They encountered two chimeras in front of the stairs they had barely reached. Esperanza succeeded in severing both their necks in an instant, but at the same time, the stair steps split in two.
"Esperanza!"
The top and bottom of the stairs grew apart. Cider, who had been standing on the upper stairs, reached out his hand, but before he could even grasp Esperanza's fingertips, his vision distorted. As if the entire space had been cut away, the space above the stairs turned black. He couldn't even sense any presence.
Cackling laughter echoed throughout. A thin, cunning voice. Esperanza gritted her teeth.
'It's the boss.'
She had the feeling they'd been caught by no easy opponent. Naturally, since it was a dungeon created by the meticulous Cyrus to eliminate the calculating Galliston.
Damn Cyrus. Just let me get out of here and I'll kill you.
[01:19:23]
One hour and twenty minutes remaining.
The time that had felt leisurely just moments before now felt tight.
Most of the people were on the upper stairs with Cider. What remained on the lower stairs were Esperanza, who had originally been at the very back of the group, and those who had rushed to save a maid caught by the chimera...
Duke Galliston and the maid with the axe.
A headache struck. All the few combatants had gathered on this side!
"At least Your Highness should have gone to the other side!"
The duke frowned as if he felt wronged, but Esperanza was beyond reason.
There weren't even any combatants on that side! The originally refined Cider Claiborne, who should have only needed to use his head elegantly, was about to handle all the combat alone. She'd be glad if even he could escape safely, but what if luck was bad? What if he encountered a minotaur-level monster like before?
Esperanza owed nothing to the other people swept up because of the duke. She would try to save them, but even if the results were bad after doing her best, it couldn't be helped. But Cider—Cider had entered the dungeon because of Esperanza.
'Because of me. He might die because of me.'
Her heart became impatient. She couldn't let him die. Even if it meant abandoning all these people, she had to save Cider.
"First, let's go look for those people. First, let's confirm where we are..."
"Miss Hunter, calm yourself."
The duke pressed down on Esperanza's shoulder. Her body, which had seemed ready to dash out at any moment, stiffened.
"Miss Runderford, don't you have any chocolate?"
"I don't know how Your Highness knew, but... I have one that Alice gave me. If you don't mind it being a bit melted."
Lily Runderford placed a half-melted chocolate on Esperanza's hand. Esperanza peeled the chocolate wrapper, put it in her mouth, and took a deep breath.
"Miss Hunter. Is there any way to contact Avondale?"
"Ah. Right."
From deep in her inventory came an earring with only one side. Would Cider remember the existence of this magical tool too? It was actually half a gamble.
When her hand kept slipping as she tried to put on the earring, Lily helped her put it on with somehow skillful hands. When she infused mana, there was noise like tuning a frequency, then it became quiet.
"Hello?"
'Hello'? This isn't even a phone.
—Esperanza. What's with that polite greeting?
Ah. It connected. Even though it was a voice she'd heard just moments ago, it felt as welcome as if she'd heard it after a long time. The tension in her stiffened body relaxed.
"You're not hurt anywhere, right? Are you okay?"
Esperanza asked. Cider let out a low laugh.
—What about you.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Unlike the 'below stairs' people who could somehow maintain composure, the 'above stairs' people were in complete chaos, sitting down and crying. Cider Claiborne was very dissatisfied with the current situation of having to go to the dungeon's center with worthless people he had no interest in, separated from Esperanza of all times.
'Should I abandon them?'
Realistically, he couldn't take them all anyway. He wasn't Esperanza. Even if he selected only those capable of combat to take along, the survival rate would drop without Esperanza. And he was supposed to drag along all the injured? Not a chance.
He was different from Esperanza, whose purpose in coming here was to save people. Cider wouldn't have come in the first place if not for Esperanza. Whether dungeons existed or not, whether people died or not—what did he care?
And people sensitive to survival quickly noticed his attitude.
"You're not planning to abandon us and leave, are you?"
Cider pondered briefly. There were some notable faces. If those people disappeared, Esperanza would surely ask about their whereabouts. He didn't want to tell lies that would be exposed quickly.
Certainly, leaving the injured behind didn't look very good. At least not right now.
"As if I would."
Cider, having finished thinking, gave a mechanical smile. Everyone who saw that sculpted, elegant smile could tell what kind of picture he was drawing in his head. Cold sweat ran down their spines.
"It would be better to go to the dungeon's central area first. Esperanza should be heading there too."
"Won't you look for His Highness?"
Mrs. Kirkfield, who had taken on the role of spokesperson for the employees simply because she was the only senior employee, stepped forward and asked.
"How would I find him? That side can take care of himself, so there's no need to worry."
While saying this, he was worrying about the person who had been facing an entire dungeon single-handedly...
Cider climbed the stairs without feeling an ounce of guilt about his contradictory thoughts. People followed one by one, hesitating.
Nothing happened while climbing to the third floor. When Cider stepped on the last stair, he heard a familiar voice in his ear.
