Sub Quest (7)

A chill passed over my spine as it brushed against my back.

However, Leonardo was walking ahead nonchalantly, so it was difficult to show any signs of discomfort. I bit my lip and closely followed behind him.

Though Leonardo kindly tilted his torch lower, thinking I was staying close because I couldn't see well in the dark, I had to subtly refuse his gesture, as I couldn't let the torch reveal the expression on my face to the world.

Calm down. It's not something to be so surprised about. It's not the first time I've seen those letters distort. If I were to use the "Innkeeper's Insight" on Leonardo right now, I'd see the same phenomenon.

Of course, that's just a result of the limitations of my ability, and the scratching out of the instructions provided a fundamentally different kind of unease.

In any case, I calmed myself. We had already started this dangerous game from the very beginning, so there was no need to panic now. After reassuring myself, I looked up and locked eyes with Leonardo.

I held back. Reflexively smiling, I asked, 

"What's wrong?" 

"You've been unusually quiet." 

Ah. If I'm scared in a place like this, the image of the shameless, suspicious innkeeper I've carefully built up will completely collapse. I composed my expression. I had no choice but to dismiss it with an excuse and a wave of my hand. 

"Just… the smell is awful." 

However, Leonardo didn't let me off with a simple reply. He slowed his pace, walking silently, and asked,

"Now that I think about it, I never asked you. Are you from Sinistra?" 

The way he asked made it seem connected to the underground sewer or the stories about the calamity that happened ten years ago. Instead of answering, I responded with another question. 

"…Why do you ask?" 

"It's just a simple question. Thinking about it, you could be from outside. Am I right?"

"….."

The more Leonardo pried into my past, the more awkward my responses became. After all, how could there possibly be any detailed backstory for me, someone who suddenly dropped from the sky into this world? I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut. After a moment of silence, Leonardo suddenly apologized in a serious tone.

"I'm sorry if I upset you. Since coming here, you've seemed down, and I thought maybe it was bringing up some bad memories. If it's tied to this place… well, considering how much Sinistra and its people suffered during that time, I thought it might be overwhelming."

My mind raced. From the start, I had subtly hinted to Leonardo that I thought highly of Leovald, and Sinistra owed a great debt to the hero Leovald. To connect these dots, there would have to be a background story linking the innkeeper's past and Leovald, who had saved Sinistra. 

But the problem was that this wasn't a story I could unravel right now. 

"I have a lot of bad memories." 

I smiled, lifting the corner of my mouth, and took a few steps ahead. My heart was pounding wildly.

Up until now, the "innkeeper" character I'd portrayed in front of Leonardo had been rather vague. I ran an inn and doubled as an informant in Sinistra, offering charity to the reckless young master Leonardo since our first meeting, showing some leniency toward the vagrants, and generally blending in with the city's atmosphere. 

I was roughly aligned with the protagonist, but without any standout backstory, I had been stuck with the role of a minor character. 

At least there was one advantage. I had started as extra number 1,001, and until I took on the innkeeper role, I was destined to disappear into dust and vanish. 

In other words, I had no past or connections with anyone in this world. No one could prove anything about me, but on the other hand, even if I made up a lie, no one could actually disprove that I was someone else either. 

So, in order to survive, I spoke calmly. 

"I'm not from this region. Ever since I was born, I've been like a floating weed, drifting around without ever staying in one place."

It wasn't a lie. I wasn't born in Sinistra, and it was true that I had moved from house to house when I was a child. Blending truth into the story made it more convincing than making everything up. It left fewer gaps in the narrative.

"Eventually, I ended up in Sinistra by chance. It wasn't intentional." 

I didn't specify the exact time. In reality, I'd only arrived in Sinistra about two weeks ago when I suddenly dropped into this world, but if Leonardo misinterpreted my vague expression and assumed it had been about ten years, that was his choice to make. 

But I couldn't be too brazen, so my throat felt dry. Uncomfortable, I lowered my head slightly.

"…Because of that, I've had my fair share of hardships." 

Yeah. There were those days I had to worry about being written out of the script. That wasn't a lie either. Looking back, it seemed like most of what I said wasn't far from the truth, even if it wasn't the full truth.

At this point, I decided to steer the conversation away. I had thrown a snowball, but I wasn't sure where it would roll, and I knew I needed to cut it off at the right moment.

"Well, how about it? Did you clear up some of your questions?"

When I glanced back at Leonardo, he was much closer than I expected. 

What surprised me most was how hard his expression had become. Even with his face half-covered by the mask, his anger was unmistakably clear. I flinched involuntarily, and Leonardo spoke in a firm voice. 

"…So, bad memories, huh. I've heard that, back then, there were people who tried to capture outsiders for human sacrifice—"

Human sacrifice? 

The conversation had taken an unexpected turn, and I froze for a moment. Leonardo's hand clenched into a fist. 

"I'm sorry for bringing up something from the past. I apologize." 

"Uh, uh… okay…" 

My response was stiff and awkward, but Leonardo didn't comment on it. Cold sweat began to trickle down my back. Had I said too much, too soon, without knowing what had really happened ten years ago? 

I had managed to evade his questioning for now, but there were plenty of things I wanted to ask in return. I had thought it was just a typical fantasy setting with war, rebellion, or maybe a monster invasion—things that often happen in such stories. But judging by his reaction, there was something more to it. Still, if I asked, it would probably raise even more suspicions, so I kept my mouth shut. 

The unease in me grew more concrete, tightening around my heart.

This unease had only deepened after we arrived at the large open space following the labyrinthine paths of the underground sewer and saw the walls covered in journals. 

>

Handprints and sharp scratches marred the surface of the walls, covering every inch. Leonardo seemed to have already known about this, glancing at a few lines before showing little interest and scanning the area for any traces of someone having left something behind. 

I knew I should act like Leonardo, but I couldn't help but be drawn in by the records that filled the walls. It was now clear that this wasn't some ordinary war or monster invasion. What was going on here? My curiosity gnawed at me, but deep down, a part of me felt that perhaps it would be better not to know. The fear that had been building within me was overtaken by a stronger impulse as my eyes were drawn to the words on the wall, reading through the writings that filled the space.

"Is there a problem?" 

"…No. Just looking around for a bit. Find anything?" 

I snapped back to reality at Leonardo's voice. He was looking at me with a curious expression, and I acted as casually as possible as I moved toward him. Leonardo, perhaps not noticing anything off, continued speaking in a calm tone.

"Because it's a single passage, it's hard to find any traces of the cat. However, the footprints and signs of a recent meal suggest that someone has been here recently. I suspect it's that suspicious group. Since the citizens of Sinistra wouldn't come all the way down here, they're likely outsiders. Whether they're in the service of Lord Lopez, I can't say for sure yet."

"…It would be nice if we could at least spot one of them from a distance."

That way, I could use the 'innkeeper's insight' to figure something out. 

Leonardo gazed beyond the tangled sewer system and spoke. 

"They definitely aren't on the first underground level." 

"Yeah. The terrain down here isn't great, so considering the recent ghost captain rumours, they must have been rummaging through the first floor until just before. So, it's probably the second or third floor they're on now."

I tapped the wall of the underground sewer, agreeing with Leonardo's assessment. Should we head down to the second floor? I glanced down at my feet with an uneasy feeling. 

Finding the cat was proving to be more difficult than I thought.