Chapter 7: The Fake Olivia

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 7:
The Fake Olivia

WE ARRIVED ON THE SECOND FLOOR, and I checked Emma over where she’d been kicked. It seemed painful, but she hadn’t broken any bones as far as I could tell. What a relief!

It was good to see nothing had happened to Olivia. She was still bound up in the Death Chains where I’d left her. I introduced her to Emma and went over everything that had happened. Just as I’d expected, Olivia was shocked to hear she’d been copied. The fact that the double had Get Creative, Editor, and Bestow implied that the copy had been made before Olivia passed those skills on to me.

“Well, that’s easy enough for you to say!”

“Ms. Olivia? I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but do you have any weaknesses?”

<You’re Emma, right? What’s your bra size?>

“Uhmm…”

<It’s bigger than mine, isn’t it? Isn’t it?!>

Emma glanced at me anxiously.

“Quit joking around,” I told Olivia. “This is serious! We need to find a way to beat this double. Surely you’ve at least had some close calls before, right?”

<Hmmmm…maybe? Once…I think…?>

“You don’t even remember?”

<Hey! I’m sure it must have happened at some point! Maybe it was even in your town…>

I guess it would have been over two hundred years ago. It had to be easy to forget the details after so long. But she also had to have stories about her exploits. Most of them were probably made up, but I hoped to hear some kernels of truth.

“No,” I insisted. “I’m going to defeat her. No matter what.”

<Okay, well…I guess I am a tiny bit excited. But remember: The number one thing I need you to do for me is not die. Really, remember that.>

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. And I’m going to find a way to set you free. I swear it!”

After that, Emma and I headed out of the dungeon and went back into town.

“My parents know a scholar,” she said. “I’ll see if they know anything.”

“Thanks. I’ll see what I can find out too.”

We parted ways, and I headed to the largest library in town. It cost a little money to use, but only as much as a couple of meals, so that didn’t deter me. The real problem was that they didn’t lend their most valuable texts to normal people.

I scanned over what I could find about the town’s history and any records of adventurers in the area. Unsurprisingly, Olivia’s name showed up a bunch of times, although the people who wrote the books didn’t seem to know where her power came from. Most of them just described her overwhelming opponents with a mysterious force.

I had more luck looking into the town history, and I soon found an account of Olivia’s stay at a famous inn, as well as her victory over someone called Litorean. But who was this person? They must have been pretty famous to appear in the town records. It was time to do some more digging.

It turned out she had been a well-known cleric who had contributed to the development of the town. Why hadn’t I learned anything about her in school? It seemed that a lot of incredible people had lived here in the past.

In the end, I couldn’t find any more information about other people Olivia had fought nearby, so I focused my efforts on Litorean. Apparently, she had been skilled at healing wounds but had also been known for having quite the temper. She was described as “tall” and “unusually strong,” which I supposed made her both a healer and a fighter? That was all I could get out of the books in the library, so I decided to ask Luna.

When I got to the temple, I was immediately discouraged. Why did the lines always have to be so long? But I didn’t really have a choice, so I got in place and waited. It was over an hour and a half before I reached the front.

“Sir Noir!” said Luna. “You don’t have to stand in line like that. Why didn’t you just say something?”

“Wouldn’t be fair on everyone else. Listen, there’s something I wanted to ask you: Do you know anything about a cleric named Litorean who lived here about two hundred years ago?”

“Of course!”

Bingo! Apparently, the temple even had a collection of books about her. It was part of their training to learn about famous clerics who’d worked there in the past. I explained the situation to Luna and asked for permission to read them.

“We don’t normally allow outsiders to see them, but… Just give me a moment.”

Luna approached one of the older priests and bowed her head. She was such a good friend. I was so lucky to know her. It wasn’t long before she headed back over.

“He says that you can read them as long as you stay here at the temple.”

“Thank you so much!”

The priest showed me into a small room, then brought the books in and set them on the table. I thanked him for his help and started to look through the collection. They covered everything about Litorean’s life.

She had been an unusual cleric—as belligerent as she was benevolent. Her personality might have caused trouble, but she’d also saved untold numbers of people. She’d defeated enemies with her strength in combat and made free use of healing magic. Apparently, she’d learned an offensive skill called Sacrifice that allowed her to give up one of her own skills to make herself stronger.

