Chapter 103: 7F Hidden (2) |
“…The Sage is one of the four of us?”
The wanderer scowled and muttered, glancing around at the others.
The other two were doing the same. Everyone kept looking back and forth between one another.
So we had to find the Sage, who was hiding his identity.
Was this a Gate too?
The trial didn’t seem to be over yet.
[All but the Sage must reach agreement and choose the Sage.]
[600]
A number appeared after the message.
So the point was to root out the Sage before time ran out…?
The knight spoke.
“Speak the truth. Which of you is the Sage?”
The woman answered.
“This must be another of the Sage’s trials. Hiding among us like this… I suppose the Sage had quite the playful streak.”
The wanderer spoke up as well.
“…The Sage lived a thousand years ago, didn’t he? How could one of us possibly be him?”
“He’s someone who can still keep a dungeon like this running flawlessly a thousand years later. Maybe the Sage never died, and he’s been alive all this time.”
“What, you’re saying he’s immortal? That’s absurd.”
I looked around at the three of them and thought.
‘What do I do.’
It was a kind of mafia game.
If I had to pick, the woman, being a mage, looked closest to the image of the Sage, but…
Obviously I couldn’t just guess based on something like that.
“You’re the most suspicious of all. You’re the only mage here, are you not?”
No sooner had I thought it than the knight leveled his sword at the woman.
She raised her staff defensively.
“A mage, therefore the Sage? I’d appreciate it if you’d refrain from such simplistic reasoning. If the Sage were truly concealing his identity, wouldn’t it be far more convincing for him to imitate someone whose nature is the furthest thing from a mage?”
The three of them began to give off faint waves of hostility toward each other.
I stepped in.
“Everyone, let’s not fight. Why don’t we talk it through first?”
All eyes turned to me.
I pointed at the timer with one finger.
“We have to make a choice before that timer runs out, right? The three of us who aren’t the Sage all have to agree.”
“…I suppose that’s right.”
“Is a discussion really necessary? If I cut down the three of you right here, the Sage would have no choice but to reveal himself.”
At the knight’s words, the wanderer let out a scoff.
“Hey now, that’s a little hard to let slide. Sounds like you think you can take on all three of us in here by yourself.”
The mood was tipping toward another fight, so I cut it off fast.
“Do you really think this is something force can solve? The Sage is powerful enough to trap us in here. You saw it just now. The walls don’t even scratch.”
I pointed at the section of wall where the knight had loosed his Sword Aura.
“So let’s talk first. Maybe along the way we’ll figure out who’s suspicious.”
The woman agreed with me.
“He’s right. The Sage wants to test our wisdom. Surely he wouldn’t ask us to expose him through some mindless brawl, would he?”
“…Wisdom, huh. For a test of wisdom, all we got on the way here was an endless barrage of arrows.”
The wanderer scratched the back of his head and nodded.
“Well, fine, I’m in too. What good would come of us fighting each other in here?”
Attention shifted to the knight.
After a moment, he too slid his drawn sword back into its sheath.
“And just how do you propose we find the Sage?”
“…That’s what we’ll have to work out, starting now.”
[459]
The three of them gathered in a circle at the center of the Cavern.
The woman offered a suggestion.
“Let’s each talk about ourselves. Where we’re from, what we do, what we were doing before we ended up here… maybe that’ll turn up something suspicious.”
Then she began first.
“I am Deilin Targorian. A mage who holds the position of Vice Tower Master of the Red Mage Tower.”
The wanderer asked back, looking slightly startled.
“Deilin Targorian? You’re the Vice Tower Master of the Red Mage Tower?”
“That’s right. I don’t mean to boast, but I doubt there’s anyone here who hasn’t heard of me.”
The knight seemed to recognize the name as well.
She must have been quite the celebrity.
But Red Mage Tower, Vice Tower Master, none of it meant a thing.
Being practically a stranger from another world, there was no way I’d know any of it.
“As I said before, my motive for coming this far was personal curiosity. I wanted to find out whether the rumors about the Sage’s dungeon were true, and if they were, to explore the dungeon myself.”
