The Art of Gold Digging

Ch.45— Talks

She needed to kill Abaddon; it wasn't a question of whether she could do it or not. Even if there was a way to escape without killing him, she wouldn't take it.The death of Elias back on building B and the sacrifice of Libris both happened because she only tried running. The Goddess said that she could have surpassed this trial without killing her family, but she disagreed; she had to pass it like this… if she didn't, she would have never realized how weak her will actually was.

Amy's trial was now over, and so the group had finally collected one of the seven spheres to open the Library. The only thing left was for the others to do theirs.

She was currently in the black space; the previous copy of her hometown was now gone, replaced by a void and a single yellow door in front of her. Once she crossed it, she would go back to the "academy."

Her hand hovered over the brass handle of the yellow door, her other hand also raised, but this one was instead creating golden light; a barrier.

Before entering the trial, she had been pursued by a swarm of mini chaos creatures, including a very disgusting spider. Essentially, it meant that Abaddon had found a way past their defenses. Amy had the hypothesis that, rather than getting past them, the creatures were being directly created into the academy. However, that did not mean that during her stay in the trial, he hadn't managed to break in. If the barrier linked to Crow had failed, if the chaos creatures had overrun everyone—

The golden barrier solidified around her. It wasn't much. Her mana reserves were still not fully recovered, so she opted not to go overboard. It was better than nothing, though.

she thought, steeling herself.

Her grip on the handle tightened until her knuckles went white.

Her free hand moved to her satchel, fingers brushing Libris's damaged cover.

"I'm going back now," she whispered to the book. "I promised you I will deal with him… so make sure to sleep properly."

Libris didn't respond. Obviously.

Amy took a breath. Then another. Amy's eyes hardened. Her jaw set.

She pulled in one final breath.

Then she turned the handle.

The door swung open. Immediately after, light and cold air rushed to meet her. Amy squinted against the sudden brightness and put a little more power into the barrier.

It took maybe a few seconds before her eyes, which had been in the dark space, adjusted, and she could take in the scenery in front of her.

The hall with the seven doors, which had previously been literally full of bugs and spiders, was now frozen still… literally.

Everything was encased in ice; the walls, the floor, even the ceiling. The temperature had dropped so much that Amy could see her own breath misting in the air.

After focusing slightly, Amy noticed that inside the ice were the monsters that had pursued her earlier.

Actually, it wasn't just ice, but also some small cracks on the obsidian walls and huge craters on the ice that made Amy think that someone had been fighting here.

The craters must have been made by either Ash or Iris. Considering that Iris was the one who was fighting against the creatures before they separated, it probably was her.

By the look of things, they clearly won, but she couldn't be sure. At first view, the situation was not as bad as she feared, but that did not mean she could drop her guard.

First, she needed to make sure nothing or nobody was close—

Amy froze.

Her brow furrowed.

It was a very faint and almost inaudible sound that her brain had blocked for some reason, yet the moment it got a bit louder, she realized instantly that it had always been there.

Not even a second later, something brushed against her barrier.

Just barely.

Amy spun on her heel, golden light flaring as she snapped fully around, heart leaping into her throat—

"Miss Stake."

"Ahh!!!" Unintentionally, she yelped and took half a step back. "What the—"

Standing before her was a handsome black-haired boy with amber eyes.

Zayd.

He held a porcelain cup of tea in one hand. His other hand was raised in what might have been an apologetic gesture.

"I didn't mean to startle you, my apologies," he said, clearing his throat with an awkward chuckle that sounded a bit out of place coming from him.

Amy's barrier flickered but held. Her heart was still racing, but she forced herself to breathe normally.

"Zayd," she managed, her voice coming out more strained than she'd intended. "What—"

"I was resting," Zayd said as he lowered his hand. "Using my 'special' magic to conceal myself from potential dangers while I recovered some energy." He gestured vaguely at the frozen corridor around them. "Miss Lain and Miss Iris were quite thorough in their extermination, but I thought it prudent to remain unnoticed, just in case."

Amy looked around, then a feeling of relief traveled through her as she realized that her fears were unfounded—or at least mostly unfounded. While she had been gone, things hadn't developed in an unfavorable way, it seemed.

