Despite entering the dungeon alone, Olivia had really done well for herself.
“With this much loot, I can go on that trip with the prince and not worry about money for a bit,” she said aloud.
She’d now stuffed her rucksack with gems and metals she’d found in the dungeon. It was incredibly heavy, but if she didn’t haul all her loot back and sell it, she couldn’t pay Kyle properly.
“Hup!” she grunted, lifting her bag. “All that’s left is to go back. I made it awfully deep into the dungeon this time.”
That was partly because she was growing more accustomed to the environment. She’d also benefited from some male students clearing the monsters ahead of her on their way deeper inside. Thanks to them, she’d gotten pretty far. In the process, she’d netted some pure gemstones that would fetch a nice price. She wouldn’t need to come back here for a while.
“This went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would. I think I overdid it, though.” Smiling to herself in exasperation, she tottered back toward the exit.
Shadows jumped out at her from a side path, startling her. It took a moment to register that they belonged to a couple of female academy students and their personal servants. They’d all moved to block her path.
“Um…” Olivia tried to retreat the way she’d come, but they moved to surround her, so she was completely hemmed in.
“You’re awfully careless to come here all by your lonesome,” one girl said.
No sooner had she finished her sentence than the personal servants jumped at Olivia, picking her up. They tore away her rucksack and tossed it aside. Without it, she couldn’t cash in on anything she’d collected, so she clawed the empty air helplessly, trying to reach it.
“Let go of me! Please, let go of me!” she pleaded. “And please give my bag back!”
The other girls laughed derisively.
“It seems you really let what happened on the school trip go to your head.”
“We’re not as naive as Dolly and Donna.”
“If you think anyone will step in to help you this time, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”
As they spoke, the female students and their minions began heading deeper into the dungeon, Olivia in tow. In addition to their own personal servants, the girls had male students with them serving as escorts, so they had no trouble moving quickly through the passages.
Olivia had a sinking feeling about what they had planned for her.
“No!” she cried. “Please, let me go!” However much she begged for mercy, neither the girls nor their servants paid her any mind. Olivia clasped the cog charm dangling off the cord on her wrist. “Sir Knight, please save me,” she murmured, picturing Leon’s face.
The female students glanced back at her and laughed. “If you’re hoping Bartfort will come for you, he’s busy with a wedding ceremony. Too bad!” They smirked as they broke the news.
Despair overcame Olivia. Wedding ceremony? Oh, of course. He must be marrying that girl. She was so much cuter than me, and more petite, too… Plus, she’s a proper noblewoman…
Trying to process everything, she finally fell silent as they hauled her to a dungeon area roped off with a sign saying ENTRY PROHIBITED. The academy had posted that sign specifically to keep students from taking this path, but the bullies ignored it, pressing forward until they reached an enormous chasm. Its depths were unfathomable, giving way to pure darkness.
The female students stood before it, wearing blank expressions.
“The academy always loses at least one student a year to the dungeons. Sometimes there are two or three casualties, or even a whole party.”
As she realized where the girl was going with this, Olivia sucked in a breath and blanched.
“It’d be perfectly plausible for a commoner like yourself to underestimate her abilities, delve too far in, and go missing.”
She knew the girl meant those words. Still, she had to plead, despite the futility. “Wait. Please, just wait. Hear me out!”
Her cries only served to satisfy the bullies’ misplaced pride. They grinned at her and waved. “Bye-bye!”
Their laughter echoed around Olivia.
“This is your own fault for growing so conceited when you’re nothing but a lowly commoner.”
“It’s what you deserve for being so cozy with His Highness.”
“Did you drop your guard because they protect you at the academy? That’s too bad, then. Your life ends here.”
Once the students finished disparaging her, their personal servants tossed her into the chasm. As she fell backward, her hand shot out. What did I do that was so wrong? Was it that Julius took a liking to her? That she attended an academy meant only for the upper crust when she wasn’t part of it?
Tears streamed down her face, the droplets lifting free and hovering in the air as she fell away from them.
“Why me?! Why?!” Olivia screamed into the abyss.
All those negative emotions festering inside her rushed to the surface. At the same time, she sensed a beast far below her. There in the darkness, the enormous creature cracked its jowls open, ready to devour her. She was certain she was about to be eaten.
Just then, something in the darkness emitted an orb of light that pierced the beast, which disappeared in an explosion of black smoke. Olivia was dumbfounded. In the next moment, something wrapped around her left wrist. It took her a moment to realize it was a bracelet. Shining brightly, the accessory slowed her fall to an almost complete stop and gently deposited her on the floor below.
“Wh-what’s this?” Had the bracelet protected her?
She was too preoccupied by that question to realize that, when the bracelet encircled her wrist, it had snapped off the charm she was wearing. The wooden cog shattered completely, its pieces scattered on the floor.
“Am I safe now?” Olivia glanced upward. She couldn’t see anything through the darkness, so she had no way of knowing whether the female students were loitering up there. “I guess this bracelet must’ve rescued me.”