Being the one who asked us to come with her, Sarasa was surprisingly unprepared for this. The main entrance of the castle was sealed shut, so we had to enter through a side entrance used for emergencies. She had at least prepared for this much. She knew where the side entrance was and took us there.

  We walked on the worn-out bricks of the dark, narrow corridor. But Sarasa didn’t have a light with her. Ririna was the one who came to the rescue, pulling out a weird mp pnt made with alchemy.

  “Now that we’re here, isn’t it time you told us what you’re looking for?” Ririna was walking up front since she had the mp. The corridor wasn’t wide enough for more than two people to walk side by side, and Sarasa was the one with her up front.

  “I haven’t? It’s like a tiny, thin, red and white rectangle that’s supposed to fit in the palm of your hand.” Sarasa drew the shape in her palm to show Ririna. “It’s called the key… key… Hmmmm? Keycard! That’s it!”

  “Keycard…?” Carol muttered the name to herself in surprise.

  Yep… It’s strange… Not the kind of thing that should exist in this world. Is a keycard really the treasure from her homend? There were some high-tech things in the game, so I’m not surprised they exist…

  “Seems pretty small… Doesn’t sound like it will be easy to find.”

  “No no, it’s easy. It’s an important thing, so we just have to look in important pces, right?” As always, Sarasa’s pretty carefree.

  “But the keycard is from your homend, right, Sarasa?” I called out to her. “Has it been missing for that long? If it was stored somewhere important, it had to be here before this pce was abandoned.”

  “That’s a good point… I don’t have a clue. The keycard has been missing since forever, so it’s probably been here since before it was abandoned. We just have to hope we get lucky.” Sarasa shrugged. What an amazing pn…

  After a dozen more steps, Sarasa’s ears suddenly twitched. “Wait!” She put her arm in front of Ririna, and we all stopped.

  “Wh- what’s wrong?” Ririna’s shoulders tensed up. Sarasa remained silent for a moment, then rexed.

  “Nyahahaha! Looks like we found our first one. Our first trap.” Sarasa poked around the walls of the tunnel before jumping down to the floor and pressing her face on the floor.

  “Step back, Ririna.” Ririna nodded. I put my hand on her shoulders and swapped pces with her, crouching near Sarasa. “What are you doing now?”

  “Can’t you see? I’m trying to listen for hidden mechanisms… We may have found a trap, but we can’t turn back. I gotta find a way to disarm it.”

  “Need any help? Or can you do it on your own?”

  “This is my job. I can handle… it… Hm?!” She shuddered in surprise, then her face showed a satisfied smile. “I just figured it out.” She sat up. “Actually, how about you do it, Iroha? There’s a lever on the other side all you have to do is pull it.”

  She pointed to the end of the corridor, and sure enough, the lever was there. “What’s the catch?”

  “Take a wrong step and you’ll get skewered~”

  “…” What’s she smiling for? “Do you want me to die? How am I supposed to know where to step? I’ve never disarmed a trap before.”

  “So dramatic… I’ll tell you which bricks you can step on, obviously…” She shook her head, then continued with an eager look on her face. “I wanna see if you can do it. It’d be funny. Or are you scared?” She got up and started stretching. “If that’s the case, I understand. Leave it to me. The great Sarasa will get everyone out of trouble once again.”

  “*Sigh…* If you’re out here finding ways to make disarming this thing funny, it can’t be that dangerous. I’ll do it.” I just need to get to the other side without stepping on a bad brick, right? I can handle that.

  “I knew you would! So here’s the deal…” Sarasa gave me a quick rundown, telling me which bricks were safe to step on. “Did you get all that? Think you can do it?”

  “Should be doable…” The first one was a short hop away. Easy enough. Next was a pretty big step, but still fine. I jumped from one brick to the other with Sarasa cheering me on from behind.

  “You have two options now. Neither of them is going to trip the trap. Choose whichever one you like the most.” They’re bricks… There’s no liking one over the other. I jumped to the brick on the right with a small hop.

  *Slide…* As soon as I stepped on it, the brick slightly sunk down. “Uh oh…” Something slid in the wall to my right, and I bent over in a weird pose. *Swoosh!* Three arrows in a row flew right over my head… “Sarasa…!” I slowly contorted even more to look back at her.

  “Ohh… Close one, huh?”

  “Are you trying to get me killed?!”

  “I didn’t know that was gonna happen! That was a different trap! How was I supposed to know? Who hides a trap within a trap anyway?” She’s not going to apologize, is she?

  I finished crossing the minefield and pulled the lever so I could have a talk with her.

  “Are you okay?” Carol casually asked. “Seriously… This is why I tell you not to go along with this crap…”

  “Thanks for the concern, but…” I turned to our companion idiot. “Sarasa! What the hell was that?!”

  “Nyahahahaha! Full of energy, aren’t you? You’re still in one piece, so what’s the big deal? It’s not my fault they hid a trap within a trap.” Sarasa shrugged her shoulders.

  “You’re right. I almost died. No big deal. Come on…” I gave her a look that caused her to shrink a little. “I put my life in your hands, so take care of it, please.”

  “That’s right! You should at least say sorry.” Ririna nodded as she closed in on her. Sarasa shrunk even more.

  “Yeah yeah… Nothing happened, right?” Sarasa turned away and started walking to get away. “You two are such drama queens… No need to get all up in my face about it.”

  *Slide…* She froze in the middle of her dismissive walk as her foot caused the ground below her to sink. “Ah!” *Thud!* The ground suddenly opened, and she immediately started falling.

  Burst Dash! I got there just in time to grab one of her ankles and hold her in pce. “Sa- Sarasa?” Was I too te?

