Chapter 232
A boy is suffering with a stone stuck in his mouth.
He keeps nodding up and down with teary eyes.
I carefully observed his every expression to confirm there was no lie, but just in case, I removed the stone from his mouth and asked again.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Is your name ‘Ami’?”
“Y-yes… that’s right.”
“And your name is ‘Zagan’, correct?”
“…cough, O-Oppa!”
“Stop whining and speak properly. If you dodge the question one more time, I’ll really cast Curse Magic and turn you into an idiot who can only say one word for the rest of your life.”
“Y-yes! My brother’s name is Zagan! So please let me go! He’s suffering!”
At Ami’s desperate plea, I let go of Zagan’s collar.
So… their names really are correct?
They do look quite similar in age and appearance… but really?
How can that be…?
Is the trial showing me false illusions by combining images from my memory?
Unless…
‘I still can’t judge anything. I need a bit more information.’
“Are you okay, Zagan?”
“I-I’m fine, Oppa.”
Zagan, who was just gasping after having his collar grabbed, is now wheezing while Ami looks on with a worried expression.
I glanced at the kids before shifting my gaze outside the iron bars.
The prison we are trapped in is just one of many similar prisons stacked up.
Some rooms were empty, some held just one person, while others were packed with many—quite the variety.
From the outside, there didn’t seem to be any clear criteria for how they were organized, but first, I needed to figure out where we are.
“Ami, where is this place?”
I asked the kid who introduced herself as Ami in a gentle voice.
Unaware of my kindness, Ami raised her vigilance to the max and, sensing she might be in trouble, hesitantly replied.
“It’s a prison.”
“What a foolish thing to say. Any halfwit could tell this is an underground prison just by looking at it. What I asked is, ‘whose’ underground prison is this?”
Ami blinked as if my question made no sense to her.
The Archbishop Ami I knew might look young on the outside, but he was pretty sharp.
“That was the case, you know.”
“Is that really Ami?”
I couldn’t shake off my suspicious gaze as I waited for his answer.
“Whose prison is this…? You know where this is, but you don’t know whose castle it is…? You’re not here being dragged along, are you… Huh? There are no chains…?”
He finally realized that I wasn’t restrained.
Ami’s eyes shifted in a strange way as he looked at me.
He was terrified but seemed to have found some hope.
Ami reiterated what I had just said.
“Come to think of it, you said you were going to cast the curse ‘Magic’…? So, are you perhaps the disciple of the Magic Instructor who came to save us?”
“The disciple of a magician?”
“Yes! The ‘Disciple of the Magician’ who defeats the evil monsters!”
“What’s that?”
“Excuse me…?”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard that term. Disciple of a magician?”
Surely, he was referring to the very first magician.
Disciple?
Even looking back on Vargan’s memories, I had no idea, and it had never been mentioned in the original story.
Anna had vaguely mentioned something similar in Urna, but that was merely her speculation based on the ability to sense mana.
I have no idea if this kid really becomes Archbishop Ami, but judging by his appearance and situation, he doesn’t look like a noble heir.
If that’s the case, they must be people well-known enough for commoners or slaves to recognize them…
Yet, I know absolutely nothing about them.
The history related to the first magician and ancient times is so scarce that I can’t dismiss it carelessly.
For now, let’s try to pry out more information.
“Ami.”
“Y-Yes?”
“You’re trying to change the topic, but you still haven’t answered my question.”
“…If you’re not the disciple of the magician, then you must have come with us; why don’t you know? Ugh!”
“Such an impudent little brat. Just answer the question I asked.”
Ami, having gotten a light slap on the forehead, rubbed his reddened skin before finally speaking.
Just moments ago, he was trembling in fear, yet now he seemed eager to catch me in a slip of the tongue.
“Frikkanrisk… It’s the castle of the Winter Dragon Frikkanrisk.”
“Oh, you mean Frikkanrisk, one of the Twelve Divine Beasts?”
“Yes… Because of that creature, my mom and dad….”
“Don’t cry. If you do, your sibling will get a smack on the forehead next.”
“Ugh…!”
Ami stifled his tears with his hands.
Seizing the moment to prevent further ruckus gave me a chance to gather my thoughts.
So.
What I’ve gathered is that, in this situation, I’m one of the captives taken by Frikkanrisk back in the days when monsters ran rampant.
And this kid who introduced himself as Zagan and Ami is in the same predicament as me.
In other words, my ‘role’ in this stage is that of a captive.
What a captive generally desires is ‘freedom’ by common sense, right?
Moreover, this time there are ‘talkative individuals’ in the same situation as me.
It’s as if I’m in a scenario that propels their liberation.
‘If the temporal background is accurate, the current Frikkanrisk is not the one I knew. It must be someone from her lineage, perhaps her ancestor.’
I still don’t know if the clear condition is to incite the subjugation of Frikkanrisk or simply to assist in escaping.
I’m not sure if it’s encouraging the hunt or simply helping us escape.
But I can’t just chalk it up to coincidence that we’re all thrown into the same prison.
‘Like it or not, I have to stick with these little brats for now.’
Finishing my thought, I sat down next to them, leaning my back against the cold wall.
