episode_0401

As soon as I heard the blonde female professor’s declaration of a beach treasure hunt, Ethan and I joined the hero party of Chemmoe.

Even excluding Prince Antonio, who was not a participant in the class, the rule was that the minimum number of people was 3 and the maximum was 5, so the warrior party of ten naturally had no choice but to split into two groups.

And the number of cases where it splits into those two groups is… Of course like this.

“Then, it will be me, Saint Serista, Miss Silena, and Luke working together with the hero. There are only five other people, excluding Antonio, so it’s okay, right?”

“Understood, Princess Seraphine.”

A group that includes Gemet + Gemet’s harem + Seraphine’s bodyguard, Luke.

And it was a group consisting of me, Ethan+Natalie, Thomas+Agnes, and Prince Antonio who was added as a bonus regardless of the number of people.

In a way, it was a predetermined result, so there was nothing to object to. Although the ratio of men in our group was quite high, it wasn’t a problem since everyone had already decided on a partner.

“We’ll take a look at the eastern coast. Somehow I feel like there are a lot of people there.”

‘I’m going to search the main points to the east, so don’t overlap and go somewhere else.’

“Understood, warrior Gotmöljoshegiggwat. Well then, we will look for treasure on the west coast.”

‘I have no intention of going, so don’t come over to the western point.’

We parted ways in this way, having a conversation that only the guy and I could understand. As soon as the group of warriors disappeared, Ethan was the first to ask for my opinion, as usual.

“Lilith, where do you think the treasure is hidden?”

“… I have a few places in mind, but how about asking Prince Antonio’s opinion first?”

“… Is that what you mean, Lady Rosewood?”

“Yes. Prince Antonio.”

If it was just me, Ethan, and Agnes, I wouldn’t mind expressing my opinion freely, but the person with the highest status right now was Prince Antonio.

Naturally, it was most reasonable to listen to Antonio’s suggestion first, then Ethan, then Agnes, and then present my opinions in that order.

And above all, the key to this ‘treasure hunt’ event was not how much treasure you could find, but how much the party members bonded through this treasure hunt.

The best way to increase intimacy was to listen to everyone’s opinions and have fun searching various places together, rather than just randomly searching for hidden treasure points.

Although Ethan and I are not members of the hero’s party, the three people except Antonio are members of the hero’s party, so increasing our intimacy like this will be of great help in suppressing the demon lord in the future.

“Well, I think… .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Perhaps because of the tension that Agnes is watching, it seems a bit burdensome to give an opinion hastily.

Prince Antonio was cautious and presented a fairly safe opinion, perhaps because it was burdensome to give the ‘wrong answer’ in front of the person he liked.

“Well, since it is also the sea, wouldn’t it have been hidden underwater…? ? Ahaha… .”

“Do you mean underwater?”

“In the water… ?”

“… Ugh.”

Natalie and Thomas slightly doubt Prince Antonio’s opinion that it is underwater, and Agnes sighs slightly as if she was slightly excited but then disappointed.

Seeing Prince Antonio’s face harden at that sight made me feel sorry for him in many ways.

“In the water? Does that make sense? If you hide treasure in the water, of course it will go away with the tide. Aren’t you stupid?”

“Is that so…? ? Ha, but on such a wide beach, I don’t think there’s any place easier to hide treasure than underwater… .”

“I think Prince Antonio’s opinion also makes sense. As the prince said, it’s not fun to hide treasures only in the sand on this wide beach.

Above all, the 200-meter radius that the professor mentioned includes a significant portion of the sea, so it seems likely that a few of them are hidden somewhere in the sea.”

“J-that’s what I meant, Lady Rosewood!”

“… Hmph.”

It didn’t seem like my opinion was meant to be as grandiose as I said, but Prince Antonio hastily agreed to my explanation in order to restore his honor.

Agnes was still looking at Antonio with disapproval, but she had no choice but to help him here.

It’s not that I have any particularly good feelings toward Antonio, but rather that he was the man who had the potential to make Agnes the happiest at this point.

“Speaking of which, how about going in and looking for it yourself? First of all, the bead you showed me was a bead that had been treated with magic, so maybe there were measures in place to prevent it from flowing in the water?”

“Like the release said, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a look. There’s a lot of time left before the sun sets anyway.”

“Yes, I understand!”

“… Ha, okay.”

“… … .”

Prince Antonio was restless due to Agnes’ indifferent attitude, but the team members agreed to search the sea for now.

As I watched them diligently searching each location, I looked for only a few points where there were glass beads in the original game, and in one of them I was able to find a magic bead tied to seaweed.

“… Prince Antonio.”

“Ah, Lady Rosewood.”

“Did you find the magic orb?”

