After Alex and the female mercenary left, Juan sat on the rim of the well and looked around. The village was empty and abandoned, swallowed by the forest. Villages like this were all too common, thanks to the Great War and the monsters it had left behind. Since the war, people had gathered in larger settlements. Even there, powerless commoners had no choice but to rely on the strength of nobles and knights.

“Well, they say nobles ruled commoners without any power of their own before the Great War. Maybe things are better now.”

Struggling commoners and the poor might have grabbed him by the collar if they’d heard that, but Juan had few complaints about the way things were.

The Duke who ruled the domain was a fine man, and his heir, Lord Simon, was growing up without any bad rumors attached to his name, young though he still was. Thanks to the Duke, the domain was safer and more peaceful than others, and a soldier’s pay was enough to live on. His mother’s sudden illness had made things difficult lately, but thanks to young master Alex, Juan no longer had to worry about her.

If anything, other people had begun worrying about him.

When he started accompanying Alex at the young master’s orders, his comrades and friends worried that he had hitched himself to the wrong person. However capable or decent he might be, an illegitimate son of a noble house was unlikely to come to a good end, they said. His mother, now healthy again, worried about him too, but unlike the others, she did not oppose his decision.

“When someone helps you, it’s only right to repay them. Keep helping him until you feel you’ve paid your debt.”

Juan felt the same way. Despite what those around him feared, he had no intention of attaching himself to an illegitimate son in hopes of getting ahead.

Of course, Alex was unusually clever and mature for his age, and from what Juan had glimpsed, his skill surpassed that of most knights. Even so, trying to advance his career by attaching himself to a young boy was not like him. He was helping Alex simply to repay his kindness, as his mother had said.

“Maybe I’ll think about entering his service when he’s a little older.”

Of course, trouble might befall Alex before then and drag Juan into it, but he could bear that much risk. At worst, he might die too.

‘A life for a life, was it?’

He remembered hearing knights boast about it in a tavern.

As he passed the time in idle thought, the air around him seemed to shift. Juan rose and stared toward one part of the forest. Footsteps were coming from the direction of the fortress.

CLANK. CLANK.

They sounded like metal-shod feet striking the ground. The footsteps drew closer, and a knight encased in plate armor emerged from the trees. He was heavily armored from head to toe. A long spear and a greatsword hung across his back, with a battle-axe and warhammer at his waist. No one but a proper knight would even think of coming into a forest dressed like that.

Juan’s expression hardened at the sight of him. The knight’s armor was exquisitely made, but it looked nothing like the armor worn by the domain’s knights. Nor was there an emblem anywhere on it to show whom he served. A knight hiding his allegiance could hardly have come for a good reason.

CLANK. CLANK. THUD.

The knight stopped in front of Juan. Juan’s body went rigid, and cold sweat poured down the back of his neck.

‘Is this the killing intent I’ve heard knights can project?’

He immediately understood why people dreaded the way knights and nobles could release mana to immobilize someone. Fortunately, he could still move his mouth.

“I’m Juan, a soldier of the Duke of Gresia. What business do you have in the Duke’s forest?”

He could not bow his head, but in the most courteous tone he could muster, he made clear both that he was the Duke’s soldier and that this was the Duke’s land.

“The soldiers of this domain have backbone.”

A deep, middle-aged man’s voice came from inside the armor. From his voice alone, Juan could tell he was a seasoned knight. Relieved that the man did not seem likely to draw a weapon immediately, he relaxed a little.

“The mercenary I’m looking for seems to have come this way. Do you know where she went?”

Juan’s relief vanished the moment the knight spoke.

“A mercenary? There was no one here when I arrived. I’m alone.”

The knight paid no attention to Juan’s answer. He surveyed the area, then looked straight at the well.

“Hmm. She went down the well. It’s a shame, but I’ve lost her too many times to indulge your lie.”

Juan sighed. He had not expected the moment when he might have to risk his life to arrive so soon. It was like facing an iron club with a twig.

Still, he could not beg for his life now.

‘Will this be enough to repay a life?’

It was a shame that his resistance would be of so little help.

“Hup!”

Juan drew a deep breath and let out a forceful shout. It was a way to break free of killing intent that he had picked up from knights. Fortunately, the hold did not seem too strong: his body moved again, and he drew his sword.

Seeing this, the knight gripped the hammer at his waist.

“It would’ve been easier if you’d stayed frozen...”

Juan charged as the knight spoke regretfully.

WHOOSH.

Juan swung his sword at the knight with all his strength, but the knight blocked it with an armored hand. An instant later, Juan saw the hammer hurtling toward him.

WHOOOOSH!

Juan closed his eyes.

* * *

SPLASH. SPLASH.

A brief impact swept through my body, and I realized I was deep underwater. The chunks of rock that had fallen before us had told me there was water below, so I had let myself fall without worrying. But the water seemed deeper than I’d expected. A pool beneath a tomb beneath a well. Even after experiencing it myself, I could hardly believe it.

