Chapter 93

In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

---

"I am Patro, and I am speaking about the path of the ancient hero and the light of the heavens."

At the rather affected tone, Kurahito made a displeased face.

"May I rest here for a moment?"

The word "hero" made Kurahito tense for a moment, but Patro, with his blond hair and deep-set features, clearly wasn't a hero. Kurahito had no right to refuse. As long as a certain distance was maintained, mutual non-intrusion was the custom of the ruins.

"…Do as you please."

Patro stepped into the small room with a relieved look and sat down at a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

Kurahito, maintaining a minimal level of vigilance, let his gaze fall on the painting.

"---From where?"

Patro spoke without fear of the snow-white creature.

"…Maranova."

Kurahito answered without raising his head, but Patro didn't seem to mind.

"Then on the last ship. I came from the Kingdom of Lirias. Do you need any treatment for your wounds?"

Hearing the intriguing word, Kurahito finally looked up.

"Treatment?"

Patro smiled.

"There is no spirit magic in the Kingdom of Ryuhua, and conscious use of life spirit magic is still not widespread. So, I provide healing to the martial artists exploring here. Even for the explorers, using it themselves would consume more magic power, so some people do use it."

"…For free?"

"No. In fact, I am also a bard. While healing, I tell a short story, and in return, I receive payment. Thanks to this, I get more calls even when I'm outside the ruins, and I can manage to live even though I can't leave the shallow layers."

The treatment alone would only last for the moment, but as a bard, he could earn money outside the ruins as well.

"Would you like a song while you rest? Of course, I can't use instruments here, so it will just be a 'tale.'"

Before Kurahito could respond, Patro started telling a story on his own.

Surprisingly, his voice wasn't bad. At least it didn't interfere with his painting, so Kurahito decided to let him continue. If he were in the current layer, even if the noise attracted a monster, he could handle it. Besides, Azurona, though not approaching, was watching Patro with great interest. If Patro asked for a tip, Kurahito thought he might pay a small amount and started painting again.

While painting, he listened to Patro's storytelling, which was excellent.

The story was about a hero who defeated the Demon King in ancient times.

The hero, created by the last power of the Heavenly Light, traveled through a world called the Age of Darkness, saving people from the suffering of monsters, undead, and beasts. Along the way, he met a holy maiden and a sage, crossed the sea, and finally defeated the Demon King.

The Heavenly Light was released, and the hero founded a country, but betrayed by the powerful, the hero died in despair.

The hero's sword stood like a tombstone in the earth, and the light of heaven dimmed.

The country the hero founded eventually split, and wars began. The light of heaven gradually dimmed, and with it, monsters spread, and the weak had to live in fear again. The world grew darker day by day.

But when the world was about to be enveloped in darkness again, the hero descended. The hero traveled the continent to save the weak, gathered the support of the common people, and became a great force.

Seeing the hero, the countries stopped fighting and began to cherish their people. However, the Heavenly Light did not return.

The countries pleaded with the hero and made him their king again.

Then, the light ascended to the heavens.

The hero's reign continued for several hundred years even after the hero's death.

"Thank you for listening."

Kurahito suddenly thought of a question.

"Is the first hero the same as the later hero?"

"There are various theories, but recently the theory that they are different people has become more prevalent. There is a legend that the hero will descend after ten thousand years, but at the ten-thousand-year mark of the old calendar, the hero really did descend. The hero who descended seemed unfamiliar with the affairs of this world, leading to the speculation that the first and second heroes were different people."

"…Really?"

Kurahito, who learned a part of the reason for the hero's faith in an unexpected place, rummaged through his pocket, but Patro stopped him.

"No, I didn't heal you, and I just told a story on my own. It's enough that you listened. If you would like to hear it again, you can leave a message at the explorer guild near the cafeteria."

Saying that, Patro stood up and was about to leave.

"Ah, sorry. Do you know the time?"

Patro stopped and took out a palm-sized pocket watch from his pocket.

"Twenty and a half. Well, then."

Patro bowed slightly and left the place.

Kurahito, watching Patro leave, felt like laughing.

In the ruins, a place that is never safe, one telling a 'tale' and the other painting. It was nothing but eccentric.

However, such interactions with explorers weren't bad.

"Going to sleep."

Holding Azurona, who had fallen asleep while listening to the story, and petting Shiro, who looked bored, Kurahito fell asleep with Shiro on his back.

