Chapter 55: Witch (3)

Evan opened his eyes.

An unfamiliar ceiling stared back at him.

Ornate decorations and sharp-looking weapons hung from it, glinting in the light.

Where… am I?

He rummaged through his memories.

They had escaped the dungeon, emerging not underground but on the surface — in the grand hall of the castle that Innocence typically used to receive guests.

Number 5 had carried Evan in his arms.

The moment Evan spotted the butler and servants who served Innocence, many of them familiar faces, he had passed out.

They were minor characters, yes, but unmistakable allies — the clear good guys who helped the player after Innocence lost his mind.

Seeing them here meant… everything had been properly resolved.

Ah… I survived.

The tension drained from his body in an instant.

Really… too much had happened.

Evan tried to sit up with a sigh, only to grit his teeth as searing pain shot through every muscle.

“My whole body… hurts…!”

It wasn’t just ordinary pain.

Muscle soreness!

He had pushed himself far too hard, on top of exhausting his mana.

There was no way his body wouldn’t ache.

This is why people should live quietly…

He never imagined he’d end up fighting Innocence out of nowhere, then battling a witch right after.

If that last escape hadn’t been an emergency exit, he would’ve had to stare at that face for several more minutes.

It had already been a full day since they escaped.

Ugh!

His body still trembled at the memory.

Honestly, he’d admit it as a man.

He had been scared!

Really scared!

Those eyes spinning with reverse pupils, that mad laughter — how could anyone not be terrified?

And my face… still hurts.

His expression had frozen so many times he’d lost count.

The witch had collapsed helplessly in shock, and then he’d tensed up again, unsure what would happen next.

All those spasms at once had left his face feeling permanently stiff.

Like the muscles were being yanked tight.

Rub, rub.

“…Thank you.”

The living armor gently massaged his body.

Not painful — just the perfect amount of relief.

Evan received the golem’s massage for a moment before slowly sitting up.

Despite the unfamiliar ceiling, the room itself was undeniably luxurious.

Expensive furniture filled every corner.

The bed was large enough for five people to sleep comfortably.

A guest room, probably.

Sunlight poured through the slightly parted curtains.

Only now did it truly sink in.

He had escaped that hellish place.

Whether a one-year survival newbie like Evan should have gone through something like that… well, that was another question.

Pant, pant!

“?”

A sound came from below.

When he looked down, Hati and Skoll peeked out from under the blanket, their heads poking up.

Evan cautiously extended his hand, and they toddled over, rubbing their heads against his palm.

“…You two aren’t hurt anywhere, right?”

As if to reassure him, Hati and Skoll lifted their sand-formed legs.

Ah.

I need to fix those later.

The auto-repair function was nice, but the constant shedding of sand was a downside.

Great repair ability, but full of flaws.

“I’ll replace those legs for you later.”

If possible, he’d even try limb regeneration.

Hati and Skoll licked his cheeks in gratitude.

Evan gently pushed their heads away from the sticky saliva.

Only then did he notice Number 5 crouched quietly in the corner.

Its body… looked perfectly fine.

Repaired separately, maybe?

Yeah, that was the advantage.

Good thing he’d used a sand golem core.

“Number 5. You okay?”

Nod, nod.

Number 5 nodded and flexed, forming impressive biceps.

It almost looked stronger than before.

Maybe it had packed on extra sand.

Evan deliberately looked away as sand pattered onto the floor.

“Evan!!”

BAM!!!!

The door flew open with enough force to nearly shatter it. Lapis burst in, her blue hair whipping behind her.

The hinges looked loose from the violence of it.

Evan pretended not to notice and turned toward her.

“Lapis, are you all right?”

“Yes! I’m perfectly fine! How about you, Evan?”

“I’m fine too.”

“Liar. You were out cold for a whole day…”

He had no comeback for that.

His body was just that frail.

Evan quickly changed the subject.

“How is everyone else?”

“They’re all fine. Aegis passed out from exhaustion for a bit, but she’s fully recovered after treatment. And, um, that directionally challenged knight?

