Chapter 58 The Cave
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Midnight in the valley slept like the dead.
A cold moon picked out the tips of the boulders strewn along the path, each one catching a lonely gleam. Walking the ravine without a light feels wrong—exposed, foolish.
”Kaede-san and the others will be fine. They’ve got those visors for night vision. Hell, they could probably go barefoot,” I thought.
If it were me, my shoes would be shredded by the knife-edged stones in a single step. I’d trip, tear myself open, and be unable to move in five minutes. My feet would betray me and leave me stranded.
They pressed on with steady steps. After the rest at noon, Kaede-san seemed a little less stiff—her movements had smoothed, like someone waking from a cramp.
Soon the cleft narrowed. The distance from lip to lip shrank until the rock walls felt as if they might tilt and fall upon us. We must have come far upstream.
The three of us stopped almost without meaning to.
There, in front of us, a strange sign appeared—one of the few proper artificial things I’d seen in a long while.
”Signpost,” Kaede-san murmured.
Beside a great rock, driven into the stony ground like a stake, a post held a wooden board at my head height. Moisture from the fog had blurred the letters, but the hand was clear enough for me to read.
── From here, the Isumi lodging route. Direction: Un… Along the rock ledge, twenty town.
”Temporary lodging for town folk,” the next line said.
It was a simple direction. The place it pointed to was a base inside the dungeon.
Most dungeons have spots like this—makeshift depots where people preparing to explore store food and weapons, leave behind mystical objects, and sleep so they can gather resources more efficiently. These camps are set in multiple places, chosen to avoid the hazards and habits of the monsters; this had to be one of them. In short, a crude fort to protect ordinary town explorers.
”At last—this might be it,” someone breathed.
”Yeah,” came the reply.
Their faces looked to me as if some cold wind had gone through them. The cozy, childlike closeness they’d shared earlier had vanished; the night air had stolen the warmth from them.
A rising dread clung to my back as I followed. It swelled with every step.
We walked along the cliff face for less than half an hour, hands finding purchase on the jagged stone as we moved. Then we came to an unnaturally cracked stretch of rock.
In front of that crack lay scraps of old wood, ash from fires, and fish bones. Some of the discarded planks still had the look of being freshly cut—too dry to have soaked the mist. It was clear evidence that someone had been sleeping here.
”What are they doing?” I wondered.
Kaede-san ran her hands along the cliff, feeling for something. Eventually she found a thin, slab-like rock door set into the fissure—leaning like a forgotten panel in a wall, but with a gap behind it that a grown woman could push aside.
She turned to us.
”There are traces of people here. Probably where those tenant folk hole up,” she said.
In this world, ‘tenant folk’ meant townspeople who gather mystical objects—folk without land who eke out a living alongside farming or fishing. Kaede-san spoke colder, and her voice sounded frightening to me.
”There’s a presence—someone’s here. It looks like a storage for collected mystical objects. They gather them here to haul back to town, so there should be an overseer official as well.”
”I don’t like it, but we have to,” came the short reply.
”We’ll kill them,” Kaede-san said.
She put her hand on the stone door. From behind, she looked like some god pushing at the cave of heaven—only she wasn’t trying to free a goddess. She was going in to kill.
I hadn’t wanted to believe my fear, but it was right.
From the moment we found the signpost I’d known—this infiltration was about finding ordinary people. To slip into the town you need information. A dungeon base would have records about the town, and townsfolk actually living there. To Kaede-san and the others it was the chance to grab a trove of useful intel at once.
I almost turned back. I’d come along for information, after all—this was meant to be reconnaissance. I couldn’t stand the thought of watching another massacre.
Cowardice or not, I didn’t want to witness civilians slaughtered. Horrible things happened here, and Kaede-san and her crew had had death brush them many times. I didn’t possess the righteousness or the foolish bravery to stop them.
The slab gave with a scraping sound. The door opened.