She let her barrier drop slightly, though she didn't dismiss it entirely. Her eyes tracked over Zayd's appearance more carefully now. He looked tired—genuinely tired. There were shadows under his eyes that she hadn't noticed before, and his posture was slightly slouched.

"Right," she said slowly, her mind still processing the situation.

Amy's eyes fell to the tea in his hand, making her raise a small brow.

Zayd seemed to notice her gaze on it. "I… sleep better with a cup in my hand."

"..."

Zayd ignored her confused gaze and took a sip. "I brought more in my storage ring. Do you perhaps want some? I believe you might need it."

After a few seconds, Amy finally responded. "I just ate." She said with a shake of her head. "Moreover, I kind of work better while tense. But thanks…"

"Interesting. For me it's the contrary; hot beverages help with my mental clarity. I thought I might need it for..." He paused, his head turning to one of the doors, the red one. "For my turn."

"Your turn?" Amy blinked, then realized a second later. "Oh, right. You are the next one..."

"Indeed." Zayd nodded while turning to Amy. "According to the plan we established, I was to follow second. I assume your trial was completed successfully?"

Amy's hand moved to her satchel, where the golden sphere rested. "Yeah. It's done." She said as she opened the satchel and showed the contents to the nodding Zayd.

"Then it's truly my turn now…" Zayd announced after a pause. His expression remained neutral, but there was a slight hesitation in his voice. He took another sip of tea, then looked at her with what might have been uncertainty. "I was waiting for you to return before entering. I wanted to ask," he paused again, seeming to choose his words carefully. "How mentally taxing was your trial? I haven't had a proper break in quite some time, and I'm uncertain if my current state is adequate for what lies ahead."

Amy stared at him for a moment, processing the question.

She thought about her own trial: the perfect village, the fake family, everything she had ever wished for. The weight of burning down everything she'd ever wanted, even knowing it wasn't real.

"It was..." She searched for the right word for a few seconds, until it suddenly popped into her mind by itself. "Easy," she said, her emotions for some reason turning sour.

Zayd's eyebrows rose slightly. "Easy?"

"Easy," Amy repeated, her voice neutral. She shifted her weight, adjusting her satchel. "It was only challenging because I was stupid enough to make it hard. Once I realized the answer, I knew that if I had been serious from the start, I probably could have finished it faster."

Zayd studied her for a long moment, his amber eyes searching her face. "Are you certain…?" It was hard to read the expression he currently had on his face, but Amy could tell there was some kind of emotion there.

"I'm certain," Amy responded, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"I see." Zayd took another sip of his tea before nodding. "I suppose that is to be expected then."

"What is?"

"The way you talked about the trial made it sound like you could be in there for hours. However, you only spent approximately twenty-five minutes inside."

Amy blinked. "What?"

"Twenty-five minutes," Zayd repeated. "Give or take a few seconds. I was monitoring the time carefully, as I needed to know when to prepare for my own turn."

Twenty-five minutes? The run through the village. The school. Lunch with Mira and the Goddess. Going home. Talking with her mother. Waiting for the right time. Setting everything up. The fire...

All of that had felt like hours. An entire day, at minimum. But it had only been half an hour.

She knew from the manga it was this way, but living it…

"By your reaction, I assume that from your perspective it was more."

Amy, having lost herself momentarily in her thoughts, was awoken by Zayd, who was looking at her with his head tilted and a questioning expression.

"Yeah." She replied after a beat. "It felt like an entire day…"

"I see," Zayd nodded.

Following his words, there was silence.

His gaze hadn't left her face, and the silence stretched uncomfortably long.

Amy shifted under the scrutiny. "Do you need something?" She finally said.

Zayd seemed to consider something as his fingers drummed lightly against his teacup. Finally, he spoke. "May I ask you a question?"

Something in his tone made Amy's guard go up immediately. "Depends on the question."

"During your trial," Zayd began slowly, seemingly choosing each word with care, "were there multiple paths available to you? Multiple ways to complete it?"

Amy's jaw tightened slightly, and her hand moved to her satchel. The Goddess's words echoed in her mind:

"Yes," she said after a pause. "There were other options."

"And do you believe you chose the correct path?"

Amy's eyes narrowed. "Why are you asking me this?"

