Chapter 26
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Herrin (1)
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I remembered.
Hedi Merrigold.
The heroine who, while honing her swordsmanship to become a Sword Master, happens to meet the protagonist Cain at the academy.
The protagonist Cain is a swordsmanship genius, after all.
Drawn to his strength, Hedi initially approaches him with the intent to wring as much as she can from him, but as time passes, she develops feelings of love for him.
The girl who had been utterly sickened by men starts putting the etiquette she learned from her family to use from that point on.
She grooms her hair.
She does her makeup and dresses up, all to make a good impression on Cain.
In that process, Hedi vows to abandon her family—the one she had bitterly resented her whole life—for a fresh start, and changes her name.
That is 'Herrin,' shedding the Merrigold family name.
And so, people came to uniformly call her Herrin.
...All because of this.
That's why it had slipped my mind.
'Herrin' felt so natural that I had completely forgotten she originally had the name Hedi.
Moreover, this was before she started dressing up, so I didn't recognize her at all. A woman's before and after transformation really are like night and day...
It was understandable that I hadn't noticed.
But seeing her imitate my swordsmanship sealed it for me.
Herrin had an exceptional talent for absorbing sword techniques.
On top of that, I hadn't paid much attention to the heroine's storyline in the system.
I was obsessed with level-ups and stat increases, so I could only skim through the heroine's arc.
"Ugh..."
"......"
Looking down at her groaning beside the Twilight Queen's corpse, I thought to myself.
This was a real mess.
I had meddled in the heroine's storyline.
A story where I should have just left things alone.
My involvement as a variable had created an unexpected connection between her and me.
Because of that, what should have been a narrow awakening followed by her solo kill of the Twilight Queen...
...had left her critically wounded without even awakening.
...Probably my fault.
I finally pulled the magic stone from my pocket now that it had come back to me.
The magic stone glowing with blue light. The one that had previously absorbed my mana, which I had mined myself.
This wasn't a magic stone for general use.
This small crystal infused with blue mana and shimmering with a blue glow was...
A unique bound item exclusive to the heroine.
*
"Cough—!"
Writhing in agony on the ground, she spat up blood.
I needed to hurry.
Since I'd already gotten involved, I had to save her life, right?
I rummaged through the Twilight Queen's corpse with fervor.
And soon enough, I found it.
'...As expected.'
A glossy black sphere.
It was an inner core.
'Normally, only spirit-grade magic beasts carry them inside...'
But occasionally, mid-grade magic beasts that have lived long enough can have them too, at low odds.
...I knew this Twilight Queen had an inner core inside it.
Because...
'This place is an artificial farm designed specifically to produce inner cores.'
Details later.
I extracted the inner core from its innards.
Then I approached her, still suffering, and said,
"Hey!"
"U, ugh..."
I propped her body up with both hands.
"Deep breaths. Deep breaths! And..."
"...Ugh."
I placed the inner core in her hand and continued.
"Eat it. Eat this and meditate. Otherwise, you'll die!"
"......"
Whether she understood or not, her hands trembled as she shakily swallowed the inner core in her grasp.
-Gulp.
And at that moment.
"......!"
Her eyes shot wide open.
Soon, she clutched her dantian and began writhing in pain.
"Arghhh—!!"
"Keep it together! If you pass out now, it's over! Hurry and meditate!"
Forcing back the pain, she placed her hands on her crossed legs.
And began meditating.
"......"
-Shoooo...
Seeing her close her eyes and enter meditation, I finally let out a sigh of relief.
Her deeply furrowed expression gradually smoothed into a blank one.
...The immediate crisis was averted.
That inner core rapidly promotes overall physical growth.
Healing wounds around the dantian would be a piece of cake in its wake.
However, its effects explode all at once, so without meditation, she could die from shock.
Now that she's in meditation, her chances of dying are next to zero.
"Phew..."
Anyway, I'm already at 3-star or higher, so it wouldn't have much effect on me—I didn't need it.
No regrets there.
...I took out the magic stone I'd pulled earlier and examined it again.
The magic stone shaped like an ice crystal faintly shimmering blue.
As I said before, it's a unique bound item.
In the story, Hedi finds it only at the very end after defeating the Twilight Queen...
But I discovered it first.
Having absorbed my mana, it became a personal bound magic stone unusable by anyone else.
Its effect lets you store or manipulate mana, and if refined into a weapon, it's quite useful. That's what I know.
No guilt.
Finders keepers, right? I didn't steal it; I earned it fair and square.
I glanced at Hedi, still sweating as she focused on her meditation.
"......"
It pricked at me a little, but what could I do?
She's storyline-destined to become a Sword Master.
