Chapter 12.3

Chapter 12.3

「What apprentice uses their master as bait to detect a trap…?」

「Actually, to disarm. I already knew about the trap.」

Mio retorted without a shred of guilt, which flooded Hiroshi with exhaustion. By the way, that kind of method of detecting traps (with risk of damage, of course) was a popular method when there were no Thieves or Scouts with knowledge of traps in the party. A traditional method used since the heyday of TRPG.

「Hey, Mio-chan.」

「What?」

Slightly taken aback by this inhumane method, Haruna timidly asked Mio:

「Are you sure that was okay?」

「Disarming the trap? Or using Sensei as bait?」

「Both.」

「It was safe to use Sensei. There wasn’t another way through, and a high-level craftsman wouldn’t trip a magical trap unless it’s at a ridiculously high level. A normal spell-wielding player could use an Ultimate spell against him, and it would just fizzle because of his high Magic Defense and Magic Resistance.」

Hearing Mio’s nonchalant answer, Haruna and Aearis were quite taken aback. Haruna was aware that, if the caster’s Intelligence was lower than the target’s Constitution by a certain margin, any low level spells would fizzle the instance it hits the target, without producing any effect. However, she only thought this would apply to Novice spells. She had never considered that Advanced, or even Ultimate spells could be fizzled.

They were shocked by Hiroshi and the other craftsman being at that level itself, but also by Mio, who casually used that fact to throw her master into a trap with no remorse. They had to admit that Mio had some serious guts.

「As for disarming it, there just wasn’t another way through.」

「Um, couldn’t it have been a trap to protect this pathway?」

「Impossible. Besides, it felt different from the spells aligned with Alfemina. She is the goddess of time and space, after all.」

Mio concluded with confidence. As a Scout, she had to learn this kind of arcane knowledge.

「If ya knew that much, why didn’t ya disarm it yourself before ya throw me into it?」

「It wan’t that weak of a spell.」

「…But throwin’ your own master into it…」

Hiroshi grumbled lethargically.

「Um, Hiroshi-sama. Are you all right…?」

「I mean, it didn’t hurt me none, so I guess there ain’t no use complain’ ‘bout it.」

Even though they hadn’t even reached the main event, Hiroshi already felt unusually exhausted. Although, there was no time for that, either.

「So, since we blew up that trap, we gootta rush don’t we?」

「Probably.」

「Then let’s get goin’.」

Complaining would get him nowhere. Hiroshi concluded (with brute force and his high Constitution) that he couldn’t change the way his apprentice treated him, but he could decide to be productive. Internally, Hiroshi would be grumbling Why of all people do I got to do this… While desperately maintaining face around Aearis.

「We have been expecting you. Thank Alfemina you’re all right…」

Once they had passed the indescribable structure of the hidden pathway directly into the Temple corridors, there was an old man wearing an impressive outfit. He didn’t exude any obsession to worldly things (as you might expect to be at a high-ranking position of a religious organization) but instead carried an air of solemnity about him. He certainly seemed like the type to have accumulated a lot of good karma through his years.

「I’m sorry to have worried you, Head Priest.」

「I have heard what was happened. I’m so, so glad that you’re safe…」

The Head Priest began choking on his words, overwhelmed with emotion. Aearis gently took his hand in hers. This old man seemed to be one of the very few people Aearis could trust wholeheartedly. Quietly, they celebrated their reunion for a moment, before:

「Excuse me, but I need you two to hold off on the emotional reunion scene until a little later.」

Haruna interjected, saying this with effort and a forced sense of formality. The fact that she volunteered herself to be the bearer of bad news in these situations showed how likely she was to be the type to take on all sorts of burdens without anyone seeing it.

「Of course. My apologies.」

Reminded of what must be done, the Head Priest sprung to action. Hiroshi and Mio observed him intently.

What do you guys think?

Can’t feel any affliction on him, at least.

He wasn’t lying when he said he was worried.

Hearing Mio’s and Hiroshi’s report, Haruna sighed in relief, internally. All in all, the Head Priest didn’t seem like an enemy, at least.

「Somethin’ I wanna ask ya.」

「What is it?」

「You don’t mind us normies comin’ with y’all?」

「Exceptions and accommodations should be made during dire situations, no matter the rule. Besides, we have had a divine sign for your arrival. No one here will have any objections to your presence.」

The Head Priest mentioned some real talk (albeit while maintaining his solemnity). While the party was thankful that a person in his positions wasn’t too much of a stickler for their doctrine, but there was still the lingering doubt for either the consequences of the bending of rules, or the existence of the said rules themselves.

「A temple is simply the place where our goddess provides us with guidance and protection. A priest is merely the harbinger of those things. Dogma and doctrine written by man are meaningless. If they contradict the will of our goddess… If they come in the way for the people to receive our goddess’ blessings, then they shall be abandoned.」

Perhaps catching the look of the party, the Head Priest continued to say things as if to criticize his own organization, with the same sense of solemnity. His core belief seem to have protected him from the reputation of a corrupt religious figure while being a realist about these situation to prevent the organization from becoming too rigid and falling apart.

「So, what’s next?」

「The Ritual of Purification. Myself and the High Priests below me have all prepared for it.」

「How’s that gonna clear Elle’s name?」

「It’s simple, really. Aearis-sama simply performing the purification in the Ritual Room, from which Katrina-sama was rejected, will be proof enough that Aearis-sama has the necessary talent as the Priestess Princess. Also, the affliction of the mineral veins have become too severe for Elena-sama to handle, even at her best health. Aearis-sama is the only one who can turn this around.」

In other words, just by performing her duty, she would have saved the country. A worthy accomplishment. The disinformation regarding her character aside, her ill reputation as a failed Priestess Princess seemed easily reversible by providing some results.

