Chapter 34
I wondered if there was some problem.
Mea's sudden action of checking the records in her exploration notebook stopped there and didn't continue.
If this was her first comfortable sleep since offering her dreams as payment, it would be understandable for her to be overwhelmed with emotion.
I patiently waited for Mea to gather her thoughts.
If Mea's guess was correct, we would probably reach the ruins today.
As we needed to prepare for battle, being in top condition was essential.
Moreover, in terms of pure combat power, Mea was the main force of our duo rather than me.
By the way, it was only a 5-day distance from the Main Base.
Although this was based on explorers using physical enhancement, the ruins were strangely close.
But there were a few reasons for this.
The Main Base also moved according to changes in the gate's transfer point.
They might not have paid much attention to the area near the Main Base, as the shadow under the lamp was often the darkest.
And above all, the terrain of the Abyss's first floor was a terrace.
It was a stair-like terrain with steep slopes or cliffs cutting off the surroundings, and the entire first floor of the Abyss was like this.
As if some massive earthquake had completely shattered the land and created layers.
I didn't use the expression “came down” in my earlier conversation with Mea for nothing.
Anyway, exploration of the Abyss' first floor was both horizontal and vertical at the same time.
And while going far was difficult, going down didn't take much time.
It was just dangerous.
I should learn flight magic.
Surprisingly, there were very few places that taught flight magic.
It was part of basic magic, but not many people actually acquired it.
It was a magic that became useless once one went to the second floor, so very few people learned it. Not to mention, it wasn’t very efficient.
Still, I'm going to learn it.
If you become a mage, you should at least be able to fly in the sky.
It was when my thoughts had reached this point.
While I was lost in thought, Mea, who had regained her senses at some point, had come right up to my face.
"How on earth did you do it?"
Mea pressed close to me as if she was about to push me away, demanding answers.
In her eyes, which were looking up at me due to our height difference, a quiet whirlwind of indescribable emotions was raging.
Confusion, joy, shock, expectation, doubt, anxiety.
Her eyes were literally a crucible of emotions.
With even her expressionless mask broken, Mea looked at me desperately, and I casually said, pretending not to know, "What are you talking about?"
"You know...!"
"About your price?"
"Yes! There was none! I didn't have any nightmares... And that's not all. The other price too... You, what exactly are you? How did you do it? What did you do to make even Hecate… This is impossible!"
"I don't know either."
I wasn't trying to dodge the question.
I quickly continued before Mea could say anything more, "All I did was ask."
"Ask...?"
"Yes, you looked so pained while having nightmares, so I asked them to help a bit."
Mea's reaction to my answer wasn't understanding or satisfaction at resolving her doubts, nor was it gratitude or anger at what could be seen as meddling akin to pity.
Mea was simply dumbfounded.
She returned to her expressionless face after going through various emotions, but the meaning behind this expressionlessness was quite different from usual.
If her usual expressionlessness was due to genuine disinterest in her surroundings, this expressionlessness was the result of not knowing what expression to make in her bewilderment.
"You... asked? A Devil?"
"Yes, they're really good Devils. That's all there is to it."
Mea's face hardened, and she fell silent again.
But now it was really time to depart.
Mea, who had been awake for days, had spent half a day sleeping straight through.
Since she had regained her senses, we should start moving soon.
If we stayed like this any longer, we'd end up moving at night, which I wanted to avoid.
"Mea, how about we check now? The distance seems close, and the cost of the price doesn't seem too high."
There was a reason Fiona tried to entrust Teresia to Mea and me.
It was because we were Devil Sorcerers.
Devil Sorcerers were an ostracized class in mage society, and as a result, they were excluded from various activities.
However, Devil Sorcerers still had one last lifeline, "...Okay. I got it."
It was finding people.
There was no magic for finding people or objects.
There were spells for tracking something with a special mark, but…
Devil magic is different.
In Devil magic, spells for finding people or objects were considered basic magic.
Finding things or people was a common specialty of Devils.
It could be said to be the most common ability among Devils.
In fact, the one who tracked and found Rei was also a Devil Sorcerer.
When it came to finding something, Devil magic was unparalleled.
The downside was that if the target was far away or magically blocking observation, the required offering or price increased exponentially in proportion, but conversely, this meant that anyone could be found if the price was sufficient.
The Devil Sorcerer's last survival strategy.
It was none other than being a private investigator!
"I found her. She's nearby."
"That's amazing. Getting an answer without any cryptic info."
"...I find you more amazing."
That's an ambiguous statement.
I might not have to pay a price, but I wasn’t able to use tracking magic, which was the basics of the basics in Devil magic.
Both were amazing, indeed.
The first was something to be proud of, but the second was a bit problematic.
Unfortunately, both Seir and Leraje were weak in that area of authority.
But forming a pact with a minor Devil just to use tracking magic?
That would be utter insanity!
Since I was a pact-bearer of high-ranking nobles, our Duke and Great Marquis would be greatly displeased if I associated with such lowly beings.
"Ahem, shall we go?"
"...It's not that way."
Ah.
§
Leading the way with Roman, who couldn't use tracking magic, behind her, Mea was moving her feet, but her thoughts were completely focused elsewhere.
This isn't just substitution...
Price substitution replaced part of the price with something else, but it couldn't make the price disappear entirely.
Above all, substitution was when the Devil Sorcerer themselves replaced the price with something else to avoid paying it. It wasn’t something others could do for them.
So, what Roman did was clearly...
Price transfer.
