Althea: The Legendary Saintess [Shoujo]

Standing in front of the door, Siegfried, after confirming everyone's presence, lightly brushed his own cheek and then looked at his palm with a curious expression.

The first to address the stunned Siegfried, who was staring at his palm, was Richt.

"Prince Siegfried, is something the matter with your hand?"

Responding to the voice, Siegfried raised his head and said, "Ah... no, it's nothing. More importantly..."

As he spoke, he headed towards the table where everyone was waiting, took a seat at the vacant one, and continued speaking.

"Before anything else, I'd like to know what happened behind each of the doors on our way here... Laila, sorry to bother you, but could you make some tea before we continue?"

"Of course."

Tea was poured into cups in front of each person, and Laila took her seat. After confirming this, Siegfried began speaking again.

"Now then, it's been almost 40 minutes since we opened the door to the cave... The clear condition for this stage seems to be one hour, so we don't have much time to spare. Moreover, hearing that the door didn't open, it's crucial that we share information promptly to figure out how to open it. Well then, let's start by hearing about the situation in this room. Laila, please."

"Yes, then... When we opened the door, it directly connected to this room. The door we entered through couldn't be opened from this side once closed. Lord Claro also confirmed that the door across from us was locked and couldn't be opened. We found out that a three-digit number is required to unlock it, so we've been searching for "numbers" in this room. Though there may be some we've overlooked, we've currently confirmed numbers from 1 to 9, totaling 15 in all. Naturally, there are duplicates. As for something that caught our attention, the numbers are written in various colors. The colors used are white, black, red, blue, green, and we also found golden. After that, Lady Althea arrived while we were checking the room."

While listening to Laila's report, Siegfried took notes and then raised his head to speak.

"Thank you for the report. Next... shall we go in order of arrival? Althea, if you would."

"Oh, yes. The door I entered through led to a space filled with rainbows. As I was walking along what seemed to be a path... well, a goblin appeared..."

"A goblin?"

With a clatter, Siegfried stood up, causing everyone else to turn to him simultaneously. Sensing their gazes, Siegfried looked awkward and urged, "Ah... no, sorry. Please continue."

"...Yes. As I mentioned earlier, the goblin just crossed the path, so... we didn't fight it. When we passed where the goblin had crossed, this flower had fallen. Its name is as Lady Ezreal told us earlier. It seems to be a gardenia flower."

Saying so, she placed the white flower on the table.

After alternating between looking at the flower on the table and Althea's face, Siegfried prompted the next report.

"...Alright, next. Tormandi, please report."

"Yes. When we opened our door, it led to a meadow. As we walked, pixies attacked us, so we defeated them. Further ahead, we encountered a kelpie entangled in magical plants, so we helped it. Then, a door appeared, which led to this room... Oh, about the spoils... you could say, although we defeated the monsters, there were no corpses. Instead, these were left behind. I obtained a pixie's feather, a kelpie's horn, and a magical plant."

Saying so, he lined up "red feather," "white horn," and "golden magical plant" on the table, causing everyone except Kaera to be surprised.

"Huh? Pixie feathers... were they red in color?"

When Erica said this, Richt responded, "Isn't it strange? According to my memory, pixie feathers were transparent with a hint of green. And I thought kelpie horns were gray. As for magical plants, they're usually green or blue. Well, maybe the golden color is because they were mowed down by the lightning sword."

While responding to this, Richt seemed lost in thought.

Siegfried, who was also lost in thought, asked, "Colors, huh... come to think of it, the 'numbers' written in this room were mentioned to be written in various colors. Laila, do you know the numbers written in red, white, and golden?"

"Please wait a moment... The numbers written in red are 1 and 3, in white are 3 and 8, and in golden are 2 and 7."

"Can't narrow it down to three numbers... Well, let's continue with the reports for now. It's my turn last. When I entered the door, it was pitch black. As I progressed, lighting fires with fire magic, I saw something shining in the distance. When I approached, it was a cliff, and this was there... The light turned out to be from this."

Saying so, he took out a piece of paper from his inner pocket.

"When I obtained this paper, the light disappeared, and right after that, imps attacked. At first, it was one, then after climbing the cliff, five more, totaling six."

"Imps attacked you on the cliff, Your Highness?! Are you injured?"

When Erica stood up and said this, he responded, "Ah, I'm fine. Besides, I realized after fighting them that they're probably illusions. Just like Tormandi and the others, there were no corpses of the imps I defeated. Despite that..."

While Erica showed anger, Siegfried spoke calmly.

"These spoils we obtained haven't disappeared. Therefore, they might be the key to leaving this room. By the way, the paper I obtained had writing on it."

Saying so, he opened the paper.

Written on the opened paper were: "kutiiku toppochi kutochikaku toppuku tokikai kuku ga."

"What does this mean?"

"It seems like there are quite a lot of 'k's."

As Erica and Katrea conversed, everyone was lost in thought.

After about five minutes, Finis exclaimed, "Ah!"

All eyes turned to Finis. When Siegfried prompted him to speak, he began hesitantly.

"Isn't His Highness's note and Lady Monclair's gardenia flower a set? If so... from 'kutiiku toppochi kutochikaku toppuku tokikai kuku ga' to 'kuchi, nashi' becomes 'teiipotto tokappu tokai ga'..."

Upon hearing this, Erica complimented (or teased?) him, "You're helpful too, aren't you?" Others were also impressed.

"That's indeed right. Thank you, Finis. Everyone, please check the cups in front of you. And Laila, could you also check the teapot and the cups left on the shelf?"

"Yes."

"As for the paintings—"

"I checked the paintings earlier. The numbers written were 4 and 8, and I remember 8 was written in white," Catelea answered.

Meanwhile, the numbers written on the cups became apparent, and after Siegfried summarized the received information, he reported.

"...On the cups, there are 7 and 9 in black, 1 and 3 in blue, and 3 in red. On the teapot, there's 5 in gold. So, comparing them with the colors of Tormandi's spoils, it seems to be the numbers 3, 8, and 5."

After confirming everyone's agreement, Siegfried stood up.

"Alright, the numbers to use are 3, 5, 8. Let's try aligning the dial on the door immediately."

Siegfried headed towards the door with the dial, followed by everyone else.

As Siegfried adjusted the positions of the three numbers on the dial and turned it several times,

Click -

A sound was heard.

"...It's opened. It's 835. Let's get out of here first. We have... six minutes left. It was close, but... with this, we should have cleared this stage."

As everyone exited the room, they found themselves back in the original cave.

The only difference was that there was only one door instead of the four they came through, and a piece of paper was attached to it.

"'Central Building 2 - North - Green.' Seems like this is the next location. The problem is how to return to the school grounds... For now, let's exit the cave from here."

At Siegfried's words, everyone nodded and left the cave behind.