Chapter 44: I Became a Swordsman in the Middle Ages

Ancient Ruins Exploration (3)

Cecilia had made quite a reputation for herself as a child, leveling up by mercilessly hunting down any demons near the royal capital.

Thanks to that, a rumor had spread among the demons in the region around Theresia:

Beware of the Silver-Haired Butcher!

Her cold, emotionless expression as she cut down demon after demon had earned her the nickname—like a slaughterhouse worker cleaving through livestock.

Demons who lived in close proximity could share certain instincts, and the same went for monsters.

Which is why the mimic refused to bite Cecilia out of fear.

***

Though there had been a few incidents, the expedition party resumed their march through the ruins.

“Lady Cecilia… I’m cold,” Beatrice whimpered, shivering.

Cecilia blinked once and lowered her hand.

Immediately, the biting wind that had been playing with Beatrice’s hair ceased.

“You’re dry now.”

“…Thank you for drying me off.”

She swore to the Goddess:

Had it been anyone but Cecilia, she wouldn’t have gone anywhere near that treasure chest.

But Beatrice couldn't complain.

After all, Cecilia was her superior!

Even now, they were walking together at the very rear of the group, almost just the two of them.

It was… incredibly awkward.

Especially because Cecilia kept glancing at her.

‘Did I do something wrong…? Am I forgetting something…?’

While Beatrice was panicking internally, Cecilia was battling a different crisis altogether.

‘W-What do I even say to her?’

This was painfully awkward!

Cecilia had cleared countless dungeons in her life—

But she had zero experience making friends inside one.

So while the two of them silently wrestled with separate inner turmoil, the rest of the party came to a stop.

“Lady Cecilia, we’ve hit a fork in the path.”

After a narrow corridor, they’d arrived at a vast cavern with two branching tunnels.

Naturally, the knights turned to Cecilia for guidance.

But she pursed her lips and said nothing.

Beatrice, quick on the uptake, immediately realized what that meant.

“She’s telling us to figure it out on our own… isn’t she?”

“Ugh, figured as much.”

Riharten had suspected the same.

He just hoped the difficulty of the dungeon would make her more cooperative.

“Alright, you heard her. Let’s brainstorm.”

“Should we split into two teams?”

“Bad idea. Dividing our forces this early would cripple the raid.”

There were times when splitting the party was necessary, sure—

But this wasn’t one of those times yet.

“Hold on. Didn’t Cecilia tell us to move in unexpected ways?”

“Oh yeah…”

At Beatrice’s reminder, they recalled what Cecilia had said before entering the ruins.

Still, remembering her advice didn’t actually help in this situation.

“What does moving in an unexpected way even mean here?”

“I really don’t know.”

There were only two paths. Wasn't it worth going either way?

Beatrice wracked her brain, but she couldn’t easily come up with an answer.

'I should have studied more if I knew this would happen.'

She hadn’t finished the Beginner’s Essential Reading yet.

Then, Cecilia decided it was time.

'Should I step in now?'

When an oldbie sees a chance to show off... they can't resist.

“Put yourselves in the demons’ shoes,” she said casually.

“You’re designing this dungeon to keep intruders out. Where would you put traps?”

That was how Cecilia always approached dungeons:

Understand the developer’s intent.

If there’s a problem, it’s only natural to first consider the mindset of the one who created it.

“So, what would you do? Where would you place the traps, and where would you station the enemies?”

“Wouldn’t it be best to cover every path with traps?”

“In a normal dungeon, sure. But this is a ruin-type dungeon. It’s too large—budget constraints, you know.”

‘…Demons even have budgets?’

That question popped into everyone's mind.

But of course they did. They weren’t gods—demons couldn’t create something from nothing.

“Then they’d set traps on the most likely routes...”

Beatrice cautiously voiced her guess.

Cecilia nodded.

“Exactly. That’s why I said to move in the most unexpected way possible. The dungeon was designed with humans in mind. It’s built to anticipate how we think.”

“Ah…!”

The knights’ eyes widened in realization.

They’d never thought of it that way. But now it made complete sense.

“Then what’s the most unpredictable move here?”

Unfortunately, they were back to square one.

They understood the principle—but actually applying it was another matter entirely.

“We… still don’t know.”

“Seriously? That’s disappointing.”

