Chapter 69

Let you wait! This will be the answer section!

Just a little bit away from the town of Freelea, I suddenly turned around and squinted.

(Radd must be reaching the deepest pedestal by now.)

I regretted a little that I couldn't give Radd much advice after all. I had planned to give him more guidance, but every time I tried to look in his direction,

"Brother, don't look around so much."

I would get complaints from my scary little sister, so there was nothing I could do.

Well, Recilia is a student worth teaching, and most importantly, Radd will get stronger on his own. Rather, I need to work hard so I don't get left behind immediately.

"...But, it was a bit surprising."

While thinking about this, Recilia, who was walking beside me, suddenly said,

"Surprising? What do you mean?"

"Brother coming back after cutting the trial short. I thought you would use all your speed to move back and force a time for a rematch."

I can't help but wonder what kind of image I have, but I can't deny it. However, this time, it's completely off the mark.

"There's no need for that. Um..."

Looking around, I saw a cluster of alchemical materials known as "mana flowers" on a nearby hill. It could earn me some pocket money, and it's just right.

"Let's make a quick detour."

Saying that, I ran towards the field of mana flowers.

Usually, I would use <Thief's Eye> to find the points beforehand, but now I don't need to. I stepped into the middle of the flower field, raised my left hand high, and declared,

"---Harvest!"

Then, white light rose from various places among the flowers and was sucked into my left hand.

"Wha..."

Light from all the harvest points within a few meters of me flew towards my left hand, and in just a few seconds, all the harvestable flowers were stored in my inventory. By the way, even if I uproot them, they will grow back thanks to the mysterious power of fantasy, so no worries.

"What is that?"

"I bet you can guess. It's the effect of the <Treasure Hunter> skill <Master Harvester>."

I smiled and told her.

...That's right.

My current job is no longer <Sword Saint>. It's <Treasure Hunter>.

"No way..."

It seems Recilia has noticed too.

"Brother! You must have gone to that temple beforehand and completed the trial!"

"Eh...?"

I hurriedly defended myself, looking at Recilia who was pulling back in shock, saying, "That's a bit much, don't you think?"

"No, no! I became a <Treasure Hunter> right before I returned."

"But, at that time, you were in the middle of the [Final Trial] and fell, weren't you?"

"No. At that time, I went to the deepest part of the trial... no, I touched the deepest part."

Seeing that Recilia still didn't get it, I asked her a question.

"Do you remember what was written on the door of the [Final Trial]?"

"I think it was, 'At the end of the dragon's path, show your courage and offer me the complete key.'"

"Correct. Then, what was our purpose for going there in the first place?"

"To obtain the <Treasure Hunter> class."

She looked at me as if I was mocking her, but I didn't give in and asked one more question.

"Then, how do you normally change to a new class?"

"You find the 'Hero's Statue' of the class you want to become, touch it while meeting the conditions, and your body will glow... Ah, I see."

Recilia's voice changed from a question to understanding halfway through.

"---The statue that appeared in the [Final Trial], the one with the spear and sword, was the hero's likeness. In other words, it was the <Treasure Hunter's Statue>."

Nodding at Recilia's confident words.

The dual-wielding of spear and sword is a characteristic of the <Treasure Hunter> in life. If you had information about the <Treasure Hunter> hero beforehand, it would have been a big hint.

"Even if you didn't know, you could have used <Piercing Insight> to see the name. By the way, the reason the last statue had a strength of 1 is because of that."

The status of the statue for changing classes is "the ability values needed to change to that class." Therefore, while the statues in previous trials had extreme values like 1 attack and 999 defense, the last statue had a more reasonable range.

Once you understand that, the rest is not difficult.

"Then, 'Show your courage and offer me the complete key' means..."

"Yeah. Approach the <Treasure Hunter's Statue> that appears in the middle of the [Final Trial] with courage and touch it with the hand holding the magatama."

The reason I used <Flash Palm Break> on the statue at the end was not to knock it back and drop it into the abyss. I thought using that skill was the best way to touch the statue with my right hand holding the magatama as quickly as possible. ...Well, I didn't think about what would happen after touching it, so I fell right after completing the trial.

However, Recilia furrowed her brow as if thinking.

"But, wait a minute. Then, what about the deepest pedestal? Wasn't the 'end of the dragon's path' that pedestal?"

That's the main trap point of this trial. However, it's also designed to be noticeable if you observe the pedestal carefully.

"The design of that pedestal is different from the ones placed at the end of previous trials. But it's not something that doesn't appear in other trials."

"What do you mean?"

"That design is placed in dozens in both the [First Trial] and the [Second Trial]. They are the pedestals on both sides of the trial's path where the statues are placed."

And, while I can only imagine since there's no way to confirm, I think that when the door of the [Final Trial] is closed, the <Treasure Hunter's Statue> is properly standing at the 'end of the dragon's path'... that is, the deepest pedestal, waiting for the challenger. It's kind of cute to think that it quickly hides in the ceiling with magic as soon as the [Second Trial] is cleared.

"...Well, there are other small hints, but that's the gist of the setup."

After hearing all the explanations, Recilia sighed deeply.

"Very... bad-tempered."

She said, frowning.

"It's a trial made by a <Treasure Hunter>. That's just how it is."

When I said that, Recilia shook her head.

"Not just the trial, but you too. Was it okay not to tell Radd?"

"Well, I did hesitate about that."

When Radd confronted me, asking if I wasn't upset, I almost honestly answered, "I've already completed the trial." But in the end, I didn't say it.

"I did give him the proper hints, and it's better for him to solve it on his own. Besides---"

"Besides?"

To Recilia's puzzled look, I showed a 100% pure smile,

"---I spent two hours struggling to solve that puzzle the first time. I'd be disappointed if he cleared it easily!"

I spilled my guts.

By the way, after that.

Radd, whose language area was destroyed by anger, attacked my room, shouting, "You, you---!!" It was twelve hours after we parted ways at the temple.

A ruthless act was carried out with ease!!

So, it turned out to be longer than I thought, but that's the end of the Treasure Hunter's trial section!

I thought it would end in three chapters, but my estimation was way off!

I feel like I've finished another task, but from here, the main part of the fourth part finally starts!

As announced, it will mainly focus on the main story and "protagonist" related topics.

The next update will be tomorrow or the day after!

If you could throw me warm messages of support or point support, the possibility of my updates being delayed due to losing a game in the Steam Summer Sale would drop from 100% to about 90%! ...Probably.

See you in the fourth part!