Aias: from a world of kaijus to a world of fantasy and magic

Walking back to my inn, I can't help but think about what Athrun had told me. A secret organization that happens to keep the world in balance, where it's neither to its benefit nor detriment to this kingdom and others.

It's really hard to believe, honestly. Just thinking about it gives me a massive headache. There are loads of questions I want to ask, but I know I won't get the answer to for now, like what exactly they do, what kind of organizational structure they have, who is funding them, how big they are and how far their reach is, what kind of people are in the organization, whether the rulers in other kingdoms and counties are even aware of them, etc.

Frankly speaking, I can't trust what Athrun has to say, especially the test he wants me to take. He says that it is an unexplored dungeon, but I doubt that. Remembering the document in the files app, specifically the pictures taken inside and the information presented, felt too convenient, like it was thoroughly explored already, maybe.

Either way, while I'm walking back, I think I should stock up on supplies because after Clare and I meet up with Alice tomorrow morning, I'm planning on going to the dungeon afterward to look at the surroundings and maybe going in to explore for a bit just so I can get a feel for what I am dealing with.

Going into a general store that was advertised to be for adventurers on my way back, I decided to go in it.

Inside, I stock up on some rations that I like and find edible, followed by buying a dozen mid-grade health potions, 6 high-grade general-use antidote potions, 3 strengthening and fortifying potions, and 3 regeneration potions, which are the upgrade to the healing potions I've taken before, by being generally much faster in healing my body.

It cost a pretty penny to buy all that, but surprisingly, it didn't put much of a dent in my funds, just one large gold and two regular gold coins, so seven gold coins in total.

Carrying everything in a paper bag, which the clerk had stacked quite carefully, given how much I'd paid, I made my way to the inn, getting back just before sunset, as I'd promised to Clare.

Taking out my key and opening the door, I answered that I was back, and Clare was by the door waiting for me.

Closing the door, Clare asked, "How was it, my lady?"

"Quite troublesome, I'm afraid."

Concerned at my response, she asks, "How so?"

I proceeded to tell her about the quote-unquote secret organization Athrun belongs to, which maintains the balance of power between all the kingdoms or something, and that he wanted me to do some reconnaissance in a dungeon as a test of some sort. Hearing all that, Clare can't help but grimace.

I know that the organization Athrun belongs to wants to keep everything a secret, but if I don't have a choice in joining, I at least have to tell Clare, since I would have to tell her eventually.

"Is it all true, my lady?'

Shrugging my shoulders, I told her, "No," because I don't trust most of it at face value either.

"Just like you think, I don't believe all of it. I have to get some more information to get an idea of what we are dealing with before you go and investigate them."

Quietly nodding but changing the subject since we were done talking about that subject, since it was giving me a headache, "Lady Rita, you must be tired. Please enjoy your bath before it gets cold."

"Oh, right, I forgot about that."

Putting the bag that was filled with potions on a table, I took off my gear and handed it over to Clare, who was neatly setting it aside. I walked to the bathroom after I took off my cloak.

Removing my clothes, I threw them into the clothing basket and dipped my toe into the hot water, followed by my whole body.

I let out a relaxed sigh at a tiring and troublesome day. I soaked for a good while, longer than I usually let myself, and once I felt the accumulated mental fatigue from today was finally washed away, I stepped out and dried myself off. After that, I put on a fresh set of clothes, specifically pajamas, the ones Clare had suggested I buy when we were traveling here. It was something about not having proper nightwear, which I can say was true because it was much more comfortable sleeping in them than sleeping in my everyday apparel.

Opening the door, I saw Clare patiently waiting for me outside.

"Lady Rita, I called for room service to eat."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

Looking at the dining table Clare had directed me to look toward, I walked toward it with Clare following me. Clare pulled the seat back to seat me, and I saw a tray with a silver dome lid.

Clare, removing the lid, showed me a vibrant and colorful array of plates. There was a red tomato pasta topped with purple-berried eggplant vegetables, a simple salad that had various small jewel-like vegetables, and what seemed to be a golden-colored chicken soup with wild mushrooms. Not only that, but lifting the lid of another silver tray, I saw a slice of lemon cake.

