WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 73: How?
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When I entered the dungeon, I saw a winged Rosia carrying Mine out of the pit.
“Ah, Halibal. Welcome.”
Pasha stood beside a male student who appeared to be her Follower. It seemed Mine had come here to save the two of them.
Wow! Two Mines!
That should have surprised me, but I was not all that shocked.
‘Looks like she used Raphael.’
Mine’s Abyss Core, [Raphael], had the ability to summon a creature that assisted in battle.
In the original game, it summoned a small paper angel. The summon would trail after party members, dealing damage or healing them.
‘So Raphael’s summon manifested in Rosia’s form.’
At this point, something like that was not even surprising.
If Rosia was Mine’s idea of what an angel looked like, there was nothing strange about it.
In fact, I had not told Mine to use Raphael even once over the past month.
To ease her burden?
No.
‘That thing sucks.’
Using another Core was better than using Raphael.
There was a reason Mine’s main build used Lumen & Caligo.
Raphael’s summon AI was practically garbage.
It dealt damage when healing was needed, then healed when damage was needed.
It even attacked on its own when it should have stopped, triggering boss mechanics.
And it consumed an absurd amount of holy power.
Why would anyone use that?
Mine also had an Art with a similar effect, Divine Benedictus.
That was why Raphael in the original game was nothing more than a gimmick build.
‘Still, I should tell her she did well.’
I had enough tact for that.
This was the time to praise her for using that power of her own will and entering the dungeon herself.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
Mine held out her hand to Pasha.
“Pasha, Mar. Are you two all right?”
“What the hell is that...?”
“It’s the power of my Abyss Core.”
“You could do something like that? Then back then too...?”
“...”
Pasha slapped Mine’s offered hand away.
“Why are you saving me now? Hypocrisy? Pity? Or is this your precious atonement?”
“I...”
“Then why didn’t you save my dad back then?! You’re saying you could have done this back then too! You had this kind of power... so why...?!”
Tears mixed with Pasha’s furious voice.
‘She must know too.’
I had heard about Mine during counseling.
Normally, once someone entered a boss battle in an Evil God Dungeon, they could not leave.
Mine had only escaped because opening the boss room’s door had literally been an accident.
On top of that, Pasha’s father had volunteered for the scouting mission despite knowing that much of the Undead Dungeon remained unexplored.
All for his family.
‘Adeline said she explained the truth behind the incident to the bereaved families.’
So Pasha’s resentment toward Mine was unfair in its own way.
Yet Mine calmly accepted every accusation.
“...You’re right, Pasha.”
“...What?”
“Even though I had power back then, I couldn’t do anything. No, I didn’t do anything.”
No.
Even if Mine had been able to use Raphael at the time, it would have been weaker than Rosia was now.
In reality, there was nothing Mine could have done in that situation.
Still, her guilt likely came not from being unable to act, but from believing she had chosen not to.
“So it’s only natural for you to hate me.”
“...”
“But I won’t run away anymore.”
“...What?”
“I’ll enter dungeons. Even if I’m scared, even if I’m terrified, I’ll keep entering them. So that no one else has to lose someone precious and grieve like you have, Pasha.”
Mine held out her hand again.
“...Liar.”
“Yes. It was a lie. Back then. But...”
This time, she looked at me.
“I’m going to stop.”
“...I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my dad.”
“The inside of an Evil God Dungeon doesn’t change. The Undead Dungeon especially will not have changed. Maybe... if we enter it, there might still be belongings left behind by your father and the others.”
Pasha’s eyes widened at those words.
“...Really?”
“Yes. If anything your father owned is still there, no matter what it is, I’ll do everything I can to find it.”
Mine held out only her pinky.
“This is a promise. My first promise to you, Pasha.”
“...”
“So, Pasha. If I find traces of your father... will you give me the chance to apologize to you properly?”
Pasha did not answer.
Instead, with a trembling hand, she linked her pinky with Mine’s.
At that moment, Mine collapsed where she stood.
“Mine!”
I ran to the fallen Mine and supported her.
At the same time, Rosia’s form scattered into the air.
“W-What happened...?”
“She just used up all her energy. Activating a Core’s ability takes a lot out of you. Unless you’re properly trained, using one can make you collapse.”
“...I see.”
“A child could even die from using it carelessly.”
It was true.
The training Mine had done by entering dungeons over the past month had saved her life just now.
A shadow crossed Pasha’s face after hearing me.
She understood now.
Mine really could not have done anything that day. She had been acting unreasonably.
Pasha stared silently at Mine, who still held her hand.
Before long, as though her own tension had finally melted away, Pasha collapsed too.
‘Looks like this one was exhausted as well.’
Mar was already unconscious.
Wait.
Two girls and one guy.
How was I supposed to get all three of them back to the dormitory alone?
By the time I dragged the three of them out of the dungeon, the sky had already gone completely dark.
Squinting into the distance, I could barely make out the tram station lights beyond the horizon.
It was ridiculously far.
‘Can we make it before the last tram leaves?’
“Ugh.”
I sighed and started moving the three of them when a familiar voice came from beside me.
“So, are they okay?”
Oh, that startled me.
When I turned toward the voice, a sun brighter than the moon had risen there.
“Instructor.”
"I told you to call me big sis when it’s just the two of us."
It was Adeline.
“They just ran out of energy, so they’ll be fine. I think Mine treated Mar’s injury too.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried.”
Why was she here?
Before I could wonder for long, Adeline hoisted Mine and Pasha over her shoulders.
“Let’s get back before it’s too late. If we leave now, we should make it just in time.”
