It was pitch-black. Not in the sense that I’d fainted—I literally couldn’t see. I felt stranded, suspended in a void. Every attempt to reach my hands out or otherwise move my body was met with an almost total lack of sensation. Any less and I couldn’t have been certain that I had limbs at all.
What was happening to me?
I spent a while squirming around to no avail, puzzling over the situation I’d found myself in, before the darkness gradually began to fade into a hazy gray. I saw...some sort of ruin? A stone building? No, wait—this was the very temple I had been in a moment ago.
Yet, something wasn’t right. While I wouldn’t have said my memory was fantastic, the temple was definitely different somehow from the one I’d just entered. It was hard to say exactly how, though. It was just...better put together, overall? There was no sign of the wear and tear I’d noticed earlier.
As I wondered to myself what in the world was happening, my field of vision began to move independently of me. My surroundings began to brighten—likely because I was getting closer to the light source up above. I realized that I was underwater when the light rippled as it filtered down. It didn’t look like the sun, though.
Then, I broke the surface. The sound echoed strangely in my ears as my field of vision jerked suddenly, as if someone were dragging me along. When I was fully out of the water, a face popped into view, peering down at me.
It belonged to a young woman, and a rather beautiful one at that. And her face was still getting closer—enough that I began to wonder if she was going to kiss me.
Unfortunately, it seemed that I had no sense of touch. I couldn’t feel anything physical, for that matter. While part of me wondered how that even worked, it also made a strange sort of sense. After all, while I couldn’t say for sure, my instincts were telling me that this was probably a memory—and not one of mine.
The young woman repeated her efforts for a while, and before long, I heard the sound of someone violently coughing and spluttering. Water that had clearly been vomited up sprayed across my field of vision. Eventually, the coughing steadied into rough, but deep breaths, and my vision began to improve. Hazy grays gave way to color, and everything became brighter and sharper.
“Thank goodness,” came a voice that I realized belonged to the young woman. “I wasn’t sure I’d made it in time.”
“Ugh... Wh-Where...am I?” said the voice from my mouth. No—I supposed it was the mouth of the man whose memory I was seeing.
“Surely you know? This is the Dungeon of the Sea God’s Daughters. It seems like you misjudged the limit of your air tube. If I hadn’t saved you, you’d have drowned.”
There was a reproachful note to the young woman’s voice. If what she’d said was true, then I didn’t blame her for it. I’d learned from Diego that the air tubes could run out, so you had to keep a close eye on them if you didn’t want to end up sleeping with the fishes. That part you needed a curse vendor or someone with similar expertise for, since you couldn’t easily tell from the air tube’s exterior. Maybe the guy whom I’d...possessed? The guy whose memory I was seeing? Maybe he hadn’t done that. It was a dangerous risk to take.
“Really? But I made sure to have them checked. I did have a few, though, so maybe I accidentally picked the wrong one...”
Or not. It was worse than I’d thought—he was just a scatterbrain...
The young woman seemed as amazed as I was. “Quite careless of you, considering your life was on the line. You’d have become food for the fish if not for me. A rather large one almost had you before I got there.”
“Sounds like I owe you big time, then. Thanks. I’d love to pay you back, but I’ve got basically nothing to my name—coin included, as much as I wish it were otherwise.”
“I’m impressed you decided to come here, then.”
“It’s the reason I came. I’m going to strike it rich in this one delve, then use the coin to open my own shop.”
“A...shop? So you’re not an adventurer, but a merchant?”
“I’m both. Well, adventuring’s just a means to an end. I’m dedicated to being a merchant, but I won’t get anywhere without starting capital. And if you want to buy a shop in Lucaris, the fastest way is to trawl the dungeon for magic and cursed items that you can sell.”
“If you’re a merchant, couldn’t you make adventurers do that for you, then sell the spoils at a profit?”
“Sure, I guess. But there aren’t many adventurers willing to delve this dungeon. And the ones who do already have working relationships with other curse vendors, so they don’t send the juicy items my way often. I figured doing it myself would be faster.”
“You’re a reckless one, aren’t you? I suppose it’s your life on the line.” The young woman paused for a moment. “But in that case, you can be my assistant.”
“Huh?”
“This is your first time in this dungeon, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes...”
“I, on the other hand, know this place well. I should be able to show you around.”
“Like a ‘learn from your elders’ type of deal, huh?”
“Perhaps. Either way, I’d like you to accompany me in my search. I’ve grown rather weary of conducting it alone as of late.”
“You make it sound like you’re still pretty new to this place—even though you were lording over me about it just now.”
“I suppose so. But what does it matter? Will you be my assistant, or won’t you?”
“I don’t know... I came to gather as many magic and cursed items as I could. Joining you would cut that number by half, wouldn’t it?”
“They say miserly merchants will be their own undoing, you know. Don’t you know the story of Meely and his contract?”
“I know it, yes. I wouldn’t have expected you to, though. It’s so old.”
The story of Meely told of a merchant who fell victim to his own greed. It was said he’d come across a device with the potential to generate vast amounts of wealth, but he had misused it in his arrogance, bringing about his own downfall.
It was a rather old story, though, not commonly mentioned by the younger generations. The only reason I knew it was because Lorraine’s personal library was full of those kinds of fables and folktales.
“Then you know taking on some loss can be good for you,” the young woman said.
“Heh. All right. I guess that makes us a temporary party, then. Will this pay back the debt I owe you?”
“Of course. Now, let’s get to work. My name’s Mariana. What’s yours?”
“I’m Raul.”
Hmm? Where had I heard those names before?
Before I could consider the question any further, the memory seemed to shatter like glass, and I was seized by a strong pulling sensation as my vision went white.