Chapter 2

Agartha flashed her signature smile, drawing our attention as she made a rather shocking statement. 

"We're innocent, so let's break out!"

I thought to myself, how is saying "Let's commit a crime because we're innocent" any different from saying "I'll hit you because I was hit for no reason"?

Oblivious to my thoughts, Agartha excitedly raised her finger, explaining.

"There are no guards, and now's the perfect timing."

Even the Hunter, who had looked utterly exhausted until moments ago, seemed intrigued this time and locked eyes with Agartha.

"Do you have any proof that there's no one outside?"

"I have good hearing, you know."

Agartha tapped her ear.

Her hearing must have been exceptionally good, considering how she had caught my earlier muttering and treated me like a lunatic.

"I was a bit confused when Tanton arrived, but given that no guards are visible even though it's mealtime, something must be wrong."

While her reasoning relied heavily on intuition, I had seen the Prologue and knew her words to be true.

Right now, everyone outside had been massacred by a single Outer God.

If anything, it was strange that I had ended up in a place like this.

"Alright, let's assume that's true. How do you plan to escape?"

The Hunter spoke while twisting his hands, fidgeting with the wooden handcuffs binding his wrists.

"We can't do anything as long as these are on."

Agartha replied casually.

"Oh, that's easy."

She started chewing on something. The Hunter and I watched, wondering what she was up to, when suddenly Agartha stuck out her tongue.

"Bleh."

Is she picking a fight?

The Hunter sighed and shook his head at the sight.

"...I'm the fool for believing you. As expected of a dishonest thief..."

"Hey, han't you hee thish?" (Hey, can't you see this?)

Upon closer inspection, I could see that the tip of her moving tongue was slightly curled. On the pink surface of her tongue lay a needle about the size of a pinky finger, glistening with saliva.

Wait, she'd been talking normally all this time with that thing in her mouth?

Maybe she's not a thief but a human sideshow act.

Agartha rolled the needle on her tongue like a toothpick, then flicked it onto her palm and inserted it into the keyhole of the handcuffs. She twisted her hand joints, manipulating the needle's tip in the unreachable gap between the holes.

"If I move this here like this and lift this up..."

Click!

The wooden handcuffs fell to the prison floor, and Agartha wiggled her newly freed fingers.

"Ah, much better."

"...You've got skills."

"Well, I wouldn't be much of a thief if I couldn't do this, would I?"

"I thought you said you'd never committed a crime?"

"...It's not good for your reputation to nitpick everything, Tanton."

Agartha covered my mouth with her free hand, wearing an enigmatic smile.

Hunter called out in annoyance.

"Enough fooling around. Hurry up and free me."

Agartha got up and started approaching the Hunter, but suddenly stopped and broke into a mischievous grin.

"Hmm, that's right."

"What are you doing?"

"If I don't free you, you'll have to stay like this, won't you, Mr. Hunter?"

The Hunter's expression turned fierce at the Thief's sudden strange remark.

This was going according to the original story. In the beginning, the Thief said something like this to the player, prompting the response, "Get lost, I don't need you."

The Thief would leave first, and the game started from the point where the Hunter somehow escaped on his own.

It was during this process that Agartha died.

Moreover, there wasn't even a death scene; she was only briefly mentioned as "a cold corpse" during an item discovery event.

"Why are you stating the obvious as if it's something profound?"

"Is that how you talk to someone who's about to free you? Try asking more politely."

I wondered what the Hunter would say. After all, his response would reflect the original protagonist's personality.

"So you have time for games, huh? Just hurry up and free me."

"Oh no, that won't do. I'm a good thief who only listens to good children."

The Hunter's body twitched noticeably at the word "children," as if it had struck a nerve. It was awful when it happened to me directly, but watching it as a third party felt different.

This is actually pretty entertaining.

"The lowly always show their true colors."

"Ah, this won't do. It's better for bad children to stay here."

As Agartha said this and turned to approach me, the Hunter closed his eyes tightly, sighing.

"Just get lost. I don't need the touch of someone obsessed with such petty treatment."

So that's the correct line, huh? The Hunter's personality kind of suits me.

Wait, come to think of it, this isn't the time to be happy about that. If we leave the Hunter here alone, I'll die along with the Thief!

Agartha slowly approached me.

"Now, let me remove your handcuffs, Tanton."

"Ah, thank you."

"That's one gratitude point earned today. See? I told you I'm a good thief" 

Agartha cast a sneer at the Hunter.

"I won't be freeing Mr. Hunter."

It seemed she was still quite offended by the earlier comment about her smell.