The Head Priest lead them through a pathway that exemplified timeless simplicity for a while, before they arrived at an opening. While the structure was sound, this large space lacked decoration. On the north end of the space, however, there was a large door engraved with ornate detail, in stark contrast with the pathway they had passed through and the room they were in now. Judging from the powerful purification barrier on the door itself, they could assume that the Ritual Room was located through that door.

「This is it. I apologize, but I must ask you all to remain here.」

「Okay.」

「My money’s on someone trying to cause trouble while y’all are in there. We’ll play watch duty for a while.」

「Search and destroy anything that’s afflicted?」

The Head Priest acknowledged their response with a nod. He seemed to contemplate Mio’s aggressive tone for a bit, but seemed to have decided to let it alone. He gestured for Aearis before taking another bow at the party and disappearing into the Ritual Room. After the party watched them leave, they looked back towards the opening, when someone suddenly called to them:

「No outsiders allowed here. Didn’t you see the sign?」

「What’s up? Fellow outsider.」

Hiroshi stroke back with a dismissive tone at this man, who was so nondescript that one could easily forget his face the moment they looked away from it. They had no reason to play nice with a man who was exuding far more affliction than the Wyvern.

They were in the house of the Goddess of Time and Space, after all, so all transportation items and spells can’t be used here, even the transportation spell used by Layotte. Judging from the fact that the Goddess herself would be the only one allowed to transport here, this man must have walked through the other back door. Actually, the party couldn’t deny the possibility that this man used his incredible lack of presence to simply walk in through the front.

「Did you know that sneaking into a temple calls for a very strict punishment?」

「So you’re in big trouble then, ain’t ya?」

「So, I can teach you guys a lesson, no problem.」

Disregarding Hiroshi, the man concluded their little conversation. Stripping the Skulking Cloaks off, the party stood on-guard. While firing off enough spells to keep his distance, the man starts preparing a spell far too powerful to cast in a place like this.

「Who uses that kind of spell in a tight space like this…?」

Haruna mumbled as she kept the man on his toes by firing off some precise bolts with Aura Bird. In a situation like this, it was Hiroshi’s job to charge, and there was no point in Haruna getting any closer, which meant that her job was to keep attacking from a distance.

The man’s quick-fired spells landed straight into Hiroshi, who was now charging at the man, and promptly fizzled without showing any effect. These Dark spells, by the way, were filled to the brim with affliction, had a trajectory that was hard to read, and a direct hit to an ordinary human would cause some serious damage in all sorts of ways, but having it hit a single target before scattering had render them useless for attacking the group. Apparently, at his Magic stats, he couldn’t penetrate Hiroshi’s Magic Resistance with spells of this level.

「You guys were so aggressive, I didn’t have a choice. I was just trying to subdue these attackers. They were the ones who used the big spell.」

「…Childish.」

Mio responded, firing off arrows in a dancing trajectory.

「Who can prove that it was me?」

「Not what I was talking about.」

Without understanding what Mio was saying, the man dismissed her as a basket case (with utter lack of self-awareness). He went to activate the large-scale destructive spell he had been preparing. An immense amount of magic was conjured, about to tear into this world.

「Too bad! Even if you guys survive, you’ll be the criminals who destroyed the Temple!」

「Too bad for you.」

Mio said coldly as she shot another arrow at the man. Blocking the arrow, the man looked puzzled. Immediately, he noticed that something was off.

「Why won’t my spell activate!?」

「Sensei’s in your range. No way that little spell would activate.」

「What!?」

The wide-range of the spell had ironically become its downside. If there was a being within range with enough resistance to overpower the spell itself, even if that being was at the edge of the range, the entire spell was fizzled. In order to push through Hiroshi’s Magic Resistance (even if Hiroshi was naked) a top-ranking player would have to use at least an Intermediate spell.

「You’re goin’ down!」

Hiroshi immediately assaulted the man (frozen from shock) with a Smash attack. He turned the blade of the axe on him rather than the butt, going in for the kill. Instinctively throwing up a barrier, the man gets thrown into a pillar.

「I ain’t done!」

With another Smash attack, Hiroshi slammed the man against the wall, and swung in one more time on the rebound. Even though this was a Novice skill, relatively easy to fire off consecutively, its delay should not have been short enough for Hiroshi to chain off one into another. This only worked because Hiroshi had the length of the delay drilled into his muscle memory, and that the enemy hadn’t recovered from the surprise of having his Ultimate spell fizzled.

「Argh! Knock it off!」

His superior attitude had left him entirely, as he no longer concealed his irritation and jumped in for a counter blow to push Hiroshi back 3 meters. However, Hiroshi didn’t seem to take any damage, and easily landed on his feet. Although it was mostly in the easier dungeons, he had played the tank many a times in-game. Even though he didn’t have many skills that boosted his Speed, he had enough prowess to stay on his feet after being blown away.

「Not bad for a bunch of criminals, but don’t expect that little princess to get anything done.」

「Guess you’ve played a trick or two on her. Don’t expect ‘em to work.」

Before Hiroshi could finish, a bright light emanated from the Ritual Room.

「…What have you done!?」

「Simple. Just cured all their status conditions when we saved ‘em from Piaranork.」

Hiroshi answered matter-of-factly, as the man witnessed the unthinkable: a successful ritual. Then, the man glared down Hiroshi with hatred. At the time, Hiroshi didn’t pick up on any spell other than the one Aearis cast to put everyone in a coma, but he decided that they really didn’t know what kind of status conditions Aearis could be affected by. So, he crafted the most powerful status condition healer he could make with the ingredients he had.

「I think we’re getting an audience. What are you going to do?」