Chapter 38
"This seems to be the last of it."
After finishing the live skinning of the Chromatic Fiend, we went around collecting the remains of the deceased.
For a ruin of this level.
Despite the sweet reward of an undiscovered ruin ahead, no one objected.
Though it was just the three of us—Mea, Teresia, and I—since Priscilla was still not in her right mind.
Needless to say, Teresia, and I too, chose to collect the bodies of the deceased first.
Mea respected our decision.
Gathering the bodies of the six people, excluding Teresia and Priscilla, took longer than the battle with the Chromatic Fiend.
Their bodies weren't all in one place, and some were even torn to shreds.
"...Should we be grateful it didn't eat them?"
"We still killed it too easily," Teresia said coldly.
The Chromatic Fiend, not content with being skinned alive, only had its last breath after its useful organs were extracted while it was still alive.
It had a tough life befitting a monster, but perhaps for the first time, it might have cursed its sturdy body.
Even monsters feel pain, after all.
Teresia carefully stored its organs, saying she would make good use of the enemy's parts.
"More importantly, what are you thinking of doing next? Is there a way to carry the bodies?"
"No, we could lift them, but the volume is too large."
During nighttime, Teresia's physical enhancement was nearly on par with Rei's.
However, while it might be manageable if it was just about weight, carrying six corpses that have become even harder to lift due to rigor mortis was quite difficult.
I wondered if we three—Mea, Teresia, and I—could each take two, but the problem was that the condition of these bodies wasn't very good.
"Let’s cremate them."
"Hmm?"
"Don't make that face. In the Abyss, even receiving a funeral is considered a good death. Everyone enters the Abyss prepared for this much. Those who aren't prepared for this naturally meet an untimely death."
Teresia delivered a long speech that was hard to imagine from her usual self.
Her words were clearly intended to comfort me.
My expression must have looked quite gloomy for Teresia to speak like this.
"You know, in that underground, we couldn't even hold funerals."
"...That's right."
Everyone except for the 15 surviving trainees and one instructor had to make the underground level of the training center their grave.
Fiona said they would conduct excavation work for the bodies, but it was still uncertain whether they would be able to find them.
Thinking of it that way, I could somewhat understand Teresia's expression of a "good death”.
Teresia placed flowers, one by one, on their bodies.
They were from the supplies we had collected along with the bodies.
The action seemed like offering a wreath.
"Gladiolus. The flower attached to the crown worn by the god of the underworld. Suitable for offering to the dead. The concepts associated with that flower are funeral and guidance to the underworld."
"That's right. No one knew we'd be using them here,” Teresia spoke bitterly and then moved her lips.
It seemed like she was reciting an incantation.
As Teresia's lips closed, white flames arose from the flowers and engulfed the bodies.
The white flames bid farewell to the departure of the dead.
I pray that they may rest in peace.
May these white flames carry the dead out of this darkness-filled world, letting them be free from this gloomy world.
This is the Abyss.
A place where one never knew when or where they might meet a sudden, violent death.
They probably didn't know either.
For how could they know they would die like this in a mere training exploration of the first floor.
No one could have imagined it.
But from the moment we set foot in the Abyss, we gain an uninvited companion.
A shadow with a scythe that followed us to reap our lives.
As I pondered the lesson taught by death, I felt like I understood a little bit more, if only minuscule, about the Abyss.
The change brought about by their deaths and my shallow realization wasn't just in my mindset.
However, I didn't immediately notice it.
The Blank Grimoire tied to my waist.
Those blank pages…. were being filled letter by letter.
§
Now it was time for the harvest.
The Chromatic Fiend's hide was so large that it interfered with our movement, so we hid it in a suitable place.
Teresia blatantly put Blostma School's alarm magic on it, saying it was theirs, so even if someone found it, they wouldn't be able to touch it easily.
Anyway, the three of us... no, four including Priscilla, searched the surroundings as we went deeper inside.
Being indoors, it was dark inside.
Even the luminous dust mites couldn't follow us here.
But what's a little darkness to three mages?
We each floated a ball of light and moved forward, tapping suspicious places.
And after some time passed, our heightened expectations quickly plummeted.
"There's nothing here."
That's right.
There's nothing.
"...Was it just a trap?"
"It was fishy from the Hand Shadow impersonator."
The Chromatic Fiend alone was a good harvest.
Its hide, which changed color according to the surroundings and even concealed the color of its mana to offset magic vision, was so useful that it was hard to believe it was from a monster of the Abyss's first floor.
It was something even high-ranking explorers covet, which said it all.
Plus, the Chromatic Fiend's magic stone.
It was essentially the best magic stone obtainable on the first floor, and if equipment was made by refining it, it produced quality items that were not only suitable for apprentices like me but also for equipment of Regular rank.
It was an incredible achievement for something gained during training.
