(EP-315.2) Destined Rivals # 1
315 – The Twins Are Destined Rivals # 1
However, I understood why Marmar was reacting so sensitively. It was probably because Professor Balan had been asking Marmar for her tail so much lately.
Thanks to that, Marmar seemed to have developed a neurosis. I should probably tell Balan to stop bullying the imps.
“Alright, alright, let’s head inside now.”
Narmi then started to go ahead, like a tour guide or a kindergarten teacher.
As I watched the imps follow her, I felt more like I was on a kindergarten field trip than on an adventure and dungeon exploration.
A field trip.
Maybe that wasn’t so far from the truth.
They said that the monsters in this cave temple were only cave bats or small geckos.
And sure enough, the only things crawling around were little lizards glittering like stars in a galaxy. I almost felt like taking one.
“So, Narmi-yang, where do we find the Queen’s Flame?”
When we reached a fork in the cave, Stella asked Narmi, who was holding the map we’d received from Sandora’s city hall.
“Um...”
Narmi hesitated for a moment and pointed to the narrow entrance on the far left.
“Here? No, no...”
Then she pointed to the hole on the far right.
“Maybe here?”
“Narmi-yang, choose carefully. Places like this are bound to have traps to block intruders.”
“Hmmm...”
This was making me a bit uneasy.
* * *
“That’s strange. According to this, if we keep going down this path, we should reach a pond with an altar. In the center of the pond, the Queen’s Flame is supposed to be burning.”
Narmi, who had been leading the way, voiced her doubts. It seemed my feeling that we had been going around in circles wasn’t just my imagination.
“Narmi-yang, are you sure you’re reading the map correctly? Could we have taken the wrong path at that five-way fork earlier?”
“I double-checked for sure....”
Narmi seemed a bit embarrassed, wondering if she’d misread the map. At that moment, the strange noise I’d heard earlier came to mind.
Could it be that some mechanism activated and altered the path?
It was entirely possible.
“Then what should we do now...?”
Marmar, trembling terribly, asked Narmi for her opinion. Though Narmi just kept staring at the map. In this situation, we can only rely on Stella.
“Now that I think about it, it seems like some kind of mechanism triggered and changed the path. When was it? Maybe when we touched all those crystals. That’s the only thing that stands out.”
Stella voiced a thought similar to mine. Were the luminescent crystals a trap? It was too late to regret it now.
“Well, mechanisms that alter paths aren’t unusual in dungeons. Since this dungeon was already cleared a long time ago, there shouldn’t be anything dangerous.”
Stella’s calm words seemed to reassure the trembling imps.
Then Narmi picked something up off the ground.
Clink.
It was a necklace. A necklace with a metal tag attached to it. The shiny golden gleam caught our eyes, and Stella seemed to recognize it.
“That’s an adventurer’s identification tag. If it’s gold, it belongs to a pretty high-ranking adventurer.”
Taking the necklace from Narmi, Stella examined the name engraved on it and furrowed her brow slightly.
“Carl. It’s from the party that received the request before us. I don’t know why it’s here, but it seems like something might have gone wrong. We might even be able to find their team.”
Although Stella sounded calm, I felt a growing sense of tension.
Would I be able to complete the condition Mirna set for me at this rate?