First floor. *Thud, thud*, piles of stone kept crunching under his feet. Since there were many places where the floor had collapsed, Van looked down as he slowly moved forward.
‘I should’ve brought fire.’
Although moonlight was coming in through the windows, it had its limits for clearly distinguishing objects. Van recalled the candles lined along the corridor walls on that floor. How about going back up with those candles? He’d heard that those candles, which burned while consuming Rowy’s mana, would absolutely never go out unless Rowy willed it.
…However, Van didn’t carry this out since he didn’t know what principles magic operated on. It wasn’t that he worried the fire would go out. He was just concerned it might somehow disturb Rowy’s deep sleep.
Van raised his eyesight a bit more and scanned his surroundings. There was nothing particularly unusual on the first floor. Just that there were unusually many places where the floor was broken. Walking like that from end to end along the corridor, Van came face to face with a completely collapsed corridor. It seemed there had been some attempt at reinforcement, as plywood was laid on top, but even that wasn’t in good condition.
“Hmm.”
The other side of this corridor was a dead end anyway. After glancing at the wall, Van turned his attention to below the collapsed corridor.
‘It seemed like there was a basement.’
Van looked down and tried to gauge the depth. However, the floor where light didn’t reach was endlessly black.
“……”
After contemplating briefly, Van leapt down below. And so, the basement. *Drip. Drip.* The sound of water dropping continued from somewhere. Van, who had closed his eyes for a moment to adjust to the darkness, slowly opened them.
The basement wasn’t as dark as he’d thought. Light was seeping in through cracks in the broken ceiling here and there. Van looked around, relying on that small light.
‘Was this originally a prison?’
In the moss-covered basement, piles of stone created by collapsing walls were accumulated in places. Van carefully walked between the debris while trying to gauge its original form.
‘It looks like there’s nothing here either.’
Though the basement was quite spacious, since all the walls had collapsed, it was rather easy to take in at a glance. In a place where he could see from end to end just by turning his head, Van slowly explored his surroundings without even knowing what he should be looking for.
‘By the way, this isn’t going to collapse, right?’
A massive underground space gouged out without a single supporting wall—it was quite unsettling. If it completely crumbled like this…
‘No. Surely not. Master said it wouldn’t collapse.’
If he’d known that was actually limited to the second floor, would things have been different? No, he probably would’ve only worried about the sky falling even if he’d known. …Who would’ve thought the ground would cave in.
“……!”
Without even managing to scream, Van disappeared below the collapsing floor.
* * *
‘There was a second basement floor too?’
Despite the sudden fall, Van quickly regained his balance and landed, then went on alert. The sound of water was closer than before. Having descended one more floor from an already dark place, even Van with his good eyesight could now barely see ahead.
“Haah…”
Van exhaled a sigh and walked forward relying on his instincts. The second basement floor, which he hadn’t even known existed. Here too, the floor was broken in many places. Every time he touched the walls, they dropped stone fragments with a *rustle rustle*. Van moved his body even more carefully than before.
…There were no special features here either. Just that the smell of water was strong, perhaps because there was a waterway nearby. The water pooled abundantly on the floor seemed to have leaked from the waterway.
‘If I go further in, I really won’t be able to see anything.’
The space, which seemed even more massive than the first basement floor, showed no end no matter how far he went. After walking inward and inward for quite a while, Van eventually turned his steps around. To examine it properly, it seemed better to come back with fire. And… he got lost.
‘The place where I fell earlier is definitely… here, right?’
He went back and examined the ceiling, but the ceiling was blocked without a single gap. Thinking he’d found the wrong spot, he walked all around the vicinity, but it was futile.
“Ha.”
Van let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity. Getting lost in this wide-open space? Does that make sense? But no matter how much he examined the ceiling, all he could see was a solidly blocked stone wall, with no crack large enough for Van to have fallen through visible at all. It seemed he’d lost his sense of direction because it was too dark.
‘I need to get back before Master wakes up.’
After contemplating briefly, Van eventually gauged the direction the wind was flowing from and began walking that way. Whether it was a waterway or whatever, there would be a way out. After walking like that for some time,
“…Again?”
The floor collapsed again! Falling down, down below, Van screamed a soundless scream.
‘What on earth is this castle made of!’
* * *
Meanwhile, in the bedroom. Rowy, who had woken up, was lying in bed shedding tears in streams. It was the very situation Van had worried so much about.
‘Where did Van go?’
