Chapter 169: of Unknown Promise: The Fort’s Underground

“So, what do you think of this spot?”

“Inside here?”

“That’s right.”

Korwen had led us to a large solitary tent at the edge of the camp, surrounded only by a few wagons. Coincidentally, the wagons were used for storing equipment and supplies, which meant that there was nary a soul in sight at this time of the day.

“I don’t mind but is this… safe? What if someone walks in?”

Nobody being here also meant that there wasn’t even a guard at this tent. If I were to grow the tentacles inside this tent, any mercenary might accidentally stumble inside.

“I’ll have someone guard this place, of course. I don’t want anyone getting lost on the other side either.”

“Well… If that’s the case then I don’t think there should be any issues.”

At the very least, I couldn’t think of anything else on the spot. Then again, you could also say that finding an appropriate place wasn’t even my job. Korwen got that covered already. Or whoever he ordered to set this up.

“Then, if there’s nothing else, let’s get this started before the sun’s down.”

“Nn.”

Karen and I followed Korwen into the tent. Unsurprisingly, it was quite empty.

“It’s empty.”

“Of course it is. Although, it’s not completely empty.”

Korwen turned to the corner to the right of the entrance. A single small table with a chair was set up there.

“Odd… I thought she’d be here.”

“Who?”

“Ria.”

“... She was here?”

“Yes…”

Korwen looked around but, alas, no matter how much he scanned the surroundings, there wasn’t any place in here to hide. Ria wasn’t here.

“Well, what to do now… Ria wanted to watch so I told her to come…”

“Maybe she’ll come later?” asked Karen.

“Maybe. Or she fell asleep somewhere again. Or she simply forgot.”

But, would she forget it if she was the one who wanted to watch in the first place? She probably just fell asleep somewhere.

“We couldn’t find her earlier so she probably fell asleep… Wait, maybe she went to have dinner now?”

“That could be it… We might have missed her on the way.”

How unfortunate… assuming it really was like that.

“Nn… So, Captain,  what do we do? Wait for Ria? Or look for her?”

“... I’ll call for her. I think it would be better if she watched, after all.”

“Nn, okay. We’ll wait here then.”

“Nothing to prepare?”

“Not really.”

Truth be told, the whole thing would be over in a minute or two. It really wasn’t anything time-consuming, lest something went wrong. Of course, there could be unforeseen circumstances since this time would be slightly different compared to the tiny hole I made before. That said, there still wasn’t anything I could really prepare for. Or…

“Nn, actually… I don’t know if I can make it work on the ground as it is… Having something to grow the tentacles on would be convenient.”

“Would a wooden plate work?”

“Nn, that should be fine, I guess.”

“Then I’ll bring one along.”

It probably was possible for me to grow a door with the tentacles. But, after repeated failures, I had learnt not to do anything simply because I thought that ‘This should work, too!’ and then fall flat on my face because it didn’t work.

“Nn, much appreciated.”

Korwen nodded in reply and then made his way to the tent’s entrance.

“You two should wait here until I’m ba— Oh?”

Right when he wanted to step outside, the tent’s curtain moved to the side and someone entered.

“Ria?!”

“... Mm? The captain… and you two… as well… You’re here…”

“We are. You’re a little late. I was just on my way to call for you.”

“Wrong…”

“Wrong?”

“I waited… for a while… already…”

Right then, my gaze went downwards, spying a small plate with food in Ria’s hands.

“Oh, I guess it’s my fault for making you wait then. Sorry.”

“Mm… No worries…”

As if she didn’t really care, Ria walked to the small table and its chair and sat down, immediately beginning to chow down on the food.

“Haaa… Anyway, I’ll still need to bring the plate then. I’ll be right back.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Korwen stepped outside and left. Only the sounds of Ria chewing her food remained. And she was so focused on said food, she didn’t even give us a side glance.

“Guess we can only wait,” I said.

“Looks like it.”

I exchanged a glance with Karen, shrugging my shoulders. Since we couldn’t really just stand around, we moved to the opposite corner of the tent, leaving Ria behind with her food. Not like she minded. She probably didn’t even notice.

“Yumi, come here.”

“Nn.”

Karen sat on the ground and patted her lap, prompting me to sit down.

“Nn, warm.”

“You’re warm, too.”

With a giggle, Karen embraced me and nuzzled against the back of my head.

“There we go.”

“Nn?”