He’s fine too.”

“I see. What about the shrine maiden?”

“Well…”

Lapis couldn’t answer right away.

Evan’s expression hardened for a moment.

The shrine maiden had gone missing.

She had definitely emerged when the dungeon closed, but no one knew where she’d gone.

Yeah… he had somewhat expected this.

A personality completely opposite to the shrine maiden’s had emerged and nearly killed them all.

It wouldn’t be strange for her to feel guilt.

I’m a little scared of her myself, but…

He figured she hadn’t done it willingly.

A real man ought to accept this much.

He trusted her because he remembered how, in the main story, the shrine maiden sacrificed herself heroically for humanity.

Having built this connection wasn’t a bad thing.

Suddenly!

Lapis pulled a vial from her pocket and held it out.

“Here, drink this first!”

“?”

“You need to refill your blood, right?”

The vial contained a red liquid.

Don’t tell me that’s actually blood?

“Hurry and get better, Evan. I… don’t want you to get hurt.”

She probably just got it from somewhere, right?

Surely she didn’t kidnap a random passerby and drain their blood.

…Please let that not be the case.

Evan quietly charged the ring with the blood.

Ah, I feel alive again.

It was like a weight lifted from his chest.

Lapis clung to him, chattering away anxiously even as she visibly relaxed seeing color return to his face.

“You threw up blood several times on the way here — do you know how worried I was…! I almost thought the doctor was a quack.”

She beamed brightly.

“Lucky for him, I had a nice ‘talk,’ so he treated you properly…!”

That wasn’t a physical talk, right…?

“Oh, right. Did you check the items? You had a whole bunch in your arms when we escaped.”

Items?

Ah!

The rewards!

He’d almost forgotten.

“Where are they?”

“I left them with Number 5!”

Number 5 nodded and carefully unwrapped the bundle, placing the items on the bed.

Evan checked his wrist first.

Oh! It’s there!

A single boldly engraved symbol.

It meant the one-time Time Leap that could save him from death had been applied to his body.

It wouldn’t work against natural death, but it would protect him from physical death caused by another.

Not that he planned to throw his life around recklessly.

Absolute rest from now on.

He was planning to hole up in his room for at least a month.

Innocence was cured, and he’d formed a bond with the shrine maiden.

He’d earned some downtime, hadn’t he?

More importantly… my mana increased a bit?

Was it because he’d seen things through to the end? Or had the knowledge of alchemy made him slightly stronger?

A noticeable amount of mana had grown.

This would help a lot with transmutation.

The burden of opening subspace had lessened too.

Nice.

A satisfied smile spread across his face as he rummaged through the bundle.

Miscellaneous junk came out first… along with several chunks of frozen ore from the dungeon.

Analyzing the components, they weren’t bad.

Upper-grade quality.

He could sell them once he returned to the family.

“Hm?”

That was when he found it.

A small gem, more delicately crafted than the other ores.

Mana swirled violently inside.

Evan knew instinctively.

This…

It’s a core?

The dungeon core.

The core of the dungeon that had twisted space-time, swallowing Innocence, the monsters from the other side, and the people of the Demisia Kingdom.

It was right here!

I didn’t expect this…

“Wow! Evan, that’s so pretty.”

“Don’t eat it.”

“I’m fine with vegetables.”

Lapis pulled out a head of lettuce from her pocket and started munching.

Yeah, that sounded about right.

A dungeon core was an extremely valuable material used in magic reagents and alchemy.

Even the Alkart family name couldn’t easily acquire one.

…This is good.

The things he could make with it were endless.

Its durability was high too — it wouldn’t shatter even if transmutation failed.

Perfect timing.

He might be able to create a new golem with this.

Something different in nature from Number 5 or Number 2.

And this other thing… a root? It’s completely rotted. What would I even use—

It looked familiar.

Oh, right!

Timegrass!

It should have come as a reward, but perhaps due to the extreme cold, it had spoiled completely.

The ingredient he’d planned to use for the potion suppressing the curse in the saintess’s heart.

