Following the Golden Signposts Through the Dungeon
The golden signposts guided us smoothly through the dungeon. The place was crumbling and unstable in spots, but God's miracles have a way of steering you clear of even those dangers.
Still, a dungeon's a dungeon. Monsters kept popping up, and for a training dungeon meant for students, some of them were a bit too dangerous. The one that appeared right now was definitely not suitable for educational purposes.
Thud! Claude scowled at the monster looming before him.
"…Why the hell is a drake in a dungeon where kids are training?"
A drake. Distant descendants of dragons that lurk in caves or swamps. Compared to real dragons, they're puny—about the size of a bear, no wings, just oversized lizards. Of course, that's only weak relative to dragons. Drakes can spew fire hot enough to incinerate a person to ash, and their scales deflect both swords and spells…
Crack! Claude approached the beast casually and snapped its neck with his bare hand.
"Your Highness."
"What?"
Something's off. Do drake bones snap like twigs?
"Aren't you going to use the sword at your waist?"
And sure enough, Claude had taken out every monster we'd encountered so far—bare-handed.
"Then blood would splatter. Monster blood stinks, and I hate it."
He had freaked out earlier when goblin blood splashed on him. Well, whatever—no blood for me to see, so I'm good. But if he's gonna do that, why bother wearing a sword?
"Hold up, the arrow stops here."
"Does it? Then probably…"
I scanned our surroundings carefully with my clairvoyance. That's when I spotted a wall that felt oddly out of place compared to the rest. Same material, but it had this brand-new vibe.
"Your Highness, check this out."
"Huh, yeah, this wall's weird. Step back a sec."
Claude examined it briefly, then pushed me aside.
"What are you—"
"Gotta pull out whatever's back there."
Bam! And just like that, he smashed the wall with his bare fist, like it was the most natural thing.
Behind the shattered wall was a small space big enough for several people. A bunch of thoughts crossed my mind, but I kept them to myself. After all, he'd just snapped a drake bare-handed a minute ago.
"Ah…"
Anyway, four students stared back at us from inside, their faces pale as ghosts. No teacher with them, it seemed.
"You kids okay?"
I bent down with a smile to keep from startling them.
"Y-you can't go outside…! There's a drake out there!"
One of the girls blurted it out in a trembling voice. Now it made sense. They'd run into the drake in the dungeon and ducked in here in a panic. Even Arcanum Academy students, talented as they are, are still just kids—running or hiding was the smart call.
"This guy?"
"Uh… a drake?"
Claude, casually dragging in the drake's corpse like it was no big deal. He's the weird one here.
"Drake's taken care of, so you're safe. Anyway, is it just you four here?"
"Y-yeah! We got lost and fell behind… The others are probably up ahead."
Makes sense. Considering how long they'd been in here, the faster groups could've reached the boss room by now. We were about midway, so from here on, we'd start running into trapped students.
"Got it. Head out of the dungeon for now. We've cleared all the monsters on the way here, so you should be fine."
"For real…? It wasn't just the drake—monsters were pouring out everywhere…"
Pouring out? We'd fought a few on the way, but nothing that dramatic.
"Yeah, the teacher took care of them all on the way in. You're good."
They looked terrified, so first things first: calm them down.
"And for the way back, follow this."
I pulled a memo sheet from my pocket and folded it into a paper crane. Then I infused it with holy power and prayed for it to guide them safely out…
Flutter.
"Whoa—"
The paper crane glowed gold and floated up, leaving the students gaping in awe. It gestured like it was saying, Follow me!
"Alright, head out carefully."
"Got it! Thanks for saving us, Teacher!"
I waved as they left the dungeon. Holy power's glow has this soothing effect that calms people and brings peace—just the thing for moments like this. Kinda nice how origami from bored infirmary shifts comes in handy.
"……I took care of all the monsters."
Once they were gone, Claude trudged over with a pout.
"I purified the corpses, didn't I? So it's not wrong."
"Shameless."
"Just trying to calm the kids down. Cut me some slack."
Some monsters release toxic gas from their bodies. Just in case, I'd purified everything Claude killed.
"Sigh. Fine, teach me that paper trick later."
"The paper thing? But that requires free control over holy power…"
"Not that. The bird fold you just did."
"Oh, the paper crane? Easy to teach. But why?"
"…Just."
Never pegged Claude for an origami fan. Back in the day, my sister and I killed time with it during endless temple prayers. Who knew he'd like this stuff? Kinda like the Crown Prince. Siblings take after each other, huh?
"Sure. I'll show you when we get back to the academy."
With that, we focused on finding more students. Luckily, things went smoothly after the first group.
"Thank you, Teacher!"
We even ran into other teachers searching for their groups.
"Ah, you must be the new Erdel teacher everyone's talking about. Thanks. We'll check the other direction."
For injured kids I found, I'd heal them and make blessed paper cranes to guide them out safely. They looked like plain origami, but hand-folded and blessed by a saintess? Each one's basically a holy relic. Former saintesses' gloves went for hundreds of millions per pair— these cranes probably fetch a few hundred grand easy.
My sister did tell me to stop mass-producing relics, though. If she finds out, I'll never hear the end of it.
