Conquering the Academy Dungeon (2)
The road to the Academy dungeon entrance.
Phoebe simply could not hide the anxiety gnawing at her heart.
It was her promise that kept her feet moving, yet those steps kept faltering — stopping, turning back, then forcing themselves forward again. Again and again, her feet circled the same patch of ground.
The reason she was like this was painfully simple.
Because for the sake of a single question lodged in her heart, she had broken doctrine and given in to her own desire.
"Fool."
Phoebe had always preached, in every official sermon, that anyone could waver.
So long as one repented and steeled their heart anew, Armadi would surely grant forgiveness. What mattered, she would say, was not the sin itself but how one behaved afterward.
Yet now, in this very moment of her own transgression, Phoebe could not bring herself to believe a word of it.
Because in her mind, the sin she had committed was not the kind that could be absolved with a simple plea for pardon.
"Fool. Idiot."
However deeply her heart had wandered, how could she have done something like this?
Striking a bargain with the Apostle of an Evil God, of all people.
That night.
The night she had cursed her own petty heart and slipped out of the church.
The moment she had strode forward without hesitation to heal an injured stranger.
Phoebe had come face to face with one who carried the power of an Evil God.
Ordinarily, the instant she saw him, she should have summoned the Church to hunt him down. But she had not.
Because she had been bewitched by the words that spilled from his lips.
That promise — that he would answer every question burning inside her — had struck at the deepest chamber of Phoebe's heart, and so she had taken that single step forward.
'Does Lady Aln receive Armadi's love?'
At Phoebe's very first question, the man narrowed his eyes and let out a soft laugh.
'Why ask what you already know? Do you wish for her to be unloved?'
'That's not—!'
It was not that.
What she wished for was that everyone be loved equally. Not that anyone's love be stolen away.
Phoebe simply wanted—
Simply?
'I shall answer you. Yes. Lucy Aln is loved by Armadi. Why, she was chosen as Armadi's Apostle. How could she not be loved?'
The Apostle of Armadi.
The shock those words dealt Phoebe was anything but light.
Throughout all of history, Armadi had never kept an Apostle.
It was written plainly in scripture itself.
Because Armadi loved the world equally, He kept no Apostle of His own.
Common knowledge to anyone who served in the Church.
How could she not be shaken, hearing words that flew in the face of everything she knew?
'Lies.'
'Think what you like. I speak only the truth. It matters not how you choose to receive it.'
At the sight of Phoebe stumbling backward in denial, the man laughed as though he could no longer contain himself.
'How delightful. I'm in a good mood, so I'll answer one more question. Ask.'
'You'll just lie to me again.'
'Perhaps. But wouldn't it be better to hear it anyway?'
Phoebe hesitated.
Truly, even now, the right thing to do was to turn on her heel and walk away.
Bargain or no bargain, turning a blind eye was the correct course.
And yet Phoebe could not pull her feet free of the darkness.
'...I. Am I. Could I ever receive Armadi's love?'
'Ohh. Asking him that, of the Apostle of an Evil God?'
'...'
'That is far too expensive a question. Not one I can answer here and now. First, be healed. And then—'
"Ms. Heojeop Saintess?"
"Hyaagh?!"
At the voice behind her, Phoebe shrieked, lost her balance, staggered — and toppled straight forward.
Squeezing her eyes shut against the pain to come, she braced herself — but the impact never arrived.
Opening her eyes carefully, she found a gauntleted hand hooked firmly around her waist.
"What are you doing? Hoping to become a Scatterbrained Saintess to match your Scatterbrained friend?"
At the venom dripping from the voice beside her, Phoebe realized who had saved her.
Lucy Aln.
The very person she both longed and dreaded to see right now.
What do I do?
Even after rising to her feet with Lucy's help, Phoebe trembled as she stared down at the floor.
"What is it? Nervous? Scared? Turns out you're an even bigger loser than your friend, huh?"
"That's not it."
Phoebe shook her head at Lucy's words.
Entering the dungeon didn't frighten her in the slightest.
She had served as Saintess of the Church of the Main God, but she had hardly been raised like a hothouse flower.
Phoebe had entered real dungeons and faced monsters before — there was no way she would fear the Academy's training dungeon.
"Then what's wrong?"
Phoebe could not answer.
She couldn't answer.
How could she possibly say it aloud — that she was terrified of her bargain with the Apostle of an Evil God being exposed?
Especially to someone who might be Armadi's own Apostle.
Lucy would never know.
Would never know how much courage it had taken Phoebe to speak to her at all after that night.
Would never know that every time Phoebe saw her smile, she feared her own shadow would be exposed beneath the light of Armadi.
However much she longed to hide herself away in some church cell and offer prayers of atonement until the end of her days, there had been exactly one reason Phoebe swallowed her fear and approached Lucy.
She wanted to know why Lucy received Armadi's love.
She wanted to know what it was about this girl that had caught Armadi's heart.
