Ch.46Victim

Inside the box that Albert dropped was a girl with orange hair who appeared to be about 12-13 years old.

The girl, in a pitiful state with a dark blue bruise on one side of her forehead and pants wet with urine, was curled up small and trembling. When she recognized Albert’s face, she threw her arms around his neck and burst into tears.

“…He doesn’t seem to be a kidnapper, but why did he lock a girl in a box?”

“I had no choice.”

“Tell me about this ‘no choice’ situation.”

“Wait, Will. It’s fine to hear his explanation, but put your gun away first. Besides, are you planning to have this conversation while leaving a child in this condition?”

“Ah… you’re right.”

Hearing Jessica’s point, I hastily tucked the gun I had been pointing at Albert into my waistband.

Even I realized it was too harsh to prioritize questioning while ignoring a girl who had injured her head and wet herself.

“I’ll light a fire a little distance away and set up a barrier. You three set up the tent and screens. Albert, calm the child down and then bring her over to us. A woman should handle the bathing and changing of clothes, even if I can treat her wounds.”

“OK.”

“Understood.”

We moved about 50 meters away from where the goblin corpses were scattered and made a simple screen using nearby trees, Seth’s spears, and waterproof canvas.

After setting up the tent and hitching Ancestor to the carriage to bring to our makeshift campsite, the girl seemed much calmer. She obediently followed Jessica to have her wounds treated, bathed, and changed into Mina’s spare clothes before starting to sip corn soup.

“Now, let’s hear your story. What’s your relationship with each other, and how did this situation come about?”

“This child… Elise and I grew up together at the municipal orphanage in the Third Western City. Since she first arrived at the orphanage suffering from severe anxiety and mutism, I was the only person she would follow. Naturally, I took care of her, and we became like siblings.”

The girl called Elise is still sticking close to Albert, watching the four of us cautiously. Albert’s claim about her anxiety and mutism appears to be true.

“Children at the municipal orphanage must leave when they turn 15. I left three years ago and got a job at a leather shop. I was saving money diligently so that by the time Elise, who’s 12 now, would have to leave the orphanage in three years, I could afford a small room where we could live together.”

“So how did you end up putting Elise in a box and leaving the city?”

“Last week, when I went to bring food to the orphanage, I accidentally overheard a conversation between the director and the mayor. They were talking about offering Elise as a living sacrifice.”

“The mayor went to the orphanage director and said such a thing? Are you sure you didn’t mishear?”

“Wait a minute, offering a girl as a living sacrifice… could it be the Dungeon of Plague!?”

“That’s right. It seems the city’s people don’t know about it yet.”

“That’s impossible! It completely disappeared about 40 years ago!”

“Hiiik…!”

Startled by Jessica’s raised voice and pale face, Elise clung to Albert and began to cry. Jessica, seemingly trying to calm herself, smoothed her hand over her chest and gestured an apology to Elise.

“Jessica, what is this Dungeon of Plague?”

“It’s the name of a dungeon discovered during the construction of the Third Western City. It’s associated with the greatest shame of the Western Frontier and the worst incident in Grantis history, so most people won’t even speak its name.”

“The greatest shame and worst incident in history?”

“…It’s called the Mary Grant Incident, a case of citizen abduction and murder by a group of adventurers.”

Jessica’s explanation that followed far exceeded my imagination.

Around A.S. 63, when the construction of the Third Western City was getting on track, a dungeon entrance was discovered about 10km from the city site.

Adventurers who heard about the newly discovered dungeon entered it, hoping to strike it rich.

However, what they found inside wasn’t valuable artifacts or treasures, but a suspicious altar and blood-red writing on the surrounding walls.

– If you do not wish to suffer pain worse than death, offer a pure maiden who has not known a man as a living sacrifice.

An unprecedented situation occurred where a dungeon was threatening people, but the adventurers, far from yielding to the threat, intensified their investigation to uncover the dungeon’s secrets.

Despite numerous investigations, they achieved no significant results, and a plague began to spread among the adventurers who had participated in the exploration.

As more adventurers either failed to return from the dungeon or fell unconscious with high fevers, the number of people willing to challenge the Dungeon of Plague decreased dramatically.

To make matters worse, when monsters that should only be found inside the dungeon began to be spotted near the city, the Third Western City was quickly engulfed in panic.

“At that time, research on dungeon overflow was actively being interpreted. In such a situation, when monsters from inside the dungeon were spotted outside, people predicted that a large army of plague-spreading monsters would soon march toward the Third Western City.”

After a conflict between those who insisted on offering a living sacrifice and those who opposed it, a riot broke out. The riot leaders committed the outrageous act of kidnapping Mary Grant, the only daughter of the mayor at that time, and taking her to the dungeon.

In the end, their choice proved correct.

When they placed Mary Grant, who had been drugged with sleeping medicine, on the altar in the dungeon, the dungeon entrance, the monsters that had appeared from it, and the effects of the plague that had been raging around the city all disappeared as if by magic.

“…So it ended with those who wanted to offer a living sacrifice being proven right. What a bitter story.”

“It would have been better if it had ended there. Many people died, but the only victim of the riot was Mary Grant.”

The riot leaders who had ended the city’s crisis by sacrificing Mary Grant called themselves the “Saviors of the West” and demanded promotions in their Frontier Licenses and monetary rewards.