Adeline giggled and walked into the darkness.
‘Right. We need to get moving first.’
I carried Mar on my back and followed her.
There were mountains of things I wanted to ask, but neither of us spoke. We simply walked beneath the moonlight.
After a while, Adeline broke the silence just before we reached the tram station.
“By the way, how did you get here so quickly?”
“Mine left me a message. When she stopped responding, I was certain she’d gone into a dungeon.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
She turned from the tram and looked at me.
Her eyes held a degree of suspicion I had never seen from her before.
“I’m asking how you got here so quickly.”
Oh no.
⁎⁎⁎
After making sure all the students had returned to their dormitories, Adeline stopped by the instructors’ office to organize some paperwork.
‘An Abyss Core ability, huh.’
After the counseling session, she had seen Halibal head toward the tram station with a grim expression.
She had known him for a long time.
Whenever he wore that expression, nothing good followed.
He had looked exactly like that every day during his three-year slump.
‘I followed him just in case, but...’
When Halibal reached the station, he checked the tram schedule to Angel Plains and shifted restlessly from foot to foot.
‘Angel Plains is where the Centipede Dungeon is. Don’t tell me he turned down the meal I offered just to enter a dungeon?’
‘Wow. I can feel a wall between us.’
Even Adeline, who liked him as her student, was growing sick of his dungeon addiction.
What on earth had she raised?
Even for a student, wasn’t this crossing a line?
At this rate, he would only earn the resentment of girls his age.
Maybe he would not even be able to have a proper relationship.
‘I really do have a lot left to teach him.’
Then she looked back at where Halibal had been.
‘...What?’
He had vanished without a trace.
She was among the top three strongest people in the Empire in terms of combat ability, yet she had lost track of him?
‘What happened?’
No matter how thoroughly she searched around the station, she could not find a trace of Halibal.
In the end, after waiting for over two hours, she headed to Angel Plains and found her student there.
The tram she had taken was the earliest one scheduled, yet he had already finished everything and was on his way out of the dungeon.
It was impossible considering the time.
Halibal had claimed it was an Abyss Core ability.
Judging by his eyes, it was not a lie.
It was possible.
Even she did not know the full potential of every Core.
Still, she had known for a long time that Halibal’s Core had come from Cecilia.
She had checked it herself.
His Core, Renee, had the same specifications as the Standard-Issue Cores distributed to Imperial soldiers.
‘There was nothing remarkable about it.’
Fine. Suppose Halibal’s ability allowed him to move through space.
Then one very serious problem arose.
Eliver Han, the bishop of the cult whom Halibal had defeated alongside Alicia and Mine.
The Empire had conducted a thorough investigation into her.
Based on Alicia’s testimony, they scrutinized everything, from her face and movements to her disposition.
Yet there was no trace of her ever entering Ronwood.
There were no records of her using the tram, the Christoph Cross-Country Train, or even traveling by land or sea.
She had literally dropped from the sky.
And the same was true of Malias.
The Empire had reached a conclusion.
The bishops possessed some means of moving through space.
Dropped from the sky.
That phrase made Adeline think of Halibal first.
Halibal himself had dropped into her life from the sky.
‘And Halibal has a spatial movement ability too...’
At some point, Halibal and Cecilia’s Doll Dungeon raid report had ended up in her hands.
The report was well written.
Cecilia had clearly put a lot of work into it. The other instructors had all praised it.
But Adeline noticed something that felt off.
[Defeated the mid-boss Alain...]
[Passed through the choir...]
[Defeated the final bosses Rose and Lilian...]
The report from the two of them was missing one thing.
How?
It described the course of the battle, but the flow was unnatural.
‘Let’s see what happens.’
Adeline quietly closed her eyes, and the Temple of Rest unfolded inside her mind.
Mental Image Training.
It was a technique only possible for a genius among geniuses.
The massive knight Alain appeared before her, with Halibal and Cecilia standing against the knight.
Then the battle began.
‘...Hm?’
How should she describe it?
The rhythm did not match.
There were subtle gaps between attacks.
Movements that should not connect did, while movements that should connect were interrupted.
‘According to this report, the two of them could never defeat the boss.’
The report could have been wrong, but that was Adeline’s judgment.
The problem was that this was not the first time Adeline had felt this sense of unease.
She had felt it for a very long time.
Since the moment she first saw Halibal.
Even she could never dodge the sword he swung in earnest.
Adeline leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling.
‘Does Halibal have at least two abilities, spatial movement and combat support?’
Was that the Core’s ability?
Or his own?
“...I don’t know.”
She suddenly realized how little she knew about her student.
Come to think of it, she had never entered a dungeon with Halibal.
She had never seen how he fought inside one.
Until now, that had been out of consideration for him.
Adeline immediately raised her Core.
“Kruus. You know the special training schedule for academy break? Can you cancel all of it?”
She contacted her former adjutant.
“Ah, I feel bad asking! But something more urgent came up. No. There’s something I need to look into personally.”
She did not suspect Halibal of being a tool of the cult.
He was currently leading the charge against the Dungeons of the Evil God more than anyone else in the Empire.
Suspecting someone who had already cleared two Abysses made no sense.
But just in case.
‘What if even that was all part of the plan?’
Even as she thought that, Adeline could not help but sigh.
The Halibal she knew was far too kind a student.
At the same time, she knew better than anyone that blind trust was nothing but an illusion.
Only when someone could still choose not to doubt after seeing the truth with their own eyes could it finally be called real trust.
That was why she made her decision.
“I’m thinking of taking a trip with my student during break.”
Footnotes:
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