The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (47)

“[-7, -5] Secured the room. Combat ended.“

“Operation complete. Relay orders for all reserve units to assemble. Good work, everyone.”

The adjutant’s voice announced the end of all operations.

After the fourth operation ended, all rooms had been captured.

Except for one room, the spot [-4, 2], which they had thought already taken.

Even before the operation was fully over, several officers had already gathered in front of it.

In room [-3, 2], they stood before a closed door, lost in thought.

“So you went in there with that brat? For what purpose? Did Shane egg you on again?!”

Izack* pressed Ronari.*

Ronari nodded.

“No! I found this room. By my calculations it was the most likely place to have something. And we actually found a clue here that could open the door.”

“What was that clue?”

“The blue basin in the ceiling.”

“Basin?”

“Yeah! The pool of water pooled on the ceiling just like in the [0, 0] entrance room!”

Ronari snapped.

She had explained it several times already.

Seeing her father’s expression that silently asked how that could be a clue made her furious.

“You’ve been in dungeons far more than I have! You should know this! Liquid mana cannot exist in a dormant Dungeon. It solidifies immediately. But that basin was clearly made of liquefied mana.”

She continued.

“And that gravity anomaly. It’s strange. Why would the exact same structure as the [0, 0] room only be there? It’s only natural to suspect there’s something there?!”

Her outburst made the other officers shrink back.

‘If anyone asks what’s going on anymore, we’ll really get scolded.’

They looked at each other with those expressions.

Ronari said.

“Anyway, I think the young master tried to solve the puzzle alone using that clue. The fact that all the doors around room [-4, 2] are sealed shut and won’t budge is probably related.”

That was all the conjecture they could make for now.

What had happened inside here.

There was no way to know what else was happening.

The door refused to open by any means.

The only clue they had was that they could hear water sounds from inside the door.

At that moment, Vittorio stepped forward.

He drew his sword.

“If Shane is in there, I have to go in. I have something to collect from him.”

“Wait a moment…”

Ronari blocked him.

Vittorio said.

“Step aside.”

“I said wait. You might not be able to smash the door.”

“Why?”

“The problem isn’t just that this door won’t open. The entrance to the surface has been sealed. The young master is doing something inside this room because of that.”

Ronari said.

“So… whatever the young master is trying to do beyond this door might be directly related to opening and closing this door itself.”

“What’s your basis?”

“…None. It’s just a hypothesis. But if it’s the young master, I think he’d think that way. There were no other devices he could have operated besides this door.“

“Good. Then move aside.”

Vittorio’s strong hand shoved Ronari aside.

But this time it was Izack who intercepted Vittorio.

Izack*‘s blade cast its shadow under Vittorio’s jaw.*

The tension around them soared in an instant.

There were soldiers of Denabi and Limone gathered there.

One of Denabi’s captains leveled a blade at the commander of the Limone troops.

The allied forces shifted in an instant from comrades who shared blood to tentative enemies.

“…?“

Vittorio looked at Izack with displeasure.

“Sheathe your blade, captain of Denabi. I’ll consider it a mistake for now and let it go.”

“No. I cannot.”

Izack* was resolute.*

“Did you not hear my daughter’s words? That brat could be solving the puzzle inside. We cannot allow interference.”

Vittorio’s response was blunt.

“What if Shane is in there, dying alone?”

“…“

“Your daughter’s words are just conjecture. It’s been over an hour since this door wouldn’t open. It’s more rational to assume Shane is trapped inside and in danger.”

Vittorio glared at Izack with clear hostility.

“Is Shane Astrier something you can use and discard like this?”

-Who said we’d use and discard him…!

A voice like that burst from the ranks of the Denabi soldiers.

Vittorio said.

“Then remove him from in front of me.”

Izack* shook his head.*

“I won’t place the life of that brat on one side of a scale against the lives of all of you. If sacrificing him would get us out of here, I’d bet on that.”

“Dad!”

Ronari stared at her father in disbelief.

Izack* said.*

“That guy has saved us many times. He brought us this far, kept us from dying or getting hurt. Yet my scale still tips the same way. I’ll protect my daughter’s life, not his.”

“I came because I wanted to! Saying it’s fine if the young master dies…”

Izack* cut off his daughter’s words.*

“I can say that! Because I’m your father! Because I got a promise from him! He promised to protect your life! So shut up…!”

Then Vittorio spoke.

“I have a promise from him too.”

“…?“

“Izack Arenta. What you’re putting on the scale is your daughter’s life. Therefore you have no choice but to let Shane go. But I’m the opposite.“

Vittorio took a step forward.

Izack*‘s blade grazed Vittorio’s neck.*

“On my scale, Shane’s life weighs the same as my own. I’ve pledged my life to him.”

“What…?”

“I won’t demand you believe me. It’s true. His life is the same weight as mine. He must live for me to live.”

At Vittorio’s words, Izack lowered his blade.

But Izack’s words went in the opposite direction of his actions.

“Then neither of us can back down. …Draw your swords.”

Vittorio’s hand moved to his hilt without hesitation.

His men did the same.

