《Aias: from a world of kaijus to a world of fantasy and magic》 Prologue The world is in ruins, it has been nearly 50 years since the first kaijus appeared from the gate. 47 years since an entire continent fell under the control of the kaijus 38 years since humanity managed to close the gate with the deployments of the first generations of Aiases in the last few years of the war. A massive humanoid robot requiring 2 people to pilot, whose purpose is to lead the assault on retaking the continent that was infested with kaijus, ending a 12 year long war. 25 years since the start of the second war against the kaijus that nearly wiped out humanity in the process. And now the end of the 3rd war is nearly at its conclusion, humanity has been planning and preparing themselves to finally end this once and for all. I pushed away a kaiju, roughly 75 meters in height, using my Aias, a giant robot similar in size, to the ground. The ground shook as it fell dead on the ground, a giant sword piercing through its body Collapsing on my knees from my exhaustion and injuries after killing it and who knows how many kaijus I¡¯d killed. My aias, which was controlled by synchronizing and linking my mind and body to it, also collapsed on its knees. ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­¡± Breathing heavily, my left eye was bloodshot, skin looking pale, and blood was covering my combat suit from my nosebleeds, after pushing myself too hard, had started to dried. The alarms were blaring, warning lights were flashing, and sparks were flying everywhere in the cockpit. I stare through the large hole, that expose the cockpit to the outside. I look at the kaiju I just killed, it had my sword thrust into it''s body. ¡°Charlotte, damage report¡± I spoke to the A.I. support system that assists me with piloting my Aias. ¡°All systems critical. Core integrity at 18%, right arm severed, left leg cripple, cockpit has been breached.¡± Things were really bad, I turned my head to my left to see Norn, my sister and co-pilot, dead. Our mission was to be part of an assault group to the gate and set up the bomb to finally end this war permanently. My role along with others Aiases was to separate from the group and protect the main assault group that enter in the gate to launch the bomb into the other side of the gate. We were supposed to kill any kaijus that were coming back to the gate that was trying to stop the main assault group. The number of kaijus that were coming toward us was overwhelming. We were overwhelm and I was the only one left standing. One kaiju managed to bite and tear off a part of the head. The head where the cockpit was crushed, a large stray piece of metal stabbed into her abdomen. I remember the moment she was killed, I could feel her life snuffed out because our minds are linked together and to the Aias. ¡°Warning, Ori overload limit has been reach. Suggest disconnect¡± ¡°Negative, I still need to buy some more time¡± Damn it, I had really forgotten about that. I had disabled the limiter immediately after Norn was killed, not having the time to grief, I continued fighting for my life. I had only a limited amount of time before my tolerance for Ori energy became fatal since that is the reason two pilots are required to pilot an Aias. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I tried getting up while still being linked to the Aias, the frame of the Aias was screeching trying to stand from all the damage it sustain. Blood started to come out of my nose again as I pushed myself too hard trying to get my Aias to stand. Then a communication screen popped up with the voice cutting in and out ¡°Come in, come¡­ this is Orion¡­, the bomb has been ¡­, I repeat bomb has been launched. We¡¯re coming¡­ back¡± ¡°So they finally did it, it took them long enough, huh. Charlotte, disconnect¡± Struggling to stand back up even after I¡¯d disconnected, I reached toward Norn and touched her pale cheeks, still feeling warmth on her skin. Then I place my hands over her eyes and close it for the last time. Blood suddenly came out of my mouth after I closed her eyes. I¡¯d collapsed again, this time I was coughing and vomiting a lot of blood. ¡°Damn¡­ I really overdid it¡± Wiping the blood off my mouth, looks like I¡¯m not going to make it, I don''t have a lot of time left, do I? It seems the overload of Ori energy from piloting my Aias solo wore down my body to a point that I¡¯m surprised that I¡¯m not dead already. My voice was gradually becoming weaker as I continue speaking to myself ¡°Hey Norn, we won, it was a fun battle in the end. We can rest now, I guess¡± I wonder if there is an afterlife or that I could ever see Norn in another life. I wonder if she or I will remember for each other in the next life. ¡°Charlotte¡­ send my last¡­ message to the base.¡± My vision was turning more and more hazy, and my voice becoming more and more weaker. ¡°Hey, it''s me¡­ I had fun in¡­ the end, I guess this is the end of the line¡­ for me. Sorry I didn¡¯t¡­¡± I gave a weak smile and with that my vision turned completely dark. In the end, I died, however everything remains dark, is this what the afterlife is like, complete darkness? I couldn¡¯t feel my body nor anything else for that matter. After a who knows how long it had been, it could have been days, months, or even years, but all I knew was that I had been stuck here in a world of darkness for a very long time. It was just pitch black darkness, there wasn¡¯t anything, I didn''t go insane from the nothingness because for some reason I couldn¡¯t. I just felt nothing, I didn¡¯t feel any pain nor joy from being stuck here. However a extremely bright light suddenly shines in the void of darkness. My eyes shoot wide open to see an unfamiliar ceiling, it wasn¡¯t the ceiling but the whole room was unfamiliar What is going on, where am I, I thought I died, how am I alive? I tried to shout out to call someone, however all that came out was a loud cry. Someone heard me crying, a giant lady that looked to be in maid attire. She stared at me and muttered in an unfamiliar language, she then held me in her arms and gently rocked me back and forth. I became even more confused, why is she a giant, what kinda language is she speaking, and why can¡¯t I speak? After a while of being held by the maid, I manage to calm down and she place me back to where I lay Starting to move my body around in an attempt to move however I can, till I saw my hands near my eyes and they were baby hands. Why do I have the hands of a baby, am I a baby or something? This probably explain why the maid is a giant and why my body can¡¯t do as I wanted it to do Last thing I remember before I died, me and Norn were on a mission, made up of exclusively named Aiases to send an ori energy bomb to the gate, destroying the world of the kaijus and any bridges that open a gate to my world, finally putting a permanent end to the war and any future wars. My name was Alina Garner, me and Norn were pilots to operate a named Aias together. Pilots are augmented humans, chosen for their high tolerance of ori energy that could flow through their body. Ori energy was discovered when the first gate opened, a gateway between dimensions. It¡¯s not fully understood, abnormal phenomenons were still being discovered even before I died. It''s the same energy kaijus use to support themselves despite their immense size. Studying the biology of dead kaiju corpses, they circulate that energy in their body, becoming tougher without collapsing from their own weight. By using the core, which was their sources of their Ori energy, researchers were able to artificially replicating and study the phenomena, thus the first prototype Aias was created Name Aiases specifically are Aiases that have cores that are from kaijus who are given names because of how strong they are, when you compare them to the mass produced ones who are made from kaijus who weren''t given a name. Name Aiases are one of a kind, created to be extremely lethal in battle against kaijus, requiring pilots to have an even higher level of tolerance for ori energy compared to a normal pilot. Looking at the room some more, I was in an elaborately decorated crib with the maid to my right and also in an luxuriously decorated room in a Victorian or fantasy-like room. It confirms my suspicions, I got reincarnated as a baby and one that is probably from the upper-class or maybe a noble. I''m guessing or I¡¯m hoping for this to be like those fantasy games that I was obsessed with playing during whatever free time I could get. Maybe I''ll get to see my sister or everyone else again. Guess I have to wait till I actually do something in this body. Chapter 1 It has been 10 years since I got reincarnated into this world, and I¡¯m still waiting for a system window to pop up or something. Walking down a hallway, I looked to my left, where my maid Clare was walking slightly behind me. Clare is diligent, always professional, and takes her job very seriously. I couldn¡¯t ask for a better maid. These days I go by Rita Lucendi because I was born into a marquess family, which dates back to the beginning of this kingdom, called the Selendrai kingdom. I have been learning whatever I could in my free time and from my tutors, which led to me being praised a lot and being called a genuine genius by the people around me because I learn things way faster compared to kids my age. Overall, from what I have learned, this world is your stereotypical fantasy world. Tropes like monsters, magic, other races, etc. are common. It didn¡¯t take too long to learn the language because, surprisingly, it uses a lot of the same terminology as in my previous world. Reading the books in my family''s library about not just this kingdom but this world¡¯s history, I compared it to the various games that are set in fantasy worlds, which I spent a lot of time playing in my past life. I have determined that this world is not any world that I recognize. Honestly, those protagonists who got isekai to another world with a system had it easy, like having to learn a new language, which is a huge pain in the ass, or spending the first month of my life stressed out trying to figure out what''s going on. I want to cuss out the god who sent me here if there is one, or maybe the game devs who made this world. Ending my internal grumblings, I stopped and stared out the window to see a slightly older blue-eyed boy with the same hair color as I do, silver. It was my older brother Eric. His hair starts to glow white, and white electricity starts to form at the tips of his fingers. After a bit, he fires the white electricity like a thunderbolt at a straw target. It was immediately destroyed, leaving a burn mark on the ground. Then he began charging up to fire at another straw target. When I saw magic for the first time, I genuinely smiled for the first time thinking of all the fun things I could do with magic. It was such an odd sight that Clare¡¯s seriousness and stone-faced demeanor turned into complete shock when I smiled. Probably because I''ve been told in my past life that my sister Norn and I don¡¯t show a lot of emotion, and it carries over to this life. Due to this, the other servants in the manor are always afraid of me. A kid who doesn¡¯t smile and doesn¡¯t act her age is creepy to them. It caused rumors to start spreading about me being cursed or something. However, these days I have learned to plaster on a smile every day so I don¡¯t creep out the servants. It took five etiquette tutors and a lot of work for me to figure out how to plaster on a smile and then some to make it look genuine. Thinking about those tutors, I kind of felt bad for them. I basically brought each and every one of them into tears whenever they tried, and that was just smiling. I don¡¯t want to think about what would happen to them if they were going to teach me other facial expressions. Anyway, speaking about my brother, he was back home from the Royal Academy because it was spring break, which lasted for about half a month. The royal academy, about a few days''s ride on a carriage, is a prestigious school that all children of nobility go to. It''s a real shame; we don¡¯t have much of a relationship with my older brother, and the same goes for the rest of my family. I was born into a stereotypical noble family, with my mother only caring about money and my father only caring about influence and power. Speaking of the Royal Academy, I¡¯ve been hearing some interesting rumors about the academy. There was a baron''s daughter catching the attention of certain powerful and prominent male students in the academy, which also included my brother for some reason. If I¡¯m not wrong, this sounds exactly like the plot of an Otome game I have played before. For some reason, I get the feeling that I just might be the villainess in that potential heroine story because not only my brother is caught up with that girl, but also my fiancee, who is the 3rd prince of this kingdom, was also caught up with her. Let''s not worry about it too much. I have a couple of months until I enroll in the Royal Academy, and I have more important things to care about today. Heck, I should be happy going to the Royal Academy because I¡¯m going to have way more freedom at school than at home, and since this is a fantasy world, I always wanted to try out being an adventurer. After I was done staring out the window at my brother training with his magic, I continued walking. ¡°Let''s go¡± ¡°Yes, lady Rita.¡± ¡°How''s the schedule for today?¡± Today is a particularly special day, one that I have been anticipating for years now. ¡°You¡¯ll be going to the church for your appraisal ceremony, then my lady will come back to inform the master and mistress of your magical power. And finally, my lady has three tutors for the rest of the day.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I wore a frilly, light blue victorianish dress and some expensive jewelry that matched my silver hair and red eyes. When a person turns 12, they go to the church to have their magical powers appraised. Supposedly, in this kingdom and others like it, there is a legend that says the royals and nobles are the result of a union of humans and dragons, with the royals being the direct descendants of dragons, giving them the ability to use magic. Whenever someone casts magic, their hair starts glowing. The more vibrant it glows, the more mana they have, almost like a gauge. And subsequently, if they have a low amount of mana or run out of mana the dimmer their hair glows. A person''s magic attribute is determined by their family''s bloodline, with the Lucendi household having a history of birthing strong mages, mostly in the attribute of lightning. Reaching the front door of my family¡¯s manor, there was a carriage waiting for me outside. A servant opened the carriage door, and I entered it with Clare. I started looking at the scenery as the carriage started moving, internally waiting in excitement, wondering what kind of attribute I was going to get. It took an hour till I saw fields of wheat with farmers tending to them, then the town itself. After another hour, we reached a church that was at the center of the town. I stepped out of the carriage and was greeted by the senior pastor of this church. "Greetings, Lady Rita, it¡¯s an honor to welcome you to our humble chapel.¡± He bowed his head, showing respect to me, and more specifically, my family name since we were the lords of the territory. ¡°I thank you for greeting us.¡± I curtsy in response to his bow, and then I was escorted with Clare into the chapel. From first impressions, it was large, closer to the size of a cathedral. I have never really been to this chapel before because my family only follows the religion that would benefit them the most, which is one of the 12 main religions in this world called Zerefism, which worships the god Zeref. Priests and priestesses were wearing white robes with yellow accents and praying to the statues of a goddess, another of the 12 main religions in this world. She is the goddess Era, from the Eraism religion. The stained glass above depicts her as a beautiful woman with blonde hair and wearing a more ornate version of the robes that the priests and priestesses are wearing. She holds a scale on her right and a book on her left to represent the divinity she represents, which is judgment and wisdom. In this world, the gods are associated with a specific color. Looking at the other stained glass, there was one that showed a large group of gods with angels, about 75 in total, who are known as the old gods, each having their own unique color. And contrasting them were demons wreaking havoc in this world in the next panel. Then another panel shows them fighting, and it leads to them driving off the demons back to their world. It came at a cost, with most of the old gods being either killed or severely weakened by the war. However, it led to a new era for the young gods to watch over the world, and new races were born from the weakened old gods, like humans, elves, dwarves, etc. Strangely enough, the creations of dragons are different from those of other races since they predate them. There are only seven pure-blooded dragons in this world, each personally created by a different old god. After I was done looking at the glass stains, the senior pastor opened the door to a room with a crystal ball on a pedestal. ¡°Lady Rita, please enter.¡± He walked to the pedestal in the middle of the room and guided me to where to stand. ¡°Please put your hands on the artifact.¡± Doing what he was told with some anticipation, I put my hand on the crystal ball, wondering what kind of magic I had. Will I get the attribute of electricity, like my father, or the attribute of water, like my mother? The head priest''s hair glows golden, activating the device, but he looks surprised when nothing happens. ¡°My apologies, lady Rita; it seems like there is something wrong.¡± He checked the orb by looking at it for any damage, then using it on himself, for it glowed a golden light as he placed his hand on the orb. ¡°I apologize for the inconvenience; please try again.¡± I placed my hand again on the orb, but still, nothing happened. After doing it a couple more times with nothing happening, worry turned to dread as I knew what he was going to say. The senior pastor then spoke with a troubled look. ¡°Lady Rita, I¡¯m afraid you do not have any magical powers.¡± I stood there in a daze for a while. By the time I was out of it, I felt a stinging sensation across my left cheek. It was my mother slapping my face. ¡°How dare you show yourself in front of me. I can¡¯t believe I gave birth to complete trash.¡± I looked at her, and then, around the room I was in, I realized I was back at my family''s mansion in front of my father''s desk, at his main office. So¡­ I have no magic; their reactions are what I kind of expected. My mother, looking furious, sat back on the couch after slapping me. As for my father, he was sitting at his desk with a cold, emotionless expression, but I could tell that he was thinking of ways to get rid of me because I was now a liability. ¡°Elza enough, there is no point talking to somebody who is worthless to us now.¡± ¡°But Lucius, we¡¯re going to lose most of our standing and wealth because of her. I can¡¯t believe I gave birth to someone as defective as her.¡± ¡°I know, we must hide the fact she can¡¯t use magic as long as we can to limit the damage she has done to the family. I refuse to let this family be tarnished and have it fall to the level of those filthy lower nobles.¡± A noble being born without magic is uncommon but expected. However, when it happens to a family that is part of the old nobility faction like mine, which was made up of families that were around at the beginning of the Selendria kingdom and had a strong bloodline of always-birthing magicians, most of their influence and power will be lost. The reason why is that old nobility factions prioritize bloodlines above all else. If a child is born without magic, they will consider that family¡¯s bloodline to be tainted, and the family will be excommunicated from the old nobility faction, which is mostly made up of upper aristocrats. ¡°Bernard, come¡± ¡°Yes, Lord Lucius.¡± Bernard is my father''s personal butler; he has been faithfully working here for the last 3 decades. ¡°Send her to the manor by the edge of the territory; make sure no one can find her. In the meantime, we are consolidating our assets, prioritizing the ones that are loyal to only us." ¡°As you command, my lord.¡± Father then turned his face toward me, this time with a scowl, and said. ¡°Get out of my sight.¡± I was led to a carriage by Bernard, having not had the opportunity to get my things. The carriage ride was non-stop, only stopping at inns at night. I was given a hood to cover my face, and Bernard didn¡¯t say anything as he was taking me somewhere. Eventually, after a few days, we reach an old manor deep inside a forest. Chapter 2 I lay on a bed, staring at the ceiling, in a room provided to me by the servants who work in this remote mansion. How long has it been since I''ve been doing this¡ªmaybe a few days at least or a week at most? ¡°Haa¡± Taking a deep sigh, I continued staring up at the ceiling. What should I do? The servants who were taking care of me were gradually coming to see me less and less, partly because I didn¡¯t want to leave my room and I was just ignoring them when they tried to communicate with me. The chances of a noble among the old nobility faction being born without magic are incredibly rare, only happening a handful of times, with the last one happening over a hundred years ago. My family probably has about a month or two left to stall from announcing that I have no magic. I guess the reason my father didn¡¯t just get rid of me outright is because a lot of people have their eyes on me, even the royal family. To them, I was a gem among the next generation of aristocrats, seeing me as highly valuable to have, which is why I was the fiancee of the 3rd prince. Honestly, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised that they already know that I have no magic. What should I do? I''ve been asking the same question again and again for the last few days. There is nothing left for me. Once everything had settled, I¡¯d probably be married off to the son of some random family since my blood is still valuable to families outside of the old nobility faction. I doubt he would not care who I¡¯d end up with, and it would probably be an easy way to get rid of me. Suddenly, an idea sprang up in my mind as I was mulling over what to do. There was no point in being in this family; I''d just run away since I wouldn¡¯t benefit from being in this family anymore. The last town I passed, riding the carriage to get here, was the town of Farsbarow. If I remember correctly, it was a beginner-friendly adventurering town, which is about a day''s carriage ride away from here. I can¡¯t really escape right now; it would be a bad idea just to run away. My clothes are not proper attire for traveling, and I have nothing to my name. If I''d run away right now, I probably would get myself killed, get lost, or be found and brag back by a search party sent to find me. So then, I¡¯m going to have to make a plan for my escape and look around the mansion for things that could help me. I waited till night, when most of the servants were asleep, to roam around and get a layout of this manor. 10 minutes into roaming around, I heard two pairs of footsteps around a corner. I quietly opened a door to a room on my right as fast and quietly as I could to hide from the pair of footsteps. Less than a minute later, I heard two female voices chatting, probably maids working the night shift. ¡°Thought I heard something.¡± ¡°Maybe you''re just hearing things.¡± ¡°Sigh. I really hate that it¡¯s our turn to do the night shift; I just want to go to bed already. Can¡¯t they hire more servants so we don¡¯t have to do this?¡± ¡°I doubt anyone would want to work in a place like this; we better hurry and finish our chores for tonight." As they were walking off, I heard them begin talking about me. ¡°Oh, have you heard about Lady Rita?¡± ¡°Ya, who hasn''t?¡± ¡°I wonder what happened to her and why they just dropped her here.¡± ¡°Who knows¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The two maids continue on their way, and I sigh in relief at the maids not finding me. Interesting; they gave me some useful information. This place is understaffed, which will make it easier to sneak around. I think I should follow them to get an idea of where to go for their night shift. ¡°Hey, do you feel like we are being watched?¡± Right now, I was standing outside the kitchen, poking my head inside to watch the two maids clean the kitchen. Thankfully, my ability to spy on people and sneak around has only gotten somewhat rusty. I never thought learning it in my past life would be useful until now. ¡°I can feel it too.¡± ¡°This is really creepy.¡± Then one of them turned her head in my direction as I was poking my head in the room. ¡°Gagh!!¡± She screams when she sees my face. I guess it¡¯s because I look like a mess. My hair is disheveled, and I haven¡¯t eaten much in the last few days, so my cheeks have sunken. I kind of look like a ghost at a glance. I should go back to my room right now before her screaming gets the attention of the servants or the guards. I ran to my room as unnoticeably as I could. Lying on my bed, I tried calming down my heart rate from all the running and acting how I usually act because, not one minute later, a guard barged into my room and kneeled. ¡°My apologies, Lady Rita, for barging in; it seems that an intruder has entered the building.¡± I didn¡¯t reply, but just glanced at him and stared back at the ceiling, blankly acting as normally as I could when I got here. ¡°I¡¯ll be guarding you for the time being, and I do apologize for the disturbance.¡± He left, and I heard him standing next to my door outside. I guess this will last a few days until everything calms down. Three days later, everything calmed down, and I could finally explore the mansion again. Sneaking around the mansion again, I¡¯d explore the gates, garden, storage rooms, servants'' quarters, pantry, and armory. Thankfully, nobody noticed me like last time, and I managed to get myself a knife from the armory since all the other weapons would be more easily noticed if they were to disappear. Additionally, I¡¯d gotten myself an unused backpack from the storage room and some coins. This is today''s haul for now; now I need a place to hide it. Looking around the room, I looked to find a good place to hide until my eyes landed on a drawer. Maybe I should hide my things on the walls and have the drawer cover the hole. I moved the drawer away with all my strength because it was heavy and I¡¯m still a child. Then I use my knife to hatch out a hole in the wall. When I was done, I put all my stuff inside and moved the drawer back in place. This is not enough to run away with, but it is a start. Two weeks have gone by since I was sent to this mansion. Rumors have already circulated among the nobility that I have no magical powers; surprisingly, they even reached here. I was sneaking around to my room in the middle of the night like every night, carrying some stuff in my arms and being as quiet as possible to not get any attention from the servants or guards. I reached my room, opening and immediately shutting the door without making too much noise. Then I walked to a drawer and pushed it to the side to reveal the hole in the wall I made. Throwing it on a steadily growing pile of stuff, I push back the drawer to hide the hole with a sense of accomplishment. With that, I have gotten everything I need to run away. It took longer than expected because some of the stuff was kind of hard to find, like a map or some clothes that could fit me. The servants who work in this mansion have been actively trying to avoid me lately. I''ve been hearing them say the mansion is haunted since I showed up because of them hearing mysterious footsteps in the middle of the night, things randomly going missing, having the feeling of being watched or seeing a small figure appearing in the dark. Living in such a remote area, people tend to be more superstitious; everyone now thinks I¡¯m cursed and will bring extremely bad luck if I¡¯m near them. The servants are refusing to enter my room and be near me, only leaving food and some clean clothes to wear outside my room. I waited till it was an hour before the crack of dawn because today is the day I escape and run away to begin living my new life as an adventurer. Once I saw the hand on the clock in my room turned to 4 in the morning, I took my stuff out of the hole that was behind the drawer, pulled it out, and changed into some pants, a shirt, and a traveler''s cloak. Then a belt that held my knife, a flask of water, and a pouch of rations. Finally, I put on a backpack that holds other important stuff like a map, some money, and most important of all, the jewelry that I wore when I was sent here. I¡¯m planning to sell them if I need the extra money; they will sell at a high price. Leaving my room and sneaking out of the mansion, I made sure I didn¡¯t run into any of the servants working at night since I had already memorized everyone''s shifts. When I was at the front gate, the gate guards were easy to sneak past since they were always sleeping on the job. Honestly, I¡¯m surprised at how they even manage to not get found out. Slowly opening the gate to not wake them up, I exited the gate and looked back at the mansion once I was somewhat far away. I probably had a few days at max till one of the servants noticed I was missing, so I better start walking. I¡¯d walk away from the mansion, not looking back. Chapter 3 ¡°Ha, ha, ha, ha.¡± It hadn''t even been an hour after I left the mansion; I was already out of breath, and my legs were really killing me. I haven¡¯t felt this exhausted since I was inducted into the military with my sister Norn to become a pilot. I¡¯m starting to regret not exercising before I ran away. In honesty, why did I think I could just walk there with no problems? By the time the sun rose, I managed to reach a split in the road. Deciding it was a good opportunity to take a break, I looked around and saw a big rock on the side of the road and sat on it. Then I took out a flask of water to drink. ¡°Blegh, how do people drink this?¡± Not trying to spit it out, I swallowed it. I know the vinegar in it is supposed to keep the water from going bad, but still, this is nasty. I put away the flask with a sigh and pulled out a map from my backpack. I was supposed to reach the split a while ago, but it took way longer than I expected because I forgot to account for the fact that I was a kid, not an adult, so it¡¯s going to take even longer to get there. Looking at the map and doing some math, I try to figure out where I am on the map and where I want to go. Then I figured out how long it would take to get to Farsbarow, which was at least two to three days. Okay, I''m going to have to cut my break short then. I reluctantly stood back up and continued walking, taking the left road on the split. I walked for the rest of the day till I reached a lake I was supposed to pass by in the afternoon. It was almost dark, and seeing the lake, my legs finally gave out, and I fell to the ground flat on my face. ¡°Uuuuugh¡­ I don¡¯t want to walk anymore.¡± There was a small clearing next to the lake for me to camp out for the night, so I begrudgingly got back up and dragged my feet there. I gathered some twigs and wood to make a campfire. I sat on a log next to the fire. I took off my boots and massaged both my feet. ¡°Ahhh, this feels nice.¡± My feet feel extremely sore from walking all day, so massaging them feels really good right now. After massaging my feet, I took out the rations I packed in my backpack for my escape. They were a pouch of dried meat, bread, and some trail mix. I think I should make a sandwich for dinner. Putting two pieces of bread and some dried meat together, I bit into it, and I immediately knew that it was a bad idea¡ªa very bad idea. It was so hard, I thought I¡¯d nearly chip off a piece of my tooth trying to bite into it. Why did I think it was a good idea? Oh right, I forgot this is travel bread; it was made to be non-perishable, so it was made to be hard instead of the softer bread I usually eat. I looked at the flask and took another deep sigh for today. I guess the only way to eat this is to soften the bread. After pouring some of the water on the bread, I managed to cram the sandwich down. I¡¯m honestly starting to regret running away in the first place if it was like this. The bread was now all soggy and tasted like vinegar. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. While struggling to eat my dinner and contemplating my choices, I heard rustling behind some bushes. Immediately I was on guard, pulling out my knife and dropping my, frankly, inedible sandwich to the ground in the process. ¡°Who''s there?¡± I shout in the direction of the rustling. Did the servants find out I escaped and send people to find me? I doubt it since it would be too soon for any of the servants to notice I was missing. It didn¡¯t take long to know because I saw multiple pairs of red eyes from a bush, and then coming out of the bushes were white rabbits, five in total, with long pointy horns sticking out on their foreheads. They are bigger than normal rabbits¡ªabout three-fourths bigger. The horn sticking out of its head made it pretty obvious what it was. From my gaming knowledge of my past life, it definitely looks like a horned rabbit. I grin seeing them; I¡¯m going to have to kill them since they are monsters. After all this time of not fighting anything because I was born a daughter of nobility, I finally have the opportunity to let loose for the first time in this life. Let''s test how much my skills as a pilot have rusted over the years. Immediately, they screeched, with two of them charging directly at me while the rest started circling me. I sidestep to the right, dodging and swiping at the neck of the first-horned rabbit with my knife as it jumps and tries to use its horn to impale me with it. It left a big gash on its neck, with a lot of blood coming out. Without breaking a step, I stabbed my knife at the second-horned rabbit, who was also trying to do the same thing as the first, through its left eye and into its brain. Both of them fell to the ground, not moving. Two horn rabbits that were circling me jumped on my left and right, attempting to use their horns to impale me. I instinctively twisted my body out of the way of the horned rabbit to the left since it jumped first, grabbed it by the horn, and threw it towards the horned rabbit coming on my right, causing it to be impaled by the horn of the horned rabbit I threw it at. While they were getting up after colliding with each other, I immediately swung my body around, instinctively knowing that another horned rabbit was going to attack me from behind. I switched the grip on my knife to a reverse grip and slammed my knife, using the momentum of turning around, right through the neck of the horned rabbit that was about to pounce at me from behind. Then I return my attention to the last-horned rabbit that wasn¡¯t injured. It looked pissed off and was hissing at me after I threw one of its friends at it. It charged at me and jumped, but I kicked it away. Then I plunged my knife into where I think its heart is, as it was trying to get up disoriented. I think that was the last of them. I stood up and caught my breath. I checked my body for any injuries, and luckily, it looked like I didn''t get any. ¡°Hehe, so I wouldn''t have gotten that rusty.¡± I still have to train my body, though, to build up some muscle and stamina and adjust to my fighting style since I was a kid, but overall, my fighting ability hasn''t diminished that much. Then I looked at the horned rabbits around me and my dinner, if you could call it that, which was on the ground. It would be a waste not to eat them; it beats eating what I have. Plus, I can sell the furs and horns for some money when I get to Farsboro. Gathering the dead horned rabbits, I began the process of skinning and butchering the horned rabbit after a bit of trial and error. I decided to make some jerky so I could snack on it as I travel to Farsborow and roast one of them whole for dinner. I cut the flesh of the horn rabbits into small pieces, skew them on sticks, and place them near the fire to smoke. Then I flattened a horned rabbit and began roasting the horned rabbits on a stick. When it finished cooking, I bit into the roasted horned rabbit; it was surprisingly tender and juicy and tasted way better than what I have. For the rest of the meat, I threw it away in the lake so it didn''t attract any more monsters. After eating the horned rabbit, I decided to turn in for the night since I¡¯m going to be dreading tomorrow because it would be another grueling day of walking, so I¡¯ll need all the rest I can get. I should sleep on a tree tonight; it is better to be safe than sorry since I might be attacked by a monster in my sleep. Finding a tree with branches that could support my weight, I struggled to climb up due to not having that much strength in general and being exhausted from the day. After several minutes of struggling, I managed to get up to a branch. Then I took some bandages out of my backpack to use as a rope to tie me to the tree so I wouldn¡¯t fall off the tree as I slept. When I was done, I shut my eyes and went to sleep. Chapter 4 Waking up to the morning sun shining on my face, I rub my eyes to shake away the drowsiness. My body was sore all over from sleeping on a tree. I untied the bandages that tied me to the tree and slowly got down from the tree. The horned rabbit meat looked to be done drying, so I collected it and packed it to the brim into my dried meat pouch. Then I prepare all my things and sigh; this will be another day of grueling walking. The walk was hell; my legs and feet were already dead yesterday and are now even dead. Today I am going to a spring that was on my map before it gets dark. Then tomorrow, it should only be a few hours walk to Farsborow. The sun is about to set when I reach the spring. I collapsed, face flat on the ground again from my legs giving out on me. "Man, I really hate walking.¡± I made a campfire and was relaxing by it, eating some dried horn rabbit meat I¡¯d made yesterday. Thinking of what I should do when I reach Farsborow, I should first register as an adventurer at the guild, do some quests, train myself to a level I¡¯m satisfied with, get a sense of what life is like for an adventurer, and maybe look for Norn if she also got reincarnated like me, but I should set my expectations low since I don¡¯t think it''s likely. Also, I¡¯m going to disguise myself to make it even harder for people to find me. My silver hair makes me stand out quite a lot because there aren¡¯t many commoners with the same hair color as me. I gathered my hair into a ponytail and held my knife, then I cut off my hair. Holding my hair, which I just cut off, I stare at it for a moment. ¡°Guess I don''t need this anymore.¡± I toss it away in the fire, watching it burn. When it finished burning, I took a piece of charcoal out of the campfire with a stick, placed it on a rock, added some water from my flask, and began to crush it into a paste with the butt of my knife. Let''s see how well it will work as a hair dye. I began scrubbing it all over my silver hair, then I went to the spring to see my reflection in the moonlight. My hair turned more of an ashen black color; it did the job of making my hair stand out less. With my short black hair and clothes, I now look a lot more boyish and different from how I used to look. Now that I¡¯m done dying my hair, I guess I¡¯ll turn in for the night. I went up a tree last night, tied myself to it, and slept on a branch. I woke up to my body completely sore again, and I honestly didn¡¯t want to get up, but I packed all my things and walked onward to Farsborow. After only a few hours of walking, I finally made it to Farsborow. Looking at the town, it was a big town with high stone walls surrounding it. I looked further to see that people were waiting in line by a gate, so I went and waited in line. The line took around 10 minutes of waiting for me to reach the front. By the time it was my turn, the guard asked for my name and business for being in Farsborow. ¡°My name is Nyx, and I came here to become an adventurer.¡± ¡°So you''re planning to be an adventurer. Do you have any form of identification?¡± "Sorry, but I don¡¯t have any.¡± He had an unfazed look, as I said, like it happens a lot. ¡°Since you don¡¯t have any, the gate fee is 3 coppers.¡± ¡°Okay¡± I pulled out a pouch of coins from my backpack and asked the guard for information about the town. ¡°Do you know where the adventurer¡¯s guild is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s at the center of town; just walk straight ahead from here.¡± He pointed in the direction of where I should go. "I see, and can you also recommend an inn I could stay at?¡± The guard thought for a moment. ¡°There is a decent inn that has a green sign in front of it that is named The Early Rope Inn; it¡¯s for adventurers who are just starting. It''s not far from the Adventurers Guild.