Chapter 31
Arti opened his eyes in a daze.
“…Mm.”
‘Huh… what was I doing again?’
Something…
I was doing something.
I couldn't remember clearly.
It felt as if fog were swirling inside his head.
‘No, there really is purple fog around me…?’
A voice came from within the fog. It was a woman's voice, low and soothing.
-…rti, if something good… happens… first… remember….
The golden female silhouette was blurry.
But even through the fog, he could tell she was beautiful. And yet, strangely, he couldn't make out who she was.
‘Forget a silhouette that overwhelming…?’
“…?”
Arti felt a deep sense of incongruity about the situation itself.
‘No, that's weird. Honestly, forgetting someone like that is a bit much.’
With that thought,
his mind slowly cleared.
‘Oh, I remember. This is the beginner illusion dungeon, and I came here right after swordsmanship class ended. That person is my teacher, Lydi—’
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, the purple fog swirled violently and obscured her figure. Arti couldn't remember who she was. He slipped back into a daze.
‘…Mm. Was that not a very important thought?’
[Succumb to the strongest temptation, forget everything, and fall apart….]
‘Strongest… temptation…?’
Arti looked ahead.
“Saintess…?”
“Hehe.”
Aria smiled seductively. She wore the white dress she'd worn during the first Hero’s test.
A modest design that covered her entire body.
Yet her slender waist was far too alluring. Beneath the soft fabric of her skirt, a subtle curve emerged that was hard to look away from.
Though it was all covered,
her figure was faintly outlined….
She had an irresistible allure that made it impossible to look away.
Arti spoke in a dazed voice.
“You’re beautiful… really, so beautiful….”
“Hehe, thank you. Did you doze off?”
“Saint…ess….”
“Yes, I’m your Saintess.”
“My… Saintess.”
My Saintess alone.
No one could take her away….
Arti slowly reached out toward Aria. Then he approached her with a yearning heart.
“Saintess….”
Aria came up beside him and whispered quietly. Her voice tickled his ear.
“Please hold me, Hero….”
“!”
He paused.
At the same time, he remembered the golden woman's voice.
She was Lydia.
-Arti, when something good happens, first remember when and why it happened.
“….”
Arti remembered.
‘Was the Saintess someone who would say something like this to me? To begin with, were the Saintess and I ever in the kind of relationship where we'd say things like this to each other?’
“….”
None of it was true.
He only ever admired Aria from afar.
They had never truly shared their feelings.
“….”
“Stay with me tonight.”
At those words,
his heart pounded as if it would burst.
But
his mind turned completely cold.
‘There’s no way the Saintess would say something like this to a mere commoner.’
Arti gave a bitter smile.
“…This is a dream. And a filthy dream of mine, at that.”
“Pardon?”
“Even after her coming-of-age ceremony, the Saintess wouldn’t say something like that to me. And we’re not that kind of relationship to begin with. I haven’t even proven myself in the Hero’s examination yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sorry, Saintess. Even in a dream, if you keep talking, I don’t think I’ll be able to attack you.”
“?”
Arti roughly covered the dream Aria’s mouth with his gauntleted hand. She struggled, letting out a pained sound.
“Mmph?! Pff—?!”
“…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Arti summoned the Sacred Sword in his right hand. Its blue blade glimmered ominously as it slowly rose.
*
Lydia looked at the goat-faced dwarf monster trembling before her. Morgan was sleeping quietly on her back.
“….”
“Kiiik?!”
The monster trembled as it watched Lydia, who hadn't fallen asleep despite the purple fog pouring from it. It was utterly terrified of her unwavering blue eyes fixed on it.
Why?
The other humans had all fallen asleep so pathetically!
It seemed to cry out as it looked at Arti and Mave sprawled on the floor.
“Kik… keh…?”
“….”
Lydia simply watched the monster. Its actual combat power was practically nonexistent.
“….”
A lesser dream demon emitting purple fog.
That shabby-looking monster was still a lesser dream demon, the boss of a low-level dungeon. If she crushed it right then and there, the dungeon would be cleared.
But Lydia didn't.
‘Arti is the one who needs to overcome and conquer these illusion dungeons. To prepare for the next test, he needs to experience them a few times….’
What he needed for the next test was
the cold judgment to resist illusions.
