(…Where am I?)
In the middle of a battle, I was suddenly whisked away by a Teleportation Magic Circle that appeared beneath my feet, and when I came to, I was inside a dimly lit building.
The place was clearly not a Dungeon. Stone floors, stone walls… but unlike a Dungeon where the materials themselves emit a faint light, preventing complete darkness, a natural gloom spread here.
Could it be a castle or a fortress somewhere? There was no sign of Monsters, not even a human presence. …No, I sense a single, strong magical power. But contrary to the strength of its magic, which was like that of a high-ranking Monster, its life force was surprisingly faint.
Could it be a weakened spiritual life form, like the Water Spirit I fought before…? That was the only presence I could feel in this place. I gently wiped the blood from my knife, used [Cleanse] to eliminate the Smell of Blood from myself, and then used Stealth to approach that presence.
Normally, I shouldn’t willingly approach danger. But if the one who sent me here with the Teleportation Magic Circle—the “voice” I heard at that time—was the Dungeon’s spirit, then meeting the owner of this presence seemed like it would be meaningful.
Inside the building, there were lingering signs of human life, an everyday smell. But I sensed a “stench of death” that overpowered it, and I heightened my guard.
And then…
“…Who are you, at this time of night?”
That “person” stood alone in a particularly spacious room, on a wide-open terrace, illuminated by the moonlight.
The handsome Dark Elf, his long silver hair fluttering in the night breeze, possessed terrifyingly immense magical power, yet he turned his terribly ephemeral… listless, dark eyes towards me, hidden in the shadows.
“…And what are you doing here?”
When I retorted with that question, he widened his eyes slightly, as if surprised.
“You speak as if you’re lost… It seems you’re not one of those who’ve come to take my life.”
“I’m not so bored as to come and kill someone who’s already dying.”
“I see…”
He gave a faint, self-deprecating smile at my words, then sank into a chair on the terrace as if collapsing, letting out his words like a sigh.
“If you’re a thief, take whatever you want. I’ve left only the bare minimum, but you’ll be in trouble if you’re found… cough.”
He took a swig from a cup on the table that seemed to contain alcohol, then choked as if coughing up blood.
Who is he? I have some idea, but why did the Dungeon’s spirit send me to this person?
“Do you want to die?”
I couldn’t sense any will to live from him. Loneliness… despair… negative emotions seemed to entangle his heart, making it look as if he himself wished for death.
He gave the impression of a recluse who had given up on everything, but for some whim, he answered my question.
“Want to die… huh. Perhaps that’s true. When my wife… the woman I loved, died, my heart probably died with her.”
Clang…
He tried to take another sip from the cup, but his hand slipped. Watching the cup roll away, he leaned back deeply into the chair as if resigned.
“She was my everything. At first, it was just an obsession. But she saved my foolish heart, gave me hope, and loved me.”
“…In that case, all her feelings were for nothing, then.”
“What…?”
From him, whose life force seemed on the verge of disappearing, a faint Killing Intent flared at my words.
But I was the one feeling angry. My father and mother both died protecting me. When I was little, I was just sad. I even cried, wondering why they left me all alone. But… now I can understand their feelings.
“You wish to die because there’s nothing left inside you, right?”
“What do you think you know…!”
Rage overflowed, and a Killing Intent strong enough to make an ordinary person faint from fear blasted towards me.
I met it with the anger towards him that had welled up inside me, and stepped forward from the darkness, glaring at him.
“I don’t know your circumstances. But did that person die hating you? Did that person leave nothing behind for you?”
“That is…”
His anger wavered slightly at my words. A child like me probably couldn’t understand his sorrow. But I couldn’t forgive someone who had been left behind, who had been saved, trying to throw their life away.
“If I hadn’t brought her to this land, she wouldn’t have died! I thought everyone would eventually understand… I wanted them to know that, like me, they could join hands with the human race! But she died at the hands of those who didn’t think well of humans. I couldn’t protect her…!”