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Got it¡± After paying for the three copper coins, I thanked him for the information and went straight to the adventurer¡¯s guild. I exhaled in relief as I walked away from the gate. I was kind of nervous that I wasn¡¯t going in without any identification. It seems that this town is a town for beginner adventurers; people coming here to be adventurers without any identification are common. Also, the name Nyx is an alias I came up with; after all, why wouldn¡¯t I use one? Plus, it sounds cool and all. Walking to the guild building, I saw many different types of stores and shops. The atmosphere and vibe I¡¯m getting from this town feel almost exactly like the towns in some of the video games I''ve played in my past life. After 15 minutes of walking, I¡¯d reach the center of town, where there was a 3-story building; this must be the adventurer guild. Opening the door, I saw that it was mostly empty, with only a few people inside. Since it¡¯s already noon, I guess most of them are off doing quests right now. I walked to the reception counter, seeing only 1 of the 7 counters was open and had a receptionist in it. "Hello, my name is Emma. How may I help you?¡± She greeted me with a customer service-like smile. ¡°I¡¯d like to become an adventurer.¡± ¡°One second, please.¡± Pulling out a piece of paper from a drawer and a feather pen, she gave them to me. ¡°The fee is 5 copper coins; would you like for me to read and fill it out for you?¡± ¡°No, I can do it myself.¡± Emma had a barely noticeable surprise reaction as I said I could do it myself. I could tell since I used to live in high society, in which I was taught to notice those types of things. I took out a large copper coin for the fee, gave it to her, and took the paper. Reading it, the general gist is that the guild is not responsible for your death or injuries; you must act befitting of an adventurer, which is to not break any laws or guild rules; and finally, you get to have access to benefits provided by the guilds, like discounts, training areas, a library, selling monster parts, information, etc. Then I look at what I need to fill out, which is my general information. I wrote down my name as Nyx, gender male, age 14, hair color black, eye color red, and the town I¡¯m from, which is the name of a random town that is nearby. I chose my age to be 14 because, as someone from nobility, I tend to look a few years older than a commoner. After filling that out, it asked for my role, which is a swordsman because a sword is what I¡¯m most familiar with from my past life. Giving back the paper I filled out, Emma looked over the paper and then gave me a wooden tag. ¡°Congratulations on becoming an adventurer. Your starting rank is F, and this is a tag to prove that you''re an adventurer as we make your adventurer card for pickup tomorrow.¡± Taking the wooden tag, Emma asks if there is anything else she could help me with. I asked if I could sell any monster parts, and she asked me to follow her. Emma started walking toward a bigger counter at the end of the reception desk. "Sorry, but there aren¡¯t a lot of adventurers around this time of day, so most of the staff is on break and I¡¯m the only one working right now. What would you like to sell?¡± Pulling the five-horned rabbit furs and horns out of my backpack, I showed them to Emma. ¡°These are horn rabbits that I¡¯d killed on my way here.¡± I look back up at Emma to see her lose some of her composure. ¡°Umm¡­ May I ask if you kill all of them, Mr. Nyx?¡± Hmm, why is she suddenly being really formal? ¡°Yes, aren¡¯t they just horned rabbits?¡± I tilted my head at her question. ¡°No, they¡¯re white-horned rabbits.¡± Emma went on and explained that they are more dangerous and rarer than normal horned rabbits, which have a D rank instead of an F rank for a normal horned rabbit. She had a troubled smile for some reason, as I blankly replied that they weren''t that tough. ¡°Oh, I see, and how much do I get for selling it?¡± Ignoring the fact that they were white horned rabbits, I was much more interested in how much money I¡¯d get since they have a higher rank than normal-horned rabbits. ¡°In total, it will be one silver coin, Mr. Nyx.¡± A silver coin, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a lot, but I think that''s a lot. Saying goodbye to Emma and leaving the guild building, I decided to go to the inn that the gate guard recommended to me. I took a look at my coin pouch. Excluding the silver coin, I have 5 large lead coins, 6 large copper coins, 8 bronze coins, and 1 large bronze coin. I think this is more than enough to cover the cost of a night at an inn. Finding the inn after 5 minutes of walking, it was a 2-story building that looked relatively cheap and had the green sign the guard told me about, with the name The Early Rope Inn on it. Walking into the inn, I saw the first floor was a tavern, like what I kind of expected from any fantasy inn. I went to the reception desk with a middle-aged lady sitting there and asked her for a room for the night. ¡°The price is 3 bronze a night; how long are you planning to stay?¡± ¡°For 5 nights, but I plan to stay longer.¡± ¡°Are you an adventurer? We have a deal with the guild to offer discounts.¡± ¡°Yes, I just registered today.¡± I showed her the wooden tag I was given. ¡°The price is 1 bronze instead of 3 bronzes a night, so 5 bronze coins in total.¡± 1 bronze coin instead of 3; that is a really big discount. I guess it makes sense since it makes it easier for new adventurers who are just starting. Taking my coin pouch, I gave her five bronzed coins. ¡°Your room is the second to the last door on the right," she said while pointing me to the stairs. Giving me the keys to my room, I went upstairs and looked for my room. I opened the door and saw that the room was small. It had a bed, a small table, a bucket, and a window in it. Dropping my backpack to the floor, I shut the door behind me and immediately plopped myself onto the bed and laid on it, my face already on the pillow. ¡°Finally, a bed.¡± Who knew it could feel this nice after days of sleeping outdoors? I am exhausted; a nap really would be nice. In my previous life, when I and Norn were recruited to become pilots, we had to go through training. We were pushed to our limits every day, but at least we had a bed to sleep on. Who knew not having a bed to sleep on would be so awful? I dozed off and slept like a log because I had something comfortable to sleep on instead of a tree to sleep on. Chapter 5 Waking up in an unfamiliar room, I groggily remembered what I had done for the last few days. Let''s see¡­ I escaped the mansion, granted it was surprisingly easy, traveled here, which was way harder than expected, got attacked by monsters, went into town to register to become an adventurer, paid an inn for a room, and took a nap. I didn''t want to get up from the comfy bed, but I felt like I had to do something today. Oh right, I was supposed to pick up my adventurer card for today. Reluctantly, I got up to see that it was already morning, yawned, and looked out the window. It looks like I slept through the entire day yesterday. I mutter in a still groggy voice. ¡°What should I do today?¡± I should go to the adventurer guild in the afternoon because there will be fewer people around, so that leaves the morning free. Going around town and looking at the shops seems like a good idea; maybe I¡¯ll buy some gear with the extra money I got from selling the horned rabbits. I noticed that there was a bucket from yesterday that had some rags in it. I think that is what commoners use to wash themselves. Before I leave, I better wash all the sweat and dirt I accumulated on the way here. I left my room to fetch some water from the well I saw outside the window and brought it back to my room. I soak the rags in the water and begin cleaning myself. After I was done, I went down to the first floor of the inn¡¯s tavern, where most of the people staying there were already eating breakfast. Growl. I felt my stomach rumbling when I smelled the food being served. I was really hungry. There was a wooden sign that listed what they had for breakfast. I sat by an empty table, and one of the waitresses asked me for my order. I ordered the option that had bacon, eggs, and bread, which surprisingly cost 3 coppers with the adventurers discount of 50%. When my food arrived, I was already groveling; my stomach was already starving for some food. Taking the first bite, I ignore most of the table manners I was taught as a noble and immediately start scarfing down everything on the plate. Who knew it would taste this good after a while of not eating a proper meal? After I was done eating, I left the inn and roamed around town. Looking at the shops in this town, I saw many people entering and exiting them, but one caught my attention. It was a shabby-looking shop in a back alley; it had a wooden sign with an image of two hammers on it. I guess this is a blacksmith shop. What got my attention was that despite it looking rundown, it had decent-looking weapons, but no one was going into it for some reason. Opening the door to the shop, I heard the clanging of metal reverberating throughout the shop, and I saw that it was filled up, a bit messily, with weapons. I heard a deep, gruff-sounding voice in the back of the store. ¡°Come in; just give me a minute. I¡¯m in the back. Look around if you''re interested in anything." Looking at the weapons that were displayed all over the shop, they cost at least 2, 3, or even 5 silver coins. All of them are way out of my price range. I looked around the shop some more, and luckily, I found a barrel filled with swords. There was a label that said one silver coin; I guess this was the bargain box. Going through the barrel, it was full of various kinds and types of swords. There was even a katana in there for some reason, but that was not what I was looking for. I¡¯m looking for a sword, preferably a European style, that is short enough for me because I¡¯m a kid and all the other ones were too big for me to use. Eventually, I found something close to what I was looking for. I pulled out a sword that appeared to be a short sword for an adult but was the perfect size for me. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Partially unsheathing the sword; it has a slightly narrower blade than what I would like, but it will have to do. I held the sword with nostalgia; it brought back memories of my previous life. I was trained to use a sword as our primary weapon alongside Norn against Kaiju, specifically a long sword as our main weapon. It was common for Aiases to use melee weapons because it was easier to transfer Ori energy to the weapon than something like a gun and would require specialized anti-kaiju ammo that would take a large chunk of energy away from the Aias to be fired. ¡°So you got something you like?¡± I stopped reminiscing, replying "yes," turning around to the person I replied to, but was a bit surprised when I saw him. ¡°Hey, what are you looking at?¡± with a scowl on his face. He was short, stocky, and stout, with a large beard. A dwarf¡ªaren''t they extremely rare to see? Even when I was a noble, I only saw them a handful of times. They almost always focus on their work and usually never leave their villages inside the mountains. ¡°Don¡¯t dwarfs usually live in the mountains?¡± ¡°I got my reasons, and are you going to buy anything?¡± ¡°I need a sword, and this one looks good.¡± His expression turned into a grin upon hearing me praise this sword. ¡°Good eye. I was experimenting with that one, and it turned out okay but didn¡¯t sell, so I put it in that barrel over there. Names Kinwall, and I own this shop.¡± ¡°My name is Nyx.¡± We went to the counter, and I paid for my sword. ¡°Is there anything else I could help you with?¡± I thought for a moment. He might help me by recommending some decent shops to go to since he knows the town better than I do. ¡°Could you recommend any good shops?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± He placed a hand on his beard and stroked it in thought. ¡±Don¡¯t know about the others, but there is a clothing shop down the street; he has some good-quality clothes at a good price.¡± ¡°Okay then¡± I say my thanks to Kinwall for telling me about that shop. In a clothing shop, I should really buy some extra sets of clothes since I have no spare. Walking down the street to the clothing shop Kinwall told me about, it looks relatively inconspicuous. I entered the store that was named Hutch¡¯s Clothing Store. "Hello, my name is Hutch, and welcome to Hutch¡¯s clothing store. How may I help you?¡± I was greeted by the owner of the store with a very enthusiastic greeting. He looks to be in his mid-20s, with brown hair and eyes. ¡°I want to buy some clothes; Kinwall told me to come to this shop.¡± ¡°So Kinwall told you about my shop.¡± ¡°Yes¡± Curious, I ask how they know each other. ¡°Oh, we¡¯re good friends. I helped him move into his shop around a month ago. Anyway, is there anything specific you want to miss?¡± Hearing the word miss, I immediately went on guard and put my hand on the hilt of my sword I bought from Kinwalled, ready to draw it. How the heck does he know that I¡¯m a girl? In a threatening tone, I ask, ¡°How do you know?¡± He puts his hands slightly up in the air with a wry smile, like he is used to it and has done it one too many times. ¡°Sorry, sorry. Please calm down, miss, and don¡¯t worry; I won¡¯t pry or tell anyone.¡± ¡°Again, how do you know?¡± in an even more threatening tone. He spoke in a very calm tone as I glared at him. ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t the first time. Let''s just say this is a secret specialty shop, and I''ve got a knack for noticing, like from how you walk or the way you talk.¡± Specialty shop¡­? A realization came in as I had an equally shocked yet disturbed expression on my usually expressionless face. ¡°Heh?!¡± Why are there other people in this town who are crossdressers? Just how many crossdressers in this town other than me would warrant such a shop like this? Just what kind of shop did Kinwall send me to? Wait, does Kinwall know I''m a girl since he recommended this shop to me? I asked Hutch if Kinwall knew what kind of shop this was. ¡°Does Kinwall know?¡± I let go of my grip on my sword, but I still had my guard up. ¡°No, he doesn''t.¡± ¡°Good, that is a relief, and sorry¡­¡± I sigh in relief; thankfully, Hutch doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m a girl. ¡°It¡¯s fine; I¡¯m used to it.¡± That is not normal; this shop is strange. ¡°So you need some new clothing that makes you look like a boy, and I''m guessing you also like some female underwear as well?¡± Well, he got it right on the mark. I refuse to wear men''s underwear because that just feels wrong. It also saves me the trouble of making up some sort of excuse and getting weird looks from people buying some. Hutch led me to a mirror, and I went around the shop to gather some clothes. Then he enthusiastically held them in front of the mirror for me to see if I liked them or not. ¡°How about this one, or why don¡¯t you try this blue one?¡± Seeing the clothes being shown to me, I thought to myself, why not? I do need some new clothes anyway. In the end, I ended up buying four sets of clothes and some underwear. I left the store enjoying the time after trying out some of the clothes. Thanking Hutch, I held my new clothes, which he packaged in wrapping paper. However, I noticed that my coin pouch was noticeably lighter than usual. I checked it, and I found out that I blew through most of my money in it. Whoops, I ended up spending 8 bronze coins in Hutch¡¯s shop without noticing. I think this is enough shopping for today. I should go back to the inn and then to the adventurer guild for my card. Chapter 6 Going back to the inn with my new clothes, I put them in my room and headed to the guild since it was almost the afternoon, where there aren''t a lot of adventurers in the building. In the guild building I saw Emma at the counter, so I walked directly to her since she was the only one working right now. ¡°Hi, I came to pick up my card¡± ¡°Ah, good afternoon Mr. Nyx. I¡¯ve been expecting you, your adventurer card is right here¡± She treated me with a great amount of respect for some reason like yesterday. Emma handed me a copper color card. I took the card and examined it. It was the size of an ID card in my past life and it glows the information I had written down yesterday as I held it. It also had a drawing of a flower that I don¡¯t recognize, I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s the mark of this guild. I turned the card around to see the back where there was a magic circle that was engraved on it. Giving back the wooden tag, I ask about the card. ¡°Yes, it''s a new magical item created by the mages guild last year that can be used by people with no mana¡± Staring at the card I held in my hand in disbelief that such a thing was developed. This thing is closer to an artifact than a magical item. It¡¯s strange that I haven¡¯t heard of this when I was still a noble because most of the nobility would have hated the idea of commoners using magic. Magical items can only be used by mages since it would require a direct supply of mana to work, so mages are the only ones that could use them. Artifacts on the other hand are items that can only be found in dungeons or ancient ruins of an advanced magical civilization. They are way more powerful than a magical item and don''t need a direct supply of mana to use, so anyone can use them. If someone manages to sell them, it will be equivalent to a giant fortune since they are incredibly rare to come by and they can¡¯t be reproduced because all of the knowledge is lost to time and the current magical technology we have right now is nowhere near the level of that lost magical civilization. When I was living back at my family''s estate, we only had two artifacts despite being a marquess household. ¡°Won¡¯t the nobles be opposed to it?¡± ¡°No worries Mr. Nyx. We have the support of the royal family of each kingdom, so we have been starting to implement them throughout each guild branch¡± Why is she telling me all this? It seems that the creation of this card is kept a secret from the nobility till they started introducing it since the adventurers guild have a strong influence so the nobles can¡¯t really stop them If I could learn how to make my own magical item, I could have a way to use magic. So then, my dream of using magic can be revived after all when it was crushed when I found out I couldn¡¯t use magic. But first I should get information on who made it? ¡°Who is the person who created this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that person is kept hidden, so I don¡¯t know, but they are from the mages guild in the city of Acton, where the Dradevow dungeon resides and where the main adventurer guild for this region is located.¡± The city of Acton¡­ I think I know where I¡¯m going to go next. ¡°May I ask if your planning to doing a quest today¡± I decided not to take on a quest today and decided that it would be better to go to the library to learn what I can about adventuring for today. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. So I said ¡°no¡± and told her that I''m going to use the library. ¡°I see, the library is downstairs and the librarian name is Mabel, Mr. Nyx¡± Saying my thanks to Emma, I went downstairs to the library and opened the door. I saw a girl around my age, with green hair and eyes, reading a book on the only desk in the room that was filled with shelves of books, making the room a bit cramped. ¡°Excuse me, do you know where is the librarian¡± ¡°That would be me¡± She didn¡¯t take her eyes off the book as she replied back. That is a surprise, she looks too young to be a librarian. ¡°Sorry but aren¡¯t you a bit young?¡± ¡°Yes¡± She still didn¡¯t take her eyes off the book as she replied back. ¡°Can you please tell me where are the books about monsters, plants, and adventuring¡± I¡¯m going to read them first instead of books about magic because they are going to be more useful to me right now than ones about magic, which I can¡¯t even use. Unexpectedly Mabel took her eyes off her book and faced me with interest on her face. ¡°Most people coming down here just usually ask me for information about their quests. It¡¯s rare for people to come here to read and I don¡¯t recognize you, are you new?¡± Nodding yes ¡°I just register yesterday, my name is Nyx¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Nyx, that''s a strange name¡± Mabel put her book down, got up and told me to wait for a minute. She went around the library that was cramp for a normal person but was perfectly fine for her, and took some books off of the shelves. Maple asks why I am reading them. . ¡°I don¡¯t know a lot about adventuring, so it¡¯s better that I know than not know¡± When I was attacked by horned rabbits, I based most of my knowledge about adventuring from my past life because I wasn¡¯t taught much of the outside world when I was a noble. Mabel had a barely noticeable smile when hearing my answer. ¡°Hear you go¡± ¡°thxs¡± ¡°Just give them to me after your done¡± I sat on the opposite side of the desk where Mabel was reading and began to read the books she gave me. I stayed in the library, silently reading with Mabel till she told me that it was closing time for the Adventurers guild for the day. ¡°Okay then, can you save these books for tomorrow?¡± ¡°That¡¯s no problem, then see you tomorrow.¡± Going up to the first floor and exiting the adventurers guild, I breathed in the nice cool air of the night. So then, it¡¯s already dark. I began stretching my arms and legs after sitting and reading books all day in the library. I managed to finish reading through the general information on the guild and a third of the way on the book about plants. For what I learned, the adventurers guild works what I kind of expected from any fantasy worlds. And no wonder Emma was startled when I showed her the white horned rabbits I¡¯d killed. The ranking system goes from F to S, with F ranks is equivalent to somebody having no idea how to fight or a kid. E rank is equivalent to an average person without training. D rank is equivalent to someone who is trained. C rank is equivalent to a knight. B rank is equivalent to a full unit of knights. A rank is equivalent to legion of knights, and S class is equivalent to a small army. This also applies to ranking the danger levels of monsters. As I was walking back to my inn, I noticed that the night life in this town seems to be as bustling as in the day. The only difference was that all the day shops were closed and replaced with bars, taverns, food stands, and other establishments which let''s just say I¡¯m not old enough to go to. I saw most of the townsmen and adventurers going to nearby taverns or bars for a drink. Rumble. I heard my stomach rumbling from not eating any lunch today. Checking my coin pouch to see how much I got left, I guess it wouldn¡¯t hurt to buy a snack. I looked at the nearest place I could get a quick snack and saw a food stand that was selling meat skewers. ¡°One meat skewer please¡± I took out my coin pouch and paid one copper coin for the meat skewer. ¡°Coming right up¡± The guy in the food stand began cooking my meat skewer. Waiting for a few minutes for my skewer to be cooked, I was blankly staring in hunger seeing my meat skewer being grilled. ¡°Here you go¡± I took the skewer and immediately bit into it. It was really juicy and tasty, I can¡¯t believe he only used salt to make it this good. When I was done eating my meat skewer, I began walking back to my inn. When I got back to the inn, they were already serving out dinner. I noticed they switched out the wooden sign for breakfast to dinner. I ordered dinner and paid 3 copper coins for a beef stew with bread, then I went straight to bed after I was done eating. Tomorrow, I better start doing some quests and start saving up some money since I blew through most of my money in my coin pouch today. Chapter 7 I heard a familiar voice while I was laying on my bed playing a game. Right now I¡¯m at the beginning of the story, where the main character is about to set off on an adventure. ¡°Come on, the meeting is about to start and we agree to get there extra early¡± Looking around the room to see that it was relatively messy with all sorts of gaming devices, from the new to the old, spread out around the room. It was my room that was in a military base I shared with my sister Norn in my past life. I saw her getting ready to leave. ¡°Hey, are you listening¡± ¡°Okay, okay¡± A bit annoyed from her pestering, I put down my game. Man, I really want to continue playing, I just started the story. Norn opens the door to our room to have two very familiar people walk by the door. ¡°Hey you better get going, yall always are late coming into meetings¡± The voice was really familiar. It was Fred, who is another named pilot like us. Next to Fred was Emily, Fred¡¯s co-pilot and wife. ¡°Ya, we know. Unfortunately it¡¯s my turn trying to not make us late this time since we both agree to not get yelled at from the Marshal¡± ¡°At least it''s a start. You two are becoming shut-ins these days after you went out of control and got banned from the training room again, just like James and Lupin¡± ¡°Hey, don¡¯t compare us to those two!¡± We shouted in annoyance at the same time at Emily for calling us the same as those two idiots. ¡°I mean it¡¯s kinda true. You two really like fighting, just like them¡± ¡°Oh, shut up Fred!¡± We shouted at the same time again, in sync, but this time toward Fred. Compared to us, those two are always fighting with each other. Honestly, after a while of dealing with their constant bickering and fighting it gets annoying trying to stop them. ¡°Oh please, you are equally as bad¡± Those two are love birds. When they are separated, they can¡¯t even function properly. And when they are together, they sometimes are in their own worlds. ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem with that¡± Right now, they are doing it again. Fred began looking deep into Emily¡¯s eyes, all lovey dovey, and Emily doing the same like there is nothing in this world but those two. ¡°This world is meaningless without you¡± ¡°I could say the same, dear¡± I could practically see hearts in the air sparkling, as they began flirting with each other. Relatively speaking, out of all of the other named pilots in the base I knew that had something wrong with them, they¡¯re relatively tame, so I shouldn¡¯t complain that much. Speaking of the other named pilots in this base, they are all weirdos that have a screw or two loose. Henry and Kate are extreme shut-ins. Mat and James have muscle for brains. Mia and Noah are straight up yanderes. Kai and Oliver are mad scientists. Honestly, why are me and Norn the only normal ones here. ¡°Anyway, when are you going to see the kids in the nursery, especially Felix.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ maybe tomorrow¡± ¡°Oh look at the time, we better start going, were going to be late¡± Fred notice that the meeting was about to start in a few minutes, so both of them started running ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go. We should get going¡± We ran, following Fred and Emily to our meeting. Waking up from the morning sun shining at my face again like most days. I rub my eyes and yawn after getting up from bed. So¡­ I was dreaming about a memory from my previous life that was before the war. I thought to myself if Norn was really in this world, is she going on her own adventures like me? I got up and went downstairs to order my breakfast, the same one as yesterday and went directly to the guild. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Unlike the days before, I¡¯m going in the morning so there are going to be a lot of adventurers in the building. When I¡¯d entered the building, it was already filled with adventurers looking at the quest board or discussing with their party members on what quest to take today. This is going to be a pain. There are a lot of people here, let''s hope I blend into the crowd. I managed to get through to the quest board, I decided to take a F rank gathering quests for some herbs. F rank quests are always non-combat jobs, something along the lines of finding someone¡¯s lost pet, cleaning the town, helping in construction, moving crates, and etc. The quest I decided was a gathering quest, specifically gathering bittercress grass that paid a large copper coin per bundle. I went to Emma''s counter where other adventurers were waiting in line to register for their quests for today. Emma treated me with a high amount of courtesy when compared to the adventurers waiting in line similar to yesterday and the day before for some reason. Leaving to the east gate, which I entered into this town when I came here, I followed the directions the quest instructions told me to go. I said hi to the gate guard I first met when I got here and went outside of town, going in a different direction than where I came from. Around 30 minutes of walking, I eventually reach a meadow where the bittercress grass should grow. There were other adventurers, one boy and two girls together, I¡¯m guessing they¡¯re a party doing the same quest like me. Additionally there were around 5 more adventurers, on their own, also doing the same quest. I choose to not go near them for two reasons. One, which was to keep my interaction with other people at a minimum, the less the better. And two, since beginner adventurers come here to gather herbs, it''s likely most of the herbs are already taken. I keep a good distance away from the meadow, and look around through the forest that was surrounding the meadow to find any places where they might grow. Luckily after about an hour of searching, I found a small clearing that had the herbs I¡¯m looking for. Bittercress grass grows together in clusters in normal grass and has blades with repeated half circles on each side. I gather 6 bundles of bittercress grass, leaving the rest the chance to grow back so I could pick them up again for another gathering quest for tomorrow. Should I go back? No, looking at the clearing, this place is pretty secluded. I think it¡¯s a decent place to do some training, no one to see me. I started my training, first I did some body training to start building some muscle, then I ran to build up some stamina. After I exhausted myself, it was late in the afternoon. I exited the forest and was back to the meadow to find the same adventure party still gathering herbs after the other adventurers had left. I¡¯m surprised that they only managed to gather 6 bundles of bittercress grass by the time I got back, they must be hard to find. When I went back to town, I went to the guild and exchanged my bundles of bittercress grass with Emma and received 6 large copper coins. Alright then, let''s go to the library and continue where I left off yesterday. Meeting Mable downstairs, I silently read with her till it got dark and went back to the inn. I continue this routine for the next 3 days, waking up, taking the same quest, training myself, going back to the guild to complete the quest, then the library to read, and back to the inn to sleep. Also with the money I¡¯m getting from the quests, I pay the inn for another 7 nights. However it changed once I was approached by the guy in the adventuring party I saw doing the same quest as I did for the last few days. While the others had given up, finding it hard to gather some bittercress grass, for some reason they still continued doing the same quest. ¡°Hi there I¡¯m Alex¡± Turning around while I was waiting in line to register for my usual gathering quest, I saw a brown-haired boy that was a head taller than me. ¡°I was wondering if I can ask you some questions¡± Immediately I said ¡°no¡±, turned back around and continued to wait in line. He had a shocked look shown on his face by how fast I said no. ¡°Please wait, I just want to ask you about where you get all the Bittercress grass because we can¡¯t find any of them anymore as of lately¡± He had a really pleading look on his face, I again immediately shot down his question with a no. With a resigned sigh he said ¡°I understand¡± and started walking away. Then I saw a group of 4 girls approaching us, 2 of them I recognized from Alex¡¯s party. The ones I recognized were a girl wearing a robe who looked to be a cleric and another girl looked to be an archer. However the other two are the ones I don¡¯t recognize. Both were really surprising, one was a white haired wolf beastkin and a red haired girl who looks like a mage. Interesting, it''s uncommon for mages to be an adventurer and judging from her demeanor, she probably isn¡¯t a noble. She probably has some noble blood in her. Though rare, nobles occasionally have relationships with commoners, sometimes it results in them conceiving children, meaning that some commoners are able to use magic. However I¡¯m more interested in the wolf girl. It¡¯s the first time I actually met a beastkin. Beastkin are people who have animalistic traits in all shape and form. They are stronger, faster, and have better senses than a human, however they can¡¯t use magic. Looking at her fluffy tail and ears I really have a strong urge to touch them but I have to remind myself that I have to limit my interactions with people. ¡°Hey! Alex just asked you for something and you just turned him away¡± The red-haired girl scowled, then pointed her finger at me. ¡°Lucia, please calm down, it''s okay that he doesn¡¯t want to¡± Alex tries to calm down his party member. So the red-haired girl, Lucia, really has a temper. The other girls, they look like they are used to it and rather not get involved. This is going, no already is making a scene in the line and people are already staring I guess I don¡¯t really have an option if this continues. I gave in and said yes because I¡¯m guessing this won¡¯t stop. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m really sorry, she tends to be a bit bashful but she means well¡± Alex was bowing in apology for Lucia.. In addition, he manages to calm her down. Lucia, with a pout, turned her head away, in the opposite direction from me. Once I finish waiting in line and register for my gathering quest, I lead them to my gathering spot. ¡°Alright, follow me¡± Chapter 8 On the way to the east gate to leave town for my secret gathering spot, I had gotten to know the names of the other members of Alex¡¯s party. Their party is made up of 2 swordsman, 1 archer, 1 mage, and 1 alchemist Maria is the alchemist of the party but is kind of a klutz, I already saw her trip on herself more than once. I genuinely wonder if she is going to make it as an adventurer. Chelsie on the other hand is the archer, who seems to be the calm and reliable type. Wendy the beastkin is the other swordsmen other than Alex and apparently she is a massive glutton. Finally, there is Lucia, who is a mage that uses fire magic, which kinda fits her fiery personality. Apparently they all met Alex in a similar way, him helping out each of them who were in a tough spot and them deciding to join his party, except for Chelsie who was already with him when Alex decided to become an adventurer since she is his close childhood friend. Geezes, they¡¯re a loud bunch. Sighing, I wonder if letting them follow me is a good idea. I mean they are attracting a lot of attention. I heard from most of the men in this town we passed by saying lucky bastard with a large amount of resentment in their voices. Most of the women called him either an enemy to all women or began looking at him with a blush. On Alex¡¯s right, Maria and Lucia are arguing over who gets to hold his right arm. To his left, Chelsie is quietly holding Alex¡¯s left arm while Wendy is trying to offer Alex some jerky. And all this is happening while he is all too oblivious to them fawning over him. Wait¡­ their fawning over him. I stared at Alex like he was some sort of mythical creature. I didn''t think they actually existed in real life. Does it mean he''s a main protagonist like from the video games in my past life? A shiver ran up my spine. Thinking about it since he is a main protagonist, there is a non-zero chance of something on the line of him falling or tripping over me and resulting in him finding out that I am a girl. As I thought about that potential scenario, it happened. Alex fell after Maria, Lucia, Chelsie, and Wendy were fawning over him a bit too much, it led to a chain reaction to them all falling on the ground. Alex had his face planted on Wendy¡¯s breasts, while Chelsie was sitting on top of his head. His right hand was groping Lucia, while his left hand was groping Maria. Taking several steps back, I distance myself from them to make sure something like that doesn¡¯t happen to me. Once we reached the east gate, Lucia and Wendy said goodbye because they were doing a different quest than us. Still keeping my distance, I led Alex, Maria, and Chelsie to my secret gathering spot. Once they saw my secret gathering spot, they were shocked by how much Bittercress grass there was in the clearing. ¡°Just take what you need but don¡¯t take all of them, I want some of them to grow back¡± ¡°Thank you for showing us this spot and sorry for causing you so much trouble¡± Alex thanked me and went straight to work with Maria and Chelsie gathering the Bittercress grass. As for me, I keep my distance from them, specifically so that potential scenario in my head doesn¡¯t happen. After a short while they finish gathering what they need. ¡°Thank you again, and we won''t tell anyone. We¡¯ll keep this place a secret¡± Alex bowed his head and thanked me again. ¡°It''s no problem. I want to be alone here so could you leave now.¡± Showing some concern on his face, he ask ¡°Are you sure, it''s dangerous to be alone in a forest¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, not like the first time I¡¯ve done it¡± ¡°Okay then¡± With a bit of reluctance, he left with Maria and Chelsie back to town. I¡¯d wait till they left and gather my own bundles of Bittercress grass, then began my training. Alex¡¯s perspective Alex was roaming around town looking at shops with Maria and Chelsie by his side. They had finished their gathering quest for today so they have a lot of free time for today, so they decided to go shopping Concern was still on his face when Nyx asked them to leave him alone even though Nyx looked really young, even more so being alone in a forest. ¡°Hey Alex, what''s wrong, you¡¯ve been having that look for a while¡± Chelsie, on his left, asks Alex if he was alright. ¡°Oh, it''s about Nyx. I¡¯m just worry that we left Nyx alone in the forest¡± ¡°I see¡± ¡°You know what¡± Alex started running off. ¡°Hey wait, where are you going?¡± shouted by Maria on his right, surprised by Alex suddenly running off. Alex shouted back to Maria and Chelsie while he was running, telling them to not worry and that he is going to check up on Nyx so it won¡¯t take too long. ¡°Okay then, be safe¡± Alex ran back to the clearing Nyx led them earlier to check up on him Once he reached the clearing, he suddenly became entranced by what he saw. Nyx¡¯s perspective I was swinging my sword in the air, doing some basic sword techniques. Sweating from my training, I decided to take a small breather. For the last few days now I have been training my body but for today I¡¯m starting to practice some basic swordsmanship. I have been adjusting my fighting style since it specializes in fighting against kaijus. In addition to me being a kid, I can''t really use that style properly. Because I am going to be physically weaker to whatever I might go against in the future, I''m changing it so I prioritize dodging instead of blocking or parrying an attack. After I was done with my small break, I held my sword again and this time I imagined a kaiju in front of me because it''s what I''m most familiar with. I imagined it charging directly at me, so I swung my sword down at it. Then I took a step back to get some distance to dodge instead of blocking or parrying from its claws that are going to swipe at me. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. As I was dodging, I saw an opening. I began attacking the kaiju with a flurry of cuts and slashes to make sure each attack didn''t give it the opportunity to fight back. Finally I ended it by thrusting my sword right through its neck, severing its spine. Then I began imagining a different kaiju coming toward me. As I was thinking of what kaiju I should imagine next, I heard some leaves rustling. I pointed my sword in the direction of the noise and yelled ¡°who¡¯s there¡± To my surprise, I saw it was Alex who was fervently staring at me. Why is he looking at me like that? Is he coming on to me or something? After a short while he finally spoke ¡°That was so cool, can you teach me?¡± Stars were sparkling in his eyes. Not knowing what to do, I stood still for a good while. ¡°What¡­¡± Alex put his hands together and bowed like one of those scenes where a potential student asked to be taught from a master swordsman. ¡°Can you teach me, please¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not the person to talk to teach someone on how to use a sword¡± I have been told that I wouldn¡¯t be a good teacher in my past life and they were right since the last time I¡¯d tried teaching someone how to fight. Plus I wouldn¡¯t get much out of it if I did teach him. ¡°Could you at least give me some pointers?