So she left it alone.
“….”
And Lydia's expectations were not disappointed.
‘As expected, Arti was the first to wake.’
Swish…!
Arti was the first among the group to get up.
“….”
He rose unsteadily, his face twisted in a grimace. Then his eyes met the monster before him, which was emitting purple fog.
“….”
“Kik?! Kieeek…?!”
Arti stood up without a word and strode toward it.
The monster focused all its purple fog on Arti. It was like spraying him with purple aerosol.
“Kieeek—!!”
Sizzle—!
But Arti only frowned; he was no longer caught in the illusion. As a result, he caught up with the short-legged lesser dream demon in an instant.
The lesser dream demon was cornered in the corner of the boss room.
Arti had already summoned the Sacred Sword into his right hand.
“…Die.”
“Kiiik…?!”
The declaration was carried out swiftly.
Slash—!
The purple fog vanished from the boss room. Mave and Morgan, who had been collapsed, also staggered to their feet.
“Yaaawn. Hm? Where’s my appointment ceremony as knight commander? Why was I passed out…?”
“Mmm, I can still smell Lydia….”
But Arti kept his mouth shut.
“….”
He stood in the corner of the boss room, where purple sand had accumulated, staring at the wall. An ominous air emanated from his back.
Lydia set Morgan down, who had been pressing her nose against Lydia's neck, and approached Arti.
“Well done.”
“…Yes.”
“As for what you saw today, blame me. I could have ended it, but chose not to.”
“….”
Arti shook his head.
“No, this was for the best. I understand the foolish desire in my heart better now. I feel like it’s helped me cool my head.”
“….”
Lydia quietly turned away. Then, as she walked toward Morgan, who was looking for her, she spoke.
“After we stop by the shopping district and sell the materials, go alone to the statue of the Sun God near the clearing where we always train at dawn.”
“Pardon?”
“A rather good adviser should be praying there.”
“….”
“Talk to him about your troubles. It can be surprisingly relieving to confide in someone you don't know very well.”
“…Yes.”
*
The academy grounds were bathed in the sunset.
Arti headed for the clearing, the pouch heavy with gold coins jingling in his hand. Ever since he began speed-clearing dungeons after class, his pouch had never been light.
‘Even after buying new equipment every week, I have enough left over to eat out every day.’
But for some reason, his heart felt empty.
‘No, let's just be honest.’
He simply missed Aria.
At the same time, the illusion came back to mind, weighing on his heart.
“….”
His deepest desire.
The fact that he dared to love the Saintess.
To face it
and cut it away was too great a burden.
“…Phew.”
That was why he was heading to the statue beside the clearing, as Lydia had told him. He wanted to honestly confide these worries to someone.
‘Lydia wouldn’t say anything careless, so he must be someone who knows how to keep his mouth shut. I think I saw someone there before, but I can’t quite remember.’
But.
The moment Arti arrived in front of the statue, he couldn't help but freeze.
An old man in a familiar gray robe was praying before the weathered statue of the Sun God. It was Adrian, the Prayer Priest who oversaw the Hero’s examination.
He finished praying and stood up. Then he looked at Arti without a word.
“….”
“….”
Oh, right.
It was him.
“….”
“….”
An awkward silence passed.
In the end, it was Adrian who spoke first.
“Why has the Hero candidate come here?”
“W-well…”
“If you came to ask about the Hero’s examination, go on your way.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then?”
“I-I wanted to ask you how to pray….”
“….”
A little while later.
Adrian was correcting Arti’s posture for his evening prayer. It was something even a child who believed in the One God knew, but the Prayer Priest willingly taught him.
“Now, close your eyes. Give thanks that you can see the sunset at the end of this day. And reflect solemnly, as you put the past in order.”
“Th-thank you… I’m sorry.”
“Not aloud. In your heart.”
“….”
Arti regretted the slip of the tongue that had escaped him in his fluster.
‘Damn, I ran into him here before and forgot….’
But he couldn't think of a more plausible excuse.
“….”
Asking the Prayer Priest
about relations between men and women was a little….
‘Praying seems to have cleared my mind of distractions, too…. Lydia’s advice was surprisingly good.’
Anyway.
Arti somehow finished praying. Then he blurted out a question that had suddenly occurred to him.
