The caster’s disappearance caused the water level, which had filled the area up to the ceiling, to recede. I immediately swam upwards and surfaced. Then, I allowed Rowen, whom I was holding, to breathe.
“–Hah, cough, cough!!”
Gasping for air, Rowen took deep breaths into his lungs.
Seeing Sera and Reaper also surfacing in the distance, I let out a deep breath with relief.
“Hah, hah.”
That was close.
It was a near thing.
If Rowen hadn’t entrusted himself to me, if Reaper hadn’t noticed my desperate plea, if Sera hadn’t accepted the ‘Connection’ without hesitation, none of us would have achieved this result.
We had certainly walked a dangerous path. But somehow, I had managed to overcome it.
I was overjoyed to have surpassed the method recommended by the skill ‘???’.
As if celebrating victory, I cursed the detestable skill ‘???’.
“–Who’s going to let it chip away at me…! What do you mean ‘cheap if you don’t die’, that’s absurd…!”
I denied it as if the skill ‘???’ were a person.
However, I quickly regained my senses. It was true that I had felt a human-like presence from the skill ‘???’. But it was foolish to treat it as an individual and curse it.
For now, although I regretted activating the skill this time, I vowed to myself that it would not have its way with me.
However, the price for that vow seemed significant.
I checked the remaining MP for the four members of the party.
Although we had used magic at full power for only a few seconds, all of our MP had been depleted by more than half. The magic power that Reaper had helped us conserve was almost entirely consumed.
While the Resonance magic of the four of us was powerful, it was not very practical.
The water level completely receded, returning to its original shallow state.
Rowen, whose breathing had finally calmed, spoke with a look of apology.
“I-I’m sorry, Kanami… It’s my fault for getting carried away…”
It seemed she had heard my cry just now and thought I was angry with her.
I shook my head and gently replied.
“No, that’s not it. I wasn’t angry at you just now. I was just a little irritated that the skill ‘???’ activated… Rowen, it was amazing that you managed Resonance magic in that situation. You saved us.”
“Huh? ‘???’…? Y-You’re right. My confusion level is increasing.”
Rowen used ‘Goddess’ Eye’ to check my status.
“Using the skill ‘???’ here is a bit of a blow… But it won’t have much of an impact, so don’t worry about it.”
“I-If that’s so, then it’s fine… But, well… I couldn’t breathe, and, well—”
Rowen lowered her gaze, her face flushed red.
Due to my insightful ‘Sensation’ and ‘Dimensional Magic’, I could understand what she was thinking. – I could perceive the nuances of her emotions.
Seeing her like this filled me with a sense of helplessness. The feared situation had become a reality.
The accidental kiss had stirred Rowen’s emotions. However, I could not share those emotions with Rowen.
While Rowen was blushing with embarrassment, ready to bolt, I remained with the composure of someone remembering an event from decades ago.
The contrast in our emotional states was devastating.
And, most shamefully, I was now calmly thinking only about how to best resolve this situation.
I had anticipated that pursuing love would not lead us down the same path, but the reality was far more tragic than I had imagined.
I had no idea how to respond in this peculiar situation.
If I were to be rational and honest, I would want to pretend the kiss never happened. I would want to dismiss it with a flippant remark, like we did before, saying “The situation was unfair again.”
However, that would not be possible this time.
This time, it was not an embrace but a kiss. A so-called kiss. No matter how much I tried to excuse it as artificial respiration, I couldn’t gloss over that fact.
Having “stolen” the lips of Rowen, a girl, I had to bear some responsibility. Yes, the values of my original world continued to condemn me.
My thoughts spun in circles, and as I hesitated for a response, a voice of salvation intervened.
“Kanami! You! I saw it! During the battle, with… with the Young Lady—!!”
Sera, enraged, stomped through the shallows, approaching me.
Her righteous anger was a welcome relief.
“…Sera, that was just a life-saving measure. I had absolutely no impure intentions. Truly.”
I replied to Sera, who was about to grab me, with a chillingly calm voice. The response was so cold that I myself was surprised. It made me frown, feeling a pang of sadness.
From my response and expression, Rowen understood the situation.
“…Is that so.”
She slightly lowered her head, her face still flushed.
Rowen understood what emotions the skill ‘???’ had taken away.
Meanwhile, Sera continued to yell. I wished she would just punch me, but she didn’t go that far.
“If kissing is acceptable for saving a life, then I’d do it too! I can’t believe you had no impure intentions!”
“It was something necessary for the battle, so you don’t need to worry about it, Sera-chan.”
Rowen, who no longer possessed the skill ‘???’, intervened, expertly suppressing her emotions.
How pathetic. In the end, I was just burdening Rowen.
