Prepping the Walkthrough (15)

The skeleton, sent sprawling by my mace, staggered as it tried to rise again — then slumped back down to the floor with a wry chuckle.

To be precise, "slumped" isn't quite right. It was made to slump. The bone supporting its knee had finally given way.

"So the Evil God's power scatters at last. Morning comes, does it?"

What had animated him was the energy the Evil God of Darkness had poured into him. Once Tariki's hour ended and dawn arrived, the skeleton's body was doomed to crumble of its own accord.

The skeleton gazed at his own body, slowly turning to powder, chuckled softly, and before long lifted his head.

The skeleton. The husk holding Garad's memories. The one who believed himself a noble knight. Looked at me with those empty sockets of his.

There were no eyes there. No eyes. No brows, no brow-line, no expression at all. And yet, somehow, I felt softness from that skull.

It was a strange thing. Given what had just happened, the emotion I should have been reading off him was fury. Irritation, at the very least.

Obviously. Every single insult I'd hurled at that skeleton was foul enough that no curse I spewed would have been out of place.

And yet the skeleton didn't.

"Splendidly done. To possess such skill before you have even come of age — your name will surely be written into history."

Instead, he simply praised me. With sincerity, no less.

That softness made me ashamed of myself.

One of us had flailed about, throwing every tool at her disposal into a grudge over something that wasn't even the skeleton's doing. The other had endured a torrent of abuse without swinging his blade even once.

The moment that thought brushed through my head, I knew it instinctively.

I had won this moment — and lost.

I'd won the contest, but lost as a human being.

No, wait. Had I even won the real contest in the first place?

Think about it however I like, right now I'm basically one of those insufferable little brats who gloats even after the grown-ups deliberately threw the match for them, aren't I?

Honestly, if the skeleton hadn't been going easy on me, I'd have been dead ages ago.

...

Don't think about it. The more I think, the more miserable I feel.

"What are you doing, girl?!"

I was still fumbling for an answer, lips working uselessly, when Grandpa's voice boomed out.

"Finish it! Put an end to this! Beaten flat as you usually are, and yet so much talk...!"

'Keep that up and I'll throw you to the Face-Connoisseur Fox as a chew toy.'

The euphoria of the Mesugaki skill had already faded and self-loathing was starting to pool in my chest — why did he have to keep needling me from the sidelines?

Remembering that his whole plan was to scream "You're such a dog at this!" no matter what I did makes me genuinely want to die, you know?

So knock it off. If you want to get licked all over by the face-obsessed fox, I won't stop you.

When I shot back at him like that, Grandpa hastily shut his mouth.

"Why so silent? Ah! Do the words spoken during our bout weigh upon your heart? Pay them no mind. In a fight, doing whatever it takes to win is the right and proper thing."

Stop it, you damned skeleton! Stop! Quit showing me how dignified you are!

You have to act pathetic so that at least some of my own patheticness gets covered up!

"More than anything, this fight happened because I was lacking. If an apology is owed, it is I who should offer it."

Please, stoooop.

No — please stop.

I'm begging you not to turn me into an even bigger piece of trash than I already am.

Couldn't you sacrifice a little of your own honor, thinking of it as saving a single human life?!

"Take this sword. Poor thing that it is compared to what I wielded in life, it is still not unworthy of being called a fine blade."

That's not allowed either?!

"Give it to whomever you please. Sell it off, if you like. However you use it, it will serve you well."

Uuugh. And I spat words like 'No skills♡, no morals♡, no talent whatsoever♡, just a perverted skeleton knight stuffed to the brim with degeneracy♡ — so cool!♡' at a man like this.

Self-loathing and guilt are swirling together and my head is a complete mess.

And what makes it even more despairing is that everything I said just now had nothing to do with the Mesugaki skill — those were words I chose freely, purely to provoke him.

There's nowhere to look and find an excuse! What do I do?!

I didn't even touch the bottom, and I'm getting filthier and filthier as a human being — what am I supposed to do about that?!

I was screaming internally when a devil's whisper drifted up — well, I'm already trash, might as well do everything I'd originally planned and become true trash — and I desperately scrubbed the thought away.

If I indulged it, I felt like there'd genuinely be no coming back.

"It would be presumptuous to call this repayment, but allow me to ask one thing."

I was steeling myself to answer with at least a shred of courtesy when the skeleton posed a small question.

"Do you train under Ruel's guidance?"

...Ah. He noticed, didn't he. That I've been getting Grandpa's help.

Well, of course. From the midpoint on I'd been lobbing provocations full of things only Grandpa could have known. It'd be stranger not to notice.

I didn't deny it and simply nodded, and the skeleton let out a wheezing giggle.

Along with that laugh, I could see the skeleton's pelvis coming apart.

"Just as I thought. So that was it. He showed so little interest in women that I took him for a devout man — but it seems girls of this age were his taste after all."

"...What in the blazes is this fool babbling about?!"

"Shameful, Ruel. Hiding behind the skirt of the very girl you teach while you busy yourself mocking an old friend. So that's why you never earned your shield."

"How many times must I say it! The reason the angel did not grant me a shield back then was that I already bore a shield steeped in blessing! It had nothing whatsoever to do with nobility of character!"

As someone who knew all the episodes from the game, I was well aware that Grandpa was telling the truth — but I saw no need to correct the record.

"No — no, this is not the time. Girl! Stuff that lying mouth of his shut, quickly!"

I could see the skeleton's ribs collapsing. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't have much time left.

