episode_0110

In the RPG game, NTRPG, which could be considered the background of the novel I read, there were several hidden elements. These were the elements referred to as ‘hidden pieces’ by the protagonist of the novel.

Ruins from ancient times erased from history, dungeons whose entrances have been sealed or remain undiscovered.

Things like the legacies of past heroes buried alongside them, or hideouts of monsters already known to be dead.

Apart from such things, it was said that many trivial hidden pieces were also concealed… but even I don’t know about those.

The only hidden pieces I could know of were the elements directly obtained by the protagonist in the novel or mentioned through soliloquy.

That human, if it wasn’t a hidden piece that would help him grow stronger, he didn’t even show interest.

The protagonist in the novel was a high school student who had the talent to buy bread faster than anyone else, but after being possessed, he became completely deranged, turning into a complete lunatic.

No, if you think about it, he might have been halfway deranged even before the possession.

He was so obsessed that he even tried to capture the scene of the man his crush liked, embracing her and rolling around in an empty classroom, intending to use it to threaten them.

He ended up getting hit by a car before he could even attempt the threat.

Anyway, it seemed like he didn’t want to just deliver bread in this world, as from the moment of possession, he obsessively pursued ways to strengthen himself.

Well… it wasn’t a bad judgment. In a world where one can honestly become stronger just by entering dungeons and hunting monsters, it’s not an easy task for an ordinary high schooler.

Throw a modern person who has never killed a single dog in front of a goblin, and out of ten, nine would wail and moan, unable to do anything, and eventually fall to having a meal as their last resort.

So, the possessed individual’s judgment to become stronger through trickery rather than hunting was a reasonable choice. It was actually remarkably effective.

By utilizing knowledge about hidden pieces, he was able to obtain the highest-grade innate characteristics from the start without a proper battle.

◆◆

According to the possession’s soliloquy, the basic attributes possessed by ‘Freet’ in the game were three in total.

‘Heroic Qualities’ was a latent type of attribute that nullified the unique intimidating effect of strong opponents, similar to the ‘Indomitable’ attribute, and provided additional adjustments to physical abilities as the level increased.

‘Combat Instinct’ was an intuitive type of attribute that allowed for instinctive recognition and response to critical danger or an enemy’s weakness during combat.

As for whether those two attributes remain with the current Freet… I honestly don’t know. His body has completely changed, after all.

The skill attribute acquired later, ‘Eizenvalt Swordsmanship,’ was a skill that didn’t hold much significance whether it existed or not.

As per the setting that Brunhilde only taught the basics, unless one was at the very beginning stage, once past the early to mid-stage, there was no occasion to use that swordsmanship.

Originally focused on charging and thrusting, it wasn’t even well-suited for greatswords.

Anyway, among those three attributes, the possessed protagonist could only use the Heroic Qualities and Combat Instinct.

Even then, they had greatly deteriorated; the ‘Heroic Qualities’ had weakened adjustments and lost its indomitable effect, while ‘Combat Instinct’ rarely activated unless in truly extreme situations.

The secret to the possessed person, who had taken over Freet’s weakened body, becoming strong enough to overwhelm other heroes, was hidden prowess.

New attributes, new equipment, new weapons.

In the novel, the possessed person scraped together such things and overwhelmed opponents far superior in skill with sheer specs and equipment until the author stopped serializing him, armed with the weapon of discontinuation.

Ah, thinking about it again makes me mad, really.

The timing couldn’t have been worse.

After Brunhilde died, just as the protagonist finished preparing to defeat the Demon Lords and charged to attack them, that exact moment was when the serialization was abruptly halted.

Really, rather than stopping the serialization like that, it might have been better if suddenly a ninja demon lord appeared and annihilated the protagonist and his party.

Of course, if that were really the case, the author would have summarized the reason for being an orphan without a single relative in thousands of characters as a gift in the comments.

… Anyway, the essence of this verbose story is simple.

If we can get our hands on those hidden pieces, we can become as strong as the possessed in the novel – no, even stronger.

