The Guide Played Her Role as a Stand-in a Little Too Well - Chapter 77
Can you really tell just from footprints?
Do you know the shoe size?
“…How do you know?”
“Mages’ shoes have a distinctive Magic Tower pattern. You see it here?”
Pheon pointed to a faint, small magic circle in the middle of the footprint.
“Ah, I see.”
I nodded.
The footprints being this fresh meant the person hadn’t been here long…
So we might still find a living esper.
We could potentially uncover real clues about the two previous disappearance cases.
“Let’s follow the footprints.”
Pheon’s eyes narrowed. I nodded and stood up to follow him.
Pheon, looking between me and the footprints, suggested,
“Before we go… I’d like a quick guiding session.”
“Ah, sure.”
That was part of our deal anyway.
“A simple kiss will do. And a hug.”
“Understood.”
He was direct and to the point.
Pheon approached me, smirking as he looked down.
“That Hedonia might really throw a fit if she knew.”
In his words, an unbidden image of Hedonia flashed in my mind.
“I’d be disappointed if you were distracted.”
Pheon’s lips brushed mine lightly before pulling away.
Then he gave me a brief hug.
It was so quick that I wondered if the guiding had been effective at all.
“We should move quickly, so take my hand.”
Given the recent human presence, we couldn’t afford to waste time.
That was beneficial for me as well.
Pheon abruptly offered his hand.
‘So we’re going to hold hands and go together.’
Recalling the scene of him and Hedonia in the previous dungeon, I reached out to Pheon.
Pheon lightly took my hand and pulled me closer.
“Stay as close as possible. Keep guiding me along the way.”
“If we’re going to do this, wasn’t the physical contact unnecessary?”
“I should get all the guiding I can. The last guiding session was a great help.”
It wasn’t that he took guiding lightly. He planned to get as much as possible on the way.
Pheon shrugged.
“Please don’t give me that look. I don’t want to be disliked by the most promising guide right now.”
I muttered sarcastically,
“Honored, I’m sure.”
Being held close to him, guiding wasn’t that difficult.
I used my honed skills to give him the best guidance.
“Ah…”
Pheon let out a low breath and smiled contentedly. The fatigue on his face finally seemed to lift.
“I really don’t see why non-contact guiding exists. If Hedonia became a guide, I’d have to discuss this with her.”
I chuckled at his words.
“Hedonia would be much more reserved than I am now.”
With Hedonia, holding hands was the extent of it. Even that would be difficult.
Anything beyond that was only with Shaelock.
Shoo―
The sound of wind rushing by pleasantly filled my ears.
The round flames that formed beneath Pheon acted as boosters, just like last time.
But the speed was incomparable to before.
Is this what mastery looks like?
The further we went, the stronger the scent of the flowers surrounding us became.
The flowers also grew in size.
Seeing the increasingly giant flowers made it clear that we were indeed in a dungeon.
The sight of flowers towering over my height did not feel healing at all.
The petals, seemingly about to engulf me, were frightening.
As I kept an eye on the footprints on the path, I suddenly realized they had disappeared.
“The footprints are gone.”
“If it’s that person, they would have followed them all the way.”
Pheon’s expression remained unchanged as he continued walking at a steady pace.
At the end of the path was a clearing surrounded by thick grass.
Giant flowers, as tall as apartment buildings, swayed their stems.
Seeing the petals peeking through the clouds made my jaw drop.
The two large, wide petals were spread open.
However, the flower’s behavior was suspicious. It lowered its stem and opened its petals wide, as if trying to swallow someone…
“There’s a person there!”
Following the direction of the open petals, I saw someone unconscious on the ground.
“I see them too.”
Pheon had already noticed.
However, he didn’t rush to save the person.
He knew that dealing with the dungeon’s main boss flower was the fastest way to save them.
“Let’s take care of this first.”