Chapter 94: Two Entrances
To conserve oxygen in the temple, Ian ordered the sellswords to leave only one torch lit for watching the enemy.
That torch was placed near the temple entrance, about fifteen feet from Ian's position.
Even in this dim light, Ian could see hope in the eyes of the men around him.
Perhaps it was because Ian's previous performance had been so miraculous that many present actually believed he could pull off another miracle.
How could a miracle be possible? Ian smiled bitterly. We're trapped in this temple, our only exit blocked by enemies who vastly outnumber us. Could we really, as Bronn had said, dig a tunnel to escape?
A tunnel? Ian suddenly turned around and looked at the stone wall behind him.
The Stranger was the seventh of the Seven Gods of the Andals, and therefore his shrine was located at the very end of the temple—the wall I'm leaning against. Ian reached out, moved closer to a crack in the stone wall, and quietly felt it.
The sellswords in the temple, though unaware of his actions, fell silent, only their breathing echoing in the air.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
It was air movement. Ian finally confirmed the faint sensation on his face.
This wall was the easternmost wall of the temple, and this was underground, meaning that beyond it should be solid earth.
Yet there was a breeze—perhaps not wind, but a gentle circulation of air.
This narrow Stranger's shrine was packed with more than a dozen of Ian's men, and with a single torch burning, the temperature inside was significantly higher than outside. This temperature difference was causing the air to circulate.
The space behind the wall was hollow.
"Everyone, quiet! Listen to me," Ian whispered, then gave the order. "Light a few more torches and carefully examine this wall. There might be a passage behind it. Move! Quickly!" he urged.
Without hesitation, the men immediately relit the torches they had extinguished and began to examine the stone wall.
Less than a minute later, Dorian the Black Falcon spotted a loose stone in the center of the wall. With a powerful push, he shoved it through, creating a large opening.
The torchlight shone into the hole, revealing a tunnel behind the stone wall.
"How did you know there was a tunnel here?" Bronn asked in amazement. "Where does it lead?"
"The Dragonpit," Ian said with a self-deprecating smile. "The Sept of Remembrance was the headquarters of the Warrior's Sons in King's Landing, and this was the headquarters of the Poor Fellows. Apparently, this was the tunnel they used to support each other during the uprising."
"The exit is in one of those Dragonpit crypts we cleared earlier?" Bronn began to understand.
"Now's not the time to discuss it. The tunnel's exit was apparently sealed by order of whoever demolished this temple. Fortunately..." Ian observed the thickness of the wall and motioned for Kes to smash it open with his mace.
Kes obeyed and, with a powerful swing, shattered the thin barrier, fully revealing the tunnel entrance.
"Lucky for us, they just used these small bricks to block the entrance. If they'd built a wall like the one beside it, we'd be completely trapped." Ian touched the massive stone next to him, then waved his hand, signaling Kes to pick up the chest.
Of course, Ian wouldn't actually burden Kes with such a heavy load during their escape. Before Kes even lifted the chest, he'd spent 10 points to quadruple the capacity of his system inventory and secretly transferred all the gold into it.
He'd had Kes carry the chest purely for show; if he and his companions were ever in real danger, Kes could always abandon it.
Before setting off, Ian checked on Roel's condition. Seeing that he was clearly improving, he breathed a sigh of relief and ordered a strong Black Falcon sellsword to carry him.
Then the group entered the tunnel and began their escape.
Some distance away from the Stranger's Temple, the sellswords' spirits visibly relaxed, but Ian knew it wasn't over yet.
He hadn't yet inspected only two of the sept crypts within the Dragonpit. One had already been cleared by Ian and his team, while the other remained buried beneath collapsed rubble.
This meant their chance of escaping through this tunnel was only fifty-fifty.
As he continued along the tunnel, Ian couldn't help but have an absurd thought.
If Bronn hadn't stumbled upon that player, and he hadn't learned about the Stranger's Temple, could he have perfectly avoided the gold-cloaked player in Flea Bottom and taken the chest directly from the Dragonpit without anyone noticing?
Clearly, since a tunnel entrance existed here, another entrance must be in the Dragonpit.
Why was Ian so certain?
This came down to the style of the game's designer. Judging by the game's mechanics and the traps laid for the players, the designer was likely a meticulous yet show-off type of person.
The designer had cleverly used Bounty Quest One, "First Blood," to break up most players' pre-arranged alliances while providing newer players with a way to locate other players. That was showing off.
So would the designer pass up the opportunity to show off with Bounty Quest Two? Of course not, because there were only three bounty quests total.
The designer's most impressive feature for the King's Landing chest was that both entrances perfectly matched the four clues sold in the marketplace: "Underground," "Death," "Ruins," and "Sacred," all pointing to the same historical event: "The Faith Militant Uprising."
Even with Ian's discerning eye, he'd give the designer a ninety out of a hundred—minus ten points for his own pride.
That evening, when he'd suddenly heard about the existence of the Stranger's Temple, he hadn't expected the crypt of the Sept of Remembrance beneath the Dragonpit to also be the correct answer.
But even if I'd taken the chest from there, wouldn't I still have run into the gold-cloaked player? Ian pondered again.
After all, his original plan had included going to Flea Bottom to hunt down players—including the group from Pentos—after obtaining the chest. At that point, he would have still fallen into the gold-cloaked player's hands.
In an instant, he realized where his biggest problem lay.
Greed.
He'd bitten off more than he could chew. He'd quickly obtained so many development resources at the beginning, but he hadn't thought about properly consolidating them. Instead, he was constantly embroiled in one conflict after another. Moreover, in these conflicts, he was always executing multiple plans simultaneously, wanting everything to succeed and profit from all angles at once.
The most terrifying thing was that he actually didn't think there was anything wrong with his approach! Wasn't this pure arrogance?
Don't be greedy, Ian said silently in his heart. He swore that if he could survive this ordeal, he would make this his personal motto.
(End of Chapter)
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