Most hidden pieces are guarded by formidable opponents, so if we recklessly stick our heads out, there’s a high chance they’ll be chopped off…

“Anyway, there’s no other way.”

Continuing to run away like this isn’t much different from living with a knife at one’s throat.

So there was no need to hesitate any longer.

In the worst case, I’ll just end up dying.

If this world progresses like the original game, if both Freide and I die at the same time, the world will eventually be ruined. Because Freide won’t be there.

So who cares, it was enough to think of taking on the whole world as my gambling partner.

◆◆

Among the hidden pieces I know, there were three hidden pieces dormant within the Herbor Kingdom.

Ice Castle, Winter Garden, Frozen Sea.

Unfortunately, all three places were beyond our reach.

We couldn’t meet the entry requirements for “Ice Castle,” and the other two places had bosses that could kill us with just a finger.

Stepping into such places is not a gamble with life, it’s just suicide.

If you’re going to bet your life, you should at least do it where there’s some chance of winning. Those three places were out of the question.

Therefore, the only option left for me was―

“Freide, can you trust me completely?”

I grabbed Freide’s shoulders with both hands and asked, looking straight into her eyes. Can you trust and follow me no matter what choice I make from now on?

“Yes…? What’s this all of a sudden… Oh, yes, of course, I trust you!”

Freide, who seemed a little puzzled by the sudden question, soon nodded firmly and exclaimed.

“Thank you.”

I lightly tapped Freide’s shoulder to express my gratitude, and then immediately continued with the detailed story.

“Okay, listen. I just had a good idea.”

“…A good idea?”

Frida’s eyes narrowed slightly. She trusted me completely, but she seemed to doubt my thoughts and judgment.

Well, I can’t argue with her considering my past.

But this time, it’s for real.

It’s not my judgment; it’s about following something from the original work. So, in a way, you could say it’s the judgment of the protagonist of the original work, right?

So it should be safe. Probably.

“Yeah, honestly, it’s a bit risky… but if it works out well, at least we won’t have to worry about pursuers.”

I continued speaking, glancing away from Frida’s gaze.

“Well, um… okay, I’ll hear you out. What’s on your mind?”

“So… this is like a secret passed down in my family…”

A family secret. I spun that lie. It was the only way to explain the source of the information I knew.

◆◆

Frida, who had listened to my explanation, seemed to question its validity, but ultimately sighed and nodded in response to the persuasion that there was no other way.

There seemed to be no future in Frida’s eyes with things as they were.

It was more of a reaction like “I don’t really trust your story, but let’s give it a shot” rather than trusting my story, but hey, that was enough. At least for me.

◆◆

After that day, we began to head southward in a straight line, leaving the unexplored territory of Herbor.

We ran through the night from sunset to sunrise, and in the morning, we found places to hide and rest.

Perhaps it was due to our change in behavior, different from our previous movements of wandering through uninhabited ruins.

Even the pursuers who used to ambush us seemed to lose track of us for a while.

It was only a week of peace, and after that, the pursuers started appearing one by one again… but a week was enough.

According to my plan, our destination was roughly a fortnight’s journey from there.

One week later.

“Ha… ha… Finally…”

Covered in wounds, looking ragged and worn out, we finally reached our destination.

“This place… feels like seeing it again after a long time.”

Frida muttered quietly.

In front of the dimly lit riverside where not even the moon rose, she gazed at the dark and massive river undulating arrogantly with a vacant expression.

The Rhine River.

A long, deep, and massive river that can be considered the foundation of the Kingdom of Rhine, connecting the northern and central parts of the continent.

This was our first destination.

More precisely, the passage to our destination.

Not a hidden piece to strengthen Frida, but a place where a hidden piece to strengthen ‘Brunhilde’ lies dormant.

『 Ruins beneath the river. 』

Finally, in front of the entrance to the hidden dungeon within reach, I suppressed the tension that was trying to rise little by little as I swallowed my dry saliva.

Thinking about the beings waiting for us under that river.