"What's going on?"
Seeing Harriet standing there in a daze, Kaleb couldn't help asking.
Harriet looked at the mechanisms on both walls and said with a puzzled expression, "This is very strange. Actually, when I reached the hundredth step, I already realized this place might be a trap."
"But the really strange thing is that I didn't run into any danger."
"And look at these mechanisms. They're obviously arrow traps, but even though I clearly heard the sound of arrows being fired, I never saw any arrows."
"And that's not all. There's also this..."
Harriet pointed at two fist-sized round holes on both sides and said, "Something should have shot out from these two holes. The scratches on the inside of the holes and the dust marks were clearly made just now. But I still never encountered whatever came out of them."
"After I stopped, I noticed two black holes on the wall. I didn't dare touch them, so I tested them with my sword. This is what happened to it."
As she spoke, Harriet held up her sword for everyone to see.
The sword was now broken about a third of the way down. Only the hilt and a short piece of the broken blade remained in her hand.
"Sister Harriet, it's great that you're okay," Charlie grabbed Harriet's arm and burst into tears, "I made another prediction just now and found that the previous one was actually wrong. It said this place is a dead end, a situation with no chance of survival! Wuwu!"
"Alright, stop crying! Why is a grown man crying like this?", Harriet quickly caught the important part, "Also, how do you know the first prediction was wrong?"
Only then did Charlie wipe away his tears and point at Ethan.
"He told me!"
"He said that when I was making the prediction, a trace of black stuff entered my crystal ball. At the time, I guessed something might be wrong, so I quickly made another prediction."
"I didn't expect there really was a problem! Wuwu..."
"Alright! Alright!", Harriet waved her hand impatiently before looking at Ethan and asking, "Were those two black holes made by you just now?"
"Yes."
Ethan admitted it directly.
There was no point denying it. Although he didn't really want others to know about his ability, after thinking about it, showing some of his strength might help keep these people in check.
As expected.
The moment Harriet heard his answer, her pupils shrank sharply.
"You're actually a spatial mage?"
"Oh, so you know about that?"
Ethan hadn't expected Harriet to know that much.
But instead of continuing that topic, Harriet bowed to him and said, "No matter what, thank you for saving my life just now."
"If your spatial gate hadn't blocked the trap mechanisms that were fired out, I probably would have died or at least been badly injured!"
"Harriet, why are you thanking him?", Kaleb sneered from the side, "If he had spoken up the moment he noticed something had invaded the crystal ball, would there have been all this trouble?"
"Since you're so capable, you should have taken the lead instead of letting a woman go first!"
"You call yourself a man?"
Kaleb immediately launched into a tirade at Ethan.
Ethan merely let out a cold laugh, "How would I know what happens when your crystal ball makes predictions? I'm not some fortune teller. And did I not warn you?"
"When Harriet was about to leave, I already spoke up."
"She was the one who said we could talk about it later."
"And after she left, I immediately asked Charlie about it. Otherwise, how do you think Charlie found out that the first prediction was wrong?"
"And another thing."
"After discovering there was a problem, did you come up with any way to save her?"
"To put it bluntly, I'm the one who saved Harriet's life. What right do you have to criticize me?"
"If you think this cooperation isn't suitable, then we can split up."
"How about it?"
Ethan's rebuttal left Kaleb's face alternating between pale and red.
He was probably too angry to hold it in and immediately opened his mouth.
"Then let's spl—"
"Kaleb, shut up!"
Harriet stopped him again before turning to Ethan.
"Lord Ethan, I apologize for my companion's words."
"I won't forget that you saved my life just now."
"Once we find the treasure chest in this temple, you'll get first pick of one item inside as repayment for saving me."
"I know saying this may seem a bit excessive."
"A life can't be measured by the value of an item. But I still have to report back to the Lord after this treasure hunt, so I hope you can understand."
"Okay!"
Ethan nodded and agreed.
He felt that the reason Harriet had suddenly become so generous was because he had revealed his identity as a spatial mage, making her wary.
That was fine too. At least he didn't need to worry about them trying anything behind his back for the time being.
More importantly, there was something very strange about this place.
Perhaps because it was an illusion, Ethan still hadn't been able to find any prompts.
Which meant that next... Ethan would still need to keep using them to find the key to breaking this place.
"Harriet, what gives you the right to make decisions on your own?", Kaleb started shouting again, "Do you think everything we find belongs to you? What gives you the right to hand it to whoever you want?"
"Because the Lord promised that if I completed the mission, I could choose any three pieces of loot I wanted," Harriet replied coldly, "I'm simply giving away part of my own reward. Why do you care?"
While speaking, Harriet secretly sent private messages to Kaleb and the others through her magic book.
Harriet: [Kaleb, are you brain-dead? I already hinted to you just now that he's a spatial mage! Do you have any idea how powerful spatial mages are?]
Kaleb: [How powerful can they be? If we join forces, can't we beat him? You're a Level 4 swordsman. Are you really afraid of a mage? Isn't Lisa also a mage? You could kill her in seconds with one hand, couldn't you?]
Harriet: [That's why I've always told you not to sleep during class! Grand Archmage Gonnegal already said it before. The strongest mages in this world are spatial mages. I can kill Lisa with one hand, but a spatial mage could probably kill all of us with one hand! He only needs to open a spatial gate and your head could be swallowed instantly. What are you going to use to fight him?]
Kaleb: [Uh... then I'll just kill him now!]
Harriet: [Calling you a pig would be an insult to pigs! Didn't you see the sword in his hand? Do you think spatial magic is all he knows? Along the way, I noticed that all those goblins had extremely strange wounds. Most of them were on their backs. It's likely a combination of spatial magic and sword techniques creating a killing move. I suspect that if you reveal even the slightest killing intent right now, you'll be dead before you even make a move!]
Kaleb: [Then what? Are you saying we should just swallow our anger, keep cooperating with this guy the whole way, and let him take half of our treasure?]
[🎉 Shoutout to Justin for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]