Chapter 46

We headed back toward the surface in a hushed silence, though we exchanged the bare minimum of information to catch up on what each party had been doing.

However, the report from Jin’s group was beyond anything I had expected.

“You split up!?”

I blurted out the words without thinking.

“It wasn’t exactly ‘split up’ across the board. Eni and I stayed together,” Jin said, looking a bit sheepish.

“I mean, I get Kijiitsu acting on his own, but…” I lowered my voice, casting a wary glance at the man with the feather ornament walking silently behind us. “What about Watch and Henya?”

“Well, their behavior just got weirder and weirder. Even while fighting monsters, it felt like they were both looking for an opening to slit each other’s throats.”

“Ah.”

I’d definitely noticed that tension between them before.

“So, while I was busy keeping an eye on them, Kijiitsu suddenly vanished. Then, while we were making a fuss about him being gone, those two pulled a disappearing act as well.”

Jin grimaced in annoyance. I looked at him, exasperated.

“You’re the veteran; you were supposed to be the leader. That’s pretty pathetic.”

Perhaps because I was pushed to my limit, I had stopped using formal honorifics and started treating Jin like an equal—or worse.

“Shut it. It’s because I’m experienced that I know to keep my distance from dangerous things and stay out of trouble as much as possible.”

“And what was everyone doing from the moment you split up until Shirona came to get you?”

“Ah.”

Jin’s mouth fell open.

“Hey, don’t tell me…”

“Come to think of it, so much was happening that it completely slipped my mind,” Eni added. She had recovered somewhat and had been listening in.

I took the opportunity to question Watch and Henya as we walked, but they both gave the same answer:

“We got separated.”

“As if you could ‘get separated’ in that situation,” Jin spat.

“It wasn’t so much getting separated as just losing sight of you for a bit. That’s why we were able to gather as soon as Shirona came for us, wasn’t it?” Henya countered.

“Well, I guess that’s true,” Jin muttered, forced to concede the point.

“And you, Kijiitsu? What were you doing?” Watch asked, turning his attention to Kijiitsu, who looked as detached as ever.

Everyone was curious about the answer; the party fell into a sudden, heavy silence for a moment.

“Investigating,” Kijiitsu said simply, his eyes as emotionless as always.

“Investigating what?”

“The dungeon. I wanted to look around by myself.”

Kijiitsu’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Jin, there is no path leading down from the tenth floor.”

“O-oh?”

Caught off guard, Jin faltered for a second. “Actually, I thought so too. Honestly, I think further investigation would be a waste of time. Call it a hunch, but that dungeon is a dead end.”

“Wait, so it only had ten floors?” I asked, speaking from my perspective as a dungeon novice.

“Even if that were the case, usually the deepest floor has a reward, a boss, or at least a room that looks the part. In my experience, it’s unheard of for a dungeon to just… end like that,” Jin said, twisting his goatee in frustration.

“I’ve heard of dungeons you can’t go back from, but I’ve never heard of one you can’t go forward in,” Eni added, looking puzzled.

“Hmph…”

Ultimately, we continued walking without reaching a conclusion.

Progress was agonizingly slow. I had moved several times faster when I was rushing back alone. Whether encountering monsters or traversing empty halls, the party’s pace was sluggish.

The reason was obvious, but no one voiced it for fear of shattering the fragile remains of our group.

Paranoia.

Everyone was constantly on guard against everyone else. In such a state, even just walking—to say nothing of combat—was mentally exhausting. It was no wonder our feet felt like lead.

It was a strange thing; if we had simply suspected a traitor among us, we probably wouldn’t have been this depleted.

It was my fault.

The Shadow. Because of that extraordinary, illogical, and uncontrollable monster, everyone was terrified—wondering when it might strike, caught between half-believing and sheer dread. At the same time, we had to harbor the suspicion that the allies we should be relying on might be traitors.

This situation was draining the very life force out of the party.

Still, I couldn’t exactly have kept the talk of the Shadow a secret back there. I told myself that much in my head. What’s done is done.

But this was brutal.

By the time we finally made it back to the seventh-floor camp, every face was etched with deep exhaustion.

