Chapter 119

Don Quixote's Reverie (3)

"Phew..."

I had safely entered the dungeon.

Taking in the chilly air, I looked around.

Beyond the ice-covered cave, a huge temple waited for me.

Ding!

[You have entered nonexistent space 'Lumiera's Temple'.]

[Apostles 'Knight of Old Winter' detect you.]

[Clear the field and obtain the reward.]

Fortunately, it looked like I had arrived in the right place.

The magic circle had swirled a vivid red.

At first glance, it looked dangerous, but it was the dungeon's entrance.

By getting caught in it at the right moment, I had been able to enter naturally.

'Just as planned.'

The operation had gone smoothly.

Thanks to that, I had slipped away from the group without drawing suspicion.

I rummaged through the inventory beneath my robe and pulled out the pitch-black scythe I had kept tucked away.

"Activate. Lua."

Immediately after, the vicious scythe returned to my daughter's form.

Lua hopped once, then clung to me.

"Dad!"

"Miss Lua."

When her blue eyes met mine, she beamed.

Then, as if asking for praise, she pushed her small head toward me.

"Lua worked hard! I did what Dad asked me to do without getting caught!"

The girl held out something she had been clutching tightly.

A few ancient letters were written on the black tablet.

Ding!

[Plague Tablet]

-Category: ???

-Grade: ???

-Status: ???

-Description: ???

It was the item I had obtained after summoning the White Knight during the last School Trip.

As expected of an object left behind by an Apostle of the Evil God, thick dark mana dripped from it.

It was an item whose purpose I still could not guess.

However, I thought I could make excellent use of the foul dark mana it spewed.

'That was a brilliant idea.'

The traces we had found on the mountain path.

The source of the dark mana left on the snowfield was this Plague Tablet.

If we followed the remnants, we would arrive at the [entrance], and the scene of being caught up in the dungeon would play out naturally.

'I asked Lua to handle it separately.'

This time, Lua had taken on an important role.

She had to sneak away from the group and leave traces with the Plague Tablet.

I acted as if I had stored her in my inventory, saying Lua had fallen asleep for a nap.

'I'm glad everyone fell for it.'

Meanwhile, Lua headed to the coordinates I had told her in advance.

Along the way, she waved the Plague Tablet around here and there.

After that, once her mission was complete, she even returned to my arms.

Coming back was not particularly hard.

Since Ego Weapons were contracted to their users, they could be summoned back to their user's side instantly, anytime and anywhere.

'As long as they aren't too far away, that is.'

In any case, the greatest contributor to this plan was unquestionably Lua.

I stroked the girl without holding back.

Pat, pat, pat.

"You worked very hard."

"Mwehehe..."

"Was it tiring?"

"It was fun! Because it was something Dad asked me to do!"

Lua laughed brightly as she hung onto me.

What was I supposed to do with this admirable daughter of mine?

I lifted the girl up and set her on my shoulders.

Her short arms wrapped around my face, and I felt her hugging me tight.

'Having a daughter was the right call.'

Though I was not the one who gave birth to her.

I stored the Plague Tablet again and shook the dark mana off my hands.

The plan had succeeded.

'The situation... was staged well enough to make it look like I had fallen into a Cultist trap, too.'

Well, some people might wonder about that.

If the dungeon had been my goal, why not just go there quietly? Was there really any need to put on this whole show?

I had not done this without thinking.

You could say it was to plant a sense of crisis in Kihano County.

I had no intention of revealing that this incident was simply a dungeon accident.

Instead, I would testify that I had fallen into a trap, just as the children had witnessed, and nearly died because of it.

'And I'll point to the Cultists as the ones behind it.'

Less than half a year from now.

The Cultists' harm would begin creeping over the North, too.

The North was originally a land under Winter's Protection, so wicked things had never dared to reach out carelessly.

'Because of that, the North hasn't been wary of the Cultists for a long time.'

The North was already busy enough stopping the magical beasts that surged in every winter.

Since their attention was focused elsewhere, they probably never considered an enemy aiming for their backs.

The Cultists would take advantage of that gap.

They would ambush the North and massacre countless people in the territory.

Ranne's father, Count Kihano, would also be cursed and fall into a coma.

'That can't happen.'

The North had to prepare for this winter.

Starving magical beasts would come from the front, and the Cultists would ambush them from behind.

They had to request support from the Imperial Family, reorganize the front line, and be ready to wage war at any time.

'That is why I did this.'

I would make them believe this incident was a trap set by the Cultists.

I intended to raise the North's guard.

First, I needed them to feel that the North was being targeted by the Cultists.

Even if I insisted on it by myself, they would obviously dismiss me as spouting nonsense.

'What matters is that they have to feel it themselves.'

Those atrocious Cultist bastards!

How dare they set a trap in a place like that!

They must have been aiming for Count Kihano's daughter!

If Viktor hadn't stepped in, Ranne would definitely have suffered serious harm!

This is an attack on the territory!

Public opinion would probably go that way.

The North would start preparing, too.

After all, an attack that targeted the lord's daughter was not something they could take lightly.

If they maintained that state of alert, the Cultists would not be able to start a war easily either.

'Well... if I spoon-fed them this much, the Count's side should handle the rest.'

I sorted through my complicated thoughts.

My breath scattered as white mist.

'I do feel a little bad for worrying the group, but...'

This sort of stress was necessary, too.

The original story... and the Impossible Mode story at that, was not smooth sailing.

It was a world where it would not be strange for a close acquaintance or comrade to die at any moment.

I had blocked most of the incidents until now, but in the original, several faculty members and students would already have been ground down by this point.

'There were even some from the group.'

So this was an indirect experience.