…It's for saving kids, so it'll be fine, right?
"How's Lady Eleanor doing?"
Claude asked as we kept searching.
"…Lucille should be fine for now."
Thankfully, her group's situation was stable. Impressively, Lucille had soloed a drake and several other monsters attacking them, and she'd even done emergency treatment on their severely injured teacher. Plenty of breathing room.
"Good to hear. I do have to keep an eye on Lady Eleanor."
"Really? You didn't seem interested in the other students."
Probably why the signposts hadn't led straight to her. They pointed to wherever help was most urgently needed—or closest.
The first group had bricked themselves in so well they'd nearly suffocated; no oxygen in a sealed space. That's why they were so pale. Ten more minutes, and it would've been bad.
"She's my fiancée, for one. If I ignored her, Father might chew me out."
"…Huh?"
Wait. Who did he just say was whose fiancée?
"Lucille's your fiancée…?"
"No plans to actually marry, obviously. We're just engaged because our interests align."
"Some adult arrangement?"
Claude nodded like it was obvious.
Adult arrangements. Common in noble circles. Not that I, raised on temple rations, knew the details.
"We'll break it off after academy graduation anyway."
"You can just do that?"
"Having a fiancée keeps things convenient. No clingy ladies approaching, no annoying proposals."
"But unlike you, Lucille might be serious… Why go along with it?"
Claude's eyes went wide at my question, like I'd stunned him.
"Hahaha! Lady Eleanor seriously wants to marry me? No way. She was the one who proposed it in the first place."
"Lucille did?"
He burst out laughing, then dropped an even bigger bombshell.
I'd figured Claude initiated, but Lucille? Wild.
"I was already stressing over marriage stuff, so when the duke's daughter offered, it was a relief."
"Surprising. You, sure—but why would Lucille suggest it?"
"Who knows? Heir issues, probably. Marry into another noble house, and you're stuck there."
Hmm. Is this that noble infighting you hear about? Feels like another world from my temple life.
"Right now, Lady Eleanor's feuding with her brother over the family succession."
"They call that a sibling fight?"
"Anyway, it's their mess."
Claude smirked, watching the fire from across the river.
"Engaging me keeps her family from forcing a marriage while she's at the academy."
"Did it have to be you?"
"Imperial promises carry weight. Even a ducal house can't break them lightly. That's probably why she picked me."
So, a business engagement. Mutual benefits, win-win.
"Hmm, now that you mention…"
"What?"
Claude stopped dead, lost in thought.
"…Nah, just a hunch. Lady Eleanor isn't that ruthless."
But he shook it off and kept walking.
"What is it?"
"Something like that."
"Like what?"
"You'd get hurt knowing. I could handle it, but you? Might vanish without a trace."
He mimed slitting his throat playfully, but his eyes said it wasn't entirely a joke.
"You always gotta make people curious."
"Your reaction's the fun part."
"Wow… Even demons wouldn't stoop that low."
I dropped it. I'd heard it plenty at Arcanum and the temple: stay out of noble politics.
"If you're that curious, I could tell you—but in exchange—"
"Oh, students up ahead."
"…Yeah."
We spotted another group: Serpia and Trius's team. They'd seen us too. Still a ways off, but close enough to make out.
"Looks like one's injured over there. Better hurry and treat them."
"Right. Let's go."
"Wait. Something's off."
For some reason, Trius was frantically signaling an X with his arms from afar, like don't come! His mouth moved too, but no sound reached us despite the distance.
"…Trap, probably."
"Yeah. Scratches on the floor and walls from blades or spears."
The hallway stretched unnaturally straight. Sound blocked too. And crucially, our signpost had ended just before it. No detour options either.
"Stay here, then. I'll handle it alone."
"It's a trap."
"At worst, some arrows or spears flying at me. No big deal."
With that, Claude strode forward. Sure enough, magic spears and arrows rained down like a storm. Not a single one so much as scratched him—they all bounced off. He even stood there like he was showering, showing off his invincibility.
"See? But without me, what're you gonna do if you need healing? Know any treatment spells?"
"……."
His ears turned red as he slunk back quietly.
Yeah, what could Claude do solo? Proving the trap didn't disarm it for the others. I'd come into the dungeon for injuries and traps like this.
"Tell me that sooner…"
He rubbed his face, mumbling.
Super embarrassed, huh?
"Plus, no other way around. Go fetch a trap specialist?"
"That'd take too long. We don't have the luxury."
I stood at the passage entrance, clasped my hands, and prayed. Prayer wouldn't disarm it, but there are plenty of ways to pass traps safely. Claude might not need it, but why not?
"Wanna try again?"
"What? Why?"
"Just go."
"Not training a dog here… What'd you do now?"
Grumbling, he stepped back into the trap. Been a while since I did this myself—better test it on Claude to be sure.
Another barrage of arrows.
"I can tank these all day…"
He emerged unscathed again, but this time it was different. The arrows weren't just bouncing—they swerved around him on their own.
"…What are you, really?"
Claude gawked at me.
"Just your average school nurse?"
I smiled innocently. No wonder subjugation teams always called for the saintess in dungeons. Reasons abound.
Though my sister could pull this off easy too.