The sewers.

Not exactly the kind of place you’d willingly want to go into unless you had no other choice, or if your job required it. Sure, it was an important part of the infrastructure, and not just anyone could stroll in. But in most cases, people would avoid it if they could.

Of course, Azerna Chronicles wasn’t exactly a hyper-realistic game. While there were a few grotesque monsters, that was more about their design than anything actually disgusting. The game was an anime-style subculture title aimed at otaku, with a lengthy, saga-like story that could compete with any epic fantasy.

I doubt they’d bother to graphically represent cockroaches crawling along the floors and ceilings or floating filth. The developers didn’t go that far.

Given that the sewers spanned the entire capital, recreating the whole thing would be impossible. But since the city itself looked nearly identical to its in-game counterpart, I figured the sewers would be as well.

Initially, I had considered obtaining a map of the sewers, but I concluded that gathering that kind of information in a single day would be impossible. Besides, even if I got lost inside, I could just rewind time and get out easily enough. So, it wasn’t a big deal.

At least, that’s what I thought before the princess and the royal princess decided to follow me.

Leo and Claire had gone off to complete a different quest. Not that it would offer better rewards than what I’d already done this morning, but I figured instead of exhausting myself trying to stay ahead of them, I’d check something else out.

Still, the fact that the protagonist and the party members in the original game were diligent workers seemed to carry over into this reality too. Even when separated from the main party, the characters always had something to do.

From a game developer’s perspective, these characters were like their children. And in the game industry, it was important for the popularity of all characters to be balanced in order to sell merchandise and sequels. That’s why I wasn’t too worried when I encountered scenarios where a heroine could die—it wasn’t controversial, even among players.

Some of the possible death routes involved really popular characters, after all.

Considering the need to sell sequels and the limitations of creating routes for every major decision, it made sense that the most popular characters would be brought back to life in some way. Even Claire, who had a death route, was someone I suspected would be revived later on.

But back to the present.

The diligent nature of the protagonist's group in the game seemed to apply to this world too.

“Princess, Your Highness,” I said, standing in front of the sewer entrance, turning to face Alice and Charlotte behind me.

“Alice,” she corrected.

“Call me Charlotte,” said the royal princess, who seemed entirely nonchalant, as though it was perfectly normal for her to be standing here with us.

I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t surprising for Alice to be here, given our growing bond. But Charlotte? The royal princess of Velbur, coming into the capital’s sewers?

“This place is much filthier and far more unpleasant than either of you probably imagine,” I warned.

Honestly, it would probably be far worse than even I anticipated. The game couldn’t capture the full sensory experience of reality—the sights, smells, and general filth of a real sewer. The game developers, notorious for their lackluster optimization, probably avoided adding rats and bugs not because they didn’t want to, but because doing so would have tanked the game’s performance.

Even the entrance to the sewer in real life was rusted in places, unlike the simple metal-textured door from the game.

Still, this part of the area matched the surroundings I remembered from the game pretty closely. The texture was never meant to be realistic anyway, given the budget constraints of the studio.

So, I had expected the inside to be more or less what I remembered.

“Well? I’m the princess of this empire. No matter how unpleasant a space, it’s still under the empire’s domain. As someone who will stand at the top, how could I hesitate?” Alice said confidently.

I had no rebuttal to that. After all, I was the one who had instilled such thoughts in her.

Still, I knew that one day she’d have a rude awakening. She was bound to face situations far worse than her current imagination could handle. In the original storyline, she had.

There’s a big difference between knowing something and experiencing it firsthand.

But then again, maybe Alice wouldn’t have to face those horrors this time since Claire hadn’t fallen yet.

I turned to Charlotte, who was standing proudly beside Alice.

“I didn’t have any pressing matters today. The royal family of Velbur isn’t so heartless as to ignore a friend in need,” she said.

I didn’t ask for help, though.

We had just bumped into Charlotte while walking, and she had decided to tag along after overhearing our conversation.

Still, I had something to say to her.

“The sewers are an important part of national infrastructure. Allowing a foreign princess in without clearance—”

“Oh?”

Charlotte cut me off with an amused sound, her eyes fixed on my hand.

In my hand was a lockpick.

Yes, that’s right. A lockpick. The kind that shows up in RPGs, often used for breaking into places or unlocking doors in stealthy missions, or in horror games as a makeshift master key.

