I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[062] Poison Chamber
Creeeeak—
At the end of the Spiral Staircase, I pushed through the heavy iron door and found myself in an Underground Solitary Cell permeated with the stench of mold and a biting chill.
Unlike the upper floors, meticulously maintained without a speck of dust, this place exposed raw stone walls that hadn’t been properly finished.
It was unmistakable—we had strayed far from the designated route permitted to visitors.
｢You have reached one of the Mansion’s hidden spaces: [Underground Solitary Cell]!｣
“Ugh… I don’t like this place. Why is it suddenly so cold?”
Karen rubbed her arms in complaint, then withdrew a staff from within her robes and flourished it.
A ball of flame erupted into the air, illuminating the dim interior.
As the flickering light swept across the corners of the room, grotesque forms huddled in the darkness were revealed.
“Are those… corpses?”
As Malton muttered in a heavy, subdued voice, I approached silently to examine the shapes.
Brittle skeletons lay scattered throughout, fragile enough to crumble at a touch.
Judging by the decayed clothing and thick layers of accumulated dust, these remains had been dead for at least several decades.
“…These are no forgeries.”
The devastation was far too genuine to be mere props for atmosphere.
Finger bones stretched desperately toward the exit. Fingernail scratches, etched clearly into the hard stone walls, bore witness to agony.
It was as though I were witnessing the final moments of those who had died while fleeing from something invisible.
‘Corpses in a solitary cell… was this where prisoners were confined?’
Yet something about it felt fundamentally different from a simple prison.
Particularly the way the bones had turned an unusual black or brown color.
Clang—!
At that moment, the heavy iron door behind us slammed shut, cutting off our escape.
Simultaneously, an hourglass sitting on a table flipped over of its own accord, and crimson sand began pouring downward.
｢A time limit has been activated!｣
｢In 15 minutes, a lethal gas will be dispersed, annihilating all life within this chamber.｣
｢To survive, you must find and consume the correct antidote within the time limit!｣
｢Warning! Death in this place means you cannot return to reality!｣
｢Among the antidotes, deadly poisons have been mixed!｣
“What—what?! The door won’t open!!”
Karen panicked, seizing the door handle and throwing her full body against it, but the magically sealed iron door didn’t budge an inch.
“Stand aside, if you would.”
Malton stepped forward and brought his mace down with all his strength—yet even this left not a single scratch on the iron door.
｢This space cannot be destroyed by physical force!｣
‘We’re in trouble.’
If Karen used her flame magic in this sealed space, we’d be roasted alive long before we could be expelled from the Mansion.
Our only option was to follow the rules, find the antidote, and endure.
So it wasn’t a solitary cell after all—it was a poison chamber.
“Damn it… Karen, shine your light over here, would you?”
I hurried toward the long table in the center of the room.
Dozens of glass bottles of varying sizes, colors, and designs were scattered haphazardly across the table.
Beside them lay a note written in careful, deliberate handwriting.
[Poison Chamber Safety Guidelines]
[1. The red liquid won’t block the gas. But it’s at least safer than the blue bottle.]
[2. The bottle containing blue liquid is ■■. However, it’s probably not what you want.]
[3. The clearest bottle is medicine for ■■, but if ■■■ consumes it, their insides will melt away.]
[4. ■■■ to ■■■ ■■ live■■■.]
⋮
[20. Please make a wise choice. Time is running out.]
Nearly twenty lines of instructions in total.
Karen clutched her head and screamed.
“What is this…! All the important parts are erased!”
I furrowed my brow as well.
This was a logic puzzle of sorts.
Like a zebra puzzle, it required combining given clues to logically deduce the answer—a classical approach.
But the situation now was different.
‘The problem itself has been damaged.’
Key words were blacked out, as if someone had deliberately erased them.
Moreover, there were far too many bottles. It was as if someone had proudly displayed their collection of toxic substances.
And one of the bottles Malton had picked up was….
“Sniff sniff, is this serpent liquor?”
While he examined the poisoned spirit with an entire serpent preserved inside it with curiosity, the red sand in the hourglass flowed mercilessly downward.
Just reading through the lengthy instructions had already consumed over a minute.
If I couldn’t solve it through logic, only one method remained.