“Huh?”

Before we could even continue flirting around, the tent’s curtain parted and a large wooden board was pushed through it. Seconds later, Korwen came into view, carrying the board under his arm. He stopped at the entrance, looking first to us, then to the other side to Ria.

“... Why am I the one working here? Aren’t I your superior? Is this my job?”

“...”

“...”

And Ria was still eating, judging from the clattering of dishes.

“Haaa… Whatever… Is this board good enough, Yumi?”

Dismissing it with a sigh, Korwen propped up the large wooden board and turned around to ask me about it. The board was a little taller than Korwen and about as wide as twice his shoulder width. It was quite large. And it didn’t seem very thin, either. That strength that effortlessly carried it here made me feel a little jealous.

“I think it should be.”

“Good. Give me a moment then.”

Korwen turned his back to us so that he could fiddle with the board. Or rather, he was lifting it a little and then pushing it into the ground, where it sank in, securing it in place.

“There. Is that everything you needed?”

“Nn, I think so.”

“Good. Then, I’d appreciate it if you could start sooner rather than later. You can have all night to flirt around after this.”

“...”

Well, but getting up now was such a shame… wasn’t something I should say now, huh?

“Uhm… What about Miss Ria?”

“... She’ll be done soon enough.”

Answering Karen’s question, he pointed towards Ria, who was, indeed, just about to finish up.

“Mm… I’m done…”

“See?”

“Yes, I do.”

So, I had to get up already… Even though I just sat down. Cruel reality…

“Come, Yumi.”

“Nn…”

Still, no matter how reluctant I was, it wouldn’t change anything, so I obediently got up.

“Haa… Let’s get this over with quickly.”

“Don’t make a stupid mistake, Yumi.”

“I won’t, Captain… There’s not really much to do anyway.”

“Oh?”

Korwen raised an eyebrow, seemingly curious about that.

“Yumi, the crystals.”

“Nn, thanks, Sis.”

Receiving the mana orbs from Karen, I walked over to the wooden board and crouched down. Korwen and Ria were to either of my sides, watching intently. Being watched like this was probably a way bigger bother than me just wanting to finish quickly…

Whatever… First, the mana orbs… to grow some tentacles…

Without tentacle growth, there wasn’t anything I could do, after all. So, I used one of the mana orbs, filled the surface of the board with its mana and watched several tentacles emerging from it.

“No matter how often I see that, it still feels… odd,” commented Korwen.

“I got used to it.”

People could truly get used to just about anything.

Okay, next I give them an orb as a core…

“Ah.”

Greedy as they were, the tentacles literally snatched the mana orb out of my hand. A little later, the tentacles grew in size, more sprouted from the edges andthe quickly proliferated, covering the board.

“Ah, not the ground, the board. Grow on the board.”

With my hands, I blocked the tentacles from growing on the ground. Honestly, it was probably useless if they actually wanted to grow that way but they heeded me nonetheless and instead focused on growing upwards along the wooden board.

“Well… I guess this is good enough?”

I stood up, beholding my work. The entire wooden board had disappeared from view, covered in its entirety by the wriggly tentacles.

“... Was that everything?”

“Nn? No, it wasn’t.”

Looking to my side, I saw Korwen rubbing his chin as he stared at the wooden board in wonder.

Well, not like the next part is really interesting either…

With a wry smile, thinking about his possible reactions, I fished another mana orb from the bag and held it towards the tentacle growth.

Okay… What did I think about back then again? A door, right? A door to connect to other doors. A door that connects through space. Big enough to let a person walk through it.

The mana orb slipped into the tentacle growth, melting away into the fleshy mass. The surrounding tentacles joined it, squirming, moving away or sinking into the board. A pink surface slowly emerged from within the growth, perfectly smooth, safe for one long horizontal slit, as well as several horizontal ones at even distances.

“Nn, that’s it.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

I nodded towards Korwen’s question. His eyes had grown wide in astonishment.

“Is it safe to touch?”

“I think… it is? Until the other one is finished, there shouldn’t be anything happening.”

A little hesitating, Korwen reached out to the tentacle growth, touching the smooth surface on it.

“It still feels like there’s something solid behind it. Are you sure this is it?”

“Nn… That’s how I did it last time, as well.”

“I see.”

Maybe he had enough from touching it as he stepped back, crossed his arms and stared at it now, seemingly lost in thought. In exchange, Ria had now stepped forward, touching the surface as well.

