Chapter 109

Evan rose from the bed and stared blankly into space for a while.

The events of yesterday kept replaying in his mind.

The image of sitting on the beach at night, gazing at the sea, though dreamlike, only filled him with sorrow, knowing the truth.

Aria cannot see.

She only detects her surroundings through divine power… Aria, who cannot even hear their voices.

Yet they still managed to communicate through the natural thoughts that flowed as they spoke.

This meant that her being by the sea at night wasn’t just to enjoy its charm.

How could it be considered normal for Aria, who had spent her entire life unable to see or hear, to be out here enjoying the ocean at this hour?

Evan thought himself not particularly perceptive, but even he couldn’t overlook this.

It was clearly strange.

She had personally said it was the first time visiting this place.

So Aria doesn’t know the view of the sea.

She doesn’t know the sound of the waves crashing over the horizon.

She cannot hear the abundant sounds of life from the ocean.

Yet her being there that night could seemingly only be because of some other reason.

“[I wish to live a tranquil life, praying to the gods and continuing good deeds.]”

Aria’s smile while saying those words came to mind.

Aria usually smiled naturally, with kindness and happiness.

Even while healing others and feeling their pain, Aria would smile genuinely, delighted at the act of healing.

So why was it?

For the first time, Evan felt that Aria’s smile from yesterday was artificial.

It wasn’t a maliciously forced smile, but a slightly awkward attempt to hide her true feelings. Though it was dark and not very visible, a wave of sadness seemed to roll through her.

Whenever he closed his eyes, that wistful smile of Aria’s kept appearing.

“Exactly what was it…”

Was Aria’s true wish really to defeat the Demon King and live peacefully?

Esther had said that if the Demon King were defeated, the goddess would grant a single wish as a reward.

Not just one person, but those directly involved in the Demon King’s defeat—those known as the “Hero party”—would be limited to this.

Though an unreasonable wish might be difficult to fulfill, it was said that as long as the wish wasn’t beyond the scope of reason, or evil, there would be no trouble.

If any wish could be granted, Evan wondered what wish Aria truly desired.

At first, when they met by the seashore, he thought it was simply her wish to see the world with her eyes and hear it with her ears.

Feeling pity, he had resolved to defeat the Demon King no matter what.

But after giving it more thought, there was a point he couldn’t understand if she was wishing for such a thing.

“Is it necessary for her to be this sad?”

It isn’t certain they can defeat the Demon King.

They don’t know how strong he is, or what state he is in. It’s impossible to definitively claim they can defeat him.

Recognizing a foe’s capabilities is crucial for a swordsman, and even the End Demon they had faced, though unseen with the eyes, was miraculously defeated.

The Demon King must surely be unimaginably strong.

Still, it was puzzling why Aria would wear such an expression, not out of his own worry but hers.

“Perhaps…”

Could the wish be…

“No, no.”

It couldn’t be.

He wanted to believe it wasn’t that.

It seemed more plausible that her expression was due to the uncertainty of whether they could defeat the Demon King or not.

“I haven’t yet… given Aria the trust she needs, have I?”

If she had any worries, he wished she would have shared them with him.

Though he thought they had become close friends, it often felt like she was still dealing with things on her own.

He wanted to become closer—on an even deeper level.

“Haa…”

Evan exhaled a deep sigh.

He thought they still had a very long way to go.

—

“Are we leaving already?”

The next morning, while packing up to head to the Trial Dungeon, someone approached and spoke to him.

It was Evan.

Though he was still rubbing his sleepy eyes, the fact that he had woken up earlier than anyone else was quite commendable.

“[We’re here on vacation, but if we’re going to play properly, it’s best to finish necessary tasks first.]”

“That’s… true.”

Evan seemed to agree with that.

Thankfully so, because if he had complained about going to the Trial Dungeon right after arriving, Evan was prepared to drag him there.

Were all the items from the Trial of Strength good in this world?

“What effects they have here, I don’t know, but…”

In any case, since they had the option to increase experience points…

Though they didn’t know exactly what those items meant in reality, they could tell that the defeat of the End Demon had some kind of beneficial influence.

“Trial Dungeon…”

Evan mumbled quietly while watching him pack.

Was there something on his mind?

“Aria.”

“[Yes?]”

“What is the next trial?”

“Hmm…”

In the game, it was a puzzle-solving challenge, but it was unclear how it would play out here.

Even though the Trial of Strength was clearing a dungeon filled with monsters, it was uncertain what form the puzzles from the game would take here.

“[This upcoming trial is the Trial of Wisdom. But I’m not sure what exactly it will entail.]”

The Trial of Wisdom.

Though it was not far from here, unlike the Trial of Strength, entering wouldn’t put one’s life at risk.

Problems might arise after entering, though.

“[Then… could you please wake up those who are currently resting?]”

Since time doesn’t pass inside the dungeon, they could finish it quickly based on the outside time.

However, there was a reason why he intended to bring everyone.

“Because this dungeon, unlike others, guarantees experience points for everyone who enters.”

In the game, it was a one-time dungeon that gave exceptionally high experience points.

This was meaningless if entered at a much higher level, but entering early would undoubtedly aid future growth.

Not knowing exactly how the experience points would be distributed, it couldn’t hurt for everyone to enter and become stronger.

Also, if they were truly going to take everyone to defeat the Demon King, it was important to strengthen the entire group.

“To have everyone enter the dungeon… is it alright?”

“[Well, last time, Brother Dannes entered the Trial of Strength with no problem, right?]”

It should be fine.

If someone doesn’t qualify, the dungeon would automatically block them and push them back outside, so even if something unexpected happened, there wouldn’t be much cause for worry.

Though there was still a small chance that this could occur, Evan nodded after a brief moment of hesitation, seemingly without a better alternative, and went to wake the others.

Watching him for a moment, I finished packing and took out the map I had acquired beforehand.

“Thankfully, it’s made of this material.”

The regular text on the paper was unreadable, but I wasn’t entirely without a map that I could make sense of.

I rotated the worn-out map to confirm the shape of the terrain.

Recalling the game’s setting and finding the marked terrain in advance.

Just in case, I had made small holes in the area I was looking for.

Despite my other shortcomings, I was usually good at detecting such things due to my constant awareness of my surroundings through divine power.

“There.”

I had confirmed its location.

All that remained was to head there and find the entrance to the dungeon.

Once we arrived, I knew how to enter.