103rd
The Nymphs and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth
103 ? Nymph Cult and Pluto’s Underground Labyrinth #1
Actually, I wasn’t close to books or letters.
From the days when I ate school lunches to the days when I ate at the cafeteria, my grades were only average.
It’s not that I didn’t try to go up further, but strangely, whenever I opened the book, I felt drowsy and sleepy, and it was like I was going to die.
Then, when I realized that I had to take over the health center my father was running, I focused more on practical work than theory.
Actually, I was more suited to moving my body than reading books.
Anyway, why am I suddenly saying this?
Fall, fall.
It was because I hadn’t really looked at the book in a long time. I couldn’t understand what the densely written letters were saying and they didn’t register in my head very well.
As I was reading a book like that for about two hours, the librarian Eremantus spoke to me from afar.
“It’s surprising that you’ve searched all the libraries, right? The guild building was destroyed, so are you thinking of changing your occupation now?”
I was slightly shaken from sleep by that hoarse voice. I quickly wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth and turned my gaze back to the book.
『Chaos? A primordial gap that existed before the world was created. After the Giant War and the belief in the Twelve Gods became mainstream, the belief in Chaos declined and declined, and not much information remains.』
“Hmm… .”
“Is there something you don’t understand? I haven’t heard the sound of pages turning since a while ago.”
The skinny librarian, Eremantus, sneaks up next to me.
I didn’t like the idea of intruding into my personal psychological space like this, but I kept my mouth shut because I felt like I’d be kicked out of the library if I said anything.
The librarian glanced over the passages in the book I was looking at, then opened his mouth and let out a short, “Huh.”
“I wondered what he was looking at. I guess I was looking at something really useless. It’s completely pointless to talk about chaos. That’s why it’s called chaos. It’s natural to not understand it.”
“Is that so?”
“But I don’t hate those who want to learn. So take this.”
Rustle rustle.
Eremantus rummaged through his ashen robes and held out something broad and flat to me. It was another book. What was it? Could he recommend another good study book?
So I opened it up to see what was written there, and the old book was full of blank pages with nothing written on them. Sval, Hassan is fooled again today.
“What is this?”
“This is an empty book. The chaos of the beginning is like this. I give it to you. You are now free to fill it with whatever you want.”
“oh.”
I never would have thought that a picky-looking librarian would give me a notebook as a gift. In this world where paper and books are considered rare luxuries, notebooks are considered quite valuable items.
The paper must be several dozen pages long. This would easily cost over a silver. What on earth is he up to, trying to give me this for free?
As someone who knows full well that there is no such thing as free favor in this world, I can’t help but be skeptical.
“Is there anything you would like me to do?”
“Not yet. However, it wouldn’t hurt to make a line with the famous Samaritans in the city. The Samaritans are excellent mercenaries.”
“I see.”
“Anyway, don’t try to learn too much about Chaos. Those who have been blessed by Chaos and looked into the abyss have all lost their minds. That’s exactly what Pluto’s cultists are like.”
With those words, Eremantus and his slave Aesop began to organize the bookshelves of the library. Do not try to learn much about chaos.
Is it something like taboo knowledge? I guess it would be evaluated as something like a subversive book or something like that.
Anyway, I was about to study, so it was a good thing that I got a notebook.
I had been thinking about whether or not I should buy one copy, but I was leaning towards not buying it because I felt it would be a waste of money to buy it.
* * *
When I came out onto the street, the sun was still shining brightly outside. I felt like I had been stuck in the library all day, but it seemed like less time had passed than I thought.
I told Luna that I would study until dinner time. I feel like I finished too early and it looks a bit out of place. I can’t even pretend to have studied like this.
Still, I felt like I had spent the day fulfillingly, perhaps because I had filled my head with some knowledge.
But what should I do now? Should I go to a PC room?
Luna had also strongly advised me not to come home before dinner because she had to make an important secret ingredient today.
But since there was no such thing as a PC room in this world and I wondered if there was anything I could do to kill time, I headed to the guild building.
How much of the shattered Temple of Mars has been restored?
“Hey kid, move faster!”
“What the heck is this kid!”
