Change

While I, who had realized that wicked plan, briefly trembled, Minerva, who had been smiling brightly, looked at me, erased the full smile from her face, and her eyes sparkled.

“By the way, child. Didn’t I let you use the Ability Confirmation Orb not long ago?”

“Yes. It hasn’t been long. Why do you ask?”

“Your body has changed a great deal in that short time, child. It has changed so much. What could have happened?”

It was the same curious gaze I had seen before. Her silvery-white pupils scanned me up and down. Pareunari also followed Minerva’s lead and nodded a few times.

“That’s right. You’ve become incredibly strong. What happened?”

Both of them seemed to have instinctively sensed that my stats had sharply increased.

They couldn’t have noticed that my strength had increased, nor could they have sensed that my Divine Power had risen, so they probably noticed a change in the amount of Magic Power.

Judging by Minerva’s and Pareunari’s reactions, for some unknown reason, the increase hadn’t been applied until I confirmed my stats.

‘I almost had a heart attack.’

What if I had looked at the Ability Confirmation Orb much later then?

The thought of struggling for nothing, unable to even check 150 levels’ worth of stats, sent shivers down my spine. If that had happened, I might have gotten so angry I’d be bedridden for about a month.

“It’s consistent with the reason why the Popes stood stubbornly in front of the Central Hall, saying they would take me to the Holy Nation.”

At my answer, Minerva wore a look of simple understanding.

“I understand. If the Sun and Moon themselves descended to bless you, then it’s only natural that it would be so.”

As she said that, Minerva approached me and overlapped her face beside mine. Her cherry-red lips touched my ear. A whispering voice was heard.

“You always exceed my expectations, child. Come to think of it, it’s been that way ever since we first met. The few months I’ve spent with you have been far more enjoyable than the past two hundred years.”

Her lips came even closer, and a warm breath was blown into my ear.

“So, just as you’ve always been, child…”

Minerva gently bit my earlobe with her lips. My body flinched at the unfamiliar sensation. Her lips only pulled away after her tongue licked my earlobe and made several ‘zzup zzup’ sounds as if sucking something in her mouth.

“From now on, too, please continue to entertain me even more. I’ll be waiting for you, always.”

“……”

A captivating smile appeared, and Minerva touched her lips as she stepped back. The saliva gradually began to dry, and a slightly cool sensation was felt.

Pareunari merely tilted her head, not understanding why we had such expressions.

“Now, child. Since our light conversation is over, it’s time to…”

“I know. We should go find the Ancient Scroll, shouldn’t we?”

At my words, Minerva couldn’t hide her ecstatic expression.

She had waited relatively calmly until now, but it seemed she found it difficult to control her emotions once the time to obtain the second scroll was right around the corner.

“Before that, would it be alright if I asked you a favor?”

“A favor?”

“Yes. I’d like to bring one more person besides us.”

“If you wish, child, then by all means. Everything is for you to decide, so I don’t mind. Who do you wish to bring?”

“Uh… hehe. Hello, Minerva-nim…”

Nyx timidly offered a greeting. Minerva’s face stiffened slightly.

It was a face that, if not for the fact that I had brought her myself, was standing beside her, and was just about to depart to find the Ancient Scroll, would surely have said something.

“Was that the person you wanted to bring, child?”

“Yes.”

“Since it’s your decision, child, I will quietly follow it… but please know that I am not very close with that one.”

“I will keep her close to my side so she can’t approach you. So you don’t need to worry.”

I subtly hid Nyx behind me. Nyx immediately hugged my waist, wriggled into my side, and peeked her head out. Her black eyes furtively glanced at Minerva.

‘What on earth happened for them to react like that?’

At least the Minerva I knew was far from having such a sharp personality, and Nyx, too, was timid enough that she wouldn’t dare talk back to others unless absolutely necessary.

But Minerva growled as soon as she saw Nyx, and Nyx kept nervously watching Minerva, so naturally, I couldn’t help but wonder.

The Goddess said Nyx came from another world, so did something go wrong during that process of crossing over?

Normally, I wouldn’t have deliberately kept the two together, but this time, there was a reason to bring Nyx. After all, in a dungeon where an Ancient Scroll is kept, there wouldn’t be any worry about someone eavesdropping.

“Let’s stop the chitchat here, child. Where should we move to?”

“It’s a place Minerva-nim also knows.”

“I know it too, you say? What does that mean?”

“Because it’s here.”

I pointed my finger at a part of the map Minerva had displayed. Seeing that location, Minerva tilted her head with a subtle expression.

“Child, that place is…”

“I know. It’s a place Minerva-nim already uncovered the secret of a long time ago.”

Minerva, despite her complex and subtle expression, tapped her staff down. Immediately, blue mana enveloped the four of us. Nyx hugged my waist tightly and squeezed her eyes shut.

In less than a second, a vast plain covered in wide-spread grass unfolded before our eyes. Pareunari’s eyes widened, as if this was her first time experiencing such a long-distance teleportation.

In the center of the green-grass-covered plain, a strangely shaped triangular pillar-like structure and a two-story-high tower rising in its center were visible. There were exactly 30 triangular pillars.

The magic barrier protecting the triangular pillars and the tower vanished like melting snow as its master stepped forward.

