Chapter 11

Underground sewer---

This sewer, which extends throughout the capital, is rarely visited by people due to the monsters that inhabit it. Normally, the entrances to the underground are sealed and guarded by soldiers to prevent the monsters from coming out.

Therefore, people only enter here when they are on a quest commissioned by the Adventurer's Guild to slay monsters or when cleaning is necessary.

However, if there is another purpose, it means someone is doing something they can't tell others---

They are the group that falls into the latter category. This place, rarely visited by people, is very convenient for them. There are monsters, but not extremely powerful ones, and they know the regular times when people come, so they can hide and not be discovered.

It shouldn't have been discovered.

Unless an irregular situation arose.

"Damn it, today is the day the adventurers come in! Look around carefully!"

A man who appeared beside the unconscious chestnut-haired girl shouted. The men who had captured the ragged girl looked guilty and apologized, saying, "Sorry."

"Bro, what do we do with this one?"

One of the men in the group pointed to the unconscious chestnut-haired girl. The leader, who was called "Bro," thought for a moment.

"It's fortunate that no one else was around, but since she saw us, we can't just leave her. We'll take her with us. If we dispose of her here, the adventurers might find her. We'll return to our hideout and dispose of her when the time is right."

"Got it, I understand. ...If we're going to dispose of her, can we have some fun with her later?"

"Sure, do as you like."

"Hehe, you really understand, Bro!"

The men laughed and cheered. They tied up the two girls, who couldn't move, gagged them, and carried them off happily. Fortunately, the goods were all in place. Many customers want virgins or those who are still chaste, so if they were touched, their value would decrease. Therefore, he didn't let his subordinates touch them. However, since they were going to kill her anyway, he thought it would be good for one of them to have some fun.

The ragged girl---her escape from the hideout had caused more trouble, but it was still within the realm of recovery. He thought they needed to return to the hideout as soon as possible.

She was one of the goods they had kidnapped from the slums.

In this era, where monsters are rampant, it's not uncommon for people to lose family members to monsters or for children to lose both parents. Especially for children who have no relatives and no place to work, their fate is almost certain. First, they would be taken in by an orphanage, but not all of them can be saved. Orphanages have limited operating funds and capacity. If they fall through the cracks, they either die on the streets or, in most cases, turn to theft or other crimes. The slums are where such orphans and the grown-ups among them live.

Therefore---the government can't fully manage the situation, and if one or two children disappear, it's not noticed.

Kidnapping orphans and selling them as slaves to customers---that was the men's job.

Slavery is illegal in the kingdom, but there is demand.

Some use them as simple labor, some as sexual outlets, and some as sacrifices for forbidden dark magic or materials for alchemy. All of these are things that can't be made public. As long as there are such customers, the men's business will continue, and children from the slums who are unknown will be kidnapped and sold.

This time, the delivery date was approaching, so they had gone to procure goods and were keeping them in the hideout. They had been hiding in the hideout to avoid being discovered by the adventurers, who were coming to the sewer where the hideout was located, based on the information they had gathered.

However, some of the children they had been keeping in the hideout had rebelled and escaped. They had quickly caught the others, but they had missed one girl. They had finally caught her and were about to punish her when they were seen by a woman, who had been knocked unconscious---that's how they ended up in the current situation.

"Wait, stop."

The leader stopped his subordinates. He listened carefully. There was a different sound mixed in with the sound of water flowing into the sewer. It sounded like someone was approaching.

Probably an adventurer.

Is it a friend of the chestnut-haired girl?

The leader was hesitant about whether to catch them or not. The footsteps were faint and came from deep in the tunnel. They were still far enough away to not notice them. Whether they caught them or let them pass, it would be bad to let them know someone was here. He decided to hide in the darkness and wait, extinguishing the lantern light. If they were lucky, the person might go in a different direction at the intersection, or if not, they could attack in the darkness. He signaled his subordinates, who understood and extinguished the light and hid.

