Chapter 36: The Forgotten Temple (5)

At my command, Miki immediately activated the shield's special ability, 「Blessing of the Water God」.

Its effect, true to its name, was to absorb and nullify water-attribute attacks.

Indeed, Miki's shield, which began to glow with a blue light, started to absorb all the 「Water Blades」 fired by the elementals instead of blocking them.

Each time it did, the blue light of the shield grew deeper.

Of course, it wasn't just capable of absorption.

If that was all the blessing could do, it would be a disappointing performance for a holy relic, wouldn't it?

The true value of the 「Shield of Water's Protection」 lay in what came after it had absorbed the attacks.

“Ibi!”

“I know, you brat!”

In the meantime, Ibi had drawn the aggro of all the statues by tapping them one by one and was leading them towards Miki.

And just then, the blue light of the shield flashed brightly for an instant.

It meant the ‘charge’ was complete.

After storing the absorbed power of water.

“Miki! Now!”

“Yes!”

──Chwaaak!

It could then be released all at once.

「Wave of Protection」.

This ability was what could be called the core of the 「Shield of Water's Protection」.

…Well, to be frank, although the name was different, it was an upgraded version of 「Water Bomb」.

In the game, they even shared similar motions.

However, this also meant that even a non-mage could use a spell similar to 「Water Bomb」.

And since it was a 2nd Circle magic, not a basic 1st Circle one, it had a much wider range of attack.

Sure enough, the small wave that surged from the shield engulfed all the statues Ibi had brought in one go.

Of course, that alone couldn't break those sturdy statues.

In the first place, 「Wave of Protection」, like its original 「Water Bomb」, was not a damage-dealing spell.

But, the important thing was that the statues, swept away by the wave and now ‘fallen’, were all in a ‘wet’ state.

Meaning they would now take double damage from lightning-attribute attacks.

And water elementals, just as water is wet, were just naturally always wet.

And now, beings in such a state were gathered in one place.

『Strike down──』

Within the range of the 「Lightning Bolt」 that Rine had been gathering through 「Delayed Casting」.

“Get out, boy!”

Ibi, who had naturally ended up in the middle of them, immediately—using the rogue's unique skill 「Swift Escape」 which she acquired at level 4—distanced herself in the blink of an eye.

As she did, a small cloud of smoke she had spread rose around the spot where she had been.

“I'm just gonna shoot them! If you don't want to get fried with them, get out now!”

Miki, using the smoke that was left behind with what seemed like advice born from experience to avoid the elementals' eyes, then swiftly escaped from between the statues that couldn't react because they were ‘fallen’.

Now that a safe distance was secured, it was time to fire.

“Rine!”

In response to my call, Rine snapped open her closed eyes.

Hwareuk!

A flame of mana flickered.

At the same time, the magic circles that had been rapidly rotating at Rine's feet all stopped in unison.

“Blow them away!”

『──Strike down!』

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang──!!

A flash of light, and several large bolts of 「Lightning」 struck down.

* * *

Chijik, chijijik──

I could see the electricity conducted on the water's surface.

Around it, the shattered fragments of the floor lay scattered.

The elementals and statues that had been on top of it were nowhere to be seen.

The elementals' forms began to collapse and they returned to their original form, water, and the shattered statues soon turned to dust and scattered.

“A-Amazing……!”

Miki, who had been watching the scene in a daze, soon ran towards Rine, who was calming her overflowing mana.

“That was amazing, Sister Rine!”

He looked just like a child who was all excited after seeing a very cool spectacle.

“I've never seen such a powerful 「Lightning Bolt」 before!”

At this rate, he looked so excited that I thought he might ask her to show him again.

“……Is that so?”

Rine, as if she had been contemplating what to say, paused for a moment before asking back.

Rather than being embarrassed by the sudden praise, she just seemed genuinely curious as to why this child was suddenly acting this way.

Then, seeing her glance at me, it seemed she was a little perplexed.

“Yes!”

Well, Miki also seemed to not be grasping the other's intention in a slightly different sense.

However, it was still too early to be impressed.

After all, only a very small part of Rine's greatness had been revealed.

Besides, the end of the battle meant.

『──Excellent, champion.』

“…!”

That the trial was over.

『You possess both courage, strength, and wisdom.』

Although not officially registered with the Adventurers' Guild, this place was still classified as a dungeon in game terms.

In short, it did not deviate much from the laws of a dungeon.

『You have proven your worth to wield the trident of Lord Stareon.』

That when the battle ends, a reward (a treasure chest) follows.

『Therefore, take it.』

Kugugung.

In front of the statue of Stareon from which the voice was coming, a stone monument-like object suddenly rose.

『May Lord Stareon be with you.』

Soon, the monument began to crumble on its own.

And as it did.

“Don't tell me, that’s…!”

The object hidden inside── the 「Trident of Stareon」, was finally revealed.

『Protect Stout, the home of those who serve him.』

Looking at the trident up close, it was at a glance a divine object…

“……What.”

To say that, honestly, it had a rather ordinary impression.

The 「Shield of Water's Protection」 that Miki was holding right now was actually much more ornate, to the point that it definitely felt like a ‘treasure’.

No, in fact, rather than ordinary, to put it nicely, it looked like an antique, and to be blunt, it just looked old.

A faded silver, old trident.

That was the true form of the 「Trident of Stareon」.

“This is it? Really?”

Perhaps that's why I could feel the bewilderment in Ibi's muttering voice.

“Uh…”

Miki didn't say anything, but his expression was already unable to hide his bewilderment.

However, it was certain.

“It's an artifact from the Age of Gods.”

This was the trident we were looking for.

