At the moment when Princess Lasiell was focusing on her prayer, the leader informed the group that they would halt the search for the missing persons and return.
When the order was given, not everyone immediately agreed to it. Some suggested they still had time and could investigate a little longer before heading back.
However, no one could refute the fact that they couldn’t risk the lives of the entire team for the sake of a few missing individuals.
“Damn it, we didn’t accomplish anything after coming in.”
They had lost comrades for nothing and found only a treasure chest, but after that, they focused more on searching for the missing persons, leaving them nearly empty-handed.
At least they had fought fiercely with the monsters, so there was some comfort in the fact that the spoils wouldn’t be easily claimed by others.
The incident happened when they were retracing their steps to leave and came across the remnants of a trap that had caused both missing persons and fatalities.
“Can we check this place once more before we go?”
The leader suggested they take another look at the trap, feeling that everyone would regret not doing so if they left. This way, they could at least acknowledge they had done their best.
“We’ve already checked everything we can. It’s just a waste of time.”
“Back then, we were caught off guard by the trap, and everyone’s vision was limited. If we check again now, we might notice something we missed before.”
In fact, there were many times when we discovered things we missed while retracing our steps. It was like finding a hidden room and discovering a box inside, things like that.
After some hesitation, the leader finally said, “Alright. We’ll search one last time before leaving.”
“Thank you!”
“No, I should be the one thanking you. I know you did this for us.”
I didn’t really expect to find anything new. But if it helped ease the nagging feeling, I thought it would be worth the time. Look at everyone—aren’t they all happy with the leader’s decision?
“Guess it’s different because you’re a priest.”
“It wasn’t easy for the leader to give such an order, you know? The leader took on the villain’s role for all of us.”
“Ahem, anyway, thanks to you, priest, I’m feeling a bit better.”
“Stop chatting and save time! Go find something!”
They dug into the ground, checked the walls thoroughly, and some even managed to hang from the ceiling to take a look.
How much time passed like this?
Just when everyone’s spirits were starting to wane, thinking “Well, of course…”
“Leader!!! Something’s wrong here!”
Someone’s shout caught everyone’s attention.
“What is it?”
“What’s going on?”
“Look here.”
As everyone quickly gathered and asked for an explanation, the person who noticed the oddity began to knock on the wall with his fist, urging them to take a look.
The ice and stones that had frozen on the wall fell off with a soft clatter.
The sound was distinctly different, and everyone’s eyes widened in surprise. They hadn’t expected to actually find something they had been vaguely searching for.
“If you knock here, you get a thudding sound, right? But when you knock here, the sound is different. I think there’s space inside.”
Despite being similar in appearance, one part of the wall gave a heavy sound, while the other was much lighter.
“Definitely, there’s something inside.”
The leader also knocked on the wall with his fist and became certain that something was inside.
Although it might be something completely different from what they were expecting, they couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope now that they had discovered something.
“Let’s break it down.”
“I’ll do it.”
Princess Lasiell stepped forward, ready to take the lead.
“Your Highness?”
At first, she hadn’t joined the battle, but by now, everyone was well aware of her extraordinary strength.
This meant that no one stopped her as she stepped forward.
Boom!!
Princess Lasiell’s clenched fist struck the wall, and the stones of the sunken wall tumbled down with a loud crash.
Boom!! Crash!! Bang!! Boom!!!!
The sound of the collapsing debris echoed, followed by a loud crash—
Hack, cough!
They waited until the dust settled and the rubble stopped falling.
The space revealed behind the broken wall was much larger than expected.
Since monsters could potentially emerge from inside, everyone remained on high alert and drew their weapons.
Instead of rushing in, they waited by the door for a while.
“…”
“It seems empty. No signs of movement.”
“Good. Let’s move in.”
The one holding the shield was the first to step inside.
Half of the group had decided to enter the space.
It was only logical to divide the group, as sending everyone in would leave no one to help if something went wrong.
“Priest, please stay here.”
They prevented anyone from entering, cautioning that they couldn’t predict what might happen inside.
I could only hope that those who had gone in would return with the missing persons.
Please, let there be good news.
It seemed the space was deeper than expected, or perhaps there was a lot to investigate, because the group who entered didn’t return for a long time.
