It's dark.

Unlike before, when there was at least some light, now there was nothing but pure darkness.

"Leif? Ray?"

I called out their names.

The echo of my voice wasn't very loud, which meant the area hadn’t fully collapsed and sealed off.

That was a small relief.

"I'm here!" Leif's voice came from somewhere nearby.

"Stay where you are. Where’s Ray?"

There was no response, which likely meant we’d been separated.

The walls had shifted, and it seemed like the entire underground structure had changed.

Ray was probably cut off from us in the process.

It’s like something out of a living museum, but in this case, the underground seems to be alive.

Just our luck.

Or perhaps it was deliberate.

Maybe they wanted to scatter us on purpose.

"For now… 'Light.'"

I had learned enough simple, universal spells by now to use them with ease.
At first, I had to calculate each spell's magic formula manually, but thanks to Fiona's guidance, I’d learned some shortcuts.

As I called forth the light, I reflected on Fiona’s teachings.

And then I saw—

"Leif?"

"Yes?"

Her ears.

They were pointed, not rounded like mine. Not long enough to touch her shoulders like in some legends, but certainly longer than any human’s.

On top of that, her dirty-blonde hair and her forest-green eyes…

"You're… an elf?"

Leif's already pale face turned even whiter as she hastily pulled her hood back up, gripping it tightly with trembling hands.

"N-no… I'm not…!"

Her voice quivered with fear.

She must’ve had some kind of trauma related to her identity.

Probably something like what Ray and I went through during our time as slaves.

In moments like this, pretending not to notice is probably the best course of action.

"Here, drink some water."

"Th-thank you…"

Leif gratefully accepted the waterskin I handed her and drank it down in large gulps.

In a situation like this, it would normally be best to conserve water, but with Leif around, that wasn’t a concern.
She’s like a walking water purifier—what’s there to worry about?

After taking a few deep breaths, Leif seemed to calm down. Her trembling stopped.

She must’ve been caught off guard, revealing herself before she was ready.
Thinking back to when I casually asked her about removing her hood, it seemed like she wasn’t completely intent on hiding it forever.

Finally composed, Leif cautiously spoke up.

"Um…"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you… surprised?"

"I was."

I honestly hadn’t expected her to be an elf.

While there’s a common association of spirit summoners with elves, that wasn’t the case in this world.

In fact, elves had long since abandoned spirit summoning in favor of elemental magic, seeing it as outdated and inefficient.

Even now, elves are known as powerful magic users.

They had kept up with the times.

Spirit summoning had become a relic of the past.

"But I figured if I reacted too much, you’d probably freak out even more."

"Oh… I’m sorry…"

Leif fidgeted with her fingers as she held the waterskin, her shoulders slumped.

She had always seemed strangely low on self-esteem.

Her ears… they’re shorter than a full elf’s. Is she a half-elf?

I’d seen a full elf once in passing when I was with the merchant guild.

Their ears were long—so long that the old myth about elves turning their heads to see their ears didn’t seem so far-fetched.

Compared to that, Leif’s ears were much shorter, closer to human ears than elf ears.

She wasn’t a pure-blooded elf.

That explains a lot…

I began to understand where Leif’s low self-esteem might come from.

"Feeling better now?"

"Yes… Here…"

Leif politely handed back the waterskin with both hands.

I took it, secured it to my waist again, and then helped her to her feet.

"Let's get moving. We need to break through this wall, but if Ray hasn’t managed to break through yet, it means either she can’t, or we’re completely cut off."

"Yeah, if it were Ray, she’d have broken through by now."

"Exactly."

As we exchanged lighthearted banter, Leif’s tension seemed to ease, her voice becoming brighter.

"But what happens with our bet now?"

"Oh, right. We do have that bet…"

"You didn’t suspect something like this would happen, did you?"

"Half of what I said earlier was just an offhand comment."

I had learned during my first two years in this world that life doesn’t work like a novel.

Fortune? Hidden talents? Divine prophecies?
None of those things exist.
After a few weeks, the only thing on your mind is how to survive tomorrow.

"And the other half?"

"I was serious… after I found out about the grand duchess."

It wouldn’t have been strange if it were just me, but there were too many unusual people at this training center.

Ray, who had been sold as a slave and escaped, was one thing.

But Alejandra, the daughter of a faction leader, and Arthur, the rising star of a prestigious guild, were on a different level.

And now, a grand duchess?

"It’s all too strange. It’s the perfect setup for something big to happen."

