Dungeon of Trials (Interlude)
Why on earth is she here...?
When I last saw her, she seemed buried up to her ears in magic research back in the infirmary, so when did she even follow us out here? I hadn't sensed her at all.
There's no way I couldn't have noticed, though...?
Not to toot my own horn, but my sensory perimeter covered an immense radius. Even if she had been tailing us in secret, slipping past my detection should have been flatly impossible.
Which left only two possibilities. Either she had noticed me slipping out beforehand, tagged me with a tracking spell, and flown over at breakneck speed once we entered the dungeon—or she possessed some kind of high-speed transit spell. It had to be one or the other. Tailing me on foot from the very start was completely out of the question.
Whichever it is...
Letting them know I was awake felt like an invitation to a massive headache. Besides, as bad as I felt for Evan and Danas, hiking all the way back to the Academy from here would be pure torture. For all my divine power as a Saintess, healing flesh doesn't stop your lungs from burning when you run out of stamina.
Did ancient Saints really trek those obscene distances on foot...?
Just walking this little bit felt like it was going to kill me. The thought of journeying across entire continents to subjugate the Demon King filled me with genuine awe.
Should I consider myself lucky to be living at the Academy?
Well... calling it "living at the Academy" was a bit rich, given how many incidents had erupted lately. I had barely spent any time sitting through actual lectures. Still, starting today, things should stay quiet for a while. It would be best to get some real rest, think through what incident was slated to hit next, and prepare for it.
Until then, Evan could use that necklace to accelerate his growth as much as possible, while I expanded my divine power pool and honed my precision control. After all, the next disaster would unfold during the first-semester exams.
I leaned a little deeper into Evan's back.
Comfy...
At first, embarrassment had made me look for an angle to wake up and get down, but remaining piggybacked like this was surprisingly cozy. Besides, had his back always been this broad? It hadn't been that long since we first met, but maybe because I'd stared at him so much in the game, he sometimes felt like a younger brother I wanted to look after. Yet seeing him reliably bring down that giant golem and claim the necklace without my help filled me with proud affection.
Would piggybacking feel awkward or uncomfortable? Not particularly.
It's not like his hands are wandering with sleazy intent...
Thankfully, Evan didn't harbor any such degenerate tastes. He kept his forearms securely hooked under my thighs to avoid brushing my rear. Not that there was anything worth copping a feel of in the first place. What kind of weirdo would get excited over a scrawny board like this?
Still, I did feel a twinge of pity. Having such an utterly unexciting, flat body to carry. Oh well, as the Hero, you'll get plenty of chances to fool around with various beauties later, so just hang in there a little longer, kiddo.
...More importantly, I was actually getting drowsy. Should I just fall asleep for real?
At first, I had only pretended to be asleep out of embarrassment, planning to fake waking up at a convenient moment. But somehow, it had turned into a VIP express ride back to the Academy. Sure, I wanted an easy trip back, but getting carried on someone's back definitely hadn't been my original scheme.
Intentional or not, though, I wasn't about to abandon this plush ride. Come on, didn't I work my tail off getting us out here? For an Evan who would have taken ages to develop naturally, I dragged him all the way to the mountain's depths, helped him through the trial, and secured the necklace. Surely I was entitled to this much compensation?
If I opened my eyes now, they would interrogate me with a barrage of questions, so there was zero reason to wake up. And if I was already reluctant before, Stella's sudden appearance completely sealed the deal.
I had expected an awkward chill since Danas was a complete stranger to Stella, but she only showed a hint of stiffness when addressing him. Otherwise, they were walking along and chatting smoothly enough—talking about what the necklace was like, how they couldn't figure out its powers, and so forth.
Though asking Evan to hand over the necklace so she could study it was a bit cheeky, wasn't it...? If that necklace fell into anyone's hands other than the Hero's, it reverted into a plain, inert trinket until returned to him. Considering what was sealed inside, that was only natural. As a researcher, she might glean something eventually, but certainly nothing in a short span of time. Magic or not, decoding monumental ancient engineering wasn't a walk in the park.