It was to the extent that everyone would be surprised, saying, "You achieved this much during training?"
A title would probably be attached.
Something like "The One Who Caught a Chromatic Fiend During Training".
To put it in perspective, it was like killing a bear at 10 years old.
But if this is really the end, it's too disappointing.
"Teresia, do you see anything?"
"Nothing."
Among the three of us, Teresia undoubtedly had the sharpest eyes.
Maybe not during the day, but certainly at night like now.
If even Teresia couldn't find anything, had it really been cleaned out?
"Then should we go back—"
"Here," Mea's voice cut into my words.
"There's a path."
This is it.
"As expected of Mea. Is it Devil magic?"
"...No."
Mea's expression, as I approached and looked closely, was somewhat strange.
Rather than the joy of discovery, Mea was frowning with a slightly pale complexion.
"Mea?"
"Let's go in."
Saying that, Mea touched the wall and truly opened a path.
With an uneasy feeling, Teresia and I silently followed behind Mea.
"Is this... a workshop?"
Those were Teresia's first words upon seeing the room connected to the path.
A mage's workspace.
The place where magic was researched and magic tools were developed was more aptly called a workshop than a laboratory.
And this place was even more fitting of the term “workshop” than any other place I had seen.
"It seems to have belonged to an alchemist."
Teresia said, picking up glass bottles that were empty except for traces, as if their contents had evaporated.
"An alchemist... there are fewer books than I expected."
There should be something like experiment logs.
"Someone must have swept through here first."
"It must be that impersonator. The one who spread rumors about this place."
"Probably."
Still, we thoroughly searched the surroundings in case they had missed something.
The room was quite spacious, and with stairs leading to a lower floor, the search area was considerable.
I gave up searching the upper floor early and came down.
Honestly, if anything remained, it would likely be downstairs, not upstairs.
It seemed like they had cleaned out everything thoroughly.
However, there was a huge magic circle on the lower floor.
"Ah, is this it?"
The mysterious force that was absorbing mana.
This seemed to be its source.
No, this was definitely it.
I could feel Seir and Leraje's mana within it.
And the moment I recognized my Patron Devils' mana contained within it.
I could tell.
This magic circle was under my control.
It was structured that way from the beginning.
This was what the owner of this workshop had tried to preserve.
I moved my mana.
Then, the magic circle that had stopped operating began to emit light again.
Woong—
The resonance of mana and the roaring sound of the floor moving filled the room.
Hearing the sudden noise, Mea and Teresia rushed down from upstairs.
"Roman?"
"Did you find something?"
As I answered their questions.
I was in the center of the magic circle.
"I think so?"
A stone pillar that rose from the floor opened by the magic circle.
Inside it was a book and a bottle of potion that, unlike the ones in the bottles upstairs which must have been there for a long time, showed no signs of evaporation.
I carefully opened the first page of the book.
[For my beloved and hated sister.]
Even to me, who didn't know much about calligraphy, the style seemed quite classical.
Fortunately, the letters written were ones I knew.
The paper was very crisp, as if some preservation magic had been cast on it.
However, after turning to the next page, I could no longer read the book.
The letters were the same, but the content was in some kind of code.
It was the same for Teresia and Mea.
"We'll need to have it appraised."
This was the extent of our search results.
We continued searching for a while after that, but nothing more turned up.
"Let's head back now."
There were no objections to my words.
With Teresia supporting Priscilla, and Mea and I taking the front and rear respectively, we came up to the surface.
As we came out, we saw several exploration teams about to enter.
The latecomers, I suppose.
Unfortunately for them, they were too late.
Knowing this, the other explorer groups looked at us in dismay.
Their gaze was even more meaningful as we were openly carrying the Chromatic Fiend's hide.
Even those who didn't understand what a Chromatic Fiend was seemed to intuitively sense that it was valuable.
Those with gleaming eyes glanced at us furtively and slowly approached.
If they’re planning to rob us, they've got the wrong address.
In this tense situation, a voice stopped me as I was about to draw on Leraje's mana in response, "Oh, what's this? Roman and Teresia. You guys came too?"
A very light, airy tone and a voice that sounded cocky just by hearing it.
There was no one else in this world with a voice like his.
"Dustin?"
"We're a step late. Hey, you lot. If you don't want to make enemies of Blostma and Celsus, you'd better scram."
The situation was resolved in an instant.
We accompanied Dustin, whom we hadn't seen in a long time, and the Celsus School people conducting his training.
True to their reputation as a school known for good character, they were truly kind people.
To the point where it was incomprehensible how someone like Dustin came from among such people.
Unlike the way there, the return journey took quite a bit longer.
It was inevitably more difficult and time-consuming to go up than to go down.
And so, after a week-long journey.
We returned to the Main Base.
My training was coming to an end.