Since his magic had already detected Fern and the others somewhere ahead, he instinctively raised his head to look toward the upward-slanting tunnel above.
But you really wouldn't know if you didn't look. And the moment he did, he was nearly shocked. Because, at this moment, a cylindrical crystal large enough to block the entire passage was rolling down from above.
Fern, Frieren, and Sense were running ahead with extremely ridiculous yet terrified expressions, striding forward with all their strength.
"Is that… a magic nullifying crystal?"
Even from far away, Ash, whose magic power was currently being restricted, recognized at a glance what the blue crystal being used like a rolling log actually was.
That large, perfectly shaped magic nullifying crystal was an extremely rare treasure. A piece the size of a fist could buy a luxury mansion. One several meters wide like this was basically enough to build a castle. On top of that, it could seal off magic within a considerable area.
And because of that, the three of them, being pure mages, could only run for their lives. They couldn't even fly.
"Run faster!"
Frieren, who in the past was always the one provoking strange things and running at the front under the excuse of "training," leaving Fern behind, was now still running at the very front of the three.
As she brushed past him, she even kindly reminded him.
Fern, the tallest among them and someone already used to running away, clutched her staff with a terrified expression and kept shaking her head at him.
Further behind, Sense, who was a noble young lady and also a mage, had basically never exercised before. Even her running looked like she was paddling through water. She was already gasping for breath.
Now she seemed completely exhausted. She opened her mouth as if to ask for help, but only panting came out.
All she could do was look at him with a tearful expression, panic written all over her face.
Because the magic nullifying crystal could seal nearby magic and also had one of the highest hardness levels among all minerals, ordinary humans couldn't really make use of it when magic didn't work.
Yet inside it contained massive magical power and was extremely difficult to break.
Although he could break it with brute force if he really wanted to, something this big would probably cause a huge explosion.
That gave him a slight headache.
Then he suddenly grabbed the passing Fern and slung her over his left shoulder, while his right hand smoothly scooped up Sense and tucked her under his right arm.
Carrying one person on each side like that, he still moved like the wind.
Amid the startled cries of the two girls, he instantly overtook the crafty Frieren, who had been running ahead.
"Ah!"
Frieren's feet never stopped moving, but her gaze unconsciously followed the three of them. After a brief moment of confusion, she shouted "Hey!", and suddenly pounced onto Ash from the slope below, grabbing onto his neck.
He turned back speechlessly.
"What are you doing?"
"If I fall, I'll die," Frieren replied expressionlessly while hanging onto his neck.
"You're so good at running. You'd fall? I've honestly never even seen you trip."
"In case there's an 'in case.' That wouldn't be good."
Even though it left Ash rather depressed, Frieren absolutely refused to let go.
She simply hung there like an accessory on his neck, believing that even if she might fall, he definitely wouldn't.
And just like that, with a helpless sigh, Ash was forced to become transportation for the three of them.
———
Chased by the rolling magic nullifying crystal, Ash ran quite a long distance before arriving at a fork in the path.
The moment he rushed into the side passage, the three girls watched the magic nullifying crystal continue rolling down the other path.
All of them couldn't help but let out a deep breath of relief.
"Good thing we ran into Ash. Otherwise I don't know if we could've made the turn at the fork. If I really had fallen, I might've been crushed flat. Hmm… a maze that even has something like this. How interesting~"
Frieren climbed down from Ash, patted the hem of her clothes, and gave him a thumbs-up.
Although her face still carried the feeling of surviving a disaster, what showed even more clearly was her excitement.
"I don't find it interesting at all. If you just get crushed to death like that without being able to resist… no matter how you look at it, that would be way too miserable."
Even though the danger had passed, Fern's fingers were still trembling slightly.
Sense, who had been held around the waist like a doll, looked down at her hands. Her heart was also filled with relief from surviving.
"I feel the same… as expected, this really is a maze that hasn't been conquered yet. There's even something specifically targeting mages. Though considering this is the royal tomb from the Empire during the Great Unification Era, it's not strange that it would have something like that."
"When we came down earlier, you clearly said that as a first-class mage, even worse desperate situations could be overturned. But didn't you run away together with us? And in the end you still needed Lord Ash to save you?", Fern looked at Sense with a face full of resentment.
After all, she was the one who had designated this place as the exam site.
"Although I did say that, ever since I got to know Lord Ash, I keep running into things that even a first-class mage absolutely couldn't handle."
