Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 172 - New Personal Best

172: New Personal Best

172: New Personal Best

With hasted footsteps, I approached Aradine by the door, trailing her through it into a concrete chamber similar to the room we had just come from.

At the same time, my heart was beating fast.

‘Where are we going?

She said she received my message, and it looked like she believed me, so why are we going away from the Protagonist’s body…?’

Part of me was relieved that she didn’t execute me and rather seemed to trust my word, but more of me was concerned and confused at what was going on.

That was until I spotted what lay in the centre of the room.

‘A flower…?’

In a similar fashion to the first room with the Protagonist, this room contained a small pedestal in the middle, and sitting atop it, a glass case.

Other than the cylindrical shape, this one was different in almost every way from the long tube; it didn’t stretch all the way to the ceiling, it wasn’t filled with any magical purple liquid, and it didn’t have any extra tubes or wires connected to it.

Instead, all it contained was a single, golden flower.

Rather, the head of the flower was golden, but each of the countless petals that surrounded it were not, all seeming to have been plucked from various different flowers and sewn onto one through magic, or perhaps alchemy.

Of course, I wasn’t a botanist, so I couldn’t tell which petal was from which flower, and I couldn’t even be sure if they were natural or non-magical flowers in the first place considering the faint aura they emitted, but it’s not like that mattered.

Seeing that flower, the immediate response was an image of the Protagonist’s eye appearing in my mind.

“This is her heart.”

Before I could even ask what it was, the answer was given to me.

Glancing between Aradine and the flower, which all of a sudden appeared infinitely more delicate after those words, I cautiously asked.

“So, if that flower dies, that means she will, too…?”

“‘Tis certainly so.”

Saying that, she approached the case, placing her hand on it gently.

And, with a brief pause, she turned her head halfway to me.

“…I shall spare thee the prattle.

Only, were there a message thou couldst impart to others, it would be to not delve so deep into the forbidden as I.”

“I can do that…

Sure.”

I didn’t need to enquire any further as to what she meant.

Of course, the creation of artificial life was a common taboo topic even on Earth, and especially back in the days when alchemy was a real branch of study, or at least more so than nowadays.

‘Homunculi themselves are things that were never supposed to exist…’

If there was ever truly a valid reason for a world to end due to the Protagonist’s existence, I imagine this could be one such case.

An event where some higher being, furious that the taboo had been excavated from the deep depths and brought to light, decided to erase it all as punishment.

”Curiosity burned too bright like the sun…

and extinguished in like manner’.’

For some reason, I couldn’t help but feel that Aradine was more than just a little familiar with punishments revolving around the taboo.

Perhaps that was why she didn’t seem at all taken aback by this turn of events.

Maybe, from the very beginning, she knew something like this was bound to happen, and she was simply waiting for the time to come when she would have no choice but to go through it…

or else face the consequences.

“…”

“Now.

‘Tis time for thee to wilt, mine child.”

Either way, my time here―

[The Protagonist, ‘Aella, the Beloved’, has been dispatched.]

―Was officially over.

In a fashion incomparably faster than the first time, I had cleared my second 3-star Contract.

Less than five days, or at least five days’ worth of hours had passed since I accepted it, though that was only a rough estimate since I could only know that by keeping track of how many times I slept, but anyway.

‘I don’t think I’ll be beating a PB like that for a long time…’

It was faster than both of the 2-star Contracts I had done prior to this, and frankly, it wasn’t even close.

Almost in the realm of 1-star, even.

‘If I didn’t waste so much time and just talked to her properly on the first day, I probably could have been done with it then and there.’

Although, it was thanks to me spending some time here that I could increase my Spiritual Synergism, so I suppose it wasn’t entirely a waste of time.

‘Oh right, I also have the Holy Sword’s spirit now, don’t I…?

I’ll need to check that out when I return.’

Before I left, though, there was one final thing I wanted to ask.

“Can I ask you one last thing?”

Calling out to Aradine, who seemed to stand solemnly by the case of the wilted flower, now depressed, blackened and just dead, I watched her slowly face me.

“Ask.”

Nodding, I took a second to think about how to say it, then opened my mouth.

“Because my body can’t produce magic energy on its own, do you know any way I would be able to quickly generate or gain a lot of it?”

“…Alchemy would be thy ally.

Concoctions, elixirs, mere consumption of ingredients.

It shall naturally enter thy body.”

‘Ah…

So, mana potions, then.’

That wasn’t anything I didn’t already know, but it was worth a shot.

Thanking her briefly, I took a final look around the place, but of course, there was nothing I could take with me, souvenir or otherwise, and so I simply said.

‘Librarian.

Bring me back to Earth, I need to check something.’

[Yessir~!

Congratulations, Enki!]

With the same enthusiastic voice as always, the world around me distorted, and I shortly appeared back in my room.

Without wasting any time, I summoned my smartphone.

Of course, I already knew what the date and time was since I was keeping track in the Illusory World, and it was good to be back earlier than I had even initially aimed for, but there was one thing in particular I hadn’t been able to get out of my mind since before.

More precisely, ever since my talk with Leinth.

Because I obviously have no internet connection or data available when I’m in the middle of a Contract, I was unable to keep an eye on it there, but now that I’m back…

“Let’s see…

No, shit, I knew it…!”

My face naturally grimaced when I saw the news.

[World’s First Tenth Floor Clear!]

I only needed to read the first part of the article’s title to realise what happened.

‘…I think I’ve seriously delayed it enough.

Before things get any worse, I’ll have to go.’

After all this time, I knew I couldn’t postpone it further.

Deciding I would have no choice but to go to the Tower myself, I resolved to finally apply for a Challenger identification card.

‘Before that, I should quickly sort through the Contract rewards…’

And so, dismissing my phone, I hurriedly entered the Library.

Although I had been going at it pretty relaxedly until now, I knew I couldn’t afford myself that luxury any more.