It was already one loop of the second's arm rotating. Tick-tock became the only sound that filled the air while they fell silent so suddenly.

"No need to answer if you don't want to," the mayor dropped his serious look, and gave a chuckle. "It must be something quite urgent and clearly it belongs to the realm of privacy. Aaannnddd in some cases if you want to tell me, let me give you my secret: I don't know who to give your complain to."

"Meaning?" asked Rei, slightly confused.

The old man widened his eyes. "Oh,” And accompanied by his surprised face. “What I mean is, even as the mayor in this town, I don't have an actual superior in the real sense. There is no governor, president or congressman. This town is literally a free state. Free from the shackles of politics and the constitution. Aha! You could say this is the most free town in the Plane."

Rei tilted his head. Confused. Because that's a pretty tough statement to digest if he looked at his life in Tokyo. In fact, there could not be a world without politics, let alone one without a constitution or law. And how did he become a mayor in the first place then? Jackpot? Hell no.

He needed some time to accept the whole shit. I mean, this old man had no reason to lie at all.

Justia, who had been stunned for a while, now nodded as if she understood something. Her reaction lightened his mind a little, in a good way.

After much deliberation back and forth, he drew a conclusion that the mayor wasn't a bad person. He didn't find him suspicious or smelled anything fishy based on their conversation today. And no sign of this old man being close to AO2 or the organization either.

What made him more convinced about it: he wasn't a duelist at this moment. He wouldn't be a threat Which meant it would be safe if he told him some part of his strange experience here. Hoping he could sort out his feelings for a moment. Also, for having a clue.

He put on a brave face and spoke. "I ... actually don't remember how I got here."

His words caught their eyes and then Rei told them the story, although not in detail, at least the gist of the problem was conveyed.

His well made-up story made the mayor's forehead wrinkle. To the point that he had to massage his head many times. While Justia was at a loss.

"That's ... a pretty wild narrative you got there. Sounds like a fairytale to me--hold on. Hold on. Don’t make a wild assumption just yet. Because that doesn't mean I don't believe you." He took a scroll from the cabinet behind him, and spread it out next to the ancient tablet. His finger traced and stopped in the middle. "It says here that about ten years ago, there was someone who also experienced something similar to you. His name... Ah, I can't read it. It's too dirty."

He even coughed while trying to clean the contents of the scroll. Too much dust, and the ink had faded. He put a lot of effort into it, until he finally gave up. The man’s name remained illegible.

“Sorry for that,” he said.

Rei threw his breath. “It’s okay, sir. Thanks for your effort.”

It would be a lie to say that he wasn't excited about the information that seemed valuable, but what could be said. Lost is lost.

However, it wasn't in vain; it still brought him some wind. He had thought he and Morgan were the only ones with similar symptoms. Apparently not.

But why the ten-year gap there? Does that mean this place has been in operation for that long?

He dismissed the question right away from his mind and focused on more important things.

"I'll be honest, sir. I only want one thing. I want to get out of this place. Or at least to meet the owner of this supersized underground structure to ask him some questions."

Rei conveyed his desire along with his immature theory. However, he didn't care about the etiquette of his delivery. Right here right now, he might be able to get a big lead.

The mayor nodded a few times. His hands opened wide and he glanced from left to right. "You mean out of the Inner Plane?"

"From the Inner Plane and Outer Plane," Rei added.

"That's impossible," he replied without a beat. He returned to the front of the cabinet, grabbed a new scroll and spread it over the previous one. "Do you know what this is, Rei?"

Rei leaned forward, taking a good look at what was drawn on it. Some strokes formed continents, small neighboring islands, and seas. At least that's what he thought. Moreover, the edges were still clean of ink.

Clearly, it was a map. Not the world map he knew for sure because he couldn't find Japan at all. And the more he observed, somehow the map seemed unfinished. He realized that because the mayor pointed to it, far to the right side.

However he could only shake his head. "I don't know. what is this?" he asked.

