A creaking sound rang out.

A manhole cover was opened by the Otherworlder at the northern ends of the town.

The sounds of steps echoed in the long and narrow descent as Vera and the Otherworlder went down the ladder.

With a thud, Vera jumped off the ladder and landed on the pavement next to the underground channels. She brushed off her dress as the Otherworlder came down after her.

“Stinks.”

Vera ignored the Otherworlder’s remark as she gazed around the place. A veneer of brown water stain covered the entirety of the pavement’s surface, while small colonies of moss and fungus peeked out from the corners and cracks. The disgruntling sight along with the foul stench of the sewage made both of them scrunch up their faces into deep frowns.

“Is this really worth your money?” Vera asked, waving the air at her nose away.

“You bet.” Still frowning, the Otherworlder started walking ahead. “You can go back, though. In fact, why are you even tagging along? Aren’t you busy?”

“Shush. I want some entertainment.”

The Otherworlder suddenly stopped and turned his head to face her. “Vera, four people’s lives are possibly on the line and you are calling it entertainment?”

“Shut up! As if you care about anything beyond getting your money back.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Vera sighed and hopped towards the Otherworlder to catch up to him. “Of course,” she said before placing one of her arms around the Otherworlder’s shoulder. Though she was a bit shorter, she managed to pull his head down to her level and dragged him along.

┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ ⟨ ⏣ ⟩ ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈

The Otherworlder and Vera had already memorized the routes for the most part, so their travels went rather seamlessly. From the northern end of the town to the alley where Mr. Yellow had set up a bookstore and then towards the center of the town before turning to the south.

They had just walked for about fifteen minutes when a suspicious sight greeted them.

Different from the maps, there was a new small tunnel in the walls of the lane they were on.

The Otherworlder and Vera stood in front of the new path with their arms crossed. An eerie air oozed out from the dark tunnel as faint squeaks echoed out now and then.

“We should check this out, huh?” Vera muttered. As if her words were a signal, a bunch of rats came running out of the tunnel and dispersed into the underground channels.

“Oh totally. It’s like the place is begging to be investigated,” the Otherworlder answered back.

The path in front of them was small and narrow, to the point only one person could go through it at a time. Thankfully, the smell inside didn’t seem to be as strong, though it was still foul.

-Snap.

The Otherworlder snapped his fingers and channeled his mana to his hands. In the blink of an eye, a blob of dim light appeared in the air, floating around whilst illuminating the path ahead.

Vera whistled as she eyed the blob of light. “You’ve gotten better.”

“Yeah,” the Otherworlder nodded and stepped into the tunnel while Vera followed right behind.

Over the few months, the Otherworlder had improved by leaps and bounds with his magic. In the duration as short as a blink, he had gathered the mana around his hand and re-arranged it to assign it the elemental attribute of light, then he declared its shape and assigned it the property of floating before fine tuning the intensity and quality of the mana to bring out just the right amount of light.

Just a simple spell to get illumination had these many steps to it. The Otherworlder vividly remembered how bad he was at the beginning and how he had to construct a magic circle first before casting his spells. Despite the highly complicated nature of magic, it wasn’t exactly a rare sight. Almost everyone used mana or ki in some form or another. Many people who had always been exposed to magic, including the residents of this world, performed several of these complicated processes subconsciously.

The Otherworlder thought it took him quite a while, but he had entered a similar realm of performing magic subconsciously. As he went through the tunnel, he eyed the blob of light with a critical gaze.

‘Quite a fine work, if I say so myself.’

Nodding, the Otherworlder took his eyes away from the blob and shifted his attention back to the tunnel. It turned and curved in many directions, but never once did it open up to another path or even lead to an exit.

They tried their best to trace their path in accordance with the map, but both of them soon met their limit.

After walking in the tunnel for what seemed like a long time, a few shadowy figures in a distant curve showed up.

The two stopped in their tracks. He quickly lowered the intensity of his own light and watched the figures with caution, making as little sound as they could.

“Ju... th... wo..”

“he... any... on”

Unfortunately, the voices were barely audible beyond a few random syllables. The Otherworlder clicked his tongue and turned to Vera. They shared a quick nod, communicating with their eyes alone.

Whoever it was, they’ll just have to ask the person themselves.

The Otherworlder raised the light again and started walking ahead.

-Thud

Their footsteps were soft. Thankfully, the figures hadn’t noticed them.

-Thud

The curve came closer, and the lights started merging, yet they couldn’t exactly make what the figures were saying.

-THUD!

One figure slammed its feet against the ground and approached them! The Otherworlder and Vera were too close to the curve to turn back. They reeled back in surprise, but the figure had already appeared in front of them.

“Oh, you are here. Took you guys a while.” Standing in front of them was a slim bearded man wearing an apron. “We were waiting for you.”

It was the waiter of the cafe they had been frequently all these days.