The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

With this hole, there was hope that Alec might be able to get to him.

"Orha, can I have a look inside? If there seems to be a danger, come back."

Orha immediately entered the cylinder to respond to Ruth's voice.

Orha would be able to get over it on his own, even if it was somewhat dangerous, and small gaps would be free to come and go, so it was great to see how things went.

(Oh, but if this is the entrance... Me, how do we get in...)

The cylinder is not impossible for Orha to get through, but it is difficult for Ruth to get in. As it stands, I won't be able to get my shoulders in.

(Expand entrance? But there's no chance it hasn't gotten thinner in the future... Ah!

Ruth took the brown cloth bag out of her nose, remembering how she could even get into a small place.

(That's right! If you put it in this like that time, you can get Orha to snag the string part and take you)

A brown bag removed from the nostalgia - an ancient relic that holds garbage cans and clothes lightly. Ruth has been in this bag before. Originally the weight had stopped feeling from the outside due to a strange mechanism, so even if one Ruth went inside, Orha shouldn't be burdened.

"Let's go with this"

I hurried to take the trash out of the brown bag in an attempt to get ready before Orha came back. I also thought about going directly into the brown bag, but remembering that the Mithrill knife had been broken before, I decided to go into the trash. I remember it was safe here before.

When I opened the mouth of the bag wide and placed it on the ground, and tried to put the trash can from above it, the mouth of the bag suddenly grew larger. I still find this quite special in the mouth of a bag that has spread all the way to the outside of the trash can.

(But if you keep your mouth shut after you get in this, you can get Orha to carry you...)

If the tip of the cylinder is what Ruth expected, we can go deep into the dungeon.

"Addy, when Orha gets back, give me this bag of mouth."

"Me too."

"Huh?"

Ruth tried to get Addy to tighten the mouth of the bag, but he grabbed his hand earlier than that.

"Going, you mean going inside with me? It's not safe, you should leave like this."

"I said I'd go home, but it's already dark around. It's more dangerous that way."

"Huh... ah..."

Ruth couldn't think of it because of all the thinking about going inside, but at some point the surroundings were getting darker. In a few moments there will be no lights. The forest will be closed to darkness. Certainly it is too dangerous to return the dark woods to the village by themselves.

(I really wish I could give you a lift to the village)

Ruth doesn't have time to go back and forth between the village and the dungeon to deliver Addy though. Even now that Orha's looking into it, it's really hard to wait and feel like jumping in.

I can't say that if you leave Addy here like this, there's no chance you'll be attacked by demons. That can't be a boulder. Then Addy was right, it seemed best to take him.

I'm trying to stay out of your way, so take me with you.

I completely forgot because of the lack of appearance traits, but Wonok tells me Addy is a demon tribe. Surely it can move much more than the children of the same generation of people.

(Addy doesn't seem to make a scene...)

Because he is a servant on Wonok's side, Adi is originally more dear than the same generation of children in the village. The impression grew stronger when I was able to talk. Running out without doing what Ruth says, it's going to be a big deal - and it's not going to be very likely. Rather, Ruth is restless now.

Then you could be attacked by demons. It might be safer to take them than to leave them on this spot.

(I wasn't going to fight the one that looked more like the melting demon I might encounter inside than I did...)

If you have to, just ask Addy to stay in the trash all the time and Ruth will be the only one to move. That shouldn't hurt you either.

"Besides, I want to complain about him, too."

"What's that guy... to Mr. Wonock?

"Yes. 'Cause you couldn't speak up for me and erased Brother Ruth's memory, did you? It's terrible. I'm sure Wonok's in the back, so I want to complain."

"... oh, that's the thing"

Alec was full of heads and had completely forgotten, but Ruth had been forced by Wonock to erase his memory.

Addy is the same, and if he was forced to speak up, he would naturally feel angry.

(Well, I hope they just didn't kill me on the spot...)

'Kill what you learn the secret' is a constant means of the strong. Wonok would have been able to kill Ruth just by moving his fingertips. Maybe it's his kindness that only took away memories without being done so.

I find that we also took away memories in order to keep our secret plans unknown and noisy to ordinary people like Ruth. - Just because you don't remember anger at all.

(If I hadn't remembered as such...)

Alec reached the depths without knowing anything and could have been made a pillar of humanity just like the historical braves. Ruth may have never seen him again. When I thought about it, the anger came in that I wanted to punch him in the face.

"Addy. Thanks"

"What?

"Bring back my memory. If it wasn't, I couldn't even get to Alec this way. Thank you so much."

……

"Addy?"

As Ruth strokes Addy's head as she thanks him, he suddenly shuts up like he forgot to breathe.

Even though there was a grown-up atmosphere until just now, the proper appearance at that time remained the Addie I had been interacting with. The treatment changed her appearance, but I could really feel that this kid was Addy.

"Hey, Addy?

When Ruth tilted his neck at Addy, who would never return a reply, the sound of the wind cutting from within the cylinder sounded.

"Orha! How'd it go?

Orha faces out of the cylinder so as to respond to Ruth's voice. Orha, who came back, was somewhat dirty, but answered all Ruth's questions yes.

Apparently, this leads to the depths that Ruth has been to once, so that people can move on. As expected.

(This could make it)

The route that Ruth had previously reached deep was unlikely to have been a regular route, as it had not been found by Wonok last time. I guess I shortcut a lot of paths. That was likely enough to make it to the Aleks who said it would only take a day to get there.

