“We’ll Definitely Come Back to Save You!” — It’s Been Three Years Since I Was Left in the Most Difficult Dungeon, Isn’t It About Time for Help to Arrive...? - 64

Chapter 64: The Honest Truth

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“Wh—What…!?”

The moment my fingertip touched the crystal, it scattered a constellation of stars into the musty air, filled with the smell of moldy old paper and dust. The number—totaled fifty.

“Last time I measured, it wasn’t even half this much even if I combined the total. For it to increase this drastically…”

I knew the reason. The power I had temporarily borrowed from her—Hel—for the sake of restoring my companions had pushed my ability up from its very foundation. That was the cause.

“So that’s why there was such a huge gap between me and Lazuli when Hel measured our abilities… But still, this is way over the top! Look at these outrageous numbers! If the people know about this outrageous numbers, there’s no way we won’t draw unwanted attention—”

As I racked my brain over a situation I couldn’t control, a loud shout rang throughout the room—loud enough for even a child’s ears. I glanced toward Myriel, who had been peering into the crystal right beside me. Then I noticed her gaze wasn’t directed at me, but toward the door. I followed her line of sight.

“Huhh…?”

The door, which had been cracked open just a sliver, caught a breeze and creaked open with an irritable groan. There stood the staff woman—clearly a senior employee—who had snapped at us earlier. Her high-heeled shoes had tumbled to the floor, and her face was frozen in shock.

“W-What… What are those numbers…? What the hell are you…!?”

“Th-this is bad!”

“Whoa, sooo many stars! So sparkly…!”

In this emergency, I squeezed out some toddler-speech from my toddler-like brain. If they only got suspicious, that was one thing. But if someone started calling me a Demon Lord in disguise…

Well, technically speaking, I AM in disguise…

“Th-this means I’ve got crazy talent, right? Yaaay! I’m so happy…”

At this point, our only way out is for me to pretend that I’m just a genius prodigy boy and wrap this up fast.

I faked ignorance with everything I had, even as I struggled to keep speaking in the first person. Right now, that was the only way I could think of to survive this crisis.

“…Huh? Your ability scores… Ah, I get it!  Hel’s power, and Athos’ power must’ve—”

“Oops! My hand didn’t slip, but here comes a perfect 45-degree chop to Lazuli’s neck!!!”

Thud!!

A terrifyingly fast hand strike launched itself, even surprising me, and silenced the source before the words of doom could be spoken.

“Eeeh!? A-Are you okay!?”

Myriel rushed to Lazuli, who had suddenly collapsed. Lazuli was foaming at the mouth. Good. That drew her attention away from me. But the real problem was right in front of me, the staff woman who was still glaring at me with suspicion.

“Y-you… I see now! You’re trying to falsify your results to get higher marks and snatch up top-tier guild requests, aren’t you!? I won’t let you get away with it, you little brat!”

She narrowed her drooping eyes into a sharp glare, twisting her sweat-smeared makeup into a furious scowl.

“And now it makes sense why you sided with that girl earlier You figured Myriel wouldn’t notice if you cheated, so you deliberately sided for that slow, useless girl! You’re just a brat full of ulterior motives without a shred of sincerity—”

Clack!

The sound of a single heel tapping the floor silenced the furious staffer’s barrage, erasing every echo from the air.

“—What’s all this commotion about?”

A man appeared at the room’s entrance without warning. His pale hair, muscular body that rivaled active adventurers, and deeply lined, chiseled face gave him an overwhelming presence.

“G-G-Guildmaster!? What brings you here!? Weren’t you supposed to be in a meeting about the Demon Lord at this hour…?”

“That meeting just ended. The floor below was oddly noisy, so I decided to check things out before returning to my room… Is there a problem?”

“N-no! Not at all! It’s just that this little brat—uh, I mean, this child may have done something suspicious—”

“…Suspicious?”

The Guildmaster began walking toward us with calm, measured steps, but his presence was ice-cold and oppressive. Sweat ran down my cheek and I immediately froze.

“Sthoa… Is that your name?”

“Y-yeah, that’s right…”

My heart pounded loud enough to echo in my ears. The Guildmaster kept his eyes on me as he gently stroked his neatly trimmed beard.

“……Hmm.”

Perhaps intrigued by the stars lighting up the room, the Guildmaster finally broke eye contact from me and approached the central pedestal. He picked up the crystal, rolled it in his palm for about ten seconds, then returned it to its original position.

“…There are no signs of tampering. What the crystal revealed is a truth without lies or falsehoods.”

“Th-that can’t be…! That’s fifty stars! Such an outrageous amount of numbers never existed before…!”

“If we dismissed everything that lacked precedent, we wouldn’t exist. …I’ll handle things here. You go back to your post.”

“B-but still…”

“—Or what? Are you telling me you’ve forgotten the work you were assigned?”

The Guildmaster’s gaze shifted to the stack of quest forms that had been troubling Myriel. It was clearly too much work for one person. The senior staffer clutched the documents in a panic and fled the room at full speed.

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