Dungeon Clear

Our dungeon advance shifted to a new strategy: I'd ride on Narikin's back and unleash spells nonstop.

I no longer had MP regen from the [Divine Bedding], but thanks to all the practice, my raw MP pool was enormous.

[Elemental Burst] only burned about as much as six low-tier spells, so natural regen could keep up just fine.

Stamina, on the other hand, was another matter.

Luckily, Narikin's back turned out to be surprisingly stable and comfortable, which was a real lifesaver.

"Oi oi, how many shots is that now?"

"Firing off [Judgment Ray] in rapid succession like that, she's gotta be an envoy of the gods!"

"Don't tell me she's a hidden second Saintess… or something!?"

"Nah, she's gotta be a Saintess Candidate who specialized in magic. With more stamina, this would've gone differently."

That was close. If I'd shown up in the Divine Pajamas, with my HP regenerating and able to keep moving freely, they might've started calling me the True Saintess.

Yeah, leaving the Divine Pajamas behind really was the right call.

"Speaking of which, Kyou-sama, isn't using [Judgment Ray] on traps a bit overkill?"

"It's the fastest way. You don't have to copy me, though."

"Indeed, Saintess Alka. Whatever Kyou-dono says is correct."

"I didn't go that far, Narikin."

Narikin, listen, if you're going to be Pope, you ought to watch your mouth on stuff like that.

He's the head of the Church of the Light God, after all. The top guy mindlessly going along with some woman of unknown origin would be a bad look.

"Isn't Narikin-sama treasuring Kyou-chan a bit too much?"

"Well, she is his de facto wife."

"Even as Pope, he ought to treasure his wife. High marks from me."

I'm not his wife, dammit, how many times do I have to say it!!

"Wait? Could it be that… Kyou-sama is… actually the Light God's avatar!?"

"…!! No, but… her stamina… and yet, the math checks out…!"

"Right, stamina is something you can fake all you want. But that inexhaustible mana…!"

"At the very least, she has to be something at or above an Apostle of the Light God…!?"

Oi oi, surely not…

Wait, no, that one was actually weirdly on the mark. Come to think of it, I'm a Hero, so by Holy Kingdom standards, "Apostle of the Gods" wasn't technically a wrong way to put it.

"Alka-dono? Why do you look so smug?"

"Ufufu, Narikin-sama. There's no way I wouldn't be happy that our Kyou-sama is being recognized by everyone."

"I see. A fair point."

"You guys… I belong to me, got it? Not to either of you!? …Whoops, [Judgment Ray]."

From Narikin's back, I cut down a Lizardman that had come out up ahead.

Around here, Rokuko had apparently skimped: the monsters placed in this section just had a coat of red paint slapped on and were actually weak.

In fact, just between us, Rokuko had pinged me a slightly grumpy comm: "They'll go down in one shot from [Elemental Burst] anyway, so I cut corners. Drop 'em in one hit so it doesn't get exposed."

For the stream's sake too, taking them out in a single overwhelming blow per Rokuko's request was the right call, so the weakness wouldn't show.

Incidentally, the reason for her grumpiness: "It pisses me off that the conquest is going so smoothly, but Kehma marrying the Saintess, even if it's only a sham, would be weird, so I'll let it slide. Tch!" Apparently.

"Fufufu, Kyou-sama, your first-person pronoun has fully shifted to ore now. Nothing makes me happier than seeing that you've opened up to us."

"Mm. Truly, Kyou-dono should be like this!"

"You guys??"

Aren't you two getting along great? Why don't you marry each other? Huh?

"Kyou-chan's surprisingly foul-mouthed and I love it."

"Looks like a young wife but a top-tier adventurer on the inside, that's the ideal wife, no?"

"I wanna get married too… but being the Saintess's spouse is way too much for me, I couldn't."

"You wouldn't get picked in the first place! Don't get cocky, dumbass!"

"You guys???"

Maybe they were already locked into a positive-feedback loop, the kind where if someone you like says they like something, you like it too, because the stream viewers seemed to be on board with literally anything at this point.

In any case, the dungeon conquest progressed smoothly, and by the afternoon of the second day, we'd reached the door of what looked to be the final boss room.

"Kyou-chan dozing off peacefully on Narikin-sama's back was so cute!"

"Yeah, on a nonstop run she said it'd just be a power nap, but she went full-on out cold."

"Even inside a dungeon she can feel safe — you get that she's protected by her husband's love, right? Isn't that beautiful?"

So I let one little stretch of the all-nighter catch up with me, and this is what I get!!

"Hey Narikin, did I say anything weird in my sleep?"

"Not at all. I muted the audio just in case."

"We made proper progress while you were resting too, Kyou-sama. Please be grateful."

"…Thanks."

If you'd been clearing things properly without dragging your feet, you could've finished the dungeon before I even got here, I thought, but I gave them my thanks anyway.

Incidentally, neither Narikin nor Saintess Alka seemed to have slept. Narikin being a Living Armor was obvious enough, but apparently Alka, being used to solo conquests, could shrug off a three-day all-nighter like it was nothing.

What is up with that. From Beddhism's perspective, these two were a deeply concerning pair.

(Incidentally, the viewers had apparently rotated through within the day, thanks to advance ticketing.)

That said, for the sake of the dungeon conquest, that worked out fine.

"If this is the lowest floor, we'll make it within the month, won't we?"

"All that's left is beating the boss. Can you do it?"

"I'd really like a short break. Just one day will do, won't you have tea with me?"

"You can rest for one hour."

If we waited a full day, we'd be dancing right on the edge of the deemed-marriage threshold.

I'm not into playing chicken.

"Oh? Kyou-sama, I half expected you to say something like, I'll go alone, no break needed, you two wait here."

"…Oh. There's that option."

The stream wouldn't get any payoff out of it, but it did occur to me that I could just go solo the boss myself.

If I remembered right, the boss should be a plain Dragon. In that case, even I could take it down alone.

Not to brag, but my magic packs cruel firepower against your average Dragon.

"All right, I'm heading out for a bit…"

"Please wait. Even for you, Kyou-sama, charging an unknown boss alone would be unwise."

"Indeed. With Alka-dono along, even a worst-case scenario would be fine. …Ah, no, wait, this is a trial, isn't it? Would that count as a failure?"

"Wouldn't it be all right? The trial is to clear the dungeon while taking me along, but it's not as though I have to be with you all the way to the end. Although, of course, my heart's only desire is to be with you all the way to the end."

I see.

Now that she mentioned it, that meant I didn't actually have to protect the Saintess, which got me thinking maybe I should just kill her now and send her home ahead of us.

"Well, before the break, let's peek into the boss room. The boss might be the type that just stands there waiting."

"Right. If it's waiting, we can plan strategy while we rest."

So we cracked the boss room door open just a little and peered inside.

In there was a Dragon —

— and very clearly not a normal one. A black-and-white Dragon was waiting for us.