Ch.68Return (2)

After washing up, I told Cecilia about the Evil God.

Even though Cecilia couldn’t move freely due to the monsters in the lower level, she could leave her post briefly to help.

“So the Evil God is resuming his activities in earnest… After being defeated during the Great War of the past, he only sent his apostles. Perhaps he has substantially recovered by now.”

“If he invades again, we’ll just have to kill him this time.”

“Yes, that’s what we must do. Here, take this. It’s a communication device to contact me. When those apostles show themselves in earnest, call me. I’ll come up immediately.”

I received an ornate ring from Cecilia and stored it in my spatial storage.

While wearing it would make communication easier, it was too flashy for my taste.

However, Cecilia seemed somewhat hurt by my firm decision.

“At the very least, it would be courteous to wear a gift in front of the person who gave it to you.”

“Haha, I just thought of it as a communication device… I’ll wear it properly from now on.”

“Sigh, very well. You seem to have much to prepare for the coming war, so hurry back up.”

Seemingly offended, Cecilia essentially told us to leave, and I bid her farewell before departing from the lower level.

‘I wish I could learn more about the Evil God, but Cecilia doesn’t seem to know much either.’

The Evil God could be considered my target, but thinking about it, I didn’t know much about him.

That he created the game I used to play, Perished World. That he was sending numerous gamers including myself to this world, Fantaria. And that he wasn’t native to either Earth or Fantaria.

‘The last part is speculation, but… I’m probably not wrong.’

For a god born in this world, there was strangely no information about the Evil God before the war broke out.

But if asked whether he was a god born on Earth, that also raised many questions.

‘A god who invades other worlds wouldn’t likely have left Earth’s religions intact.’

So it made more sense to think the Evil God was born in a completely different world and continued his invasion activities.

‘Then are the owners of the voices I heard gods from worlds that have already been invaded?’

It was a highly plausible hypothesis, but frustratingly, there was no way to prove it.

I also couldn’t be certain about other things, like why the Evil God hadn’t invaded Earth.

“I should head up for now.”

So rather than continuing with meaningless speculation, I decided to focus on what I could do now.

* * *

“Whew, I can finally see the end of this long journey.”

The lower level with monsters attacking from lava and sky. The middle level with its slimy ant nest and queen. The upper level with all sorts of monsters ambushing us.

We retraced our steps back up the path we had struggled down. And it wasn’t particularly difficult.

“When we were going down, it felt like we were going to die, but now it feels like we’re on a picnic.”

“Compared to our descent, things are certainly much easier for us now.”

The upper level was still somewhat challenging, but our experiences in the middle and lower levels had been truly desperate.

Every moment, a wrong decision or mistake could have led directly to death.

But when it came time to ascend, it wasn’t as difficult as the descent had been.

“I suppose we’ve gotten stronger since then, and the queen, who was our biggest headache, is no longer interfering.”

“That’s true. Without the True Word, we would have had to fight through the ants again.”

My previous method of concealing my charm was to use perception interference.

However, this method wasn’t very effective against Giant Ants, which detected through scent rather than direct perception.

But with the True Word concealing my charm, it worked on the ants too, allowing us to avoid the queen’s eyes.

‘If I use perception interference in this state, there shouldn’t be many incidents caused by my charm.’

For this reason, we were able to pass through the middle level without any friction, and the upper level, where the danger of ambush had already been eliminated, was similar.

However, Kitsune and Kirara seemed somewhat disappointed by this quiet return journey.

“We wanted to show you our growth, so it’s a bit disappointing.”

“Don’t be too disheartened. There will be plenty of opportunities to show your growth in the future. I’ll look forward to your next performance.”

“Yes..! Understood!”

As we continued talking, we could see the path leading to the mine’s exit in the distance.

The gravity that had been weighing heavily on our bodies now felt almost nonexistent, making it feel like we had truly reached the surface.

By the time we poked our heads out of the mine, everyone, including myself, expressed things we had been holding back despite the discomfort.

“With the crushing gravity reduced, I feel like I could fly!”

“Whew~ More than anything, I missed the outside air. It was so stuffy inside.”

“I like this air that isn’t hot. My tail was so sweaty down there…”

“Kerung, kerung.”

