Chapter 11
✠The spring weather is sunny again today.
It has already been three weeks since I possessed into 'Seguhoe' and fell into a fantasy world with no fine dust worries.
To survive in a world that becomes a crazy survival difficulty the moment the original story begins, I spent my tutorial period fruitfully.
The thousand dawns prayer for the Healer class change reached 22 times.
It's a distant goal, but I'm steadily working toward it without missing a single day.
Cooking reached Level 4, granting me 'Recipe Insight' and 'Cooking Taste Greatly Increased Lv.1 (Passive)'.
Honestly, I felt like I had learned about as much as I could from cooking.
From Level 4 onward, proficiency increases slowly, and with 'Recipe Insight,' I could replicate any dish I tasted once.
I guessed that even if I kept leveling up, it would only raise the tier of the passive skill.
Alchemy was one step below cooking at Level 3.
I could now make healing potions useful for adventurers going on dungeon conquests, not just ointments, prescriptions, and tonics.
My diligent self-improvement activities didn't end there. While playing with Bianca as her playmate, I also read a lot of books.
Thanks to encountering diverse knowledge, I acquired enough common sense to live on the Serentra Continent.
With this, no one would suspect me of being a clueless otherworlder.
Knock knock knock.
"Via, it's me."
"Come on in, Ai. I've been waiting."
Today too, I went to Bianca's room to fulfill my duty as a playmate. We shared freshly baked chocolate madeleines and decided on the day's schedule.
"Ai, they say new books came into the library today. I waited for you instead of going alone so we could go together."
"Wow, really? Let's hurry and go."
Slightly moved by the young countess's loyalty, I immediately rose from my seat. I dashed out, opened the door, and said playfully.
"After you, my lady."
Instead of scolding me for using casual speech, Bianca just lifted her chin.
"Just trust me and follow."
We chuckled and hurried our steps. The vast library of the Count's estate had a quaint charm that never grew old no matter how many times I visited.
"I don't see the librarian. Did they step out for a moment?"
"Should I go look?"
"No, Ai. I come to the library often, so I know it well."
As if to prove her words, Bianca took the lead, but then her steps faltered with a troubled expression.
"What's wrong, Via?"
"The structure of the library is……."
"Hm?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Let's go pick out the books you want to read first, Ai. You said you wanted to read books related to dungeons last time, right? I'll recommend some."
Thinking it was just a minor discrepancy, I followed Bianca.
But why was it? The further I walked between the bookshelves, the more the light seemed to rapidly fade. It felt like entering a tunnel.
Our steps came to a halt.
"Let me see……. Ah, here it is."
Bianca pulled out a book titled 'Rifts Leading to the Demon World's Colony, Dungeons.' That was the moment.
Grrrrind!
A black hole appeared in the empty space where the book had been pulled out. It gaped wide open like the maw of a giant monster.
We're being swallowed!
"……!"
"……!"
The moment I realized it, instead of screaming, Bianca and I both gripped each other's hands tightly.
The darkness that swallowed us passed in a flash, and a distorted space, as if someone had kneaded it, came into view.
Just before nausea could hit, the space stretched out smoothly, revealing the sight of a certain place.
"This is……."
Under a red full moon, countless gravestones were planted. The landscape spread out before my eyes was a gloomy nighttime cemetery.
"W-what is happening……."
Through our clasped hands, I felt Bianca's trembling.
A cemetery that shouldn't exist in the Count's castle, a night sky that warped time, an eerie red moon.
A message appeared that clearly summarized this surreal situation.
[
……Ah, of course.
I suddenly recalled the fate of Ailet that Prinz had mentioned in the original work.
-That is my late sister's keepsake. She accidentally stepped into a dungeon sealed deep within the Count's castle, and……
So today was the day my poor possessed body was fated to die young. And together with the Count's daughter, Bianca, no less.
This solved the mystery of how the trash of the original work was able to rampage around as the family's heir, but I wasn't happy about it.
"Haah, what a disaster."
In this dire situation, both my hands involuntarily moved toward my head. Of course, I wasn't trying to pull my hair out—I just tugged firmly on my pink hair tied in twin braids on either side, lost in thought.
There are two ways to escape after entering a dungeon.
Explore every corner of the dungeon to find the exit gate whose location is unknown, or inevitably encounter and subdue the dungeon lord along the way.
Naturally, these were not activities that two ordinary 10-year-old children could accomplish.
'Yep. It's telling us to die.'
That was when it happened.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' hastily rushes over after abandoning overtime work and asks what in the world is going on.]
It seems the original work's coercive power has activated? No, seriously, why did you select a soon-to-be-dead kid as the possessed body……. Ah, this isn't the time to argue about that.
I hastily reached out in my mind.
The system was user-friendly, so message delivery was possible with just intention.
'Lord Word Spirit, Lord Word Spirit! You said the survival difficulty would be adjusted to F during the tutorial period. Isn't this A-rank dungeon a bug?'
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' flinches and shakes its head, insisting that a bug in a world created by its own true body is impossible.]
'As your devout believer, I'm truly sorry to say this, but logically, people shouldn't die in a tutorial area, right? It's hard to see this as anything but a bug…….'
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' insists it's really not and firmly denies it first.]
'Aah! Then could it be that this was the design from the very beginning? Ah, that's too cruel. It's sad enough that I died and was forcibly possessed, but to make me die again in the world I possessed into…….'
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' doesn't know what to do at the lament of its cherished and doted-upon first believer.]
Riding the momentum, I asserted strongly.
'Make the dungeon weaker, or make me stronger! Please do something!'
Give me a bug compensation!
That was the real point.
After a while, a message appeared.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' says that after careful deliberation, it will temporarily allow you access to divine power.]
'Just temporarily?'
Planning to give and then take it away? That won't do.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' panics and changes its words, saying it will provide a powerful item that will help conquer the dungeon.]
'Of course, I trust this won't be a consumable item.'
I sent a smile full of trust.
[The 'Cynic Who Harmonizes Balance' whispers that it seems the bottom card cannot be pulled out.]
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' groans.]
It seemed I had thrown enough of a tantrum. After that, I waited quietly without rushing.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' agonizes.]
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' agonizes.]
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' agonizes.]
Around that time, the cemetery began preparing to welcome its intruders.
Skeletons that dug their way out of graves clattered their jawbones, and white ghosts that spewed out from gravestones fluttered about the night sky.
It was a horror attraction in its own right.
Bianca, her face pale, looked back at me.
"A-Ai."
"It's okay, Via. God will protect us."
"I'm an atheist."
I realized that even in a world with divine power, atheists exist.
"……Shh, let's believe in God."
It was then, conscious of God's gaze, that I inadvertently did some proselytizing.
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' firmly resolves with a resolute decision.]
[
Divine Descent?
[The 'Cynic Who Harmonizes Balance' sternly rebukes, saying that even if you're the General Manager, you'll have to write an incident report for this.]
[The 'Word Spirit that Constructs the World' is dragged away to write an incident report.]
In place of the departing deity, the system brought up the explanation window.
After reading through it, my impression was:
'This is incredible?'
Even a sliver of worry vanished. Instead, my heart pounded with anticipation.
A privilege for the possessed