At the door, Denabi and Limone were on the verge of becoming enemies.

“Stop.”

It was Alejandro who stopped them.

“Cease.”

He commanded in a grave voice.

Some relaxed their guard at his arrival, others exhaled in relief.

There wasn’t a single soldier there who actually wanted to fight.

But Izack and Vittorio remained face-to-face.

Alejandro spoke to the two of them.

“This is a victory you achieved yourselves. Do you intend to tear it apart with your own blades?”

“We haven’t truly won yet. We have no choice, do we?”

Vittorio said.

“To truly call this a victory, we must survive. Yet we’re still trapped beneath the Dungeon. We haven’t found the Dungeon Core, a way to open the door, or the lord’s son.”

In an instant, a blade flashed from Vittorio’s scabbard.

The blade pointed at the door blocking their way.

“There’s only one thing we can do. Open this door and retrieve Shane.”

“…“

“Doesn’t the lord want to save his son as well?”

“How could I not feel that way? Of course I want to break that door and save my son.”

But Alejandro continued.

“But I believe in my son more than that. So I don’t really know yet. Whether I should wait in the name of faith for the child to return, or stop standing idly by and help Shane this time. Honestly… I don’t know.”

A father’s anguish.

Izack* empathized with Alejandro to his core.*

Because he wanted to protect his child as much as he believed in him, he couldn’t act.

Izack* had been in that state all along.*

So he thought it was his turn to choose for him.

Even if it meant Shane Astrier drowned in there.

Izack* still blocked Vittorio’s way, glaring at him.*

Vittorio faced Izack.

‘He absolutely won’t back down.’

Then he’d have to cut.

Veins stood out on Vittorio’s sword hand.

His life now depended on Shane.

If Shane died, Vittorio could not avoid death either.

No matter what, Shane had to be pulled out of there.

Vittorio resolved himself.

But as if mocking that resolve, the door opened in the tense moment.

“…!“

What greeted them beyond was a well and a staircase.

A well of brightly glowing mana lay below, and a spiral shadow of stairs led up to the surface.

After the door opened, the allied forces ascended the stairs to the surface.

The place they came out was exactly the same location they had entered.

The entrance with the white basin.

It was baffling.

They should have ascended vertically via the spiral stairs.

This spot that originally connected to room [0, 0] now connected to room [-4, 2].

It was incomprehensible.

But there was something that confused them even more.

Shane’s disappearance.

Shane was nowhere to be found, not in the orchard nor anywhere on the surface.

Denabi Castle was the same.

Shane had literally vanished.

In any case, the Dungeon had been cleared.

No one had died, so the operation was a success.

Alejandro sent the soldiers home.

The Limone troops did the same.

They too returned to their homes safely.

Every household was reunited safely with their parents or sons and daughters.

Except, of course, for the Astrier family.

“So you were here after all. Steward.”

“Administrator Ronari.”

Ebinger and Ronari met above the white basin entrance.

The orchard owners had already returned and were picking fruit.

The heavy scent of mana that had filled the orchard was gone.

The Dungeon’s conquest was definitely over.

The Dungeon had been deactivated.

Yet the white basin still floated in place, unmoved.

Those who had not reclaimed Shane remained there as well.

The first to speak was Ronari.

“Let’s go down. We’re not here just to kill time.”

“…“

-splash, splash

Ronari walked onto the basin.

Ebinger silently followed behind her.

The basin’s spiral staircase still led to room [-4, 2].

Below the stairs lay a pool of liquid mana.

The two who descended there met another person.

A middle-aged man sat perched beside the well.

It was Alejandro.

“The lord.”

“Your Excellency.”

Ebinger and Ronari bowed their heads to him.

“You’ve come looking for my son as well.”

Alejandro said that with his gaze fixed beneath the well.

“We’ve searched throughout the Dungeon, but Shane wasn’t there. The only place we haven’t checked is here. Shane must be beneath this.”

Alejandro spoke as if it were absolute truth.

“That… must be so.”

Ronari agreed.

She swallowed as she looked down into the well.

Did Shane truly throw himself into the well to let them escape?

Had he shared fate with the Dungeon Core down there?

Then Alejandro spoke again.

“I’m Shane’s father. Yet I’ve only ever disappointed him. Even after Shane left the room, I failed at being a father. There are many excuses, duty as the Lord, having to welcome the other sons returning to Denabi Castle after the expedition.”

He looked up at Ebinger and Ronari and said.

“Don’t you think I’m cowardly?”

“Cowardly… No sir, the lord is not…”

Alejandro cut off Ebinger’s words.

“No. No matter what you say, I’m a cowardly man. Such a man cannot be a father and a lord.”

Suddenly Alejandro stood up.

And he said.

“I will bring Shane back.”

Alejandro tried to throw himself into the well.

The only thing that prevented him from falling into the well the next moment was Ebinger’s instinct.

“No! My lord!”

Ebinger threw his full strength into grabbing Alejandro and pushing him to the opposite side of the well.

With Ronari joining in holding him, Alejandro spoke to them.

“Let go of me.”

“No, hold him tight.”

Those words came from the fourth person who had descended the stairs.