We were almost at the town of Frelia, when I looked back and squinted.
(Radd should have made it to the pedestal at the far end of the room by now.)
In the end, I regretted a little that I didnāt give Radd more advice.
I was originally planning to give him a little more advice, but when I tried looking at his direction even a bitā¦ā¦
[Nii-san, stop having your gaze loiter around.]
āāāMy scary little sister would throw out her complaints, so it canāt be helped.
Well, Resilia herself knew that there was that guy who teaches well, and more than anything else, with Raddās eagerness to improve, he would get stronger on his own.
Heck, itās me who has to work even harder so that he doesnāt overtake me too soon.
[ā¦ā¦Even so, that was a little surprising.]
As I was walking while thinking about such things, Resilia, who was walking next to me, calmly spoke.
[Surprising? What is?]
[That Nii-san would round up and leave the trial halfway through. If itās Nii-san, I thought that even if you have to rush full speed on the way back, you would force yourself to make time to try the trial again.]
""
I was wondering what kind of image she had of me to think like that, but well, I couldnāt exactly deny her words.
But for just this one time, her guess is quite off.
[I donāt have to do that. Errrā¦ā¦]
Looking around, I happened to catch sight of a group of alchemical materials, commonly called āMagic Flowersā, growing on a nearby hill.
Itās a good place to earn me some coins.
[Letās take a small detour.]
Saying this, I ran toward the field of Magic Flowers.
If it had been the me in the past, I would have used <Rogueās Eyes> to look for a harvesting point in advance, but I donāt even need to do that now.
As I step into the middle of the flower garden, I raise my left hand high in the air and declared.
[āāā-Harvest!]
Thereupon, white light floated up from various flowers and was absorbed into my left hand.
[Whaā¦ā¦]
The light that flew towards my left hand from all the harvesting points within a few meters radius around me, and in just a few seconds, was all the flowers that could be collected, absorbed into my inventory.
Ahh, incidentally, even if I were to uproot them, I wouldnāt have to worry, since they will grow back with the magical power of fantasy.
[W- What is that?]
[You can already guess what it is, right? Itās the effect of the <Treasure Hunter>ās Skill, <Expert Gatherer>.]
I said with a grin.
ā¦ā¦Yes.
My current Class isnāt <Sword Saint> anymore.
I had Class Changed to <Treasure Hunter>.
[Donāt tell meā¦ā¦]
It seems that Resilia had also realized it.
[In that case, Nii-san! You already went to that temple and completed the trial beforehand!]
[Ehā¦ā¦?]
Receiving an answer that I didnāt expect, I hurriedly explained it to Resilia, who had been awkwardly looking at me.
[No, that isnāt it! I became a <Treasure Hunter> during that challenge before we left.]
[But at that time, you fell in the middle of the <Final Trial>, didnāt you?]
[No. At that time, I did go to the far endā¦ā¦ No, I had touched the end goal of the trial.]
As it seemed like Resilia still doesnāt have a clear idea of what Iām talking about, I asked her a question.
[Do you remember the text that was written in front of the door of the <Final Trial>, Resilia?]
[As I recall, it reads āShow your Courage, Offer to me the Perfect Keyā.]
[Correct. Then, what was our purpose for going there in the first place?]
[That is, to get the <Treasure Hunter> Class, right?]
She was looking at me with a gaze that seemed to ask if Iām making a fool of her or not, but I didnāt get discouraged and asked her just one more question.
[Then, how do you usually get a new Class?]
[If you find the āHeroic Statueā of the Class you want to become, you touch the statue, and when you meet the requirements, your body will light upā¦ā¦ Ahh, I see.]
Resiliaās voice changed from doubt to understanding halfway through her words.
[āāāāāThe stone statue that appeared in the <Final Trial>, the only statue in that place holding a spear and a sword, has the likeness of a Hero. In other words, that was the <Treasure Hunter Statue>.]
I nodded in agreement with Resiliaās words of understanding.
The sword-spear dual wielding is a characteristic of the <Treasure Hunter> before his death.
If you had some information about the <Treasure Hunter> Hero, seeing that statue would have given you a big clue.
[Even if you donāt know anything about him, you would find out about the statueās name when you try to use <Inspect> on it. Ah, by the way, thatās also the reason why the last statue is the only one that doesnāt have 1 STR.]
The Status of a Class Change Statue has the āability values required to change to that Classā.
And so, while the statues that appeared in the previous trials were extreme opponents with 1 ATK and 999 DEF, while only the last statue has a Status within common sense.
And once you know about that, thereās nothing difficult about it then.
[Then, the words āShow your Courage, Offer to me the Perfect Keyā isā¦ā¦]
[Yeah. The last thing you need to do is to approach the <Treasure Hunter Statue> that falls in the middle of the trial and touch it with your hand holding the magatama.]
The last time I used the <Thunderclap Palm Strike> against the statue, I wasnāt trying to knock it back and send it down the abyss.
I was just thinking it would be best to use that skill to get my right hand holding the magatama to touch the stone statue the quickest.
ā¦ā¦Well, I havenāt really thought about what would happen after I touched it, which is why I fell right after I accomplished my goal in the trial.
But there, Resilia furrowed her brow, seemingly having thought of something.
[However, please wait. If thatās the case, then what about that pedestal at the far end of the room? Wasnāt there a pedestal at the end of the Dragonās Path?]
That is certainly the most tricky point of that trial.
However, that too can be understood if you observed the pedestal properly.
[That pedestal is different in design from the pedestals placed at the goal of the previous trials. Itās just, that isnāt the only thing that is unlike the other trials.]
[What do you mean?]
[Thereās that, you know? Dozens of designs were in place in both the <First Trial> and <Second Trial>. There are those pedestals where the stone statue is placed on both sides of the passage of the trials.]
And since thereās no way to be sure, this would just be my guess, but Iām sure that when the door to the <Final Trial> is closed, that <Treasure Hunter Statue> would just be standing properly at the āend of the Dragonās Pathāā¦ā¦ That is, on the pedestal at the far end of the room, waiting for the challenger.
Then, when it sees that the <Second Trial> has been cleared, it would hastily hide behind the ceiling with magic and wait in standby, which makes me think of the statue as some sort of moe character waiting for that person to clear its trial.
[ā¦ā¦Well, there are other minor hints here and there, but thatās about it with the trialsā tricks.]
After hearing all my explanations, Resilia loudly sighed.
[That isā¦ā¦ is quite nasty.]
She said with a frown.
[Itās a trial created by a <Treasure Hunter>. Thatās just the way it is.]
Upon my words, Resilia shook her head.
[The trial certainly is, but Iām also referring to Nii-san. Did you think itās alright not to tell Radd about this?]
[Well, I was on the fence about whether I should tell him about this or not.]
When Radd pressed me to see if I wasnāt frustrated, for a moment, I thought of answering honestly that āIāve already completed the trialā.
But in the end, I decided not to say it.
[Iāve already given him enough clues, and itās better for him if he were to solve something like that himself. Besidesāāā]
[Besides?]
At the quizzical look Resilia has on her face, I put on a 100% pure smileā¦ā¦
""
[āāāā-I spent two hours trying to solve that riddle when I saw it for the first time. I would be frustrated if he were to solve it that easily!]
I blurted out my true thoughts.
Incidentally, after thatā¦ā¦
Radd, whose linguistic capabilities lagged because of anger, stormed into my room, shouting āYou b*stard! You b*stard!!!ā, twelve hours after we left him at that temple.