[Answer me, obey me and praise me or else I will take something precious from you one by one.]
'A trial huh? This is kind of annoying.'
Xain wasn't the brightest in solving puzzles, that was Ethan and Cedric's job, but they were separated by this boss, so now he had to save his own skin. Glaring at the little girl before him, Xain stayed silent.
[First, who is this temple's ruler?]
"I don't know, how would I know if you never said it to me?"
[Wrong answer.]
The girl glared with disdain. She slammed her staff and a shockwave hit the insides of Xain's body.
"*Gasp*! What was that?!"
Before Xain could regain his composure, the little girl continued.
[Bow down before me.]
Feeling as if he was treated unfairly, this time Xain didn't back down.
"And how am I supposed to do that if you freeze my body?!"
[Don't talk back to me.]
Once again a shockwave hit Xain's body which made him gasp for breath. Without any regard to Xain's condition the little girl continued.
[Praise me.]
'That one's easy.'
Hearing Ethan praising him every now and then, he learned what words he could use to praise others. Xain was about to open his mouth when suddenly he heard a shout.
"Don't praise the girl Xain! Praise the statue on your right!"
He stopped in his tracks, the familiar voice was undoubtedly Cedric's. Deciding to trust that voice, Xain glanced to his right, and there was indeed a statue of a woman draped in a robe holding a similar staff to the little girl.
The problem was, he didn't know how to praise a statue.
'It's a memorial of a dead person, I couldn't praise someone I don't know or never met before!'
He racked his brain, not finding the right words to praise her. But the time kept on ticking, so Xain decided to be honest.
'Whatever happens, happens!'
"You're the prettiest woman I've seen as a statue."
Xain said with the most heartfelt expression he could gather, praying it was the right choice. Luckily, the goddess of fortune was with him.
[Your answer was sincere enough, I'll let it pass.]
The little girl smiled and his view changed from pure black to the ruin they stepped in before.
"Oh, that's the ceiling. Did I fall asleep?"
Cedric kicked him and snapped Xain back to reality.
"Yeah, we collapsed when the girl showed up. Before that, help me guide Ethan's consciousness, he's not waking up."
"Wait what?! Hey Ethan wake up-! Woah! You scared me!"
Xain was about to shake Ethan's body until Ethan's eyes opened up and he sat up motionlessly.
"Haa.."
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. How about you guys? Any injuries?"
Rubbing his chest, Ethan sighed as he raised his head. Seeing Ethan's movements, Xain glanced at Cedric – who also met his glance. They both reached a similar conclusion in their minds.
'That was definitely not 'nothing'.'
Considering how Ethan behaved in the last raid, he tended to brush off injuries and pain until the raid was over, so even if they forced him to say what's wrong, he wouldn't say it.
"We're fine, I could easily finish the trial because of the inscription written on the tombstone and help Xain out."
"A tombstone?"
Cedric guided them to one of the fallen pillars. Hidden within the debris was a small tombstone containing the details of this gate.
"The rule was 'Answer me, obey me and praise me'. The first question was referring to herself so you know she was of high status and should be treated as such starting from the second order. Bow down before her doesn't mean literally bowing down. This is a temple she ruled, so we need to swear our allegiance to her god and her as the missionary. To finish the second question, we should ask her for permission to bow down before her god. It's 'obey me' from the god's perspective. While 'praise me' was referring to her adult form not the illusion of a girl created by the gate. We only need to answer one question right to make her release us."
Cedric lowered his head, feeling guilty, "Sorry, before I could give this information to you guys, my consciousness was already swallowed by the little girl."
Ethan tapped his shoulder a few times, encouraging him, "It's fine, in the end, what matters is that we all come back safe."
Seeing Ethan smile made Cedric's heart calmed down. Ethan bent down to inspect the tombstone one last time.
"Hm? There's still one last line here."
[To whoever reads this, I pray for your well-being. My soul is finally set free.]
When Ethan read the phrase out loud, a silhouette of a woman appeared behind the tomb.
She gently touched the tombstone and observed the three espers with gentleness in her eyes.
Her lips curled into a smile, although she didn't say anything, her expression alone conveyed her deepest gratitude. With that, she vanished, opening up the SS-Rank gate's exit.
"I wonder why someone so gentle was depicted as a cruel ruler in the pictures, but I guess I will never know."
An ancient history held so many things undiscovered by the present era, the same applied in the future.
"Maybe this land we are stepping on right now was a temple in the past?"
Cedric gave out his hypothesis on how the frequency of this place could form a gate with a trial as the clear condition. Ethan agreed with him, adding his own theory.
"The temple ruler's desire must be so strong for a gate to form based on an accident that happened in the past. But now we know the past could affect the formation of gates, maybe the future could do so as well."
"A new discovery for the scientist."
"Hey, it's already 11:33! Let's get out of here, we still have an event to attend right?"
Hearing Xain's words, the two snapped out of their thoughts.
Scrambling out from the gate, the three reported this discovery to the bureau and quickly made their made to Greenfield University.
There was someone waiting for them there.