“…Prayer Priest.”
“Why do you call me?”
“If we reflect on the ‘past’ during evening prayer, what exactly should we think of during morning prayer? The priests in my village always told me to pray, but never explained what I was supposed to pray for.”
“….”
Adrian said calmly.
“Actually, it isn’t morning prayer, precisely. It’s dawn prayer.”
“Dawn?”
“Morning is merely a convenient time the believers have chosen for themselves. The moment the sun rises can only be fully experienced at dawn.”
“Hmm.”
“What you should think of during dawn prayer is ‘preparation for the future.’”
“A prayer to prepare for the future….”
“That is something only priests who spread the Gospel need to understand. You, a Hero candidate, need only keep it in mind.”
“…Yes.”
Adrian pointed toward the sun, which was setting completely, and spoke.
“I’ll tell you an interesting story, devout believer.”
“Pardon?”
“Do you know the Saintess?”
“…!”
Of course he did.
Wasn’t Aria the one he loved right now?
“….”
But he couldn't exactly answer, ‘Yes! I really like her!’
“…I know of her.”
“Actually, I’ve heard that the Saintess, the Sun God’s representative, was originally two people.”
“?!”
It was something he hadn't known.
“There’s only a scant record of it in documents from five hundred years ago, and even its authenticity is unclear… but it’s said that there were ‘two’ girls who received revelations.”
“That’s incredible….”
“But at some point, the revelation began to come to only one person, and that’s how it’s been passed down to this day.”
“Then, the current Saintess is the…?”
Adrian nodded and said,
“Now there is only one Saintess, who prophesies the future.”
“What does the other Saintess prophesy?”
“…The past.”
“…?”
“The Saintess who recalls the past and prepares for the future in the dim dawn.”
“?”
The past?
What kind of past did that mean she prophesied?
Arti couldn't understand at all.
Adrian said ruefully,
“To be honest, even I don’t understand exactly what that means. Perhaps it’s nothing more than a meaningless old tale.”
“…I see.”
“However.”
“?”
“Perhaps it can teach us to question whether what we consider truth in our lives is really the whole truth.”
Adrian brushed off his gray robe and stood.
“So, Hero candidate, don’t confine yourself within a false truth. Always think as hard as you can. There may be a truth hidden in your own thoughts.”
“Thank you.”
“Then I’ll be off.”
“….”
Arti watched Adrian’s back.
“….”
Truly,
after listening to him,
‘I feel at ease.’
*
Lydia thought as she carried Morgan back to the dormitory.
‘The Prayer Priest was a preachy zealot about faith in public, but privately he was a mentor NPC who listened to people’s worries. A fairly humble person like Arti should hear something good from him.’
If so, there was only one person left for her to look after.
“Morgan.”
“…What?”
“Is something worrying you?”
“Why?”
“You usually walk on your own as soon as we finish exploring a dungeon. You seem to want to cling to me more than usual.”
“…Do you hate it?”
“I don’t mind, but I’m worried you might have had a bad dream.”
“….”
Morgan spoke in a mumbling voice. In the evening glow, both her hair and face looked red.
“…My legs hurt. I’m not like you swordswomen.”
“Aria keeps up just fine.”
“She’s a little weird, though….”
Morgan tilted her head for a moment.
“Hm? Now that I think about it, she’s a pure priest, so how did she keep up with those ridiculously intense dungeon runs?”
“….”
Lydia had been a little surprised by that, too.
‘In the game, the Saintess introduced herself as coming from a rural village. But the Aria in reality was much sturdier than the one depicted in the game.’
So much had been omitted in the game that it was hard to take all of it at face value. Even so, Aria seemed to have remarkably good stamina.
‘The Aria in reality was fit enough that it wouldn’t have been strange if she’d become a swordswoman.’
“Hmm.”
It was something she could look into slowly later.
Anyway,
now she had to return to the original topic.
“Morgan.”
“Why?”
“I won’t force you to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“….”
“Still, I’ll always be by your side. Just know that. So if I’m the reason you’re anxious, you can let it out.”
“Right. We’re friends without friendship. Even without friendship, there’s trust.”
“….”
Lydia chuckled.
“Still none?”
“Idiot.”
But Morgan was smiling quietly, too.
‘Fool.’