【Adventurer Mitran】Overcome the ‘Trial of Leaping’

“Wh, where are we......!?”

“‘The 19th Trial’...... also known as the ‘Trial of Leaping’, it seems.”

What awaited us after we got through ‘The 18th Trial’—now reduced to nothing more than a safe corridor—was a large room.

But it's not just big!

In the center, as if to divide the entrance we just came through from the exit, there is a massive hole like a valley.

Peering down into it, all I can see is darkness...... it must be incredibly deep.

There's no doubt I'd be finished in an instant if I fell!

And this valley is pretty wide, too.

No matter how hard I try, it doesn't seem like I could jump across to the other side in one go.

In that case, I'd have no choice but to use several footholds that are dangling by ropes and swaying back and forth to cross over, but......

“Here, it seems, the rule is to ‘leap onto the glowing footholds and cross to the far shore.’”

Leseida-san reads the explanation of the trial near the entrance and gives us the rundown.

I see, glowing footholds.

Sure enough, the countless footholds hanging in midair seem to have magic lamps built into them, and each one keeps blinking on and off, pikapika, at its own timing, in a fixed rhythm.

......Yes, they're flickering.

“Hey, Leseida-san. What if I step on a foothold when it's not glowing......?”

“It says ‘punishment shall be dealt.’ I imagine it won't end well.”

Hmm, this is going to be tough!?

I couldn't help clutching my head.

In other words, in this trial, we have to memorize exactly when each foothold glows, then hop, hop along in rhythm, sometimes going back and forth over and over, until we reach the other side!

And I have to do all that on unstable footholds......

A trial that tests ‘memory’, ‘balance’ and ‘jumping’...... that...... is the ‘Trial of Leaping’!!

“......Now then, we can't go on dawdling here forever.”

At this point, Leseida-san took out a notebook and began jotting something down.

“Leave this to me. I shall now note down the timing of the glowing footholds and work out the pattern as best I can. You two, rest for a while, and......”

But it was then.

“............”

“Eh?”

That Emi-chan, who had come up to me without a sound...... scooped me up with her monstrous strength, raised me high above her head......

“......Raah!!”

“Nowaaaaaaaaah!?”

and, in a pose just like a javelin throw, hurled me toward the far shore!!

The momentum was terrifying; my body crossed the wide valley in an instant, ignoring all the glowing footholds, reached the opposite shore, and then...... slammed hard into the stone wall!

“Nbeh!?”

I, it huuurts!?

In the stone!

I'm sunk pretty deep in the stone here, you know!?

If it weren't me, I'd probably be dead here, you know!?

Peeling my body away from the stone wall with a merimeri sound, I looked back at the entrance shore and locked eyes with Emi-chan.

Expressionless as ever, Emi-chan gave a firm clench of her small fist in front of her chest......

“......Good.”

she said.

“It's nooot ‘good’! It huuurts!”

Emi-chan completely ignores my half-crying protest!

This time, she unhurriedly lifted up Leseida-san.

“Aaaah! Wait, wait! Emi-chan, wait! There's no way Leseida-san can take that! If you treat Leseida-san as roughly as me, you'll get him huuurt!”

“............”

This time, my desperate plea seems to have gotten through to her, and Emi-chan gives off an ‘I guess that's true’ sort of air.

After thinking for a moment, she tucked Leseida-san tightly under her arm, and then......

Once again ignoring the glowing footholds, she actually began walking along the wall of the room as if it were the floor......

Eh, what's that?

What's up with gravity?

Leseida-san, tucked under her arm, and I can only gape......

For a human who can walk on walls, a giant hole in the floor can't possibly be an obstacle...... and without any particular trouble, Emi-chan reached the exit shore while still holding Leseida-san.

In the end, we were able to force our way through this trial as well by relying on Emi-chan's power.

As for the result, I'm truly grateful.

I think it's something to be thankful for.

But, still, y'know......

“Hey, Emi-chan...... I won't ask things like ‘Why can you walk on walls?’ anymore...... but, listen.”

There's just one thing I want to ask.

“If you can walk on walls, why did you throw me......? Couldn't you have just carried me while walking on the wall too......?”

It hurt so much I couldn't help grumbling about it, y'know......?

“............”

Emi-chan's answer to that was.

“Shut up...... I'll kill you......”

......That was it.

This girl, when it was my turn, she forgot she could walk on walls, didn't she......?

No, well...... the way she absolutely won't meet my eyes, blank face or not, I can kind of tell she's thinking something like ‘Oops, I blew it,’ but, y'know.

Isn't her way of brushing it off a little too menacing......?