The Ancient God's Orb

Ser-Aria had come into the room with me.

I never saw that coming.

No—I hadn't even realized she'd entered with me. When the hell did that happen?

Huh?

Thinking back carefully… when we finished off the Lizard Lord together at the end, Ser-Aria's skill message never seemed to pop up.

I'd assumed of course she was finishing it alongside us… but I'd been far too careless.

"What's that?"

"Uh…"

Ser-Aria pointed curiously at the jewel I was holding. I agonized for a long while over how to explain it.

"……Just a bead."

But all I managed to spit out was an excuse that wouldn't fool anyone. Not only could I not think of a better one, but if I told the truth there was a real risk of it being taken away.

It was an item that permanently increased mana—something hard to train unless you were born with it. There was no way the other party members wouldn't covet it just because they were comrades.

Ser-Aria showed her curiosity as expected.

"Isn't that a super useful item? Looking at how it was hidden in a place like this, I've got a feeling."

I flinched. But no good excuse came to mind.

Sneaking into a room like this just to find an ordinary bead would be even weirder. She had to know I'd come looking because something was here….

"Allen, you really researched this dungeon a lot. Knowing about something like this."

"……"

See? She'd already figured it all out.

"Looking at how secretly you came to get it, I'm a bit tempted…"

Ser-Aria's black eyes moved—straight toward the jewel in my hand.

Ah, no. Don't covet this—just drink your booze!

"It's a pretty decent item, isn't it?"

But my desperate inner cry was useless. Ser-Aria was already showing deep interest in the jewel.

This really couldn't happen. Without this, even if I obtained other hidden pieces later they'd be completely useless. I wouldn't be able to equip the items I found—what good would any of it do?

But if this girl asked for it here, I had no way to refuse. The jewel wasn't more important than my life… right?

The moment I tensed up completely—

"…Puhaha!!"

Ser-Aria suddenly burst out laughing. I stared at her blankly for a moment, but she showed no sign of stopping.

"Wh-what…?"

"Puhaha, Allen. This is exactly why I say you're fun."

"…What?"

"You really thought I'd snatch that away?"

"Huh?"

It wasn't?

When I looked at her with those eyes, she snickered and spoke.

"Allen, you found it, right? Then it's yours. I'll pretend I didn't see it."

"…Really?"

"Of course! Hmm, but looking at your reaction… you really thought this Noonim would take it?"

"……No?"

I put on a thick face.

"We're comrades, right? I thought Aria would never do something like that."

"Puhaha!"

Ser-Aria laughed heartily. Judging by her attitude… she truly had no intention of robbing the hidden item I'd found.

Unexpectedly… except for the drinking, she might be a pretty flexible long-ears in other areas.

"…Anyway, thanks. For even pretending not to see it."

I was truly relieved. Honestly, even if Ser-Aria didn't snatch it, if she told the other party members about this jewel that would be a problem in itself.

…This was all because I'd acted carelessly like an idiot. From now on I had to make sure I never got caught again.

"…But Allen."

"Huh?"

"Why are you suddenly looking for an item like that?"

"…What do you mean?"

"Ah, I don't mean anything weird. You saying you'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠take command of the battle today, and suddenly looking for items… it feels different from usual."

Ser-Aria asked, looking at me.

"You used to hate fighting and stuff, right?"

The drunk girl was asking a surprisingly sharp question. As I briefly wondered how to answer, Ser-Aria slightly raised her head and looked straight at me.

"…Are you planning to leave the party?"

"…Huh?"

I was startled for a moment, but quickly shook my head vigorously.

"No, no! What are you talking about. Why would I leave the party? I just thought I wanted to be a bit more helpful to the party, that's all—I didn't have any other thoughts!"

Wow, if she'd noticed I was really flustered I'd have been screwed. She suddenly hit me with that out of nowhere—I was surprised.

I absolutely couldn't let that be found out. These crazy bitches wouldn't easily let go of their sucker of a porter. If they found out I was doing this to leave the party, who knew how their attitudes would change.

Fortunately my excuse seemed to work, as Ser-Aria laughed a bit awkwardly.

"Ah, right? Haha! Well, where would you go leaving this Noonim behind!"

Fortunately Ser-Aria easily accepted my words. I added one more explanation for her.

"Haha… the reason I'm looking for items like this is… our party doesn't have a mage, right? I thought it might be good if I could fill that role."

"Puhaha, you were thinking such admirable thoughts?"

Ser-Aria gulped down her booze and said,

"But you don't need to feel too burdened, Allen. Even if you don't fight, the party's combat power will be plenty enough!"

"Huh?…Ah, yeah. Probably."

Of course it would be. Whether I learned magic or not, these guys' combat power would never be lacking.

But this was a matter of my survival. I couldn't give up.

"Then I'll head out first! Come out carefully and secretly!"

