And now, a week later, Dia greeted me with a smile when I returned, but I still couldn’t say all the problems were resolved. The troublesome effect of the Overprotection skill remained. If Dia got too far from either me or Hitaki, the two she recognized as “Sieg,” she became terribly unstable.
Once, when I’d left her in the guest room and taken Hitaki out, Snow had ended up being charred. Dia’s magic had run wild alongside her mental turmoil, and Snow had stopped it by throwing her body in the way. A week ago, Dia and I had teased Snow about it, but the truth was, we were both deeply grateful. The only problem was, if we said that out loud, Snow would get endlessly cocky, making it hard to praise her.
“Kanami, if we’re done here, where do we go next?” Dia asked just as I finished recalling the events of last week. Her eyes were sparkling. She swung her arm, solidified with Light magic, like a swordsman. “I’m good with anywhere I can swing a sword. You decide. Snow and I had some good matches these past few days, so I want to test the blade out soon.”
“Huh? The sword matches were complete and utter domination for me...” Snow murmured.
“They were good matches!” Dia puffed out her cheeks.
“Yeah, they were!” Snow saluted her crisply.
It seemed Dia wanted to go on adventures where she could use her sword. I knew that for the past week, whenever they found time, the two of them had practiced different sword techniques. For Dia, it was her hobby, but for Snow, it was special training to follow Titee’s teachings.
Incidentally, I’d been having Dia use the Crystal Pectolazri Straight Sword. Snow wielded Brave Flow Light, which had been passed down from Titee.
“Sorry, Dia. There’s something I need to test before we decide our destination. The outcome could change things significantly.” I understood the urge to test their swords out for real as soon as possible, but something more important came first. It was probably the most crucial thing for our adventure. I took an accessory I’d made a few days ago in the castle workshop from my Inventory and handed it to Snow.
“A pendant? Wait, can it be...?”
“It’s Titee’s magic gem. I want you to have it.”
“It’s really hers?! Wow, my big sister turned into a pendant!”
To be precise, it was both Ide and Titee. It was a masterpiece that perfectly captured the allure of deep green and pale jade.
[Necklace Essence of White and Green]
A necklace adorned with the crystallized magic of the Guardians Ide and Titee.
“Try putting it on. Then pray really hard for help.”
“Okay, got it. Hmmmm, Titee, please—” Snow hung the pendant around her neck and began to let out a roar. In sync with her, I amplified Dimension. Changes appeared on her body almost immediately. The dragon scales, unlike the soft skin she’d had a year ago, which covered her body, transformed into particles of magic power and were absorbed.
“Whoa! That weird thing on my shoulders is back to normal! It’s gone back to how it was when I was born!”
“So the Apostle wasn’t lying after all. What an incompetent fool.”
The physical abnormalities caused by Snow’s excessive level had been restored. Everything had unfolded exactly as the Apostle had foretold. The information revealed during those pre-duel peace negotiations proved genuine, and I sighed at the extreme nature of Apostle Sith’s character.
“Snow, keep both predants. I’ve heard the level cap is thirty, but apparently, with an Essence Thief’s magic gem, it doubles.”
The level cap in this world had become clear to me. Around Level 20, you started breaking free from human limits, and by Level 30, you ceased to be human entirely. A single magic gem probably increased the limit by about thirty levels.
“Hey, Kanami, I don’t have anything, but my level’s high, right?” Dia interjected.
“Dia, you’re an Apostle, so your body is special. Sith said something about that,” Snow replied.
“Is that so? If Sith said it, then it must be true,” I said. Dia probably shared my opinion of Sith. Since Apostle Sith wasn’t the type to lie, I judged it to be correct.
“Sith had that kind of personality, but thinking about it, I’ve inherited a lot of the Apostle’s power...” The most obvious example was probably her and Hitaki being at Level 59. Getting to that level should have taken much longer.
Snow nodded in agreement. But unlike me, it wasn’t out of joy—it was frustration.
