Conquering the Academy Dungeon (6)
I backed away as Phoebe began her incantation.
Her casting speed seems even faster than it was back when this was just a game.
My provocation must have really gotten under her skin.
Just look at those burning eyes.
Watching Phoebe's flushed face, I couldn't help but let out a laugh. Back in the day, I'd gone through all sorts of absurd lengths just to see her get angry through a monitor, after all.
Think about it — if there's a character so endlessly sweet that even the cruelest pranks only earn you a wry smile, you'd assume there has to be some special hidden interaction, right?
And so the veterans of Soul Academy mobilized every means imaginable to make Phoebe blow up in anger.
The result of all that research? The discovery that no such interaction existed.
I still remember everyone lamenting that the developers simply had no vision when that conclusion came out.
How wonderful would it be if I could capture Phoebe like this, mid-tantrum, and post it to the community forum?
The reactions would be absolutely golden, I'm sure.
Of course, that's nothing but a fantasy at this point.
"I will now begin the Prayer of Purification!"
The moment Phoebe cried out, divinity burst forth around her.
Halbae hadn't said a word, but I could tell anyway.
This time, Phoebe hadn't failed.
Ha. Seriously. If you're capable of this, why did you botch it the first time?
And because of that, I'm the one who ended up looking like the bad guy.
I wanted to get close to Phoebe, and instead I have to grind her favor down like this.
I could honestly cry.
Will I be able to make up for it during the Field Trip, I wonder.
Before long, as Phoebe recited the prayer, the wings of the dragon hovering in the sky gradually slowed. Before the potent divinity of a saintess, even a dragon could not help but be rendered powerless.
Yielding to the divinity that surrounded it, the dragon crashed down to the floor.
The cavern shook, and a cloud of dust bloomed where it landed.
This was nearly the end — but it was still too early to relax.
Raising my shield, I planted myself squarely between the fallen beast and the spot where Phoebe and Frey stood.
Not long after, another tremor rolled through the chamber as the dust began to settle. Bowing its head before human divinity or not, the dragon's essential nature remained unchanged. That relentless vitality was still driving the golem's body.
My role from here on was simple.
Stand my ground in front of it until Phoebe finished the Prayer of Purification.
Make sure the lizard in front of me never crossed that line.
What a tank is supposed to do.
What I was confident I could do better than anyone.
Golem body or not, a dragon was still a dragon. It would figure out in a heartbeat exactly who was dealing it the grievous harm.
When I saw those crimson eyes turning toward the saintess behind me, I took a deep breath and let a smile curl across my lips.
Tsk, tsk. Where do you think you're looking, aiming for the rear?
There's a small, cute, infuriating little girl standing right in front of you, isn't there?
You've lived for countless eons, dragon, and you don't even know your manners? If a lady offers you her hand for a dance, the polite thing is to give her at least one song.
Well, since the wind stuffed into a golem's frame has apparently turned your brain into golem too, I suppose it can't be helped.
If your head isn't working, I'll just knock some manners into it.
Come to think of it, this'll probably send me to the afterlife today — but who knows? You might need to mind your manners down there too?
And if that ever happens, you'd better be grateful to me. Understand?
"Pathetic lizard♡ Look at me♡"
Come play with me.
With the Prayer of Purification complete, the golem — its power source gone — pitched forward. Phoebe, who had been watching it in tense anticipation in case something fell short, let out a long, deep sigh the instant the dungeon's exit manifested.
Thank goodness.
I did it!
I showed Lady Arln the miracle of Armadi!
Phoebe had never before experienced the emotion that dyed her heart red. And that was precisely why, now that she had overcome that crimson feeling and achieved success, she felt a euphoria greater than at any other moment in her life.
I wonder what Lady Arln will say.
After all, I accomplished this with the very power of Armadi that she so scorned!
Puffing up her shoulders with pride, Phoebe waited for Lucy to return.
"Lady Arln! Have you nothing to say?!"
The moment Lucy came walking over, sweeping the dust-matted hair from her face, Phoebe shouted at her.
Hearing this, Lucy narrowed her eyes slightly — then promptly burst out laughing.
Wh-what is it?!
Why are you laughing?! What Lady Arln should be doing right now is not laughing, but apologizing! Apologizing!
"Aha-ha. How petty of you. You've been holding that little slip against me this whole time, haven't you?"
"You're the one who insulted Lord Armadi first!"
How can you be so shameless after spouting every blasphemy imaginable?! I can still picture it perfectly — that... that thing Lady Arln called him!
"But it's still true that you failed the first time, isn't it? If you didn't want to be mocked, you should have done it right the first time. Pathetic saintess."
"Ghh...!"
Phoebe, who had never once been in a quarrel like this, couldn't bear Lucy's gaze — that look of pitying contempt, the corner of her mouth dragged up in mockery.
Lucy watched Phoebe glare at her, both hands clutching the hem of her Academy uniform skirt, then strolled right up to her and jabbed a finger straight into her nose.
Caught completely off guard, Phoebe scrambled backward clutching her nose with both hands — and the smile carved into Lucy's lips deepened all the more.
"You did great at the end there. You could've managed that from the start, so why didn't you? Honestly, pathetic."
With that, Lucy turned on her heel and headed toward where the dungeon's reward had appeared.
Was that... her way of acknowledging me?
No! Hey! Mesugaki Skill!
Why on earth did you have to go poking someone's nose?! Do you have any idea how flustered she got because of that?!