The footsteps got closer.

They held their breath and waited.

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the leader, who had good night vision, strained to see. A vague outline of the person began to appear.

From the outline and the footsteps, it seemed to be one person.

Should they have attacked? The leader inwardly scolded himself.

...Wait. Something's wrong---a question arose in the leader's mind.

Why could he only see a vague outline of the person?

Even they, who lived in the sewers, found it difficult to move long distances without a lantern. But this was not illuminated by a lantern. In the pitch-black darkness, the person was only vaguely visible. This meant the person did not have a lantern.

Could it be---it would be very difficult for an adventurer to come this far into the sewers without a lantern. If they had accepted a quest to come here, they would naturally prepare a light source.

Then who is this person?

What is their purpose for coming here?

Could it be a monster?

There are many humanoid monsters, but he had never heard of one living in the sewers.

The leader was confused by the unknown presence. His subordinates also looked uneasy.

The unknown figure reached the intersection.

They hoped it would leave without coming their way.

But their wish was in vain; the footsteps stopped abruptly. It seemed the figure had stopped at the intersection.

(Thinking, damn it. Just go away!)

The leader shouted in his mind.

The unknown presence didn't move.

(Maybe they noticed us? If so, why don't they attack?)

He was getting anxious. He couldn't figure out why the person had stopped.

Time seemed to slow down. They felt like they had been trapped there for a long time, even though only a short time had passed. They were struggling to keep their breathing steady. Some were even questioning why they were in this situation.

Then the figure moved---

No, it disappeared!

They were in a state of utter confusion.

They didn't know what the person wanted.

It felt like they had encountered an inexplicable ghost, different from an undead. It was clear that the unknown presence was gone.

"Hey, turn on the light quickly!"

The leader shouted impatiently. The lanterns were lit, illuminating the area, but there was nothing there. The tension eased, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. They tried to take in as much air as possible, despite the foul smell.

"Whatever, I don't want to deal with that weirdo. Let's get out of here."

Everyone agreed and started walking. They passed through the intersection to return to their hideout.

Plop---

A sound echoed behind them.

It sounded like something had been thrown there.

The men cautiously turned around.

There was a person---a person was there.

No way, impossible.

There was no presence, and they had confirmed that nothing was there when they passed through earlier!

"Ahhh!"

Terrified, the man holding the lantern dropped it. The area was plunged into darkness again.

It was definitely the unknown presence from before---everyone was certain.

But this time it was different.

It was approaching, step by step.

"Damn it."

The leader threw a knife at the ghost. He couldn't see clearly yet, but he had a good idea of the position, so he shouldn't miss. With the sound of water, the knife should hit.

But the knife missed.

A loud splash echoed, as if the figure was angrily striking the water in response to the attack.

This is bad, there's no way we can fight this---the men shuddered. The unknown ghost must have interpreted the knife as a hostile act. It approached quickly, as if saying, "You attacked, so I won't show mercy."

If they were caught---

They would die.

The unknown ghost was definitely after them.

If they were caught, they would end up as gruesome corpses.

They trembled with fear, their teeth chattering.

One man stepped back, and then another, and another, in response.

Their thoughts were in a state of panic.

"Uaaaaahh!"

One man screamed and ran away.

The fear spread, and everyone ran for their lives.

But the unknown ghost pursued them.

As if determined not to let them escape.

The men ran as fast as they could to get away from the ghost's grasp.

In the darkness, bound by fear, they didn't know where they were running.

But if they stopped, they would be prey.

They didn't want to end up like this, even though they knew their actions were wrong.

They just wanted to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the ghost, so they ran blindly through the sewers.

---How long had they been running?

They could still hear the sound of water.

Their mental fatigue had reached its peak.

They just wanted to escape from the ghost and the darkness, but they didn't know how.

"Bro, look ahead!"

They saw a slightly brighter area in the distance.