I’d never heard of such a thing. It had to be really rare. A skill could be relearned after it was sacrificed, but it was still a hefty price to pay—giving up in an instant something that had taken months or even years to master. It wouldn’t even be feasible for most people, but for some reason, Litorean had the ability to learn skills very easily.

“I see. That’s why she was able to sacrifice them, then.”

She’d even defeated dragons that way. This had to be the person who’d given my master a run for her money. If I had that Sacrifice skill, maybe I’d stand a chance against the fake Olivia.

Sacrifice — 500 LP

Well, that had been much easier to make than expected. It still sounded scary. I needed to check the details first.

User may sacrifice a skill to temporarily raise physical and magical ability. The stronger the skill sacrificed, the more powerful the boost. The duration of the buff is proportional to the number of skills sacrificed: one skill results in a one-minute buff, two extends it to three minutes, and three skills extends it to five.

Wow, that buff window was really short! I’d thought sacrificing a skill would buy you a little more than that. The mechanics of it were complicated too. It seemed like the strongest combination was achieved by sacrificing three S-Grade skills, which would massively buff my abilities for five minutes. But I had to do it all at once. If I sacrificed them one after another, it would only earn me three minutes. I really needed to be careful with how I used this one!

The skill was cheap though, so I coughed up the LP. It must have been unusually compatible with me. But I could use Get Creative to remake any skills I burned, right? Also, how would the cost of the sacrificed skills balance out against the buffs they provided? To find that out, I’d have to do some testing.

It was already dark by the time I left the temple. I stopped by Emma’s house to tell her about Litorean and to ask her to keep me updated as to what she discovered through her own research. Then I headed home to get some rest.

The next morning, I headed out of town to experiment with Sacrifice. I walked out to the base of the mountain where we’d fought the goblin thieves and took a few moments to prepare myself. It felt like a waste to sacrifice skills just to practice, but that would be better than getting confused and panicking in the middle of a fight. That said, I didn’t want to waste a strong skill, so I started with Improved Lunge. It had only cost 300 LP to produce, so I could replace it easily enough. I focused my intent on the skill and activated Sacrifice.

“Whoa!”

An intense feeling washed over me, filling my body with power. I felt as light as air! But I couldn’t waste any time enjoying the sensation. I only had a minute before the buff wore off, so I hurried to try out various techniques.

For starters, I fired Holy Flame up into the air. The flames were at least a foot longer than usual. Anyone who knew the skill would have noticed the difference.

Next, I tried Lightning Strike. Electricity jumped from my fingers. Again, the bolts were stronger, and the range was greater than usual.

Sacrifice might have been a temporary effect, but it could still change the inherent qualities of other skills and spells, just like Editor. It was much more impressive than I’d thought.

Time to try out its effect on physical abilities.

I kicked a small tree, which snapped in half with ease, then pulled a bunch of things out of my Pocket Dimension to crush. I’d never been able to do anything like this before but, before I could test it out any further, the effect wore off. It didn’t hurt or anything, but the change in sensation was obvious enough.

“So even a common skill like Improved Lunge makes a big difference, huh?”

That was probably how Litorean had been able to afford to sacrifice enough skills to fight Olivia. Although the truly terrifying thing was that my master had still beaten her.

The one problem now was the short window of time the buff provided. If I was going to face the fake Olivia, I’d probably have to sacrifice three skills—I’d need the full five minutes. Fortunately, if I burned all three of my basic movement skills—Improved Lunge, Side Step, and Back Step—it would only cost me 700 LP. From what I could tell, even the weaker skills buffed my abilities two- or threefold.

I wanted to test a more powerful skill, but the thought of sacrificing thousands of LP for mere practice was too much for my miserly heart. I’d just have to save it for the real deal. At least I understood the gist of it now. I could probably figure out the rest on the fly.

I replaced my Improved Lunge skill and headed back toward town. There had been two guards on the gate when I left, but now there was only one. And he looked anxious.

“Is it thieves or something?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” he said. “A mercenary was attacked and had all his money stolen.”

“A mercenary? Whoever did it must have had guts. And strength.”

“Supposedly, the culprit was a woman. Several people were attacked overnight. I’m not sure if the same person was responsible, but you should be careful.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Who’d be stupid enough to go after a mercenary for money? Just the thought of trying to rob someone like Ms. Elena gave me the shivers.

I walked down to the market to pick a few things up. It was still early, and all the shops had just been restocked. I bought some fresh fruit, already sure that Mother and Alice would be delighted.

