The Royal Capital's Sewers

"Is this... a sewer?"

Rudeus stared at the broad passageway branching out in every direction before him, unable to stop his mouth from falling open.

After a tremendous amount of effort, they had finally dug a tunnel underground to bypass that door and reached the space behind it.

He had expected the area behind the door not to be too cramped, but he had never imagined it would turn out to be the city's sewer system—and an absurdly spacious one at that. The city's wastewater flowed along the channels toward the Altier River outside the city, while the platforms on either side were wide enough for three or four people to walk side by side.

"Hey, hey, hey, is this for real? Is this really the level of architecture a world of swords and magic is supposed to have?"

Rudeus said, dumbfounded.

"Don't underestimate medieval architectural systems. And don't forget, this world has magic, something convenient and easy to use. As long as you gather a large group of magicians, building an urban sewer system isn't that difficult."

Hilde did not seem shocked at all. She looked perfectly calm.

This was the sewer system of Royal Capital Arus. It was not as filthy and foul as imagined; instead, it appeared clean and orderly.

That meant someone came here regularly to clean it.

"I see. They enter the sewer system through the secret passage, then move through the sewers. That way, they can easily avoid the eyes of commoners, skip the normal process of passing through the city walls, and directly enter the area where the nobles live."

Hilde understood at once and lowered her head to glance at the ground.

Compared with the passage from earlier, the sewer was a little damper, so the traces on the ground were also more obvious.

"We need to hurry, Rudeus."

"Stay close. We're picking up the pace from here."

Hilde gave a brief instruction, confirmed Rudeus had not fallen behind, then followed the faint marks on the ground and began moving through the sewer.

The air in the sewer carried damp moisture, mixed with a faint, fresh scent of grass and trees—perhaps greenery from some courtyard upstream had been washed by the rain, and branches, leaves, and petals had drifted in with the current, neutralizing the smell that should have been there.

Dark-green moss crept over the stone walls on both sides, and at intervals, a lamp was embedded in a wall niche. The lamps gave off a soft blue glow, stretching and shrinking their shadows by turns and reflecting them in the shallow water beneath their feet.

Although he knew the situation was urgent, Rudeus could not help having his gaze drawn to the light.

"Those are magic tools made specifically for illumination."

Hilde said it casually.

"I know. It's just my first time seeing one."

Rudeus clicked his tongue in wonder. You would never see something like this out in the countryside.

But in the royal capital, they could be found everywhere.

The craftsmanship behind magic tools was not particularly complex, but magicians capable of adding magic circles to them were far from common. In the Asura Kingdom, they could be considered quite rare. However, the three great magic nations in the north produced simple magic tools like these in abundance, so these were probably imported from there.

Hilde's steps were steady and sure. She casually took a hair tie from her pocket and tied her long golden hair simply behind her head.

The two walked along the left passage for roughly a quarter of an hour. Ahead, the flow of water gradually slowed, and the channel became much wider.

Their footsteps stopped at the same time.

The faint traces on the ground turned here, leading into a dark corner to the side.

Hilde immediately raised a hand, signaling Rudeus to wait where he was. She then lightened her steps and slowly edged forward along the stone wall until she reached the corner.

Deep in the corner stood an ancient door.

Hilde pressed her ear to the door and listened carefully. Sure enough, she could hear faint voices conversing on the other side.

She listened in silence for a while and confirmed that there should be no more than five people behind the door.

"Looks like we found the right place," Hilde said in a low voice.

Rudeus took a deep breath.

He forced down the unease in his heart, his expression somewhat grim as he pointed his finger at the large door deep in the corner.

Without a key, if they wanted to open this door, then once knocking was taken off the table, the only option left was to use magic to force it open.

The moment his magic fired, the battle would begin instantly.

Battle...

Unlike the sudden fight that had broken out earlier, this time they were prepared to fight in earnest.

Which meant, just like before, taking human lives.

That feeling of life slipping away from his fingertips...

Just thinking about it brought enormous pressure down on Rudeus's heart. And now that things had come to this, he could no longer say something like "just render the enemy unable to resist without taking their lives," because he knew that neither he nor Hilde had that kind of leeway.

His fingertips began to tremble faintly.

"Rudeus."

Hilde's clear, cool voice suddenly reached his ears.

Rudeus shivered. "What?"

"Every person behind this door deserves to die many times over."

Hilde said, "As the claws and fangs of this country's dark side, there's no telling how many filthy, vile, utterly unforgivable things they've done. Every last one of them deserves death ten thousand times. You don't need to feel any psychological burden about killing them, because every person you kill is the same as saving hundreds, even thousands of innocent children."

"...How do you know that?" Rudeus asked in a low voice.

"Of course I don't know. I'm just telling myself that. You can tell yourself the same thing."

Hilde said that, then added another line.

"If you think of it that way, you should be able to bring yourself to do it, right?"

"...That really is just like you, Hilde."

Rudeus laughed soundlessly.

Of course he understood that reasoning. More than that, he understood Hilde.

She was the type who, in the trolley problem, would not hesitate to run over the child who had been playing around in order to save the innocent children. It was not because of some powerful sense of justice. She simply had an abnormally strong rejection of the idea of "sacrificing the few for the many," as if she had been born for that very purpose.

And so, she could strike down evil without the slightest hesitation.

Perhaps someone like Hilde was better suited to this world than he was...

In the end, he was only half-baked himself.

So...

Rather than stand here wavering and tying himself in knots, he might as well stop thinking and believe in Hilde.

All he had to do was believe.

Rudeus's fingers suddenly stopped trembling.

"Whoosh—"

Rock Shell

The fully charged conical Rock Shell fired out, blasting the iron door blocking the way into scrap metal amid a thunderous roar. Although it was only intermediate magic, as long as there was enough mana behind it, it could still gain terrifying power capable of punching through steel.

The next instant.

Cries of alarm and curses came from behind the door, accompanied by the crisp sounds of swords being drawn.

The corners of Hilde's mouth lifted into a smile.

Then she kicked the now-ruined iron door flying and charged in like a cannonball.