I know the story?

Walking through a long hallway, illuminated by the light streaming in through the large windows beside me, I move silently through the girls who are playing and chatting all around me.

They’re all wearing dark blue uniforms with a crest representing Noctis, though some have lots of accessories layered over them.

As I walk, trying to ignore them, I can hear some of their conversations.

— It’s the Saint…

— She looks terrible.

— They say she’s cursed, so it’s best not to get close.

— How can a Saint be cursed?

— Is she really a Saint?

Whispers like these can be heard all over the school, no matter where I go, but I’ve grown used to them and keep walking toward the exit without reacting.

A girl who was chatting sees me and immediately takes a few steps to the side, pushing her friends along with her.

Even some teachers seem to be watching me warily.

— …

Without saying a word, I reach the exit and see a carriage waiting for me. Standing beside it is my advisor.

She’s wearing the same priestess robes as always, which puts me at ease.

— Saint, I’ve come to pick you up… Let’s go home and get some rest, — she says gently, unlike in the past.

After all the commotion I’ve caused and am still causing, my advisor has changed her attitude toward me and is trying to be as accommodating as possible.

— Umu.

I give just a slight nod and get into the carriage, followed immediately by her, who sits across from me.

I turn my head toward the window and see the enormous school, built from a combination of magical stones and other minerals, creating a unique effect reminiscent of a starry sky. Its dark walls, dotted with tiny sparkling points, give me the feeling that I’m plunging into the vastness of the night.

I’ve been attending the school for some time now, but I still can’t get used to it.

— It's as if I could be attacked at any moment…

I start looking around, feeling panic take hold of me, because the ghost might be nearby.

Even though I'm inside my carriage, with my advisor, there's still the possibility that a spirit has come after me from inside the school.

— Stop! D-Don't enter my mind! — I exclaim, using magic to exorcise spirits.

— Calm down, Saint, there aren't any spirits here… — my advisor says, in the gentlest voice she can manage.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small jar full of pills. After removing the lid, she places a small pill in my hand, which I swallow immediately.

I keep thinking that, at any second, an apparition might appear and attack me, so I continue using my magic while huddling in the corner of the carriage.

After a few minutes, I calm down again and look out at the scenery, which reveals a huge, pure-white house, reserved exclusively for the saint and the priestesses.

— Are we here already? — I wonder, before getting up and stepping out of the carriage.

My mind is strangely foggy due to the medicine’s effects, which makes me avoid thinking about anything seriously.

I step out slowly, with my advisor holding onto me so I don’t fall.

While I walk to my room, staggering a bit, I greet a few priestesses along the way.

As soon as I reach my room, I throw myself onto the bed and close my eyes, not caring about my condition.

The Saint’s room is very simple, containing only the bare necessities for daily life, since we spend most of our time at the church.

— This bed is so soft… — I mutter, hugging my Bible.

When I take my medicine, my head gets so foggy that I can barely think straight, so I choose to sleep when I have nothing else to do.

[…]

I wake up at some point, not knowing the exact time, because of something that seems to be spoken in my mind.

I jump out of bed and hide under the blankets, trembling and activating my magic.

— N-No! G-Get out! Hel-

As I start to panic, I realize that the voice actually seems to be telling me something. Even though I’m terrified, I try to listen carefully.

— …This is a bit strange, but… If anyone actually heard all those noises and voices I sent in the past, just know that… This is just the effect of my magic…

I’m paralyzed, my mind trying to process what I just heard.

— Eh… Putting that aside, I just want to say that I’m currently at the bottom of the Abyssal Dungeon… Incredible, don’t you think? Hehe… You know what, that’s it, bye.

After the transmission ends, I stand still, as if frozen, for quite a while until I finally understand what’s happening.

My body starts to shake, but this time it’s not from fear, but from rage.

— AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! WHO!? WHO’S DOING THIS!?

All the fear and frustration I’d built up while those sounds tormented me turned into hatred, a hatred I couldn’t contain, and I end up smashing a vase against the wall.

I start having trouble breathing as I clench my fists so tightly they begin to bleed.

— Haa… Haa… HAHAHAHAHAH!! I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!

While I'm having my hate attack, I hear a loud creak followed by a huge crash.

NHEC! BAM!

— IIHH! D-Don't come close! — I say, hiding under the blanket.

— What happened, Saint!?

Only after hearing my advisor's voice does my body calm down a little, and I come out of my hiding place.

— Haa… Another panic attack? Here, take your medicine… — she says, handing me a small pill.

— A-Advisor… The voice appeared again.

— Again… It’s just your imagination, there’s no one here… — she says as if she’s already tired of this subject.

— B-But this time it’s different! This time, it told me…

I start to tell her what the voice said, hoping that I might finally find the person behind it.

— Saint, that’s absurd! What kind of magic could possibly get past all the protections and defensive spells you have and get inside your head!? Besides, there’s no way anyone could be deep inside the Abyssal Dungeon…

My advisor begins to refute my words with a serious expression, indicating just how powerful the protective spells on my body are.

However, when she starts talking about the Dungeon, her voice gradually fades until she falls silent.

Her face, which had shown confidence, now has a hint of doubt.

— A-Advisor?

— …Saint, you already know where your class went, right?

— Yes, they went to the Dungeon…?

As I say this, I briefly wonder if the magic affecting me might be coming from one of my classmates, but I quickly dismiss the idea.

— The voice is certainly too deep to belong to a girl… — I think.

As she watches me, probably guessing what I’m thinking, my advisor continues.

