"One hundred years…"
Muttered Agetha, wearing a rather pessimistic expression.
Even as she surveyed her surroundings, darkness stretched endlessly, and there was nothing in sight.
To spend a hundred years in this space.
The hellish boredom would erode one's spirit.
Agetha was well aware of that.
After all, this was her second time being sealed.
"With such an attitude, the future seems rather daunting."
Suddenly, she turned to the source of the voice and found a person standing there.
This individual looked almost identical to herself, like a living copy.
However, upon closer observation, the differences in details became apparent. It was in the gaze, facial expressions, and, notably, the fact that this person had a red ribbon tied around her head.
"Black Agetha…"
Certainly, Kiska had referred to the presence in front of her as such.
"Well, it all comes down to reaping what you sow."
Black Agetha said with a grin that sent shivers down the spine.
In an instant, there was a snapping sound in her mind.
Recalling the past, Black Agetha had used something like a "reset" after defeating the dungeon boss with Kiska—sending them back a hundred years and sealing them once again.
Therefore, everything about the person in front of her was just wrong.
"Don't screw around!! It's all your fault!"
Before she realized it, she was shouting.
Her tone was completely different from the usual Agetha.
Agetha wanted to ask, what did Black Agetha mean by everything being her own fault and self-inflicted, as if it was all her own doing.
"Hey, don't play dumb."
Even though clear malice was directed at her, Black Agetha smiled without hesitation.
"Isn't shifting the blame a bit much? After all, I'm nothing more than your puppet."
Hearing Black Agetha's words, Agetha remembered. She had forgotten for a long time. She had forgotten about Black Agetha's true identity. No, it would be more accurate to say that she pretended to forget.
"Come to think of it, I explained the split personality with Kiska, right? That was just another one of your lies. How many lies do you need to satisfy yourself?"
"Well, you know, I didn't want Kiska to dislike me."
"Heh, well, that's fine. Anyway, it seems you've remembered my true identity—"
Calling it a true identity was an exaggeration; Black Agetha was nothing more than an imaginary friend Agetha had created. To alleviate the boredom that had arisen from being sealed for a long time, she had created a talking companion. That was Black Agetha. Therefore, Black Agetha was nothing more than Agetha's puppet, moving only as Agetha commanded.
"You, in your heated state, killed Kiska multiple times. But, when you calmed down for a moment, you thought it over. If you did something like this, Kiska would dislike you. So, you came up with a clever plan: claim it was a split personality, blaming the other you for the mischief."
"But, Kiska never blamed me once."
"Yeah, thanks to that, even though you prepared an excuse, you never had the chance to use it."
Indeed, in the end, Kiska never blamed Agetha. Despite everything she had done.
"But erasing the fact of being saved with a 'reset' was a bit too much. Well, this aftermath doesn't quite fit the crime."
"True…"
After all, why did she use 'reset' at that time? Agetha wondered. If she recalled correctly, she had no face to show Kiska, so she pretended to lose her memory, tried to get along with Kiska, and became anxious. Was Kiska's favor not directed towards her? Did Kiska not care about her and liked someone else? Driven to despair, Agetha attempted suicide. Not satisfied with just suicide, she even contemplated destroying the world. Despite that, the world was supposed to be enveloped in darkness. So why did Kiska end up coming a hundred years back in time? There was mention of an observer, but Agetha didn't know of such an existence. Perhaps it was a god-like being, but she couldn't find an answer. In any case, Agetha had survived. In the end, Agetha's grandiose suicide had failed.
"I've only been saved by Kiska, huh?"
While rubbing the ring on her left hand, she said so. She had failed in her suicide attempt because Kiska had worked hard for her.
"I want to meet Kiska soon."
Saying that, Agetha earnestly accumulated her thoughts.
◆
"Hey, since we got sealed, how much time has passed?"
It felt like an immeasurable amount of time had passed in the world of darkness.
"Unfortunately, I don't have an internal clock, so I have no idea whatsoever."
The one who answered was Black Agetha.
"Has it been around two years?"
"No, I don't think it's been half a year yet."
"Ah, it feels so long."
Saying that, Agetha felt exhausted. As long as Black Agetha was still there to talk to, she could keep her sanity, but without her, she would have likely gone mad long ago. However, compared to the last time she was sealed, she felt somewhat relieved.
◆
"I'm bored…"
Muttering these words quietly, Agetha sighed. She had lost track of how much time had passed.
"Aren't you going to explore the dungeon today?"
Looking around, she saw Black Agetha. Even though Agetha felt completely drained, Black Agetha had a calm smile on her face, which somehow irritated her.
"Even if I explore the dungeon, there's nothing there."
Agetha muttered with a disgruntled expression. Due to the prolonged impact of being sealed for so long, Agetha gained the ability to create a duplicate inside the dungeon, essentially a shadow of herself outside the seal. The duplicate could move just like her, providing a decent distraction.
However, using the duplicate came with many constraints. For instance, it couldn't go far from Agetha's actual location, restricting it from leaving the dungeon or moving freely within it. Maintaining the duplicate also consumed a significant amount of energy, making it impossible to sustain for extended periods.
"How about granting skills to adventurers who venture deep into the dungeon like before?"