However, regardless of the positive outcome, the fact remained that they were accomplices to kidnapping and murder. The Security Department of the Round Table Council, responsible for upholding Grantis’s rule of law, decided to sentence all those involved in Mary Grant’s abduction to death.

“The Security Department planned to gather all the ‘Saviors of the West’ in one place under the pretext of a special reward and arrest them. But that plan was leaked to the Saviors by a newspaper reporter.”

“That must have caused chaos.”

“The Saviors of the West transformed into an outlaw organization, and a terrible street battle broke out within the walls of the Third Western City. In the end, all the Saviors were killed, but hundreds of citizens were also sacrificed, and even the city’s barrier tower was damaged. Fortunately, thanks to the Pioneer Project Headquarters having secured spare magic stones, they avoided the entire city turning into ruins, but because the performance of the new magic core was inferior to the original, they had to drastically change the city’s design.”

As a result, a second circular wall was built inside the original circular wall of the Third Western City.

The donut-shaped space between the two walls, created due to the difference in barrier performance, was not a safe zone and could not be used as living space, nor was its shape or area suitable for cultivation.

“Eventually, a cemetery was established between the two walls of the Third Western City. That’s why it was named ‘Grave Around’… but many believe that such a dishonorable name shouldn’t be attached to a Western City, which is supposed to be a symbol of hope. So officially, the formal name of the Third Western City remains undecided.”

“So that’s why both Albert and Jessica referred to it as the ‘Third Western City.'”

“It’s a particularly sensitive issue for those from the Third Western City. It’s my hometown too.”

“Really? Then your parents…”

“I’ll tell you about that later. The important issue now is that the Dungeon of Plague, which disappeared without a trace 38 years ago, has reappeared.”

“Right, that’s what we were talking about.”

The Dungeon of Plague, which was at the center of the tragic events surrounding the Third Western City 38 years ago and swallowed the young girl Mary Grant.

The reappearance of that terrible place means that unless someone else is offered as a living sacrifice, the worst dungeon overflow, spreading plague, will come again.

Of course, with the advancement of firearms technology and magic achieved by pioneers over the past 38 years, they might be able to cope with the incoming monsters and plague.

However, over the long years, the Third Western City is no longer the center of western frontier exploration teeming with adventurers.

Even if the reappearance of the Dungeon of Plague were widely announced, could they gather adventurers active on the western frontier in time?

It might instead cause uncontrollable chaos in the city by awakening past traumas.

That’s probably why the current mayor concealed the fact that the Dungeon of Plague had reappeared and tried to quietly resolve the situation by sacrificing a girl from the orphanage who met the conditions for the sacrifice.

“So Elise was chosen as the living sacrifice to be offered to the dungeon’s altar, and Albert hid her in a box and escaped.”

“That’s right. I couldn’t bear to let Elise, whom I’ve cared for like a sister, be sacrificed…”

“I understand. Anyone would have made the same choice in that situation.”

“But it wasn’t a very wise choice. If Elise only follows you well, it’s easy to predict who took her away. Depending on the character of that director or mayor, in the worst case, you might already be wanted for kidnapping, and if you travel between cities as a transporter, it wouldn’t be difficult to track your route.”

“…I hadn’t thought that far.”

“But what other solution is there? A human child can be active outdoors for much shorter periods than an adult, and you can’t just stay in the city waiting to be offered as a sacrifice. And you can’t look for another sacrifice to replace Elise.”

“That’s exactly the point, Mina.”

I clapped my hands to get everyone’s attention, then paused for a beat before continuing.

“Whether to sacrifice Elise, sacrifice someone else, or prepare for the plague outbreak without offering a sacrifice… that’s a matter of what choice to make in anticipation of the overflow expected to occur soon.”

“That’s true.”

“There’s something I want to confirm first… Jessica, you said that dungeon overflow is a phenomenon where the interior of a long-neglected dungeon reaches saturation with monsters and they all pour out at once, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But according to the story we just heard, many adventurers entered that dungeon for investigation. In other words, it doesn’t meet the condition of being a ‘long-neglected dungeon.’ Moreover, monsters were crawling out even before the overflow occurred? This doesn’t match the pattern of overflow you described.”

“Actually, that part is still a mystery. What happened in the Dungeon of Plague was so different from the common sense about dungeons or the form of overflow. Since the dungeon disappeared after the living sacrifice was offered, no additional investigation or research could be conducted.”

“If something impossible by normal standards occurred, then there must be some special secret hidden there. The adventurers 38 years ago couldn’t uncover that secret, but was there an elderly elf with exceptional magical talent among the adventurers who participated in the investigation back then?”

As soon as I said that, Jessica and Seth simultaneously let out an “Ah!” of realization.

Albert, Elise, and Mina, who hadn’t heard the detailed story yet, could only look at the other three in confusion.

“…Could it be?”

“At this point, it’s just a possibility. But if what we’re thinking is correct, then we’re the only ones who can resolve this incident.”

“What is it? What are you talking about? Huh?”

“I’ll explain to Mina separately later. And Albert, Elise.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m canceling my offer to take you to Zemest. We need to get to the Dungeon of Plague as quickly as possible.”

Albert’s face, which had been calmly comforting Elise, was overcome with shock.