Observing my reaction, which was happy with the food she had ordered, especially the cake, she smiled and said. Pasta is generally what people in the royal capital eat, at least among the upper crust, mostly because of the rare ingredients being used and, more importantly, how colorfully vibrant the colors are. It's appearance over substance, in short, which is the opposite of what the general populace eats, from what I can assume, though in this case, it was more a mix of both.

"I thought you might like this, my lady. Please, enjoy."

Saying "yeah" and proceeding to dig in, I of course minded my manners a bit since Clare was watching by my side to refill my water and other stuff. I couldn't help but think of how grateful I am to her.

With all the help and effort she had given me, I couldn't thank her enough. I wondered what I could give her as a token of my appreciation. Knowing Clare, though, she would immediately refuse it, just like the many other times I'd tried to give her something, saying that serving me was all the gift she needed.

After gorging myself, especially on the lemon cake, I thank Clare for ordering it. I just took a bath, and that really hit the spot.

Letting my hair dry fully, with Clare sitting next to me by the window doing a bit of embroidery as a hobby, I read a book I had bought in Farsbarrow since I didn't want to take a book from Mable while she was gone.

It was a fairytale book, which was quite thick. This was one of the few times I had actually been reading for fun because during the long carriage rides while traveling here, I knew I would get bored with staring out the window for hours on end.

Currently, I'm reading a story that was coincidentally about a black dragon and the kingdom's capital being built on it, or something along those lines. It's basically the mythology of my kingdom, the classic that we're chosen to rule everyone because of whatever famous or divine bloodline we're from.

Closing the book when I finished the last page of that tale, I got a bit sleepy. Before going to bed, I remembered to top off my mana storage device, and when that was done, I went to bed with Clare, following suit.

The next morning, when I heard a knock on the door, I immediately sprang up, ready to fight. However, I soon realized that the guy knocking on the door was the bellman Clare had requested to be our alarm and wake us up, since we had to wake up early today.

"Ms. Clare and Mr. Blake, I have come to wake you. Please respond."

Calming down a bit and letting go of my tension, I answered the guy as Clare, from the corner of my eye, was beginning to wake up.

"Yes, I'm up. Thank you for waking us up. You can stop now."

"I see, have a good morning."

Hearing all that, Clare got up and approached me.

"My lady, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Good morning, Clare. Let's get going; we don't want to be late."

I looked out the window, seeing that it was still dark, and then toward the clock that said it was slightly past 6:30.

Using the bathroom, I did my normal morning routine, and when I was done, Clare went in next.

Seeing that Clare had placed my clothes neatly on my bed and the letter I was supposed to deliver to Alice from Emma, I changed out of my pajamas and into them. I then equipped all of my gear, along with some potions in my pouches, before tucking the letter into my pocket.

After waiting for Clare to finish, which wasn't long, we made our way downstairs to the inn's restaurant for breakfast.

When we were done eating, the sun had risen, and we walked out in the direction of the nobleman's district.

Many thoughts ran through my mind as we walked, since I'd been thinking about this for a while and had even discussed it with Clare during our travels to the capital.

The best thing to do was to tell her mostly everything honestly, but the problem with that was that things would be kind of awkward between us. I know Alice would definitely help, but… with Alex's tendencies to attract girls to his harem, I can't help but think that she would be a love rival or something. Let's just hope that she doesn't bring that up, but I'm confident she wouldn't, probably since she knows I'm not into Alex at all; he's more like a fun punching… I mean, a friend to me.

Reaching the gate to the noblemen's district, I saw the usual gate that separated it from the other districts.

There, I also saw guards, specifically private ones hired by the nobles to keep people out. They wore rather extravagant uniforms, extremely clean with no wrinkles or smudges on them.

However, from what is typical in fantasy stories, they look rather weak if I'm going to be honest. They're all glimmered with some power to back it up, say around a rank-and-file knight, at the most bottom rung if I'm being generous. Though if I think about it, I guess it makes sense since they don't really need to do that much and rarely have to get into a fight.

Approaching them, they stopped us, saying, "Halt, state your business," with a spear pointed directly at my face. However, I changed the air around me before I approached them back to that of a highborn nobleman, and the way I talked as well, since I knew this would happen.