The wanderer nodded.
“I’ve heard the rumors that the Vice Tower Master of the Red Mage Tower has a wandering streak.”
“…A wandering streak? Where did a rumor like that come from?”
Next, the knight spoke.
“I am Keilon Gaitan, eleventh king of Ton Principality.”
Deilin and the wanderer were both taken aback.
“…Now that’s a surprise. The Knight King Keilon? You were the Retired King of the Principality?”
The man was apparently a king, of all things.
If he was the Retired King, did that mean he was the former ruler?
“As for my motive in seeking out the dungeon, it too was personal curiosity. I wished to confirm the truth of the rumors with my own eyes, and as the Sage’s dungeon was indeed real, I passed through the Gates and made my way here.”
Hold on, wait a second…
I felt a sense of danger.
But if things kept going this way, I was in trouble.
“Ha, so once the masks come off, everyone here turns out to be somebody important, eh?”
Last, the wanderer introduced himself.
“I’m just an adventurer. Nothing as grand as your reputations, but I figure you’ve at least heard the name Pahel?”
“…The legendary adventurer Pahel? That’s you?”
Deilin asked back as if astonished.
Wow, now we’ve got a legendary adventurer too.
“Like I said, I came all the way here to swipe the Sage’s treasure and make off with one big score. A sparrow doesn’t pass up a mill, and an adventurer doesn’t pass up a dungeon, right?”
Once the three of them had finished their introductions,
attention naturally turned to me.
I stopped time and thought.
These three all seemed famous enough to know one another’s names…
The problem was that I knew absolutely nothing about the background of this world.
I’d be suspected, no question. What now?
‘…Just bluff my way through it.’
For now there was no other option.
I let time resume and opened my mouth.
“My name is Hyeon. I’m just an adventurer too.”
“…Hyeon? Never heard that name. An adventurer skilled enough to clear all the arrow Gates to get here, there’s no way I wouldn’t have heard of him.”
Pahel narrowed his eyes at me.
So now I was the suspect.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
Fumbling would only make them suspect me more, so I held a confident front at the very least.
“Of course you wouldn’t have heard of me. I’m an adventurer from a far eastern continent.”
“The Eastern Continent?”
“Yes. I heard the rumors about the Sage’s dungeon and traveled all this way. Like you said, Pahel, an adventurer can’t pass up something like this, right?”
Pahel still eyed me with suspicion.
Well, I was the only one whose identity was uncertain.
“What do the rest of you think? Am I the only one who finds this guy suspicious?”
Deilin spoke.
“If anything, I find him less suspicious.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“If Hyeon were the Sage, wouldn’t it be far too obvious? Everyone else’s identity is established, and he’s the only one whose isn’t… If the Sage truly meant to hide himself, it would be strange for him to be this sloppy about it.”
The logic being that someone too suspicious was, conversely, unlikely to be the culprit.
Keilon nodded too.
“There’s reason in that. I doubt that man is the Sage.”
If anything, the two of them were taking my side.
At that, Pahel took a step back too.
“Well… judging by his looks, the part about being from the Eastern Continent doesn’t seem like a lie. And come to think of it, wasn’t the Sage from the Empire?”
“Judging by appearance is pointless. For a mage who’s lived over a thousand years, changing his appearance would be child’s play.”
Anyway, escaping suspicion was all well and good, but…
The fact remained that I had to figure out which of the three was the Sage.
‘…So it’s not Deilin?’
If she were the Sage, what reason would she have to step in and defend me?
So if it came down to Keilon or Pahel…
I stopped time again and mulled it over.
Nothing in their stories struck me as particularly suspicious.
Then again, I’d need to know something to spot anything suspicious in the first place.
If anything, I was the most suspicious one here, and that was the truth of it.
‘Demon King, do you have any idea who it is?’
I tried asking the Demon King.
– That knight bastard.
‘…Why?’
– Putting on airs, prancing about calling himself a king. Pathetic.
