WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 62: What a Silly Dream

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'She's not wrong, though.'

I was only stunned for a moment because I hadn't expected Mine to say something like that. Her words weren't wrong.

Evil God worship, attacks on students, kidnapping, murder, human experimentation, and so on.

Considering everything the Tartarus Cult had done so far, its members weren't even human.

Human sacrifice by the Church of the Main Gods?

Of course, the cultists started that too.

Anyway.

Within the Empire, cultists ranked below cockroaches.

It wasn't strange for Mine, who had grown up as a priest in Erandar before becoming a Saintess, to think that way.

'There isn't any reason to insist on dungeons.'

Mine's problems right now were her dungeon phobia and lack of combat sense. The latter could be developed perfectly well outside a dungeon.

Unlike in the Spider Dungeon, she was motivated this time, so there was no reason to refuse.

"Then we'll proceed with the assignment."

Still, there were things to do first.

"Mine, can I check your Arts?"

"M-my... Arts?"

"Yeah. We only did basic training for the past week, so we never got around to it. If we're going to fight together, we need to know each other properly."

It was something I had put off because there had been no point until now.

I needed to check Mine's level.

Unlike the original, there was no way to directly check a character's level. The closest measure I had was the tier of Arts they had unlocked.

In Academy of the End, Arts were unlocked every nine levels, excluding the basics.

For example, Cecilia's White Fang Dance was an Art unlocked at level 9.

She had also learned her next Art, Radiant Shadow Slash, but she had told me she refrained from using it because it wasn't efficient.

Considering she had later learned Radiant Chain Fang, an Art that hadn't existed in the original, Cecilia had to be at least level 27.

That was also the perfect level for clearing the Doll Dungeon in the original.

To begin with, if Cecilia hadn't even unlocked Radiant Shadow Slash, I would never have considered clearing the Doll Dungeon with her.

That was why checking Mine's level mattered.

She had plenty of Arts useful for party play.

'Even level 18 would give us a chance.'

We moved to a nearby clearing.

Standing in the middle of it, Mine used the basic Art I had relied on countless times.

[Heal]

"Haaah!"

Then, with a shout, she fired a sphere of holy power into the air.

Her level 9 Art, and one of her only two offensive skills.

[Holy Calling]

My brow furrowed.

She had used nothing but Heal, so I thought she was a hopeless level 1.

But if she kept firing that from a distance, she could probably melt an Elite Kobold without taking a single hit.

In other words, while I had worked myself to the bone getting beaten up by Kobolds to grind, she could do the same thing with one click while lying down.

I suddenly felt like an idiot.

"Is that it?"

"Ah, please wait a moment."

Mine clasped her hands together and began to pray.

'...There's more?'

Soon, a flash of light descended from the sky, and a purple phantom butterfly began fluttering beside me.

Her level 18 Art.

[Divine Benedictus]

It was an amazing Art that cleansed a character's debuffs, while the butterfly even provided small healing ticks.

Mine's main playstyle was casting this on herself and spamming Holy Calling from a distance.

What was this? What the hell was this?

I was shocked in a good way.

I had thought she was useless, but she was in much better shape than expected.

Three Arts at level 18.

If she could overcome her dungeon phobia, this alone would let us somehow take on the Undead Dungeon.

"And..."

"Wait, there's more?"

"Y-yes... about two more..."

Before she had even finished speaking, purple roses made of holy power bloomed around her, invigorating my body.

Her level 27 area-of-effect Art.

[Rose Garden]

While standing in the garden, Health gradually recovered, and damage from enemy attacks was reduced to a degree.

"And this is the last one."

While I stood there dumbfounded, she began gathering holy power in both hands for the finishing touch.

'...Wait. Seriously?'

The holy power gathered in her hands flowed not only into the mace, but also into my sword and Alicia's fan.

Soon, my sword glowed with pure white light.

"Haa... Haa... These are all the Arts I have... Are you perhaps disappointed...?"

I couldn't take my eyes off the glowing sword.

The Art she had just used was [Holy Enchant].

This Art was why Mine could serve as the top healer in Academy of the End.

Holy Enchant was a premium buff that gave weapons the holy attribute and gave Mine's attacks a chance to heal allies.

Used together with Lumen, it was also a ridiculously broken Art that made it possible to play Mine as a damage dealer.

More importantly, the fact that she could use Holy Enchant meant...

'No, fuck. Mine's a higher level than me?'

Her current level was at least 36.

I had no choice but to smack my forehead.

I couldn't believe that she had spent a week squealing in the Spider Dungeon with stats like these.

"Mine."

"Y-yes?"

I immediately grabbed her shoulders.

"You're my equal, or even stronger than me."

Mine looked completely bewildered by my words.

Unlike her, I was full of certainty.

Holy Enchant was an Art I hadn't considered at all for this dungeon clear.

What if we entered the Undead Dungeon with all of Alicia's buffs on top of that?

For the first time in a long while, I had no confidence.

No confidence that I would lose.

I revised my plan in my head.

The direction of Minecess Maker had to change completely.

Mine's problem wasn't her stats. It was her mental state, which kept her from using those stats, and her lack of real combat experience.

In the end, that damn dungeon phobia would hold her back again.

As she was now, the moment she entered a dungeon, she might as well become a useless level 1.

Then this cult suppression mission would be the perfect place for practical training.

She would have to fight living humans in the field, not a dungeon.

