Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Although we returned to the shack with Hector, the dwarven young hero, and Charon, we weren’t able to hear the details of their situation.

All three of them seemed to be at their limit; they all collapsed as soon as we arrived at the shack.

“...I don’t think Charon’s unconscious because of exhaustion.”

“Do you care?”

Compared to the three of them, we were a bit better off, but since we didn’t know what might happen, we decided to close our eyes and rest for a bit as well.

Over the course of the night, the four of us took watch one at a time.

The first day of the special test—though I didn’t know if we could still call it that—came to an end.

The morning of the second day...

After going outside to get some fresh air, I looked up at the sky and tilted my head.

“...Is it morning? I can’t tell because the forest is so dark,” Mir said, echoing my own thoughts.

Due to the sheer number of trees, it was always quite dark... but for some reason, it felt darker than usual.

I was quite sensitive to the presence of the sun, so I could tell even without being able to see through the branches.

Has the sun not risen yet?

I took out the hourglass from my pocket.

About a third of it had fallen, meaning that approximately a day had passed since the beginning of the test.

And since the test had started in the morning, the sun should be up now...

I hope this is just a bad feeling.

But since demons had already appeared, hoping for the best was just denying reality.

For now, I should check in with the others.

I returned to the shack with Mir.

There in the small shack, I saw the other young heroes sitting together.

“...It’s so stuffy in here.”

Maybe because there were no windows, but it felt harder to breathe for some reason.

If it were summer, I wouldn’t be surprised if we just died from overheating.Nnêw n0vel chapters are published on n0v/e/(lb)i(n.)co/m

I first looked at Hector.

“Are you okay now?”

“I’ve recovered a lot. What about you?”

“Me?”

“Didn’t your hand get pierced yesterday? And you had burn scars as well...”

He was more attentive than I’d realized.

It was right before he collapsed, but he was talking like he’d seen the entirety of my duel against Charon.

“I’m fine. I should be all healed by tomorrow.”

“I see...”

“Are you okay as well, Mr. Dwarf?”

“Ah, yes. I’m good.”

I looked at the dwarven young hero for a moment.

“Your name...”

“I am Bazil Jule.”

“Right.”

I’d forgotten even though Evan had told me.

Bazil looked dejected as he mumbled to himself, “I heard the general situation from Evan and Sharyl. I never thought Pam would die... I guess we can’t be too hopeful for Denma either.”

There was no point in trying to console him right now, so I just stayed quiet.

Finally, I looked at Charon.

Just yesterday, he had been so swollen that it had been hard to even see his face and neck, but it had settled down quite a lot now.

His healing is quite impressive as well.

He’d probably eaten as well as Hector had while growing up.

“So why are you here alone? Where is your team?”

“...Our team decided that we would all work alone.”

“Aha.”

It was stupid to be acting alone in a dangerous place such as this one, but I understood Charon’s reasoning.

“So you wanted everyone to go around and get their own points. Did Zeros try to go around selling potions with his blessing?”

“...”

Charon’s silence told me I was correct.

Seeing his secretive attitude, I felt the desire to bully him further bubble up within me.

But before that...

I let out a fake cough to clear my throat.

“Before we start, who here knows a lot about the Church of Darkness?”

Hector was the only one of the seven who raised his hand in response to my question.

“Then I’ll ask you something, Elder Brother.”

“What is it?”

“Do any of the cult’s rituals relate to solar eclipses?”

Hector’s expression hardened.

“...Are we in a solar eclipse right now?”

“Probably.”

“This isn’t something to be taken lightly. Give me a direct answer.”

“A magic item?”

I held up my middle finger.

Of course, I wasn’t insulting Hector, I was showing off the ring.

“That’s...?”

“He told me that if I pour mana into it, I can go to the fifth floor.”

Hector closely checked the ring before his expression brightened.

“Ah! It’s a regular ring without a gem or any detailed inscriptions... Sir Asad was definitely the one who made this.”

“Oh.”

“With this magic tool, you should be able to get through the barrier.”

“Ah...!”

As he said that, exclamations of relief were heard from everyone around us.

It felt like a ray of sunshine had shone through the cloud of despair.

“Okay. Wait just a moment.”

I quickly began to imbue mana into the black ring.

Vwoong...

I was worried about what I’d do if it didn’t activate, but thankfully, the ring accepted my mana without any issue.

Soon, mana flowed out from the ring and engulfed my body.

Then...

Flash!

My surroundings instantly changed.

“...Hm?”

Suddenly, I was standing inside a worn-out room.

There wasn’t even a window. Instead, the huge room was covered in bookcases, and most of them were ancient books written in languages I couldn’t understand.

Now that I thought about it, hadn’t he said that the fifth floor’s scenery changed every time?

That meant that the Lord of Blood and Iron was somewhere around here...

“What’s this?”

I was immediately surprised since I hadn’t detected a single presence.

I looked backward, but rather than the Lord of Blood and Iron, I saw someone else sitting at a desk.

The man was wearing a magnifying glass as he read a book; he wasn’t looking at me at all.

It was the Archmage Asad.

“Luan Bednicker, why are you here?”

“...What about you, Sir Asad?”

“Is it odd that I’m in my room?”

“It is odd. This ring was supposed to send me to the fifth floor of the main house.”

“Ring?”

Only then did Asad take his eyes off the book to look at me.

His exhausted-looking eyes saw my ring.

“Where did you get that ring?”

“The family head gave it to me.”

“Dellark did? Hmm.”

Asad seemed to have his doubts, but he soon lost interest.

“I guess if you say so.”

“...So where is the family head?”

“I don’t know. You’re distracting me, so leave.”

As Asad said that and tried to get me to leave, I hurriedly spoke.

“W-wait!”

“What is it?”

“We’re in a dangerous situation. It’s because of your barrier, Sir Asad.”

“My barrier?”

I began to explain everything to Asad.

The training camp’s special test, the deaths that had already occurred, and even the premonitions of a demon lord’s summoning.

...Asad closed the book he was reading.

He put his chin on his knuckles and seemed to fall into deep thought. All in all, his reaction was calmer than I’d expected.

I thought he would make a bit of a fuss when he heard about the demon lord’s summoning...

Now that I thought about it, didn’t magicians who lived long lose their human emotions and become more and more detached?

I thought it would be boring to live life like that.

Finally, Asad spoke.

“I see.”

“...Ehm. Excuse me, but is that all?”

“There’s no need to make a fuss about it.”

“Even if you didn’t make a fuss about it, I thought that you’d at least be surprised.”

“You have only told me what I already know, so why should I be surprised?”

“...What?”

What had this man just said?