Normally, Van would have rushed over the moment Rowy made a rustling sound, but today he didn’t show even a trace of himself despite Rowy crying his eyes out. It couldn’t be helped. Van was currently wandering the basement.
‘He really left just because I told him to?’
Of course, Rowy, who had no way of knowing this, cried *sob sob* while resenting Van. He didn’t even know what was so sad. The tears just poured out. Why was it like this every night? Was there really something wrong, just as Van said? Should he have met with a doctor? But… what medicine is there for depression?
Was it to keep your mind at ease and exercise? Rowy recalled what Josef had rambled about. But he didn’t feel like doing that at all. The symptoms he’d thought would get better soon only grew worse and worse.
“……”
He tried thinking various other thoughts, but still sleep wouldn’t come. Ah, why is my life like this? Tears came again. Rowy just shed tears in streams with his thoughts stopped.
If you ask when this started… it wasn’t a long-standing symptom. Rowy had lived as he pleased, and therefore hadn’t really experienced stress. The depression that suddenly came was all the more strange for that reason. This happened, let’s see, so.
‘The island is cursed.’
Be careful.
Two years ago, on the ship entering the island, the Captain had said this to Rowy. Not knowing how those words would sound to Rowy. Rowy, wiggling his bottom, rushed into the island and began recklessly digging into the island’s mysteries. A year and a half passed in an instant like that. And six months ago, depression suddenly rushed in.
‘The island is cursed.’
Could this be precisely the curse? There was no way to know. Rowy kept burrowing into the blankets.
* * *
Third basement floor. Below the abyss, the abyss. Falling into the maw of darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, Van thought. He was falling so deeply that it felt like an illusion of falling for several minutes.
Eventually, in the darkness where nothing was visible, Van simply executed a breakfall technique according to his sixth sense. Van, an excellent swordsman, landed properly even in a situation where he couldn’t see at all. …However, the place he fell this time had its floor half-submerged in water.
“Damn it.”
Van got up while shaking off his soaking wet clothes.
‘This place is…’
So. The third basement floor… would that be acceptable? Having fallen this deeply. Anyway, the basement of the basement of the basement. Van examined his surroundings with an enlightened expression. However, all he could see was just darkness. Just in case, Van raised his head and looked at where he’d fallen from. …As expected, nothing was visible. Darkness on all sides.
“…Ha.”
Van, left alone in the middle of darkness, exhaled a sigh at his bewilderment.
‘This is serious. At this rate, I really won’t make it back before Master wakes up.’
The worst situation would be Van ultimately not being able to escape from this place, causing Rowy to come all the way here looking for Van. For a former knight, it was shameful to keep being rescued by his master. Especially when he’d confidently come down saying he’d find the castle’s dangers.
‘…Let’s get back somehow.’
After Van firmly resolved himself, he began walking forward, groping along the wall. In any case, the fact that there was a space underground like this meant there was also a way up, didn’t it? If he followed along the wall and found some collapsed stairs, he could just exit through there. After advancing like that for some time, he could see light dimly at the end.
‘Is that the entrance? I’m saved.’
Van brightened and quickly headed that way. However, the closer he got, the more he realized something was strange. That light wasn’t an entrance. Not an entrance but…
‘What is that?’
Van approached even closer toward that light. The light was flowing out from the wall.
‘This is…’
The closer he got, the clearer the identity of that light entered Van’s eyes. A familiar shape. A silver ring, and a blue gem embedded in the center.
‘Isn’t this Master’s magical artifact?’
A ring that looked exactly like the magical artifact that had been on Rowy’s hand was stuck right in the center of the basement wall. The faint light was flowing from that gem. Why would this be in such a deep basement?
For a moment, he remembered that Rowy was supporting the entire castle with magical artifacts. Then was this one of those? But… did it need to be placed in this deep basement? This place was even collapsed like this despite having a magical artifact that supposedly supported the space. Van, who was ignorant about magic, couldn’t understand the reason at all.
‘A magical artifact embedded in the wall…’
Van, lost in thought, unconsciously touched that gem with his fingertip. And at that moment… suddenly the entire basement awoke and began to move. It was the work of Rowy’s mana that had been sleeping inside the magical artifact.
*Whoooosh!* Torches blazed up one after another along the walls. Simultaneously, the broken walls and floor were restored, the floor that had been half-submerged in water dried up, and the form of the massive basement was completely revealed before Van. While watching that spectacle with something close to enchantment, Van’s face… gradually filled with shock.
‘What is this…’
What appeared before Van’s eyes as the darkness lifted was… a demon summoning circle of tremendous size.
