"We're innocent, so let's break out!"
Argarta's statement, delivered with her characteristic smile as she drew our attention, was quite shocking.
Saying "Let's commit a crime because we're innocent" is no different from saying "I got hit for no reason, so I'm going to hit back too."
Unaware of my thoughts, Argarta, looking delighted, raised a finger and declared.
"There are no guards, and now is the perfect timing."
The Hunter, who until just moments ago had a world-weary look in his eyes, also turned his gaze to Argarta, seemingly interested now.
"Do you have any proof for your claim that there's no one outside?"
"I have good ears."
Argarta tapped her own ear.
Considering she pegged me as a mental patient just from my muttered words, her ears really were quite sharp.
"Mr. Tanton's arrival caused a bit of confusion, but even so, it's clearly meal time right now, and no guards are in sight. Something must have happened."
It was reasoning that relied too much on her senses, but having seen the prologue, I knew her words were true.
The outside had been completely wiped out by a single Outer God.
If anything, it was strange that I had ended up in a place like this.
"Fine, let's assume you're right. How do you plan to escape?"
The Hunter twisted his hand, moving the wooden shackles binding his wrists back and forth.
"With these on, we can't do anything."
"Eh, that's easy."
As she said that, she started moving her mouth around.
The Hunter and I watched, wondering what she was doing, when Argarta suddenly stuck out her tongue.
"Bleh."
Is she trying to pick a fight?
The Hunter also let out a sigh at the sight and shook his head from side to side.
"...I'm a fool for believing you. The words of a cunning thief are indeed..."
"Ai, ish eer an bee-yo?" (Hey, can't you see this?)
Looking closely at the mumbling thief, I noticed the tip of her moving tongue was slightly curled.
On the upper side of her pink tongue, a needle the size of her little finger was shining slickly, covered in saliva.
Wait, she had that thing in her mouth and was talking perfectly fine?
Maybe she's not a thief but a human street performer.
Argarta rolled the needle with her tongue like a toothpick, then flicked it onto her palm and inserted it into the keyhole of the shackles.
She twisted the joints of her hand, maneuvering the tip of the needle this way and that into the hard-to-reach hole.
"If you move it here like this, and lift this part...?"
Click!
The wooden shackles fell to the prison floor, and Argarta wriggled her newly freed fingers.
"Phew, that's much better."
"...You're quite skilled."
"If I couldn't even do this, how could I make a living as a thief?"
"I thought you said you never committed a crime?"
"...It's not good for my reputation if you point out every little thing, Mr. Tanton."
Argarta covered my mouth with her free hand and smiled an enigmatic smile.
"Stop fooling around and hurry up and unlock it."
At the Hunter's words, Argarta stood up and seemed to approach him, but then suddenly stopped in her place and began to smile with a mischievous glint.
"Hmm, right."
"What are you doing?"
"If I don't unlock them, you'll have to stay like that, right, Hunter?"
At the thief's sudden strange remark, the Hunter began to make a fierce expression.
So it's following the original story after all.
Early on, the thief says something like that to the player, leading to the line, "Piss off, I don't need you."
The thief leaves first, and the game starts from the point where the Hunter escapes somehow.
And in this process, Argarta dies.
They don't even show her death scene; it's just mentioned in passing when looting her items that she was a 'cold corpse.'
"Why are you stating the obvious as if it's something grand?"
"Is that the proper way to speak to someone who's helping you? Try being a bit more polite."
I wondered what the Hunter would say.
What this person says would reflect the original protagonist's personality.
"You seem to have the leisure to joke around. Just hurry up and unlock them."
"Tsk tsk, no can do. I'm a good thief who only listens to good children."
The word 'child' seemed to have struck a nerve, as the Hunter's body flinched noticeably.
It was annoying when it was directed at me, but seeing it from a third-party perspective felt different.
This is actually hilarious?
"Lowly things always show their lowly nature."
"Ahh, this won't do. A bad child should just stay here."
As she said that and turned to approach me, the Hunter closed his eyes firmly, then let out a sigh and spoke.
"Just piss off. I don't need the touch of mad hands for such petty treatment."
So that's the correct route.
It figures the Hunter's personality suits me well.
Wait, thinking about it, this isn't the time to be pleased.
If we leave the Hunter here alone, I'll die along with the thief!
Argarta slowly approached me.
"Here, let me get those shackles off you, Mr. Tanton."
"Ah, thank you."
"One 'Thank You' point earned for today. See? I told you I'm a good thief."
Argarta looked at the Hunter and sneered.
"I'm not unlocking yours, Hunter."
It seemed the comments about her smelling had really gotten to her.
That line wasn't in the original, and the fact that he said it more irritably than in the original was evidence of that.