“Dammit, who is that woman…?”

“She got you too? Is she that strong?”

A man covered in bruises was talking to a guard at the edge of the street. He must have been the mercenary that was attacked. I was curious, so I slowed down to listen.

“She played with me like some kind of demented cat. She even stole my sword!”

“She did?! And you’re no joke with a blade either. What did she look like?”

The mercenary rubbed his head. “Light blue hair. A total knockout.”

Huh?!

That comment stopped me in my tracks. I’d lived in this town for sixteen years, and I’d never seen a blue-haired woman before. I needed to be sure.

“Excuse me?” I called out. “Was this blue-haired woman wearing a white dress?”

“Yeah! Why? You’re not a friend of hers, are you?”

“No! I mean, of course not! I just think I saw her earlier. She was about this tall, and…”

I gave a rough description of my master while the mercenary nodded along. So it was her! What in the world…?

Had the fake Olivia somehow escaped the dungeon? I mean, was that even possible? The only reason Tigerson had been able to leave was because he had come from the outside to begin with, but Olivia’s double had been made by the dungeon itself. How could she leave?! You needed the password to get out too—how had she learned that?

Does she have a copy of my master’s memories too?! I asked myself.

Even after two hundred years, I was sure Olivia would recall the password—it was pretty memorable, after all.

After some more questions, it became clear that the mercenary had been robbed about half an hour ago, but then…the gate guard said several people had been robbed in the night. Had she arrived here yesterday? And why was she stealing money?

I asked the Great Sage for her location, worried that I wouldn’t get an answer. In the end, my fears were unfounded. I hurried in the direction he gave me, but no one was there. She had moved on already. There was a bakery on the corner, so I asked the owner if a blue-haired woman had been by.

“Yes, she was here. She bought a lot of bread! She was quite beautiful, but friendly, you know? I even threw in some extras.”

“And she paid you?”

“Of course!”

“Did she say anything else?” I asked.

“She wanted to know about any restaurants that sold good food and alcohol. Sounded like she was planning a night on the town.”

Is she stealing money to pay for a shopping spree?

I asked for the direction she had gone in and headed off in pursuit.

“This is bad.”

It was really bad. How much LP had the fake Olivia earned already? If she’d spent the whole night indulging, it could be an awful lot. For me, the most effective method of earning it was through sensual thrills, but delicious food was a close second. Achieving things that were important to you was a good way of earning it too. I’d gained a ton when I got accepted to the Hero Academy.

The same principle was true for my master. Two hundred years ago, her lust had been her main drive, but maybe the fake Olivia’s main priority was food. Either way, the more LP she had, the more dangerous she was.

“There you are!” I shouted. “Stop right there!”

She was walking right down the middle of the street. She had some nerve being out in the open like this.

“Aha, Noir Stardia.”

Before we could get into it, I used Discerning Eye. Her level hadn’t changed much, but she’d gained some new skills. For one, she had Discerning Eye now too. It was the perfect thing to go with Editor. She really did know what she was doing. But before I could look much further into her new skills, I noticed something else. Something that made me want to cry.

Her sword. It was probably the one she’d stolen from the mercenary. It was still sheathed at her hip, but it was insanely powerful. It had Lightweight Blade, Sharp Edge, and Thunder Blade. That was a hell of a sword for a relatively weak mercenary. The fake Olivia must have improved it once she took it from him.

“You’re checking me out too, aren’t you?” she cooed. “I’m doing some peeping myself!”

And then, all of a sudden, I couldn’t see the sword’s skills anymore. Had I lost my Discerning Eye for Items?!

“Ah ha ha ha! Did you notice yet? I broke it! He he he.”

Did she not want me looking at her weapon? No, she was probably just messing with me. That was just the sort of thing the real Olivia would do.

I quickly replaced the skill, but I didn’t like that she could see right through me, and I had no intention of entertaining her any longer. I rushed her with my blade, and the sound of clashing metal rang through the town. I was fast now, but she blocked my attack as though it was nothing. Our swords ground together and we pushed against each other. She was so strong! In a contest of pure strength, I would lose. I gritted my teeth, struggling for traction, while she smiled, relaxed. I shoved her back and unleashed a storm of slashes and cuts.

Kling! Kling! Shhk! Kling! Kling! Shhk! Kling! Kling! Shhk!