“…Are you making a fool of her resolve?”
“What did you say…”
A human woman who married into the Evil Race, which was at war with humans… Would such a person come to enemy territory with a naive, carefree mindset?
I’d never met her, but for some reason, I understood her feelings a little.
You don’t need logic to risk your life. It seemed to me that she had understood everything and came to this land to be close to the heart of the person she cherished.
“If you want to die, then go ahead. But don’t use others as a reason for your suicide. I choose the path of struggling until I die, to live up to the feelings of those who let me live.”
“You are…”
He stared, wide-eyed, as I revealed myself from the darkness.
“That hair… I see.”
He looked at my hair, illuminated by the moonlight, and fell silent, covering his face with his hands. Then, after enough time for the moon in the night sky to tilt slightly, he spoke again.
“…Did she… send you to me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“…No, forget it. I just remembered she used to scold me like that too…”
“I see.”
I don’t know if my words truly reached him. I have no way of knowing what answer he found from them, but still, when he lifted his face, a faint light of will had returned to his eyes.
He looked up at the moon with eyes that seemed on the verge of tears. Was it just my imagination that the faint moonlight, for an instant, looked like the smile of a woman with reddish-pink hair fluttering in the breeze…?
It was just my self-righteous opinion, but I said what I wanted to say. I don’t know what the Dungeon’s spirit wanted me to do by sending me here, but…
“!?”
“What the—”
Suddenly, Teleportation Magic Circles appeared not only at my feet but at his as well. Thinking it was futile, but filled with indignation at being toyed with, I instantly drew my knife and threw it at space itself.
Kiiiiiiiiiiin!!
A sound like ringing in my ears echoed, and the knife was repelled in a pure white space.
“…Again?”
When I realized it, I was now in a pure white fog with nothing in it.
What was the reason for sending me to that man, and then summoning me again using a teleportation circle?
“――It is because there is a ‘wish’――”
I was about to throw my knife again at that “voice,” neither male nor female, which came from around where the knife had been repelled, but I stopped midway.
It’s probably useless anyway… I know this “presence” that even read my inner thoughts.
“…The spirit of the Labyrinth (Dungeon)?”
“――You children of men call us so――”
When I met it before, it was vague, but now I can understand the difference in our power. If this voice belongs to the Dungeon’s spirit, I can somewhat guess the meaning behind summoning us… but.
“I have no wish for you to grant.”
The Dungeon’s spirit has no wish. As I said that, a sense… no, an image of nodding was conveyed from the spirit.
“――That may be so for you. Child of man who possesses hair the same color as our beloved ‘Moon Rose (Melrose)’… Though you have strong wishes, you will not rely on the power of others. Just like that black-haired girl who reached the lowest floor――”
“………”
So she was the one who reached the lowest floor…
“Then why did you summon me? Why did you send me to him… to the ‘Evil Lord,’ and what did you intend for me to do?”
That person was probably Camille’s father, the Evil Lord himself, who is said to be on the brink of death. But I, who haven’t even reached the lowest floor, shouldn’t have any reason to be summoned. If the spirit can read my mind, it should know I have no wish. Yet this spirit didn’t even summon me here directly, but sent me to where the Evil Lord was.
“――Child of man. To answer your question, you must first know about the Dark Fae――”
“Dark Fae… You mean Dark Elves?”
“――Indeed. Their current suffering began several thousand years ago, from a wish made by a single king――”
The spirit began to speak in a way that even I, a human, could understand.
Originally, beings called ‘Dark Elves’ did not exist in this world. What existed were the “Forest Elves” with white skin who lived in forests, and the “Iron Elves” with reddish-brown skin who lived deep in the mountains.
In contrast to the Forest Elves, who made forests their homes, disliked fire, and moved away from human settlements, the Iron Elves, who obtained iron from mines in the mountains, were skilled with fire. They possessed technology rivaling that of the Rock Dwarves, crafted weapons from Magic Iron, and actively interacted with the human race.