On the guild grounds, grim-looking dwarves stand with their shirts off, clearing away rubble and erecting pillars.
While I was blankly watching them mix water, gravel, sand, and plaster and spread it on the flat ground.
“Oh, Mr. Hassan, you’re here!”
Someone spoke to me in a fairly cheerful voice. There weren’t many people around the guild building who would pretend to know me.
“Are you Daphne?”
“Yes, that’s right. I had some business to attend to with Mr. Hassan anyway, so this is a good thing.”
When I turned my head, I saw Daphne, wearing what looked like fairly dirty overalls and a cloth wrapped around her head.
She also seemed to be helping out with the restoration work, as she was carrying a basket full of rocks at her waist.
You have something to do for me. Are you asking me to participate in some boring and dull-looking construction project? I’m getting nervous for no reason.
At that very moment, I was wondering what on earth this woman was going to say to me, or if I should run away quickly because I had something to do.
“The nymphs of the underworld are looking for Mr. Hassan.”
At the mention of the nymphs of the underworld, I relaxed and felt curious.
Nymph of the Underground?
What is that?
Today, I think it was because I used my brain for the first time in a while, but my mind was overloaded and I felt a bit sluggish.
I could soon picture the crimson-haired cultist Paranoy who was imprisoned in the dungeons of this Mars Guild.
Listening to Hippolyte, didn’t she say anything about transferring the captured cultists to the prison city or something? Could it be that Paranoy is still underground?
“Why are you calling me?”
“We don’t know either. They don’t even want to talk to us. They don’t even eat any of the food we give them. Even if they’re nymphs, it’d be hard for them to go hungry for more than a few days.”
Daphne clicked her tongue as if she was seeing a really vicious woman. I said a proper farewell to Daphne and entered the dungeon.
I thought it would feel cool because it was underground.
The inside of the prison was quite hot and uncomfortable, perhaps because the scorching sun from above had raised the temperature. There was also a musty smell, like an animal cage.
Thud, thud.
The sound of my footsteps echoing in the darkness.
I soon stood before the only prisoner in this dungeon, the nymph cultist Paranoy.
“You called me?”
“Ugh, ugh!”
As if sensing my presence, the nymph Paranoi, who had been lying limp and covered in chains, gags, and restraints, responded.
It also feels like a machine that has been idle for a long time and then its power button is pressed. How many days have I been stuck like this?
Clank.
I opened the door with the Paranoy prison key that was placed outside and went inside.
I know from my last experience that even if I go inside, this guy won’t be able to harm me.
The social paranoiac who came in like that and let out a long stream of saliva while releasing the gag from his mouth.
“Huh, huh, I’m finally starting to feel better. Oh, comrade, welcome back! You must have been very busy.”
This guy mistakes me for his comrade. It must be because of the Pluto eyes on my necklace around my neck.
But I thought that all the misunderstandings the cultists had about me would have been cleared up after competing with Somnia and Schizor. But it seems that this guy, who was the first to be trapped underground, is unable to figure out my true identity.
“I was just really busy.”
“What about the plan? We were supposed to destroy the Minerva Guild while the fog was still around! We were supposed to declare war…! The date has passed. What about the Minerva Temple? Was that tall statue of the goddess destroyed?”
Paranoy asked me in a quiet voice. I thought back to the Minerva Guild building that I had visited with Luna a while ago. The statue of the goddess I had seen there was so majestic and tall.
“The operation failed.”
“Damn, I was captured after all… I couldn’t create the fog because I didn’t have enough magic power. Somnia and Anxious are like dried anchovies with little magic power. So, what happened to the other comrades?”
The word “other comrades” reminded me of the cult members who had gathered in the basement that day.
“They’ve all been captured. Somnia and Schizor are said to be transferred to the prison city.”
“What, what? This is ridiculous! Those two guys were caught? W. W. By whom!”
Paranoy screamed in disbelief that Somnia and Schizor had been captured. Did he have some confidence in their abilities?
Well, they were strong enough that they wouldn’t be caught by ordinary adventurers or soldiers.
“Just whatever. Anyway, if you have nothing else to say, I’ll go.”
“Don’t, don’t go, comrade-! I still have, still have a favor to ask… .”
