Ch.2Chapter 2

“We’re innocent, so let’s break out!”

Aghartha’s words, spoken with her characteristic smile as she caught our attention, were quite shocking.

Saying we should commit a crime because we’re innocent is like saying I’ll hit you because I was hit without reason. What’s the difference?

Aghartha, who couldn’t possibly read my thoughts, excitedly raised her finger and said:

“There are no guards, and now is the perfect opportunity.”

The Huntsman, who had looked completely exhausted until just now, seemed interested this time and met Aghartha’s gaze.

“Do you have any proof that there’s no one outside?”

“I have good hearing, you know.”

Aghartha tapped her ear.

Considering how she had treated me like a lunatic earlier when I was talking to myself, Aghartha’s hearing was indeed quite exceptional.

“I was a bit confused when Mr. Tanthyn arrived, but seeing that there are no guards visible even though it’s mealtime, something must have happened.”

It was evidence based too heavily on her senses, but having seen the prologue, I knew her words were true.

That outside, everyone had been slaughtered by a single Outer God.

If anything, it was strange that I had ended up in a place like this.

“Fine, let’s assume that’s true. How do you plan to escape?”

The Huntsman twisted his hands, moving the wooden handcuffs bound to his wrists, and said:

“We can’t do anything as long as these are on.”

“Ah, that’s easy.”

Saying that, she began to move her mouth.

The Huntsman and I watched to see what she was doing, when suddenly Aghartha stuck out her tongue.

“Bweh.”

Is she trying to pick a fight?

The Huntsman sighed and shook his head.

“…I’m a fool for believing you. As expected of a deceitful thief…”

“Cahn’t you shee thish?” (Can’t you see this?)

Looking closely at the mumbling thief, I could see that the tip of her moving tongue was slightly curled.

On the top of her pink tongue was a needle about the size of a pinky finger, glistening with saliva.

Wait, she’s been talking normally this whole time with that thing in her mouth?

Maybe she’s not a thief but a human sideshow performer.

Aghartha rolled the needle on her tongue like a toothpick, then flicked it onto her palm and inserted it into the keyhole of the handcuffs.

She twisted her hand joints to manipulate the needle’s tip through the unreachable hole.

“If I move this here and lift this part…”

Click!

As the wooden handcuffs fell to the prison floor, Aghartha wiggled her freed fingers.

“Ah, much better.”

“…You have skill.”

“What kind of thief would I be if I couldn’t do this?”

“I thought you said you hadn’t committed any crimes?”

“…Picking at every little detail isn’t good for your reputation, Mr. Tanthyn.”

Aghartha covered my mouth with her freed hand and gave a mysterious smile.

“Enough fooling around, hurry up and free me.”

At The Huntsman’s words, Aghartha stood up and approached him, but suddenly stopped and began to smile mischievously.

“Hmm, that’s right.”

“What are you doing?”

“If I don’t free you, you’ll have to stay like this, won’t you?”

The Huntsman began to look fierce at the thief’s sudden strange words.

This is still following the original story.

In the beginning, the thief says something like this to the player, who responds with “Get lost, I don’t need you.”

Then the thief leaves first, and the game starts from the point where The Huntsman somehow escapes.

In this process, Aghartha was supposed to die.

And without even showing a death scene, it was only briefly mentioned during an item discovery that “it was a cold corpse.”

“Why are you stating the obvious as if it’s something remarkable?”

“Is that how you speak to someone who’s about to help you? Try being more polite.”

I wonder what The Huntsman will say.

Since what he says will reflect the original protagonist’s character.

“You seem to have time for jokes? Just hurry up and free me.”

“No, no. I’m a good thief who only helps nice children.”

The word “children” seemed to strike a nerve, as The Huntsman’s body noticeably flinched.

When it happened to me directly, it was annoying, but seeing it from a third-person perspective felt different.

This is actually hilarious!

“The lowly always show their true colors.”

“Ah, this won’t do. Bad children are better off staying here.”

As Aghartha said that and turned to approach me, The Huntsman closed his eyes tightly, sighed, and said:

“Just get lost. I don’t need the touch of someone obsessed with such petty treatment.”

So that’s the correct line.

The Huntsman’s personality actually matches mine quite well.

Wait, this isn’t the time to be happy about that.

If we leave The Huntsman here alone, I’ll die along with the thief!

Aghartha slowly approached me.

“Now, let me remove your handcuffs, Mr. Tanthyn.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“That’s one gratitude point for today. See? I told you I’m a good thief.”

Aghartha looked at The Huntsman and sneered.

“I won’t be freeing The Huntsman.”

