Chapter 58

There were no signs the fireplace had ever been used.

In other words, if there was some sort of mechanism, it wouldn’t be something that activates by lighting a fire.

Then could it be something hidden inside? No, something that simple would have been found easily.

Which means—it’s possibly a mechanism even Ms. Kokuri Maya couldn’t find.

“Sheele, what’s wrong?”

“Melt, get excited. It looks like this house still holds more secrets. I believe something is hidden in this fireplace.”

“Really!? That’s amazing, like one of those trick mansions you hear about in stories!”

“Such things exist?”

“Yeah! In stories, there’s this country at the western edge where people called ‘Carrot Merchants’ live in special mansions full of secret tricks. Like hidden passageways behind paintings or walls that suddenly turn into doors…”

Carrot Merchants…? Is that some kind of code or euphemism?

Either way, if that concept exists, then there’s a high chance this house has mechanisms built in too.

“Melt, could you bring me the house key?”

“Got it!”

If just searching won’t uncover anything…

Then perhaps if I take an action I would only take if I were sure there’s a secret here—something might happen.

I take the key from Melt and crawl into the fireplace.

Then, in the area leading up to the chimney, a key symbol—one that wasn’t there before—suddenly appears.

“…Found it. Melt, come here.”

“What is it? …Whoa, it’s glowing in the shape of a key!”

“Let’s try holding the key up to it.”

Honestly, I’m getting a little too excited for my age.

What kind of hidden secret did the person who installed such advanced magical tech leave behind—?

At that moment, we heard a loud clunk, like something heavy falling.

Worried we might get caught up in something, we quickly scramble out of the fireplace.

“W-What was that…?”

“The noise is still going…”

Clunk-clunk. A series of heavy, intermittent sounds echoed around us.

Eventually, with a dragging noise like something massive being moved, the lower section of the fireplace—the part where firewood is placed—split open to the sides, revealing a staircase.

“A-Amazing! It leads underground! There’s totally treasure or ancient relics or legendary maps down there!”

“Hmm, I doubt it’s that exciting… but shall we go?”

“Absolutely! I’ll go get a lantern!”

Hmm… was it hiding something? Or perhaps it conceals a path that leads somewhere?

Melt returns with a lantern, which I take as I go down the stairs first.

“Looks like an underground passageway… Lots of branches. And many of the paths go upward.”

“That probably means it connects to different parts of the house upstairs, judging from the angle.”

“Hmm… In that case, there may be other entrances to this underground tunnel hidden throughout the house. Then… where does this main passageway lead?”

This isn’t a branching path—it’s a long, dark corridor that stretches onward.

Just how far does it go…?

“Let’s see… We came down from the fireplace, so this direction should be toward Lindblum’s south gate!”

“Wow, you can tell, Melt?”

“Hehe, I lived in dungeons for a long time! I have a really good sense of direction!”

“I see… That makes sense.”

Then maybe magic or tools that map dungeons would work here too…

I try opening the menu screen with that thought in mind—but it just says Unavailable.

Looks like I’ll have to rely on Melt for now.

“Still, it’s really dark… Starting to get a little scared…”

“Don’t worry. I’m strong. Even if a ghost pops out, I’ll take it down in one hit.”

We continue walking for who knows how long. Melt starts to get a little spooked, so I try to cheer her up—but perhaps saying “ghost” was a mistake.

“Eep! T-There’s no such thing as ghosts down here, right!? It’s just dark, that’s all…”

“I’m sure there’s nothing. The air is dry, it’s not cold—actually quite comfortable… Hmm?”

This place… is it being maintained? Some kind of system is operating here?

Could it be—?

“Melt, do you have the key?”

“Yup, I have it.”

“Could you hold it up, please?”

If it reacts the same as in the fireplace…

As expected, the moment Melt takes the key from her pocket and holds it up, the ceiling of the dark underground corridor begins to softly glow.

Not brightly—like faint phosphorescent paint—but with the entire ceiling glowing, it’s reasonably well-lit.

