Chapter 341: School Closed (23)
The students had gone into the field for self-directed training, only to be caught in an unforeseen natural disaster.
There was only one thing anyone could say upon hearing such a story.
"How truly unfortunate."
"Indeed it was."
As expected, Fjodora's response did not differ in the slightest from what I had anticipated.
I gave a light nod and a suitably brief reply before adding the following explanation.
"Since I imagine you will ask anyway, I shall tell you in advance. Even with my buff, Reisir was unable to detect any traps. My guess is that, for now, his skill can only locate objects that 'contain high-density energy.'"
"He has only just awakened the skill, so clear limitations are inevitable. Even so, that does not change the fact that the skills the two of you have recently acquired are exceedingly useful. Do not be discouraged. Continue honing them diligently."
"Yes, we will."
At first glance, it might have seemed that the conversation was over, but we had only just finished the introduction.
No, in truth, the conversation we'd just had did not even qualify as an introduction.
It wasn't as if Reisir and I had entered a restricted area.
We were merely students, not soldiers, and the academy was currently closed, so we had every right to go wherever we pleased whenever we wished.
From the outset, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to regard Fjodora's interrogation about our destination as an invasion of privacy.
If Dyuf had done it, I could have accepted it without objection as the natural concern of a parent worried about his child.
At the very least, if she had asked casually out of curiosity instead of sounding as though she were interrogating us, I would have simply dismissed it as her having many questions.
Just as I began to feel something that was difficult to describe as either disappointment or regret, she spoke again.
"That aside, I wish to hear what happened in the Demon Realm."
Only now had she raised the subject of the Demon Realm, which should rightfully have been the true point of our discussion.
It would have been easier to answer if she had specified exactly what she wanted to know.
After considering where to begin, I decided to focus primarily on what had been unusual about this particular Demon Realm.
"When the signs of transformation into a Demon Realm first appeared, I immediately sent Yor high into the sky so she could escape before it fully formed and call for assistance. But she failed. The Demon Realm established itself in only a few seconds."
First, I mentioned a fact no one could have known except Reisir, Yor, and me, who had been there.
"I assume you have already received a report that extremely dense thickets of thorns grew throughout the area. As a result, we had to choose whichever paths remained even remotely passable...."
Then I explained why we had been unable to escape under our own power and had no choice but to wander through the Demon Realm.
"The monsters that appeared were plant creatures bearing enormous red flowers. Reisir attempted to use his skill for obtaining information about a target, but it did not work. That was most likely because they were monsters possessing a sense of self, unlike ordinary plants."
Information about the Seed Blooms' abilities could be conveyed adequately through Reisir's experiences alone.
Therefore, to reinforce the fabricated setting of 【Identification】, the skill that served as a cover for 【Truth-Reading Eye】, I mixed in a small lie.
"Furthermore, rather than remaining rooted in one place, they moved around by bracing their stems and leaves against the ground and pushing themselves forward. They wielded five tendrils, each far longer than my whip, and fired 'seeds' from the center of their flowers."
"Seeds...?"
"Yes. They exploded whenever they struck something, so I initially assumed they merely resembled seeds and were actually 'bombs'.... But they truly were seeds."
"Did plants sprout from them?"
"Precisely."
There had been no way for me to know in advance that 【Seed Bomb】 and 【Germination】 were separate skills.
Pretending otherwise offered me a small advantage.
"Seeds I expected to explode the moment they struck the ground abruptly sprouted, grew in the blink of an eye, and bloomed into white flowers. Pollen burst from them at that moment, and my mind became hazy.... I remember nothing after that."
There was no need to go out of my way to explain that I had shielded Reisir and fallen asleep in his place.
It was enough to say that I had been caught because I didn't know the enemy's ability.
That would also prevent anyone from finding fault with me for supposedly lowering my guard.
"Ah...! So that is why, when Professor Kaldrun arrived, you were asleep in Reisir's arms."
Sure enough, rather than assigning blame, Fjodora responded with understanding.
In the process, she briefly mentioned the state in which we'd been found, but it was hardly surprising.
My clothes must have been covered in Reisir's blood, and if he had put me down on the ground to fight, I would undoubtedly have died....
The same would have been true if he had carried me on his back.
Reisir may have removed his eyepatch, giving him a wider field of vision than usual, but the area directly behind him was still a complete blind spot.
[ Suddenly, he realized that he could feel no warmth from the person on his back. He was unnaturally cold. When Reisir lowered him to the ground and checked, he discovered that he had long since become a cold corpse. ]
...There was no chance the original author would have passed up such a tragic development.
She would have written that an attack the protagonist failed to notice came from behind and quietly claimed Karvaldr's life.
It hadn't actually happened. I had escaped that development safely.
