"What can you see ahead?" I asked.
[ A few people must have been part of the organization who built this pathway, because I came across other doors leading here.]
"It seems like we will be able to move around the city without monsters noticing us if we use these doors," I said, but I began to get concerned about what we would see ahead of us.
Also, it seemed like things looked only peaceful on the surface and even my father couldn't do anything about the organization like this. 'Or did he know about the existence of it?' I thought, supposing that this place was where the Nobles held their meetings. 'Well, it's useless to think about that now.'
"Yeah, but the path is a bit narrow and it's dark inside," Bianca said and I felt that she was a big close to me.
"You are not a fan of dark places, aren't you?" I asked, not trying to make fun of her or anything. I just wanted to take into consideration her state of mind as we progressed.
"No, it's just that…"
"Claustrophobic?"
"What? Claus..?" Blanca didn't seem to understand the meaning of my word.
"It means that you are not comfortable with narrow spaces. Is that the case?" I explained.
"Yeah… A little, but I can manage so don't look at me like that." She said after I stopped and looked at her.
It seemed like she didn't want to say it and keep it a secret from me. 'So she wasn't curious about what's beyond the door when she looked at it earlier… It was because of this.' I thought, feeling like I began to know more about the woman in front of me even though it wasn't my intention.
"Okay," I said and continued to move forward.
Because of her Pride, Blanca didn't want to show any weakness but I felt like sometimes her character was inconsistent. It was as if she was a young girl who tried to act like a grown-up woman. 'Well, when she doesn't say anything, she looks like some kind of noble but now, I just think that she is a na?ve girl… Is it just my imagination? It could be also a farce so I won't be fooled either way.'
"Let's talk as we walk," I said, "because the silence would make you more anxious.
"Talk? About what?" Bianca looked a little bit surprised by my suggestion.
"You came to this planet to retrieve something, right?"
"Yeah."
"A fragment of the Tree of Life, right?"
"What!? How did you… Ah!" Blanca was surprised but then she realized that her reaction was the confirmation that I needed.
"I was just wondering why you haven't left this country yet and searched for other survivors even though you could do so. There is something that you are still searching for, right? What is it? Depending on the circumstances I might even help you." I said, trying to imply that since our goals aligned, I will help her.
"How did you know about the fragments? Were you lying when you said that you are not one of us?" Blanca said.
"No, I didn't lie, but I am a little bit familiar with these fragments because they were the reason why we are in this situation," I said, "but I don't know what exactly these fragments are. Do you have any idea, it may help us to get out of this situation.
"I… I lost something extremely precious and I also lost the fragments that were in my possession… I couldn't find them anywhere." Bianca said, looking a little bit remorseful.
"I see. Are these fragments that important to you?" I asked.
"Yeah…" Blanca muttered looking like she didn't want to talk about it.
'However, it seemed like she gave up on searching for them. Is there a reason for that too,' I thought but I didn't ask. 'No matter how much I look at her, she doesn't seem to be a bad person at all. However, as far as I am concerned, these fragments were the source of all of my problems so I needed to put an end to all of them before it destroys me completely. But this Blanca's reasons seem to be different from mine.' I pondered.
After that, Blanca didn't say anything more and I didn't ask, knowing that asking her too many questions would have a negative effect so I tried to change my approach.
"Are you married?" I asked.
"Anh? No, but why do you ask about such a thing at a time like this?" Bianca said, looking like she didn't expect my question.
'What's that reaction though, that was just a casual question.' I thought.
"No, I just thought that your family would be quite worried about you by now," I said.
"Yeah… I miss my sister." Blanca said sounding a little affectionate.
"You have a sister? I don't have any siblings. What kind of person is she?"
"Yes I have a sister and she is kind and intelligent. She is brighter than me in every way even though I am older than her." Blanca answered.
"I bet she says that about you too. It sounds like you were close. Did she come here with you?" I asked.
"Yeah, I love her. About that… I don't know where is she now. We came here together but we got separated."
"What happened? Did something happens with the portal that you used to come here?"
"I am not sure what happened… I…" Blanca said, sounding like she blamed herself for what happened.
"We will get out of this mess and you can go find your sister after. I will help you with that if I can…" I said, knowing that feeling regrets weren't always a bad thing as long as she learned from these mistakes.
"Mmm."
When I said these words, I didn't have any hidden attention but I just hoped that Blanca wasn't pretending because if she was, I was sure that I would probably kill her instantly.
[Master, I found something.]
Cristal's report changed the atmosphere and Blanca and I instantly had serious looks on our faces.
"What did you find?" I asked because I felt like we walked for a while without finding anything out of the ordinary.
The walls on both sides of the narrow passage were made of stone and it was cold to the touch but apart from that, there was nothing noteworthy about it. There were no weird patterns inscribed on it and there were no deadly traps.
[It's a dead body.]
"A dead body?" Bianca said, looking like he was on her guard.
There were a lot of possibilities that caused the death of this person but the fact that he died on this narrow pathway made it more concerning.
"Let's proceed with caution," I said, "we don't know what happened but it's not a good a good sign."
"Okay."
We continued to advance and soon, we could see Cristal and the dead body of a person who looked like they were trying to run away from something.
"Let's inspect the body for now. There should be clues that will help us determine what we should expect from here." I said and put on my gloves.
I asked Blanca to stand back before approaching the body. Then I activated my power just in case, then I covered my mouth as I squatted down.
"Cristal, continue moving and report back as soon as you see something," I said.
[Roger.]
"Let's see. It seems like this person was dead for a long time. He is a male and he looks like he was in his thirties. His clothes are covered with blood but what is this? His skin has a weird color and what is this black substance coming from his mouth… I have seen this before." I said, examining the body.
"It reminds me of the disgusting substance on the walls of the sewer," Bianca commented.
"Yeah, you are right," I said and glanced at Blanca who was close to me.
The dead person was affected by an unknown substance but why did he run away? Was it because they were being pursued by someone who discovered what was happening? No that was unlikely because if that was the case, there should be more bodies here and the should be a hint of struggle.
"Mmm, there's blood on the wall but it seems like it belongs to this person," I said, examining the surrounding because I didn't want to touch the body any further. "Anyway, let's make sure that it's dead."
Thud!
I used my sword to decimate the body's head just in case it turned into something similar to a zombie. 'It's not rare to see these kinds of scenarios when the body looks like this.'
"It seems like we can expect undead or another tentacle monster ahead but we can't turn back now," I said, preparing my mind to see something extremely disturbing.
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