She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (WN)

Chapter 182: Matter of Life and Death (1)

It was already 9pm when Mira reached the large cathedral at the bottom of the sixth floor, all three glyphs in her possession.

「It’s still as big as ever.」

She muttered as looked at the cathedral.

There was a cathedral on every floor so far, all of them built similarly and of the same size. But the one on the sixth floor was different. The dungeon only had seven floors, so the sixth cathedral was the last one, and as such was three times larger.

That was not all, the interior was also wide, the chapel by the entrance being as large as a stadium. The ceiling was also incredibly tall.

But there were more differences. All the previous cathedrals had looked somewhat plain and quite deteriorated, only the larger features of the building remaining clear, but the last one was in much better shape, the walls and columns covered in detailed carvings, and vivid drawings of a paradise all over the ceiling.

It was far more detailed than a regular temple, filling the building with a sense of sanctity.

(There’s a few of them here too.)

Mira noticed there were various groups of adventurers resting in the chapel.

They also turned to look at Mira, extremely curious about her. That much was understandable, it was late at night, she was a girl traveling alone, the sixth floor’s difficulty rank was B, and they all knew just how difficult it was to get through it.

(Hmm… those adventurers look promising.)

Mira started walking toward one of the groups there. They were the closest to her, and one of the members was staring intently at her. The group was composed of three spellcasters and three warriors, giving it a nice balance. Two of the spellcasters were female too.

「Sorry, may I ask you something?」

When Mira spoke to them, the man who had been staring at her the most sprang on his feet. He was at least 180cm tall, and had a rather burly body. He was clearly skilled, but his face could hardly be called attractive, even as mere flattery.

He walked up to Mira and stood up with his back straight, looking at her for a while.

「Hello! I’m called Bardon! Let’s get along!」

He struck his right hand out and announced with a loud voice.

「Huh? Oh! I’m Mira, nice to meet you.」

Mira was a bit taken aback by how sudden that was, but she quickly realized that introducing oneself before talking was normal, so she shook his hand. But then something else happened.

「Alright! Thank you!!」

Bardon’s hand firmly grasped Mira’s, smiling widely.

「Huh?」

Mira tilted her head in confusion, wondering just what he was thanking her for, and why he was so happy that there were even tears streaming down his cheeks.

「I’m sorry, please don’t pay any attention to him.」

Just when Mira was starting to feel uncomfortable with Bardon acting like his life had been saved by divine intervention, the male spellcaster of the group came to her aid and made him let go of Mira’s hand. Then regardless of Bardon’s size, the spellcaster flung him back into the group.

「Ohh, that was Concept Magic, wasn’t it? And quite exquisitely performed.」

The spellcaster’s height was only around 170cm, quite shorter than Bardon. But the way he effortlessly flung Bardon away showed he was familiar with various Concept Magic spells.

「You’re probably still stronger, considering you got here on your own. I felt a larger presence with you earlier, I’m assuming that was some familiar of sorts?」

「Yes, precisely. I’m a summoner.」

She announced loud and proud, causing a stir amongst all the adventurers listening to her. Some were shocked, others dubious, and some even ridiculed her.

「A summoner… I hear almost nothing about them nowadays, but I guess there’s always some around the world.」

The spellcaster man looked carefully at Mira. But shortly after, a loud voice thundered, 「Don’t look at my wife like that!!」 from behind him.

「What’s happening?」

Mira peeked behind the spellcaster and saw Bardon throwing a fit, being restrained by other adventurers.

「Seriously, again? I really thought you had finally grown out of the habit of proposing to every girl you meet. Hell, you completely skipped that step and took a handshake as her becoming your wife! You really should grow up already.」

Another member of the group scolded him. Hearing that, Mira slowly began to understand. When he said ‘Let’s get along’ it had not been a simple nicety, but an actual request to date.

「Don’t worry about him, he does that by instinct sometimes. We thought he was finally getting over that habit, but I guess you were too cute and triggered it again.」

The spellcaster seemed tired of Bardon’s behavior, but then there was a loud 「Don’t try seducing my wifeee!」

「He became like that when he found out a girl he was childhood friends with got married.」

The spellcaster man began to explain. Bardon used to be friends with a girl when he was little, and had planned on marrying her when they grew up, but they never agreed on that, and he had not even confessed his feelings to her. So in the end she married someone else while Bardon was out adventuring. Somehow that left him traumatized, and he started proposing marriage to every girl he met so that would never happen again.

Bardon had continued to shout nonsense while the story was being told too.

「I really apologize on his behalf.」

「It’s fine, it sounds like you have plenty of trouble with him as well. I actually feel a little bad for you.」

Mira said that seeing how awkward the spellcaster man felt after all that. He also mentioned that as an adventurer Bardon was more than excellent, but that was still not an excuse for his behavior.

「Anyway, all of that aside… I think you wanted to ask something?」

「Oh right, I almost forgot.」

He brought the topic back on track and Mira nodded, remembering why she approached the adventurers. Bardon’s outburst had left Mira shocked, but she quickly regained her bearings and spoke to the spellcaster.

「First off, I’m Mira. Nice to meet you, in a normal way.」

「Right, I’m Hans. Nice to meet you too, in a normal way.」

The two introduced themselves, bringing things back to a normal conversation. Mira peeked at Bardon with a grimace, and seeing that he was calming down, she finally asked her question.

「I’m actually looking for someone. Have you seen a necromancer riding on a bicorn skeleton with the right horn broken go through this floor? He was probably wearing a coat with a weird magic circle painted on it, and gloves without fingertips.」

A necromancer on a bicorn. She was asking if they had seen Soul Howl. But considering the narrow paths of the sixth floor, chances were he had dismounted the bicorn and traveled on foot, so just in case she described the outfit Soul Howl wore way back during the game days. A Sage’s Robe would have revealed his identity, so she assumed he was not wearing that. Unless his tastes had changed, she was certain he would be in his favorite outfit.

「I don’t remember seeing a bicorn, but does he wear a black eyepatch on the right eye too?」

When Mira finished her question, Hans asked something back. A black eyepatch on the right eye. Soul Howl had not worn such an accessory in the past, but considering his personality and fashion sense that was something he would definitely like. But more importantly, Hans seemed to know something at least.

「Did you see him then?」

「Yeah, I remember it clearly.」

Hans revealed a bit more, starting with, 「It happened last night, right about the same time as now.」

Basically that was a bit past 9pm. Adventurers would always go to the cathedral to spend the night, and that was where they saw him, a man traveling with multiple golems. He went straight through the cathedral and headed to the seventh floor without resting.

「I was surprised to see you tonight, since you’re the second solo spellcaster we’ve seen go through here. Maybe that’s why I thought of him so quickly though.」

He was still a spellcaster going alone, even if he had his golems to help, so that helped leave a strong impression on Hans and the other adventurers. Then the next day comes Mira, also alone, so deciding they were connected somehow was a normal conclusion to come to.

Mira’s description of the necromancer had been nearly perfect too, which sealed the deal.