Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Dungeon 

I looked down as I fell rapidly through the air. I could see the passageway split into several different paths, like a fancy playground slide below me. I immediately thrust my spear into the wall to stop myself from falling. 
“It seems I’ve fallen for a trap.” 
What fools! I considered just killing all of the Melromarc scum right then and there without hesitation. But if I started firing off skills recklessly, there was a risk that Father and the others might end up buried alive in the rubble. Using the time loop as an easy way out would be the height of stupidity. 
But I wasn’t the type to give up easily, I say! I wondered what I should do. Using Portal Spear inside of the castle would be difficult. If I were outside of the castle, I might be able to use it to teleport to the summoning chamber, but . . . Actually, no, I hadn’t bound the summoning chamber as a portal location in the first place. That had been a mistake. 
If I used my portal now, I would end up in a nearby village. And then it would take time to get back. Actually, I hadn’t even tested to see if my portal bindings would remain intact after subsequent loops. I’d lost them all after the first loop back in time. I needed to spend some time looking into that more thoroughly. 
Either way . . . 
“I’ll just have to climb out of this hole!” 
I used my spear like an ice axe and started climbing back up the slide. It was dark, so I used magic to illuminate my surroundings. But the passageway was like a labyrinth, and I was having trouble telling which way I’d fallen from. 
I thrust my spear into the wall and it made a hollow sound. There must have been an opening on the other side of the wall. I decided it would probably be easier to break through the wall and continue my escape from there. I gripped my spear and aimed it at the wall. 
“Shooting Star Spear!” 
With a loud explosion, the spear blew a hole through the stone wall and dust filled the air. A new path now lay before me, so I stepped through to the other side gallantly. 
“This is . . .” 
It was pitch dark. From what I could make out, I seemed to be in some kind of prison cell. I guess it only made sense that the Melromarc castle would have a dungeon. Despite having caused an explosion, there was no sign of any guards coming to see what had happened. I must have been deep underground. 
I sliced through the prison cell bars and exited into the walkway. The place was rather old and dilapidated. There were little mouse-like monsters running back and forth along the walls. I turned to my left and I could hear the sound of water flowing ever so faintly. Maybe that led to the Melromarc sewer system. In that case, I would want to go to the right to head back toward the castle. 
As I continued down the dungeon walkway, I began to see some prisoners. Some of them seemed to be rather well-dressed, but there were the typical haggardly looking prisoners too. 
“Hey! You don’t look familiar. Are you a Melromarc soldier?” 
I looked over at the prison cell where the voice had come from. Several other prisoners had spoken to me before that and I had ignored them. But this voice belonged to a woman. It wasn’t a man, and yet for some reason I hadn’t heard the squeals of a pig. 
The woman’s hands were bound by shackles hanging from overhead, forcing her to remain standing in the cell. Her feet were shackled too. It was painful even just looking at her. 
“What are you staring at?” she asked. 
She had strawberry-blonde hair and an attractive face. I remembered seeing her somewhere before. Aha! I was pretty sure she had been the bodyguard of Fiancée (which was the nickname I used to refer to the Melromarc princess named Melty, because she was so close to Filo-tan). 
Fiancée had introduced the woman to me once when Father was away. She told me, “She may be a woman, but she’s a capable knight who protects me and Filo-chan.” The filolials had told me she was a good, loyal person too. Also, I remember she sparred with Ren often and he stuck to her like a needy boyfriend. Apparently, she had dueled with him and saved him from complete emotional despair. 
So she wasn’t a pig, I say! But why was she being held captive in a place like this? 
“I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?” she asked again. 
“What in the world are you doing here?” I replied. 
“Me? I was arrested for punishing some Melromarc soldiers that were hunting demi-humans. They stripped me of my knighthood, so I’m just a commoner now.” 
So basically, she had been thrown in prison for punishing the rotten scum of this country. What she had done was a noble deed, and yet she had been wrongly arrested for her “crime.” Now I was certain that this was the woman who was big sis’s good friend and Fiancée’s bodyguard. 
“It will all be okay if I can just stay alive until the queen returns. But that’s just wishful thinking, I’m sure.” 
I guess she was being held captive here until the queen got back. The queen sure was useful, I say! I’d used her name during the last cycle of the time loop. Even just mentioning her name in a threat would usually get good results here in Melromarc! 
“And? Who in the world are you?” she asked yet again. 
I figured it wouldn’t hurt to tell her what was going on. 
“I’m the Spear Hero, I say! I was summoned to Melromarc earlier today.” 
“What?!” 
Fiancée’s bodyguard responded by rattling her chains and leaning forward. 
