Chapter 5: To the Fortress of Canaan
Nina hated children.
They were selfish, noisy, and thoughtless. They had no qualms about touching the ears of beastmen like Gaul, which was a clear breach of manners.
She especially hated child adventurers.
They didn’t listen, were overconfident without reason, and acted like they knew everything while causing trouble for everyone around them.
When fellow adventurers would say, “You must’ve been like that at their age,” Nina would retort that when she was a child, there were no adults around to clean up her messes. She and her childhood friend, Laura, had to grow up on their own.
That’s why she hated children. She didn’t want to be anywhere near them.
Yet, during a merchant caravan escort mission, she was forced to babysit the merchants’ children. She was utterly exasperated. When another hired adventurer said, “You can handle kids, right?” she felt like punching them. But she didn’t want to get fired over a fight.
“Hey, hey! Are you an adventurer? What weapon do you use? A sword?”
“Yeah, a sword. Go play with that girl over there.”
“Wait, Nina…!”
While Nina prepared the campsite at the Perch, she glanced at Laura, who was being swarmed by children. Being a dwarf, Laura quickly disappeared in the crowd. Nina had been told to remove her weapons to avoid scaring the kids, so she left the guarding to the other adventurers.
That was a mistake.
No matter what the employers said, she should never have let go of her weapons.
[Kakakakakaka!!]
“Gyaaaaaah!!?”
“W-where did they come from!? Gah—!?”
The group of undead soldiers that suddenly appeared wiped out the useless adventurers in an instant.
But it wasn’t because they were incompetent or careless. Laura and the other mages had set up a barrier around the Perch. It should have kept the monsters at bay for at least a night. Yet, the undead soldiers that attacked were anything but ordinary.
Without her weapons, Nina and Laura still did their best. They bought time for the merchants to escape on their wagons, and they tried to board one themselves. But—
“H-hey, big sis…!”
One child had fallen behind and tripped. Nina clicked her tongue, picked up the child, and hurled them toward the fleeing wagon. The parents caught the child in a desperate panic, and just as Nina felt relief, a sharp pain shot through the back of her head.
She really hated kids. She truly believed that.
“Nina!!”
In the last moment, as Laura jumped off the wagon, Nina didn’t even have time to say, “You idiot, stay on!” before another blow to her head sent her vision spinning into darkness. Well, this is it. My life wasn’t much to speak of. With that thought, she lost consciousness.
“Ugh…?”
When she woke up, she found herself restrained in a dim, crumbling cell.
She was alive. She was still alive. Sure, she was restrained, and the situation was clearly terrible, but being alive was something. Nina decided to focus on that.
First, she surveyed her surroundings. It was an old building—more like a ruin. Parts of the stone walls had crumbled, revealing the dark night outside.
But there were no gaps big enough for her to escape. The iron bars were still intact. And on the other side of those bars stood several men.
Nina had already figured out that the undead attack was orchestrated by someone. These men were likely the kidnappers. Pretending to still be unconscious, she eavesdropped.
“Hey, I said we needed a girl! Not just any woman!”
“What do you expect? The skeletons can’t tell the difference!”
“Who cares? We can have some fun with her.”
“You idiots!! Don’t you get it? This isn’t the time for that!”
The conversation was vile, but it seemed she was alive because she was a woman. That meant Laura might also be safe—no, she had to be safe.
Though anxiety and fear stabbed at her chest, Nina tried to stay calm.
“Hey, she’s awake.”
The men noticed she had woken up. The most agitated of them glared at her through the bars. Seeing her fear, he smirked with a sleazy grin.
“You’re scared, huh? Poor thing. You’re just fodder for that crazy mage.”
From his gleeful expression, it was clear he was a sadistic man who enjoyed tormenting helpless victims.
“You’ll be toyed with, suffer, and end up a skeleton, enslaved forever.”
His companions looked disgusted, but he kept talking, clearly enjoying himself.
So, there was a mage—a necromancer, no doubt. And they were skilled.
