The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 48
EP.48 Plan (3)
Looking back, the game from Chronicles of Aetherna Part 14 wasn’t solely about Leo. Sure, Leo was the playable character, never leaving the party, and being the one character you couldn’t remove—clearly designed for the player to easily immerse themselves in. But that didn’t mean you couldn’t use other characters.
If there were other characters in the party, you could set a different one as the lead, changing the character displayed in the field. The field mechanics were important, allowing for strategic maneuvers like initiating combat by attacking monsters first or sneaking up from behind for a stun.
So, in most strategies, players would often select a character with ranged attacks as the lead, starting battles by hitting monsters from afar. One of the most utilized characters was Mia Crowfield, who shot ice arrows as her basic attack.
And none of the party members ever refused to enter places because they were filthy or smelly. Even when crawling through ventilation shafts, none of them—whether it was the princess, royal ladies like Jennifer, or any other guest characters—ever expressed any reluctance.
“…”
“…”
“…”
So, my earlier decision to assume that the foul smell would make them give up was an incredibly stupid one.
About ten minutes after entering the sewer, I was already regretting my choice.
The two following me had superhuman physical abilities, so they could endure the smell without any issues. But for me, who could barely scrape the “super” in “superhuman,” it was torture. Not that I was even sure I could really claim to be at that level—it was just a hopeful guess.
I seriously considered resetting time during those ten minutes, but in the end, I didn’t.
It’s like starting a game on the highest difficulty on the first playthrough, getting stuck at a boss fight due to a wrong strategy, experiencing three party wipes, and then seeing the message, “Would you like to reset to a lower difficulty?”
The developers included that message hoping players wouldn’t give up, but reading it felt like a blow to my pride. Even though no one was watching, and I wasn’t streaming the game, pressing that button felt humiliating.
Multiple playthroughs are essential for writing a strategy guide, and even if I don’t earn the difficulty-related medals now, I’ll eventually get them.
So, with a mindset similar to pressing “No” on that difficulty reset message and retrying the game, I didn’t reset the time.
The one thing I could be thankful for was that the two behind me seemed to lack the energy to engage me in conversation. Opening their mouths to speak would invite the foul air inside. You couldn’t really smell with your mouth, but there’s still that unpleasant, grimy feeling, right?
“This way.”
I carefully spoke to avoid breaking the silence. There was no response from behind, but I could still hear their footsteps.
At this point, even if I wanted to leave alone, it would be tricky. The path we took to get here was already quite complicated. While it wasn’t a complete maze, it was confusing enough for a first-timer.
That’s right. A “first-timer.”
But I wasn’t one.
There were some parts that were different from what I remembered. In the game, the map was made with low-resolution textures, so it didn’t feel quite as repulsive. And while it tried to convey darkness, it wasn’t like a horror game where you couldn’t see a thing without light. Actually, in terms of brightness, it was as if a fluorescent light had been switched on. It wasn’t a horror game, after all, and annoying gimmicks like that wouldn’t have gotten a good reaction.
In the game, each block of the mini-map lit up as soon as you stepped into it, immediately revealing the area ahead. The in-game clock was also reliable, so getting lost wasn’t really a concern. It was just that sometimes you forgot the gimmick and had to go back, which was annoying.
In that sense, this sewer we were walking through was quite different from the game. Especially the atmosphere.
It wasn’t so dark that I couldn’t see in front of me. From what I could tell, the place was occasionally maintained—albeit infrequently—because dim lamps powered by magic stones were installed in various spots.
But the paths between the lamps were extremely dark. In the places where water flowed, there was… some truly filthy liquid running through. And every now and then, I saw black creatures that looked suspiciously like cockroaches scuttling across the ground.
Still, the layout itself matched the one I knew.
I didn’t know what lay beyond the iron doors blocking some areas, but that didn’t matter. In the game, those places weren’t accessible anyway.
I’d run through this dungeon countless times while working on my game strategies.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I remembered every corner like a GPS. It was a game I played over ten years ago, after all.
Still, I remembered the really important areas. As soon as we got down here, I had jotted everything I could recall in my notes.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?”
“Yes, of course.”
I answered Alice’s slightly uneasy question with confidence.
At the very least, I knew where we were now. As we ventured deeper, we’d likely encounter real monsters.
But they wouldn’t come this far. The game was still in its early stages. The monsters wouldn’t pose a real threat for some time yet.
