Read Novel Full Chapter 68, Darkness
Chapter 68, Darkness
Translator: Barnnn
Inside the quiet sanctuary, Hal and Fieda waited, their earlier conversation tapering off into silence the moment the heavy door opened. As the Padre stepped out, Ize followed at his side, her face as pale as parchment. The sight sent a bolt of alarm through both of them, and they rushed to her.
“Ize, you all right there?”
Hal supported her arms, trying to steady her.
“What happened?” Fieda promptly asked. “Did you not receive a skill? Padre, what’s going on?”
The Padre shook his head, clearly as confused as anyone else.
“The ceremony was taking longer than expected, so I went to check on her. When I arrived, she was already like this…”
The answer did little to soothe them. If anything, Hal felt his frustration rise — useless, directionless. He bit back a glare, focusing instead on guiding Ize toward a nearby bench. Fieda took the seat beside her, gently wrapping her cold fingers in his own.
“Padre, may we have a moment to ourselves?” Fieda asked.
The Padre hesitated, his brows knitting in reluctance, but at last, he gave a slow nod. With one final glance at Ize, he stepped back, drawing close the sanctuary doors behind him.
Now, it was just the three of them.
“Ize, can you talk?” Hal leaned forward, his voice tempered with concern. “If you need to, use Stealth.”
For a brief moment, uncertainty flickered in Ize’s dark eyes. Then, with a small nod, she activated her power, shrouding their conversation in an invisible veil.
Sensing it, Fieda gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Did you meet the Goddess?”
He wasn’t asking this for no reason — Ize had once before spoken of her past encounter with the Goddess. He needed to know if that had happened again.
Ize hesitated. Then, slowly, she shook her head.
“I heard her voice,” she murmured.
Her grip on Hal and Fieda’s hands tightened, just slightly, but they both felt it.
“What did she say?” Hal asked.
“She gave me her blessing… and explained my new skills,” she started to answer, but then a single tear slipped from the corner of her right eye. “O-oh no…! Hal…!”
The sudden intensity in her voice jolted him upright. “Yes!?”
“Do something!”
“Huh!?”
“This is gonna ruin Miss Elene’s makeup! Stop the tears!”
“Wait — what!? Uh, I — do I need to evaporate them or something!?” Hal flailed for a solution to Ize’s frantic plea. In desperation, he reached out and hesitantly pressed his fingers to the corners of her eyes. “Uh… how about this?”
The moment he activated his magic, more tears welled up — only to vanish, dried away by the improvised combination of water and wind spells.
“If the wind gets too strong, tell me,” he muttered, concentrating.
“Ugh, sniff… I’ll be… sniff… fine for now.”
The tears might have been handled, but the sniffles remained.
Watching all of this unfold, Fieda let out a small, quiet exhale, somewhere between amusement and exasperation.
“Honestly… you have no sense of tension.”
“Shuddup… sniff, sniff…”
Shaking his head, he reached into his coat and pulled out a handkerchief.
“Here, use this,” he said, pressing it to Ize’s nose.
And so, for the next few minutes, she sat there, her small face trapped in a bizarre predicament. Hal’s fingers were still lightly resting at the corners of her eyes, and Fieda’s broad hand was firmly holding the cloth to her nose.
The sheer ridiculousness of it all struck her — a strangled noise bubbled up in her throat, and a second later, she burst into laughter — half a snort, half a breathless giggle.
Hal and Fieda exchanged a glance over her head. They didn’t need to say anything. They both understood.
They knew she would be all right.
Once the last of Ize’s sniffles had faded and her composure was more or less restored, they returned to the real conversation.
“All right,” Hal said, leaning forward expectantly. “What did the Goddess tell you?”
Having heard her voice himself during his own Coming-of-Age Ceremony, he knew better than to expect anything ordinary.
Ize took a steadying breath. “She… granted me two skills.”
Hal nodded, unsurprised. “Figured as much.”
Fieda, however, frowned slightly. “Wait… what comes after Quad?”
“Apparently,” Ize continued, “if I develop these skills alongside my mapping ability, I’ll eventually be able to use Teleportation magic.”
Hal’s eyes widened. “Whoa. That’s huge! Especially the fusion magic thing — that sounds insane!”
Fieda let out a slow breath. “Teleportation… that’s something straight out of legends.”
Ize nodded. “She said it wouldn’t take ten years, but… it won’t be easy.”
“Of course not,” Hal chuckled. “But hey, you’ll get there.”
