Dark Fantasy: Super Coward Mode

“As an apostle of the Watcher, I must ask you. Are you Leydan Tanton?”
  
I couldn’t help but feel flustered at the sudden mention of my name by the old man.
  
We had crossed paths briefly, but I had never spoken to him before.
  
How does he know my name?
  
“…How do you know my name?”
  
“The Watcher knows everything. Thus, as one who has faith in the Watcher, I too, am aware of all things, given the teachings I follow.”
  
I asked him to explain how he knew, yet here he was, promoting his cult even during this chaos?
  
It didn’t make sense no matter how I thought about it, so I glanced at the Branch Manager, who sighed and said,
  
“From the moment you arrived, he was calling your name repeatedly.”
  
I had no clue how that had happened.
  
No matter how I thought about it, there shouldn’t have been a chance for my name to leak out to the common folk…
  
Well, maybe there was.
  
When I accidentally blew the party whistle, summoning Bell to the Hearth, and I ended up stopping it, becoming the hero of Rondan.
  
At that moment, it would make sense for at least my name to circulate.
  
So that’s how you succeed in a cult; you gotta get good at gaslighting.
  
I realized how these cults thrive by bewildering vulnerable individuals through such tactics.
  
I almost fell for it.
  
The Watcher, my foot.
  
“So, the omnipotent Watcher doesn’t provide ways to escape from a Knight?”
  
“To meet you, it was inevitable that I would come to this place! This all means it was fate!”
  
Fate, my rear— he’s just whining to meet me.
  
The more I listened, the more absurd his ramblings became.
  
“Regardless, time is of the essence. You must quickly head down the ‘Underground Stairs’ at the entrance of Rondan and eliminate the cultists!”
  
Underground stairs?
  
Cultists?
  
As far as I knew, there were only two sets of stairs leading underground in Rondan— those behind the Sintol Blacksmith and those leading to the underground prison.
  
And now he mentions cultists?
  
I looked at the Branch Manager, but he shook his head with a puzzled expression as if he was hearing this for the first time too.
  
Well then, that concludes it.
  
“These are all new to me. You could think of this as just the ravings of a cult. Can’t we just ignore it?”
  
“I called just in case… Sorry for taking your time.”
  
“No, it’s wise to take precautions, as life is ’better safe than sorry.’ Your judgment is commendable, Branch Manager.”
  
Upon hearing my superficial praise, the Branch Manager looked at me with a slightly impressed demeanor.
  
Anyway, I don’t understand why people still held onto their emotions in such a harsh place.
  
I saluted the Branch Manager and tried to leave.
  
“W-Wait a moment, Sir Tanton!”
  
Man, he’s really persistent.
  
He looked like he was shaking out of a severe case of cultish obsession.
  
“Listen to me! Time is of the essence! If those cultists start rampaging, it’s going to be uncontrollable…!”
  
With a trembling voice, the old man incessantly repeated “No, no!” while shaking in fright.
  
What kind of dream did he have to make him think this way?
  
I wanted to ignore him and just leave, but he wasn’t making even a little noise; I was convinced leaving it alone would cause the Branch to become noisy all day.
  
“Enough already. There are no stairs leading underground near the entrance to Rondan.”
  
“B-but the Watcher…!”
  
“Then prove it.”
  
No matter how much the Branch Manager tried to calm him down, he showed no signs of calming.
  
If I couldn’t convince him, then it’s up to him to prove it.
  
With that in mind, I proposed,
  
“Sir Tanton? What’s that supposed to mean…”
  
“If anything you said happens, I’ll believe you and go alone. What do you think?”
  
After all, this old man claimed to have received prophecies from the so-called Watcher.
  
If I said I’d listen only when his words came true, he’d usually back down.
  
Even if he said something would happen, if it didn’t, it would just end up being labeled a lie.
  
Either way, I had the advantage since I made the offer first.
  
“A-Ah, understood! I’ll ask the Watcher right now.”
  
The old man said that and abruptly closed his eyes, raised his hands in a prayer position, and began to pray.
  
If this were an ordinary modern era, I would have felt a sense of solemnity in each of his actions.
  
But given I thought his words were likely lies, it all seemed trivial.
  
If this old man held such an important role, he wouldn’t be absent from the community’s discussions.
  
“…Soon, a major event will occur near the Rondan castle wall. But, compared to the danger, there will not be a single death.”
  
“How long will it take?”
  
“…It will occur…tomorrow.”
  
He finally quieted down and returned to his sleeping bag after saying that with a rather full of confidence expression.
  
Of course, from his perspective, he was sure we would heed his words.
  
“…What a world filled with odd people.”
  
“Isn’t it because living isn’t easy? 
  
People tend to cling to extreme things when they have nowhere to lean on.
  
We shouldn’t see it as unpleasant but rather as something to be pitied. 
  