¡± Hope was still in his eyes. Thinking about it, I guess it wouldn''t hurt to try, plus this is a good opportunity to see how well I can do with a real opponent. ¡°Fine then¡± I walk a couple paces away from Alex and I sheath my sword so I wouldn¡¯t hurt him that much, then I point it at Alex. ¡°We¡¯re going to spar a little bit¡± ¡°You really mean it?¡± ¡°Yes, just take out your sword¡± Both of us ready our stances. ¡°Begin¡± Alex began by raising his sword up in the air and swinging it down but it was too predictable, so I stepped to the side to dodge it. Then I point my sword right at Alex¡¯s throat, stopping just before hitting him. Alex lost his balance and fell on his but. ¡°Your swing is too big and predictable, it makes you open for a attack¡± ¡°I see¡± Alex had a slightly stun yet still excited face as he sat on the ground. Walking a few paces back, I said ¡°Again¡± We continued and repeatedly sparred together for a while. I grin thinking that this might be more interesting than I thought. Alex¡¯s Perspective As Alex continues to spar with Nyx. Nyx has been giving advice and improvements to Alex. Gradually Alex has been improving with each comment given from Nyx, getting better and better. However as they continued sparring, Alex noticed what started as a small grin, grew to a big smile, which he found odd since he didn¡¯t expect it from Nyx because from first impression he thought Nyx to be the type of person who doesn¡¯t express a lot of emotions. An ominous premonition sets in Alex¡¯s mind and once Nyx started laughing, Alex knew something was very wrong. Nyx¡¯s perspective ¡°Hahahaha! Get over here, you won¡¯t improve if you don¡¯t fight back!¡± I swung my sword at Alex as he was trying to run away. ¡°Ahaaaa, please stop!¡± ¡°No, this is really fun¡± Unbeknownst to me as I was swinging my sword at Alex, I was laughing. ¡°Your not going to win if you don¡¯t fight back¡± I swung my sword at Alex again to give some more motivation for him to move. He managed to dodge my swing while he was still on the ground by crawling on all fours. Alex had really gotten good at running away from my attacks, to which I found it even more fun. Each time Alex started to improve, the more fun it became. For some reason his face slowly changed from admiration to fear after I wouldn¡¯t let him have a break. ¡°I¡¯m begging you, please stop¡± Honestly why stop, I mean you don¡¯t get someone as durable as Alex. I¡¯m more skilled and experienced but he''s physically stronger. This is the first time I had this amount of fun in this life. ¡°Hahahaha. Why should I? You don¡¯t find somebody this durable¡± ¡°Please stop laughing and what do you mean durable?!¡± I continue chasing and swinging my sword at him, occasionally getting a hit in. Alex began to fight back again and swung his sword back at me. I move out of the way and counter attack, causing him to fall to the ground. Then I mounted him, raising my sword in the air and brought it down next to his face. ¡°Please stop¡± Alex was gasping really hard from exhaustion and put his hand up in surrender, looking like he was about to cry. ¡°Please go back to normal¡± ¡°Normal?¡± ¡°Your smile is really scaring me¡± I placed a hand on my face and I realized I was smiling. ¡°Oh, Sorry. I got carried away again.¡± Well¡­ it happened again. I knew I should have remembered what Fred and Emily always said to me and Norn. They always tell us not to get carried away whenever we spar with someone. Getting off of him, I sat next to him because I suddenly felt the exhaustion that I had been ignoring as we were sparring. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell anyone about what happen¡± I said it in a threatening manner for him to not tell anyone. Afterall I don¡¯t want anyone to know that I could fight. ¡°Sure, you''re too scary for me to tell¡± Alex had a terrified look saying it. ¡°Okay then¡± I look at the sky, it appears that time flew by and I didn¡¯t realize the sun was about to set. ¡°Let''s go back, I think your party members are going to be worry about you¡± It got dark once we went back to town to see Alex¡¯s party waiting for him by the gate entrance. Maria ran toward us with concern, however as expected she tripped. Alex ran toward Maria, helping her instead. ¡°You okay?¡± ¡°Ya but you''re all rough up, what happened?¡± ¡°We were sparring, he¡¯s surprisingly durable¡± ¡°Heh? What do you mean durable?! Alex are you okay¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just some bruises and scratches¡± ¡°Here¡± Maria pulled out a potion that had green liquid in it and started to rub it on Alex¡¯s injuries. ¡°Is that a low-grade healing potion, did you make it?¡± ¡°Ya, Maria is great at making potions¡± ¡°But I¡¯m really not that good at it though¡± Maria cheeks started blushing at Alex¡¯s complement. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be that modest, your amazing¡± Alex patted her head with a big smile. Hmm, interesting. Someone that could make potions is really valuable. When I was reading a book about medicine, a low-grade potion cost at least a large bronze coin. ¡°So that¡¯s why you were gathering bittercress grass¡± ¡°We sell some for our quest and keep the rest for her to make health potions to sell them¡± ¡°Hey Alex, how long are you going to lay there, it¡¯s already dark?¡± Lucia shouted by the gate. ¡°Ya, I¡¯m starving¡± Wendy also told Alex to hurry up as her stomach was growling. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to go our separate ways. I still have to turn in my bittercress grass at the counter. By the way are you going to spar with me tomorrow¡± I subconsciously grin, getting excited that I have a sparring partner now but Alex for some reason looks frightened. ¡°Umm¡­ maybe not, I¡¯m going to rest tomorrow¡± ¡°Okay then, maybe another day¡± Disappointed, I went to the adventurer''s guild and completed my quest. I should go to see Mable, I wonder if she is worried that I didn¡¯t show up? I¡¯d gone downstairs to the library to find Mable reading a book. ¡°Sorry I couldn¡¯t come today. I was doing some training and forgot about the time¡± ¡°I see¡± Surprisingly I noticed from her slight facial expression that she was a bit relieved seeing me. ¡°Well then I¡¯m off¡± After saying that, I went back to my inn, ate some dinner, prepared for bed, and went to sleep. Chapter 9 For the next 6 days I was accompanied by Alex, Maria, Chelsie, and sometimes Wendy on our gathering quest. Whenever I asked Alex if he liked to spar with me after we finished gathering some bittercress grass, he always had a frightened look and gave one reason or another why he couldn''t. It¡¯s kinda disappointing that he is always busy with something, it honestly is not that much fun having to train alone. He makes a good dumm¡­ I meant sparring partner. Today I¡¯d completed my 10th F rank Quest, which means I could take the E rank evaluation test to become an E rank adventurer. Being an E rank means that you¡¯re unofficially considered a true adventurer since it¡¯s where the dangers of being an adventurer starts. You have to fight an instructor in the training area to see if you have the bare minimum amount of skills to fight. ¡°Umm¡­ Nyx, after this you should be able to take the E rank evaluation test right?¡± Maria spoke next to me as we were gathering some herbs. ¡°Ya, I¡¯m planning to do it tomorrow. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°I was just wondering¡± A question pops up in my mind, isn¡¯t Maria a E rank? ¡°Aren¡¯t you E rank?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± with a pained smile on her face ¡°No, I¡¯m still a F rank. I¡¯ve failed it twice already¡± She took a deep sigh and said ¡°I must be a real burden to Alex and everybody else¡± She is really beating herself up about it, maybe I shouldn¡¯t have said anything. ¡°Don¡¯t be too hard on yourself, I doubt that¡¯s true¡± Overhearing our conversation, Chelsie walked by carrying a few bundles of bittercress grass. ¡°Your not a burden to any of us, your our friend¡± Chelsie''s words managed to get Maria spirits up, she smiled because of that and went back to collecting herbs. They are really supportive of each other, despite constantly fighting over Alex. Speaking of the others. ¡°By the way, I¡¯ve been wondering what Lucia and Wendy usually do? Chelsie responded with. ¡°Well Lucia either is training her magic or doing quests exclusively for mages like operating some magic tools¡± Then she told me about Wendy. She usually does hunting quests, using her beastkin senses which are better than humans to track down monsters but she occasionally comes and helps out if there aren¡¯t a lot of good ones out there. This got me thinking, I was wondering for the last few days now with them, how far Maria, Chelsie, Wendy, and Lucia got with Alex. Are they already on first base or maybe on third base? My best guess is around half or a quarter to first base since from my gaming knowledge, this is the beginning of their story, so nothing of note is happening or that Alex, like most protagonists, is really dense. ¡°I got another question, so how far along any of you gotten with Alex¡± Maria was all red, shouting out. ¡°Why would you ask that sort of question out of the blue?¡± As for Chelsie, she was silent for a while in thought ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ don¡¯t tell me¡­ you''re also after Alex¡± What are you talking about? Then she murmurs to herself in full earshot of me. ¡°That would explain why Alex always acts weird whenever Nyx is around and why Nyx sometimes smiles whenever he meets with¡­ wait does that mean when Alex went and checked up on Nyx, they did it?¡± Why am I getting this yanderish aura that is almost exactly like Mia and Noah from my past life, emanating from Chelsie, hearing her mutterings? What kind of a conclusion did she come to? I thought Chelsie was the calm and logical one. ¡°Wait, Nyx is a guy, Chelsie. That can¡¯t be right they¡¯re¡­ both guys¡± Maria was repeatedly muttering while fidgeting with her fingers, face even more red, ¡°they¡¯re both guys, that can¡¯t be¡­ but¡­¡± Her face was so red that I could partially see steam coming out of her ears. I¡¯m seriously getting the impression that she is thinking of something very weird right now. Chelsie grabs her hair in frustration then faced Maria ¡°I can¡¯t believe someone has already gotten with Alex before me. Our plans have changed, we need to talk with Wendy and Lucia about this. I can¡¯t believe his ability to attract other women even works on guys now.¡± Chelsie took a deep sigh and continued. ¡°Great now, we have to worry even more that more people will fall for Alex now.¡± Before this misunderstanding could balloon even bigger, I spoke up. ¡°What are you even talking about? I¡¯m not attracted to Alex, I¡¯m just wondering since I see you all fighting for Alex all the time¡± Every morning I see them fighting over who gets to fond over Alex and I was generally curious how far they have gotten. ¡°So you''re not after Alex?¡± ¡°No and why would I¡± ¡°Good, I don¡¯t have to find someway to get you out of the picture¡± Chelsie sighs in relief hearing me say ¡°no¡± to something really disturbing. ¡°So are you going to answer how far in any of your relationships with Alex and what¡¯s this plan?¡± ¡°The four of us agree to not let any more girls go after Alex, and we¡¯re all competing to see who will be Alex¡¯s first wife, however¡­¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t even made any progress¡± Maria finishes what Chelsie said, with both of them looking a bit dejected. As they were answering my question, Alex walked toward us carrying a couple of bundles of bittercress grass. ¡°Chelsie, Maryera, and Nyx, I¡¯ve finish collecting the bittercress grass for today''s quest¡± ¡°Good, we also finished for today¡± Then I ask him if he wants to spar with me for a bit again, since I¡¯m planning to take the E rank evaluation test so I want to get some more practice in. Alex had that frightened look again. His eyes were darting all over the place till they landed on Chelsie and Maria, then his face turned all red. ¡°I can¡¯t because ummm¡­ I¡¯m taking Chelsie and Maria umm¡­ on a date you see¡± Both of their faces blush after Alex blurted out that he will be taking both of them on a date. ¡°Do you really mean it, Alex¡± Maria¡¯s face was crimson from hearing that from Alex. ¡°Aren¡¯t you leaving Wendy and Lucia out if you''re taking both of us out? It won¡¯t be fair for them¡± I was surprised that Chelsie, who was also blushing, told Alex that it wouldn¡¯t be fair for the other two to be excluded. I guess she is the mediator between the four of them to see who will be Alex¡¯s first wife. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Chelsie because¡­ I¡¯ll also take them on a date tomorrow¡± His face became even redder as he blurted it out. Then he grabbed Maria and Chelsie¡¯s hand and began walking away. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Sorry Nyx, I can¡¯t spar with you for today¡± ¡°Okay¡­?¡± I stood there still, wondering what I just witnessed here? Alex just asks both of them on a date and another with two other girls, I guess he is really the main protagonist. Seeing Alex walk away while holding Chelsie¡¯s and Maria¡¯s arms, I should go back to the adventurers guild early for today instead of training, so I could rest and prepare for the evaluation test. Going back to the adventurers guild, Emma congratulated me for completing the 10 F rank quests to be able to take the E rank evaluation test. ¡°When will you like to take the E rank evaluation test Mr. Nyx¡± ¡°Tomorrow, the afternoon if possible.¡± ¡°That should be fine¡± ¡°And what about the instructor¡± ¡°Unfortunately Mr. Nyx, I can¡¯t say who is the examiner since that¡¯s part of the test¡± ¡°I see¡± I went downstairs to the library after I finished talking to Emma, continuing where I left off with Mable for the rest of the day. Going back to the adventurers guild tomorrow, I walk in anticipation for the E rank examination test. The adventurers guild was empty as usual at this time of day. I went to Emma¡¯s booth, where she told me to go to the training area where the examiner is. The training area was outside, at the back of the building, it had a dirt floor, with training dummies and racks of wooden weapons to the side. I only saw a big muscular red-haired guy that is 2 to 3 times my height in the middle of the training area, holding an oversized wooden sword that was twice my height that is honestly impractical to use. ¡°You must be Nyx¡± ¡°You must be the examiner then¡± He had a big grin on his face ¡°I¡¯m Cade, B rank, Emma has some interest in you so I also have some too¡± Emma has some interest in me? I ask what he meant. ¡°Oh you don¡¯t know? Emma used to be an A rank adventurer but these days she is retired. You¡¯ve caught her eye¡± Wait¡­ she used to be an A rank adventurer, that is a surprise and why me. Thinking about it, with the way she is treating me, it¡¯s exactly like how I was treated when I was still a noble. Does she know that I¡¯m a noble? Interrupting from my thoughts Cade spoke. ¡°Let''s start, the wooden weapons is on your right, go and pick whatever you want. You just have to land a hit on me to pass, so make this interesting¡± ¡°Alright then¡± I better ask her after this. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to pass the examination,I¡¯ll just have to hit him once. Grabbing a wooden sword and readying my stance, I waited for him to give the go signal. ¡°Let¡¯s start then¡± We both stared at each other for a short while. I made the first move by rushing at him and getting really close to Cade so I could make it harder for him to use his oversized sword. He swung his oversized sword to prevent me from getting closer to him, so I duck under his swing. However he took several steps back and he adjusted his swings, with a surprising amount of agility you wouldn¡¯t expect with that oversized sword, to stop me from getting closer. It forced me to leap back to get some distance. ¡°You''re not half bad, Emma was right about you. I don¡¯t have to hold back too much¡± I had a slight grin seeing that this is going to be a very interesting fight. Never thought I¡¯ll have to fight someone skilled enough to make an impractical weapon practical. I tried getting closer again, this time enough so that I was in striking range but he managed to move his body to the right and counterattack, where it almost hit me. That was close, feeling the momentum of the swing, I''ll probably fracture a bone if I get hit just by the sheer force of the swing despite it being just a wooden sword. I tried getting close to him several more times for a hit but all of them were unsuccessful with him skillfully wielding that oversize sword to stop me. ¡°You got to do better than that¡± I did not respond to his taunt but I grin even bigger seeing the challenge in it, with Cade also grinning in response. If this continues I¡¯ll tire myself out so I have to think of a new strategy. It is going to be challenging to get past his giant sword. I really wish I had some range weapons I could use like a throwing knife or spikes, then it would be way easier to create an opening against Cade. I guess I¡¯ll have to get more reckless if I want to pass. This time I will get close to Cade but instead of stepping back, I¡¯ll just dodge all his swings instead, till he makes a mistake. Rushing back at Cade, I continue to dodge each of his swings and to keep up the pressure to find an opening to strike. I was practically dodging by the skin of my teeth, trying to not get hit by his sword. Finally there was a slight opening, one of his swings was a bit too big, so I rushed in to not waste the opportunity. I managed to get past his sword, where he couldn¡¯t really do anything with it, I aimed my sword at his neck. I stopped just before I hit him, Cade was stunned seeing the wooden sword coming. Then I gently poke his neck with the wooden sword, ending my evaluation. With that my expression turned back to normal. ¡°Did I pass?¡± ¡°Hehehe, I nearly thought I was going to die there¡± Cade touched the spot on his neck where I had poke with the wooden sword. ¡°You pass, go to Emma and she¡¯ll sort out the rest¡± ¡°Okay then¡± ¡°Also why don¡¯t we have a match next time when your stronger¡± He still had a grin on his face, so I nodded and grinned back. ¡°That sounds fun¡± Walking back to Emma who was at the counter, waiting for me. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were a A rank adventurer¡± ¡°Ah, Cade must have told you, Mr. Nyx¡± ¡°Anyways, I pass the examinations¡± ¡°Congratulations for passing the test and becoming an E rank adventurer.¡± Then Emma asks for my guild card. She placed it on a box-like device on the table where it made the card glow and turned it into a bronze color. I looked at my adventure card to see the only thing that changed was the color and my rank changed from F to E. ¡°By the way, you know that I am a noble right?¡± Thinking about it, I wasn¡¯t doing a good job concealing that I¡¯m a noble, like being able to read and write was a dead give away. ¡°As expected from Mr. Nyx, I apologize¡± Emma was about to bow in apology but I stopped her. ¡°I prefer you speak to me plainly¡± ¡°If it¡¯s alright with you, then¡± Emma''s face relaxes and she changes her way of speaking to a more natural one. ¡°Your really a noble, so which family are you from¡± ¡°I rather keep it a secret¡± Emma was surprised when I did not say which family I belong to. ¡°That''s strange, normally you nobles would always use your family names even if your trying to hide your identity¡± ¡°Are nobles becoming adventures that common?¡± ¡°It¡¯s rare, I¡¯ve come across a fair amount during my time when I was active, and they always use their family title to get favors with the guild¡± Interesting, so nobles becoming adventurers are more common than I thought. ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m curious on why you¡¯ve became a adventurer¡± ¡°I had a opportunity and I ran away¡± I couldn¡¯t tell her everything, afterall the less the better. Emma looks even more surprised and confused. ¡°Why? Somebody of your talent and potential at such a young age. Even if you don¡¯t have magic, why did you run away?¡± ¡°Family troubles I guess¡± Emma had an exhausted expression and took a deep sigh hearing my response, then she placed her hand on her forehead. ¡°This is why I retired, so I don¡¯t have to deal with stuff like this¡± ¡°Also is their anyone else who knows¡± ¡°I¡¯d haven¡¯t told anyone except for the guildmaster. Either way, what are you going to do now after you become a E rank¡± ¡°I¡¯m planning to buy some throwing weapons, since my fight with Cade reveal a weakness¡± With my fight with Cade, I realize changing my swordsmanship is not enough, so I''m planning to buy them to help me in the future. ¡°Then I¡¯m planning to take on some E rank quests. And after that I plan to do a D rank quest to escort a wagon to Acton.¡± It¡¯s a bit annoying that I have to complete 3 E rank quests to be able to do a D rank quest, but if it gets me to Acton then I¡¯m fine with it. Acton is a large city that was formed around the Dradevow dungeon, so the main adventurer headquarters of this region and mages guild are there, alongside with other guilds like the merchant guilds. There I could have the resources to figure out how to make magical tools that don''t require you being a mage like the adventurer card I am holding in my hand. After telling her my plans, minus the part about making magical tools that doesn¡¯t require being a mage, I went to Kinwall¡¯s shop and thought of what kind of throwing weapons I should get on the way there.. Emma¡¯s perspective ¡°So what do you think of him, Cade?¡± After Nyx had left, Emma talked to the guild master, Cade. ¡°His talents and skills belie his age, he¡¯s abnormal to be honest. I doubt a genius around his age can match him¡± ¡°Interesting¡­ he also figured out that we know that he¡¯s a noble. Did you find out which family is he from fighting him¡± Emma continued and told her best guess at Nyx¡¯s identity. ¡°My best guess is the Lunslur family since they¡¯re having a power struggle right now, over being the next head after the previous one die a year ago, and their territory is next to this one¡± ¡°I doubt it, since his swordsmanship is very different from the Lunslur family. I feel like I fought it before for some reason¡± ¡°I see, he is a mystery¡± Emma put her hand on her chin in thought, trying to assess how much trouble Nyx might be in the future but gave up since they don¡¯t have a lot of information on him. ¡°Also by the way, here¡± Emma sucker punched Cade on the gut without warning. Despite Cade being way taller and more muscular than Emma and being the guild master, Emma still punches Cade in the gut from being tick off that her secret got revealed again. It caused him to collapse on the ground. ¡°That''s what you get for revealing that I was a high ranking adventure¡± Cade clutched his stomach and groaned on the ground. ¡°Ya¡­ I''m sorry¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I won¡¯t do it again¡± ¡°You said the same thing last time¡± Even more tick off, Emma proceeded to kick Cade in the stomach while he was still on the ground. Chapter 10 I opened the door to Kinwall¡¯s shop, there was nobody there but I could hear the clanging of metal reverberating throughout the shop. ¡°Be there in a minute, I¡¯m in the back ¡± ¡°Hello, its Nyx¡± ¡°Oh it''s you, just wait. I¡¯ll get to you¡± After waiting for around a minute, Kinwall walked out from the back of the store after putting down what he was doing. ¡°So what are you looking for?¡± ¡°Some knives and spikes that I can throw¡± I thought while walking here to not only get some throwing knives, but also throwing spikes. Granted they are going to be harder to use but I could carry a lot more on me and they are overall cheaper to buy. I told Kinwall how many I wanted. ¡°So you want 4 throwing knives and 10 throwing spikes. I don¡¯t have any to sell, so I have to make them¡± ¡°How much and how long will it take?¡± Kinwall rubbed his beard in thought and said. ¡°14 bronze and they will be ready in about 2 days¡± ¡°That is surprisingly quick¡± At minimum I would have thought that it would take at least 4 days to make but I guess it is because he is a dwarf, he could make them in 2. ¡°Well you''re my only customer right now and I have no orders coming in. Besides how is being an adventurer working out for you¡± ¡°I just became E rank today¡± Showing him my adventurer card, which is now a bronze color, Kinwall showed some surprise in it. ¡°It seems that you have the potential to be a high ranking adventurer, normally people would take twice as long to get to E rank¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Ya, seen a fair amount of people ranking up just as fast as you¡± So, he said I could become a high ranking adventurer, that is interesting. After I paid for my order, I said goodbye to Kinwall. ¡°Alright then, see you in 2 days¡± It was still afternoon, so I decided to go back to the library, to continue where I left off yesterday. For the rest of the day I was reading silently with Mable till it was closing time. The next day, I enter into my first E rank quest, which is to hunt some horned rabbits by a road that goes through a forest. Each horn you bring back pays 1 bronze coin, and if you bring back any monster parts, you can sell it off for extra money. I exited through the north gate and followed the road till I saw the edge of a forest. This must be the location the quest told me to go. People consider horned rabbits to be pests. From reading a monster encyclopedia book in the library, horned rabbits are normally solitary monsters, unlike the ones I fought when I traveled here. Generally they¡¯re known to attack anyone going into their territory. It would be a problem for the merchants, travelers, and townspeople if they were attacked; so the adventurers guild routinely put out subjugation quests to deal with them. I entered the forest, following the road. I saw adventurers roaming through the forest, not far from the road, searching for horned rabbits. I continued traveling on the road that goes through the forest till I saw an animal trail that the other adventurers didn¡¯t notice. I broke off from the road and followed the animal trail for a short while. Eventually I found some imprints in the trail. They were tracks and they look fresh, it matches from the monster encyclopedia book with that of a horned rabbit Then not a minute later, I saw a horned rabbit appear out of the foliage. Compared to the white ones I¡¯d fought, the one in front of me was smaller. It growled and was about to lunge at me. I smirked, taking out my sword, getting a bit excited seeing it. Slashing at it with one swing as it lunges at me, it went down, lying motionless on the ground. Is that it? Checking to make sure it¡¯s dead I poke it with my sword, for no reaction. Well that was disappointing, I didn¡¯t think one slash would be enough to kill it but I was wrong. Man, this is going to be a pain if they are this weak. My enthusiasm dropped thinking that I¡¯m going to have to hunt them all day. I wish that was more interesting. However it didn¡¯t last long, I heard a high pitched scream coming from the right side of the trail. I saw a skinny boy with blue hair and eyes, around my age, running with teary eyes while being chased by a horned rabbit. ¡°Somebody help me!¡± Well this has certainly become interesting. I began to chase after them through the forest, marking each tree I passed with my sword so I wouldn''t get lost. ¡°Hay!¡± Shouting at the horned rabbit and getting its attention, it stopped chasing the boy and switched to me. It charges toward me instead so I swung my sword at it once, for it to go down. After dealing with the horned rabbit, I approached the boy who was hiding behind a tree after being chased by the horn rabbit. ¡°Are you alright¡± Looking at him, his gear makes him look like an adventurer. ¡°What¡¯s your¡ª¡± Before I could finish he clung on to me and immediately started sobbing all over my cloak. I¡¯m really going to have to find someplace to clean off his snot and tears later. ¡°Thank sob, you¡± Not knowing what to do, I waited till he calmed down for a bit and asked him what happened. ¡°Scary hic. It hic was chasing me¡± ¡°What happened?¡± He started to wail even more once I¡¯d ask. I manage to make out an answer out of his incoherent sobbing. Apparently his name is Rain, E rank, and this was also his first E rank quest. He got scared by a horned rabbit of all things and ran. ¡°Ya sob, they¡¯re super scary, sob¡± He''s really a crybaby, I wonder how he even managed to pass the E rank evaluation test? ¡°Do you have a party or anything?¡± ¡°No, sniff¡± Guess I can¡¯t leave him here. ¡°You can let go now¡± Rain slowly letgo, his face was all red, a combination of him crying and being chased. ¡°Follow me then, I¡¯ll help you¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. I pick up the dead Horned rabbit on the ground and I walk back to the trail by following the trees I had marked. In the meantime, Rain was following me like a lost puppy. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going back to the trail you ran past by, there¡¯s a Horned rabbit I¡¯d killed earlier so I want to pick it up, then we¡¯ll look for some more horned rabbits¡± Rain shrieked when I mentioned the words horned rabbits, like he is traumatized by them. His tears were already beginning to swell up and began clinging on to me again with eyes like he just got betrayed. ¡°Please no, there too scary¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll be fine, probably¡± ¡°What do you mean probably!?¡± ¡°Like I said you¡¯ll be fine and I¡¯ll even help you¡± Honestly looking at him, he is really helpless, leaving him here by himself would be a really bad idea. ¡°But I don¡¯t want to, they¡¯re too scary!¡± Rain started crying again. Not wanting to deal with anymore of his crying and not wanting my cloak to get even more dirty, I did the only thing I could think of in this situation. I smacked Rain on the head thinking it might work because it usually works back at the nursery in the military base I was stationed at in my past life whenever the kids get out of hand. ¡°That hurts¡± As expected it works, at least he stopped crying. Rain was holding both of his hands on top of his head where I hit him, teary eyed. We walked back to the trail where I¡¯d killed a horned rabbit. Thinking of how I should help Rain, a horned rabbit showed up. How convenient, let''s see how well Rain can fight. It screeched and went after Rain, I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s because it sensed he was the weaker one out of us. Rain screamed in terror and began running in circles around me, being chased by the horned rabbit. ¡°Ahhh, please save me!¡± ¡°No, just fight back¡± ¡°¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡± However it didn¡¯t work, Rain was still being chased around in circles. After a while of him being chased, he trips on a tree root. Unexpectedly he actually took out his sword but to my disappointment he swung his sword sporadically as the horned rabbit was about to attack him. I''d step in and kill the horned rabbit just before it could harm him, then knock his sword out of his hand so he wouldn¡¯t hurt himself by blindly swinging it. ¡°Hey, you okay?¡± Rain was curled up into a ball repeatedly muttering ¡°heh heh someone save me, I don¡¯t want to fight¡± Why does it feel like this is my fault for some reason? With a sigh, I smack Rain on the head again, thinking that if it stops him from crying, then it might as well work the same. It managed to get him out of that state. ¡°Ow!¡± ¡°At least that some progress¡± This is going to be more troublesome than I thought. After several attempts where I had to resort to some¡­ let just say forceful measures to get him to fight, he finally killed his first horned rabbit. ¡°I did it Nyx, I really did it¡± Rain was jumping in joy and was about to start crying again but I raised my fist up in the air to which he immediately stopped and looked terrified at my clench fist. We were by a creek and were taking a break under the shade of a tree. It was the mid afternoon and I was feeling hungry. ¡°Hey Rain, I''m going to make lunch. Could you make a campfire¡± ¡°Okay¡± I began skinning all the horned rabbits we have killed by the creek, in total I killed 4 today while Rain only killed one. After I was done skinning all the horned rabbits, I set the fur aside and looked at the meat. I choose the 2 best looking horned rabbits to eat. Carrying the meat to the campfire that Rain had finished making, I began skewering them on a stick and roasting them over the fire. I headed back to the creek. Taking off my cloak, I began washing off the mess Rain had made crying all over it. Once I was done I put it next to the fire to dry and sat by the fire. While my cloak is drying and the horned rabbits are roasting, I decided to have a conversation with Rain. ¡°So, I¡¯ve been wondering why you chose to become an adventurer?¡± Rain doesn''t seem to fit being an adventurer with him being a crybaby and all, plus he keeps trying to run away whenever there is a monster around. I¡¯m honestly surprised that he¡¯s an E rank, which is a miracle in itself, because I could not imagine him fighting an examiner, instead I imagine him just running away. ¡°I had a teacher who taught me how to use a sword. They told me stories of their adventuring days, so I¡¯d decided to become one¡± I guess that explains why she is an E rank adventurer at least. ¡°And where are you from and are you alone¡± ¡°I''d rather not say, it¡¯s a personal one¡± He had a pained expression saying that. ¡°But I¡¯m not alone, I¡¯m living with a relative¡± So¡­ he has his own problems to deal with, like me. ¡°How about you, Nyx. Why did you choose to become an adventurer?¡± ¡°You could say I want to start a new life, I guess¡± ¡°A new life¡­?¡± ¡°Ya, a new life. Like you, it¡¯s a personal one¡± After around 20 minutes of us talking, the horned rabbits looked to be done cooking. I took mine out of the fire, checked if it was done, and bit into it. ¡°Hey Rain, it¡¯s done cooking¡± It tasted okay, not as tender or tasty as the white horned rabbit I ate. Rain took her own horned rabbit and looked a bit awkward trying to eat it, like she hasn¡¯t done this before. Once we finish eating our roasted horned rabbits, I ask if Rain wants to go back. Before Rain could speak, I heard a rustling sound behind me. Noticing the rustling, Rain immediately tries to flee in the opposite direction of the sound while I draw my sword. I guess I have my work cut out for me. Waiting in anticipation to see what it was, I saw that it was just a horned rabbit coming out of the bushes. Once it saw me, it immediately charged at me. I swung my sword and killed it in one swing, then I looked for where Rain had run off to. ¡°Hey, Rain you can stop hiding now¡± ¡°Uuugh¡± Instead of him coming out, I heard him groaning in pain. I¡¯d walk in the direction where Rain had run off to and discover something really shocking. Rain tripped and fell on a bush, his pants got caught on it and revealed something that made me stand there, stunned by what I saw. I could even feel an expression form on my default expressionless face. He was wearing panties, and they were up in the air for everyone to see. Is he a pervert? Once Rain got up, he noticed that I was staring at him with actual emotions on my face. ¡°What''s wrong, Nyx?¡± Rain looked at me with a bit of confusion, then he looked down to realize his pants were down. A short awkward silence was in the air. Then his face turned all red and he screamed. ¡°Ahhhhhhh!¡± Then he tried to cover it with his shirt unsuccessfully and ran behind a nearby tree instead. Rain started crying again as I was still standing there stun ¡°You saw, you saw didn''t you? You saw my secret¡± His cry became even louder. ¡°Now I can¡¯t get married!¡± Can¡¯t get married? Wait, don''t tell me¡­ ¡°Hey, do you know Hutch¡¯s clothing store?¡± It was worth a shot and it managed to get Rain out of his, no her stupor. ¡°Wait, how do you know about Hutch?¡± ¡°Same reason as you do¡± It seems that I found another crossdresser in this town. ¡°Heh!? That would mean, wait no that, your your a¡­¡± She was in a daze till she finally connected the dots that I¡¯m also a girl crossdressing as a guy. Who knew¡­ like what are the odds we cross paths with each other, two people crossdressing meeting each other by chance. ¡°A girl!¡± Rain was about to go back to being in a stupor, so I smacked Rain¡¯s head with my fist again so she wouldn¡¯t get back in that stupor. ¡°I think we should go back¡± This is certainly a weird day. After I finished skinning the horned rabbit and getting its horn, I picked up my cloak by the fire that had finished drying and we started walking back to town. ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry I won''t tell anyone about you crossdressing as a guy and I wouldn¡¯t ask why too¡± We reached the northside gate and went directly to the guild and turned in the horned rabbits we hunted, completing the quest. It seems that Emma isn¡¯t here today. ¡°Here¡± I gave Rain half of the money from exchanging the horn to confirm killing the horned rabbits and money from selling the fur. In total we got 6 bronze coins for killing the horned rabbits and 6 large copper coins for the furs. ¡°It¡¯s too much, I only killed one and I¡¯ve been a trouble for you all day¡± ¡°Just take it, we¡¯re working together, aren¡¯t we¡± Rain was about to start crying again so I raised my fist up in the air to stop her because I didn''t want to clean my cloak again from her sobbing to which she was now shuddering in fear. I put my fist down and asked her if she wanted to work together tomorrow. ¡°Yes, I would like that very much¡± ¡°I might show up a bit late, I got something to pick up, so could you wait a bit for me?¡± ¡°That is no problem¡± ¡°Okay, goodbye then¡± ¡°Goodbye Nyx¡± Rain went back home, to her relative''s house that she is staying at. As for me, since there was a few hours till the adventurer guild closed, I went to the library. ¡°Hi there Mable, I finished my first E rank quest earlier than expected. It looks like I still got some time left for today¡± Mable was silently reading a book in this cramped library as usual, she looked up from her book and greeted me. ¡°Do you want to continue where you left off?¡± ¡°Yes¡± Mable grabbed the book I didn''t finish yesterday and gave it to me. I silently continued reading that book with Mable till it was closing time. After that I went back to my inn, bought some dinner and went to bed. Chapter 11 I woke up early in the morning because I had to pick up my order from Kinwall¡¯s shop. When I got there, I saw another person in the shop talking to Kinwall from the window as if they knew each other. I¡¯d open the door to hear both of them laughing. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s Nyx¡± Kinwall greeted me with a big smile. ¡°Hi, am I interrupting anything?¡± ¡°No, just talking to an old customer of mine. Give me a second, I¡¯ll get your order, it''s in the back¡± ¡°So, you must be Nyx, Kinwall told me about you¡± The person who was speaking to me was a handsome guy, wearing a cloak who looks to be around his mid 20s, who has blonde hair and blue eyes. ¡°Yes I¡¯m Nyx, what¡¯s your name and how do you know Kinwall?¡± ¡°My name is Eric, and like he said I¡¯m a old customer, it took a while to find him since he moves frequently¡± Hearing Eric saying that Kinwall moves frequently got me curious, so I asked what he meant. ¡°Kinwall didn¡¯t tell you? Let''s just say a lot of nobles seek out his craftsmanship to a certain degree¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡± That makes sense back when I was still a noble, I tend to see those types of nobles occasionally at balls or parties. They always flaunt their noble status to people they see as beneath them including other nobles with less social standing than them. I guess it¡¯s especially bad that Kinwall is a dwarf. ¡°You don¡¯t look too surprise, almost as if you know what it''s like¡± ¡°You could say that¡± He is quite sharp, I wasn¡¯t expecting him to read my inner thoughts despite the fact that I¡¯m usually expressionless. I look at his face, I don¡¯t recognize which family he is from but he is most likely a noble from his demeanor. ¡°Oh my, what¡¯s with that stare?¡± He had a amused smile as he said that I reply back honestly, there is no point hiding it, he likely already knows that I¡¯m also a noble. ¡°Just wondering which noble family are you from, that¡¯s all¡± Eric had a small chuckle. ¡°Your as just interesting as Kinwall says¡± As he said that, Kinwall came out of the back, holding 2 holsters. ¡°Sorry for the wait¡± Kinwall then put them on the table, taking out each of the throwing knives and spikes I ordered from the holsters. ¡°Have a look¡± I picked up the throwing knife first, it was symmetrical with double sided edges, surprisingly weighed heavier than it looked. Then I picked up the throwing spikes that were thin, with the tip looking really pointy, great for piercing things. ¡°Fine work as ever Kinwall¡± ¡°Of course they will be great, I made them¡± Kinwall shows a bit of pride saying it. ¡°I better get going now and when are you going to finish fixing Moonlight again?