Still, until then, Ibaekho didn’t look particularly worried.

“Wow, this bastard again. Really thinks we’re suckers.”

He laughed incredulously at the limp Briat, then kicked him hard.

“Look, one good hit like this and he’ll get right up—”

Thud!

“...Huh? Why the hell isn’t he getting up?”

Briat didn’t move at all despite the kick. It didn’t take long for Ibaekho’s expression to harden.

“What the hell?” Ibaekho bent down hurriedly with a fake shocked face to check Briat’s condition. Or rather, he slapped his cheek repeatedly.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Get up! Stop messing around and get up! Hey! Get up!”

“Stop it. He’s already dead.”

“No, that’s weird! I gave him potions, so why is he suddenly dead? Hey! Old man! Didn’t you screw up? Did you kill him trying to open the subspace?”

Suddenly assigned responsibility, the destroyer elder slowly approached and pricked Briat’s neck with a needle. Then...

“...Poison.”

“Poison? Oh! Could it be from the poison powder earlier?”

“That poison is nothing compared to this deadly venom. Though the outside looks fine, all his organs have melted.”

“So he’s really dead, then?”

“Yes. No doubt about this one—”

Just as the destroyer elder was about to confirm this, Ibaekho acted first.

Crack! Without warning, he kicked Briat’s head and sent him flying like a soccer ball.

Thunk, tumble. Silence fell briefly. Then Ibaekho muttered shortly,

“Ugh, why does nothing work out?”

Stretching as if nothing happened, Ibaekho trudged back toward us.

“Old man! Tell me, why did this bastard suddenly die?”

“As I said before, the venom—”

“That’s why it’s weird. We all got hit by the poison powder, so why did this bastard die from poison?”

“I don’t know everything in this world.”

The destroyer elder frowned as if telling Ibaekho to stop pestering him, and Ibaekho sighed.

“...Hmm, maybe he took poison in advance?”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that. People on secret missions always hide poison in their mouths...”

“When everyone was distracted by the subspace, he must have chewed the poison. That would explain it.”

It made sense but still felt suspicious. Bringing it up here would only make things stranger.

“Hah...”

Ibaekho also seemed to have some other thoughts but didn’t say more.

Probably awkward to openly suspect again after the interrogation with even ‘Misplaced Trust’.

“Enough. Let’s get back to testing the center. Let me know immediately if anything suspicious comes up.”

“...Understood.”

“If you get caught picking pockets back here, I swear I’ll lose it too. Be careful.”

Ibaekho didn’t forget to warn the others.

If I were them, I’d feel pissed off, but they just shook their heads as if used to Ibaekho.

“Okay, that’s almost done.”

After that, while we sorted the dropped items, most classifications were nearly finished—equipment, consumables, currency.

As humans, it was hard not to glance over, but this time everyone focused on the suspicious items.

“Let’s appraise these one by one. Wolf masks, wolf medals, those are done... What about this? What do you think this image is?”

“Hmm... looks like artwork to me...”

“No writing invisible to mana reagents or anything like that.”

“Okay, next. What’s this?”

“Isn’t this... women’s underwear...?”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought that...”

“Ugh! What the hell is this?”

Using collective intelligence, we appraised the suspicious items one by one but got no useful results—until a piece of parchment appeared.

“Why is this classified here?”

“Isn’t it just a magic scroll?”

Even laypeople who don’t know magic can use spells if they just tear the scroll.

But why was this among the suspicious items?

“Who put this here?”

“I did...”

GM quietly raised a hand to answer Ibaekho’s question.

“Why did you put it there?”

The destroyer elder glanced at the scroll, stepped forward, and answered for GM.

“Because it’s not an ordinary magic scroll.”

“...?”

“This scroll contains ancient magic.”

“What kind of ancient magic?”

“Seems related to spatial movement, but I couldn’t identify more. Do you know?”

The destroyer elder nodded at GM’s question.

“Of course. It might even be our lifeline.”

“A lifeline...? What do you mean? Tell me quickly.”

Ibaekho’s interest was piqued, so the destroyer elder named the scroll.

“Return Scroll.”

“...?”

“That’s the name of this item.”

A new item to me.***

Return Scroll. I’d never seen or heard of it playing Dungeon & Stone.

But the intuitive name made me immediately understand the ‘lifeline’ comment.

“...So using this, can we return to the city?”

“No one knows. The scroll only has the effect of ‘returning’ to a designated location.”

“That’s really amazing if true. No fixed coordinate magic circle, no mana converter, just one scroll enabling spatial movement.”

“So it must be ancient magic. It’s said ancient times had even more incredible magics.”

Though not an immediate return scroll, the party’s eyes were filled with hope.

Because things couldn’t get worse than this.

“If we use this scroll, at least we can escape the ruin?”

“Yes. But we must consider the worst case. If the place it returns to is the ‘Ashen World,’ it’d be a disaster.”

“We have to decide carefully.”

As usual, the destroyer elder only shared information, leaving the decision to us.

So all eyes turned to me and Ibaekho.

They seemed worried we’d disagree again and cause trouble.

But...

“I’m for trying it first. Baron, what about you?”