I didn’t get a proper answer.
[131]
Ten minutes was far too short.
By the time everyone had finished their introductions, only two minutes were left.
I thought about it a good while longer with time frozen, but…
…No use. There was nothing to grab onto.
My judgment was that finding the Sage through deduction was hopeless.
‘Let’s go with manipulation.’
Either way, I had to choose someone other than myself.
If I guessed right, great; even if I guessed wrong, I could count on the next chance.
I released time.
Silence stretched on as we just stared at one another.
With a hundred seconds left, I spoke.
“If we have to choose someone no matter what, then I’ll go with Pahel.”
“…What?”
“Because you were the first to try and pin the Sage label on me. There’s hardly any time left, so all we can do now is go with our gut.”
When it comes to manipulation, strike first to win.
Deilin nodded and said,
“There really isn’t enough time. In that case, I’ll choose Pahel as well.”
“Hey, hey, hold on… is this a joke? What the hell are you two playing at?”
There seemed to be a bit of personal feeling mixed into Deilin’s choice, but either way she took my side again.
“The three of us have to agree, so there’s no helping it.”
Keilon, too, looked at Pahel as if to say he’d follow my and Deilin’s choice.
In an instant, Pahel had been cast as the culprit.
Hm… what was this?
Honestly, it was so easy that even I was thrown.
I could only imagine how Pahel felt. His face was a portrait of disbelief.
“I choose Pahel.”
Before the stunned man could get a word of protest in, I pointed at him.
“I choose Pahel.”
“I choose Pahel.”
The other two followed suit.
Did that count as reaching agreement?
The timer in midair vanished.
A single symbol appeared.
[X]
“…”
An X mark.
It seemed I’d gotten it wrong.
The three of them fixed their eyes on me.
“…Ha.”
The moment I gave an awkward laugh,
Rumble, rumble, rumble-!
with a violent shaking, the Cavern walls on all sides began to close in.
As if to crush all four of us to death.
“…!”
The price of a wrong answer?
Startled, everyone launched attacks at the advancing walls.
Bang! Crash!
Keilon and Pahel struck with their swords while Deilin hurled a powerful spell.
But of course, the walls didn’t take so much as a scratch.
Pahel glared at me and shouted.
“You goddamn bastard…!”
I had nothing to say to that. Sorry.
“So you really are the Sage! Aren’t you? Stop this, now!”
Pahel hurled a dagger at me.
I dodged frantically to the side.
The other two were giving off hostility as well, ready to come at me.
In an instant, I’d become the common enemy of the Cavern.
…Tangling in a fight in a space this cramped was dangerous.
I stopped time.
‘Demon King!’
I put out a help call to the Demon King.
‘Freeze all three of these people for me.’
– And why would I do that?
‘Why? Because you promised to actively cooperate with me on the climb from here on out.’
The Demon King sounded annoyed.
‘Or is it that you can’t? They are pretty tough opponents.’
– Switch.
The second I needled him a little, the Demon King stepped right up.
I handed over my body and released time.
Whoooosh-
A bitter, freezing cold blanketed the entire Cavern.
My Willpower bottomed out in an instant, and the three of them froze solid.
The Demon King’s power was formidable indeed.
The Cavern kept shrinking.
I took my body back from the Demon King and quietly observed the three of them.
If one of them was the Sage, wouldn’t he do something?
But contrary to my expectations…
Crack! Crunch!
The three frozen figures were crushed, one after another, by the walls grinding in on them. Their bodies shattered. Blood soaked the floor.
‘…What?’
They all just died?
The Cavern had nearly finished closing in.
Either way, this try was a bust.
[Will you exit the Tower?]
I exited to avoid being crushed.
[You have failed to clear Nightmare difficulty 7F Hidden. (2/3)]
Back in my room, I sank into thought.
I’d figured that when death was on the line, the Sage would reveal himself at the very end, but…
Was it impossible to suss out his identity with cheap tricks like this?
In any case, I’d learned that Pahel wasn’t the Sage.
Two left.