Time didn’t wait. After a long hesitation, I followed. I decided I would stay until I could no longer bear it—then I’d retreat to the room. That’s what Psionic Power was for, after all.
And truthfully, I couldn’t bring myself to leave—my curiosity held me fast.
A fissure ran up the cliff like a face tearing to the sky. The gap was wide enough for a person to slip into.
Kiri-san carried her gun in hand and followed Kaede-san into the crack.
”I’ll take half,” she said. “Kaede’s terrible at interrogation—can’t get a thing out of people.”
”Please,” Kaede-san said.
”And Natsume, stay here. War and killing—well, it doesn’t count as killing, they say, but—”
Natsume-san hesitated.
”…I can’t let you two do that by yourselves.”
”Then will you come?”
She surprised us. Instead of stepping back, she slipped in front of the two of them and, with that small body, blocked the passage.
I thought she intended to come along, but she said something strange.
”No. I’ll make a fuss. I can’t forgive killing. I’ll shout and make a scene to help people escape. What good is killing ordinary town folk? It’s pointless.”
”Natsume—interference,” someone warned.
”I won’t move. The Imperial Guards have an honorable duty; they aren’t soldiers. I won’t let you two become monsters.”
She spread both hands and stopped them.
Kaede-san opened the front of Natsume’s tunic and pulled a mystical object from inside, then—swiftly—fixed it to her head.
”Heh. Heh heh.”
”Don’t be childish. Keep watch. Don’t go anywhere. See if anyone slips away.”
”Ehehe… all right. Kaede-chan. I’ll wait.”
Natsume-san wore the electrodes like some small smile; she seemed happy.
Kiri-san watched and said quietly, “Has she really never killed anyone before?”
”She has. It was so painful she forgot,” Kaede-san answered.
”Is that so?”
They talked while kicking at a wooden door deeper inside. It had metal reinforcements and a proper lock. With a single thunderous crash the double doors at the entrance splintered.
Kaede-san and Kiri-san stepped over the broken frame and went in.
Voices rose from the back of the cave—human voices, a murmur of people. A child’s cry drifted out.
When I crept after them, the interior was lit and warm.
This place smelled of people. As we pushed further into the crack, the air grew warmer.
”Why—monster!? Eek—hurry…”
”Get the child to the back. If anyone can break the door, they can’t get through the narrow parts.”
”Send the children to the back!”
To my surprise, nearly twenty people were inside. Many were women in their late teens to twenties, wrapped in the same rough, patched hemp rags.
The interior was far larger than I expected—a sort of rough gathering hall carved into the rock.
Perhaps they kept their meetings when the fog thinned, for the tables were set with bean snacks, dice, and gourd flasks of liquor. Mats had been laid directly upon the stone so people could sit and rest. The light came from luminous sand, the same kind used along Kujukuri’s coast.
At the back of the cavern, heaps of dried meat, red-black fruit, and crab shells were stacked high.
Everyone stood frozen, staring at Kaede-san—her body streaked with blood, sword still in hand. Among them, I noticed a little girl no older than an elementary student.
Kaede-san spoke as if discussing something trivial.
”From here on, everyone dies. I’m your enemy soldier. Anyone who tells me where the entrance lies or shows me the town’s map dies quickly.”
I nearly screamed.
The women went pale all at once. No one spoke. All eyes locked on her in horror.
She might have stepped from some nightmare. Her presence, the very scent of death, silenced even the bravest among them.
They shrank back like small animals cornered by a snake.
”What—who are you people? W-what are you saying, you—”
A shrill cry cut her off.
A plump, pretty girl burst from the crowd and fired a hunting gun. The shot rang sharp and dry, echoing through the cave. The barrel had been aimed straight at Kaede-san.
The bullet struck her in the stomach.
”How’s that? Take that, you—!”
”Idiot, stop! You’ll set the powder off in here!”