Thinking about Ash's earlier request and what had just happened with the magic nullifying crystal, Sense returned to her expressionless face and looked up at the girl on Ash's shoulder.
"And besides, haven't you been following Lord Ash all this time? So it's better to just listen to those words and take them lightly."
"Sense, you've grown," Ash said with a satisfied look toward the girl under him.
However… even though she received his praise, Sense's expression looked strangely like someone who had just eaten a fly.
She lowered her small head again, full of gloom, "I'd rather not have this kind of strange growth."
"Whether good or bad, growth is still growth. You shouldn't casually define it. Growth shouldn't be defined."
"Although what you're saying sounds reasonable, you're just talking nonsense, right?", Sense, who knew him well, looked up despite not wanting to bother with him, her eyes full of displeasure.
Even after being exposed, Ash still replied righteously, "Even if that's true, doesn't it still make sense? As long as it makes sense, that's enough."
"I don't think so at all."
"When you finally understand that, you'll become a mature adult like me."
"I'm already an adult. You're the one who keeps treating me like a child," Normally Sense wouldn't say this to him, but now she couldn't hold back, "More importantly, is this really maturity? Isn't it just… willfulness?"
"Even mature and reliable adults sometimes want to relax."
"But normally, adults should try their best not to trouble others…"
"You should first say that to Serie. And I think… she definitely wouldn't stand on your side."
"…."
That strange example immediately made Sense fall silent.
Maybe she felt it was troublesome and didn't want to argue with him anymore… or maybe she simply didn't want to talk to him.
And Sense's earlier somewhat sophistical reasoning was clearly influenced by Ash.
Combined with this conversation, Fern, still lying on his shoulder, couldn't help poking his forehead with her fingertip.
"Lord Ash, shouldn't you reflect on yourself a little?"
"I can't think of anything I should reflect on."
"At the very least, you've led Lady Sense astray."
"That's her natural talent. Not my fault."
"Lord Ash!"
"Alright, fine. Maybe I do have a tiny problem."
When the girl on his shoulder puffed up her cheeks, Ash quietly turned his head away and reluctantly admitted he might have given Sense some bad influence.
Although he admitted it, the two girls still looked dissatisfied with his idea of "a tiny problem."
———
After resting for a while and catching their breath, the two girls climbed down from him.
They then told him that originally everyone had split into several small teams to explore the royal tomb together. Kanne, Lawine, and Denken's group had also come along.
But not long after entering the maze, even though nobody should have stepped on any traps, a series of strange mechanisms suddenly activated.
In the chaos, the group was forced to split apart. Nobody knew where the others had run off to. Only these three had stayed relatively close together.
While describing the traps, all three of them kept staring straight at him.
Ash simply crossed his arms and stood there with a calm, meditative look, clearly having no intention of explaining anything about that matter.
The three of them had no way to deal with him anyway.
After all, he had solved the biggest problem and had just saved them, although they had nearly been crushed to death by traps he triggered, so whether that really counted as saving their lives was still open for debate.
Running like that after such a long time inevitably soaked their clothes with sweat.
Fern and Sense both became subtly conscious of the smell. From time to time they secretly sniffed their own clothes.
This silent understanding caught Frieren's attention while she rested against the wall.
After wiping the sweat from her forehead and observing for a while… although she normally didn't care about other people's matters, Fern was a child she had raised.
She couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Fern, why do you keep smelling your clothes? Are you comparing whose smell is stronger?"
"?"
The moment those words came out, the somewhat noisy corridor instantly fell silent.
The atmosphere changed from relief and faint oddness to something strangely heavy. A faint but unmistakable awkwardness and tension filled the air.
Sense opened her mouth slightly but couldn't say anything.
Fern, on the other hand, turned bright red and stared at Frieren. Her shoulders lifted unconsciously, and the fists beside her thighs clenched tightly.
Seeing this, Frieren panicked. She realized she might have said something wrong but had absolutely no idea why Fern was angry.
She quickly looked at Ash for help and tugged lightly at his sleeve with a miserable face.
"Ash, help me…"
"But this is completely your fault."
"Why?", Even Ash saying that made her feel betrayed. She threw her arms wide open and spoke emotionally.
"What did I say? Did I do something bad? Or is it because I ran the fastest just now? But hasn't it always been like that? You can't be angry about something you've already gotten used to, right?"
"Aren't you actually worse than me?"
Ash couldn't help but blurt out that complaint.
He couldn't even understand how she could say those things so calmly.
Fern's expression gradually turned cold.