It definitely didn’t look like I had any permission to enter this place.

That’s because I didn’t. This area was supposed to be accessible only after progressing a certain distance in the main quest.

And right now, we were still in the early stages of the story. This area wasn’t supposed to open for a while yet.

“Keys these days are quite unusual, aren’t they? Maybe it’s a security measure, making them disposable?” Charlotte commented, her expression completely neutral, though her words carried a subtle jab.

I didn’t bother responding and turned back to the lock.

The lock itself was brass, sturdy-looking, which made sense in a steampunk world where terms like "magic" and "aura" were casually thrown around. But its internal structure was far simpler than what we used on modern Earth.

If they wanted, they could have made it far more complicated. But this was just a sewer. There was no need for a fancy, expensive lock on such a place.

And that’s why the lockpick worked so well.

Realizing that my physical strength was laughable compared to the monstrous beings of this world, I decided to invest in “utility” skills. One of those was lockpicking.

There was an important scene in the game where a lock had to be picked, so I figured I’d be able to do it here too. It took some time and effort, but I’d managed to learn how.

“What’s with the look? I’m not changing my mind,” Alice said, mistaking my silence for hesitation as I glanced her way.

Actually, I had hoped she might convince Charlotte to go back, but… never mind. It’s not like Charlotte was here to sabotage anything.

If the stench inside was bad enough, I figured they’d both want to leave soon anyway.

Suppressing a sigh, I turned back to the lock.

Kneeling, I inserted the pick into the keyhole.

A few moments later, with a crisp ting, the lockpick snapped in half.

The door remained locked.

On top of that, the broken pick was now lodged inside the keyhole, making any further attempts impossible.

“Oh,” I muttered.

Behind me, there was dead silence.

…

I could imagine their expressions without even looking.

I thought to myself: Again!

Click.

With a satisfying sound, the lock finally opened.

“You’re full of surprises,” Charlotte said, genuinely impressed.

Both Charlotte and Alice were skilled swordswomen capable of using sword aura, but they didn’t seem to have a knack for this kind of finesse. Even Alice was looking at me with some admiration.

“It’s nothing,” I replied as I opened the door.

Once inside, I was grateful I had gone in first, so neither of them could see my face.

I probably looked utterly miserable.

I managed to return to a neutral expression quickly, but the foul stench had almost made me turn back on the spot.

“…”

It seemed the two who followed me were having a similar reaction.

“Ugh,” Alice’s voice was muffled, as if she was covering her mouth to stop herself from gagging.

Having composed myself, I turned around to face them.

“If either of you wishes to turn back, now would be the time,” I offered.

Alice, who had been covering her mouth and wincing, lowered her hand.

Surprisingly, beneath her hand, she was smiling.

“You look worse than we do.”

“Do I?”

Charlotte tilted her head, glancing between us, not entirely sure what Alice meant, but I knew she was right.

“If you want to go back, you can. Right now,” Alice teased.

“…”

With that, I turned back around.

Fine. If I had come alone, I might have given up and gone back. But with Alice throwing that challenge, I had no choice but to see this through.

Let’s see who gives up first.

“By the way, that weapon…” Charlotte began, eyeing the strange contraption I was holding.

It wasn’t my usual firearm. This time, I was carrying a crossbow, its brass and steel parts intricately intertwined. It looked almost as complex as the clockwork mechanisms of a pocket watch. Its size was about the same as my usual rifle.

It was easy to load with minimal effort, thanks to all the cranks and gears, but compared to a rifle, it had few advantages. The only thing it had going for it was that it was relatively quiet. In terms of reloading speed, rate of fire, and durability, it didn’t compare.

“It’s just in case,” I replied.

For now, the only real problem was the stench, but this was a sewer. If there was any gas buildup, using a firearm could cause an explosion.

Of course, if the gas concentration was that high, we’d likely notice physical symptoms first.

“I see.”

The smell was bad, but not unbearable. At least, not to the point where we’d start feeling lightheaded or nauseous.

…But I didn’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.

Raising the mana-powered lamp to light the way, I silently vowed to finish our task as quickly as possible.

Honestly, I’d initially planned to explore a bit more on my own, but there was no way I was doing that now.