"T-That can't be..."
Deep within the Ant's Nest of Madness, in the chamber where the Sellar Ant Queen had just been unceremoniously slain, Prince Edward collapsed back onto his knees. He had spent the last few minutes frantically searching every square inch of the cavern, only to find nothing.
I watched him out of the corner of my eye as I caught my breath.
"Phew. I'm beat."
We weren't actually that deep underground, but the sheer volume of ants had been staggering. It was a massive pain having them chip away at my barriers with their numbers, so I had forced us through the shortest route possible to keep them from swarming. Still, doing that right after a life-or-death duel with Onyx had taken a toll on me.
"Is your wound really alright...?" Alicia asked, her voice laced with concern.
"I’m fine. It’ll stick back together in no time," I said, flashing her a reassuring smile.
"How can you be so casual about your arm being severed...?" Mariana asked, looking utterly horrified.
"Training," I replied simply.
The Sellar Ant Queen was a massive insect with six wings that generated blades of wind through high-frequency vibrations. She also spat a potent formic acid that could dissolve solid rock. Between the blades and the stinging stench of the acid, she was a reasonably formidable foe.
I’ll admit, it was a bit of a close call.
Just as I assumed my barrier would hold against the acid, she focused her wind blades onto a single point. The attack pierced the barrier and took my arm clean off.
Now, before you ask why I didn't just dodge: I was in the middle of shoving my hand down her throat to rip the core out of her head. Dodging wasn't exactly an option. Usually, wind blades wouldn't even scratch me, but I’d been pushing myself to finish the fight quickly so the other three wouldn't have to deal with the acid spray.
As a result, her attack penetrated the barrier just enough to sever my right arm at the elbow. I’d picked it up immediately and pressed the edges back together, so it wasn't a problem.
"This should be your ultimate goal for recovery magic, Mariana!"
"I... I’d really rather not..." Mariana muttered, hiding behind Alicia’s back and flatly rejecting the idea.
She'd be unstoppable if she could do it, though. Even with a wound that would normally put you out of commission, you can usually push through if you have recovery magic. Everyone should learn it, in my opinion. Though, I suppose everyone has their own specialties.
"It can't be... This is wrong... Surely, it’s hidden somewhere..."
While we talked, Edward continued his desperate search, muttering under his breath as he flipped over rocks and shone his light into every little crevice.
A Holy Artifact isn't some kind of bug; it wouldn't be hidden under a rock in a cave. The game’s developers usually placed things like that in dungeons that felt like ancient temples or shrines. While this place was technically a dungeon, it wasn't one relevant to the game's plot. It was just a place to farm giant magic cores.
"Your Highness, do you see the reality now? With your current skills, do you honestly believe you could have slipped past that mountain of ants with nothing but a Robe of Concealment to reach this chamber?"
"...It would likely have been impossible," Edward admitted, looking away with the hollow expression of a man who had lost everything. "Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I suspected I was being sent to find something that didn't exist."
Even so, he continued.
"But the days I spent with her... they were so warm that I could never hope to repay her. I was born into royalty, surrounded by people who only ever saw my title and never the person beneath it. When I met Patricia in the castle town, she was like a radiant light—Oof!"
"Yeah, we don't need the monologue. Let's go home."
He looked like he was about to start a pointlessly long backstory, so I kicked him in the ass to get him moving.
I already knew how they met. In the game, when you meet Edward at the Academy, there’s a flashback scene where he remembers meeting a commoner girl while he was lost as a child, and how she was the only one who treated him like a normal person.
I'm sorry your feelings are hurt, but we’re on a schedule. Rejected.
"T-To kick the backside of royalty... And yet, even taking offense feels like a contradiction to my current—Bugh!"
"Let's go, Your Highness."
"...Can't I have a moment to process this before I'm forced to keep my promise?!"
"Process it at home. In the Brave Territory, daydreaming in enemy territory is a capital offense."
We didn't have time for his moping.
"The only fact here is that you were played by a manipulative woman. We aren't getting involved beyond that, so move it."
"Ugh... Patricia... Why? Why would you...?"
Don't cry here. Cry in your room.
"Your Highness, we took the express route here, which means there are still plenty of ants left in the tunnels. I've used up a lot of energy getting us this far, so I can't guarantee your safety anymore."
"But surely, for a Brave, this is nothing?"
Not today, it wasn't. The fact that a mere queen ant had managed to pierce my barrier was proof enough of my exhaustion.
"I have been watching you in silence, but you truly are of the Hero's—"
"Ragna! The ants are coming!" Alicia shouted from the entrance of the chamber.
"Hieee! I can hear them! There's so many!" Mariana added.
I cut Edward off before he could finish that thought. Just because the queen was dead didn't mean the rest of the hive would just pack up and leave. If anything, they were more agitated now. They weren't coming for revenge; they were swarming to the deepest chamber to select the next larvae to become queen. The larva with the most mana would inherit the throne.
"Your Highness, if you keep whining, you're going to die. If you want to live, stand up and draw your weapon."
"...U-Understood."
We rushed toward the exit of the chamber, only to find the passage choked with a literal wall of insects.
Skree-skree-skree-skree-skree!
"Whoa, that is a tight fit."
"Ragna-san, Alicia narrowed the entrance to bottle them up! And she did it with chantless magic!"
"Oh! Nice work, Alicia!"
To pull off chantless magic without even being in immediate mortal danger—that was my fiancée for you.
"I have no intention of being forced to fight monsters for my life again," Alicia said firmly. "This will stop them from flooding the room, but how are we supposed to get out...?"
"The individual ants are fragile. We just need to blow through them with a single blast of magic."
"L-Leave that to me! My Wind Blast will—!"
As the Prince stepped forward to take the lead—FROOOOM!
A massive pillar of roaring flames erupted from the narrowed entrance, incinerating the swarm of ants instantly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The Prince was engulfed in the fire.