"Yeah…"

Ser-Aria opened the door and left first.

…I'm really glad.

If that mesugaki had been the one who caught me instead of Ser-Aria, it might have been a real disaster.

"Well then…"

It was time to eat this. It looked like a hard bead no one would ever swallow, but as the status message had shown, it was something to be ingested.

I swallowed the jewel I was holding in one gulp. It was a bit hard to just swallow, so I opened the water flask I had and drank, and it slid down smoothly.

"……?"

No change at all….

Ding-a-ling!!

"!"

While feeling nothing special, three messages unfolded one after another before my eyes.

I hadn't felt any special sensation or change… but it seemed to have applied normally. Time to check.

It worked!

Admiration came out on its own. The mana stat that had been stamped with the despairing number of zero had jumped straight up to 100. I couldn't raise my voice lest it be heard outside, but I felt like I could fly.

If I built it up little by little like this… I could help the party, and if the stress got too much later and I couldn't take it anymore, I could even go solo.

"First…"

Getting outside seemed like the priority. The sounds were quieting, so it seemed they'd succeeded in dealing with the Lizard Lord.

The moment I slipped carefully out of the room, the Lizard Lord thudded to the floor and the dungeon interior shook heavily.

"…Perfect."

None of the party members were injured. Not only the Lizard Lord—Letisia's spirits had cleanly cleaned up the subordinate lizardmen as well.

"Everyone worked hard!"

"What, when did you come down~?"

"Ah, it seemed like everything was wrapping up."

"Not yet."

Freya said.

"You said traces of the Demon King's army were found. We still haven't found that."

That was true… but seeing no signs while the Lizard Lord was falling, it didn't seem like the Demon King's army was here.

I'd assumed of course a hidden boss would appear, but was that not it?

The status messages aren't reacting at all either.

If it was the type where a hidden boss appeared, a warning message would have come out. But the messages that always informed of the situation were far too quiet, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and nothing appeared nearby.

"But what was the discovered trace of the Demon King's army?"

"I think they said something left by the Magic Legion Commander was found… right, Erinn?"

At Freya's question, Erinn nodded.

The Magic Legion Commander, as the name suggested, was one of the 'Legion Commanders' who practically led the Demon King's army and ranked among the high executives.

It was surprising that such a big shot had left a trace in this early dungeon. There had been no such foreshadowing when playing on Extreme difficulty.

…As expected, is this world based on Extreme Hell difficulty?

Seeing changes I'd never seen before, this speculation seemed correct.

"The Magic Legion Commander Arcel left something in this dungeon, that grandpa said so~♡"

"You shouldn't casually call His Majesty the Emperor 'grandpa', Erinn."

"He's not even in front of us, so what does it matter~? And he is a grandpa♡"

An artifact of the Magic Legion Commander?

The Magic Legion Commander was specialized in magic, befitting the moniker. If such a commander left an artifact here, it would naturally be something related to mana….

……Mana?

I had just found something very deeply related to mana a little while ago….

No, no way.

It's unrelated. Yeah, let's believe that.

No way a hidden piece would be an artifact dropped by a Demon King's Legion Commander.

I glanced at Ser-Aria, and she seemed to have noticed no connection at all. That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a really fortunate part. Maybe because her intelligence stat was a bit on the low side.

"Then shall we look around the area once?"

"That would be good."

At Freya's suggestion, Letisia agreed.

Uh, wait.

If we looked around now, these guys with good senses would find that room over there, and the treasure chest would be discovered too.

…What to do about this?

As I was slightly worrying, just as we were about to scatter, the entire dungeon suddenly rumbled heavily. Not only me—even Letisia and Freya, whose agility stats were a bit lower among the party, lost their balance.

The only ones standing fine were the three with agility stats over 200. They lightly scanned the surroundings, then Erinn lightly chuckled and said,

"It was hiding lecherously, huh~ Just like Allen♡"

I belatedly saw what Erinn was talking about. It wasn't that I didn't notice—it had been completely invisible earlier because it was dark. The party members except me seemed to have noticed with the [Sixth Sense] trait.

Thud!!

The footsteps were heavy. In contrast the movement was slow, taking quite some time just to reveal itself from the darkness.

"…A golem?"

The one that appeared from the darkness was a giant golem with its entire body dyed black. If it was an Obsidian Golem, it was originally a mob that appeared in the mid-game of Extreme difficulty.

Why already…? Is it because the difficulty rose one stage?

"…Huh?"

Artifact?

If there was an artifact in the dungeon, it was only the Ancient God's Orb I had ingested. There was nothing else grand enough to call an artifact.

Then the one who seized the artifact was….

At that moment, Ser-Aria's gaze flicked toward me and passed. Her expression after deliberately withdrawing her gaze was extremely troubled.

No, this…

Did I wake it up?