episode_0043

“UWAAAAAAH!”

Fortunately, I managed to grab Dave just in time.

But Dave himself, despite being saved, seemed quite shaken.

“No way… An ogre using tricks?”

“Truly cunning.”

“It may be a lowly monster, but it must have had enough intelligence for that. It likely joined in humans’ ‘games’ a few times before.”

So that’s what the bones beneath the chair were all about. Seeing the scattered weapons and bloodstained armor around the chair, it wasn’t hard to guess what kind of vile “games” had taken place here.

Cecilia spread a protective barrier around all of us and declared firmly:

“But that ends today. May the light be with you all. Do not retreat!”

And with that, everyone charged straight at the ogre.

Except me, of course.

If that fist so much as grazes me, I’m done for.

——–

“Push it back!”

“KUUWAAAK!”

Dave knocked the staggering ogre off balance with his shield, and in that opening, Cheryl’s magic struck sharply once again.

And in that brief moment, Cecilia had already finished healing Dave.

“Grr… Uuuuuugh…”

After enduring that cycle a few more times, the ogre seemed to realize mindlessly charging wasn’t an option and began slowly backing away.

“Is it retreating?”

“No. This could be a feint. We should take a step back ourselves until we’re sure.”

“What are you saying?! At this rate… at this rate, we can defeat it! Thanks to the Saintess—”

“Watch out!”

“UWOOOAAAH!”

The ogre instantly lunged forward in a crouched position, and Dave, momentarily losing sight of the enemy due to carelessness, took the full brunt of the tackle.

“Kh—?!”

Having been at the front, absorbing attack after attack, exhaustion must have piled up—Dave was sent flying without any resistance.

Without his shield, it would’ve been instant death.

“That idiot… He’s unconscious!”

“Cecilia!”

“I know. Everyone, rally to me!”

Even including deadweight me, our party heavily relied on Dave, our sole frontliner.

No matter how much support we provided or how many attacks we launched from the rear, the core of the party was still the tank.

So, losing our frontline inevitably meant our formation would collapse rapidly. And the ogre wasn’t stupid enough to miss that opening.

“UWOOOOH!”

Finally reveling in becoming the hunter, the ogre lumbered past the limp Dave and charged toward the three of us standing in the backline.

“Eek?!”

“Fall back! I’ll—”

“You fall back, Eric. You’re in the way.”

Standing before Cheryl, who had foolishly positioned herself in the ogre’s path, Cecilia confidently stepped forward.

This is reckless. No matter how much stronger Cecilia is than ordinary people, taking on an ogre alone?

“UGHAAAAARGH!”

CRACK—

Cecilia stomped down hard, bracing herself.

“HAAH!”

The moment she threw a punch—

“GACK?!”

The ogre’s lower half shattered and vanished.

As if its legs never existed in the first place.

“Y-You…!”

“Oh, this? It’s a self-defense technique I learned from Luciella. No need to be surprised.”

Even after seeing this, I have to pretend I don’t understand.

Of course, I know exactly what just happened.

I’ve seen the original owner of that technique use it plenty of times.

If Luciella had thrown that punch instead of Cecilia, the ogre wouldn’t just have lost its legs—its entire existence would’ve been reduced to dust.

Hero’s Sword Art, First Form: Blade Slash.

A brutally simple martial technique based on the logic that a dead enemy can’t fight back.

But why the hell are YOU using it?

BOOM—!

Having lost its supporting legs, the ogre collapsed with a deafening thud.

“Grrrr…”

“How noisy.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Cecilia cleanly severed the ogre’s head with a flash of divine energy.

“…Is it over?”

“Yes. Capturing the leader won’t drastically change anything in this dungeon yet.”

“Phew… That was worse than I imagined.”

“It’s too early to let your guard down. The real exhaustion starts now.”

“Unbelievable…!”

“Fufu, whether you believe it or not, it can’t be helped. From here on out, we won’t be fighting monsters—we’ll be dealing with people. Brace yourselves.”

“What exactly are we supposed to do now?”

“Hmm… Just follow Eric’s lead for now.”

Me?

I hastily pulled my hands away from the ogre’s corpse, which I’d been absentmindedly poking.

