About two weeks had passed since the last mission.
It was also the seventh day since we'd been forced to work alongside a high-ranking official from N Corp's Department of Mental Illness on an unpleasant assignment.
It wasn't exactly a day worth commemorating, but today there was something special scheduled for the bus.
Wheeeeeeeeee—! Woooooo—! Woooooo—! Woooooo—!
A shrill alarm rang through the bus interior.
Judging by the context, it was probably the warning sound that went off whenever Mephistopheles gained some special new function.
We'd heard it before when the door leading to the Mirror Dungeon—the first new door ever added to the bus—appeared.
"Damn it, my eardrums are gonna burst! Can't you turn that insane noise down?"
"Grrrgh, no matter how many times I hear it, that alarm is still obnoxious."
The prisoners' complaints echoed through the bus.
Even I, who already knew the sound was coming, was grimacing; I could only imagine how bad it was for them when it hit out of nowhere.
...Seriously, can't they lower the volume? I jump every time I hear it.
Tap, tap-tap.
Well, regardless of all that, Ms. Faust was just sitting in the driver's seat, staring at a dense string of characters and working away at something.
So... something new must be about to show up.
"What now?"
"An appropriately timed question. I've just finished identifying it."
At Dante's question, Faust lifted her hands from the screen and spoke.
"I previously explained the strengthening and synchronization of identities."
"Right. And?"
"The newly added function appears to be a dungeon where the currency used for identity strengthening and synchronization—personality training tickets and thread—can be acquired regularly."
"Oh."
What kind of company adds a place to obtain insane growth materials two weeks after the last mission is completed?
...Right here, apparently. Damn it.
"From now on, we won't need to convert each prisoner's shards into thread for identity synchronization. A favorable development."
After leaving that brief, matter-of-fact remark, Faust quietly turned away from Dante.
That was the signal that she was done talking.
"Then shall we go?"
There was no reason for us to refuse Dante's suggestion.
"Purification...!"
Clang!
"By the will of the one who grasps."
Crunch! Crackcrackcrack—
Oh... So now we're even watching N Corp inquisitors fight each other.
"From the soil..."
Boom!
"To the soil!"
Thud—!
"......"
No matter how different the worlds of possibility may be, it's a strange sight to see people from the same department beating the junior staff themselves.
Ahem. Enough watching. Let's explain what's going on.
The place we'd entered was the newly added mining dungeon.
More specifically, it was the third dungeon within that mining dungeon—the one where you can obtain personality training tickets.
We were fighting the N Corp inquisitors that had just come out of it.
And, as a side note, I'd heard the dungeon that yields thread has you fighting Abnormalities.
Being able to regularly obtain thread, a resource that's pretty important to us, is good news... but...
...if a new Abnormality shows up there, it also means the amount of reports we have to write goes up, so I'm a little reluctant.
I never want more work. I'm already dying trying to manage that crazy woman's identity before and after every fight.
Whoosh!
"Ghk...!"
Anyway, maybe it's time to finish off this inquisitor I've been toying with.
The battle looked like it was nearing its end, so there was no need to keep pretending to struggle.
It'd be ridiculous for me to lose to a single inquisitor when I've got this absurd eye performance on my side.
Then, from the next attack—
Hng!
Now.
The opponent thrust their left foot far forward to stab me with the nail in their left hand, throwing their body heavily off balance.
I slipped past the stab and seized the outstretched left arm.
"...!"
They hurriedly tried to pull their hand back, but that was a mistake. If they were going to do anything, they should've brought the hammer down with the right hand immediately.
Boom!
With my left elbow, I crushed the joint of the fully extended left arm and shattered it.
"Ugh...!"
At the same time, the hammer came flying in.
Tap.
"What—!"
The moment I broke the left arm, I snatched the hammer's head with my right hand, which I'd yanked free in a flash.
My hand stung a bit from it, but—
Boom!
My left hand shot out and caved in the enemy's skull, so it didn't matter much.
That surge of power and technique—far beyond what I'd had before—sent a thrill through my whole body. Without the personality training ticket, I'm certain I would've failed halfway through.
I'd felt it before, but the sense of growth is pretty huge.
I really do wonder how I used to get through those strong enemies without this...
Anyway, that's the battle over.