It would be an intensive lesson far more effective than clumsily developing her senses in the Spider Dungeon.

There was some irony in learning to fight humans only to use those skills against monsters, but what could I do?

One question still lingered.

'But how did she level up?'

She had never entered a dungeon or ground in the field, so how did she reach such a high level?

Then, the message that had appeared when I formed a party with Cecilia suddenly crossed my mind.

[Party Member Bonus: Goddess of Fortune]

Whenever I partied with Cecilia, it definitely felt like my luck went wild.

I had even made strategies that relied on luck.

'Then could Mine have something too? Something related to experience or levels?'

If there was a feature that automatically increased her level without entering dungeons...

'...Does that mean just forming a party with Mine could accelerate my own growth?'

I wasn't certain, but it was a hypothesis worth considering.

My own growth had stagnated considerably lately.

Right now, I was only relying on my weapon and Shards. Even after clearing the Doll Dungeon, I hadn't unlocked an Art after Gale’s Path.

'I'll think about it after we deal with the assignment first.'

⁎⁎⁎

Afterward, I checked Alicia's Arts too.

As I had expected, she had unlocked four Arts and was around the same level as me.

In the original, she joined after growing past level 40 because her recruitment came later. Since she had joined earlier than in the original, her level seemed lower too.

After parting with the two of them and returning to the dormitory, Aren greeted me warmly for some reason.

"You're back? You're early today."

"Mine's training ended early."

"I see. If I'd known, I would've had dinner with you."

It was a warmer smile than before.

"What do you want to do? Eat first? Take a bath first? Or..."

A chill ran down my spine at those familiar words.

Aren, seriously... That line sounds way too suggestive.

Then I quickly realized that I was the one with the problem for thinking that.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of myself."

I cleared my thoughts and began undressing as usual.

"Halibal, I have something to ask you."

At the voice behind me, I turned around to see Aren staring straight at me with unusually serious eyes.

'No, it isn't unusual.'

Those were the eyes Aren had shown throughout the original.

I didn't know what it was about, but the protagonist was being that serious. I had no choice but to respond seriously too.

"What is it?"

"Can I ask what your special practicum assignment is?"

"...Hmm."

I wasn't sure whether I should answer so easily.

It was confidential, after all.

If I told Aren and the information somehow leaked, those bastards might pack up and move their entire branch.

Sensing my hesitation, Aren added,

"At least tell me whether it's related to a dungeon."

"It's not dungeon-related."

I answered immediately. This much should be fine.

Just because the special practicum wasn't related to a dungeon didn't mean I couldn't clear dungeons.

"...Is that so?"

Aren gave an unreadable reaction to my answer before asking,

"Then... could you tell me about the Evil God's Abyss?"

I snapped fully awake.

His voice clearly conveyed his determination to clear this Evil God's Abyss no matter what.

This was bad.

'...I did show off too much.'

Long before coming to Ruidel, Aren had been told by his master that he was destined to conquer the Dungeons of the Evil God.

In the original, he had risked his life entering dungeons to fulfill that destiny.

But before he could even step forward, I had already cleared two dungeons.

Thinking about it, there was no way he could feel positively toward me.

'Was that why he had kept his distance from me?'

I never imagined the original protagonist would be jealous of me.

No, maybe I had already known it unconsciously.

I still hadn't given him Sun Shine.

There was no particular reason. I just had a vague feeling that I shouldn't hand him everything so easily.

"Please. I beg you."

Aren's eyes now held an anxiety he could no longer hide.

"Before I tell you, let me ask one thing. Why are you so determined to conquer the Abyss?"

"Because it's a promise to my master. And... because that's why I came to Ruidel."

There was no hesitation in his answer.

He really was the protagonist.

I had no intention of testing his resolve.

I only wanted to confirm it.

Confirm.

His appearance had changed from before, but fortunately, the man before me was still the Aren I knew.

"All right. I'll tell you."

Aren brightened at my answer.

It was an innocent smile like a child's. It was the first time I had seen him smile since coming to this world.

I stood and walked to the desk.

There, I took out a sheet of paper and a pen.

"Everything I know, and everything I've experienced."

That night, the original protagonist and I had our first proper conversation.

The night grew deeper.

⁎⁎⁎

'Fuck.'

I couldn't sleep.

It wasn't because of Aren. It was because of the holy power Mine had given me during the day.

Holy power had the effect of invigorating people.

But it had invigorated me too much, so even as the clock approached dawn, my mind was clear and my eyes were wide awake.

When I forced my eyes shut, I heard the scratch of a pencil near my ear.

It was Aren.

He was still awake, writing down everything I had told him.

'I shouldn't disturb him.'

Still, I needed to sleep.

I had been short on sleep lately because of the stress from Mine's training.

If I didn't rest soon, it was obvious that it would affect the upcoming operation to wipe out the cult branch.

At this point, I had no choice but to rely on a folk remedy.

I closed my eyes again and began counting sheep in my head.

One.

Two.

Three.

Was this... working?

Four.

Five.

Six.

That was when a familiar and welcome voice interrupted my counting.

『Seven.』

Eight.

『...Hey. It's pretty cramped in here, so could you stop sending them already?』

When I opened my eyes again, I was standing inside the blue gemstone temple for the first time in a while.

Renee was still sitting atop the massive throne before me.

And at her feet...

- Baaaaa.

Eight sheep were huddled together.

『It's been a while, Halibal Velder.』

Hmm.

What a silly dream.

Footnotes:

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