Okay, what do we have here? Dark tunnel? Or a scary tunnel? Or a tunnel filled with vicious undead that wants to tear the living, aka us, apart piece by tiny piece while laughing in sadistic glee?

The answer: all of the above!

"Let's go~." - Filyn

"HOLD IT." - Garami

I grabbed the daredevil of a devil in her neck and stopped her from jumping into the hellhole she discovered. Geez, is her name Filyn or Alice?

"Hey, what's the big idea?" - Filyn

"That's my line. Why the obsession with jumping headfirst into life-threatening danger? And that goes for you too, missy!" - Garami

"E...ehehehe~..." - Mira

You can't laugh your way out of this mess. I brought my face close to Mira's as she awkwardly tried to evade my judging gaze.

"...When are you going to kiss?" - Filyn

"WHA-!?" - Garami

"I've been wondering about that myself for quite some time now." - Mira

"Hah?! What do you think I am? Some pervy old man who would hire the first pretty face they see?" - Garami

"Ain't that like genetically imprinted on demons?" - Mira

"Say what now?" - Garami

"Didn't you know? The people in Solomar always said that a demon's three greatest weaknesses are Gold, wine, and women." - Mira

Is that for real? ...I'm not sure if I wanted to know that... And that "Gold"-part, isn't that just the Gold attribute!?

"Well, that slightly innocent part of you is what makes you so cute, Garami~." - Mira

"Don't call me cute..." - Garami

After I replied to her, Mira grabbed me and pushed my face into her bountiful bosom. It may be embarrassing being called "cute", but this I can live with. But even I have a little problem with showing this kinda behavior in front of someone who at least looks like a kid...HEY

"Where did that snotty little brat go!?" - Garami

"She's right...not here. Wow, that's sneaky of her." - Mira

Why I outta-! ...Calm down. Let's see where she went. And it's quite easy to figure that out. The floor here's quite muddy, prolly due to it being so close to the waterhole where the snakes used to live. Her footsteps are visible...in the...mud...

"Hey, Mira. Look at this." - Garami

"Did you find a clue? ...Hey, Filyn didn't wear armored shoes." - Mira

"Nope. She was wearing what you would call combat stilettos." - Garami

"Yes, those. They're pretty cool, but not something for a kid to wear." - Mira

"I agree with you on that. But I think we both know about a potential culprit who may have walked here with these boots." - Garami

"The armored guy I saw that time! We never did see him when we gathered up all the thugs, now that I think about it." - Mira

"And these footprints are a clue as to why he never participated in that battle." - Garami

I pointed at two different footprints our armored friend had made. One was going further into the tunnel here, but the other looked like he was walking out.

"The armored guy could be a 'something' that usually lives in Tir na Nog." - Garami

"No wonder. I would be happier living on a tropical island than some undead hellhole." - Mira

"Except for the monkeys, snakes, and criminals hiding here. And that this person is prolly an undead himself. Anyway, if I'm to judge based on the most recent footprints' condition, he's gone past here just recently. Probably just before the big battle with the ghost of Deadroll." - Garami

"So he fled. Well, they sure are not a knight of valor." - Mira

"Why do you know he's a knight?" - Garami

"I don't. But most people dressed in full armor like that usually do refer to themselves as honorable knights." - Mira

"And you don't?" - Garami

"Honorable knights do not have a thing for their masters." - Mira

"...Okay, I give up. Just when was it that I managed to enter the 'Mira route'? I don't remember having done anything special." - Garami

"When? ......Maybe from the start?" - Mira

"What's that supposed to mean?" - Garami

"It means, does a girl knight need any reason not to like her lord for saving her from poverty that's clung to her her whole life as a terminal disease? That she cannot enjoy being the companion of an amusing boss? That she cannot seem to hate a girl that tries her best at being pragmatic but will not allow anyone who has not done her harm to end up being harmed in her stead?" - Mira

"...I'm just trying to do what's best for myself. If you want to look at it that way, be my guest..." - Garami

"And there was one more thing: I love seeing people who cannot be honest about themselves being good~." - Mira

Wh-wh-why I gotta-!

"But come on. We can fool around when we get back home. If you catch my drift." - Mira

Mira gave me a wink before running down the tunnel. Hey, get back here! And what do you mean by "if you catch my drift" you female pervert!! ......Wait a second. Why am I so mad about that part? My brain must be set on "confused and stressed" because of the recent string of crazy events. Wait for me! Oh, but let me write a note in case Alf's group returns before we do!

---

We ventured deeper into the tunnel, but we didn't find Filyn, nor the man in armor. We did encounter a novelty after the tunnel stopped going downward. And I mean it when I say "downward". The tunnel was going down and down in a loop, sorta like an enlarged spiral staircase, just a tunnel instead of stairs, and after we finally got down and the path straightened up all of a sudden, we discovered something I had not expected.

"Mine carts?" - Garami

Several railroads were placed so that one could hitch a ride on them as one traveled through the next part of the tunnel. Despite being underground, my [Sense of Direction] skill still tells me what cardinal direction we're facing. And if I remember right, that direction is pointing to...

"I don't think there's much gold or jewels in this place." - Mira

"Me neither. Bloom, where on the map are we now?" - Garami

"Ehm, we are currently located so deep under the ground that we are underneath even the great lake of Velantas." - Bloom

That's deep. No wonder my feet are starting to hurt. And as for why the guys who made this place prepared these carts.