Perhaps taken aback by my sudden proximity, the two kids clung even tighter to each other.
It’s ridiculous that they treat me like some villain.
Goohoo—.
Ignoring them, I settled into a cross-legged position and pulled the mana from within my body out into the open.
Since there’s no mana in the air of this world, I had to rely solely on the mana inside me.
The transparent flow of mana swirled around me like a valley stream, slowly spreading outwards.
I was doing this to understand the structure of the Frikkanrisk’s castle.
To avoid detection, I weakened the intensity of the mana significantly.
Because of that, it would take a little while for the information picked up by the mana to come back.
“Y-You’re definitely the Magic Instructor’s disciple! You’ve come to rescue us… Ugh!”
Ami, seeing my hair and clothing fluttering in the mana’s flow, tried to speak excitedly but was cut off.
“Remember this. Only I get to ask questions.”
“Wha—?”
“Any questions you direct at me will be ignored, so no need to stir up noise. I won’t answer.”
“Ugh…! Yes, yes, I understand. I won’t interrupt.”
Convinced that I was the Magic Instructor’s disciple, Ami started obediently following my words.
Thanks to the error of his assumption, I could gather a lot of information while figuring out the structure of the castle, and Ami gradually relaxed his tight grip on Zagan.
“Right, Ami. You mentioned that a magician failed to save Urna in the past.”
“Y-Yes… I apologize for speaking ill.”
“No, I’m not scolding you. More importantly, do you have any other information about Urna? Like the details of its destruction by Seiman.”
“…Details?”
Ami spoke about Urna’s destruction as if it were a well-known tale.
At that time, cities destroyed by monsters must have been more than a couple.
Even mentioning it as something from a somewhat distant past indicates there’s likely a significant reason for it.
“Is it alright to share just what’s commonly known?”
“Yeah, don’t beat around the bush; just get to it quickly.”
“U-Um…”
Ami seemed to be thinking hard about how to summarize things concisely. He quickly finished his thoughts and spoke up.
“I heard that after Urna was destroyed by Seiman, a Demon King appeared there.”
“A Demon King… Go on.”
“…The Demon King turned the barely surviving residents of Urna into monsters, making them his slaves…”
Listening to everything Ami had to say, I could sum it up in the most crucial point.
—The Demon King turned the residents of Urna into monsters.
People turning into monsters?
That’s also news to me.
Just like how the Priest-level Altifes multiply using a human body as a base.
So, the Demon King has such power?
‘Information about dungeons and monsters is still mostly shrouded in mystery. If what Ami said is true… that’s world-turning information.’
“Of course, most things are shrouded in mystery. If Ami’s words are true… they’re information monumental enough to turn the world upside down.”
What is known about the dungeon is limited.
The first magician killed the Demon King and sealed all monsters in the underground prison.
And as the period of that seal comes to an end, it takes the form of a ‘dungeon’ that emerges to the surface.
Thus, a dungeon that appears on the surface is seldom left abandoned.
Even though various relics and treasures pour out, they’re not monopolized by the church; hunters and families are allowed to enter. It’s all to prevent monsters from the long-sealed dungeon from suddenly spilling out into the world.
But to think the source of such monsters is people.
It was quite shocking, especially considering the Twelve Divine Beasts that were said to have emerged with the Demon King.
My usual assumptions about dark beings, or even the possibility that White, who uses a four-dimensional pocket, was originally human—those were thoughts worth pondering.
“…But if that’s the case, it makes sense that Anna, who was just an ordinary citizen of Urna, became the master of the dungeon. If the Demon King turned her into a monster, it’s quite plausible.”
The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place, but it’s not a comforting feeling.
Somehow, my affection for familiars seems to be wavering for the first time.
…I asked Ami about the current year or surrounding powerful nations, but she had no clue.
Ancient history is tough to research, anyway. The years weren’t unified back then, as they used the reigning years of kings, but since I don’t know who the king was, I have no way of figuring it out.
Plus, she’s just an ordinary kid, so it’s fair to say she’s clueless about geography or current affairs.
Swish…
Having dispersed my mana to grasp the structure of the castle, I safely returned.
It seems Frikkanrisk is outside the castle. Although there are quite a few monsters inside, there’s nothing that requires extreme vigilance.
“Then shall I make my move?”
Not exactly thrilled about it, but I can’t just sit around day and night, so I want to free the captives.
It looks like the trials will demand that of me.
“Get down.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m telling you to get away from the iron bars unless you want to become a rotten skeleton.”
As I warned, I summoned the Flame of Corruption onto the iron bars.
The flames quickly spread, incinerating the bars and creating an opening large enough for a person to pass through.
I purposely broke off two of the severed bars into manageable lengths.
Then, I attached the Flame of Corruption at the ends, turning them into a sort of torch.
“Here you go.”
After cutting the chains that bound Ami and Zagan, I handed them the bar infused with the Flame of Corruption.
They accepted it, their reactions a mix of surprise and bewilderment.
“Carry this and touch the bars where people are trapped. As you can see, don’t even think about touching it out of curiosity. You might have to cut off a hand.”
It seems I need to take on the role of that magician’s apprentice for a moment.