Fine, so I can't apologize when someone's angry at me — but that's no excuse to turn it into a provocation on top of it!
Haaah. I'm losing my mind here.
What kind of person does Phoebe think I am?
I'm used to people looking at me with hostile eyes, but who would have thought even the saintess would end up hating me?
If only I could get rid of the Mesugaki Skill's penalties.
Given that our pathetic Chief God reduced them for me last time, maybe She'll get rid of them entirely someday?
I spun up my hope circuit, but no matter how I thought about it, it was impossible. Our pathetic Chief God is a degenerate freak of nature — a masochist AND a sadist who enjoys getting berated by a young girl.
Unless I pull off another feat on the level of resealing an Evil God, She isn't going to do me any favors.
Having resigned myself in an instant, I stepped up to the table at the dungeon's exit to claim the rewards.
"What are these?"
Frey tilted her head at the four orbs, each clouded with a haze as though smoke had been sealed inside.
Those are...
"Pathetic swordswoman. You don't even know these? They're Proficiency Boost Orbs."
"What's that?"
Right. Of course you wouldn't know.
The first-clear reward of the Academy's first-semester dungeon was, precisely, the Proficiency Boost Orb. Hold one in your hand, fix in your mind the skill whose proficiency you wished to raise, and that skill's proficiency would rise accordingly.
A single orb could instantly grant what would otherwise take me a month of sweating and toil to grind out!
It was an item of tremendous efficiency and value — and precisely because it was so precious, no amount of money could buy it. It was no accident that an item like this was chosen as the reward for first-clearing the Academy Dungeon.
Put it on the open market and the price would be whatever the seller named.
The reason the first-semester Academy Dungeon was avoided in the game was purely a matter of efficiency — but if you could clear it, taking the reward was always worth your while.
The moment I explained the orbs' nature to Frey, she picked one up without a flicker of hesitation and closed her eyes. The hazy mist inside flowed into her body, and the orb transformed into a crystal of clear, pure light.
Setting the emptied shell on the floor, Frey examined her own body, frowned slightly, then drew her sword, approached the hollowed-out golem husk, and swung.
"Oh."
Could she feel something change?
Without a word, expression blank, Frey began swinging her sword at the golem over and over.
Her eyes had locked into focus.
In that state, nothing I said would reach her for a while.
Just as Frey had done, I picked up an orb and murmured in my heart the proficiency I wished to raise.
There were only two candidates for me.
Mace or shield.
Mace proficiency I could grind out by swinging away mindlessly — but the shield didn't work that way.
Shield proficiency first, then.
The moment I resolved on it, the orb's hazy mist flowed into my body.
That's a strangely pleasant feeling.
Like my whole body was tingling with restlessness.
Now, let's see. One of the remaining two belongs to Phoebe.
The problem is the last one left.
Normally, a party of four would just take one each and it'd be clean and tidy.
The problem is that this party isn't simply a group of four. Strictly speaking, it's three party members and one safety officer.
Which means that, under the right circumstances, I could gobble up two Proficiency Boost Orbs.
Unlike Elixirs, these have no limit on how many you can absorb.
When I slyly glanced over at the guard, he waved both hands and declined.
"I cannot accept any rewards. I did nothing, after all. Please discuss among yourselves and decide how they're used."
Just as I expected him to say.
Good. Then I'll reward your hard work separately. I was already planning to gift you a display stand for your sword, after all.
"One is enough for me as well. Aside from that final moment, I contributed nothing. Frankly, I'd feel guilty even accepting one outright."
Phoebe declined before I could even bring it up.
Well, sure. She shined on the 100th floor, but for the 99 floors below that she just dangled there like dead weight and did absolutely nothing.
One is plenty. Yep.
That leaves only Frey's opinion to ask for.
"Pathetic swordswoman♡!"
No matter how deep her concentration, she was helpless before the Mesugaki Skill's provocation. The instant my voice rang out, Frey's head whipped around; she abandoned her sword mid-swing and came walking over.
I explained the situation to Frey, whose displeasure was plain to see: one orb remained, and its use had to be decided.
At that, greed crept into her gaze as she stared at it.
What's this? You want it?
All you did was run around following my orders, you know?
I gave her that look, but Frey's expression didn't waver one bit.
"Without me, you couldn't have cleared it in a day."
W-well... that's true.
There's essentially no first-year who could keep up with my pace.
Joy still needs a lot of time before her stamina improves, too.
"So I have a claim to it too."
So you just can't bring yourself to give it up, huh?
I suppose the proficiency it grants is that tempting, is it?
Well, I'm doing this whole petty squabble over the same thing, so I don't have much room to talk.
Okay. Fine.
It's true that without you I'd have struggled a lot more in all sorts of ways.
I'll acknowledge your contribution.
In that case...
"Pathetic swordswoman. Then let's settle it fairly — rock, paper, scissors."
"One round?"
One round.
"Yeah. One round."
A pure contest of luck that nothing can interfere with.
A fight at even odds, five to five.
That's fair, isn't it?
Right?
"Fine."
Haha! She took the bait! You fool, Frey!
You don't know this about me, but my luck is insanely good.
I'm the girl who entrusted everything on Academy exams to the Dice God and still scored above average!
The odds of me losing a contest of pure luck to anyone are practically nil!
Now! Hand over that Proficiency Boost Orb, pathetic swordswoman!