“... This is… interesting…”

“Well… Ria, did you notice anything?”

“No… There isn’t… anything special… going on… yet… I believe… They simply… formed the… door…”

“Nn…”

So, Ria couldn’t notice anything yet either… Or there really wasn’t anything to see in the first place. Honestly, I didn’t understand the mechanics behind it either. It simply worked… Frustrating as it was.

“Guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow then.”

Maybe she would notice something then. Preferably something that wasn’t going to nearly kill me three seconds afterwards.

“Well, this really was over faster than I expected. Good job, Yumi.”

“Nn.”

“I’ll send someone to guard this place then. The rest we’ll do tomorrow. With that, you’re dismissed. Don’t forget to sleep early, okay?”

“We’ll take care.”

“Good. Ria, what will you do?”

He turned around to ask Ria, who was still scrutinising the tentacles.

“I’d like… to stay here… for a… little longer…”

“Got that. I’ll inform the guard.”

Having gotten his reply, Korwen ushered us outside and took our leave. Once outside, we could see that the sun was already about to take its leave as well.

“Again, good work, you two. Don’t sleep in tomorrow.”

“We’ll try not to.”

“Ha, if you do, I’ll send Yumias to wake you up.”

“... Please don’t.”

“Better wake up on time then.”

Yumias waking us up would probably just ruin the day. Although, Korwen apparently thought that would be amusing, judging from that wide grin.

“Then, I still got work to do. Good night.”

“Nn, good night.”

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“Good night, Mr Captain.”

And just like that, we were left alone.

“... Should we go and sleep, Yumi?”

“Nn. Sounds good to me.”

Hand in hand, we made our way to our wagon, our moving home, flirting on the way and continuing even once we had changed and gotten into bed.

---

The next day, we woke up far too early for my liking. The sun was just about to rise. Still, considering the things we were planning for today, it was inevitable we had to wake up at this time.

After we had a quick breakfast and finished our preparations, Korwen called for us and everyone else who was about to depart. Apart from us, there were Ria and Wendl, Fenna and three women from her squad, Taddick and about a dozen men I didn’t know. The latter especially were carrying large bulky bags filled with equipment.

With this group, we made our way to the fort. It was still quite a way and the path through the forest had only gotten marginally easier. At least, the path had cleared to the degree that I didn't have a need to stop every ten steps or so to untangle my hair anymore.

Not that it made the journey much easier… Gee, am I glad when the road is finished and we don’t have to trek through the entire forest anymore. Or if we can just travel through with Space magic. Either works.

Still, we made it halfway unscathed through the forest and to the forest. And I didn’t even have it that bad, compared to others, though. The men with their bulky bags had it far worse, they kept getting stuck between the trees.

“Still, we’re finally here…”

In front of us was a wide open space and right behind us the fort’s gate. However, before I could enjoy the sight, a clapping sound drew my attention elsewhere.

“Okay, everyone. Listen up.”

Korwen stood in front of us, calling out to everyone.

“Taddick and the men are going to set up the camp. Fenna and her group will see to our water supply. Wendl, help out where you can. Ria, Yumi and Karen, you come with me. Get to it.”

“””Yes, sir!”””

Everyone saluted and acknowledged their orders. Which, for us, just meant following Korwen like so often.

“Well then… Yumi, do you have everything you need?”

“Nn, I do. Right here.”

I patted the bag hanging at my waist, filled to the brim with mana orbs. We had no idea how much we would need so we quite literally brought everything we could. Just to make sure we wouldn’t have a repeat of last time. And, Yumias words ringed in my ears, that proper preparation should be enough. And since there wasn’t all that much to prepare, we could only go all out on this part.

“Good. Then, let’s go.”

With Korwen taking point, we wandered through the fort, approaching one of the large buildings. Or more like… a tower.

“Inside this tower?” I asked, staring at the impressive height of the structure.

“Yes, right here.”

“Huh… I thought it’d be underground…”

He had told us about the underground area we were supposed to search. And that he was considering making it a place where I could freely mess around with the tentacles and everything. In that light, I had expected the place where we’d create the other door to be close to it.

“Mhm, well, that’s not wrong.”

“It’s not?”

“Just because it’s a tower doesn’t mean it has to go only up, right?”