“Why would the Spear Hero be down here in a place like this?!” 
“Like I said, Melromarc summoned the four holy heroes today. They summoned all four of us!” 
“I’ll ask you again. Why would the Spear Hero be down here in a place like this?” 
“The reason I’m down here is because I was tricked and fell into a trap, I say!” 
“They set a trap for a holy hero? Why in the world would they do that?! What’s going on in this country?!” 

It would have saved me a lot of trouble if I knew the answer to that question! But I could think of several possibilities. The Melromarc scum had probably decided that having me around was disadvantageous for them. In all actuality, I did consider Melromarc an enemy, so they weren’t wrong. 
“You might not believe me, but I’m from the future. And in the future, Father . . . the Shield Hero is framed for rape by that pig of a princess, who then colludes with the king to denounce him. I exposed their plot today, I say!” 
“. . .” 
Oh? Fiancée’s bodyguard just stood there silently. I guess no one was going to believe me! 
“Yeah . . . Knowing the king and the princess, I wouldn’t put that past those two. I can definitely imagine them coming up with a rotten plan to ingratiate themselves with the other heroes while taking pleasure from seeing the Shield Hero suffer.” 
Her face grew even grimmer than it had been. It seemed like she might have believed me, even if only a tiny bit. 
“But the demi-human countries wouldn’t stand by quietly if they tried something like that. All of my father’s monumental efforts to establish friendly ties with them would go straight down the drain.” 
“In the future I came from, Father worked hard to be successful. The Church of the Three Heroes presence in Melromarc was destroyed, and Melromarc began taking good care of Father as soon as the queen returned!” 
“So that’s what happens? Hold on, I must be losing my mind. How could I actually believe such foolishness? I must be hallucinating.” 
Fiancée’s bodyguard seemed convinced I was a hallucination. I guess being locked up in a dungeon like this could mess with somebody’s head. 
“When I uncovered these facts, I was trapped and ended up here. And now I intend to rush back to Father’s side as quickly as possible.” 
That’s right. I was worried about Father, I say! It would be one thing if he was just having his meal like normal, but the likelihood of that being the case was slim. 
“I bid thee farewell for now, I say!” 
Considering what I knew about the future, she should make it out of here alive even if I left her behind. But saving her might improve Filo-tan’s opinion of me since she was Fiancée’s bodyguard. That said, if I didn’t focus on saving Father’s life right now, then I would never even get to meet Filo-tan! 
“Wait!” 
“What is it?” 
“If this is real . . . If you’re not a hallucination, then get me out of here! I have a duty to protect my territory and its people, my father’s words, and the law. Leaving this cell will only make my punishment worse, but I’m willing to accept that to find the truth!” 
“Understood!” 
I wasn’t sure if Fiancée’s bodyguard would prove to be of any use. But based on my loyalty to Father, if anyone with favorable ties to him asked me to save them, I would do it, I say! 
“Who goes there?!” 
A soldier appeared. He was holding a hand lantern out toward us. I guess we had been speaking too loudly and drew attention to ourselves. 
“You’re the Spear — ” 
“Air Strike Javelin!” 
I used a weak skill and threw my spear at him. It wasn’t like I had developed a reverence for life or anything. But using a powerful skill would have destroyed the passage and just made things more difficult! 
“Gah!” 
The soldier passed out. I paid him no heed. My spear flew back into my hand and I swung it, slicing through the prison cell bars. Then I thrust it at the shackles binding Fiancée’s bodyguard and they shattered. 
“Come, now is our chance!” 
“Such power. Truly fitting of a legendary hero. Perhaps you aren’t a hallucination, after all.” 
Free from her shackles, Fiancée’s bodyguard took the sword from the fallen soldier’s belt. 
“This way! I’ll show you the way out of here.” 
“Understood!” 
I followed Fiancée’s bodyguard and we ran through the dungeon halls. This was a stroke of good luck! I’m sure I would have wandered around lost for a while if it had just been me. 
“By the way, I forgot to introduce myself properly. My name is — ” 
“ Éclair, right?” 
I remembered Filo-tan calling her that. Her name always made me hungry. I remembered Father made a yummy treat with the same name, so that’s what all the filolials called her. 
“That’s not how it’s pronounced! It’s Eclair Seaetto! And what is your name, Spear Hero?” 
“Motoyasu Kitamura. Motoyasu is my first name!” 
“Mr. Kitamura, then. In that case, I shall accompany you until I find out if what you’ve told me is true, Mr. Kitamura!” 
“Understood!” 
As we ran through the halls of the dungeon toward the exit, Éclair and I forged a partnership and our journey began!