“You’ll need to come inside.”
The leader called for Princess Lasiell.
“What about the missing persons?”
“We found them.”
They found the missing persons, but didn’t urgently call me over?
There was no one who didn’t understand what that meant.
The faces of the entire group grew somber as Princess Lasiell and the rest of the team entered the space.
Thanks to the lights the group had set up, it wasn’t difficult to survey the area.
“A passage?”
“Yes. There’s a deep path inside. Following it led to a large open area.”
“Did you fight monsters?”
“Yes. They were reptilian monsters.”
That’s why it had taken so long.
“And there, the bodies of the missing persons were found.”
“All of them?”
“Two.”
It made the effort of going down to the lower floors feel pointless.
“They all seemed to have died at the hands of the monsters.”
As I entered with the leader’s explanation, I saw our team resting alongside the bodies of the deceased.
I moved toward the resting group to check if anyone was injured.
“Is anyone hurt? Please raise your hand.”
“Here!”
“Where does it hurt?”
“My ankle… It got tangled in the tail and I was thrown into the air. I landed, but it’s a bit swollen.”
“I’ll check it.”
As I treated the injured comrades, Princess Lasiell, who had disappeared with the leader earlier, returned and addressed everyone.
“I want to express my gratitude to Priest Arthur, who suggested we investigate here one more time. Thanks to him, we were able to find three of the missing persons. If we had left without doing this, I would have blamed myself for a long time.”
I was surprised to be mentioned first, but Princess Lasiell continued.
“Three of the four missing persons are dead. The remaining one is likely to have suffered the same fate. I hope you understand that we can’t go on searching for the last one, even though I wish we could bring them all back.”
No one expressed dissatisfaction about not being able to find the last missing person.
Although three of the missing had died, the fact that they could bring back the bodies seemed to lighten the burden on everyone’s hearts.
“And Priest Arthur.”
“Yes.”
“There’s something I’d like you to check. Inside, there’s something that looks like a prayer room. Could you go in and see what it is?”
“Understood.”
A prayer room inside the maze?
“Please follow me.”
The leader led me inside, and to my surprise, there was indeed something resembling a prayer room.
“Is this a prayer room?”
“The setup does resemble a prayer room. It seems to have been created by someone a long time ago.”
“Since it’s inside the maze, I wasn’t sure if it was safe to touch anything.”
A prayer room dedicated to an unknown entity.
“Good decision. Touching something like this recklessly could lead to a curse.”
It seemed like a prayer room made by a devout worshiper.
I could see various treasures and riches offered as offerings to the deity.
If someone who didn’t understand this had discovered it, they would have recklessly touched the jewels in hopes of taking them, which would have likely led to undesirable consequences.
“However, this isn’t a prayer room—it’s more of a ritual altar for offering sacrifices to a deity.”
“Is it for the Sun God?”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be. There are no symbols of the Sun God anywhere.”
“…Is it a heresy?”
“Yes.”
The leader let out a deep sigh at the mention of heresy.
If those treasures had been normal, they would have had value, but if they were used as offerings by heretics, they were essentially worthless.
“Now they’re just rocks, aren’t they? Damn it!”
“They’re unnecessarily heavy, so moving them would be a hassle. But we can’t leave them here. I’ll need to bring some cloth and holy water.”
“Understood.”
“Is there anyone who might have taken some jewels out of greed?”
“Impossible. But I’ll explain the situation and issue a warning.”
At first glance, the gold and jewels seemed tempting, and it would have been easy to give in to greed.
But taking cursed gold and jewels would only ruin one’s life.
No one who ever gained from cursed items has come out unscathed.
What makes it even worse is that it doesn’t just ruin the person’s life—it spreads misfortune to those around them as well.
“If anyone took anything from around the altar, I won’t say anything, but Priest Arthur, please make sure to quietly return it. The heretic claimed that those items were offerings to the evil god. Don’t let anyone keep them and bring misfortune to those around them.”
As I listened to the leader explaining the situation to the group, I busily gathered the supplies.
I took a large cloth big enough to carry the gold and jewels, along with a considerable amount of holy water.
Then, I returned to the altar, transferred the holy water into a wide plate, and dipped each of the items into the water before placing them carefully into the cloth.