Zayd didn't answer immediately. He took another slow sip of his tea, his expression unreadable. When he finally spoke, his voice had gone down a notch, making Amy have to focus to even hear.

"I have an idea of what my trial might entail," he said quietly. "And I wanted to understand... how you made your choice."

Amy furrowed her brows and tightened her grip on the satchel, yet she still responded. "I chose the path that would get me out fastest," she said bluntly. "Maybe it wasn't the 'correct' one by some moral standard. But it was the one I would take again." She paused, her guard still up. "That doesn't answer my question. Why does it matter to you?"

Zayd's fingers stilled on his teacup. He stared into the liquid for a long moment before responding.

"You said that the trial will be personalized based on what would hurt us most, right? Personally, I have always been a prisoner, Miss Stake." His voice was soft. "A prisoner of fate. Of my family. Of the path that was deemed 'correct' for someone like me." He looked up, meeting her eyes directly. "My entire life has been about making the right choices. Following the optimal path. Doing what was expected, what was necessary, what would yield the best outcome."

Amy watched him, saying nothing.

"The thing that would hurt me most is obvious…" Zayd continued, a bitter smile touching his lips. "The trial will no doubt present me with another 'correct' path. Another optimal choice." He paused. "I wish I could be like you."

Amy's eyebrow raised. "Like me?" She said with a voice tinged with doubt.

"Yes, like you. Someone who takes the path they desire," Zayd affirmed. "Not the path that's correct. Not the path that's optimal. Just... the path they want to walk. I'm so jealous of you, Miss Stake. Sometimes I wish I could gouge your eyes out and put them in myself so I could even see a fraction of what those see… Without a shadow of a doubt, you are the person I envy the most…"

Amy opened her mouth, then closed it. No words to respond came to her mind. Then again, how does someone respond to something like that?

Zayd seemed to sense her confusion and shook his head. "My apologies. I just woke up, and my mind is still a bit foggy." He straightened slightly, his composure returning. "What I'm trying to say is... the reason I'm here, in this nightmare, facing these trials—it's because I followed you."

"You followed me?"

"Yes," Zayd said with a toothless smile. "When I came to know of Crow's group's plan of coming here and your involvement in it... the logical, correct, and safe choice would have been to ignore it and not risk getting on the academy's bad side." He paused. "But I didn't want to make the correct choice anymore. For once in my life, I wanted to take the wrong path."

Amy stared at him, processing his words.

"I haven't told the others, but they probably already suspect it, considering the fact that they saw me using the Onyx magic while we were rushing towards the teleport. But I'm actually a member of the Tribe of Onyx."

Amy's eyes widened slightly, genuine surprise flickering across her features before she could suppress it. "You're telling me this?"

It wasn't that she was shocked by the information itself; she'd known about Zayd's connection to the Tribe of Onyx for a while now. But for him to actually say it out loud when they both knew how dangerous that knowledge could be...

Zayd observed her reaction, then his expression shifted into something that might have been amusement. "You already knew, didn't you?"

Amy hesitated. Her hand tightened on her satchel strap. After a moment, she nodded slowly. "Yeah. I knew."

"I suspected as much, although part of me wished you didn't." Zayd nodded, seemingly unbothered. "How did you find out? Was it your ability?"

"Not exactly." Amy shifted her weight, considering how much to reveal. Then again, he'd just trusted her with his biggest secret. The least she could do was be a bit honest about this. "I learned it by chance. My book showed me... while I was using it." She paused, then added more quietly, "It was the same day we had that tea party, actually."

Zayd's eyebrows rose fractionally. "So you've known since then."

"Yeah."

"And you didn't report me to the academy, or maybe even the royal crown… Why?"

"I… don't know?"

Amy's fingers fidgeted around the strap of her satchel as her brain worked on overdrive.

"I…" Amy started, then stopped herself. She let out a quiet breath and gazed at the ground, a bit embarrassed. "I guess I trusted you weren't with them because your motives aligned, but rather because it was the only path that would get you what you want… Essentially, I don't think you are our enemy…"

Zayd blinked. A beat of silence passed between them. Then he let out a soft breath that might have been a laugh. "I see. That's... unexpectedly considerate of you, Miss Stake."

