“It’s very simple. You just have to touch it.”
Aila’s voice echoed throughout the palace, to the point where Keti couldn’t quite understand it.
‘What… what is she talking about?’
“This might sound a bit complicated, but… please move forward. The first trial is right in front of you. There, a… very, very sad dream exists. Just touch it and unravel it. That will be enough…”
Aila disappeared slowly after leaving those words. Keti watched the dissipating fluorescence with a sense of fascination, feeling dazed for a moment.
“Is that the legendary guiding elf? Once it vanished, the feeling became exceptionally intense. It’s as if something very important is waiting for me ahead, uh…”
The silver-haired beauty scratched her head sheepishly before looking forward. Lynn followed suit. Before them, a black altar slowly emerged.
Atop the altar, a green, translucent orb emitted a soft glow. The silver-haired girl blinked in confusion. After a while, remembering the little elf’s words, she took a deep breath and turned her head.
“Lynn, the so-called first trial… this should be it, right?”
“Hmm… it seems so. A trial of mental strength? Or perhaps someone’s story?”
Her arch-rival looked thoughtful on the other side. Well, Keti didn’t care about that. A trial of mental strength, huh… ‘If I had known there would be this kind of test, I should have brought that kid Ximon along. The competition category I assigned him seemed to be mental strength.’
‘Whatever. Let me, the Teacher, try it out first~’
“Eh? Hey, little kitten, don’t be in such a hurry. This is the Elven Temple, after all. You were so afraid of traps and the like just a moment ago, and now you’re reaching out to touch it? You should at least be prepared! At… at least be mentally prepared!”
Seeing the girl’s eager expression, Lynn quickly stopped the little fellow and sighed.
“Something feels a bit off. It’s not quite what I imagined. If it were just an ordinary mountain of blades or a sea of fire, I definitely wouldn’t let anything happen to my little kitten. But… with this kind of trial, I can’t completely guarantee your safety.”
Lynn pinched his chin in distress. After a moment, he shook his head helplessly.
“Let’s go back. We can leave this to Celthina and me later. As for the demon race or whatever, don’t worry. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future…”
“Well… we’ve already come this far, why back out now?! There aren’t any traps, so it would be embarrassing to just turn back like this!”
The silver-haired girl immediately gave her arch-rival a helpless look. This guy, hmph… ‘Is… is he worried about my safety?’
‘Ehehehe.’
‘If that’s the case, maybe I could slightly agree with his idea.’
‘But…’
‘As expected, I can’t just give up so easily!’
They were already here. She would absolutely not give up on an opportunity to become stronger!
Keti took a deep breath and directly grabbed Lynn’s hand. Her arch-rival on the other side was momentarily stunned by the girl’s bold move, and then…
It was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Because of something absolutely distant, one could inexplicably forget their own affairs and wholeheartedly plunge into this sadness.
But for me, perhaps it isn’t something unreasonable, because…
“Hmm? Big sister, what are you doing standing here?”
“Eh?!”
The sudden voice of a little girl snapped Keti’s consciousness back. The silver-haired beauty blinked in confusion on the spot, then scratched her head, stunned.
‘What was I thinking just now? Why? What’s going on?’
To think such a thing would happen. Speaking of which, where was this? Why was she here?
Keti seemed completely unable to understand the situation before her. She awkwardly looked around, using her sight to confirm her surroundings.
Not far away, there seemed to be a village nestled deep within the mountain forest. A plaque above read “Home of the elves.”
‘What? Why am I suddenly standing here? And it seems like I was thinking about something very strange in my head, but now I can’t remember what I was thinking about at all…’
‘Aaaah, what on earth is going on? Did I get amnesia? Hmph… it seems like I’ve really, completely forgotten why I appeared here.’
‘Is there anything else I can remember? Oh, right. My name is Keti. I haven’t forgotten that. Gender… aaaah, why does this feel a bit strange to remember? Hmph… anyway, I’m a girl right now, right?’
Age, profession, parents, friends… bit by bit, many things surfaced in the girl’s mind. Finally, Keti remembered!
‘Right, that’s it! I remember! I remember everything! I… Lynn and I, my arch-rival, came to this Elven homeland together.’
‘Then we received a request from the Archmagus to go to that Temple. Then I touched the first trial, and in the next second, everything went dark, and I ended up here.’
‘What? What’s the situation? How did it teleport me to the village entrance all of a sudden?!’
Keti pouted unhappily. ‘What does this mean? Could it be…’
‘Uh, does that… does that Temple not recognize me at all? Gagh… damn it, this is too humiliating!’
‘Even if it doesn’t recognize me, it can’t just kick me out immediately the moment the trial starts before I’ve even done anything! Is this reasonable? Where are your manners?! You damned Temple, aaah!’
‘Uh, speaking of which, it seems… something isn’t quite right.’
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