As the sun sank below the horizon, the veil of night descended.

The moon and stars emitted a faint glow, but the beachfront without any lights was pitch-black.

Concealed by a cloaking spell near the shoreline, Rosha’s group quietly made their way onto the sandy beach when the timing seemed appropriate.

“Fortunately, the blue window hasn’t shown any particular reaction.”

“It must have exhausted its power designating you as the target, huh?”

While plausible, Koko’s remark was mere speculation. In any case, it was good if there were no further obstacles for the time being.

Gazing at the undulating dark sea, Rosha murmured:

“…So the issue now is how to cross that sea.”

Crossing the sea required more effort than anticipated.

For starters, flying was difficult. Using magic for flight demanded an immense amount of mana and highly precise control.

Moreover, while she might manage it alone, carrying the entire group was nearly impossible.

‘Come to think of it, I avoided flying before due to its inefficiency.’

The more feasible approach was freezing the ocean’s surface.

Though there was a risk of it shattering, that could be addressed with a weight reduction spell.

The downside was that if they encountered demonic beasts in the sea, she would need to perform multi-casting beyond mere double-casting.

Of course, there were those in this world who could walk on water without magic.

“What’s there to worry about?”

Gauging the distance to the palace, Froy readily extended his hand.

After a moment’s hesitation, Rosha took his hand, and without any apparent strain, he stepped onto the water’s surface.

“…Ah.”

Remarkably, the sea was as solid as a paved glass floor. Furthermore, he had expanded the area wide enough for Lysithea and Joel to comfortably follow behind.

Shoooaah, the sound of waves could be heard.

Walking on the sea under the moonlit night while holding someone’s hand had a rather romantic quality to it.

“Oh my, it’s like a scene from a novel.”

Lysithea’s faint murmur drifted from behind, reminding Rosha of Joel mentioning her penchant for romance novels.

Suppressing a tinge of embarrassment, Rosha asked Froy:

“Is this easy with your ability? Just in case, I should mention that I can’t swim.”

“Sheesh, you still haven’t learned how to swim?”

From her shoulder, Koko lightly chided her ear.

Glancing at the parrot, the man responded:

“So you’re beginning to nag her too, huh?”

“Nagging? I’m just stating facts.”

“It means you’re starting to view her more familiarly.”

“…”

Having successfully rendered Rosha speechless, Froy faintly curved his lips as he remarked:

“Walking on water isn’t particularly difficult for me. But if you were to fall in, I would definitely come to your rescue.”

“…Then I simply won’t create such a situation.”

“I suppose that’s true as well.”

No matter how she looked at it, he seemed to be teasing her.

Perhaps due to the darkness of night, they avoided detection even without a cloaking spell. Nor were there any surprise attacks from the demons below.

After traversing the sea for dozens of minutes, they safely arrived at the ice palace.

“Wow…”

Lysithea gazed up at the palace with a hint of awe.

From afar, its scale had been indiscernible, but it was comparable to the largest structures in the imperial capital, requiring a fully craned neck to glimpse its towering peak.

Moreover, being constructed of ice caused the palace’s surface to glimmer with faint starlight, the intricate brickwork patterns exquisitely carved as if an existing building had been frozen over.

Confirming the palace entrance remained transparent, Rosha let out a relieved sigh.

‘Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any demons.’

According to Nardil, the palace doors would turn an opaque white a couple of times each day.

During those periods, the sea would bizarrely freeze over while hordes of demonic beasts emerged from the entrance and swarmed the shoreline.

Of course, the trial’s design may have intended for them to defeat the demons and approach on foot, but why endure such hardship when they could simply walk on water?

“So what do we do now?”

“Knock on the door. Politely.”

After audibly gulping, Joel courteously knocked on the grand entrance, his movements befitting a noble-born imperial knight’s etiquette.

They were all tense at having to enter an enemy’s lair, Rosha included.

‘At least I’ve already gone over the key points to watch out for.’

However, there was no way to know what changes Hardmode had brought, so utmost caution would be necessary from this point onward.

With the rift now open, there would likely be no secret elixir shop during this trial either.

A considerable amount of time passed before:

Creeak-

The palace doors finally inched open.

Revealed within was a… humanoid demon dressed like a butler.

“…!”

While appearing elderly, his overall form resembled a human, but his blue skin and elongated pupils were distinctly inhuman.

His blackened, pointed nails and chillingly vein-protruded face exuded outright hostility.

Rosha sensed Lysithea sharply inhaling her breath, but true to her prior warning, she remained silent. The others did the same.

After briefly scrutinizing their group, the monster butler stepped aside and spoke:

“Enter.”

* * *

To succinctly define the third trial – it involved defeating the ‘Queen’ who ruled this ice palace.

However, to safely reach the Queen’s audience chamber, there was one condition:

Strictly adhere to noble etiquette.

-Upon entering the palace, five snowflake-shaped ices will appear above each person’s head. Violating etiquette causes them to break one by one.

-And if they all break?

-The floor opens up, dropping you down? Like some flying coaster ride.

-Rosha, no matter how noble your birth, if the floor suddenly opened and someone went ‘Whooosh’ straight down, I wouldn’t have been able to hold back my laughter.

Beneath the palace was the frigid sea, teeming with demonic beasts.

Unsurprisingly, those from the previous world unfamiliar with noble etiquette had all plummeted in the first corridor.

In the end, they had barely managed to clear it by borrowing the power of someone with a flight ability.

However, there was one key difference between then and now.

Everyone entering the palace this time was of noble birth.

You have entered the core of the third trial.

The fixed time within the core will now progress.

While the blue window had undoubtedly appeared before them, following the butler’s lead, they wordlessly proceeded down the corridor.

Adhering meticulously to etiquette as per her prior warning, there was nothing to critique in their conduct.

Moreover, only a single snowflake-shaped ice hovered above each of their heads.

‘Is this because of Hardmode? It would have been disastrous if Cassis had come along.’

Just imagining him plummeting and having to catch him, only for all of them to fall together… Perhaps it was fortunate he hadn’t accompanied them.

Rosha surveyed the ice palace’s interior by simply rolling her eyes.

Contrary to expectations, the entire place wasn’t made of ice. However, thick frost coated every surface, making it as bitterly cold as the depths of winter.

Were it not for her cape maintaining her body temperature, she would likely have caught a cold from a prolonged stay.

It was then that a small puff of breath accompanied by a sneeze came from Rosha’s shoulder.

“Achoo!”

“Silence!”

The fearsome-looking butler whirled around, but upon realizing it was merely a tiny parrot, he turned away with an embarrassed air.

Presumably excused as an animal, there was no snowflake ice above Koko’s head.

“Ahem!”

Nonetheless, the butler tried to find some pretext to reprimand them.

That might explain the presence of a hulking knight standing squarely in their path to the audience chamber.

Like the butler, this knight was a humanoid demon with blue skin and elongated pupils, surveying them with a fierce gaze.

“So there were intruders who entered the palace. If you wish to see Her Majesty the Queen, you must first get past me.”

He appeared to be scrutinizing Joel, who resembled a knight among their group.

‘Oh dear…’

There had been no mention of such an event occurring.