Don Quixote's Reverie (4)
“Not... alive.”
Alice murmured.
The blade-sharp air inside the tent dropped with a thud.
It was as if their hearts had suddenly fallen. The children could only stare blankly.
““......””
A cold silence crawled through the tent.
Not alive.
For a moment, those words rolled around in their mouths.
“......What?”
Not alive.
Not alive.
Dead.
“What... does that...”
Only then did Carmilla manage to speak.
Her blood-red pupils looked distant, trembling so hard that even the question seemed to fade.
“Hic, hngh...”
Alice could not bring herself to answer. She only cried.
Hot droplets welled up one by one and ran down her cheeks.
Time sank under that dampness, only adding more sobs over those blue eyes.
The sound of crying.
That suppressed crying.
The children felt sick.
“Miss Alice... what... do you mean...”
Ranne Kihano.
For once, the girl had forgotten her cheer.
An unfiltered expression spread across her face, eating into it.
“What happened... to Sir Viktor... How could...”
None of her usual proud confidence remained.
Her blond hair was disheveled from wandering through the snowstorm, and her violet eyes, opened wide to no purpose, looked shabby yet desperate.
That she had heard wrong.
That the words had some other meaning.
That the girl before her would answer her question.
“Huu, hngh...”
But Alice only kept crying.
That silence stabbed into Ranne’s lungs.
Even without a single syllable, she knew it was the answer.
The knight girl staggered for a moment and nearly collapsed where she stood.
“That’s... a lie...”
“......”
Silence returned again.
Little by little, moisture began to gather around the eyes of the silver-haired and blond-haired girls as well.
Their faces looked like they could not believe it, yet soon, they seemed ready to let tears fall in a daze.
“Viktor...”
“Sir Viktor...”
The air plummeted in an instant.
Everyone looked seasick, unable to stay rational.
Then, the one who yanked the children back to their senses was none other than Caitlin.
“Hey.”
Slap, slap-!
Her bronze hands roughly struck both of her own cheeks.
The girl had been shocked too, but she seemed to be forcing herself to calm down.
“The fuck, are none of you going to get a grip?”
Her yellow pupils regained their usual venom.
Red handprints remained on her cheeks.
“Are you kidding me? Look at you, acting like lovestruck maidens.”
Her voice had its usual sharp edge.
“You seriously think he died? That bastard? Of all people? Just because he got caught in some black mage trap?”
Poke, poke.
Her awl-like voice woke the group up.
She had been prickly from start to finish, but because of that, she could be the calmest one there.
“A deep-sea monster hundreds of meters long. He tore that thing in half and killed it with one gesture.”
““......””
“He’s not dead.”
““......””
Was she trying to support her own claim?
Caitlin frowned and tossed another question at Alice.
“Are you sure? About that not alive part.”
“Sniff... But if I can’t see anything, then that means...”
“That’s why I’m saying it’s weird. You said it wasn’t just that you couldn’t see, but that your vision was blurry, like fog had settled over it.”
“Huh...?”
“You said normally, when you can’t see, it’s like your sight just turns pitch-black. But this time, it wasn’t pitch-black, and you couldn’t see because the scene was smeared together, right? Then maybe the connection wasn’t cut off. Maybe something was blocking it, so you couldn’t see.”
That was the correct answer.
Viktor was currently inside a special field, after all.
It was another space said to have been left behind by one of the ancient sages.
It was an isolated place, to the point that it was also called [nonexistent space].
The Queen’s authority might be absolute, but Alice was still clumsy at controlling it, so seeing through the place was difficult for her.
“Something... blocking it? What would it be blocked by...?”
“How would I know? It’s your ability. You should know.”
It was a rough guess, but Caitlin had gotten fairly close.
Alice was still unused to her own power.
To begin with, [Black Queen] was an authority that little was known about.
On top of that, until a few months ago, the girl had lived while suppressing her power as much as possible.
“You said it hasn’t been long since you started taming that power.”
Alice had only decided to try using her ability fairly recently.
It had been right after she met Viktor, so not even half a year had passed.
Naturally, she did not know all of its functions.
In front of Alice, who was looking up blankly, Caitlin spat out a line.
“Is that bastard being weird anything new?”
“Princess Lettus...”
“Stop thinking pointless crap and search. Honestly, if he got kidnapped, you should be worried about the kidnappers. Why are you worrying about him?”
“Sniff...”
Caitlin swept back her yellow hair in irritation.
Then she looked around at the children and said,
“Find him. Don’t just sit there crying.”
Clumsy, rough words.
But thanks to them, the children were able to calm down a little.
One by one, they wiped away the tears that had gathered and rose from where they had been slumped inside the tent.
“Whew... Yes, I nearly disgraced myself. If I am to become a fine monarch, I must also know how to trust my confidant. Thank you for helping me realize that.”
“......Enough. Just do what you need to do.”
“I’ll stay in the tent. I’ll keep... sniff, checking through dreams to see if anything appears. I’ll watch Sir Viktor’s vision.”
“Let us divide the roles again. We each need to split up and search the county. Judging by the scale of the magic circle, it could not possibly have enough power for long-range teleportation. Viktor must still be inside the territory.”
