Chapter 37

The next morning, I reunited with Asha in the special dining hall.

“Ah, it’s been a while, Ha-shal-leur!”

Asha waved her hand while poking at the salad and well-cooked bacon that came out for breakfast. Seeing her familiar, unchanged demeanor, a slight smile crept onto my face. I walked over and sat down beside her.

Nigel went to order breakfast.

“It’s been a week. Was the adventurer life fun?”

“It was fun, but my nose suffered. The dungeon smelled terrible.”

Being an underground dungeon, it might have been particularly bad, but the air was a horrifying mix of all kinds of foul odors. If I ever get another request, I’d prefer forests or similar places over dungeons.

Am I too sensitive? Nigel and Minea seemed unfazed, so maybe it’s normal. No, those guys just don’t have as sharp a sense of smell as I do.

I shook my head involuntarily. Thinking about what lies ahead, I can’t avoid dungeons forever. I’d love to leave it all to Damien, but his skills make me uneasy.

In the game, if the controls messed up, you’d just die and respawn, but in reality, it’s worse. There’s no restart button, so I have to be extra careful.

“Really? Then should I make you a portable purification device later?”

Huh? Can demi-humans even make something like that…?

“I’d be grateful if you did.”

“Since it’s us, I’ll only charge you 10 gold!”

…10 gold?

“…So it’s not a gift, but for sale?”

“I need to eat and live too. After material costs, there’s not much left!”

Asha grinned, making a circle with her thumb and index finger and shaking it in front of me. …That’s a pretty familiar line. Scammers always say stuff like that.

Well, considering the demi-human craftsmanship, 10 gold is actually ridiculously cheap. Even a simple longsword costs dozens of gold from their kind.

“Alright. Make me one later.”

The smell is the only real issue. Brutal scenes? I’ve done worse in my excitement, so unlike the nauseating smells, I got used to them quickly.

Is this the difference between psychological and physical rejection? At least the old me wasn’t so desensitized to such things.

…In the dungeon, I definitely felt disgusted seeing human corpses at first, but after hunting a few trolls, that feeling disappeared.

Thinking back, my fighting style was like a lunatic’s, wildly enjoying the chaos. It wasn’t like I lost my rationality, though.

Reflecting on my recent actions, a chill ran through my chest. I’ve heard it before—human psychology is driven by hormones; the mind follows the body.

Even if my soul changed, this body is still Hersela’s. Every time I fight, my mind is subtly… but surely, being altered.

I forced myself to calm the rising sense of dread. Stay composed. Think of it the other way around. This is actually a good thing.

If I hadn’t been influenced by the body’s aggression and violence, could I have navigated the dungeon so smoothly? No way.

With the troll’s physical abilities, I might have won, but not so overwhelmingly.

It’ll be the same going forward. Enemies far beyond trolls will keep appearing, and with my old mindset, I wouldn’t survive.

So, let’s accept this change not as corruption, but as adaptation. I’m just getting used to this world.

Breakfast arrived, so I stopped thinking and focused on eating. The savory bacon, crispy lettuce, and juicy tomatoes were quite satisfying.

The weight of my existential worries lightened a bit.

—

“So, anything special happen in the past week?”

“Not really. The injured students have recovered and returned, and after that, it’s mostly been theory classes. I didn’t attend every day, though.”

Well, Asha wouldn’t be taking mounted combat or theology classes anyway. She can’t ride a horse, and demi-human religions differ from the Empire’s.

“Yesterday was the hostile entity lecture, right? How did that go? I heard there’s a field exercise next week. Has the location been decided?”

“Nope, they didn’t say. But since the lecture was about kobolds and trolls, it’s probably somewhere with those creatures. Are you going, Ha-shal-leur?”

“I’m thinking about it. You’re not planning to, Asha?”

“I’ve hunted trolls a few times back home. Didn’t use a lance back then, though.”

Well, it’s unusual for Asha to insist on lance charges; demi-humans usually fight with ranged firepower. Without a lance, hunting trolls wouldn’t have been too hard.

—

After finishing the meal, I returned to the dorm. Since I’ve decided to only attend hostile entity and personal combat lectures, there’s no need to go to class today.

The gauntlet I ordered had arrived. A steel gauntlet modeled after the Ice Blade.

Given the durability of academy-made longswords, this might break after five or six uses. But it’s armor, so it should last longer than a sword.