Amy's jaw tightened. "I didn't expect you to actually tell me," she said, bringing her eyes back to his face. "Why now?"

Zayd's expression grew more serious. Amy realized his teacup had disappeared sometime during their conversation. When he looked back at her, there was something vulnerable in his eyes that she'd never seen before.

"I just wanted you to know that I trust your judgment. Even if—especially if—it leads us down paths that aren't 'correct.' I wasn't sure what to make of you, but that ability that defies fate itself, as well as you as a person, have shown me that the thing that I have always dreamed of might be something attainable as long as I stay by your side."

Amy opened her mouth. Her mind scrambled for words, but nothing came, because the truth was simple: she'd only been good at disappointing.

"Zayd, I..." Amy started, then stopped. She looked away, jaw working. "You should know that historically, I'm really bad at this. Meeting expectations, I mean. People who put their faith in me usually end up disappointed."

Not her parents', not Mira's, not Libris, not even her own half the time. The idea that Zayd was placing his trust in her to somehow guide them all to freedom… If it was just her special ability she could understand, but her… It made her want to laugh. Or maybe throw up. Hard to tell which.

"I'm not whatever you think I am," she continued, her voice flat. "I just do what I think will keep us alive. That's it. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't."

Zayd studied her for a long moment. Then, wordlessly, he smiled. It was a very fake smile.

"Either way, I have a request," he said after a pause. "Once things calm down, I'd like to ask something from you."

Amy blinked, caught a bit off guard, but she soon nodded a bit hesitantly. "If it's reasonable and within my power, then yeah, sure."

Zayd nodded, then reached into his coat. When his hand emerged, he was holding something small and circular—a compass, maybe? No, not quite. It was made of dark metal with strange symbols etched into its surface, and it pulsed with a faint amber glow.

"Take this," he said, offering it to her. "It's a concealment artifact. Similar to what I used to hide myself just now. Once activated, it will mask your presence from detection—visual, magical, or otherwise. The effect lasts for approximately twenty minutes before needing to recharge and only works with one person."

Amy took the artifact carefully, turning it over in her palm. It was warm to the touch. "You're just... giving this to me?"

"I only use it in emergency cases when I'm out of mana. Considering our current circumstances, you probably need it more than I do," Zayd replied. "The path back to where the others are waiting isn't safe. Those chaos creatures may be frozen now, but more could appear at any moment." He paused. "Besides, I suspect you'll need every advantage you can get for what comes next."

Amy's fingers closed around the artifact. She looked up at him, making sure there was no hesitation in his posture before taking it.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

Zayd inclined his head. "No need for gratitude, Miss Stake. Just... try not to die while I'm occupied with my trial. It would be extremely inconvenient."

Despite everything, the exhaustion, Amy felt her lips twitch slightly. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I ask."

Zayd turned toward the red door. His hand moved to the handle, then paused. He glanced back over his shoulder one last time.

"Miss Stake?"

"Yeah?"

"Good luck," Zayd said quietly.

Amy met his eyes and nodded. "You too."

Without another word, Zayd turned the handle and pushed the red door open. No matter how much she tried, Amy could not see what was beyond; only the dark was visible.

Zayd looked back one more time before stepping through with an erratic step.

The door closed behind him with a soft click, and then he was gone.

Amy stood alone in the frozen hallway, staring at the red door for a moment longer. Then she turned away, adjusting her satchel and checking that the concealment artifact was secure in her pocket.

-————-　■　-————-

The hallways were empty.

Amy's footsteps echoed against the ice-covered halls, and she found herself walking more carefully, even though the artifact should have been masking her presence completely.

The frozen chaos creatures were still there, embedded in ice along the walls and ceiling. Lain and Iris had been thorough. Very thorough.

But the silence bothered her.

Amy's hand moved to her satchel. Her fingers brushed Libris's cover through the fabric. The book was still warm, still sleeping.

She kept walking.

Still no movement. No sound except her own breathing.

Amy's paranoia spiked. Her pace quickened slightly. And soon something came into view. It was something that, paradoxically to its nature, made Amy's guard drop.

Her pace faltered, and her heartbeat slowed. Her paranoia might have actually been just that, paranoia.