“Let’s get moving. No time to waste.”
The children headed into the snowstorm once again.
Ranne also mounted her horse and crossed through the white winter forest.
Thanks to Caitlin’s point, her head had cleared, but her insides were still festering in a soft, rotten mess.
-I trust Miss Ranne’s choice.
The boy’s voice lingered by her ear.
The words that had encouraged her.
Back when she had been wondering whether to give chase first or wait for support.
If she had made the right choice then, perhaps this misfortune would never have happened.
‘Because of me...’
Her impatience had ruined things.
She hated herself for failing to make a wiser choice.
Her insides churned, but the girl forced herself to grip the reins.
‘I have to fix this.’
The protagonist felt responsibility.
No... perhaps it was closer to pressure.
Because she possessed a special power, she believed she always had to take responsibility for the world.
‘I have to do it.’
That was the girl’s illness.
It was also a deficiency that did not show on the surface.
Whiiiiish-!
The search was struggling because of the snowstorm.
Even so, Ranne stubbornly pushed through the snow.
The hooves she guided passed over the snowy mountain and advanced toward a deeper white.
-Miss Ranne.
Viktor.
All to bring back the masked boy.
***
White breath mixed into every exhale.
I shook out my freezing hands with a few taps.
“Whew...”
Broken ice armor and knights lay scattered around me.
As I checked my disheveled state, a blue screen floated up before my eyes.
A clear mechanical sound rang out.
Ding-!
[You have cleared the 3rd floor of hidden space 'Lumiera's Temple'.]
[The door leading to the temple's 4th floor has opened.]
[You must head to the 5th floor for the trial.]
[The dungeon's master has become aware of your presence.]
[Apostle 'Grand Justice of Old Winter' awaits your trial.]
It had already been 24 hours since I entered the dungeon.
Well, as you can see, my plan to return in a day had been cleanly ruined.
‘This is tougher than I thought.’
This place was a pretty high-grade dungeon, after all.
In the end, it looked like I would return around a day late, on the second day.
I steadied my breathing.
“Still... that clears the 3rd floor.”
There were a lot of restrictions.
I had to save the crown for the 5th floor, and Predation and Release were not charged.
‘I might be a little short on firepower.’
Right after the School Trip ended.
Since I came straight on vacation, I had no chance to get Predation charged by Javert.
By the time the skill’s cooldown ended, we had already left the academy and were in the county.
Feeling pointlessly regretful, I fiddled with my scythe.
Ding-!
[Entering the 4th floor of hidden space 'Lumiera's Temple'.]
[Your trial will be held on the 5th floor.]
Well, still.
I could not just kill time here.
After resting for a few minutes, I climbed the stairs without hesitation.
Clank, clank.
As my steps reached a new floor, I felt dozens of gazes staring this way.
Things clad in Old Winter were glaring at me.
My cloudy breath stretched out and blurred my vision.
Ding-!
[Apostles known as 'Knight of Old Winter' are watching you.]
Swords carved from ice aimed at me.
I raised my scythe as well, taking a stance so I could charge in at any moment.
‘I’d like to start saving my Stamina soon...’
It was not easy when enemies were packed everywhere.
It would have been nice if I had party members to clear this with...
‘This dungeon structure is shitty.’
This temple was hard to enter from the start.
There was the entrance I had used, but that passage was disposable and only fit one person.
Bringing party members along was difficult in several ways.
‘It’s not like there’s absolutely no other way to enter, but...’
Well, it was honestly right to treat it like there was none.
It required tremendous luck and persistence at the same time.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Dwelling on regrets was a bad habit.
A person needed to know how to give up cleanly too.
I decided to focus on the situation in front of me.
In the cold air, I faced off against the knights.
“Whew.”
Clank, clank.
The ice armor approached while forming a circular formation.
Both sides moved, and just as it seemed we would collide at any second,
“Sir Viktor...!”
A familiar voice rang out from somewhere.
A question mark popped up in my head.
“Guh.”
I was so startled I did not even have time to turn around.
A dazzling flash soon passed beside me.
It was a spear woven from light.
-Kihano-Style Spearmanship, Form Eight-
‘Falling Star’
Kwaaaaang-!
Pure white radiance crashed into the gathered armor.
The raging storm tore through the ice and dismantled the knights into pieces.
A dull ringing filled my ears.
Only then did I belatedly look back.
“......Miss Ranne?”
“Haa, haa...”
Familiar blond hair and violet eyes.
The girl stood near the stairs, panting for breath.
Dozens more question marks had no choice but to rise above my head.
“No, how in the world did you get here...”
Hug.
But that question never finished forming.
Because Ranne had run up to me and hugged me just like that.
“Sir Viktor! You were safe...!”
There was moisture in her voice, and somehow, she even sounded close to tears.
The girl’s soft body pressed against mine.
Ranne buried her face straight into my chest.
I ended up hugging her in a daze and patting that slender back.
“I’m glad. I’m so glad...”
“......”
Ranne only murmured those words.
Held tightly in her arms, I chewed over the question that failed to reach her.
‘No, I’m glad to see you too, but...’
Um.
How exactly did you find me...?
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