She blocked my second strike and dodged the third. That was three strikes for me. My pride was dismissed from the field.

“Would you stop that!” I shouted.

“Okay. Byyyeeee!”

I swung again, and she dodged back smoothly. She didn’t even have Improved Back Step, yet she was still far quicker than me. Just how outclassed was I?!

Even monsters would run from a fight like this!

“There she is!” someone shouted. “Get her!”

We’d made quite the scene, and half a dozen guards had spotted us. I didn’t have time to stop them from encircling the fake Olivia. My heart kicked up another notch. She could slaughter them all on a whim if she wanted to.

“Awww, this is depressing,” she complained. “Can’t you just leave li’l old me alone? It’s okay. I’ll even wait while you escape.”

“You think we’re going to run from you?” asked one of the guards.

“Hm,” Olivia mused. “Maybe S-Grade Jumping next?”

In an instant, she leaped over the guards’ heads and touched down on a nearby rooftop. Then she skipped across to another roof, then another, and disappeared out of sight, leaving the guards with their jaws on the floor.

“Wh-what is that thing?”

“Be careful!” I shouted. “She isn’t human!”

“Wh-what did you say?”

“She’s a sentient magical artifact called the Death Chains—she may look like a person, but that’s not her real form. Don’t engage her unless you have to. She’s Level 420!”

“She’s what?!”

“There isn’t much time. Please, tell your superiors about this at once.”

As confused as the guards were, they agreed. Hopefully, that meant they wouldn’t treat the real Olivia like a criminal when she finally got free. Wasn’t I a good little disciple?

Still, that didn’t help me figure out what to do with fake Olivia. She was so strong. I wanted to keep running until I couldn’t even see her with a telescope. At the same time, I had a feeling that my master’s devotion to a life of hedonism meant that she, and her copy, could earn LP much faster than me. If that was true, every minute I wasted was making things worse.

I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger, but there was no way I could handle this alone. Time to turn to my trusted friends.

***

A short while later, Emma, Luna, Leila, and I gathered in the street. I would have asked Lola too, but despite her superhuman strength, she didn’t enjoy fighting, and her lack of experience made me nervous. I felt bad about getting the others out of bed so early in the morning, but that couldn’t be helped. I gave them a quick summary of what was going on while the rest of the town carried on as normal around us.

“Are the four of us really strong enough to beat her?” Emma asked.

She’d already encountered the fake Olivia, so she understood what we were up against. We could potentially have gone to the guild for more help, but most of the higher-level adventurers were away earning money on expeditions. And I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.

“We have to try,” I said. “I’ll do most of the fighting if you back me up. If she’s too strong for us, we’ll go to the guild master.”

“I will fight with you, Sir Noir,” said Luna.

“You’ve already done so much for me,” Leila said. “I want to repay you.”

Luna held out her gun, and Leila put her fist on top of it. They were all so beautiful and brave. Finally, Emma placed the flat of her dagger against Leila’s hand.

“I’ll do what I can. We can do this!”

I added my sword. “We’ll take her down. No matter what.”

After all, I had my friends with me. What more could anybody want?

Now that we were all decided, I checked on Fake Olivia’s location with the Great Sage, and the four of us hurried to find her. She’d already crossed half the town from where I’d encountered her earlier. Eventually, we found her on a bridge over the river that flowed through town. She was sitting on the railing, eating an apple.

“Ooh, you brought friends this time? Think you’ll be enough now?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked her. “What do you want with this town?”

“Olivia’s job is to give intruders hope, then eliminate them. But I thought about it, and I didn’t fancy that.”

She must have been talking about her role on the fifteenth floor. I guess we were supposed to defeat her before we could progress to the next level, but she had a copy of my master’s personality as well as her body and skills. In the end, she was too mercurial for the life of a dungeon obstacle. Even now, she didn’t seem that inclined to fight us.

“How do we free my master?” I asked. “The real Olivia.”

The double shook her head. “There’s no chance. You’ll kill her if you try. And besides, why do you want to save her so badly?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do. She’s spent two hundred years trapped in that tiny room. It’s awful!”

“Oh, but she’s not just trapped,” said the double. “She’s also in terrible pain! But I bet you’d already figured that out, hadn’t you?”

My blood went cold. “I knew it…”

“And you wanna save her?” she asked. “How adorable! Do you really think you can take me down?”

“I’m sure gonna try!”