¡± ¡°About a week at least¡± ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll be off now¡± Eric then put back his hood and walked out the door. Hmm, Moonlight? I asked Kinwall about it. ¡°Hey Kinwall, what is Moonlight?¡± ¡°Oh, it is the name of his magical weapon that I made a while back, he broke it somehow.¡± ¡°Somehow?¡± Magical weapons are magical tools that are weapons and they would usually take a lot to break, so what did he do to break it? Kinwall shrugs his shoulders in response, he doesn''t seem too angry, like he gave up worrying about it a long time ago. ¡°Anyway, how''s the throwing knives and spikes I¡¯d made¡± ¡°They¡¯re really good, better than I expect with how long it took you to make them¡± ¡°That''s good to hear. The holster for the knives is worn on your waist, basically a belt, and the holster for the spike is a leg holster¡± ¡°I see¡± I put back the knives and spikes into the holsters and then wear them. They were securely holding onto the throwing knives and spike so they wouldn¡¯t fall off but could be easily accessible if I needed to use them. ¡°Alright, thanks for making them. I''ll be going now¡± ¡°No problem and thanks for the business, see you again Nyx¡± I left the store and headed directly to the adventurers guild. Rain was waiting outside the building, she waved at me with a smile when she saw me. ¡°Hi Nyx¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Sorry for making you wait, I have to pick up something¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really a problem Nyx, and what did you pick up¡± ¡°Some throwing weapons¡± I showed her the holsters that held my throwing knives and spikes. ¡°Thanks really cool¡± Rain has stars dazzling out of her eyes. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go inside¡± We went in, taking on the same quest as yesterday. Emma was surprised to see that I teamed up with someone when Rain and I got to her booth. ¡°Rain? Your with Nyx¡± ¡°Huh? How do you know Nyx¡± ¡°Ummm¡­ do you two know each other?¡± Confused, I ask how they know each other. ¡°Oh, Emma is the relative I¡¯m staying with¡± ¡°And you must be the adventurer Rain told me about¡± ¡°Ya¡± So Emma is Rain¡¯s relative. Thinking about it, when Rain said she was taught by a teacher who was formerly an adventurer, it was most likely Emma. ¡°I like to thank you for helping out Rain yesterday and sorry if he caused you any trouble¡± ¡°Its fine¡± ¡°So, which quest would you like to enter into?¡± ¡°Same one as yesterday¡± ¡°I see¡± Emma entered my name and the quest I was taking, on a piece of paper that had a list of other people''s names and what quest they were taking. After Emma finished entering us into the quest, we left the guild building and headed out the north side gate to get to the forest for our quest. We entered the animal trail I found yesterday, to look for some horned rabbits. When we encountered some horned Rabbits, Rain for the most part didn¡¯t immediately run away whenever she saw a horned Rabbit. And if she did run, I got into the habit of immediately grabbing Rain and smacking her on the head, then throwing her to the horned rabbit whenever she tried to run. It¡¯s some progress I guess. As for me, I''ve been trying to use my throwing knives and spikes against the horned rabbits as target practice but more often than not I miss because I couldn¡¯t get the timing right in throwing them. I know how to use throwing weapons, in my past life when I was a pilot. We were trained, to an extent, on all sorts of weapons and martial arts. I wish I had more opportunities to practice my throwing. I had a real fun time with my sister Norn, practicing throwing weapons but we got banned from doing it by our captain. Let''s just say we went out of control again, eventually as we were practicing, we both thought it would be fun to try it out on each other Subsequently it caused everyone in the room to run out of the training area again, from all the stray weapons we were being thrown at each other. In the end he yelled at us for it and we got a temporary ban from the training area again, so it was back to playing our video games. Rain and I were at the same spot by the creek yesterday. I asked Rain to gather some wood and build a fire while I prepared the horned rabbits to be cooked, then I put them by the fire to be cooked. I sat on a log and waited with Rain for the Horned rabbit to be done roasting. Suddenly we heard a rustle by the bushes again, same thing as last time. However this time Rain didn¡¯t immediately run away. It¡¯s a major progress compared to before but Rain wasn¡¯t able to control her fear since she didn¡¯t pull out her sword. Hearing the rustle in the bushes, it was definitely not a Horned rabbit, something bigger. A pair of familiar ears pop up out of the bushes. ¡°Nyx, is that you?¡± ¡°Wendy?¡± Wendy pop out of the bush startling Rain, causing her to fall down ¡°Oops sorry, I knew it was you from your scent.¡± ¡°Hi there then. So, what are you doing here?¡± With a big smile Wendy said. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to thank you but you weren''t with Alex, Maria, or Chelsie. So I ask around and found out you were doing and decide to take the same quest to find you¡± ¡°Thank me?¡± ¡°Ya, we finally made some progress with Alex¡± I am not really too sure that I did anything to be thankful for, at least I don¡¯t think so. ¡°By the way, who¡¯s that person over there¡± Wendy had pointed her finger at Rain. ¡°Oh, he is Rain. We are working together, I¡¯m helping him out right now but he is a major crybaby, so progress is slow. I finally manage to get him to stop running away when he see a horned rabbit¡± ¡°I see, well you got your hands full¡± Speaking of horned rabbits, I wonder how many Wendy had killed, since she is a beastkin. ¡°So, how many horned rabbits did you kill today?¡± ¡°Oh, around 20 of the those small fry today¡± Wendy pulled out a pouch and proudly showed me it filled to the brim with horned rabbit horns. ¡°That''s really a lot¡± Rain was really amazed and so was I, by how many she killed. Then I heard a grumbling sound coming from Wendy. I notice Wendy was drooling at the horned rabbit we were roasting by the fire behind us ¡°You want to come eat with us¡± Wendy enthusiastically said yes, she sat down on a log next to the fire eagerly waiting with her tail wagging for it to be done. Once they were ready, I gave Wendy a whole horned rabbit while I shared one with Rain because knowing Wendy¡¯s personality, she is a glutton. ¡°Really Nyx can I have it all¡± ¡°Ya¡± Wendy was wagging her fluffy tail as she was devouring the horned rabbit. Looking at her tail, I was really tempted to touch it, so I placed my hand on her tail. ¡°Gah!¡± Wendy screeched in surprise and moved away from me, clutching her tail. ¡°Hey, you just just touch my tail¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just do that Nyx¡± Rain was admonishing me for some reason, I just wanted to touch Wendy''s fluffy tail. I tilted my head confused. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Do you not know only their mate can touch it¡± ¡°Oh¡­ so that is why¡± That¡¯s disappointing, it seems that their tails are much more important to them in this world than I would have thought. ¡°Sorry¡± Feeling kinda bad, I offer to make Wendy another roast horned rabbit as an apology. Wendy was excited when I offered to roast another horned rabbit as an apology. I grabbed a horn rabbit and went to the creek to skin it, then skewer it with a stick and place it on the fire to roast. Finding nothing to do but to wait for the horned rabbit to be done, I decided to go practice throwing my knives and spikes for a bit, specifically to incorporate throwing them into my fighting style. ¡°Hey Nyx where are you going?¡± Rain asked where I was going. ¡°I¡¯m going to practice with my throwing knives and spike by that tree over there¡± ¡°Okay¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t I help you practice, I¡¯ll be your opponent¡± Wendy offers to help me but I question her. ¡°Are you sure? Won¡¯t that be dangerous?¡± I mean I literally throwing knives and spikes at her, is she going to be okay Wendy grinned bigly, saying. ¡°What¡¯s the worst that could happen? I really want to see how strong you are¡± A lot actually, but if she says it¡¯s okay then it should be fine, plus I was getting excited to see what it¡¯s like to fight a beastkin. We went to a suitable area to close by to spar with each other. After sparring for a while, let''s just say I may have gone a tad bit overboard again once I ran out of things to throw. Before I knew it, I was on Wendy and placing my sword next to her neck, and Rain was on the ground, crying in the background. Chapter 12 Wendy¡¯s perspective As Wendy drew her sword and face off Nyx, she noticed Nyx had a smile, something Wendy only rarely saw from her usual expressionless self, only seeing it whenever she was with Alex. Smiling back, an ominous feeling creeped up on Wendy with that smile but she didn¡¯t heed it any mind. Excitement filled Wendy¡¯s mind to see how strong Nyx is. Nyx began by throwing a knife at Wendy, then immediately closing the distance and swung her sword. Wendy hit away the knife thrown toward her with her sword and blocked Nyx¡¯s swing without much effort because of her being a beastkin because of her physical abilities much more superior to normal humans. Expecting it, Nyx bent her body low to the ground and did a sweep kick, trying to cause Wendy to lose her balance. However Wendy jumps away from Nyx¡¯s sweep kick and swings back midair. Nyx managed to dodge Wendy¡¯s sword and counter attack with a swing of her own despite being low to the ground, then she took several steps back. There was a pause in which each of them stared at each other, waiting to see who was going to move first. Wendy''s smile grew bigger, being more excited than to fight with Nyx, seeing that it was way more fun than she thought. ¡°Nyx your strong even though your not a beastkin, let''s play some more¡± Nyx didn¡¯t respond but a slightly bigger smile and a small chuckle leaked out. Wendy, as well as being the glutton, is also the meathead of the party, mostly because beastkins are known to value strength above all else, meaning most of them like to fight a lot like Wendy. Getting some distance, Nyx took out 3 spikes out of the holster on her left thigh, she threw them at Wendy. Wendy, with the agility of a beastkin, avoids the spikes Nyx had thrown, causing the three spikes to miss and hit the tree that was behind her. Nyx throws more spikes as Wendy is moving to attack, seeing an opening when Wendy has to focus on parrying away the spike because each spike being thrown is becoming harder to dodge or parry for Wendy. Once spike managed to graze Wendy''s cheeks, causing a bit of blood to flow out. As Wendy hit away the spikes, Nyx moved in and thrusted her sword toward Wendy. Wendy at the last moment, parries away the thrust and counter attack with several swings of her sword, using her being physically stronger than Nyx to her advantage. However Nyx, being more adept with the sword, manages to push Wendy several steps back with her sword play. Then Nyx threw several more spikes at Wendy, Wendy barely being able to get out of the way, having to roll on the ground at times to not get hit. Switching to knives once Nyx had run out of spikes to throw. Like the spike Nyx had thrown, each throw became even more accurate and harder to dodge or parry for Wendy. A couple of small cuts from near misses cover her body and a couple strands of her hair were cut off, including a bit from her tail. In Wendy¡¯s thoughts, she was thinking about how it was abnormal for Nyx to be able to improve her skills in throwing to an extent that it was hard for her to not get hit after only a couple of throws. Normally, if it was a normal human, there was no way for them to not get hit. Wendy felt an instinctual chill as she noticed once she saw Nyx¡¯s smile grew bigger and the chuckles became a small laughter. The knives Nyx had thrown were even harder for Wendy to dodge or parry with her sword. When she had run out of knives to throw, Wendy had a small sigh of relief thinking it was over because if it wasn¡¯t for her being a beastkin, she would have been a porcupine by now. ¡°Nyx lets stop, you¡¯ve already ran out¨C¡± Cutting off Wendy, Nyx instead ran toward Wendy not caring what Wendy was saying. Wendy saw Nyx''s smile, now a big craze smile like a battle-obsessed lunatic. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Speaking for the first time in the fight, Nyx spoke. ¡°Hahahahaha, why? We¡¯ve only just begun¡± Wendy started running and screaming in terror like when Nyx was sparring with Alex, begging for Nyx to stop. In the meantime, Rain was quietly observing Nyx and Wendy in amazement by how skillful they were sparring with each other. Rain was surprised when Nyx was smiling while sparring with Wendy since when Rain met Nyx just yesterday, she thought that Nyx is the type of person who doesn¡¯t show a lot of emotion. But it turned to concern when Nyx started laughing and Wendy begging for Nyx to stop as she was being chased around by her. Rain trying to stop Nyx by steeping in. Instead Nyx swung her sword at her, causing Rain to run together with Wendy trying to dodge Nyx¡¯s swings. ¡°Hey Rain, please stop Nyx¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t know how¡± ¡°I thought you knew each other¡± ¡°We¡¯ve only met yesterday and this is the first time I¡¯d seen Nyx act like this¡± In the end, Rain was left a sobbing mess on the ground after her legs gave out and seeing her life flash before her eyes one too many times. As for Wendy, she was still being chased by Nyx and it only stopped when Wendy had to roll on the ground again but she wasn¡¯t looking where she was rolling at and hit a tree. Now cornered, having a tree behind her, Nyx approached Wendy and pointed the blade of her sword next to Wendy¡¯s throat. Nyx¡¯s perspective I had the edge of my sword next to Wendy''s throat as she had her back behind a tree. Her hair and tail were disheveled, she had cuts and scratches all over. I put my sword back into its sheath and looked over to see my knives and spikes were scattered all over the place and Rain was curled up in a sobbing mess. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯d got carried away their, again¡± When I said it, Wendy was already hiding behind a tree, peaking out terrified. I saw her ears were down and tail tucked between her legs, shivering. ¡°You''re back to normal, right?¡± ¡°Ya¡± I said sorry again, it managed to stop her from hiding from the tree but she is now staying a fair distance away from me. Then I approached Rain who was on the ground curled up into a ball crying again and smacked her on the head. ¡°Hey Rain, are you hurt?¡± ¡°Is that you Nyx, is it really you?¡± ¡°Ya, what do you mean¡± Once I confirmed that I was me, Rain immediately latched onto my waist and started crying. I¡¯m going to have to wash my cloak again but I kinda felt like this was my fault, so I let Rain cry till she stopped. After Rain finished crying, she sat by the campfire to rest with Wendy, who was silently eating the roast Horned rabbit I made for her that was done roasting. I went to the creek and washed my robe again, then let it dry on a log by the campfire, and finally I gathered up all my knives and spikes that were scattered all over. Once my coat was dry and I collected the knives and spikes I had thrown, we went back to town. On the way back, a few horned rabbits appeared, both Rain and Wendy were desperately adamant that I¡¯d not fight. It was a shocking surprise to see Rain wanting to fight something. When we got back to town and in the guild building, I saw Alex¡¯s party waiting for Wendy. They saw Wendy¡¯s condition, immediately running over and asking what happened. Maria took out a healing potion and rubbed it on Wendy. I told them that Wendy was helping me practice, so she became my sparring partner. Alex had this understanding yet terrified look, while the rest looked a bit confused and concerned. However Lucia, the tsundere of the party, was furious for some reason. ¡°I was willing to forgive you with hurting Alex but I won¡¯t let it slide with Wendy¡± Lucia was pointing her staff directly at me, with her hair glowing bright red. ¡°I challenge you to a fight¡± Unconsciously I was grinning again. I never thought I would fight a beastkin today but as well as fighting a mage, today is filled with surprises. Alex, Wendy, and Rain were staring at me like I was some sort of bomb that was about to go off when I was thinking about fighting Lucia. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why are you staring at me?¡± They all look at me terrified, Rain looks like she¡¯s about to cry again, while Alex and Wendy are shivering with a pale face. Alex finally spoke up. His face was a mixture of terror and embarrassment. ¡°You can¡¯t fight Lucia because I¡¯m ummm¡­ planning to take her on a date, since ummm¡­ everyone is working so hard lately, I¡¯m taking all of you individually on a date¡± Lucia had a maidenly expression like her anger from before was never there. Maria and Chelsie have that expression that looks a bit jealous, except for Wendy and Rain who was sighing in relief. ¡°Anyways we better be going now¡± Alex grabbed onto Lucia¡¯s hand and ran off like his life was depending on it. After watching Alex running off with Lucia, I left Wendy with her party and went to the counter with Rain to complete our quest for today. We evenly split up the money from completing the quest and selling the fur, then said goodbye for today. Chapter 13 The next day I woke up and met up with Rain, same time as yesterday by the guild. After entering into a horned rabbit quest, we were walking down the road, to the trail we used to look for horned rabbits. A horned rabbit jumped out onto the road as we were going to the trail. Rain enthusiastically or I should say desperately attacked it before I could draw my sword, it was almost as if she didn''t want me to fight. Works for me, horned rabbits are not that fun to fight. I guess I don¡¯t really have to worry about her anymore when I leave for Acton. Speaking of leaving. ¡°By the way Rain, I¡¯m going to be leaving in a few days¡± ¡°You''re leaving¡­?¡± ¡°Ya, I¡¯m taking on an escort quest to Acton¡± Rain was a bit sad and surprised when I said that I was leaving. ¡°You can come if you want¡± ¡°Sorry I can¡¯t because of my circumstances, I can¡¯t really leave Forsborrow¡± ¡°What kind of circumstances?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say too much on it but you could say it¡¯s family¡± ¡°Okay¡± It¡¯s her family circumstances again, I wonder what kind it was, but I shouldn¡¯t really push it any further since I have my own family circumstances to deal with. ¡°So, what are you going to do in Acton¡± ¡°Dive into the Dradevow dungeon and learn magic¡± ¡°Wait! You can use magic?¡± Rain was surprised by a misunderstanding, so I corrected her. ¡°No, I just want to learn how to make magical tools¡± ¡°Oh, I see. But why do you want to make magical tools?¡± I took out the adventurer card that the adventurer guild recently implemented and I told her my goal to figure out a way to make magical tools, like the card I was holding, that can be used by normal people who can¡¯t use magic. After seeing the adventurers guild card, I wonder if I could replicate something similar to it. ¡°That¡¯s a big goal to have." ¡°Ya, don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll come back by if there is an opportunity to do so¡± As we walked, for some reason something seemed off. Usually there would be more people traveling along the road but there were only a few. Then I spotted an adventurer running, no sprinting down the road. ¡°Help!¡± The guy was gasping between breaths as he stopped in front of us. ¡°There¡­ there''s a direwolf.¡± Rain and I were surprised, hardly believing what we heard from the guy. There shouldn¡¯t be any dangerous monsters near us since this is Farborrow, a beginner adventurers town, so they only have low level monsters, especially direwolves which are B rank monsters. No, he said it was a single direwolf, so it goes down to a C rank monster which is only rank B because of them always staying in packs. It led to the question of why there is a direwolf separate from its pack. ¡°I¡­ I need to get help, for everyone so they won¡¯t die¡± With that, the guy continued running with even more desperation in his eyes. ¡°Rain go help him. I¡¯ll go help deal with the direwolf¡± I didn''t get much information from him, but he probably sent to get help from his party and there are people already fighting the direwolf right now. ¡°Why? I¡¯m coming with you. I can help" The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°No, you¡¯ll only get in the way. It would be faster if you go with him to get help¡± Rain was contemplating it and decided to do what I said. ¡°Alright¡± I ran in the opposite direction of the guy as he continued to sprint to town, with Rain running to follow him. As I ran, I began imagining the worst case scenario, expecting dead bodies and blood everywhere. I heard people fighting and somebody shouting out orders, so I ran even faster till I saw around 15 adventurers managing to fend off the direwolf that was the size of a horse on their own. They were dealing with the direwolf decently and thankfully nobody is dead, some look like they are injured but it doesn¡¯t look life threatening. Their strategy looks to be attacking the direwolf in pairs to get its attention, while another pair attacks it and have it switch its attention to them. There were also 3 people in the back row helping by shooting arrows at it. Running as fast as I could, taking out a knife, I saw that one of them was about to be bitten down the massive jaws of the direwolf, so I threw it at the direwolf from roughly 30 meters away. My knife managed to hit its head and lodge itself into the direwolf¡¯s forehead, causing it to miss the adventurer it was about to bite. I wanted to end this quickly, so I ran past the adventurers that surrounded the direwolf, jumped on the back and thrusted my sword into the back of its neck. However I didn''t expect how tough the thing¡¯s pelt was, my blade barely pierced through its pelt. The direwolf began thrashing around, while I was desperately trying to hold on, not letting go. In the end I couldn¡¯t hold on and was thrown off. I rolled on the ground and landed next to what I presume the leader of the group since he was shouting out orders. I got up, quickly checking myself if I had any injuries. ¡°You okay?¡± He asked if I was okay, he was an average looking guy with equipment that looked slightly better than the others. ¡°Ya and I think you could need the extra help¡± ¡°I¡¯m Neil, thanks for the help¡± While we were talking, Neil had commanded the other adventurers to keep the Dire wolf at bay. ¡°I¡¯m Nyx, what do I need to do?¡± ¡°Just help us distract it¡± It shouldn''t be a problem since I just piss it off by stabbing it in the neck. The Dire wolf ignored the other adventurers'' attempts to hold it off and went charging at me. Neil and I jumped away to get out of its jaws as it tried to sink its fangs at me. I slashing at its underbelly as I dodge to the side to see if it would hurt it. From my experience fighting kaijus in my past life, most kaiju have a weak under belly, so I wonder if it would also work the same. Plus the monster''s encyclopedia book I¡¯d read only just says direwolves'' pelts are really tough to pierce or cut through, which doesn¡¯t say what or where are its weaknesses. It works but the slash was shallow and wasn¡¯t deep enough. I continued dodging its lunges at me for a bite, trying to find an opportunity to attack its under belly or leg, so I can try to immobilize it somewhat since my slashes at its under belly doesn¡¯t do enough damage. As I have the agro focus solely on me, Neil orders the adventurers in pairs to attack it. For some reason I am the only one that is somewhat hurting it, the others are barely even harming it. Now it was Neil¡¯s turn to attack. ¡°Zack, now!¡± He ordered an adventurer that was holding a spear, who he was familiar with, which I¡¯m guessing is somebody in his party, to attack the Dire wolf together with him, while I distracted it. However the wolf had gotten used to Neil¡¯s strategy, switching its focus from me to them, then immediately lunged at Mark instead of me without much warning and bore its fang onto Mark. I could hear his bones being crushed by the Dire wolf as Mark was screaming in pain. ¡°Zack!!!!¡± Seeing Zack was in the jaws of the direwolf, Neil lost his reasoning and rushed in to try to get Zack released from the direwolf, but Neil was flown back by the direwolf shaking Zack violently side to side in its jaws like a toy, then threw Zack¡¯s body away. The group was frozen, staring at Zack''s lifeless corpse and the blood dripping out of the direwolf mouth, after watching someone getting killed in front of them. ¡°AHHHH!!!!¡± Some of them screamed and some had their legs give out from fear and fell to the ground. However there was one who shouted. ¡°You bastard!¡± God dammit, one idiot rush in with anger and grief all over his face ¡°No, stay back!¡± I shouted at him to stay back but he didn¡¯t listen and blindly charged at the Dire wolf. Taking out one of my throwing knives from my belt and I threw it to get its attention. The knife hit one of its right eyes as it was about to bite that idiot. I ran in and shoved the idiot out of the way as the direwolf nearly got me. I got its attention now and I pissed it off even more. Thinking of a plan, the others would not be much help fighting it and they will probably get killed. Their weapons can¡¯t hurt it and looking at them right now they are still frozen in fear or shock right now after seeing somebody die. I think that I should deal with it alone, having it chase me through the forest and leading it away from them is best. The Dire wolf snarled at me and was readying to charge. Just as I wanted, I began running away into the forest as I was being chased. ¡°Nyx, wait, where are you going¡± It seems Neil regains some sense of reason as he gets up. ¡°I¡¯m dealing with it, don¡¯t follow¡± As I ran through the forest, I sigh then a smirk appears thinking it would be a very dumb idea. I kinda expected I was going to be in a life or death fight as an adventurer. It¡¯s nothing really new compared to my past life but the only difference was that I¡¯m alone and not in Aais fighting a giant Kaiju. Man¡­ if Norn was here, she would be really jealous of me fighting this thing right now. Chapter 14 I¡¯d sprinted through the forest, weaving between the trees, making sure that they slow down the direwolf since it''s so massive. However, I look back at the Dire wolf to see it was gradually catching up. I hadn''t led it far enough away from Ned and the others, so I stopped my sprinting by a big tree, then faced the dire wolf. It jumped and pounced with its mouth wide open for a bite. I moved out of the way at the last second, letting it crash into the tree behind me, then I began to run away again. It should buy me some time while it gets up. I took out a yellow glass vial out of one of my pouches, it was poison that I had asked Maria to make. Using poisons is pretty common with adventurers, so it didn''t really cause any concern when I asked Maria to make it. I never thought I had to use it so soon, it cost a pretty penny. Who knew making poison is expensive, however I¡¯d better use it, I need all the advantages I can get. Uncorking the vial, I poured half of it on my sword. Then I pour the rest directly into my holsters where my spikes and knives are. I''m probably going to have to throw out these clothes after this, which is a shame, but I could always buy some more. After I was done, I threw the empty glass vial at the direwolf. It didn¡¯t seem too happy about that though. The poison is a low grade one but it will have to do. Throwing 3 spikes that are now covered in poison, hoping to take out its other eye. I missed it but it still hit the direwolf, causing it to momentarily stop for a bit. I began throwing them each time it got a bit too close. When I finally threw the last one, all of them hit it, though I wasn¡¯t able to take out the other eye. If you squint, its head looks like a porcupine with the amount of spikes I threw at it. I switched to my knives hoping to take out its left eye but couldn¡¯t. I should really practice more on my throwing if I manage to get out of this alive. I grin slightly bigger and had a small chuckle thinking about it, excited to see which one of us is coming out of this alive. Not having any more things to throw, I¡¯ll just have to fight it directly and I think I¡¯ve run far away enough so it doesn¡¯t go after Ned and the others. I slowed down my running so the dire wolf could catch up. Expecting the direwolf to pounce at me, I took off my cloak and moved out of the way at the last moment to cover its face as it was in the middle of its pounce, temporarily blinding it for a second. It crashed onto the ground, so I took the opportunity to attack the direwolf before it got back up. I bash its head with my sword as hard as I could then move several steps back. I looked at my sword because it felt like I just hit a rock, to see that there was a dent on my sword It shook its head to get my cloak off it to reveal that I did some damage. It looked a bit wobbly as there was blood coming out of a long gash across its head. I grinned even bigger as it stared at me with fury in its one good eye, it looks like I could do some decent damage to it. It began charging at me, so I did the same. Since I took out its right eye, I dashed to the right and took a quick stab at its underbelly. A bit of blood came out of its underbelly but it didn¡¯t seem to bother it. The direwolf continued to try to bite me with its giant jaws, then another, and another. I keep moving out of the way from its jaw, being centimeters away from its jaws, trying to not get bitten. Seeing it up closed it could definitely could swallow me whole and crush every bone in my body I wasn''t helpless though since I was counter attacking whenever I could, mostly aiming for the under belly, hoping to hit one of its organs, or legs to limit its mobility. Occasionally it would lunge and crash into some trees but due to its size, some of the smaller trees were knocked down. I thought to myself that this can¡¯t last forever, I¡¯ll be the one who will be exhausted first if this continues, I need to find a way to finish this quickly. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. As I was focusing on coming up with a plan, in addition to fighting the direwolf, I wasn¡¯t paying attention to where I stepped and it caused me to fall. The dire wolf saw the opportunity and immediately lunged in for a bite, this time it was definitely going to bite me. Seeing that I was going to be bitten as I was falling, time slowed down for a bit and without thinking, my body moved on its own. I twisted my body out of the way, barely managing to get most of my body out of the way from its jaw, however it managed to bite into my left arm. I heard a loud crunch as it bit down on my left arm just like with Zack, then I felt an unbelievable amount of pain on my left arm as it was being crushed. ¡°aaargh!¡± It then swung me in the air like a ragdoll trying to rip my arm off as I screamed in pain. This wasn''t good. In desperation, I thrust my sword at its mouth, trying to make it release my arm. I managed to make a big gash across its mouth, causing it to let go and threw me away. The air escaped my lungs as I landed hard on the ground, rolling then hitting a tree, which stopped my rolling. A small pool of my own blood formed where I lay. Rain¡¯s Perspective As Rain separated from Nyx, Rain managed to catch up to the guy that was sprinting to get help. ¡°Hey! Umm¡­ I didn¡¯t get your name but Nyx told me to help you¡± The guy Rain caught up to, spoke between his panting. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m¡­ Oliver¡± ¡°You said you need help right? I''m going to inform the guild, I know some people working there, so can you tell me some more information.¡± Oliver proceeded to tell Rain how many are fighting the dire wolf, including his party of 6, and the situation. Once they reached the gate, Oliver was about to collapse from exhaustion, but with a large amount of determination, got back up and began telling the guards about the direwolf and the situation. As for Rain, she continued running through the town and toward the adventurers guild. Rain flung the door open, surprising the few people that were in the building as she went directly to Emma¡¯s counter. Emma was talking with Cade before she was surprised to see Rain getting back so early and looking so desperate. Cade spoke up first with a sense of familiarity like he knows Rain, asking what¡¯s wrong from seeing Rain¡¯s demeanor. ¡°Hey Rain, what''s wrong?¡± ¡°Maybe you should sit down, let me get you some water first¡± As Emma was about to get up to get some water for Rain, Rain stopped her. ¡°Can¡¯t¡­ there¡¯s¡­ a direwolf¡± Hearing the words between Rain¡¯s exhausted breaths, Cade, Emma, and everyone else listening in, after seeing Rain barge inside, were surprised by what Rain said. ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s a direwolf?¡± Emma asks to confirm with a surprise but skeptical tone. ¡°I don¡¯t know but Nyx told me to help Oliver, who is informing the town guards right now¡± ¡°Oliver?¡± Cade turned his head, indirectly asking Emma on who they were. ¡°If I remember, I believe Oliver is from the Azure Wind party. There a D rank party that is about to reach C rank¡± After Emma was done explaining, Rain began to tell what she knew from Oliver. ¡°He told me that his party and other adventurers are fighting the direwolf and his party leader told him to get help¡± Both of them had a grim expression. Cade turned his body and faced the adventurers in the guild and said ¡°Sorry to make you work on your day off but as the guild master, I am putting out an emergency quest, anyone that is E rank or higher got to join in. The reward is yet to be determined but you don¡¯t need to worry about the direwolf because I¡¯m going be to fighting it¡± Then Cade turned to face Emma. ¡°I need 15 minutes to get my gear, send the word out that there is a direwolf outside the town and there is an emergency quest out¡± ¡°Got it¡± Emma was about to get up from her chair and get some of the guilds workers that were still in the building, but a question popped up in her mind. ¡°Wait, where is Nyx?¡± ¡°Sh¨C he went to help fight the direwolf¡± Almost forgetting Nyx wanted to keep the secret that she is a girl due to her exhaustion, Rain caught herself from blurting it out and told Emma what Nyx was doing. ¡°He did what?!¡± As expected Emma was shocked by it, ¡°Is he crazy to fight that direwolf?" However Cade had a slight grin on his face. ¡°If it¡¯s him, then he could buy us some time¡± ¡°What do you mean, I doubt that he could deal with the direwolf even if there¡¯s others with him¡± ¡°Maybe, maybe not, but I can tell from his skills that he could at least hold his own¡± Cade''s face went back to a serious one. ¡°Either way we have to hurry up and tell the rest of the staff about it¡± ¡°Already planning on it, I¡¯m going to coordinate with the towns guard¡± ¡°Good¡± Cade ran upstairs to his office to put on his old equipment before he became a guildmaster. ¡°Umm¡­ Emma, is there anything I should help?¡± ¡°No, just rest up for now. We need you to lead us to them since Oliver told you where they were and I doubt he could continue running anymore so you¡¯ll have to do¡± After around 30 minutes, Rain was alongside Cade by the gate with some somewhat competent looking adventurers. They departed once Cade confirmed that they were ready. Chapter 15 I tried getting up but I realized I couldn¡¯t move my left arm. Looking at my left arm, it wasn¡¯t good. Several large holes that look to be bite marks covered all over my left arm. It was kinda bending in places that it isn¡¯t supposed to be. I could taste iron on my tongue, it looked like I took some internal damage as well. Additionally I believe I¡¯d crack a rib or two because I was finding it extremely hard to breathe due to it hurting so much. I can¡¯t believe I misplaced a step, it wouldn''t be something that would never happen to me. Oh right¡­ I¡¯m not a pilot anymore, all of my enhancements, cybernetics, and augmentations are gone now. ¡°Heh heh, hahahahaha¡± I laughed, ignoring all the pain from my injuries, and forced myself to get up. How long have I felt this amount of pain? The edges of my lips grew bigger and bigger into a mad smile as I gaze upon the direwolf. Instead of my mind being dull from the pain, my mind became increasingly more focused from it. So this is what it feels like to genuinely have your arm broken. When I was still a pilot, me and Norn were connected to our Aias, meaning that we could feel any damage that comes to our Aias. We have times where we have our limbs of our Aias broken, mangal, or just rip off on more than one occasion. I even remember a particular time where a kaiju with a knife shaped head ram through the chest of our Aias, nearly hitting the core in the process. Suffice it to say I have an incredibly high tolerance for pain, it was all part of the fun. As I was laughing, for some reason the direwolf didn¡¯t attack me, looking a bit startled once I was laughing. I looked at it and saw that it also wasn¡¯t looking so good, looking like it could barely even stand. Then it collapsed, good, so then the poison finally kicked in. I took out a health potion with my good arm, which was another thing I¡¯d ask Maria to make since it was way cheaper than buying from a merchant. I uncorked it with my teeth and poured most of it on my left arm. Not sure how much a low-grade health potion would heal but it should at least stop the bleeding. Then I drank the rest, it tasted really bitter but I didn''t care about the taste right now and gulped it down. We were staring at each other and we charged at each other again. The direwolf jumps to pounce on me but it had way less of its ferocity when you compare it to when I first saw it. It is due to the poison and the injuries I cause, which causes it to tumble onto the ground. I seized the opportunity and bash it on the head with my sword again, leaving an x shape mark on its head and another dent on my sword. It tried to bite as it was still on the ground but I dodge it with the minimum amount of movement and I swing back with my sword. With each attack the dire wolf did, I just moved out of the way and counterattack anywhere I thought I could pierce it. Right now, I was solely focusing on fighting the direwolf even more than before, to a point that everything seems to slow down, similar to when I was still a pilot. Any damage I did was minimal but it was adding up. Over time the direwolf was moving increasingly more sluggish. Each slash I made, despite it being not much, was stacking and was making a difference. Its underbelly was all torn up and I¡¯d already severed all its tendons, I¡¯m kinda surprised that it was even standing. I find it really amusing because it kinda reminded me of fighting the particularly stronger kaijus I faced in my past life. Like them, it doesn''t seem to die easily. However my stamina was at its limit. No, I¡¯ve already gone past it. My body was screaming at me to stop but I ignored it because I find this too fun not to. Even with this amount of damage, it won¡¯t die and I still have to find a way to kill it before my body gives out on me. Then an idea came up when my eyes landed on its right eye that I blinded and had a knife in it. It lunged and I bent my body back in response to get out of its way as it crashed into a tree. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Without a second thought I immediately dash toward the direwolf, aiming for the only place I could kill it in one go, which is through its eyes and into the brain I thrust my sword into its right eye, it resisted with the last of its strength but I continue and plunge my sword into its brain, causing it to stop moving With that the direwolf was dead. I had a small chuckle, thinking that was a tough yet a fun fight, the funnest I had in this world. I nearly thought I would die several times there, I haven¡¯t had a fight that I didn''t know if I could get out alive in a while. After I basked in victory for a short bit, my face, which had a big smile from the fight, went back to my usual expressionless face. I slowly moved away from the Dire wolf to a tree and sat under it. My right arm seemed to have healed a bit and the bleeding had stopped, in addition I could breathe slightly better, so my broken ribs seem to be healed a bit. So this is the extent of a low grade healing potion, huh¡­ Good thing to know, I am going to have to buy a mid-grade one or higher if I want to continue fighting any more fun opponents like this one. I felt the exhaustion coming at me as my body and mind was calming down from fighting the direwolf. My eyelid felt heavy, I really wanted to take a nap right now, so I dozed off. Alina/Nyx Past Life An alarm was blaring as I slept in my comfy bed, it wasn¡¯t my alarm but it sounds like the emergency alarm. I finally opened my eyes because it was my turn to be the responsible one. Don¡¯t tell me, it¡¯s another practice drill again? Looking the holographic screen that popped up in front of me, I was surprised by what I saw, so I rubbed my eyes to check if I was seeing things. Seeing it again a mixture of excitement and nervousness filled my mind, it wasn¡¯t a drill but the real thing. It jolted me awake and out of my bed. Then I shouted at Norn, who was woken up by the alarm but didn¡¯t want to get up. ¡°Hey Norn, get up!