—Hello?
It was a careful, polite voice. His mood improved remarkably.
"Esperanza. What's with that polite greeting?"
Laughter easily burst out. Even though it wasn't a situation to laugh at all. They exchanged a few trivial words while hiding their worry for each other, then agreed to meet at the dungeon's center.
Cider's group on the third floor was not far from the dungeon's center. It was a distance they could reach within 10 minutes on foot... according to Mrs. Kirkfield. If luck followed them, they might be able to pass without encountering a single monster.
But there was no way nothing would happen.
There was only one corridor leading to the chapel, and in front of it sat a monster with a lion's body like a gatekeeper.
"H-how do we get through that?"
The maids glanced at the giant monster while holding each other's hands tightly. They couldn't bring themselves to turn toward the monster and just stamped their feet behind the corridor.
Cider looked for the maid who had picked up the box earlier.
"Your name was Miss Alice, wasn't it? Did you happen to pick up anything around here?"
"Even though I'm good at picking things up, in a situation like this..."
That was also true. There hadn't been time for that. Cider fell into thought. If it were Esperanza, she would have broken through without hesitation. If he were alone, he might have chosen combat too.
But if too many died, wouldn't Esperanza think about these people even after leaving the dungeon? He had no intention of letting uncomfortable matters intrude on their pleasant and comfortable atmosphere.
A way to get rid of that docile, heavy-bottomed-looking monster without casualties... Then, something caught his eye.
"Mrs. Kirkfield. Is your glasses a magical tool?"
"Yes. It's something His Highness gave me on my 60th birthday. Why this?"
"It must have a tracking function? Then what kind of gear, no wait. Give it to me first."
Mrs. Kirkfield handed over her glasses with a very displeased expression. Cider also took small mechanical devices and weapons Esperanza had shared from other employees. Then he sat down in the corridor and began disassembling them.
"Lord Avondale, what are you doing now?"
"If we can't deal with that monster, we have no choice but to chase it away."
That was the end of his answer. Most equipment was in Esperanza's inventory, so all he had was the stimulator he carried and one multi-tool. However, Cider's touch was on most of Esperanza's magic weapons, and he knew well where what parts were and how those parts could be utilized.
After ten or so minutes, an assembled automaton of obviously crude appearance stood on the floor.
"It looks pathetic..."
Alice unconsciously muttered, then quickly covered her mouth. Cider raised an eyebrow once and ignored it. He also knew it looked funny. When he inserted a magic stone, the four legs moved with a hopping motion. He disassembled the automaton again and replaced several parts.
After completing the automaton, what he did was take out a Paoran cigarette from his chest. As if he desperately needed one Paoran. And he actually lit it. The employees' mouths fell open.
"What if we get caught!"
"Shh."
The gentle, indifferent count's eyes looked blurred, obscured by the acrid Paoran smoke. After lightly warning the people, he took exactly one puff of smoke and fitted the Paoran cigarette into the automaton's tail. Three of them in a row. When he put down the automaton, the hopping machine spread thick smoke as it moved.
The fire attached to the tail of the automaton racing straight toward the opposite end of the corridor emitted pungent smoke. From the gaping hole presumed to be its mouth, mana bullets burst out with banging sounds.
"Everyone behind the door."
The people who had been watching this scene as if enchanted moved creakily behind the door like puppets on strings when the command was given.
The monster that had been quietly guarding its position wrinkled its nose at the acrid smell approaching from the other end of the corridor. Grrrowl, it let out a low cry with a human-like face and slowly wagged its lion tail. The monster, which had twisted its face savagely, rose up. When the giant shadow stood at the crossroads, people covered their mouths and killed their presence. Please, please.
The beast with human-like eyes glanced this way once, then turned toward the opposite corridor filled with smoke and noisy gunfire sounds. When even the last strand of tail fur disappeared around the corner, everyone finally exhaled the breath they had been holding.
"We're alive!"
Relief that felt like their entire bodies might melt swept over the group. Only the person who had accomplished all this calmly stood up with his walking stick and brought his hand to his ear.
"Now that the dead weight has fallen off, you seem quite excited?"
Despite the rather twisted content, his voice was sweetly gentle. He knew people were listening, but he stepped unhesitatingly over where the monster had been and focused on communication.
—Not excited exactly, is everything okay on your side?
"Thanks to you. I'm in front of the chapel now. The door is closed..."
—Ah, that thing!
Along with an exclamation that cut the sentence in half, mana bullets exploded and there was a sound like a building collapsing.
"Are you okay?"
—Great! Ah, Your Highness, take care of yourself properly!
Ah, good.
—Wait a moment, I'll talk to you later!
The voice cut off abruptly, and then there was only labored breathing. The monster's roar in the background and the unknown maid's battle cry, the duke's voice and the sounds of clashing, exploding, and pouring were louder, but such things weren't worth worrying about.
He threw open the chapel door.