The Only One Who Knows
“……Found…….”
“Yeah, yeah. First, let’s eat.”
“Tell me more!”
“I’m hungry and tired. The sun’s already setting anyway, so we can’t go today. It’ll have to be tomorrow.”
I had used up all my daily quota of diligence, so I just wanted to rest. Sure, the dungeon was right in front of us, but it wasn’t going anywhere.
Lox, as usual, seemed to have a completely different opinion.
“Guide us there right now!”
“No.”
When it came to me, I was the type of twisted person who immediately lost all motivation the moment someone ordered me to do something.
“……You…… you……!”
“Don’t forget? Right now, I’m the only one who knows the location.”
So you’d better treat me well. The moment I added that, Lox started reciting the numbers from one to twelve on repeat.
I didn’t know he could do all of them.
“There was a massive door. It was a deep blue-black color.”
I tore into the perfectly grilled fish skewered on a stick and shared what I’d seen whenever my mouth wasn’t full.
The five men listened with shining eyes, as if they didn’t want to miss a single word. I didn’t particularly enjoy being the center of attention, so it honestly felt a bit burdensome.
Still, I knew that if I used my instant decapitation technique right now, it would spark a coup. Having too many flies buzzing around your tail is just annoying.
“I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. It was completely sealed. I suspect there’s magic involved.”
“……So you tried to just… open the dungeon door. Is that what you’re saying?”
“That’s right.”
“What were you thinking, doing something so dangerous? What if there were traps…….”
“It wasn’t just pushing with my hands. I even blasted it with attack magic, thinking I might as well try to break it. But it still wouldn’t open.”
I had used what I considered quite powerful attack magic, but all I confirmed was that the door was protected by even stronger magic.
“It’s a miracle you came back alive. Did you not even consider that traps might activate?”
“I figured it wouldn’t matter anyway?”
“You have a serious lack of safety awareness. That’s for sure.”
“Can’t you just call it bravery?”
This guy, saying things like that! Of course, Rai doesn’t actually have a liver… Ah, that’s right. He really doesn’t have one. I had a sudden realization.
I had wondered about it myself from time to time.
What exactly in the human realm could truly frighten me? Did such a thing even exist that could make me feel tense?
They say the only thing that can bring down people who are inhumanly strong is love.
Love for family, love for a lover, love for humanity itself. In that case, I had no weaknesses.
For a brief moment, my eyes met Ash’s across the campfire. He was listening to my story just as intently as the other men.
“Anyway, the point is this. We’ll prepare tomorrow and all go in together. I know this is important to you guys, so I’ll take you with me.”
I said it as if I were bestowing a great favor. Lox looked displeased, but right now, the one holding the reins of command was undeniably me.
Who else but me could search that vast underwater area?
“So exactly where is the location?”
“See that part connected to the sea over there?”
I pointed at the lake with the skewer left over from eating the fish.
The sky just before nightfall was a deep blue-violet, dim but still bright enough to make out objects. Lox pushed up his glasses.
“You mean that violent current that looks like it would kill you on contact, right?”
“That’s the spot.”
“…….”
“Somewhere deep right underneath it.”
Why is he making that face even after I told him?
“Then… are we supposed to go into that water?”
“What else would we do? The treasure’s down there, isn’t it?”
“How?”
“I’ll use my spirit magic to create a path through the lake.”
Ahem. Not just anyone can do this!
I puffed up my chest at what I thought was the perfect moment, but the reactions were disappointingly lukewarm.
They should have been worshipping me, but instead every single one of them wore the gloomy expression of cattle being dragged to the slaughterhouse.
The one who hesitantly raised his hand was Enk.
“I have a question.”
“Go ahead.”
“What’s a ‘path through the water’?”
“It means exactly what it says—creating a path inside the water. Don’t you know common tongue?”
“Um… should I write my will first……?”
“How about we just go through the ground? If we’re going to die anyway, it’s all the same.”
Chad was of the same negative opinion. These guys seemed way too afraid of water.
Why? How could they be scared of water while traveling with someone like me?
Ah. Is it because of me?
“Tsk tsk, you big oafs.”
“Of course we’re scared if we’re about to be buried alive underwater!”
“I’m not scared.”
“You’re a water something-or-other!”
“Miss Jeanie! If we really have to cross that lake… couldn’t we just walk on the water like you did earlier?”
“That’s too much of a hassle, so rejected.”
The mental strength and mana required for six people to walk on water was about ten times less efficient than creating a single path through the water, whether in terms of mental energy or mana consumption.
Simply put, it was the difference between rolling one big ball or rolling six small ones. Obviously, rolling one big ball was easier.
“Do you guys still not trust me?”
“When have you ever given us a reason to trust you?”
“Fair enough. I’ll admit that.”
“……And yet you’re asking us to entrust our lives to you?”
“Let’s do it this way. You may not trust me, but you trust Ash, right? I’ll swear on Ash that I’ll protect you all.”
I looked around at the skeptical faces of the party one by one.