Worse, the damned sword was so heavy that no matter how hard I kicked and paddled, I couldn’t rise. I could have dropped it and swum up, but I couldn’t afford to lose my sword down here. While I floundered, a small hand grabbed me by the back of the collar. It was the female mercenary, the Firebird Hunter. Holding on to me, she swam upward, and with her strength behind us, we rose rapidly.

SPLASH.

Once we broke the surface, she helped me out of the pool. As I lay there panting, I noticed a bright light: it came from a lantern hanging at her waist. She had managed to keep hold of it even as we fell. Despite being submerged, it still shone. Come to think of it, that lantern was how she had found me underwater.

“Huff, huff... That’s an amazing lantern. It’s waterproof.”

She tapped the lantern at her waist.

“Whew. You never know what might happen when you work as a mercenary, so I paid an alchemist a fortune for it.”

Even after ten years of living here, I still couldn’t make sense of this world’s technology. A world stuck in the Middle Ages had waterproof lanterns? That was technology way ahead of its time!

Besides, I found it hard to believe she’d bought it for mercenary work. More likely, she’d bought it to search for her ancestors’ ruins.

In any case, the lantern’s undimmed light showed me that the pool was much larger than I had expected—at least the size of a small reservoir. It was lucky we had landed near the edge. Otherwise, I might have exhausted myself swimming and had to let go of my sword.

“If the altar was going to collapse, you should’ve warned me.”

She looked uncomfortable.

“I didn’t know either. I was only told it would open a passage leading down.”

We both looked up. A huge opening, apparently more than ten meters across, gaped in the middle of the uneven ceiling. We couldn’t see its end. The tomb we had fallen from must be up there, but the lantern’s light did not reach it. If what she said was true, the opening would once have been sealed.

‘Has it just been too long?’

Just as a gap large enough for a person to pass through had formed in the wall, the passage beneath the altar had failed to withstand the passage of time.

“Do we have to climb back up there?”

Even as I asked, I doubted we could. The opening we needed to reach was in the ceiling, above the reservoir. Apart from the water, the chamber was not especially large, but climbing the wall, crossing the ceiling while hanging from it, and reaching the opening looked difficult. Then we would have to climb a long way up through the opening itself. Without climbing equipment, it was impossible.

The absurdity of our situation made me think of killing myself.

“Damn it, I’d just fall down here again!”

The message was still in front of my eyes. Good grief. Now even dying was no help. One wrong move and I might spend eternity repeating my time underground. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get out before I died.

The Hunter, who had been watching me with concern after my sudden outburst, spoke up.

“While we were falling, I saw several caves opening in the walls. They’re probably what caused the hole we fell through.”

Thanks to the lantern, she must have been able to see around us on the way down.

“They looked just like the caves over there. Maybe those caves connect to the ones inside the opening in the ceiling?”

She pointed to the walls around us.

The walls of the underground chamber holding the reservoir were riddled with openings. Some caves were barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through; others were wide enough for two people to walk through with their arms spread. Her words finally put me at ease. There was a way out after all.

I got to my feet. Now that we had a goal, it was time to move. First, I took off my outer garment and shook the water from it. I needed to be light on my feet.

Seeing me, she removed her cloak too. Beneath it, she wore close-fitting leather armor. Her figure in the armor was a contrast to her androgynous face. Rough mercenaries would probably have followed her around whistling. Only then did I think I understood why she insisted on wearing a cloak.

She channeled mana into the cloak as she shook it, and the moisture dried in no time. I hadn’t known that was possible. I tried channeling mana into my own outer garment, copying her, but it was not easy.

“Give it here. That isn’t an easy trick.”

After watching me struggle, she dried it herself. It was a useful way to employ mana. I would have to learn it before we parted. Thanks to her, I put my dry garment back on and picked up my sword.

“So which cave should we take?”

“Hard to say.”

She looked troubled too.

“Hmm. We’ll need room to move. Let’s take the biggest one.”

After a moment’s thought, she glanced at my sword and made her choice. Without it, I was small enough to pass through even the narrowest caves. The longer this went on, the more I felt I’d made a mistake bringing it.

We were about to head for the largest cave when a thought struck me.

“Those caves didn’t just appear on their own, did they? This doesn’t look like a limestone or volcanic area...”

“Ah... You don’t think...?”

If the caves had not formed naturally, something must have made them. With luck, whatever it was might have died out long ago.

RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE.

Judging by the sound coming from deep inside the caves, we weren’t that lucky. It grew louder, and figures emerged from the darkness. They were creatures I had never seen before, with red eyes and bodies that looked larger than horses.

Beside me, the Hunter spoke in a tense voice. “To think there are still monsters this deep underground...”

I had suspected as much. They were monsters after all.