Chapter: 21
I’ve become quite the rotten human, so I’ve practically memorized all the dungeon maps from the Soul Academy.
Of course, I also remember the locations of all the traps inside the dungeon.
Among them, what I’m aiming for is the teleportation trap in Evans’ Dungeon.
You know, that trap in RPG games that forcibly sends you to a lower level?
Well, it’s also in Evans’ Dungeon.
To be precise, it’s a trap that sends you to a random location on the lowest floor.
I plan to use this to separate myself from Possell and Pervi.
Of course, those two are ridiculously strong monsters, so they’ll probably break through the floors and chase me down in no time.
So, from the moment I step on the trap, it’s a race to see if they discover me first or if I manage to enter Ruel’s trial first.
To do that, I’ll need my sword.
If I fall alone to the lowest floor, I might get caught by Possell after dealing with goblins.
Then, after I enter the trial, my sword will be left all alone, but hey, I can just use that excuse about looking for the lady, right?
Fortunately, the situation isn’t bad at all.
Possell has assigned me command from the get-go today.
Thanks to my near-perfect command yesterday, he seems to trust me.
Even if I lead them a bit confusingly, he seems to think it’s all for a reason.
Normally, that level of trust would feel burdensome, but things are different now.
That trust is something I can fully exploit.
To earn Possell’s trust, I didn’t make a single mistake while clearing the first floor.
Thanks to that, even when Possell chose a wrong path after I entered the second floor, he didn’t scold me.
In fact, he even seemed relieved at my mistake.
Perhaps he thought he finally had something to share.
Whatever he was thinking, I managed to bring them to the teleportation trap on the second floor.
The moment we got near the trap, I started giving commands as usual and kept an eye on their expressions.
Does anyone of these guys know about the teleportation trap?
If they do, they’d definitely warn me. Unlike other traps, the teleportation trap activates the moment you step on it.
Put differently, no matter how strong these knights are, they can’t cope with a teleportation trap.
From their perspective, my getting trapped would be the absolute worst situation.
And yet, not a single one of them mentions the trap to me.
Are they waiting to see if I notice it?
Not a chance.
If they intended to let me roam free like that, they would have stopped me from entering the dungeon with my sword.
It was obvious.
They don’t know anything about the trap.
That’s why they’re not warning me even though I’m standing right next to it.
So, I just need to get Possell and Pervi out of the way.
If those two get caught in the trap together, there’ll be no sneaking into Ruel’s trial.
Luckily, I have a way to clear them out.
Because right now, I’m the commander.
“Pervi. Possell.”
“Bald Knight. Fool Possell.”
I sent Pervi and Possell forward under the pretense of handling monsters.
Ahead of us is a small horde of about ten goblins.
It should take them roughly ten seconds to deal with even those.
With the two knights gone, my sword naturally approached me.
He must be thinking of protecting me while they’re away.
With that, the stage is set.
The moment Possell and Pervi started fighting, I stepped onto the teleportation trap.
Thud.
The trap light glows gently as I touch it.
Looking down, a complicated magic circle appears with intricate patterns engraved on it.
Even in the game, I thought the effects were over-the-top, but seeing it in reality is even more extravagant.
As I frowned at it, suddenly, the light changed its intensity and burst into a flash.
Gah!
Ow, my eyes!
Why does a simple teleportation trap have to blind me like this?
“Lady! Are you okay?!”
After squinting at my eyes for a few seconds, I finally managed to see in front of me.
There was Karl’s face, way too close for comfort.
Ugh. What are you doing? Personal space!
I pushed his annoying face away with my hand and looked around.
From the wall’s color, it seems I definitely fell to the lowest floor.
The moss stuck to the ground, the path, and the wall shapes tell me where I am…
I think I have a pretty good idea of my location.
Luck was on my side.
This position is pretty close to where Ruel’s trial is located.
“Lady?!”
‘I’m listening, Karl.’
“You idiot. You don’t have to shout. I can hear that annoying voice of yours just fine.”
“Sorry, Lady. But are you really okay?”
‘I’m fine.’
“Can’t you tell by looking?!”
Only after hearing my reply did Karl let out a sigh of relief and tried to look as trustworthy as possible while speaking.
“Don’t worry, Lady. I don’t know where we are, but I, Karl, will surely protect you!”
Hmm. I guess it’s about time to fill Karl in on what’s going on.
Finding the hidden place of Ruel’s trial is one thing, but I’m going to be handling it on my own.
If I suddenly disappear, he’s going to panic, but I should at least give him a heads-up before that.
I’ve thought about how to excuse myself.
I’ll just blame it on some divine blessing.
In this world, there really is a God, so claiming I received a revelation will solve most situations!
If I say the God appeared in my dream and told me about Ruel’s trial, then that’s that.
Whether Karl believes me or not is irrelevant.
Once I step into Ruel’s trial, he’ll have no choice but to believe.
“For now, let’s figure out where we are.”
“Karl.”
“Huh. You idiot.”
“Yeah?”