The last resort created by Devil Sorcerers to avoid destruction when faced with a price beyond what they could bear alone, by sharing the burden.
But even that only changed the collection point of the price by deceiving the Devil, it couldn't completely negate the price.
And like substitution, it couldn't fully replace the price, so one ended up having to pay more.
In other words.
Roman had paid her price with an even more expensive price on her behalf.
The price of having terrible nightmares by transferring ownership of dreams.
The price of arbitrarily stealing memories and erasing old memories and the emotions contained in them.
All of it.
However, there was one puzzling point.
How did Roman, who was a novice Devil Sorcerer who couldn't even use tracking magic, pull it off?
Clearly, the presence of the Devils felt from behind Roman was that of a high-ranking Archdevil.
But his proficiency in devil magic hadn't moved beyond the beginner level.
To this question, Roman had answered like this.
That he had merely asked the Devil.
Then, does that mean the Devil did everything from price transfer to...
Is that even possible?
A high-ranking Archdevil personally doing such things just because someone asked?
For Mea, it was an unimaginable, unprecedented event.
Maybe... that story might be true.
It was no coincidence that an old story she had heard once, dismissed as nonsense and thrown into the vast sea of memories, came to mind.
If that's really true...
As Mea was tracing old memories, she suddenly realized she had forgotten one thing.
"Hey, Roman. I'm late in saying thank... Hmm? Roman?"
When Mea turned around.
What she saw was Roman's back, sitting on the ground.
"Mea, I think we can go down here?"
§
In the darkness.
It was a space where only a faint beam of light illuminated the view.
There, two strands of breath, filled with fatigue and excitement, were faintly continuing.
"I'm going to die... me too... like them... Tuberos... Osmant... I'm going to die too..."
Teresia looked pitifully at Priscilla, who was curled up tightly in a corner.
"Haa..."
Just a ruin on the first floor.
A regular exploration team of 8 people in total: Senior-rank Priscilla and 5 Regular-rank explorers, plus Teresia and another temporary license holder.
Although it was under the guise of training, it was essentially a force capable of exploring up to the third floor beyond the second.
That arrogance, that carelessness, led to the current result.
They were helpless.
Teresia had barely managed to escape with Priscilla.
The composition filled entirely with mages was problematic from the start.
If they had included just two martial fighters as vanguards, they wouldn't have suffered this much.
...It's not easy.
Priscilla, who had become combat-ineffective, was essentially nothing more than a burden.
It was barely manageable alone, but with Priscilla in this state, escape became even more distant.
If we could just hold out until night...
If they were discovered, could they fend them off?
Teresia shook her head.
It was impossible.
She might be able to escape alone, but she wasn't confident about taking care of Priscilla too.
However, reality cruelly set in as Teresia heard the sound of something approaching.
"Haa, right. This is the Abyss, isn't it."
Teresia stood up.
With her back to Priscilla, she focused on the sound.
Above...?
Are they planning to attack by dropping from above?
What a nasty fellow.
Teresia tensed her body, which had not a speck of mana left.
The strength felt from her body, unable to use physical enhancement, was pitifully weak.
But she had to fight.
Because she couldn't die here.
And when Teresia saw the being that appeared as part of the ceiling crumbled, she unconsciously rubbed her eyes.
Someone she never expected to see here was standing there.
"Roman...?"
Black hair and exotic features.
Even Teresia, who wasn't particularly interested in others, had firmly rooted him in her memory, as he had an appearance that was hard to forget once seen, and he had solved the difficulties of the temporary license exam.
Roman spoke calmly as if he had known from the start that Teresia was here, "Glad to see you're alright."
"Why are you here... Ah!"
Fiona must have sent him.
Roman's ability was spatial movement.
Moreover, it was an innate magic that didn't need any external force.
Roman could be said to be the most excellent in terms of rescue and escape.
Fiona must have sensed Teresia's crisis and immediately dispatched Roman as support.
It must be.
Who else but Fiona would know about her crisis, know Roman's ability, and send him?
Teresia nodded, understanding Roman as support sent by Fiona.
"It's Fiona."
Although it was an obvious reason that Fiona had sent him, Teresia felt an unprecedented surge of emotion filling her heart.
They were just relationships formed from going through the training center together.
It was a connection essentially built on Roman's one-sided sacrifice.
For such a connection, Roman had come back again.
Even though he might have to burn his life once more.
Comradeship or bonds between classmates.
These were words Teresia could never understand.
After all, Teresia was someone who couldn't feel any particular bond, even with people from the same school.
Only one person.
Fiona was the only relationship with whom Teresia shared what could be called affection.
Even when she had escaped from the underground level with Roman's help, she felt gratitude for the favor, but it didn't extend to the level of comradeship.
But this time was different.
This was the Abyss, not the training center.
Even though Roman didn't have to come.
The fact that he came here anyway was proof that Roman cherished his classmates.
"It's true that Fiona asked me to help, but... No. I'll come down first."
At Roman's words, Teresia wiped away her emotion and shouted urgently with a face full of shock, "No! Don't come down! Stay there, uh..."
But it was too late.
Thud.
"Huh? Why?"
Teresia looked at Roman, who had landed on the floor, with a deflated expression.
And she muttered.
"This place... absorbs mana."
Right after Teresia revealed the secret of this ruin.
She noticed that there was another lifeline, Roman's companion.
"Roman, I told you not to go ahead."
Unfortunately, she also realized that this lifeline had also fallen to the ground.