"Should I wake her up?" Naru asked.
"No, it's okay. We will tell her the plan in the morning. Now, we should go through this bridge all the way to the mines. If we are lucky, our most powerful opponent might be a bandit. The trouble will start the moment we step into the mines. Everyone is afraid of crossing them," Sebastian explained, pointing at a self-made map on the ground.
"Why is that?" Aiko asked.
"That's because it used to be a powerful kingdom of its own. Because of the iron inside the mines, they were wealthy and the only place in the kingdom that was claimed without a fight. When the army arrived, they found the mines destroyed. They decided not to step inside as there was something lying in there that could destroy such powerful people."
"And you want us to pass through there?" Naru asked.
"Yes, because the only other passage is going to be heavily guarded after the little parting gift we left in the center of the 'Frozen Capital'."
"Oh, right. That thing..."
"What thing, Naruhito-sama?" Midori asked this time.
"Well... You don't want to know. And stop with the 'sama'; just call me Naru."
"Okay... Naru," she said, blushing, clearly embarrassed.
"See? That's better," I said.
"Now, enough with the chit-chat. Aiko, go wake up Megumi. Midori and Naru, you come with me. We will meet at the entrance of the mines," Sebastian said with the usual expressionless face he had most of the time.
~~
(Some common folk POV)
After the rebellion of the usurpers, we returned to our homes in Kanamura, but it wasn't the same. The once cooling breeze turned into cold air that froze everything. The stone and wooden houses turned to ice. The beautiful stones on the ground were now hidden by snow. Because some people decided to seize the Shogunate's power for themselves, we now have to suffer the consequences. They removed us in advance and didn't kill anyone who didn't raise a sword against them, but still...
"I'm in favor of the new order," a drunk man said. The place stank of alcohol. That was once a beautiful pub, but now everyone came here just because it had a fire. Obviously, if anyone came here, the beauty of the place would eventually disappear.
"You say that only because the Mochizuki didn't agree with you renting land to the farmers," another man said.
"They believed that anyone should have their own land and make a profit for themselves. The taxes they asked for were only on the first harvest, as they thought we would be happier if the second one were tax-free," a third one said. "If you rented them land, then they would make less and less profit eventually," he explained.
Disgust.
Anger.
Hate.
I lost my family just because they wanted more power. Really? They gave up the lives of citizens just to gain power? My parents were killed because they refused to bow before the retainers, and now I'm alone...
Okay, they will have to pay...
~~
(Naru POV)
"Okay, now we will have to make teams. Naru and Midori will go together, and Megumi will go with Aiko."
"Why?" Aiko asked.
"Because you are the only one who can somehow restrain Megumi. Midori will be with Naru so they can keep training on mana control, and I will go alone. In groups of two, we will move much faster than in a large group."
"I see; that makes sense," Midori thought out loud.
"Now, let's see. It would be at least three weeks until we get out, so I hope you all brought enough food with you. Hug each other, and let's go."
After we said goodbye, we got inside the mines. We all took different routes, but Sebastian said they would all meet at some point. It was dark—so dark that we couldn't see anything. Midori was holding my shirt; apparently, she was scared of losing me and staying behind. I can't say I wasn't afraid of that either.
Megumi and Aiko, on the other hand, chose a path that had torches on the wall, so they were able to see where they were stepping. A spider jumped onto Megumi's shoulder, and she screamed. She was heard even by us, who were on a different part of the mines. I rushed to go to her, but Midori said that she probably just saw a spider.
Some days went by without any problems. Aiko and Megumi were almost on the other side, while Midori and I were moving much slower because of our training. A few times a day, I would remove my shirt, and with Midori assisting me, I would start distributing my mana throughout my entire body. Most of the time, that ended with me falling unconscious, but it was less frequent than before. Before we knew it, a month and a half had passed. Aiko and Megumi were already out of the mines, while Midori and I were halfway through, and Sebastian was in the outer area of the mountains but still hadn't exited the mines. Apparently, Team 'Megumi' took the easiest and fastest route out of everyone.