¡± ¡°No, 5 more minutes¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a drill, the kaijus have breached our world¡± ¡°What!¡± Norn woke up immediately and checked her own screen on her bed. I ran to our closet and began changing into our circuitry suit. It was a skintight full body black suit that is supposed to be the inner layer of our combat suit. ¡°Here¡± I toss Norn¡¯s own circuitry suit, to which she immediately begins changing into it. When we were done changing, we opened the door and ran to the hangar. The base that we were stationed at was buzzing around even more than usual and seemed more chaotic with people running everywhere. They all make way for us to get to the hanger, to where our Aias is at. When we were near the hangar there was a big metal door, it recognized us as pilots and automatically opened then shut as we went through it. The hangar was a giant area where numerous other Aiases were stationed at, so they could be ready for deployment. The hanger was even more busy and chaotic inside. We continued running towards our Aias, which was named Crystal Crow. There were people waiting for us to put on our combat suits. Once we reached them, with not a moment to waste, they immediately started suiting us up. They began attaching gray armor plating, which looks like body armor, and other things to our circuitry suit. Once they were done, which took less than 3 minutes, they gave us our helmets to put on. Then we went to an elevator that got up to the head of our Aias, which was where the cockpit was. ¡°Can¡¯t believe it¡¯s actually happening¡± Norn spoke up as we were going up since we didn¡¯t have any time to talk while running to our Aias. I could see a bit of excitement in her usually expressionless face. ¡°Me too, I wonder what it¡¯s like to fight an actual kaiju¡± ¡°Can¡¯t wait, can you, with that smile your having¡± ¡°I am?¡± I placed a hand on my face and found out that I was smiling even bigger than Norn. When we reach the top, we stop our bantering and go back to our usual expressionless face. The elevator door opens and we walk on the bridge to the door to our cockpit. When we enter the cockpit, it lights up and the control system unfolded from the top of the cockpit. It was a one that was attached onto our back, waists, and foot. I went to the right controller and Norn went to the left. We let it attach to our back, then to our wrists, and then we step on the foot controls to attach our feet. ¡°Alina prepare for start up, I¡¯ll activate the core¡± ¡°On it¡± As we were starting up our Aias, a message popped up to reveal a middle aged man with black hair, who has a lot of medals on his military uniform that makes him look like a stereotypical military guy. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you two will get to your Aias so fast¡± ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll miss out on this, commander Sharp¡± Norn was slightly grinning saying it. ¡°You don¡¯t change as always" He took a deep sigh then began a short debriefing on the situation and our mission in it. Chapter 16 ¡°There are currently 23 gates that have appeared. Our defenses are managing to fight off most of the Kaijus¡± A holographic screen of a map of the globe pops up with red dots on it, representing the gates. In addition to the red dots, there are numerous red arrows which represent the number of kaiju who have breached our world, roughly 100 in total. ¡°I¡¯m sending you two to city 56, a high level kaiju named Slate Brute, about a level 5, heading straight to city 56¡± ¡°A level 5, huh¡­¡± I grin saying that, the same goes with Norn. The ranking goes from 1 to 8, in which their rank is based on the kaiju size, weight, and most importantly of all was how much Ori energy was stored in their body. A level 5 and the ones above are particularly special because during the second kaiju war, part of the reason the majority of the fleet of Aiases were wiped out was due to them starting to appear. Any kaiju level 5 or above, on top of being way stronger than the ones below them, for some unknown reason have some sort of ability, like being able to absorb energy, controlling electricity, spit out fire or acid, regeneration, invisibility, fire out lasers, and etc. ¡°I can¡¯t help but thank you for giving us such an interesting mission¡± ¡°I¡¯m not, Norn. You two are the only one left that is available, I¡¯ve already assigned the others on their own missions¡± ¡°Alright then¡± Norn turned her head and faced me. ¡°Hey Alina, you finish starting up, I finish warming up the core¡± ¡°Ya, finish in right about¡­ now¡± I press a button on the holographic screen I was working on. The entire cockpit lights up, revealing a 360 degree view of our surroundings. In addition to other systems lighting up, the ceiling on the doc we are at, opens up like a hatch, to reveal the open sky. Caution lights began flashing and speakers began warning the people below that we were going to be deployed. The restraints on our Aias were released and the hatch fully opened. The platform our Aias was standing on moved up, moving us out of the hanger. Finally, out from the hanger, our Aias was about 87 meters tall, with a muscular frame, and was colored an ashen black with blue undertones. Our main weapons, which are swords, 6 in total, were on our back that almost looked like a pair of black wings. Vila Crow is the name of our Aias, the first part in its name was given due to its sparking with electricity when we fight. The second part of the name is from the core that was extracted from a level 7 kaiju named Letricus Crow. A giant aircraft that had four massive jet engines was flying toward us, stopping once it was above us and began latching onto our back. It was an AFC, Aias flight carrier for short, which was our transport. ¡°Greetings Scott, how long till we get to the drop point¡± I talked to the person flying the AFC with a tone of familiarity. You could say he is one of the few good friends we have. Since we were pilots, we have a high level of security around us at all times, so not a lot of people can talk to us. Plus the other pilots can¡¯t really be called friends since they all have something wrong with them. ¡°It should take about 30 minutes at minimum¡± A notification popped up on my screen to tell us that Scott was done latching onto us, he began lifting us into the air without a moment to spare. ¡°Any updates on the situation on the ground¡± ¡°Yes Alina, Slate Brute has already breached the walls and the squadron of Aiases station in city 56 have been sent to intercept it but at best they can is to buy time till we get there¡± Norn and I were surprised at how fast it managed to break through the city defenses. ¡°That was quick, we better hurry then." ¡°You must be really excited to want to fight that thing, Norn and you too Alina¡± ¡°You know it¡± Both of us spoke to Scott at the same time, grinning ear to ear, giddy with excitement, different from our usually expressionless selves. Scott replied with a tone that had a mixture of resignation. ¡°Just don¡¯t get yourselves killed out there¡± After 30 minutes, we were close to our drop zone in city 53. We keep track of the current situation but it doesn¡¯t look good. Slate Brute already had breached the walls and parts of the city were destroyed. Its level was raised from a level 5 to a level 6 because 4 out of the 6 Aiases of squadron 56 were made combat ineffective fighting the kaiju. 56-2 and 56-6 are engaging it but barely managing. ¡°Hey Alina, Norn, we are close. Prepare yourselves for neural link¡± ¡°On it¡± We were up high in the sky, passing through the clouds, I could see the city below us from up here. It looks like a fortress, with it having sturdy high walls and mounted defenses, like giant canons and missile launchers to prevent the kaijus from getting in. These defenses are common in all cities since we can¡¯t really predict where exactly a gate will show up, so when Kiajus started to show up again, each city was made into their own fortress. ¡°All systems are online, Charlotte prepare for neural link¡± ¡°Confirm, preparing for neural link in 30 seconds¡± I spoke to Charlotte, who was an AI system that was made to assist us in battle. ¡°Hey Scott, how long till you can drop us off? I¡¯m really itching for a fight" Norn spoke to Scott, really wanting to know when we could fight with that slight grin of hers. Norn is the more expressive one out of the two of us, believe it or not, despite the fact that we¡¯re always expressionless. ¡°Calm down Norn, we¡¯re 3 kilometers out, so about 2 minutes till we land. I¡¯m going as fast as I can but I don¡¯t think they can last any longer, I think it¡¯s best if you do a halo drop¡± ¡°A halo drop you say¡­¡± Norn grin grew even bigger, hearing that. A halo drop is where we detach from ASC and free fall to our landing point, instead of the ASC dropping us off. I looked at Norn, beginning to smile like her, just as eager to fight our first real kaiju. ¡°Hey Norn, ready to link?¡± ¡°Always¡± ¡°Jeezus, why are you two always battle junkies¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to ignore that Scott, activating neural link¡± ¡°Ya, just don¡¯t get yourself killed Alina and you too Norn¡± I closed my eyes, started our combat suit glowed blue and I could feel my mind melding into Norn¡¯s mind. I could feel the thoughts of Norn, then our Aias, which I could feel the wind outside our Aias. ¡°Neural link stable, at 98%¡± Charlotte the AI system announced that we successfully link. Our suits glowed light blue in a circuit like pattern in addition to my eyes also glowing the same a light blue color. It felt like a rush of energy was coursing through my body when Ori energy was going into my body. ¡°Neural link stable, ready for halo drop, Scott¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Copy and good luck¡± I pressed a button on my screen to detach us from the ASC, feeling a sense of weightlessness as we fell. Then I press another button on my screen. ¡°Disabling all locks¡± With that our movements are now synchronized, all the locks have been removed, with our Aias, Vila Crow, moving the same as we do in the cockpit. We spread our arms and legs out to control our free fall. When we were about 1 kilometer in altitude, we prepared to brace for landing and activated our thrusters on our back to slow our descent. A loud thud announced our entrance into the city. The ground shook like there was an earthquake and the shock wave from the landing caused the windows of the nearby window to shatter and blew away the cars and other vehicles in the vicinity. All of the civilians were already evacuated to the bunkers deep underground the city so we don¡¯t have to worry if there was any civilian casualties that was cross in the cross fire Slate Brute, was a 80 meter bipedal lizard looking kaiju, with glowing marks around its body that was normal for any kaiju level 5 and above. Like its name, it had a hunch back, big arms with giant claws, and a face that made it look kinda brutish. It swung its giant arms at 56-2 and 56-6 to knock them away, who were trying to hold it off, seeing us as a bigger threat. I opened a channel to tell 56-2 and 56-6 that we will be taking it from here and to go to the breach in the wall to prevent any other kaijus from getting in. Then we took out one of our 6 swords on our back, readying to fight. The ground shook each time it stepped as it was charging toward us. ¡°Alina get ready¡± From what we saw when squadron 56 was fighting Slate Brute, it could generate some sort of force field around its body, no wonder it got past the cities defenses We held our sword with both hands and swung at it to test out its ability. When our sword was about to hit Slate Brute, Norn and I felt our sword being repulsed but it caused Slate Brute to crash into a building on its right from the swing. Not deterred, we tried to thrust our sword at Slate Brute, ramming it through the building it crashed into and into the other street. I felt the same force that repulsed our swing earlier when we thrusted. . ¡°Well that was certainly an interesting ability¡± ¡°Ya, Alina¡± Our swing didn¡¯t harm it but the kinetic force did, it¡¯s a good thing to know. We waited for Slate brute, expecting it to run through the collapsing building. However, catching us off guard, it instead ran through the building next to the collapsing building and tackled us. Norn and I felt the impact inside the cockpit, justling us around. If it weren¡¯t for our control system that we were attached to, we would have been like a pinball in a pinball machine. Slate Brute uses its giant arms to bear hug us on our waist, using its claws to dig into our backs, and ram us through several buildings. ¡°Gaugh. Norn, let go of the sword¡± Dropping our sword and we began hitting Slate Brute with the bottom of our fist, trying to get it to stop. For some reason our fist managed to hit Slate Brute, not having to deal with the force field. We manage to stop it charging to a stop by planting our feet in the ground and begin wrestling Slate Brute, trying to wrangle it to the ground. ¡°Hahaha, this is more fun than the simulations" ¡°Ya¡± My grin grew bigger, while Norn had a wild smile and was laughing from how unexpected this was. I could feel Norn¡¯s excitement growing bigger. Both of us were thinking the same thing, like what Norn said, it was different from the simulated battles. I looked at Norn and she gave me a look back. ¡°Charlotte, arms, burst, 65%¡± I spoke out some commands to Charlotte, in which a burst of Ori energy from the core was routed to the arms, giving us enough strength to temporarily over power Slate Brute and push it back. The circuit patterns on the arms of our combat suit, which were glowing a light blue, turned black. The panel linings of the arms of our Aias, Vila Crow, were also turning black, with our arms starting to spark black electricity due to the burst of Ori energy getting routed to the arms Our Aias should be more than enough to take on Slate Brute, since the core in our Aias was from a level 7 kaiju named Lectricus Crow. Our ability we share with Lectricus Crow was to control this black electricity, compared to normal electricity, it for some reason has the quality of being able to absorb other forms of energy and use it for our own. We pushed Slate Brute some steps back into another building because at this range, we couldn¡¯t take out another sword, so we used our fists instead. We began with a left hook, then a right, and an upper cut. It roars from our punches and uses its claws to swipe at us but we dodge them and counter with a couple more punches to its face. From those punches, some of them got repulsed but others landed, in which we figured out a bit more about its ability. Like most level 5 or above kaiju, the markings on its body glow whenever it activates its ability. We mixed in some normal punches to compare the effectiveness to when we wreath our arms with some black electricity. You could probably break through the force field with brute force alone but I think it¡¯s better if we use our ability because our black electricity absorbs the force field each time we make contact, since it was made from Ori energy, making its force field weaker and strengthening our punches. Norn and I already came up with a general idea in our connected minds, to kill during the 3 to 5 seconds opening when it would have to make a new force field. ¡°Charlotte, activate Volta mode" ¡°Confirm, activating now¡± I spoke another command to Charlotte to activate Volta mode. It was a mode where we let Charlotte automatically control the bursts of Ori energy. Since our minds are connected to our Aias, including Charlotte, Charlotte could calculate how much Ori energy we need and where we need it to go, instead of manually doing it as we were fighting. We ran in and punched Slate Brute directly in the face, arms sparking with black electricity. It crashes into a building again. As expected, our punches only hit the force field surrounding its body, but we continued punching Slate Brute. Each punch causes Slate Brute to be pushed further back into the building and its force field gradually gets weaker and weaker. Eventually we punched and broke Slates Brute''s force field. We thought of kicking Slate Brute through the building, so Charlotte sent a burst of Ori energy to our legs from our thoughts and we kicked Slate Brute right through the building, into the next street over. How many buildings have we already destroyed, 4 I think. We better wrap this up quickly, we have already caused a lot of property damage, we¡¯re probably going to get yelled at by our captain for it. The force field that was protecting Slate Brute broke, we charged through the building and swung another punch at Slate Brute. Then we grabbed Slate Brute by one of its arms and the scuff of its neck, sending a burst now to our legs and arms, which were glowing black and were sparking electricity. With much effort we threw Slate Brute a couple of blocks away. Being far enough away, we could properly take out one of our swords, in which Norn started laughing. ¡°Hahahahaha! This is even more fun than I thought. Lets kill it, lets kill it, lets kill it¡± I could feel Norn¡¯s excitement rising, which caused me to also smile and raise my own excitement to match hers. ¡°Charlotte, Max output¡± Norn spoke out commands to Charlotte, which made our sword turn a pitch black color. There was a lot of black electricity cracking out of the blade, which was due to the sheer amount of Ori energy being flowed and concentrated into the sword. Slate Brute charged at us and we held our sword up high, waiting for it to get in range to strike. When we swung down, a loud impact exactly like thunder sounded when our sword made contact with the force field and released a large amount of black electricity. Slate Brute was forced to the ground due to the force of our swing, making a giant imprint of itself on the street. We swung our sword again at Slate Brute as it began getting up. Another impact sounding like the roar of thunder sounded when we sliced off its left arm without much effort. It screeched in pain, having its left arm cut off, and swung its giant right arm at us. We duck under its arm and I temporarily take control of our right arm. I punched it with a full burst of Ori energy, causing another loud impact like thunder when I hit Slate Brute¡¯s face. I knock back Slate Brute, a full street block back with the force of my punch. ¡°Warning, right arm integrity at 68%¡± Charlotte gave out a warning on the condition of the right arm. That can¡¯t be helped, the reason we can¡¯t go all out was because of our Aias, when you compare it to others that could enhance their strengths, ours is way more powerful but at the cost of putting an immense strain on whatever we were using a burst on. For comparison, if you place our core in a normal mass-produced Aias, it would probably only last a minute before it destroyed itself from the strain. This was also the reason why we carry more than one sword. Looking at Slate Brute, it looks like I¡¯ve caved in parts of its skull from that punch. Better finish this fight. We held our sword and ran toward Slate brute. The markings on its body glowed blue, meaning that the force field is up. We slash at the force field once again, which again releases a large amount of black electricity and breaks the force field. Then we thrust our sword into its chest and I shouted a command to Charlotte. ¡°Explode¡± The sword that we thrust into Slate Brute, absorbs the Ori energy inside its body. Then in coordination of the Ori energy being absorbed and the Ori energy we were sending into it, it releases a massive amount of black electricity, blowing a giant hole into its chest, killing it Our sword shatters like glass when we push away Slate Brute''s dead body. Looks like we need to better pace ourselves next time, we threw away the sword that was now a hilt to the ground and grabbed another sword. We caught our breath, expressions turning back to our normal expressionless selves and message 56-2 and 56-6 that Slate Brute had been eliminated. ¡°Slate Brute has been eliminated, going to the breach wall now¡± As we were turning around and began walking in the directions of the breached wall to meet up with the remainder of Squadron 56, I began hearing a familiar voice. Listening to it some more, I recognized that it was Rain¡¯s voice, filled with concern, shouting at me to wake up. I immediately shot my eyes wide open to see Rain next to me, waking me up from my dream. Chapter 17 ¡°Nyx, Nyx! Please wake up!¡± I was woken up violently from my nostalgic dream to see Rain was shaking me back and forth. ¡°Alright, Alright, I¡¯m up¡± Rain stopped shaking me and hugged me tightly when I responded. Then she let go and started to sob uncontrollably. ¡°I ran when Ned told me you ran off to lead away the direwolf! I thought, I thought¡­¡± Oh, she met up with Ned, that''s why she found me so fast. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a big deal¡± ¡°What do you mean? I¡¯d thought you were dead!¡± She then proceeded to shake me again, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, even harder than before Rain please stop, everything hurts. I was thinking these thoughts in my mind but couldn¡¯t say anything because I was beginning to feel very light headed, probably from all the blood I had lost, by her shaking. My vision was starting to go black. Yep, I¡¯m blacking out now. ¡°Oh no, stay awake Nyx, stay awake¡­¡± I came back after blacking out for what seemed like a couple minutes, seeing Rain this time being more cautious and not shaking me this time, then Rain asking me if I was alright. ¡°Ya, I¡¯m fine¡± ¡°Sorry¡± Rain was being apologetic from making me black out. I looked around to see that there wasn¡¯t just Rain here anymore, there were other adventures that I didn¡¯t recognize except for one, it was Cade who was among them. Cade approached us with a grin. ¡°So, was it a good fight?¡± I¡¯d reply back with a yes. It was really fun, nothing beats the thrill of fighting something that will give you a challenge. The rush of adrenaline and the pain of being injured, causing your mind to be so focused on trying to survive and kill each other, they¡¯re sensations I haven¡¯t felt in a long time. ¡°Anyways, how hurt are you?" ¡°Well you could see my left arm is in bad shape¡± I have several big bite marks, each about 2 centimeters in diameter, in addition to it being broken. ¡°Also I think I crack a rib or two and hit my head pretty hard¡± All in all I could manage. ¡°I see, here¡± Cade took a healing potion out of one of his pouches. ¡°It¡¯s a low-grade healing potion¡± "Thanks¡± ¡°Sorry I can¡¯t give you anything better, I might need my own just in case. I can¡¯t thank you enough after you took down the direwolf and saved the lives of the other adventurers. As the guildmaster, it¡¯s the least I could do¡± ¡°Huh? Guildmaster!?¡± It could be the blood loss but I might have misheard him. ¡°Yep, that''s me. Surprise?" Cade had a grin like a kid who was boasting about something. ¡°I don¡¯t really interact with the newbies much since becoming guildmaster, I¡¯m really busy with doing paperwork, so I don¡¯t interact much with the newbies. Since there was a direwolf, I wanted to stretch my legs for a bit. But I really found something more interesting and that is you Nyx.¡± Sensing where the conversation was going, I knew what he was going to say, so I¡¯ll just play dumb. ¡°Just who are you, a kid taking down a C rank monster on his own is just unheard of¡± ¡°I¡¯m just Nyx, nobody in particular¡± I didn''t want to reveal to Rain, who was next to me that I was a noble, so I said that instead. ¡°You''re really not going to say.¡± Cade gave up on asking with a shrug. ¡°Worth a try, in any case you should start healing your injuries¡± ¡°Ya, thanks for the potion¡± ¡°No need¡± I poured the low-grade healing potion on my left arm to feel some of the pain was going away. Then I drank the potion to find it tasted absolutely disgusting. Did it always taste this bad? Or did I not notice that it tasted this bad when I was fighting the direwolf. I knew it tasted bad when I first drank it but not to this extent. ¡°Bleuh¡± ¡°Pfft, hahaha! So you can make other faces¡± What¡¯s that supposed to mean, I thought as I tried not to spit out the potion as Cade was laughing ¡°You better get used to the taste because you''re going to have to use them a lot in the future and fair warning, the higher level ones taste even worse" ¡°You got to be kidding me¡± Cade continued laughing, while I was showing unconsciously a grimace on my face. After I finished drinking the potion, I tried to get up but fell down instead, my legs gave out from pushing myself too hard fighting the direwolf. ¡°ughh¡± Everything hurts, I¡¯m just starting to realize how much everything hurts right now. ¡°Don¡¯t push yourself Nyx¡± Rain helped me get back up by wrapping my right arm around her shoulders. ¡°You should go see the cleric, have her bandage you up. We had a small party separated from the group to help the injured by the road¡± Cade pointed in the direction toward the road, it wasn¡¯t hard to know where because the direwolf bulldozed through the forest, leaving a small trail. ¡°Okay, but are you not coming with us?¡± ¡°Afraid not, you know direwolves move in a pack, so there is probably more of them¡± He had that big grin like when I fought him in my E rank evaluation exam, excitement was all over his face. ¡°Have fun then¡± Rain and I walk back to the road, the trail of flatten foliage and knock down trees ¡°So Rain, how did you find me so fast?¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I was curious since I wasn¡¯t expecting help to come so fast, especially that I didn¡¯t see anyone with Rain, when she woke me. Rain proceeded to tell me after I convinced her to go with the adventurer that was running to get help. Rain ran as fast as she could back to town with the kid in record time. The kid, who was named Oliver, ran to inform the town guard while Rain informed the guild. Rain went directly to Emma and informed her about the direwolf and everything that she knows. Fortunately Cade was speaking with Emma, who I just found out was the guildmaster, and announced an emergency quest to the adventurers that were inside the building. While Emma would organize and coordinate with the guards and adventurers. Rain then led Cade and the other adventurers in the direction Oliver told us about. By the time they got there they saw Ned and the other adventurers who were in bad shape. So they left a party to tend to the wounded. Ned told them that I led away the direwolf into the forest, in which Rain immediately ran into the forest by herself, following the trail of trees and foliage that were knocked down. ¡°Why did you run off on your own, Rain?¡± Rain looked a bit startled and said. ¡°I was really worried that you were dead. You ran off and were fighting a direwolf on your own¡± Anyways, Rain found the dead direwolf and me laying motionless, covered in blood. ¡°So is that why you were shaking me awake¡± ¡°Sorry¡± Rain had a guilty look. Then Cade and the rest of the group catch up to Rain after checking up on Ned¡¯s party and everyone else. Our conversation finished as we reached the road and I saw people. Among them, one group of 5 partially stood out. I saw Ned and that kid who ran to get help who was crying who was named Oliver, in addition to 3 other adventurers. They were standing on the side of the road, next to Mark''s dead body that had a small white cloth draped on his head. All of them had expressions that I was too familiar with in my past life, ones that had lost somebody close to them. It¡¯s best if I give them some space for now in these types of situations. Rain helps me sit down next to a tree. ¡°Nyx?! What happened to your arm?¡± I saw some people I wasn¡¯t expecting to see, it was Alex. Is his party also here to help? Alex ran toward us, looking shocked. As Alex ran toward me, it got the attention of Maria, Wendy, Chelsie, and Lucia who were equally surprised when they saw me. It wasn¡¯t that bad, but I guess it might look worse than it already is, probably due to the blood covering me and my left arm that couldn¡¯t move. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m fine. Plus I¡¯d killed the Dire wolf¡± ¡°You did what!¡± ¡°I¡¯d killed the Dire wolf, a bit a struggle but it was fun¡± I¡¯d smile thinking about the fight with the DIre wolf, it was a struggle but I won. ¡°Huh? Why are you looking at me like that?¡± Alex immediately stopped his walking, he and Rain were looking at me strangely, looking terrified as if I was the direwolf itself. Even Wendy had that look, even though she was a bit away from us, her tail and ears were even tucked away. ¡°No, ummm, I¡¯m surprise yet not surprise that you took down a C rank monster on your own, that''s all¡± ¡°Oh, I see¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you¡± Lucia walked toward us and interrupted our conversation by saying she doesn¡¯t believe that I kill the Dire wolf. I guess she has a bone to pick with me for some reason, it¡¯s what I expected from a tsundere. ¡°I did, you want to test it?¡± My grin turned into an excited smile thinking I had another chance to fight her, who was a mage. My exhaustion and pain immediately went away, wondering how interesting it is to fight a mage. ¡°Wait Lucia, I think Nyx could really take out the direwolf and he is no condition to be fighting right now¡± That managed to calm Lucia, but I was disappointed that Alex stopped our fight and my excited smile on my face went back to normal. Alex sighs in relief, while Lucia pouted and said ¡°Okay fine¡± ¡°Maria, could you come help Nyx over here?" ¡°Okay, just let me finish for a sec¡± Speaking of Alex and everyone else, I thought they had the day off. ¡°Alex, I thought you were on a day off¡± ¡°Ya but fortunately we were in the guild at the time, so we came to help¡± Maria finished up the adventurer she was working on and came toward us and was shocked looking closer at my arm. ¡°It not that bad though¡± I reassure her that it was that bad. Maria had a trouble look as I said it. Compared to earlier, it stopped bending in places it wasn¡¯t supposed to. ¡°Can you move it?¡± ¡°Slightly¡± She examined me, then poured half a vial of healing potion on my arm and began bandaging my left arm. ¡°Your head injury seems to be healed but it looks like 2 of your ribs are crack and your arm is broken¡± After she was done, I asked if there was anything else. ¡°Yes, please don¡¯t push yourself too hard and here¡± Maria pulled out 3 unfamiliar yellow potions out of her bag. ¡°These are regeneration potions, they¡¯re a slow acting one but they can help heal your arm. Drink this and the other two once per day. Your arm should be fully healed in a few days¡± ¡°Got it¡± I drank the regeneration potion and surprisingly it didn¡¯t taste as bad as the healing potion I drank. I receive the potions and stand back up with the help of Rain, saying my thanks to Maria, Alex, and everyone else in Alex¡¯s party, and walk back to town with Rain¡¯s help When we got back to town, the air was different, with the guards on edge. It makes sense though, since there was a report of a direwolf attacking a party of adventurers and direwolves aren¡¯t usually alone, so there might be a pack of them out there. ¡°Hey Nyx, where do you want to go?¡± A lot of people were staring at me because I was covered in blood, so I should clean myself first. ¡°I guess lets go to the inn I¡¯m staying at, I want to get the blood off me first¡± After about 15 minutes of walking we reached the inn I was staying at, the clerk by the counter was surprised but didn¡¯t say anything when she saw me. Rain helped me up the stairs and into my room, I sat on the bed and took a deep breath from my exhaustion. ¡°Could you please fetch some water, the well is over there¡± I pointed out the window with my right arm since I still couldn¡¯t move my left arm. ¡°Okay¡± Rain left with a bucket in her hand. I watched her out the window, getting some water from the well. In the meantime I should take off my clothes that were stained in my own blood. I try taking off my shirt but it¡¯s really hard to do with a broken arm. ¡°Nyx, I''ve got the water¡­¡± Rain stared at me with a slight blush as I was trying to pull off my shirt. ¡°Oh that was fast¡± Seeing Norn fetch water quicker than I expected, I asked her if she could help me take off my clothes. ¡°huh!?¡± Her face went all red and she almost dropped the bucket of water. ¡°Y-you can¡¯t say something like that to someone¡± Rain placed the bucket of water in my room as fast as she could and slammed the door shut. Is she embarrassed about helping me take off my clothes? I don¡¯t get why she is embarrassed all of a sudden. When I was still a noble, the maids always helped me with my clothes, and were both girls after all. Maybe it¡¯s just a commoner thing that I¡¯m not aware of. After a couple of minutes, I finally managed to take off my shirt and then the rest of my clothes without much difficulty. I soak a rag in the bucket of water and wipe off all the dried blood. When I was done, I struggled a bit to put on a new set of clothes, then walked out of my room. ¡°Hey Rain, I¡¯m done cleaning myself¡± ¡°Your wearing clothes, right¡± She had her eyes shut for some reason. ¡°Ya, and why would I walk out naked¡± Rain sighs in relief but as she sighs her stomach starts to grumble. Her face turned all red again, this time in embarrassment. ¡°Want to grab something to eat? I¡¯m paying¡± ¡°Really?¡± We hadn''t really eaten our lunch and it was getting late in the afternoon, kinda close to dinner. ¡°It¡¯s the least that I can do for helping me¡± We went down stairs to the tavern and ordered some food. It seems that they have already switched the wooden boards from the lunch to the dinner menu. I ordered more than what I usually order because I was really hungry. Rain ordered the same because she didn''t know what to choose, so she ordered the same as me. ¡°I¡¯ll have a beef stew, vegetable soup, and roasted lamb.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ummmm¡­ have the same¡± I paid a large bronze coin for all the food, then we sat by a nearby table and chatted while we waited for the food. When the food arrived, it was spread out on the table. Rain and I began eating our food. I noticed when Rain was eating, she surprisingly had good table manners. ¡°What¡¯s wrong Nyx?¡± ¡°You have really good table manners¡± ¡°I could say the same¡± I thought I¡¯d change how I eat to make myself look more like a commoner, it looks like habits that were taught to me by my etiquette tutors were still sticking. Speaking of that, I had the sudden realization that Rain, her manners are really similar to what I was taught and from her being secretive about her family, there might be a possibility that she might be another runaway noble like me. I should stop that train of thought because it wasn¡¯t my place to get involved if she doesn¡¯t want me to. After finishing eating, Rain thanked me for the food and left to go back home. I went back to my room and went straight to bed after a fun and exhausting day. Chapter 18 Waking up, I heard somebody knocking on my door, then someone¡¯s voice. ¡°Hey Nyx, are you okay?¡± Recognizing the voice to be Rain¡¯s voice asking me if I was okay, I groan getting up. Everything hurts from pushing my body to its limits yesterday. I really didn¡¯t want to get out of bed but with much effort I got up. I¡¯m starting to regret my decision to fight the direwolf if it would be this hard to get up from my cozy bed. Yawning then rubbing my eyes, I wonder why she is here, knocking the door and what not. ¡°Ya ya, I¡¯m coming¡± Standing up, my body felt lethargic and sore all over. My left arm, compared to yesterday, was healing way faster than I expected but still in a condition where I couldn¡¯t use it. I sluggishly make my way to the door and open it. ¡°Hi there Rain, what brings you here¡± I saw Rain had a relieved expression seeing me. ¡°You didn¡¯t come to our meeting spot. I waited for a while but you didn¡¯t show up, I was worry something happen to you so I came to your room¡± I look back out at the window in my room to see the sun was high up in the sky, realizing that I slept in and it was noon already. ¡°Oh, sorry. I guess I slept in, sorry for making you worry¡± ¡°Thank goodness, and how are your injuries?" ¡°Fine I guess. Just give me a minute to me to get ready¡± I closed the door and took a while to change into new clothes, struggling since my left arm was still broken. When I was done, I felt like I had forgotten something. Oh right, I looked around my room to find where I left the 2 vials of potions Maria gave me. She told me to drink them once a day, in which my left arm and other injuries should be healed. I found them on a tiny table next to my bed, I uncorked one of them and drank it. After drinking the potion, I bought Rain and myself a sandwich for lunch since it was the afternoon and I was hungry. Then we went to the guild, eating our sandwiches on the way. I noticed that the air of the town was different. It wasn¡¯t as bustling as usual, there was this sense of unease and impatience in the air. When we entered the guild building, I saw that it was way more crowded than usual. A lot of adventurers were inside, they were either chatting, eating, or looking at the request board. I¡¯d ask the closest adventurer on what was going on. ¡°You haven¡¯t heard? A direwolf attacked a party yesterday, so the guild put out a temporary travel ban, in and out of town¡± I see, no wonder the town feels a bit different today. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± The guy rubbed his chin and said. ¡°I heard rumors that a newbie managed to take it down. If it¡¯s true, then I wonder who they are?¡± ¡°Who they are" ¡°Ya, it''s a shame that the guild is hiding their identity, I really wanted to invite them into my party" So then, I guess I owe Emma for that. I thanked the guy and waited in line for Emma¡¯s booth with Rain. ¡°People are talking about you¡± Rain whispers into my ear and I whisper back. ¡°Thankfully the guild didn¡¯t announce who killed the dire wolf¡± ¡°You really don¡¯t want people to know?¡± ¡°Yes, got my reasons¡± ¡°Oh, right¡± After 10 minutes of waiting in line, it was our turn but Emma wasn¡¯t in her booth today. I saw a dark brown-haired woman with glasses, who looked to be in her early 20s, in Emma¡¯s booth. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Mai, how may I help you?¡± ¡°Hi, is Emma here today?¡± ¡°Yes but unfortunately she is unavailable right now. May I ask for your name, I could write a message for you to give to her¡± ¡°My name is Nyx¡± After I gave her my name, she stared at us for a bit and spoke in realization. ¡°Oh, you must be Nyx, Emma asked me to send you to her if you come by today.¡± Emma must have informed Mai about me for some reason. ¡°Okay, which room is it¡± ¡°The top floor, at the end of the hallway¡± We follow her directions to where the guild master office should be. When we entered the office, we saw Emma was laying her face flat on a giant desk that had large piles of documents stacked on it, while clutching a feather pen in her right hand. Is she okay? ¡°Emma¡± Rain ran toward Emma when she didn¡¯t respond to Rain¡¯s call. Checking if she was okay, Emma immediately woke up and looked at her surroundings. ¡°Oh, Rain, Nyx, it''s you." ¡°Are you okay?" ¡°uggghhh¡­ no, Nyx. There¡¯s so much paperwork, I stayed up all night trying to complete it. Sorry Rain, I couldn¡¯t come home yesterday¡± She looks like a mess, I could see her hair is all disheveled and there¡¯s heavy bags under her eyes. That dead expression looked very familiar. It was one that my commander always made in my past life. Whenever he had stacks of paperwork and reports to do, he always made that expression. He looked especially dead whenever we came back after completing a mission. Anyways, why is Emma in the guild masters office? ¡°Isn¡¯t Cade supposed to be here?¡± ¡°Yes, usually Cade does most of the paper work, in addition to mine since I usually dump most of it onto him¡± ¡°What?