Chapter 225: Buried Alive (5)

I instinctively withdrew in shock.

Clunk.

I had taken so many steps back that I hit the cold stone wall behind me.

She called me master. I couldn’t say a word in response. Did she fully recover her memories? How was I supposed to respond? I froze and carefully watched her expression.

"So I was right."

Rena’s gradually shifting expression became certain. That was when it hit me. She was openly testing me.

"We definitely met like that, didn’t we?"

The moment I flinched slightly at being called master, she had read it all.

Damn it...

She sighed. "You even remembered this place, didn’t you? You didn’t wander around or hesitate. You came straight here and presented the pendant."

I could feel warmth in her breath. The sharp edges she usually showed were nowhere to be found, as if tucked away somewhere.

"Didn't you think it was some kind of spell?"

"You’re wrong. If someone had cast a spell to make me feel this way..." Rena shook her head slightly, her face flushed. "Then I’d try to use you. But you haven’t asked me for anything. So that dream... it must have been real, right?"

I didn’t answer. What could I say? The past had changed, and the old memories were now manifesting in the form of dreams. Regardless, they didn’t have any place in her current life. She clearly didn’t suspect reincarnation either.

Instead of answering directly, I opened her status window. If I could glean any remotely useful information, I had to try.

[Previously completed scenario...]

[...has been applied.]

.

.

.

[Name: Rena]

[Affection: 31]

It had changed.

I remembered during our first meeting in this life, her affection had been locked at twenty. Which meant that, from her point of view, I was a complete stranger. Yet somehow, I still stood out to her.

And now? It was thirty-one, and I had never even received a notification saying it had increased. Just like that, it had risen. Which meant the longer we were in contact, the more her feelings grew and the more her memories sharpened.

Eventually, there’d be a point where I couldn’t deny it anymore—where our relationship would revert to what it had once been. Was that what I wanted? No. I had no intention of intruding into her now peaceful life.

Firmly and deliberately, I changed the subject. "I’m here to talk business. You mentioned a plan to obtain Lurium in large quantities."

I had done nothing for her, so I wasn’t about to exploit her for the life she’d built on a rewritten past.

"

Haa...

" Her sigh scattered warmly into the air. She placed a hand to her head, then slowly nodded. "Alright. If that’s what you want, then I’ll go along with it."

"..."

Her gaze clung to me. "But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying to understand who you are."

What more was there to dig into? For all I knew, there was a secret slab in this very room with a full map of my movements. I couldn’t help but feel a bit tense.

"I want to hear the extraction plan."

I wasn’t simply dodging the conversation anymore. I genuinely wanted to know. Even Isaac had been curious. How did T&T plan to infiltrate the burial grounds where even Marquis Leandro was found murdered? Isaac had said air, ground, and underground were all sealed off.

When the plan was brought up, Rena’s face grew cautious. "That’d require a vow.”

From the drawer, she pulled a thin sheet of leather parchment. The lamp’s light revealed what appeared to be a blank surface.

"Are you going to write something on it later?"

"Come on. I may live in the shadows, but I’m not that shady."

She took out a glass vial and poured its contents. A thick green liquid flowed onto the parchment.

Fwoosh!

The parchment caught fire instantly. Like a scream, the flames raged fiercely, enough to warm the entire chamber. However, instead of getting scorched, invisible letters began to surface across the yellowed sheet.

[The following terms must be observed...]

[...must not be revealed or leaked...]

[...concerning the operation.]

[Clause 2: ...]

A special ink that only revealed itself with a matching solution. I’d heard of such materials. The parchment, ink, and liquid all had to match perfectly. Rena took out another blank sheet and repeated the process. Same text, except her signature,

I swear

, written at the bottom.

The content was simple: Do not leak the plan.

"What happens if someone breaks it?"

She shook her head. "You can’t. It’s a binding oath forged from the essence of the participants’ souls."

"Even under torture?"

"It’s impossible to speak of it. The restriction is that tight."

"So, it’s completely unbreakable?"

"The fewer the terms, the stronger the spell.” She added, "This vow has just one condition: Do not share this plan. That’s it. So if someone tries to force it out of you, even with brainwashing, you’ll die instantly."

Well, at least the restriction ends with death. Still, not being able to tell Isaac or Rubia in this life was going to be frustrating.

"What if I refuse to take the oath?"

"Then I’ll have to find someone else to fill the role I had in mind for you. Though... honestly, I can’t think of anyone better suited."

So I’m the optimal candidate?

Now I was even more curious about what this role was. Regardless, the situation was clear: If I didn’t swear, she couldn’t tell me the plan even if she wanted to.

Leaving empty-handed wasn’t an option. Lurium, the substance that mysteriously shifted position when I moved it, was also the key to my class change. I didn’t come all the way to the capital just to back out now. I picked up the pen.

The moment I wrote,

I swear

on the parchment, a strange binding sensation lodged itself deep in my mind. Subtle, yet solid.

"Where did you get these kinds of scrolls?"