Before we entered, Sebastian had told everyone that if we got out, we should stay at the inn next to the exit for two months, and if the others hadn't come out by then, we should consider them dead. In case they had survived, we should leave a message in the inn about where we were going.
I thought of that as a possibility (as I couldn't know that they had reached the exit) and decided to skip a day of training so that we could walk faster and get to the exit.
A lake. We found a lake. It was dark, so we couldn't see where we were walking, but we found a sign before the lake. Thankfully, the text was engraved, and we were able to read it by touching it and feeling the curves on the wood. It said:
"If you want to walk the road to success, you have to walk on corpses. That's the only way to the north."
"That doesn't make any sense. It first talks about success and then about the north..."
"Maybe success is reaching the north," Midori suggested. We were confused at first, but we knew exactly what the message was talking about the moment we stepped onto the lake.
It was full of corpses.
~~
(Sebastian POV)
"You have to be kidding me, right?" I said out loud. I just got out of a lake full of snakes as a trial, and now I have to fight this? I thought. In front of me was an adult wyvern—a type of dragon that has only two limbs instead of four, a poisonous arrow-like tail, and it doesn't spew fire, thankfully.
"That was exactly what I was afraid of and hoping not to meet. Why does it always have to be me?" I thought while dodging its tail. A hit from the right, then from the left. A hit straight in??? Shit.
I got hit. It didn't stab me, so I thankfully wasn't poisoned, but it hit too hard. Damn it, it hurts. I took out my katana (the white one). The moment I unsheathed it, I spoke some words in an ancient language, and the area around me froze. I missed its tail, but I froze the left wing and half of its head.
I took a step back to avoid its tail and moved my sword forward.
"Judgment" I said, and created multiple ice blades above the wyvern. The moment I moved my sword downwards, the frozen blades hit the wyvern and froze the places they made contact with. I dashed forward towards it and stabbed its heart.
"Frostbite," I chanted.
The wyvern froze completely. I had managed to kill a wyvern—something I hadn't imagined I was capable of. Wyverns were more common than dragons, but even then, they were extinct. Somehow, the sovereigns had killed most of them, but they were seen as an impossible feat for anyone else.
(Roar!!)
"Shit, don't tell me—" I turned my head around.
A fully fledged dragon. Oh my god.
A Dragons' power is comparable to that of gods. Not even the mighty sovereigns were able to kill the dragons. Dragons had been living in the ancient city in the sky. What is one doing here?
The legend says that a dragon's power is equal to the strength of 100 wyverns. There is no way I can kill something like that...
"Holy shi—" It was about to spew fire. It took a breath and let it out towards me...
~~
(Naru POV)
Midori and I decided to start crossing the lake. There were places where corpses were lying and places where no one had died yet. We needed to make a choice.
"The sign says that we have to step on corpses to reach success, but the places with corpses are where people died. The vacant spots might be where they stepped and survived," Midori suggested.
"You're right, Midori. There are two possibilities right now. Which one should I go with?"
"I have no idea. It's 1/2 to make the correct choice. Choose one."
"1/2 to fail as well..."
"Don't think about that, Naru. Which one do you think would take us outside?"
In that case, since I want to avoid disrespecting the dead who made the wrong choice, I will choose...
I took Midori's hand and took a step. I stepped on the first vacant spot. I heard the water as I stepped in and thought I had made the right choice. Yes.
We took another step.
(Huh?)
I started to fall. Why? I thought I had made the right choice. The others were dead over there, so why?
I see now; the bodies were placed there.
I came back to reality and looked for Midori. I took her hand mid-air and put her on top of me. I placed her that way so that I would be the one to take the hit when we fell down.
The fall is longer than I thought. We are gonna die from that height.
"Seb... Help me."