It took a lot of skill—perhaps even luck,—but Jerry and Ciara managed to descend to the ground floor without any casualty or injury.

It could have been his imagination, but Jerry felt that their opponents became faster and stronger at a particular point.

However, his will to protect his friend—as well as his own drive for survival—ensured he gave it his all. Until…

… They finally arrived at their destination.

‘Kyaaaaaaaaaaa! So awesome!’ Ciara thought gleefully to herself as they both sealed off the monsters—preventing them from giving chase.

They noticed that the creatures avoided the door to the house, which meant that they probably couldn’t leave. However, just to be safe, the duo erected a barrier anyway.

“Alright… we’re in the garden. What now?” Jerry heaved a misty breath.

The environment was dark and cold, and the garden didn’t make it a more pleasant sight.

Nothing but the deep darkness of a thick forest could be seen in their environment. The night sky barely contained stars, and the moon was awfully dull.

“Let’s explore the garden.” Ciara nodded to Jerry’s words, and they began their exploration.

Of course, Jerry kept her close, and he diligently searched for their prize.

‘This has to work!’

*

*

*

NOTHING!

The duo found nothing at all!

There was no Arcana in the garden, and this was made clear to Jerry and Ciara after they tried their best to find one.

In the first place, neither could sense the energy signature which was unique to an Arcana—the incomprehensible energy—in the garden.

It was the same as the mansion.

Despite their best efforts… nothing.

“What now?” Jerry sighed.

He felt stuck at this point. After trying all he could, being as diligent as possible… he still couldn’t do this one job right.

“Don’t look so down, Jerry. This is a very difficult job. Besides, Jared said that it’s possible that he was wrong and there’s no Arcana here.”

“Y-yeah…”

“You know… there’s something we’ve never tried before. Maybe it’ll work…”

Ciara gave Jerry a slightly embarrassed expression, and she slowly leaned towards him.

Whatever was going on in her mind remained a mystery to the young, oblivious man. He simply tried to encourage himself with her words, and he was happy when she made a suggestion that could work.

“O-oh? What is it?”

Jerry was desperate at this point. If it had even a slight opportunity for success… he would take it.

After a little moment of waiting, Ciara finally opened her pursed lips and let out what was squirming in her inner thoughts.

“K-kiss…”

“Eh?”

For a second, maybe more, awkward silence pervaded the area. Other than the howling of the wind, and the ruffling of the garden’s withered, twisted branches, there was no sound at all.

“I-I mean… I read it in a book somewhere. A kiss breaks… some kinds of bind or spell. Maybe it… will break… this one…”

Jerry’s eyes bulged as he heard Ciara say this. Red dots slowly appeared on his face and he yelped in shock.

“W-w-w-what are you implying?! A k-kiss?!”

“Don’t raise your voice! It’s not like… it’s something easy for me too…” The girl fidgeted, creating an even more awkward atmosphere.

Despite saying that, though, Jerry could not help but wonder how their situation had devolved into a kissing matter?

For one, he had never heard of a book or method that prescribed kissing for solving a rather awry situation.

‘I know I’m not as smart as Ciara, but…’ His cheeks flushed with more pink and his heart raced.

Jerry was so uneasy that he began sweating. What could he do? If Ciara was smarter than he was, and there was a possibility of success in the act… then shouldn’t they go ahead with it?

‘I-it makes sense… right?’

Jerry gulped as he looked at the girl beside him. Her lips were glossy, and they were so welcoming. It felt so…

‘Shame on you, Jerry. How can you think of her like that?’ He thought himself to be vile for considering such a thing, especially to someone who was in a vulnerable state.

“Ciara… we better not. I know you said this because you’re considering how much I don’t want to fail, but you’re right. Jared mentioned how it’s possible that we won’t find anything. I think we’d better report back to him.”𝑜𝓋𝑙xt.𝒞𝓞𝔪

As Jerry explained himself, he felt that he saw Ciara’s countenance fall. But it all happened so fast that that he must have seen wrong.

“Tch!”

Once again, he must have heard wrong too. There was no way Ciara would click her tongue like that.

“We should teleport back. Where’s my Spell Card?” Jerry rummaged through his outfit.

‘U-uh?!’ His eyes bulged.

Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t be so certain, right? He decided to search thoroughly.

After a few seconds of searching and searching, he finally arrived at the most rational conclusion—though it made no sense to him.

“C-Ciara… I can’t find it. My Spell Card.”

Perhaps… perhaps she could find hers. If she did, then—!

“I can’t find mine too!”

Both of them looked at each other in surprise. Shock was written on their faces until it evolved into confusion.

“H-how?!”

“Why?!”

They had no answers to those questions. Did they drop it behind? No, he didn’t think so. It was possible that it could have been lost in his battle against the monsters, but…

‘I made sure to secure it properly!’ Jerry wasn’t stupid.

He knew what he was doing well.

‘Plus, Ciara isn’t so clumsy. Something must be going on here…’

In any case, they were stuck.

Not only were they trapped in the middle of nowhere, but they also had no prize for their efforts.

“Damnit. I’m sorry, Ciara. The others might even be returning with their Arcanas by now, and yet…”

Why did someone as strong as her have to end up with a weak and unimpressive guy like this.

‘No Arcana. No Spell Card. What’s going on?!’

There was nothing he could do at this point, though. Even though he was a man, and he wanted to prove himself—at least to an extent—he had already failed pretty badly.

“We’ll just wait for Jared to come save us.”