Ice barriers crisscrossed the hallway in layers, each one marked with crude warning signs carved into ice. "CAREFUL, TRAPS AHEAD," read one. "TURN BACK IF YOU VALUE YOUR ORGANS," read another in what was probably Iris's handwriting, judging by how badly written it was and the small, crude drawing of a stick figure being impaled.

Beyond the barriers, Amy could see the actual traps. Stone skewers jutted from the floor. Some were positioned at ankle height, others at chest level. A few hung from the ceiling like stalactites.

Amy navigated through it carefully, her concealment artifact still active. She stepped over tripwires, ducked under hanging blades of ice, and squeezed through gaps in the barriers, sometimes even using her ability just in case there was something she missed.

As she neared the actual entrance to the base—the room where they'd set up their defensive position and where Crow was linked to the main door—she heard voices.

"—ridiculous! You can't just say things like that!"

"Why not? It's true."

"It is NOT true!"

"Lyra, your face is literally the color of a tomato right now."

"That's because I'm ANGRY, not because—ugh! You're impossible!"

Amy rounded the final barrier and found the source of the argument.

Ash and Lyra stood at the entrance, positioned like guards, though neither of them looked particularly vigilant at the moment. Ash was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a grin on his face. Lyra, meanwhile, stood opposite him with her arms wrapped around herself defensively and her cheeks indeed quite red.

"I'm just saying," Ash continued, clearly enjoying himself, "you've been hovering over him like a mother hen ever since we got here. Checking his pulse every five minutes, adjusting his position, making sure he's 'comfortable'—"

"He's missing an ENTIRE ARM," Lyra snapped. "Of course I'm making sure he's comfortable! That's called basic human decency, not—not whatever you're implying!"

"I'm not implying anything," Ash said innocently. "I'm stating an observable fact. You have a massive, obvious, completely transparent cru—"

"Ash, I swear to the Goddess—"

Amy cleared her throat.

Both of them jumped, spinning around with varying levels of alarm. Ash had his hand raised while Lyra's healing light flickered to life around her fingers.

Then they saw it was her, and the tension broke with a collective exhale.

"Amy!" Lyra's expression shifted immediately from wariness to surprise. "Thank the Goddess, you're back. How did it go? Are you hurt? Did you—" She stopped herself, seeming to remember something. "Did you see Lain and Iris on your way? They went to clear out your section after all the creatures started appearing."

Amy shook her head. "I saw the aftermath. A lot of frozen bugs. Some craters. They did good work." She paused. "But no, I didn't see them. Probably missed them while I was occupied."

"I see." Lyra nodded, then seemed to examine Amy profoundly. "And how are you? You returned super fast. Did you complete the trial?"

"I'm fine, and yeah, I did it."

"Fine, huh?" Ash pushed off from the wall, his smile fading. "That's one way to describe it. You look pretty bad."

"Ash…" Lyra hissed.

"What?" Ash looked confused for a moment before opening his eyes slightly in understanding. "Calm down, I don't mean it in a rude way. I'm just saying she looks damn bad, like baaad..." He gestured at Amy's face.

Amy felt her eye twitch. She had no time for this. "The trial's done. That's all that matters."

"Right, right."

"Either way, what happened while I was gone?"

Ash's expression grew slightly more serious as he seemed to recall. "Things got a bit hairy while you were gone, but we managed. Zayd, with his divination, protected us from ambushes, and Lain basically turned this entire section into a frozen fortress. Meanwhile, Iris and I..." He let out a low whistle. "Let's just say the chaos creatures learned why you don't mess with someone who can punch through solid obsidian. Lyra was there too, I guess."

Lyra stared at Ash with an annoyed face but didn't comment, just made sure to show her clear displeasure at the last comment.

"So…" Amy said after a pause. "You won easily then?"

"Relatively speaking? Yeah." Ash scratched the back of his head. "There were a lot more of those things than we expected. Small ones, mostly. Like the barrier's filtering out the big ones but letting the tiny bastards through somehow." He paused. "Zayd had some theory about it before he went into hiding. Something about size-based penetration limits? I wasn't really paying attention."

Lyra shot him a look. "You should have been paying attention. Understanding how they're getting in could be crucial for—"

"Lyra, I was busy setting up spike traps. Division of labor."