Now I just need to keep an eye on Faust and move on to the thread mining dungeon.
...Still, just how strong is that crazy woman's ego that she can twist Faust into something like that?
The other prisoners don't show such dramatic differences.
About sixteen days after the last mission.
"I approve the prisoners' end of work."
"Thank you. Beginning up to twelve hours of sleep and rest, with a possible variance of twelve hours from now. Have a good night."
Lately, the bus had been repeating an ordinary daily routine.
Mirror Dungeon exploration, grinding the mining dungeon, and so on.
I don't really have any complaints, but... somehow it's boring.
Unless a new Abnormality appears in the Mirror Dungeon, we're just fighting the same things we always fight every day, so I've started to feel restless.
If a new identity or E.G.O came out of extraction, that'd be one thing, but...
Just yesterday, on a casual ten-pull, Ms. Rodion got an N Corp identity, and there were no additional identities beyond that. In other words, it was all downside.
Even the Black Silence identity we'd pulled before had such awkward performance that people started suggesting we try N Corp instead. That should tell you enough.
As for E.G.O, for reasons I still don't understand, mine can't be used, and it wasn't among the few E.G.O supported for free by the Limbus Pass either... so that was another matter completely unrelated to me.
E.G.O is the manifestation of the self.
Maybe that's because "I" am not a complete "me."
"......"
Tch. Maybe coming to the front of Mephistopheles' engine to kill time was a mistake.
Staring blankly at the softly glowing engine only filled my head with useless thoughts.
If I'd at least been busy like I was during missions, I wouldn't be having these pointless worries.
...Well, that just means I'll have to think about it someday.
Just as I finished that not-so-light bit of reflection and got up to return to my room, I heard a familiar voice from behind me.
"Saramago! There you are!"
"Ms. Don Quixote? What brings you here...?"
"Well... Ms. Don Quixote asked to play chess, so while we were at it, she said to call Yi Sang and Saramago too, like last time..."
The answer came from Sinclair, who had quietly followed behind Don Quixote.
I roughly understood the situation. Since I had nothing else to do, should I join them?
"I didn't have anything to do either, so this works out. Let's play chess."
"I knew you'd say that! Come, follow me!"
"W-wait, Ms. Don Quixote...!"
"Run, Rocinante!!"
"S-slow down just a little...!"
And with that, they disappeared quickly down the corridor.
I should hurry after them. If I dawdle, I'll really lose sight of them.
The place we arrived at was Ms. Don Quixote's room.
More precisely, the door leading into it.
The same door the prisoners all use to enter their rooms.
Don Quixote grabbed the handle and swung it open at once.
"Yi Sang! You've arrived!"
"You've arrived sooner than expected."
"That is... ah, Ms. Don Quixote... sob..."
"You may stop speaking. I believe I understand the situation well enough."
"Then I'll fetch the chessboard!"
Is this Ms. Don Quixote's room?
I'd caught glimpses of it as I passed by now and then, but it was seriously... well, an individualistic room.
The walls were plastered with posters and the like that seemed related to Fixers.
And there were a few handwritten phrases too.
"The goal is to become a righteous Color Fixer," huh... Fitting words.
I wondered if the other prisoners' rooms were just as distinctive.
For a moment, curiosity stirred, but... all that lingered in my head was the light thought that I'd probably see them all someday anyway.
"Here it is!"
Ah, so that's enough room appreciation for now.
I couldn't see outside the window, but... there probably wasn't much to see anyway.
I'm not some lunatic obsessed with prying into other people's private lives just to stare at their inner selves.
Right now, it would be best to focus on chess with a light heart.
After that, the strange chess outings continued once every few days.
Was that the most notable event on the bus during that time?
Ah! Right, around a little over a week after those odd chess outings began, spoiled milk was distributed to the prisoners.
Everyone except me, who'd noticed it in advance, Yi Sang, who somehow seemed fine, and Faust, who had vanished at some point before anyone realized it, ended up with stomach trouble, and Dante had a miserable time of it.
...Was that not very important?
Well, moving on.
The next event occurred about five weeks after the last mission ended.
A massive blue train.
A giant bus dungeon that would awaken the prisoners' dulled combat instincts once more.
The arrival of the [Mirror Railway].