Chapter 44 – The Irian Of The Forgotten Temple (8)

We’d already sensed each other’s divine power, so I figured running away would only make things more suspicious. I headed towards Diana, but the closer I got, the more the temple vibrated. Was she really smashing through the wall?

 It didn’t make any sense. Diana wasn’t a brawler. Even if she were, it would take incredible stats to break through a wall like this. Was Diana a demon lord or something? I had no idea what was going on.

 Koo-oong! Koo-oong!
 Dust fell from the ceiling, and a roar like heavy construction equipment echoed continuously.

 …This is insane. I should have just run. It feels like I’m walking into hell.
 Just a little while ago, when I was rolling around with Irian, I was thrilled, but why does it feel so awful now?

 “Irian, as you know… let’s keep our mouths shut.”
 “…You too.”

 We locked eyes and made a firm promise.

 “Oh, and.”

 I gave Irian, who was looking back with a puzzled expression, a light kiss on the lips. Then, I whispered to the girl whose face was flushed.

 “Let’s do what we couldn’t do today next time. Okay?”
 “…Do whatever you want. You’re going to do it even if I say no.”
 “I wouldn’t if you said no. Will you?”
 “……Yeah.”

 Cute.
 I wanted to tease her more as she fanned her red face, but I decided against it because of the vibrations coming from right in front of us. I didn’t know why the familiar divine power felt so scary, even though it was just on the other side of the wall.

 …But it’s strange. Our Diana is definitely a kind and innocent girl, so why am I so afraid? Who is as kind and innocent as Diana? It’s really weird.

 Koo-oong!
 Oh my god. The wall is shaking.

 The massive wall in front of me was trembling. It was absurd to watch the wall vibrate as if it would collapse at any moment with each roar. The familiar divine power I felt in front of me was definitely Diana’s… and it wasn’t like her divine power was unstable or anything.

 Diana… have you finally transcended humanity? Diana must have felt our divine power right in front of her too because the vibrations stopped. A moment of silence.

 Tap tap.
 A small vibration, like someone knocking on a door, came from the wall opposite us.
 I tapped back, but the sound wasn’t very clear, so I even buffed myself and punched the wall hard. Ugh, how am I supposed to break this?

 As if in response, the small, slow tap, tap sound echoed again.
 The small, slow sound felt like it was representing Diana’s heart, and my chest grew heavy.

 How worried must Diana and Carsilla have been? Seeing me and Irian fall right in front of them, how desperately must they have searched? And here I was, just thinking about how scary it was. What part of Diana was scary?

 “Diana!”

 I shouted loudly, but it probably couldn’t be heard through the thick wall. Still, I could clearly feel the divine power on the other side of the wall. If I walked along this wall, I could definitely meet them…?
 Kwaaang!!

 “……Huh?”

 My hair flew in all directions in the gale. And like my flying hair, countless pieces of broken stone flew past my eyes. It was a bizarre sight.

 “Yurian!!”
 “Papa!!”

 The dust was thick, but I could clearly see the hole in the wall. From the other side of the hole, where the rubble was falling, I saw two figures running towards me.

 Ugh… is this the heart of a father? My heart swelled with emotion at the sight of my two daughters. I opened my arms to hug them, but something felt off… off…?
 Diana, who was running towards me, suddenly stopped, and a small shadow that had slipped out from beside her jumped right in front of me.

 “Guh!”

 Carsilla’s small head, which had burrowed into my arms, hit my solar plexus. Car, Carsilla. You’ve gotten quite heavy.

 “Cough, it’s, it’s a relief. You’re safe.”

 I rubbed my aching solar plexus and tried to smile, but Diana’s expression was strange. Her bright smile slowly faded, and then she tilted her head and approached me.

 “Your clothes are clean.”
 “Diana? Wh, what are you doing?”
 “Sniff sniff.”

 She suddenly buried her face in my neck and sniffed me. What kind of play is this? And why is Carsilla following suit? I had no choice but to stand there awkwardly as the blonde head buried itself in my neck and the smaller black head buried its nose in my stomach, sniffing.

 “Um… girls?”
 “……Smell.”
 “What? Do I smell like something?”
 “There’s no smell.”

 The moment I heard Diana’s small whisper, I broke out in a cold sweat. Why?

 “Diana?”
 “Why isn’t there a smell? Did you shower?”

 Wh, what smell? Sweat? Do I usually smell like something?

 “Of course, I showered.”
 “……Why?”

 This is important.
 I put on the most nonchalant expression I could and spun a fabricated story.

 “—So, my whole body was scratched up, covered in sweat and dust. Irian even had to throw away his precious armor, you know? It was a life-or-death situation, but he was so sad about leaving his armor behind. When we finally got out, we were covered in blood, sweat, and dust… so I showered.”

 Diana, who had been listening with a serious expression, kept tilting her head. It should be a cute gesture, but today it sent a chill down my spine… it’s so strange.

 “Hmm. Is that so?”
 “Are you guys okay? Oh, right! Diana! What happened to that wall! How did you break through it?”
 “I found treasure!”

 The answer came from Carsilla, who was clinging to my waist. She was clinging to me as if she wanted to make up for being separated. Well, she’s cute, so I’ll forget about the headbutt from earlier.

 “Treasure? What treasure?”
 “Yeah. Treasure.”
 “……Diana. Explain it to me.”

 Diana, who had been staring at me, scanned my entire body. …I felt like a frog in front of a snake, so I froze. After a long scan, Diana finally smiled and began to unpack her things.