“Calm down. I stepped on the trap on purpose.”
“Really? You did it on purpose?”
I casually told Karl that I received a blessing and got a revelation and needed to go for a trial, and to my surprise, he nodded along as if it made total sense.
“Indeed. A revelation, you say?”
It’s a plan I devised, but is it really that easy for him to believe it?
Saying things like “God” or “revelation” is a bit unrealistic, right?
I expected at least some rebuttal from him.
‘Wait, you actually believe me?’
“Believe?”
“Of course, how could I deny what my Lady says?”
At his serious tone, I involuntarily frowned.
He might think he sounds cool saying that, but it feels a bit creepy from my perspective.
I really shouldn’t have brought up loyalty oaths or anything.
Reading my expression, Karl made it half-jokingly and then added:
“And if you’ve received a prophecy, that explains why you’ve been so knowledgeable about this dungeon.”
Oh. So that’s how it’s interpreted?
Well, since I know everything about the dungeon, it’s only natural to exploit it, but this would have seemed odd to them.
But if I say it was a prophecy, then that clears that up.
I thought I was just doing my best as a seasoned player, but who knew it would lead to this?
…I totally planned this out! Probably!
“Since you brought only me here, it seems I must not tell anyone else about this.”
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
“For an idiot, you understand pretty quickly.”
“Haha. Because I’m your knight, Lady.”
Thanks to Karl’s wild interpretation, I managed to save some explanation time.
Considering that Possell and Pervi are probably rushing down like crazy, time is of the essence.
I need to get into Ruel’s trial quickly.
“Karl, let’s move.”
“You idiot. Let’s go. No time to waste.”
“Yes, Lady. Please guide me.”
As I went deeper into the lowest floor with Karl, I realized I made a good choice bringing him.
Evans’ Dungeon is medium-sized, so there aren’t too many branching paths.
So finding a place to escape from monsters is also challenging.
If there’s a monster blocking the way, I have no choice but to take care of it and keep moving forward.
Even in Evans’ Dungeon, the lowest level is still the lowest level.
The goblins here aren’t just one or two; they’re a whole gang of them.
If I had fallen here alone, I would have gotten caught by Possell and Pervi while fighting the goblins even before reaching Ruel’s trial.
But with Karl here, I don’t need to worry about that.
Having a knight like him take down the goblin horde with just a swing of his sword is quite convenient.
Thanks to that, I reached the spot where Ruel’s trial is located in just a few minutes.
There stood a statue representing a knight.
Its arms, which should have been holding weapons, were empty, probably because the goblins had stolen them.
Its right arm was broken to the point where it was hard to recognize what it was.
Its color had faded into a murky hue, and cracks ran all over the statue, making it seem like it would crumble if touched.
“Is this what you were looking for, Lady?”
‘You knew about it?’
“Wait, you idiot Karl. You knew?!”
“Yes, isn’t this the statue of the Holy Knight Ruel?”
The knights knew about this statue too.
It’s not surprising since they’ve been in and out of dungeons more than once or twice.
“Is there something hidden here?”
‘Yes. Look closely.’
“Yeah, I’m looking. You wouldn’t be able to imagine what’s hidden here, you idiot.”
I clasped my hands in front of the statue.
In the game, you had to find the trigger and come in front of this statue to get a choice, but not now.
This isn’t a game, and I’m not a character in a game either.
I closed my eyes and recalled the line the game character used to say.
“Having one belief, I stand here. Ruel, I wish to test my belief with you.”
At that moment, the statue of Ruel creaked and moved, revealing a set of stairs leading down.
Phew. I’m glad I didn’t have to say the line out loud.
If I had to speak, my Mesugaki skill would have turned my words into something absurd.
If that happened, the statue probably wouldn’t have moved at all.
“This was hidden here?”
Karl gasped at the newly revealed staircase.
Seeing something hidden in a place he knew must have fascinated him.
I pushed Karl aside, who was showing curiosity towards the stairs, and spoke up.
“Karl. Please go stand somewhere else for a moment.”
“You idiot. Just move over to another spot for a bit.”
“Wait? But Lady, that’s…”
“Otherwise, it’ll be revealed that I went to take the trial.”
“You idiot. Can’t you figure it out? If you’re here, it’ll be obvious that I went inside.”
I want to secretly take the test and come back, you know?
You may have easily believed the whole prophecy thing, but there are bound to be others who won’t.
For such people, it would be easier to make excuses saying I just happened to stumble into the trial rather than deliberately stepping into it.
But if you’re here, it would clearly expose the fact I entered the trial intentionally.
So can you please just quietly step away?
“What if monsters ambush you when you come back?”
“Probably not. Because…”
“Think, you idiot. By that time, Possell that fool would have smashed them all to bits. Do you really think the goblins would still be alive?”
If there are any surviving goblins, they would probably be something resembling goblins.
Karl couldn’t muster a rebuttal to what I said. He probably thought the same way.
After explaining how to excuse myself to Karl, I set foot on the stairs heading to the trial.
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