'I had a bad feeling about this place from the moment I walked in.'

No one was not shocked by what Naias said.

"A person is dead...?"

Skir's face turned pale as he asked again.

"Let's get out."

Lucas thought that the first priority was to get the children out of there immediately.

Whether what Naias said was true or not, he couldn't take the children there when he didn't know what dangers might lie ahead.

"...Right, let's get out."

Pola nodded with a firm expression at Lucas's words.

No matter how important the test was, it couldn't be more important than their lives.

"B-but..."

"No, there are no buts. This place could be dangerous, so we should get out first. Let's go out and get the professor or other adults."

Skir also closed his mouth at Lucas's firm words.

'Damn it...'

He thought it had been too comfortable and peaceful for the past three years.

Of all times, for something like this to happen when he was with the children!

The children began to go back the way they had come with firm expressions.

"Be careful of the walls."

They passed through the narrow passage they had come through.

"Step only where I step."

They also passed the floor trap they had come through. Now the entrance should appear.

"...Huh? Why is there no entrance?"

It was gone. They had definitely come in this way, but the entrance was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it!"

It must be part of the test. A part of the test to prevent students who were scared and running away.

As it was a practical test for the advanced class, the probability of dying a dog's death in a lower-level dungeon was close to zero.

Although it was a test disguised as a real battle, they couldn't drive the students to their deaths.

That's why it seemed that the entrance was completely sealed after entry.

"Then... where did the next students go?"

Come to think of it, that was right. The next group came in every 20 minutes, but there were no other students anywhere on the way back.

"..."

A sense of anxiety crept in.

Just like when riding a long slide, they let people on at time intervals, the students entered at 20-minute intervals.

But it should have been a structure where they could meet at the end of the slide. But...

"Everyone, grab my arm."

Lucas held out one of his arms. He was thinking of teleporting with the children.

-Flash!

"...!"

The teleportation was blocked.

As if blocked by an invisible curtain, the mana was definitely consumed, but the magic was not cast and was canceled.

Someone was definitely interfering on purpose.

'Who in the world...!'

***

"Derik! I'm home."

The man who had entered the house was holding a bag of cookies to give to his son.

"Derik? Honey?"

But there was no sign of anyone in the house.

"Honey?"

The man, who was calling his wife and repeatedly opening and closing the doors of various rooms, carefully placed the bag of cookies on the dining table.

"Did they go out somewhere..."

His son's mental illness, which he had been suffering from, had been completely cured.

And his wife, who had been suffering from an unknown headache after learning about her son's mental illness, was no longer in pain.

For some reason, it was thanks to the leader, not a high-ranking priest, who had treated him personally.

It seemed that there would be no more pain under the grace of the Resurrection Cult and the leader.

The man still vividly remembered the moment he had entered the Resurrection Cult.

"Leniento..."

The man, who was reminiscing about that time, quietly muttered his faith.

No dowry was needed.

Just a sincere faith. That was enough.

The man who had gone to the kitchen opened the pot lid.

There was a pot full of stew that still had some warmth, as if his wife had just cooked it.

The man smiled brightly as the scent of the warm stew brushed against his nose.

Then the man, who was looking around, noticed something strange.

"Ha, this person..."

Thanks to his wife's habit of always cleaning up in the middle of cooking, the kitchen was always neat.

But here and there in the kitchen, what seemed to be leftover ingredients that his wife had used were scattered about.

Perhaps she had been preparing another dish after cooking the stew, as there were fresh vegetables and even meat out in the kitchen.

The man, who saw it, opened the back door next to the kitchen, just in case.

"...Honey? Derik...?"

There, his wife and son were lying face down, side by side.

"Honey!!!"

The man's hand, who had approached his wife, was urgent.

"Honey!!! Derik!!!"

The man hurriedly turned over his wife's body, which had collapsed face down.

The man began to scream like crazy at the sight of his wife, who was covered in blood and had grown cold.

"Help!!! Help!!!"

The man's voice, who was calling for help from the surroundings in the air, was desperate.

"Honey!! Wake up!!! Honey... honey!!!"

His son, who was lying next to his wife, was also in the same state.

"Derik!! Derik!! Wake up... wake up... Dad... Dad is here..."

The man shook his son's body, which had already grown cold.

"Honey...!! Derik!!"

The man, who was holding his wife in one arm and his son in the other, wailed.

"Help... please, someone help me!!!"

***

"The Resurrection Cult?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Grad Luclire, the Emperor of Arant.

The emperor who had briefly lost his mind about 5 years ago.

But since there was no proper successor and his symptoms were not so severe as to make daily life impossible, the central nobles had taken over the affairs of the state.

"Well, it's not uncommon for a religion to emerge..."

Pseudo-religions that swayed the hearts of the common people had appeared and disappeared repeatedly.

There was even a religion that worshiped a dog at one time.

"But this time it's a little different."

At the emperor's indifferent reaction, his secretary, Radolf Kenna, began to report the situation so far.

"...Curing diseases?"

"Yes. There are many people who have seen it and experienced it."

"Then isn't that a good thing?"

After the incident 3 years ago when the imperial palace was almost invaded, the emperor had begun to react indifferently to most things.