“Yeah... Honestly, if we fought seriously now, Dia might be the strongest. I used to be the strongest, but the balance of power has gradually shifted. Ah, but I don’t want to do special training...”
Even though I’d given her something to raise her level cap, this attitude made it pointless. I poked her head in response to her bold declaration to slack off and then moved on to the next topic. “Well, that’s one worry off our hands. So, what should we do next?”
What Sith had said hadn’t been wrong...meaning, we could be pretty sure—about eighty to ninety percent—that what she’d said about Hitaki was also true.
I glanced over at Hitaki, who was sitting next to Dia. Thanks to Ide, she was no longer the Sovereign Queen Lorde, no longer attacking anyone, and was now very quiet. But she still hadn’t awakened from her slumber. She reacted like a sleepwalker but was essentially unconscious. No matter how much I, her older brother, called out to her, she had no response whatsoever, as if she were frozen in place.
“My plan is to head into the Dungeon’s Deepest Depths to wake Hitaki. That’s where everything from the battle a thousand years ago is stored as magicbane. There’s enough of it to allow for infinite Re-Collections within the Dungeon. If we use it skillfully, it should grant us anything we desire.”
The state Sith had mentioned, serving as a substitute for the master, was likely the condition for Hitaki’s illness to be cured. That was precisely why I, a thousand years ago, had inherited Apostle Sith’s World Restoration Array and created the Dungeon.
“No, Kanami. If you want to awaken Hitaki, going to meet Apostle Deiplachra might be a good idea. Sith made it sound like she could awaken Hitaki at any time. Since Deiplachra’s an Apostle too, he might know something, right? Deiplachra, imprisoned by Ide, should be inside Yggdrasil in the city of Whoseyards on the mainland. If I, another Apostle, go there, I’m sure I’ll be able to hear his voice,” Dia said. She had a completely different personality from the passive Snow, so it was a huge help.
“True, going to Whoseyards and meeting Apostle Deiplachra wouldn’t be a bad idea. Above all, Maria’s in the south there. All right, it’s settled then.”
After all, going to meet Maria was probably best. We’d meet with her and Deiplachra, then return to the Allied Nations where the Dungeon was. With the entire party reunited, we’d resume exploring the Dungeon. That would likely be the best course.
“The southern part of the mainland. It’s been awhile...” In stark contrast to my mounting tension, Snow remained blissfully carefree.
Dia spoke up, as if chastising Snow’s casual attitude. “Aren’t they gonna say something about you quitting as Acting Commander in Chief in the middle of war? Unlike me, it wasn’t exactly a smooth departure, was it?”
“Uh...w-well then, I’ll just have Kanami protect me...”
“You idiot. Talk to me, then! I’ll protect my comrades.”
“Oh? Dia thank you! You’re the best! So cool! I’m falling for you!”
“Just handle it on your own? Only ask me when you absolutely can’t manage,” Dia responded.
“Even so, thank you, thank you, thank you! T-h-a-n-k y-o-u! Seriously, there’s been nothing but good things happening lately!” Snow clung to Dia, deeply moved. In her life, there probably hadn’t been many people who’d ever said they’d protect her like that. She expressed her joy with her entire body.
As I watched them, a knock sounded at the guest room door and a girl’s voice came from outside.
“Great hero, you’ve got mail!”
It was probably one of the Jewelculi working at the castle. I left the two girls entangled in the room and stepped outside.
“Could you please stop calling me ‘great hero’?” I asked with dissatisfaction before anything else.
“But that’s what Rouge calls you...” The blue-haired Jewelculus girl looked puzzled.
“Rouge...” Even after I’d told her so many times, she still wouldn’t change how she referred to me. I knew it was meant as a sign of respect, but I just couldn’t accept it. In fact, it had only spread to other people.
“More importantly, there’s a letter for you. Here you go.”
“Thanks, but who’s it from... Huh?” I took the letter and was stunned by the sender’s name written on the back. Then, I immediately unfolded it and checked its contents. I read it all at once using Dimension and was utterly speechless at what it said.
Inside was a request for a rescue.