Chapter 194: A Show of Goodwill

Obviously, I wasn’t going to let a mysterious voice tell me what to do, so I still fired and absolutely wrecked the two statues. The one hit by the [Push] bullet shattered into a million pieces. The one hit by my regular bullet only got a big hole in the middle of its face. It all seemed a bit bloody and brainy for a bunch of statues, until I got a System notification.

[Generous Gift]

+220% Damage.

+22% control over projectiles.

+88 Attunement.

+22% of Damage is converted into barrier.

+22% Fire Resistance.

So I got two kills. I wondered if that was better or worse than destroying two priceless artifacts or statues. Probably depended on who you asked.

“What was that?” Kasia asked.

“I’m not sure what they were, but they’re dead now. I got two kills, according to the System.”

“No, I meant that voice.”

I surveyed the hall, but besides the two statues having been damaged by a mysterious, unknown force, nothing had changed. “Maybe one of those statues said it?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have done that,” Bogumir said. “Maybe those statues were part of some puzzle and now you ruined it. Maybe now we can’t complete it and we have to go back home. Then we came all this way for nothing. You know how dungeons are, sometimes they have puzzles and stuff.”

“No, I don’t know how dungeons are, because I’ve never been in one. And is this even a dungeon? And you told me to shoot them! You literally told me to blast them!”

“Well, that was before I thought they were part of a puzzle.”

That son of a bitch!

“By Erotokomos’ silky hair that catches every flicker of light! You did this to us! And now we’re stuck because I don’t remember where the portal is!”

It was eerily silent for a few moments, until Bogumir said, “What?”

“But that probably doesn’t matter,” I said with a nervous chuckle. “We’re probably not stuck. That voice probably came from something else.”

Kasia looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”

“Yeah…”

Vasil popped out of the satchel next to Bogumir. “Hecate, before you give in to your despair, may I suggest trying the door first?”

“You want me to shoot it?”

“You could try opening it first.”

“Yeah,” Bogumir said. “Like a normal person. Maybe they left it unlocked.”

“I am a normal person,” I scoffed. “And what if the door turns out to be part of a puzzle? What then, Bogumir? What if this is the kind of puzzle you solve by shooting it with a [Push] bullet? What if trying to open it with my bare hands means I DIE?! Do you want me to DIE? What would you tell my grieving loved ones at my funeral? ‘I told her to open it because I thought it wasn’t part of a puzzle, so it wasn’t my fault?’ You think that would make my heartbroken mother feel better? You think it would put all the broken pieces of her broken heart, that you broke by murdering me, back together? You think that would bring me back to life?”

“What?”

“Hold your tongue, assassin, you have already said too much.”

I stomped up to the door, still mad that Bogumir tried to kill me. I put my ear against the wood, trying to listen for anything on the other side that might want to kill me. I didn’t hear anything at all, and I also didn’t feel anything strange. Maybe I’d survive opening it with my hands. It would also be a show of goodwill to whoever owned this place. It would show them that I could also exercise restraint when dealing with things. Those statues had it coming, probably, but the door was innocent, so it got to be a door another day.

I gave the door a little cautious push and it slowly opened, creaking so loudly that if there was anything behind it waiting to kill me, they would definitely be alerted. I still chose to sneak in on my tippy toes, just in case the undoubtedly gigantic killer demon thought the creaking was just the wind.

When I entered, however, there was no gigantic killer demon. It was another hall, though much smaller than the one I came from. This one also had those same white marble floors, and the red carpet continued up to the middle of the room, where it stopped in front of a chest.

Chests were always a good sign, unless it was a mimic, which surely they wouldn’t put here. I hoped. It was square and made of a smooth, polished dark wood. As far as chests went, this was a classy one. Could Bies’ soul shard be in there?

Kasia entered behind me and I held out my hand for her to pause. Something was about to happen. Something bad just had to happen. That’s how these things always went.

“I go first,” I whispered.

I considered tossing Vasil into the middle of the room, just to see what would happen, but I decided to keep him as a surprise for whatever was about to try and kill me. I felt a steady flow of magic here, not hostile, but not friendly either. It felt… tentative?

I studied the ceiling—it had similar spirals and stars as the floor of my door room. That was interesting. The only difference was that these ones looked to be made of those blue flames.

Glancing at the chest, I noticed there was a pedestal with a brazier behind it. In the brazier burned those same blue flames. They had a whole theme going here, and I had to admit, the aesthetic was pretty cool, though personally I would not have chosen red carpet with blue flames.

“I’d probably have gone for a navy carpet,” I said. “I mean, I get it, kind of, but I think it would have matched the flames a bit better, while still keeping the royal vibe.”

“Why are you talking about the carpet?” Bogumir asked.

“Aesthetics matter. I get that they were probably going for the whole bloody and royal thing, but I just think it would have looked better. The red looks great on the white marble, I can’t deny that. It’s just the blue flames that throw it off a little, you know? The place could also use a painting or two, or just one really big one in the back. Maybe even a statue.” I chuckled.

“Can you just do your thing so we can get out of here?”

“I would have expected you of all people to appreciate a good totally-not-a-dungeon.”

“I do—when I don’t have the ominous feeling that I’m about to die. You saw those two big statues. This place gives me the creeps. It’s too empty, and that always means something will jump out at you right when you feel safe. I prefer my totally-not-dungeons thick with monsters. At least that way I know I’m about to get attacked, and I also know exactly what is attacking me. This… this is bullshit.”

“I see the old Bogumir is back.” I laughed.

“Damn right he is, and I don’t like it one bit. This place I mean. I do like old Bogumir—me—one bit. More than one bit. A lot of bits.”

“You’re starting to sound a bit like Hecate,” Kasia remarked.

Vasil nodded. “You become like the people you surround yourself with.”

“Oh God,” Bogumir whispered as he let himself fall back into the satchel.

“Could be worse.” I winked, even though he couldn’t see me from inside of the satchel. “You could become like Vasil.”

“Wise? How is that worse?” Vasil asked.

“More like old. You’re like an old person. You even talk like an old person.”

“I am an old person.”

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me. It’s obvious.”

Vasil didn’t respond, so I figured the conversation was over. And since the conversation was over it would be best for me to get on with our mission, which was saving Bies’ soul shard and hopefully getting some loot. Now that big chest in front of me hopefully had both, so I sauntered up to it, ready to claim my newfound riches… or a piece of a maybe-goddess. Either worked, but I had my fingers crossed for both and for it not to be a trap or a mimic.

When I got close, the chest looked and felt like a regular chest. If there was a trap it had to be mechanical, not magical. Maybe those two statue guys were the guardians that were supposed to protect Bies’s soul shard and I’d been worrying for no reason about all of this.

The chest wasn’t locked, which I took as a good sign. I put my hands on it and waited a couple of seconds. No thundering voice told me to halt or anything else, which I took as an even better sign. No giant boulder fell from the ceiling, no rain of arrows appeared from the walls, so I assumed there was no trap. That meant all that was left to do was to flip this bad boy open and take whatever was inside.