“However, Young Lady. To not worry about that just now—”
“–Let’s pretend it didn’t happen, just like last time. It was just artificial respiration. It was necessary for the battle. Nothing more, nothing less. Agreed?”
“There’s no way we can just pretend that didn’t happen, Young Lady! I will not allow such insincerity!”
Sera asserted what was undeniably correct.
Indeed, Sera’s way of thinking was the same as mine. Our values were very similar. That’s why I felt sad that I couldn’t say the same thing she was saying right now.
Rowen, sensing all of this, including my sadness, tried to forcefully end the conversation.
“Look, Sera-chan. Calm down.”
Saying this, Rowen lightly kissed Sera on the cheek.
“Wh-What are you doing?! Young Lady!?”
Sera’s ears turned bright red in surprise.
“It’s nothing big, you see. See, it’s fine.”
“No, that’s not what I meant, Young Lady. Um, well—”
“–Just drop it, or do you want artificial respiration too, Sera-chan?”
“N-No, that’s not it!”
Sera was thrown into utter confusion by the kiss from the Young Lady she adored.
Meanwhile, Rowen tried to gloss over everything by engaging in excessive physical contact with Sera.
I could only accept Rowen’s kindness. I vowed to repay this debt once the skill ‘???’ disappeared and remained a silent observer.
Then, I was left alone, and Reaper, looking somewhat displeased, approached me. From her expression, I could tell she had sensed my situation through the ‘Connection’.
“Sorry, I wasn’t able to help… Because of that…”
“No, Reaper, you did well too. Thanks to you, I was able to construct that full-power Ice Magic.”
“…Next time, let’s not let our guard down against a boss monster, okay?”
“You’re right. This time, we all let our guard down.”
We warned each other about the lessons learned from this battle.
Fighting the boss with a casual attitude was a mistake. When collecting pure magic stones, we should aim for boss monsters on shallower floors with more time to spare.
Afterward, Sera, having been forcibly convinced by Rowen, warned me, “This is the last time!”, and we resumed our exploration.
“Well then, shall we go? Kanami.”
And then, Rowen had returned to her usual self.
It was impossible to gauge her inner turmoil.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
I, too, had returned to my usual self thanks to the skill ‘???’.
However, inwardly, I was in a panic.
My clear thoughts were spinning at an unprecedented speed.
This was the first time the skill ‘???’ had been activated since the Christmas festival. Coupled with the skill ‘Parallel Thinking’, I couldn’t stop my subconscious thoughts.
If this continued, I might realize things I shouldn’t. With that thought, I desperately tried to suppress my thoughts.
As I followed Rowen forward, I winced.
Thus, the boss battle on the thirty-fourth floor concluded. – In the worst possible way.
However, our dungeon exploration was not over.
The worst was yet to come, piling on.
And then, I encountered her.
That white-haired girl—
◆◆◆◆◆
After the battle with the Galflad Jelly, we proceeded further into the labyrinth. Since we generally avoided enemies, our exploration progressed smoothly.
Soon, we easily found the stairs to the thirty-fifth floor.
However, upon finding them, we had no choice but to stop.
Rowen held her head and exclaimed cheerfully.
“I knew it would turn out this way. I had a feeling it might be like this even when we were at this shallow area.”
Sera also held her head, her expression grim.
“This is problematic… We can’t proceed like this.”
She reached out and touched the water, which made a splashing sound.
“Technically, I could go on my own…”
We held a strategy meeting before the submerged stairs.
“Rowen can’t swim, right?”
“Shamefully, that’s correct!”
“And Reaper can’t swim either.”
“Yeah, I can’t swim either!”
“Thank you for your energetic responses, both of you. And Sera, you’re at a doggy paddle level…”
“Call me a dog again and I’ll kill you.”
“No, I didn’t say you were a dog…”
Sera, who had been in a good mood due to her interactions with Rowen, immediately became displeased. I only intended to state a fact, but it seemed I had chosen my words poorly.
Still, this situation made me appreciate physical education classes.
It was surprising that even the athletic Rowen couldn’t swim. However, if she was raised in a region without seas or lakes, this might be normal. The three waiting on the ship were likely in a similar situation.
“Shall we go back? Let’s try again after practicing swimming.”
Thinking that this exploration had been a complete disaster, I turned my back on the stairs and attempted to create a ‘Connection’ at the edge of the corridor.
–Just then.
I heard the sound of splashing water.
All three of my companions were in my field of view. Despite that, the sound came from behind me.
While constructing Dimensional Magic, I instinctively turned around.
There stood an unknown girl.
Completely unclothed, she was just emerging from the water, and I witnessed it.
“Huh? A p-person—?”
First, I was surprised that there was a person in this deep area, and then, I was surprised by the girl’s appearance.
Her pure white hair, tied back and trailing down, swayed like a tail. Her skin, so pale it seemed translucent, made it difficult to distinguish it from her hair. With ice-blue eyes and pale pink lips, she was like a work of art, entirely adorned in white.
