I Became a Mythical-Tier Tamer Due To A System Error

Chapter 36

It was a warm early spring day.

In the large mansion garden, the fresh greenery was giving off the fragrant scent of spring.

“Ha ha ha, Shurk!”

“Woof! Woof!”

There, a white large dog and a young girl were running around together.

When the spring breeze blew, the girl’s light brown hair swayed.

The girl stopped walking and looked out beyond the fence.

“You know, Shurk. Father said he will return after three more nights of sleep.”

Through the fence, the mountain full of blooming flowers was swaying gently.

When Father comes back, let’s go flower-viewing.

The girl hugged the pet dog she called ‘Shurk’ and spoke softly.

With a basket full of delicious treats, together with Shurk and Father.

As if imagining it, the girl smiled happily.

“Let’s spread out a mat under the tree, look at the pretty flowers, and I’ll make a flower crown to give to you, Shurk.”

“Woof!”

The dog barked lightly, as if agreeing with the girl’s words.

The girl looked at Shurk and smiled brightly.

Yes.

This was a memory, a very old memory that remained in the mansion.

The room had shrunk to the point of suffocation.

I could not move my body properly.

The only things in the room were the bed I was lying on and a single door.

‘My luggage bag has disappeared too.’

I sat up on the bed, my head touching the ceiling.

Bending my head down, I slipped my hand into the pocket of my gym uniform.

‘I already packed everything important.’

After checking my wand and potion box, I opened the door.

The corridor outside the room was unchanged. Thanks to that, I could straighten my back.

Compared to the cramped room, the hallway was very pleasant, but its excessive freedom was a problem.

It was a continuation of strangeness.

‘The atmosphere is creepy too.’

Like something that could only appear in a horror game.

On the walls, small candles flickered, but that was all.

The corridor was shrouded in darkness.

‘I can’t see the end.’

Shadows hid everything, so I could only see about ten steps ahead.

If things unfolded exactly as in the game…

‘Literally, this corridor has no end.’

Like a roguelike game, the place expanded infinitely at random.

The number of rooms would have multiplied beyond counting.

Reaching the end of the corridor would be impossible even if one spent a lifetime.

‘Of course, I might be the only one who knows this.’

Sometimes, in certain episodes, the genre changed entirely.

The concept of this episode was thrill and mystery.

Recorox Grand Mansion was a place occupied by ghosts.

The cadets had to overcome various hardships, then join forces to defeat the boss and solve the incident.

That was the goal of this episode.

Creak.

Lapin, dressed in gym clothes, rubbed her eyes and opened the door.

The sea otter in her arms yawned as it appeared.

Still sounding sleepy, Lapin spoke in a gentle voice.

“Villed. The room got smaller.”

“My room is the same.”

“What about Karin?”

Hearing that, I gestured toward Karin’s door.

It still hadn’t opened.

I knocked on Karin’s door.

……Even after some time, there was no response.

‘That was loud enough to make her body shake, she can’t be asleep.’

It must be that she got frightened for no reason and was on guard.

I deliberately put my face close to the door and spoke.

“It’s me.”

“Villed?”

The moment she heard my voice, she reacted right away.

Karin belatedly opened the door and showed her face. She looked gloomy.

Was she scared by this bizarre phenomenon?

“Did you just wake up?”

“Actually, I woke up when the loud noise happened.”

She sighed, still looking full of worry and anxiety.

I could guess the reason.

“You must have lost your totem bag.”

“Ugh…”

Her eyes showed she was pierced to the core, asking how I knew.

Because of the shrinking room phenomenon, anything outside the bed disappeared like a mirage.

“I told you to always keep important things on you.”

“I didn’t think it would vanish. If I’d known, I would’ve slept holding it.”

Her voice was filled with regret.

If she stayed too hung up on it, it might become a problem for our journey ahead.

I needed to reassure her.

“Don’t worry too much. It’ll be restored once time passes.”

At my answer, color immediately returned to Karin’s face.

“That’s a relief…”

She sighed in relief, but only for a brief moment.

Karin looked around to both sides, unable to continue speaking.

Goosebumps were rising on her arms.

“…But was it always like this here?”

“The ghosts have changed the mansion’s structure.”

I answered as if it were nothing.

Rather than frightening her with cosmic horror about an infinitely stretching corridor, it seemed better to water it down to a level she could understand.

“Ghosts? Ha ha… don’t joke with me.”

“……”

I looked at her silently.

Silence was affirmation.

Karin was at a loss for words.

“…Please tell me it’s a joke.”

Her face turned pale as if she were horrified.

It even looked like tears were welling up at the corners of her eyes.

“This is the night training I told you about.”

“Even so, I never thought we’d be doing night training with ghosts…!”

Karin let out a groan in a tone of despair.

Lapin went to Karin’s side and patted her back.

“Don’t worry, Karin. Villed will help us.”

“Villed will?”

“Yeah. Villed’s breathing and heartbeat are steady.”

“…His what?”

It seemed Lapin was trying to convey that I remained calm even in such a bizarre situation.

But Karin didn’t understand and blinked blankly.

Then, noticing something on Lapin, her focus returned.

“But Lapin, what’s that cute thing?”

That twitching on Lapin’s head.

