SAAE 37

Chapter 37

“Wow, it really suits you.”

The ring was already pretty, but once it settled on Ishael’s hand, it looked even prettier.

As I admired it from every angle, Ishael avoided my gaze. He seemed embarrassed.

I thrust my hand forward and demanded,

“Hold out your hand for a second.”

“…Why?”

“Why do you think? I’m going to explain how to use it.”

“……”

Only then did Ishael obediently extend his hand.

I lightly tapped the gem set into the ring on his ring finger twice.

At once, light burst out from the red gem, and the ring transformed into a gauntlet.

It was a metal gauntlet with a red gem embedded on the back of the hand.

There were studs on the knuckle area.

If you punched something while wearing that, wouldn’t it be possible to kill a monster in one blow?

“See? If you tap the gem set into the ring twice, it turns into a gauntlet like this.”

As I explained, I pointed at the gem embedded on the back of the gauntlet.

“And if you tap this twice again, it turns back into a ring. Simple, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Try it.”

Following my instructions, Ishael tapped the gem twice.

The gauntlet immediately reverted back into a ring.

“Well done.”

I smiled brightly and praised him.

Ishael cleared his throat softly and looked away, pretending nothing was wrong.

What a shy kid.

After that, we settled down in a suitably secluded spot.

The plan was to rest here for a bit and then move on to the next floor.

Since we’d taken the pendant necklace that allowed spatial movement, the fakes shouldn’t be able to chase us this far.

We intended to recover as much stamina as possible here.

I spread a blanket on the ground.

Then I sat down on it and patted the spot next to me, calling out to Ishael.

“Ishael, come sit here too.”

Ishael walked over without complaint and sat beside me, then asked casually.

He seemed unfamiliar with the feel of the ring on his finger, fiddling with it using his thumb.

“Will the location of the door be the same as before?”

“Probably. But I asked the eldest to check and make sure.”

Since it came to mind, I told the eldest to go confirm where the door was.

The eldest nodded and immediately moved.

‘Finally, I can breathe…’

I’d recalled my memories, avoided the traps, and safely collected all the useful items.

Once that was done, maybe because I felt relieved, all my energy drained away.

“Does this blanket have some special function too?”

“Ah, yeah. It has a warming effect.”

“I had no idea there were such useful items hidden on this floor.”

“Well, that’s because…”

Because I took everything.

‘I handed it all out to Leonard and the others, though.’

There was no sucker quite like me.

I’d even given this blanket to Leonard.

Leonard had given it to Ariana.

Still, Ariana at least had some decency—she always generously shared a corner of the blanket with me.

So memories came back of lying side by side on the blanket with Ariana, trying to sleep.

‘We did get along pretty well, at least.’

…Thinking about it now was pointless.

Sighing softly, I cleared my mind.

At that moment, Ishael, who had been staring at me, suddenly reached out and gently rubbed my cheek.

“…Why?”

“There’s blood on you.”

Ah.

Now that I thought about it, we’d been fighting the fakes fiercely just a short while ago.

We’d been running around nonstop, so I hadn’t noticed, but now that we’d paused, other things finally came into view.

I was a mess, but Ishael was no better.

After the bloody battle with the fakes, we were both covered head to toe in black blood.

Our clothes were torn and in shambles.

“…Hey, Ishael. I dragged you around without thinking, didn’t I? I’m sorry.”

I suddenly felt bad for pulling him along without any explanation.

“Not really.”

Ishael shook his head.

“As long as you found everything you wanted, that’s enough.”

The words were calm, but full of consideration for me.

My past self, blinded by greed, felt even more embarrassing now.

When I thought about how I could take all the items I’d handed out to Leonard’s group, my eyes had practically rolled back in my head…

“Wait a second. I definitely packed a few handkerchiefs…”

I took two handkerchiefs out of my bag and handed one to Ishael.

After roughly wiping our faces and hands, we each ate a bean.

“Let’s change clothes now.”

I rummaged through my bag and laid out some clothes.

Just like the handkerchiefs, these were things I’d grabbed earlier from Ishael’s dressing room.

“You even brought spare clothes?”

“Of course.”

What do you take me for?

Ishael made a helpless expression.

“Pick something you like.”

They’re all your clothes, anyway.

After openly showing off, I stood up, clothes in hand.

“Um…”

“What is it?”

Before I could hesitate awkwardly, Ishael reacted.

“It’s nothing, really. It just doesn’t look like there’s a good place to change here.”

“Oh.”

“Well, I guess I can change behind that pillar over there.”

As I started walking toward the pillar, Ishael suddenly sprang to his feet.

“Ah! You scared me!”

I screamed without meaning to.

Ishael muttered a quick “Sorry,” then continued.

“If we separate, who knows what might happen. Just change here.”

“…Here?”

“Yeah. I’ll turn around.”

With that, Ishael immediately turned his back.

I stared blankly at his back for a moment, then snapped out of it and quickly changed clothes.

“I’m done!”

Ishael glanced back at me, then reached out to pick up his clothes.

“…You too.”

“Huh?”

Without even meeting my eyes as I tilted my head in confusion, he said,

“You turn around and close your eyes too.”

“Oh, right.”

So that’s what he meant.

I quickly turned away and closed my eyes.

Soon, I heard the rustling sound of fabric brushing together.

‘Wow… this is kind of embarrassing.’

I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter.

A little while later, the eldest returned after confirming the door’s location.

Now we could finally rest in peace.

I flopped down onto the ground.

“Ishael, you lie down too.”

Ishael had his elbows resting on his knees, fiddling with the ring on his left ring finger with his thumb.

His gaze was fixed on the ring.

‘Looks like he really likes it.’

He acted like he didn’t, but he’s pretty pleased, isn’t he?

I felt secretly satisfied.

Ishael glanced down at me and shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Lie down. Who knows when we’ll get to rest this comfortably again?”

“I said I’m fine— …Ha, okay.”

After resisting a bit, Ishael finally lay down.

He should’ve done that from the start.

We lay side by side on the blanket, staring blankly into space.

‘Why did we end up moving here, of all places?’

This trial recreates a person’s most painful memory…

The answer came quickly.

‘Maybe the moment I was offered up as a sacrifice and trapped in this tower was the most horrific memory for me.’

Thinking about it, that was true.

The first floor was where I’d recalled my memories of my past life.

It was also the place where I realized this world was inside a book.

Here, I realized that the people I’d loved, the ones I thought were my family, had never actually been my family to begin with.

I came to the bone-deep realization that everything had been nothing more than a roleplay, an illusion.

In that sense, compared to the third floor where I’d been abandoned by my companions, this first floor was far worse in many ways.

‘Well, still, thanks to it, I got my hands on a ton of items…’

All the better.

Of course, I never expected to come back to the first floor, so I was horrified at first.

But tricks at this level weren’t enough to break my resolve to survive this tower.

“By the way, what’s up with that one? It’s been acting weird for a while.”

Ishael suddenly asked.

I turned my gaze from the empty air I’d been staring at and looked at Ishael. He was looking at the third one.

“Did it break from overusing magic?”

“…What?”

Broken? What was he talking about all of a sudden?

I quickly got up to take a look, and sure enough, the third one really was moving strangely.

For some reason, the third one was squirming and loitering around in front of us