I said, indifferently and with a hint of haughtiness, "Step aside; I need not that I must repeat myself."

Acting completely unbothered and expressionless and speaking in a flat tone, I got my message across, my complete indifference to the spear pointed directly at my face making it clear that I held the superior position and status to them, as if one word from me could have them executed if I wanted to.

Moving aside the spear tip pointed at my face with the back of my hand, it did not take much effort to do so with the air around me and the way I acted, but it was also due to Clare, as well, who was acting completely subservient to me as my servant.

I'm guessing—no, I'm reading—what was going through that guard's head was that I was a noble child, and I was on some sort of excursion, which happens sometimes but not often. In addition to thinking that, he likely also assumed I was from a somewhat influential house as well.

Another guard approached the other guard as Clare and I began walking away. The one who stopped us held out his hand to the other guard, stopping him from chasing after us.

"Don't."

Hearing him say that, I sigh a bit in relief that it worked internally because it would have been a pain and risky to explain ourselves, though it wasn't really in any doubt that they would cave in.

We continue making our way to Alice's manor, passing by many somewhat large manors, till we reach the one we were going to.

There I saw a really familiar face waiting for us. If I remember correctly, he was Garner, the knight I and everyone in Alex's party rescued.

He stood on guard at the center of the large gated fence, with two knights stationed at each end. It seemed that all of his injuries had healed, except for his missing arm.

We approached him, and I partially took off our hoods, revealing my face. His eyes widened in surprise, and the ever-so-smallest hint of a smile formed beneath his stern, duty-bound expression.

"Greetings, it has been a while, Sir Grarner."

Responding back, "Greetings as well, Mr. Nyx and Ms. Clare. Lady Alice is eagerly awaiting your arrival. Please, this way."

Telling the knight stationed at the two ends of the gate to open for us as Garner led us through the entrance road, passing by the impressively colorful garden.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Seeing that, it reminded me of my own family manor in the capital, and I'm honestly grateful that Alice's manor was on the complete opposite side of the district, given that my family and Alice's family are complete enemies to one another, which was the main reason why I decided to make my way through the gate by acting as a noble so they wouldn't log me into their records.

A couple more minutes of walking later, Garner finally led us inside the manor and to Alice. Opening the door, I saw an office with Alice sitting at a large desk near the back of the room, directly facing the entrance, and another equally large desk positioned perpendicular to hers. There I saw what seemed to be stacks upon stacks of paper on the desk, and another familiar face; it was Rollo's, I believe.

"Hi there, Alice. It's been a while."

Putting down the papers in her hand that she was reading, she smiled. "Nyx and Clare, it has also been a while. I read your letter. Come, please take a seat."

Directing us toward a pair of couches at the far side of the office, Alice got up and sat in one of them.

Following her lead, I sat myself on the opposite couch from hers, while Clare stood behind me.

"So, Nyx, what is it that you need help with?"

"Getting to the point, I see."

Since I'm asking Alice, I should tell her everything, except for the reason I'm here. Plus, I should include her knights as well, since they also have a right to know.

"Okay, for starters, I'm guessing that you already guessed or figured it out, but I'm Rita Lucendi."

Getting a read on her reaction, Alice didn't seem too surprised by it, more by my straightforwardness, actually.

"Unfortunately, I can't or am unable to tell you what or why I am here, but I'm forced to be here for something, and this is the reason why I came…"

Scratching the back of my head, I said a bit meekly under my expressionless face.

"I kind of used your family's name when I encountered my brother and his friends, who accompanied him to find me."

I gauge Alice's reaction once again by looking at her eyes and facial expression, in which there were many things going through, and the prevailing thought was… 'heh???!!!' in her mind.

Glancing at Alice's knights, who were easier to read, all had a similar reaction since it's practically an open secret for most people in the know; I can't blame them.

"Umm… Nyx, could you explain?"

"Yeah, sure."

