Chapter 34: Qualifications

Walking endlessly through the cave passage, a new path finally appeared…

Only now could it be said that we had truly entered the ruins.

A vast space intricately tangled like a maze.

An ordinary explorer would have had to spend a considerable amount of time finding their way, but this was not the case for us.

“I think it’s to the right.”

“Why…?”

“My intuition… it’s pointing to the right.”

…Despite the elaborate maze and traps, Hestia was avoiding them all, relying solely on her intuition.

In fact, every time I saw the path she chose prove to be precisely correct, her intuition became frightening.

Is it because she’s the Hero, after all?

Her instinctive abilities, like her sixth sense and intuition, seem to be at a level where it wouldn’t be awkward to call her a transcendent being.

It felt like I was the only one stepping on traps…

Because of that ‘ruins experience,’ I had been diligently falling into traps…

I began to wonder if I had only bothered her for no reason.

“I think something will appear if we go a little further.”

“Yes…”

Hestia, unaware of my concerns, simply continued to expertly navigate the ruins.

But weren’t we here to explore because we were curious about the ruins?

Suddenly, the thought crossed my mind that this ruins exploration was no different from a children’s treasure hunt.

I diligently observed the structure of the ruins’ walls and ceiling, watching Hestia walk forward, trusting the direction her intuition led her.

Thinking about it now, Hestia hadn’t voiced a single complaint since entering the ruins.

Of course, given her personality, it would be even rarer to see her complain openly, but I could infer her mood to some extent from her actions and gaze.

Hestia seemed to have no complaints at all, as if even these boring ruins were satisfying to her.

The unnecessarily shimmering golden hair that I sometimes saw when she got excited was proof of that.

“…Lady Hestia.”

“Yes, did you call?”

“Is it fun?”

“…Pardon?”

“The ruins, I mean. Is it as impressive as you expected?”

When I asked, tilting my head, Hestia replied brightly.

“It’s fascinating. Who created such a structure and for what purpose, and why it hasn’t been discovered until now… Being able to imagine such things on my own truly feels like an adventure.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

“It’s curious that there aren’t any monsters, but I’ve fought enough monsters outside to be sick of them, so…”

I thought ‘thank goodness’ to myself and continued to listen to her words.

Hestia, who had been excitedly talking, perhaps because she’d opened up about a topic she liked, suddenly blushed, then cleared her throat awkwardly and spoke.

“Ahem, ahem… I apologize. It seems I’ve been talking too much.”

“No, it was quite a refreshing sight, I liked it.”

“Please, you keep saying strange things…”

“Oh? There’s a door over there!”

“……”

Hestia stared at me with a blank expression for a moment, then sighed and turned her gaze in the direction I pointed.

There was indeed a large, suspiciously-looking door there.

“Is that door the direction Lady Hestia’s intuition is pointing?”

“…It seems so.”

“Hmm, it does look suspicious, but…”

I trailed off slightly, waiting for Hestia’s decision.

She pondered for a moment, then placed a hand on her chest as if to say ‘trust me’ and spoke.

“I will protect you. Let us go in together.”

“Then, I’ll trust only you, Hero!”

“…Just don’t wander off recklessly.”

I observed her cool reply, then approached the door with an awkward expression.

“Hmm… It doesn’t seem to be locked.”

“I will open it. Please step back, as it might be dangerous.”

I obeyed Hestia without a word.

Confirming that I had stepped back, she put strength into both hands and pushed the door.

– KUGUGUGUGU!

With a deafening roar that made it feel as if the ground itself was shaking, the door slowly began to slide open on both sides.

Hestia pushed open the massive door, whose weight could not even be estimated by sight, without a single hint of effort.

As I watched her from behind, purely admiring her strength, just then…

Hestia, who had first checked inside the door, called out to me.

“You can come in now.”

“What’s inside?”

“…I think it would be better for you to see for yourself.”

Hestia lightly gestured to me, as if to say it would be difficult to explain.

Of course, I already knew what was inside, but I cleverly put on an expression of unable to contain my curiosity.

Following Hestia’s lead, as I passed through the massive door and stepped inside, dazzling light filled my vision.

“Good heavens…!”

Inside, an enormous amount of gold, silver, and treasures were piled up like mountains.

I showed a startled expression, my mouth agape.