“Well, it doesn’t…”

Korwen led us into the building, but instead of going towards the stairs, he entered a nearby room. Given that the tower wasn’t exactly wide, the room was, frankly, tiny.

“In here?”

“No, no. Of course not. Watch and be astonished!”

“Huh?”

While I was mulling over the reason I’d have to be astonished, Korwen was already taking action, putting his hands against the wall, pushing with all his might. His muscles bulged through the clothes and soon enough, the wall… moved.

“Eh? What?”

“This… Huh?”

Karen and I stared blankly at the wall that had sunken… Well, into the wall, you could say. A perfect square, disconnected from the surrounding wall, kept sinking into the wall as Korwen pushed through with pure muscle strength. After it had sunk in a considerable amount, a loud mechanical sound, as if something was clicking into place, could be heard and seconds later, the wall moved to the side, all by itself.

“Woah, this is quite tiring, I have to say.”

“Mr Captain… Is this a secret passage?”

“That’s right, Karen. Look, isn’t it cool? Hahaha!”

Korwen posed in front of the door, clearly delighted about the whole thing. Karen smiled wryly, not offering any other response to it.

“But how did you even find this? I mean, you couldn’t even see it just from looking at the wall, right?”

Even if I didn’t have the time to look around closely, I very much doubted I’d be able to spot that entrance.

“That is, well…”

Korwen had a strained smile as he said that. The heck had happened when they found it?

“Some men were slacking off and messing around in here. While they did, they apparently heard some strange sounds. They thought it was a ghost from one of the soldiers who died here and made a huge ruckus.”

“A ghost?”

“Of course, we didn’t find a ghost. But we still decided to take a closer look here and then we found this entrance. It’s right in the corner of the tower, between the outside wall, this room and the hallway, so it was a bit hard to notice. And, look…”

Korwen stepped aside, showing us the space behind the hidden door.

“It’s just a tiny space with a ladder down.”

“I see…”

It really wasn’t big. In fact, it was just wide enough that a grown man could climb down there.

“The ladder wasn’t functional anymore so we’ll need to use a rope to get down.”

“Huh… Then, Captain, is this the space you were talking about you wanted to investigate?”

“That’s right. We only took a brief look yesterday, but what we saw suggested that there’s quite a large area beneath the fort that wasn’t documented. Including some tunnels that went off into the far distance. They might be emergency escape tunnels or the like. Whatever they are, though, we’ll have to find out for sure.”

Emergency escape tunnels? For important people coming to this fort, maybe?

“Anyway, let’s get moving.”

Korwen took out a long rope out of the bag he was carrying. There wasn’t anything to secureit on inside the room so he had to fix it to the tower’s central pillar in the hallway. Thankfully, it was long enough.

“I’ll get down first. Then Karen and then Yumi. Ria, you go last.”

“Okay.”

“Nn, got it.”

“... Mm.”

Having decided on the order, Korwen grabbed the rope and pretty much jumped down, holding the rope. He was moving so smoothly and quickly that I had to wonder if there was even a point to the rope.

“Next one!”

Came the voice from down below after some seconds.

“Yumi, I’ll go first.”

“Nn, good luck, Sis.”

Karen took hold of the rope and cautiously but decisively made her way down. Once she disappeared in the ground, we waited for quite a while.

“Yumi, you can come!”

“Okay.”

I peeked down the black hole. It was… deep. Even with me being able to see in the dark, it was hard to make out anything down there. I could barely catch a glimpse from Karen and korwen down there.

“Ria, I’ll go now.”

“... Mm.”

Barely a reply and a meek nod but it was a reply nonetheless. I grabbed the rope and closed my eyes for a second, steeling myself. Climbing down a rope was… not exactly something I was good at.

“Here I go…” I said, in an attempt to encourage myself.

I slowly stepped into the whole, grabbing onto the rope with all my might. I wasn’t very strong but at least, I wasn’t heavy either. That said, this was quite a strain on me nonetheless, only saved by the fact that the walls were rough enough to find some support for my feet. Like that, very awkwardly, I made my way down.

“This… This is… hard…”

“Yumi, you can do it!”

“I’m doing… my best…”

Why of all things did they have to use a rope? Was a staircase not far better for a possible escape tunnel? Why, of all things, a rope?

Okay, sorry, the rope came from the captain and they had a ladder… Which would have made it easier…

Even so, that was of little comfort as I forced myself down. At one point, the surrounding walls disappeared and the wall I was using for support became a little smoother, making it harder for me to find a place to put my feet on.

