Chapter 298 - Evil Spirit (2)

I felt strange.

It wasn't as though I suddenly pitied her, or regretted bringing my mace down on her back then.

Yet something left me uneasy, with a tightness in my chest.

"You don't look well."

"..."

"Did you know that child?"

I shook my head at Amelia's question, then asked something I was curious about.

"What happens to children like that when they grow up?"

"They become explorers."

"Isn't there another path? Couldn't they work at the lord's castle or something?"

"That's impossible. They entered the lord's service on those terms to begin with."

"What terms?"

"In exchange for being raised, they agree to do whatever they're told."

I couldn't believe it.

"Making them do all the chores and using them as bait when plundering counts as raising them?"

"Children who survive hell grow up strong."

The instant I heard that, something the chieftain had once told me flashed through my mind.

["Surely you understand. Only warriors who survive become strong warriors."]

In a way, the reasoning was similar. An environment structured so that you had no choice but to claw your way to strength to survive.

The lord deliberately placed children in that environment.

"Still, once they're past the early years when they mainly serve as bait, their mortality rate gradually declines. The way their assigned teams treat them improves too."

Amelia went on to explain that children who survived around three years as bait were recognized as having potential and began receiving weapons training.

Apparently, if an unclaimed Essence dropped during a hunt, they would even be allowed to absorb it...

"Children who go through that become combat assets ready for immediate use as soon as they reach adulthood."

"What if they say they want to quit once they're adults?"

"That doesn't happen. They usually undergo steady indoctrination from childhood. By adulthood, they're servants more loyal to the lord than anyone."

"But what if they come to their senses anyway and say they want to quit?"

Amelia frowned, as though finding me persistent, then spoke.

"They'll undergo correction. To make them loyal again."

"..."

"Don't concern yourself too much. None of those children would have entered the lord's service without knowing that."

Our conversation ended there.

But I kept thinking afterward. What must the Player who entered Jenssia Neyfrin's body have gone through?

Well, perhaps it hadn't been so bad. Noark didn't kill people outright just for being evil spirits.

'... Not that they'd let her go free, either.'

From the lord's perspective, an evil spirit had possessed a promising recruit he'd spent years raising and feeding spare Essences.

Whoever that evil spirit was, he would have made her continue living Jenssia's life.

Even if it required somewhat harsher "correction."

'Anyway, whether they discovered she was an evil spirit or she kept it hidden, she would've had to go plundering from the start. Then maybe treating everyone as NPCs instead of people was actually a defense mechanism—'

No, why did I keep wondering about this?

'Stop thinking about it.'

I put an end to those thoughts.

Whatever circumstances that Player had been forced to survive had nothing to do with me.

That woman had tried to kill me.

Right, so...

'I only did what I had to do.'

That was all there was to it.

Whew. Putting it that way eased the tightness in my chest a little.

"What are you doing, Amelia? Let's go. We've got work to do."

"Why... are your mood swings so extreme?"

"I'm a barbarian!"

Having shaken off all my unease, I continued fishing for plunderers using the principles of the secret technique, Those Who Come Mean No Good.

Several more days passed...

"Oh, another subspace ring."

I was neatly sorting a plunderer team's equipment, just as I always did, when...

RUMBLE

"... Huh?"

No sooner had I tilted my head than the ground shook as though an earthquake had struck.

Honestly, I was quite taken aback.

Huh. I hadn't even considered this possibility.

RUMMMMMBLE!

A rupture had formed on the third floor.

* * *

A rupture opening on the floor you were on.

It was a little sudden, but hardly something to be shocked or amazed by. It could happen at any time during an expedition.

The problem, though...

'Why now, of all times?'

We hadn't entered the Labyrinth for a normal expedition.

There weren't even any Essences worth taking in a third-floor rupture. Actually, my Essence slots were full to begin with, so I couldn't absorb anything unless I removed my Corpse Golem Essence.

What about the Numbered item and Rupture Stone, you ask?

I couldn't bring those twenty years into the future anyway. Well, selling them would help pay for our stay here, but...

'Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Check first.'

I quickly put an end to my deliberations. A rupture opening and being able to enter it were two different matters.

"Amelia, where is it?"

Those with the Guide talent could tell where a rupture had formed.

So where had this one appeared?

If even the closest entrance was several hours' run away, we couldn't get in no matter what we did. In that case, there would be no need to even consider—

"Five minutes north."

Holy shit, it really had opened right under our noses.

Why couldn't it have done that before? Last time, on the fifth floor, I'd been bitterly disappointed because the rupture had appeared in a completely different region.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

As I shouted, ready to break into a run at any moment, Amelia asked a short question.

"You're going in?"

What was she talking about? Of course I was.

If you could enter a rupture, going in was always the best choice. Never mind Essences or items. There was EXP you could only get inside ruptures...

'No, wait a second.'

"Amelia, have you ever been inside a third-floor rupture?"

"Once, a while ago."

Right, so she'd already gotten all the EXP here. No wonder she wasn't enthusiastic this time either.

"Well, I haven't! So let's go!"

"..."

"We've practically succeeded in catching that lord's eye anyway! A few extra pieces of loot won't change anything!"

"But if we enter the rupture and some unnecessary problem arises..."

