Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“Ah, it’s been too long! Now then, shall we have a taste?”

The souls of some of the newly transformed children began to slip out of their limp doll bodies. Rodrigo savored the scent of their souls as they filled his goblet.

“How delectable. Master will be pleased.”

The children let out piercing screams and, one by one, relinquished the toys and dolls they clutched in their grasp.

Rodrigo gave a wicked smile, declaring, “Now! This concludes our first game, Duck-Duck-Goose: The Easter Egg of Death. Congratulations to our surviving children!”

“Ahhhh! D-demon! It’s a demon!”

“T-then this must be a dungeon!”

“Please, don’t look at me like that. It makes me sad,” Rodrigo whined unconvincingly. “I truly do love young children like yourselves. Let us enjoy our time together. Please?”

“R-run for your lives!”

“A door! There’s a door!”

The children rushed to the front door, eager to escape the now terrifying parlor, but the door did not budge.

Rodrigo twirled a ring of keys around his finger and said, with a snicker, “Only I, the butler, have access in and out of this manor. The entrance has been sealed shut, and you’d be wasting your time searching for the exit. Count Orshe’s manor is unique. It’s unlike any other dungeon.”

What? A dungeon that deactivates both the entrance and exit before ever even meeting the boss? Was he bluffing, or were we really trapped? I couldn’t believe the demon’s words.

⟬The Voice that Shapes the World says it’s true.⟭

⟬The Advocate of Confidentiality whips out a yellow card and is ready to blow the whistle.⟭

Lord Confidentiality reacted much more strongly than they had before.

Thanks for letting me know, Lord Voice.

Sealing the entrance and exit gates effectively quashed any and all hope. If escape from inside the manor was impossible, rescue teams would also be unable to enter. The only possible way to exit this dungeon would be to defeat Count Orshe, the dungeon boss.

“T-then are we stuck in here? Are we all gonna die?”

“M-mom... Waaah!”

Rodrigo’s expression twisted into a sadistic grin as he shouted to the children sobbing in despair, “Then let us promptly begin the second game! The next game is… Ta-dah! Hide-and-Seek of Death!”

Several short, stocky clown dolls appeared from thin air.

“The rules are quite simple. All you need to... What? Come on. No one’s listening to me. This is why I hate whiny brats. Ah, oops! That was a slip of the tongue. Children are great! I just love children! They’re delicious!”

“Waaah! He said we’re delicious! I don’t wanna get eaten!”

“Mommy! Daaaad!”

“Save me!! Waaah!”

The room was in an uproar as all of the children began to wail at the top of their lungs. Rodrigo covered his ears and stepped back.

“All right, all right! I’ll tell you a way that you can get back home. Now stop crying!”

“R-really?”

“Yes, yes. All you need to do is ask my great, merciful master. So, stop your bawling, and let’s get to playing the next game.”

Rodrigo sealed the deal on a contract. Contracts are irrevocably binding to demons. The contract’s binding powers manifested in accordance with the unwritten laws of this world.

I was assured of its validity in the form of a quest.

⟬«System» A quest has arrived.⟭

⟬«Quest» Count Orshe’s Grace (Difficulty Level: S)

Count Orshe, the merciful master of the manor! He has opened up an alternative pathway to exit the dungeon besides defeating the boss. Bow down and praise his greatness!

Quest Requirements: Become the last survivor in this dungeon.

Reward Upon Success: Life

Failure Penalty: Death⟭

⟬«System» The quest has been automatically accepted.⟭

The last survivor.

“The final survivor will be released! So don’t lose hope yet!”

This was it. This was how the young Tesilid was able to survive an S-class dungeon all by himself.

“So then, I’m going to count to twenty, and that’s when the seeking will begin! One, two, twenty!”

“Kyaaa!”

“W-who counts like that!”

The clown dolls began to shuffle toward the children with their short arms swaying about. Their movements were slow, as were their attacks, but things started going south very quickly, turning into a gruesome, bloody affair.

⟬«System» Violence threshold level breach has been detected during the tutorial. Psychological trauma levels reduced.⟭

I was able to regain my senses before I lost them entirely. Or else I might’ve unleashed the Divine Advent.

“Ahhh! No!”

“M-mom...”

Some children ran out into the corridor, while others brandished whatever they could find as a weapon. Many more, however, stood completely frozen in fear.

“Oh!”

Splat!

“Get a grip and run away!” I threw a box at one of the clowns that was about to attack a little girl. It staggered back a few steps as the box made contact.

