As the two familiar cats lead the way, I follow behind them with Batman.
The castle was more like a maze than anything. The walls twisted and turned, with some being illusions. I become more curious about this dungeon.
From what I understand now, the first user, Amelie, was reborn as a commoner in this world. She met the princess and the story goes.
Amelie was captured by some knights, and was killed on the same day. The princess didn't know all this while, and tried to resurrect her...
This resulted in the experiments conducted on students who ventured into the dungeon... But in the end, the princess died before she could find a way to revive Amelie.
In that case... for Amelie's soul to be trapped here, she must've died in the dungeon itself. In order words... this dungeon... was the castle that belonged to those who captured the commoner.
Or is it...?
The cats lead us to a small basement within the castle. It's dark, it looks more like a cell...
Inside it, there was a figure, chained by shackles. It was the commoner... her soul. I can faintly see her, but it almost seems as if it's on the brink of vanishing...
I walk closer to the figure. She's unconscious... or rather, her soul is. I need to find a way to break these chains...
A key... perhaps? I don't recall seeing any on the way here though...
"User, this is our master... please, help us free her..."
I bend down to take a look at the lock on her shackles. There's a key hole. But where could it be...
As my finger brushed against her neck, I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be her lasting memory...
"What are you doing?! Stop this-!"
"Don't hold any grudges, we're just doing our job."
...
"Your highness, it's working. A few more days before the princess will storm the castle. We'll lure her in and kill her."
Kill her...? They want to...
"But first..."
He turns to look at me.
"Let's get rid of her. We no longer have any use for her."
Everything went black.
...
Am I... dead? But... I can't feel my body...
Shackles wrapped around hands. My neck is chained to the wall.
A key... I need to find... the key...
I want to meet her again... I need to save her...
....
"...?!"
I held my head. Now.. time to explore the dungeon. I'll find the key, and if I'm lucky, I'll meet someone along the way...
I get up and begin looking around.
_____________________________________
Ugh... that light...
I look around. Where's everyone? They're gone. Were we transported to different places?
I get up.
This... isn't the castle. Where is it? Never mind that, I need to find Y/N and the rest first...
I look around. It's dark. This must be outside the castle. It's dripping wet. Puddles of water on the floor, and the occasional sound of water dripping from the ceiling.
I cast a light spell to use as a torch. I began moving forward.
[Host, you are currently underground. You've been transported under the castle.]
Under the castle? I freeze at the sight in front of me. It's a cliff. And below it, was an underground civilisation.
Well.. this sure is going to be a trouble to explore...
Hm? Is that... a statue? It looks like a girl. It stands above all the buildings, watching over them.
Guess we're heading there first.
I jump down from the cliff and land safely onto the ground with the help of my magic.
I head towards the direction of the statue, right in the middle. There, I got a closer look at it. It was much taller than it looked from up there...
Oh? There's something shining. If I could just get up there...
"Blaze, if you would."
"Of course, master."
My familiar phoenix helped get me up to the statue. I saw it, something hanging around the neck of the statue. It's a key on a necklace. But what does it unlock...?
I take it and get down.
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"Hmm... If I were a key, where would I be?"
I've been stuck here for about half an hour. I feel like I'm going in circles...
"Master, shouldn't there be some sort of puzzle for things like this? Even Batman had to figure out some sort of mystery to solve a case."
"Where are you learning these things from anyway?"
"Your memory."
Hmm.. come to think of it, if I could be transported here, I should be able to be transported elsewhere, right?
Let's see here.. just before teleporting here, I opened a door... then there was a white light. So I just need to find doors, right?
Easier said than done... doesn't this castle have over a hundred doors?
I'll just pick a random one.
I open a random door.
"Hm.. nope. This is a normal door."
"Master! This door! This one!"
I see Batman excitedly pointing at an average looking door. There's no way that normal looking door could be a portal, right?
Whatever, no harm in trying. I open it.
"The white light again???"
Batman really does have good intuition.
I close my eyes. Here I go!
When I open them, I'm in somewhere completely different.
"We did it!!"
_____________________________________
I was walking around the place. The abandoned buildings looked brand new. Almost as if people lived here just a day ago.
"We did it!!"
Huh? I turn to meet another person's eyes.
Is that Y/N?
We freeze when we see each other.
"Alisa? You're here? And is that... the key!!"
Huh? She knows about the key?
She yanked my arm and began dragging me somewhere.
"Slow down, what do you need the key for?"
"It's hard to explain... I'll show you."
She opens a door and the white light shines again. I close my eyes.
_____________________________________
I quickly take Alisa to the dungeon, where Amelie remains lying.
"Is that...?"
She seems surprised. Does she know her? Now at, how could that be possible? Amelie existed a long time ago. Besides, she doesn't belong to this world.
I quickly take the key and unlocked the shackles around Amelie.
"User, you've done it."
The cats appear from behind. They walk past a shocked Alisa, and towards their master.
"Master, it's time. Go meet your beloved."
The figure starts disappearing. Her soul... it's going to vanish for real now.
As the figure completely disappears, the cats lie beside the shackles that once bound their master, weeping.
"Master..."
The familiar bond between the cats and Amelie has been severed.
[Host, you are the new master of the two cats. Take good care of them. That is the final wish of the first user.]
The two cats get up and walk over to me. Alisa furrows her brows, and becomes more alert.
"Our new master..."
They bowed their heads.
"I am Shiro."
"And I am Kuro."
"Welcome to the family, you two."