I fired off a Stone Bullet, but she jumped onto the handrail and launched herself into the air, landing a fair way back, in the middle of the bridge. It wasn’t the worst place for a fight. At least there was no one around at this time of the morning. Time to get things started.

I sacrificed my three basic movement skills and closed the distance between us in an instant. Our swords clashed together. This time, I held my ground.

“Oh, my, you’ve suddenly gotten stronger!” she said.

I was on more level ground with her, but Sacrifice would only last for five minutes. After that, I’d be hopelessly outmatched again. I’d have to make this quick.

The double muttered to herself as she dodged and defended, still clearly unconcerned by my attacks. Maybe she was using Discerning Eye? She seemed confused about why I was so much stronger when my skills hadn’t changed.

“Aww, poor sweet Olivia’s gonna lose!” she cried.

I smacked her sword away and she recoiled from the impact. This was my chance!

“Noir!” Emma shouted. “It’s a trap! Her sword!!”

Her voice knocked some sense into me. The double’s blade crackled with electricity. That had to be its Thunder Blade ability. I tried to retreat, but I’d burned my Improved Back Step skill, so I couldn’t get away fast enough. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, then numbness spread out over my body. I couldn’t move! I had C-Grade Paralysis Immunity, but whatever she had was stronger. If I couldn’t get out of the way, I was dead meat.

“I win!” Her sword came straight for my neck.

“Aaarrgghh?!”

I braced for the end, but Emma jumped between us—blocking the crackling blade with her daggers. She was protecting me, even though she didn’t have any resistance to thunder or paralysis…

“Aaahhhh!”

As soon as I got free, I lunged for the double’s defenseless flank. She got away, but at least I’d forced her to release Emma from the electric shock. Luna and Leila jumped into the fray, giving me the chance to catch Emma as she fell.

“N-Noir…are you okay?”

“You should be more worried about yourself,” I said gently. “Don’t worry, Luna is coming to help you.”

“Th-thank you. Be careful…please?”

“I will,” I promised. “Just look after yourself, okay? You saved my life.”

And now she was suffering because of it. If only I’d been stronger.

Emma passed out in my arms, but her breathing and pulse were steady. Fortunately, her injuries didn’t seem to be life-threatening.

Out on the bridge, Leila was struggling to keep her distance from the lightning-covered sword. I needed to do something, but it would cost too much LP to give everyone elemental resistance. It would be easier to break the skill on the sword.

I looked into it with Editor. Breaking the Thunder Blade skill would only cost 400 LP. That suggested that the sword was already on its last legs, which made sense if it was just a normal blade she’d stolen from some mercenary. It wasn’t made to withstand all these special skills. It would probably break on its own soon, but I couldn’t take any chances. I got rid of the skill and still had 6,000 LP to play with.

“What?!” the double cried.

“You should know better than to drop your guard,” said Leila.

As the electricity dissipated from the fake Olivia’s blade, Leila went on the offensive. Leila seemed to realize that the double would dodge any attack she threw, so instead she used Demon Fist to smash the sword to pieces. It was time to get in there and back her up.

“Luna, please take Emma somewhere safe and heal her!”

“Got it!”

As Luna got Emma out of the way, the fake Olivia watched them go. Before she got any ideas, I stepped in to block her view.

“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” said the double. “I’m so jealous!”

“Eat this!” I said.

Leila coordinated her attack with me. “It’s over.”

But somehow…both of us missed. Despite our confidence, the fake Olivia flitted like a butterfly. We couldn’t lay a hand on her. The double leaped straight up into the sky, easily avoiding our attacks.

“My, my, aren’t you two fiery? How about a little heat to match you!”

That Fire Dragon Strike again?! Sure enough, that awful dragon formed beside her and streaked toward us. At least this time we had more room to maneuver. Given that we could hardly face it head-on, we made good use of the bridge to kite it around while the fake Olivia deftly moved the dragon after us. And she wasn’t making it easy—constantly watching for the right opportunity to shift targets, keeping us both on our toes and protecting herself from any possible incoming attack. Destroying the skill would cost too much LP, but examining it with Editor did yield something useful: The skill had a time limit, and the longer the dragon was summoned, the weaker it became. If we could just keep running, then…

“Leila!”

She almost lost her footing and didn’t respond when I called out. Something was wrong. The fire dragon was right behind her, but she just stood there in a stupor. I pulled out the Shield of Champions and charged toward the fire dragon.

