My Creations Followed Me to Another World-Chapter 24: Hollow

The walk from the Ledger was silent. Too silent.

The cold, paper-dry air of Corva’s vault faded behind them, replaced by the damp smell of the Undercity. But the chaos of the Market-Below was gone. These tunnels were cleaner, wider. Gas lamps hissed in the walls, steady and calm.

Jek led the way, and he was a different man now. The smirk was gone. The swagger too. He walked like someone escorting explosives.

"The Hollow ain’t the Market," he said without turning around. His voice was low, flat. "The Market’s loud. Messy. Full of idiots. The Hollow’s for pros. So keep your voices down. If you make a mess, I have to clean it."

He finally glanced back.

"Don’t make me clean."

No one spoke.

Hana’s hand was locked on Shivvy’s shoulder. Her face was tight with fury she didn’t dare release.

47 drifted silently at Dante’s back. Only the shifting gaslight on her visor proved she was more than a shadow.

The tunnel opened into a huge cavern.

The Hollow.

Where the Market was chaos stacked on chaos, the Hollow was quiet and flat, carved into a giant old cistern. Glowing moss lit the ceiling a hundred feet up, dripping water into a still, black pool at the center.

A smooth stone walkway circled it. Only stone houses cut into the walls, each with a heavy iron door. Figures moved in the shadows.

This was the Undercity’s elite district. The home of killers.

"Here," Jek said. He stopped at a door marked with a chalked ’7’. "Hollow-7. Clean, quiet, sound-proof."

He looked at Dante’s group, expression unreadable.

"Your problems stay yours."

He handed Dante a heavy iron key, then held up Corva’s black ledger.

"Your first assignment. Gilded Hand job. Read it. Memorize it. Burn it. Don’t—seriously—don’t take it outside the room."

"Understood," Dante said.

"Food’s at the Spring. Info’s at the Whisper-Den. Don’t die. Bad for accounting."

And just like that, Jek vanished back into the shadows.

Dante stood there a moment, key in one hand, ledger in the other. His party looked worn thin.

Hana pale and shaking.

Shivvy trembling at the door.

47 scanning the balconies above them.

A soft ping flickered in Dante’s mind.

[TWO WATCHERS. GUILD-AFFILIATED. OBSERVING.]

Of course they were.

"Right," Dante sighed. His buff faded, leaving only exhaustion.

He turned the key. The lock clicked softly.

Inside, the room was bare but clean: four cots, a small fireplace, a table, four stools.

A basic inn room. Or a prison cell.

Still... safer than outside.

The door shut behind them with a dull thud.

Hana let out a shaking breath.

"Thank the gods," she whispered, her shoulders dropping. She moved straight to the fireplace, as if the cold stones could comfort her. "It’s clean..."

That alone was enough to make her knees wobble.

Shivvy finally broke. She pressed into Hana’s side and sobbed, clutching her [Gray Rabbit] plush until its button eyes bulged.

The tension snapped.

"What have you done?"

Hana’s voice wasn’t loud. But it shook. She turned to Dante, shielding Shivvy behind her. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"On retainer?" she said, her voice cracking. "You made us servants. You sold a child to that woman."

"Hana, no. That’s not—"

"We had a choice!" she shouted.

A cold voice cut her off.

"Incorrect."

47 stepped forward, calm as ice.

"The exit was sealed. The guide was ready to intercept. Mistress Corva showed no weaknesses. Any attack would result in total party loss."

Her visor flashed another message to Dante.

[ROOM SECURE. ONE EXIT. TWO WATCHERS OUTSIDE. HOLDING CELL.]

"Helpful," Dante muttered.

"A holding cell," Hana repeated. "You hear her? And you traded Shivvy for it!"

She knelt and held the girl close. Shivvy’s sobs were small but sharp enough to hurt.

Dante swallowed hard.

"I didn’t trade her. I showed we had value. All of us. It was the only way to keep Corva from taking her."

Hana rose again, eyes bright with anger.

"She looked at Shivvy like a tool. A key. And she’ll keep using her until she breaks. What happens when the next lock is guarded by the Spire?"

Silence.

"The Spire was the other option," Dante said, his voice rough. "Choice One. Remember? They’d tear us apart. Literally."

He slammed the ledger on the table. Shivvy flinched.

"This room?" He gestured around. "This is the best outcome we had."

The room went still.

Hana’s anger softened into something sadder.

47 stood like a statue.

And Shivvy’s tears slowed.

Dante dropped into a stool, head in his hands. He’d been thrown into all this, and now the lives of his own creations sat on his shoulders.

After a long moment, Hana tucked Shivvy into a cot, rabbit and all. Then she sat across from Dante at the table. Her face was tired, not angry now—just hurt.

Dante pushed the ledger toward her.

"Our first job. A test. A trial run."

"To rob the Gilded Hand," Hana whispered.

"To retrieve her property," Dante corrected, the phrase tasting like poison. "We do this, and she said we can talk about a better contract."

"And if we fail?"

Dante looked at her.

"She said the Spire will be the least of our worries."

A tear slid down Hana’s cheek.

They were owned. Trapped. And the only path forward was through fire.

Dante opened the ledger.

Inside, on the first page, was a single line in Corva’s elegant handwriting.

Asset Retrieval: The Sun-stone of the Regent.