“Of course it's not going to look brand new.”

“No… but still, it's something a god used, right?”

Well, I could understand that reaction.

“Shouldn't a god be all like, 'screw time' or something?”

Certainly, after coming all the way to this hidden place, and even going through all the trouble of statues suddenly moving and elementals popping out for a trial, they must have expected a fitting… treasure that looked expensive at a glance.

Of course, it was an expensive treasure.

It just didn't look like it.

“Hey, I think my wild goose chase hypothesis is gaining more credibility. What do you think?”

“You think they just put a normal trident here?”

“And then the moral of the story is that what protects us is not some old, worn-out trident, but your courage, strength, and wisdom! You can smell it, can't you, the smell.”

“That would be interesting in its own way.”

“Interesting?”

Well, personally, I thought that ‘there was no special secret!’ kind of development, although clichéd, had its own charm, but, “But it’s not.”

At least for now, it definitely wasn't.

“How can you be so sure.”

“I just, know. It's a feeling.”

“Ah, the bard's intuition again.”

“Let's call it an intuition for a good story. The story of this trident is definitely not that kind of story.”

And while I could just brush it off as an intuition, there was someone among us who could professionally and definitively prove that this was an object from the Age of Gods.

“Rine?”

The person herself, Rine, had been the only one examining the trident without any sign of disappointment from the beginning.

“I share the same thought as Sir Yubin.”

Then she soon came to this conclusion.

“I can definitely feel a different kind of magic from this object than what is visible.”

“Ah, then could it be that this trident also has divine magic…?”

“It is a possibility. And…”

“And?”

“…Perhaps, it is sleeping.”

An accurate expression.

As expected of Rine.

As she said, the current trident was definitely not at the same spec as when Stareon himself used it.

It would be fair to say it was ‘old’ just as it looked.

“Is it hibernating or something?”

And yet, even in its current old state, it was a sufficiently usable item by human world standards.

Besides.

“Then hurry up and tell it to wake up. How long does it plan on sleeping?”

There was, of course, a way to revive its specs from that time── to awaken the ‘true power’ of this spear.

“I am unable to decipher it.”

Though Rine shook her head, “It’s okay.”

I could.

“We know someone who can decipher it, don't we?”

To be precise, Aqua.

He could turn this ‘artifact that's pretty good as it is’ into an ‘endgame artifact’.

Well, as befits an endgame item, it would take some… no, quite a bit of time, though.

In any case, for this purpose.

“Whatever it is, let's take this to Mr. Aqua for now.”

We had to finish this request as planned.

“Even if your hypothesis is right by some chance, Ibi, we'll get our reward just by handing it over, so there's no loss for us, right?”

“Well, that's true.”

Ibi was quickly convinced this time.

“Yeah, who would buy this thing. Let's take it to him.”

If I hadn't seen Ibi's true feelings(?) event about the trident in advance, I would have had to make a [Persuasion] roll here, but since I had, she just readily accepted it.

So now, all that was left was to reach for the trident in front of us and take it.

Ah, but before that.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and take it.”

I had to see the event of finding my… the ‘Malevolent Star's’ lost memory first.

Finding and obtaining the 「Trident of Stareon」 was one of the many triggers to find the ‘first fragment of memory’.

However, I already knew of the existence of that event, and its contents.

Therefore, I was a little curious about how it would proceed…

“……Ugh!”

One thing was for sure, it wasn't a very pleasant method.

The moment I grabbed the trident, I instinctively clutched my head at the sudden searing pain.

The reaction Rine had shown when she found a ‘fragment of memory’ before was probably similar.

I felt like I now knew very well why that was.

For a moment, I felt a hole in my head being filled.

In other words… it was like something was digging into my head.

Suddenly, you recall a forgotten memory.

And the ‘me’ in the memory that began to be injected into my head was lying in the middle of an altar where some ritual was being performed.

Naturally, the subject of that ritual was ‘me’.

And looking down at me, sitting on a high throne, was…

You know that face.

The ‘Demon King’.

Also, you know what this place is.

This place in the memory… is undoubtedly, the Demon King's Castle.

In fact, this ‘first fragment of memory’ was, if I had to say, closer to a message than a memory.

In the Demon King's Castle, what kind of ritual was being performed?

And who… no, what were you, in the middle of it?

To instill a ‘goal’ in me.

Although it was only a faint brush, you remember this one thing clearly.

You must, no matter what, go to the Demon King's Castle.

Sure enough, the ‘quest’ was updated at the same time.

--

Main Quest

「Malevolent Star (Infortune)」

Go to the Demon King's Castle.

–

Not to defeat the Demon King, nor to find out about the ritual or my identity, but just to ‘go’.

It was a resolute single line, filled with a strong will.

“……So, like this.”

And so, the will of the ‘Voice’ to somehow send me to the Demon King's Castle was forcibly shoved into my head, and the first memory event ended.

“Teacher Yubin…?”

“Are you alright?”

“What? Did a god strike you down with divine punishment or something?”

The headache I felt for a moment was certainly painful, but in fact, the actual time that passed probably wasn't that long.

“…It's nothing.”

Nothing had changed anyway.

Even if the ‘Voice’ didn't push me like this, my goal had been the Demon King's Castle from the beginning.

“Let's go.”

For that, too, we first had to return to Stout and deliver this trident.

──Of course, there was still one more event left.

* * *

“──You really found it.”

What greeted us as we took the trident and came back to the surface was a person I would have never imagined meeting here.

“Oh dear.”

For someone.

“To see an unexpected face here.”

Well, I just wasn't that someone.

“Sir Marin.”

The acting Knight Commander of Stout.

He was the last remaining ‘event’.