We were almost at the town of Frelia, when I looked back and squinted.
(Radd should have made it to the pedestal at the far end of the room by now.)
In the end, I regretted a little that I didnât give Radd more advice.
I was originally planning to give him a little more advice, but when I tried looking at his direction even a bitâŠâŠ
[Nii-san, stop having your gaze loiter around.]
âââMy scary little sister would throw out her complaints, so it canât be helped.
Well, Resilia herself knew that there was that guy who teaches well, and more than anything else, with Raddâs eagerness to improve, he would get stronger on his own.
Heck, itâs me who has to work even harder so that he doesnât overtake me too soon.
[âŠâŠEven so, that was a little surprising.]
As I was walking while thinking about such things, Resilia, who was walking next to me, calmly spoke.
[Surprising? What is?]
[That Nii-san would round up and leave the trial halfway through. If itâs Nii-san, I thought that even if you have to rush full speed on the way back, you would force yourself to make time to try the trial again.]
""
I was wondering what kind of image she had of me to think like that, but well, I couldnât exactly deny her words.
But for just this one time, her guess is quite off.
[I donât have to do that. ErrrâŠâŠ]
Looking around, I happened to catch sight of a group of alchemical materials, commonly called âMagic Flowersâ, growing on a nearby hill.
Itâs a good place to earn me some coins.
[Letâs take a small detour.]
Saying this, I ran toward the field of Magic Flowers.
If it had been the me in the past, I would have used <Rogueâs Eyes> to look for a harvesting point in advance, but I donât even need to do that now.
As I step into the middle of the flower garden, I raise my left hand high in the air and declared.
[âââ-Harvest!]
Thereupon, white light floated up from various flowers and was absorbed into my left hand.
[WhaâŠâŠ]
The light that flew towards my left hand from all the harvesting points within a few meters radius around me, and in just a few seconds, was all the flowers that could be collected, absorbed into my inventory.
Ahh, incidentally, even if I were to uproot them, I wouldnât have to worry, since they will grow back with the magical power of fantasy.
[W- What is that?]
[You can already guess what it is, right? Itâs the effect of the <Treasure Hunter>âs Skill, <Expert Gatherer>.]
I said with a grin.
âŠâŠYes.
My current Class isnât <Sword Saint> anymore.
I had Class Changed to <Treasure Hunter>.
[Donât tell meâŠâŠ]
It seems that Resilia had also realized it.
[In that case, Nii-san! You already went to that temple and completed the trial beforehand!]
[EhâŠâŠ?]
Receiving an answer that I didnât expect, I hurriedly explained it to Resilia, who had been awkwardly looking at me.
[No, that isnât it! I became a <Treasure Hunter> during that challenge before we left.]
[But at that time, you fell in the middle of the <Final Trial>, didnât you?]
[No. At that time, I did go to the far endâŠâŠ No, I had touched the end goal of the trial.]
As it seemed like Resilia still doesnât have a clear idea of what Iâm talking about, I asked her a question.
[Do you remember the text that was written in front of the door of the <Final Trial>, Resilia?]
[As I recall, it reads âShow your Courage, Offer to me the Perfect Keyâ.]
[Correct. Then, what was our purpose for going there in the first place?]
[That is, to get the <Treasure Hunter> Class, right?]
She was looking at me with a gaze that seemed to ask if Iâm making a fool of her or not, but I didnât get discouraged and asked her just one more question.
[Then, how do you usually get a new Class?]
[If you find the âHeroic Statueâ of the Class you want to become, you touch the statue, and when you meet the requirements, your body will light upâŠâŠ Ahh, I see.]
Resiliaâs voice changed from doubt to understanding halfway through her words.
[âââââThe stone statue that appeared in the <Final Trial>, the only statue in that place holding a spear and a sword, has the likeness of a Hero. In other words, that was the <Treasure Hunter Statue>.]
I nodded in agreement with Resiliaâs words of understanding.
The sword-spear dual wielding is a characteristic of the <Treasure Hunter> before his death.
If you had some information about the <Treasure Hunter> Hero, seeing that statue would have given you a big clue.
[Even if you donât know anything about him, you would find out about the statueâs name when you try to use <Inspect> on it. Ah, by the way, thatâs also the reason why the last statue is the only one that doesnât have 1 STR.]
The Status of a Class Change Statue has the âability values required to change to that Classâ.
And so, while the statues that appeared in the previous trials were extreme opponents with 1 ATK and 999 DEF, while only the last statue has a Status within common sense.
And once you know about that, thereâs nothing difficult about it then.
[Then, the words âShow your Courage, Offer to me the Perfect Keyâ isâŠâŠ]
[Yeah. The last thing you need to do is to approach the <Treasure Hunter Statue> that falls in the middle of the trial and touch it with your hand holding the magatama.]
The last time I used the <Thunderclap Palm Strike> against the statue, I wasnât trying to knock it back and send it down the abyss.
I was just thinking it would be best to use that skill to get my right hand holding the magatama to touch the stone statue the quickest.
âŠâŠWell, I havenât really thought about what would happen after I touched it, which is why I fell right after I accomplished my goal in the trial.
But there, Resilia furrowed her brow, seemingly having thought of something.
[However, please wait. If thatâs the case, then what about that pedestal at the far end of the room? Wasnât there a pedestal at the end of the Dragonâs Path?]
That is certainly the most tricky point of that trial.
However, that too can be understood if you observed the pedestal properly.
[That pedestal is different in design from the pedestals placed at the goal of the previous trials. Itâs just, that isnât the only thing that is unlike the other trials.]
[What do you mean?]
[Thereâs that, you know? Dozens of designs were in place in both the <First Trial> and <Second Trial>. There are those pedestals where the stone statue is placed on both sides of the passage of the trials.]
And since thereâs no way to be sure, this would just be my guess, but Iâm sure that when the door to the <Final Trial> is closed, that <Treasure Hunter Statue> would just be standing properly at the âend of the Dragonâs PathââŠâŠ That is, on the pedestal at the far end of the room, waiting for the challenger.
Then, when it sees that the <Second Trial> has been cleared, it would hastily hide behind the ceiling with magic and wait in standby, which makes me think of the statue as some sort of moe character waiting for that person to clear its trial.
[âŠâŠWell, there are other minor hints here and there, but thatâs about it with the trialsâ tricks.]
After hearing all my explanations, Resilia loudly sighed.
[That isâŠâŠ is quite nasty.]
She said with a frown.
[Itâs a trial created by a <Treasure Hunter>. Thatâs just the way it is.]
Upon my words, Resilia shook her head.
[The trial certainly is, but Iâm also referring to Nii-san. Did you think itâs alright not to tell Radd about this?]
[Well, I was on the fence about whether I should tell him about this or not.]
When Radd pressed me to see if I wasnât frustrated, for a moment, I thought of answering honestly that âIâve already completed the trialâ.
But in the end, I decided not to say it.
[Iâve already given him enough clues, and itâs better for him if he were to solve something like that himself. Besidesâââ]
[Besides?]
At the quizzical look Resilia has on her face, I put on a 100% pure smileâŠâŠ
""
[ââââ-I spent two hours trying to solve that riddle when I saw it for the first time. I would be frustrated if he were to solve it that easily!]
I blurted out my true thoughts.
Incidentally, after thatâŠâŠ
Radd, whose linguistic capabilities lagged because of anger, stormed into my room, shouting âYou b*stard! You b*stard!!!â, twelve hours after we left him at that temple.