Chapter 13: My Reward

I didn’t expect such a turn of events. The characters that I followed on their journey were praising me for defeating a monster. I sure was happy about it.

’A reward, right?’

Thinking a bit about Leo’s offering gave me an idea.

“I don’t think that I deserve the best item of the dungeon, however…” I said.

“However…?” Sarah repeated, curious.

“There is another thing that I want.”

“So there is something that you want, and you look serious.” Leo said, showing interest. “Let me hear about it. I owe you my life, so if I can help you obtain it.”

That was the moment of truth.

“Well, as I said, I’m not interested in gaining an item, but if we, for some reason, find a Lost Temple, I would like to receive its blessing first.” I finally made my request.

“A Lost Temple? Is that what you want?” Leo was taken completely by surprise. Well, I don’t blame him.

“Yes. I think you already heard about this myth. In certain rare dungeons, there is a hidden temple, and the statue of the deity would grant the adventurers a blessing. These sanctuaries are called Lost Temples.”

Leo looked pensive about my request. Such a thing was never found in our era. It is just spoken about in ancient legends that parents tell their children before sleep.

“You don’t want something more… attainable.” He asked me.

“I know that is a strange request, but I don’t want anything else besides that.” I said firmly.

Leo’s eyes were fixed on me. Most people would laugh at such a statement. In my world, the equivalent of a Lost Temple is finding Santa Claus at the North Pole.

But Leo could see how serious I was. He isn’t the kind of guy to laugh at someone who is so determined about a goal, even if it looks like an unachievable dream.

“I don’t believe that we will find a Lost Temple inside an F-Rank dungeon, but you have my word. Even if we don’t find any Temple in this place, but later on we find one in another, you shall receive its blessing. I won’t oppose it.” He said.

I felt relaxed. One of his character’s traits is that he always follows his word. I almost felt bad for planning to steal his blessing. But just almost.

He is an honorable guy and already said that he would help if he could. He surely didn’t imagine the existence of a Lost Temple right under his nose. Maybe he still didn’t notice.

“Hm.” Sarah was quiet for a while, but she finally decided to speak up. “I feel in debt with you too, so if there is something you want, I’d like to help you attain it.”

“Thank you, Sarah.” I said to her, happy to hear this.

“But can I ask you one thing?” Leo asked me.

“Sure.”

“Why do you want to find a Lost Temple?” He finally asked.

I felt that I should talk about the transmigration, but he was being so cooperative that it didn’t feel right to lie either.

“I may have defeated this monster today, but it was just luck. If I want to survive in this world, I have to become stronger.” I said with determination in my voice.

“Oh!” Sarah, who was listening, let out an amazed sound.

“I see…” Leo said, but he didn’t seem impressed at all. I thought that his reaction was weird.

“Everything is good and all, but what should we do now?” She asked us, and it was indeed a good question.

“You are right. This room doesn’t have an exit, just the door we came through.” Leo said pensively.

What we expected was another door leading to the floor below, or the dungeon core, but there wasn’t anything like that before our eyes.

“But there’s something wrong! All dungeons have a core on their lower floor. There isn’t a staircase at any point, so— Ouch!” Sarah tried to get up, but her body arched in pain.

“Don’t push yourself! You still need to rest.” I said to Sarah, concerned about her well-being.

“I’m just fine. Ah…” The stubborn girl let out a cry of pain.

“No, you’re not. So be a good patient, obey your doctor, and get some rest. Do you understand?” I said with a smile on my face, but with an intimidating tone.

“You’re so mean.” She said childishly.

“Yeah, yeah. You can complain all you want when you get better.” I said while gently laying her body down on the ground.

“Hmm…” She puffed out her cheeks. She could make that face all she wanted, because I could be as stubborn as she is sometimes.

I was ready to get up and leave her to rest, but her slender fingers grabbed me by the clothes.

“I didn’t say it properly. Thanks for saving me, Rick.” She said with a smile on her face.

…

“Now that I think of it… Leo, how are your wounds?” I asked Leo. I gave priority to Sarah, because she took more damage, but now I should check him.

“I’m ok, and don’t worry, I’m not lying like Sarah was.” He said.

I believed his words. He had a skill that regenerated him. It’s not very powerful at this point, so I gave him a minor recovery potion. “Just to be sure.”

He didn’t resist and accepted the medicine.

“Hey, back there, when you asked why I wanted to find a Lost Temple, why did you seem disappointed with my answer?”

“Disappointed? No, it was nothing.” He said, trying to avoid my gaze. There was indeed something wrong.

“If you think there’s something wrong, you can tell me. After all, you want to help my selfish wish. That is the least that I can do.” I said in a laid-back way.

“I have no objections to helping you, but…” He stopped himself with a sad expression.

“But…?” Now I really wanted to know.

“But I think you misunderstood something, Rick.” He said.

“Hm?”

“You didn’t defeat the boss by chance.” To my surprise, he was referring to my comment.

“Ah, about that. Nah, what I did was a bold move, and a pretty stupid one.” I said to him, and it wasn’t feigned humility. My victory was a one percent chance event.

“That’s what you got wrong. No offense, but your class isn’t one of the best…” He said, trying to be polite.

“Not taken.”

“Even so, you fought with everything you had, putting your life on the line.” He said with a tone of respect.

“But the chances were against me, right? If I had to do that again, I would probably fail.”

“That’s the wrong way to think about it too.”

“How so?”

“You cannot fight again a fight that is already over. The fact is that you won.” He continued, now with a sadder voice. “The value of a warrior is not in fighting and winning easy fights, but in turning a difficult one into a victory.”

I didn’t understand why he looked like that. His words were praise, but shame was the only thing on his demeanor.

“Anyway.” His posture changed, going back to his natural self. “Just accept the victory for now. If you don’t feel that you deserve it, become someone who is worthy of it.”

“Right.” I said, but I couldn’t ignore that his words didn’t seem to be directed at me.

But then something caught Leo’s attention. He looked confused.

“Hey, Rick. Are you seeing this?” He pointed to the wall on the other side of the room. I didn’t notice anything strange. Just a stone wall.

“What exactly are you seeing? I can’t see anything unusual.” I asked. He had a nervous expression.

“There is something strange on that wall. It looks like it’s shining with little blue stars. Right there. Are you not seeing that?” He pointed to where the anomaly should be, but I really couldn’t see a thing.

“Leo…” I tried to call him while the blond guy walked toward the wall.

“It’s like someone is calling for me.” He said in a monotone voice.

He stopped a few centimeters away from the wall.

“It looks like there’s a door on the wall, at least it has the shape of one.” He said to me, and I followed him.

Leo wasn’t going crazy. He was, in fact, seeing something real. Traces of Divinity.

Sarah and I weren’t capable of seeing it, but his circumstances were different.

That’s the MC from SCRL for you.

Among us, only he could find it. I wonder if he would have made the promise from before if he knew that he was so close to a power worthy of legends, and so much closer to reaching it.

Leo touched the wall right in front of him, and dazzling brightness emanated from the stone. The white light was intense, but it also brought a warm sensation.

It took a while for my eyes to recover from that burst of light, but when I could see again, there was a hole before our eyes, in the shape of a door, right where Leo had touched.

He found the passage to the Lost Temple. Finally, I could obtain the key to my survival in this fantasy world.

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