Perhaps it was because Riezel had gained a new understanding of the Dimensional Magic Cube that this time, the dimensional travel felt slightly different to him compared to the previous times.
’Am I just imagining things?’
Riezel thought seriously.
It couldn’t be helped.
First of all, the feeling of losing his physical body during dimensional travel, with his consciousness drifting weightlessly like a soul toward the other end of the dimensional channel, was not any different from before.
Maybe the only thing that had changed was that he unintentionally recalled something.
’When Lizbeth’s ancestors did dimensional travel... didn’t they also go through this same dimensional channel like I’m doing now?’
As this random thought surfaced from who knew when, Riezel kept flying forward before, eventually, the sensation of having weight and standing firmly on solid ground returned to him.
’Did I make it?’
Riezel opened his eyes immediately, but what entered his vision was not a landscape typical of another world but a dead-silent enclosed space.
At this moment, he was surrounded by stone walls, and not only did the air in this place feel a bit heavy and strange, as if it was mixed with something unusual, but it even made the magical energy within his body react differently than usual.
For a moment, Riezel almost thought he had returned to the inside of the Underground Demon Beast Yarakulon, to that cavern-like world, but compared to being inside Yarakulon, this place was undoubtedly much smaller.
’Where the hell is this?’
Instinctively, Riezel prepared to activate the Transparent World, but right then, a hesitant and somewhat surprised voice suddenly came from nearby.
"W-Who are you?"
As soon as this voice rang out, Riezel reflexively turned toward the source, and in the next second, he saw a girl.
She was locked in a prison cell, crouching in a corner with her knees hugged to her chest, staring at Riezel with a mix of shock and disbelief.
Judging from her appearance, she seemed to be about fifteen years old, around the same age as Lizbeth, wearing a plain, old-fashioned, peasant-like outfit—the kind a village girl might wear.
Because of this, what should have been a delicate and refined appearance looked quite ordinary instead, and even her long golden hair, styled in twin tails, seemed to have lost its luster.
"You are...?"
Seeing the girl, Riezel was taken aback as well, but right after, a flicker passed through his eyes before he suddenly cast a chantless magic, Perfect Unknowable.
"Eh?"
Seeing Riezel suddenly vanish, the girl let out a confused little gasp.
Honestly, anyone would react this way after seeing someone standing right in front of them suddenly vanish.
However, her reaction triggered the sound of rough footsteps.
When the girl heard those steps, she seemed to understand something as she quickly wiped the surprise off her face before a gloomy look took over her eyes.
Before long, a figure appeared in front of the cell—an old man who looked like a dwarf with rugged features, a big bushy beard, and a seriously rough appearance.
"Here, take it."
Speaking in a completely unfeeling tone, the old man threw a few fruit-like things into the cell.
"Tomorrow, Woodwose will bring the execution squad to Tintagel. When that time comes, we’ll hand you over to him."
As the old man spoke, he stared at the girl in the cell with a look like he was looking at something filthy before, a few seconds later, he spat out his next words with disgust.
"Better get ready, you damn fake."
Leaving these words behind, the old man turned and walked away, letting silence return to the prison.
"..."
A strange, heavy silence instantly spread through the air.
In this silence, the girl in the cell carefully picked up one of the fruits from the ground, and after wiping it a few times on her clothes, she quietly spoke to her surroundings.
"Excuse me... are you still here...?"
Her overly cautious demeanor really made her seem kind of pitiful, so the young man who had been watching everything from the start finally showed himself in front of the cell.
"Ah, I figured you were here."
Seeing Riezel appearing again, the girl widened her eyes a bit, clearly surprised.
Riezel gave her a long, thoughtful look before speaking up.
"I thought you’d give me away."
Of course, Riezel was talking about how he had sneaked in and concealed his presence.
He had already realized that this dimensional travel was not like the ones before, where he ended up in crowded streets or deserted mountains, since this time, he had landed in a clearly private place, someone’s domain.
Needless to say, this was an underground prison meant for locking people up.
In this case, Riezel had basically broken into someone else’s prison for important captives, and the girl before him was undoubtedly the one being held.
Given this, Riezel naturally thought the girl might accidentally expose that someone had just trespassed into the prison, but clearly, she was smarter than she looked, since she had not revealed that someone had been here at all.
"I just kind of hid it without thinking..."
Hearing Riezel’s words, the girl said this quietly, making Riezel shrug nonchalantly.
Riezel, who did not seem in a rush to leave and did not act like someone who had wandered into a high-security prison by accident, actually started chatting with the girl.
"You hoping I’ll bust you out or something?"
Riezel asked the girl in the cell with curiosity.
"Could you?"
Asking back, the girl looked kind of embarrassed and not too confident.
If possible, she obviously wanted someone to help her get out, or else by this time tomorrow, she would be handed over to that terrifying execution squad, which would make her chances of escaping even slimmer.
Still, could this mysterious young man who suddenly showed up really help her get out of here?