“I never thought I’d visit this place again. I thought I had already found everything there was to find.”

Minerva muttered in a voice half-mixed with admiration.

Scattered sparsely across the vast plain were pure white triangular pillars made of a strange, pristine white substance. Their thickness was about that of my thigh, and their surfaces were spotless.

It was an alien landscape, enough to make anyone suspect something was there, and indeed, a secret was hidden within.

Because the person who discovered the secret of the triangular pillars and made the tower rise was the Eternal Mage beside me. Was that a hundred years ago or two hundred years ago in the setting?

“So, child. Where can the Ancient Scroll be found?”

“It’s simple.”

I drew out Wingless Nightmare and approached the pillar.

“As you know, these pillars automatically restore themselves no matter how finely they are broken. That’s why they remain in such perfect and clean condition.”

“That’s right.”

“Minerva-nim. Do you remember the order in which you arranged the pillars back then?”

“I remember.”

The outermost pillar in the direction where the sun rises. I approached it and tapped its surface with the tip of my sword.

Nyx was still clinging tightly to my side, showing no intention of letting go. Her overwhelmingly voluminous chest kept pressing against my waist.

“This is the first one. Right?”

Nod, Minerva affirmed. I raised Wingless Nightmare diagonally, and carefully swung it horizontally, making sure not to hit Nyx’s arm.

ㅡKwajijijik!

The upper part of the pillar rolled on the ground. Fragments rained down. Perhaps because a new secret was about to be revealed, Minerva had a very excited expression.

“Just like I just did, you simply need to destroy all of these in the order you arranged the pillars back then. But, within a time limit.”

“If there’s a time limit, how long is it?”

“Five minutes. For Minerva-nim, that’s more than enough.”

Even in the game, if you played as a ranged character, there would be plenty of time left for this puzzle, let alone for Minerva. Even if it were 5 seconds instead of 5 minutes, she would naturally accomplish it.

“I understand. Just wait a moment.”

Minerva, smiling brightly, floated a Mana Orb into the air. Before long, magic began to pour from the orb. It was a spell that simply fired mana projectiles.

The projectiles destroyed the second pillar, then the third, then the fourth. The pillars shattered one after another, as if dominoes were falling.

It was a calculation precise to the last inch, with even the impact times accurately accounted for.

Minerva, who had destroyed all 30 pillars in the time it took to blink a few times, made a gesture. The Mana Orb floating in the air disappeared.

The fragments that had been miserably shattered and rolling on the grass, along with the remaining bases, floated into the air.

“……There’s something here.”

Along with Minerva’s murmur, the fragments that had floated into the air stuck haphazardly to the tower. Not just randomly, but following a certain pattern.

Before long, the tower’s exterior changed.

It flattened front to back, transforming from a cylindrical shape that narrowed towards the top into a flat rectangular shape. The place where the original door was swung wide open, revealing a passage blocked by a white mist wall.

The structure, no longer a Magic Tower but transformed into a kind of gate, stood wide open, its maw gaping. That was the entrance to the dungeon where the Ancient Scroll was kept.

“It’s in there.”

I said calmly, Pareunari was clapping, and Nyx was clinging to my side, giggling.

“……”

Of course, Minerva’s reaction was incomparably more intense than ours. She stood there, eyes wide, her face utterly crestfallen and frozen stiff.

Even in the game, when you hand over the Ancient Scroll and tell her where you found it, she reacts with a great sigh.

It was only natural, as the scroll had been right before her eyes, yet she hadn’t found it, spending over a hundred years idly improving magic she had already improved.

It wasn’t really Minerva’s fault. Honestly, who would have expected another puzzle to be hidden in the very spot where a tower had already risen after solving a puzzle?

“……How sad. The truth was right before my eyes, yet I couldn’t see it, and now I’m in this state. The name ‘Eternal Mage’ will weep.”

Minerva drooped her shoulders with a pathetic face, like a drowned rat. It was the first time I had seen Minerva look like that.

“It’s okay since we found it now. Come on, let’s go in.”

I carefully took her hand. Minerva flinched, then remained still for a moment before firmly intertwining her fingers with mine. Her trembling seemed to have subsided a little.

Minerva and I entered the white mist wall first, followed naturally by Nyx, who was clinging to my waist, and Pareunari entered last.

The dungeon’s interior had a structure where the entrance was the highest point, allowing a clear view downwards, and gradually descended. In the plaza below, a vast, upward-stretching labyrinth unfolded.

At the end of that labyrinth, in a section almost touching the dungeon’s ceiling, something scroll-like was floating.

“That is…”

Minerva, in an ecstatic voice, was about to use teleportation, so I tightened my intertwined hand to stop her. The staff, which was about to be swung, abruptly halted.

However, perhaps it was a near-instinctive reaction, but her eyes remained fixed on the scroll, and her half-dilated pupils showed no sign of recovering. The faint lemon scent that gradually began to waft was an added bonus.

I deliberately ignored the lemon scent and snapped my fingers in front of Minerva’s eyes. Then, her listless silvery-white pupils regained a bit of vitality.

“……Why, child?”

“That’s a trap. It’s just an illusion. You shouldn’t fall for it.”

At the word “trap,” her silvery-white pupils regained their vitality.

“Then?”

“The real one is elsewhere.”