“… I’m sorry, I made a pointless opinion and made everyone suffer like this. I also feel sorry for the Rosewood Lady who helped me for no reason… .”

“ Just in case, have you searched the area over there where there was a lot of seaweed on the water’s edge?”

“Oh, no. Not yet there… .”

“I am truly sorry to ask you this, but would you be able to conduct a search for me? I wasn’t confident in deep water, so I couldn’t search.”

“… … Lady Rosewood?”

“If you find a treasure among me, you can say that it was found by Prince Antonio. Then I will search another place where the water level is lower.”

“Lady of Rosewood? What does that mean… .”

Even though Prince Antonio is said to be oblivious, if he had said it this bluntly, he would have roughly understood it.

As I was leaving quickly so as not to let Prince Antonio know that I had given him advice, I soon heard his voice coming from near the seaweed I had searched a little while ago.

“Car, I found it!”

“Yes?!”

“Did you find it?”

“… Really?”

Hearing Prince Antonio’s cry that he had found the treasure, the rest of the team gathered around him.

And as soon as they saw the magically shining bead in his hand, they each praised it.

“Wow, you are amazing, Prince Antonio!”

“The prince was right when he said that there is treasure hidden in the water.”

“Excellent work, Prince Antonio.”

“Now that we have confirmed that this is the professor’s hidden treasure, from now on we can just look for beads similar to this one.”

“Wha, you were definitely here… . Thank you, Lady Rosewood… .”

“I just agreed because I thought what Prince Antonio said made sense. It was Prince Antonio who found the marble, so there is no need to thank me.”

“Well, right… . That’s right… ”

Antonio was not so tactless that he openly rejected a situation created to keep him afloat, so Prince Antonio came to land with an awkward smile and a bead in his hand.

Looking at the bead in the prince’s hand, Agnes also blurted out a word as if she were embarrassed.

“… Well, good job. I’ll admit this one.”

“Thank you, Lady Agnes!”

… For some reason, it seems like the intimacy between Agnes and Antonio has increased slightly more than that of the warrior party.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The treasure hunt started in the morning and continued into the evening.

Although they spent some time looking for the treasure in the water suggested by Antonio, everyone else seemed to have a good sense of it and found the magic beads one by one with their own strength.

-Drur.

“Ah, there it is. For some reason, I thought the shape of the rock was a little different from the one I saw yesterday.”

Ethan saw that the shape of the rock was slightly different from yesterday and today, so he looked under it and found the marble.

-Tok, tok, degurur… .

“… I found it.”

While walking on the beach, Agnes picks up a rather large conch, touches it, and picks up the beads that roll out of it.

-Ugh.

“Oh, it’s here too.”

Thomas took advantage of the fact that he was the tallest member of the group and found the bead hanging on the palm tree.

-Park! Green onions! Pop!

“I found it too!”

“… How on earth do you find that?”

and… Natalie suddenly digs into the ground with an unknown intuition and digs up a bead like a dog.

Considering that guest member Prince Antonio’s bead was actually the one I found, it was a situation where everyone had found the bead at least once.

“I’m glad you all found it well. I think I’ve saved up enough sleep to not be penalized for my grades.”

“… Come to think of it, I’m the only one who couldn’t find you until now, Lilith.”

“I’m fine. In any case, the points for collecting marbles will be added to the entire group, so there will be no problem with your grade if you do not find any marbles.”

“… … .”

Prince Antonio quietly avoids his gaze, as if he feels something is bothering him because he is the only member of the group who cannot find the marble.

Well, considering that Antonio’s beads were originally mine, it was understandable that he would react that way.

“Keuhm, actually, this is the bead I found earlier. How did you find it? .”

Prince Antonio cautiously confesses as if his conscience pricks him for shamelessly holding my marble as if he had found it himself.

Of course, in the current situation, if he belatedly revealed the secret, the only thing that would come back would be a sharp decrease in Agnes’ favorability, so he had to stop it somehow.

“Prince Antonio.”

“Ah, huh?! What’s going on, Lady Rosewood?”

“Are you not in the market? At this point, I think it’s almost time for dinner.”

“… Ah, hmmm. Oh my, has the time already passed… ?”

“Actually, there is a restaurant I heard about before coming to Pliana Beach. Unless you have any other opinions, how about we have dinner there, everyone?”

“Yeah, that would be great, Lilith. Because of the treasure hunt, I barely ate lunch.”

“Well, I also agree with Lady Lilith’s opinion!”

“… I don’t mind anywhere as long as I can eat.”

‘… Phew.’

I succeeded in hastily changing the topic of conversation from Prince Antonio’s confession of conscience to dinner, and sighed in relief.

… Why is it so difficult to help other people with their relationships?