Is It Wrong to be Picked Up by a Girl Outside Dungeon?

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"All right."

Alfia glanced at Ronen, then nodded and began to chant.

Calm of the Soul

It was a swift-cast spell—shorter even than a normal short incantation.

As soon as she finished, a faint, invisible ripple spread across her body. The instant the magic took hold, the engraved mark at her heart began rapidly fading away.

Magic nullification—an Additional Magic—was erasing the engraved spell upon her.

"So this is Additional Magic…" Ronen murmured.

Alfia felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze, but she said nothing. Ronen, watching closely, naturally noticed the pressure and strain lifting from her body as the mark vanished.

That meant her negative skill's influence was gone.

A sudden idea came to him, and he quickly made a mental note.

Next time, I won't just suppress it—I'll be able to seal it entirely.

He turned his focus back to her Additional Magic.

It was as if an unseen force wrapped around her whole body, the spell's effect constantly acting on her.

If it had been an elemental magic instead, it could have greatly boosted her stats and granted corresponding attack properties.

For example, with Ariel—Wind Spirit's Blessing—one could form a vortex sword.

If the effect was strong enough to be etched into the skill column by the gods' blessing, it would become what adventurers called an extended skill.

"Your hand," Ronen said, reaching out.

Alfia understood and placed her hand in his.

Even though she knew he meant nothing else by it, she still felt a strange sensation from his probing gaze.

Thinking about it… over the past days, she had nearly grown used to holding his hand, their magic exchanges building an unexpected sense of rapport.

Even Meteria, watching quietly from the side, felt their compatibility was surprisingly good.

Closing his eyes, Ronen pushed his mana perception to the limit, feeling out every detail of Alfia's Additional Magic.

While detection waves would be nullified, mana sensing was not.

Through careful perception, he memorized the magic's structure.

"All right—time to begin engraving the magic cluster."

The Additional Magic wasn't the focus, so once he had committed its operation and nature to memory, he moved to the main task.

The ritual was already prepared—its scale and complexity on par with a grand spell, even greater than some ultra-long incantations.

However, that was due to the engraving spell's rules; in terms of pure destructive power, it was still far less.

"Let's begin."

Ronen crushed a magic stone.

The equivalent of five million valis worth of magic stone crumbled into dust, absorbed by the ritual circle.

Ronen began refining the mana, using the magic stone's energy to fuel the engraving—this was the ritual's outermost layer, meant to maximize the spell's output.

When the refinement was complete, Alfia sat at the ritual's center, feeling the magic take hold on her body.

It was like a knife carving into her skin, a needle pricking through flesh, and at the same time, an intangible heat flowing over her.

It started at her heart.

On her fair skin, a black mark slowly appeared, spreading into black lines radiating outward.

A lotus-shaped tattoo took form, and when a light sting brushed against a delicate pink point, Alfia felt a sharp jolt shoot through her.

Her shoulders, hands, forehead, abdomen, the inner sides of her thighs, her feet—

Especially across her chest and stomach, the interwoven markings formed a complete landscape painting.

It was… delicate work, but since the magic to suppress the negative skill was still relatively weak, the only way to achieve full effect was to rely on quantity to reach quality.

In truth, it would have been better for the markings to be on her back—but since the gods' blessing was typically placed there, blocking it would have prevented her status from updating.

It's reached this point… more embarrassing than I thought, Alfia thought, though her face remained composed.

The warmth rising from her lower abdomen flushed her cheeks, and she couldn't help a subtle squirm.

She cast a furtive glance at Ronen—eyes closed, expression fully focused—and felt a twinge of guilt.

He was using external mana, but the greater drain was on his stamina, not hers.

And without a single pause, he had been working for hours—so long that his face was already pale.

The repetitive incantation he chanted to support the casting had gone on for hours.

And this… was only halfway done.

The ritual could not be stopped midway, making it an enormous challenge for him.

"Ronen, hang in there," Meteria encouraged, fists clenched, worry in her eyes.

The circle pulsed with light. Riveria's gaze was solemn.

When it finally ended, Ronen collapsed to the ground.

"Suppression level—100%," Alfia whispered, then noticed his state of exhaustion.

Before she realized it, she had moved.

Her speed was so great that neither Meteria nor Riveria could perceive her movement—faster than sound, yet without producing a sonic boom.

She reached him before they could react, catching his falling body.

And then—she shuddered.

"…Tss…"

She had only caught him, his cheek merely brushing against her chest… yet her knees weakened, and she fell backward, Ronen landing atop her.

The engraving's magic itself wasn't to blame—it was the process. It had left her tactile nerves highly sensitive.

Lying there blankly, feeling the warmth of his breath, her mind went momentarily blank.

"Ronen! Sister!"

Meteria cried out, rushing over to lift Ronen away.

Only when his body left her did Alfia snap back to herself.

"It should be mental exhaustion," she said, masking her expression with practiced calm.

"He prepared for this. I'll perform the next ritual to restore his spirit."

Ronen had made two ritual setups—one for the engraving cluster magic, and another for a simple, foolproof recovery spell.

Once the latter was complete, the lingering effects of mana overuse would be greatly reduced.

After Alfia finished the ritual, Ronen's color began to return.

"He's a good man… someone who's given us hope. I give you both my blessing," she said softly, after carrying him to a room in the basement and arranging him comfortably.

"…Sister?"

Meteria looked at her in surprise.

Alfia's gaze flickered, slightly uneasy under the girl's eyes.

"I see."

Meteria smiled faintly, though it was not the smile of someone merely giving recognition.

Alfia's initial impression of Ronen had been favorable. She had quickly recognized his capabilities and accepted his aid.

At that point, she had already begun to accept him—so Meteria's lack of surprise made sense.

Then… what was Meteria smiling about?

Alfia didn't know.

For some reason, she just felt… irritated.

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