The only comforting sight was that Ash was smiling faintly.
“One thing is certain. Without me, you guys couldn’t enter that lake even if you died and came back to life.”
“It does seem that way, but……”
“Do you know how many water spirit masters there are on the continent?”
“Hmm. Maybe… around a thousand?”
“Wrong. Even if you add up all spirit masters, there aren’t even five hundred. And among them, water spirit masters don’t even reach seventy. More than half of those are lower-rank spirit masters. And lower-rank spirit masters can’t do this.”
I could guarantee that if a lower-rank spirit master tried to go there, they would either run out of mana halfway and drown as a group, or Undine would get exhausted and be forcibly unsummoned, dragging the summoner to a group death along with them. One or the other.
To go to the dungeon and back would require being able to keep Undine summoned for at least two hours, along with enough mental strength and stamina to maintain the breathing of six people at the same time.
Like all magic, the more targets involved, the exponentially greater the burden became.
It was the same principle as rolling balls. Even if you were rolling one big ball, whether you had the strength to do so or not was a matter of basic skill.
That’s why I couldn’t help but show off a little.
“There aren’t many talents like me on the continent. Now do you understand how lacking your respect for me has been? So, kids. Who am I?”
“A narcissist.”
“Lady Jeanie.”
“A dictator.”
“An annoying but capable person.”
I’ll only accept one answer. No, two!
The only moment I seriously considered abandoning this ill-fitting journey and returning to Dmitry was right now.
When I spread out the crude sleeping bag, lay down on the bare ground, and felt the stones digging into my back as I tried to sleep.
No matter how many times I did this, I could never get used to it. No matter how I lay, I could feel the hard ground completely.
But if I carried a thick sleeping bag, the volume would become impossibly large, so for long trips, this thin blanket-like sleeping bag was the best option.
It was a matter of weighing priorities.
Would I endure an uncomfortable bed in exchange for the rest of my luggage being light and freeing, or would I have a comfortable bed but suffer endless interference with everything else?
“Haa……”
It was so obvious that the headmaster and the nobles would pester me the moment I returned that I could only sigh.
They would try to fit every single one of my actions into the frame of a Saint, and while I would resist, the very act of doing so meant my freedom had already slipped from my grasp.
I had considered building a castle in the forest and living in seclusion, but it also felt like a waste not to use the wealth and power I had finally obtained.
Besides, I was a city person by nature. Living in the countryside was out of the question.
Why wasn’t there a middle ground?
I wasn’t suited for traveling, but I also wasn’t suited for being called a Saint and bearing honor and responsibility.
I knew myself well.
My true aptitude was doing absolutely nothing and just breathing.
“Jeanie.”
While I was wriggling inside the sleeping bag, trying to find a more comfortable position amid my worries about the future, Ash approached.
He cast a shadow over me and held out a soup bowl filled with some unknown pitch-black liquid.
If Lox had given it to me, I would have suspected poison.
“Drink this.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a recovery potion. You look exhausted.”
“……Do I?”
I answered casually, but inside I was surprised.
I thought I hadn’t shown it much, but how had Ash noticed my condition was at rock bottom and even brought a recovery potion?
“The weather was hot today, and we kept moving. You made it rain over the fields this morning, created a water bridge to connect the canyon on the way here, and even went under the lake… Don’t you think you overdid it?”
I listened quietly and thought, This guy sure pays a lot of attention to me.
“I don’t know much about spirit masters, but if it were a mage… doing even one of those things would leave them bedridden for the whole day. So drink it.”
The color of the recovery potion made me feel like I was being handed poison, but I figured Ash wouldn’t give me something that would kill me, so I obediently accepted it.
I took a sip while giving him a faint smile, then immediately spat it out. Just like a spray bottle.
“Pffft!”
“It’s good for your body.”
“It tastes like absolute shit!”
It was so shockingly bad that if the person in front of me hadn’t been Ash—if it had been anyone else—I would have immediately suspected an assassination attempt and shoved their face into the bowl.
“Just bear with it and drink. Your condition will be much better tomorrow.”
Rai was bringing up something from ten years ago.
I don’t know if it was just me, but saying that I was in pain felt somehow embarrassing.
It felt like admitting weakness and asking for pity, or like something only children would do.
I was an adult.
An adult… I kept repeating that to myself like a hypnosis as I forced down the bitterly disgusting recovery potion sip by sip.
Then I suddenly noticed that Ash’s expression looked upset, which made me curious.
“The reason you suggested going there tomorrow is actually… because you’re already tired, isn’t it? You used up all your strength today, right?”
“No? No, I’m not?”
I’m the peerless Jeanie Crowell, you know?
“Jeanie, sometimes being honest can be helpful. If you told Lox the truth, he would understand……”
“Showing weakness is the same as revealing my weak points. I don’t do things that make me easy to devour.”
“……You’re the type who’s easily misunderstood.”
“I have no intention of acting fake.”
I snorted and took another gulp of the recovery potion, but the truth was, I felt a sting of guilt.