“Ugh…”

Shamed into silence, the knights dropped their heads.

Cecilia sighed, her voice resigned as if she couldn't help it.

“The answer is always simple. Just remember that.”

She raised her fist—

—and smashed it straight into the dungeon wall.

BOOOOM!

The stone wall crumbled with a satisfying roar.

The knights were dumbfounded.

“...”

‘How the hell were we supposed to know that!?’

‘Even if we did, how are we supposed to copy that!?’

But none dared speak their complaints aloud.

***

Originally, the first floor of the “Ancient King’s Ruins” was riddled with traps—

No matter which path you chose at the fork, deadly mechanisms awaited.

However, Cecilia punched through a wall, and that unexpected detour led the raid party safely to the second floor.

The curious knights had tried to mimic her… but the walls didn’t even get scratched.

“Ooh, what a cool suit of armor.”

Cecilia was clearly excited.

With curiosity sparkling in her eyes, she lingered at every decorative piece, admiring even the smallest of trinkets.

Because of that, she had fallen a bit behind the rest of the team.

Beatrice, walking beside her, didn’t have the heart to hurry her along.

Cecilia just looked so genuinely happy—pressing down on the old armor with both hands like a child at a museum.

“You really like ruins, huh?”

“Mhm. What about you, Betty?”

“Me? Well…”

Beatrice smiled bitterly.

“Honestly, I find them kind of scary.”

Cecilia tilted her head and glanced over.

“You’re not scared right now.”

“That’s because you’re here, Cecilia.”

“I see.”

Cecilia tucked her hands behind her back and resumed walking.

She passed by Beatrice, who was leaning against the wall.

Without a word, her face was blank—void of expression, of interest, of emotion.

‘As expected, she wouldn’t understand someone like me… would she?’

The thought made Beatrice’s heart sink a little.

And then—

Cecilia spoke, almost to herself.

“Then I guess… you’ll never have to be afraid again.”

“Huh…?”

“Because I’ll be with you from now on.”

“…!”

Beatrice’s eyes widened and looked at Cecilia’s back.

Ahead of her, the silver-haired girl, smaller than herself, walked at her usual leisurely pace.

Now that she thought about it, Cecilia always walked slowly.

Maybe it wasn’t just a habit.

Maybe it was so no one ever got left behind.

Beatrice broke into a run, her face bright.

“Okay!”

***

“But isn’t it strange how there aren’t any monsters?”

The exploration of the ruins continued. So far, all they had learned was that the place was enormously vast—and that even after several hours, they had yet to encounter any real demons or monsters.

“It’s almost too smooth. Makes me more nervous.”

Riharten frowned. The only monsters they had seen so far were a handful of flimsy skeletal soldiers.

“Yeah, this is definitely weird.”

“Lady Cecilia, is this normal?”

“No.”

Cecilia shook her head and replied calmly.

“But sometimes, hidden dungeons are structured like this. No trash mobs—just an overwhelmingly strong boss.”

“...Then is this dungeon like that?”

“Not likely. It’s too inefficient for something this big.”

Cecilia bit her index finger lightly, deep in thought.

“If I had to guess…”

‘The structure of the dungeon makes sense. Areas with airflow have no demons. No tough monsters either.’

It was definitely unusual.

Most ruin-type dungeons follow a clear formula: flood the early floors with low-level monsters, gradually ramp up the difficulty, and once the adventurers grow confident and greedy—they're ambushed and crushed.

‘Could they have already retreated?’

No, Cecilia dismissed that idea.

If that were the case, the stench of demons wouldn’t still be so strong.

There was definitely a powerful demon waiting in the boss room.

Which left only one conclusion:

“They must have staked everything on a single trap.”

“Is… is that even possible?”

“Yeah. But for that to work, that trap has to be absolutely, undeniably lethal.”

Her analysis done, Cecilia slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

“This is getting more interesting.”

A dungeon whose difficulty scales with the number of people.

Just what kind of trap are they so confident in?

Cecilia couldn’t wait to find out.

“There’s a large gate up ahead!”

After quite a trek, they finally came upon what appeared to be the boss room entrance.

And it was massive.

Far larger and grander than anything they’d seen so far.

Towering above them—so tall they had to crane their necks just to see the top—stood a colossal stone gate, flanked by angel statues on both sides as if guarding it.