Proceeding to tell her about the numerous unexpected encounters with them, where it felt like fate or something that keeps making us come together, which included yesterday's unexpected meeting, when I had to go somewhere and meet up with someone for my thing that I can't tell anyone about, I met with Prince Edwen, Eric, and Aria. I explain that I chose her to keep my fake story consistent, given the time constraints, and that I kind of knew she would be able to handle it, which I didn't think was necessary.

"I originally planned to follow up, just say that it was another misdirection and I was elsewhere, followed by sending them letters on the various leads I would find till my father gets convicted, but… things have changed. Umm… again, sorry for dragging you into this."

With that all being said, I waited for Alice's response, and she said, without the least bit of scorn or any other negative emotion.

"I… I understand… That is a lot to take in, but I understand."

Then, changing the subject, "What are you going to do next?"

"Keep my distance from them and tell them that I ran into a dead end after I pretended to investigate you after this meeting, followed by doing the thing that I can't say to you until the trial starts."

"I see. Is that all?"

"Yeah, I believe that is all, but how about you? Could you tell what is currently going on, given who knows what my father is going to do or has lying around?"

"Yes, that seems reasonable."

Alice began telling us about what she had been doing for the last few months, which was what I expected, since that is what I would have done. With the help of the 4th knight order and some of Alice's personal guards and trusted acquaintances, she counterattacked to put an immediate stop to the attempts on her life by uncovering her brother's biggest supporters, which was a trading company connected to an old nobility faction that was trying to gain influence with the Lunslur family through the future head, or, no, more like make a puppet out of her brother.

In doing so, it stopped the old nobility faction from laying its hands on her family's power struggle, but more importantly, it stopped them from making Alice's brother a puppet. Given her brother's intellectual capacity, he is an idiot, though, one who is just smart and lucky enough to get away with things.

However, as said before, this doesn't really stop her brother completely. He has other supporters who could turn him into their puppet, creating the same problem as before, just on a smaller scale, that could still pose a threat to Alice.

Fortunately, given the power vacuum that was left after removing his main backers, those remaining supporters will start fighting among themselves, meaning any advice they give him will constantly conflict with each other.

Right now, they are focusing on letting the power vacuum become even more chaotic, letting each supporter fight one another, given their lack of resources, since Alice's negotiation with the 4th knight order only extended to helping her only once, given the 4th knight order generally abstains from messing around with the infighting among nobles unless it gets bad enough that it would do real harm to the kingdom.

After explaining all that, I offered whatever help I could to her. Since hearing all that, I thought of some way I could help her, like manipulating Edwen in some way or even calling Athrun to see what he can do.

Hearing my offer to help, she asked.

"Are you sure it is fine? Manipulate the prince, Edwen, and all."

"Yeah, I was his former fiancée after all. Plus, it is the least I could do to pay you back."

"But I thought I was the one repaying my debt back to you."

"Really?"

I nodded at Alice, happy to help her, while Alice smiled, hearing my offer of assistance.

Getting up and saying that I was going to leave since I have other things to do today, I excused myself. However, as I step one foot out of the room, I remember something—no, two things, actually.

"Ah, right." Turning back to Alice, I asked her, "Sorry, but are there any knights or any people you could spare to follow and protect Clare? And also here, someone asked me to send it directly to you."

Taking the letter out of my pocket, I handed it to Alice. She asked why I needed her knights, followed by who the sender was, as she took it from my hand and stared at it.

"Well, that's for you to find out in the letter, and I'm going to be out of the capital for the day; it's for the thing I can't say. I want to make sure Clare is safe."

Staring fixedly at the letter, she said, "Oh, okay, I'll have Arnald escort him. He is currently training today, so I can ask him to do that."

Hearing that, I said, "Great."

With that, Garner leads us outside, and we wait for Arnald, which didn't take too long. Now that Arnald was here to guard Clare, I said goodbye to her and told Arnald to protect her with his life as I began walking away, in a different direction from where Clare was going.

I made my way out of the capital, remembering the general direction of where it was. I went out the gate and out of the capital walls, walked for a bit till I didn't see anyone passing by, and took out my phone.

Opening the GPS app, I saw the route I needed to take, about one and a half kilometers away, or roughly a half-hour walk. Apparently, I was supposed to follow a path through a forest plotted by the app, which didn't seem to be part of the main roads, since the route suddenly changed colors from blue to yellow.