“Ugh… This is…”

“Yumi.”

“One moment… I’ll be right down… with you…”

Alas, there… wasn’t a place I could use for support anymore. Down below, I could hear someone chuckling… something that wasn’t very amusing to me.

“Ugh…  won’t give up this late.”

I glanced downwards, to check how high up I was. It wasn’t that far anymore, but just high enough that Korwen wouldn’t be able to reach me. Alas, that wasn’t something to discourage me.

It’s not that far anymore… I can just slide down, can’t I?

As long as I kept hold of the rope to break my speed, it should work out. Worst case, Karen was right below me, ready to catch me the moment it seemed I’d fall.

“Sis, I’ll slide down.”

“Huh? Ah, okay!”

I moved my hair to cover my arms and my hands with some difficulty. Since I wasn’t wearing gloves, sliding down like this was just going to hurt like hell. But with my hair in between, it should work fine.

“Okay, here I go.”

I jumped away from the wall, and let myself slide down, pulled by gravity. My makeshift hair gloves weren’t comfortable by any means as they rubbed over the rope but at least it didn’t hurt or chafe my hands.

“Yumi!”

“Woah?!”

Unexpectedly, something caught me as I descended downwards.

“Haa… Sis, I got down!”

“Yes, you did…”

Karen, a look of relief on her face, smiled at me as she held me in her arms.

“Well, well, that was… quite the adventure you had, huh?”

“Ah, captain… Uhh, I’m down.”

“Yes, I can see that. Now, you two should get away from there. Ria still needs to get down.”

”Ah, yes!”

Still holding me in her arms, Karen moved away from the rope.

“Ria, you can go!”

And Korwen called for the last member of our group.

“Okay, you two, be very careful now.”

“Huh?”

“Why?”

“If you thought Yumi was bad, you haven’t seen Ria yet.”

It… couldn’t be that bad, could it?

“Ah, she’s coming.”

Korwen frowned as he peeked up into the hole. Did he do that when I came down as well? I… was wearing my armour dress…

“Don’t worry, Yumi, I didn’t let him look up.”

“Oh. That’s a relief.”

That would have been really embarrassing otherwise.

“Yumi, can you tell me what she is doing? I can’t see anything.”

“Eh? Ah, one moment, Captain.”

Karen let me out of her arms and finally, I had solid ground below my feet again. I walked up to Korwen and peeked up high, to look for Ria.

“Uhh… She’s not moving.”

“Not moving?”

“Nn. She’s just hanging there.”

That was all I could make out from here. Just an unmoving Ria hanging on the rope. She wasn’t even using her feet to support herself or anything like that. She just… wasn’t doing anything.

“Ria, is everything okay?”

Several seconds of silence.

“... fine… Take… a moment…”

“... Well, isn’t that encouraging.”

That said, she still wasn’t moving even after we waited for a while. Then, after we waited for way too long, Ria finally moved. Or rather…

“Captain. Ria is using magic.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t be serious! Yumi, Karen get away from there!”

“Yes?!”

Slightly confused, we heeded the order and stepped away. Not a moment too soon as we could hear something reminiscent of a rock being crushed. Probably, because that’s more or less what happened. Pieces of stone fell down, up to the size of my fist. Then again, the sound repeated itself, followed by more pieces coming down. And then again, and again, repeating endlessly. By the time the entire floor was littered with broken pieces of stone, Ria finally came into view again.

“What the… hell?”

A fluid was flowing through the air surrounding Ria, accelerating abruptly into the stone and carving out literal steps which Ria used as a foothold. Until she finally came down to the ground.

“Ria… Have you ever heard of descending like a normal person?”

“Mm… But.. I did?”

“... I don’t think many people would waste magic like this…”

“It… worked…”

“It sure did.”

An exasperated sigh came from Korwen, probably realising that this was a discussion in vain.

“Haaa… I guess it’s better than the alternative.”

With a shrug of his shoulders, Korwen turned his back to us.

“Let’s get going. We already wasted too much time here.”

“Nn.”

“Yes, Mr Captain.”

“... Mm.”

I didn’t really take a look at our surroundings before but… We were in a small tunnel. It wasn’t long, leading to a door.

Korwen walked up to said door, gripping the handle and pushing it open.

“Well then, welcome to the underground of Fort Auria.”

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