"I won't cause trouble! Besides, aren't we companions? Help me out just this once! I'll behave, get my merit score, and leave!"

"... Fine. Follow me."

After a brief silence, Amelia sighed and began swiftly leading the way.

It couldn't have been the word "companions" that changed her mind. She'd simply decided that putting up with a few days of inconvenience was better than damaging her relationship with a "collaborator."

She sought rationality in all sorts of ways, after all.

'She's surprisingly compatible with a barbarian.'

Because she wasn't emotional, the mindless barbarian approach of "do it for me" worked well on her. To this woman, doing it was more rational than being pestered endlessly.

We sped along, and before long, a portal came into view.

"Jandel, think this over one last time..."

What was there to think about?

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!"

Without hesitation, I threw myself through it.

And then...

A flash!

When I opened my eyes, we were inside a pure-white temple.

* * *

A ceiling high enough to use [Leap] to my heart's content.

Pure-white marble columns.

And a hundred statues lined up along the walls.

'No one's here. Looks like we were the first ones in.'

After confirming there were no other explorers around, I slowly looked about. It was out of sheer curiosity rather than any need to identify the place.

After all, there was only one rupture on the third floor.

The Temple of a Hundred Colors.

Not a white temple, but a temple with a hundred colors.

Incidentally, it was also somewhere you absolutely had to visit at least once during a playthrough. The EXP gains were enormous.

"Jandel, do you know about this place?"

"To some extent."

"Then there's no need for an explanation."

The Temple of a Hundred Colors had three defining features.

1. Hordes of elite mobs that didn't appear in normal fields, such as Corpse Golems, spawned here.

On your first visit, whatever you killed would give you first-kill EXP...

2. Unlike ordinary ruptures, it wasn't a cooperative raid. The explorers who entered had to compete.

Only one team could enter the boss room. If the first team failed to clear it, another team got a chance.

Oh, but that didn't mean Amelia and I had to compete against the other teams by ourselves.

3. When the rupture formed, a total of five portals opened on that floor, and everyone entering through the same portal became a team.

This was the trickiest part in the game.

Naturally. What happened if you found the rupture while traveling as a five-person party, only for two people to have already entered?

Two of your companion characters would be left behind.

Just like the explorer team that had entered now.

"... Huh?"

"Damn it. Someone was already here."

The portal floating in the air spat out three explorers and closed.

It looked like they'd left teammates outside...

"This is bad! Remud and Hans didn't get in!"

Oh, nice.

"... Calm down, everyone! We've been separated, but Remud and Hans can hold their own on the third floor, even with just the two of them!"

A human swordsman wearing a sword soon calmed his flustered companions and approached us.

"Good to meet you. Did you two come alone?"

"We did."

Despite Amelia's curt reply, the man smiled affably.

"Ha ha, we'll be spending some time together. Since fate has brought us together, let's introduce ourselves first. My name is Kalton Drek."

"Emily."

"I'm Bjorn."

Once Amelia and I had given our aliases, Kalton cautiously asked me a question.

"Bjorn, are you perhaps a barbarian?"

It was a natural question. I was currently wearing a full set of plate armor. Covered in metal from my face to the tips of my toes, I gave him no way to check whether I had tattoos.

And so...

"What does that matter?"

When I snapped back, Kalton apologized as though realizing his mistake.

"I'm sorry. I was merely curious, but I suppose you might find that offensive."

Apparently, he'd decided I was a large human. Well, it was usually petty humans who reacted sensitively to trivial questions like that.

"Kalton, could you come here?"

Anyway, after we'd given our names, the male elf who'd been watching from behind called Kalton over.

And...

'Can't hear them.'

They whispered something to each other. It seemed they were discussing something...

"He says we're suspicious."

"Huh?"

"I can hear what people say at this distance. Unless they're using magic."

"... I see?"

So her Hearing stat was pretty high. I hadn't known that.

I'd better not try whispering secrets in front of her in the future.

"So what are they saying? They look serious."

What I subsequently overheard through Amelia went as follows.

"They just gave their first names without a care. And they're traveling as a pair on the third floor on day thirteen. They might be plunderers. One's even hiding his face."

The male elf pointed out the oddities, and Kalton replied.

"But we have no other option. We can't just stab them in the back because they're suspicious. Let's keep our suspicions hidden and travel with them to find out what they're like."

Had they finished their discussion?

"Ah! I'm sorry! My friend here was saying he's worried about the companions we left behind."

Kalton approached us with a hearty laugh, then gave the other two time to introduce themselves by name.

"Now, this elven friend here is..."

"Enough. I'll do it myself. Aimburn Berta Garcia. As you can see, I specialize in the bow."

Aimburn finished his brief introduction after giving only his name and primary weapon. Apparently, he didn't want to give us any more information.

Anyway, next came the barbarian warrior.

"Hahaha! Good to meet you all!"

True to his race, the warrior hadn't even gotten to join his two companions' whispered discussion. He approached us with a beaming smile and introduced himself without the slightest wariness.

"I'm Jandel, third son of Jarku!"

"... What?"

My mind went blank the instant I heard it.

Unless I'd misheard him just now...

"Oh, is that a little difficult for humans? Just call me Jandel Jarku!"

That meant he was my biological father.