I was proven right when, halfway through walking to the dungeon, it told me to make a right through a couple of bushes. I didn't see a trail or any signs that there was even one, which made me wonder if the app was glitched or something, but I decided to follow it because, why not, I suppose.

Forcing my way through the thick bush for a good couple of meters, I stumbled upon a small clearing and continued following the GPS, going through the forest foliage and past the trees till I reached my destination.

There, I received a notification informing me that I had reached my destination and saw a massive tree; by massive, I mean as big as a building.

Other, much smaller and normal trees surrounded this massive tree in almost a perfect circle; however, the thing that caught my attention, aside from the massive tree in front of me, was a ditch that led under the massive tree to the entrance of a moss-covered cave underneath.

Is that it? Remembering the images in the file, it looks different, like it had aged a decade or two, and was much more weathered as well. The main difference, however, was the tree roots covering the entrance to the cave, with some even extending inside, blocking my way in.

Hmm… I should make a mental note about this because, in all likelihood, the pictures in the file were taken a long time ago. Athrun said it was a trial to test if I'm qualified, which I believe, but the other things he said, I'm definitely suspicious about.

Given that Athrun knows how to use technology from my world, I'm sure that he or whatever organization he was in might have control over the dungeon somehow, since, in all likelihood, this dungeon was a part of a base from my world. I don't know how they would know how to operate such things, but it might be because I'm not the only one who wasn't from here. Maybe they got reincarnated like me, or maybe, the more probable answer, was that the people who were swallowed up in a spatial ball got transported here and have been living here since. Though, given the time the picture was taken, I doubt any of them were still alive.

All this means that I should refrain from accessing a terminal or something that would give me access; if this were a base from my world, they could easily be monitoring me, for all I know.

With all that in mind, I didn't cut through the roots and step into the cave first, but I decided to explore the areas surrounding it just in case I had missed anything.

Doing that, which includes climbing up the tree, I did all that just in case I missed anything, which I didn't.

Going back to the ditch, I look at the moss-covered cave that had overgrown tree roots blocking my way. So, taking out my sword, I use it to cut through it, on guard for anything, because from my game knowledge, there is a non-zero chance that something would happen. Fortunately for me, nothing happened, and the roots fell to the ground with a light thud.

However, I waited for a good minute or two just in case, but nothing really happened.

Seeing that, I took one step into the dungeon, followed by another and another, being wary of anything that might come up.

Still maintaining my guard as I held my sword somewhat tightly to be ready for anything, I decided to speed up to walk normally since I didn't have all day.

Athrun said that this dungeon, which this place was definitely a dungeon, was similar to the place I stumbled upon in the Dradevow dungeon, but the whole dungeon instead, not just part of it.

Thinking that, I stumbled upon a fork in the road, where the cave passage split into three separate passageways.

I wonder which one I should choose. I guess I should do what I usually do in games, pick the closest one, and go on from there. If I hit a dead end or find more passageways, I can always go back and take a different path to explore all the other options.

With that settled, I chose where to go, which is the rightmost passage. Taking that passage, which made me walk at an upward incline, I stumbled upon a ledge of some kind.

Poking my head to see what was below, I saw a somewhat open room with a 3-meter drop. To my left and right, I saw two separate passageways.

Upon seeing that, I walked back to the fork and took the central passage, which was straight and level.

A bit later, I stumbled upon a small room that looked very familiar. In front of me was a passage, and as I looked around, I noticed the room was unusually tall. Near the ceiling, I spotted another passageway.

Wait, don't tell me, this is the place I saw from the right passage I went through, right? Thinking that, I decided to climb up to see if it was true. I walked through it, and I found myself back where I started.

Realizing that the right and central passages would lead me to the next fork in the road, I then went through the left passage.

Different from the other two, the right and central passages, the last passage had many, too many turns. I was expecting that there would be something at the end of it. I wondered if there was a cool prize at the end, but my expectations were dashed, because there was just a dead end at the end, no chest or drop item, or anything.

"Damn, nothing, huh."

A bit dejected, I made my way back to the start and then back to the room I had just been in, which had the next passageway.

