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Chapter 92

After the voice spoke, a cruel expression appeared on Lord Maxwell’s face. “That’s easy enough!”

He grabbed the girl, who let out a cry and threw her off the cliff. The prince cried out, but he didn’t make any attempt to save her. At that moment, the voice spoke again.

“In the name of love, the one who sacrifices themselves must do it willingly. If you throw an unwilling participant into the realm, it will result in an instant loss.”

Lord Maxwell made a face and then yanked back with his hand. Even though she was over the edge, it was like some invisible source grabbed her, and she was swung back onto the cliff. As soon as she landed, she glared hatefully at Lord Maxwell and broke into tears. The prince glanced her way but didn’t seem to care much that she was crying. Instead, he just looked tense and uncomfortable.

“Hmm… that looks about right. Seems that making girls cry runs in the family.” Erika spoke angrily before she could help herself.

When the people on that side glanced toward our side, she took a step back, covering her mouth in embarrassment. The prince’s eyes flashed to me, and anger appeared on his face.

“You! You’re the reason I barely made it out alive!” He growled. “Puny mortal, die!”

He pulled back his hand, mana pooling in his hand. He then made a punch, causing a blade of air to erupt out. Erika gasped, trying to raise a magic barrier, but I didn’t react at all. Halfway across the chasm, the blade just suddenly ceased to be. The prince pulled back his hand to try again.

“Don’t bother.” Lord Maxwell shook his head. “Although we can see and communicate with each other, we’re not facing each other. It’s just another illusion created by the mortal to raise the stakes. I’m a little surprised someone else made it this far. If there weren’t three of us, even we might have failed that last one. Thankfully, I had the foresight to place a formation on the girl to be able to swap places and was able to be in two places at once. How did you do it?”

I smirked. “I’ll tell you if you tell me who kissed who to initiate the trial. If the prince kissed her, you would have been in the place of the servant, and I wonder if you would have taken that risk of disqualifying yourself for the trial. Unless, perhaps, you kissed your son? That way, you’d get both parts of the legacy.”

The prince’s expression turned unsightly, but Lord Maxwell gave a vicious sneer. “Good, good, it’s been a long time since anyone had dared speak to me like that.”

Erika tensed, grabbing my arm. “Relax, he can’t touch us, and the winner will be teleported out of here. Whether we win or lose, we won’t end up next to them. We need to concentrate on how to get passed this scenario.”

“Hmph, except, when I win and am kicked out, I could always return through the subspace and finish you off!” The Lord Maxwell snorted.

“There is only one way to win.” Erika looked up at me, her eyes teary. “I have to die.”

Seeing her say that, I was shocked. However, those on the other side were just as stunned.

“They were lovers?” The prince spoke in shock. “You must have been plotting with me from the beginning. You, kill yourself for me.”

He pointed down at the girl who was still sniffling.

“I would never give my life for either of you! You hear that, never!” She glared up at both of them defiantly.

“Tcht, you just had to use her as fodder. If you were better with women, you’d be like him.” He nodded my way. “That’s how you manipulate a young heart. Even a mortal defeated you in that respect.”

Erika’s face turned red as the prince lowered his head in embarrassment. I coughed.

“Let’s not jump to sacrifice just yet. I’m not convinced that one of us dying is the key. It could also be that the sacrifice is a lie. One of us could jump and be completely alright. It might be the intent that matters.”

Everyone had more thoughtful expressions after my words. I didn’t want to say that stuff in front of them, but I had a feeling Lord Maxwell would hear everything we said no matter what we did. It did make sense. What kind of lover’s trial would cruelly kill off your lover by the end?

“Even so…” Erika finally spoke up after thinking for a moment. “Whether I survive or not, it’s the best choice. You should take the legacy. We wouldn’t have gotten this far if it wasn’t for you.”

I shook my head. “Just wait, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Why can’t you be so obedient?” The prince glared at the girl, who made a face.

“Can I subvert her will?” Lord Maxwell asked out loud. “I can alter her perception and make her willingly jump off. Will that count?”

The girl grew rigid, her expression turning fearful. There was no response from the immortal’s voice though, so Lord Maxwell threw his hands up in annoyance.

They were all still thinking too simply. It was possible that the right answer was to refuse. If we refused, we might be proving we’d be unwilling to die for our love, although that didn’t seem right either. Unfortunately, it was difficult to predict exactly what the immortal had in his mind when he conceived the trial. Was the right answer what he had said, or was there a secret to it like with the dragon egg?