The mayor chuckled. "This means, in my lifetime as the 10th successor to the mayor, no one has made it out of here. No one. Not a single report for any person who leaves this place for good."

Rei tilted his head again.

"What does that mean?" He really asked. This time his confusion was overwhelming.

Because whatever the answer is, it could invalidate one of his two theories. If it said that at the end of the Outer Plane was an infinite domain, then his virtual world theory was correct, and he just needed to find a way to log out. If not, then his underground space theory applied, so there should be a logistical path from which these food, animals, and construction materials came.

His legs were trembling suddenly. Whichever way one looked at it, both theories could be rejected.

The last time he faced this similar situation was during a public presentation, a dialogue with prominent panelists from the ministry of education. That time he was together with Apollo, compared to now, he had no partner to rely on.

"Bahahaha. Your face is too serious, young man."

His laughter intercepted Rei's adrenaline in the middle. He almost jumped. "I thought this was a serious question, sir."

"I can tell. I can tell. Well, as for your big question, I have no idea what the answer is. But, if you want to find it, then head to the Royal Road. Up there, you can find the Head of the Academy who has lived for almost a hundred years. That’s what the rumor says. She might be able to lead you to the answer."

After finding no answers at all, Rei gave up and went with Justia down the secret room behind the wall. The mayor said he needed one more duelist so Justia could get her pass.

To be honest, Rei didn't want to and tried to find another way to get home. However, he had no money, and the potential for danger still lurked out there. This was where the old man attacked him. He promised to give Rei a stipend of Orbit Dollars to use, along with connections to some people he knew.

You could say it was a win-win solution.

The space they were moving in was getting smaller. The black brick walls were getting tighter and the stairs were getting rougher. Although there was a lot of dust, strangely there were no cobwebs at every intersection. It seemed that the old man in front of him did occasionally work to clean up this secret winding route. Who knew what for.

The luminous lights attached to the walls ended as they arrived at a square room. In front of them was a large gate, made of gleaming metal that seemed to contradict the medieval atmosphere of the room.

The man stepped forward, pressed a button on the panel and two doors opened. Rei initially thought it was one gate, but it turned out to be two different entrances.

"Justia, you enter the door near me," he said. "Rei you go into the other one."

She stood on her tiptoes happily. While Rei was still hesitant.

"Take it easy, there's nothing dangerous as long as you don't just press any buttons. These two mazes are connected to each other. As long as you don't get careless with each other, you will arrive at the arena."

Rei nodded, but his doubts still lingered. Not in the mayor's words, but in the girl's behavior. He didn't hesitate to give her his back, but seeing her so excited, it felt like a faux pas was no longer a delusion.

"Listen to him, Justia," Rei emphasized. "Don't carelessly push buttons. Any buttons. At all."

The girl's face suddenly stiffened. Yet she nodded. Raised her thumb and said, " Don't worry."

That worried me the most.

The mayor cleared his throat. "Although it's a maze, the route is not difficult. Also, you can hear my voice from this intercom, follow my directions and if you get lost just call me."

He exhaled a sigh of relief. That was what he wanted to hear from the beginning. It was unimaginable that he had to waste too much time just to accompany this red girl to get a pass to the Grand Elevator. If only he could hand over his own, perhaps Rei would not have bothered to come along.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Unfortunately, his card, though unusable, was non-transferable.

They both went inside and the doors closed.

It was dark up ahead until the lamp on the wall came on. Although it was called a lamp, it actually looked like a stone, stuck between the cracks of the bricks at regular intervals.

"Do you hear you?" the mayor asked. His voice came from above.

"Yes, I heard," he replied. Surprisingly, Rei didn't hear Justia's voice at all. She actually possessed a beautiful voice, but it was loud when she opened her mouth. Though the only wall separating them, judging from the distance of the two entrances, should be less than three inches thick. Something off.

"Did Justia speak up, sir?" asked Rei.

"Yes. She spoke loudly."

“Are you sure?” He put his ear to the wall and caught nothing.

“Yeah? Why did you ask?”

“Let's just say I'm curious.”

