Part 3: Fate Manipulation (3)

“Hmm. This isn’t going the way I imagined.”

Saibel rested a finger against her lips, lost in thought.

'Aster Evans...'

His Divine Power was famous beyond belief.

Most people who received Divine Power were quick to keep it a secret within their families, but when the god behind it was someone like Baldur, there was no need.

It was better to publicize it widely and gain advantages in dealings with other families and institutions. That was why everyone knew about Aster’s Divine Power, regardless of his wishes.

On top of that, he was widely respected, hardworking, talented, and strikingly handsome.

'I really want to make him mine.'

But things weren’t going as she had hoped.

She thought she had made quite an effort to pursue him after Frondier left to recruit Quinier.

Yet he had gently turned her down with a gentle smile.

'And I went to all that trouble with the invitation, right down to my expression, gestures, and tone.'

A rhythm crept into Saibel’s steps. Soon she was walking as though performing a little dance.

She had rarely been refused anything in her life. The world always served up circumstances tailored to her tastes.

That was why she couldn’t understand unlucky people. She couldn’t understand the effort people made.

She wasn’t belittling their efforts. She quite literally didn’t understand.

After all, she believed everyone was as lucky and talented as she was, and worked only as hard as she did.

For someone like her, rejection was neither familiar nor welcome.

CREAK.

CREAK. CREAK.

Ah, she could hear it. The sound of fate falling into place. Its gears shifting little by little to suit her convenience.

Of course, Saibel knew the sound was merely an auditory hallucination.

Fate made no sound.

Without even such a warning, it already stood ready to serve her.

* * *

The dungeon I would be entering this time contained a Sanctuary.

It gave those with Divine Power a chance to briefly meet the source of their power—their god.

The god might grant a simple wish, and even exchanging a few words strengthened one’s Divine Power.

It was the perfect place for Aster. In the original game, he reached it and beheld Baldur.

That allowed him to draw out even more of Baldur’s power.

“There’s really no reason for me to go, though.”

Naturally, it was useless to someone without Divine Power like me.

I would explore a little, then make sure to get a good look at Aster’s Sanctuary event.

“Oh.”

I spotted Quinier waiting at Constel’s main gate.

I felt a little relieved. Unlikely as it was for Quinier, there had still been a definite possibility that she wouldn’t show up despite our deal.

“You’re early.”

Quinier gave me a little wave. Her expression was difficult to read.

“Frondier, why are you participating in this dungeon expedition?”

“Oh, I wasn’t originally planning to. But Aster picked me.”

“Aster Evans did? Hmm...”

She looked at me in surprise, as though asking, You’re friends with Aster, too?

“Huh? Wait! Am I late?!”

A lively voice rang out a short distance away, and Saibel came running toward us in a fluster.

“I told you, you’re not late.”

Aster followed behind her, speaking calmly.

Saibel ran right up to me, panting.

“I-I’m not late?”

“The teacher isn’t even here yet.”

“Oh, good. What a relief.”

Saibel relaxed. Then she spotted Quinier and bowed formally.

“Hello. I’m Saibel Forte. Thank you for joining us today.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Quinier de Biet.”

Quinier nodded kindly in return.

They seemed to be meeting for the first time, but their conversation flowed easily.

Both were socially adept and knew how to handle people. Besides, they were a little alike in some respects.

Well, then. Now came someone I felt a little uncomfortable around.

While I recruited Quinier, Saibel and Aster had agreed to find a teacher.

“Have you all been waiting long?”

The voice was composed yet gentle.

It was Jane.

The teacher I had met as soon as I entered this world.

In other words, the person to whom I had flatly declared that the branch on the Wizerview wasn’t Mistilteinn.

She probably wasn’t too fond of me.

“I’m Jane, and I’ll be supervising and guiding you today. Shall we head straight there?”

Jane smiled. The face she turned toward me was perfectly clear and untroubled.

... At least, that was how it looked to me.

* * *

Frondier and the others traveled by car.

The dungeon was about an hour’s drive away. Everyone was relieved that it was so close.

Constel gave students entering dungeons time off according to the dungeon’s size and danger level.

They had been allotted three days this time. They would have to clear the dungeon within that period.

“We’re here.”

After getting out of the car, Jane surveyed the area in front of the dungeon.

“Hmm! Good, good. A very standard dungeon.”

The dungeon entrance was a rectangular stone passage, with stairs leading down before it.

The entrance’s appearance was the easiest way to recognize a dungeon.

When an area became a dungeon, it changed shape, becoming conspicuous.

Almost as if inviting people inside.

“Wow, so this is a dungeon...”

Saibel looked all around the entrance, her eyes sparkling.

It must have been her first time seeing one.

It should have been Frondier’s first time, too, but he looked unimpressed.

“Now, Aster, Frondier, and Saibel, try to focus on observing from here on! Quinier and I will handle clearing the dungeon.”

Dungeons were dangerous for first-years.

In truth, the traps lurking inside were more of a problem than the monsters.

Constel trained combatants, so its students could handle monsters, but they were relatively vulnerable to traps.

“I’ll take the lead. Quinier, please bring up the rear.”

“Yes.”

From front to back, the order was Jane, Aster, Frondier, Saibel, and Quinier.

Anyone could see that Frondier had the safest position. The arrangement reflected their reputations and abilities.

“Let’s go.”

At the bottom of the stairs, they emerged into a spacious cavern.

It looked like a natural cave. Flowers bloomed here and there among the moss and rocks, and countless stones littered the floor.

If not for the entrance, it would have been hard to believe this was a dungeon.

“Let’s stay alert as we go.”

Jane lowered her voice slightly.

Then she took a wand from inside her clothes and lit it.

In truth, she wasn’t particularly tense.

