The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 90

“…We must endure. This is all necessary.”

“I can’t… Please….”

“Are you saying you’ll give up? Are you truly willing to abandon everything… your entire purpose?”

I checked the face of the dead Dark mage.

Then, a strange sound echoed in my mind.

A wave of nausea hit me.

A sickening feeling twisted inside, rising from within.

“…What is this?”

The Dark mage’s face.

It looked familiar.

Since I had seen it at the Sun Temple, familiarity was natural.

However, something about it felt… a bit different….

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Richard came over and asked.

“It’s because of the magic attack from earlier, isn’t it? You seemed fine, but maybe you should rest.”

“No, it’s not that.”

Others approached, one by one, looking at me with concern.

I shook my head and smiled lightly to brush it off.

“It’s because of the smell.”

I hadn’t been hurt by the Dark mage’s magic.

But, having been drenched in blood and corpses, a stench radiated from me.

“Oh, is that all…?”

I replayed the memory that had just surfaced.

But I couldn’t recall it.

It brushed past like a dream, too faint to remember clearly.

“Ugh… What was it?”

The more I tried to grasp it, the further it slipped away.

Only frustration lingered.

As I kept thinking, I wet a dry cloth with drinking water.

I roughly wiped my face and armor.

While it didn’t eliminate the stench of blood and entrails, it was better than doing nothing.

I even rinsed my mouth since I’d be able to refill the water soon enough on the way back.

While I washed up quickly, Dylan gave various orders.

Thanks to that, I escaped from my thoughts.

“There may still be other Dark mages or enemies remaining. We’ll investigate this lair first and regroup afterward.”

We split into groups of three and wandered around the underground city.

I was with Jerry and Felin.

“After a 15-minute search, return to this spot. If there’s more to investigate, we’ll discuss how to proceed then.”

Each group took a torch and dispersed.

Jerry and Felin looked around the lair, chatting with a sense of wonder.

“Wow, what kind of place is this? It’s fascinating.”

“It’s a bit creepy, too.”

Unlike the appearance of a giant ant nest, the internal structure wasn’t particularly complex.

In fact, it was rather simple.

We checked each room one by one.

There wasn’t a single room that appeared to have been used normally.

“Ugh, those disgusting Dark mages….”

There were plenty of things that resembled altars.

Their shapes varied greatly.

Magic circles painted in blood.

Bones of something, strung up with tendons, hanging in rows.

Human bones were the most common, though there were also monster and animal bones.

Some were stacked into towers, yellowed with age, while others, emitting a putrid smell, seemed recently deceased.

“Ugh….”

Jerry dry-heaved, and Felin patted his back.

I pinched my nose shut, focusing on another detail.

‘At this level, decomposition gases should be filling the space. This underground city must have some ventilation system.’

We pressed forward.

Soon, we reached the end of this path.

At the end was a room, with one more room branching off to the side just before it.

We decided to check the side room first.

“This room is somewhat clean.”

“Relatively, yes.”

But odd chains lay scattered around.

The steel fixtures anchored to the walls seemed to be for restraining a person’s limbs or neck.

If someone were to stand there, the placements would roughly line up.

One around the neck.

Two for each arm.

And again, one for each ankle.

Like drawing the shape of an “S,” the device was embedded in the wall.

I took in the sight.

I absorbed the view of this room, capturing it widely in my gaze.

My consciousness begins to fade.

Someone whispers in my dazed mind.

I…

I know this place.

Before, in this very place….

For what… purpose…?

“Could this place be, like, one of those places? Where lovers bind each other and… you know, those kinds of things….”

Jerry’s secret desires broke through my reverie.

Felin shook her head in disgust.

“Talking about lovers in a dark wizard’s dwelling… Would you even think of such things here?”

“Well, maybe not….”

“Besides, it doesn’t look like it was just one person here.”

There were multiple restraints fixed to the wall.

Their sizes varied as if they were prepared for different ages and genders.

“Was this a room for confining sacrifices?”

I glanced at a restraint intended for children.

Looking at it made my insides twist uncomfortably.

Is it just the revulsion at treating a child this way?

There wasn’t anything else noteworthy.

We headed to the last room.

Finally, there was a room that looked somewhat inhabited.

“Seems like someone actually used this one?”

“Probably that dark mage from earlier.”

A desk, a bookshelf, a bed.

Although the space was quite small, it contained everything needed for living.

