The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

The place where Bella had arranged to meet us wasn’t far from the casino—just a short walk into the forest.

It was a location I remembered. In the game, the areas outside the casino building were not fully accessible, and the forest hadn’t been entirely rendered, but the direction we were headed aligned with what I recalled from the game.

“So close...”

Alice turned and looked back.

Even by the standards of my former world, the building loomed impressively, reaching toward the sky. The casino and the hotel rising above it were not the tallest skyscrapers in existence, but one had to crane their neck to see the top when standing close by.

The structure was bathed in a dazzling light that spilled down from above.

Its grandeur could be seen even from the forest.

It was hard to believe that such a luxurious building could exist near an area so densely forested that development seemed nearly impossible.

In a way, it was a brilliant choice of location—a hidden, decadent city in the forest. Something straight out of a novel.

“You’re here on time?”

Bella was waiting, just off the path that led from the forest entrance.

Given the late hour, no one else was wandering the woods, so the light she held wasn’t likely to attract attention.

Bella wore her fox mask and a skintight leather suit. While she exuded an air of casual confidence, her outfit suggested a high degree of caution against revealing her identity.

Even though Bella and Lucas sometimes acted disrespectfully in front of the emperor, they were, in truth, deeply loyal. They would never stray from the emperor’s plans.

In her left hand, Bella held a bag—not a large one, about the size of a handbag, though it looked rather shabby.

That must be... Verati’s. I remembered from the game that Verati had carried a similar bag while searching for relics.

Inside was likely one of the sacred relics from the kingdom.

“Hm.”

Bella gave us a scrutinizing look, making that small sound.

Bella was exceptionally skilled. In her area of expertise, she had likely reached the pinnacle.

But even for her, navigating an ancient dungeon alone was out of the question.

“Impressive,” Bella said with a smile.

She still wore her mask, of course. Claire and Leo had already seen Bella’s appearance once before.

Her voice was different, too.

For me and Alice, it was unmistakably Bella... though how others might see her was unclear.

Leo might not notice, but Claire had sharp eyes.

Yet, a quick glance at Claire showed no particular reaction.

“Two daughters of the Emperor and two youths from loyalist families. I heard you were quite skilled.”

“Indeed, they are both very talented. I can vouch for that as a fellow princess.”

Alice stepped forward as she said this, and Bella shrugged.

Her attitude was oddly haughty.

Bella was a difficult character to gauge. In the main storyline, she was only mentioned briefly, with a few illustrations and some voiced flashbacks. Even if her personality was described as “similar to Claire’s,” it wasn’t an exact match to Claire’s personality in the original.

Besides, my perception of Claire had softened considerably over the last two months, as I’d gotten to know this much more diligent version of her up close.

If I had to make an educated guess, based on the personality I had observed for the past decade...

This attitude was an act.

Without the mask, Bella usually behaved playfully around us, occasionally teasing or pulling pranks.

“Well, if the Empire’s future Empress says so, I guess I’ll have to follow,” Bella replied.

Alice shot a glare at Bella in response.

Leo swallowed hard. In the original storyline, his attitude toward Alice became much warmer from this point on, but with Bella’s comment about “future Empress,” that moment might be postponed indefinitely.

“Did you find the location?” Alice asked.

“With three princesses involved, I couldn’t risk failing to find it,” Bella replied.

Yet, her tone suggested less than full confidence.

“However, not finding it all at once isn’t exactly a reflection on the Empire’s reputation.”

“What do you mean, not finding it?” Alice questioned.

“It seems we were too quick. Verati didn’t know the exact location of the ruins. He was only making an educated guess based on records from the kingdom.”

“So, there may be more people like him hidden within the Empire?” Alice asked, her tone laced with concern.

“Most likely. This landmass is vast, after all,” Bella replied, pulling a piece of paper from her bag and handing it to Alice, who took it with a slight reluctance but no objection.

It was more of a map than a note.

“A local map.”

It wasn’t a military-grade map, but a general layout of the area. Northwood’s lands were extensive and complex. To prevent tourists from getting lost, the Northwood estate had created maps, similar to those found in theme parks.

Compared to the theme park maps I was used to, it lacked color and mascots, but it showed the commercial district surrounding the casino and the forest encircling it.

Marked at regular intervals around the forest were Xs.

“Poor Verati,” Bella remarked with a sneer.

“The kingdom’s knight had truly terrible luck. After all his efforts, he could only pinpoint the location at the very end.”

“...”

We all had to agree with Bella’s assessment.

---

The relics reacted to each other. They weren’t simply individual items with unique powers; they were parts of a larger mechanism.

In the original story, the function of the relics was never revealed. Given the universe of the series, they were likely imbued with divine power, capable of fulfilling impossible wishes... or something like that. However, the relics were a recurring theme, stretching across several storylines and reboots, to the point where players had begun to voice their fatigue with the concept. Whether this element would persist in the current story remained uncertain.

Most players speculated that the relics would be used to save a heroine who had died.

Still, I had no intention of giving up on saving her myself. If this were just a game, I would’ve just enjoyed the story without intervening, but here, this was reality.

“Honestly, it’s no wonder Verati couldn’t find it,” Bella muttered in frustration.

After nearly three hours of searching, we finally located the entrance.

We had never seen the relics in person, so even though we knew they would glow when nearby, we couldn’t tell how bright that glow would be.

It wasn’t until we got close to the dungeon entrance that the glow became faintly stronger.

In other words, the relic wasn’t set to glow by default but had been glowing faintly since we arrived in the area, detecting the presence of another relic.

“Do you think Charlotte is still dealing with her side?” Alice murmured in concern.

“...”

Given how long it had taken us, entering the dungeon now would leave us too tired to fight effectively.

I let out a small sigh.

Once more.

---

“...”

When I took the relic halfway from Bella’s hand and walked confidently toward the dungeon entrance, the others wore stunned expressions.

There was no visible path; I’d simply walked through the dense trees.

The time I spent moving forward was barely thirty minutes.

...though, to me, it felt closer to eight hours.

Retracing my steps, while constantly reversing time and wandering in circles, had made finding the entrance from the start torturously difficult. Knowing the general direction of the building had helped me locate it sooner than my first attempt, but the difference wasn’t significant.

So I’d kept rewinding time, adjusting my search until I found it in a way that made sense to those around me.

Each time I found the dungeon, the group’s expressions shifted from an assumption of my success to one of amazement.

This time, they seemed nearly speechless.

“...”

Alice’s expression had grown even more curious, but I chose not to say anything.