Then the other party members came into view.
First, Serengeti let out a small chuckle.
“That demigod guy, he’s set up a trial like this? We might be able to clear it faster than I thought.”
He scoffed as if it were nothing.
Since it was a floor that wouldn’t take even five minutes to finish if we just answered.
“Compared to the notoriety, it really is······.”
“······.”
Isaac too, Isabella too, wore calm expressions.
After all, it was only one question per person.
They probably wouldn’t have put in questions that were too awkward to answer.
A slender woman’s voice rang in our ears.
《This is the first question assigned to Serengeti.》
《“Do you truly love Hudson?”》
Serengeti looked at me.
Did he think I was the one who wrote this question?
“Of course I truly love him.”
Serengeti answered, looking slightly embarrassed.
Judging by both his reply and his attitude, there was no room for doubt.
《Judged according to the oath, this is the truth.》
《Next is the first question assigned to Isaac.》
《“Why were you crying in the city square?”》
Isaac’s eyes wavered.
As if he had never imagined anyone had seen him crying so unsightly.
It was a little uncomfortable, but not to the point he couldn’t answer.
“······ Lord Randolph erased my evil karma. Because my evil karma score was high, children never came near me at all, but that day a child approached and asked me why I was crying, so I ended up crying even harder.”
He gave an even more detailed answer.
This was a party dungeon, after all. Isaac knew well how important mutual trust was in a party dungeon.
Especially since this place was notorious, and Isaac, who had roamed the entire continent, had heard countless stories about it.
《Judged according to the oath, this is the truth.》
《Next is the first question assigned to Isabella.》
《“Your intonation is unusual. Which city are you from?”》
Which city she was from, huh.
Isabella looked back and forth between Isaac and Serengeti.
At least, she was thinking it wasn’t me.
I was the one who had first met her and brought her along, so if they were asking about her background, it could only be Isaac or Serengeti.
“······ A desert city, Faisalmer.”
The worst starting point.
The infamous desert city Faisalmer.
Ruled by a queen, it was a city everyone on the continent avoided.
When someone said they were from a desert city, many people looked at them through tinted glasses.
But Isabella was proud.
To begin with, Isabella’s skin color was different from the people of the desert city.
And she had no idea how people from other cities thought of Faisalmer.
《Judged according to the oath, this is the truth.》
Thus the first three questions ended.
Now it was my turn.
The previous questions had been fairly ordinary.
They were the kind of questions anyone could wonder about and ask.
Though we didn’t know who had asked whom, it seemed they had thrown in only appropriate questions after considering each other’s positions.
If so, the question assigned to me was also likely to be nothing special.
《Next is the first question assigned to Randolph.》
《“Are you really a Star Bearer?”》
Game changer.
······ Asking if I was a Star Bearer?
Seeing the question, I was inwardly flustered.
Who asked something like this?
Because someone didn’t believe I was a Star Bearer?
Or because they believed it, assumed of course I was, and asked it anyway?
‘Star Bearer.’
What is a Star Bearer?
One who guides the stars to those qualified to possess them.
A gamer who reached level 10 and achieved all stats of 100 had to find a Star Bearer to learn the stars’ locations.
In that sense, I am not a Star Bearer.
I never was a Star Bearer from the start.
It was just a lie I spit out to protect myself and get through the situation.
But if I said no, truthfully, it would be admitting the lie.
No different from saying I had deceived them from the beginning.
At the very least, Isabella and Isaac would be hit hard.
‘Because I approached the two of them saying from the start that I was a Star Bearer.’
One who seeks stars.
One who believes in stars, who worships stars.
An unknown existence always looms larger.
That mystery and holiness became a convenient mask that hid me.
With just the words “Star Bearer,” Isabella spared me, and Isaac had no choice but to treat me as if I were ‘something incredible.’
If not for that lie, I’d already be dead.
I would’ve died to Isabella’s hand the moment we started.
‘Even if it was a lie spoken to survive.’
I was the one who kept forcing that lie through.
I recall entering the Room of Truth.
···Answer only the truth, according to the oath.
Signing that ‘truth oath’ engraved into heart and soul, was my own choice.
“I am—.”
But no matter which answer I gave, the truth would be revealed.
Then it was better to tell the truth.
If I lied, I’d fail the challenge and be expelled.
And since retrying was impossible, it might be better to tell the truth and soothe them.
Then I could keep “challenging.”
“Star Bearer—.”
If I said I wasn’t a Star Bearer, it wouldn’t be easy to restore trust once broken.
They might carry the fact that I lied to them forever.
A doubt once sprouted grows hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times larger and gnaws away at the relationship.
So I spoke the truth.
“Yes.”
······ That I am a Star Bearer.
In the literal sense of the word, one who has realized the stars.
One who knows what the stars are.
One who has explored the stars more deeply than anyone, and thus was chosen by the stars.
If I, reborn as a star guardian by the goddess, am not a Star Bearer, then who is?
《Judged according to the oath, this is the truth.》
I felt relieved.
And then I realized.
‘The demigod warped the questions.’
While the questions were being asked, I had been meticulously observing everyone’s expressions.
If I focused through my Observation talent, I could even grasp the twitch of a peach-fuzz hair, and I judged emotions from their expressions and agitation.
The subtle changes that appeared each time a question was asked.
‘The question is right, but the nuance is different.’
At first, the question to Serengeti, “Do you truly love Hudson?”, was indeed what I had written.
It was right, but different.
‘I never used the word “truly.”’
Do you love Hudson?
Do you truly love Hudson?
The tone, the weight, is completely different.
The demigod is warping the questions little by little to make them awkward to answer.
But there’s no need to give a “proper” answer to a warped question.
Whether I am a Star Bearer in the dictionary sense, or a Star Bearer by the definition the questioner has in mind, was for each of them to judge.
