Ch.3Chapter 3

Creeeeak….

The prison door opened with the sound of metal hinges grinding.

The Huntsman led the way, and as Aghartha and I crossed the threshold, rows of iron bars came into view.

So this really was the underground prison from the prologue.

But why can I see so clearly?

Even after blinking my eyes, contrary to my memory, the prison interior was extremely bright.

Originally, the underground prison was dark and gloomy, like something out of a horror game, where if you controlled poorly, you’d bump into walls or go backward instead of forward.

Even with brightness settings maxed out, you couldn’t see ahead and would be anxious about skeletons or ghosts jumping out.

Yes, this is how bright a game should be.

How wonderful.

“It’s brighter than I expected, making it easy to navigate. I’ve heard underground prisons are usually shrouded in darkness.”

“What?”

Aghartha looked at me with a bewildered expression.

Why is she looking at me like I’ve said something ridiculous?

“What? Isn’t this bright enough?”

“No, you think this is bright?”

She blinked in confusion.

Where have these people been living to consider this dark?

Aren’t thieves supposed to have better night vision than ordinary people like me?

Seemingly irritated by our chatter, The Huntsman turned his head back.

“…You’re noisy.”

“But Tanthyn says it’s bright in here.”

“Must have fish eyes that see well in dark places. Stop chattering and look ahead.”

The Huntsman spoke in a slightly less gruff tone, as if making a joke.

Even so, making fun of someone’s appearance is too much.

In my twenties, I had looks that made passing children follow me around calling me “handsome brother.”

…I thought to myself as we walked, when The Huntsman spoke.

“Indeed, there’s no one here.”

“What did I tell you?”

Aghartha said with a smirk, and The Huntsman merely nodded.

After walking absentmindedly for a while, we reached the end of the corridor where there was a dead end and stairs leading up.

On the dead-end wall, there was writing that looked like it had been carved with something like sharp fingernails.

The characters that caught my eye were instinctively readable to me as a modern person with compulsory education.

I unconsciously leaned my head toward it.

-Hello! Today we’re going to learn about ‘How to Defeat an Outer God’!

That’s right… the method for ‘Defeating an Outer God’ is really difficult.

Many knights have lost their lives trying to do this, which is so sad… TT

Among recently discovered methods, it’s said that using weapons made from the flesh of Outer Gods can help ‘Defeat an Outer God’, but I don’t know much about this part;;

So many knights are still researching this, and I hope they find an answer soon!

That concludes our story about ‘How to Defeat an Outer God’!

…

What is this content that looks like it came from some blog post?

As I tried to read the puzzling content again, someone grabbed my neck and forcibly pulled me away from the writing.

I looked to see who it was, and sure enough, The Huntsman, who had been walking ahead, was staring at me with sharp eyes.

“First rule of Rondan: never read writing on walls or books not inscribed by humans. Even a lunatic should know this, shouldn’t they?”

The Huntsman practically threw me to the opposite side of the wall with the writing, causing me to land on my backside.

“Are you okay? Do you feel any mental contamination or anything like that?”

Aghartha approached me with a startled expression and began shaking my body to check my condition.

I had forgotten something important.

One of the taboos in Snow Castle: don’t read the writing.

In the game, it was described that reading shocking text would lower your sanity.

But I didn’t feel anything from this.

Rather than shocking, the writing seemed more like childish scribbles on a wall—which was shocking in its own way.

Anyway.

“Can you hear my voice? Snap out of it! Don’t give in! Tanthyn!”

Aghartha shook me violently as if trying to wake someone who might die at any moment.

I feel like I’m going to throw up…

I reached out my arm to push Aghartha away.

“Whoa?”

But Aghartha didn’t let go of my hand.

The momentum carried toward the lighter-weighted Aghartha.

I stretched out my arm to support myself on the floor to avoid falling, but ended up in a position that looked like I was pouncing on her!

As our noses nearly touched, Aghartha’s cheeks flushed.

“Even if you’ve lost your mind, we shouldn’t be doing this here…”

Startled by her sudden nonsense, I quickly got up.

Ignoring our little comedy act, The Huntsman casually dropped a comment.

“Surely you couldn’t actually read that writing, could you?”

“Y-yeah… why could I read it?”

