldn’t see as I grimaced in pain.
As expected, it hurt like crazy. It felt like they turned the sensitivity of my body up tenfold and then poured salt, pepper, and vinegar right onto the wound!
I could bear it, but it was still a tough sensation to take calmly.
Really, this is why you should use the real stuff for everything.
Damn adventurers. Since everyone lugged around cheap imitations, we had to suffer the pains of those fake potions too.
◆◆
After the rather torturous treatment and shouting that our base was to the north of the mountain, we took a break until our stamina fully returned.
To be precise, I was the one chattering away while Friede listened attentively, nodding her head like a high school girl in a favorite teacher’s class, eyes sparkling with concentration.
Well, in the end, it wasn’t too different from my situation.
What I was talking about wasn’t reflections on the scenery or trivial casual conversation, but information and warnings regarding Banafitza.
“Uh, so… your ancestor built this fortress, and just before it was captured by enemies, one of your ancestors sealed the fortress, right…?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
I nodded. I missed a few crucial details, but I had more or less conveyed the gist of it.
When I wrapped it in the narrative style of a saga told through generations, I couldn’t help but gloss over some details or express things vaguely.
“I honestly had my doubts, but seeing it in person is a bit—no, it’s quite fascinating. It’s just like the old stories my parents told me.”
“Uh, by the way, Hilde, just to check, were you perhaps a princess of a fallen kingdom or something like that…?”
Friede hesitantly asked again, looking like she was searching for answers about whether I was some royalty from elsewhere.
I guess that response was entirely expected.
The fortress itself was at least three or four times larger than a typical noble’s castle, and it was clear this wasn’t just an ancestral home, but more like an outpost.
In other words, during its prime, the Eisenstein family owned at least two or more fortresses of this size.
Furthermore, there was even a significant power capable of sealing such a fortress away from the river.
If they had that kind of power back in the day, they could justifiably call themselves kings.
Indeed, during its heyday, the Eisenstein family was one of the top forces contending for strength.
It was closer to a warlord organization than a royal state, but they were strong enough that everyone recognized them calling themselves a kingdom.
The entity that chose to seal itself within that amethyst to maintain Banafitza was proof of that.
…Or perhaps a witness?
The lord of Banafitza, Valfreya Eisenstein.
According to the lore, she was a knight commander and archmage of the old Eisenstein, and in her past, she was said to be a powerhouse hard to find an equal.
How strong was she, you ask? Simplifying it, let’s say….
Estimated level 90.
The guardian of Banafitza, sleeping inside that amethyst, was a monster who could defeat any demon one on one—except for the Demon King!
I had explicitly warned Friede not to come within even a thought of approaching the hilltop fortress because of Valfreya.
If a descendent of Eisenstein were to approach the amethyst, it would trigger Valfreya to break the seal and pop right out.
And then, it would be curtains for us.
Not just for me and Friede; even if we gathered every hero party from each nation, at this point, they would be wiped out with just a hand wave.
What? My ancestor—no, Brunhilde’s ancestor would be a reliable supporting ally for me, right?
Not a chance. That’s not the kind of entity it was.
In the first place, Eisenstein itself was a faction far from righteousness or virtue.
Those that attacked Banafitza, prompting the fortress to sink and forcing Valfreya to seal herself, were none other than humans from the past.
Perhaps even some heroes from that time were involved?
The prime Eisenstein has been completely erased from records, making this history a rare tale known to few today.
Even Gunther only knew of the Eisenstein family as a traitorous house of the Kingdom of Rhine, completely oblivious to the far older history.
The Kingdom of Rhine probably remained in the dark too.
So, those possessing the name Eisenstein—descendants of the fallen Eisenstein—were likely treated as nobility within the Kingdom.
Alas, thanks to those heirs rebelled and got crushed, they have since been completely removed from the nobility lists.
Now, the source novel has ended abruptly, so it’s a bit ambiguous, but perhaps Brunhilde also remained unaware of her family’s past.
The reason she obsessed over gathering a party of heroes was to redeem the label of being a traitorous family and reinstate the Eisenstein family.
She only knew about the rebellion, but anything from a thousand years ago or more—well, she had no clue about that.
…Eh, it wasn’t anything I needed to be concerned about.
My goal wasn’t to restore the family, but rather to gain a peaceful life and future, and my purpose for coming here wasn’t to meet Valfreya either.
Why would I be crazy enough to awaken a level 90 boss?
My goal was not to defeat the boss of this dungeon and clear it, but to gather what I could and sneak out, just like the protagonist of the source novel.
“…Let’s start moving. You remember what I told you, right?”
“Yes, yes! I remember everything!”
As I lightly patted Friede’s head, who was nodding, I got up. I suddenly felt gratitude and relief knowing she was actually “Friet.”
For me to achieve the purpose of being here, her role was of utmost importance. More specifically, the role of her trait called [Battle Instinct].
Yes, I’ll leave it to you, Friede.
So please, take good care of me, my very own hero!
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