“Radiya, lend me a coin.”
I flicked the silver coin Radi handed me with my thumb, sending it spinning into the air.
‘I’ll manipulate probability to find the answer…!’
In that instant as the coin rotated through the air.
Crack!
As if an invisible blade had swept through, the coin shattered into pieces.
｢There are too many possible outcomes! [Cheater] skill activation failed!｣
｢The owner of the Mansion does not permit such shortcuts in this space!｣
‘Damn…!’
I staunched the bleeding from my fingers torn by coin fragments while glaring at the log window.
This was the first time the [Cheater] skill had been forcibly cancelled.
The owner of this space clearly wouldn’t tolerate this puzzle being solved through mere luck.
“W-what do we do now?! Time keeps passing!”
Even Karen, who had been skeptical of the gambling skill at first, began hopping anxiously now that it had failed.
I clenched my teeth and fell into deep thought.
Roughly twelve minutes remained.
Logic fails. Luck fails. Neither will work here.
Then the only method remaining is….
At that moment, Radi stepped forward.
“Wait, let me try. From the start, this problem… doesn’t seem like something you can solve with just your mind.”
“What?”
“If I were the one who created this, that’s what I’d do. Use every tool and sense at your disposal. …Arrogant mages like yourselves would fall right into the trap, blindly trusting only your knowledge.”
At those words, Karen bristled and shot back.
“What? Are you picking a fight with us right now?!”
“Karen, be quiet. We don’t have time to indulge your tantrums right now.”
My cold rebuke made Karen bite her lip and step back.
I exchanged a glance with Radi and asked.
“…Do you have a way?”
“Yes. If it’s something you can drink and survive, then at least it’s not an instant poison.”
Radi pulled a small leather bundle from her backpack and unrolled it.
Inside were various reagents and tools packed tightly together.
And among them, one item stood out distinctly.
In the corner of the bundle, a silver bolt tagged ‘For eliminating undead (Doran)’.
“Ahem… it’s an old matter. I kept it as insurance back when I first saw Doran’s transformed state, just in case….”
“Never mind that. Just hurry.”
“Understood.”
Radi unscrewed a bottle without hesitation and submerged the bolt in it.
Instantly, the gleaming silver tips in several of the liquids turned pitch black.
“It’s a sulfur-mixed liquid. Not lethal, but completely useless against poison gas.”
Radi tossed the bottle over her shoulder without mercy, then began selecting reagents at a remarkably swift pace.
“Almond scent. Cyanide compound.”
“I spilled some on the floor and the limestone tiles dissolved with foam. It’s hydrochloric acid.”
“Dragon’s blood…? Why would something this precious be mixed in here?”
Beyond that were toxins distilled from monkshood roots, raw venom extracted from a basilisk’s poison sac, and more.
Even Karen, watching from the side, was left speechless by her analytical prowess.
But after swiftly identifying over twenty different substances, Radi wiped the sweat from her brow and murmured.
“…This is strange. There’s no answer.”
“No answer?”
“Most of what’s here has no antidote properties. The only ones with any effect would cause lethal poisoning the moment you drink them.”
“Then we’re dead no matter what?”
As Malton asked gravely, Radi bit her lip and fell into deep thought.
“No, there has to be a way… Wait! Karen, shine your light over here!”
Radi rushed frantically to the scattered skulls in the corner of the room and examined their condition.
“The bones are discolored black, and the remaining skin shows blisters and necrosis… Then the poison gas is probably mustard gas… I’ve got it!”
Radi struck her palm with her fist and rushed back, beginning to mix the liquids in the bottles.
“If there’s no answer, I’ll create one! This is the essence of mandrake… and this is the lethal serum of the Hydra….”
Like mixing a cocktail, I was engaged in the delicate, precarious process of blending poison with poison to neutralize them.
The creature’s eyes were more serious than ever as she dipped a finger to taste, frowned at the concentration, and adjusted the mixture accordingly.
“If I just remove a little of this and shake it together… there we go!”
As Radiya vigorously shook the final vial, a dark blue vapor rose up before transforming into a viscous purple liquid.
Ding—!