The day was turning slightly dim, so I decided to postpone going to the library until tomorrow and went to sleep.
  
And the next day.
  
An explosion occurred at the Rondan castle wall.
  
“Did you see that? Can you believe it now? The Watcher’s words are always absolute!”
  
…Because the heat from the Hearth didn’t reach well, someone suddenly splashed hot water on the cold stone wall, causing it to swell dramatically and some of it to shatter.
  
Of course, it was only ‘some’ that broke, so a catastrophe didn’t hit the whole wall, but it caused a disaster engulfing the entire village.
  
But was it good luck?
  
Thanks to the debris that erupted from the wall landing on the street and missing all the buildings, there might have been injuries, but no casualties were reported.
  
The repair work on the wall was also completed swiftly, so no one died from the cold.
  
It all played out exactly as the old man had said.
  
“How could this happen…”
  
Was this beyond the Branch Manager’s imagination? He was stunned from morning, unable to close his mouth.
  
It was too coincidental for it to just be label as a coincidence.
  
…Honestly, I was the most surprised as the person who made the suggestion.
  
How could I have known the offer I made in jest would actually come true?
  
While we were struggling, the old man giddily clung to the iron bars.
  
“How about it, Sir Tanton? Are you feeling more inclined to listen to me now?”
  
“…I’m sticking to my promise.”
  
“You truly made a wise decision! Ah, oh Watcher! Have I faithfully carried out what you wished today?….”
  
…If he is actually talking to this so-called ‘Watcher,’
  
in a dark fantasy cult, they would be lighting a fire and reciting incomprehensible prayers, or placing strange objects they call offerings in front of them.
  
If someone could hear the voice of God, they would certainly be in a high position.
  
I felt a bit irritated seeing him getting tearful over something he found so great.
  
But it would seem strange to pull out now.
  
I might as well just prove that there was nothing there.
  
I must hurry, go alone, and wrap this up.
  
…That was my thought at one point.
  
“You plan to go into such a dangerous place alone? That’s ridiculous!”
  
“Sure, you called me your disciple, and before that, your subordinate. You’re in charge of me, so why are you trying to act on your own without even asking?”
  
While I was busy making my own plans, the Branch Manager carelessly informed the Knights’ headquarters of this, and Muyun and the White Mask ended up following along.
  
There was no need for this to escalate.
  
Seeing me with an exasperated expression, the White Mask let out a scoff.
  
“If you’re that unhappy, you could’ve just accepted the Deputy Director’s proposal to be a Seer. Then no position, except for the princess, could have interfered with you.”
  
Please don’t keep using that to undermine me.
  
I’m already on edge.
  
…Well, whatever.
  
Even if such an incident wouldn’t happen, if those stairs did exist and had some strange cultists beneath them, having the White Mask and Muyun along would definitely be better.
  
I wouldn’t be able to handle them alone with my pure strength, and using the Party Whistle might spark even more chaos in Rondan.
  
Ugh, whatever.
  
I need to check the exit nearby and then go back and sleep.
  
After arriving at the entrance to Rondan, the guards approached, mistaking us for trying to leave, but I waved my hand dismissively to signal we weren’t leaving.
  
“We came to investigate something around here.”
  
At the White Mask’s words, the guards nodded in understanding and returned to their posts.
  
Sigh.
  
Honestly, what on earth are we doing?
  
It felt utterly humiliating to be in this situation!
  
“I’ll check over here.”
  
“I’ll check by the gate.”
  
The White Mask and Muyun began to search one area together, leaving the remaining area for me to handle.
  
But looking at the terrain, it was flat enough that if I were to dig here, I’d practically be signaling ‘Find me!’
  
“Why did I even make such a suggestion… sigh.”
  
I thought it was the best answer at the moment, but it had taken a turn for the worse.
  
With a heavy heart, I lowered my posture and began to examine the ground.
  
Oh.
  
But shortly after, I spotted a massive rock awkwardly placed in an unnatural position.
  
If it were along the wall, I could think it was misplaced, but it was sitting a good distance away.
  
At a glance, it might not seem suspicious, but if you looked at it like I did, it looked really odd.
  
“No way. Come on.”
  
I chuckled to myself, pushed the rock with my hand, and—
  
Kugugugung!
  
….
  
“Disciple, what did you… Oh my!”
  
The White Mask gasped at the scene that unfolded before us.
  
“This was quite an intelligent move. I can’t believe you didn’t even think to remove it.”
  
“Wow… this looks pretty old, doesn’t it? If it’s been here that long, it might not have been seen as suspicious from the beginning. Wouldn’t that be a valid reason?”
  
“As I’ve felt before, your ability to shift perspectives is impressive.”
  
The reason they were saying this…
  
…was because there was indeed a set of stairs leading underground beneath that rock.
  
Why is this real?