I never heard of this magic stone being crucial to that, so she'll be fine.
And I need this magic stone.
...To survive in this world, I have to grab everything and get stronger.
Even prepare for worst-case scenarios, like Cain recognizing me later and coming for revenge.
So this magic stone suits me better.
I'll make good use of it.
.
.
.
Finishing her meditation with her complexion restored, Hedi sensed the change in her body.
It felt lighter. Naturally, consuming an inner core at a low realm would make the effects profoundly felt.
Once she finished assessing her condition, she suddenly asked me,
"...Who the hell are you?"
Who am I?
Not some philosophical question about existence.
But I still didn't catch her intent.
As I kept looking puzzled, she rephrased impatiently.
"What do you do? A mid-term enrollee at the academy?"
I shook my head.
"Nope."
"No...? There's no way I wouldn't have noticed someone like you in the same classes..."
Of course you wouldn't notice. It'd be a problem if you did.
I'm in the middle of laundering my identity.
I don't want to be exposed or stand out.
That's why running into Hedi in this labyrinth threw me off.
"I just prefer living quietly."
"What's your realm? You used aura earlier."
"3-star."
Not precisely, but close enough.
"3-star...?!"
She looked shocked.
For our age, 3-star does sound impressive.
But objectively, I don't think it's that high.
The protagonist Cain reaches 7-star at sixteen and receives heaven's mark as a hero.
So at my level, I'm just average in this world.
Hedi's probably hit the cusp of 2-star after eating that inner core.
I figure growing enough not to die pointlessly anywhere is fine.
"...I don't really think my realm is that high."
"......"
I could feel Hedi staring at me curiously.
I deliberately avoided her gaze.
I'd gotten somewhat entangled with Hedi naturally, but she's someone who later sticks to Cain as Herrin.
I saved her, so no need to get more involved.
Time to keep my distance from here on.
I stood up.
"Anyway... once you're fully recovered, let's grab a part of the Twilight Queen's corpse and head out. We need to find a way out of this labyrinth before it gets any later."
Hedi nodded in agreement.
With that, we moved and exited the cave.
I handed her a few strips of jerky from the bag I'd brought.
I chewed on some jerky myself as we walked together, searching the cave.
'There has to be an escape magic stone around here somewhere.'
This was an artificial labyrinth.
An man-made dungeon. A farm crafted specifically to produce inner cores.
So if there's an entrance, there must be an exit.
Even though we'd defeated the final boss, the Twilight Queen, hordes of big spiders remained, so finding it quickly was safest.
Once we did, gather the rest of the party—Victor, Zeke, Monaka—and escape.
We kept walking.
About an hour in, subjectively speaking.
"Hold up."
"......?"
I stopped Hedi, who was following behind.
Something sounded off.
Footsteps... not quite like big spiders.
Another magic beast?
Soon, the thudding footsteps grew closer.
I calmly drew my sword and took stance.
From the darkness ahead, a figure gradually emerged.
By the time it fully appeared.
"...! Kid?!"
The figure who revealed himself seemed to recognize me and spoke.
I steadied my surprised heart upon seeing him too.
In this situation, it was almost a relief to see him.
"...Zeke?"
"Kid! It really is you! Haha...!"
It was Zeke.
As he approached, Hedi asked me curiously,
"Someone you know?"
I nodded and briefly explained he was a party member transferred here with me.
"You're alive. Zeke."
"Y-Yeah! More importantly, kid! I need your help...!"
Zeke looked ragged as he spoke to me.
Had he gone through hell in this labyrinth too?
His armor was battered and filthy all over, and his expression looked urgent.
"What's wrong?"
"Magic stone...! I found the escape magic stone!!"
"......!"
He found the escape magic stone?
Great news.
Hedi looked surprised by Zeke's words too.
"Where is it?!"
"I'll guide you. Looks like it needs mana infused to activate! So I need your help, kid!"
That's when it clicked.
This guy tried escaping alone, but it wouldn't activate, so he went looking for me.
A bit irritating, but I reluctantly nodded and told him,
"Lead the way."
With that, Zeke took the lead, and we followed.
*
Several big spider corpses lay scattered about.
I fell silent at the sight.
The mood chilled, and the surroundings went deathly quiet in an instant.
Hedi looked baffled, not understanding why.
...At the center of those corpses lay a single person.
No movement. Already dead.
A broken greatsword lay beside them.
I approached the corpse before me.
Sure enough, checking the pulse showed no hope—it had been dead for a while.
I turned and glared at Zeke.
And said,
"...What the hell happened here?"
"......"
He didn't answer.
He just stood there, maintaining silence about the whole situation.