---

After a short nap, Kurahito woke up in what he estimated to be the early morning, finished a simple meal, and stepped into the third layer.

The gap in his fully equipped armor, mainly the surface of the eyeballs, felt cold.

In the third layer's cave maze, which had slightly lower temperatures, Kurahito thought of the Alerdoria caves.

Perhaps the climate felt good, but Shiro, with Azurona on his back, swayed his tail and started walking ahead.

The destination was already decided, and Shiro was aware of it.

Kurahito followed Shiro, using the map to head towards a less crowded area.

Below the third layer, the distribution of spirits was biased in each layer, and here, ice spirits were abundant. It was perfect for testing ice spirit magic.

---

"---Grrr"

Shiro's rear end, which looked silly from this angle, made Kurahito jump at Shiro's cry.

Shiro's face, which seemed to say "don't think of anything improper," was right in front of him.

"…Hmm? Let's go, then."

Kurahito, pretending nothing happened, quickly headed towards the destination. A trap arrow hit his head and fell.

It was a trap skill of a trap demon, but it didn't seem to be a threat in this layer.

---

A small room dug into a corner of the third layer. The map showed it as a dead end, and it was said that there were occasionally monsters.

---There was one. Surprisingly, it was a trap demon.

It looked like a child with a loose robe and a hood, with a pale green body. The robe wasn't worn; it was all part of the body, with a texture like a rice cake. The body color changed to match the environment, but here it was pale green.

It had four arms, and a large, crescent-shaped red mouth was visible on the lower half of the face.

The trap demon seemed to have already noticed Kurahito and the others, but with no place to run in a dead end, it was hiding in a corner of the room. It was unusual for a trap demon, which was known for its quick escape and familiarity with the ruins' maze.

Kurahito, finding it convenient, stood at the entrance of the small room and took out a magic textbook from his food backpack.

"I want to try something."

Saying this to the trap demon, which showed no enthusiasm, Kurahito read the spell form, visualized it, and transferred magic power to the ice spirits.

"---'Ice Wave,' freeze and cut."

Kurahito commanded, intertwining anger and a sense of coercion, to the will of ten ice spirits.

A small tsunami of countless ice fragments and cold air instantly filled the small room.

It was the intermediate ice spirit magic, 'Ice Wave.'

Kurahito had only been able to handle dark spirit magic at the intermediate level. He should have had enough affinity and proficiency, but he couldn't convey his will to more than ten spirits. No matter how he asked, acted humbly, or commanded, they wouldn't respond.

However, during the battle when he killed Ryuzi with 'Snow Poison,' Kurahito, hiding his frustration, exercised spirit magic more roughly and coarsely than usual.

He continuously cast 'Ice Spear' and 'Snow Poison' with basic ice spirit magic, but due to the haste, the spells overlapped, transferring magic power to more than ten ice spirits, which was the condition for intermediate ice spirit magic, while still casting basic ice spirit magic.

At that moment, a basic spell was activated, but he felt something click.

He asked, intertwining anger and a sense of coercion.

It was a contradictory command, but it was Kurahito's method for casting intermediate ice spirit magic. Because it was a 'transmission of will' without words, such a contradictory command could become a method of casting. However, Kurahito, who had received higher education compared to the people of this world, had his common sense and preconceptions hinder his learning of intermediate ice spirit magic.

The existence of spirits and humans varied greatly, and the methods of casting were as diverse as the people.

Even if cast with a command that intertwined anger and coercion, it was nothing to the spirits. This was the form of Kurahito's relationship with the spirits.

Incidentally, the most compatible dark spirits had little difference in casting methods for both basic and intermediate levels. With a bit more proficiency, he could even cast advanced dark spirit magic, a skill made possible by his high compatibility.

After the ice wave passed, the scene resembled the severe winter of the Alerdoria Mountains.

The small room in the cave was frozen, with a thin layer of snow and a white mist floating. At the back of the wall, there was a trap demon, its surface slightly frozen and covered in wounds.

Kurahito clenched his fist at the success of the intermediate ice spirit magic and looked at Shiro.

However, Shiro yawned and snorted, as if to say, "So what?"

One day, he would freeze that insolent face and make it cry, Kurahito vowed, forgetting that he was the one who usually ended up crying. He then approached