episode_0103

The place where Bella and we made contact was in a forest not too far from the casino.

It was also a place I remembered. In the game, you couldn’t go too deep into any place other than the casino building, and the forest wasn’t fully implemented, but at least the place where we gathered was in the direction I remembered based on the casino building.

“This close… … .”

Alice looked back and said.

Even by the standards of the world I lived in, it was a fairly tall building that seemed to pierce the sky. It was a casino and a hotel building extending above it. Of course, it wasn’t one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers, but if you looked closely, it was a building that you had to raise your head to see the top of.

And the magnificent building was illuminated by splendid lights shining from below.

It’s visible even from this forest.

It was such a gorgeous place that it was hard to believe that the surrounding jungle was so dense that it would be difficult to develop.

In a way, the location was well chosen. A fallen city hidden in the forest. Doesn’t it look like something out of a novel?

“You’re not late, are you?”

Bella was located a little way off the path leading from the entrance to the forest.

There weren’t many people wandering around the forest at night like this, so holding the light like that didn’t seem to be a big problem.

Bella was wearing the fox mask I had seen earlier, and a leather suit that clung to her body. Her attitude was relaxed, but her outfit seemed to indicate that she was extremely wary of revealing her identity.

Indeed, Lucas and Bella may have acted very rudely in front of the Emperor, but in reality, they are completely loyal. They will never deviate from the Emperor’s plans.

Bella was holding a bag in her left hand. It wasn’t that big. It was probably about the size of a handbag. It just looked like a plain leather bag.

That’s… … probably Verratti’s. I remember Verratti carrying a bag like that in the game and going around looking for ruins.

Inside was probably one of the treasures of the law.

“Hmm.”

Bella looked around at us and said that.

Bella is very capable. Strictly speaking, it would be correct to say that she has already reached the peak of her talents.

However, it is impossible to conquer an ancient dungeon alone.

“Great.”

Bella said with a smile.

Of course, she’s still wearing her mask. Claire and Leo have already seen Bella’s appearance once.

The voice is different too.

From my perspective, knowing the truth, and Alice’s perspective, Bella was just like that… Well, what if we looked at it from someone else’s perspective?

Leo doesn’t know, but Claire has a good eye for detail.

But Claire’s expression, which I glanced at, didn’t show any particular surprise.

“His Majesty’s two daughters and two children from a loyal family. I heard they are also very talented.”

“That’s right. They both have great skills. I, a fellow princess, can vouch for them. ”

As Alice took a step forward and said that, Bella shrugged.

It was a strangely oppressive attitude.

Bella was a difficult character for me to understand. She was only mentioned in the main story, and there were a few illustrations and a few lines dubbed in a flashback scene. Even if you say that she had a similar personality to Claire, it’s not like she had the exact same personality as the Claire in the main story.

Besides, the atmosphere of the original Claire has already been greatly diluted in my head. Because for the past two months, there has been an incredibly solid version of Claire right nearby.

But if I think about it based on the personality I’ve seen over the past 10 years…

That attitude is acting.

Bella, without her mask, would always be playful in front of us. Even though sometimes she would pull some annoying pranks or tease us.

“Well, since the next emperor of the empire says so, I must follow it.”

“… … .”

Alice glared at Bella at her words.

Leo gulped. In the original, Leo’s attitude towards Alice changes to be much friendlier from this point on, but even with the mention of ‘next emperor’, it seems like that day will come a long time later.

“Where is the place? Did you find it?”

“Three princesses are attached to me, and if I can’t find them, the prestige of the empire will be in jeopardy.”

However, Bella’s next words were not so positive.

“However, I don’t think it would be a problem for the empire’s prestige if it wasn’t found this time.”

“Can’t find it, what do you mean?”

“It seems we caught them too quickly. Verati didn’t know the exact location of the ruins. He just guessed the location based on the records of the court and infiltrated. ”

“… … Then, how many more people like that woman are infiltrating the empire?”

“Probably so? Oh, the large landmass is also a problem.”

As Bella said that, she took out a piece of paper from the bag she was holding and handed it to Alice. Alice looked a little reluctant, but she accepted the note Bella handed her without saying much.

Strictly speaking, it was more like a map than a note.

“There’s a pharmacy nearby.”

However, it was not created for military purposes. The surrounding area is quite large and complex. Northwood did not want tourists to get lost, so they created and distributed it as if they were creating a theme park guide.

Compared to the theme park guide I remembered, it didn’t have any colors and there wasn’t a mascot drawn on it.

A simple map depicting the surrounding area showed a commercial district centered around the casino and a forest surrounding the commercial district.

And in the forest around it, X marks were drawn at regular intervals.

“I feel sorry for Sir Verati.”

Bella spoke as if she was mocking Verratti.

“It seems that the Knight of the Law Kingdom was really bad. How could he have searched so hard and only finally found his location?”

“… … .”

We all had to agree with Bella’s words.

*

Jibo reacts to Jibo. This is because they are not simply individual devices with different abilities, but part of a larger device.

Actually, in the original work, the function of the treasure was not revealed. If we think about the series with a different worldview, it seems like it would be expressed in something like, since it contains the power of a god, it can grant impossible wishes… … However, in fact, the story about the treasure was maintained throughout the series even though the worldview changed several times, so some players started grumbling that they were getting tired of it, so it is not certain whether it will be maintained in this worldview.

However, most players were guessing that ‘the heroine who died in that situation will be revived’.

That doesn’t mean I’m going to give up on saving the heroine. If it were a game, I would have just enjoyed it since I couldn’t stop it anyway, but this wasn’t a game, it was reality.

“Honestly, I think I know why Verratti couldn’t find it.”

Bella said with a look of disgust on her face.

After wandering through the forest for almost three hours, we finally found the entrance.

In the first place, we had never properly seen what a lighthouse was, so even though it was said to shine brighter when we got closer, we had no idea how bright it was.

Only when I got near the dungeon entrance did the light become very faintly stronger.

So, it is not true that Jibo is shining by default, but rather, from the moment it arrived in this area, it judged that ‘another Jibo is nearby’ and continued to shine.

“… … Is the Charlotte side still not finished with the attack?”

Alice muttered worriedly.

“… … .”

Surely, if you go inside after such a long time, you’ll be too tired to fight properly.

I let out a small sigh.

again.

*

“… … .”

As I snatched the treasure halfway from Bella’s hand and walked without hesitation to the dungeon entrance, the children all had blank expressions.

There wasn’t really a long path, so I just walked between tall trees.

Still, the time I moved forward would not have been even 30 minutes.

… … By my standards, it felt like it took almost eight hours.

Even if I turn back time, it was really hard to find the result of going around and around in circles, and to go back to the starting point. Since I knew the direction of the building, I was able to find it earlier than when I first tried, but it wasn’t that different.

So, I went back in time several times to find a way to convince the people around me.

Every time I found a dungeon, the expressions on my party’s faces changed from ‘of course’ to looks of surprise.

And this time I almost forgot what I was going to say.

“… … .”

Alice’s expression as she looked at me became more meaningful, but I didn’t say anything more.