The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent Chapter 48

Thinking back, the ga series from Azerna Chronicles 14 onwards was never just about Leo alone.

Sure, Leo was a playable character who couldn’t leave the party or be removed at any point. He was deliberately designed to be a character that players could easily imrse themselves in. But that didn’t an other characters couldn’t be utilized either.

You could set other characters in the party as the lead, changing which one appeared in the field. This allowed you to take advantage of field-specific chanics, like attacking monsters first to steal the initiative or sneaking up from behind to stun them. These were quite important for gaplay.

For most strategies, players often selected a long-range character instead of the sword-wielding protagonist to begin battles by hitting monsters from a distance, like Mia Crowfield, who fired ice arrows as her basic attack.

And among the party mbers, not a single character ever said things like, "I won’t go in there, it’s filthy," or, "I don’t want to enter slly places." Not even when they had to crawl through a ventilation shaft. This included princesses or guest characters like Jennifer.

"......"

"......"

"......"

So, my assumption that they would give up because of the overwhelming stench was extrely foolish.

About ten minutes after entering the sewers, I was already regretting it.

The two people following behind , possessing superhuman physical abilities, were likely unfazed by the sll. But for soone like , who barely qualified as “superhuman,” this was torture. Even that "barely" was just my guess—I couldn’t be sure how accurate it was.

I seriously considered rewinding ti during those ten minutes, but... I decided against it in the end.

It felt like this:

Like starting a ga on the hardest difficulty, only to hit a wall during a boss fight due to poor strategies, experiencing a few party wipes, and then seeing the ssage "Would you like to reset to a lower difficulty?" on the screen. The developers likely put that ssage there hoping players wouldn’t give up, but seeing it stung my pride. Even though no one was watching, and I wasn’t streaming the ga, I still felt embarrassed at the thought of pressing that button.

Even though I’d eventually need to complete multiple playthroughs to write a proper guide, and I could still earn those difficulty-related dals later.

In the end, with the sa feeling as selecting “No” and trying again, I didn’t rewind ti this ti either.

The fortunate thing was that the two people behind didn’t seem to have the energy to speak to . If they opened their mouths, that nasty stench would probably flood in. You can’t really sll through your mouth, but you know that gross, uncomfortable feeling that cos with it.

“This way,” I said, careful to avoid any long pauses. Though they didn’t respond, I could still hear their footsteps continuing behind .

At this point, it would be tricky to leave on my own, even if I wanted to. The path we’d taken to get here was complicated enough. While it wasn’t exactly a maze, it was confusing for a first-tir.

Yes, “for a first-tir.”

But I wasn’t a first-tir.

There were parts of the map that differed from my mory. The low-resolution textures in the ga hadn’t given off such a disgusting feeling. And while it was supposed to be dark, it wasn’t so dark that you couldn’t see anything, like in a horror ga.

Actually, if anything, the brightness was more like having a fluorescent light turned on. Since it wasn’t a horror ga, adding such a frustrating gimmick wouldn’t have gone over well.

In the ga, the minimap would light up block by block as you entered each area, showing you the way forward, and it was clear enough that players rarely got lost. It was only when you forgot a gimmick and had to backtrack that it beca annoying.

In contrast, the sewers we were walking through now were very different from the ga, especially in terms of atmosphere.

It wasn’t so dark that you couldn’t see ahead. Judging by the occasional signs of maintenance, people clearly ca through here. There were faintly glowing magic lamps scattered around.

However, the spaces between the lamps were pitch dark. The water that flowed through the sewers was... revolting. I could occasionally see what looked like cockroaches scurrying along the floor.

Still, the layout itself was exactly as I rembered it.

I didn’t know what was beyond so of the iron gates that blocked certain paths. But that didn’t matter, because in the ga, those areas weren’t accessible either.

This was a dungeon I had cleared many tis while writing guides.

Of course, that didn’t an I rembered it all like a navigation system—it had been ten years, after all.

But I did rember the really important parts. I had written them down in my notebook right after coming to this world.

"Do you know where you’re going?" Alice asked in a slightly uneasy voice.

"Yes, of course," I answered confidently.