‘Answer distortion with distortion.’
If it were the old me, I would have chosen the answer that I wasn’t a Star Bearer.
Back then, this world was literally just a “game” to me.
A game-world made of data and numbers where everything was predetermined.
But this was reality.
A real world where emotions breathe, and people cause chemical reactions in each other.
And truth is something that interacts.
If everyone believes something is true, then it becomes true.
Besides, it wasn’t exactly wrong, was it?
To a warped question, you just give a warped answer.
‘So that’s why the truth oath included the clause that we can’t discuss the questions at all.’
We can’t discuss them.
Not only words, even exchanging expressions about them was taboo.
But there was no discussion.
I just saw it and figured it out on my own.
Their expressions.
Isaac, Isabella, Serengeti.
They don’t hide their faces in front of me.
“Mm.”
Hearing my answer, everyone nodded as if it were obvious.
They had believed from the start.
They hadn’t doubted from the start, so my answer was true.
Completely different from the old clears where we entered while hiding intent.
A relationship of trust.
That won’t crumble easily to the demigod’s petty tricks.
***
Once I understood the demigod’s intent in warping the questions, everything after became too easy.
There was no need to panic, no need to doubt.
We cleared quickly and stepped into the next floor, and the world turned pitch-dark again.
Soon, a single sign appeared before me.
《The trial of the next floor is “Blocking the Entrance.”》
《To block the entrance and clear it, you need one ranged attacker, two shield bearers, and one healer.》
《Choose one of the three classes.》
《The trial begins when all party members are ready.》
Three fields needed for blocking the entrance.
Ranged attacker, shield bearer, healer.
As if telling me to pick one, three emblems floated before my eyes.
An arrow emblem, a shield emblem, and a space where a green aura drifted lazily.
‘They’re not giving us time to discuss.’
A floor where we must know each other’s capabilities and choices.
If we lacked a role, or had too many of one, we’d fail.
‘Serengeti will choose shield bearer.’
I’d already had him do it on the first floor. With stats fixed, Serengeti would know his own use well.
‘The rest is tricky.’
I rubbed my chin.
If I chose ranged attacker like on the first floor, who would heal?
Isaac, Isabella.
Would those two choose shield bearer and healer?
Or should I be the healer instead?
Isaac is especially specialized in offense. He might pick ranged attacker.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve never shown that I use ranged weapons.’
My brow furrowed on its own.
What each of us does best.
We have to know our party’s traits well, so our choices won’t overlap.
《All party members have completed their selection.》
***
When the darkness lifted, we were on a hill.
Blocking the entrance.
Down below, there were “Bomb Bugs,” easily numbering in the thousands.
Bomb Bugs are monsters that look like bean bugs, and explode the moment they make contact.
Their explosive power is small, but they possess a strong acid that melts flesh on contact.
The reason two shield bearers are needed, is to block those explosions.
“Shield bearers, raise your shields and block the entrance.”
Thankfully, we had two shield bearers.
“Yes!”
Nod!
Serengeti and Isabella.
The two of them matched their timing and raised their shields to block the hill’s entrance.
“Ranged attacker, remove the Bomb Bugs that come over the shields.”
“Yes.”
The ranged attacker was Isaac.
《You have chosen “healer.”》
《The “healer” can restore a selected target.》
《Remaining number of restorations: 5.》
I was, of course, the healer.
The reason I chose healer was simple.
Between a ranged attacker and a healer, only one of those two roles can watch the situation from behind and give orders, and no matter how I thought about it, Isaac was likely to choose ranged attacker.
He’d never seen me use a ranged weapon, after all.
Isabella worried me slightly, but she isn’t the “commander” type.
She wouldn’t be suited to take the rear as a commander, so I expected her to choose shield bearer.
And that guess was exactly right.
“They’re coming!”
A narrow passage.
The Bomb Bugs began hopping and rolling up.
They were no bigger than an adult’s fist at most, but the sight was overwhelming.
‘Up to here, it’s textbook.’
We’re proceeding in the textbook way.
Role distribution, fixed positions, and readiness are perfect.
‘But I have no intention of playing this game exactly as it is.’
I had not even the slightest intention of moving as the demigod wanted.
I squeezed my brain.
A way to break this situation open in reverse.
A move that could smash the board he made!
“Serengeti, give me the shield.”
“Huh?”
He looked at me as if asking what I was suddenly saying.
“When I give the signal, swap positions with me.”
“Will you be alright?”
“I’ll do better than you, who hasn’t learned Shield Arts. The moment I raise my right hand, swap positions immediately. After that, everyone acts exactly as I instruct.”
“But this shield has usage conditions.”
“It’s fine.”
The shield’s usage conditions.
I’d already figured them out.
When I reached out, Serengeti handed over the shield without hesitation.
<You cannot equip ‘Bomb Bug Shield’ because your proficiency is low.>
A message saying I couldn’t hold it.
But when I gripped the shield, the story changed.
<By the hidden trait Weapon Master, proficiency for ‘Bomb Bug Shield’ has been created.>
<The equip conditions for ‘Bomb Bug Shield’ have been removed.>
<Due to Weapon Master, proficiency for ‘Bomb Bug Shield’ rises to level 5.>
<Due to Dexterity, proficiency for ‘Bomb Bug Shield’ rises to level 6.>
If you choose shield bearer, a thing called “Bomb Bug Shield Proficiency” is created.
Normally, only someone who has that can equip it, but Weapon Master was a hidden trait that raises proficiency for all equipment to level 5.
A trait that makes any weapon you pick up for the first time into one you can wield like a veteran.
And with the +1 level from Dexterity.
A total of level 6. As the proficiency rose, strength naturally flowed into the hand gripping the shield.