But the thought that it might have happened sent a chill through me and raised goose bumps across my skin.
Did Yor advise him not to put me on the ground or carry me on his back...?
I would ask Yor later, and if my guess was correct, I would shower her with praise.
With that thought, I decided to set the matter aside for now.
"Reisir, I imagine your skill worked on the plants that grew from those 'seeds'...."
"Yeah, 【Identification】 worked on those. The white one was a plant called a 'Seed Bloom Sleepflower,' and its pollen contained a potent sleep-inducing agent. I also saw a blue flower bloom after you fell asleep. That one was called a 'Seed Bloom Poison Flower.' Just like the name suggests, its pollen was poisonous."
When I casually broached the subject and turned my gaze toward Reisir, information I knew but couldn't disclose flowed from his mouth instead.
"Then there are only three kinds of 'seeds': those that grow into sleepflowers, those that grow into poison flowers, and those that explode?"
"Probably. I killed quite a few monsters in the same area, but I never saw flowers of any other color."
"Was the information concerning the seeds the only additional fact you learned about the monsters after I fell asleep?"
"Several monsters appeared at once, and they coordinated their attacks without getting in one another's way. They also caught me off guard by driving their roots into the ground and making them erupt from below, and sometimes they used them to seize my ankles...."
"It seems they possess not only a sense of self, but also considerable intelligence."
Reisir and I went back and forth, gradually laying out the information about the Seed Blooms.
In Chapter 326, he had even said, "I don't know how I should act around Her Royal Highness the Princess."
There was no way I could leave him to speak with Fjodora and convey the information on his own.
"The only other thing that needs explaining is.... Oh, right! Covering my nose and mouth with a handkerchief filtered out a considerable amount of the pollen. But it wasn't a perfect defense...."
Gas masks didn't exist in this world at all.
A properly fitted mask without any gaps would allow someone to last longer than a mere handkerchief, but even that couldn't block the pollen completely.
Its particles were supposed to be exceptionally fine.
That was why, in the pre-remake original work, everyone had been reluctant to enter any Demon Realm inhabited by Seed Blooms.
Someone with Wind Attribute Ether like Fjodora might be able to counter the pollen by blowing it far away.
But that was merely theoretical.
The Seed Blooms did not release the pollen directly. It came from the plants grown by their 【Germination】 seeds.
The pollen would therefore erupt from every direction rather than approach from a single one.
There was no chance it would be easy to use an ability with the correct timing and direction in the middle of an intense battle.
Worse still, one mistake could cause the displaced pollen to engulf an ally.
It would probably be more effective simply to time it carefully and hold one's breath.
"We will need to wear proper masks, and if those prove insufficient, endure by drinking stimulants. Otherwise, we must finish the battle as swiftly as possible."
I voiced the strategy for defeating Seed Blooms that had been presented in the original work.
Once we had reached that conclusion, Fjodora, who had been listening in silence for some time, spoke again.
"I instructed the professors to wait until the two of you awakened before attempting to conquer it, just in case. It seems I chose wisely."
That meant the Demon Realm had yet to be conquered.
I knew it.
It was common sense that knowing one's enemy before fighting placed one at a far greater advantage than charging in blindly....
And it isn't Author Senna's style to let other people resolve a Demon Realm the protagonist failed to conquer.
There was no chance the professors would simply handle everything themselves.
Reisir would enter that Demon Realm again.
The one thing that might be considered fortunate was—
Seed Blooms are not monsters to be taken lightly. Boss Monsters are especially dangerous. Even Reisir, the strongest among us, could barely hold out against the ordinary ones.
—for that reason, they couldn't send students with little combat experience inside as well.
The monsters had been confirmed capable of firing seeds over long distances and launching surprise attacks with roots burrowing through the ground.
They couldn't even tell the students to remain out of combat and merely observe the professors fighting.
That meant they would have to "select" people who could be useful, and there was nothing fortunate about that.
"Karvaldr. It appears you will have to enter the Demon Realm with the professors."
......Just as expected.
No one would forgo bringing someone whose buffs strengthened not only physical abilities but Ether Attribute Abilities as well into a Demon Realm where the best strategy was to end the battle as swiftly as possible.
The thought of returning to a place where I nearly died is more than a little unsettling....
Even so, I wouldn't be placed in danger again.
This would be my first time conquering a Demon Realm alongside combat professors. If they suffered any casualties, it would only prove their incompetence.
No matter how addicted the author of a grimdark story might be to killing supporting characters, she couldn't possibly write such a development already.
"...Understood."
I forced myself to think positively, shook off my anxiety, and managed to pry my reluctant lips apart to answer.
That was when Reisir abruptly spoke.
"If Karvaldr must enter that Demon Realm again, then I will go with him."