And even if they did show up… well, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.
In the game, monsters were considered dangerous because of their “level,” but that didn’t apply in real life. Chronicles of Aetherna wasn’t a game where you could roam the open world freely. The game unlocked new areas and monsters as the story progressed, with levels designed to match the protagonists’ increasing power. The levels didn’t stop you from going somewhere—they just ensured that by the time you did, you were strong enough to handle the enemies there.
But this wasn’t turn-based like in the game. The creatures down here wouldn’t stand a chance once they got hit by my crossbow.
“This is the place.”
With one final turn, we entered a small room that resembled a storage space. Why a room like this existed in a sewer was beyond me. In the game, it made sense—it was a dungeon designed for adventuring, so such spaces were common. But in real life, there was no reason for a sewer to have a room like this.
…Well, maybe it was just a makeshift storage area. The sewer was long and wide, so it wouldn’t be strange for there to be resting spots along the way. Yet, for such a place, this room wasn’t locked, and all it contained was a few scattered bits of trash and a single closed chest.
The chest, however, looked almost identical to the ones that held items in the game. Its lone presence in the middle of this empty, dimly lit room gave off a slightly eerie vibe.
“…A chest?”
I heard Alice mutter from behind me, but I didn’t bother responding. I simply approached the chest.
A thick layer of dust covered it, enough that you could probably draw on its surface with your finger. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pair of black leather gloves, slipping them on before I bent down to open it.
The dust-covered chest opened surprisingly easily, almost anticlimactically. There were no special locks or security measures—just like in the game.
“…..”
I confirmed that my memories and assumptions were correct, but now that I saw it in front of me, it felt a little unsettling. How long had this chest been here? Who had placed it in this room, and why was it the only thing left in this otherwise empty space?
I bent down further and retrieved the item inside.
“Huh?”
“Is that…?”
It was a Marmaros.
The object I held in my hand was a Marmaros, a crystal often featured in the game. Compared to the ones found later in the game, this wasn’t anything particularly rare or valuable.
But here, in this reality, it was an entirely different story. This Marmaros was of the highest quality—something incredibly difficult to come by. In the game, rare Marmaros became more common as the empire descended into chaos during the later stages of the story. And maybe the same would happen in reality, but for now, this was a rare find, even if you had the money to buy one.
The perfectly spherical, blue Marmaros was cold to the touch, so cold that I could feel its chill through my gloves. If I had touched it with my bare hands, I wouldn’t have been injured, but it would’ve felt like holding a can of soda fresh from the fridge—painfully cold.
This particular Marmaros was far more powerful than the fire-aligned one Jennifer had given me. In the mid-game storyline, it was used to enhance Mia Crowfield’s staff, boosting her offensive magic.
In the game, it merely raised the damage of ice-related spells. But here, in reality? It would likely be far more dangerous.
“Why is something like that here?”
Charlotte asked as she stepped closer.
In the game’s lore, Marmaros could be embedded directly into magical weapons. If I had kept this for myself and secretly crafted a weapon, I could have carried it around unnoticed by anyone.
If someone else, someone we didn’t know, had found this instead of me, things might have turned dangerous. Is it more dangerous than a gun? Well, if someone asked me that, I wouldn’t have much to say.
Regardless of its danger, this was a precious item. Charlotte’s question wasn’t just about why this was here. It was more about how I knew this item was here in the first place.
I glanced at Charlotte and Alice, both illuminated by the faint light of the magic stone lamps. Their faces were filled with questions. Up until now, I could brush off everything with a simple “I’m just that good.” But coming this far, to this specific place, was something entirely different. The only way to arrive here was to already know this item existed and where to find it.
And yet, the room was thick with dust. If someone had prepared this ahead of time and tipped me off, this place wouldn’t have been abandoned for so long. Charlotte asking these questions wasn’t surprising at all.
“How do you know that this was here?”
That was the real essence of Charlotte’s unspoken question.
“I’ll tell you… next time.”
I said, pocketing the Marmaros into my coat. Honestly, doing this defeated the purpose of wearing the coat, but… well, I couldn’t just carry it in my hand.
As I made my way toward the door—
Thud.
Someone’s body blocked my way.
Without needing to check, I knew it was Alice standing in front of me.
“Explain.”
Alice looked at me with determination in her eyes.
“How did you know such an item was here? I won’t move until you tell me.”
“……”
Hmm.
What should I do?