“Herald, I have a quest that you want me to share with you.”
Erina, who somehow had a serious expression on her face and gave off an atmosphere suitable for it, has been asking me carefully.
As if it was really different this time, the usual fun was missing, and it had a somewhat subdued atmosphere, and I wiggled my fingers to see if I was worried that I might refuse.
Up to now, no matter what quests were thrown lightly, we had always been together, so the new question mixed with doubt and a bit of anxiety about what was really going on this time.
“What’s going on?”
When I responded to her words, I pulled out a certain quest notice and held it in front of me.
The contents of the quest contained the contents of recruiting personnel to explore the dungeon, and the departure date was written a week later.
Wait a minute… this…
Once again, I slowly start to look at the contents of the quest, and I try to draw out as many memories as possible and compare them.
To summarize the contents of the quest, there was a newly discovered dungeon, and it was about recruiting an advance squad to investigate the level of danger and the loot that can be excavated.
Since it is a completely newly discovered dungeon, we do not know when it existed, and the level of risk is also unknown, so a fairly generous reward was specified.
Also, as for the content that catches my eye, it is said that the dungeon has just been discovered, so it has no name, so the guild has given it a temporary name, Whispering Ruins.
The reason it was named Whisper Ruins is because it was built based on the advice of the first discoverer, and the reason why the dungeon looks like a ruin is that the more you go inside, the more annoying the sound you hear, so it felt like someone was whispering. It is said to have been given a temporary name.
As an aside, the first discoverer continued to feel as if someone was behind him even though he went in alone, and even if he looked back, there was always no one there, so he advised that he was a bit terrified.
What I was paying attention to here was the ‘newly discovered’ dungeon and the word ‘whisper’.
Combining what I’ve read, the quest in the game that I can infer is…
“Erina… this might be a little dangerous.”
It was an essential quest for the story progression and a dungeon quest that made users tired.
From memory, it is clear from the story that it was a quest that the main character would receive after Mir, so the questions he usually had were also somewhat solved.
What will happen if Erina arrives at the progression where Mir has to be subjugated?
I’ve been asking myself those questions all along, but this time I was able to get an answer.
If a quest that only happens once is skipped…
With that thought in mind, after answering the unanswered questions, I came back to the main point, and this time, I instilled awareness in Erina.
“Ugh… that’s why I asked you, because I thought I might be dragging you into a dangerous place…”
Since this is a dungeon where maintenance is more important than personal firepower, it may be a bad environment for me, who can use magic once or twice at most, but I wasn’t worried about myself.
It was because of Erina’s concerns that she had to taunt her.
The reason is that the boss of this dungeon has a very bad compatibility with her.
If my memory is correct, I think the boss of the whispering ruins is Malua, a demon parasitizing suspicion.
Read at n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Now, unlike the few ancient demons in this world, who are usually faithful to their instincts like beasts, they have intelligence and are intelligent enough to imagine human words.Contrary to common demons, such as wild beasts, which usually have vicious claws and muscular strength, she presses the spirit of her prey with endless whispers and fear, gradually destroying her inner side.
If you do not have a firm belief or mindset, your mind will easily break down, and if it is severely twisted, you will only be left with a shell without a self.
The opponent who gave up and gave up on her by giving up on her will face a terrible end.
She is bitten all over her body by several small and large cubs she raises, and she loses her life as she decomposes wretchedly and cruelly.
So, in order to deal with Malua, you have to have strong beliefs and mental strength… But Erina was the type that was easily broken.
Right now, no matter how many mistakes I make, I am getting weaker and weaker, lamenting that the person I will be dealing with soon is a demon that destroys my mind with words…
Even I, who had been doing well so far in the worst match, was a little hesitant.
“I’m fine…but I’m rather worried about you, Erina.”
At that, he mumbled something with a nice smile.
“After all, Harold thinks of others before himself…”
I couldn’t hear what she was saying at such a small talk to myself, and I tried to ask her again, but only a smile of denial came back.
“Erina, as always, if you want, I can always be with you, but this time it’s different.”
Hearing those words, he nodded vigorously with a determined face as if he was prepared to some extent.
“Of course, as long as I have Harold, I can make up my mind at any time.”
If I said that, I would be relieved, but I couldn’t easily shake off the unpleasant feeling that something was going on behind the scenes.
Even so, it seems that if you are with me, you will be able to hold on to your spirit, but the place we will be heading to is a deep and dark dungeon, a place where we cannot guarantee that we will always be next to each other.
Moreover, the whispering ruins are Malua’s sharp intelligence, which causes various traps to separate the team members.
It was a heinous demon that decomposes the majority into minorities, isolates the minority, and kills horribly.
“Thanks Harold! Then let’s go on the quest together!”
“Just a moment before that…”
I grabbed her hand as she was about to leave, and held it back. Erina blushed in embarrassment, but was surprised to see my serious expression on my face, and then she looked at me with a nervous expression.
