Chapter 49: From the Frying Pan Into the Fire

Not even five minutes later, the space of the dungeon collapsed, spitting all those still on the first level back into reality.

If he’d just been a little more obstinate or stalled for slightly longer, he could’ve escaped entirely without being thrust into this horrid situation.

After joining a party, there were only three ways to leave it...

The party leader dissolving it, death, or joining/starting another party.

Quite a crude mechanic for a party system, but Peace figured it existed to prevent exploits like the one involving the Stalker.

In any case...

The way they were speaking suggested the party system here was just like it was in the game. But confirming that was a concern better left for another time.

A fuzzy feeling took hold of Peace. His body felt like it was being molded in gelatin and plucked from the ground.

His vision swirled and spun before finally settling.

Noble Path of a True King clutched tightly against his chest, Peace found himself back in the plaza of the Ophiuchus district’s seventh precinct, countless hopeful eyes lining its edges as people waited for loved ones to return.

Those hopeful eyes soon turned fearful when they spotted Peace among the hundreds of Divers returning from the first floor of the dungeon.

The only silver lining was that, unlike Ralph, the locals had all definitely heard rumors about him.

Ignoring the countless insults being hurled at him, Peace looked up at the clocktower.

’Thirty minutes.’

It seemed that was how long it took for each floor to close. Likely, those on the second floor wouldn’t return for another thirty minutes.

Pulling the four Spirit Stones out from the pages of Noble Path of a True King, he shoved them into the pocket of the half-torn pants he got from Dita.

’I hope she’s alright...’

Looking around, Peace doubted she’d stand out much, even half-naked. The Divers who’d immediately crumpled to the ground as bloody, mangled messes were drawing most of the attention.

Even if she’d been gravely injured like that, there were also potion hustlers who waited at the plazas to heal the wounded.

They overcharged like all hell, but that was simply the price of life.

As long as she made it out, she’d be fine...

’Right?’

Shaking his head, Peace sped out of the plaza, heading straight for the Diver’s Guild.

***

’I’m screwed...’

For the four Spirit Stones, he’d gotten fifty copper. He didn’t even make back half of his loan. He could pay a portion of it to avoid defaulting, but he was in quite the predicament, having lost everything the loan had bought him in the first place.

He’d even lost his clothes!

And, speaking of that...

Without the robe, the sheer public disorder his existence caused was insane.

So, before it had the chance to happen, Peace marched himself right down to the inspection agency.

Awkwardly, he entered and told the horrified receptionist what had happened and that he’d lost his ID in the dungeon. After being told to wait, he sat on a nearby bench and began sorting through his rampaging mind.

Finally, without being screamed at or having his life threatened, safe and secure behind walls, he thought to himself...

’I... survived.’

Peace felt like he could cry.

Whatever entity had drawn him here could suck it.

’I fucking survived, bitch! Hahaha!’

Again and again, he’d been put in situations where he had a better chance of getting struck by lightning than surviving — the Corrupted Lands, Maw of Hell, Skeletal Stalker...

’And yet here I am! Alive and kicking!’

And alive and kicking he vowed to stay. Even if his sister wasn’t here, he had a reason to live on: pure spite.

He had his unknown vendetta, but now he’d also birthed another hatred — a hatred for being shoved into this shitty situation in the first place.

If his life was what this nasty world wanted, he’d be a fool to surrender it peacefully.

Peace grew a manic smile.

A sweet, terrifyingly calm voice filled the air:

"Good thing you came to us... we were about to come looking for you."

’Oh.’

Ashren had emerged from the door leading to the cells, three guards at her side.

They immediately rushed to Peace’s side, one clamping a pair of linked iron cuffs around his wrists, another taking his money, and the third taking Ixion’s diary.

’Oh...’

It didn’t take long for Peace’s smile to vanish.

’Oh no.’

Peace was dragged away into a cell where a person wearing a polyester white lab coat and a full-face mask was waiting. In their hands was a syringe filled with yellow liquid.

’W-where did they even get that?!’

The scientist-looking person flicked it once, the liquid sloshing around, then looked down at Peace.

"This won’t hurt a bit..."

Then, they drove the needle into Peace’s thigh.

The next thing Peace knew, the world had gone white.

He’d been stripped down to undergarments — undergarments he hadn’t been wearing. His head lolled languidly from side to side like he’d just gotten out of surgery.

Though, thankfully, surgery didn’t seem to be the reason for him being drugged.

Peace was sitting in a bolted-down chair, his wrists tied to the arms and ankles tied to the legs.

’White...’

Groggily, he took note that the blinding white wasn’t just his eyes adjusting — he was in a padded white room. It looked like something out of a nineteenth-century insane asylum.

With a little more purpose, he looked up at insanely bright lights and a thin window at the very top of the room.

Slowly but surely, regular function returned to his body.

’They’re not going to start yelling at me to remember numbers, right...?’

The woman standing before him, Ixion’s diary and a white envelope held against her chest beneath crossed arms, gave him a simple reason:

"Peace, don’t be alarmed. The king called for this."

’The Nameless King?’

The bastard, who, in the game, never did anything no matter what happened. His only role was to serve as the key’s bearer.

That very man had apparently called for whatever the hell this was.

Peace’s head dropped, a familiar feeling washing through him.

Rolling his eyes, he thought to himself:

’Impeccably awful timing.’