“Half the time, we’ll be on the road anyway,” Fieda added with a shrug. “If you can teleport back to places we’ve already visited, that alone would be more than enough.”
Their calm acceptance eased the lingering tension in Ize’s shoulders. She had worried about the overwhelming potential she now held, but her two closest companions didn’t seem fazed in the slightest.
“So?” Hal prompted.
“…So what?”
“Don’t play dumb,” Fieda said, raising an eyebrow. “You still haven’t told us the names of the skills.”
“Yeah, Ize.” Hal smirked. “Think you could get Fieda to call you ‘Ize the Great and Powerful’ with them?”
“I’d say you already have enough ammo to make me say it,” Fieda shot back, smirking right back.
“Oho, hear that?” Hal nudged Ize with his elbow. “We’ve got a live one. Now spill it, Ize.”
“…Light magic and… well…” Ize averted her gaze, suddenly struggling to say the second name aloud.
“Light magic? That’s amazing!” Fieda beamed.
Hal, however, narrowed his eyes. “And the other one?”
“Ugh…”
Ize pursed her lips. Hal’s smirk deepened.
“You know what? I think I’ve figured it out.”
She shot him a glare, but it only seemed to fuel his amusement. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat — or, perhaps, something even more annoying.
“Teleportation’s a mix of light magic and… what?”
Fieda leaned in, curiosity shining in his eyes. Ize hesitated, then mumbled the answer under her breath.
“…Dark magic.”
Fieda let out an appreciative whistle. “Well, well…”
Hal, on the other hand, nearly choked. “Pfft–!”
“Hal! Don’t laugh!”
“Bwahaha! Darkness! Who’s the edgy one now, huh!?”
“I knew you’d say that! That’s why I didn’t want to tell you!”
“Wait, is dark magic the same as the ‘edgelord’ thing you always talk about?” Fieda asked, tilting his head. “I heard it’s actually quite useful, though…”
Ize groaned. “Fieda, you’re too pure. That makes it worse!”
“Bwahaha! Keep going, Fieda! Twist the knife!” Hal wheezed, clutching his stomach.
With how blissfully unaware Fieda was of why Ize disliked dark magic so much, his attempt at reassuring her only made things worse. Seeing her bury her face in her hands, Fieda let out a resigned sigh and decided to steer the conversation back on track.
“Other than that, did the Goddess say anything else?”
“No, that was all,” Ize muttered, still sulking.
“Then we should inform the Padre that the ceremony is complete. We shouldn’t linger.”
“Agreed. But first, I’d like us to thank the Goddess properly.”
“Right…”
The three of them moved to the front of the sanctuary, standing side by side as they bowed their heads in prayer. Ize still had her doubts about her new skills — about whether she could master them, about why the Goddess had chosen these particular abilities for her — but deep down, she knew the answer. They had been given to her so she could fulfill her wish. The wish to protect the family she had found in this world.
As such, she would make the most of them.
Raising their heads in unison, they turned to leave. As they stepped away, Hal and Fieda flanked Ize on either side, and spoke in near-perfect harmony,
“Ize, congratulations on coming of age,” Hal said first. “Sorry for laughing. Take your time learning your new skills.”
“Two skills at once — that’s impressive,” Fieda added, nodding. “Let’s train in the Dungeon so you can use them properly.”
Ize glanced between them, then let out a quiet chuckle, clutching the bouquet she had left on the bench.
“Thanks, both of you. I’ll probably be learning the ropes for quite a while, so… I’ll be counting on your support.”
And so, with one last bow to the Goddess, they stepped out of the sanctuary together.
◆
It was well past midday, but they weren’t about to have a full lunch — because tonight, Etta’s feast awaited them.
For now, they decided to keep things light, making their way toward the main street that led to the Dungeon entrance. Along the way, Hal offered to carry the bouquet, but Ize opted to store it safely in her Magic Bag instead. She then launched into an animated discussion about visiting the florist tomorrow to ask how to make the flowers last longer.
The sheer enthusiasm in her voice made Fieda, despite himself, flush red to the tips of his ears. Still… no matter how much he cleaned up, when flustered, he still looked like an old man, always doomed to be unpopular among the audience…
[Don’t break the fourth wall, dammit!] “…Ahem. Hello, ma’am! We’re here!”
Ize greeted the familiar face as they approached their usual food stall.
