CREEEAK.

As the treasure vault door opened, we rushed inside—and nearly fell through a gaping hole in the floor.

"Aah!"

The large stone chamber that appeared to be the vault had a shaft running straight through its center, both above and below. Hanging from the edge I had nearly fallen over, I looked down. The shaft vanished into darkness.

'It can't be...' I looked up. The same opening was overhead, but I could see where that one ended: at the ceiling of the chamber we had fallen from.

"No way. Is this the hole we fell through?"

The Firebird Hunter stared blankly at it, not even thinking to help me as I dangled from the edge. She seemed badly shaken.

"Ngh." I hauled myself up on my own. Once I was back on solid ground and looked around, I began to understand why she was so shocked.

Almost nothing remained in the vault. I had hoped there might be another door, but I saw none besides the one we had entered through. The only other openings led into the two ends of the shaft.

After standing stunned for some time, she searched every corner of the chamber. All she found were a few gold coins and dusty scraps of metal.

"This can't be..."

At last, she sank to the floor in despair. She had been so levelheaded until now that the sight showed just how bitterly disappointed she was.

I was disappointed too, but some adventures ended in a bust. Besides, I had used the opportunity to hone my mana swordsmanship, so I didn't feel I had come away with nothing.

I looked up. When I gathered mana, I could faintly make out the ceiling through the dim light far above. It looked at least fifty meters away. That was high, but much closer than a climb from the underground chamber with the reservoir. Rock climbing that far would have been impossible in my previous life, but with mana, I thought I could somehow manage it.

"Well, shall we head back?" I muttered to myself as I searched the ceiling for handholds. Then a thought struck me.

'Wait. If there were treasures here and a hole opened beneath them...' Where had the treasures gone? They might have been buried in the dirt on the way down, or the monsters digging through the ground might have cleared them away. But what if neither had happened? I looked down the shaft again.

Just as I called to her—

"Wait, the treasure..."

RAAAAAGH!

She never heard me. The monsters' roar swallowed my voice.

"There are still monsters left?"

I turned toward the open door in alarm. She rose, fury on her face.

"There are more? Good!"

Oh, come on. How was that good? Cursing inwardly, I gripped my sword. I had wondered why no message telling me I'd passed the point where I died had appeared after we killed all the monsters. So there were some left after all.

Then the monsters appeared.

BANG!

A large red monster burst into the stone chamber, throwing the heavy iron door open as though it meant to smash it with its body. An even larger one followed. Both were red all over, with ratlike faces and four pairs of legs. They resembled the monsters we had seen below, but were much bigger than the gray ones.

'Are they a different kind?'

Their size wasn't the only difference. Their fur was red, blazing like fire. Looking at it, I could see why they were called Red Mice. Were these the parents of the other monsters, then? Was their fur originally red, only turning gray because they lived underground?

As I wondered, I heard someone grinding her teeth beside me.

"It was you, wasn't it? Where's the rest of the inheritance?"

Before I could say anything, she charged forward in a blaze of anger.

GRRRRR.

She wasn't the only one angry. The red-furred monsters let out savage cries and lunged at her.

CLANG! CLANG!

Woman and monsters clashed in an instant. Unlike the gray monsters, these did not give an inch under her attacks. Their claws held firm even when they struck her shimmering sword, and when she managed to slash their bodies, the red fur blunted her blade, leaving only shallow wounds.

"This ability isn't so weak that the likes of you should overpower it! It's not! If only I'd been able to learn it properly!"

The longer she fought, the more frustrated she grew, swinging her sword wildly. But these monsters were different. She could never beat them while she was so worked up. Midfight, her sword cut uselessly through the air, and a monster's claw scored her skin. The Firebird Hunter was driven steadily back.

I sighed.

If the thought I'd just had was right, the treasure would be mine if she died... I could climb out on my own now, and if she kept fighting, I might not even have to face the monsters.

But then—

"They're too strong! Run while I hold them off!"

The moment I heard her say that as she fought on, blood flying, I gave up on running.

There were plenty of villains in this world, but there were also good people—and quite a few softhearted fools. You saw someone's true nature when they faced death. When that nature was good, it was damn hard to turn away.

In the end, I raised my sword.

'If I die, are these monsters I can beat next time?'