As the man said, her life might be played with, leading to a gruesome end. In her current state, that was a real possibility.
She felt fear. But at the same time, Nina was oddly calm.
“…”
“Hey, say something! Cry! Scream!”
—You’re the one who seems most scared of that mage, which is why I’m staying calm.
Nina held back the retort. If she provoked him in this situation, she’d be killed. After a moment of silence, the man, either bored or angry, slammed the iron bars loudly and stormed out of the cell.
“Randa’s been on edge lately. Annoying.”
“Who knows? Maybe he’s pissed because the boss took over.”
“The boss’s magic is insane. I don’t get it, but it’s impressive.”
The boss—that must be the mage. These men, including the one who left, seemed to have no knowledge of magic. They were just lowly bandits being used by the mage.
“We should just leave it all to the boss. Let’s have some fun instead.”
“Yeah, let’s enjoy ourselves, hehe.”
They were so stupid, they abandoned their guard duty to mess with her.
“…!”
They were idiots. They didn’t realize she was an adventurer. The ropes binding her were old and frayed, and she had been secretly pulling at them. They were almost loose. She just needed an opening—
“Wha—!?”
“W-what’s going on!?”
“An earthquake!?”
Just as she thought that, the cell—no, the entire area—shook violently.
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Basement Level 1 of Canaan Fortress: A dim, damp passage in the ruins of a labyrinth.
“Alright, Ur, you guys handle the bandits and undead soldiers. Just distract them. No need to kill them all.”
[Don’t die, Niitan.]
After reaching the underground lair of the necromancer, the fortress of Canaan, the group split into two teams: Diz and Akane, and Ur and Shizuku.
As planned, Ur’s team would rescue the hostages and deal with the bandits and undead soldiers.
Simply put, it would be a tough fight without preparation.
The number of bandits was unknown, but it was more than one or two. Add the undead soldiers, and the numbers were even greater. Plus, this was the enemy’s stronghold—they had the advantage.
But Ur wasn’t panicking.
Ur turned to Shizuku, who stood at the center of the now-useless underground labyrinth.
“──────”
Shizuku held a white grimoire in her palm, eyes closed, concentrating. More accurately, she was listening intently to the sounds above—the fortress of Canaan.
Of course, Ur couldn’t hear anything. But Shizuku’s senses, honed by absorbing magical energy, allowed her to pick up sounds no one else could. It was a form of super hearing.
“Sir Ur, the investigation is complete.”
Shizuku opened her eyes. Ur looked at the map in the grimoire, which displayed an incredibly detailed layout of the upper floors. It showed the structure and even the locations of everyone inside. Shizuku’s abilities, combined with the grimoire’s functionality, made it all possible.
“That grimoire was a lucky find.”
“We should thank Minne-sama.”
Shizuku smiled. It was sheer luck that they had helped Minne during the island turtle incident, and it had paid off.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Yes. With these numbers, we can handle everything.”
Shizuku’s assertion carried the confidence of someone far beyond a novice adventurer. It was a confidence that even Ur found intimidating. But Ur couldn’t rely solely on her. Taking a deep breath, Ur nodded.
“Then—let’s go!”
With a kick, Ur sent a stone with a sealing spell flying, suppressing the monsters lurking nearby.
First Floor of Canaan Fortress: The Prison
“W-what’s going on!?”
“M-monsters!?”
“The boss set up a barrier! It should be fine… right!?”
Seeing the bandits, who had been about to attack her, now panicking, Nina knew this was her chance. She tore the frayed ropes binding her and lunged at the sword on one of the bandits’ hips.
“You—gyaah!?”
“You idiot—gwah!?”
She slashed one, then struck another with the blunt sword, breaking their neck—or rather, smashing it. The blade was so dull it shattered upon impact, accompanied by the sickening sound of bone breaking.
“Haaa…”
Nina took a deep breath, grabbed the other bandit’s sword, and stepped out of the open cell.
“Ni…na…!”
“Laura.”
Luckily, Nina found her partner, Laura, right next to the room she was in.
Unfortunately,
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