〈 Chapter 161 〉 The Fourth Trial (1）

*

“Ahem…”

I cleared my throat for no reason.

It was partly due to the dust from the wagon, but mainly because of the awkward silence that hung in the air.

Surely, when we were on our way to the kingdom, thanks to Elsie, it had been bustling with noise, but now the wagon was utterly silent.

‘Although she did say it wasn’t awkward…’

I couldn’t help but be aware of Yusera, who kept glancing at me out of the corner of her eye.

‘That girl…’

Pretending to look outside the window, I turned my gaze toward her.

At that moment, our eyes met, and she flustered, quickly looking away as if the window was the most interesting thing in the world.

And for some reason, despite the coolness inside the wagon, she started fanning herself.

‘No matter how I look at it, she’s really on edge.’

I wondered if it was really okay to keep things like this.

Surely the atmosphere wouldn’t stay this way until the battle, but I felt uneasy.

It seemed certain that I would have to stop sharing a dormitory with her from now on.

Suddenly, the coachman spoke from his seat.

“You two have a nice vibe going.”

I tilted my head at that comment.

‘Nice? What the heck?’

His words made the atmosphere even more bizarre.

Yusera’s neck had turned completely red.

I had a feeling this was going to get dangerous.

“Please don’t misunderstand. We’re just comrades, that’s all.”

To that, the coachman laughed heartily and replied.

“Hahaha. From comrades to big brother, and from big brother to darling, that’s how it goes.”

In fact, I had already experienced that process with Elsie.

I didn’t regret it, but given the current atmosphere with Yusera, I couldn’t help but feel I should have restrained myself a bit more.

Besides, I wasn’t planning on developing that kind of relationship with Yusera while I was already with Elsie.

But the problem lay with Yusera.

“Big brother?”

She asked, looking confused.

“Isn’t that something you say to older male siblings?”

To which the coachman laughed even louder.

“It doesn’t matter about age; if someone is reliable, you can call them that, young lady.”

“If someone is reliable, I can call them that for everyone?”

She fell into thought for a moment and then spoke.

“Oh…”

“Yusera, stop.”

I figured she probably didn’t mean any malice, but hearing a title that even Elsie didn’t use would definitely make me feel weird.

“Why? I think it’s kind of nice. It might even stick better than calling you Allen.”

“No way. Absolutely not.”

In fact, the term ‘big brother’ isn’t only used for romantic relationships, so my overreaction made sense.

But given the current situation, it was indeed dangerous.

“Well, if you don’t want that, then it can’t be helped.”

The coachman seemed disappointed by my refusal.

“Oh dear. What a shame. I never thought a man would reject it. But it’s fine. The last two people who had a similar vibe to yours vehemently denied it, but when they returned next time, they were all lovey-dovey.”

“Lovey-dovey? Are you talking about the Leim Kingdom’s historical wrestling?”

This time, the coachman looked flabbergasted.

“Huh?”

“But wouldn’t doing that in a wagon be a bit inconsiderate?”

By the way, she was still thinking that the historical wrestling of the Leim Kingdom was all about hugging tightly.

Just the thought of that seemed to embarrass her.

“Hahaha… young lady, I didn’t expect you to be so…”

The coachman appeared startled by Yusera’s sudden bluntness.

But at that moment, we finally arrived at our destination.

“Arrival! We’ve arrived!”

He stopped the wagon and asked, “Are you sure you want to get off here?”

I leaned out the window to look around before answering.

“Yes, that’s right.”

This place was the halfway point to the Central Sea System from the Leim Kingdom.

If you were wondering why we were stopping in the middle, it was because we had a brief detour to make.

“Yusera, get off.”

Then, finally snapping back to reality, Yusera, who had been staring into space with a flushed face, got off the wagon.

I was a little worried if this was okay.

*

Before heading to the Central Sea System.

No matter how urgent things were, there was a place we had to stop by.

“I found it.”

The trial near the Leim Kingdom.

“This is from Hero Academy…”

The trial took on the same form as a lake.

Thanks to that, Yusera seemed to recall the Hero Academy upon seeing the trial.

That was somewhat correct, but…

“That was a kind of trial too.”

“A kind of trial?”

“It didn’t operate correctly, but it had no essential difference from this lake.”

Of course, for me, it had operated just fine.

Because of that, I had received the rewards.

Rewards.

Yes.