I decided to go out since I had the chance. With some money now, I’ll buy some cigarettes and finally investigate the underground waterways.

…I’ve been saying I’d investigate for a while but never found the time. There’s still plenty of time left, so it should be fine.

I stopped by the general store and bought a whole bunch of cigarettes. A whopping 10 gold worth.

The shopkeeper bowed so low his head almost touched his knees as he greeted me.

Nigel’s gaze was a bit sharp, but I ignored it. It’s my money, and I can spend it however I want.

I asked Nigel if we could go check out the underground waterways.

“You want to see the underground waterways? Why there…?” Nigel asked back, sounding suspicious.

Well, it’s true that not many people would come all the way to the capital just to see the sewers. It does sound a bit crazy.

It’s not like monsters or anything have started appearing there yet.

“I heard that the underground waterways of the capital are like a massive labyrinth. Some say they’re ancient ruins. Since Ka`har doesn’t have anything like that, I wanted to see it for myself. Is that not possible?”

“If you’re talking about massive underground ruins, didn’t you see something like that in Baron Hebel’s territory…”

“That was just a smelly ruin. I want to see something proper this time.”

I threw together some excuses. Nigel didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he nodded as if he understood.

Thanks to Nigel’s status, getting into the underground waterways wasn’t a problem.

—

The underground waterways.

A massive underground space that has existed beneath the City of Exra-shapel since it was just an ordinary city.

No one knows who built it or for what purpose, but Emperor Carolus, after exploring the underground, decided to make it the capital of the empire.

After extensive construction, it eventually became the massive waterway responsible for the city’s water supply.

The underground waterways I visited were cleaner and more magnificent than I expected.

Countless pillars supporting the city stretched out, with wide waterways flowing like rivers between them.

The 4-meter-high ceiling had magic lamps hanging from each pillar, and the floor was so clean, likely regularly maintained, that not a single bug could be seen.

The abundant underground water supplied more than enough water for the entire capital, and it purified the polluted water before sending it away.

Alongside the waterways, roads for people to walk on were laid out like a maze.

“It doesn’t smell as bad as I thought?”

“I heard the mages from the Magic Tower installed large-scale purification spells.”

As Nigel said, thanks to the purification magic, the water flowing through the vast waterways looked quite clear and clean.

Though I didn’t feel like jumping in to check.

I heightened my senses as much as I could, but aside from the fish swimming in the waterways, there was no significant presence.

No fur or anything else lying around in the underground. It seems they haven’t infiltrated the capital yet.

After wandering around for a couple of hours with no real findings, I decided to give up and head back.

The underground ruins supposedly continue further down, but that area is off-limits, so I couldn’t go in.

I guess I’ll have to wait until the off-limits status becomes meaningless.

I gave up and returned to the inn.

I’ll have to visit again sometime. The excuse I used this time won’t work again, and it’ll be hard to shake off Nigel.

What a headache.

Still, it should be fine for now.

I’ve got two and a half months left.

—

=======[Underground Waterways]========

“…The smell is gone.”

A quiet voice echoed from beyond the walls of the silent underground waterways.

It was a rough, unstable voice, mixed with growling breaths.

“Seems like they’re looking for something. Have we been discovered? The perception-blocking magic should be perfect.”

Another voice answered, also growling.

There was a hint of unease in their tone.

“If that were the case, they would’ve mobilized all the knights to comb through the waterways. The smell was only from two people, so it’s unlikely.”

“…I guess so. Well, it doesn’t matter much anyway. We don’t have much time left. Word came from the homeland to move the plan up to next month.”

The two voices conversed.

The empty waterways. The only ones listening to their conversation were the fish in the water.

“Move it up? Why…? It’s still too early to gather all our forces.”

“The Ka`har tribe finally bowed to the empire… The homeland must be anxious.”

The first voice fell silent for a moment, growling.

“Ka`har… In the end, they’re still humans. They’ve sided with their own kind… I heard their princess is here too.”

“She’s one of the top priorities. Capture or kill her—orders are to sever the connection between the empire and Ka`har.”

“…This hunt should be interesting.”

Silence fell again.

=======================

For three days, I spent my time sparring with Nigel or chatting with Calix.

In between, I went to the library to look up information on Ai-mel-ra de Median, but I didn’t find much.

Most of the records of the Twelve Knights only mentioned their names, with no details about their descendants.

…As if someone had intentionally erased them.

The next day, it was time for another lecture on combat tactics.