The Returnee Wants Peace

‘Since talking with the Guide God… I haven’t had many reasons to smile.’

Froy Echerzen.

The man who had become Rosha’s closest companion by now was someone who didn’t move easily, but once he did, he would appear at just the necessary moment.

This time was no exception.

Crack- Crackle-

Once again, the space between the water dragon and her distorted heavily.

An ability to handle space must require more power as the range widens, but she was grateful to Froy for buying time without showing any sign of strain.

‘…Got it!’

Rosha, who had barely grabbed the orb while resisting the water dragon’s command, released magical power from her fingertips.

Soon, the black orb began to tremble, and then cracks started to form on its surface.

-No, don’t!

The water dragon’s movements became even more violent as it noticed the orb breaking.

As a message appeared saying that the status effects were temporarily strengthened as it gathered all its strength, she could feel that even Froy, who was blocking it, was having quite a hard time.

But the momentum that had already risen couldn’t be easily broken.

Crack!

Finally, the orb split in half, and the enormous power contained inside dispersed in all directions.

At the same time, a welcome quest window appeared before her eyes.

‘Is this it?’

A faint hope arose that it was over now, perhaps because the status effects were also lifted as the orb broke.

However, the blue window she actually faced contained not-so-welcome content.

You have succeeded in breaking the ‘black orb’ containing the power protecting the water dragon!

However, witnessing this scene, the water dragon hurriedly begins to absorb the scattered power of the orb. Quickly get out of the way and prepare for the ensuing battle!

Time limit: 1 day 19 hours 42 minutes

‘This… isn’t a notification that the quest is complete, is it?’

Originally, the twenty-ninth trial should have ended with breaking the ‘black orb’.

Of course, the climactic battle of the trial was omitted as the mermaid king’s whereabouts became unclear, but that wasn’t my business, was it?

But this…

‘…It seems like the thirtieth trial, where we have to fight the water dragon, is continuing without a break.’

But there was no time to think deeply.

As the blue window’s text said, all the energy around was being sucked into the water dragon!

Rumble-

Not only the scattered power of the orb and magic particles, but even the surrounding water currents moved, creating fierce ocean currents.

Rosha also staggered, unable to keep her balance properly in the flow strong enough to make furniture float.

It was then.

“This way.”

Froy, who had quickly grabbed her waist, took a few steps back.

It seemed like they had only moved about 3 meters, but the surroundings changed rapidly, and suddenly they were outside the palace.

This was one of the movement techniques he used, which Rosha had privately named ‘teleportation’.

Looking at Froy, who was exhaling heavily, probably from using a lot of power in a short time, Rosha asked worriedly:

“Are you okay?”

“Phew… Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Are you hurt anywhere?”

She quickly shook her head. His breathing was trembling finely with anxiety.

Was it because everything sounded hazy underwater unless it was brainwaves, the merpeople’s way of communication?

His voice coming from inside the same breath bubble was very clear, as if all surrounding noise had been cleanly deleted.

“…That’s a relief.”

Froy, who was embracing her from behind, muttered softly.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have incinerated the bottom of the sea as the blue window demanded.”

“That’s… We survived, so it’s fine, isn’t it?”

“What kind of talk is that. It was just luck.”

Froy retorted cynically, looking at the merpeople evacuating from the palace that was vibrating as if it would collapse at any moment with unfriendly eyes.

It was a relief to see Friel’s figure fleetingly in the midst of this, indicating she had evacuated safely.

At that moment.

Pop!

‘Ah, the breath bubble burst.’

To be precise, it was Rosha’s breath bubble.

The last time she had fully charged it was before entering the palace, so it was about time for it to burst.

In fact, she wasn’t too flustered as she had Froy’s breath bubble that she was borrowing inadvertently, and also an emergency oxygen tank.

But Froy seemed quite surprised, perhaps because he wasn’t used to breath bubbles.

“Oh no…”

Worried that she might not be able to breathe, he pulled her close and moved quickly towards the surface.

Seeing him biting his lip hard, he seemed anxious in case something went wrong.

His appearance like this struck Rosha quite strongly.

“…”

What kind of feelings does he have for me?

If what I’m thinking is right, is he also waiting for it to naturally fade away, unable to easily show his affection because of the weight of the trials, like me?

‘He seems to express himself quite a bit for that… or not?’

Because it was her own matter, she was confused, wondering if she might be being overly self-conscious.

It was because there would be nothing more embarrassing than being wrong if she jumped to conclusions.

‘…Huh?’

At that moment, a familiar figure appeared in her field of vision.

It was Cassis.

Swish swish-

He waved his arms widely so she could see and made some unrecognizable hand gestures.

It wasn’t sign language, closer to ‘charades’, but whether due to their blood relation or not, she could roughly understand what he was trying to say.

“The orb? Yes, I brought it.”

Rosha raised the two halves of the broken orb she had been holding all this time so Cassis could see.

It seemed its role in the trial was over, but it was an essential item for the operation with Hajin.

‘He said he would join us on his own if we used the ability as promised just before the trial ends.’

According to Hajin’s expression, he was an ‘illegal resident’ who hadn’t come over following the blue window’s guidance. So he said he needed to participate at a truly crucial moment.

‘The problem is why the trial isn’t ending…’

This was truly unexpected.

Just as she was lowering the corners of her mouth in dissatisfaction, suddenly a sharp pain rushed to her palm.

Ouch! As she flinched unconsciously, she felt a sharp glare from above her head.

“I thought you said you weren’t hurt anywhere.”

Now that she looked, Froy had stroked Rosha’s palm, which had been cut by the broken orb. Though they were minor wounds, there were many of them, making it a rather bothersome injury.

“Um… I didn’t know I was hurt.”

“Such a cliché excuse. Would you say you didn’t know even if you had an injury close to death?”

“That and this are different…”

“Be quiet.”

Despite his sarcastic tone, Froy examined her injury quite carefully. Not that there was anything he could do right now.

There certainly shouldn’t be anything, but…

“Ah! What are you doing?!”

“Treatment.”

Rosha, startled by the sudden soft sensation, tried to lower her hand.

Of course, she was a frail magician, and Froy was an adult man trained even in self-defense swordsmanship, so pulling her hand away was out of the question.

With his lips on her palm, he looked at her in that position and murmured:

“That expression right now, I quite like it.”

“St-stop talking nonsense and let go. My brother is watching too, you know.”

“He won’t be able to see. We’re currently ascending towards the surface.”

Come to think of it, the surrounding scenery was rapidly descending.

Moreover, what she thought was sophistry turned out to be true; Froy said he had brought a bottle of elixir in case she was in a critical situation. Being underwater, he said the best way to treat was to hold it in his mouth and lick it.

‘No, we can treat it after we go up!’

Rosha glared at Froy with a face that had turned bright red.

A brazen look came back as if asking why she was looking at him like that, but there’s no way that man hadn’t thought of this!

But at that moment.

Boom-

Suddenly, a massive wave was felt from the bottom of the lake, which had been quiet for some time.

“…”

“…”

Putting aside their playfulness for a moment, they quickly exchanged glances and then focused on rising to the surface. If they were going to be attacked anyway, it was better to be attacked outside the water rather than inside.

However, its speed was much faster than she had expected.

-Where do you think you’re running!!

Ignoring the others coming up from below, the water dragon with bloodshot eyes rushed towards Rosha with its mouth wide open.