"You mean you were being lazy—"

"I mean, I was using my talents efficiently—"

Amy sighed, then finally relaxed. It seemed that things really did go well in her absence. She really was worrying for nothing. These were the protagonists after all, all way more resourceful and useful than she was. She should probably trust them more.

As Ash and Lyra continued bickering, Amy tuned them out, her gaze drifting past them toward the entrance to the main chamber. She could see the glow of more ice structures inside, the carefully arranged defensive positions, the—

A question suddenly popped up.

"Is Crow still...?" She trailed off, not quite sure how to finish the question. Still unconscious? Still serving as their meat shield?

"Oh!" Lyra's face brightened immediately, then, seeing Ash give her a victorious grin, she flushed. "Actually, that's—I mean, he's—" She seemed to struggle with the words for a moment. "He has indeed woken up."

Amy blinked, her face clearly asking for more information.

"He was pretty out of it at first," Lyra added quickly. "Confused about where he was, what had happened." Her expression grew pained. "We explained everything, and he took it surprisingly well, all things considered. Better than I would have if someone told me I'd been subjected to some kind of ritual while unconscious."

"That's because Crow's a closet doormat," Ash said cheerfully. "No offense to our resident hero, but the guy would probably thank you for stabbing him if you had a good enough reason."

"That's not—" Lyra started to protest, then seemed to deflate slightly. "Okay, maybe there's some truth to that. But still! He's being very understanding about the whole thing."

Amy's fingers tightened slightly on her satchel strap. "Where is he now?"

"Where we left him, next to the Academy's main door," Lyra said, gesturing toward the main chamber. "Resting, mostly. We told him to stay still since the ritual is still active, but he's been awake for about..." She glanced at Ash.

"Twenty minutes? Maybe ten?" Ash shrugged. "I don't have a clock, so dunno."

"Right." Amy nodded, already moving past them. "If you need me, I'll be over there resting; my mana is a bit lacking."

"Oh, wait—Amy?" Lyra called after her.

Amy paused, looking back.

Lyra's expression had shifted to something more hesitant. "He, um... he asked if you could talk to him. When you got back, I mean. He said it was important."

Amy's stomach tightened inexplicably. "Important how?"

"He didn't say." Lyra bit her lip. "But he seemed pretty insistent about it. I think..." She trailed off, then added more quietly, "Maybe he wants to thank you and your book for saving us…?"

"Or yell at you for using him as bait," Ash added helpfully. "Fifty-fifty odds, really."

Amy's jaw tightened slightly. She didn't particularly want to deal with either possibility right now. But she also couldn't avoid it forever.

"Right," she said after a moment. "I'll talk to him."

Before she could even take a step, Lyra's hand held her arm.

Amy raised a questioning brow.

Lyra looked troubled, but she finally spoke.

"Just… be careful with him. Alright? He's gone through a lot."

Amy stared at Lyra's sad expression and then at Ash, who was biting his lips hard.

Eventually, she nodded and finally stepped past the two and entered the main chamber.

The room was exactly as she'd left it, minus the additions of more ice barriers and defensive structures. Crow lay in the same position near the Academy's main door, still shirtless, the glowing red lines of the ritual circle pulsing faintly across his skin in rhythm with a heartbeat.

But his eyes were open now.

They stared at nothing in particular—not the ceiling, not the walls, just... somewhere distant.

He didn't track her movement as she approached. Didn't react at all until she was standing right beside him.

Amy found herself slowing despite her best efforts to maintain a steady pace. She stopped a few feet away, adjusting her satchel one more time out of nervous habit.

"Crow?"

His eyes shifted toward her, the movement sluggish. When he spoke, his voice came out flat and hoarse, like he'd been screaming for hours.

"...You're back." It wasn't a greeting. Just a statement of fact, delivered without a single tiny bit of energy.

Amy stared at him. Her hand moved to Libris through the fabric of her satchel.

The silence stretched uncomfortably. Crow's gaze had already drifted away from her face, back to staring at nothing.

"You wanted to talk with me…?" Amy managed to finally say.

"...Yeah." Crow faintly nodded; the word came out barely above a whisper. "I do."