"S- Sir Crow?! You're going out?!" (Isaac)
Isaac, the former cavern guard whose new job is guarding the entrance of the Royal Capital, looked surprised to see me. 

"Y- yeah..." (Scarecrow)

On the way here I kept getting concerned and warm gazes from all the passersby.

It's probably because today's my first time going back out of the city as "Sir Crow" since the day I arrived here.
I probably looked like a hopeless shut-in that's leaving his room for the first time in years.

"Alright... be careful Sir Crow. Will you need an escort?" (Isaac)

"N- no, I'll uuuh, I'll be fine..." (Scarecrow)
I'm trying my best to alter my voice so Isaac doesn't recognize who I am... But the magic speech skill just produces the same voice as usual.  

I'm regretting the fake name I gave myself as well now, it was probably a bit too on the nose.

"Anyway! I'll be off now!" (Scarecrow)

"Alright, be safe." (Isaac)
I could somehow tell he still looked concerned under his helmet but thankfully Isaac seems none the wiser to my actual identity.

◇◆◇

 

I hope Furby and Alcazar will be alright protecting the shop on their own.

Whilst worrying about my home security, I swiftly arrived at the entrance to the cavern after rushing through the forest with my afterburner ability. 

How nostalgic. I recall a wolf pissed against my leg here years ago.
...Why was that the first thing that came to mind?

"Halt! Who-" (Cavern guard)

"S- Sir Crow! You came to help after all?!" (Cavern guard)
This guy is apparently elated to see me.

"The troops will be overjoyed that you decided to join the expedition!" (Cavern guard)

"Ah-... yeah. Sure." (Scarecrow)
I never know how to respond to these courteous soldiers looking up to me.
Is this feeling of disgust I'm feeling right now what it's like when you steal valour?

The guard bowed and let me through without a fuss. 

He looked like he wanted to ask me something, but I can't be bothered to wait.
The unearned respect I'm being treated with is making me want to run away as fast as possible from every conversation.

◇◆◇

 

As I descended through each layer of the cavern, I confirmed with my own eyes what had I had already learned about from my information gathering in the city these past few years.
This place is completely abandoned.

This confirms without a doubt why the delver's guild went out of business soon after we arrived to the city...
Without any demons to slay, they ran out of money pretty quickly.

The disappearance of all the demons surely has something to do with my take-over of the entire cavern though!
Maybe there was some sort of dungeon management system that I was supposed to discover?
Being a dungeon master managing demons sounds kind of cool.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if that wolf that I gave a title to is doing ok...

My curiosity about what happened to all the demons and the final depth aside, I'm also here in part to find Julia.
She completely disappeared without a trace together with Lucas for all these years.

Despite our potion shop being a hotbed for the rumour mill in the capital, we haven't heard anything that remotely sounds like them or their whereabouts.
Occasionally questions of where Lucas has disappeared to would pop up around the city, but the only result of those were always more questions instead of answers.

My pet theory is that they're hiding deep inside the cavern.
After all, I recall Furby mentioning them running in the direction of the cavern years ago, I'm presuming that was them running from the battle to hide in the cavern.

◇◆◇

 

Without any demons to slow me down, I easily made my way back down to the deepest part of the cavern.

I arrived at the large hole in the wall with the staircase going down in it.

(Huh. Not so hidden anymore I guess.)

"S- Sir Crow!" (Royal army knight)
A handful of knights that had set up a temporary camp around the huge entrance inside the wall bowed politely.

Alcazar and Furby were incapable of seeing this hole in the wall when we first discovered it.
Yet now there's a small camp surrounding it.
I wonder if this is also something that changed because I took over the cavern?

"The captain had mentioned you wouldn't be able to make it?" (Royal army knight)
Come to think of it, I do recall refusing a bunch of invitations months ago for some sort of expedition.

"Uuuh, I was able to take some time off." (Scarecrow)
I scratch the back of my helmet, feeling embarrassed by everyone's polite gestures again.

"...I see! That's great!" (Royal army knight)

"Rejoice, everyone! The legendary Sir Crow, the lone survivor of the day of terror, will be joining our expedition after all!" (Royal army knight)

(...)

Loud cheering erupted from the house sitting knights.

"T- thanks... I'll be going in then..." (Scarecrow)

"Hold on." (Royal army knight)
The knight standing guard next to the entrance held my shoulder as I was about to enter.

"..." (Royal army knight)
I would say he's menacingly looking at me, but we're all fully clad in armour. None of us can see each other's face.

"Would you mind signing your name on my breastplate?" (Royal army knight)

"Me too!" (Another royal army knight)

All the knights suddenly began to clamour for my attention.

◇◆◇

 

After I finished listening to all the knights professing that they'll keep their signed armour as an heirloom, I finally managed to escape into the entrance.

This whole mess just now reminded me of the time when Alcazar proposed we should start selling my autographs as a bonus service in the shop.

Obviously, I declined. He grossly underestimates how much shame I already feel just being given all this recognition.

This whole thing has ballooned way out of control from the moment I lied to the Queen.

I put my foot on the first step of the staircase that had filled me with an intense dread years ago.
The last time I was here, I spotted some sort of creature at the end of this tunnel.
Just the sight of it increased the level of my presence detection and had me instinctively flee in fear...

It feels just like an ordinary stone staircase.

I continued down without any particular issues this time.

Eventually, I reached a dim light that could be seen at the bottom of the staircase.

"This must be it..." (Scarecrow)
I opened the dingy door at the bottom of the staircase that had become rather narrow.

Behind the door, I was met with the unexpected sight of an enormous underground cityscape in the distance.
It's built into the walls of the cavern.

Dwarves.
This one hundred per cent has to be where dwarves live.

Perhaps today, I'll finally get to meet a proper other world fantasy-like race.