Chapter 593 What Esme Saw [Pt 1]
[Months Earlier]
"This marks the 11th day I've been stuck here, without any sign of Rey appearing, or any contact from him at all…"
This voice, tired and weary, reverberated within the vast and ancient walls that surrounds the one who spoke.
Echoes danced in the air constantly.
"Food and water supply ran out a while back, as they weren't meant to last this long. Even though I rationed them, that was hardly enough."
As the lips of the speaker moved, a warbling object before her glowed.
It was recording her every words, which in turn cast a bright light on her face as it did so—revealing her beautiful face.
Esme was seated at the center of the massive hall on the ground floor of the Grand Calamity Dungeon, her sight solely focused on the exit that stood right before her eyes.
"As I speak, I have finally made up my mind to finally leave this place. I have left a message here so if Rey ever returns, he'll be able to know of my current decision."
She stood up from her position, her attire a long faded cloak that covered her entire body. The hood could also shroud her face, but she let it down for now, allowing her long hair to cascade as she stole one final glance around her.
She had spent an awful amount of time all alone in this place, gathering the rest of the spoils that she and Rey didn't collect together.
Thankfully, Miasma in the Dungeon didn't prove to be too much of an issue for her thanks to her Enchanted Items as well as her ample supply of Mana that deflected it all.
The more time passed, the thinner the corrupted energy in the air was, so at some point it became nearly nonexistent.
The result was her being as healthy as possible—save for malnutrition and exhaustion.
'I've been scouring the entire Dungeon by myself, searching for the Ground Floor for so long. I finally found it, so…'
There really was no compelling reason for her to remain in the Dungeon.
"Rey is most likely in danger; which is the only reason I can think of that he hasn't returned yet. I have no idea what is happening in the outside world too, so there's that."
Everything at the moment pointed towards her leaving.
"I suppose this is farewell to my life in the Dungeon." She moved forward, and in a single breath, she appeared right before the massive door.
"Here I come, Rey!"
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[The Present]
"You have no idea how lost I was when I came out of that place." Esme groaned as she plopped into the soft bed in Rey's room.
She took in a deep breath, feeling the softness that her body had desperately missed for months.
Right beside where she was, standing as he watched her speak, was Rey. He was smiling, but silent.
Esme kept speaking regardless.
"I didn't know where the Dungeon had vanished to, but it most definitely wasn't the Adventurers City. It was a remote region to the North—close to where the war with the Dragons was taking place."
"Really?" Rey finally spoke, his face revealing some measure of surprise.
In all honesty, his next move—after returning from the Adventurers City and finding no trace of Esme—was to begin his journey from the exit of the Dunegon and investigate things from that point.
There was a chance that Esme could leave clues as to her whereabouts, so it would be a sensible approach to things.
The problem was that tracking her down that way would be a bit difficult, considering it had been a long time since she left the Dungeon already.
Still, since the Adventurers City plan didn't work out, it had been his only option.
… Until now.
"Yes! It was rough getting back there. I couldn't even afford to leave any trace of myself, just in case I would attract stray enemies; like Dragons or Monsters."
"There were Monsters there? And stray Dragons? You encountered them?"
"Yeah." She said, chuckling to herself as she remembered those times.
A smug smile sort of replaced her tired expression, and she looked somewhat proud of herself after her brief moment of recollection.
"It's thanks to their sacrifice that I was able to Level Up some more and become so strong."
"Ahh…" Rey mumbled, still staring at Esme while he remained standing.
"So that's what happened, huh? Why you didn't arrive on time?"
Once Rey asked this question, Esme's face darkened a little.
The very thin tension in the air slowly began to gain prominence, and a particular feeling of unease wafted everywhere.
Rey could feel it—something was wrong somewhere.
"Killing the Monsters and Dragons was helpful and all, but I was really worried about you, Rey." She stared intensely at Rey, finally sitting up.
"I wanted to reach the Capital as soon as possible, so after figuring out where I was, I figured flying south—as fast as I possibly could—would allow me to reach you as soon as possible."
She was able to somehow solve the food problem thanks to killing Monsters and cooking them—the edible ones, of course.
As for water… well… she could use her Skill to produce it.
All in all, she could store the food in her Spatial Ring and travel for as long as possible to reach her destination.
"So… what happened?" Rey pushed, his expression as composed as he could make it.
Esme's darkened face was yet to let up.
"I changed my mind after seeing the civilizations I would have to fly past."
"Hm?" Raising a brow, Rey now stared at Esme with confusion.
"Civilization? There isn't any that far North, though."
"That's what you think. Or should I say… that's what 'they' want you to think."
Rey's confusion deepened even further.
"Who's they? The people of that civilization?"
"No. The Alliance. The United Human Alliance… they're not the only civilization of humans that exist within H'Trae."
Rey's eyes widened as soon as he heard those words.
When he first arrived in this world, he often considered the possibility of other smaller nations of humans that existed in the Western Continent, so he learned more about the world he was living in.
But, based on every record in the Library, the United Human Alliance was the only standing civilization of mankind.
They were humanity's only nation.
'Based on what I saw on the map, I often wondered why there was so much barren land that was yet to be explored; especially during economic crisis. Yes, they were to the North, but these lands weren't too close to the battlefield. Besides, if soldiers were going to be deployed to the battlefront anyway, wouldn't it be much more useful to have strongholds close to the battlefield?'
But… records don't lie; or that's what is meant to be the case.
From what Esme just said, though, Rey's entire understanding of the world changed.
"There are smaller nations on the continent who lack the resources or power that is available to the United Human Alliance. They wallow in poverty and constantly dwell in insecurity. I passed by a few before my conscience couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to help."
In essence, Esme ended up being a hero to the rest of humanity.
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
What do you think about this revelation? Also… I know I skipped over the rest of the Gala.