‘What’s this?’

I read the paper lying on the desk.

It looked like a letter.

The name at the top was the sender’s. Taboo? Maybe the dark mage’s name.

The contents… I couldn’t tell.

As if the writer left in a rush, the ink jar had tipped over.

Most of the letter’s content was obscured because of it.

‘Thorned Crown? Target? Sun? These are the only words I can make out….’

No recipient was written at the bottom, either.

Maybe they hurried off, abandoning it.

I moved away from the desk.

We rummaged around the room.

Checking if there was a hidden space or any information worth investigating.

Could there be clues in one of the books?

Maybe a key hidden between the pages or something?

I took a book from the shelf that looked recently used and opened it.

‘Nothing much… the contents seem like a journal.’

Short records with dates.

The content wasn’t encrypted.

[Recovered Gaston and Sallaman. And even got a guy named Vinyl as a bonus.]

‘…Vinyl? The one from Judeca like me? But there was no Vinyl here… Did he die during an experiment?’

[Tried to amplify it to the maximum limit from previous research. The result was a success. Just the cursed power embedded in the corpse was enough to enchant weapons. If this can be implanted in the target along with a hint….]

Cursed power.

It’s a term for the dark power used by dark mage.

From what I know, Gaston and Sallaman were killed by Eliza and sent back to each family….

‘This dark mage says he got them back? Is this place somehow related to the Moonlight Cult?’

In the future I know, there’s no connection like that.

I pulled out another journal.

This one was the oldest.

Again, no hidden keys.

Its age made the writing difficult to read.

The paper was faded and crinkled with old ink barely legible.

Roughly dated to about ten years ago.

[…brainwashing and suggestion were broken…. …Guild’s first mission… targeting Mari…. again… for the sake of… mental shock… resistance… only the suggestion… expendable…. finish and die then….]

‘Ugh, my eyes hurt.’

I couldn’t read any more and closed the journal.

Even after searching the rest, we found no useful information.

“Fifteen minutes have passed.”

Jerry checked his wristwatch and announced.

We retraced our steps back.

Around the same time, twelve of us regrouped.

It looked like there were no enemies left.

As we were putting the information together, Gauss spoke up.

“There was something like a magic lab on this side. Not for dark magic, but an actual mage’s lab.”

“Huh? So, was this guy both a mage and a dark mage ?”

“Why on earth would such a crazy person even exist?”

Surprisingly, though rare, such crazy people do exist.

Those who are intoxicated and fascinated by power, dissatisfied with magic alone.

They eventually reach out for Dark magic as well.

“There were a lot of documents on magical research and experiments.”

“There was a facility on our side that looked like it was involved with Dark magic. Like an altar or something.”

“It doesn’t look like one person could’ve used this large space alone, but at least, for now, it seems there aren’t any other enemies left here.”

Dylan summed up the situation.

“Since we’ve accomplished the main objective, we can just take the body back….”

I pondered silently for a moment, then suddenly became curious.

Would Eliza perhaps need research materials from this Dark mage?

It might even be of some help.

I asked Dylan.

“Would it be all right to call the lady here?”

“Huh? What do you mean, ah.”

I showed him the necklace.

“Perhaps it might be useful to her.”

“There are materials that could be useful to a regular mage as well, so there’s some merit in it. But, well, I don’t think I’m the one who should decide that… Is it really okay to use it so freely?”

I scratched my head.

It was given to protect Eliza, not to call her whenever I wanted.

But still… maybe it’s fine?

“If she doesn’t want to come, she’ll refuse.”

“In that case, sure.”

Everyone took a step back.

I channeled my mana into the necklace.

“I sent the signal….”

“Ah.”

Before I could finish speaking, Eliza appeared.

Just like the first time I’d tried, her face buried against my chest.

As always, she held a stuffed cat in her arms, wrapped in a red blanket like a scarf.

She rubbed her nose.

It quickly turned red.

“Forgot to adjust the coordinates… slipped my mind….”

‘What’s this? Why is she starting to show a bit of an endearing side lately?’

Unlike me, the others were startled, immediately kneeling on one knee.

When Eliza tried to cling to me, I raised a hand and took a step back.

Though I had managed a quick wash, I didn’t look presentable at all.

There was still a strong, unpleasant smell lingering.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Blinking rapidly, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Her trembling red lips asked,

“…What are you doing right now? Did you just reject me?”