* * *
I had been assigned a room relatively close to the exit so that I could evacuate immediately if anything unexpected happened.
‘Even the bed in a run-down boarding house would be better than this…….’
It seemed that, by their standards, they had provided me with their finest bedding.
Of course, it was filthy and smelled musty, but I decided not to show it.
‘So from now on, I have to hunt down the Special Mutant hiding somewhere in the Underground City…….’
I glanced at the Hero’s face.
Could this guy really be of any use in a fight?
“…….”
The Hero had looked pale ever since earlier.
Looking more closely, I could even see his hands trembling slightly.
Well, he had just watched one of his former companions get split in half right before his eyes.
At this point, I should probably praise him simply for not breaking down and sobbing.
‘But that expression doesn’t seem to be made up of grief alone…….’
Discomfort. Or perhaps a faint sense of disgust.
Those subtle emotions lingered at the edge of his expression.
‘More importantly, I should probably meet the administrator of the Underground City soon.’
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than—
KNOCK, KNOCK-
Someone knocked on the door.
.
.
.
“I heard what happened, Sir Setanta. You protected the city while we were out searching for our compatriots.”
A pale man in a robe sat across from me and spoke calmly.
He looked so out of place here that his presence alone made the room feel as though it belonged in a Mage Tower.
‘Is this the administrator of the Underground City?’
It would probably be best to earn his favor if I wanted to progress through the Hidden Route.
I decided to be as careful as possible with what I said and did.
“It was nothing, really. I just happened to come across an Imperial bigot on my way here, so I taught him a little lesson.”
“I can hear an Ailant accent in your speech. Are you from Ailant?”
“Well, something like that.”
According to Setanta’s backstory, he came from Ailant, a colony of the Empire.
That was why, right before the final chapter, he had deserted the Hero’s party in the name of independence.
What an infuriating bastard.
“And who might this gentleman be?”
“Ah. Charles is an Imperial citizen, but…….”
For some reason, the Hero had been trembling with a bright red face for a while now.
What was wrong with this idiot?
“……You damned rebels…….”
“Hmm?”
“How dare you! How dare you rebel against the great Empire upon which the sun never sets! You filthy rebels-!”
The Hero shot to his feet with a furious shout.
‘Has this bastard lost his mind?’
My heart dropped along with him.
W-What the hell was this lunatic doing?
“Y-You insolent lackeys of the rebellion! You traitorous scum who brutally murdered my companions!”
“……Pardon?”
First, I had to explain.
If this went badly, they might lump me together with him and throw both of us out……!
“Please, wait. There’s been a misunderstanding. This friend of mine was tortured by the Empire and lost his mind.”
“……Your friend? He suffers from the aftereffects of torture……?”
“That’s right. He imposed the persona of someone loyal to the Empire upon himself. It’s a kind of psychological defense mechanism that lets him preserve his sense of identity.”
Good. If I cleaned it up like this, everything should work out—
“No! That is completely false! Setanta…… do you intend to drag my honor through the mud?!”
“…….”
Unfortunately, the Hero flew into a rage and immediately contradicted my flawless explanation.
“……For someone supposedly suffering from the aftereffects of torture, he seems remarkably lucid.”
Just as I had feared.
The robed man’s gaze turned cold.
Apparently, he had begun to find us suspicious.
‘No, this is bad.’
I had to salvage the situation somehow.
If I got thrown out of here, I might lose my chance to progress through the Hidden Route altogether.
“Hey, Hero. It’s dangerous outside, so just put up with it and stay here for tonight.”
“Urgh……!”
Whether he understood my intentions or not, the Hero merely glared at me while seething with rage.
“Setanta! So in the end, you’re an Ailantian after all!”
“What……?”
“I trusted you regardless of where you came from……! Just how many times do you intend to betray me?!”
The moment the Hero finished speaking, the robed man began rapidly writing something down.
“I’ve heard enough.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It seems your companion will need to be isolated separately.”
“……Excuse me?”
“Your friend will spend today in a special solitary isolation facility.”
He called it an isolation facility, but he was basically saying they were going to throw Charles into prison.