"Normally, wouldn’t they increase security to prevent anything from happening?"

"True."

Normally, the presence of important people would lead to increased security to avoid any incidents.
But life rarely goes according to plan.

Even world leaders are sometimes targeted by assassination attempts.
And with the added factor of being in a different world?

It’s a reasonable suspicion.

Especially considering the strange events I’ve already experienced.

It’s more than just suspicion at this point—it’s a rational deduction.

"Anyway, we still have the bet. For now, let’s try to regroup with Ray as quickly as—"

Clatter.

"…Looks like it’s not going to be that easy."

The floor bulged up, and from the ground, a skeletal head emerged.

"Undine!"

Smack!

The skeleton burst apart before it could fully surface.

"Huh?"

"Quick! We have to destroy them before they rise!"

Leif… you’re terrifying.
You’re skipping their dramatic entrance entirely.

You’re the type who’d attack during a transformation sequence, aren’t you?

But you’re right!

"Good call!"

Let’s get to work!

§

What am I doing right now?

Oh, yes. This is whack-a-mole… with skeletons.

Every time a skeleton skull popped up, I smashed it with my magic bullets.

Smack!

As I obliterated yet another skeleton with a bullet, Leif shouted a warning.

"Roman! To your left!"

I turned to my left and fired off another shot.

With limited light and restricted visibility, Leif and I kept moving forward while watching both sides.

Why wasn’t Leif doing more, you ask?

Leif had Undine on auto-attack duty.

Undine was stationed behind us, smashing the skulls of any skeletons that tried to rise after we passed.
She was a reliable rearguard.

Meanwhile, I was the one doing all the manual labor.

Isn’t spirit summoning kind of OP?

It was the same feeling I had when I realized Ray wasn’t just a commoner fighter but more like a royal battle mage.

"Another one coming!"
"How many of these things are there!?"
"Conserve your mana! One shot per skeleton!"

Despite the chaos, Leif still had the presence of mind to worry about my mana consumption.

We ran, shot, ran, and shot some more.

Without Ray to guide us, we had no choice but to keep charging forward blindly.

Finally, we came upon a larger chamber.

But I wasn’t ready to let my guard down.
Unlike the corridors, we could easily be surrounded by even more skeletons here.

We entered the chamber cautiously, scanning the area for any potential threats.

I fed a bit more mana into the light spell, raising the glowing orb higher to illuminate the chamber.

And what I saw—

"Oh, great. It's him again."

Blood was everywhere.

It covered the walls and the floor, still fresh and flowing.

The stench of iron filled the air, unmistakably fresh.

The cause?

I didn’t need to look far.

Standing in the middle of the chamber, speaking in a casual tone, was the one responsible.

The bodies scattered around him—
They were the corpses of trainees, people I recognized from the training center.

No, they weren’t just similar. They were the trainees.

And as I activated my magic vision, I could see it—
The dark energy swirling around him.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Me? Does it matter?"

He was right. It didn’t matter.

He had killed the trainees.

Even though instructors had been stationed to prevent any casualties.

Any hope I had of this being part of a planned test shattered.

This was sabotage.
Someone had orchestrated this with malicious intent, and they were killing the trainees to achieve it.

Which meant that to this guy, I was just another target to be eliminated.

I pulled in as much mana as I could, pushing my contract seal to its limit.

"Hey… Black hair, huh? Let me ask you something."

He spoke up out of nowhere.

"Where’s your god?"

A god?
What the hell is he talking about?

"I don’t believe in gods. But demons… maybe."

Gods never answered, no matter how much you prayed.

But my guardian demon, Seir?
All I had to do was call, and she’d respond.

She even made sure I had enough mana to survive a fight.

Why believe in a god?
Demons actually had your back.

"Huh. Really? Well, whatever. I’m just doing this because I was told to. Now then…"

The guy, stretching like he was preparing for some light exercise, suddenly froze.

"Time for you to die."

The moment those words left his mouth, I saw it.

What?

A blade.

What kind?

A blade flying straight at me.

Who’s it aimed at?

Me.

It was coming right at me, filled with killing intent.

It was slow.

The blade approached.

Slowly.

I needed to dodge.

But my body wouldn’t move.

I was frozen in place.

Only my thoughts were free to race.

Is this… one of those life-flashing-before-your-eyes moments?

But instead of my past, the thing that flashed through my mind was a conversation from not too long ago.

─Using a demon’s power to create magic begins with imitating one of that demon’s abilities.

The first day.
Back in the library, when I was talking with Fiona.