“This is—”

“Don’t mind it. Sometimes ghosts play tricks like that.”

On nights with a full moon, Lapin’s cat ears appeared.

There was nothing good in revealing she was a Chimera, so I quickly covered it up.

“Let’s get moving. We need to find the room.”

“Find the room?”

In response to Karin’s question, I gave her a brief explanation.

If you enter one of these countless rooms, the location also changes.

It could be a city, a snowy mountain, or even underwater.

Not only the location, but also a mission is given.

Defeating monsters, or solving puzzles to escape could be the goal.

The missions of the rooms varied in hundreds of ways.

Simply put, you could see them as mini-games.

“If what you say is true, then we should avoid combat as much as possible.”

A room with combat as its concept would put us at a disadvantage.

Karin agreed with that part.

But she raised a question.

“You mean we have to choose one door out of so many. Without even entering, how do we know what kind of room it will be?”

“Choosing isn’t my job.”

“Then whose is it?”

Answering Karin’s question, I glanced at the sea otter in Lapin’s arms.

Beep?

It was time for the sea otter to shine.

I crouched to meet the sea otter’s eyes and spoke.

“Find the quietest room.”

Beep!

As if it understood, the sea otter chirped and looked into Lapin’s eyes.

“Yeah, I get it.”

Did Lapin actually communicate with the sea otter?

She crouched down and set it on the floor.

The sea otter walked a few steps, then stopped upright on two legs.

Not even breathing, its whole body was focused.

Having grown up in the wild, its senses were especially sharp. It could find the right answer.

……Beep!

The sea otter began moving at a steady pace.

“Let’s follow.”

When I went ahead, Lapin and Karin followed behind.

Quite some time passed.

307

308

309

As we moved forward, only these three room numbers appeared.

No matter how far we walked, the same scenery repeated, the same countless rooms passed by.

Though we walked straight ahead, it felt like we were going in circles.

After tens, hundreds of repetitions, fear naturally crept in.

“Hah, I don’t even know what’s what anymore.”

Before we knew it, Karin’s expression had hardened in fear.

Experiencing such a bizarre phenomenon inevitably raised questions.

Was this still inside the mansion?

Or was it another world made to resemble the mansion?

If we broke this corridor and went outside, what would happen?

No—did the concept of ‘outside’ even exist in this place?

“Don’t think too deeply.”

Of course, I didn’t know either.

Nor did I try to.

Struggling to understand this irrational space would only bring fear.

Beep! Beep!

Finally, it seemed the sea otter had found it.

At the end of waiting, it approached a certain door and chirped.

“Thanks.”

I stroked the sea otter’s head and stood before the door marked ‘308.’

Karin hid behind my back.

“……It’s not like some ghost will pop out the moment we open it, right?”

“That almost never happens, so relax.”

I opened the door and stepped inside.

A new place greeted us.

“Here, a gymnasium…?”

A wide indoor arena, the kind only seen at schools.

Bright lights were on, so it wasn’t dark.

“It’s too quiet.”

Lapin slowly looked around and replied.

Yes, this was exactly the ‘quietest place’ I had wanted.

Before the game properly began, I gave the two of them one piece of advice.

“No matter what happens, keep your mouths shut and stay still.”

“What do you mean by that?”

It was then that Karin voiced her question.

Swish!

With the sound of curtains drawing, our vision went black.

“What the?!”

The lights turned off, darkness rushing in.

From then on, no light returned.

And, as expected, strange phenomena began.

“E-Everyone’s still here, right? I can’t see anything. ……Damn it, even the totem won’t work.”

It was complete darkness where nothing could be seen.

“What’s this now?”

‘Waves’ began to appear.

Like ripples spreading when a drop of water fell on the surface.

From Karin’s voice and footsteps, waves spread out.

And with the darkness came something massive.

‘The owner of the room.’

A giant, about three meters tall.

Just like in the game, its exact form couldn’t be seen.

Hidden in the dark, only a faint outline was visible.

“A m-monster…”

Karin finally saw it too.

Just as she stumbled back, another ripple spread from her feet.

“Stay still!”

Thud!

When the monster took a step, a small quake rippled through the floor.

The vibration carried a heavy sense of oppression.

“Eeek…!”

Terrified, Karin kept retreating.

Her movements caused ripple after ripple to spread.

And as if reacting to them, the monster grew more agitated.

“Shut up! You’re noisy! Didn’t I say not to run?!”

“You stupid wench, just like your father…!”

At some point, a massive club appeared in the monster’s hand.

And then…

“It’s all you! It’s all your fault!”

Crash! Crash! Crash!

As the monster drew closer, the sound of the floor shattering pounded in my ears.

And I still couldn’t see what was truly happening.

“Uwaaaah!”

Human fear comes from the unknown.

Threats emerging from unseen darkness.

It was enough to shatter Karin’s composure.

From Karin, the waves spread bigger and faster.

She was fleeing from the monster.

“Villed, help me! This monster! How?!”

“I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget!”

“I’m scared! Save me! I don’t want to die! I can’t die yet!”

To Karin, who screamed in terror for her life, I answered calmly.

“Karin. Stop right there.”

Low and sharp.

“Be quiet.”

“Ugh… Wha…?!”

Not knowing why, Karin swallowed her sobs.