The shooter trembled, yelling, while another girl beside her tried to pull her back. The cave filled with a mix of fear and desperate hope.
”You just barge in and start spouting nonsense? Don’t underestimate the women of Isumi! If you want something, I’ll give you lead instead!”
White smoke curled from the gun’s muzzle.
The bullet had indeed hit—yet Kaede-san only flinched slightly, as if she’d been poked. A flattened slug dropped from her abdomen to the floor. The skin beneath her torn clothing was barely grazed.
She showed no sign of pain at all.
Everyone stared, unable to form words. Her posture, her stillness—it froze the air itself.
”…You’ll be first?” Kaede-san asked quietly, raising her face.
It was the look of a reaper choosing the order of souls.
The girl who had fired dropped her gun and raised her hands.
”Please—please stop! I’m sorry, I just—kyaa!”
A streak of light crossed her face.
She fell, tripping over the rifle, clutching her eyes as steam rose from her palms.
”My eyes! I can’t see—!”
Kiri-san’s voice came lazily, almost bored.
”Still don’t get your situation, huh? Meeting these cold-hearted monsters was your bad luck, sweetheart. Too bad—little ladies like you die tonight.”
She didn’t even bother to pick up the gun.
”Kiri, don’t waste bullets,” Kaede-san said.
”Yeah, yeah… Talk. Like I said—where’s the town mayor, where’s the office, what Psionic Power do the Guards have? Be useful, and maybe we’ll spare a few of you. Unlike that scary hag over there, this hag’s merciful.”
A ripple of murmurs ran through the women.
But I knew better. I’d seen it before. They never let anyone live.
”My eyes… why can’t I see…”
”Kaede-san, wait—ah—”
Before I could move, Kaede-san’s boot came down. The girl’s head burst beneath it like a crushed nut. The sound was dull, final.
Blood and brain matter splashed out in a grotesque joke.
”Oh God…”
”Yuu-chan! No, stop!”
”What are you doing—she was—!”
I clamped my hand over my mouth. My stomach turned. Everyone was crying; I thought I would vomit.
Sabotage missions like this were brutal.
Kaede-san seized the arm of a smaller girl and snapped the bone. Then she smashed her skull against the rock.
Maybe she thought children were useless as informants—so best to kill them first.
Screams filled the narrow cave.
”Wait—please, she’s just a child! Stop! Kaede-san, please!”
I shouted without realizing it. My voice cracked across the space, my senses scrambled.
The small girl dangled from Kaede-san’s grasp, limp and helpless.
”Please—no! Guh—ghhh—!”
Her older sister lunged to protect her—and crumpled with a choked groan as Kaede-san’s sword struck her abdomen. She fell clutching her belly, face gone ashen, fine veins standing out from the pain.
”Stop, please! She’s pregnant—she’s carrying a baby! It might be a boy! You’d kill a boy!?”
”What a dull line,” Kaede-san said flatly.
”How can you say that? You’re old enough to know what a child means!”
”I don’t.”
She strode into the crowd and dragged forward the young woman who had just hidden—a prettier girl, belly swollen with life.
”Look.”
CRACK.
CRUNCH.
Kaede-san drove her fist into the wall. Gray stone split, pieces raining down.
Everyone went silent.
She placed that same hand gently against the woman’s stomach.
”I’m not human. I’m an ogre. Tell me what you know, and you’ll die quickly. Don’t, and this is what happens.”
Then she drew her fist back, slow and deliberate.
The pregnant woman twisted and struggled, but Kaede-san held her firm.
”Please! Stop! I beg you—no!”
Every breath in the room caught.
”Wait! Wait!” I screamed, grabbing her arm.
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might tear my ribs apart. Tears blurred my sight, but I held onto her with both hands.
If I didn’t move now, this scene would stay with me forever.
I forgot everything—the mission, the guilt of spying, even the secret of my Psionic Power.
”Please! Don’t kill her!”