While I was considering these things, Erika had let go of me and went looking for the pit. Looking down, her body shook, and then she let out a sigh. She turned back to me, and that was when I saw a look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” She put out her arms and then fell back.

Everyone let out cries, but I moved with an extreme speed, managing to just catch her ankle before she fell. She cried out as her skirt tried to fall up. She desperately covered her legs, her struggling making it difficult to hold her up.

“Son, go!” Lord Maxwell declared.

“Huh?”

“If they go first, they win! Do you feel no filial love for your father? Jump!”

“Let me go before it’s too late.” Erika cried out, still trying to keep her skirt up as she kicked wildly. “Please, Spirit. I know you’re special. Let me do something meaningful with my life. Just look after brother for me.”

I grimaced. “I don’t do favors!”

I lifted her. She let out a cry of surprise as I spun her around and grabbed onto her. Her face was flushed as she looked up at me in shock.

“We’ve done all of this together up until now. Why do you think that’s going to change?” I asked.

“Together…” She looked up at me as my arms held her closely and our eyes met, at that moment, it struck me.

“I’ve already confirmed that you will live.” Lord Maxwell continued to try to convince his son.

“R-really?”

“Of course,” Maxwell responded, his face expressionless. “This is just a simple trick. Once you’ve proven you’re willing to die for love, we’ll both get the legacy.”

“I-if… dad says so…” He approached the edge of the cliff, looking somewhat apprehensive.

“You trust me?” I asked Erika.

She bit her lip, but then she nodded. “I do.”

“Then… together!” While holding her, we both jumped over the edge.

“Damn it! Go!” Maxwell shoved his son off, but before his son could fall more than a foot or two, the entire world went white once again.

The pair of us were no longer falling, but standing, holding each other tightly like the moment before I threw us both off the cliff. She was shaking slightly, but as she realized we weren’t dying, Erika slowly pulled apart from her, her face slightly red.

“Lovers fight together, and face every danger together.” The immortal voice spoke out. “Every paragon must take countless risks to reach the top. You’re always standing on the precipice of a cliff, and sometimes the only way to move forward is to leap into danger and hope. Being with your love doesn’t change that. Instead, it amplifies it. Your lives become linked, and jumping for one is jumping for both. It seems you two have realized that.”

Erika glanced at me in amazement, but I kept looking forward. “Immortal, have we completed the trial yet?”

The old man I saw before appeared in front of us, causing Erika to make a noise of surprise. “I suppose you have. I’ve already ejected the other group. As for you, I have three things to present to you. One for her, one for him, and one for both.”

He waved his hand, and four balls of light came out. Two went for her, and two went for me. One ball wrapped around my neck, and the other entered my head. As soon as I entered my head, I felt information being released there. This was followed by a voice.

“A man must give as much as he takes. You know what it means to love a woman, so I will give you a technique that helps you as a lover. Each time you take on a new lover, you’ll be able to initiate an addition mutation in both of you.”

I couldn’t help but make a face. Wasn’t this a skill for skirtchasers? It was most effective if I had multiple lovers!

The man continued to speak, almost like he was worried my thoughts were going in that direction. “The only other time mutations are possible is upon birth and during evolution. For others, whether there is a mutation or not is by chance. This is an assured positive mutation, and the best part is you can decide on the stat yourself. In other words, you can change the fate of any woman, as well as your own. This is a chance to fix your deficiency in mana, don’t you think?”

I jerked, realizing once again that this immortal was quite mysterious, and it was hard to know how much he knew. He ended things with that. I still had an odd look on my face, but I could see Erika smiling happily. The technique she got must have been satisfactory.

“The lover’s tear is embedded in these necklaces.” These words were spoken so both of us could hear. ”As long as you both wear these, you will be able to keep track of each other. It will help you locate each other. You can put mana into it to let the other know you’re in trouble or smash it to initiate a one-time transportation spell, taking you away from the danger, and bringing you to your lover. This is a last resort, however, as the tear will be broken after that.”

“Thank you, immortal!” The girl bowed, her expression filled with reverence.

I was a bit less convinced. I wondered how she’d feel if she knew what kind of technique he had given me. Yet, I couldn’t unlearn it now that it was there.

“In that case, I will return you to your home. Go forth.”

With that, a light exploded, and I could feel us being pulled away just like when we had entered this world. We were finally returning to the real world. It had been a while.