“I know I’ve said this over and over, but this quest is going to be especially dangerous, so take it easy… Do you remember the words I used to say to you when I comforted you?”
While I was with her, I bought several books for various philosophies and spiritual growth and gave them to her as a gift for her inner maturity.
Whether she likes reading or not, Erina, who gives gifts, reads all night and reads it to me the next day, reciting the sentences that the book wants to emphasize.
And whether the lessons from those books were actually helpful.
Usually, whenever she broke her heart, I would remind her of the contents emphasized by the books, and each time Erina replayed those words to see if they had any effect, the worsening symptoms began to subside.
Then, rubbing the gwandori, he wondered if he would fall into deep thoughts, and then he shakes his shoulders with a bright smile as if floating a light bulb above his head.
“Have faith… you will gain strength, think what you live for and realize what you are for?”
He mumbled what I had said and nodded his head vigorously with a smile that built up more self-confidence.
“Yeah… I think of those words when I’m anxious.”
When she finally let go of those words, Erina put a lingering smile on her face and left to accept the quest.
◆◆◆
Eventually, a week later, I decided to go on a journey to the whispering ruins.
At first, I was anxious, so I thought it would be better to dry it, but…. The quest to explore this ruin was difficult to pass because it was a quest that must be passed in order to progress the story.
In terms of progression, the monsters aren’t very strong either, so they’re not a threat to me, but the problem is that I have to accompany Erina.
So far, he is ignorant, but he was able to somehow find a breakthrough by force, but this dungeon quest was so unfavorable that it was not possible to do anything with only power.
If Erina makes a mistake, she suffers an irreversible inner wound from Malua’s speech, and her mind is destroyed to the point of not being able to recover, and her future journey will be severely disrupted.
My chances of returning to the real world will also be greatly reduced…
So, since you’ve already won the quest, you should have everything you can prepare to overcome the disadvantageous compatibility.
Erina, who has not yet achieved inner maturity and has unstable emotions, needs a medium that artificially raises her mental strength.
There are various means from religious magic to amulets that protect the mind from various elements, but these methods inhibit Erina’s growth as the ultimate goal, so I have not used them until now, but now the situation is different, so I go back and forth to find amulets or talismans. I purchased a potion magic book.
Still, I was reluctant to go to an advisor and decided to go to an adviser…
“Oh? I think it’s the first time you’ve come to the temple on your own with your own will? Have you ever been interested in becoming one of my knights?”
I tried to get the information I deserve by going to the goddess Abne, who is considered the most intelligent among the gods.
“No… I’m going on a dungeon quest a week later, and it’s said that the place was discovered for the first time and that it is a ruin that creates a sense of fear. Even if I’m next to you, Erina seems too hard to set foot in there, so I was wondering if I could get some advice. ..”
Then he shrugged his chin and wanted to fall into thought, and then he raised his head again and said something.
“Have you ever heard of the whispering ruins? It’s just been discovered, so I don’t know much about the place, but based on what I’ve heard roughly, it must be a bad place for Erina.”
Is it the goddess Abne after all?… Perhaps because she is helping the most believers in the royal capital, the information gathering seemed to be quite fast.
“No matter how much you encourage me, in such a place I would easily lose my mind… This is the only advice I can give.”
Then he swung his hand through the air and dropped a magic book in front of me.
“This….”
It is an attack magic that shoots a small star as a magic that can be learned as a reward that can be received when the relationship with the goddess Abne is level 5.
However, this magic can remove the harmful effects of nearby allies when shooting a star, and if the effect is removed successfully, the power of the star will be tripled.
It is possible to shoot with a small amount of FP, and since it has strong pure damage compared to the amount consumed and conditionally doubles the power, it is evaluated as a cost-effective fraud magic in the game. It was.
“With this, while killing monsters in the dungeon, try to support Erina’s spirit.”
I came here simply for advice, but the corners of my lips naturally rise due to the unexpected harvest.
I didn’t even offer a token of my oath… Is it really okay to accept this…?
At the same time as such a thought, I made a somewhat uncomfortable expression, and Goddess Abne quickly read my feelings and smiled as if to be relieved.
“It’s okay to take it, even if you’re not a believer right now, it’s something I’m keeping an eye on, so feel free to use it.”
Hearing these words, I bowed deeply and expressed my gratitude to Goddess Abne.
“Thank you so much… I will never forget this grace.”
Although it was a brief moment, the perception of Eleanor was shaken, but it wasn’t the first time she had been hit with an ungodly thought.
“Come back often… I’ll be waiting for you anytime.”
Before leaving the audience…. Through the gap in the slowly closing door, I saw the final expression of Goddess Abne.
“uh..?
When I left, I was very sad, but the faint eyes that I longed for.
As if it had been in my heart for a long time…