The challenge waiting for us in the room we arrived at was a Rubik’s Cube—specifically, the type where the clear time would dictate the difficulty of the room beyond it. A Rubik’s Cube happened to be one of my few genuine talents, so I didn't expect any trouble breaking through.
"Hmm, looks like Physical Enhancement, Thought Acceleration, and even Space-Time Magic have been disabled in here, huh?" Fate-san observed.
『It appears so. It is likely a measure to ensure the challenge is performed under conditions as equal as possible,』 Lilliwood-san added.
The room was apparently designed to nullify any buff-type magic. It made perfect sense, really. For instance, if one could manipulate time with Space-Time Magic, the puzzle could be cleared in a literal instant. Likewise, the gap between those who could use Thought Acceleration and those who couldn't would be far too vast.
"Lilliwood-san or I could nullify a restriction of this level—it's only a constant area effect—but... Kai-chan, you’re good at the Rubik’s Cube, right?"
"Yes, so please leave this one to me."
"Oh, Kai-chan! You’re so confident today, it’s actually kind of cool. All right, I’m counting on you~."
Fate-san had done the live commentary with Alice when I’d played against Megiddo-san before, so she clearly remembered that the Rubik’s Cube was my specialty. I had already planned to take on this challenge myself even before she asked, so I gave a nod to the smiling Fate-san and stepped up to the pedestal.
The rules dictated that the timer would start the moment I lifted the cube. This meant I wouldn't be able to check the pattern on the bottom, but as long as I could see the other faces, deducing the final side’s layout was easy enough.
In fact, I could usually figure out the solution just by looking at two or three faces. This arrangement... this combination... it looks like it’ll take quite a few moves, so maybe eighteen seconds? If I can get my fingers moving with enough precision, I might even hit the ten-second mark... All right.
I spent about twenty seconds visualizing the steps and sequences in my mind, took a deep breath, and finally picked up the cube. I felt like I was in peak condition; my hands moved with incredible fluidity, clicking the segments into place without a single moment’s hesitation. Wait, I might actually hit a personal record here...
I was so locked in that I knew I’d nailed it. When I set the completed cube back on the pedestal and checked the timer, it read: "9.53."
I did it! My first sub-ten-second solve! I’d always dreamed of hitting that milestone someday... but I never imagined I’d actually achieve it here.
"O-Ohhh..."
"That was a magnificent performance. One can truly see the depth of your mastery, Kaito-sama," Cornelia-san praised.
『Yes, I had no idea you possessed such a skill, Kaito-san.』
If I had been alone, I probably would have shouted for joy. I managed to suppress the urge, settling for a quiet, triumphant fist pump. Breaking ten seconds... the dream of sub-ten... it felt incredible. Of course, the top-tier speedcubers in my original world were down in the three-second range, so I wasn't even close to that level, but breaking ten seconds meant I could finally claim my skills were world-class—or at least world-level.
"Oh, that’s impressive, Kai-chan! Wasn't that even faster than when you went against the War King?"
"Yes, I was in top form today. It’s actually my personal best—the first time I’ve ever broken ten seconds."
"Heh, well done. Congratulations!"
"Thank you. With a time like this, I expect the difficulty of the next room has been dropped to the absolute minimum."
I thanked Fate-san as she offered me a bright smile. Surely, even for a Hidden Route, the requirements for the "minimum difficulty" wouldn't be so absurd as to demand a world-record time of five seconds or less. This route was supposed to be hard, but demanding the literal peak of human ability seemed unlikely. I figured thirty seconds—or perhaps a minute—was the threshold for the easiest setting.
"I took the first challenge, and Kai-chan took this one... so should Conecone or the World King try the next?" Fate-san asked.
『Indeed. If the difficulty has been lowered, it might be the perfect opportunity for Cornelia-san to take a turn,』 Lilliwood-san suggested.
"Yes. If everyone is in agreement, I would be honored to try the next one."
"Then let's go with Cornelia-san next, and Lilliwood-san after that. Does that sound okay? Naturally, if the puzzle looks too difficult, we’ll all pitch in to help..."
In terms of raw specs, Fate-san was the undisputed powerhouse of our group, followed by Lilliwood-san, with a significant gap before reaching Cornelia-san and me. I wasn't sure exactly how good Cornelia-san was with puzzles, but she was highly intelligent, so she was likely better at them than I was. My success with the Rubik’s Cube was really just down to it being my one specific hobby...
When we proceeded into the next room, we found puzzles mounted on three of the walls. They were large-scale slide puzzles where you had to shift pieces to form a picture. No, wait—the wall we just entered through had one too, and looking up, there was even one on the ceiling. There were five in total.
There were magic tools stationed in front of the puzzles; I assumed we were meant to use them to manipulate the giant tiles.
『Complete the puzzles within five minutes. *Note: As the previous room was cleared in under one minute, all puzzles except for one chosen target will be completed automatically.』
It was indeed a slide puzzle challenge. Normally, we would have had to solve five of these massive things in five minutes, which sounded nightmarish. However, thanks to my clear time in the previous room, four of them were finishing themselves. Having five minutes to solve just one puzzle brought the difficulty down significantly.
Serious-senpai: "Fate really is the perfect lover, catching on to Kaito’s inner excitement and celebrating with him in her usual way... Though, given how easily everything shows on Kaito’s face, his joy was probably impossible to miss..."