“What in the world is this grave robbery about?”

“You don’t need to say anything at all. The less information they have, the harder it’ll be to identify you.”

“Then what about you?”

“Oh? Are you worried about me?”

“That’s not it—if you’re exposed, it’s only natural they’ll try to figure out who the rest of us are. Wouldn’t it be better if everyone stayed hidden—”

“Then this’d just be dismissed as an unfortunate accident. Even if they realize my identity and try to hide the other dungeons, they can’t do it overnight. So rather—”

“You plan to reveal yourself from the start and gain widespread support? That’s reckless!”

For all we know, they might move faster than expected—or worse, turn the tables and threaten Cecilia directly.

And the most likely outcome? Annihilation.

“What if they just kill you right here?”

“That’s why I’ve taken out… insurance. The fact that the boss is dead won’t be discovered immediately. It’ll take a long time for the dungeon’s magical energy to deplete enough that no more monsters spawn.”

“I know that. But—”

“In the meantime, we can gather evidence to expose their corruption!”

Dave boldly cut me off.

“Exactly.”

“We could also investigate beforehand. There must be others like us—reckless enough to challenge this place.”

“That’s why I mentioned insurance. I already set it up when I threw that punch earlier.”

“A curse? When did you even—”

“Blessings and curses aren’t all that different. Just a slight twist in the flow of divine energy.”

“So?”

“Huh?”

“What exactly is this ‘insurance’ of yours?”

“The moment they enter this boss room, their entire magical circuit will be destroyed.”

“What?”

“Unless they’re prepared for that, they wouldn’t dare come in. Thankfully, the ogre’s sturdy body made for the perfect catalyst. It’ll probably wear off in a few weeks at most… but that’s plenty of time for us.”

“That’s brilliant! None of them would have that kind of resolve!”

“Wait and see.”

And just as Cecilia predicted, it wasn’t hard to confirm just how cowardly they were.

“100 gold coins.”

“75 gold coins.”

“Just 20 gold will do.”

After clearing the dungeon and slipping out unseen with our stealth rings, the four of us hid near the settlement area where adventurers lined up to collect their dues.

“What the hell is this?”

“They’re collecting fees, it seems.”

“Not ‘seems’—they definitely are. I already want to condemn this, but… shall we watch a little longer? You’ll see something vile unfold here too…”

Different fees for different people.

The criteria weren’t hard to deduce.

“The nobles are paying less… Why, though?”

“They don’t want to make enemies of the nobility.”

“Bingo.”

“This can’t stand! We must protest immediately!”

“That’s the plan. Once I reveal myself as the Saintess—”

“Don’t spout nonsense.”

They’re still so naïve—must be because they’re kids.

Even Cecilia seems to have lost her senses here. Persuasion comes first.

“Even if we make a scene now, these guys have long mastered working this system. To take them down properly, we need preparation and evidence first.”

I glared at Cecilia.

“Especially you, Cecilia. You can’t stop here, can you? What if those bastards panic and shut everything down before we’re done?”

“That’s…”

Cecilia lowered her head, conceding the point.

Good. The Cecilia I knew was emotional but never ruled by it. She must’ve just been unable to stomach what she’d seen.

“Even if it weren’t this, there’d be plenty of other issues, right?”

“That’s true…”

All I needed to do was coax her gently. The rest was just sending everyone home—especially Dave, who must’ve been exhausted after taking the ogre’s final blow head-on.

“Alright, everyone. Let’s call it here for today.”

“But—”

“I’m saying this for your sake. Right now, the adrenaline’s masking it, but your injuries must be severe.”

“Agreed.”

Cheryl, still half-leaning on Dave, waved weakly as they walked away.

At this point, Dave might as well be her pack mule—but if they’re both fine with it, I’ll leave them be.

“Alright, I’m heading out too.”

I didn’t do much, but I’m exhausted.

The mental toll was just too heavy. I was ready to head back to the mansion and relax, but Cecilia still had something to discuss.

“Eric, there’s somewhere I’d like you to accompany me. Just for a moment—would that be alright?”

“No.”

“How cold. It really won’t take lo—”

“I said I don’t want to.”

Why would I?