The Hunter said nothing.
I guess he's acting like that because he's confident he can escape on his own anyway.
"I might still unlock them if you beg me properly right now... Mr. Tanton?"
Leaving Argarta behind, I approached the Hunter.
It's absolutely not out of goodwill.
It's because I need to stick with the Hunter to avoid dying!
My life is important to me!
"Hunter."
"..."
"What are you doing? Get up quickly."
He didn't seem particularly sulky.
He seemed lost in thought, already having written us off as discardable pawns and thinking about what to do next.
No, you crazy bastard!
Let's say Argarta was fated to die originally, but I'm not!
If things continue like this, it's obvious I'll become 'Cold Corpse #2' next to the thief.
In times like this, drastic measures are needed.
Even though I'm a newbie who only played the early part, I'm the one who heard things on the community forums.
If I don't use my original story knowledge now, when will I?
I grabbed the brooding Hunter's shoulder and let the words slip out.
"If you abandon us here, you won't be able to defeat the Outer God residing here, you know?"
"What?"
His pupils dilated.
Before he could ask where I heard that, I cut him off with a whisper.
"I'll help you if you calm down."
Looking at his still-shaken, wavering pupils, I thought he would stay like this if I left him alone.
So I quickly grabbed the Hunter's shoulders and shook him back and forth.
Caught off guard by the sudden action, the Hunter couldn't react in time and let out a strange sound—"Urblegh."—as his body was manipulated back and forth.
Only then did the Hunter start looking at me as if he wanted to kill me.
"What do you think you're doing?"
His gaze was still murderous, but I could tell it was much more relaxed than before.
It seemed the 'Outer God' remark had worked.
"Why are you sulking all by yourself? Argarta was just joking."
As I said that, I glanced sideways at Argarta.
Her mouth seemed to form the words, 'I was serious...' so I raised one arm and pretended to hit her. Only then did she give an awkward laugh.
The Hunter looked back and forth between me and Argarta, then let out a sigh.
"Who said I was sulking over such childish antics?"
You did.
The thought never left my mouth.
"Well, whatever. It'll be hard to do anything alone anyway. Do it for my sake, okay?"
The Hunter briefly made eye contact with me for a few seconds, then quietly stood up from his spot.
Suddenly, a cracking sound began to be heard.
Then, along with the sound of something shattering, the Hunter's hands were also free.
"...Huh?"
Argarta looked at the Hunter with constricted pupils, seemingly genuinely bewildered.
The Hunter, completely indifferent to that gaze, simply lightly rotated his shoulders and stretched.
"Who do you think you are, acting familiar after knowing me for such a short time?"
He spoke with his eyes slightly closed, but it was easy to infer he was talking to me.
"They say if your clothes brush against someone once in this life, you had a deep connection in a past life."
When I recited that old saying I'd once heard, the Hunter lightly ignored my words as if they weren't worth listening to.
Look at that attitude.
If he weren't the Hunter, a top-tier powerhouse in this world, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from flicking his forehead.
The Hunter, who brushed past me, went straight to the prison cell door and grabbed the handle.
"So, what's the plan?"
"Huh?"
As if her thoughts couldn't keep up with the sudden question, Argarta made a dumb sound. The Hunter snorted once and spoke.
"You surely don't mean you spoke so confidently without having any plan at all."
Finally, Argarta let out an "Ahh," and said,
"Hey, of course! I'm not that thoughtless."
Saying that, Argarta quickly approached the door, inserted her needle into the handle, and began jiggling it around.
"By the way, if you could get out by yourself, why were you just sitting there?"
"Why would I bother?"
"Geez, you're so prickly. Fine. Let's just get out, shall we?"
Why do you think he was just sitting there?
You almost bit the big one, Argarta.
She wouldn't know that I just saved her life.
I couldn't help but sigh.
The only consolation was that his previously sharp attitude had vanished somewhere, and he was now giving Argarta advice as she struggled to quickly pick the lock.
"What's the point of a thief straining and groaning over this?"
"Damn it, you couldn't even do it, Hunter! It's just stiff because it's old!"
"Your excuses are piling up."
"Should I just not unlock it?"
"Then I'll just break it."
"We'll get caught!"
Argarta, who had suddenly taken on the role of the sane one, retorted to the Hunter while diligently moving her needle.
Watching that, I felt it.
I'd succeeded in putting out the immediate fire.
But is it okay to change the story like this?
I don't know, damn it.
When I'm about to die, what does a story change matter?
The sound of the door opening and Argarta calling me reached my ears.
"Mr. Tanton, what are you doing spacing out?"
"I'm coming."
It'll work out somehow, right?