So reject her. Just carrying it passively accelerates growth rate and smooths the path toward awakening as the Hero—it's an absurdly broken item, so you'd better keep a tight grip on it.
"Sorry. I don't know why, but I've got a gut feeling I shouldn't part with it."
Attaboy. Well done.
"Aw, too bad," Stella pouted, jutting out her lower lip in mild disappointment, to which Evan offered an apologetic, sheepish grin.
Hm? Wait a second.
I hadn't noticed before, but were these two always this chummy? They had shown glimpses of warming up to each other previously, but right now they looked like bona fide close friends. No, maybe even more than that...
Hmm...
Well, well. Am I going to have to unleash the toxic virtual-romance shipper inside me again?
Even back when I played the game, I was the type who desperately rooted for the side characters to hook up. Seeing Evan and Stella get along so well was inherently delightful. If they keep interacting like this, one of them will eventually confess, and as the cast expands one by one, Evan's glorious harem will finally assemble.
Meanwhile, I'll maintain my immaculate Saint identity, smite the Demon King, and return to my original world. Evan becomes the grand savior with a thriving flock of wives, and I get to go back home after saving the day... Yeah. That's all that matters. Perfect.
"By the way, Stella."
"Hm?"
"How did you even get all the way out here?"
"...Ah."
Right. I wanted to know that too. When I scanned our surroundings before leaving, there definitely wasn't a soul following us. How did she pinpoint us and show up while we were inside the dungeon? How on earth did she track us down?
"Um... well... Aria's asleep, right?"
"Huh? She isn't the type to lie about something like that. Wait... you didn't do something to Aria, did you?"
"Ah, ahaha..."
Wait, don't tell me... Did she plant a real-time tracking spell on me?
"I was planning to show it off once it was finished... but the truth is, I've been developing a new spell."
"A new spell?"
Wait, already? She's barely an Upper-rank Mage, miles away from Archmage, and she's already inventing new spells?
I was genuinely shocked. Sure, she had the raw talent to reach Archmage if she applied herself, but pioneering an original spell while still an Upper-rank Mage was an astonishing feat. For an ordinary mage, it would be an absolute impossibility.
Evan's eyes widened in tandem. Clueless as he was about magic theory, even he knew developing a brand-new spell was no trivial matter.
Danas was practically gaping at Stella in utter astonishment. Having campaigned alongside adventurer mages of Upper-rank calibre in the past, he knew better than anyone just how absurdly difficult spell creation was.
Feeling their burning gazes, Stella scratched her head with an awkward giggle.
"I was just so worried about Aria... I wanted a spell that would let me rush to her side as fast as possible if anything ever happened."
"What kind of magic is it?"
"Um... I guess you could call it spatial teleportation?"
A jolt ran through my spine before I could catch myself. Spatial teleportation...?! That was a classification of magic Upper-rank Mages struggled just to cast, and she was actively developing a proprietary variant?
How does it work? Is she going to explain? I desperately wanted to know if it was an existing spell from the game. Completely forgetting my intention to doze off, I held my breath, eagerly anticipating Stella's next words.
After what felt like an eternity of wrestling with herself over whether to spill the beans, Stella gave an awkward grin.
"Mmm... nope, I'm keeping it a secret after all."
Hey! Building up that much hype and then clamming up is a crime against humanity!
"What?" Evan stared at her, flabbergasted by the sudden reversal.
"I mean, it feels cheap to brag about a spell that isn't even finished yet... It's better if I wait until it's perfected, right?"
"Well..." Evan clearly had plenty to say, but since disclosing arcane research was entirely at the discretion of the caster, he had no right to press further.
In the end, swallowed complaints and all, Danas and Evan nodded and let it slide.
But I'm different. Who do you think I am?
Once we get back, I'll just read the lingering thought waves on her research notes and uncover the whole spell myself. I'll be cooped up in the infirmary for a while anyway, so deciphering it won't be out of reach.
I will find out.
Mark my words!