“I agree.”

This time our opinions matched without dispute.

We didn’t think the Return Scroll guaranteed safety, but if any crisis arose, we could try breaking through with it.

We were sick of being trapped here for days.

“But we should prepare fully before tearing the scroll.”

“I agree too.”

“...”

“Haha, that means we agree.”

After the consensus, we inspected remaining unappraised items.

Nothing special like the Return Scroll appeared.

So...

“There are eight Return Scrolls total...”

“With six people, even if everyone uses one, two remain.”

Since there were six members, Ibaekho and I took the remaining two.

We distributed the equipment and consumables from Briat properly.

Afterwards, we took ample personal maintenance time to be in top condition.

“Everyone ready? Then let’s tear them.”

Ibaekho raised a scroll, others nodded and raised theirs too.

And all at once—creeeak! The scrolls were torn.***

「Character used [Return Scroll].」

「Character moves to designated location.」***

Drip, drip, tick! The sound of water droplets somewhere.

I opened my eyes, quickly checked around.

“Where is this... Crystal Cave?”

“No, it’s a bit different.”

The cave resembled the first floor of Crystal Cave.

“But luckily, no one was left behind.”

At least everyone had successfully transferred to the same place, and no monsters or enemies were visible.

But...

“Quiet.”

From the opposite passage flickered the red light of a campfire.

Crackle—!

Seeing this, Ibaekho nodded at me, and I naturally took the lead.

We walked quietly, trying not to make noise.

Thud, thud.

No matter how carefully this giant armored body walked, noise was inevitable.

Anyway.

“......”

Turning the corner, an unknown figure sitting by the campfire came into view.

It was strange no sign of awareness was shown, yet the figure stared at the fire without moving.

“If you’ve come here... that means Lieutenant Briat is already dead?”

The figure slowly spoke without even looking at us.

“He was a faithful friend...”

“Enough, who are you?”

Ibaekho asked warily, his tone hostile.

“Something about that voice sounds familiar...”

Just as a sense of danger rang in my head—

Slowly, the mysterious man pulled down his hood and faced us.

“Still a long time no see, everyone.”

Wrinkled, with snow-white hair and beard,

A gentle impression but fierce eyes.

“......!”

The creator of Dungeon & Stone, Auril Gavis.

Auril Gavis—the bastard who made this cursed game and a suspicious old man whose true intentions no one understands.

Except for the dream when I returned to the modern world, the last time I met this old man was at the Round Table.

Suddenly appearing to say he’d shut down the whole ‘Ghost Busters’ community...

And leaving a cryptic warning at the end.

“Ibaekho, don’t get too close to that guy.”

Quite ironic.

The very person who gave me that advice is now on this journey briefly with Ibaekho, and on that journey, I met this old man again.

“......”

“......”

Besides the strange feelings, I quickly analyzed the old man’s words.

“Just now, he said ‘everyone’...”

Still a long time no see, everyone.

He even glanced around us as if all old acquaintances.

‘Could it be that Leg Auress and Jaina also have ties to this old man?’

As I glanced around thinking that—

“You’ve all gotten a lot quieter since I last saw you.”

Breaking the silence, the old man spoke again.

Ibaekho growled and opened his mouth.

“Long time no see, old man. You disappeared when we needed you.”

His hostile gaze was ready to pounce, but Auril Gavis only laughed broadly and brushed it off.

“What reason would an old man like me have to show up before the ones leading this era?”

“...Old man my ass. Hey, old man. Do you know what all old people have in common?”

“Hmm, what’s that?”

Ibaekho muttered shortly while looking at Auril Gavis, who looked clueless.

“They’re all dead.”

Maybe he means that alive people aren’t old. The exact meaning was unclear, but one thing was certain.

“So if you want to be an old man, say so.”

Ibaekho’s hostility toward Auril Gavis.

“I’ll always roll up my sleeves and help.”

That was real, not an act.

Crunch.

Well, Ibaekho and Auril Gavis were like oil and water. Auril Gavis was the reason we were dragged into this shitty world.

All the hatred accumulated living in this world naturally focused on that old man.

“Sir.”

Then suddenly GM, who had been quiet, joined the conversation.

Like Ibaekho, GM had been trapped in this world for over ten years, but his voice was completely different—full of kindness and respect.

“Finally, we meet again, sir.”

GM’s eyes and voice oozed goodwill and respect.

Clearly, he wasn’t just being submissive out of weakness.

“I never properly greeted you last time. Thank you very much for everything then.”

“Haha, it wasn’t anything to thank me for.”

“What are you two talking about?”

Ibaekho interrupted irritably, but neither GM nor the old man answered.

Guessing...

‘Are they talking about the community?’

From the flow ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) of conversation, that seemed the only thing.

After all, when GM was a newbie, Auril Gavis had handed over the operation rights of Ghost Busters.

“Actually, you’d be the one with more grievances toward me than anyone. I appreciate your words.”

“I was a bit surprised you gave me a heads-up... but if you had any shame, you wouldn’t be upset. I just got back what I lent.”

“Haha, I knew you’d become someone great.”

“...Thanks. But how do you know the Baron?”