Her naked body evoked the image of virgin snow spreading in winter, yet it also possessed a precariousness that suggested it was destined to be trampled.
It was precisely because she was naked that her abnormality was so apparent. She was far too thin. She looked emaciated, like a sick person, seemingly mere skin and bones. Yet, her physical beauty was undiminished. In fact, her decadence only enhanced it.
However, it wasn’t her beautiful limbs that astonished me.
What surprised me was her face.
A lovely face, befitting her body, like a princess from a fairytale.
Mesmerized by her face – I felt a sense of déjà vu.
The sudden wave of déjà vu made my heart pound.
The white-haired girl and I made eye contact.
The girl, like me, looked surprised and murmured.
“B-Boy…? And…”
Her voice was gentle.
Despite her surprise, her voice was free of any sharpness, soft and mellow. Her speech clearly indicated her refined upbringing.
And with that voice, too, I felt a sense of déjà vu.
An unknown sense of familiarity clung to my mind.
I was compelled to discover its reason, so I asked.
“…Um, have we met somewhere before?”
“Huh? Um, well—”
The girl became flustered by my abrupt question and stammered.
Seeing her reaction, I finally realized my foolish mistake.
It was as if I were hitting on her. I should have said something else entirely. Why had I asked this?
I was bewildered by the inexplicable impulse that welled up from the depths of my heart.
And it was the girl who recovered from her bewilderment first.
She stopped answering, her lips pursed tightly.
Her gentle eyes narrowed piercingly, showing her intent to attack.
“–’Wind that carves the dimension,’ ‘Encircle the sounds of the world’—”
With her incantation, the girl’s magic began to swirl like a tempest.
From its ferocity, I was convinced of her fighting spirit.
“She looks like she wants to fight, Kanami! She’s angry because you saw her naked!”
Rowen behind me yelled.
Torn between surprise, I quickly lowered my head.
“Please wait! I have no intention of fighting! I apologize if I saw your nudity! No, I’m truly sorry!!”
However, the girl’s incantation did not stop.
“–’Zia Wind’!”
Furthermore, she unleashed magic at me, who had averted my gaze.
Along with a familiar spell name, the gale-force magic attacked like a beast.
Sensing the magic’s formation with ‘Sensation’, I dodged the direct hit by leaping to the side.
Sera had transformed into her beast form and, biting onto Reaper’s clothes, had escaped to a safe zone. Rowen had also retreated.
Unlike me, they had not let down their guard. Their experienced movements had perfectly evaded the magic.
While relieved by my companions’ safety, the girl, who had sprinted at the activation of the magic, closed in on me.
She swung twin swords, I didn’t know where she had produced them from.
While parrying the twin swords with the ‘Aris Family’s Treasure Sword Rowen’, I assessed the girl’s swordsmanship. This familiar fighting style was undoubtedly Helvishein’s swordsmanship.
It was enough to turn my sense of déjà vu into certainty.
This fighting style. This magic. This swordsmanship. And that face. The aura she exuded—
“–H-Hein?”
A trembling voice, mixed with confusion and expectation, escaped my lips.
In truth, I had experienced two senses of déjà vu.
One was a certainty, the other remained ambiguous.
Thus, it didn’t matter to me whether it was affirmation or denial—
The girl, upon hearing the name, smiled.
“You noticed well, boy…! But, that’s incorrect! –’Dimension’!”
“Dimensional Magic!?”
–Fate tilted to one side. The possibility of the ambiguous one vanished.
To prove that I was wrong, the girl used a magic that Hein couldn’t.
Sharpening my senses, I attempted to slip my intensified twin swords in.
Her smooth swordsmanship resembled Hein’s. However, her strength was entirely different.
The power the girl wielded, the speed of her swords, the skill she employed, the magic she wielded, her eye movements – everything far surpassed the former Hein.
I ‘gazed’ intently at the girl to discern her true capabilities.
–Status
Name: Hairi Weisprorope HP: 289/352 MP: 172/512-200 Class: None
Level: 31
Strength: 15.46 Endurance: 15.77 Dexterity: 15.72 Speed: 16.93 Intelligence: 16.77 Magic Power: 29.72 Aptitude: 3.25
–Innate Skills: Dimensional Magic 1.79, Water Magic 1.03, Wind Magic 1.77, Divine Magic 1.24
Blood Arts 1.01, Swordsmanship 2.52, Optimal Action 1.02
Acquired Skills: Physique 0.49–
My thoughts, which had become rational after using the skill ‘???’, were accelerated by ‘Parallel Thinking’.
This inhuman deductive ability pinpointed the girl’s origin.
“–That bastard!!”
I cursed the man who had left this behind with all my might.