And since I had two chances left, even if I went on pure guesswork, it was still possible to identify the Sage before I ran out.
[You have entered Nightmare difficulty 7F.]
The second try.
I cleared the arrow Gates and met the three of them again.
“Everyone, let’s not fight. Why don’t we talk it through first?”
It played out exactly the same way.
After everyone introduced themselves, Pahel suspected me just the same, and Deilin defended me just the same.
This time I had to pin the blame on Keilon.
When there was little time left, I started in on the manipulation again.
“…We’re out of time. If we have to choose one person, I’ll go with Keilon.”
“What did you say?”
“Wasn’t it Keilon who first tried to steer things by saying Deilin was suspicious for being a mage?”
Keilon glared at me.
But, remarkably enough,
“Then I suppose I’ll have to choose Keilon as well.”
Deilin took my side immediately again.
“Hm… is that so? Well, no time, so there’s no helping it. I’ll go with the Knight King fellow too.”
And Pahel was no different.
No… were these people’s ears made of paper?
I was glad for it, but it left me a little puzzled why they let themselves get swept along so easily.
“You fools, every one of you is making the wrong choice.”
Keilon protested, but it was no use.
The three of us, myself included, chose Keilon, and…
[X]
“Ah.”
Wrong again.
So that meant Deilin was the Sage?
Rumble, rumble, rumble-
The Cavern began to shrink once more.
I got out before the fight could break out.
[You have failed to clear Nightmare difficulty 7F Hidden. (1/3)]
My last remaining chance.
But I’d figured out the Sage’s identity, so it was fine.
I entered for the Last Try.
[You have entered Nightmare difficulty 7F.]
Cleared the arrow Gates, met the three of them.
The situation flowed along exactly the same.
“…Keilon’s thinking was right after all, it seems. If I have to pick one person, I think it’s Deilin too.”
This time I steered things toward Deilin as the Sage.
Keilon nodded with his arms crossed.
“Indeed. Choosing the mage is the right call after all.”
Pahel nodded too, without complaint.
“No time, so there’s no helping it. We’ve got to pick someone, after all.”
Suddenly cast as the culprit, Deilin looked around at us in dismay.
“…Wait a moment. You’re all making a grave mistake. Do you really think it makes sense to deduce that I’m the Sage this way?”
Protesting was futile.
All I had to do now was choose Deilin and it was over.
But then…
“…”
I stopped time.
This sense of wrongness, this nagging unease I’d been feeling for a while now.
‘…Is Deilin really the answer?’
Why was this so easy?
It wasn’t as if I’d meticulously engineered the situation to steer them.
I’d just slapped on some flimsy little reasons and steered them along blindly.
Why on earth did they all go along with it so readily…?
The moment I pointed at someone, they fell in line with my choice as if they’d been waiting for it.
When in fact, anyone could see that I was the most suspicious person here.
How should I put it…
It almost felt like I was the one being toyed with.
A thought suddenly came to me.
One chance left.
If I got this wrong, the hidden clear was a failure.
But I decided to trust my gut anyway.
I released time.
“…Wait a moment. I think I’ve been thinking about this wrong.”
All eyes turned to me.
“That’s right! I’m really not the Sage, I’m telling you.”
Deilin spoke as if wronged.
“Thinking about it wrong? Then who’s the Sage?”
Pahel asked with a scowl.
“As for who the Sage is…”
Deilin, Keilon, Pahel.
I pointed at each of the three in turn.
“It’s all of you.”
In that instant,
the expressions drained from all three faces.
The three of them said nothing, just stared at me intently.
The moment that eerie reaction sent a faint chill down my spine,
Shhhh.
all three bodies crumbled away. Like sand.
As I stared, dumbfounded, at the grains scattered across the floor,
the grains gathered back together, slowly molding themselves into the shape of a single person.
And the person who appeared was an old man with a full head of white hair.
The old man, hands clasped behind his back, looked at me and smiled.
“Congratulations on getting the answer right.”
…It seemed he was the Sage.
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