Hestia was watching me with a strange expression from beside me.

Ignoring her gaze, I approached the shimmering mountain of treasure.

“H-How much would all of this be worth…?”

“This is my first time seeing such a vast quantity of gold and gems too. Moreover… it seems there are some unusual treasures mixed in among them.”

Just as Hestia said, there were indeed items with special abilities mixed among those treasures.

Of course, most of the truly powerful or dangerous ones had already been disposed of, so they wouldn’t be necessary for her, who would soon become a transcendent being.

Even the secret manuals that were left had been taken by Elisha…

Regrettably, it seemed there was nothing Hestia could gain from this place.

Still, thinking I might as well take a few while we were here, I was about to reach for the treasures she seemed to be eyeing, when just then.

Hestia gently held my hand, stopping me.

“Wait.”

“Why? You’re not trying to hog all the treasure, are you…?”

“……”

“Ahaha, it’s just a joke, don’t make that face.”

I gently appeased her, as she seemed subtly hurt, and listened to her reason.

“There might be cursed items or treasures imbued with traces of outer gods… so it would be best not to touch them.”

“Hmm… I understand.”

I nodded at Hestia’s words.

Although there were no such items here, I didn’t find her caution unreasonable.

Unlike Elisha, Hestia’s eyes aren’t particularly special…

Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the ability to discern or filter treasures.

All she can do is guess based on her innate intuition…

It was natural for her not to carelessly touch suspicious treasures piled up in the ruins.

“Aww, that’s too bad. I thought I might get rich…”

“Are you perhaps experiencing financial difficulties?”

“That’s not it…”

As we walked around the central mountain of treasure, chatting, just then…

Hestia suddenly stopped walking.

She seemed lost in thought for a moment, then moved towards the edge of the wall, away from the treasure mountain.

“Did you find anything strange?”

“No, it’s just that…”

I stood beside her, a question mark on my face.

Then Hestia hesitated and replied.

“I’m getting a strange feeling from this area.”

“A strange feeling…? Is it your intuition again?”

“…Yes.”

Hestia, who had relied solely on her intuition to find this treasure-filled room until now, was only moving her lips, as if she wasn’t confident this time.

Feeling frustrated, I stepped closer to the wall she deemed suspicious.

“Ah…”

“It’s fine.”

Reassuring Hestia, who seemed overly protective, I touched various parts of the wall, but couldn’t find anything unusual.

“There’s nothing here, though?”

“Is that so? It seems my intuition might have been wrong.”

“Hmm, I wonder…”

Leaving a slight opening, I returned to Hestia’s side.

Hestia still looked somewhat uneasy, perhaps because her intuition was still pointing to that wall.

“If it bothers you, check it yourself.”

“…Understood. Then, just a moment…”

As soon as she heard my words, implying she shouldn’t be so hesitant, Hestia approached the wall as if she had been waiting.

I quietly watched what she was doing from behind.

Hestia also examined the wall in various ways, like me, touching different spots or trying to find small flaws by enhancing her vision.

However, despite many attempts, all she could find was old-looking dust or stone powder…

In the end, she too seemed to be returning empty-handed, having achieved nothing.

Just then…!

I pointed to a spot on the wall with my finger and spoke to her.

“Lady Hestia?”

“Yes.”

“Look, some letters appeared on the wall over there?”

Strange letters had appeared where there had clearly been nothing before.

Seeing this, Hestia narrowed her eyes and read the letters.

“Qua… li…?”

[QUALIFICATION]

It was the moment she uttered that word.

– KUGUGUGUGU…!

A massive roar began to echo throughout the entire ruins.

A startled Hestia, wary of her surroundings, was about to approach me when…

– BANG!

With a sudden explosion, the surroundings were enveloped in black mist.

“L-Lady Hestia?!”

At the sudden turn of events, I called out to Hestia in a panicked expression.

But she also had no clue about the current situation…

In the end, all she could do was hold me even tighter so that we wouldn’t be separated.

“Hold on tight. I will protect you no matter what happens.”

“I’ll trust only you, Hero!”

“……”

Hestia looked at me with a curious gaze, seeing me act as if nothing was wrong, just like usual, even in this situation…

And so, relying on each other, we were completely swallowed by the black mist.

At that moment, I quietly smiled and thought.

‘It worked.’