“ask?”
I couldn’t help but wonder what the socialite was up to when he asked me for a favor.
I get nervous that he might ask me to let him go, or that he might say something urgent like last time.
“What do you want? Is there something urgent that needs to be done?”
“Oh, no. No matter what, I won’t make such a shameless request. I deliberately didn’t even drink the food given to me by Mars’ dogs.”
At Paranoy’s words, I took a quick look around the dungeon. Sure enough, I could see flies hovering over the simple meals I had been given to eat.
That must be the cause of the unpleasant smell in the dungeon. Do they not eat it because they think it is given by their enemies? For a foolish cultist, he has integrity.
“Then what do you want?”
“Hey, just stay here for a bit. It’s too dark and quiet here… .”
“Hmm.”
Is Paranoy a person who is easily lonely? Well, anyone can become like this if they are locked up alone in such a barren prison.
Come to think of it, it seems like there was a word called “loneliness” in the Paranoia status section.
So I put my finger on the guy’s wrist, thinking that I could relieve his loneliness and earn some task points for myself.
“What, what is it?”
“No, there were just some bugs.”
“B, a bug!? It’s not a spider, is it!?”
A paranoiac who reacts violently when someone mentions the word spider. Come to think of it, this guy really hates spiders.
“Hey, spiders, I hate spiders! Spiders!”
But no matter how much I do it, it’s really annoying to see a spider that doesn’t even exist cause such madness. What am I doing down here in the basement because of this guy?
So, just for fun, I pinched the soft flesh on the inside of his thigh.
Pinch.
“Eww, yuck, a spider bit me!”
Paranoia seems to have thought the spider had bitten him.
“Oh, a spider! A spider bit me!! O, it must be poisonous! Oh my god! I was bitten by a poisonous spider! Oh, I can’t breathe!!”
But Paranoy’s reaction was more extreme than expected. It seems that he couldn’t overcome the fear he created himself because his eyes were covered.
“Huh, huh!”
As I watched the paranoia flailing around as if it had been bitten by a poisonous spider, I too suddenly became scared.
I don’t really care if this guy stays locked up or not, but I feel like it would be unlucky if he were to die right before my eyes.
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not a spider. It’s not a spider-.”
“Hey, poisonous spider! The poison is spreading all over your body!”
However, Paranoy’s mind became so frenzied that nothing remained except the fact that he had been bitten by a poisonous spider. The sight of him struggling around the prison with his emaciated body from not eating well was quite pitiful.
“Comrade! Comrade! Suck some of the poison out of me! Hey, hurry up!! I, joo, don’t want to die!!”
“Wh, what?”
“Hurry up! Quick! My, uh, thighs! I hate spiders, I hate spiders…”
It was a paranoia that seemed to have lost all energy after struggling for a while.
“I, I see the River Styx. Is that, is that ship Charon’s? I, I don’t have a single copper. D-don’t want to die…”
I don’t know what it is, but it seems like I’m seeing hallucinations behind the blindfold. It’s natural for that to happen if you don’t eat for a long time.
“flaw-.”
I had no choice but to put my face between Paranoy’s thighs. Then I put my lips on the part that had turned red from my pinching and sucked the flesh.
Joo Ah-ap, Joo Ah-ap.
Then, the flesh of the paranoia was sucked into my mouth in a circular shape. Of course, there was no way that any poison would come out, and all I could feel in my mouth was the sticky sweat that was wrapped around my skin.
What the hell am I doing here?
Phew-.
I spat a mixture of my spit and the guy’s sweat on the floor and said nothing major.
“It’s all done. I’ve sucked out all the poison, so I’ll be okay now.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I’m not dying anymore.”
“Comrade, you are my savior!”
Shit. Whenever I talk to this guy, I feel like my brain is regressing to the level of a chimpanzee.
And when I was hesitating between a strange sense of guilt and a strange sense of sadism that made me want to pinch him again.
Swish.
Paranoy spread his ankles, which were still fastened to the floor, apart, exposing the groin area, which was hidden under a tattered rag.
“What, what is it?”
“I, this is all I can give you in return right now-.”
huh.
what?
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