chapter 28

Upon returning to Aquarth, I cast Heal on Gil and the knights, who were unconscious.

When they came to, they told us all about Keith, the traitor, and how Meryl and Rifill were kidnapped.

“So it really was Keith-dono! I can’t believe he had a hand in manufacturing those Sally Dolls too.”

Captain Gil punched the wall with his fist.

Then, he told me about why Rifill was kidnapped.

“Keith has the agenda of taking over Gheil. He’s taking Rifill hostage as a means to that end.”

“Aruto! Quick, let’s go help those two!”

I did what I could to calm down Glenn, who wanted to go and help them immediately.

“Calm down, Glenn. I want to help them, but where… No, wait…”

Come to think of it, Sixteen went the opposite direction from me…

In that case, there’s gotta be something over there.

“Glenn, they’re at the bottom of Zaigan Valley.”

“…well, you said that, so what’s the hold-up? Come on, let’s go!”

It’s times like these you could count on this guy.

“Aruto-kun, we’ll go too!”

Following in the footsteps of Captain Gil, the knights tried to participate in the rescue of Rifill and Meryl.

“No. There are people looking to attack this town, with the nobles gone. Concentrate on defending this city.”

I wanted to assign them to Aquarth’s defense…

However, the knights didn’t seem to agree with that.

Captain Gil closed his eyes and quietly muttered.

“… you’ll be able to save the princess, right?”

“…definitely.”

I turned around and smiled at him.

“Everyone, our job is to defend this city! Leave saving the princess to them!”

Captain Gil…

“We’ll leave this to you, adventurers!”

There… was no room for error here.

“Alright, Aruto! Let’s go!”

“Yeah!”

After bumping fists, Glenn and I headed to Zaigan Valley.

Behind us, the knights cheered for us…

Arriving at the valley, we quickly began to descend the cliffside.

When we arrived at the bottom, we looked around.

“Huh, so this is what the bottom of the valley feels like…”

Glenn seemed to have taken an interest in the surroundings.

I found the direction Sixteen had walked off to.

It was right up ahead…

We started walking. Though we got attacked by monsters on the way, they turned back, and we moved on.

After a while, we arrived at the deepest point of the valley.

However, though we looked around, there was nothing but walls around us.

“Hm…? Oi, why’d you stop?”

“…no, there was supposed to be something here…?”

The mood was unnatural, so I took out a candle and moved on.

A “Cancel Candle.”

It was an item that could dispel illusions and brainwashing.

As I lit the Cancel Candle, a large facility appeared in front of us.

“A building just appeared, didn’t it?!”

“We were dazzled by illusions.”

After a while, I got my footing.

We entered the facility…

Behind us were the man and girl who watched me at the valley.

“…”

“You seem like you’re in a horrible mood.”

The man teased the girl, who had a disgruntled expression on her face.

“For a goddess to be captured by humans…”

“Well, you say that. But aren’t you going to help?”

“Don’t joke around. Our purpose is to watch over them.”

“Hey, hey.”

The man let out a bored sigh in response, and they jumped from the top of the valley.

Around the time we entered into the facility…

In the depths of the facility, Meryl and Rifill were bound by chains.

Meryl tried to escape, and Rifill stared at Keith the whole time.

“Rifill-sama. Are you not going to stop staring at me?”

“I’ll never forgive you! I won’t give in!”

Her spunk annoyed Keith, but he quickly smiled.

“I can’t wait to see your calmness break into sorrow.”

Then, Thirteen appeared.

“Master. There are intruders in the facility.”

A monitor showed Glenn and I entering the facility.

“Aruto!”

“Aruto-san! Glenn-san!”

Seeing us, smiles returned to Meryl and Rifill’s faces.

However, Keith cackled.

“This fantasy… won’t be disturbed by those adventurers. Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, follow the guard robots and eliminate them.”

“Understood.”

Eleven and the rest nodded at Keith’s order and left.

But no one but Fifteen noticed that Sixteen was watching the monitor with a melancholic expression on her face….

We made our way deeper inside the facility, but we were noticed, the alarms went off, and we were attacked by guard robots.

As they were humanoid robots, it was a difficult task, but we cut them down nevertheless.

Afterward, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen showed up.

“Asou Aruto, Glenn Abiss, this is where you die.”

As we saw Eleven and the rest, we put our guard up.

This confirmed our suspicion that this facility was Keith’s safehouse.

“There’s no way this isn’t your safehouse.”

“Seems like it. Aruto, leave them to me and go ahead.”

Glenn left and took on the burden of fighting Eleven and the others.

Of course, I disagreed.

“Wait, you…!”

“Rifill’s depending on you to protect her, right? And Meryl’s your ally. Don’t leave them hanging.”

“Glenn…”

“I understand… I’ll trust you with this, Glenn!”

Warning Glenn not to overexert himself, I thanked him and moved past Eleven and the rest.

“We won’t let you.”

As if to prevent that, Eleven attacked me, but Glenn blocked her.

“Whoa there, I’m your enemy!”

Setting his blade ablaze, Glenn screamed…

As Glenn started to fight, I cleaved through guard robots that were attacking me and pressed on.

“It still goes on after this…!”

I’ve gotta reach the deepest part soon!

While I was thinking that, something fell from right above me just as I was about to run again.

Avoiding the surprise attack, I looked for my assailant, and my face turned grim.

“Of course you’d be standing in the way…”

There stood a blue-haired, green-eyed girl.

Wiping the sweat from my cheek, I shouted the girl’s name…

“Sixteen…!”

Yes, standing in front of me was the girl I exchanged words with at the bottom of the valley…