"Lady Frieren… after we go back, I will have a proper and serious talk with you about this."
"Eh?", Hearing that solemn declaration of a lecture made Frieren instantly feel wronged.
She quietly moved closer to Ash and whispered in dissatisfaction while looking up at him.
"Ash… this is all your fault."
"What? Can you be reasonable for a second? What did I even do?"
"You could've just told me from the start what was going on with them."
"If I said it, they'd resent me too! So please stop dragging me into trouble for no reason."
Not wanting to deal with the hassle, he walked ahead by himself, keeping as much distance from her as possible to avoid becoming collateral damage.
But Frieren, unable to figure it out no matter how much she thought about it, couldn't resist following him.
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. She frowned and asked again.
"Why exactly? I really can't understand."
Ash stopped helplessly, turned around, and smiled faintly.
He reached out and pressed his hand onto Frieren's head, as if comforting a stubborn child. Or like treating her as an ageless old woman, casually shaking her head.
"It's fine. Sometimes staying like this is part of what makes you interesting. Just keep being like this. Don't worry about it too much."
"Not telling me and then laughing at me… you're the worse one!"
Frieren slapped his hand away unhappily and grumbled while fixing her messy hair.
Although she still had many doubts and worries, she had to put them aside for now, because—
"There must be something interesting waiting for us. Let's cheer up and keep going."
After tidying her hair, filled with expectations for the magical grimoire that might exist deeper in the dungeon, she strode forward and focused entirely on exploring the maze.
Her ability to bounce back so quickly left the three of them stunned.
Fern, who had planned to talk to her properly later anyway, quickly followed behind.
But just as she instinctively stepped forward, she suddenly remembered something. She turned to Ash and grabbed Frieren's hand.
"Wait a moment, Lady Frieren."
"What now?", Frieren turned back cautiously, looking strangely guilty, like a child afraid of being scolded.
Seeing that attitude made Fern shake her head.
"I'm not going to lecture you. I just want you to treat Lord Ash."
"Ah, that? Something that small just needs a little spit and a wipe, right?", Frieren, who had left her luggage at Ash's house and hadn't brought the holy scripture, gestured with her hand toward Ash to squat down.
It almost looked like she really intended to do it, like parents treating their child.
Fern froze for a long moment at the sight.
Then in the next instant she pulled Frieren backward.
"W-wait! What… what are you trying to do?"
"Just kidding. Actually I brought this," Frieren casually took out a roll of bandage from her bag.
"Why didn't you bring the holy scripture but brought that?"
"In case we find something good, we can use the bandage as a backpack."
"What kind of strange skill is that? Next time please bring the holy scripture properly!"
"But I only know very simple goddess magic. The healing effect is almost nonexistent."
Even though Frieren was joking, Fern unsurprisingly started lecturing her immediately.
Ash naturally stayed out of it, silently walking behind them with Sense.
However… Sense's gaze occasionally passed over the wound on his face.
It seemed she had already recognized what caused it.
Her hair was covered with numerous defensive spells and had extremely high controllability and strength.
As the creator of that technique, Sense naturally knew very well what would happen if it launched an attack.
After hesitating for a long time, she finally opened her lips slightly.
"Lord Ash, the wound on your face… could it be that I caused it?"
"Ah… yeah. It was your copy," Ash waved it off casually.
But Sense lowered her head guiltily, "Sorry. If I hadn't come in, or if I had brought the holy scripture…"
"It's fine. You're an examiner, and coming in was just to observe the situation. In principle you can't interfere anyway. Besides, this kind of small injury is just like what Frieren said. Just spit on it and wipe it."
"..."
She didn't say anything, only looked at him blankly.
Seeing that hesitant expression, Ash hurriedly explained, afraid she might misunderstand him as some kind of weirdo.
"Wait… don't go silent right now! I was just saying that. I don't actually want you to spit on it."
"Really?"
"Why are you doubting me at a time like this?"
Sense's half-believing expression made Ash suddenly feel as if an invisible sword had stabbed into his chest.
Although he knew he was usually seen as a strange person… he still hoped that at least some final shred of reputation could remain.
———
After that brief episode, even though they had almost lost their lives earlier, Frieren's enthusiasm for the dungeon remained unbelievably strong.
Walking at the front, touching this and looking at that, she looked less like someone who had learned a lesson and more like a student on a field trip.
"Lady Frieren really loves dungeons," Fern said with a sigh while watching Frieren knock on the wall. Her anger had mostly faded.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.