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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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As expected of the world’s best healer.
I marvelled at the completely vanished burn marks.
“Johann… Did you have to fight so recklessly?”
“Yeah, yeah!”
“Sometimes, you have to risk your life to stay safe.”
“But you still shouldn’t be so reckless… It makes us worry…”
“I apologize.”
I hadn’t thought I would die during the fight against the Twin-Headed Ogre. It was just an illusion, and the worst that could happen was being knocked unconscious.
But I had still worried Karina, so I apologized. She sighed and said,
“Don’t do that again. If you do, I won’t heal you next time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
I yielded to her threat.
While I couldn’t guarantee I would follow her instructions completely, I valued my life. I had only been so reckless because I had Karina as my insurance.
If she hadn’t been there, I would have chosen a safer approach.
Like drenching the ogre’s heads with water to extinguish the flames before attacking.
…Actually, that might have been even more dangerous.
I stood up and stretched. My body was stiff from lying on the ground for so long. The others, looking exhausted, watched me stretch and tilted their heads.
“What are you doing?”
“Stretching. It helps loosen your muscles and prevents injuries.”
I wasn’t sure about the exact benefits, but that’s what I remembered. Lewis, who had been sitting on the ground, seemed impressed and stood up, mimicking my movements.
“Like this?”
“Yes.”
“It does feel refreshing!”
“Me too!”
It was nice that it was effective, but the sight of the others, especially the girls, copying my movements was a bit… strange.
A group of people with colorful hair doing military calisthenics was an unsettling sight.
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“The second floor…”
“Viola, do you have any reagents left?”
“About half. I need to find a more sustainable method of attack. I can only carry so many reagents.”
“But they’re as powerful as high-level fourth-tier magic!”
“Shuri, they’re still no match for real magic. I should either increase their potency or switch to potions…”
“Miss Viola, why not try making the vials smaller while increasing their explosive power? Even fourth-tier level would be useful for adventurers.”
“Th-That’s true…”
“Is that so?”
I ignored their chatter and opened the door to the second floor. The door opened silently, revealing a pitch-black darkness.
“Enough chit-chat. Let’s go down.”
They quickly prepared themselves and started descending the stairs. But this time, there was a slight change.
“Karina, I’m going to have to carry you.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t think you can go down these stairs in a wheelchair. Milia, fold the wheelchair and carry it.”
“It folds?”
“Yes.”
Of course it folded.
What kind of wheelchair didn’t fold? I carefully lifted Karina into my arms.
“Um, Johann… this is a bit embarrassing…”
“There’s no other way.”
I couldn’t ask the others to carry her. Lewis was out of the question.
“Th-Then… please…”
I couldn’t see her expression beneath the veil, but her body felt warm in my arms.
As she shifted slightly, I felt the soft pressure of her chest against mine. A faint floral scent, a welcome change from the lingering smell of burnt flesh, filled the air.
I avoided looking down and said to the others, who were staring at us,
“Go ahead.”
“Oh, okay.”
We started descending the stairs.
Fortunately, the staircase wasn’t that long, and we soon arrived in a large, brightly lit hall.
“It looks like a ballroom.”
“I wonder what kind of monster awaits us here…”
“D-Do you think we can win…?”
[Contractor, they’re terrified.]
It was understandable.
Even a Twin-Headed Ogre was a rare and powerful monster, rarely encountered even by seasoned adventurers. And now, it had appeared as a gatekeeper on the first floor of the hidden archive?
Had the first headmaster lost his mind?
Even I was speechless. A Twin-Headed Ogre was one thing, but…
This party would have been wiped out without me.
Even with a normal ogre, these first-year novices would have struggled. Third-years might have had a chance, but…
While their skills were comparable to second-years…
“Karina and Milia, stay near the entrance to the second floor. We’ll go in first.”
“Okay! Don’t be reckless this time! I’ll be angry if you are!”
Ignoring Milia’s outburst, we walked towards the center of the hall. Nothing happened.
So far, so good. Just like in the original story.
I turned to look at the others, who were nervously scanning the area.
[Contractor, mana is coalescing—]
“…As expected.”
A surge of mana was emanating from the far end of the hall, where the exit was located. Even I, with my limited magic skills, could sense the immense power.
I pulled out my shovel, watching the gatekeeper of the second floor slowly materialize.
“Prepare for battle.”
They all readied their weapons.
“We’ll engage as soon as it appears.”
“A gatekeeper appearing right away… I wonder what it’ll be…”
“Viola, don’t worry. It can’t be stronger than the Twin-Headed Ogre.”
Even an Archmage like the first headmaster wouldn’t be able to conjure something stronger than that so easily. I gripped my shovel, watching the monster take shape.
“Huh.”
If physical attacks were ineffective, then magic it was.
A golem made of books.
We had encountered the most troublesome boss of the second floor.
Instinctively, I knew this would be more difficult than the ogre.
“A book golem…?”
“It looks weaker than the ogre…”
Its size was about half that of the ogre, and its book-like appearance didn’t exactly scream powerful. But it was still one of Andras’s arrangements, so it wouldn’t be easy.
It definitely had some tricks up its sleeve.
“Don’t underestimate it. Lewis, be ready to engage.”
“Understood.”
“Mages, prepare defensive magic.”
“Yes!”
If I remembered correctly, its first attack was a barrage of area-of-effect magic.
We had to withstand the initial attack, then Lewis, Viola, and I would charge in and distract it.
The mages would then bombard it with magic to deplete its barrier, and once the barrier was down, we would finish it off with high-tier magic.
A standard strategy.
In the game, the tank would absorb the damage while the physical damage dealer chipped away at the barrier and the mages finished it off. But we didn’t have a tank in reality, so we had to improvise.
Just as the battle was about to begin,
[Contractor, something’s not right. I sense another magical presence—]
“What?”
A surge of adrenaline coursed through me.
Something more dangerous had appeared.
“M-Mister Johann! The g-golem is collapsing!”
“Everyone, be ready to run. We don’t know what’s coming—”
…Huh?
“Meow.”
What the…
You’re supposed to appear on the third floor.
“…A cat?”
A bewildered sigh came from behind.
We stared, speechless, at the cat wearing a cone-shaped hat, sitting atop the remnants of the collapsed golem, licking its paw.
“Meow.”
Kiki, Andras’s familiar, looked at us with bored indifference.
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