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After I woke, with Sufi supporting me, I dragged my weary body to undo the sealed door so we could attempt our escape.

For future uses, I packed away in the pocket some wall fragments I’d separated using disassembly and transmutation, the broken gun, and the strange stone that had come from the weasel. With that, we left the storage room. All that remained was to aim for the surface.

Since the stone sword had snapped during the fight with the weasel, I made new ones from rubble and handed one each to Sufi and Noche. As for me, I was carried on Filia’s back.

By this point, I was already pretty much at my limit, so all I can do next is become luggage.

“Alright, let’s get out of here, nya.”
“…W-wait.”

Just as we finished preparations and started toward the surface, I spotted some writing among the rubble. It looked like the part that had once been inscribed around the base of the pedestal.

Thanks to the lantern, I could see it clearly now.

“…Something about that pattern, nya?”
“Those are writings.”

Noche tilted her head at the rubble. Filia, carrying me on her back, thoughtfully walked closer to it.

…Through my foggy mind, I read what was written, and somehow it all made sense.

It told of the general circumstances under which a “monster” named the Calamity Wind Beast was sealed within this strange ruin.

Long ago, probably before the Zergia Empire… back in what was called the Age of the Gods, there was a village in this area. A terrible monster appeared there.

Taking the form of a weasel, this evil creature slipped into the village like a quiet wind descending from the mountains and attacked the villagers. The people of that time fought back, but their efforts were in vain. They were unable to call upon the Great One’s manservant…Divine Soldier would fit the translation better, I think.

They were unable to call upon the Divine Soldier who protected this land, and the village fell into mortal danger. At that time, a few brave… err, shrine maidens, offered themselves as decoys. They lured the monster deep into this labyrinth, said to have existed since the gods first descended upon this land, and used a miracle bestowed by the gods to seal the entrance.

The villagers, grateful for the shrine maidens’ courage and devotion, left behind this story-like record at the place where the monster had been sealed.

There was no doubt that the weasel was the monster sealed in the ruins. The relief I felt inside was immense; if anything worse than that thing had come out, we’d never have been able to handle it.

“Alice, this is alchemy text or something, right? What does it say?”
“Uh, well… it says that weasel was the identity of the monster—cough—of the ruins… that got sealed here…”
“It sure popped out a lot for something that got sealed, nya…”

I could imagine a reason. The stone walls illuminated by the lantern were crumbling; over time, they’d deteriorated, and massive flooding had caused parts of the wall to collapse. On top of that, the noise we made walking through the labyrinth probably drew its attention.

Reacting to the commotion, it likely climbed up through the broken wall to the upper area.

There were still a lot of things I was curious about, but my head wasn’t working right now.

“So, looks like nothing worse is coming out, nya.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Y-yeah…”
“All right, then let’s go, nya!”

Still visibly tense and cautious, the two of them raised their weapons and started moving. I swayed on Filia’s back, struggling to stay conscious and endure the ride.

■■■

Though we were attacked by rats several times along the way, Sufi and Noche, armed with their weapons, were strong.

Sufi dropped low and lunged forward to slash at a rat’s neck, while Noche leapt off the wall with agile movements to strike from above.

It wasn’t exactly coordinated, and their weapons were crude swords roughly sharpened from stone. Still, the strikes coming from both above and below seemed pretty powerful—they managed to fend them off without much trouble and continued toward the surface.

Along the way, we occasionally came across the remnants of humans and felt a little disheartened, carefully passing through the collapsed areas… and after what felt like several hours, we finally emerged onto a familiar path.

It was the usual underground passage we always used for gathering—one we knew well. From there, progress was quick.

“Haah…”

Noche flattened her ears and let out a relieved sigh. Filia visibly relaxed as well, and Sufi’s tail, which had been stiff with tension, began to sway from side to side.

I couldn’t relax, though, because even the slightest lapse in focus could make me pass out.

My body had long since reached its limit, and I was keeping consciousness purely through sheer will. I was the only one who could navigate the way and maintain the lantern, so I had to hold on at least until we returned to the surface.

“We finally made it back, nya.”
“Ugh… feels like we were underground for days.”
“Filia, want to switch carrying me?”
“Ah, yeah.”

I offered a small thanks to Filia, who had carried me the entire way, and now Sufi would carry me on her back. Pathetic as it felt, forcing myself would have only caused more trouble, so I obediently went along.

There were also things I wanted to discuss—it was just the right opportunity.

“…Sufi, um…”
“Mm?”
“……”

What I whispered into her ear was something I’d been thinking about for a long time but had kept down, thinking it would be pushing it. I’d been struggling with whether it was right to drag them along just for our own selfish desires.

I hadn’t said it before because I thought speaking carelessly would end up involving everyone else.

But this time, I felt a little liberated. After all, just asking wouldn’t cost anything.

“Yeah, Sufi is okay with that.”
“Really?”
“Mm, want to try asking later?”

Luckily, Sufi agreed. She smiled softly, saying it was a good idea.

“Nyah… you two.”

The sound of wind entered the underground passage, and as we neared the surface, Noche looked back.

“What are we gonna do after this, nya? Others will probably come looking too, nya.”

A relatively strong group in the slums had gone after beastfolk children and disappeared. Surely other adults would start moving too… I really felt like we’d caused a lot of trouble for Noche and Filia.