I'd done nothing but cause him trouble until moments ago. Wasn't this, at least, a debt I ought to repay somehow?

"Girl?! Can you not hear me?!"

The skeleton went on heaping abuse on Grandpa for quite a while after that, until at one point he seemed to remember something and moved to applaud — only to notice his arms were gone, and laughed hollowly instead.

"...Ruel. You likely do not know this, so allow me to share something amusing. Did you think this place was the only thing that madwoman Karon ever created?"

"...What?"

Perhaps that single line struck Grandpa a heavier blow than any of my mace swings. He fell silent, and in that stillness the skeleton's voice carried on.

"We haven't the time, so let the teasing end here. Child beloved by the gods. Child who must yet surmount trials beyond counting. I have spoken ill of him plenty, but that ill-tempered holy knight is a man you can rely upon. Fussy and fastidious he may be — but follow him in trust, and he will be a tower of strength to you."

You don't need to tell me. I already know he's more dependable than anyone. If I can't trust the one person in this world who understands my suffering, who else am I supposed to trust?

"Please — do not give up. Press onward. It is shameless of me, a broken wretch who could bear even my own burdens, to say such things."

'Don't worry about it.'

"What is there to worry about? You think I'd lose to a pile of trash still fermenting on the floor where it got knocked flat? This is what happens when you've got no eyes, no brain, no nothing — just bone."

"Khh. My, my. Say what you will, but back in life I was often told I had a fine eye for character."

After a good long stretch of laughter, the skeleton watched his own shoulder crumble away, then slowly, deliberately, looked up at me.

"Be well."

Those were the last words before the skeleton's head dropped to the floor.

I scrambled over to scoop him up — but by then even his skull had already crumbled into powder and scattered across the ground.

Haaah. Dammit. This is why I hate dealing with good people. The ending leaves this gross aftertaste. If they're trash, I can crack their skull open ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and feel refreshed afterward.

Leave behind at least one parting insult on your way out, will you?

Wait — was that the plan all along?! Make me feel queasy and polish his own reputation in one stroke?!

...Hah. No way. There's no way.

"Girl."

'Yes?'

"Was what this fellow said the truth?! Do you mean to tell me dungeons crafted by Karon still remain?!"

I was mid-sigh when Grandpa's urgent shout hit my ears, and I burst out laughing before I could help it.

Seriously, Grandpa? In a moment like this, aren't you the one who should be feeling the lingering dread, more than me?!

Why are you completely ignoring the skeleton and worrying only about your own skeletons-in-the-closet?! And you call yourself a holy knight?!

'It's true. That's a place I'll have to visit someday, after all.'

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have zero intention of actually going.

It's hard to get into, and there's nothing there worth the trouble anyway.

But there's no reason to tell Grandpa any of that.

"...Girl? What did you just say? Visit? Girl? Girl?!"

Hehe. Live in fear, Grandpa — never knowing when your black-history archives might come knocking.

I ignored Grandpa's escalating panic and lifted my head — and there was Carl.

His face, his body, not a single unbruised spot on him, Luka's limp form slung over his shoulder, he bowed his head without a word.

Carl is genuinely, obscenely strong, huh. Sure, Luka had completely lost his mind, but the guy was still firmly in the ranks of the elite.

And Carl subdued him without taking a single scratch.

Was that the Face-Connoisseur Fox quietly lending a hand?

"Will you be returning at once?"

'No. Give me a moment.'

"Pathetic. What manner of knight can't even wait quietly and rushes his lady? Truly, worse than a puppy."

"I sincerely apologize, my lady!"

Leaving Carl to fling Luka's body around like a sack of grain and pound his forehead into the dirt, I opened my quest window.

To properly check the rewards I'd just received, of course.

...Hm? Why is there one more quest I don't recognize?

Oh. Right. They did say there'd be a reward for clearing the trial itself, too. Right, right.

The Evil God's nonsense shenanigans made me forget for a second there.

Mmm. Well then, let's check the rewards I already know about first? The fun stuff always goes last — that's just the rule.

Divine Domain. A skill that blankets a fixed radius around you in divinity, turning that space into terrain favorable to allies and hostile to enemies.

Ehhh. It's... mediocre.

This is a great skill in the late-late game, sure — but it's only good in the late-late game.

Casting it devours ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an absolutely monstrous amount of divinity, and if your divinity's tier is too low, the cost burns away without the skill even triggering — that happened constantly. On top of that, maintaining it drains divinity the whole time, so it was a nightmare to actually use.

Honestly, in the game, unless you were building a gimmick character and fishing for peak damage numbers, almost nobody ran it.

The words "I purged an Evil God of Darkness, clean and neat, and this is the reward you hand me?" climbed all the way to the tip of my tongue — and I forced them back down.

The rewards from the pathetic Chief God have proven their worth eventually before, after all.

Cursing can wait.

Who knows? Maybe with me carrying the pathetic Chief God's divinity, things will be different?

For now I'll table this one until I've recovered my strength and test it then. On to the other reward.

What could it be? What'd he give me?

After that useless skill they just handed out, my enthusiasm's gone cold, so I'm not exactly holding my breath — but a reward's a reward, so I might as well look.

Huh? Was the description written like this? I feel like it was worded differently before?

Am I misremembering something?

Was there a skill like this in Soul Academy?

If a skill this good existed in the game, there's no way I wouldn't remember it.

Arms crossed, I chewed it over for a while before arriving at a single conclusion.

This skill doesn't exist in the game.

...

What.

So you're telling me a skill that never existed in the game was just handed to me?!