¡± She dumps most of her paperwork onto him? I ask her to clarify. ¡°I just really hate paperwork so I dump it onto him¡± I kinda felt bad for Cade, that was a surprise but no wonder he says he was always cooped up in his office. Also, isn¡¯t Cade supposed to be her boss? That is really scary when you think about it, I wouldn¡¯t have even thought of doing that with my commander. ¡°Right now he is looking for the direwolf pack. He has already found tracks, so it won¡¯t take too long for him to deal with them¡± I wonder if I could join in the fight but I doubt my arm will heal by the time. That¡¯s a real shame, if it weren''t for my left arm being injured, I would have loved to join in the action. One direwolf was already fun enough but I wonder if a whole pack would be even more fun. For some reason I noticed that Rain was shuddering for some reason. Unbeknownst to me, Rain was having goosebumps, sensing that the edges of my lip was about to curl into a grin from thinking about fighting a pack of direwolves, but was stopped when Emma asked me a question. ¡°So what brings you up here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but the receptionist downstairs told us to come to you¡± ¡°Oh right, I''d forgotten about that." Emma pulled out two small pouches out of a drawer on her right and gave them to us. ¡°This is the reward money for yesterday¡± ¡°Reward money? But I wasn¡¯t part of the quest¡± ¡°You¡¯ve saved the lives of those adventurers and prevented the situation from getting worse, anyone who helps gets the reward money¡± Receiving the pouch, I opened it and counted 15 large bronze coins inside. ¡°Huh, that is a lot¡± ¡°Well ya, it was an emergency quest. And by the way, could you give me your Adventurer card for a second¡± I gave her my adventurer card, and Emma pulled something out from another drawer on the left side of the desk. I recognize that it was the same device when Emma rank up my Adventurer¡¯s rank to a E rank ¡°Since you killed the direwolf on your own, you can rank up to D rank¡± When she said I could skip a rank, I was really surprised by what she said. Normally the only way you could skip a rank is if you have the recommendations of multiple high level adventurers, then go through an examination test. It was only used for convenience for people who have the skills to be at that rank so they don¡¯t have to grind their way up. ¡°You can skip a rank since you already prove that you have the skills and ability to do so. Please don¡¯t mention this to other people, you can guess why we don¡¯t¡± Stolen novel; please report. I see why, there are always going to be people who are going to overestimate their ability and they end up getting themselves killed. Emma put my card on the device like last time, for it to turn into an iron color. Then she handed it back to me. I look at my card to see it glowed and show that I¡¯m now a D rank now. ¡°Is there anything you want me to do?¡± ¡°Ya¡± The reason I came to the adventurers guild today was because Cade told me he would help transport the direwolf I''d killed, so I wanted to ask Emma for further information. ¡°I was wondering if where the direwolf I¡¯d kill was, Cade told me he would help move it¡± ¡°Oh that, it''s in the storage room in the basement. What do you want to do with it¡± ¡°Can I see it? I haven¡¯t figured out what I am going to do with it yet¡± ¡°That''s fine by me. Any excuse to not do anymore paperwork¡± Emma took some time to straighten out her hair and lead us downstairs to the basement, where we encountered Mable carrying some books back to the library. ¡°Hello Emma, Nyx, and you are?¡± ¡°Oh hi, I¡¯m Rain¡± ¡°Hello Rain, I¡¯m Mable, the librarian¡± Mable then turned and faced me. ¡°Is he one of your party members?¡± ¡°Ya¡± ¡°And what happened to your arm?¡± ¡°Injured in a fight but you don¡¯t have to worry about it¡± We chatted for a bit on what I was doing the last few days. ¡°I see, I hope you recover fast. Also, are you going to come visit the library today?¡± ¡°Probably tomorrow, sorry but I¡¯m a bit busy today¡± I¡¯m planning to go to Kinwall¡¯s shop today because my fight with the direwolf left my sword in a bad shape and I used up all my throwing knives and spikes. ¡°Okay then, see you tomorrow¡± I said goodbye and Mable continued walking to the library, carrying her books in her arms. We continue walking, eventually reaching the storage room. Emma took out a key and opened the door. When she opened the door, I felt a breeze of cold air coming out of the room. ¡°The direwolf should be over here¡± Rain commented how it¡¯s really cold in the storage room. ¡°It¡¯s thanks to the magical device over there that makes giant amount of ice¡± Emma pointed to a raised platform that was a square shape box thing with magical circles carved on it. I look at the magical device, it looks very similar to the one my family uses to refrigerate things in my family''s mansion. ¡°The direwolf should be in these boxes¡± Emma began opening some of the boxes to show me. ¡°We already process it for you, don''t worry about the fees, Cade said to wave them off as thanks¡± ¡°I see¡± Looking into the wooden boxes, I saw that they separated all the parts of the direwolf into different boxes. ¡°How much will I get for selling it all?¡± Emma thought for a moment and said about 8 silver coins. ¡°And what can they be used for?" ¡°The fur is relatively intact, so it can be made into clothing, the fangs can be made into weapons, the bones are sold off to the alchemists, and the meat will be sold off to be eaten¡± I didn''t think the fur would be this intact from all the cuts I¡¯d made, but it looks like it''s in decent shape. ¡°Could you have the worker cut a third of the fur for me, I¡¯m planning to have someone make a cloak out of it¡± I need a new cloak since my old one was gone due to fighting the direwolf. Plus from first hand experience, the fur is really tough. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem, we¡¯ll have the people in the dismantling room cut it for you. However it will drop the price to 6 silver¡± ¡°That should be fine¡± ¡°Okay then, and just wondering, where are you going to have your cloak made?" ¡°Hutch¡¯s Clothing store¡± Emma sleepy eyes, shot right open when I mentioned Hutch¡¯s store ¡°How do you know that store¡± Wait, how does she also know about that store? Is she like another crossdresser? That can¡¯t be right, can it or maybe? I better feign ignorance so I don¡¯t seem too suspicious. ¡°Somebody recommended that place to me. Is there anything wrong with that store?¡± ¡°No, umm¡­ forget what I said¡± Emma dropped the subject fast and proceeded to carry the wooden box, that had the direwolf fur in it for me since I couldn¡¯t, to the dismantling room. She asked the workers who didn¡¯t look too busy to cut the direwolf fur, they said yes and immediately started cutting up the direwolf fur Emma handled. We waited around 30 minutes for them to quickly cut the fur. I was surprised at how easily they manage to cut through the fur, since I could barely pierce through that thing. They packaged the part of the fur in some paper packaging and handed it over to me. ¡°Oh ya, Emma, I was wondering when the travel ban is going to be lifted?¡± I remember the adventurer that I asked early said that there was a travel ban right now. I wonder how long, since I just got up to D rank, I can now enter into an escort quest to Acton. Emma responded in a very dead tone and expression, like me asking her how long it was, reminded her of something. She took a deep sigh and said. ¡°About 3 days¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be off then¡± We left the adventurers guild, after Emma gave me money from selling the rest of the direwolf material, to go directly to Hutch¡¯s Clothing store. Entering his store, Hutch greeted us with the same enthusiasm like the previous times I went here. ¡°Oh my, why isn''t it Rain and Nyx. I¡¯d didn¡¯t think you two know each other¡± ¡°Hi Hutch¡± Rain greeted Hutch with a sense of familiarity. ¡°Hello as well¡± ¡°And what do you have there?¡± Hutch was looking curiously at the direwolf fur I was holding with my right arm that was wrapped in packaging paper. ¡°It''s direwolf fur¡± ¡°Ah, so you''re the adventurer that killed the direwolf from the rumors¡± So Hutch even knows the rumors spreading around, he is still as sharp as ever. ¡°What do you want me to make out of it?¡± Sensing his eagerness to hear what I was going to ask him to make, I told him what I wanted him to make. ¡°Can you make me a cloak out of the direwolf fur¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem¡± ¡°And how much?¡± ¡°2 bronze but I¡¯ll knock it down to 1 if you let me have the leftover material¡± ¡°That should be fine¡± I handed over the direwolf fur and paid 1 bronze coin, with Hutch having a big bright smile. ¡°Your cloak should be ready for pick up in 2 days. Is there anything else you want and you two Rain?¡± ¡°No, not right now. I just need a new cloak¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I need anything either¡± We exited from Hutch¡¯s shop, next I led the way to Kinwall''s shop, which was in the back alley. ¡°Umm¡­ Nyx, where are we going?¡± Rain looked a bit unease when I suddenly made a right turn into a sketchy looking back alley. ¡°To Kinwall¡¯s shop over there, he is where I go to buy my weapons¡± I pointed to a rundown looking shop that has a wooden sign with 2 hammers on it. ¡°In a place like that?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, you got nothing to worry about¡± I opened the door, for her to reluctantly come in with me ¡°Oh, we have a new face. Nyx, you know him?¡± I should have expected it but Rain jumped in surprise and hid behind me from Kinwall''s loud voice. ¡°Ya, he¡¯s a friend and we¡¯re party members¡± ¡°He is a shy one isn¡¯t he¡± ¡°You could say that¡± ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Kinwall¡± ¡°H-hello, I¡¯m Rain¡­¡± When Rain pokes out her head from my back to introduce herself, she stares in shock like she is seeing a mythical creature. ¡°You''re surprised Kinwall is a dwarf?¡± Rain nodded yes Kinwall huffs and says Rain was a strange fellow, then asks what I needed. I went to the counter and took out my beat up sword to show to him. ¡°Sorry but it was really damage from a fight yesterday with a really strong monster¡± ¡°Oh I see¡± ¡°Are you not going to say anything¡± I kinda expected Kinwall, who is a dwarf, to get angry after seeing their weapons in a condition like this. Kinwall shrugged his shoulders and said ¡°You see¡­ how do I put this, most of my clients has a screw-¡± ¡°Tch. Hey don¡¯t you¡­¡± I don¡¯t know what came over me but I instinctively shouted back, interrupting what Kinwall was going to say but I stopped myself. For some reason those words made me think that he really was going to compare me to those weirdos in my past life who have some sort of screw loose. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s a force of habit¡± ¡°Umm¡­ okay then¡± Kinwall proceeded to tell us about his other clients. ¡°You actually brought back the weapon compared to most of my other clients¡± Wait, does that mean his other clients like that blonde guy I saw the other day have one or two screws loose like other named pilots in my past life? I think I should get away as fast as possible if I see him. ¡°But looking at it, it seems that it is too damaged to be fix¡± Well that''s a shame, looks like I¡¯m going to have to get a new sword then. I can splurge on a new sword right now with the money I got from selling the direwolf material and the reward money from the emergency quest. ¡°Okay then, I¡¯ll just buy another sword¡± ¡°Ya, go look at anything you like. Also if you want, I could remake it into a short sword for you since not all of it is unfixable¡± Thinking about it, having a backup weapon seems like a good idea. ¡°I would like that¡± ¡°Alright then¡± ¡°Come on Rain, let''s look around the shop¡± We looked around the shop to see which sword I liked, with Rain helping since I couldn¡¯t use my left arm. As I was comparing one sword at a time to see which I like the best, Rain spoke up. ¡°Umm¡­ Nyx, isn¡¯t this place a bit expensive?¡± ¡°Expensive? Aren¡¯t swords normally expensive¡± ¡°No, a sword shouldn¡¯t cost this much, normally it large bronze at most¡± Well that is strange, before I thought I got scammed, Kinwalled spoke up as he was behind the counter in response. ¡°Because I added mithril in them¡± ¡°Mythril!?¡± Rain shouted out in surprise. I too was surprised when he said he put mithril in them, but didn¡¯t really show it on my face. ¡°Yep, I just threw in any leftover mythril from my other projects¡± From my game knowledge isn''t mithril extremely expensive? To throw it into them would seem to be a waste. ¡°They were just laying there, so why not. Anyway you see anything you like¡± ¡°Ya¡± I found a sword I like, it was a relatively plain looking sword that was a bit big for me to use but it shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem. ¡°This one¡± I went to the counter and showed the sword I wanted to buy. ¡°Just wondering but how much mithril did you put in this sword¡± ¡°If I remember correctly, about a 1/16 of it is made with Mythril¡± ¡°And how much did you put in the sword I use previously¡± ¡°Not much, about a third or quarter the amount in that sword¡± So then, this sword should be way more durable and sharper than the one I had previously. ¡°Is there anything else you want?" ¡°I want to buy new set of throwing spikes and knives, I used them up in a fight and I need more¡± ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem, how many do you want?¡± ¡°Same as last time¡± ¡°If that is all, then it will be 4 silver and 2 large bronze, it all will be ready in 2 days" I paid for everything and left Kinwall''s shop, holding my new sword like I had gotten a new toy, eager to try it out. ¡°Hey Rain, do you want to go to the training area? I really want to try out my new sword¡± Rain took several steps back away from me with that same look like whenever I ask Alex to spar with me, with her eyes almost about to cry like she was about to experience another traumatizing event in her life. ¡°Gulp. No-no thanks, I¡¯m good¡± ¡°That''s a shame then¡± We instead went back to my inn, I bought us both dinner and said goodbye to Rain after we were done eating. Chapter 19 In the morning I woke up, this time not sleeping in, and went to the guild after eating some breakfast to meet up with Rain. So far I could move my arm without much difficulty, give it a day or two for my arm to be back to normal. ¡°So Nyx, are you really leaving for Acton tomorrow?¡± Rain asks if I am really planning to go, looking sad saying it. ¡°Ya¡± Thinking of a way to cheer her up, I thought of something. ¡°I¡¯ll just write you some letters if you want¡± I remember from reading a book about the Adventurers guild that it also doubles as a postal service since they already have a network of outposts in every town. ¡°You really are?¡± ¡°Yes¡± That managed to get Rain¡¯s spirit up for a bit. Right now we were walking to Hutch¡¯s shop to pick up my new cloak and then Kinwall¡¯s shop for my new weapons. Entering Hutch''s shop, he greets us with the same enthusiasm as usual. ¡°Hi Hutch, is my cloak ready?¡± ¡°Yes, I hope you like it¡± Hutch pulled out my cloak under the counter, excited to show it to me. I pick it up and examine it. It has a gray color like my old one, but was more whitish in color in comparison, and the underlining also matches the gray color. Putting it on, surprisingly it was soft and comfy to wear. ¡°It feel really nice¡± ¡°Good¡± Hutch gave us an enthusiastic goodbye when we left his shop to Kinwall''s shop to pick up my short sword and throwing knives and spikes. As we were walking, I saw Alex and his party down the street. It¡¯s not hard to notice them, with them being a loud bunch. There are people, men and women alike, who are looking at one individual with either anger, jealousy, or with some unfortunate cases, affection. They all greeted us, except for Lucia since she is what you called a real life tsundere, she just huffed and turned her head away, ignoring me like I wasn¡¯t even here. ¡°Oh it¡¯s Nyx and Rain, how are you two?¡± I told Alex that I was fine then I looked at Rain, who said she was also fine. Thankfully from looking at her expression and general reaction, she doesn¡¯t look to be sway from Alex¡¯s mysterious main protagonist powers. Maria asked how my arm was, I told her. ¡°It¡¯s healing, I could move it slightly¡± ¡°I see¡± Then I gave my left arm for Maria to examine. She looked over and said. ¡°Your arm is healing up nicely. Be careful, even though it will completely heal by tomorrow, it will take a couple of days to get back all of your motor function in your left arm¡± ¡°Good to know, and thanks for the regeneration potions¡± ¡°It''s fine, glad I could help. Also by the way, we heard you are going to Acton.¡± ¡°Yes I am, I¡¯m leaving tomorrow¡± ¡°Well, see you in Acton when I finally rank up to E rank¡± ¡°Good luck on that¡± I see, they are also going to Acton. Makes sense since that is where most beginner adventurers in this town, who gain some experience, go to continue ranking up their ranks, due to it having a dungeon. ¡°And see you all around¡± Rain and I continued on our way to Kinwall''s shop. Once we enter the shop I ask Kinwall if my orders are ready. He said to give him a second and went in the back, then came out carrying some things in his arms. ¡°Here is your shortsword and your throwing knives and spikes¡± He placed them on the counter and showed them to me. The throwing knives and spikes are the same as the ones I ordered last time. I store them in the holsters, this time I¡¯ll make sure I won''t lose them. Then I held the shortsword in my hands, the length of the blade and handle was shortened from its original size but overall it was a good sword. I tie the shortsword to my belt, next to my new sword. Saying thanks to Kinwall, we went to the guild. I looked at the quest board to find a specific quest I wanted. It is an escort job to escort a group of merchant wagons to Acton that was leaving tomorrow, which was my way of getting to Acton. Since the adventurers guild issued a travel ban, it prevented people from leaving town. The merchants and their wagons haven¡¯t left yet, which was good for me since I wouldn''t have had to wait another month for another caravan that goes to Acton. When I went to Emma and showed her the quest I¡¯m taking, she asked if I¡¯m really leaving. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s going to be a lot more opportunities in Acton than in Farsburrow¡± ¡°I see and by the way, when you go the guild and say hi to Iris or Vic for me if encounter them¡± ¡°Are they your friends?¡± ¡°Yes, they will help you out if you say you know me. Iris is a guild receptionist like me, she helped me a lot when I was still an adventurer. And Vic is the guild¡¯s doctor and was an old party member before we disbanded, he can sell you some potions at a good price¡± ¡°I¡¯ll say hi, if I meet them¡± I keep that in mind since it¡¯s good to make some acquaintances when I go to Acton. ¡°By the way, I was wondering where Cade is right now. I want to thank him for all the help¡± ¡°He is at his office but with the amount of paperwork he has to do due to the dire wolf pack, he is more busy than usual right now. Plus I gave him even more paperwork as punishment for making me do paperwork¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Now I felt bad for Cade with the amount of paperwork he had to do. If the amount of paperwork I saw Emma did when I entered into the guildmaster office, I wonder how much paperwork he is doing right now. I was also a bit in awe from Emma nonchalantly saying she was punishing Cade, despite him being her boss. After Emma finished entering me into the escort quest, Rain and I went downstairs to the small library. For the last 2 days we were staying inside the library, reading along silently with Mable. I had Rain reading a book about monsters right now. So far this is her second book, she is a slow reader. The first book I had Rain read was about the Adventurers guild. As for me, I am reading books about magic circles for beginners. Yesterday I finished reading a book about a general overview of how magic works. So far, I have learned that a magic circle is basically like a circuit in my past life. However that is generally not enough since it would require the addition of this world''s version of Runes, which was like code, for them to actually work. With the certain combinations of Runes, you can make that magical tool to get what you want. Additionally, runes are an imitation to the engravings found in artifacts, which were made by a lost magical civilization who we don¡¯t really know a lot about. The type of magic circles affects the output, shape, and overall end product, like how powerful you want them to be or if you want the spell to be a wide range or single target spell. Runes affect what you want out of the magic tool like the combinations of Runes to make a wand that cast ice spells or healing spells. When I finished reading the book, about an hour and half before closing time for the guild, I said goodbye to Mable and told her that I am leaving early to prepare to travel to Acton. ¡°So your leaving tomorrow then¡± ¡°Ya¡± ¡°Okay then" Looking at her slight facial expression, I could see that she is a bit sad. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you still got Rain as company and I told her that I would be writing letters whenever I have the opportunity" Then I turned to Rain and spoke to her. ¡°Also Rain, remember to read through the list of books I gave you¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Do I have to?¡± Rain pouted in displeasure when I reminded her to read through the list of books I made for her. ¡°Ya, I¡¯m not going to be here, so you better start reading¡± For the last few days, I noticed that she really dislikes reading but it¡¯s better that I have her do so instead. I exited the guild and went back to my inn, earlier than usual and leaving Rain to continue reading her books with Mable. I was planning on buying some supplies for tomorrow''s escort on the way back, it was almost sunset and all the stores were still open. For my escort quest, Emma gave me and anyone else a copy of the quest. It would take about 5 days of travel to get to Acton, so we are going to pass by 2 towns on the way there. Each town is roughly 2 days of travel from each other. I should get at least 3 days worth of rations and replenish my supplies at each town. Going to a nearby general shop that sells supplies, I bought some dried meat, dry fruits, and this time I paid extra for crackers instead of having to eat travelers bread. In total I bought them for 8 coppers with a 20% adventurers discount. Doing some math, the cost of supplies when I get to each town in total is 1 bronze. Additionally I¡¯ll have to pay for my own inn, which if I remember correctly from reading a book is 25 coppers a night or 5 bronze in total for the trip. The total cost is 6 bronze, 8 if I add 2 extra bronze coins for some other miscellaneous things. I am being paid 2 large bronze coins for the escort quest, so I¡¯m making 2 bronze in profit from my escort job. I went back to my inn, carrying all of my provisions for tomorrow. I immediately began packing all of my belongings into my backpack when I got into my room. First I pack my clothes inside, then my miscellaneous things like a map or my pouch that has my jewelry, and finally my rations that I bought today. After I was done packing, I went to bed early to make sure I wouldn¡¯t be late at the meet up spot, at the north gate in the afternoon. The next day I woke up earlier than usual, I checked out of the inn and gave back the keys to the old lady behind the desk. I got a few hours till the caravan departed, which was at noon, so I went to the guild to meet up with Rain to say my final goodbyes to her, Emma, Alex and his party if they are there, and Cade if he isn¡¯t doing any paperwork. When I went to the guild and saw Rain waiting for me outside as usual. ¡°Hi Rain¡± ¡°Hi, so you¡¯re leaving to day¡± ¡°Ya, I still got a few hours before I¡¯m going, I came to say goodbye¡± Going inside, I went to Emma¡¯s counter to say goodbye. ¡°Hello there, Nyx¡± ¡°Hi Emma. I came to say goodbye, is Cade still busy?" ¡°Ya, I¡±ll tell him you say goodbye to him" ¡°Alright then¡± After saying goodbye to Emma, I went downstairs with Rain to the library. ¡°You know what your assignments are, right?¡± ¡°Continue reading through the list of books you¡¯ve gave me¡± Rain opened the door to the library with a look that she didn¡¯t want to read anymore. ¡°Hi Mable, I came here to say goodbye.¡± ¡°Okay, have a safe journey¡± ¡°Have a safe journey as well¡± ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll be off" I left the adventurers guild after saying goodbye to Rain, Mable, and Emma. I still have about 2 hours left till I have to meet up with the merchant caravan. I should tell Kinwall and Hutch that I¡¯m leaving too. Since Hutch was closer, I went to him first. ¡°Ah greetings Nyx¡± ¡°Hi there¡± Hutch has that same energy as usual. ¡°I can here to tell you that I¡¯m leaving to Acton today¡± Surprised when I said I was leaving, he said to wait here for a second, he went in the back and came out with something. Then gave me a glass bottle that had a black viscous liquid in it and told me it was a parting gift. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a hair dye, much better than what your currently using¡± I wasn¡¯t really surprised that he noticed that I dyed my hair. You couldn''t really call it a hair dye since it just masks my true hair color instead of dying it. ¡°I dabble in alchemy as a hobby and I accidentally made it¡± ¡°Thanks but why are you giving it to me?¡± ¡°Let''s just say it¡¯s a parting gift. Plus this is the first production run, so why not let you have it?¡± ¡°Oh I see, how do I use it?¡± ¡°Good question¡± Hutch had an eager expression like he was just waiting for me to ask. ¡°You first have to wash your hair with water, preferably in some flowing water because it will be messy. Then you rub it on your hair, wait for around 10 to 15 minutes, and rinse off any excess. You don¡¯t have to worry about dyeing your skin because it only works on your hair¡± Holding the glass bottle, this seems really useful. I better find a secluded lake or stream if I¡¯m going to use it when I reach Acton. ¡°Thanks again¡± ¡°No problem¡± I put the hair dye in my backpack and went to Kinwall''s shop next. When I was close to his shop, I heard somebody yelling at the top of their lungs. ¡°How dare you, somebody of low birth, refuse my order? I even made the ordeal to come to here to grace you with my presence" ¡°Again, I respectfully decline your commission for a sword¡± Kinwall was calm, like he had to deal with these situations a lot, but I could see from his expression, he wanted this to end. I should help him. Putting on my hood to hide my face just in case he recognizes me, I opened the door to Kinwall¡¯s shop to see a guy, looking all self-entitled like he was looking down at everyone, shouting at Kinwall. I¡¯m guessing from his clothes, he is a noble. ¡°Excuse me" The guy turned around with a scowl. ¡°What do you want, brat!¡± ¡°I kindly ask you to stop, your troubling one of my acquaintances Hearing me, his self-entitled face turned all red in anger. ¡°You dare talk to me, my family is a viscount family. For a mere commoner to talk back, I¡¯ll have your head¡± So he¡¯s from a viscount family. It narrows down the list of families I had memorized when I used to be a noble, to one family in particular. If I remember correctly, he is the eldest son of the Palning family, Yulis Palning. Seeing me quiet when I was trying to figure out which family he is from. He smirked thinking that I was shaking in my boots, which I presume was what was going inside his head with how these types of nobles are, and immediately began berating me. ¡°You should bow your head to the ground and grovel before me brat, just maybe I¡¯ll let this go¡± His ranting continued but I didn¡¯t care to listen and scoffed at his demands. ¡°Such insolence¡± Expecting me to grovel in front of him, he was surprised when I talked back, causing his face to get even redder in anger but turn confused when I spoke the following. ¡°For a mere eldest son of a viscount, why should I?¡± I switched to how I used to talk when I was a noble. Then I began staring at the guy with cold eyes, like I was looking down at him. It gave me an aura that I was also a noble and not just any noble but a high ranking one, that was superior to his own. He was taken aback for a bit, realizing that I¡¯m not just some ordinary commoner. Seeing that I was wearing a cloak with my hood on to hide my identity, coming to this shop that looked run down, how I changed my speech pattern to that of a noble, and the aura of nobility surrounding me. The gears in his empty head must have been turning. ¡°Be grateful that I came here in private or else if this was in any official setting, this insolence will not be tolerated and I¡¯ll have your entire family fall into ruin¡± I confirm the thoughts in his head and his smirk faltered, with his face instantly turning white in realization that he was talking down to somebody who was above him. ¡°I-I apologize for my rudeness¡± ¡°Good, now leave my sight¡± He bowed his head, looking meek, and hurriedly left the store. I looked at Kinwall after seeing me deal with that idiot. It looks like Kinwall couldn¡¯t hold it in and began to laugh loudly from seeing the show. ¡°Ahahahah! That was an amazing sight, the look on his face. Thank you for helping me there¡± ¡°Sorry about that, having to see a noble flouting their authority¡± ¡°No problem, not the first time it happens. So what bring you here today¡± ¡°I came here to tell you that I am leaving to Acton today¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s good to know because I also maybe moving¡± So then, from that guy, I guess even more nobles are going to find him soon so he is going to have to move again. ¡°I¡¯ll write you a letter whenever I find a new place to move¡± ¡°I see, that is unfortunate. I¡¯ll be going now.¡± ¡°Safe travels then¡± Leaving Kinwall''s shop, I went to the north gate. When I got to the north gate, I saw a caravan of 5 wagons waiting in a line. I approached one of the merchants who was looking over a list by one of the wagons. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here for the escort quest¡± I showed him the quest paper to show that I was taking part. ¡°Greetings, you¡¯ve arrived early. There are others who also arrive early over there¡± The merchant pointed to the front of the caravan. I went where he pointed to see somebody I wasn¡¯t expecting to see. It was Ned and what seemed to be his party. It was surprising that they are here after one of their party members had died and are now taking an escort job after a few days. I kinda expected them to take at least a week to even think about starting another quest but it looks like they''re stronger than I thought. Ned was also surprised when he noticed me. ¡°Hi there¡± ¡°Hello as well. How are you and everyone else?" ¡°We¡¯re all fine, but I was meaning to tell you this. Sorry for not being able to thank you for saving our lives¡± Ned bow his head in thanks, looking apologetic as he does so. ¡°You don¡¯t need to¡± After Ned was done thanking me, he proceeded to introduce me to his party. It was a party of 5, with the youngest being the boy who ran to get help, named Oliver. Then there was Keith who was a swordsman like Ned and Carl was a tank, carrying a shield on his back. Finally the last person was Mark, who is a rogue and the person in charge of most of the logistics. They all thanked me individually for saving them. After that we proceeded to wait for the other adventurers. About an hour later, everyone showed up. There were a total of 10 adventurers taking this escort quest. Ned took charge, then suggested to everyone to make a plan. Everyone decided to split up into pairs for each wagon, with each one being paired up with somebody they know. For me, I was placed in the last wagon with Oliver. Once the caravan started moving and was outside the gate, I looked back at the town that was getting smaller as we were moving away. ¡°Ummm¡­ I want to thank you again, for saving my party¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t a problem¡± Oliver looked a bit depressed and I heard him whisper to himself. ¡°If only I was stronger, then¡­¡± Hearing him, I get what he was feeling, wishing that you could have done something differently. Back during the war in my past life, I had lost a lot of people that I know. I stopped what he was going to say. ¡°There is no point in thinking that way¡± I gave Oliver a look that I knew exactly what he was going through. ¡°Your right¡± Seeing my eyes, Oliver understood what I said. ¡°Ya, I¡¯ll definitely get stronger¡± After seeing his determined eyes, I went back to staring out the wagon, seeing that Farsborrow was out of my sight and now we were passing through a forest. Chapter 20 Nothing of note happened as I was staring out the back of the wagon. We didn¡¯t encounter any monsters, so I got really bored after a while. When the sun was about to set, we reached our first stop. It was a campsite off the side of the road. We set up camp, made a fire, and ate dinner. I ate some crackers and dried meat, happy that I didn¡¯t have to break a tooth eating any traveler''s bread like the other adventurers I was looking at. After we were done eating, I and half of the adventurers were scheduled to be on night watch. The other half followed the merchants to the wagons to go to sleep, so we could change shifts in the middle. Tending to the campfire to pass the time, I occasionally stared up at the night sky. It was really quiet with the exception of the wind and insects, I had the opportunity to appreciate the starry night sky. Come to think of it, I never actually noticed how beautiful it was when I saw them. Even though there was no light pollution in this world, I never really took the opportunity to look at them. ¡°Hey Nyx. Hraaaaaaah¡± Yawning, Ned had woken up and walked up to me from the wagon. ¡°It''s time to change shifts. Go wake up Oliver and go to sleep¡± ¡°Got it¡± I headed into the wagon I was guarding, woke up Oliver and told him that it was his turn to do night watch. After seeing Oliver grogaly get off the wagon, I wrapped myself with my cloak like a blanket to keep me warm and drifted off to sleep. When it was morning, Ned woke me up and my body was all stiff from sleeping on a wagon. I¡¯m really not going to get used to sleeping outside without a bed. We had a short breakfast because the merchants wanted to depart early. Today we were traveling to a neighboring town next to Farsbarow, which was one of the pit stops on our way to Acton. Same as yesterday, nothing of note happened and I got really bored till we reached the town just after the sun set. ¡°Want to get something to eat with us?¡± We had just checked into an inn and Ned asked if I wanted to come eat with his party. I said I was fine by it and Ned led me and the rest of the party to a tavern close by. We entered a tavern and sat at an empty table. I saw that some of the merchants and other adventurers were already eating. A server approached us to tell us what they have for tonight. Thinking of what to get, I got roasted boar, bread, and soup. ¡°You''re not going to get something to drink?¡± Carl asks why I didn¡¯t get some ale. I replied back that I did not like alcohol in general. Even in my past life, I never really get why people even drink alcohol in the first place, it honestly tastes really nasty and bitter to me. ¡°That''s a real shame¡± Then he asks. ¡°What are you going to do tomorrow? We got a bit of time tomorrow till we depart¡± Since we arrive here at night, the merchants are going to do some trading with the townspeople in the morning, so we got about 2 hours of free time. ¡°Replenish my supplies then explore the town" ¡°Any place in particular¡± Keith spoke up after sipping on his ale. ¡°Maybe check out the adventurer guild outpost in this town¡± We continue chatting, whenever they ask about where I came from, I just tell them a premade lie I made up or change the conversation. I got to learn why they all became adventurers. Apparently they come from the same village, being the second or third son of their family they wouldn¡¯t inherit the family business or farm. It was that reason they knew each other and why they all wanted to become an adventurer. Luckily enough, there was a former adventurer that lived in the village and was willing to teach them when they asked. It honestly explains a lot on how they manage to fight off the direwolf for a while and manage to bounce back after one of their party members has died. The person who taught them must be a really experienced adventurer if they taught them this well. When I finished eating, I told them I was going to bed early because I was tired. Ned and everyone else said okay and continued drinking. Waking up the next morning, I got something to eat, then went to a general store to replenish my supplies. After that, I headed to the adventurer guild outpost, making some detours on the way if I saw anything interesting. Overall, the town was way smaller than Acton, so it had this home town feel to it compared to Farsborrow which kinda felt like a city. Seeing the adventurers guild sign, the first thing I noticed was that the building was way smaller than in Farsbarow, the same size as the stores next to it. Going in, I saw that the interior was minimalistic, only having a reception counter, quest board, and some chairs and tables. Additionally there was only one receptionist at the counter and it does seem like she is the only one here. ¡°How may I help you?¡± The receptionist spoke up after seeing me looking around. ¡°Ummm¡­ nothing, I¡¯m on an escort quest and I have some time before I depart, so I¡¯m just looking around town. I wanted to check out the outpost here but are all of them like this?¡± ¡°Yes, most outposts are usually like this because there isn¡¯t a need for an outpost as big as the one in Farsbarow and it¡¯s one of the rare exceptions" If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. After I was done looking around inside, I went to the meeting point since there wasn¡¯t anything I found interesting. I waited and watched the merchants trading with the townspeople until it was time to depart. When everyone showed up, I went with Oliver to our wagon and stared out the back of the wagon again like yesterday. For today¡¯s destination, it was another campsite that is next to the river. We reached the campsite when the sun was about to set. After we made camp and ate dinner, like last time, half of us were on night watch and when we were done, we woke up the other half and changed shifts. The next day, we took the road that followed the river, which leads to the next town. It was a change of scenery but it got boring after a while. Once it was late into the afternoon, we reached the second town earlier than expected. Compared to the first town we stayed at, this one was next to a giant lake that was connected to the river we were traveling next to, and was as big as Farsbarow. The merchants in the caravan prepared to trade with the townspeople since we arrived early. Ned asks me what I was planning to do after we checked into an inn. I told him that I was going to check out the lake first because I had never seen a lake this big. ¡°Okay, have fun then. We¡¯re also going to explore this town¡± ¡°Right, see you later¡± Walking through this town, I noticed that the air was just as lively as Farsborrow but had its own charm to it. Eventually I got to the shoreline, I was surprised by how big it was, big enough that I couldn¡¯t see the other side of the lake. I was also lucky enough to see the sun about to set below the water. While the sun was setting there were people on boats by a dock, moving around their catch for the day. Looking at what they were moving, I had a craving for some fish for dinner since I can¡¯t remember the last time I had eaten any fish. Before I could do that, I got to do some errands first. I went around and found a general store and replenished my rations for tomorrow. After I was done, I went back to the inn I and everyone else was staying at. The inn was similar to ¡°The Early Rope Inn¡±, with it having a tavern on the first floor and the rooms were similar in size. When I put my things in my room and went downstairs to get dinner. I saw Mark drinking alone. I walked toward him and sat on an empty chair at the table he was at. ¡°Hey Mark, where is everyone else?¡± ¡°Oh, hi there Nyx. Everyone wants to do our own thing, none of us can agree, so we gone off on our own¡± ¡°So what did you want to do?¡± ¡°Just wanted to relax and drink¡± Taking a sip of ale in his mug, he asked how the lake was. I told him that the lake was really big and the sunset was beautiful, then I told him after that I did some errands ¡°Errands¡­ oh, right!¡± Hearing me say errands, Mark had an expression like that he had forgotten something. ¡°What''s wrong?¡± ¡°I forgot to get our supplies¡± Mark chugged down his ale, paid for his drink, and got up. ¡°Sorry I got to go¡± ¡°You better hurry then, the stores are about to close¡± ¡°Thanks, I better hurry then." Mark hurriedly left the inn to a store to stock up on supplies. Seeing him off, I waved for a waitress to ask what they had. When they say they have fish on the menu, I said I would like grilled fish and fish soup. Once the food had arrived, it smelled amazing. The grilled fish was nice and flaky, and the soup had a nice herby fish flavor to it. After I was done eating, I went to bed early because the caravan is going to leave early tomorrow. Waking up early in the morning, I went downstairs to get some breakfast. While I was eating, Ned and his party came downstairs, looking really tired. ¡°Are you all okay?