I barely made it in time. Flames roared around the edges of my shield, but its A-Grade Fire Resistance held out.

“Ugh,” said the double. “You’re so annoying! I’m leaving!”

“Don’t you dare run away!” I shouted after her.

But it was useless. I couldn’t leave Leila like this. Something was clearly wrong with her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I feel…like I’m burning up…”

I touched Leila’s forehead. She definitely had a fever. I checked things out with my Discerning Eye and found something that shocked me.

Body Temperature +5 Degrees

Having a temperature of just one or two degrees above normal could cause problems, but five degrees? That was dangerous! The fake Olivia must have done something. How crafty! I broke the offending skill quickly, as it didn’t cost much LP.

“She messed with your abilities. I’ve fixed things, but you need to rest until your temperature comes down. I’m going after her.”

“The moment I’m better, I’ll be right behind you,” Leila said weakly.

I didn’t doubt it. For now, I left her on the bridge and chased after the double. She was skipping away as though she didn’t have a care in the world, so I soon caught up with her. To be fair, she didn’t really need to run. She’d already wiped out the rest of my party.

“Oh, no!” she cried as I got closer. “Looks like someone’s going to catch me!”

“And yet you’ve stopped moving,” I observed.

“Of course,” she said. “This place is perfect for a fight.”

She was right—it was a big level section of road with nobody around. Before she could attack, I checked my abilities. The last thing I wanted was for her to break some skill or another without me noticing. And there was one thing that I absolutely could not let her destroy.

“Worrying about whether I’ll break your ability to Get Creative?” she asked.

“Wh-what?! No!”

“Ah ha ha ha ha! What a reaction! Truly, I’m convinced! Don’t worry, I don’t intend to break your precious skill, and anyway, it would cost too much LP.”

What a relief! Good to know the gift my master had given me didn’t come cheap. Get Creative was my primary skill. Losing it would be a total disaster.

On the bright side, the fake Olivia didn’t have any weapons now. That meant close combat was the obvious option, but unfortunately, my Sacrifice buff had worn off. Of course, I could have just remade the skills and sacrificed them again, but I had a feeling that the time had come to bite the bullet and sacrifice something more powerful. While I was struggling to work out what to do, the fake Olivia vanished.

“Huh? Where’d she go?!”

I looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen, and there was nowhere she could be hiding. Wait! Above me!

I looked up to see Fireballs raining down from the sky. Was her plan to stay out of my way and rain magic down from above? It was a good strategy. With all her fire magic skills, the Fireballs were huge.

I dodged out of the way, missing the first, then barely escaping the second. As the third came blazing toward me, I suddenly felt strange. I had to keep running, but I felt slower somehow. I just managed to avoid the third fireball, but it grazed my clothes, and that was enough for the fire to spread. I hit the ground and rolled until it went out.

“That’s weird…”

I checked out my skills and realized she’d given me Heavy. I erased it quickly and fired another Stone Bullet at Fake Olivia as she descended back toward the ground. But just before the stone hit her, it made an impossible curve and boomeranged back at me.

“Gah?!”

There was no way to avoid it, so I ended up eating my own attack. My whole body ached. I was so confused. What had she done?! I hadn’t seen her cast a spell or anything. Was the problem with the skill itself?

Stone Bullet: Consumes magic to generate and fire a stone of five inches to three feet in diameter. It then returns to the caster.

She had changed it!

“Oh, you figured it out?” asked the double. “You shot one at me back on the bridge. And you seemed comfortable with it, so I figured you’d try it again.”

Damn it, she was too clever! And observant. And she probably had at least some of my master’s vast combat experience. But the most frustrating thing was how much better than me she was at using these skills.

“You can always just give up,” she taunted. “I’ll let you live. I mean, it’ll be a pathetic and miserable life, but still a life.”

“I’m not afraid of living a pathetic and miserable life,” I shouted back. “I’m the third son of a baronet—I’ve tasted more misery in my life than most commoners. But I’m still going to defeat you.”

“Because you want to save your precious master?” she teased.

“She’s suffering. She deserves better.”

“She’s weak. And the strong make use of the weak.”

She was wrong. My master wasn’t weak at all.

“She changed my life,” I said. “I’m going to save her, no matter what it takes!”

I sacrificed my S-Grade Archery skill and tried not to think about the 3,500 LP it had cost me to make it. It was only one skill, and the buff would only last for a minute, but I could tell right away that the power it gave me was on a whole different level from before.