With that thought, I charged.

Unfortunately, the Firebird Hunter fell before I could join the fight, leaving me the target of both monsters.

"Ghk! N-no!"

Her ragged scream reached me, and claws filled my vision. I closed my eyes.

SLASH.

Agonizing pain. The world went dark, then bright again. Wind battered my ears, my clothes whipped around me, and words appeared before my eyes.

[You have died. Restarting from the autosave point.]

My life began again.

I opened my eyes. The cave wall rushed past. By the faint light coming from the Firebird Hunter's back as she fell beside me, I could just make out my surroundings. The treasure vault where I'd died moments ago must have been somewhere above.

I would hit the water soon. Instead of throwing my sword, I held it tight and gathered as much mana as I could to brace for the impact.

SPLASH!

A moment later, I struck the water with a loud splash. Cold water battered my whole body, and I began to sink. It was the heavy sword. The first time I'd fallen, I'd thrashed desperately and barely managed to slow my descent. This time, I held the sword against my chest and stayed still. With mana circulating through my body, I wasn't worried about breathing. I'd heard that some divers in my previous life could hold their breath for over ten minutes. I had a feeling I could do it now too.

Light shimmered above me. She seemed to be searching for me underwater. The first time we'd fallen, she would have caught me and pulled me to the surface by now. This time, I'd sunk too deep for her to find me.

I held my breath and kept descending. The reservoir really was deep. The light dwindled, and as darkness enveloped me, I began to worry. What if I was wrong? What if this reservoir connected to somewhere else? Just as I began to suspect I'd died for nothing—

THUD.

My feet touched the uneven bottom. Thankfully, I'd reached it before it was too late.

'Damn, I can't see a thing.'

It seemed I'd made another mistake. I'd thought that if a hole had opened in the treasure vault, the treasures would have fallen into this reservoir. But in this darkness, finding anything was impossible.

I couldn't simply go back up, though. Falling from so high had let me sink this quickly. Unless I planned to die and fall again, I had to find something this time.

I was about to push more mana into my eyes and ears, just in case, when an idea came to me. What if I spread mana outside my body? This wasn't air, but shouldn't it work in water too? I couldn't control the space with mana and immobilize someone, but perhaps I could at least sense the area as my own. When I pushed mana into my sword, it moved like an extension of my limbs. If I pushed mana into the water, perhaps I could sense the space it filled.

I suppressed the urge to breathe and began sending mana out of my body instead. It felt strangely different from spreading it through air, as though I were pushing myself into thick jelly. It was slow and uncomfortable, but I managed to spread mana through the water. It reached two meters in every direction.

'That's dirt, and that's a rock...' Thankfully, I could sense objects through the movement of the mana. It felt like detecting foreign objects suspended in jelly. The sensation was utterly unfamiliar, but I could make out some of what surrounded me. I couldn't discern much detail, yet it helped enough that I didn't have to crawl along the bottom touching everything one by one.

I walked slowly across the bottom of the reservoir. It was as much of a mess as I'd expected: broken rocks scattered about, along with stones that felt as though someone had cut them. I sensed something like a candlestick and a torn piece of cloth stirring in the water.

As I searched, I gradually began to feel short of breath. Quite some time must have passed.

'Oh, right. The monsters will show up...'

We'd fought them not long after leaving the reservoir. Three in all, and the Firebird Hunter had dealt with two.

*'Can she handle all three?'

I might have left her with more than she could manage. I had no choice but to head up.

Tsk. Now that I was thinking of going up, the sword was a problem again. I couldn't swim to the surface with it. I decided to leave the heavy sword on the bottom this time.

*'Is there a lighter sword around here I could use for now?'

I searched through the debris. I couldn't sense anything like a sword, but I did find something broad and flat, like a plank.

*'Huh? A shield?'

It was a small round shield.

*'What's this made of?'

I'd worried it would be heavy, but it was surprisingly light. With nothing else in sight, I decided to take it up with me.

I drove my sword into the ground, took hold of the shield, and began swimming upward. It seemed to be a fine shield. If it had been in the chamber, it had to be very old and must have spent a long time underwater, yet it accepted my mana readily. What was more, it seemed to grow lighter when I pushed mana into it. Holding it with both hands, I rose toward the surface.