Meanwhile, deep within the well, Zenos and the others had just finished listening to Lily and Carmilla, who had arrived through the teleportation circle.
“You were declared a rebel and sentenced to be dropped down the well?” Zenos asked, shocked. “How did that happen?”
“She did nothing wrong, of course,” Carmilla explained. “We simply made it look that way so we could come to you.”
“Uh...” Zenos mumbled, holding his head.
“Um, so, it’s a long story, but first, we wanted to see if we could arrange a meeting with you and tried asking someone important for help,” Lily said. “Krishna went to the nobles’ academy and explained everything to Charlotte.”
“To Charlotte?”
Charlotte was the only daughter of Lord Fennel, one of the seven great nobles. Zenos had first met her when treating her facial tumor, and again when he went to work as an instructor at the academy.
“Charlotte wanted to help, and we managed to put in a visitation request,” Lily continued. “But then we found out that you’d been sent here by royal decree, so even great nobles couldn’t authorize a visit...”
“I see...”
“So, I went to see Rubel next, and he spoke with his older brother, Albert.”
Rubel was the third son of House Baycladd, head of the seven great noble houses. Last month, he and Lily had been captured by enemy mercenaries on a battlefield, and that experience had deepened the pair’s bond.
“Albert Baycladd helped you?” Zenos asked.
“I didn’t meet with him directly, but it sounds like he helped,” Lily explained. “He said the royal capital was more interesting with you there on the surface than locked away in some underground prison.”
Albert remained as puzzling as ever, it seemed.
“But reversing a royal order was impossible, so he made it look like I’d plotted to kill Rubel so I could come down to the mines to help you. Krishna followed Albert’s instructions, arrested me for crimes against the nobility, and had me sent here.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Wait a second,” Aston blurted out, his face pale and his lips trembling. “I-I did kinda say someone might come help you, but why are two of the seven greats involved?! Who the hell are you, Zenos?!”
“I’m just a healer,” Zenos said.
“No way! Also, aren’t wraiths the highest-ranked undead? Why are you just chatting one up?!”
“This one’s a good wraith.”
“Since when can wraiths be good?!”
It was only then that Lily seemed to recognize Aston. “Wait, aren’t you that loud old guy who kicked Zenos out of your party?”
“I’m not old!”
“It’s so lively down here all of a sudden,” the White Tiger commented, amused.
Zenos brought a hand to his forehead and shot Carmilla a glare. “Okay, I get the situation now. But why would you let Lily come to a place like thi—”
“I told her not to do it, but she was unwilling to listen,” the wraith pointed out with a shrug. “The plan was to send one of the demi-humans originally, but Lily was adamant.”
Lily looked up at Zenos, her gaze clear and determined. “You’re always helping me, Zenos. You saved me from the slavers, healed me, gave me a place to stay, and even came to a battlefield looking for me. Of course I wanted to save you!”
“Lily...” Zenos sighed, then smiled and patted her on the head. “All right. Thanks for doing all that. Seeing you again cheered me up.”
“Of course!”
“Lily fell ill after you were sent down the well,” Carmilla said. “But the moment she heard she could see you again, she perked back up.”
“H-Hey! Carmilla!”
Zenos gave the embarrassed Lily’s head another pat, then asked, “So, what’s this about the king of fell dragons resurrecting?”
Carmilla had said something about that on arrival, and Zenos vaguely recalled her telling a tale about the fell dragon king when they’d been sharing ghost stories around the campfire.
“I would estimate we have fewer than ten days until his arrival,” Carmilla replied.
“Ten days? That’s awfully sudden.”
“So it may seem to us, but Galhamut has likely been preparing for ages. Since the founding of this kingdom, I would venture.”
“Really? Since the founding?”
“’Tis a long story, and one we can worry about later.”
“Okay, so...just to be clear, it’s a pretty bad thing that he’s coming back, right?”
“Yes, quite. If he returns to full power, the royal capital will most assuredly fall. That includes the slums, of course. Truthfully, he is not only a threat to this kingdom—his arrival is a continental crisis.”