(or so I want to believe)

Ruth, who gave Orha instructions for the future, put his hand on Addy while putting one foot in the trash.

"All right, let's go then. Addy."

Turn to Addy now with the expectation that he might manage to make it to the Aleks - but he had a vain eye.

"... spit... s... to... cha, n"

"Huh?"

Addy, who shrugged something, closes his eyes once to swallow the words.

"... nothing."

Growling so, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes again. Those eyes were already back to their original Addy.

"I told you I was being nice. Brother Ruth."

"Right. Why don't you go outside until I tell you I'm good?

"Yeah."

Addy, who replied well, took Ruth's hand.

'Yes, I saw that vision. Where your little hand pierces your body and pulls out your heart. "

- For a moment, such a voice sounded in my head.

I tormented Ruth and the others before, Natasha Dickhout told me, it's a word of fortune.

(... why did you suddenly remember that guy's words now? I've always been on my little girl's side, but there's nothing there.)

It was only at first that I was concerned about Natasha's words that made me strangely alert to the children, but that has also turned into ridicule after a few months. For Ruth, who constantly makes donations to churches with many children without parents, it was an impossible story to live independently. And the first vigilance was wasted, and I still live safely.

(There is no guarantee that his fortune will hit me. Besides......)

Ruth laid eyes on Addy's hand. Addy, whose body has been enlarged by the side effects of treatment, is similarly changing in her hands as an adult. Though I still retain my boyishness, my hands, which are no different alongside Ruth, cannot be described as very 'small hands'.

Ruth shook his head to throw away the extra thought and took Addy's hand and went into the trash with him.

"Orha, please"

Orha lifted a string of cloth bags with a trash can caught in the pattern. Orha descends into the cylinder with the strings caught, as Ruth ordered.

(Alec... please make it...)

Ruth desperately wished.

For that reason, in the trash can, which blocks the smell and the sound, Addy muttered small, "" God ”... Our Zagris God, this is the eagle's mission, isn't it?" The word was not audible to Ruth's ears.

------------

"Is it okay here?

Ruth faces out of the trash while checking his surroundings closely.

(As expected, you got to where I used to be)

The place I was brought to Orha from a cylinder outside the dungeon was inside that white wall, which Ruth reached when he got lost in front. It's a very similar space to where we found the brown bag.

(Then there was a door on that side..., there was)

I just couldn't come to the exact same place as before, but the structure looked just like what I had remembered. Ruth walked in there with Orha when he found the door through which the elevator would lead. When I waited a little while to rely on my memory as it was, the elevator moved out automatically.

"Orha, you won't know the way, so I'll move as much as I can, but there's a lot of melting demons in here. Honestly, I'm not the one who can win, so I want to ignore it as much as possible and move on. Then it's good to carry you."

Orha moved to snort unuffly at Ruth's voice.

You act like you're still not a weapon, but you listen to me, and I'm a reliable partner in these situations because I'm not a person.

(Addy is... let's have him stay inside for a while)

It must be safer to stay in the bag even if you feel somewhat cramped than to go out into such a strange space and face the molten demon. Until he raised his voice, I decided to have him stay inside for a while.

Ruth continues in the back of the dungeon - the "Ark" - with Orha, keeping Addy in the bag.

Relying on his memory, he leads through places like wards and straight to the deepest depths past residential zone-like compartments.

(Speaking of which, Alec and the others said ark here...)

It was the "Ark of Noah” that came to Ruth's mind when he heard about the Ark. There is no such story in this world, but coincidentally the Aleks called this space Hakobune.

I wonder if this place is similar to the “Um” and the Ark.

More than a thousand years ago, something like an infectious disease became endemic and people were on the verge of extinction. - But now, the Ruth people are alive. In other words, people survive without extinction.

(I'm sure this is where people were used to escape extinction then)

Many doors previously seen, which were in front of the deepest must be remnants of them. The size was just like people could get in. Besides, the wards, research facilities, commercial facilities in residential areas, etc. that I saw along the way may have been used at that time. Or maybe he used a place that was originally a normal facility as an "ark”.

Until the stars returned to a world where people could live again, people must have been waiting for a day to stand on the earth in this place like that “ark”.

(But I'm afraid that's not all)

This ancient building was the “ark” of the people, as well as a sealing device that trapped the culprits who tried to destroy the world.

Ruth remembers what he saw before. A device in which the culprits sleep, sealed by the deepest Wonoks with the four gods - the heroes who were originally men.

Four gods were not “gods” of the idols created by Celestialism, but people who became the pillars of man for the world a thousand years ago.

Celestialism, which was supposed to honor their achievements and teach the world about their existence, changed in thought with the times, and at some point began to worship the four of them as “gods”. That's Celestialism now.

And when we interpret the words of the elusive Wonok - the brave men of history who were before Alec are sleeping with them as additional pillars of humanity for the culprits who can no longer be suppressed by the Four Gods alone.

(Alec is a candidate for that pillar...)

From what Wonok told me back then, it makes a lot of sense for them to welcome Alec as a human pillar. I don't think Alec alone will be missed from that role, either, because both historical braves have become human pillars.

I'm sure if it wasn't for Alec, something would go wrong with the seal we kept watching for a thousand years. That may even dictate the fate of this planet.

"But I..."

Ruth couldn't accept that Alec would be a human pillar. I can't chase my emotions even if I understand them with my head.

"... now, the world or something is behind us. Anyway, I need to see Alec!

Ruth, who stopped thinking hard, continued to run toward the deepest point where Alec and the others would reach.