Without removing his armor, Ben sat on the ground and placed one hand over his knee.
His eyes stayed cold as he looked at Elvira.
"First, I am sure you are confused," she said.
"After all, you are one of them.
Those we call travelers."
"So I am not the only one?" he asked.
"Yes.
In fact, there is a method to call these travelers, like a summoning ritual.
The species will be random, and each traveler will have their own ability or special artifact.
For example, in your case, it should be that pickaxe."
He remembered how carefully she had examined it.
'So that was why she stared at the artifact so closely?'
"Can you take this from me?" he asked.
"Yes, but it is not that simple," Elvira said.
"To get an artifact from a traveler, someone needs to kill the user and gain the artifact's recognition."
Ben's killing intent rose at her words.
Elvira quickly raised both hands in surrender.
"Look, if I wanted to do that, I would not talk like this," she said.
"Cooperation based on trust is what I need most right now.
And it is not like taking another artifact comes without any repercussions.
They will get a curse."
'A curse?
It does not really matter to me… But if she is not lying, then that greedy look in her eyes before was not for the artifact.
Then why did she tear my arm off trying to take the pickaxe?
She is still hiding something.'
"Before, you said something about humans," Ben said.
"The creator species that went extinct.
Does this mean no human traveler has been summoned so far?"
"They do appear," Elvira said.
"But it is very rare.
As for the creator species, it is recorded in many legends of my clan.
All species and knowledge that exist today were created by humans.
But some incident happened that turned them extinct.
As for the cause, it is not clear.
Some say it was a natural disaster.
Others say it was an invader.
I also heard some say it was God's punishment and civil war."
'So there is no clear reason.
It is also possible the reason is a mix of all of them.'
"As for my desire," Elvira continued, "I am actually in the line of succession for the throne of my clan.
I need your help to take it.
When the clan comes under me, since I am loyal to you, this also means they will come under your control."
'That is not interesting to me at all.
I do not have any wish to become a leader.'
That was what Ben wanted to say.
He did not say it, because his heart felt strangely hot when he heard her words.
The power to become a leader, the ambition to be a king.
It was something he had never wanted before.
He had always just wanted to live peacefully.
'Is this an aftereffect of changing my race?'
The question bothered him.
He still had not had time to check it properly.
"Let us say I support you," Ben said.
"How sure are you that you can win?"
Elvira's gaze turned complicated.
She hesitated for a moment.
"You may think I am crazy," she said, "but there is a reason I am sure I can win as long as you agree to support me."
She flicked her finger.
A crack appeared on her lower body.
Bright light leaked out.
In the next moment, Elvira landed lightly on the ground.
Her body was now completely humanoid.
She walked slowly toward Ben and sat down in front of him.
"May I know your name?" she asked.
"Just call me Ben," he said.
"You still have not answered my question."
Despite her transformation, Ben did not move.
He only watched her.
'So she can transform.
That means she was not fighting with all her skills before.
Was that fight just to test me?'
Elvira looked at him with a serious expression.
"I know the future," she said.
"You mean you have some kind of prophecy skill?" Ben asked.
"Then tell me, what is my future?"
"I am sorry," Elvira said.
"But I cannot read yours, since you do not exist in the future I have seen."
He let out a laugh.
"Hahaha.
Are you joking, Elvira?
If I do not have any future, why would you want to cooperate with me?
You even go as far as offering your loyalty.
That does not make sense."
He tried to think through the possibilities, but nothing fit.
If Elvira could see the future, then the battle before would not have gone like that.
Their current talk also did not match what a true seer would do.
Still, she did not look like she was lying.
'If she is not lying, and what she says is really the truth…'
"Did you regress to the past?" he asked.
If it was before, even after coming to this world, he would have thought regression was impossible.
It was basically time travel.
But now, it did not feel far-fetched.
"Yes," she said.
"How many times have you regressed?" Ben asked.
"…"
She stayed silent for a moment.
"Two times," she finally said.
"This is the third and also my last chance."
'She hesitated.
That might mean she has more chances, but does not want to tell me.
But at least it confirms her regression chances are limited.'
Elvira then started to explain her situation.
In this area, there was a relic that could give her an edge over her competitors for the throne.
In her original timeline, she had been ambushed near it and almost murdered.
That was how she ended up possessing the ant queen this time.
"If you regressed, why would you do something that changes things so much?" Ben asked.
"Would it not work better if you bide your time, gather strength, and try to minimize changes?"
"I tried that on my first regression and failed," Elvira said.
"On my second, this relic was the cause of my defeat.
Honestly, I never thought she would suddenly come out with that relic."
She then told him how she had defeated one of her competitors and then banished that person to this area.
From her explanation, Ben learned that in this world everyone lived underground.
No one knew what was happening on the surface.
According to legend, the surface was completely uninhabitable.
Those who tried to reach it had never returned.
The underground was split into several layers and areas.
The best ones were located near the surface, while they were now deep below.
This confused Ben.
Normally, the deeper you went underground, the better and rarer the materials should be.
But here, things were different.
There were many stronger materials deeper down, but the technology to process them had been lost.
This made it pointless to gather those rare materials.
In contrast, near the surface, many ancient ruins were located.
They were filled with ancient relics and technology.
Of course, using those relics still required a lot of effort and many trials.
Because of that, each clan would try to secure a good ancient ruin first, then establish their territory around it.
The more relics and technology they could gather, the higher the clan's standing became.
"What kind of relic are you looking for?" Ben asked.
"We do not know the real name," Elvira said.
"But we call it a combat suit.
It greatly enhances the user's ability, allowing even the weakest soldier to fight like an elite."
'A combat suit?
Is that power armor or some kind of robot?'
He had his guesses, but at least now he understood Elvira's goal.
"So that is why you want my cooperation so much," Ben said.
"Since I can easily dig a hole through the hard rock in this place.
But cannot your royal guards do the same thing?"
"At this depth, yes," Elvira said.
"We are still on layer 8.
As for the relic, based on my knowledge, it is found on layer 9."
This world did not use normal units to measure depth.
Instead, the closer to the planet's core, the higher the layer number.
This system was created by a traveler who had dug all the way down until they could not go deeper.
The rock there was too hard, and the heat was unbearable.
That spot was then named layer 10.