“Who the hell are you people to dare imprison an Imperial citizen like me……?!”
“If you dislike the arrangement, you’re under no obligation to stay here. You may leave with your companion. Although I imagine monsters will be chasing you by nightfall.”
CLANG!
The Hero was so furious that he tried to charge at the robed man, forcing me to restrain him immediately.
I could not afford to let him cause any more trouble.
“Hero, just endure it for one day.”
“…….”
“It might be a prison, but at least you’ll have a private room, right?”
I was trying to calm him down when—
“Setanta…….”
“Hmm?”
“……Setanta, surely even you know! This man……! This man is……!”
The Hero’s clenched fist trembled violently with indignation.
“He slaughtered countless Imperial citizens! He brutally sacrificed you and my companions! He’s that Dark Mage!”
His voice suddenly erupted like a lion’s roar.
It was so thunderously loud that the entire room seemed to shake.
Thank heavens we were underground, where his voice could not reach the surface.
But what did he just say?
A Dark Mage?
I turned my head toward the person the Hero was pointing at.
The pale man in the robe.
He looked rather flustered himself.
‘Huh?’
Wait.
Why did he look familiar?
‘……Don’t tell me. If he’s the Dark Mage from the Ailant faction who appeared as an enemy…….’
I had only ever seen him in the game illustrations with his robe pulled over his head, so I had never realized it before.
But now that I looked closely, the lower half of his face did seem quite similar.
‘The true identity of that Dark Mage who always sided with the Ailant Independence Army and made my life miserable…….’
Was it really this guy?
At that very moment—
BANG!
The door flew open.
“What is all this commotion?! I was in the middle of checking for signs of mutation when I heard shouting all the way outside, so I came to see what was happening.”
“……Ah.”
A woman wearing a silver gauntlet on her right arm stormed inside.
I remembered her.
I knew this woman.
“The Empire? You said an Imperial bastard got in here? Where?”
Then another enormous figure, built like a barbarian, shoved his head through the doorway behind her.
I knew this bastard too.
“Setanta, look……! Was I not right?!”
“…….”
“Yes. In the end, they even managed to lure you over to their side…….”
The Hero shuddered violently.
His eyes blazed with rage.
“Look, Setanta! Look at the villains who brutally murdered our companions!”
“…….”
“The demons who dared to rebel against the Empire and ravage every living thing upon this land!”
“…….”
“Every last one of these bastards tried to kill us in our previous life! They’re those very same fiends!”
The Hero’s cries echoed through the room.
These were elite boss-class characters from the enemy faction, the ones who had effortlessly toyed with the party I had painstakingly raised every single time.
Now, as though they had suddenly turned into meerkats, every one of them looked back and forth between the Hero and me.
Their eyes were filled with bewilderment.
[……A portion of the Hero’s Trust is inherited.]
It seemed that I—
had walked straight into the headquarters of what used to be the enemy faction.
* * *
The Hero abruptly pointed at the hulking barbarian who had barged in and shouted.
“Setanta, do you truly not remember that enormous demon? He was always the first to charge into battle, and every time he did, he completely destroyed the formation we had prepared!”
“What’s with this tiny bastard? You’re loud!”
The giant whom the Hero had singled out immediately raised a fist as though he intended to smack him.
“Ah, this idiot got captured by the Empire and tortured until he completely lost his mind! He’s mentally unstable, so please ignore everything he says!”
I hurriedly yanked the Hero backward.
If the frail Hero took a hit from that fist, his face would cave in!
“Damn it! Damn it all!”
After struggling wildly for a moment, the Hero pointed at the woman with the silver gauntlet and cried out again.
“Setanta! Look! Look upon that witch’s wicked face! How many of our companions were brutally slain by the sword she wielded?!”
“……?”
The woman stared at us in disbelief.
Far from looking wicked, she actually had an excessively upright and righteous appearance.
“When, exactly, have you ever seen me to make such accusations?”
“Do not pretend you know nothing with that innocent look on your face! Do you truly not remember, you witch?!”
“My apologies, but I have never harmed any of your companions. Much less killed anyone.”
The Hero trembled violently.
“What shameless lies!”
