It was a black square plate.
A red line ran across it. That was all.
"It was in the hidden room, but what a bust."
"Never seen a plate like that before."
"......"
A bust? No way.
This black plate was from the Wheel of Fortune, glowing a steady blue light.
The same blue glow as that egg that endlessly spawned elixirs.
Super ultra rare.
It felt cool and soft to the touch.
"!?"
That was when words appeared in my head.
Strong, just like when I'd gotten the Relic.
[Relic Plate: Using this plate will grant you a Relic without exception. Once used, the plate's Relic is consumed.]
Th-This... can't be real.
No, it's real. I can tell. For some reason, I just know.
I know it with absolute certainty.
What kind of thing is this... and why now?
Why something like this — I sank to my knees without thinking.
"Hey. You okay?"
"Wof. What's wrong?"
"………Ax. I have something important to tell you."
"What's with the sudden..."
I stood up and fixed him with a serious look.
This was a watershed. Not mine. Ax's... destiny.
"I'd like to give you this."
I held out the Relic plate.
"Huh? No, that's yours, isn't it?"
"Exactly. This — this Relic plate is your watershed, Ax."
"Watershed...?"
"Relic plate?"
"A watershed. A crossroads in life. A choice."
"Wof. What are you talking about?"
"Hey. What is that? A Legacy?"
"………It's legendary. But it can only be used once."
"Huh? Legendary!? Do you even understand what you're saying?"
Mineha's tone grew sharp.
I said clearly.
"Yes. This is called a Relic plate. It grants the user a single Relic. After that, the plate disappears."
"…Wh…What?"
"Wof. Even for you, that joke isn't funny."
"It's not a joke."
I didn't let my expression crack at all.
"There's no way a legendary exists!?"
Mineha blurted out. Panicking and angry at the same time.
Relics were precious to her, so that reaction was only natural.
I calmly held the Relic plate out to Axe.
"You'll understand once you touch it."
"…Wof."
"Please. Touch it."
"…………"
Axe touched it gingerly.
And then they understood. Their expression said it all.
Mineha touched it too, scowling. Her expression went rigid.
"Th-This kind of thing actually exists…?"
"I understand…………But why would you hand this over to me?"
"Before that……Mineha."
This is it. The critical moment.
"………………What? I'm not going to accept something like this."
Mineha's reaction was revulsion.
Even so, I pressed on without flinching.
"Ten years ago. What happened?"
"Wh... you..."
"Ten years ago? What do you mean?"
"You. H-how..."
Mineha was shaken.
I had already started. There was no stopping now.
"Ten years ago. Axe was kidnapped. That's correct, isn't it?"
"Y-yes... but what does that have to do with anything?"
"When she was kidnapped, a delver who wasn't her mother was the one who saved her. Her mother was away on a job. She didn't come back for a month. That's right, isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's right. So what of it?"
Axe was growing more and more displeased. Can't blame her.
But this was something important.
"I have a feeling that incident and Mineha's ten years ago... aren't unrelated."
"Mineha's ten years ago? She wasn't even born ten years ago, was she?"
Axe looked at Mineha.
Mineha gave a small nod. Then she spoke, as though she had made up her mind.
"......Axe. Ten years ago — do you know about the job that Master, your mother, took on?"
"How would I know? Mom never told me anything. She just kept saying it was all my fault."
"That request. It's connected to me."
"Huh? To you?"
"Yes. Ten years ago. My mother, who was carrying me, was on the verge of dying. If nothing was done, both mother and child would lose their lives. It was that dire."
"Wh—!?"
"......"
Axe stood frozen in shock.
I said nothing.
"My mother was cursed. Every method was tried. Relics, secret remedies, Legacies, Legendaries — everything was tried. Everything except one."
"......"
"......"
"There was one and only way to save them. It involved a certain Legendary. You both know what an elixir is, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"Yes."
My heart lurched. I was so startled I thought my heart might stop.
I never expected this to come up now.
"At the summit of a bitterly cold mountain, there stood a temple that had long since fallen to ruin. Legend held that in its innermost sanctum, a Sacred Egg containing an elixir was enshrined. But no one in the village could obtain it. As far as anyone knew at the time... only Master — who had partnered with a First-Rank delver and was called the closest to First-Rank herself. That mountain was a domain of ferocious, powerful monsters in addition to its extreme cold. And on top of that, the temple had become a dungeon. It was a race against time. The most difficult request imaginable, in a narrow window where both mother and child could die at any moment. Master managed to obtain it. But only in exchange for being bedridden for nearly a month."
Mineha smiled faintly.
Axe was trembling.
I was filled with a quiet sense of awe. A Sacred Egg, huh.
"......S-so that's the truth... That's why Mom couldn't help me, and it took nearly a month to come back... That's..."
Axe groaned lowly.
Mineha spoke quietly.
"That's right. My life and Mother's were on the line. That's why I couldn't come to help you. It's not Master you should blame. Blame me."
"Blame you…"
Axe's expression grew complicated at Mineha's words.
"So please forgive Master — forgive your mother."
Mineha's voice came out as if wrung from her throat.
"……………………………………………………"
Axe fell silent. Mineha waited.
Eventually, Axe began to speak.
"…My mom just kept saying it was all her fault and wouldn't tell me anything. I knew she'd been seriously injured. But I was convinced that the job mattered more than I did, and that she'd prioritized it because I didn't have a Relic. If I truly mattered to her, she would have dropped everything and rushed to me no matter what. That's what I believed. That's what I wanted to believe. I wanted proof — more than anything — that I was a beloved son…"
Whether she had loved him as her son even without a Relic.
The one who couldn't believe that most of all was Axe himself.
"You couldn't believe it yourself?"
"Any of it. I never once considered that the job might have been a matter of life and death."
Axe let out a low growl.
Mineha shook her head slightly.
"There was no way to know — she never told you. Besides, this job was one she couldn't talk about. It involved a classified matter: the elixir."
"A classified matter?"
I tilted my head at the unfamiliar term.
Mineha let out a sigh.
"Honestly, you should at least know this much. Relics that could shake an entire country. OOPArts. Legendaries… anything involving those is classified."
"R-Really…?"
A chill ran through me.
I didn't have an OOPArt, but I did have Relics and Legendaries that fell under the same category.
I'd already expected — even assumed — that war could break out because of them.
But having someone spell out the importance of it all made it feel terrifyingly real.
Axe asked, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"Is it okay to be telling us this?"
"An investigation team's already been dispatched, and it's been confirmed that the temple has no other elixirs."
So the sacred eggs of the temple's elixir were all gone.
"I see—"
Axe turned to face Mineha directly.
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. Mineha."
Axe bowed his head deep in apology.
Mineha was taken aback.
"W-What are you saying? Why are you—"
"You've got nothing to apologize for. I was the one who pushed my mom away because I assumed the worst. Now that I'm a delver myself, I get it. Even if it wasn't classified, Mom wouldn't have used a friend's life-or-death request as an excuse to explain things. If I were in the same situation, I'd have done exactly what she did. Mom did nothing wrong. Mom is—Mother is a fine delver."
"Axe…"
"You. I heard you're cutting ties with your master."
"I don't feel that way anymore. I know it's long overdue, but after this job is done, I want to sit down with Mom and really talk to her. I want to apologize. I want to tell her that she's my pride."
When Axe looked up, his eyes glistening with tears.
"Please do. Talk to her, tell her. She'll be so happy."
Mineha broke into tears. Axe cried too.
"............"
Good. Everything's going to be okay now.
I felt a wave of relief wash over me.