— Speaking of which, we received some news today… It seems two young men fell into the Abyssal Dungeon.

— Eh?

I look at my advisor’s serious face and, remembering the phrase I heard earlier, quickly connect the dots.

— One of them is the scoundrel who cursed me!! Who are they!?

— C-Calm down, Saint, watch your mouth! — says the advisor sternly.

I cover my mouth with my hands, not daring to speak.

After a brief silence, she speaks again while smoothing my hair with her hands.

— Haa… Saint, from what I’ve heard, one of the young men is the possible hero who’s in the queen’s care, — she comments, picking up a piece of paper, likely confirming the information she received. — And the other is an unknown boy, about whom we know nothing other than that he became an adventurer a few days ago.

— The hero and an unknown boy… — I murmur, unsure which of the two it must be.

Since I’ve never met this so-called hero, I have no idea what his real voice sounds like, but for someone to have survived the fall into the Dungeon, it’s probably him.

As for the other young man, he’s likely no longer alive.

— Saint, you must know it’s impossible for anyone to survive after falling into the Dungeon, so don’t dwell on it…

After fixing my hair, my advisor hands me a towel and a change of clothes.

— You came back from school and fell asleep, so you need to take a shower and then have dinner.

— Umu… — I nod.

Even with all my skepticism and knowing it’s impossible, I still keep wondering if it’s one of those two who cursed me.

[…]

— …I don’t know how much time has passed, but… Err… I’m still alive… Although the situation here is really complicated, with all this darkness and everything… Ah, I also managed to get some food… I hope it lasts a long time.

— Just die already!

[…]

— …I’m still alive, but I’ve been through some serious trouble. My companion and I are trying to explore this abyss slowly, but as soon as we stepped outside the area we’d made our base, we were attacked by a slime! We had to run away… Good thing it’s slow.

— Running away from a slime? HAHAHA… It would’ve been so great if it had killed you! — I exclaim, but a thought occurs to me. — Companion? So it really was those two who fell?

[…]

— It looks like I’ve managed to recover… Ever since my partner earned his title, his healing magic has started to work on me… After we rest, we’ll probably go explore the surroundings once more… We still have plenty of meat, and perhaps because of the location, it doesn’t seem like it’ll rot quickly… Oh, here’s a picture of the place.

— …I can’t see anything! What is this!? A black screen!? And stop popping up in my mind at any moment! — I say while I’m exercising for my school’s physical education class. — …Wait, your companion has healing magic!? But only those from the church possess it… Or the hero? So you’re the unknown boy!

[…]

— Soon my magic will reach level 100… I’m thinking of trying to send this message to other beings, even though I have no idea who’s listening to this… Today we’re going to try to defeat a monster for the first time… Our chances aren’t great, especially since my partner’s sword broke… Wish us luck.

— Luck!? You’d be better off not existing!! — I exclaim.

— Saint, be quiet during class. — says my teacher, a white-haired lady.

— Sorry…

[…]

— Haa… Haa… We almost died… The monsters here are insane! Just what the hell is that shadow!? It’s completely intangible and can annihilate anything it touches! Besides that, there also seems to be some kind of worm tearing through the ground nearby… Maybe that one will be easier?

— …Are things like that down there? — I wonder, having never heard of an intangible monster before.

[…]

After several days of listening to this unknown young man’s words, I arrive in front of the Abyssal Dungeon.

I didn’t come with the school, since after the incident, everyone was forced to return and stay at the Academy until the Gate of the Abyss administration resolves the security issue.

Basically, they just don’t want to have to listen to complaints from the students’ families, who are worried about their safety. It’s very likely that, once the commotion surrounding the hero’s fall dies down, they’ll try to make another trip out here.

— …Anyway, here I am.

I look into the abyss and my body starts to shake, causing me to stop a few meters from the edge.

— Why am I doing this!? I could just ignore those voices… No, I need them to live so I can get my revenge!

Trying to come up with a strong reason to keep going, I slowly walk closer to the edge of the abyss and take a deep breath.

— …You’d better thank me after this.

Then, I throw something I’d been carrying.

A silver-colored sword falls until it disappears into the darkness. This sword was supposed to be awarded to the winner of a tournament scheduled for next year, but I somehow managed to get my hands on it.

It may not be one of the most powerful swords, but because of the metal used in its construction, its power can be amplified with magic.

And magic is something that, from what I’ve heard in the messages, the hero has mastered.

— If the church finds out about this, I’ll end up becoming the prize…

So, with a slight sense of unease, I head toward the tenth floor of the Dungeon.

— I told them I was going to train here, but… What am I going to do?

Without the sword, which I’ll excuse by saying it was stolen, I don’t have much strength to level up.

— …I’ll just go in for a bit and come out.

I walk slowly down the empty stairs until I reach the gate to the tenth floor.

I slowly open it to see what’s inside.

— Ah.

My body goes limp and my vision starts to darken. My mind stops me from thinking and simply makes me fall.

Puf

— …Someone fainted!

— What happened!?

— I was just passing by…

I hear these sounds fading away as the image of what I just saw flashes through my mind one last time.

A pale woman with long, wet, messy black hair covering her entire face was walking toward me.

[To be continued…]

[???]:

— The boss hasn’t come back yet… I wonder if something happened?

[+++]:

— I don’t know, but it’s better this way…

[???]:

— Are you procrastinating on your work again?

[+++]:

— I’m not procrastinating, I’m just becoming wiser over time so I can solve them better.

[???]:

— Wiser? I’d say dumber…