And there was one person who was surprised to see us—the dwarves who had been guarding the entrance when we went in.

‘I thought they rotated shifts, but maybe they’re dedicated guards. Or it could be coincidence.’

The dwarves seemed to remember my and Lilly’s faces, as they looked at us with disbelieving eyes.

They must have thought we had died in the mine.

“Well… When you didn’t return after nearly a month, I thought you’d died showing off. May I ask how far down you went?”

“We went all the way to the deep level and back. We even met a dwarf named Henor inside.”

“That doesn’t seem to be a lie… Haha… Adventurers, just three of you, going all the way to the deep level—remarkable, truly remarkable.”

As we had learned when meeting Henor in the deep level, the meaning of the deep level was special to dwarves who had been in the mine.

To put that feeling in more relatable terms, it was like how climbers of the past regarded those who had summited Everest.

‘Though I’ve heard it’s become a complete tourist attraction recently…’

While I was thinking about this and declining the dwarves’ invitation to drink, I overheard an interesting conversation behind me.

“If those kids came back alive, maybe the adventurers who went in recently might come back alive too.”

“What does that matter? Those kids are exceptional, but who knows what will happen to other adventurers.”

Apparently, they had been betting on whether adventurers who entered the mine would return.

And what caught my attention wasn’t the bet but the adventurers who had recently entered.

Since there weren’t many adventurers who would willingly enter the mine, I wondered if it might be the Hero’s group.

“Have adventurers entered recently? Could you tell me about their appearance?”

“Hmm? About twelve of them went in a while ago. But they all wore their robes pulled down low, so I couldn’t see what they looked like.”

“I see…”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell who had entered, but given the number—twelve—it didn’t seem to be the Hero’s group.

‘I thought they might have received some strange quest, but apparently not.’

Given the festival period, it made more sense to think that some of the adventurers who had flocked to the city had joined forces to challenge the mine.

“Thank you for letting me know. We’ll be on our way now.”

“Sure, come find us if you want to have a drink sometime!”

Leaving the dwarves guarding the mine entrance behind, we headed to Arges’s forge.

And Arges’s forge, which we were returning to after nearly a month, had changed so much it was almost unrecognizable.

“I don’t think the forge was this big before…?”

“The size is one thing… but why are there so many people here?”

Arges’s forge, which we were returning to after a long time, looked twice as big as when we had last visited.

And District D, which had previously been devoid of adventurers or even passersby, was now crowded with numerous adventurers.

This time it wasn’t my fault, but the scene reminded me of when the arena had been created before.

‘I guess asking directly would be the most certain way to find out.’

Sighing briefly at the situation that was difficult to understand, I headed toward the forge with my companions without further delay.

It wasn’t easy to move forward because of the many adventurers, but fortunately, they made way when asked.

“Hey! I was here first, so no cutting in line…”

“Just passing through for a moment?”

“Yes, go ahead…”

Thanks to the consideration(?) of the adventurers who had already secured their spots, I was able to reach the front of the forge.

“Can I go inside?”

“More people who saw the promotion? Sorry, but the earth lump in there says he doesn’t want to sell any more items.

Please just go back quietly. Waiting is an option, but as you can see behind you, there are too many people in line.”

However, reaching the front didn’t mean we could go inside.

Arges was nowhere to be seen, and a male elf who seemed quite skilled was guarding the entrance to the forge.

‘Even if I say I know Arges, he probably won’t believe me…’

I was wondering how to get past when Kitsune, who was behind me, provided the answer.

“Oh, is that you, Elodin..?!”

“Kitsune…? What have you been doing after sending just one shikigami..!”

“I’ll explain inside. There are too many ears here…”

The elf called Elodin turned out to be one of Kitsune’s former companions from when she was active with Apos Hunt.

“Then, may we go in for a moment?”

Thanks to Kitsune’s connection, I was able to enter, only to encounter another bewildering scene.

“Oh my, I said I needed money for expansion, not to advertise! Drawing attention like this—oh my, and they call this a Hero!”

“…I apologize. It’s all my responsibility.”

“Don’t talk to our Leon like that, meow!!”

What in the world is going on now?