However, minerals were needed not only by the Iron Elves but also by humans and dwarves. Fearing the Iron Elves’ strength would lead to a monopoly, the humans and dwarves, involving even the beastmen who sought cheap iron goods, ended up opposing the Iron Elves.
The Iron Elves, now in conflict with multiple races, were gradually cornered, and their king at the time pleaded with a high-ranking spirit for salvation.
『—Whether that was truly a spirit, I do not know. Nor do I know what kind of contract was made. However, as a result, the Iron Fey avoided extinction, but in exchange, their skin color was changed to be as ‘black’ as darkness—』
As a result of seeking salvation from a high-ranking entity, the Iron Elves had their reddish-bronze skin turned black.
However, it wasn’t changed out of malice, nor were they deceived. Spirits are beings with values different from ours. Perhaps that price wasn’t important enough for the spirit to mention beforehand.
Ultimately, the Iron Elves were saved, but whatever the contract entailed, from that day onward, all Iron Elves throughout the world became ‘Dark Elves.’ Because of this, the Dark Elves on this Searth Continent were also branded as ‘evil’ by the Holy Church, which came from other continents.
According to the Holy Church’s teachings, Dark Elves’ skin turned black because they sold their souls to an evil god. While not entirely off the mark, it’s likely that human political motives were behind branding the Dark Elves as evil.
『—As the spirit of this Dungeon, the first I encountered was the one who became the first king of the Dark Fey, who had been driven by humans and drifted to this land. However, that person did not wish for my Divine Protection, but for the survival of their race—』
The same as my hair, huh… Recalling this, I touched my pinkish-gold hair with my fingers, and I sensed something like a nod again.
『—Indeed. However, that wish was ambiguous, and I could not grant a clan boon like the one you received. Therefore, I have fulfilled that wish when Dark Elves and those connected to them reached the lowest floor. But the current arriver had no ‘wish,’ so to fulfill the contract, I summoned those with strong wishes—』
There must have been others besides the first Evil Lord who reached this place unnoticed. But because he had no wish, we were called instead, huh…
It’s a vague selection process, but the spirit seems to believe it has fulfilled its ‘promise’ with the first Evil Lord this way. That’s probably why Dowhill-san and Charleschan-san were called too. They are clan leaders and have reasons to wish for the survival of their people.
Was it because their subordinates weren’t called due to a difference in the strength of their wishes, or because they prioritized winning? But even so, that doesn’t explain why I, who have no wish, was called.
『—Despite how much the Dark Fey fought amongst themselves, there were multiple individuals who shared the same wish. For that wish, child of man, ‘your’ existence was necessary—』
“…What?”
Was doing something to the Evil Lord ‘someone’s’ wish?
『—By that person ‘living,’ several ‘wishes’ were granted. However, with those wishes granted, one person’s wish vanished, and a small wish grew stronger. That Dark Fey desires your very existence—』
Desires ‘me’? Does that mean there’s someone who wants to settle things with me?
Who could it be? Elgrim, who was chasing Master’s Shadow? Or perhaps Aisha?
“—!”
Suddenly, sensing a distortion in space behind me, I drew my knife and whirled around.
Someone was about to be summoned to this place. I readied myself to attack immediately, and the person who appeared before me as I waited was—
“…A-Aria?”
The one who looked around in confusion, found me, and called my name was Camille, who I had parted with in the upper levels of the Dungeon and who should have been heading for the lowest floor.
It’s mostly Karla’s fault.
Next time, what is it that Camille wishes for?
Behind-the-Scenes Info:
In the Otome Game, this Dungeon is used as a key point in the Evil Race arc.
There are two choices: defeat the Evil Lord to stop the impending war, or establish peace. If the heroine lacks strength, she can receive Divine Protection here. If she chooses peace, the Evil Lord’s background is revealed.
After that, she heads to the Evil Race Nation, but there won’t be any persuasion that reopens wounds to this extent (lol).