“If my sword ever did cut someone down, then I must have had a good reason. That much I can guarantee.”
“……What?”
“Was this supposedly dead companion of yours perhaps some vicious criminal who went around behaving like a beast? If so, then I suppose there is a chance I really did hurt him.”
“W-What did you say? Are you insulting my precious companions……?!”
“Hero, that’s enough already!”
I hurriedly grabbed the Hero by the back of his neck before he could charge at her.
“Let go! Setanta, I said let me go!”
“Please, everyone, don’t misunderstand. This guy is mentally ill. The Imperial Intelligence Bureau dragged him away and tortured him, and he ended up like this.”
“Torture?! Do not sully the honor of the great Empire and His Majesty the Emperor!”
“Haah, Hero…….”
『Be quiet. For about the next hour.』
At that moment.
An unfamiliar voice emerged from my mouth.
It felt as though the voice had resonated not from my vocal cords, but directly from my soul.
[The Hero’s Geas, 【Loyalty to One’s Enemy】, activates!]
The instant the message appeared, the Hero fell silent.
Even when he tried to shout, all he could do was open and close his mouth like a goldfish.
Oh, I hadn’t expected it to work this well.
I should have used it when he started screaming earlier.
“Urgh…… Ngh……!”
[The Hero’s Mental State deteriorates.]
The Hero continued struggling for quite some time until he finally exhausted himself.
A single tear even rolled down from the corner of his reddened eye.
He was almost too pitiful to look at.
Eventually, the situation settled down.
“Aileen, Ferdi. Could you leave us for a moment? I’ll handle this.”
The robed man sent his two companions outside.
For reference, the woman who had made the Hero cry was Aileen.
The man who had tried to punch him was Ferdi.
‘They look subtly different from the bosses I remember seeing in the illustrations.’
As I recalled…… they had looked more vicious. More crazed.
Was I simply remembering them wrong?
“It’s finally quiet again. Unfortunately, your companion will have to spend today in the isolation cell. Everyone here is extremely sensitive when it comes to anything involving the Empire.”
“Well, there’s no helping it. Just make sure you store him somewhere safe.”
“Pardon? Store…… him?”
“Ah. I mean, please make sure he’s kept somewhere safe.”
Damn.
I had misspoken while distracted.
That was probably not the best choice of words.
[Rian feels a faint sense of goodwill toward you.]
But somehow, his opinion of me had gone up.
Why?
……Wait, could it be?
‘Maybe some of the Trust from the previous playthrough really was inherited?’
Setanta had betrayed the Empire near the end and joined the enemy Ailant Independence Army, where he went on to distinguish himself in battle…….
If so, perhaps most of the Heroes here were already favorably disposed toward me.
A silver lining, at least.
.
.
.
In one gloomy corner of the Underground City.
The Hero was imprisoned.
“Se-Setan…… Setantaaaa……!”
“There’s nothing I can do about it. Charles, just hold out here for one day.”
[The Hero’s Mental State deteriorates.]
A sturdy iron door and a solitary cell.
Well, at least it looked safe.
BANG!
The thick iron door finally slammed shut.
Just in case, I remained there for a while, leaning against the door instead of leaving immediately.
From time to time, I could hear muffled sobbing from inside.
‘He used to be the protagonist of this game, too. His treatment now is downright miserable…….’
I almost felt sorry for him.
Just as a faint sense of pity began to rise within me—
DING!
A System window framed in dazzling light suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[First-Time Exclusive! Hero Bond-Weaving Check – GREAT SUCCESS!]
[You have formed bonds with 3 SSR Heroes!]
-[Rian (SSR)]
-[Aileen (SSR)]
-[Ferdi (SSR)]
‘Hmm?’
My thoughts ground to a halt.
‘A gacha Great Success…… with three SSRs?’
Wait…….
Could it be?
[TIP – Heroes with whom you have formed a bond will be favorably disposed toward you and will be much easier to recruit into your party.]
So it wasn’t those three R Grade Heroes who had been swinging axes at me and causing all that trouble…….
-[Rian (SSR)]
-[Aileen (SSR)]
-[Ferdi (SSR)]
Were these three the real gacha pulls?