  Carol and Ririna ran up to the ledge, and the three of us looked down, hoping not to be met with a gruesome sight. Ririna slowly brought her mp forward, and…

  “Now that was a close call, huh?” Sarasa greeted us while crossing her arms upside down. “Good job catching me, Iroha. Hold me like that for a second. I’ve never seen the spikes in a pitfall trap from this close before. I see some bones here. I think I can snag us some coins.”

  “Just get out of there.” We got all worried for nothing. I yanked her by the ankle and got her back on the ground.

  “What was that for? Those were free coins begging for help!” Ah… That’s how it is… She doesn’t care even when it’s her own life on the line…

  “We’re not here to loot the dead, are we? Come on, let’s keep going.” The hole wasn’t that big, so I jumped to the other side and helped Ririna do the jump. Carol jumped right after, and four of us moved on. *Sigh…* She sure knows how to keep us on our toes.

  We pushed through to the end of the tunnel only to arrive at a dead end.

  “No no… It’s not a dead end. This wall is hollow. See?” We were about to get worried when Sarasa pushed against the wall, and it swung open like a door.

  “Oh… Nice catch…” We had to lower our heads to pass through the opening, but we made it. We were now inside the pace.

  We entered a rge hallway with many sets of armor lined up and with statues behind them. The passage we took connected to the base of one of these statues.

  The three of us slowly moved to the center of the hallway while taking a look around. “How long was this pce supposed to be abandoned for? Doesn’t look that bad to me.” Carol was right.

  The floor had a long red carpet over marble. While the carpet was dirty and roughed up here and there, it was still intact. The tall hallway had some red curtains near the top in good enough condition to keep this pce dim.

  “Keep your guard up…” I reminded the others. “It’s quiet now, but… There should be monsters around… Right?”

  “Yup yup! But it’s kinda strange… It’s too quiet…” Sarasa turned from side to side, trying to pick up on any sounds. “Was that intel wrong? I think we’re the only ones here. Maybe the monsters left since someone st came here.”

  “That’s so convenient. I wish they did the same when I go out gathering.” The mp wasn’t needed anymore, so Ririna put it away.

  “You poor thing… If only you spent more time swinging a sword than making poison for your friends.”

  “I still have it if you want a sip.” Sarasa jumped back. No, thank you.

  “Ahahahaha…” I let out a ugh. “Where should we look first? You think that’s an important room? It’s a pretty big set of doors…” I pointed to the end of the hallway.

  “Only one way to find out… Let’s take a look!” Sarasa led the way, and we followed right after her. The door hadn’t been opened in such a long time that Sarasa couldn’t open it by herself. I pushed one side with my shoulder while Sarasa pushed the other, and we finally managed to pry the big door open.

  “Looks like a throne room to me… Good guess, Iroha.” Carol was the first to enter the room, walking like we opened the door just for her. I’ll spare Ririna, but she was strong enough to have helped us.

  The rest of us entered right after. Ririna gave a small push on the door to make sure we weren’t exaggerating. It was heavy. “It looks like it, but it’s not like it matters much. We’re looking for Sarasa’s keycard, not the throne room.”

  The throne room had a style simir to the hallway. A red carpet in the middle over a marble floor. White pilrs on the sides with bright windows behind. The throne ahead of us was the unluckiest piece so far. The top half was missing, and one of the armrests was completely destroyed.

  “It matters, Iroha! Important items are in important pces, remember? The throne room is the most important pce, so let’s take a look around!” Sarasa showed us how it’s done and grabbed the big carpet right away. She flipped part of it over without care, then… “Gyaahhh!! Bugs!!” She ran off in the opposite direction.

  “Note to self, leave the carpet alone.” Very important lesson after seeing that. Ririna and Carol nodded in agreement.

  The room didn’t have much in terms of furniture. Other than the throne, there was only a handful of drawers and cabinets. It didn’t take us longer than a few minutes to look through every nook and cranny.

  “Only the carpet is left now…” I look at it with Ririna and Carol.

  “Sarasa! We need you to do the honors here!” Ririna called for the girl who was avoiding us.

  “No way! It’s gotta be somewhere… I’m just about to find something…” Sarasa was clinging to the wall behind the throne, insisting there was a secret door waiting to be found.

  “Just give it up. Aren’t you a great adventurer or something? Is it okay for you to get freaked out by some bugs?” Now, it was my turn to tease her.

  “Shut up… I’m not freaked out… I’m just…” She stopped in the middle of her sentence and looked at the wall with a surprised face. We made our way to her side.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Listen.” She knocked on the wall a few times. “It’s hollow. There’s something on the other side! I knew it!” She cheered enthusiastically and poked around to try to find a way to open the wall.

  “No way… There’s actually a secret passage here?”

  “Hehe~ I’m great at sniffing these things out, you know?” She moved along the wall, knocking and listening for clues. “There’s a connection here… Looks like there should be a button somewhere around… Here?” She reached the corner of the room and managed to find a small part of the wall that could be pushed in.

  “Sa- Sarasa…?” Ririna asked. “What’s that? What did you do? Move!”

  “Huh?” She looked at us confused, unaware of the light that appeared below her feet.

  How many times do I have to save her? Burst Dash! A circle on the floor started shining as soon as she stepped on it. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her out. Is that a trap? A magical trap? I didn’t have time to think it through, as everything suddenly went white.

  When the light faded, everything around had changed. I found myself in a dark, humid room with iron bars on one side. “Wait, a cell!?” What happened? How did I get here? “Was that circle a teleport trap? Where am I?”

  Bam100