I felt a profound, heartfelt appreciation for Return Stones. If this weren’t such a bizarre dungeon, we could have just said the word and been home by now.

“If we try to head back to the surface, those Poison Lizards will show up again. Pushing through in this state is dangerous,” Jin said.

No one argued. In fact, it was clear that everyone was secretly praying for a moment of respite at this camp.

“Jin… you aren’t suggesting we all eat the same meal and sleep in the same tents divided by gender again, are you?”

Henya’s tone was sarcastic, but his question perfectly captured a certain sentiment shared by everyone.

“Right. We have no choice but to rest separately. Whether you stay alone or group up with someone is up to you. That’s the only way. It’s not like you lot would listen to me even if I told you to stay together,” Jin said with a look of resignation.

Eni let out a dry, involuntary chuckle. “I don’t think we’ll be getting much rest.”

“Still, it’s better than nothing.”

At Jin’s word, everyone sank onto the floor of the camp.

They sat apart from one another. Eni positioned herself where she could keep a watchful eye on everyone while taking slow, cautious sips from her canteen.

Henya sat back, his eyes closed so tightly he appeared to be fast asleep. However, his right hand never moved from the hilt of his sword.

Watch leaned against the wall, his gaze fixed intently on Henya.

Shirona was busy mixing what looked like some kind of medicine, but while her eyes were on her work, it was obvious at a glance that she was hyper-aware of her surroundings.

Even Jin, though he sat down heavily and began chewing on a piece of dried meat, couldn’t hide his haggard face and the glint of restlessness in his eyes.

Amidst this, I spotted Kijiitsu. He had been wandering around the camp for a while, but now he was drifting toward the exit.

“Wait—hold on.”

Feeling lost and unable to approach anyone else in this atmosphere, I saw him leaving and called out in a hurry.

The other members seemed to have practically given up on Kijiitsu; they didn’t even look up as he prepared to depart. They had likely decided that if he wanted to wander off and die, that was his business—and if he returned as an enemy, they’d just kill him.

I couldn’t flip a switch like that.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going alone?” I asked, my voice betraying my nerves.

“To investigate.”

“I… I think it’s dangerous, you know? By yourself,” I said, my voice trailing off as his hollow eyes overwhelmed me.

“There is no material.”

“Huh?”

Material?

“It wouldn’t matter which of the Six Detectives it was; solving this case at this point is impossible. Everyone is paranoid, and there isn’t even enough material to form a solid deduction.”

“Well, I mean, that’s true.”

“If we are to obtain material from here on out, the only chance will be when the enemy attacks. It is likely a waste of time to explore the dungeon further.”

“Wait, then…”

In other words, Kijiitsu was—

“Are you… planning to act as bait?”

“No, I have no such intention.”

For the first time, a light flickered in Kijiitsu’s emotionless eyes.

It was a flash of overwhelming malice.

“It will be a counter-slaughter. I am the one who acts; the opponent is the one who is acted upon. Regardless of the situation.”

Seeing what almost looked like a smile in those eyes full of ill-intent, I silently backed away.

“I am Kijiitsu the Genocider. Therefore, I must never allow a culprit who attempts to attack me to remain alive. Do you understand?”

As I stood there frozen, unable to answer, Kijiitsu turned on his heel and walked out of the camp.

“Ah—wait, hey! Is nobody going to stop him?”

Finally breaking out of my paralysis, I called out to the group.

“Let him go,” Jin said dryly, and no one disagreed. “He’s got no sense of cooperation anyway. In a state of paranoia like this, guys like him are the biggest psychological burden. Better not to keep him around.”

Is that really how it works?

Admittedly, I didn’t know how to stop Kijiitsu anyway, given how utterly convinced he was that he’d be the one doing the killing.

“Damn it.”

But even if I followed him, what would I do? Kijiitsu wouldn’t appreciate it, and I’d probably just be in the way if he was looking for a solo ambush. I’d likely just get killed. Besides, I had no proof Kijiitsu wasn’t the culprit; in fact, based on his attitude, he was incredibly suspicious.

“Whew.”

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves.

