Oh, don't mind me, I'm just posting at a random pace.
I have nothing else to do anyway.
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I am currently standing in front of the only way out of this place, and right now it made me realize something..
"The door is too BIG!!"
Right now, Hannah is being intimidated by the size of the door that's in front of her. It's bulky structure makes one think, -This thing can't be moved-; thus, our protagonist, who is now aware of the fact that she's in her three years old body, is pondering whether her parents wanted her to leave or they just forgot that their kid is just a three years old.
Mama probably made this. She does make all sorts of things, like the flying broom and and the secret garden door; after all, she is a researcher, as well as a craftsman.. or craftswoman. She made almost all of the things in the city, thus I can't be wrong to assume this is one of her creation. Furthermore, she's a botanist and an alchemist.
Come to think of it, she has a lot of jobs. I never asked her about who she was before she became queen.
Seeing the door, and its resemblance to her mother's design made her recall memories with her mother. They were all good memories; but, for a good dream to exist, there must be a bad dream to accompany it.
I.. I need to stop thinking about the past. It's starting to make me feel..
I have to concentrate on getting out.
Now, if this is mother's creation, then wouldn't I know something about it? I almost always stayed in her lab to watch while she makes things.
"......Hmm.., there's a sort of simple lock system on this..."
Thinking she might be right, she looked at the corners and details of the huge two way door to find what she was looking for.
The square shaped door is bulky and well reinforced with what seems like black metal in its corners. There are no visible screws or nails on the smooth metallic surface, making it hard to disassemble, and the opening is covered with what seems to be pipes. The pipes are arranged as if they were a crystallized form of bismuth -square shaped swirls of different sizes, with the big one at the center-. It's not easy to notice, but if I were to look at it closely they are all actually leading to one place.
she began to concentrate her gaze towards the direction the pipes were heading to. In an opening between two huge pipes, she found something she was looking for.
"There you are..."
With this, I can finally open the door.
>>>~~\M/~~<<<
Somewhere in a huge area of a dungeon, a group of soldiers are battling a huge bear-like monster that's discharging what seems like black smoke from its wounds. It seems the soldiers have successfully weakened the monster and are about to send it off with a final blow.
"Here I come!"
While the magicians restricted the monster, a brawny man with a hammer in hand charges forward towards it. The monster lifted his arm up high then swings it downwards, aiming for the muscle man; but just in time, he jumped and landed away from the arm of the monster before it smashed him down. While the arm was still stuck on the floor, the man used the arm as stairs and ran over it like an athlete, aiming for its head, But before he could hit it, the monster managed to release its hand from the pavement. Unable to keep up his pace because of the now moving arm, he jumped. Using the momentum of the fall, he smashed down the head of the monster using the hammer. It was a critical hit.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
The monster fell, the brawny man landed on his feet like a cat and everyone rejoiced. It was the end of their battle.
"As expected of Sir Amos, "The Paladin". He truly loves fighting demons."
She muttered with confidence.
It's a really good thing he was assigned to this expedition group, or else we would've had a lot more casualties than soldiers. After all, these guys are just new recruits and are all fresh from graduation. Normally, we wouldn't let these guys come along in these expeditions, but since it was orders from the higher ups, we couldn't say no.
That is right. This expedition group is mostly made up of new recruits, because of orders from the higher ups. These people were just unfortunate to have been assigned here, most likely because of the fact that they have little to no influence in the country. The captain tried to refuse though, saying they are weak and won't survive for long there, but as expected, the influential nobles just wanted to throw away the "extras" to their side with the excuse that they needed more people, since there are not many who would want to die in an enchanted forest with a bad reputation. Their only saving grace, is the presence of Sir Amos "The Paladin". Originally, this was an act to secure their sons and daughters' position in a better unit, but due to the appearance of a dungeon, their greed surfaced, thus, the unfortunate ones were thrown into this expedition as a form of "training".
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The area they are currently in is in the middle of what's seems to be a plaza inside an underground city. The walls are made out of buildings surrounding the area that became one with the earth due to the passing of time. They had to pass through many streets and fight against demons that would randomly appear just so they could get where they are now. Due to the lack of training, many were injured, but thankfully, a man who loves to battle, the paladin, came with them.
There was no doubt that this dungeon has a lot of dark mana, since the demons kept appearing out of nowhere. Maybe because of the mysterious event that took place many years ago, the concentration of dark mana around the area is very dense as if something was holding it. Dark mana is mana that was not able to pass through the natural cycle. Due to its nature to attract entities and elements, mana will become impure and would affect its surroundings in a really bad way.
Just like how the adventurers described it, this place is like a city, and the plaza looks just like the illustration of that book about the legendary city of Amyth. The only problem here is the fact that there's too much concentration of mana in the place.
It's a good thing I was entrusted with a magic item that initiates a mana cycle in a small area. It's a metallic stake object with a white and black magi stone on top of it. Let's be careful with it, since they number in few due to the production method.
"Alright, everyone! Let's camp here! The wounded will have to rest here, while the others should proceed to work! Let's MOVE!!"
After Senya gave everyone instructions, she stabbed the ground with the magic item, and it automatically activated.
"Vice Captain!"
Sir Armin approached me from the back and called out to me while looking at the map. This guy always has a serious face on.
"Vice Captain Senya. The other parties' report have been received. It seems there are no other routes left except for that door over there."
Sir Armin raised his finger and pointed at the huge door on the other side of the plaza.
"I see. Can it be opened though?"
" we're trying... but it seems the lock system is rather too complicated. "It's like a maze with walls that move when you do something" was the comment of the master magi craftsman. He also added "We don't even know if we have the right solutions to solve this complicated circuit"."
"I see... guess we'll have to-"
Just when she was about to declare the end of the expedition, out of nowhere, the ground strongly shook and everyone fell on the floor. The ladies screamed loudly, and everyone was in a panic.
What's happening?
The shaking continued on for about five minutes., then it gradually stopped.
"...W-what was that just now?"
"EVERYONE! READY STANCE, NOW!"
Aware of the possibility that the shaking might have been caused by a greater disaster approaching, Sir Amos shout out to everyone to be cautious of their surroundings and get ready for battle just in case.
But, as if to betray their expectation, a sound of a heavy object sliding on the floor echoed through out the place.
"The door is opening..?"
>>>~~\M/~~<<<
"It's opening.."
I managed to reach the pin, twisted it according to the Fibonacci sequence as if unlocking a safe and pulled it out from its hole. It's not that complicated, once you notice the pipe's formation, and the mana distribution in the lock. That's how mama did it anyway...
After successfully unlocking the door, concentrated mana that had build up over the years was released from the pipes; then the ground shook a bit and it made Hannah lose her balance, but it wasn't something to worry about; She already experienced a far more worse earthquake on that world than this one.
After the door opened widely, she put one step out of the room and continued walking; But before she could go even further, she stopped, then looked back to the room where she was in.
".........Can I really do this...?"
I've done a lot of bad things.
Do I even deserve this..?
No!
I must not hesitate.
Don't get dejected now, the door has already opened.
Don't be scared.
I can do this.
I need to be strong.
I have to be strong.
I gripped the strap of the bag, then faced forward and started walking again.
I won't stay a weakling; I'll use everything I have. In this world, I'll be who I am, whether I have memories from another world or none at all.
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I hope everyone can enjoy this one as well!!!