The little girl scrambled out of the parlor.

“They seem to listen to you. They all ignored everything I said.” Tesilid smiled wryly as he wielded a toy cane. He had saved a few children in danger and returned to my side.

I felt a surge of relief wash over me, knowing that I had at least one companion to work with. As was to be expected of the future top swordsman of the holy kingdom. He upholds his chivalry even in these situations.

I picked up another hefty present box and consoled him. “Don’t let it get you down. They really can’t hear anyone right now. It’s just their fight or flight instinct kicking in.”

“I wasn’t down. Anyways, did you notice?”

“Notice what?”

“You’re the only one they’re not attacking.”

“Huh? I guess you’re right.”

The clowns were slowly slinking past me. It was quite a contrast to how they tenaciously chased after the other children. Even Tesilid, who was emanating a steady stream of divine power, was no exception.

These guys are probably undead. My passive skill, “Infamy in the Realm of the Undead,” was probably the cause of all this. The clowns flying about exuded a white, skeletal aura and slew the children with a ghastly scythe that appeared at the tip of their stubby hands.

Intermediate undead, the grim reaper–that’s what these clowns were. It was probably for the best. The protagonist had already awakened his divine powers and the undead are particularly weak against those. Then a sudden realization struck me. Wait a minute. Did Tesilid get close to me to use me as a human shield? Well, that’s really disheartening.

Meanwhile, Tesilid squinted his eyes at me. “I was right. They don’t attack me when I’m next to you. Could it be... They’re not attacking because you’re on the same side as them?”

What a disturbing and untimely misunderstanding. I immediately plead my innocence. “Whoa, what are you talking about? I’m on your side.”

His bright blue eyes widened. “My side?”

I held up my right hand as if giving an oath. “Yes, your side. Really. I swear.”

“Okay, whatever. We’ll leave it at that for now.”

He gave a begrudging nod before turning the other way. I guess he was just going to let it go. I got off the hook this time, but what are we going to do now?

Unfortunately, it’s going to be impossible for me to save everyone like a hero. There was no turning back once I activated the Divine Advent, so I had to save it for the boss fight. Attacking the demon butler wouldn’t help either. The owner of this dungeon would only appear once I was in the boss’s room.

Until then, I just need to stick by Tesilid. Next thing we knew, most of the children had run off into the corridor. The clowns chased after them, but the casualties were a lot less than in the parlor’s spawning area.

“Oh, what a pity! The western pavilion where you’re at is doing the worst. Maybe because there’s only one stigma bearer? But then again, even taking that under consideration, you really ought to give more effort. Ah! Perhaps you’re the weakest among the stigma bearers?!”

Despite the butler’s jeering suggestion, I knew that was not the case. Tesilid just wasn’t well suited for fending off multiple enemies at once. Fortunately, he was not provoked by the demon’s words.

“There seem to be multiple hiding spots around the manor. I need to locate my friends, but the number of clowns just isn’t decreasing.”

“Are you using your divine power?”

“No. I wanted to save up my energy for the real deal since these guys are just weak enchanted objects.”

“Use your divine power. It seems like these guys are disguised with some sort of illusion, but they’re actually intermediate undead creatures. You can’t see it with your eyes, but they have a scythe, so be careful.”

“How did you...? Now I’m really confused about who you are. I’ll trust you for now but...” Tesilid tossed the toy cane aside.

“Hm? What is it?” Rodrigo felt an extraordinary presence emanating from Tesilid as his hands began to glow white. Just by looking at it, you could tell he was getting ready to fire off a very holy and extremely powerful skill.

Both divine power and magic require the user to cast the activation spell, so I was soon able to find out what skill he was using.

“Baptism of Condemnation.”

A clown’s head disintegrated into dust in Tesilid’s hands. The destructive baptism continued.

“Marvelous! Now you’re getting into it! But it’s no use! I can make as many clowns as I need!”

New clowns formed grotesquely to replace their vanquished peers, but Tesilid took them down in silence.

“The clowns will deal with you until you tire yourself out. I’ll leave you to it! I’m off to watch the children in the southern pavilion!”

With that, Tesilid and I were the only ones left in the parlor.

I called out to him as he turned away. “I think we’ve bought enough time for the children to escape from the parlor.”

“Why didn’t you run away?”

“Because I’m your shield right now—Tesilid, behind you!”

One of the clowns’ scythe loomed menacingly behind Tesilid’s head, its curved blade forming a large crescent shape.

My loser protagonist was in danger!