The mayor chuckled. "Stop talking and start hearing me. Now you just need to walk straight, until you reach an intersection immediately to the left. At the end of the room you will find a puzzle. You just need to put it together and the door will open."

At first he had assumed the maze would be as difficult as he imagined, but after doing as instructed, he even reached the end in less than a minute by running.

There was a puzzle on a stone pillar about his waist high in the middle of the room. On the surface, it contained a picture of a horse. It was a 3x3 puzzle. Surprisingly, there was only one left missing. The head.

"Then I just need to look for it …" he muttered. His eyes and hands immediately checked a box in the corner. The first suspicious thing he found. When he opened it, he found two objects inside. A puzzle piece and a button.

He remembered the mayor warning about the button so he decided to leave it alone. He took the piece and immediately placed it on the puzzle. With a rough shifting, the stone door slid open.

Good and easy. Hopefully it will be finished quickly.

He walked straight but this time without any command from the mayor. He was waiting for it yet for some reason, the old man’s voice was no longer heard. Maybe the intercom was broken, or the old man had pressed the wrong button. Yeah, he had been out of work for a long time so maybe his hand slipped.

However, Rei just hoped it was neither of those.

A loud noise soared up followed by a vibration that made his legs tingle. It was so sudden and almost made him fall.

Oh, my god. I hope it wasn't Justia.

The silence of the labyrinth was disturbed by the sound of friction that could slowly be heard. It grew louder in a regular tempo until Rei realized it was coming from behind. And sure enough, it was coming. A giant stone ball from that Indiana Jones movie he'd seen.

I will sue you, Justia. I will!

Rei spurred his legs as hard as he could. Trying to get ahead so as not to become mush. He no longer had time to theorize whether the rock was virtual or real, he just had to run. Ran with all his might and–good! The intersection!

He didn't know whether to go right or left, he just jumped to one side and the rock crashed into the wall. He stumbled and his body rolled over until his head hit the wall.

Shit.

He tried to stand up, stroking the throbbing back of his head. Damn it, it hurt.

The giant rock ball that was trying to chase him shattered into pieces and sent up a plume of smoke. By its size, he couldn’t imagine what would happen if he was late even for a second.

He was still catching his breath, his legs were shaking and his sweat was also soaking the floor.

Thank goodness. but …

"What's safe about this maze? Is that old man joking? It might be a good idea to let Justia pull his hair out until he was bald. Urgh, I want to blame Justia for this, but that old man isn't clean either."

Letting out a rant already became his way of gaining composure. It's something he wouldn't do in front of a lot of people, lucky he was alone.

"Then, where am I going?" His eyes glanced back and forth. "Stupid question." He only had two options and the other was blocked with those rocks.

Rei moved his legs, following the route he had chosen while cleaning his clothes from dirt.

Five minutes later, he arrived at another room. But there were no puzzles or boxes or anything suspicious. Only a stone tablet twice the size of his height.

He hesitated to approach, but the symbols written on its surface intrigued him. At least to touch it. Or read it, or to capture a photo of it. And he did. He was late to realize, his palm was already resting on the surface of the stone. Stroke it as if touching a baby's skin. Full of care.

His fingers tried to follow the pattern of symbols that lined up neatly like long sentences. From its length, it was probably more than five paragraphs. Was this a declaration text or something like that? Maybe they weren't symbols, but letters. Only, he had never seen anything like it before in Japan. To take the closest example, perhaps ancient Egyptian writing? Still, it felt much different.

He continued to observe until when he blinked, the writing suddenly shifted. Glowing and making a noise. His vision glitched for no reason.

He immediately turned his body around in all directions. Preparing in case a rock ball would come down and run over him again. Or a spear that suddenly popped out of the ceiling or something like that. Either way, he shouldn't let his guard down.

No friction sound. No vibrations either. After a minute, he assumed he was safe. No, he scanned every corner once more, until the doubts disappeared.