It seemed she was quite offended by his earlier comment about her smell.

Since there was no such dialogue in the original work, it was evidence that she was speaking more irritably than in the original.

The Huntsman said nothing.

Well, he’s probably confident he can escape alone anyway.

“If you beg me nicely now, I might still free you… Mr. Tanthyn?”

Ignoring Aghartha, I approached The Huntsman.

This is absolutely not out of goodwill.

I need to follow The Huntsman to survive!

My life is important!

“Mr. Huntsman.”

“…”

“What are you doing? Get up already.”

He didn’t seem particularly upset.

He looked like he was deep in thought about what to do next, having already considered us discarded cards.

No, you madman!

Even if Aghartha was destined to die originally, I wasn’t!

If things continued like this, it was obvious I’d become cold corpse #2 next to the thief.

In times like these, I needed to take drastic measures.

Even though I was a pure newbie who had only played the early parts, I had heard things from the community.

What’s the point of having original knowledge if I don’t use it?

I grabbed the contemplative Huntsman’s shoulder and let slip:

“If you leave me behind, you won’t be able to defeat the Outer God here, you know?”

“What?”

His pupils dilated.

Before he could ask where I’d heard that, I whispered to prevent him from saying more.

“If you calm down, I’ll help you.”

Seeing his pupils still trembling in confusion, I thought if I left him like this, he’d continue to be this way.

So I quickly grabbed The Huntsman’s shoulders and shook him back and forth.

Caught off guard by the sudden action, The Huntsman made a strange “urbrm” sound as his body was controlled back and forth.

Only then did The Huntsman start looking at me like he wanted to kill me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

His gaze was still fierce, but I could tell it had softened considerably compared to before.

It seemed my comment about the Outer God had worked.

“Why are you sulking again? Aghartha was just joking.”

As I said that, I glanced at Aghartha.

She seemed to be mouthing “I was serious…” so I raised one arm pretending to hit her, which finally made her smile awkwardly.

The Huntsman looked back and forth between me and Aghartha, then sighed.

“Who said I was upset about such childish nonsense?”

You did.

That inner voice didn’t escape my lips.

“Anyway, it’ll be hard to do things alone. At least for my sake, okay?”

The Huntsman stared at me for a few seconds, then quietly stood up.

Suddenly, there was a cracking sound.

With a shattering noise, The Huntsman’s hands were also free.

“…Huh?”

Aghartha looked at The Huntsman with genuinely surprised, contracted pupils.

The Huntsman, seemingly unconcerned by her gaze, simply rotated his shoulders lightly to stretch.

“You act familiar despite knowing me for such a short time.”

Though his eyes were slightly closed as he spoke, it was easy to infer he was talking to me.

“They say if your clothes brush against someone in this life, you had a deep connection in a past life.”

After I recited something I’d heard long ago, The Huntsman lightly dismissed my words as if they weren’t worth listening to.

Look at that attitude.

If he weren’t The Huntsman, one of the strongest beings in this world, I wouldn’t have held back from giving him a knock on the head.

The Huntsman passed by me and went straight to the prison door, grabbing the handle.

“So what’s the plan?”

“What?”

Aghartha made a blank sound, caught off guard by the sudden question, and The Huntsman snorted once before saying:

“Surely you weren’t talking so confidently without any plan?”

Only then did Aghartha make an “Ah” sound and replied:

“Of course not! I’m not that thoughtless.”

Saying that, Aghartha quickly approached the door, inserted the needle into the doorknob, and wiggled it around.

“By the way, if you could get out on your own, why were you just sitting there?”

“What good would it do you to know?”

“Geez, so prickly. Fine, let’s just get out of here?”

Why was he sitting there?

You almost got screwed, Aghartha.

She has no way of knowing that I just saved her life.

I couldn’t help but sigh.

The one fortunate thing was that The Huntsman’s sharp attitude from earlier had disappeared, and now he was giving advice to Aghartha who was struggling to unlock the door.

“What kind of thief struggles this much with a lock?”

“Hey, you couldn’t even do this! It’s just stiff because it’s old!”

“Excuses, excuses.”

“Should I not open it then?”

“Then I’ll just break it down.”

“We’ll get caught!”

Aghartha, who had suddenly become the voice of reason, tackled The Huntsman while diligently moving the needle.

Watching them, I realized:

I’d successfully put out the immediate fire.

But is it okay to change the story like this?

Whatever, damn it.

When I’m about to die, what does it matter if the story changes?

The sound of the door opening was accompanied by Aghartha calling me.

“Mr. Tanthyn, why are you spacing out?”

“Coming.”

It’ll work out somehow, right?