If they reached there, they might be saved---a desperate hope arose in their minds.

"Alright, let's run to there!"

At the leader's command, the men used their last bit of strength to run.

Finally, they reached the brighter area.

They collapsed at the top of the stairs, exhausted.

Sweat poured down their faces, and they panted heavily.

They had no strength left to walk.

But the ghost didn't pursue them, and they all breathed a sigh of relief, even laughing.

"Hey, I have a question."

They were startled, thinking it might be the ghost.

But it was just a mediocre, average-sized man.

What a relief---they relaxed.

"That woman over there is a guild employee. We came looking for her because she was late with some adventurers. Why is she with you, and why is she unconscious and tied up?"

The men were surrounded by what looked like adventurers.

"Do you understand the situation? Then, give us a satisfactory explanation."

The mediocre man's chilling voice instilled a new fear in the men.

---

I was regretting it.

I had been brought to the sewer.

The quest I had accepted was to exterminate Were-rats. It was a rat hunt.

The Were-rats were only level 1 or 2, so they weren't difficult to defeat.

In fact, considering my level, I shouldn't have accepted such a quest.

But since I had accepted it, I decided to finish it properly and entered the sewer.

However, the entrance was crowded with other players, making it inefficient to kill Were-rats and unlikely to complete the quest's quota.

So, I decided to go deeper where there were fewer people...

In the game, you don't get tired, and the only sensation is vibration, but the smell is fully simulated.

The sewer was faithfully recreated, and the smell was terrible.

I felt like I was walking through a toxic environment and almost vomited.

I wanted to finish quickly and went deeper.

There was no light, but I thought I could navigate by following the walls, using the map window.

However, I soon realized this was a mistake.

Splash---

I tripped over garbage and fell.

If there had been light, I could have avoided the garbage and wouldn't have fallen into the dirty water.

But there was no light, so I had no choice.

I would need a torch or lantern for future adventures in dark places.

I just wanted to finish the quest quickly.

I focused on hunting rats.

But when I reached the intersection, I hit my limit.

---I wanted fresh air.

I didn't want to stay in this foul-smelling place.

I stopped to think.

Fortunately, I was close to completing the quota.

Maybe I could hunt on the way back---

I decided to change my strategy and head back to the entrance.

I just had to endure a bit longer.

---I'll go out and get some fresh air for a moment.

With that thought, I logged out.

Ah, I feel alive.

I took off the Vargea and took a deep breath.

I had been logging out to get fresh air when I couldn't stand the smell in the sewer.

I glanced at the time.

It was almost time to complete the quest.

After taking a deep breath, I decided to head back to the sewer.

When I returned to the sewer, there were a few players nearby.

One of the players dropped their light source, and it went dark.

I wondered what had happened but decided to head to the entrance quickly.

However, I tripped over the sewer garbage and fell hard.

Damn, that's embarrassing in front of other players!

I hope they didn't notice in the darkness.

I thought I felt something whiz past my head, but the map window showed no monsters.

It must have been my imagination.

I didn't want to stay in this place any longer. I had to get out as soon as possible.

I got up and hurried to the entrance.

The group of players also ran towards the entrance.

Maybe they had noticed me fall and were being considerate by leaving.

It was a mix of gratitude and embarrassment.

Well, I'll just head to the entrance quickly.

On the way, I encountered some Were-rats and hunted a few to complete the quota.

Finally, I finished the quest.

When I returned to the entrance, a man who looked like a guild employee was there. I reported that I had completed the quest.

However, it seemed there was a problem with the quest acceptance, and I was apologized to.

I had felt something was off, and it turned out the quest acceptance was a bug.

I thought he was a guild employee, but he was actually a GM (Game Master) character, operated by the game company to support smooth gameplay.

As an apology, I received more rewards than usual.

I felt like I had gotten a good deal.

...But the surroundings seemed hectic. I wonder what happened.