"They’re artifacts the founder collected while adventuring through ruins. She treasured them, but... well, this is a big enough operation to bring them out."

Ruins... Did she raid the same type of place Kevin Ashton had gone? I wanted to ask where the hell she found such absurd magical items.

"Is Naneow participating as well?"

She nodded. "As the overall coordinator. If there’s any gap in the plan, Naneow will patch it up. Hopefully, it won’t come to that."

I knew what Naneow was capable of. If she was the backup for this operation, and they were even using soul-binding parchment, then this mission was far more important than I had anticipated.

"They also need someone to distribute the Lurium after it’s been stolen."

"Distribute?"

"Not all of the participants want the Lurium itself. Some want gold, others want...

different

things."

"How many participants are there?"

"With you included, ten. You don’t want individual introductions, do you?"

"No."

It was better not to know. If she was that willing to reveal the others, she could also reveal my information to them.

"Thanks for understanding. Then, first..."

Rena pulled on one corner of the stone chamber with a peculiar-looking key.

Rumble...!

The stone slab to the right of the table lifted slightly, then slowly slid away.

"Come down." She began lowering herself through the hole, using a ladder embedded within. "It’s better to explain things at the actual execution site. Think of this as a pre-op walkthrough."

Clunk.

I naturally followed her down the ladder. The place was familiar. We had entered and exited the capital through this very tunnel. Even Naneow had explained it thoroughly once when I had to cross long distances.

Maybe that’s why...

"Familiar, huh? You knew about this place already?"

"Hard to say."

Rena looked back at me and asked again, "You already knew this tunnel connects to the imperial grave?"

Clatter!

I froze in shock. "What did you just say...!?"

This tunnel is connected to the imperial grave?!

"Oh? You didn’t know?"

Rena gazed up at me with playful curiosity. I slowly began moving again, continuing my descent. There was no hiding the shock and no need to.

"Is that true?"

"

Haha

... you’re so easy to read. I really like that kind of person."

Like? Before I could react, Rena walked over to the wall. Without hesitation, she pressed her blade into a groove along the stone.

Click.

A large board slid out, displaying two maps. The top one was a typical map of the capital. The bottom was unmistakably a map of secret underground tunnels.

I’d seen them both before. Yet, something felt off about the second map. It didn’t exactly match what I remembered. Before long, I saw it.

Is it bigger?

Before leaving the capital, Naneow had shown me the older version, pointing out key exits and turns.

From here, you’ll take this passage...

I remembered it clearly. However, this map showed me new tunnels that hadn’t been there before.

I pointed to one of the added sections. "What’s this part here?"

Rena’s eyes lit up with admiration. "You spotted it right away! That area was discovered recently. In fact, it made this entire operation possible.”

A newly discovered zone. Did leaving Lurium behind in the past triggered the opening of this new passage? Or perhaps it was a result of completing a certain scenario? Either way, I had clearly influenced this new development. And now that it had birthed an operation to steal Lurium, I felt responsible.

Since I’d altered the past, I had to help ensure the success of this plan.

Rena gestured with a pointer across the map. "These tunnels span the whole city. But the maze is so brutal that even the founder took ages to uncover this section."

I looked at the newly found part again. "It’s still pretty far from the imperial palace."

The marked red circle didn’t overlap with the palace grounds.

"No worries."

"No... worries?"

Rena nodded, then pointed to the new area again. "The imperial family plans to move Lurium through this very path for wartime mobilization."

War preparations? With Lurium?

"What’s the connection?"

Isaac once said Lurium was the source of the Empire’s strength, but he never explained how. Lurium was, at its core, a power source for machines. The most obvious guess would be that they planned to hijack the Free Confederation’s iron men and power themselves.

Rena shook her head at my theory. "No. It seems like they’re going a different route. They’re trying to make knights and soldiers addicted to Lurium."

That was unexpected.

"That... can it really be used like that?"

"The founder said it’s possible. She used Lurium in her blood, while Ember uses it to power machinery, right?"

Now that I thought about it, the two were completely different.

"She said it could be made into a kind of stimulant, something that gives explosive strength. Anything’s possible, really..."

Lurium could become anything. I’d never heard that in my previous life. Regardless, it was highly unlikely the substance had changed with my reincarnation. It had always been like this, and I just didn’t know. Still, if it could be injected into regular humans to create super soldiers, then the Empire’s confidence in invading a high-tech Confederation becomes a bit more understandable.

"Anyway, it’s not just a one-time shipment. They’ll keep running wagons through this area. When there’s no transport, they send out scouts to find alternate routes."

I caught the tension in her voice. It wasn’t hard to guess why.

"The Empire doesn’t know you’re using these tunnels... right?"

"Not yet. But it’s only a matter of time before they discover it."

If the Empire seized T&T’s secret routes, that wouldn’t just be annoying, but catastrophic. A direct clash would make the power imbalance painfully clear.

"This isn’t just a theft mission. We need to destroy this entire newly discovered section. Bury it all in darkness."