”Is my hand too heavy?” she murmured.
”Just—stop…”
I forced the connection open, tuned my senses—and appeared before her.
Her arm felt like iron, her body radiating heat and death. Dust from the shattered rock clung to my cheeks and filled my nose.
Kaede-san froze when she saw me.
”What…? Lady? Why are you here?”
”I—I’m sorry. I followed on my own. It’s not what you think—I used Psionic Power and—”
The words stumbled out.
For a heartbeat, the softness I’d once seen in her eyes returned—the warmth of someone who had once looked at me like a child she wanted to protect.
Then it vanished. Because I shouldn’t exist here at all.
Kiri-san, arms crossed beside us, spoke in a dry, suspicious tone.
When I took solid form again, her presence struck me harder—Kaede-san was taller than I’d imagined, lean, beautiful, carrying a faint, stale scent.
The air around her reeked faintly of liquor and smoke, and her sharp features gave her an almost violent allure. It scared me.
”What’s wrong, Kaede? Don’t tell me you’ve grown a conscience.”
”Looks that way.”
”Come on. I’m supposed to be the merciful one here.”
Only Kaede-san could see me.
Our eyes locked. I forced my lips to move through tears, trying to explain, but the words tangled in panic.
”Please—help them. Stop killing. They don’t deserve this.”
”No,” she said flatly. “It’s a warning.”
The words cut the air clean.
Her eyes cooled, emotion fading until they looked like glass—like she was merely observing a tedious problem.
Kiri-san frowned.
”What’s gotten into you?”
”There’s a boy here,” Kaede-san said. “The one I met before. He’s telling me to stop.”
”Tch. You’re joking now? Or is this dungeon playing tricks on your head? Illusions? We already have one fool—that’s Natsume.”
”I don’t know. I’ll kill them all.”
Pain.
She shoved me away with one sharp motion.
I tumbled to the floor beside the pregnant woman. Her teeth chattered as she held her belly protectively, eyes squeezed shut in terror.
Ah, what an idiot I was. My Psionic Power was supposed to be secret. I’d sworn that to the Imperial Guards.
But feeling the frightened breaths behind me, I couldn’t bring myself to cancel it—to retreat safely back to the bed I’d come from.
It wasn’t pity.
It wasn’t some moral clarity about war or right and wrong.
I just… couldn’t bear for Kaede-san to go on like this.
Or maybe I didn’t even know why. I was just a fool.
I looked up at her.
”Kaede-san… I should’ve told you earlier. I’ve been following you this whole time. I have a Psionic Power that lets me hide from sight.”
Maybe I could convince her somehow.
”I snuck along in secret,” I said.
She said nothing.
”I wanted… information. To steal it, honestly. I’m sorry.”
It was the truth—pointless honesty, for the sake of strangers’ lives.
I couldn’t just stand there and watch twenty more people die. Maybe I hadn’t stopped the others before, but this—this was too much.
”Please, trust me, Kaede-san.”
The whole cave fell still.
No one moved.
Kaede-san stood frozen, staring into the air just above the pregnant woman—as if something unseen were speaking to her. Everyone else watched, breath held.
There was hesitation in her eyes.
Hope flickered in me—but her partner stayed icy.
”Kaede, what’s that supposed to be?”
”He says it’s Psionic Power.”
”Where?”
”There.”
Kaede-san pointed straight at me.
Light flared.
A bullet passed through my chest and struck the rock behind.
”Kiri,” Kaede said softly, “don’t waste ammo.”
”And you don’t waste my time. Happy now?”
”Yes.”
Relief crossed her face—barely perceptible—as she stepped closer.
She looked down at me with the same expression she’d worn after tossing the townsfolk’s bodies into the swamp.
”Come on then!” I shouted, glaring up at her. “Kaede-san or not, I won’t let you get away with this!”
