Chapter 34
***
The two of them finished their meal without much fanfare and left the kitchen, accompanied by the Butcher Cooks’ farewells.
Despite the fact that Cynthia had lost her appetite toward the end, she nonetheless managed the feat of clearing every last dish. Perhaps because of that, the Butcher Cooks stared at her emptied plates for a long time, even letting out guttural, monstrous cheers in her direction.
The portions weren’t large, but she’d managed to stash away enough food for emergencies in her inventory. Now, at last, it was time to begin their exploration in earnest.
“Let’s go, Sellie!”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“I told you I would! Let’s go!”
Grumbling, Segleninde still matched his steps with Cynthia as they walked side by side.
‘What an honest little jerk’, Cynthia thought with satisfaction. He kept threatening to kill her, but since he never actually did, it seemed his affection for her had already risen quite a bit. She felt like she didn’t have any reason to be afraid of him anymore. His words and actions were abrasive, but he wasn’t all that threatening.
Their next destination, the second banquet hall, was not far from the kitchen—directly opposite the main hall where the first massacre had taken place. They arrived in front of it in no time. When Cynthia grabbed the tightly closed banquet hall doorknob, a message appeared before her eyes.
“It won’t open? Should I break it down?”
“No. I think we need to find a key for this one too.”
She’d hoped that maybe, with this part changed, the story could progress more quickly, but it wasn’t so. Cynthia recalled the location of the key for the second banquet hall.
“It should be somewhere on this floor. Let’s look for it together.”
Aside from Segleninde’s lost memories and the various new elements, the story’s progression didn’t seem to have changed much from before the update. Still, the developers said they’d improved the story-related parts, so what had changed?
Suppressing her doubts, Cynthia headed to the place where she remembered the second banquet hall’s key was hidden. This was one thing she definitely remembered.
Now the battle with the gruesome traps was about to begin.
“Ah, there it is.”
Leaving the second banquet hall behind, Cynthia made her way to the center of the right hallway.
In the center of the hallway, adorned with elegant paintings and decorations, stood a statue holding a sword. Next to it was a music box, and while Segleninde wasn’t looking, Cynthia quickly saved at the music box’s save point.
Then she started struggling to turn the statue holding the sword.
“Guuuh!”
Of course, it didn’t budge at all.
In the game, just pushing the statue made it move automatically, so she’d thought she could do it in reality, too—but of all things, this was where reality asserted itself.
When Cynthia, frustrated, stepped away after failing to move the statue even a millimeter, Segleninde—who had been watching her with a strange look—asked,
“What are you doing?”
“It’s just… I think I heard someone say last time that the key was under here…?”
Unable to come up with a good excuse, she fumbled for an answer. Segleninde waved her aside and approached.
“Then move. If you just stand in the way, I’ll move you with the statue.”
“Do I really look that light?”
“Do you want to hear something offensive to a young noble lady, or do you want a well-meaning lie?”
“…Never mind, you jerk.”
No matter what Cynthia said, Segleninde effortlessly lifted the statue as if it weighed nothing. The statue hadn’t budged an inch when she’d hung her entire body on it, but it was light as a feather for him. No wonder, in the game, he could kill the protagonist and other characters with his bare hands.
Recalling that frightening fact, Cynthia forced herself to peer underneath the statue.
“Ah, it’s not here. Anyway, let’s turn the statue that way. Its face is kind of unsettling.”
“Tch, you’re so demanding.”
Even as he grumbled, Segleninde turned the sword-holding statue to face the opposite direction as she instructed.
Their next stop was the right hallway balcony.
As soon as they arrived, Cynthia had him turn the statue with the jar inside the balcony to the opposite direction.
Next, they went to the west wing, where she had him turn the axe-holding statue in the center, and finally, the crossbow-holding statue in the west wing’s balcony.
All the statues that had been facing the second banquet hall were now turned away from it.
At this point, Segleninde’s face was filled with irritation. After a while, Cynthia gave up explaining and just ordered him to turn the statues here and there, and he seemed more and more disgruntled.
“If it turns out you made me go through all this trouble for nothing, I won’t let it slide.”
“There was a reason, but what are you going to do if you don’t let it slide, Sellie?”
“I really might just kill you.”
“Oh my, scary. If you do, I’ll be sure to drag you down with me, Sellie!”
“Should I just kill you right now?”
But even as he said that, Segleninde still went with Cynthia toward the second banquet hall. She teased him just because he seemed less intimidating, and he only glared, never actually did anything, which was proof that his affection was building nicely.
However, when Cynthia grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, the banquet hall was still locked.
“Huh?”
Only then did she remember there was supposed to be a message when all the statues’ gazes were turned away from the second banquet hall. Accompanied by a sound effect, a message should have popped up: ‘The door to the second banquet hall has opened.’
Just as she was thinking that something felt off—
Thwack!
An arrow, flying from somewhere, pierced Cynthia’s neck.
“Ah…!”
It happened in an instant. As her vision collapsed downward, she caught a glimpse of Segleninde’s shocked face.
Beyond her fading consciousness, a message flashed especially bright behind her eyelids.
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