"N-Nando?"

Daru instinctively called out, prompting Ascalon to glance at him, brows curved upwards.

"Have…you two met already?" the cherry blossom-haired SS-ranker asked in slight disbelief. "Wait, did you sneak out again, you ancient fart?! Haven't we already told you not to linger around that cemetery?!"

The headless old man flinched at the outburst, and then, against all underworldly odds, spoke:

"I-I have not, snotty brat!" Nando snapped back in suspicious, way-too-intense defense.

The headless human elder then viciously pointed his old fingers at Daru.

"You! Tell me, how do you know who I am?! Did that damn warden send you to capture me?! I'd rather die right now, you hear me?!"

Ascalon palmed his face, sighing in embarrassment before erupting:

"Hey, ancient fart! I know you're already senile from how long you've been in this goddamned place, but don't baselessly accuse my brother Onimaru here. Just admit that you sneaked out again!"

"Ha! Brother Onimaru, my ass! Aren't you only calling him brother because you need something from him? Talk about shameless! Gods…even my aged face isn't as thick as yours. Why not just stay here and save the gods the trouble? You're gonna end up here again, anyway, considering how rotten of an egg you are."

"T-That's taking it too far, you damned bag of rotten bones! Take that back! I'm not returning here ever again once I escape, you hear me?!"

Watching the two curse at each other despite their massive age difference, Daru couldn't deny that he was amused.

He didn't speak and instead decided to learn some social skills from the interaction.

Only a few exchanges later did the two stop, their chests heaving up and down in utter agitation, both still pointing fingers at each other.

Then, to his surprise, the ancient fart turned him again.

"You! This is all your fault! Tell me, how did you know who I am?!"

Daru blinked once before proceeding to answer in all honesty.

There was no need for him to lie, was there?

"Well, I obtained a few journals and soulslips that gave me information about you. They said you are very experienced and know a lot. Ah, right. I also encountered you outside the cemetery, but you ran away. Please give me your guidance, wise elder."

A corner of Nando's face twitched.

The young man's words were an immaculate mix of appropriate politeness, unintentional yet sincere flattery, and a short testimony of his dirty little secret.

The ancient fart was confused about whether he should like or hate Daru.

In the end, he decided that it would be the former…for now, since there were a bit more flattering words than hateful ones.

"A-Ahem! I don't know what you're talking about when you said you met me at the cemetery, but I, Nando, indeed know a lot about Limbo. You can rely on me, young man." Nando declared with a tone of guarantee, clearly more pleased than not.

But then, it seemed that the old man began hesitating, falling silent the next moment.

"Aihh…" Ascalon suddenly exhaled heavily, "and how do you plan to do that? Without your head, aren't you just a senile ancient fart? This is why we told you over and over again not to sneak out of the village and just wait for us to get you out of here!"

Nando strangely didn't snap back, as if acknowledging his wrongs.

But who could say for sure that this was the case?

No one could see his facial expressions, after all.

Only after a few moments did the headless old man speak again:

"W-Well, I-isn't that why you guys are trying to take it back? M-m-my knowledge is just that valuable, after all! In fact, you guys might as well call yourselves Lost Damnedlings if not for my guidance!"

Daru expected a retort from the cherry blossom-haired SS-ranker, but there wasn't any, and Ascalon only sighed.

"Whatever, just please, don't leave again. You're too old to be fighting, anyway. Leave the physical work to the young ones."

The rather unusual introduction of the headless old man ended more cordially than Daru expected.

"Make yourself comfortable, brother Onimaru," the SS-ranker urged, taking a seat himself.

Soon, the three wretches were sitting in front of the shabby meeting table.

A brief silence then echoed in the spacious wooden shack, shattered a few moments later with a sigh from Ascalon.

"Where to start…ah, yes, how we got trapped here. To summarize, a majority got sent here after stepping on a teleportation trap and were stuck here ever since…well, the lucky ones. The unlucky ones, on the other hand, have…long died. There were also a few like us, who got their hands on an Underworld Key and failed to return to the Surface on time."

"I see…" Daru nodded in understanding.

That made easy, acceptable sense.

But this was only one of the questions in his mind. He quickly followed up with another he had been most curious about:

"What are the other races here, though? From what I've learned, only we, humans, the Vyrrkans, the Veshari, and the Aetherborns are participating in the Sword Trials. Is that…uh…half-wolf, for example, a variant of one of the four races?"

Ascalon smiled at the question.

He, too, was confused at the beginning, but after knowing the answer, his horizons widened, and his heart strangely felt full and happy at the thought that there are more living things, more unexplored mysteries beyond the galactic borders of Neo-Earth.

That they, humans, were just one of the many.

"He's indeed a variant, but not of the four races. Hark is of the Beastkin race, and like ours, their world is participating in The Sword Trials. Only, their world's opponents are different from ours. I've talked with most of the villagers of Egress, and it seems that just from the ones here alone, there are already four different, ongoing Sword Trials, and the Myriad Sword Realm is just one of the battlegrounds made by the gods."

Daru fell silent, a multitude of emotions swirling in his heart as he digested the information.

He probably wouldn't have learned of this had he not courageously descended to the Underworld.

It was then that the door of the meeting room opened, and another vital member of Egress Haven entered.

"Oh, Lesha, come, sit."

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