And if she could just imitate her, maybe she too could be loved by Armadi.
Maybe she too could hear that voice.
That was why Phoebe stood here now, straining with all her might to smother the fear.
While she fidgeted with her hands, staring at the floor and utterly lost, Lucy strode right under the curtain of Phoebe's long hair, ducked beneath it, then tilted her face up to look at her with her usual insufferable grin.
"You are scared, aren't you?♡ Pathetic little coward♡"
The instant those words landed, a flash of red seeped into the blackness that had stained Phoebe's heart for days.
"I am not. I'm not scared at all?"
"Really?♡ Doesn't look like it to me~♡"
"Really."
As Phoebe declared it like a vow, Lucy studied her face up and down as if appraising a bolt of cloth — then slipped out from under her hair and moved on.
"Then let's go, Ms. Heojeop Saintess. No time to be lazing about."
Watching Lucy's back as she walked ahead, Phoebe thought, for some reason, that that tiny back looked impossibly, overwhelmingly large.
"What are you doing? Not coming? Legs still frozen, coward Saintess?"
"Ah— no. Coming."
Having only belatedly snapped out of her daze, Phoebe hurried after Lucy at a quick clip.
"Um. Lady Aln?"
"Yes?"
"There's something I'd like to ask. How far are we planning to clear today?"
Phoebe had only been told they were going to conquer the dungeon today — nothing about how far they'd go.
Only that it would surely be hard on Joy, so she should steel herself.
"All the way to the end."
"...Sorry?"
At Lucy's answer, Phoebe wondered if she had misheard.
Then she decided Lucy simply meant they'd keep going until the dungeon's available hours ran out.
But Lucy shook her head.
"We're going to Floor 100. Everything's already prepared."
"Um, but that dungeon starts at Floor 1?"
Phoebe had never conquered the Academy dungeon before, so they would have to start from the first floor.
No matter how fast Lucy cleared dungeons, going from Floor 1 to Floor 100 in a single day simply could not be possible.
She wasn't saying this out of any doubt of Lucy Aln's abilities.
She said it because, by any common-sense reckoning, it was physically impossible.
Merely walking from Floor 1 to Floor 100 would strain the limits of a full day — toss combat into the mix, and it was absolutely out of the question.
"Excuse me, Ms. Heojeop Saintess."
"Yes?"
"Just because a useless Saintess can't do it doesn't mean I can't, you know?"
The retort came paired with a snicker, and Phoebe nearly snapped back in a flash of temper before catching herself.
Calm down.
She's just teasing me for being new to this dungeon, that's all.
She's a playful sort.
Rising to the bait and snapping back would be the behavior of a little child.
You are not a little child, Phoebe.
"I see."
Phoebe answered with a smile, and Lucy merely returned it, saying nothing more.
And so, in the silence that settled between them, they arrived at the dungeon's entrance, where Phoebe met the others who would be entering with them today.
"It is an honor to enter the dungeon alongside you, Saintess."
Karl, a professor of combat studies.
A newly appointed professor, yet one who had already earned high praise from countless students.
He poured himself heart and soul into teaching, and his character was every bit as fine.
Particularly among the female students, he was wildly popular for his looks — like a knight straight out of a fairy tale.
Phoebe had heard her friends gush about how wonderful Professor Karl was more times than she could count.
"The honor is mine, Professor."
"Likewise."
Beside him stood Frey Kent.
The leading candidate for the next Sword Saint, once rated as possessing the finest martial talent of anyone on the continent.
Lucy's rise had bent that assessment somewhat, but her strength was beyond dispute.
The Commander of the Church's Paladin Order had gone so far as to say he'd make her a Church knight in a heartbeat if he could.
"Yes, likewise."
"By the way, Saintess. Is your stamina any good?"
"Mine? I'd say about average for a priest."
Phoebe's stamina was not especially poor, but neither was it remarkable.
Priests had to travel here and there on their duties, so she possessed at least the bare minimum — but that was all.
When Phoebe said as much, Frey looked her up and down, then murmured in a small voice:
"Hang in there."
...Excuse me?
Hang in there?
Phoebe blinked at the cryptic remark, but Frey offered no further explanation.
"...Um."
"Introductions done? Then let's go."
Phoebe, finally collecting herself, tried to catch Frey — but her voice tangled with Lucy's and vanished.
And so, stepping into the dungeon without her answer, Phoebe took in the view before her and marveled to herself.
The professors built this themselves?
It's incredible.
It's indistinguishable from a real dungeon.
Is this why they call it Soul Academy?
As she looked around the dungeon's interior, Phoebe soon felt eyes upon her and turned her head.
It was Lucy.
Arms crossed, she gave Phoebe's figure a leisurely once-over, then spoke.
"Lady Aln? What are you—"
"Heojeop Saintess. I can carry you, you know?"
"...Sorry?"
Carry me?
Me?
Why, though?