III

━━━━━━┓༻❁༺┏━━━━━━

Arc III Chapter 2

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

21st Anima Lunar VIII AAC 753

Lambert's iron gaze swept through the ranks before identifying his target, a certain girl who had proven time and time again her repeated insolence and unwillingness to cooperate. His eyes narrowed. The girl shivered and protected her doll. Her fluffy cheeks conveyed a false sense of innocence. True evil was hiding behind her fluffy façade.

Iris admonished him, "Lambert, you scare her."

"..." Lambert ignored her. The girl and he needed to talk. This was important. His eyes narrowed. "..."

"..." The girl avoided his gaze, hiding her face behind the safety of her doll as if the doll could protect her.

Persuasion yielded little success, so Lambert tried his luck with a new strategy, bargaining. It was time to employ his negotiation skills.

Lambert beamed, mustering a smile. "Listen, lass, I don't like doing this, but I'm doing this for both of us. If you follow my orders, everyone will benefit. Nobody gets hurt. Nobody dies. We'll all have a great time.

The area ahead is dangerous. The arsenal should be safe. At least, the guild said so ... I've no idea what ancient traps and contraptions are still lurking down there, nor do I've intention to find out in the coming days. So, I repeat, don't touch anything! No matter how sparkly, shiny, or whatever else, don't touch anything! Don't poke anything!

Don't run down the corridors! We walk. Don't run ahead! We stay together. Don't separate from the group! Don't attack anything! We will deal with it. And most importantly, don't ask stupid questions! Follow these simple rules, and you will make life much easier for all of us!"

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

The girl nodded. "I will give my best."

Lambert celebrated his victory. Not everything was lost yet. Peace remained an option.

"..." The girl clenched her fists, her motivation running high. "I will touch everything. I will poke everything. I will run ahead. I will separate from the group. I will attack whatever I see."

"..." Lambert grinned, satisfied. The girl followed his orders to the letter. "Excellent ... Wait! No!"

His fist struck her little head with justified fury. "Bad girl, what did I tell you?" His anger flared up.

"Ouchie ..." The girl rubbed her poor little head. "Uncle Lambert having no sense of humour. I have made a joke."

"..." Lambert's eyebrow twisted. His fist struck again. "Stop messing around, girl. This is a serious matter. This is a matter of life and death."

"Understood, understood. I'll comply." Aurora rolled her eyes. No sense of humour whatsoever. Why was she always singled out for being a troublemaker? Even in this life. Unfair. It was true that she tended to attract trouble, but she was innocent. Trouble visited her, and not the other way around.

"Good." Lambert gripped his sword and lit a torch. "Let's go."

The party proceeded and entered the arsenal. They passed the enormous gates, silent monuments made of stone, decrepit relics of a forgotten civilisation long lost to the sands of time.

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

The catacombs were dark, and illumination proved subpar once they had reached the underground floors. Hardly surprising, considering the nature and state of the ruins. Subterranean structures were not optimised for natural lighting, and providing illumination to uninvited visitors was certainly not among the foremost priorities of their ancient constructors.

Corpses littered the ruins, or rather what remained of them. Their flesh had long since rotten away, with only their bones remaining. Their skeletons had been stripped of all valuable ages ago, with only some worthless scraps of metal being left behind these days. Rusted pieces of armour, helmets, gauntlets, greaves, spears, swords. That was all that had remained.

A battle had taken place inside the catacombs. Regardless of which side had prevailed, the victor was lost to history. Friend, enemy, soldier, civilian, hero, villain, it did not matter. In the end, they all rested together down here. In death, they were all equal.

The battle had taken its toll. Losses had mounted, but the fighting had raged on with undiminished intensity. The scars of battle lined their way. Scorch marks, collapsed walls and floors, mountains of rubble. Magic of the more explosive kind was responsible for this destruction. Brick and stone alike had been torn asunder by the potent forces of magic.

Aurora was tempted to expand her inventory by adding a few more souvenirs, but Lambert's watchful gaze stopped her each time, forcing her to retract her thieving hands. Lambert was monitoring her every move, forcing her to behave like a responsible adult.

How irritating. She sorely missed her mischievous escapades. Being a good girl bored her. She should be allowed to behave according to her physical age.

"..." Aurora crossed her arms and pouted. A dark cloud was floating above her head. Life was unfair. No rights for little girls.

At least, the party progressed smoothly. No resistance was encountered except for some bugs and spiders. Her cute boots eliminated them with considerable precision and little mercy. Nevertheless, eliminating spiders hardly constituted an adequate form of entertainment.

Little Aurora turned her attention to her newest friend. Unlike the rest of the party, Iris treated her with kindness and did not suspect her. Iris understood the tender heart of a girl, and her naivety allowed her to disperse everyone's doubts.

She was an innocent girl, a cute little girl with sparkly eyes, fluffy cheeks, and a doll. Everyone loved doll. Her little hands tugged at Iris' robe. "Sister Iris. Sister Iris. Sister Iris."

━━━━━━┛༻❁༺┗━━━━━━

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.