A precious material — and he’d used it all to cure Innocence.

He couldn’t even bill anyone for it.

The only way to get more was through contacts in the Space-Time Magic Tower.

…Asking the shrine maiden wouldn’t work, would it?

Of course not.

He’d have to search through Innocence’s connections first.

Fortunately, there was a famous merchant group on the continent he was linked to.

That route should work somehow.

I need to find a use for this core first.

Lapis, who had been watching Evan with her chin propped on the bed and a silly grin, suddenly remembered something.

She pushed herself up with both hands.

“Oh! And…!”

“?”

“That weird knight woke up too!”

Weird knight…? Ah!

Innocence.

The king had finally awakened.

***

Innocence.

The king who woke later than Evan.

He sat on his throne in pristine condition, as if he hadn’t just regained consciousness moments ago.

His long white hair was neatly tied back, and he wore a pure white robe.

His eyes, once clouded and unfocused, now held the clearest focus they’d ever had as they gazed at Evan.

It worked.

His first attempt.

His first homunculus transmutation.

Though only partial… combining it with alchemy had succeeded in repairing the brain.

A miracle born of knowledge.

If it hadn’t been for Aegis and—

Innocence quietly closed his clear eyes.

“It feels as though I have woken from a very long… dream.”

“…”

“Every day I suffered from madness, hearing whispers urging me onward, craving to fight the strong and reach higher realms…That insatiable desire tormented me. Even when my energy was cut off mid-battle, I felt no strangeness.”

“That was my karma. I surpassed my realm because I pursued greater strength, and it is true that my brain was destroyed by excessive battle lust.”

Even if it was to protect his people and kingdom.

At its core, what drove him beyond his limits was the thirst for greater power.

He had to face any strong opponent — ally or enemy — to grow stronger.

Trapped in that contradiction, gradually consumed by madness, Innocence had finally been freed.

“Now, at last, it feels like I have returned to reality.”

“Are there any lingering issues?”

“None at all. You called it alchemy… I am in your debt.”

“It was thanks to Elder Aegis and Hargen’s help.”

“Even so, your contribution was the greatest.”

Innocence stepped down from the throne and grasped both of Evan’s hands.

“Let me thank you once more.”

“Y-Yes.”

It was a little embarrassing.

Evan nodded, hiding his awkwardness.

Innocence released his hands.

He clasped them behind his back and slowly walked to the side of the throne.

“I have prepared a reward for you.”

“A reward?”

“The kingdom’s treasure vault.”

Innocence pointed toward the underground.

The vault of the kingdom they hadn’t been able to enter… filled with countless artifacts.

“Take whatever you wish from what the dungeon produced.”

“…!”

The kingdom’s treasure vault!

One of the rewards he absolutely had to claim in the future.

And he could get it now?

This was huge.

“Take everything you want.”

In Korea, it’s national custom to refuse at least once.

But that wouldn’t fly here.

“I will gratefully accept.”

“This alone will not be enough.”

Huh?

“This is a symbol of my personal friendship.”

Innocence held out a dagger engraved with his crest.

“The Kingdom of Demisia will support you. Even if the entire world opposes you… I, at least, will always stand by your side.”

A faint flame flickered in Innocence’s eyes, then vanished.

“This life you saved… as long as the kingdom is not in danger, I will always stand with you.”

“…!”

More than a reliable ally — the strongest possible supporter.

His mental state restored, Innocence had regained his full original strength.

His martial prowess alone surpassed even Arthur’s.

Was there a greater reward than this?

“Someone is waiting for you.”

“?”

“In my garden.”

Innocence gave a bittersweet smile and pointed toward the garden.

“I still have matters to attend to… but it is only right to resolve a young knight’s troubles first.”

“Go speak with him for a moment. We will continue afterward.”

Evan nodded.

A short delay was fine.

He had a rough idea who was waiting.

In the garden filled with every kind of weapon embedded in the ground.

Felix, standing alone in the center, slowly turned his head.

“I have something to ask.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“You… did you foresee all of this?”