Arthur’s New Power

Whaaaat? What were they even talking about? These two? There was no way he could know the answer.

Even as they looked at him with eyes full of expectation, Arthur was panicking like crazy inside; after all, he was not the Holy King.

Arthur, who only had healing abilities, could not think of any solution at all; but what would happen if he just said, “I have absolutely no idea”? Remembering how Lancelot used to get into a foul mood in his previous life, Arthur broke out in a cold sweat.

“For now, why don’t I just test what this magma stuff is like?”

He wondered if, since he did not feel pain and could heal as he went, he might be able to just swim across it… and it was at the moment he tried to stick his right foot into the magma.

“Lord Arthur!? Are you in your right mind? You’ll melt instantly!!”

Lancelot, who had been watching him with a somewhat testing air until then, rushed over and grabbed him back—and as he did, one of his hidden knives slipped free and fell, vanishing with a sharp hiss.

If even metal ended up like that, then a frail human like Arthur would be dissolved in an instant.

“What the—this is insane!!”

“What in the world are you thinking!! If you fell into the magma, even you, Lord Arthur, might be forced to repeat regeneration and destruction forever, suffering without end!”

Seeing Lancelot so unusually shaken, Arthur realized he had really done something awful; if he admitted he had just been wondering, “Maybe I can swim in it?”, his approval rating would plummet and he would probably be abandoned on the spot.

When he looked to Miranda for help, she nodded as if to say, I understand exactly what you’re doing.

“Sir Lancelot… do you truly not understand?”

“Huh?”

“Was Lord Arthur not just now testing your loyalty?”

“Wha… that knife just now… I see… You were testing whether I would truly save you. You are telling us that the trials to come will be so difficult that the three of us will only be able to clear them by combining our strength, is that right?”

“Uh… yeah.”

Lancelot looked at him as if he had grasped everything, and Arthur could not help but nod.

But inside, he was in a total panic.

‘So Lancelot was testing me after all… and besides, I still had absolutely no idea how we were supposed to get through this…’

He wondered if he had anything that might help, but all he had on him were some cookies and the magic stone Morgan had forced on him.

Hm? Wait a second. Then Arthur realized one idea: what if he used Morgan’s magic to freeze this magma stuff solid?

It was a long shot either way. The thought crossed his mind that the magma might simply be hotter, but when it came to healing magic, he was a specialist; in the battle against the Army of the Dead, he had mastered a new way of using healing magic.

“Leave it to me. I’ll open a path for us.”

“Ohh, as expected of Lord Arthur!!”

“Leave the monsters to me. Next time, I will most certainly defeat them.”

With both of their gazes fixed on him, ice magic burst forth from the magic stone in Arthur’s hand; for a brief instant, the magma cooled and froze—but the moment it looked like the magma would swallow the ice back up—

“Come onnn, heal already!!”

Arthur directed his healing magic not at a person, but at the ice created by the magic stone; receiving his mana, the ice gradually grew larger, stretching out until it reached the chamber where the Fruit of Plenty trees were growing.

Yes—ever since healing the golden wheat, Arthur had wondered: if he could heal things that possessed mana, then couldn’t he also heal magic itself?

It was an idea that ignored all common sense, but it was a reckless technique only he could pull off, because when it came to healing, he believed in his own talent completely.

“This is… a road of ice… just like in the legends… In that case, I shall trust my own partner as well—just like the first chieftain!! Crimson Arrow!!”

“Grrrrruuuuu!!”

The moment Miranda blew her flute, Crimson Arrow scooped up all three of them and sped along the ice road; even while Arthur was concentrating, a lava fiend clambered up onto the frozen path, melting the ice as it came toward them.

“I will not allow you to go any further.”

What followed was a beautiful flash of silver; Lancelot’s sword cleanly severed the lava fiend’s leg, sending it tumbling back down into the lava below. He could not defeat it outright, but this was more than enough to halt its advance.

As a genius swordsman, he had discerned the lava fiend’s center of gravity with a single strike.

When the three of them finally arrived safely, they found countless trees growing there, bearing rainbow-colored fruit.

“This is… could it be, a message from the First…”

And then, as she looked at the stone monument standing there, Miranda cried out in a loud voice.