Help someone like her, who had been hated by everyone from the start, never welcomed, treated like a valuable item, and now, even that only value was gone?
Having this kind of thought, the girl’s eyes darkened again.
However, what happened next totally caught her off guard.
*Pa-ta!*
All of a sudden, the mysterious young man had a sword appear in his hand, gripping it tightly.
It was a sword that radiated intense heat, with red crack patterns covering its black blade, forming a design that looked both mysterious and divine—it was obvious at a glance that it was no ordinary weapon.
*Clang!*
With lightning speed, the young man drew the sword and swung it down, making the black blade, glowing with heat, cut through the metal bars of the cell like it was slicing paper, a sharp metallic sound ringing out as it cleaved through with ease.
"Alright, come on out."
Standing with the sword now sheathed, the young man acted like he had just done something trivial, reaching his hand out to the girl sitting in the corner of the cell.
"..."
Seeing the cleanly cut metal bars, the girl stared blankly, totally frozen by what she had just witnessed.
"C’mon."
Hearing the young man’s urge, the girl snapped out of it as her body flinched, then instinctively reached out and grabbed his hand.
A warmth she had never felt before quickly spread through her palm from his hand, making her eyes go wide once again.
Just like that, the young man pulled her out of the cell as if he were a knight saving a princess from an evil castle, strong and extremely cool.
Her pretty face, still bare of any makeup, quietly turned red, but the moment she came back to her senses, panic set in.
"We need to go! Now!"
"What’s wrong?" Riezel asked, looking at the girl with a confused expression.
At this, the girl quickly explained, almost stumbling over her words.
"Th-There are fairies from the Wind Clan guarding the outside of this prison! Since their ears are crazy sharp, they definitely heard you cutting through the bars just now!"
Right as her words ended, Riezel already heard the sound of footsteps, messy and quick, rushing toward them from outside.
In no time, several figures showed up, looking different from the dwarf-like old man from before. They had elegant features, tall builds, and pointed ears, looking a lot like the elves from the world of Danmachi.
As soon as they appeared, they spotted Riezel and the girl standing in front of the broken cell.
In an instant, the ones the girl had called fairies from the Wind Clan let out furious shouts.
"Hey, the fake Child of Prophecy got away!"
"She still dares to run?!"
"Get them!"
They shouted as they charged straight at Riezel and the girl.
Strangely enough, their clothes didn’t look noble or fancy at all—actually, they were dressed just like the girl, in worn-out, almost peasant-like outfits, the kind one would expect from a rural village, but their movements were incredibly sharp, easily matching those of someone at Level 5 in the world of Danmachi.
’Level 5 villagers? What kinda messed-up joke is this?’
While thinking this, Riezel’s movements didn’t slow down one bit.
*Schwing—*
Riezel slowly drew his sword, ready to strike at any moment, but the girl quickly shouted when she saw this.
"Wait! Don’t hurt them!"
Hearing this, Riezel, who had been about to launch an attack, paused and switched to magic instead.
"Penetrate Magic - Mass Hold Species."
As Riezel chanted, a magic circle spread across the ground.
"Wha—?!"
"Ugh!"
"I can’t move!"
In an instant, the fairies charging toward them were bound by Riezel’s restraining magic, as invisible chains wrapped around their bodies, freezing them in place.
They struggled with all their might, releasing a surge of powerful magical energy, which, surprisingly, was able to move slightly, even under Riezel’s binding magic, enhanced by Penetrate Magic.
’Oh? Interesting...’
Riezel looked at the fairies, suddenly intrigued, as he hadn’t expected to run into something like this.
In his eyes, they were just small fry, nobodies, yet they displayed such beyond-superhuman strength. It was something he had only seen back in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, where every floor had high-level heteromorphs that gave him the time of his life.
Now, seeing these villager-looking enemies, who could somewhat resist Mass Hold Species enhanced by Penetrate Magic, definitely lit a fire in Riezel’s heart.
Meanwhile, the girl next to him, as if she could read his mind, suddenly grabbed him.
"Let’s get out of here while we can!"
She didn’t give Riezel a chance to attack the villagers as she immediately dragged him along, running toward the prison’s entrance.
"S-Stop right there!"
"Don’t run!"
"You damn... impostor!"
While struggling, the bound fairies kept yelling—their yells made the girl pulling Riezel toward the exit lower her head with a gloomy expression.
Seeing this, Riezel couldn’t help but frown slightly, but he didn’t say a word and just let the girl pull him as they ran up from the underground prison.
Thankfully, they only ran up the steps for a short while before the entrance came into view, and in the next moment, the two burst out of the underground and returned to the surface, greeted by the open sky.
As soon as Riezel was outside, the first thing he did was scan the surroundings and take in the layout of the land.
It looked like they were somewhere out in the countryside, as crude houses stood scattered around, and in the distance, he could see farmlands, pastures, and wide open grasslands stretching to the horizon, making the scenery kind of pleasant.