“It lit up…! Amazing! You’re awesome, Sheele!”

“It’s the person who built this who’s amazing. Now we can continue safely.”

We continue straight ahead until finally reaching a T-junction.

“What should we do, Melt?”

“…Wait. The wall ahead… I can barely hear something… voices.”

“What did you say…?”

I press my ear to the wall. The cold brick makes me shiver, but I focus and listen.

…Rather than voices, it’s a din. The distant sound of many people—scattered conversations, daily noises.

Beyond this wall… what is there?

“Could this passage lead somewhere on the other side of the wall?”

“Hmm, not sure. Which way should we go?”

“Let’s see… Based on how far we’ve walked, we’re probably just past the south gate. Let me decide.”

Melt pulls out a wooden staff from her storage bag and stands it upright on the floor.

Ah—is she going to let the direction it falls decide?

“Oh, it fell to the right! Then we go this way!”

“Hehe, let’s follow Melt’s stick.”

“Fufufu… This was actually the first staff I ever made myself. I’ve got a bunch more at home. The forest I used to live in had tons of great trees. I’d find nice branches, shape and polish them myself, make grips… I’d sell them to traveling merchants, too. People said they were sturdy and easy to use!”

“I see… It is nicely weighted for wood, very little flex, and high rigidity… A fine staff indeed.”

The surface was polished so beautifully, like cherry bark work, and the leather strap on the grip was neatly woven.

This was certainly… quite an eye-catching piece.

If I saw something like this sold at a roadside station as a folk craft, I’d probably buy it on the spot.

“If I ever return to my hometown, I’ll give you one! It’s a promise!”

“I’ll be looking forward to it. Now then, let’s head down the right path.”

And so, we continued onward. However… it was at this point that I noticed the once straight passage had begun to curve slightly.

It was starting to mess with my sense of direction.

“Feels like we’re looping around the outskirts of Lindblum. But we’re also heading slightly away from the city… I wonder where this leads?”

“I’m impressed you can tell, Melt. I’m completely lost at this point. Banzai!”

“Banzai! Sheele, are you getting tired?”

“To be honest, walking through these narrow corridors non-stop is mentally exhausting…”

Is it just me? Or is this a shared feeling among all Shizumas…? No, I suppose it’s only natural to feel uneasy walking through a dark, underground passage with no clear destination.

Melt’s cheerfulness is really reassuring right now…

“Hmm? Now that you mention it, the sounds we were hearing beyond the wall earlier—completely gone now. Maybe because we’ve moved away from the city?”

“I see… but if that’s the case, doesn’t it mean there’s another settlement beneath the city? We’re quite deep underground, after all.”

“Oh, you’re right… it’s a mystery why we heard those sounds in the first place.”

Could it be… that Lindblum still has secret sections?

An underground residential area or market… or maybe even a community living in the sewers?

It might be worth gathering some information about this later…

We must have been walking the underground passage for nearly two hours by now. At some point, Melt had taken the lead, and then suddenly she stopped and perked up her ears.

“I can hear wind blowing through…! We’re close to an exit!”

“Really!? It’s been so long…”

“But the path was easy to walk, and if we run, we’ll be out in no time!”

“That’s true. The footing has been surprisingly good.”

Could this be an emergency evacuation route…?

Following behind Melt, we pressed forward along what looked like the final stretch.

Soon, we finally came across an upward staircase.

The ceiling around here no longer glowed, so we lit the lantern again and carefully climbed the stairs.

At the top, we arrived in a small room.

It was a narrow, cramped space, about the size of a police interrogation room.

It was also dark, and there didn’t appear to be any other passageways leading out.

Shining the lantern around revealed no furniture—no chairs or tables—nothing.

“Is this the end of the line…?”

“There’s nothing here… but I swear I heard wind…”

“Hmm… Melt, let’s try turning off the light for a moment.”

We turned off the lantern. That’s when we noticed it—part of the wall was faintly outlined with light in a rectangular shape.

