Miss Hebe Is Charging Through the Lostbelts! [17]

Hebe sat at the desk, lost in thought, confusion filling her dark-green eyes.

She had imagined she would encounter all kinds of difficulties inside the Lostbelt, but she had never expected to die that quickly.

“Not every Lostbelt has an environment this hostile. The War of the Roses obviously didn’t.” Hebe held a pen, unconsciously sketching arcs across the paper. “If I had left along the road earlier, could I have avoided being swallowed by the darkness?”

Hebe tossed the fountain pen aside, opened the simulation again, and projected herself inside.

…

The sky was dusky blue, the warm wind pleasant.

The instant Hebe regained consciousness, she turned and walked toward the nearest flat-roofed house.

There was no lock on the door. Hebe lifted her leg, kicked it open, and barged straight in.

At this point, the darkness had yet to descend. The man of the house had not returned, and inside the low, flat-roofed house were only a few children around Hebe’s age, boys and girls alike.

Hebe ignored them completely and began rummaging through chests and cabinets as if she were in her own home. She took a few pieces of linen and tied them into a bundle, stuffed the jerky she found inside, then filled a waterskin with fresh water.

Her swift, decisive movements intimidated the children at first. But once they realized what Hebe was doing, they began cursing and came at her.

Hebe’s response was very simple.

She picked up the sharp knife beside her, the one used for gutting fish.

The keen, cold glint made the children burst into sobs. Hebe took the opportunity to withdraw with the knife and leave—she had no intention of wasting time here.

By the time the mistress of the house heard the children crying and hurried over, only to discover that a robber had broken into her home, Hebe had already left the cluster of low, flat-roofed houses behind and stepped onto the wide, earthen-yellow road.

There was still plenty of time before nightfall.

“As expected. As long as I set off early enough, I won’t be caught by the sudden spread of the darkness.”

Hebe strode along the road, keeping a close watch on her surroundings.

She noticed that although both the road and the civilian settlements were protected by pale-blue barriers of light, the road and the settlements did not share the same protective barrier.

“Memphis is the capital of Egypt. Without some means of transportation, there’s no way I’ll reach it in a short time.” Hebe gripped the fish knife at her waist. “The priority is reaching the next civilian settlement.”

The darkness needed time to spread. It did not swallow everything instantly; instead, it surged from one area into the next.

The previous civilian settlement was one area, and this stretch of road was likewise an area.

Each of them could buy Hebe time to escape.

On either side of the wide, earthen-yellow road ran narrow channels, clear water flowing through them. These water sources could be used for watering horses.

At the moment, several horses were drinking there. Their owners sat by the roadside, resting as they gnawed on dry rations.

Hebe narrowed her eyes, then quickened her pace and walked past as though she had no interest in them at all.

The horse owners merely raised their heads to look at Hebe before lowering them again and continuing to deal with their chickpea-mixed bread.

When Hebe passed the last horse, her pace slowed slightly.

Aside from the necessary tack, this horse carried no supplies.

The horse owners noticed nothing.

Hebe vaulted onto the horse, took down the riding crop hanging beside the saddle, and swung it hard.

The riding skills she had trained in the previous Lostbelt finally had a use. The brown horse obediently came under Hebe’s control and broke into a cheerful gallop, all four hooves flying.

Only then did the horse owners react. But before their curses could even ring out, Hebe had already ridden away.

With the speed of wind and lightning, she vanished alone in a cloud of dust at the end of the road.

It was a kind of freedom she had not felt in a long time. Unfortunately, Hebe did not get to enjoy it for long, because the sky began to darken.

The “darkness” was about to descend.

She could almost imagine the first civilian settlement being swallowed by it.

Fortunately, the outline of the second settlement was already visible on the horizon. Points of lamplight shone at the end of the road.

Several warriors holding weapons stood at the road’s end, blocking Hebe’s path.

While she was still on the road, Hebe began breathing deeply, then shouted, “I’m carrying a message to Memphis—the ‘darkness’ has descended behind us!”

