The second floor of the all-white Brown Hotel. A well-dressed, civilized young gentleman was leisurely eating a freshly seared steak in his room.
Standing beside his table was a maid in a spiritual state. She had a pure-white, semi-transparent soul-form and looked only seventeen or eighteen years old. Her attire resembled Fox's: a white priest's robe without a priestly crown. Only her spine was corporeal, so through her translucent white body, one could barely make out its pallid color.
Suddenly, the girl leaned over and whispered something into the gentleman's ear. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out.
The gentleman, however, seemed to have heard her. He raised an eyebrow, took a gem-encrusted gold pocket watch from his coat, and opened it.
"It's almost over."
After glancing at the time, he put it away, then stuffed the small piece of steak remaining into his mouth.
He chewed with gusto, juice continually seeping from the meat. Some tough gristle made a squeaking sound. But his teeth were strong, and he still chewed the meat to pieces and swallowed it.
The young gentleman looked satisfied, yet reluctant, and murmured, "What a shame to lose such a young and healthy body..."
At the same time.
In the room below the gentleman, a maid who looked like a newspaper boy was slowly cleaning the room, pausing now and then. She sighed worriedly.
"It's finally almost over... What a torment. It was terrifying, too."
Sherlock, who was hiding inside the abandoned chemical plant with Lu Lu, had little in common to discuss with the Princess. Thus, he maintained a polite yet awkward silence.
He focused on watching the sun gradually rise to its highest point in the sky, then suddenly said, "It's about time."
"What?"
Holding the child, Lu Lu asked instinctively. Then she immediately realized what he meant and perked up. "Is the ritual about to end?"
"There are still four survivors. Those two made it to the very end without dying."
Sherlock said quietly, "'Bone Carver'... Lars Graham, was it? I'll investigate him."
"If it isn't him—don't say I told you!"
Lu Lu said nervously in a low voice.
The newspaper boy sighed.
"My respected Princess," he said lazily, "under normal circumstances, even if I told him, he wouldn't know it was you. I know 'Lu Lu,' not 'Isabel Du Lac.'"
"...Huh?" Lu Lu, who had been doing her best to play the role of "Anne Alexander," suddenly widened her eyes when her real name was revealed.
"Master Agnes was far too irresponsible. Although failing your first advancement ritual incurs no punishment, and your noble status means you needn't fear having your identity in reality exposed, I still think some basic knowledge should have been taught beforehand. Not every setback has meaning—especially since you've suffered more than a few setbacks yourself."
The newspaper boy tugged at his cap and lowered his head, saying flatly, "I'll report every detail of this ritual to Her Majesty the Queen. That includes the ritual's unusual difficulty, the information on 'Bone Carver,' 'Knight,' 'Fox,' and 'Ke Ke,' as well as what happened between you and Mr. Fox. Naturally, I'll also report every mistake you made during this ritual—I've committed all of them to memory, without missing a single detail.
"Let's let it go this time. But remember... beginning with your second advancement ritual, failing and dying during a ritual will come with a price.
"I'm one of the few extraordinary beings of the Path of Wisdom in Avalon. Unless something unexpected happens, Her Majesty the Queen may entrust me with advancing alongside you and protecting you during the ritual. I hope that when we meet again, you'll have corrected at least some of that naïve and carefree bad habit of yours."
At this point, the newspaper boy gazed at the startled, flustered eyes of "Anne Alexander" and fell silent for a moment.
Then he added, "I'll try to investigate Fox's identity in reality for you. But don't get your hopes up. For the time being, my priority will be the Sweater Brotherhood and 'Bone Carver.'"
"...Huh? Th-then, thank you, Mr. Sherlock..."
Although Lu Lu still didn't know when she had been exposed, it wasn't strange for the famous Mr. Sherlock Holmes to uncover her true identity. So she wasn't all that shocked.
But when she heard Sherlock say he would help investigate Fox, she still felt a little bashful. Even so, she didn't refuse.
Seeing this, Sherlock sighed again and said nothing more.