｢’Radiya’s Special Antidote’ has been completed!｣
As Radiya offered me the vial containing the finished liquid, Karen recoiled with a look of disgust.
“Y-you want me to trust and drink something this unsettling? I saw it bubbling the whole time you were mixing it…!”
“Shut up and drink if you want to live.”
I cut off Karen’s protests without hesitation and downed the medicine Radiya handed me in one gulp.
Malton also swallowed his portion without a moment’s hesitation.
We didn’t doubt Radiya’s abilities.
“Ugh… the taste is absolutely terrible.”
“Let’s call it a unique flavor profile.”
Radiya shot Karen a cold glare.
“I only had enough materials to make three vials. If you really don’t want it, you can skip it. I’ll drink it myself.”
“No, no, I’ll drink it! I’ll drink it…!”
Karen reluctantly accepted the vial and gulped down the medicine with tears in her eyes.
Honestly, I wanted to forcibly take it from her and make her drink it instead, but I respected her resolve and held back.
As Radiya pulled up her robe to seal her nose and mouth shut, the last grain of sand fell from the hourglass.
Hisssss—!
Simultaneously, yellowish toxic gas began spraying from pipes installed throughout the room.
｢The time limit has expired! Lethal gas is now being dispersed!｣
｢You have consumed Radiya’s Special Antidote! The neutralizing agent is now protecting your body from the deadly poison!｣
In an instant, the toxic gas filled the room, but fortunately, we remained unharmed.
“…Radiya, are you alright?”
“….”
Radiya kept her eyes tightly shut, her expression strained, but slowly nodded her head.
Moments later, the heavy iron door that had been sealed shut creaked open with a grinding sound.
As the gas escaped through the ventilation, I brushed the gas particles clinging to my robe and approached Radiya.
“You did well, Radiya.”
“…It’s only natural as a comrade.”
Radiya finally lowered the robe that had covered her nose and mouth, coughing as she waved her hand dismissively.
Soon after, she moved toward the newly revealed corridor, eager to escape this dreadful space as quickly as possible, muttering softly to herself.
“That was a truly unpleasant room.”
“…You’ve been through a lot. Even with poison resistance, enduring it directly must have been incredibly painful….”
“No, not the gas. …That piece of paper on the table in there—it had the exact same handwriting as mine. The note we found in the Maid’s Room was written in Doran’s hand.”
“…Wait, you’re saying that note in the Poison Chamber was written in your handwriting?”
If that were true, then this mansion wasn’t designed by me alone….
‘Could it be… that I’m not the only one being reincarnated, but the people around me are looping as well…?!’
I was engulfed by a surge of intense shock.
Difficult to believe, but not entirely impossible as a hypothesis.
Given that my regression is already confirmed, there’s nothing surprising about a couple of companions being added to the mix.
If the regression point wasn’t drastically different from now, my past self would have likely found Malton with high probability, and through the process of adventuring with him, there’s a possibility I naturally came to know Radi.
After all, I’ve already experienced situations like this countless times.
Dying in the game, creating a new character, gathering companions again.
This endless cycle repeating in Belheim.
Doesn’t this entire process bear a striking resemblance to what’s happening now?
This Distorted Space seems to be an exception handled within that loop.
One thing that troubles me is that this place is definitely not a world within the game.
‘That means… the Poison Chamber I just passed through was indeed designed by Radi? The tone in the manual certainly suggests it, and it’s definitely her style, but…’
Among the traps yet to come, one might have been designed by one of my past companions.
As I processed this shocking revelation, my vision suddenly brightened and an open space materialized before me.
“You have reached the Mansion’s final destination, the Garden of Memories!”
“Clearing this place will allow you to temporarily seal the Distorted Space that has appeared in the mortal realm!”
“If you sought something within this Mansion, you will find it here!”
“Do your best to struggle and survive.”
“Then, I wish you good fortune.”
‘This is a Forest…?’
A space of verdant foliage, with broad-leafed trees densely shrouded in a hazy green.
In an instant, as a breeze blew from within the Forest and tickled my cheek, I started in alarm and cried out.
“Everyone stop! Don’t move a single step!”
This is definitely a trap set by that bastard Malton.
As I shouted in panic, Malton turned to me with a bewildered expression.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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