She was gambling.

Thankfully, she won.

Those words made the armed warriors quickly clear the road. Hebe passed straight through the center of the road they were guarding.

As she passed them, someone even threw her a bag packed with food.

“Go to Memphis, messenger!” the warriors shouted after Hebe. “We’ll hold the line here!”

“Do not let the Plague of Osiris spread!”

The Plague of Osiris. They called the descending darkness the “Plague of Osiris”?

Hebe was shocked, yet also felt it was fitting.

In legend, Osiris was murdered through a scheme by his younger brother Set, god of the desert. Afterward, he was revived in the form of a mummy and became the ruler of the underworld and judge of the dead. He was the king of the underworld, the one who judged whether people could obtain eternal life after death.

And that darkness, which stripped away all light and life without discrimination—was it not the manifestation of “Osiris falling into the underworld”?

Understanding dawned on Hebe, and she drove the swift horse onward.

…

The setting sun fell upon the desert, coating the dunes in brilliant gold.

Along the way, Hebe’s identity as a messenger provided her with enormous convenience. No matter how heavily guarded a settlement was, as long as she shouted “Plague of Osiris,” its gates would open to her, and every kind of supply would be provided.

After four days and five nights of hard riding, Hebe had already changed horses several times, and her body was nearing its limit. Yet her spirit was growing more and more exhilarated, as though something were about to sprout within her through this process.

Finally, just as the gold-and-purple twilight was about to dissolve into the sky, a golden point suddenly appeared at the far end of the horizon.

Hebe pressed her lips together, leaned low, and launched her final sprint along the wide road.

That golden point grew larger and larger, more and more complete.

The sun’s afterglow poured leisurely down from the sky, tracing the lines of the golden peak downward and joining it brilliantly to the boundless desert.

A pyramid. A magnificent pyramid.

Their forms transcended time. Whether yesterday, thousands of years in the past, or tomorrow, thousands of years in the future, they always stood aloof, as if making a declaration.

Even after civilization itself, conquered time and again, became a prisoner buried beneath sand and gravel, they silently remembered everything, serving as the tombs of civilization itself.

Around the three pyramids, the Nile passed through the fertile delta, surging northward.

Memphis, the capital of all Upper and Lower Egypt, was located here. On the outermost edge were low houses of stone and wood. From the outside inward, the terrain gradually rose, with temples, towers, obelisks, and numerous palaces arranged one after another. White stone walls divided the inner and outer city, and long, milky-white steps extended from the inner city down to the roads of the outer city.

Hebe pulled on the reins.

Sitting atop her sweat-drenched mount, she watched as a warrior wearing armor and a falcon-feather crown walked toward her.

Before he could come to a stop, Hebe began speaking.

“The ‘Plague of Osiris’ descended four days ago at the twenty-seventh settlement south of Memphis.”

Even she was surprised by how hoarse her voice had become, yet it carried a ringing force that struck straight to the heart.

The pattern of falcon feathers on the warrior abruptly distorted, turning into words that only Hebe could see.

[YOU HAVE REACHED THE CAPITAL OF ALL EGYPT, THE WHITE CITY, MEMPHIS. UPON YOUR FIRST ARRIVAL HERE, AN AUTOSAVE WILL BE CREATED FOR YOU.]

[CURRENT LOSTBELT PROGRESS: 10%.]

[YOU MAY CHOOSE TO TEMPORARILY EXIT THE CURRENT LOSTBELT. THE NEXT TIME YOU LOG IN, YOU WILL CONTINUE THE CONQUEST FROM THIS TIME AND PLACE.]

Hebe let out a breath of relief and whispered in her heart, Log out.

The scene before her eyes instantly became like rippling water, breaking apart into fragments.

The magnificent pyramids gradually faded away.

Hebe saw the mildew stains on the wall of the secondhand shop.

She had returned to reality.

T/N: woooowza she’s kinda goated

This is a fan translation of 赫柏小姐正在杀出异闻带！ by 青散人 Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!