At least I knew where we were. If we went deeper, there would be real monsters. But they wouldn’t be a problem for now. It was still too early in the ga for that. The monsters would only beco an issue later.

And besides...

Even if they did show up, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

In the ga, monsters were considered strong because of their "levels." But in reality, that didn’t apply. Azerna Chronicles wasn’t an open-world ga where you freely road vast fields, adventuring. The monsters were tied to specific regions that opened up based on your progress. Their levels weren’t ant to block players from entering too early—they were there to match the strength of the protagonist by that point in the story.

And since this wasn’t a turn-based ga where I had to stand still and take hits from swords and bullets, the crossbow bolts I fired would kill the creatures here.

“This is the place.”

We turned sharply and entered a small room.

Why there was a room like this in a sewer, I didn’t know. In the ga, this sewer functioned as a dungeon for adventuring, so its presence made sense. But in real life, there was no reason for such a space to exist.

...Well, maybe it was so sort of storage area. The sewer was long and wide, so perhaps they’d built resting spots along the way.

The room wasn’t locked, and inside were a few scattered pieces of garbage and a single closed chest.

The chest looked almost identical to the ones that appeared in the ga containing items.

In the middle of the dark, empty room, the chest stood eerily alone.

“...A chest?” Alice muttered behind , but I didn’t answer. I approached the chest.

A thick layer of dust had settled on it. You could probably draw pictures in the dust with your finger.

I pulled a pair of black leather gloves from my pocket and slipped them on.

Then, slowly, I crouched and opened the chest.

It opened easily, without any resistance. There was no special lock on it.

That much was the sa as in the ga.

“...”

I confird that my mory had been correct, but seeing it in person left feeling strange.

How long had this chest been here? Who had placed it, and why had it remained even as the rest of the room beca so desolate?

I reached into the chest and pulled out the item inside.

“Huh?”

“What’s that...?”

It was a Marmaros.

The item in my hand was a Marmaros.

It wasn’t particularly expensive or rare compared to the ones that appeared later in the ga.

But in reality, this Marmaros was an extraordinary item. In the later stages of the ga, all sorts of chaotic events occurred in the Empire, offering many chances to acquire rare Marmaroses, and perhaps the sa would happen in this world. But for now, this was an item you couldn’t easily purchase, even with money.

The perfectly spherical, blue Marmaros was so cold that I could feel the chill even through my gloves. If I had touched it with bare hands, it wouldn’t have injured , but it would have been like holding a can of soda fresh from the refrigerator—cold enough to make my hands ache.

This Marmaros was far stronger than the fire-type one I had received from Jennifer. In the ga, Mia Crowfield equipped it on her staff to enhance her ice-based attacks during the mid-ga.

In the ga, it slightly boosted ice magic damage, but in reality, it would be much more dangerous.

“Why is sothing like that here?” Charlotte asked, stepping closer. In the ga’s lore, Marmaroses could be embedded into magical weapons. If I had secretly taken this one and forged a weapon with it, I could have carried it around without anyone knowing.

...If soone else had found this instead of , it could have been dangerous. Is it more dangerous than a gun? Hard to say, but it’s definitely valuable.

Charlotte wasn’t just asking why this item was here. She was questioning how I knew it was here.

I glanced at both Charlotte and Alice. Their faces were lit by the light from the magic lamps, and both were full of suspicion.

Until now, I could have explained everything as “luck” or “skill.” But coming here, to this specific spot, was a different matter entirely.

I could only have known this was here from the start.

And this room was covered in dust, suggesting it had been abandoned for a long ti. There was no way soone could have set this up for recently.

So it wasn’t surprising that Charlotte asked.

“How did you know this was here?”

That was the essence of her question.

“I’ll explain later,” I said, placing the Marmaros in my coat pocket.

In doing so, I was essentially losing the main reason to keep wearing the coat, but... well, I couldn’t just carry it in my hand either.

As I turned toward the door,

Thud.

Soone blocked my way.

Without even looking, I knew it was Alice.

“Tell ,” she said, her eyes filled with determination as she stared at .

“How did you know that item was here? I won’t move until you explain.”

“......”

Hmm.

How should I handle this?