"Since we won, then next—"
As he spoke, footsteps suddenly sounded on the stairs behind them. A third person had successfully made it here.
Shade and Miss Princess were greatly surprised, while the evil spirits and the captain were even more astonished. Everyone and every monster that had been hostile toward one another turned to look at the stairway. The first to see that person was Miss Princess, who stood closest to the stairs. Her eyes widened at once.
The third Ring Arcanist to enter this place had removed his mask, just like Shade and Miss Princess, and they actually recognized that face. It was Mr. Darkness, who had played cards with Shade at the tavern that afternoon and cheated using despicable means.
Though they did not know what method he had used to get here, the left half of his body seemed to be covered in writhing darkness and shadows. The man looked terrible, and the normal half of his body was stained with filthy blood.
Miss Princess had just been about to ask him to join them when the middle-aged man merely glanced over the situation and immediately backed away. The retreating footsteps meant that Mr. Darkness had actually run away.
"The last time three people from one group reached this place was fifteen hundred years ago."
The captain's hoarse, low voice made Shade realize that the danger had not yet passed. Amid the restless whispers of the evil spirits, he turned and took Miss Princess's hand, giving her a reassuring look. Then they walked together to the table.
Shade sat in an empty chair at one end of the long table, directly opposite the unusually ugly captain. Miss Princess stood behind Shade with a hand resting on the back of his chair, bathed in the golden light