The reason for going through the trial was exactly that — the rewards.

Right now, without a decent weapon since the Gravitas Replicant had been destroyed, I needed something.

‘Please, let there be a usable weapon!’

So far, I had gained Wind’s Power, Awakening Pill, and Sublimation from trials.

All of them were quite useful, but none were weapons.

But that was rather unusual.

Typically, relics would be the most common rewards of trials.

‘What I need right now is a 3-star weapon that I can actually use.’

While it was possible to occasionally acquire 4-star or 5-star weapons in trials, the odds were atrocious, and I couldn’t guarantee that I would be able to use them.

I could somehow force a 4-star weapon into use with Sublimation, but that would also depend on whether the traits matched the weapon.

So, at this point, I needed a 3-star weapon that I could actually use.

‘And…’

I turned to Yusera, who was still standing there blankly.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going in?”

“Me? Enter?”

“Of course!”

Even if it was a bit of a hassle, entering a trial was never a loss.

There was no reason not to bring her along.

If worst comes to worst, we could exchange rewards we both needed.

But there was a point I had to be cautious about.

“However, if it seems like the trial will take too long, you need to exit the trial there.”

After all, we couldn’t afford to be late for the Central Sea System.

I was also willing to exit if things seemed to drag on too long.

The problem was that in the trial’s space, the concept of time and space was twisted, so it wouldn’t perfectly align with reality.

I couldn’t expect Yusera to understand that part right now.

I didn’t know how warped time would be either.

“Max three days. If it seems like the trial will take longer than that, exit immediately.”

That should be enough.

Unless it was a unique trial like the second one.

“But…”

Suddenly, I noticed that Yusera was trying to do something strange.

While I could understand her putting her hero cloak into her inventory, she was currently undoing the buttons of her blouse.

“What are you doing?”

To that, Yusera was struggling to loosen the tight button and replied.

“I’m going into the water. I’d rather not get my clothes wet.”

“But there’s no need to take them off…”

“It doesn’t matter since we’re comrades. Or are you worried about it?”

Of course, we were officially comrades.

So, worrying… of course, I couldn’t not worry.

Official relationship or not, Yusera was quite the beauty with a mature figure.

But that wasn’t the problem I wanted to address.

“I told you. This is the same as what was at Hero Academy. Even if it’s water, it doesn’t get you wet.”

To prove that, I took off my cloak, dipped it into the water, and pulled it back out.

The cloak was definitely not wet.

“Oh.”

“‘Oh’ what? Didn’t I just say that?”

“But just because it’s the same trial doesn’t mean it won’t get you wet.”

“Well…”

I had to admit this was my fourth trial.

So naturally, I had assumed this one wouldn’t get me wet either.

However, from Yusera’s perspective, this was her first real trial experience; it made sense that she might think that way.

‘But still, before taking off her clothes, she could at least dip her sleeves in.’

Then I recalled Gwen had done the same thing in Basil’s trial.

She also opted for the simplistic solution of just removing her clothes instead of considering dipping her sleeves first.

What is it with these girls having no qualms about undressing?

“Fine, but then put your cloak back on and go in.”

“Alright.”

She retrieved her cloak from her inventory and put it back on.

Then she stepped towards the lake.

“But, Sir…”

She disappeared beneath the surface in an instant.

“I told you, it’s not Sung Yoo-rang, it’s Allen.”

I clicked my tongue at the uncorrected title and stepped towards the lake myself.

As soon as I did, my body sank beneath the water alongside my consciousness.

*

‘Is this… inside the trial?’

As my consciousness returned, I found myself in an empty space.

Literally a void, with nothing else existing besides me.

‘It feels a bit like the White Tower.’

I didn’t want to think about it much, but the similarity lay in the fact that everything around was simply white.

The difference was that there were no walls here.

‘What kind of trial is this?’

I still couldn’t get a grip on what was going on.

At least in the first trial, there was a desert as a backdrop.

But here, it felt as though I was just thrown into an empty space.

‘What am I supposed to do alone?…’

And then I felt something behind me.

Perhaps I wasn’t the only one here.

Clink.

I drew out the Sacred Replicant temporarily borrowed from Yusera.

I quickly spun around.

Clang!

The two swords clashed.

The timing at which they turned was precisely the same as mine.

The identity of the being I confirmed upon turning was…

‘Me?’

It was me.

*