’A village, huh?’
Riezel recalled what that dwarf-like old man had said at the beginning, when he claimed that around this time tomorrow, a so-called execution squad would arrive at Tintagel.
In other words, this village must be the Tintagel he was talking about.
’Hmm, then this girl really is...’
Riezel glanced at the girl beside him, then shifted his gaze forward, seeing several figures rushing toward them.
"Hurry! Get over there, quick!"
"Something’s definitely going on over there!"
"Those Wind Clan morons are seriously useless, they can’t even keep an eye on a fake!"
"Where’s the Fang Clan? Tell them to get over there first!"
"We don’t need you to tell us that!"
As they shouted like this, several figures suddenly broke away from the group and unleashed terrifying physical abilities.
Like wild beasts, they sprinted on all fours across the ground and leaped high into the air as they closed in. Some even jumped onto the rooftops of nearby buildings, looking exactly like those legendary savages who could run along walls and leap over roofs.
"W-We’re screwed!"
Seeing the newcomers, the girl panicked again, her face turning pale.
"Even the fairies from the Fang Clan are here! What do we do?!"
Riezel shot a look of irritation at the flustered girl, as rather than being frightened by her words, he just found her noisy.
’Should I fight them? Nah, forget it.’
Riezel began to think about it, but in the end, he shook his head.
He remembered how the girl had treated those fairies who had imprisoned her earlier—it was clear that she wouldn’t want to see the fairies from this village get cut down.
It was a little disappointing that he wouldn’t get to test out the strength of these fairies, but there was always time later.
Since he had only just arrived, he figured he would let it go for now.
"Come here."
Riezel reached out and picked the girl up.
"Eeeeh?!"
Suddenly being picked up, the girl let out a loud squeal.
Naturally, this was not because Riezel touched her somewhere inappropriate, nor because the way he held her was particularly suggestive, but simply because he held her like she was some luggage he was carrying, cradled against his side.
Yes, basically tucked under his arm like a bag.
"W-What kind of posture is this?! This is so embarrassing!"
Exclaiming this, the girl’s face turned so red it looked like she might cry.
"Greater Teleportation."
Riezel ignored the girl and cast teleportation magic, vanishing from the spot.
Roughly ten seconds later, the group that had been charging in from the village stormed into the underground prison.
"She’s gone!"
"Can’t find her anywhere!"
"Damn! How the hell did this happen?!"
"Go look for her! We have to find her!"
"Yeah! Hand her over to Woodwose and let him execute her in public!"
"We don’t need some fake Child of Prophecy!"
With all this shouting, they rushed out of the underground prison, scattering in all directions across the village and beginning a full-scale search, determined to catch the girl who had escaped.
None of them realized that the very person they were searching for was right above their heads.
Riezel had appeared without a sound, floating midair, his body outlined by a faint, deep-blue magical energy glow. He looked down at the village from above, while the girl tucked under his arm widened her eyes once again, holding her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
"I-Is this magecraft? You can actually fly?"
Asking with awe, the girl stared at Riezel like he was some kind of mystical creature.
"Not just fly. I can swim too. Wanna try it out?"
Riezel glanced down at the girl he had tucked under his arm and asked casually.
From this height, Riezel could see that the edge of the village met the coast, meaning they were near the sea.
If he really wanted to take her swimming, he definitely could.
"No, thanks! I’m good!"
Needless to say, the girl must have realized Riezel wasn’t joking, so she hurriedly shouted her response, not even struggling anymore.
"Oh? So you can be scared?"
Riezel couldn’t help but tease the girl upon seeing her reaction.
"Like you’re not..."
At Riezel’s teasing, the girl muttered softly while pouting, but he did not reply and began descending toward a small hill just outside the village. Even though it was not far, it was not a place those fairies would check right away.
Riezel then landed at the top of the hill with the girl, stepping onto a patch of surprisingly soft grass.
"Umm... can you put me down now?"
With a shy expression, the girl requested in a tiny voice, but Riezel did not say anything and just gently set her down.
"Thanks..."
Saying this, the girl, finally seeming to calm down a little, bowed slightly.
"Thanks to you, I’m probably not getting handed over to the execution squad tomorrow."
Hearing this, Riezel could sense that her words carried a kind of self-mocking humor, like she was trying to make the best of a terrible situation.
"Don’t worry about it. Even without me, I’m sure you would’ve escaped soon enough." Riezel responded lightly.
"Ahaha... you really think too highly of me..."
Upon hearing Riezel’s words, the girl awkwardly scratched her head.
"As you can see, I’m just some random village girl... maybe the weakest fairy in all of Tintagel, so there’s no way I could’ve escaped that prison on my own."
Shortly after saying this, almost like she wanted to change the subject, the girl spoke again.
"Right, I haven’t even asked your name yet, and I haven’t introduced myself either."
Giving Riezel a gentle smile, the girl lowered her hand.
"I’m Artoria Caster. Nice to meet you."