¡± ¡°Ya, all of us stay up really late last night¡± They sat at the table I was at and ordered breakfast, trying their best to stay awake. By the time everyone was done eating their breakfast, we went upstairs to our rooms and packed our things, then went to the meeting spot where we were going to leave. The merchants were already up and early to prepare to depart. We waited for the other adventurers to show up and when everyone was here, we departed. Today is the last day of traveling and it should take about a day to get to Acton. I stare back at the town, out the back of the wagon with a bored expression as usual in this escort job. Honestly, I¡¯m never going to do an escort job ever again if it would be this boring. After a few hours of traveling, we were going through a forest and something interesting happened. I started instinctively feeling hostility in the air. ¡°Hey, we are being attacked!¡± Somebody shouted in the middle wagon of the caravan. ¡°Goblins! On our right!¡± Then another shouted the direction. Oliver and I jump off the wagon and prepare to fight. The other adventurers and Ned¡¯s party are also ready to fight while the merchants stop their wagons and take out a dagger for self defense. There was a group of goblins coming out of the edge of the tree lines. Goblins are on the lower end of a D rank threat, standard fantasy stuff. They were what you expect of a goblin, with their green skin, short body, rags, ugly faces, and holding crude weapons. I was bound to encounter them sooner or later. I grin seeing them, thinking that this is a really good opportunity to try out my new sword. Attacking the closest goblin coming at us, I killed it in 2 slashes and a thrust to its heart. Then immediately took out two spikes and threw it at a pair of goblins, hitting one in the eye and the other in the throat. I swung my sword at the neck of the goblin that had a spike in its eyes, decapitating it. Then I switched to the goblin that had a spike in its throat and swung down my sword, cutting it diagonally in half. I held my sword in amazement, this sword is really sharp, I didn¡¯t expect to cut through bone with relative ease. If this was made of 1/16 mythril, then I wonder what a full mythril sword would be like. Looking back to check on Oliver, I saw him hesitating as a goblin was approaching him. I threw a knife at that goblin, hitting it on the head, causing it to fall over. It gave Oliver an opportunity to attack it as it was on the ground. ¡°You okay?¡± ¡°Ya, thank you¡± Focusing my attention back on the goblins after checking up at Oliver, I saw everyone else. They look like they were dealing with them fine. It was a bit slow, so I went in and helped them I charge in grinning, killing them with a single swing of my sword or throwing a spike to give the adventurer an opening to kill them. Before I realized it, I reached the front of the caravan. I let out a small chuckle but to my disappointment all the goblins were already dead. Man, I wish that there were more of them. ¡°Ummm¡­ hey Nyx, you okay?" Ned cautiously walked up toward me, asking if I was alright. I turned around, unknowingly still having a grin on my face, tilting my head wondering why he asked that question. He for some reason gave me a weird look like I might attack him at any moment and took a step back. The grin on my face was gone when I calmed down from my excitement and said I was fine but he looked a bit skeptical. Then he turned to the other adventurers and asked if anyone was injured. Everyone checked for injuries and thankfully no one was injured. We gather up the dead goblin bodies into one spot far away from the road, into a pile and burn them. In total there were 20 goblins that had attacked us. We went and cut off the left ear of each goblin to trade them in for money in the adventurer guild for killing them. Each of us gets 2 ears, I didn¡¯t know what to feel about carrying goblin ears on me, but it felt kinda disgusting. I put them in an empty pouch that I might just throw out later when I get to Acton. The caravan resumed traveling with no issues. After about another couple of hours, I could see the city of Acton within my sights. Side Story 1 A couple of days after Nyx had gone on her caravan guard job, Rain took a deep sigh as she was walking back home after reading in Mable¡¯s library. When Nyx had left, Rain had gotten really lonely not having her around. Although she had Mable to talk to, Rain could tell she was the type of person who likes things to be quiet and was not the talkative type, so Rain didn¡¯t want to trouble her. Emma was still at work in the guild, so Rain decided to walk back home on her own. Rain remembers why she is staying with Emma. It was family troubles like Nyx, but more specifically her being in a power struggle in her family. She is from the Lungslur family, a count family that borders next to Nyx¡¯s family. Though the Lungslur are not from the old nobility faction, they are still a powerful as some of the upper nobility because they are a military family with a history of winning crucial battles in past wars. The reason is that the head of the household and the successor died under mysterious circumstances. Due to that, the head of the household was left unknown. This caused the additional deaths of one more person who was a candidate to become the head. Despite Rain being a girl, she is also a candidate because the Lungslur family doesn¡¯t care about things like gender, but whoever brings results. Rain took another deep sigh, thinking about her family circumstances because Emma isn¡¯t actually her aunt but her teacher, who has decided to protect Rain from the power struggles of her family by having her go missing. Feeling even more dejected, Rain thought about what to do next. She can¡¯t go back to her family because she would put her life in danger and put Emma in a lot of trouble. She has to be in this town because it is one of the few safe places that Rain can be due to Cade having a lot of influence over the town and being a trusted friend to Emma. I wonder how Nyx is doing. Rain thought to herself then got a bit of inspiration from thinking of her, which is to get as strong as Nyx. Internally, she said it to herself, thinking of Nyx and getting stronger. Unintentionally remembering a certain traumatic memory she had been repressing. Shivering to herself and close to crying from thinking of the sight of Nyx smiling and laughing for the first time, Rain wasn¡¯t paying attention to where she was going and bumped into somebody, causing both of them to fall. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Sorry, I wasn¡¯t paying attention.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine; I also wasn¡¯t paying attention. Are you okay?¡± Hearing the voice, Rain recognized it. ¡°You''re Alex, right?¡± ¡°Ya¡± Alex got up first and helped Rain get up. Rain noticed that there were two other people next to him. ¡°And you two must be Wendy and Lucia.¡± Rain asks what they are doing and where Maria and Chelsie are. They told Rain that Chelsie was training Maria and that they were on a date right now. Wendy and Lucia were oddly proud of it and then spoke at the same time. ¡°About time, he finally did it.¡± Rain gave Alex cold eyes upon hearing it like he was trash incarnate like most of the people who were looking at him. Alex, seeing the cold stare, was unfazed since he was practically used to it. He asked if Rain was alright because she was looking like she was about to cry at any moment before they bumped into each other. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to forget some bad memories.¡± Rain then unintentionally mutters. ¡°That smile and laugh¡± With that, Rain was back to barely holding in tears and she wasn¡¯t the only one who began to remember some traumatic memories from hearing Rain¡¯s mutter. Wendy curls up into a ball, her tail between her legs, has her hand covering her ears and shuts her eyes. While for Alex, his teeth were audibly chattering and he was looking sporadically around him, thinking that Nyx was behind him. All of them were shaking in fear but Alex was shaking even more than Wendy and Rain. Out of all of Nyx¡¯s vict-, sparring partners, Alex has probably suffered the most because he has always had to live in constant fear of Nyx wanting to spar with him which nearly gives him a heart attack every time. It led to him asking everyone in his entire party out on a date as an excuse to escape. Due to him being the main protagonist, he loves all of them but never has the confidence to requite their feelings because he fears that if he accepts one, then the others will be sad. However, Nyx practically forced Alex to confess to them, not out of love but out of complete and utter fear. However, to Alex''s surprise, never in his life did he expect Maria and Chelsie to tell him that all of them were waiting for Alex to finally confess to them and were willing to share. Seeing the odd sight, Lucia asked what was going on. ¡°Just¡­ remembering some bad memories.¡± Lucia still looked confused, so Alex said. ¡°Just don¡¯t ever fight Nyx.¡± However, those words fell on deaf ears because Lucia had already decided that Nyx was on her shit list. Side Story 2 Back to our base, we move our Aias to step on a platform that moves us to our dock in the hangar. I pressed some buttons on a virtual screen to stop the synchronization with our Aias, power down the core, and activate the internal breaks to prevent our Aias from making sudden movements as we were docking. After being completely secured to our dock, the hatch door in the cockpit opened. We took the elevator down as the maintenance workers immediately began repairs. ¡°I¡¯m beat; why did this have to happen this early in the morning?¡± Norn was complaining, and I was too because we were running on 3 hours of sleep, and we spent close to 11 hours guarding the breached wall till it could be patched up, then another 7 to intercept other kaiju. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it''s happening, Alina.¡± ¡°Ya¡± There was a short silence as Norn said it. Like in previous wars, a lot of people are going to die. We prepared as much as we could, but the casualty report had already gone up to the 10s of millions and five cities had already been lost with more on their way to being completely overrun. We both took a deep sigh as the door of the elevator opened to ground level, knowing that there was no use complaining about it. We walk to the armoring area that is in our dock to get the heavy external circuitry plates off of us. Once that was done, we put back on our jackets and walked back to our room. As we were walking back, I saw heavily injured people being carried on stretchers and civilians being directed out of a couple of transport aircrafts. I asked one of the MPs who was directing the civilians on what was going on. ¡°Hey, why are there civilians here?¡± Normally civilians aren¡¯t even allowed near the hangar, let alone be inside. The guy saluted me, following military procedure and as a sign of respect, and said what he was informed. City 57 had been overrun, and nearly all the railways and bunkers had been destroyed by a kaiju. They tried airlifting as many as possible but it wasn¡¯t enough because people were still stranded in City 57. ¡°I see¡­¡± Things are worse than we thought. Every city has underground bunkers to protect civilians from kaijus, and railways to connect to other cities for transporting supplies and people. It¡¯s shocking that City 57¡¯s bunkers and railways were destroyed because they were hidden deep underground. The kaijus, after learning about it, are likely going to target them. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The MP went back to directing the civilians and we continued walking back to our room. To lighten the mood and mind off what we just were told, Norn said. ¡°You know, Alina, you have to make a report after this.¡± Hearing that, I sulked thinking about it because it was my turn to be the responsible one this week. I didn¡¯t really show it since I and Norn don''t show a lot of emotion, but we do have emotions despite what people think. And right now, Norn was laughing to herself inside. Back in our room, I began writing up our report until I heard someone knocking on our door. I told them to come in and Scott came in carrying a thermos, an energy drink, and a medium-sized box. ¡°I brought you an energy drink. I know you hate coffee, so here. Also, I got you some donuts.¡± Scott strolled into my room and sat on my bed, which was next to my desk, where I was halfway done doing my report. He placed the energy drink and box of donuts on my desk. He gave one to me as I popped open the energy drink and chugged it all down. Then he took another donut and ate it while drinking his coffee. Norn, hearing all the noise, woke up. Rubbing her eyes and yawning, she saw Scott and said hi. ¡°Want a donut?¡± Scott asked if she wanted any, in which she eagerly took one and sat next to him. ¡°You look happy." ¡°Yep, I''m not the responsible one this week.¡± Scott is one of the few people we know who could figure out what we are feeling, probably because of the number of times the three of us hang out together. And right now he could tell that I am really pissed off right now seeing Norn¡¯s all smug, taking a small bite of the donut, enjoying it, and looking happy while I was scarfing them down. I was too tired to care because I just wanted the sugar to kick in fast so I could finish this report and go to bed. Taking another donut, Norn asked where he got it. ¡°You got this from Sunny, right?¡± ¡°Yep, surprise?¡± Sunny is the name of a pastry store and the name of the person who owns it in the civilian section of the base. ¡°Ya, how did you? Aren¡¯t most of the stores in the shopping center closed?¡± The base we were stationed at and others stored valuable military equipment but also had experimental research and prototypes since it would make the most sense to protect the researchers here when the Kaiju invaded our world. Due to this, we have sections of the base for the researchers and their families. ¡°Yep, I actually became friends with Sunny a couple of weeks ago.¡± Norn was surprised when Scott said he had become friends with Sunny. I would be surprised too but I was too tired to care. ¡°What? You know I have friends other than you.¡± ¡°In fairness, I thought you never had any friends to begin with.¡± Norn said it in jest, but if it were looked at from an outsider''s perspective, they would have thought she meant it literally, with her always having a blank face. Those two continue their chit-chat until I finally finish my report and kick Scott out so I can go to bed. Chapter 21 At the gates to Acton, the merchant told us our escort job was over and to go to the adventurers to finish the quest and receive our money. The guard asked us for our adventurer card to let us in. Compared to the security in Farsbarow, it was way more strict. Ned asks one of the guards for directions to the adventurer guild since we weren¡¯t familiar with this city. The guard pulled out a map from his pocket like he had done this many times. Unfolding the paper, he showed us the layout of the city. To my surprise, this looks exactly like those stereotypical fantasy cities, with it being a circle and having that same river running through the city like in many fantasy worlds. The only difference was that there was a small split in the middle of the river that connected to a small lake in the center of the city. The guard pointed at the small island in the small lake; he explained that was where the Dradevow dungeon was and near it was the adventurer guild. After getting directions to the guild, everyone went to the adventurer guild in this town. Walking through the city, as expected from a city, it felt way more crowded and dense. The people were way more bustling than in Farsbarow, with some looking to be in a hurry. When we reached the adventurer guild after an hour of walking, I and the rest of the adventurers were amazed by the size. The building was about three times the size of Farsbarow, with an additional two stories. Inside, it was as big as it was outside. The reception desks in the reception area are situated on opposite sides of each other, with 14 booths on each side. Going into one of the reception desks, I received payment for the quest from the receptionist working at the booths and from the goblins. ¡°So, Nyx. Since we finished our escort quest, I¡¯ve been wondering if you would like to join our party.¡± Ned had asked me if I wanted to join their party, but given my circumstances, I couldn¡¯t join a party because it would be way harder to hide my identity. "Sorry, but I¡¯ll have to pass, I prefer working alone. However, since we are going to stay in the same inn, I don¡¯t mind working together.¡± ¡°I see, and what are you going to do tomorrow?¡± ¡°Explore the dungeon.¡± ¡°That sounds like fun. We are planning to take a day off tomorrow.¡± After we were done, I went with Ned and his party to an inn recommended to Ned by one of the receptionists. The inn was a 30-minute walk, and when we got there, it was a pretty decent-looking inn when you compare it to the other inns we passed by. After paying for our room and unpacking our things, we went to a tavern next door to get something to eat and went straight to bed. The next day, I went next door to the tavern to eat some breakfast. I didn¡¯t see Ned and everyone else come; they all must be sleeping in then. Going to the adventurer guild, I realized the city was big enough to get lost in, so I better remember the name and street of the inn I was staying at. Luckily, I remember the direction back to the Adventurer Guild. When I got to the adventurer guild, I entered the building and noticed it was packed with adventurers. I made my way to the quest board by weaving through the crowd of adventurers. Looking through the quests, I wanted to take a quest related to the dungeon, so I picked a D-rank quest to gather 10 small magic shards. When I was in Mables¡¯s library, I read a book about dungeons, and from what I¡¯ve learned, not a lot is known about dungeons, like their origins. But what people do know is that they are vastly different from the outside. The deeper you go down, the more abnormal they become, like cases of one flooring being a desert and the next being a forest. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Additionally, monsters work differently as well. When you kill a monster in a dungeon, it usually disappears and leaves a magic shard or rarely a monster part, like in video games. After entering the quest at the reception desk, I went directly to the dungeon. On the way, I bought a map of the first 10 floors from a street vendor. When I saw the small island where the dungeon was, I crossed a bridge to get there. At the entrance, I saw some heavily armed guards and a large metal door, likely to prevent any monster from getting out. I also saw adventurers coming in and out of the dungeon. Showing the guards my adventurer card, they allow me to enter the dungeon. The first thing I noticed going inside was that it was like going inside a cave in a videogame but if it was in first person. Looking at the map, the layouts of the first 9 floors are like a maze, with the 10th being the boss room. Walking deeper inside, I saw there were small orbs of light on the ceiling that lit up the big passageway and arrows on the sides of the walls, some of them being a different color. From looking at the map again, it also has these arrows. The yellow arrows show the main route to the second floor, while the blue one leads people back to the yellow arrow so people don¡¯t get lost. I¡¯m guessing this is probably done to prevent people from getting lost. I was getting excited about stepping inside, and once I was sufficiently far away from the entrance, I encountered my first monster in this dungeon. Three oversized rats came around the corner from a different direction. I don¡¯t recognize them from the monster encyclopedia I read, probably because it only covers non-dungeon monsters, but they are on the first floor, so they should probably be weaklings. I killed them without much effort and was surprised when their bodies turned all black like a shadow was covering them, then disappeared like ash. Once they had fully disappeared, one of them dropped a small, clear crystal shard. I pick it up, examine it, and store it in one of my pouches. Good, I only need to get nine more to complete my quest. Continuing to follow the arrows on the wall, it led me to a stairway where adventurers were going up and down. It was the staircase to the second floor, and going down the stairs, I continued following the yellow arrows to the third floor. I continued making my way down and fighting monsters on the way. I noticed that the number of times I encountered monsters had increased and that each floor introduced a new monster. Once I was down to the third floor, I decided to wander off from the yellow arrows to see what it was like to explore a dungeon. Compared to the size of the first and second floors, it¡¯s double the size of the two. I encountered the occasional rat monster, these bat-like monsters with giant fangs that started appearing on the second floor, and sometimes these dog-sized lizards on the third floor. When I kill the lizards, I notice that they drop the same magical shard, and the frequency of drops is higher than that of the night rats. Going by game logic, it¡¯s because they are a more difficult enemy to fight, that makes sense I guess. Once I finished collecting 10 shards for my quest, I went back to the surface and saw that it was afternoon when I got out. There were still a lot of people when I went to the adventurer guild. I waited in line to turn in my shards to complete my quest at the counter. ¡°Hello, my name is Iris. How may I help you?¡± Iris, that name sounds familiar. Oh right, isn¡¯t she the receptionist Emma told me about? ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Nyx. You know Emma, right?¡± ¡°Emma?¡± Surprise, she asked if I was an acquaintance with Emma, giving a hidden meaning to the question. "Ya, she told me if I need help, to come to you.¡± ¡°I see. So, how can I help you?¡± After thinking about it for a bit, maybe I should ask where the library is. ¡°Ya, can you tell me where the library is?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have a library, unlike in Farsbarrow.¡± It¡¯s a shame but I better start saving up then. Not sure how much a single book would cost me, but it would probably be really expensive. ¡°However, I can recommend you to a bookstore.¡± ¡°Bookstore?¡± ¡°Yes, it sells books at a decent price. However, the owner tends to open whenever they feel like it, so you can¡¯t really expect when it will be open.¡± ¡°I see¡± After turning in my shards to finish my quest and receiving the money, which was a large bronze and three bronze coins, I exited the guild building. Outside of the adventurer guild, I was pretty disappointed that they didn¡¯t have a library I could use, but Iris gave the location and name of a bookstore instead, called the Ash Thorn bookstore. There was still daylight, so I followed the directions Iris gave me. As I was walking, I was intrigued by the wide variety of shops mostly catering to adventurers, but they were all really expensive. No wonder this city is considered a bad place for adventurers who are just starting out. When I got to the bookstore, as expected, it was closed. It appears that the owner isn¡¯t here today. I decided to go back to the inn because usually, a city is not a safe place to walk around at night. Going back to my inn before it got dark, by coincidence, I encountered Ned and everyone else on my way back. Oliver, noticing me, ran up to me first, followed by everyone else who walked. He said hi and asked how my day was. ¡°How was your day, Nyx?¡± ¡°Interesting, I went exploring the dungeon.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. What was it like?¡± Oliver looks interested in hearing me. ¡°I just went down three floors and killed some monsters for a quest. I¡¯m planning to explore deeper tomorrow.¡± The monsters I encountered were weak and not that interesting to fight, so I wanted to go deeper to fight stronger monsters. ¡°So how about you all? What did you do all day?¡± Since Oliver asked what I did today, I was curious about what they did today. ¡°We went around shopping, but everything was so expensive.¡± ¡°Ya, I know Ned. We better start saving up then.¡± ¡°If it isn¡¯t too much trouble, can we join you in going into the dungeon?¡± Thinking about it, it wouldn¡¯t be too much trouble; I know that they can handle themselves in a fight. ¡°I don¡¯t mind it Ned, but I¡¯m planning to go deeper.¡± ¡°Okay then, thanks.¡± Chapter 22 The next day, I led Ned¡¯s party to the dungeon after going to the adventurer guild to enter into our quest first. They were a bit nervous at the entrance, but they were also excited. Before we entered, I showed them the map of the dungeon I bought yesterday and then explained what I had learned diving inside the dungeon. Once we were down to the third floor, I separated from Ned¡¯s party and continued going down because I wanted to find more interesting monsters to fight, and I told them that the 3rd floor was a good place to dip your feet into dungeon diving. Each floor I go down, a new monster starts to spawn. However, they were weaklings who didn''t put up much of a fight, so I just jumped straight down a couple of floors till I found something interesting. Eventually, on the 8th floor, I found something that could put up a fight. There were purple toads with a pair of fangs, about the size of a medium-sized dog. From looking at its appearance, I¡¯m guessing it uses its fangs to bite and inject venom into its prey. They¡¯re quite agile and hard to dodge for normal adventurers, but to me, I was grinning at how much fun it was, treating this more like a game than anything else because these toads were more dangerous than the goblins. I didn¡¯t have any antidote potion, so if one of them were to bite me, I would be in big trouble. After this, I should buy an antidote potion since a healing potion only heals and won¡¯t cure me if I am poisoned or injected with venom. As I was thinking about buying an antidote potion, three of these purple toads spawned. I took a step or two to dodge each of the toads, then I cut down two out of three of them with my short sword. Taking out a spike, I threw it at the last toad, who was readying to attack. It screamed in pain as I hit its left leg to stop it from moving. I approached it and swung my blade down at its head to stop its loud screaming. The dead bodies of the venom toads turn all black and fade like ash, each dropping a shard. However, something had unexpectedly dropped from the last toad I¡¯d killed; it was one of its fangs. Neet, if I remember correctly, it¡¯s incredibly rare for a monster to drop something other than a crystal shard, so this should sell at a decent price. Collecting the fang and the magic shards, I think it was a sign to leave the dungeon because I had lost track of time having fun fighting the toads and I had more than enough magic shards to complete my quest. I counted the number of shards in my pouch, which was 37 in total, and went up to the dungeon¡¯s entrance. By the time I was out of the dungeon, I was surprised by how long I stayed inside. It was already dark, and when I asked one of the guards, they said it was around 3 in the morning. Did I really stay inside for that long? It felt way shorter. I better go back to the inn, Ned and everyone is probably really worried about me. When I got to my inn, Ned was waiting for me outside. He saw me and said, ¡°Where were you? We were worried.¡± ¡°Sorry, I lost track of time.¡± He had a relieved sigh and told me to get some rest. The next day, I was woken up by Mark knocking on the door of my room. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Yawning, I got up and told him I was getting up. I got only a few hours of sleep last night since I came back at around 4 in the morning. After we got something to eat, we went to the Adventurer guild. I reminded myself that I had to turn in the shards I had gotten to complete my quest and the venom toad fang for extra money. At the adventurer guild, it was as crowded as usual. I waited in line and turned in the shards I had gotten yesterday. The receptionist was surprised by how much I¡¯d collected and by the venom toad fang I showed her. It¡¯s a shame that I can¡¯t turn in the extra shards I¡¯d collect to complete three quests worth of shards, but it¡¯s better than nothing. In the end, I got 3 silver coins from completing the quest and selling the excess shards and the fang. After receiving payment, I entered the same quest as yesterday, which was to collect 10 shards. Before I and everyone else could go to the dungeon, I made a detour to a general store for adventurers and bought two low-grade antidote poisons. Honestly, I don¡¯t know if the city or that specific store, but one silver coin for a low-grade antidote potion seems like a scam. ¡°So you''re done?¡± "Ya Ned, sorry for the wait; I bought some antidote potions. Who knew they would be so expensive, 1 silver each.¡± With a smirk, Ned said. ¡°Thank goodness we bought our supplies in Farsbarow.¡± ¡°I know. This city is really expensive. But let''s get going.¡± Inside the dungeon, I ask what floor they are planning to go to today. ¡°The same floors you''re going to. I know that you could handle it yourself, but I just want to make sure you¡¯re fine since, you know, yesterday.¡± Hearing Ned¡¯s answer, I kind of felt bad for making them worry. ¡°Are you sure? The ones on the deeper floors are pretty tough for low-level adventurers. ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry; I think we can handle it. We already have a general grasp of things.¡± I led them down to the deeper floors I¡¯d visited, which was the 8th floor. As Ned said, they handled the monsters we encountered pretty well. However, Oliver seems to be struggling, but not to the point where I have to step in. I had noticed from how Oliver fought, he wasn¡¯t that great with a sword. As for me, I wanted to see how well they fought and worked together, so I acted as backline support by throwing my spikes and knives, giving them openings while disrupting the monster from attacking. They are doing good but one thing I would like to critique is that they don¡¯t play their roles in the party very well. ¡°Hey everyone, are you fine with going down another level?¡± Watching was getting boring; they were taking their time fighting them, and I wanted to find some more interesting monsters. Things honestly feel way too safe than how I like, which takes away from the fun. ¡°Sure, I think we can handle something a bit more difficult.¡± ¡°Great¡± Ned says yes to my proposal, and we head to the 9th floor. When we go down, we encounter new monsters. Two toad-like monsters appeared; they were slightly bigger and had no fangs when you compare them to the toads on the 8th floor. I should buy a book about this dungeon if I have the chance. Let''s check the bookstore that Iris recommended to me to see if it¡¯s open today. Eyeing it warily, I wait for it to do something, to which their throats start to expand. I warned everyone to be careful, and they were going to do something. Immediately, I threw my throwing knives at their expanding throats, causing a green liquid to leak out, and then Ned and Keith jumped in and finished it off. Ned asked if everyone was okay, and luckily everyone was fine. After we fought even more monsters on the 9th floor, everyone seemed to get used to dealing with the new monsters. Eventually, we stumbled upon the staircase to the 10th floor. Looking at my map, it says that the 10th floor is specifically the boss room. ¡°You want to go down?¡± I asked if they wanted to take on the boss. Ned thought for a moment and said, ¡°Let''s not; I don¡¯t think we are ready. I know that you could probably take it on, but let''s call it for the day.¡± I was disappointed when Ned said to call it for the day. I had already collected 10 shards, and Ned¡¯s party also collected 10 shards, so I guess it makes sense not to continue any further. Plus, everyone looks pretty tired, especially me because I got only a few hours of sleep yesterday. Returning to the surface, we went to the guild to complete our quests and receive our money. ¡°So Nyx, what to come join us to get something to eat?¡± Ned asked me if I wanted to join him, but I said no because I had something to do. ¡°Okay then, just don¡¯t make us worry.¡± Nodding, I went in the direction of the bookstore Iris told me about. Chapter 23 Going to the bookstore, I wonder if it will be open today; if not, I¡¯ll just look around the city for a bit to see if anything catches my eye. To my luck, the bookstore was open. A small bell rang as I opened the door to go inside. However, I couldn¡¯t tell if this was a store or not because there were piles of books scattered all over the store in an unorganized mess, making it hard to move around. ¡°How can I help you?¡± Hearing a voice, I turn my head in that direction. I saw a girl with green hair and eyes who looked oddly familiar; she waved at me while reading a book while sitting on a makeshift chair made of books. ¡°I¡¯m looking to buy something; are you the shop owner?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Mila, and what are you looking for?¡± ¡°A book, but first, can I ask a question?¡± Looking at her hair and eyes made me think of Mable. ¡°Go for it.¡± ¡°Do you know a person named Mable?¡± She looks surprised when I mention Mable. ¡°Wait, how do you know my younger sister?¡± Sister, huh¡­ Looking at her, I could see the resemblance. And speaking of sisters, I¡¯m also really surprised that Mable didn¡¯t mention that she has a sister. Suddenly, getting up from the pile of books she was sitting on, Mila scurried through the store, weaving through the mess of books, making her way to me to ask. ¡°So, how do you know my younger sister?¡± Eyes bringing with anticipation. ¡°Well, she is the librarian in Farsbarow¡¯s adventurer guild; I often read with her.¡± A giant smile appeared on Mila''s face, which was a weird sight because her face looked like Mable''s. ¡°So you really are her friend.¡± She screeched in delight and gave me a giant bear hug, catching me off guard. ¡°No wonder you became friends, you¡¯re very much alike. I was worried for her, but it seems like she made a friend.¡± After she hugged me, I was again surprised, this time by how Mila was the complete opposite of Mable. ¡°Since you are a friend of my cute little sister, you get a discount.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yep, so what book do you want?¡± ¡°Then do you have a book about the Dradevow dungeon?¡± ¡°Let''s see¡± After a second or two of remembering. ¡°Yes, I believe I have one. Please wait a moment; it is somewhere around here.¡± She began rummaging around the store, eventually pulling a book out of one of the numerous piles of books in the store. ¡°Here¡± ¡°Thanks¡± She handed me a thick brown book, and reading the title, it was what I was looking for. ¡°How much is it?¡± ¡°Since you''re friends with Mable, I¡¯ll knock it down to 1 silver for you. When you want another book, just come to me, and if the sign says close, just knock and say your name, and I¡¯ll open the door for you; I¡¯m always inside.¡± Always inside, I wondered why she opened the shop when she wanted to, so I asked. ¡°Oh, I open up whenever I don¡¯t have enough space for my new books.¡± That is kind of the answer I expected from her, and I¡¯m starting to get the reason why Mable decided to have her own place in Farsbarow. ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll be off.¡± After paying for the book, Mila told me to come back any time as I exited the store. I held the book tightly so I wouldn''t lose it on my back to my inn. When I got back, I went straight to my room and began reading until it was late into the night. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. The next day, I was woken up by someone knocking on my door; this time it was Oliver. I groggily got up from my bed, rubbed my eyes, and got ready for the day. Then I go to the tavern next door, book in hand, to eat breakfast with everyone else. When I sat down, they got curious, wondering about the book I was reading while waiting for our food. I told them it was a book about the Dradevow dungeon, and they were surprised when I told them. ¡°I''m really surprised that you got your hands on a book like that.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°A book like that is really valuable, you know; it probably would cost a couple large gold coins at least.¡± I looked at the book and thinking about it, it was obvious that this thing is really valuable. Then I was surprised that Mila got her hands on this book and that she just gave me it at a massive discount. ¡°Just wondering, but where did you get it from?¡± ¡°It¡¯s called the Ash Thorn bookstore, but I believe this is the only one they have, and the owner tends to open now and then, so you should keep your expectations low.¡± ¡°I see. Thanks for the heads-up. By the way, are you going to dungeon dive today?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not diving today or for the next couple of days.¡± The book is quite thick. I¡¯m a fast reader, but I would need some time to read it all. ¡°Okay. Do you mind lending it to Keith when you''re done, then?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind, Ned, but why Keith?¡± ¡°Oh, because I¡¯m the only one who actually likes to read.¡± Keith showed some interest in looking at my book as he spoke. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± They listened to me closely as I told them what I had learned while we continued waiting for our food. The book has 8 chapters; so far, I have read through 4 chapters already. The first chapter explains what a dungeon is and some general tips for dungeon diving, the second chapter is a history lesson on the Dradevow dungeon, the third chapter is a general overview, and the rest of the chapters cover the different stratums of the Dradevow dungeon, which explain what to expect for each floor. A stratum consists of sections of floors that revolve around a theme. It depends on the dungeon, but each dungeon can have unique themes or share the same ones. After telling them about the first four chapters I read, I told them what I had learned from skimming the other chapters. They covered the other stratums of the Dradevow dungeon in order, with each having 10 floors. The first stratum has a maze-like cave theme, the second is forests, the third is desert, the fourth is large bodies of water, and the fifth stratum is extreme weather. So far, people have managed to reach the 46th floor because that floor in particular has dangerous thunderstorms. After the food came, we ate our breakfast, and then I saw them off and went back to my room to spend the entire day reading. When the sun was about to set, I heard Ned¡¯s party walking in the hallway outside my room. Going to greet them, I asked if they were okay because, looking at them, they all looked haggard. Keith said it was rough; they all took a deep sigh and explained what happened. Apparently, they had a rough time going to the 9th floor without me. ¡°I¡¯m beat, we¡¯re going to bed.¡± They went to their rooms, and I continued reading my book. The next morning, I was woken up by Ned, but he seemed a bit different today like something was on his mind. We went together with everyone else to get breakfast in the tavern next door, like normal. After one of the waitresses got our orders, Ned took a deep sigh, as if he had given up on thinking about something. "Honestly, I don¡¯t get why we had a hard time dungeon diving yesterday.¡± I asked what he meant, and he told me how much they struggle fighting the monsters on the deeper levels. Hearing that, I wasn¡¯t too surprised by their struggle from watching them fight, but I was surprised that Ned hadn''t figured it out already; I guess he is still inexperienced. I should tell them since he is stuck on it. ¡°I can point out a couple of things you''re doing wrong.¡± ¡°Go for it, I can¡¯t think of any.¡± "Well, a big one is that your party is not balanced." ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Your party has too many front-line fighters, in which you all will get in the way of each other more often than not despite having surprisingly good teamwork. I suggest moving one of you to the rear guard.¡± "So, who do you think we should move?¡± ¡°Oliver¡± ¡°Wait what?¡± Oliver was surprised when I told Ned to put him in the rear guard. ¡°How do I put this, your swordsmanship is not that great. I think it¡¯s best if you improve it; until then, you¡¯re in the rear guard.¡± He looked really dejected upon hearing it. Was I a bit too mean? Anyway, I turn and face Ned to give him another suggestion. ¡°When we were on our caravan guard job, you said your family are hunters, right? Then do you know how to use a bow?¡± ¡°I¡¯m decent with it, but why do you ask? ¡°Well, another change I would suggest is to switch out your sword for a bow because your party just lacks any range attacks.¡± ¡°I see, but how about the others?¡± ¡°Keith is fine, but Mark and Carl aren¡¯t.¡± I turned to face those two, who were sitting next to each other. ¡°You two have a habit of forgetting your roles whenever you fight. Mark, you¡¯re a rogue, so focus on fighting indirectly and acting as support. You should start using throwing knives, poison, or any other things to increase your bag of tricks instead of just relying on your daggers. Carl, you¡¯re a tank; focus on keeping the monster''s attention, not killing them. Also, your sword does not fit well with your shield because it¡¯s a two-handed sword, so get a new sword that is a bastard or one-handed sword.