“You could read it…”

The Huntsman said in an even lower voice than before.

Honestly, I don’t know why I could read it either.

And was that writing really written in that silly way?

I hadn’t even progressed far enough in the story to be able to read something like that.

How would an innocent player like me know?

“In these times, few humans can read text. Rather, magic is used to erase memories related to letters. Because if you understand text inscribed by an Outer God, you’ll go mad.

Yet, you seem fine.”

The Huntsman approached me with rough steps and brought his face close to mine.

His eyes were staring at me intently, as if trying to figure something out.

“What are you?”

Even if you ask me like that, I really don’t know why I could read it!

If I already knew the entire game story and was acting accordingly, I wouldn’t feel so wronged.

Now even Aghartha approached me with sparkling eyes.

“Are you perhaps a mystic scholar? Or as the paper said, a lunatic who can read text.

Then you might not go mad from reading.

After all, you can’t drive someone mad who’s already mad.”

Maybe it would be better to claim I’m a mystic scholar?

In this game, mystic scholar was one of the builds a hunter could pursue.

…but I’d never taken that route, so I knew nothing about it.

If I tried to bluff my way through with something I didn’t know, I might eventually be exposed and face serious consequences.

Both of them were staring at me uncomfortably, waiting for my answer.

Can’t we just ignore this and move on? Really.

Swallowing my feelings of wanting to cry tears of blood, I repeated what was written on the paper.

“I’m a lunatic… so maybe that’s why I’m fine?”

Ah, shit.

The whole world seems determined to make me unable to survive unless I’m a lunatic.

Moved by my words, Aghartha clenched her fist and exclaimed.

“Of course! You were arrested for parading naked in the streets due to your mental illness!”

“No, it’s not that extreme…”

Aghartha gripped my shoulders even tighter.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed!”

They say the person with the loudest voice wins.

Aghartha’s voice, which instantly crushed my excuse with a “HA!”, was so booming it was as if she’d swallowed a train engine.

She even started tearing up, which made the situation even more awkward.

However, her lips were trembling.

Perhaps trying to hide it, she lowered her head and began scolding The Huntsman.

“How could you frighten someone with a fragile mind! Of course he might read things carelessly!”

The Huntsman seemed taken aback by her brazenness, his eyes widening momentarily before he frowned and grabbed his forehead.

“What a fantastic duo you two make.”

The Huntsman shook his head and started walking forward again.

Sigh.

Life, damn it.

But why am I still sane after reading that text?

Do I really have a mental illness?

Surely not.

It must just be that things are a bit different from the game.

…I gritted my teeth internally, rationalizing as I followed The Huntsman.

After climbing all the stairs, we entered a massive hall of the underground prison.

If my memory serves me right, the massive “thing” should be here.

The first Outer God to appear in the story.

Known as the Watcher of the Underground Prison.

I don’t know why an Outer God was in a prison meant for humans since I never finished the game, but I had to suffer a lot because of that “newbie slicer” as it was called.

Thinking about it made me feel angry again.

Around that time, the place where that Outer God should be started to come into view.

And I was shocked by what I saw inside.

“What is this?”

The Outer God that should have been there was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, a cute girl with wolf ears was sleeping soundly inside, making “snore, snore” sounds.

She seemed oddly familiar, giving me a sense of déjà vu.

Faced with this unexpected development, I looked at The Huntsman and Aghartha for guidance, but their expressions shocked me even more.

Aghartha was trembling in fear with constricted pupils, while The Huntsman was looking at the girl in the prison with the most murderous gaze I’d ever seen from him.

That expression of The Huntsman’s was exactly what he would wear when facing an Outer God.

Which means that really is an Outer God.

The Huntsman sees it as an Outer God, but I don’t.

The unusually bright underground prison.

The wall text that should have been crudely written but looked like a blogger’s post.

The Outer God in the form of a girl.

Everything that had happened that day flashed before me like a panorama.

‘Join the Super Coward Club, you minion.

If you like it, just shut up and hit the recommend button!’

Finally, I could see how all the strange experiences I’d had made sense.

That’s right.

I wasn’t just transported into Snow Castle.

I was transported into Snow Castle with the ‘Super Coward Mode’ mod installed.