 She spread out a cloth and put various items on it, explaining what had happened. It seemed like we had gotten through it safely.
 …Thank goodness. I don’t know what I’m thankful for, but I’m thankful anyway.

 “The temple shook, and Yurian and Irian fell, so I was very surprised at first. Both Carsilla and I were. But we saw that you two were maintaining your shields, so we weren’t too worried… I tried to comfort Carsilla and go look for you, but… we couldn’t sense your divine power anymore, no matter how far we went.”

 We did fall quite far. Far enough to be out of Diana’s sensing range. It’s a miracle we survived, but how did they follow us?

 “But I believed in you two, in Yurian.”

 She stared into my eyes as she said that.
 Feeling like I was being interrogated, I nodded with the most serious expression I could muster.

 “……Carsilla was the one I was worried about.”
 “Our little one?”

 I glanced down at the cutie clinging to my waist like a cicada, but she glared at me. ……Why?

 “Dangerous.”

 She patted my stomach firmly with her palm. Is she copying how I pat her butt when I scold her?

 “Sorry, I’ll be careful from now on.”

 Carsilla was angry because she was worried about me. She’s still young, so she must have been so shocked to see that happen right in front of her.

 I stroked her small head, and she finally stopped clinging to my clothes and rubbed her face against my stomach. But she was still clinging to me.

 “I comforted Carsilla and went down to where you two fell. But there was a pile of rocks and sand blocking the way. It didn’t seem like we could dig through it, and it was so unstable that it felt like it would collapse if we tried, so we had no choice but to follow the temple path down. On the way, we found a strange room.”
 “A strange room? Tell me more.”

 Could it be that Diana and Carsilla found the destination I was trying to reach first? It’s supposed to be quite deep. Well, considering how far Irian and I fell, it’s not surprising that Diana found it.

 “It was a huge, ornate room… There were some weapons and accessories on a central altar. They were very old and, considering the state of the temple, which had been sealed for a long time, they were definitely made in the past. Fortunately, they were protected by magic and divine power, so the items are in good condition.”

 I knew it. Diana found it first.
 The hidden dungeon, the Forgotten Temple, is a typical ‘generous dungeon’ with no particular dangers but lots of rewards. If you explore the rooms in between, you can get some junk, but the most important rewards are the items on the central altar of the temple.

 The type, number, and grade are all random, so it’s a gamble, but if you’re lucky, you can get items that you can use from the beginning to the end of the game, despite the easy difficulty.

 I don’t know how the game settings are applied here, but just in case, I or Diana, who has the highest ‘luck’ stat among our group, were supposed to go in first. Is it a good thing that they went instead?

 “So, you got the items from there? But… what kind of items make you break through walls?”
 “This one.”

 She showed me a… knuckle? No, more importantly, what’s with her hand?

 “Your… hand. Is it hurt?”
 “Huh? Oh, it is.”

 Diana’s hand was covered in blood. Her white, slender fingers were soaked in blood, torn, and even had exposed bone.

 “It’s not ‘Oh, it is’! Look at the state of it…”

 I hadn’t noticed until now because of the dim light from the weak divine power in the dark temple.
 No. To be honest, I was too busy trying to hide my relationship with Irian that I didn’t even think about checking on Diana and Carsilla.

 What would happen if they found out? I was so caught up in that that I didn’t even check on my companions. How long has it been since I was so proud of being a leader?

 “You! What were you doing while your hand was in this state!”
 “…I didn’t know. When did my hand……”

 Did I even have the right to yell? I was filled with self-disappointment and self-loathing.

 I quickly poured divine power into her hand, and it quickly returned to its original state, but the fact that no one knew she was hurt for so long was shocking.

 It was just an excuse to say that we were separated and met late. If I thought about Diana and Carsilla, who checked if I was okay as soon as we met… even Diana herself seemed to be realizing it now. How distracted was I to not notice such a severe injury?

 Humans feel pain even if they just cut a finger. Was she so worried about me that she didn’t even notice that her hand was bleeding so badly?

 I looked at Diana to say something, but she was just staring at her hand with a dazed expression.

 “You’re really… sigh. Take care of yourself first. I’m fine.”
 “Okay.”

 It wasn’t a very good answer, but on one hand, I was worried, and on the other hand, I was touched by how much Diana cared about me. My babies are the only ones who worry about me.

 “Were you worried about me?”
 “Of course, I was worried! Really… you’ve always been a handful since you were little. A saint should be more careful. You always get hurt. Even when I told you not to run, you would run and fall, scraping your knees.”

 I had poured divine power into her, so she was obviously healed, but I still held Diana’s hand and carefully examined it, just in case. It was like touching a dead child’s balls, and it was ridiculous to be doing this so late, but…

 I felt like I needed to see with my own eyes that she was okay to feel relieved, so I kept looking at Diana. Then I felt a piercing gaze.

 “……Why?”
 “No. It’s just been a while since someone worried about me like this.”
 “It’s not a good thing. Don’t make my heart drop like that.”

 I frowned on purpose to make her more aware, but Diana just stared at me with a hazy look in her eyes and didn’t answer.

 “Diana?”
 “If I get hurt, will you worry about me like this? Every day? Always?”

 I was about to say yes, but I stopped. …Something’s off.
 Beyond her gaze, Diana’s eyes seemed to glow strangely. I swallowed the answer that was coming out unconsciously and quickly gave a different answer.