Since there weren't such lines in the original story, she appeared to be speaking more irritably than in the original story.

The Hunter remained silent.

Well, I guess he's confident he can escape on his own, so he's acting like this.

"If you beg me nicely now, I might still free you... Tanton?"

Ignoring Agartha, I approached the Hunter.

This is absolutely not out of goodwill. I have to follow the Hunter to survive! My life is what's important here!

"Mr. Hunter."

"..."

"What are you doing? Get up, quickly."

He didn't seem particularly upset. He looked lost in thought, probably considering his next move after having already written us off.

No, you crazy bastard! I might accept that Agartha was destined to die originally, but I'm not!

If things continue like this, it's obvious I'll become cold corpse number two next to the Thief.

At times like this, I need to use a strong move. Even though I'm a pure newbie who's only played the early parts, I've heard things from the community. Where else would I use my knowledge of the original if not now?

I grabbed the pensive Hunter's shoulder, whispering to him.

"If you leave me behind, you won't be able to defeat the Outer God here, you know?"

"What?"

His pupils dilated.

Before he could ask where I'd heard about that, I quickly stopped him from speaking further with a whisper.

"If you calm down, I'll help you."

Seeing his pupils still trembling in confusion, I thought that if I left him like this, he'd continue to be this way. So I quickly grabbed the Hunter's shoulders and shook him back and forth.

Caught off guard by the sudden action, the Hunter made a strange "urgh" sound as his body was controlled back and forth. Only then did the Hunter start looking at me as if he wanted to kill me.

"What do you think you're doing?"

His gaze was still fierce, but I could tell it had softened considerably compared to just moments ago.

It seemed my mention of the Outer God had worked.

"Why are you sulking alone again? Agartha was just joking around."

As I said this, I glanced at Agartha. She seemed to be mouthing "I was serious..." so I raised one arm, pretending to hit her, and only then did she smile awkwardly.

The Hunter looked back and forth between me and Agartha, then sighed.

"Who said I was upset over such childish antics?"

You did.

The voice in my heart didn't escape my lips.

"Well, anyway. It'll be hard for you to do anything alone. At least for my sake, okay?"

The Hunter stared at me for a few seconds, then quietly stood up.

Suddenly, a cracking sound could be heard. Then, with the sound of something shattering, the Hunter's hands were also free.

"...Huh?"

Agartha looked at the Hunter with genuinely shocked, constricted pupils.

The Hunter, seemingly unconcerned by such a gaze, simply rolled his shoulders lightly to stretch.

"How long have you known me to act so familiar?"

Although he was speaking with his eyes slightly closed, I could easily deduce that he was talking to me.

"They say if you brush sleeves with someone in this life, you must have had a deep connection in a past life."

I recited a saying I'd heard long ago, but the Hunter lightly dismissed my words as if they weren't even worth listening to.

Look at that attitude. If he weren't one of the strongest beings in this world's lore, I wouldn't have been able to resist giving him a knock on the head.

The Hunter brushed past me and went straight to the prison door, grabbing the handle.

"So what's the plan?"

"Huh?"

Agartha made a dumb sound, apparently caught off guard by the sudden question. The Hunter snorted at her.

"Don't tell me you were talking big without any plan at all."

Only then did Agartha make an "Ah" sound and spoke.

"Oh, of course not! I'm not that thoughtless, you know."

Saying this, Agartha quickly approached the door, inserted the needle into the doorknob, and started jiggling it around.

"By the way, if you could get out on your own, why did you just sit there?"

"What good would it do to tell you?"

"Geez, you're so prickly. Fine, let's just get out of here, shall we?"

Why did he stay put?

You almost got screwed, Agartha. Of course, she had no way of knowing that I had just saved her life.

I couldn't help but sigh.

The one good thing was that the sharp attitude he had maintained until just now had disappeared somewhere, and now he was giving advice to Agartha, who was struggling to unlock the door quickly.

"What kind of thief takes so long with this?"

"Oh come on, Mr. Hunter, you can't even do this! It's just stiff because it's old, okay?"

"Excuses, excuses."

"Should I not open it then?"

"Then we'll just break it down."

"We'll get caught!"

Agartha, suddenly in the position of the sensible one, retorted at the Hunter while diligently moving the needle.

Watching this, I realized I had succeeded in putting out the immediate fire.

But is it okay to change the story like this? I don't know, damn it. I was about to die just now, so who cares if the story changes?

The sound of the door opening and Agartha calling my name reached my ears.

"Tanton, what are you spacing out for?"

"Coming."

It'll work out somehow, right?