Mental growth was usually triggered by a loss that matched it.

But I had no intention of giving these children any loss.

I would desperately save everyone and turn this into a flawless happy ending.

'Still, they can't get complacent.'

The children had to grow.

The plan I was putting together included their awakenings as well, tucked away in one corner.

Since I could not bring myself to give them actual pain, I was giving them a chance to think for themselves, even if it was in this way.

'How would they act in the face of loss?'

The explanation sounded quite grand, but honestly, it was nothing special. Just mental training.

Anyway, this little play had all sorts of side benefits.

I scratched the top of my mask for no reason.

'......Everyone will be fine, right?'

I was planning to return before it got too late anyway.

If I cleared the dungeon once and collected the item I needed, that should take about a day.

If I was too late, I felt like Her Highness would scold me, so I decided to move as quickly as possible.

'Putting that aside... earlier really scared me.'

The moment Ranne stepped on the dungeon's entrance.

For a second, Ranne almost got dragged here instead of me.

Fortunately, I managed to switch positions at the very last moment, so I avoided ruining the plan.

'Back then... right before I was transferred, I told them I'd be fine, too.'

This dungeon had a special property.

Lumiera's Temple.

An event stage that appeared like an Easter egg in the story.

'A one-time dungeon.'

Only one person could enter, and the entrance that disappeared immediately afterward would never appear again.

It did not matter whether the dungeon was cleared or failed from inside.

Once the entry ticket was used, it could not be reused.

That was why I could not let Ranne get caught up in it.

The item was one thing, but the dungeon was dangerous, too.

'Anyway, it worked out.'

As the old saying went, it did not matter how you got there, as long as you reached Seoul.

A familiar mechanical sound rang in my ear.

Ding!

[Chain Quest]

-Title: To Live, Perhaps to Die.

-Objective: O meaningless life. Prove the worth of your death.

-Failure Penalty: None

-Success Reward: ???

[Time Limit: Until the trial ends]

Ding!

[The dungeon's master has become aware of your presence.]

[Apostle 'Grand Justice of Old Winter' awaits your trial.]

Notifications popped up one after another.

I pushed the status window aside and looked up at Lua, who was riding on my shoulders.

"Miss Lua. Shall the two of us go on a date today?"

"Really...? I want to! A date with Dad!"

"Huhu, good."

Clank, clank.

Right on time, I heard presences approaching.

They were knights clad in ice armor, each giving off a sharp air.

"Then, shall we go...?"

At some point, Lua had already returned to the form of a scythe.

I rested the pitch-black weapon on my shoulder, then aimed it at the ice knights.

Cold flashed through the air.

"I am in a hurry, you see."

Well then.

Shall we begin?

"I would appreciate it if all of you broke quickly."

It was time for item farming.

***

Meanwhile, the children left behind on the snowfield searched for Viktor.

They were convinced Viktor had been caught in a Cultist attack.

"Sir Viktor...!"

"Viktor-nim! Where in the world did you go...!"

"If you can hear us, answer! Where were you blown off to?!"

The support sent by the Count's family also joined them.

Everyone searched every inch of the area, but the boy was nowhere to be found.

Just in case, they also examined the spot where the magic circle had disappeared, but only rows of ancient formulas they could not interpret were written there.

"Fuck, he has to be nearby! There's no way he could have left the county entirely through such a sudden teleportation...!"

"I'm spreading the Card Soldiers as far as I can to search. But I can't find him anywhere..."

"Calm yourselves. Viktor could not have been defeated."

"A snowstorm will start at dawn. We must find Sir Viktor before then..."

The search continued for hours.

The children could not find Viktor, let alone a scrap of his clothing.

Before they knew it, dawn had arrived, and a fierce snowstorm began to fall over the North.

The search party had no choice but to struggle.

"This cannot continue..."

In the end, the children brought out their last resort.

They decided to borrow Alice's dream.

The girl herself was strongly in favor of it.

Isyeongilmong: A Dream of Strange Forms.

Using dreams as a window to see another person's world.

At the start of the semester, she had used that ability to secretly watch Viktor clear Purgatory's 70th floor.

It was a method they had put off, because forcing it could affect Alice's Nightmare.

"If I can just figure out where Viktor-nim is through his field of vision...!"

Alice closed her eyes.

Then, as if trying to fall asleep, she did not move for a long while.

Soon, her breathing settled into a soft rhythm, and roughly two hours passed inside the tent.

"......"

Then, around the middle of dawn.

Alice woke from her sleep.

Perhaps because of the Nightmare's influence, an alien blackness flickered in her pupils.

The girl took deep breaths as if she felt nauseous, then slowly came to her senses among the children patting her back.

"What happened? Where is that bastard?"

"Where is Sir Viktor...!"

The children asked in a hurry.

They hoped that, with this, they would at least know what situation he was in.

But contrary to the children's expectations, Alice's gaze trembled blankly.

"......I couldn't see him."

Unexpected words.

The children froze at Alice's single sentence.

"I couldn't see anything. It was like a hazy fog had settled over everything, and it stayed dark the whole time..."

"......What? What does that mean?"

"Could it be that Sir Viktor's condition is poor...?"

"Answer me. What does it mean when you cannot see him with that ability?"

Alice had no answer.

That helpless reaction only made the children more anxious.

After a few attempts to soothe her, the girl parted her trembling lips.

Those blue eyes were brimming with tears.

"If I can't see anything... that means..."

Tears flowed down.

They ran over her white cheeks, and her tear-choked throat kept catching.

In the end, Alice collapsed into Ranne's arms and miserably spilled out the rest of her sobs.

"That he isn't... alive."

""......""

The children's breath stopped.

===

This is Ranne.