”If you’re going to do it, kill me too! I’ll haunt you for it! Killing a man’s a sin—you’ll drag Ichimatsu’s honor through the mud! Go on, do it—!”
I choked on the words, trembling. I probably wouldn’t even notice the blow that killed me.
Tears blurred my vision. My child-sized body shook with fear—but I had to try, one last time.
”Please… stop… please…”
If I gave up now, I’d never feel joy again—never touch anyone without remembering this scene.
I’d seen too many die already. If another person died in front of me, I’d never recover. I’d lose everything inside me that still worked.
Beautiful young women dying one after another—it felt obscene, wasteful. Even the pregnant one, she could’ve had a life.
No one had the right to take that away. Not Kaede-san, not anyone.
I was sick of the dungeon, sick of the war, sick of this damned world.
Maybe I was selfish, but if they had to die, why not after one more moment of life—of warmth, of touch?
I wasn’t built for watching massacres and pretending they didn’t matter.
”I’ve followed you all along,” I blurted. “It’s my Psionic Power! I can’t be hurt by anyone but you!”
What a pathetic excuse.
Even I knew how ridiculous it sounded—a convenient lie to save myself.
”I was happy once,” Kaede-san said. “That must’ve been an illusion. Begone.”
She didn’t believe me.
Her fist rose—strong enough to shatter me in a single hit.
”Stop! Don’t—It’s me, the real one! Please believe me! No, forget it, I’m leaving. Sorry—older sister, forgive me. I have people who care about me!”
I thought of the Imperial Guards.
If I died, they’d follow. Their grief would be unbearable. I’d tried my best—I really had—but it wasn’t enough.
Maybe if I’d had more time, I could’ve changed something. But not now.
Not here.
And for the people about to die… my apologies meant nothing.
If I’d just stayed in my room, I wouldn’t have had to see any of this.
No… I’d go back. Find comfort. The Guards were waiting. I still had love, warmth, a life to return to.
If I just lay with someone, drowned myself in desire, maybe I could forget. I always did before.
That’s what I told myself.
Then I heard the worst words I could’ve imagined.
”Please,” the pregnant woman sobbed beside me, clutching her belly. “Buddha, I don’t care what happens to me—just save this child.”
Please don’t. Don’t say that.
Why do you have to say the same thing she did… Cult Slut-san…
After that, there was no way I could go back.
I’d heard it. I couldn’t unhear it.
What a fool I was.
Shaking, I threw myself over the woman, shielding her body.
Then I glared up at Kaede-san with everything I had left.
She froze—her face twisting.
Even if she thought I was an illusion, a man’s plea struck somewhere deep inside her, into a place long starved of feeling.
Confronted by a living man’s emotion, she wavered.
”Kaede, enough,” Kiri-san muttered.
”I know,” Kaede whispered. “I’ll end it.”
Her fist rose again.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I was a fool. I hadn’t canceled the Psionic Power.
There was no miracle waiting—only the blunt, final weight of her fist crashing into my back.
Notes:
• Kaede – A female psionic explorer known as Necksplitter, is a veteran assassin and messenger of Lord Ichimatsu. Her appearance is both young and old, with gray hair streaked through black and vibrant, unlined skin. She is graceful yet carries the fatigue of a long life in war, resembling an old hunting dog. Her psionic ability is mysterious and potentially dangerous.
• Psionic Power – Mental energy concept in Chapter 35’s lecture. Trash-san teaches it to strengthen the protagonist’s mind after dungeon ordeals.
• Kiri – A female sniper and member of Kaede-san’s team, white-haired with sleepy eyes, wielding a disguised sniper rifle, known for her quick hands and slow speech, often joking in dire situations.
• Natsume – A female companion and younger sister of Kaede-san, cared for by Kaede-san during their journey through the dangerous valley, at risk of infection from the parasitic creatures.
• Ichimatsu – A high-ranking figure associated with the Imperial Guard, mentioned as having spineless guards around him, with no further details provided.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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