A Lightning Strike surged through my fingers and leaped out into the air. Its range had doubled, and it reached the fake Olivia with ease. Of course, there was no way she’d let such an obvious attack touch her, but I’d planned for that. I just needed some time to get in close, and with my increased physical strength, a single leap took me exactly where I wanted to be.

“Do you expect me to swoon over how fast you are?” she asked.

She stuck out two fingers and stabbed them toward my eyes.

Willowy Dodge!

I smacked the double in the belly with the flat of my sword and used the momentum to push myself out of the way. It threw her off balance, and I saw the moment of panic on her face. By the time our eyes met, I’d already made my move.

Power Slash!

I put all my strength behind it. In the end, it was more than enough to take her down.

“Auuugh?!”

It didn’t feel like cutting down a human. It was more like severing through metal. As I stood back, the double’s hands turned to chains. Soon, the whole of her body was just links of metal that were no longer pretending to be my master.

“I curse you,” the thing spluttered with the last of its strength. “I curse you to…”

I couldn’t hear the rest, but it didn’t matter. It was over. The chains dissolved into rust and melted back down into the earth.

“Curse me all you like,” I said. “I have a friend who can break them.”

And besides, my thoughts were already elsewhere. As the last of the rust blew away, I turned and ran back toward a certain room inside the hidden dungeon.

***

I stopped in front of the door to Olivia’s room and took a deep breath. I hadn’t seen my master on my way in, and that made me anxious. I mean, if I’d freed her, surely she would have left the dungeon already, wouldn’t she? I braced myself for whatever was inside and opened the door.

She was standing right in front of me—the chains that had bound her to the walls lying limp on the ground. The real Olivia Servant smiled back at me.

“Noir… I’m free.”

My mind took me back to the first time we’d met, while my chest filled with warmth. Before I realized it, tears were streaming down my face.

“Master!” I ran over and dove into her open arms.

She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me against her. “Thank you. For everything you’ve done.”

I was sobbing so hard that I couldn’t even answer her.

I couldn’t get over how wonderful it was to hear her voice coming out of her own mouth. How real and alive she suddenly felt.

“You’ve been in so much pain,” I sobbed. “For so long. Why didn’t you tell me? Didn’t you trust me?”

Olivia smiled. “That wasn’t it, Noir. You’re such a nice boy. I didn’t want you charging off and getting hurt. But in the end, you were much braver than silly old Olivia ever imagined. You know, I think I might just fall for you!”

Despite her teasing, I didn’t think she’d ever stop treating me like a kid. She stroked my hair until I’d calmed down again.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said.

“Hooray!” Olivia beamed. “My first taste of freedom in two hundred years!”

We headed up the stairs together. There were a bunch of golden slimes on the first floor that seemed to be waiting for us to attack them. Olivia seemed happy to oblige, defeating them in an instant with a spell I’d never seen before.

“That’s…fairly scary,” I said. “Are you sure we should be letting you out? You’re like some all-powerful dark lord who’s just awoken from a two-hundred-year slumber or something.”

“It’s all those skills I made over the years with Get Creative,” Olivia said brightly. “I could beat you too if I wanted to. Lickety-split!”

“Kn-knock it off!” I said, shoving her arm.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha! All right.” She put on a sinister voice. “Then do as your dark lord commands! The first thing I wish when we get out of here is…food!”

“Ha ha! As you wish. I shall treat you to as much of my mother’s home cooking as you wish, my liege!”

As we emerged from the dungeon, the clear blue sky seemed to stretch out forever. How long had it been since we’d had weather this nice? Maybe the world had been waiting for Olivia’s return just as eagerly as I had.

We headed back into town, but getting home wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Thanks to the fake Olivia’s rampage, the guards had called for reinforcements. The streets were swarming with them, and soon dozens of them were swarming around my master. Fortunately, I managed to explain the situation without getting us both thrown in jail.

“That’s my boy!” Olivia grinned.

“I’ll have you know, I’ve learned a lot of things!” I said. “All right. Here we are.”

We were finally home. Olivia didn’t have anywhere else to go, so it made sense to let her stay with us, at least for a while.

“Welcome to the Stardia household! Please come in.”

“Don’t mind if I do!”

She pushed past me and waltzed inside before I could even open the door for her.

Some things never changed.