At that moment, a beam of light suddenly shone before everyone's eyes—that was the pure-white radiance erupting as the world collapsed and disintegrated.
The dead and living participants alike saw a series of ever-changing images appear before their eyes.
A black-haired, blue-eyed young priest pressed his hand against the back of a child's neck, light blooming from his palm; a gravely wounded young inspector, disemboweled by Iron Hook Demon, stood his ground with his back to the fleeing civilians, the short sword symbolizing the authority of law shining with pure-white light in his hand; the deep-green Water Demon Claw gripped Iron Hook Demon tightly, sizzling as white smoke rose from it. Iron Hook Demon's face was twisted in agony, as though he were shouting something at the top of his lungs; a bone staff was thrown into the air and emitted a murky yellow radiance, wisps of pure-white smoke streaming from it and wrapping around the staff to form a semi-transparent Maiden Ghost with blurred features;
The young priest held a paper knife and resolutely, fearlessly used it to slit his own throat;
A fat man with dark skin had his entire head seized by a pale, emaciated right hand. The fat on his face and his terrified, trembling eyes leaked between the fingers; beneath the setting sun, Anne Alexander held the still-sleeping Little Iver in her arms, sorrow and resolve showing on her face.
—In the next instant, the images before them, along with the entire surrounding world, began to turn to sand.
Everything before their eyes dispersed like flying sand.
The sand drifted through the air, then suddenly began to flow upward in reverse, sucked back into the glowing, enormous hourglass.
Iver regained consciousness, sorted through his complicated emotions, and decided to first test the waters with a few indirect questions rather than draw any conclusions.
After all, the information provided in the ritual might not be entirely accurate... right?... Though he said that, he had already formed a similar suspicion deep down.
This was also within his expectations.
Iver sighed and raised his head. He found that he had once again returned to the "Faceless Priest" form from the beginning, still sitting in his frighteningly large chair.
But there was no longer darkness before him, nor the other eight chairs and the other eight ritual participants.
Instead, there was light.
Just like during his first advancement, it was a world of light without a trace of shadow.
One screen of light after another swiftly descended before his eyes. They were Iver's settlement scores: Necessary Task completed (Score: 600)
Preserve Yourself: Ensure your own survival (Incomplete)
The Heart Is the Sanctuary: Do not hide inside Candle Holder Cathedral; go to Legal Square of your own accord (Score: 100)
The Nature I Never Forget: Heal someone destined to die (Score: 100)
Once and for All: Find and kill the murderer (Score: 500)
My Beloved Jasmine: Ensure the survival of your wife, Anne Alexander (Score: 500)
Live Longer: Survive as long as possible among the nine ritualists, or die as late as possible (Score: 100)
The Beginning of Everything: Find the mastermind (Score: 1000)
Total score: 2900, ranked first
That familiar, pure, ruby-like transparent stag appeared in the distance once more.
Its blood dripped onto the ground, igniting red flaming footprints.
It approached Iver again and gently licked his cheek.
The black thorns around its neck pierced Iver's cheek, leaving an almost imperceptible wound. Yet black blood seeped from it—
Three lines of text appeared before Iver's eyes again.
Light Affinity LV1 (Blue): Your wound was cut by Candle Holder's Sin Thorn, allowing you to comprehend a small part of the essence of light.
Before he could see whether the remaining two lines contained expansion traits, those two blue-white lines were completely burned away by black flames.
Two purple radiances burst forth, accompanied by a heavy buzzing.
The incomparably familiar sound made Iver's eyes fly open, and his spirits rise.
—A drop!
I got a drop on my first advancement! Two of them!... Could the score ranking really determine the quality of the drops? That wasn't a setting in the game... But this actually made more sense.
Though this looked more like a setting that should have existed originally, only cut for the sake of fairness...
Iver widened his eyes and saw two rare purple traits:
Vessel of Burning and Radiance (Purple): Light is born from fire, and fire floats upon light. Your soul is nourished by both.
Tainted Light LV1 (Purple): No light is absolutely pure, just as no human heart is. You attempt to temper your own light with deadly poison.
Before you continue