He turned back and resumed observing. This time, his system responded and displayed a progress analysis in motion. 34%. 45%. 56%. When the word ‘complete’ appeared, the writing on the tablet's stone surface completely transformed into a language that his brain could translate.

The dragon's last wish.

As the countdown began, none of the residents managed to ward off the disaster.

The last vestiges of strength were dissipated, the fire was extinguished, and the hardness of resolve was cracked.

Here, the last nameless dragon falls and leaves behind a glimmer of regret.

If you wish, let me see the end of HAC.

[Question: Do you want to keep it on file?]

Rei nodded.

[The translated text will be recorded... finished.]

[1 piece of "Nameless dragon's remorse" was successfully obtained.]

[Congratulations.]

[As a token of concern for those who were annihilated, you get two verses of the Truth.]

First chapter: The Beginning

1: ???

2 : The most compassionate, the most merciful

3 : Master of the sturdy tower.

4: ???

5: ???

6: ???

7: ???

He observed word by word. The sentence didn't seem like a continuation of what he'd read, but something wholly different. Another genre, he assumed. Could this be some kind of side quest? Besides, why would a text this long only contain short sentences?

His hand touched the scribbles again. Judging from the pattern, it looked like they were written by a creature with no fingers but claws. None of the scratches were perpendicular. Even the shape of the drawing itself, only contained winged, horned, or headless lizards. No human or palm tree, river, or anything similar.

Whoever wrote this, must have been extremely serious in creating the world building of his fiction. Highly dedicated. It makes me want his autograph on my book.

He continued to be mesmerized until another quake shifted his attention again. He leaned on the stone tablet, and looked around the room. He thought it was an earthquake, but it wasn't. It was just that the stone wall had shifted and opened a new space. As he got closer, he saw a path leading down.

He had no idea how it happened. Could it be because he read the writing on the tablet? He wasn't sure himself. Regardless, he kept walking down the stairs and it led him to a new arena.

Urgh, looks like I'll be dueling again.

Rei complained but his feet kept heading towards the duel field. Before he could get there, a screen intercepted him. It contained a requirement to complete the maze.

[VICTORY REQUIREMENT]

Achieve defeat by destroying the opponent's Engage unit twice.

[Bonus: LP difference less than 1000]

His forehead frowned. Followed by his rebuttal to this injustice. Why should he work so hard to lose? It was a different story if the reward was something extraordinary. However, as far as he knew, losing in a duel would end in a miserable ending.

He stroked his chin. Tapping his temple, perhaps hoping his brain would come out and give him some reassurance.

He looked around to seek a way out. Doors or any windows … nothing. Yeah, It seemed to be the same as before. It was likely that he'd only be able to get out of this “trap situation” after winning the duel.

His eyes caught a button on a nearby panel. At the touch, his body was now ensnared by a red cloth that appeared out of nowhere. Wrapping him up like a mummy to make him suffocate.

He fought hard to prevent his breathing and movements from being restrained, tugging, tearing at the red cloth that continued to wrap around him relentlessly. The distress was compounded when his face was covered by a cramped mask.

What was going on?

He couldn't open his mouth, no matter how hard he tried. His breathing was labored, he wanted to sit down to rest himself, but he couldn't. The rags tied him too tightly. It was like wearing rusty iron armor.

Another small earthquake occurred and brought someone else up from underground. Right on the opposite side of him, another person arrived.

Her hair was red. Her face was beautiful. And...

"Oh, you're the villain, aren't you!” She grinned. “Get ready! I will defeat you!"

That loud voice... Justia.

"Wohohoho! It's great that you came here. I welcome you, hero! Prepare for a duel!"

That wasn't even his voice. His mouth was locked tightly and didn't even let a trace of air in. However, he was certain that the voice was coming from in front of his face. Worst of all, his body went into a cringe-worthy pose without his consent. He tried to resist it, but could not.

Oh, my goodness. What kind of game is this?

“DUEL–”

“ENGAGE!”

[The Mummydevilgod vs The Red Justice]

[LP 5000 AEGIS 2]

[First Turn: Mummydevilgod]