Walking out into the treasure room, I opened up the next chest and reached inside. I ended up pulling out a gauntlet. It wasn’t something that I would wear. It was clear white, shiny, and made of metal. It wasn’t like I was trying to typecast myself or something. Just because I was a White Mage didn’t mean that I needed to wear robes or something. I’d happily wear the most protective armor out there. That usually ended up being light leather armor though, as anything else just got in my way too much and became intrusive.

Most of the girls with me agreed, even Terra who would rather take hits with her regenerative body than an armor that had to be maintained. The only girl I knew who liked to wear heavy armor like this, well, that would be Carmine, right?” I used the kiosk and returned to the safe room.

“Master, what took so long!” Carmine cried, standing up as soon as I walked in the door.

“I got this for you,” I said instantly, holding out the gauntlet.

“Ah! M-master!” Her eyes shined as she saw the new piece of armor.

It was a Star Gauntlet which told me that there must be an entire star set of weapons and armor and that we’d eventually obtain the whole thing. I didn’t want to explain how I had stupidly put my life on the line because I wasn’t able to read carefully. Instead, I had used the gift as a distraction, and it seemed to have worked splendidly. Carmine looked at it in admiration before she finally put the gauntlet on. She then gestured to her side and lifted a similarly white and shiny helmet that looked like it’d be very reflective in battle.

“I got a helmet! Soon, I’ll have a whole new set of armor.”

There were fifty of these trials, and so we had 48 to go. I couldn’t imagine another 48 sets of armor, so I wondered what else would appear in these trials. I was more interested in other things like the star potion. Then again, I had to keep my eyes on the main prize. We had to escape this dungeon. Ultimately, nothing else mattered but our escape.

“Let’s go.” I gave the command, and the two of us left the safe room.

Once we left, I heard her mumbling a spell. It must have been her purification spell again.

“You’re not cured?”

“No…” She frowned.

I shook my head. “It was Mimic then.”

When I used Ablution, I had unlocked Mimic and gained Karmic Espionage. Ultimately, that’s what allowed me to be okay. After all, I hadn’t gotten rid of Drakus’s karmic infection. It was still a part of me, which is why everyone thought I was him. I checked, and she did not get the job Mimic. After all, you had to manipulate your own karmic debt to gain it.

At least, there were places she could recover her mind. I was really happy that I had unlocked my strange job. Otherwise, I would have been constantly battling between being this Drakus guy. I met him, and I didn’t envy him. I still didn’t even really know his place in the story. Was he meant to die in that ambush, or was that not something that originally happened?

Did any of it matter? It seemed like this story was now rewriting itself as it went, including us as actors in the story. I guess we really would end up having to rewrite the lore of this dungeon if we wanted any hope of escaping.

“Drakus! You have returned. Are you ready to begin?” The fort commander asked.

I nodded, “Assemble the troops, it’s time we started this campaign against the demons.”