“Well, aren’t you all looking sharp today?” the skewer vendor teased, eyeing their formal clothes with amusement. “Decided to give up the adventuring life?”
“No way! We were just back from the Coming-of-Age Ceremony!” Ize declared proudly, puffing out her chest.
“Ah, I see, I see. So that big guy who looks about my age is actually much younger than he seems, huh? My bad, my bad.”
“…Huh?”
Ize tilted her head, clearly missing the joke. Meanwhile, behind her, Hal and Fieda were shaking with barely suppressed laughter.
“And what exactly is so funny?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at them.
“We’re not laughing,” Hal replied, doing an abysmal job of keeping a straight face.
“Three skewers, please,” Fieda interrupted smoothly, wisely choosing to ignore Ize’s glare entirely.
“Got it! Just a sec!”
With practiced ease, the vendor began folding the gelatinous flesh of the Milk Toad onto skewers. Her hands moved with such deft precision that it was almost hypnotic, at least for Hal, who watched intently. But Ize had already claimed what she considered the best seat in the area: right in front of the grill, where she could watch the cooking process up close.
Then came the moment she had been waiting for. With a satisfying sizzle, the flesh softened over the charcoal fire, melting and spreading just slightly around the skewer.
“Woo-hoo,” she exhaled in quiet awe, eyes gleaming.
“You always look so happy watching that,” the lady chuckled, shaking her head. “Makes me feel like I should be excited too.”
“This is a moment of pure wonder! I could watch it a hundred times and never get tired of it.”
“Is that so?”
“I’ll never understand your tastes, Ize,” Hal muttered, folding his arms.
“They’re… definitely unique,” Fieda agreed.
Before long, the skewers took on a round, glossy shape — an unmistakable sign that they were ready. The lady lifted them from the grill and handed them over.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you so much!!” Ize beamed.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Hal said, nodding politely.
“Appreciate it,” Fieda added, fishing out the payment.
“One’s on the house,” Auntie said with a grin, waving away some of the coins. “Just pay for two.”
“Huh?”
“Happy coming of age, kid. Stop by again after your Dungeon runs, hmm?”
A grin spread across Ize’s face as warmth bloomed in her chest. “We will! Thanks again!”
Still beaming at the unexpected gift, she followed the others to their usual bench. It was a tight fit — technically a two-person bench — but that didn’t matter. This was tradition. From their very first visit together, the three of them had always crammed onto the same seat.
“Ow, ow — damn, that’s hot!”
“Hot, hot, hot!”
“Calm down and eat properly,” Fieda chided, though his words held little weight when he, too, failed to wait for the skewers to cool. “Gah…!”
“Aaah, this is so good,” Hal sighed as the rich flavor spread across his tongue.
“It’s amazing as always,” Ize agreed, already reaching for another bite, the heat be damned.
“Seriously delicious,” Fieda added once he had recovered, nodding in approval.
The texture was a fascinating contradiction — smooth like rich cream cheese, yet reminiscent of tender offal, with just a hint of crunch, like well-prepared cartilage. No matter how many times they indulged in it, it never lost its charm.
Before they knew it, the skewers were stripped clean, leaving nothing but bare wooden sticks. For a brief moment, they simply stared at them, reluctant to part with the last remnants of their meal. Eventually, they rose to their feet, tossing the sticks into the nearby trash before heading back toward the inn.
“Miss Etta’s feast is waiting for us,” Fieda reminded, casting a knowing glance at Ize.
“I can’t wait!”
“She’s been having fun experimenting with Sages’ recipes lately,” Hal noted. “I heard she’s come up with some new dishes outside of Japanese cuisine.”
“Oh, yeah… Miss Elene did mention she’s expanded the pasta sauce selection,” Ize added.
“She also said she’s found more uses for tomatoes.”
“Sounds promising,” Fieda mused. Then, after a pause, he scratched the back of his head and added, “But, uh… has anyone else noticed how crazy the room discounts have been lately? It’s starting to feel a little suspicious.
“Don’t look at me,” Hal said, raising his hands in surrender.
“”Good luck sorting that out, Hal,”” Fieda and Ize chimed in unison, dumping the entire matter squarely on his shoulders without an ounce of hesitation.
Hal sighed. The discounts were, technically, to their benefit, so they shouldn’t complain. Still, the thoughts nagged at him — the question of what would happen to the other guests once they left, and whether they would be able to return to normal meals without feeling like something was missing, now that they had grown so accustomed to Etta’s cooking.