"Thank you for everything."
We bow our heads to Basgas.
After making our way through the Great Ello Dungeon, Basgas let us stay at his base for a night.
The next morning, we set off toward the elf village.
This was where we'd part ways with Basgas.
"Yeah."
Basgas nods in response.
"But are you sure I should really take all the earth dragon materials? You could sell them for a fortune, you know."
"We're on an urgent journey. We don't have the room to carry them, and consider it a token of our gratitude for everything you've done."
"Then I'll take you up on that without hesitation."
Basgas grins.
"Basgas. If—"
"Kid, I'm just a humble guide."
He cuts me off before I can finish.
It was his answer to what I'd been about to say.
Basgas was a seasoned warrior.
I'd understood that well enough inside the Great Ello Dungeon.
He also had sharp judgment born from years of experience.
Honestly, I'd wanted him to keep following us.
But his words made it clear that wasn't going to happen.
"A guide's job is to guide. Besides, I'm already retired. It ain't the place for some old man to stick his nose in where it ain't wanted."
He says this with a laugh.
But the smile fades quickly, and his expression turns serious.
"Kid. This is just a gut feeling, but I think something big is going to happen soon. I've got no proof. It's just this unease that's been hanging over me for years now, like it never quite goes away. The mess you got caught up in — that might've been a prelude to it."
He's right.
It wasn't just Yugo's incident.
The large-scale war with the Demon race.
The passing of the Hero title.
The world had been in constant upheaval lately.
"By guiding you kids, I'm hoping the world tilts just a little bit in a better direction. If that happens, that's all the reward a guide could ever ask for."
Basgas extends his hand.
"I'll do everything I can to make that happen."
I grip his hand firmly, and we share a solid handshake.
Two days after parting with Basgas.
We travel on the back of the Light Dragon.
Our destination is the transfer gate to the elf village hidden within the nation of Sariera.
Sariera had made a religion distinct from the Divine Word Religion — the Goddess Worship — its state religion, and it was a radical nation that had even gone to war with its neighboring countries back when we were infants.
That war had dealt a heavy blow to the nation's power, and since then it had kept a low profile. But there was no telling what might happen within its borders.
We advanced with the utmost caution.
"Offer up your Skills! And you shall be saved!"
When we entered the city to buy food and supplies, we were greeted by people shouting those words everywhere we looked.
"Sariera is a nation that worships the Administrator
The shouting man looked like he might not be entirely sane.
If this was the work of some so-called Administrator, it wasn't a pleasant thought.
"Offer up your Skills? What does that mean?"
"It's said to have two meanings. One is using a Skill called 'Skill Erasure' to remove the Skills one possesses."
"That's actually possible?"
"Yes. 'Skill Erasure' is a Skill you can acquire without spending Skill Points, and it takes several days to erase your Skills. Once activated, it can't be stopped until all Skills are gone, so you can't target just one. And of course, erased Skills don't come back. You could retrain and acquire them again, though."
"What's the point of that?"
From what I could tell, there was no benefit to having such a Skill.
Losing your Skills had nothing but downsides.
Even if you could retrain and reacquire them, the time you'd spent building them up would be wasted. Any Skill Points you'd spent would be gone too.
It was like deliberately throwing everything you'd built into the gutter.
"In other words, that is precisely the act of transferring your power to the Administrator."
"Oh."
So that's what it meant.
People were offering up the power they'd cultivated to the Administrator.
That was the true nature of the Skill Erasure Skill.
"Come to think of it, didn't Sensei erase Yugo's Skills once before?"
"Yes, but that was more of a workaround. In exchange for paying a heavy price, I could erase someone else's Skills. I'll tell you now, but once it's activated, you lose some of your own Skills too, and afterward I was bedridden for several days. It's a dangerous method that could kill both the user and the target in the worst case. I never want to do it again."
"I see."
"At the time, I believed it was the best option. If Yugo lost his Skills, he'd come back to his senses. That's what I believed. What truly mattered was helping him find his heart as a human being afterward, and I failed to do that. The result is what it is. I'm unfit to be a teacher."
"It's not your fault, Sensei."
I knew it was a clumsy thing to say, but it was all I could offer.
The one at fault was Yugo, who had actually carried out those actions.
"Thank you. But this is my responsibility as a teacher. It's the last lesson I can give to a former student who lost his way."
Sensei's eyes were filled with dark resolve.
I couldn't say anything in response to that.
"So, what's the second meaning?"
I change the subject.
"I'm not really sure about the second one. Something about offering up your Skills to reach godhood?"
"That really does sound like religious rhetoric."
"It does, doesn't it."
The streets were filled with shouting clergymen.
I wanted to get away from this grim atmosphere as quickly as possible.