With her accompanying them in a Low-Level Dungeon, there was little danger.

But she couldn’t let the students relax their guard, so she had to at least pretend to be on edge.

Meanwhile, Quinier was observing the entire group from the rear.

'... You really aren’t nervous at all, Frondier.'

From her position, she could see it clearly.

Unlike Aster and Saibel, Frondier walked as though he were out for a stroll.

Was that simply his nature?

Could laziness alone really make someone that relaxed?

Walking at the head of the party, Jane spotted a concealed pressure plate. It was an old-fashioned trap, but surprisingly difficult to detect in a place resembling a natural cave.

She stopped.

“Aster, Frondier, stop for a mo—huh?”

Jane turned to look behind her.

Frondier had already stopped.

Judging by his grip on Aster’s arm, he had stopped Aster as well. Before Jane had even warned them.

“... Do you happen to know what’s up ahead?”

“I don’t know. I just saw it.”

Frondier pointed at the floor.

A stone protruded unnaturally—the pressure plate Jane had spotted.

“You have sharp eyes, Frondier.”

“Impressive.”

“I got lucky.”

Frondier brushed off Jane’s and Aster’s praise modestly.

Then again, perhaps he had simply kept his answer short because saying more was too much trouble.

Quinier watched the entire exchange in silence.

Looking at the pressure plate Frondier had spotted, it certainly wasn’t impossible to notice if one looked carefully.

'Hmm. Was he really just lucky?'

But then, Quinier caught the movement of Frondier’s eyes.

'...?'

His gaze swept right from the trapped stone floor, then went straight to the right-hand wall.

An ordinary wall that had nothing to do with the passage they needed to follow.

He looked at it for only an instant, but something was distinctly odd.

“All right, everyone. As Frondier pointed out, let’s avoid that stone.”

Following Jane’s instructions, the four people ahead of Quinier carefully went around it.

Quinier, however, stopped in front of the stone.

... Even with her Trap Disarming skill, she couldn’t tell exactly what kind of trap stepping on it would trigger, or how it would activate.

But the way Frondier had looked earlier...

That glance toward the right-hand wall.

“...”

Quinier opened her fan and pressed her foot firmly onto the stone.

WHOOSH!

An arrow shot out from a gap between the stones in the right-hand wall.

CLANG!

Quinier casually deflected it with her fan.

Jane cried out in alarm.

“Wh-what are you doing, Quinier?!”

“I’m sorry. I thought it would be best to remove it beforehand. We might come back this way.”

“... Haah. I’m glad you weren’t hurt. Tell me before doing anything like that next time.”

“Yes. My apologies again.”

As she answered, Quinier looked at the arrow on the ground.

'... It really did come from the right.'

The arrow had come from the exact spot on the right-hand wall where Frondier’s gaze had ended.

Could he possess a higher-level Trap Disarming skill than hers? Or had he mastered that field of knowledge?

Quinier looked at Frondier. He was looking at her, too.

Only Frondier would understand the true purpose behind her actions. He gave a tiny smile, like someone whose secret had been discovered, then faced forward again.

Quinier covered her mouth with her fan.

It was a habit she unconsciously fell into when she smiled.

...

After that, Quinier watched Frondier’s every move even more closely.

But he did nothing.

They were a party accompanied by a third-year and a teacher in a Low-Level Dungeon. Never mind a crisis—there wasn’t even an opportunity for Frondier to do anything noteworthy.

After Quinier deliberately triggered the trap, he became even more reluctant to take the initiative.

“Yaaawn.”

Saibel laced her fingers together and put her hands behind her head.

Beside her, Aster cautioned her.

“Saibel, stay alert.”

“But this is so boring. The teacher spots every trap right away, and the monsters that show up now and then are pathetic.”

This was Saibel’s first dungeon, and she had come with fairly high expectations.

It had stirred her sense of adventure and curiosity, but she had also wanted to see Aster in action. Yet he was doing almost nothing.

The traps were disarmed in advance. Jane instantly wiped out any monsters approaching from the front, and Quinier handled those coming from behind.

'This isn’t what I wanted.'

Saibel looked at Aster walking ahead of her. He didn’t seem particularly bored. Occasionally he looked around near the walls as though checking the terrain, but that was all.

No fun at all.

Saibel’s eyes darkened.

She had invited Aster because she wanted to learn more about him. She wanted to grow closer to him while they explored the dungeon together.

So if she had gone to the trouble of bringing him along, even by force, wasn’t it only right that her curiosity be satisfied? There had to be something here.

Something, something.

CREAK. CREEEAK.

Entertain me.

Just then, Frondier put a hand on the wall. It happened at a moment when he and Saibel were very close together.

The wall sank inward beneath his hand.

“Huh?”

Frondier’s body tilted. The problem was that Saibel’s tilted along with it.

“A-ahhh!”

The trap was simple.

When Frondier touched the wall, a roughly two-meter section around him toppled forward. Naturally, Saibel was swept along with it.

At the same time, the floor beneath them rose. The wall became the floor, and the floor became the wall, as though a revolving door had been installed in the ground.

“Ow, ow...”

Saibel rubbed her head where it had struck the floor. Looking around, she found only Frondier.

They were on the other side of the wall. The trap had separated the two of them from the remaining three.

“Wh-what do we do...?”

Saibel pounded on the wall that had been the floor.

“Teacher! We’re here! Can’t you hear us?!”

Having activated once, the trap showed no sign of moving again.

Saibel was frightened. Alone with Frondier in a place like this.

She couldn’t fathom what he was thinking, and to her, he was simply someone to be wary of.

She wouldn’t lose in a head-on fight, but if he attacked while her guard was down, she would have no way to match his physical strength.

“Saibel.”

“Y-yes?”