Helen stretched her arms out. She had quite the wonderful dream, reliving her mundane life, except this time she had all her powers coursing through her body.
She ruled over her world as a goddess with unimaginable power; no one was able to stop her, and everyone worshiped her without any question.
Of course, she eventually had to wake up to it, finding herself swaddled in a strange blanket while hugging Simon's back.
What was it she was doing last? It was explaining her abilities needed to recharge oh right. She checked her hair first, giving out a loud yawn.
"Are we there yet?"
Helen combed herself down. She found so much random debris on her, such as sticks, stones, and snow for some reason.
"Finally ,you're awake. It was a good thing you were light enough to carry."
Simon had a small chuckle as he turned to face Helen, who smugly crossed her arms and smiled.
"Well of course, I can never be heavy, I have super metabolism now."
Actually she had no idea if she did or did not. Helen just assumed everyone who was isekaid was just given the perfect body to look fabulous in.
"Uhuh, well, do you have super breaking? I'm trying to open up this chain, but nothing worked so far."
Helen cracked her knuckles, her hair turning blonde as she grabbed the chains, then she easily ripped it apart and forced open the trap door that led to the underground tunnel.
"It's like taking candy from a baby."
She laughed a little and looked at the chain as it slowly morphed back to its original state. "Oooo f,irst magical item. What rarity is this?"
Simon began to walk down, still carrying Helen on his back, but as soon as he heard that question, his mind did a U-turn before spiraling on itself.
"What… rarity is it? Well, the iron chain is pretty common… I guess that the Magick on it is quite rare."
Of course it was, self-remaking chains were not something one would find used as a lock, it's far too expensive for that.
"Yeah, rarity like you know, common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, mythic, then sometimes there's cosmic…"
Helen began to ramble about rarities while Simon closed the trap door and stealthily walked across the brick tunnel they were now in.
There were no sources of light at all down here, so Simon had to grab a makeshift lantern from his case and light it with another match he had made for himself.
"My favorite has to be artifacts because usually there's only one of that kind, and it has a special effect that can't be replicated…"
Simon just nodded along. He had no idea what she was saying, but he could kind of understand it, much like how bronze, silver, and gold all have varying values, so items would have them, too.
"Anyways, why are we here exactly?" She looked around the tunnel, and there did not seem to be an end in sight, only that every so often, there would often be a strange mechanical whir in the air.
"I'm investigating the Imperium Sanguines. Apparently, they're a new gang here that managed to strong-arm several others and are trying to take over the city's underground business."
He scrunched his face into a frown. There was still something wrong about how quickly they managed to do it, too, and how he could not even notice their presence.
Granted, he was pulling off that heist with those small-time crooks, but still…
"O,h got it, got it, so a stealth mission section? Man, never been good at those, at least it's a mafia boss type villain. Those are always fun. 'Take the gun, leave the cannoli!'"
Helen said that last part with a giggle and a whisper, while Simon wanted to scratch his head in confusion about what this girl was talking about.
"Can I leave this to you? If anything looks breakable, you can just ask me to use my powers. I'll make sure not to yell out obvious hints if there's a puzzle room, too."
"…Sure thing… thank you?"
Each time she spoke, Simon was left questioning about what world she came from to be making all of these types of statements.
He pushed those thoughts aside and focused on what was ahead, which were a seemingly endless series of tunnels that forked off multiple times over.
Anyone could have gotten lost, but Simon was not simply anyone.
He sniffed the air and followed the disgusting scent of sewage, as he remembered that many of the men entered the sewers, so wherever they were going, they were connected to the sewers as well and, therefore, carried the scent.
It was not long until finally, they made it to a dead end: an unmarked brick wall that stood in front of the only tunnel that smelled like sewage.
While many would have gone the other way, Simon was determined, more than he should have been at all.
He carefully knocked on the brick wall, placing his ear to it, and finally, his suspicions were realized: it was not as hollow as other dead ends.
Which meant there was something behind it. Which would also mean that there's a chance that this thing had a mechanism, a way to open it.
Simon began to push and pull every brick possible while carefully taking note of it, even stepping on the bricks in the floor before eventually getting a brighter idea.
"Try to pull and push every brick on the ceiling."
Helen nodded and went to sit on Simon's shoulders this time, doing just as he asked until finally, at the back, just a few feet away from the door, she pushed hard enough that a click could be heard.
Then, a mechanical whir is heard as the brick wall opened up much like a doorway, revealing a massive circular lobby made of dark metal and an altar in the middle with several buttons and levers on it.