A door.

“Melt, it’s a hidden door. I’m opening it.”

“Oh, there’s a gap! So that’s where the wind was coming from!”

Not knowing what awaited us, we cautiously opened the door.

For a moment, the sunlight that poured in blinded us.

And then our noses caught the strong scent of greenery.

As our eyes adjusted, we realized—we were in a deep forest.

“This place… the hidden door is camouflaged as rock… Where could this be?”

“We’re in the mountains! Amazing—so the house connects directly to the mountains!”

From the outside, the door would be impossible to find.

No, in fact—

“Melt, try closing the door.”

“Okay. Heave—”

When the door, disguised as rock, closed, it now looked like a completely ordinary boulder.

From outside, you couldn’t even see the seams or gaps anymore.

What’s more, it wouldn’t open unless you knew how.

“Hmm… it’s just a rock now.”

“Try bringing the key close to it, Melt.”

“Oh, right… There! It opened!”

“That confirms it. This underground passage must be an emergency escape route. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to lead to any treasure or secret rooms.”

“Aww… really…? Then maybe the other fork at the start leads somewhere like this too?”

“Most likely. Melt, does this place look familiar to you?”

“Hmm? The forest… judging by the plants and trees, it might be close to that mountain to the east.”

“I think you’re right. It’s probably near that mountain. That large rock must have been installed for camouflage, and if we’d gone the other way at the fork, we’d probably have ended up somewhere along the western road.”

This could be very useful…

Character switching can easily be done inside the house, but having unfamiliar people coming and going too often might raise suspicions or seem unnatural.

If we were being watched… it would definitely be suspicious.

But with this passage, at the very least, we could pretend we came from outside the city.

When I shared this thought with Melt—

“Then I’ll use this path to get home! Though I can only use it when I’m alone.”

“It’s a direct route, after all. You’d certainly get back quicker that way.”

“Right? When you think of it that way, it’s kind of convenient!”

“Well then… to figure out exactly where we are, how about we walk back through the forest instead of using the underground passage?”

“Agreed! And while we’re at it, let’s look for mushrooms in the forest!”

It ended up turning into an unexpected picnic, but we still gained something valuable.

This passage is definitely useful… and Melt looked genuinely happy.

Still, what was that noise on the other side of the wall all about?

After exiting the forest, we found ourselves just before the mountain on the eastern highway—between the farmlands and the foot of the mountain.

I see. Coming out of the forest here wouldn’t look suspicious. We’d just seem like adventurers out on a quest.

But really—what were the former residents of that house planning when they built such a passage?

“We’ve reached the usual road, haven’t we? Then let’s head back to Lindblum?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

We walked leisurely through the farmland area.

This road I usually rush down just for character switching.

Even as Silent, I only ever sprinted along it when rushing off for a job.

But now, walking slowly with Melt like this… it all felt so new and refreshing.

“Looks like this used to be a wheat field. It’s all been harvested, but now birds are gathering to eat the bugs that got dug up.”

“Yes. That bird doesn’t appear to be a monster, does it?”

“Right, it’s not. Unfortunately, it’s a migratory bird without much meat on it.”

“I see. That is unfortunate.”

I lowered the bow I had been holding at the ready.

“Sheele… are you hungry?”

“Just a little…”

“Then let’s go eat when we get back to town! There’s a place I really want to show you!”

“Oh? A recommendation from you, Melt?”

“Yes! It’s called Jangari-an! It’s a pie shop! Do you know what pie is?”

“Yes, I do. Pie… that sounds wonderful…!”

I also carry Same’s memories. But eating something yourself and merely remembering it are two completely different things.

My hunger grew stronger. Just hearing the name of a specific dish made my stomach growl shamelessly.

“Then let’s go!! I’ll take you there!”

“Fufu, I’m counting on you, Melt.”

And so, we arrived at the east gate.

…It’s been a while, gatekeeper. By now, we’re pretty familiar faces, aren’t we?

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