They said that a person changes after overcoming a near-death experience, but the emperor's degree was a little severe.

"Yes...?"

"No, I'm just saying, isn't that a good thing? Didn't you say they cure sick people? They cure mental illness and make people who couldn't walk walk, so what's wrong with that?"

Come to think of it, the emperor's words seemed to be strangely right.

"But Your Majesty... what if the other gods get angry..."

"No, shouldn't the other gods be happy too? They are diseases that couldn't be cured no matter how much of a dowry was offered to the temple. They were diseases that couldn't be cured even if a high priest came."

"T-that is..."

"But they cure those diseases that couldn't be cured without even asking for a dowry, so what's wrong with that?"

It was the right thing to say. And the people of the Resurrection Cult were even building nursing homes and orphanages, saying that they were taking care of the pitiful.

It was no exaggeration to say that there was no religious organization that was run more cleanly than this.

"Ahem..."

"If you have nothing more to say, you may leave."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Radolf, who had left the emperor's office, felt a strange sense of unease, but he decided to ignore it.

'His Majesty's words are not wrong...'

***

"Since he was resurrected from the dead to save the pitiful..."

"Leniento."

"And always let us see the miracle that faith performs..."

"Leniento."

The people gathered in the church of the Resurrection Cult all knelt together and were receiving the teachings of the lower-ranking priest, Bote.

In the Resurrection Cult, there were four ranks, or rather, grades.

As a priest, there was the high-ranking priest, Pierente.

The middle-ranking priest, Erenta.

The lower-ranking priest, Bote.

And finally, the believer, Yente.

The priests who served the leader considered it the greatest blessing to be a part of the Resurrection Cult, and they expressed infinite gratitude for being able to serve him closely.

The same went for the believers. Not only did they come to the resurrection hall every day to pray, but they also always listened carefully so as not to miss a single word of the priests' teachings.

Absolute faith.

That was all their god, the leader, wanted.

It didn't matter what sin they had committed.

The leader's words, that he would bestow salvation on those who believed in him and wash away all their sins and let them be reborn, were like a lifeline coming down from the sky.

"You have all worked hard to come here today. Those who wish to participate in the salvation of the suffering may make a donation on their way out."

"Yes, you have worked hard. Bote-nim."

Unlike other temples where they didn't even know where their dowries were being used, the Resurrection Cult showed a groundbreaking move of disclosing the details of the dowries at the end of every month.

The dowries were increasing day by day at the Resurrection Cult's move of buying land here and there to build orphanages and even nursing homes for the homeless elderly.

There was no greater joy for the believers than to be able to pass on the hand of salvation they had received to someone else.

There was no dark expression on the faces of the believers who were leaving the resurrection hall.

As if they were people who had just finished their business refreshingly, everyone's face was bright.

"Today's sermon was also really good, wasn't it?"

Although it was always the same context of words, their hearts could not be more at ease than when they were receiving the teachings of the priests.

"It was really good. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow."

"Thank you so much. Thank you for asking me to come to the Resurrection Cult."

"Haha, what are you talking about? Of course, since you're my friend, we should be saved together!"

The people who were leaving the resurrection hall, laughing.

'Right, khukuk... laugh a lot...'

A small wrinkle formed on the face of the old man who was watching them from the window.

***

"W-what did you do?"

The children's expressions were serious as they looked at Lucas, who had told them to hold his hand and then had a serious expression.

"...It's nothing."

Lucas answered, shaking his head slightly at Pola's question.

'I can't make the kids more anxious by telling them something unnecessary.'

"Then what do we do now? Should we wait for the professor here?"

"No, let's get out."

He had to strike. He didn't know who had played the trick, but there was a high probability that it was a high-class mage.

The skill to block teleportation.

And since the dungeon was not small, it must be a person of great skill to have cast a barrier over the entire dungeon.

Lucas was in a hurry now.

He wanted to get the children out of this annoying place quickly.

"...Will it be okay?"

"Yes. It'll be okay. Nella, can you call the Naias?"

"Uh-huh... Naias."

-Yes.

"Please ask the Naias to see if there are other people in front of us."

"Please, Naias."

-Okay.

As the Naias, in the form of a small fairy, went forward first, the children clenched their fists.

"Stick close behind me. Skir, I'm counting on you for the rear."

"A-alright!"

Entrusting the rear to Skir, who was a buffer, was also a sign of trusting Skir.

Skir tried to hide his nervousness at Lucas's support.

"Now, let's go."

The path they had come through would be fine. But he couldn't let his guard down.

As they passed through the path for the third time, the children seemed to relax a little.

"Be careful. The path you know is the most dangerous path."

Lucas, who had felt it, raised the children's tension again.

"Uh-huh...!"

As they passed through the narrow passage and reached the pupil again, Lucas began to spread his detection magic even wider.

"Naias!"

The Naias, who had looked around the end of the cave again, returned to the children.

-Nothing has changed. But I'm scared...

"...It'll be okay."

"W-what did she say! What did the fairy say!"

-I'm scared...

"The Naias is scared."

The fear that a spirit, which was nature itself, felt.

It was not incomprehensible for a lower-level spirit like the Naias, but it was still serious.

"...Damn it."

A small curse came out of Lucas's mouth.

(End of Chapter)