“I see... And you’re the one saying that, so it must be true.”
Arty had mentioned an ominous star heralding “most severe rot.” Thinking back on recent events, like the revival of an S Rank beast in Zagras and the suspicious movements from the Malavaar Empire to the north, it made sense. The writing had been on the wall. This ominous star likely pointed to the fell dragon king’s revival.
“Sounds like we’re in some deep shit,” Aston concluded. “But doesn’t that mean we’re actually safer down here?”
Carmilla scoffed. “When the fell dragon destroys this kingdom, the shock waves will bury you alive.”
“It figures, doesn’t it? Dammit it all to hell!” Aston snapped, stomping the ground in exaggerated frustration. “But you said we’re getting outta here soon, yeah? So how are we gonna do that, exactly?”
Digging a tunnel to the surface took time and carried a high risk of cave-ins. And even if they managed, according to the White Tiger, the entire underground mine was protected by a barrier.
Carmilla glared sharply at Aston, her eyes narrowed. “Would you stop your endless babbling? Or shall I sew your mouth shut with a curse myself?”
“See?! She’s scary! Terrifying! This is a good wraith, Zenos?!”
“Well, she’s also a big jokester.”
“That didn’t sound like a joke at all!”
Ignoring Aston’s outburst, Carmilla continued, “There is one other option besides carving a path to the surface.”
“There is?”
“This,” the wraith said, pointing at the massive magic circle at her feet.
“Huh? But this circle is one-way, isn’t it?”
“Indeed. I will simply reverse its rotation.”
“What? You can do that?”
“Under normal circumstances, no. But if three specific conditions are met, it might be possible.” Carmilla held up one finger. “First, we need an immense amount of mana. This goes against the laws of nature, so more mana is necessary than even fifty grand mages could provide. Fortunately, this is a manastone mine, which means a vast number of manastones are present. And those are a source of mana, no?”
“We can leave?!” the White Tiger asked, trembling slightly. “Zenos, I will repay my debt to you. We’ll mobilize all the prisoners to gather stones. That way, I can fulfill my last wi—”
Carmilla gave the emotional White Tiger a sidelong glance before raising a second finger.
“Second, we need to alter the magic circle itself by reverse engineering the magic theory behind it. With that, we can overturn the pattern of the teleportation. Creating a new circle from scratch would be difficult, but modifying this one should be doable within about a week.”
“That still sounds ridiculously hard. Is it really possible?”
“Hee hee hee... Modern mages might not be able to, but three hundred years ago, during the war, teleportation circle technology advanced rapidly and even allowed for long-distance travel to the southern continent. At the time, I was known as the most powerful sage in all the land. Nothing is impossible for me.”
“Were you really the most powerful sage in all the land? Like, really?”
“No.”
“No?!”
“Make it a double negative.”
“Wait, what? What do you mean?”
Looking completely unfazed, Carmilla brought up a third finger. “Lastly, we need to secure the teleportation circle in the Royal Guard’s headquarters that is used to send people here. I made a small modification to it on our way down so that it could also function as the exit point. However, should anyone notice and fix it, we are done for.”
“Huh? Wait, doesn’t that mean we’re in trouble? Wouldn’t they notice during regular maintenance?” Zenos asked.
It seemed unlikely that the Royal Guard could go an entire week without noticing the modification, and they needed that time to gather enough manastones and complete the changes to the circle on this side.
Carmilla nodded. “I have taken a few precautions, but from here on out, ’tis up to luck. We cannot guarantee anything, only have faith that it will work.”
“You say that like it’s easy, but...if we fail, we’re never getting back out, right?”
“Can you not have faith?”
Zenos looked wordlessly at Lily and Carmilla, who had come all the way down here just to see him. When he closed his eyes, he could see the faces of the many people he’d met and helped until now. Slowly, he opened his eyes again, and lightly slapped his cheeks with both hands.
“Yeah, I can. What will be, will be. We do what we’re able.”