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Chapter 12
Game Category [Post] [Strategy Guide]
[Hidden Item List 1]
“Black Moss”
The first item a low-level beginner typically obtains.
Very easy to use—
Because it melts certain enemies.
What I had in my hand was black moss. I tightly balled it up and stuffed it in my pocket.
‘This stuff is essential here.’
Alright. I may be low-level, but that’s fine.
Information is power.
I’m a veteran player—I’ll make this work somehow…!
Just as I was thinking that—
[Objective! Escape the “Hidden Training Dungeon” while avoiding the cultist who snuck in!]
…What?
I blinked in disbelief at the sudden system message.
Wait, this is a joke, right?
That never happened in the original game!
‘Why is a cultist in a low-level training dungeon?! It’s supposed to be a safe tutorial zone!’
I was about to shout—
“Mmmp!”
A hand covered my mouth.
I struggled, startled—but someone held me tightly.
“Shhh… stay quiet.”
“Mm?”
“It’s dangerous.”
A strange boy appeared before me.
He was the one holding me and had his finger to his lips.
Blond hair, light orange eyes.
‘Bennett?’
I recognized him immediately.
‘He’s one of the protagonist’s future allies!’
Game Category [Post] [Strategy Guide]
[Protagonist’s Companion List 1]
Here’s a list of great allies to recruit. Ranked in order.
#1: Bennett Satein
Affiliation: Vice-Captain of the Blue Paladins
Traits: Highly intuitive, extremely suspicious—perfect for hunting cultists.
Nickname: “The Cult-Hunting Hound”
Downturned eyes and a soft, golden-retriever-like face. It was definitely him.
‘But why is the cult-sniffing hound here?’
Bennett is a highly competent paladin—and one you must recruit once the protagonist comes of age.
He looked about ten years old right now.
“If you promise not to scream, I’ll let you go.”
I nodded.
Jeez, I thought I was gonna suffocate.
“You were the kid they captured, right? How’d you escape?”
…What?
I was stunned for about three seconds.
“No? I came from outside.”
“…Huh?”
“And what’s this about me being captured?”
Bennett stared at me for a moment, then answered honestly.
“I meant exactly what I said. There’s a group that’s been kidnapping only children. I got caught too—but managed to sneak out. Oh, uh… I’m Bennett.”
Well-mannered kid, huh?
“I’m Nemesia.”
From what I can tell, cultists have been kidnapping children.
And most likely…
‘They’re planning to use them as sacrifices, aren’t they?’
That’s typically why they gather kids.
‘There wasn’t a cultist hideout in this dungeon in the game, though…’
Still, no point overthinking it now.
It must be a random event.
‘A life-threatening one? God, I love it. So thrilling.’
“Did you notice anything weird while you were being held?”
“Huh? Like what…? Oh—there was something odd. They were drawing evil-looking… creepy patterns on the ground with the kids around.”
He paused, then asked,
“Wait—who are you, exactly?”
Instead of answering, I brushed some dust off my clothes.
‘Evil patterns? So they’re summoners.’
The ones who serve the evil god love causing trouble for the temple in all kinds of ways.
Looks like these guys are trying to summon some corrupted creature to mess up the world—using the power of their god.
And for that, they’ll need a pure sacrifice.
“Which direction was the place you were being held?”
The door I came through was one-way only—so I’ll need to find the exit.
“Why do you ask…? We should head out and tell the church! My master is Sir Roden, a Paladin. We have to report this.”
“There’s no exit the way I came in. We’ll have to go the way you came.”
And in that direction… is probably the cultist hideout.
Bennett’s face darkened as he pieced things together.
“Wait… your clothes…! Are you… are you a Pope candidate?”
The candidates for Pope were treated with great care—their clothes alone made them stand out.
Bennett, being a sharp young paladin-in-training, caught on.
I just shrugged.
‘Guess I have to rescue the kids now, huh?’
“Let’s go. We can’t waste time.”
“…! Okay!”
He seemed to think I had some plan, because his face brightened.
‘Hmm… but it’s not the kind of plan you’re imagining.’
Even though he was young, Bennett moved almost silently.
Proof that he already had excellent physical skills.
We carefully crept forward—
Until suddenly, we stopped.
[Warning Notice]
“T-That wasn’t there earlier when we passed by…”
Bennett looked flustered.
In front of us, a golden rope was strung across the path, with a piece of paper attached:
[Inside this special rope lies unexplored terrain suspected of contamination.
Your safety cannot be guaranteed.
Do not look back—leave immediately!]
“Wh-What do we do, Candidate?”
“What do you mean what? We go in.”
This wasn’t a warning from the temple.
It was a decoy set up by cultists.
Game Category [Post] [Strategy Guide]
[Fake Markings by Cultists]
Cultists are like mosquitoes and cockroaches.
They secretly plant their spawn everywhere inside the temple.
If you suddenly get a “Cultist Hideout Discovered!” event?
Low-level? → Don’t even look back. Just run.
Spotting their fake signs is easy:
They paste temple warning signs—but the rope is gold-colored.
Want to push through for the thrill and suffer a thousand retries just to beat it?
Then…
“There’s no other exit, right? And the kids are this way too.”
Bennett nodded.
We crawled under the rope and into the marked zone.
Of course, Bennett hesitated right before crossing it.
But in the end, he clenched his eyes shut and followed me in.
“Why wasn’t this here when we passed earlier?”
“Maybe it’s a barrier? Only visible to people entering from outside.”
“Aha…!”
I had another guess but didn’t say it aloud.
‘Did the cultists realize Bennett escaped and set this up in a panic?’
Before long, we came across iron bars.
“Hide here…!”
Bennett pulled me behind a wall.
Just before that, I caught sight of something—a large cage.
Inside were tons of kids.
“They were all awake before… but now they’re asleep.”
I saw it too.
‘That’s… more kids than I thought?’
Where did they gather all these from? There had to be at least ten.
‘Way too many people.’
Honestly, I’d love to just summon Dad right now…
But I was too far away for the summoning range to work.
This is something that naturally resolves at higher levels—but right now, it’s a problem.
That’s why I’ve been worrying about leaving him behind.
Even with him, handling this alone until backup arrives might be too much.
Some of the kids might die.
‘This is a bad situation.’
I noticed a faint light glowing softly around Bennett as he held me.
It was probably holy energy hiding our presence.
‘Not bad—for his age, that’s impressive.’
Carefully, I peeked past the wall.
No cultists were watching the children.
“There aren’t many cultists nearby. Maybe we can use this chance to sneak out…!”
Problem.
If no one is guarding an important sacrifice,
what does that usually mean?
It means their attention is elsewhere.
Like… searching for a runaway.
I looked up.
Bennett’s eyes widened.
At the same moment, shadows loomed in front of us.
“A runaway…!”
“There they are! I found them!”
“Hurry!”
“Damn it. Right under our noses.”
The cultists swarmed toward us in an instant.
“What’s this kid?”
Bennett turned pale and pushed me behind him.
“Hmph. Take both of them!”
Because I was standing in the shadowed area, they didn’t notice my clothing.
But it was only a matter of time.
“There…!”
“Shhh. I’ll protect you…!”
Bennett tried to shove me behind him again.
“…Sorry.”
“Huh?!”
I bit his hand before he could grab me.