There, I went through it, followed by the next two passageways, with each one being different from the previous one.

The second passageways were a network of interconnected, grid-like corridors, which took me a while to figure out. The third featured moderately challenging terrain that made it kind of hard to traverse, and the fourth, the most different from the last three, was devoid of any light.

Fortunately for me, on the fourth one, my phone had a flashlight, though I was beginning to wonder if I should continue or not because it seemed like I was massively underprepared.

I got all my weapons, potions, and other supplies; however, I hadn't bought anything to help me navigate this place or prevent me from getting lost. I didn't have any map-making tools or markers to show where I've been.

So far, as I walk through the pitch-black passageway with my flashlight on, I am honestly itching to fight something since this is a dungeon, but I guess I need to go further if I want to fight something, because it is relatively straightforward right now, given that the Dradevow dungeon's first stratum had mazes, but I can't really be too sure about that.

Seeing a light at the end of the passageway, I noticed the moss that had strangely persisted this deep in the cave gradually became much sparser, disappearing entirely by the time I reached the end.

Why am I getting a strange feeling about this? Does it mean I've entered into the next part of the dungeon, or maybe even the last section of the first part?

Who knows, but I'd better figure it out because I really wanted to reach the part Athrun told me about, which was the main part of the dungeon. It was something I had to see for myself.

Continuing to walk forward, I keep my guard up for anything that may come up and attack me till I hear a click, followed by multiple twanging sounds, causing a couple of things to whiz through the air.

I immediately snapped my head at the sound, nearly losing my balance in the process. Time slowed down as an arrow hit my cheek, cutting it and making it start to bleed as I perceived it through this slowed-down world.

Using my mana nature to strengthen my body just enough to move normally as everything slowed down, I cut down most of the arrows since there were very few for me to dodge in the narrow passages.

Still on guard, my eyes glowing blue and my hair faintly black, I decided on the spot to retreat back into the pitch-black passageway I had just come from.

To my disbelief, just as I was about to step back and retreat, small holes suddenly appeared around my feet, shooting out what looked like sharp metal spikes.

What the hell was going on?!! Moving my foot and my body out of the way as fast as I could so I wouldn't get skewered. However, as I did that, more holes opened, this time a big one on each wall, opposite to one another. I heard something big moving through them, and I immediately jumped out of the way just after I dodged the spikes. Thankfully, as I moved out of the way just in time, two logs swung out from each wall and slammed together, sending a loud, echoing boom through the passage.

Lying on the ground, I was as still as a rock, waiting for anything else to happen, and fortunately, nothing else happened.

Getting up as carefully as possible, I heard another clicking sound, making me look up toward where the noise had come from.

Another hole opened, much more massive than the last one, followed by the sound of something huge and heavy dropping from it. Don't tell me—it's a giant boulder? How cliché is that?

Desperately, I moved out of the way again so I wouldn't get flattened by it, and as I did that, I was proven right when I saw a massive boulder fall on where I was lying, which blocked my way back to the dark passageway as it began to move.

Really?!! I ran as fast as I could, knowing what was going to happen next. I make my way through the passage, making random turns in a different direction from where the boulder was rolling, barely making it past many, and I mean many more traps.

I dodge arrows, spikes, flames, what seemed like poison needles, swinging axes, rotating saw blades, more arrows, more spikes, hidden crossbow traps, pitfalls with the various types of things you can expect on the bottom, collapsing ceilings, spring-loaded nets, and many more that I didn't have the time to see because that goddamn boulder for some reason keeps on following me, like it had a mind of its own.

What the hell is this place?

That was the question I asked myself repeatedly in my mind as I faced more traps that sprang up around me.

Eventually, I don't know if it was dumb luck or not, but I reached and entered into an open area covered with moss. For some reason, it felt like a safe area, and strangely enough, the boulder stopped following me the moment I made a beamline in this place and rolled off in another direction.

Seeing that no traps had been triggered, I wondered if this place was truly safe, but I collapsed to my knees and hands anyway, panting uncontrollably between breaths, voicing out what was on my mind.

"Ha, what—ha—the—hell—is—ha—this place?"