“Step back a bit.”

At Cecilia’s command, the dazed knights retreated slightly.

Sssshhh—!

A high-pitched slicing noise cut through the air as wind gathered at Cecilia’s sword.

The pressure alone forced the others to shield their eyes with their arms.

And then—

The statues’ eyes glowed crimson as one opened its mouth.

[Foolish morta—]

“Air.”

Cecilia slashed diagonally through the air before the sentence could even finish.

Crack! Crunch!

The poor statue didn’t even finish its scripted line before being obliterated into dust.

“Goodness…”

But the knights weren’t stunned by that.

They thought it was only natural that the unknown statue was instantly smashed by Cecilia (?).

Their real shock came from the fact the door was perfectly intact somehow.

“Wow… it’s tough.”

Cecilia muttered quietly as she looked at her sword.

‘It was just a cheap longsword…’

The blade was chipped to hell and back.

It was a miracle it hadn’t snapped.

“Lady Cecilia! There’s something written here on this stone slab!”

Intrigued, Cecilia walked over.

Sure enough, on a neatly carved rectangular slab, an inscription had been etched in ancient language.

[Zar’kesh dorai nûm vel’tah, mor’kai thul emar.]

"Betty."

"Yes!"

"You can read it, right?"

‘This was in Beginner’s Essential Reading Vol. 22.’

Volume 22’s title was “Learn Ancient Languages Fast and Easy!”

Fortunately, Beatrice had read it.

"Ah... I’m still a beginner, though."

"Try your best anyway."

"...Yes."

Beatrice began reading it, one word at a time.

“Awaken… demon… sleep… him…?”

Cecilia gently corrected her.

“Awaken not the demon from his sleep, lest you wish to see him.”

"Ooooh—!"

The novice knights clapped and nodded in admiration.

“As expected of Lady Cecilia!”

Beatrice laughed awkwardly, but Cecilia narrowed her eyes slightly.

“You’ll need to study more, won’t you?”

“...Yes.”

Beatrice slumped.

But Cecilia kept thinking.

In demon language, ‘demon’ can also mean a figure of fear. ‘Him’ could mean a revered being. And if you reframe the sentence...

— Awaken not the figure of fear from its sleep, lest you wish to see the one you revere.

That kind of inscription was always more than just a warning.

It was a statement of the rules.

The dirtiest kind of rule—because it was a trap you couldn’t help but break.

The kind of thing that goes: "I warned you. You opened it anyway? Well, don’t come crying later."

"Hmm. I wonder what it really means."

“Betty. Who’s the person you admire most in the world?”

“…Huh?”

Beatrice looked flustered. Cecilia’s expression was deadly serious.

“D-do I have to say it… out loud?”

“Yep. Out loud. Absolutely.”

Beatrice’s face turned bright red. She bowed her head and murmured,

“…Lady Cecilia.”

Cecilia smiled sweetly.

“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Eh?”

Beatrice tilted her head in confusion, but Cecilia took a step back.

“I can’t go in.”

“...!”

“The demons must’ve set up a very petty ward. Looks like it’s specifically rejecting Cecilia Windsor.”

‘Of course, I could break it if I wanted to… but there’s really no need.’

The knights were greatly dismayed.

The strongest person in the party—was staying behind?! In a “Very Hard” dungeon?!

“There’s no need to worry too much.”

But Cecilia closed her eyes briefly.

She could already sense a demon presence nearby, crouched in hiding.

While they tackled this “trap,” she planned to go extract some intel from the demon.

“You guys can clear it just fine on your own.”

Creeeeaaaak—

As if to prove her words, the massive stone gate slowly began to open the moment Cecilia vanished from view.

The 20 knights stepped cautiously inside.

The moment they entered—

The enormous gate slammed shut with unbelievable speed, as if panicked by the idea of ‘someone’ else getting in.

THUD!

And then—

Reality hit them.

“...She said we could clear this on our own?”

“...Fuck.”

The knights couldn’t control their trembling hands and feet.

Because the presence before them… was too overwhelming to even process.

“That’s a demon?”

It was a massive hall.

And in its center—

A small silver-haired girl, hugging a stuffed bunny doll, sleeping peacefully.

“...Lady Cecilia?”

No.

It was young Cecilia, at 8 years old.

And somehow, that made it infinitely more terrifying.

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