Chapter 76

I stood staring at the opened wall, and asked Chibikurisu.

"Should we go forward?"

"Yes."

"Alright... Let's go, Jeanne."

"Yes! I'll go with you!"

Together with Chibikurisu, who was at her usual energy level, and Jeanne, who was full of determination, we crossed through the entrance created by the opened wall.

"Th-this is—"

"Hmm? What's wrong, Chris?"

...

"Chris?"

When there was no response, I put my hand on my head.

Then I realized Chibikurisu was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't just her.

"Jeanne?"

I looked around.

Jeanne was also gone.

Chibikurisu and Jeanne had both vanished without a trace.

Moreover, despite having just crossed the opened wall, I found myself in a completely different place.

Looking around, it was a well-maintained underground passage.

The ceiling, walls, and floor were all properly "constructed," and the walls faintly glowed, making the area reasonably bright.

Because of this, I could see—however, there was no sign of an entrance or exit.

"Hmm... Come to think of it, Chris."

Muttering, I recalled Chibikurisu's reaction just before.

"Th-this is—"

She had been surprised by something.

As she was in the middle of her surprise, her voice faded away and disappeared.

This means... this situation was unexpected for Chris as well.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so surprised.

"First, I need to find the two of them."

There was no point in standing still, so I decided to move forward.

After walking for a while, I came to a fork in the path.

"Which way should I go..."

I thought for a moment and decided to try a systematic approach.

I placed my left hand on the wall and continued walking, always keeping my left hand on the wall.

At the fork, I turned left while keeping my left hand on the wall.

I had no idea what kind of place this was.

It could be a maze.

If it were a normal maze, you could always find the exit by keeping your left or right hand on the wall and walking in one direction.

I followed the method I had heard before.

I kept my left hand on the wall and continued walking.

Then—Jeanne's figure came into view.

She was looking around anxiously.

"Jeanne!"

"Sir Cyril!"

Jeanne noticed me and ran over with a happy expression.

"I'm so glad! I was worried I wouldn't see you again, Sir Cyril."

"...Yeah."

"I was so scared I might never see you again."

Jeanne looked up at me with a worried expression.

Looking at her, she seemed completely like Jeanne.

"Who are you?"

"Huh? W-what's wrong? It's me, Jeanne. Oh, my real name is—"

"No, you're not Jeanne."

"..."

"Reveal your true form, impostor."

As I said this, I pointed at her.

I fired a fireball at the fake Jeanne.

She easily dodged, maintaining Jeanne's appearance but changing her expression.

"Why did you know?"

"...Intuition."

There was no need to give a straightforward reason, so I said it casually.

"Tch!"

The fake Jeanne swung her hand down.

Something came out of her hand and hit the ground, causing a burst of light that blinded the area.

I shielded my eyes with my arm, closed them, and turned away.

The light quickly subsided, but the fake Jeanne was nowhere to be found.

"Hmm."

I stopped and thought for a moment.

The fake Jeanne's voice was a "dragon's voice."

I can understand the language of dragons.

At the same time, I can always tell whether the words I hear are from a dragon or a human, regardless of the content or the voice.

In a way, it's similar to how you can usually tell if a voice is male or female when you actually hear it. With humans and dragons, I can "definitely" tell the difference.

The one I just encountered was using Jeanne's appearance but had a dragon's voice, so I immediately knew it was a fake.

"...I'm sure they'll show up again."

This kind of thing, they'll keep trying to deceive me in different ways.

I tightened my focus, placed my left hand back on the wall, and continued walking.

I encountered several forks but always turned left while keeping my left hand on the wall.

Even when I hit a dead end, I turned around while keeping my left hand on the wall and entered another path.

As I continued, I heard the sound of an argument from a little further ahead.

I headed in that direction.

The path led to an open space.

When I entered the open space, I saw two Jeanne's.

"Sir Cyril! Please help me!"

"Don't be fooled, Sir Cyril! She suddenly transformed into my appearance just now!"

"..."

I approached silently and fired fireballs at both of them.

Both dodged quickly.

"Why both of us..."

"Intuition."

I didn't say that I could tell both were using dragon voices.

"Tch!"

"Nice one!"

The two fake Jeanne's swung their hands down again, causing a burst of light and escaping.

"Pretty nasty..."

I smiled slightly.

If I didn't have the special ability to distinguish dragon voices, I would have been deceived.

A fake appeared.

And there were two of them, both claiming to be the real Jeanne.

In a normal situation, I would have believed one of them was the real Jeanne.

Pretty nasty, I thought.

I continued walking.

I kept my left hand on the wall and moved forward.

I turned at forks, retraced my steps, and came to another open space.

There they were again.

This time, a menacing-looking Jeanne was approaching another Jeanne, who was in a battered state, looking like she was about to be killed.

"Sir Cyril!"

"Pl-please... Sir... Cyril..."

"Pretty nasty..."

I smiled slightly and fired a fireball at the battered Jeanne.

The battered one quickly jumped back to avoid the fireball.

"How... How could you see through it three times without hesitation?"

She was surprised.

I kept my slight smile.

Her methods were always so nasty.

Even the situation where the real Jeanne was about to be killed could have deceived me if I had preconceived notions.

I truly felt grateful for my ability and the situation.

On the other hand,

"It's only natural! No matter what you do, you can't deceive Sir Cyril!"

Jeanne, being Jeanne, said something very characteristic.