As Black Agetha suggested, Agetha had been passing on the skill "Save & Reset" to those who reached the depths of the Katarov Dungeon. Acquiring this skill was another side effect of being sealed for an extended period.
The purpose of transferring this skill was to hope that adventurers utilizing it could cleverly survive and eventually rescue her, as she was unable to move due to being sealed.
"There's no point. I know everyone except Kiska will die."
In the previous sealing, Agetha had transferred the "Save & Reset" skill to countless individuals. However, unable to endure the repeated deaths, they all eventually accepted their fate. The "Save & Reset" skill doesn't activate forcibly; if the person gives up, the time loop doesn't occur.
So, after a few loops, everyone she had transferred the skill to had died.
"But it might be a good distraction."
Agetha nodded at Black Agetha's words. In the current situation of being sealed, entertainment was limited. Watching how those who received the "Save & Reset" skill struggled could serve as a diversion, similar to watching a sports match.
◆
Agetha contemplated how much time had passed since she was sealed. She wanted to believe it had been five years, but realistically, it might be less, and she couldn't expect too much.
"Boring…"
As a distraction, Agetha decided to use her duplicate to wander through the dungeon, intending to encounter people and offer them the "Save & Reset" skill. However, encounters with others were exceedingly rare.
Even when she finally found someone and observed their way of life after giving them the skill, it wasn't particularly enjoyable. Perhaps because they knew they were going to die anyway. When she had done the same thing before, the observations were filled with different emotions.
Back then, it was a rare event for people to reach the depths of the dungeon, and each encounter heightened Agetha's excitement. Every time someone arrived, she would give them the "Save & Reset" skill with hopeful anticipation, praying for their survival. Yet, they often died halfway, and each time, Agetha despaired.
However, this time her heart remained untroubled. It was evident that Kiska would come to her rescue. Nevertheless, the situation remained gloomy.
Occasionally, Judite, the vampire, and the duplicate would encounter each other, leading to deadly confrontations. Whether it served as a distraction was questionable.
At one point, Judite came to the sealed location and attempted to break the seal, seemingly with the intention of killing Agetha after disrupting it. However, the seal proved extremely resistant, and Judite quickly gave up.
Agetha couldn't help but wonder why Kiska could easily break her seal, a question that had long crossed her mind. Additionally, she confirmed through experimentation that even physical attacks by the duplicate wouldn't affect the seal. Nonetheless, she decided to investigate further to alleviate her boredom. After all, time was something she had in abundance.
◆
Since being sealed, an unimaginable amount of time had passed.
"So, did you figure something out?"
Upon looking, Black Agetha was standing there. Black Agetha always appeared when Agetha was feeling lonely.
"The strength of the barrier becomes more fragile as time passes."
"Meaning that around a hundred years, anyone could break the barrier?"
While listening to Black Agetha's words with one ear, Agetha pondered. Was the barrier becoming fragile accidental, or was it intentional? If intentional, for what purpose?
"It's possible that even if Kiska didn't come, the barrier would eventually collapse, and we could have gotten out."
"True," Agetha nodded. Even if the barrier had a mechanism to break over time, without knowing how many years it would take, Kiska's rescue was still a blessing.
"By the way, can't you break it using your duplicate?"
"I can't. Whenever I try to exert my power, for some reason, it gets repelled."
"I see."
Honestly, Agetha had no idea how this barrier worked. It was created by the Tyrant King, but who was he really? He seemed to deviate too much from the logic of this world.
"Perhaps, the Tyrant's King goal wasn't to seal me after all."
"What do you mean?"
Agetha had assumed that the Tyrant King had sealed her to neutralize her, as he couldn't kill her.
"It's just a guess, but maybe the Tyrant King sealed me to keep me alive until the world a hundred years later."
Normally, after a hundred years, a person would die. However, during the seal, one wouldn't age.
"For what purpose would he do something like that?"
"I have no idea."
In the end, no matter how much she speculated, there was no way to know the answer.
◆
"Hey, I wonder how much time has passed…"
Agetha muttered quietly.
"Who knows? Maybe you'd figure it out by stripping the adventurers who come through."
Black Agetha seemed indifferent.
Certainly, Agetha thought, but she couldn't muster the energy to do that alone.
Nevertheless, she was curious about how much time had passed.
"I guess I could try. Just wait for an adventurer to come."
As an S-class dungeon, adventurers rarely attempted to conquer this dungeon . Still, occasionally people arrived because the Katarov Village banished criminals to the depths of the dungeon.
Thinking of Kiska, Agetha felt a growing desire to see him. While waiting for someone to enter the dungeon, she recalled Kiska's words about being one of those banished.
Days passed, and finally, a man arrived only to be devoured by monsters. Agetha observed the scene and then used her doppelganger to search for the man's belongings.
"Is there anything that indicates the date?"
"Oh, there's a diary."
The cover was sun-faded, and the writing was blurry.
Diaries usually had dates written in them. If she could find that, she could determine how many years had passed.
It felt like a considerable amount of time had passed since she was sealed.
Anticipating it to be over ten years, she opened the pages, checking the dates to calculate the years.
"Huh…? Only one year has passed…"
More precisely, a year and a half.
Her expectations were significantly off.
"Oh…"
Unintentionally, tears spilled.
The realization that not as much time had passed as she thought was a profound shock, causing something within Agetha to break.