"So we're in an undersea tunnel..., scratch that. We're in an under-lake tunnel that connects Tree Sea Isle with Tir na Nog." - Garami

"Under-lake tunnel? Who came up with that stupid idea?" - Mira

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Or the detective demon in this case." - Garami

"There is proof that only two carts have left this stop recently. The armored man and Filyn likely took one cart each unless there is someone else in these tunnels." - Bloom

That's all that I needed to hear. I've always wanted to ride one of these.

Mira and I jumped into one of the carts that were left behind and went on further into the darkness. With these, we can reach Tir na Nog and be back in time to meet up with Alf's group when they return. For now, we gotta catch this runaway lady!

The cart has some old, magitech-like engine attached to it, but as I said, it is old. Too old to be something that your common crime gang has provided. It looks like it's a few centuries old. Like what I read about in the Adventurers' Union's library's history books for alchemists. Why would someone use such outdated equipment?

"So, what's the verdict?" - Mira

"It's safe. I think." - Garami

"You 'think'? I do not want one of my childhood dreams to be the end of me, so be certain about this!" - Mira

"Riding a cart is one of your childhood dreams?" - Garami

"To be more precise, emptying a giant motherload and riding the carts filled to the brim with gold is my dream, but I'll take what I can." - Mira

Phew. She's not gone crazy. ...I think. Never good to say about us who's got "chaotic" plastered beside our Karma Values.

Chaotic or crazy or not, the cart is still in shape, so we went onward to adventure! The cart is running smoothly across the rails, despite the amount of miasma that's contaminating the place..., along with the smell of corpses. Yuck!

"You doing alright there?" - Mira

"Me? The Spectermancer? Ask that to yourself instead." - Garami

"Oh, please~. This place got nothing on the Solomar slums! Seriously, that place is worse than the graveyard." - Mira

Demons are more evil-ish than the undead after all..., and there's another proof for that right ahead of us!

Our cart ran past a bunch of sliced-n-diced corpses and skeletons, undead animals that seems to have used to inhabit this part of the railroad. "Used to" as they've lost even their false lives in addition to their proper ones. Ten-to-one that Filyn's been having a blast. Or a slice. Whatever works.

"You think she got all of them?" asked Mira, sparing no doubt as to whether this mayhem is Filyn's work or not.

"I did...until you asked me! Argh, now we're gonna have to survive an ambush from a bunch of mummies or zombies!" - Garami

"Psst, no way~. Do you believe that type of non-*freakish zombie noises*-sense..." - Mira

"You owe me 5 Sols." - Garami

"Mind if I pay you back in dates?" - Mira

"Deal." - Garami

Zombies were moving out from the shadows as we were bickering, coming towards us with killing intent. They are animal types, just as the remains of the ones Filyn trashed. The funny part is that they're not in full health. They even got bandages all over them in an attempt to keep their wounds together. Zombies that are medically patched up to the point of being mummies. Huh, how surreal. Despite mummies being part of the zombie line.

"Should we fight? Shall I fight? Let me fight them!" - Mira

"Nope. They're too many, too strong, and the miasma in this place will sap your strength away if you overextend yourself. Let's flee to fight another day." - Garami

After having said that, I started to fickle with the engine to kick it into overdrive. Come on..., anytime today now..., work with me here, you stupid rustbucket!

"Okay, this thing has only 1 gear. While those guys...are runners. Sweet. I was hoping they were walkers..." - Garami

I glared at the (more half-dead than normal) undead horde running toward us, completely ignoring the common rule that zombies should walk/shamble, not run. What busted B-movie did they escape from!?

"Seems like we have to fight after all." - Mira

"Keep your sword sheeted. I have a plan. Summon Phantom!" - Garami

With my command, a ghostly magic circle appeared in front of me, aimed at the horde of running zombies. Out from it, a giant ghost rat...or not. A giant SPIDER ghost emerged from the magic circle and released something you could only call a breath attack at the zombies.

Wow, that's far more impressive than I thought it would be! But the undead...are still standing. Drats, the breath must have been Poison attributed! You can't poison the undead! But it seems the second part of the attack works well. The whole corridor behind us is covered in sticky webs. And the zombies with it!

Nice~. This [Summon Phantom: Ghast Spider] that I recently replaced the Rat King with seems to be working perfectly. I can even use it with a group slot from [Control Undead]. I just barely have enough LP to summon it though, and that's thanks to the accessory I'm wearing. I need to increase my leadership abilities a little more...

"Tch! I wanted to do some ghost busting, not see a ghost doing all the busting." - Mira

"So that's what your game was. And you wouldn't be able to. Those are zombies, not ghosts." - Garami

"Eh, tomato, tomahto. And anyway, how are we supposed to return now that our way back home is blocked by webbed zombies?" - Mira

...whoops. I didn't think about that. It's gonna be a ****ing nightmare cleaning that mess.

"...Let's have Filyn do that for us. The webs will dissolve after a while, so we can set her loose on the zombie animals." - Garami

"If we find her, that is." - Mira

Please, it will be fine~. After this short time that we've been with her, there is something I can be certain to count on. That girl will be in the center of whatever trouble that's occurring in the place we will arrive at.

...Maybe following her may not be the best idea after all?