“He’s not the type of character who seems likely to die. He’ll be fine,” Henya said, his eyes still closed.

“Whoa—you were awake?”

Henya laughed at me as I jumped back in surprise.

“True enough, he doesn’t seem like the dying type,” Jin added. He paused, then gestured toward a certain object. “But then again, neither did this guy.”

Jin’s “this guy” was the iron coffin, still holding the silent corpse of Brad.

There were no external wounds, but his skin was deathly pale and his body was stiff. Just looking at him radiated the heavy presence of death—even more so because he was in a casket.

Though there were no fatal wounds, his body was covered in countless minor scars.

I suppose that was to be expected for someone with his fighting style.

“He was a guy who fought like he was in a hurry to die, yet he was twice as cautious and suspicious as anyone else,” Jin remarked with a hint of sentimentality.

“It’s still hard to swallow that someone like him was poisoned,” Shirona said, approaching the group. As a professional, she had finished packing away her medicines while we weren’t looking.

“Let’s be blunt here.”

Jin relaxed his posture—or at least made a show of it. It might have been a ruse to get us to let our guard down.

“Do you think the Shadow exists?”

The direct question rippled through the camp, bringing a sudden, heavy silence.

“Assuming Van isn’t lying, I don’t see why Hunt would need to lie on the verge of death,” Watch said first, still leaning against the wall.

“That’s a big assumption on the ‘trust’ part,” Henya chuckled, his eyes now open. “Even if Hunt wasn’t lying, he could have been mistaken or tricked. Maybe some magic or gimmick was used to stage a ‘Shadow’ appearing.”

“I was thinking that too,” I said, half to myself. “But what about the fact that Hunt ‘died’? Could he have been faking?”

“What about that arm, then?” Eni piped up, joining the conversation. Despite the distance and suspicion, everyone seemed to be reaching out for some form of connection. “It looked exactly like Hunt’s arm.”

“I can’t say for certain, but…” Shirona hesitated, then spoke up tentatively. “The fact that we can’t confirm if it’s his arm is… well, it’s a bit of a coincidence.”

“Huh?”

I let out a confused noise at her cryptic phrasing.

“If you look closely at that arm, there was a scar at the base of the pinky. It was quite noticeable.”

“Oh, yeah, I saw that,” Henya and Watch agreed.

The rest of us, myself included, hadn’t noticed such a detail and just stared blankly.

“I don’t know if Hunt had a scar on his right pinky,” Shirona continued. “But it was prominent enough that if anyone had happened to see it before, they’d know.”

“Are you serious? Does anyone know if Hunt had a scar on his finger?”

Jin’s call was met with silence.

“Tch. Nobody saw it.”

“But it’s a coincidence. Like I said, it’s noticeable. If you’d seen it, you’d know.”

“So,” I summarized, “it would be unnatural for Hunt to leave a decoy arm with such a distinct characteristic if he were faking.”

“So Hunt really was killed?” Eni tilted her head.

“If that’s the case, we should basically believe what he said. Which means Mora was killed too. He-he.”

I had no idea what Henya found so funny.

There were too many mysteries. Or rather, nothing but mystery.

As I listened to my companions, I fell deep into thought. Everything was uncertain. Everyone was suspicious. Kijiitsu had said there was no “material,” but was he wrong?

Brad’s poisoning, the dead-end dungeon, the manner of Hunt and Mora’s deaths, the fact that so many adventurers had died here before, the Treasure family’s obsession with this place…

Maybe the problem wasn’t a lack of material, but an overabundance of it.

Think. If I have to pick just one thing to focus on, what is it? What’s the trigger?

When I looked up, I realized the discussion had ended while I was lost in thought.

Everyone had scattered again to rest. Jin and Henya appeared to be fast asleep, though the fact that they were both still gripping their swords was a testament to their intensity.

“Phew.”

I sighed.

When I really thought about it, I didn’t have to solve this. If I could just rest a little, escape this labyrinth, and leave the rest for the birds, that would be fine. I could even ask my mentor, Geralt, to handle it later.

I tried to force myself to be optimistic.

But I had a hard time imagining all of us making it out of this dungeon alive.