¡± After I told them my suggestion, they all thought for a while, and Ned spoke. ¡°Thanks for your advice. I guess we better start saving up to buy some new equipment then.¡± Acton is a pretty expensive place, and since I was the one who suggested them and I¡¯m not dungeon diving for the next couple of days, I guess I could help a bit. ¡°I could lend you my throwing knives and spikes if you want, and my sword as well, since it should be around the right size for Carl to use as a bastard.¡± ¡°You''re going to do that for us?¡± "Ya, I don¡¯t mind; I¡¯m not dungeon diving for a couple of days, so I don¡¯t need them right now. Plus, I could help Oliver with his swordsmanship at the adventurer guild training grounds. Just make sure you don¡¯t lose them while diving.¡± After we were done eating, I followed Ned¡¯s party to the adventures guild to train Oliver. Chapter 24 Seeing them off from the adventurer guild, I hoped my advice and the equipment I lent them would help them. I told Oliver next to me, who was staying back, to go to the training areas with me since I was planning to help train him. We went to the back of the adventurer guild where the training area was, and as expected, it was even bigger than the one in Farsbarow, about three times as big. I took a wooden sword out of the weapon racks, and Oliver did the same. Then we went to a corner in the training area that didn¡¯t have too many people. ¡°Okay, let''s see what you need to improve on.¡± I was getting excited to fight someone other than a monster, and I wondered how well he would put up a fight. However, to my complete and utter disappointment, his swordsmanship was just awful¡ªworse than I thought. I knocked away his wooden sword, and he fell to the ground with only two swings. Maybe this was a fluke, so let¡¯s try again. I told him what he was doing wrong, using the same method as with Alex. However, it was worse than last time; maybe it was another fluke. I try again and again, which leads to the same result: I knock his sword out of his hand, and he falls to the ground. Yep, I was getting my expectations too high since he is not a main protagonist, expecting him to be at a similar level to Alex or half that was a bit much. Honestly, where do I begin? Let¡¯s see, one of the biggest problems is that his foundations are rocky at best. I should have asked before sparring with him, but. ¡°How long were you taught compared to the others?¡± On the ground and his sword was knocked away, he said ¡°About half a month, but the others were taught for around 3 months.¡± Hearing that, I wonder what the teacher taught him since he should have at least been taught the basics of using a sword, right? ¡°Ummm, we didn¡¯t have the time.¡± ¡°So you weren''t taught how to fight?¡± ¡°Yes, we figured that Ned and everyone else could teach me after we left our village instead.¡± Ah, I see. I guess they weren''t that good at teaching him; no wonder his foundations are so rocky. He won''t learn anything if I continue sparring with him; this will take longer than I think, but I have to teach him the basics then. Pulling a straw dummy from the equipment area, I swung the wooden sword at it to show him how to swing with a proper stance and told him to try. While he was doing that, I sat by a wall and pulled out the Dradevow dungeon book to read because I was just watching him, not training him. Periodically, I would look up to see how he was doing, tell him what he was doing wrong, and show him how it was done. When I think his stance is passable, we focus on doing proper footwork next. After a couple of hours, I decided to end it for the day when he fell to the ground from exhaustion. ¡°I think that¡¯s it for today.¡± ¡°But I could go on.¡± He is determined, but I don¡¯t think his body can go on. He was sweating all over in a heap on the ground from exhaustion. ¡°No, you can¡¯t.¡± After some convincing, we went back to our inn. When Ned, Mark, Carl, and Keith came back after dungeon diving, I asked how it went. ¡°Kind of better than yesterday.¡± Ned summarized today''s dive, in which they had a better time fighting the monsters on the deeper floors but still needed to get used to the changes. ¡°And thanks for these.¡± Mark gave me back my throwing knives and spikes, and Carl gave me my sword. They asked where I got my weapons because they were amazed by them. Carl, especially because they were way better than the ones you find in normal weapons shops. I told them that was a secret because I didn¡¯t think Kinwall would want me to tell people about him. Plus, he probably already moved shop, so I don¡¯t know where he moved to right now. The next day, I lent them my equipment again and went with Oliver to teach him more of the basics. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Like yesterday, I watched Oliver practicing with a straw dummy while reading my book. We continued this for the next 4 days. I taught him the basics of using a sword, then ironed out all the kinks to build him a proper foundation. During those 4 days, I bought 2 more books from Mila after finishing the Dradevow dungeon book; they were beginner books about magic and runes. Feeling my coin pouch being noticeably lighter than usual, I sigh. I guess I have to go dungeon diving tomorrow to make some money. ¡°Hey Oliver, I¡¯m going to spar with you to check your progress.¡± I should test Oliver to see if he is ready to dungeon dive. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes, we¡¯re going to go dungeon diving tomorrow, and I want to see how much you''ve improved.¡± ¡°Okay¡± Oliver looked nervous and had a bit of anticipation when I told him I would be testing him. I started with a swing at Oliver, then followed it up with another. He blocked them, and it looked like he was holding his own. He counterattacked by thrusting his sword, but I parried it. Good, much better than last time. Next, I used a faint, and to my delight, he saw through it and stepped back from my swing. I was going easy on him, but I was getting pretty excited by seeing how much he improved. A barely noticeable grin formed on my face, wondering how much he could handle. I did a couple more swings with my sword, and he dealt with them fine, causing my barely perceivable grin to grow into an actual grin. Noticing my grin, Oliver looked happy, like he had the impression that I might be proud of his improvements. It was the first time he saw me show any other expression than my usual expressionless face, so I guess he would think that. In reality, I was debating in my mind if I should go all out. ¡°Hey Nyx, am I doing okay?¡± I did not reply, only grinning further from getting excited, thinking he could make a decent opponent now. He looked confused, wondering why I didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Umm, Nyx, am I doing okay?¡± His confusion turned to concern when I still wouldn¡¯t reply because I decided to go all out and was thinking of what techniques to use next. Ooh, maybe I should¡ª ¡°Oh, there you two were.¡± Like a splash of cold water, my excitement immediately stopped when I heard a familiar voice. Turning my head to see who it was, it was Ned, and then everyone else approached us. My facial expression turned back to how it normally was, and I asked ¡°How was your dive?¡± ¡°Good, very good, actually. We even made enough money to get Carl a new sword.¡± Carl showed me his new sword, like when Ned showed me his new bow and Mark his new throwing knives. He gave me back my sword since he didn¡¯t need it anymore, but he had a noticeably sad expression doing it. ¡°What''s wrong?¡± ¡°Your sword is amazing. You sure you don¡¯t want to tell me where you got it?¡± Oh, so that is what it is. "Sorry, no, even if I tell you, I don¡¯t know where the person who made it is right now.¡± ¡°I see¡± Carl was disappointed to hear it. ¡°So, how is Oliver''s training going?¡± Ned, after seeing me spar with Oliver, asked how Oliver''s progress was. ¡°Good, I¡¯m thinking of going diving tomorrow, and I think he is ready to dungeon dive tomorrow.¡± ¡°That sounds like a good idea; you can also see how much we improve.¡± We went back to our inn in a good mood, and the next day we went dungeon diving together. When we encountered some monsters, I saw how much they¡¯d improved. Carl was acting as a tank, getting the attention of the fang toads, which I learned are called Venun toads from the book, so Kieth could strike them down. Ned, who switches to a bow, fires arrows at the Venun toads while giving orders. Mark was throwing knives and these viles of yellow liquids that act like superglue at the Venun Toads, causing them to be stuck to the ground. I was surprised when he said he was dabbling in alchemy to make it. I should buy myself an alchemy book because it seems useful. And for Oliver, he is managing to keep up with everyone else; the training is bearing fruit. Ned asks me how they are all doing, with a gleeful expression. ¡°Great actually¡± ¡°Any more suggestions?¡± ¡°Just some minor things, but it¡¯s nothing to be concerned about.¡± After we had finished collecting our shards for our quest, I told them I was going to continue diving since I was running short on money. ¡°Ya, just make sure you don¡¯t come back late, but knowing you, you¡¯ll probably will.¡± I shrugged at Ned and told him not to worry as I split from them and went down another floor, and they went up to the surface. Eventually, I stumbled onto the stairway to the 10th floor, into the boss room. From the book I read, the boss monster on the 10th floor is a giant spider. It¡¯s named a Latrodec spider, a C-rank monster that looks like a black widow spider but is the size of a wagon. Overall, it¡¯s a big jump in difficulty from the monster I faced on the previous floors. Since it¡¯s a boss monster, it has guaranteed drops, which are a medium-sized magic shard and a bypass ring. You get a bypass ring after killing a boss on every 10 floors. It allows someone to pass through the room without having to fight the boss, but it has a limit of 10 uses. So far, I have collected 20 small magic shards, and I was getting sick of playing games with the giant toads on the 9th floor, which I learned are called a Spitting Toad. Why not go in and try to fight the boss, I was already getting pretty excited thinking about it. Going down the staircase, there was a pair of double doors that were the entrance to the boss room. As I approached the door, it flew open, with people running out. ¡°Gah!!! Run away¡± ¡°Ewww¡± ¡°Why did it have to be a giant spider!¡± I was surprised to see them, 4 girls who seemed to be at a party were running out the door. I tried asking them if they were okay, but it seemed like they didn''t notice me as they were frantically running away. From a glimpse inside the boss room, no wonder they ran away; it looks way scarier than the illustration in the book. But it is not that bad because, surprisingly, that is not the most disgusting thing I have ever fought, trying to forget a certain disgusting kaiju I killed that I want to forget. I pushed open the door and went inside the boss room with my excitement building up because I saw it as a really fun fight to have, way better than the monsters I was fighting. Chapter 25 As the door closed, I looked around the boss room. It was a big circular room that looked like an ancient ruin built into a cave. There were broken stone pillars around an engraving of a large spider at the center of the room. I was on guard when the engraving started glowing and black ash appeared out of thin air to form into a black, shapeless mass. This was similar to when a monster disappears after you kill it but in reverse. It grew in size until it was the size of a wagon, and then formed into the shape of a giant spider. Then the black thing that was shaped into a spider had its black outer layer peel off to reveal the Lateradec spider. The size of the thing reminds me of the direwolf. Compared to the direwolf, which was in the upper ranks of C-rank monsters, it should be slightly easier because it was in the middle rankings of C-rank monsters. Fortunately, this time, I know the best ways to kill it from the book I read about this dungeon. The most effective way to kill it is to smash its head with something, like a war hammer, to bypass its hard exoskeleton. Since I don¡¯t have anything to smash it with, I have to use the other way. There are gaps in its exoskeleton that you can cut through with a sword, and the gap between the abdomen and sternum is a weak spot it has. The only tricky part is figuring out how to get on top of it. Once the Latrodec spider finished spawning, it screeched to announce the start of the fight. Immediately, I threw three spikes at its big red eyes. All of them hit, and I rushed it as it was reeling in pain. I chop off its left front leg while dodging a swipe of its right front leg. Then I moved back, steering clear of its mouth as it went in for a bite. Unknowingly, my grin when I entered the boss room grew into a mad smile because this boss monster was an actual threat compared to the small fries on the upper floors. Going back in, it tried to use its other legs to skewer me, but I dodged all of them till it went in for another bite. Just before it could do so, I pulled out my shortsword and shoved it up its mouth to let it bite it instead of me. It looked more than ticked off, if not going berserk, swinging down its legs to skewer me even more furiously than before. I just take one or two steps to dodge, like in a dance, and cut off another of its legs. Dodging the legs coming down on me, my mind became so focused that I didn¡¯t realize I was giggling. This was much more fun of a game than with the toads on the 8th floor. After all, one wrong move would definitely kill me. Seeing that I kept dodging its attacks, the Latrodec spider was smart enough to know that it wasn¡¯t working, so it charged at me instead, using its giant body to do so. I jump out of the way to get away from it charging at me, causing the Latrodec spider to headbut one of the pillars. However, it wasn¡¯t deterred and charged at me again. This went on a couple more times, with it kept on crashing into the stone pillars. ¡°He-he-he. You''re a tough one.¡± Laughing at the surprise challenge, it was relentless as it kept getting up and charging at me without pause, making it hard to get an attack in. So, this is like a phase two. If I had more people, then it would be a lot easier to deal with because there is a small window to attack the Latrodec spider when it crashes into the pillars. However, I couldn¡¯t make it since I had to jump out of the way of its massive body each time, and by the time I tried to attack it, it had already gotten up and charged at me again. Thinking about it made me unknowingly smile even bigger in glee. Looking at the pillars the Latrodec spider kept crashing into, they did not budge or were even damaged, like in a video game, which gave me an idea. I got out of the way of another charge by the Latrodec spider, but this time I ran up to one of the broken stone pillars that was short enough for me to barely climb up on. I grabbed at the edge of the broken stone pillar just before the spider crashed into the pillar I was pulling myself up at. It stared at me for a bit, and it did something that surprised me; it began climbing up the pillar. With how big it was and the fact that I cut off two of its legs, I didn¡¯t expect it could climb to begin with. Well, this is a welcome surprise. Taking out all of my spikes, I throw a volley at the Latrodec spider, aiming at its joints, hoping to make one of its legs unusable. It does work, but it was still climbing. I jumped over to the next pillar and threw the rest of my spikes in another volley as it was getting close. It made another of its legs unusable, causing it to fall off the pillar from not having enough legs to climb. As it was getting up, I jumped down, rolling on the ground to absorb the fall, and then I stared at it. The Latrodec spider tried to screech, but the shortsword I stabbed into its mouth prevented it from screeching. Then it charged at me again, but, since it has four legs now, its movements have significantly dulled. I dodge it relatively easily and chop off the last two legs on its left side. It crashed again into a pillar, and seizing the opportunity, since it could not get up anymore, I ran up to it and jumped up on its abdomen. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The Latrodec spider resisted by knocking me off, but it didn¡¯t matter in the end, and I thrust my sword through the gap between the abdomen and sternum, coming out the other side, killing it. Getting off, the body turned all black and began disappearing, and the door to the next floor opened to reveal a forest. I picked up what had dropped from the Latrodec spider, it was a medium-sized magic shard, twice as big as the small magic shards I was collecting, and a ring with a clear gray gem. After I picked up the magic shards, ring, and my throwing weapons, I stepped out to the 11th floor. Calming down just a bit, I still had a grin and was still riled up from fighting the spider, but I looked around to see the first floor of the second stratum, which looked exactly like a forest. Looking back at the 10th-floor boss room, maybe I should go fight the spider again. There aren¡¯t any respawn timers, so I could fight it as many times as I wanted. That sounds like a good idea. I went back and fought the boss, going in and out of the boss room again and again, having really fun doing so. After going in an unknown amount of times and trying out different methods of killing it, my legs gave out on me just before I was about to open the door to the boss room again. Maybe I overdid it a little. My exhaustion finally caught up to me, and I was on the ground, barely able to move. Trying to get up, my legs were wobbly, and I fell to the ground again. As I fell, I felt my hand touch something. Picking it up, I saw that it was a pendent of some kind, an expensive one at that, and I felt like I saw it from somewhere. Looking at it closer, it had no gems on it, but it did have a crest. I recognized the crest to be from an Earl household, with the quality of the workmanship being better than a baron¡¯s but not as good as a marquess''s or higher. However, I can¡¯t recall the name of it since there are over 50 Earl families in this kingdom; it¡¯s kind of hard to remember them all. I¡¯m guessing that this pendant belongs to one of the girls who ran out of the boss room. Thinking about it now, from how they were dressed and their equipment, the signs were obvious that they were nobles, since I doubt any low-ranking adventurer would have such expensive equipment as they do. I should take this and give it back because I doubt other people would want to return it. After resting on the stairs for a bit, I make my way back up to the entrance. I asked one of the guards what time it was, and he said it was about 5 in the morning, which surprised me. I really stay down there for that long? Before I go back to the inn, I think this is a good opportunity to go to the adventurer guild to complete my quest and sell what I have gathered because there won¡¯t be too many people this early in the morning. Plus, I think it would make a ruckus if people found out I took down a boss monster by myself. At the adventurer guild, it was empty except for the guild workers readying for the day. Iris was also there, so I went to her. Surprised to see me, she replied after I said hello. ¡°Well, you¡¯re here really early.¡± ¡°Ya, I was dungeon diving yesterday and lost track of time.¡± I pull out my pouch, filled with shards and bypass rings, and show it to her. As expected, she was really shocked by what I took out of my pouch, like when I showed the white-horned rabbits I killed when I first met Emma. ¡°Wait, these are 10th-floor bypass rings!¡± She looks down at the bypass ring, then up to me, and asks. ¡°Did you really kill the 10th-floor boss, not just once but a total of ten?¡± ¡°Yep¡± After a moment or two for her to calm down, she asked why I decided to fight the 10-floor boss multiple times. ¡°It was fun fighting it.¡± I gave her a response with my usual expressionless face, to which she gave a wry smile. As we were talking, a tall, handsome young black-haired guy walked up to Iris behind the counter while sipping some coffee from his mug to check up on her after noticing she was all flustered talking to me. ¡°Is everything oka¡­¡± The guy looks at my haul and almost spits out the coffee he was drinking seeing it. Good thing I came here early in the morning because he looked just as surprised as Iris and said. ¡°What the¡­ Did you get all of that yourself?¡± ¡°Yes, and who are you?¡± ¡°Skif¡± Skif then turned to Iris and asked who I was. ¡°He¡¯s Nyx¡± ¡°Ah, I see. This is the person you told me about.¡± I was a bit surprised that Iris told him about me. I asked Iris who he was. ¡°He is the guild master.¡± I looked at him, a bit shocked inside by how young he looked, and he said. ¡°Yes, I am the guild master, but I only got this job a couple of months ago.¡± A couple of months ago? ¡°If you''re the new guild master, what happened to the previous one?¡± ¡°Retired¡± He took a long, deep, tired sigh, so I asked if he was okay. ¡°Who knew being the guild master would be so much more work?¡± He began sulking and said. ¡°Better go back to work.¡± Seeing him walk away, Emma wants to know what I want to sell. ¡°10 small magic shards for my quest, all of the medium magic shards, and nine of the ten rings; I¡¯m keeping one.¡± After doing some calculations, she told me the total amount I would be receiving. ¡°Okay, the total is 11 silver and 3 bronze. Is there anything else I could help you with?¡± Oh right, I almost forgot the pendent. ¡°Ya, I almost forgot about it.¡± I pulled out the pendant from one of my pockets and showed her it. ¡°When I was at the door to the boss room, a party made up of all girls ran out of the boss room. I think they are also nobles because the crest on the pendent is a Count¡¯s.¡± Iris gave me a questioning look when I mentioned the crest; did I just accidentally reveal myself to her? "Wait, how do you know it¡¯s a count¡¯s crest?¡± ¡°Let''s just say I know some random things, but anyway, could you give this back to them?¡± I¡¯m not giving it back to them in person because they are of the nobility and I¡¯m a runaway, so I would rather not risk it. ¡°Not a problem; I¡¯ll give it back if I see them." ¡°Okay thanks¡± I gave the pendant to Iris to give back and went back to my inn. I was dead tired from dungeon diving. It was close to 7 a.m. now, and the city was beginning to wake up. Shops are starting to set up for the day, and people are commuting to work. On the way, I saw Ned¡¯s party, who looked to be on edge. They saw me and ran toward me. ¡°What happened to you?¡± Ned spoke first, then Mark. ¡°You look like a mess.¡± Do I? I guess he¡¯s right; I practically stayed inside the dungeon for an entire day. ¡°Sorry for making you worry again.¡± They all sighed in relief that I was safe, with Ned saying. ¡°This won¡¯t be the last time this is going to happen, is it?¡± ¡°Probably¡± ¡°Go back to the inn and rest; you look exhausted.¡± I did just that and went straight to bed. Side Story 3 The Lucendi estate It has been half a month since Rita ran away. Clare, Rita¡¯s personal maid, is holding a piece of paper as she is walking to Lord Lucius¡¯s office. News of her lady¡¯s disappearance reached the Lucendi estate a couple of days ago. Through the grapevines from recently employed and inexperienced servants replacing most of the more senior servants who saw the sinking ship of the Lucendi family, Clare learns about her lady¡¯s disappearance, which has been kept secret. After her lady was sent to be hidden away in a remote manor in a forest, she requested a transfer to be with her mistress¡¯s side, but each time she did, she would be denied. Clare is fiercely loyal to Rita because she owes her lady her life. Clare''s early life was filled with struggle; she did not have too many memories of her family, and she could hardly remember their faces because, at a very young age, she was abandoned on the streets. The memories that she could remember were those of her family being very poor. When her family was in dire straights, it led them to abandon her because it was one less mouth to feed. After that, much of her life during that time was a blur because she had to learn to do whatever it took to survive. Stealing, begging, going through trash¡ªwhatever it took for a small child to survive. On one fateful day, a carriage was passing by the slums Clare was in, and she locked eyes with a small child several years younger than her. From looking at how ornate the carriage was, she figured it was a noble passing by the slum and wondered why a noble of all people would come to a place like this, but she didn¡¯t give it much thought because of the life she was living, where her only thought was to not die. However, to her surprise, the carriage stopped, and a butler and the young girl came out. The butler insisted that the young girl stay inside the carriage, but the young girl refused and walked up to Clare to ask if she would like to come with her. Hearing her offer, she did not know what it was and was distrustful of her, from her experience living in the slum, but she thought to herself that at least it would be better than the situation she was in right now. Inside the carriage, the young child introduced herself as Rita Lucendi of the Lucendi household and that she would become her servant. Later, when Clare was taken to a manor that was beyond her wildest imagination, she was cleaned and clothed. A servant explained who exactly the master she was going to be serving and the responsibility that would entail. She also gave the reason why she was chosen, which was because of the family¡¯s traditions of picking up people from the slums to become their personal servants. From her time in the slums, she was a smart child, and because of that, she grew an inherent distrust for everyone and figured the real reason was to make sure they were completely loyal to the person they were serving. Clare was trained to be Rita¡¯s personal maid, a place to sleep, food to eat, and safety from dangerous people. After a couple of months, she had the bare minimum knowledge to become a personal maid for Rita. She met Rita for the first time. At this point in time, Clare did not see Rita as her lady but as a means to keep a roof over her head and food on her plate. Her first impression of the lady she was supposed to serve was the same as the others; she was a creepy child who never showed any expression. But unlike the other servants trying to avoid her, Clare didn¡¯t care too much about it and served her because, compared to what she did to survive in the slums, it was as different as day and night. This changed when Rita almost lost her life in an assassination attempt when she was a candidate to become the 3rd prince''s fiance. Clare¡¯s superior and mentor at the time, the maid previously serving Rita, Maranda, often left Rita unsupervised because she too found her creepy and would rather serve Rita¡¯s older brother, Eric, instead of serving Rita with her. Rita didn¡¯t really complain since she was reincarnated into this world and wasn¡¯t used to having servants serve her every need, so she preferred it this way. This resulted in Clare being the actual one who was taking care of her. When Rita and her family went on a hunting trip, Maranda was bribed by an unknown person to assassinate Rita with a really potent poison. She chose the hunting trip as a good opportunity to kill her because it was in a remote location and there wouldn¡¯t be any strong healers present that could cure poison. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. She poisons Rita¡¯s dinner, causing her to collapse, and then puts the empty vile of poison in her bag. Then she accused Clare since Clare was one of the only two people who served Rita, so she made the perfect scapegoat, leading her to be arrested on the spot and imprisoned. After being arrested, Clare was sent to a cell, awaiting a trial that would definitely find her guilty. She pleaded that she was innocent, but after investigators told her that they had found the empty vial of poison in her bag, she realized there was no hope in proving her innocence, and she sank into hopelessness. However, a week before the hunting trip, which was around the time when Maranda was bribed, Rita noticed Maranda was acting strange and felt like she was planning something malicious. Rita requested that Clare buy some things in secret since Rita didn¡¯t know what exactly Maranda was planning and it wasn¡¯t anything good. The preparation proved helpful because of the numerous high-grade anti-poison potions she had Clare to get bought enough time to save her life. However, it did leave Rita unconscious for several days till a high-ranking priest was sent in to treat the rest of the poison inside her body because the poison proved particularly strong, so the high-grade antidote potion couldn¡¯t cure all of it. Rita, who was bedridden, took the time to visit Clare in her cell, directly after she had awoken, to tell her not to worry and to wait for a little longer, giving her hope because Rita told her who actually poisoned her and had already prearranged things to prove her innocence. Rita figured whatever Maranda was planning would result in Clare getting the blame. She stopped Clare from being charged with the murder of an aristocrat by telling people how odd Maranda was acting before the hunting trip and proving Clare¡¯s innocence by showing the pre-arranged receipts of the things Rita asked Clare to buy in secret, including some witnesses to corroborate the story. After that, Clare''s attitude changes, and she realizes Rita is somebody who is worth serving because she was kind enough to take the time to visit her after being advised to rest and was smart enough to plan things out to this extent. When Clare was at the door of Lord Lucius¡¯s office, she heard loud shouting inside. It was Mistress Elza yelling at someone. ¡°How the hell did you not find her already? Why did we take you off the streets for you to be this useless!¡± Hearing the shouting, Clare thought it best to wait for a bit so things would calm down because Mistress Elza''s temper has been really short lately. Continuing to hear shouting, a bit of cursing, and finally, a teacup breaking led Lord Lucius to raise his voice to tell her to calm down. The room became quiet, and Clare thought it was time to go in. Knocking on the door with a combination of anger, annoyance, and resignation in Lord Lucius''s voice, he told Clare to come in. She stepped inside and saw that the person who was being yelled at was Captain Boras, the head knight of the Lecundi family, inside the office. Looking at him, she felt kind of bad for him because he was facing the brunt of Mistress Elza''s anger. He had thrown a teacup at him, which had tea splashed all over his uniform, but fortunately, the teacup missed and hit the wall behind him. ¡°I apologize for disturbing you.¡± Bowing her head. ¡°I would like to turn in my resignation paper.¡± Clare is giving her resignation paper to the head of the household instead of one of her superiors because most of the more experienced servants are already quitting, including the head maid and butler. The reason for them quitting is due to the announcement that Rita doesn¡¯t have any magical powers. Seeing that this family was a sinking boat, they went to find work in other noble families. ¡°I see. Place it on my desk and leave.¡± Clare did what he told her and left the office. As Clare closed the door, Lucious took a deep sigh, thinking about the situation. It wasn¡¯t just some of the servants that had left after news of Rita¡¯s not having magical powers. Lucious expected most of their connections to be cut off after announcing that the daughter of the Lucendi family was magicless, but he didn¡¯t expect it to be way worse than he would have imagined. The number of families that wanted to make the Lucendi completely fall was way higher than he expected. It is due to Lucious underestimating the number of people he backstabbed in the past being able to strike back when they are this vulnerable. Elza bit her nail, trying to calm her anger from flaring up again. However, it wasn''t working, and she was about to go on another tirade against Boras. Seeing Elza about to burst, Lucious told her to calm down again. ¡°How can I? Thanks to that worthless child, I can¡¯t show my face anymore.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Putting his hand on his forehand and gritting his teeth. ¡°That child had cost us greatly. Boras!¡± Lucious turned to face Boras, who was quietly standing and ordered. ¡°Continue searching for Rita; use all the knights we have; drag her back if you have to.¡± ¡°Yes, my lord.¡± Receiving the order, Baras placed his right hand in a fist on his chest and bowed, then left the office. As Clare was walking to her quarters after turning in her resignation letter to Lord Lucious, she had already packed all of her things into a suitcase. Clare plans to find her master, Rita, and serve her once again. Since Clare was Rita¡¯s personal maid for a long time, she is the only one in this world who can tell what Rita is thinking and feeling. It took a lot of work to figure out, but she was able to figure out Rita¡¯s expressions, like through the intervals of her blinking or the slightest purse of her lips. Clare remembers the times when Rita talked about magic; she would also talk about wanting to become an adventurer after she enrolled in the royal academy with much enthusiasm. Remembering those times also reminded her of the time when Clare saw Rita smile for the first time. She thought she imagined it or that Rita was an imposter because it was so out of character for her that she never thought Rita would actually do it. The knights and everyone else thought that Rita had run away to the neighboring Lunslur territory, so they searched there secretly. However, Clare thinks differently and decides to search for Rita where she thinks Rita might be, somewhere different than the knights are searching for, starting with the adventurer town of Farsborow. Chapter 26 Back in my room, I plopped on the bed and slept through the entire day. The next morning, I woke up early and was hungry, so I went to the tavern next door to get something to eat. Sometime later, Ned¡¯s party came in, sat at the same table I was sitting at, and ordered breakfast. "So, Nyx, can you tell us what you did yesterday?¡± Ned started the conversation, wondering what I did while dungeon diving. Oh, right, I was too tired to tell them what I had been doing. ¡°I continued diving after you left since I was running low on money. Eventually, I stumbled upon the stairway to the boss room, and I wanted to try fighting the boss.¡± ¡°You beat the boss, then?¡± ¡°Yep¡± They weren¡¯t too surprised when I told them I beat the 10th-floor boss since they knew I could handle it myself. However, when I mention it, I kill it a total of 10 times.¡± ¡°10 times!¡± They all yelled in surprise at the same time, causing everyone in the tavern to begin looking at our table, wondering about the sudden noise early in the morning. ¡°Umm¡­ sorry¡± Apologizing for the noise, Ned asks if I really did kill the boss a total of 10 times. I said yes and told him it was more fun than fighting the monsters on the 9th floor, with a blank face. Everyone was astonished by my response, looking at me weirdly like I was a different person. "Wait, do you enjoy fighting the boss?¡± "Yes, I do.¡± I answered Mark with my usual blank expression. ¡°Just to confirm, do you actually like fighting the boss?¡± "Again, yes, I find fighting the boss fun, and what''s wrong?¡± Everyone was again surprised when I repeated my answer. ¡°Well¡­ We didn¡¯t expect you to be that type of person. How do I put this, we thought you were always more on the reserved side.¡± Mark was a bit uncomfortable answering my question. ¡°So you''re saying you thought I¡¯m emotionless, right? I can¡¯t believe you thought of me that way.¡± I said it as a joke, but for some reason, they all look guilty. Wait, did they not think it was a joke? Well, that is disappointing; like in my past life, I¡¯m banning myself from making jokes then. I guess nobody can tell my expressions, so they can¡¯t tell when I''m making a joke or not, like in my past life, when I made a joke about Scott, leading everyone to give him the stink eye for like a couple of months. ¡°That was a joke, you know.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re not mad?¡± Oliver asks if I¡¯m not mad, and I tell him no, and I get that a lot, most of it comes from my past life, which I left out. "Honestly, that''s just not fair; I can¡¯t tell what you are thinking.¡± I shrug at Oliver, and then Ned asks about the 10th-floor boss I defeated to change the subject. ¡°So, could you give us any advice for fighting the 10th-floor boss sometime later today?¡± ¡°Yes, but why are you asking?¡± ¡°I think we¡¯re ready to fight the 10th-floor boss, and I want to prepare and plan for today.¡± ¡°I see.¡± We talked until our breakfast arrived, and then Ned and everyone else went dungeon diving. For me, I walked to Mila to buy another book after my payday yesterday. When I got there, the door said that it was closed, so I knocked on the door and said who I was. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s me, Nyx.¡± Immediately, Mila said she was coming and to give her a minute. Hearing a clutter of books fall, I heard Mila walk to the door and open it. ¡°Hi there, great to see you today.¡± Mila welcomed me inside, and as expected, the store was as messy as ever. ¡°So, what book do you want?¡± Mila asked what kind of book I wanted, and after finishing the last two, I think I¡¯m ready to learn how to make magical tools. ¡°I want a beginner''s book about magical engineering.¡± ¡°Magical engineering? Are you a magician or something?¡± She asked if I could use magic, but I told her I couldn¡¯t. Mila was confused by my answer and asked why I was buying books about magic if I couldn¡¯t use it. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I want to make magical tools, specifically ones similar to artifacts where you don¡¯t need to be a mage to do so.¡± ¡°What?¡± Hearing my answer, she stumbled on a random book on the floor and fell. ¡°Gahh!¡± Then she fell on a pile of books, causing it to come crashing down on her. After the last of the books finished falling, I asked if she was okay. She said she was fine as I helped pull her out of the mess of books burying her. ¡°But making a magical tool that doesn¡¯t require a person to be a mage is next to impossible.¡± Hearing that, I wasn¡¯t too deterred, even though Mila definitely knows more about magical engineering than me from the books she has read, because if at least I don¡¯t try with my dream of using magic, then it would be impossible, and a certain magical tool gave me hope that I could make my own. ¡°I disagree.¡± Puzzled, Mile asked what I meant, so I pulled out my adventurer''s card and showed it to her. ¡°This is an adventurer card; you probably heard of it, but the adventurer guild began implementing it.¡± She looked at the card as it began glowing with my adventurer information and said something that completely surprised me. ¡°Yes, I have. I was the one who made it.¡± Huh? Hearing what she said, it was my turn to be surprised. Mila smirks and says. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you''re surprised, right?¡± She was right, and I was wondering what she meant by her being the one who made it and that she said it was next to impossible. ¡°Follow me; I¡¯ll show you.¡± She led me upstairs and took out a key to open the door of a certain room. I wondered what she wanted to show me, and I was surprised to see a workshop of some kind inside the room she opened that had a lot of equipment, benches, and numerous other things. After letting me be amazed by her workshop, she spoke. ¡°The reason I say it¡¯s next to impossible is that.¡± Holding three fingers. ¡°One, a lot of the infrastructure for making magical tools requires you to be a mage. Two, you need to make completely new ruins for it to work since none of them exist. And three, let''s just say, people in high places do not like commoners suddenly being able to use magical tools.¡± Hearing that, I wasn¡¯t too deterred by her reasons because I already expected that much, except for the second reason. ¡°I know, I already expected I would have to deal with those, but can I ask what you mean by making completely new runes?¡± ¡°Before I created the cards, I was part of the mages'' guild, and I was doing a job deciphering whatever I could from an ancient book.¡± ¡°Ancient book?¡± ¡°Have you heard of the book, the Akasha Codex?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t know a lot about ancient books.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s a book from the lost magical civilization. By luck, I was working on a part where it explained the process of making an artifact that powers itself. I couldn¡¯t decipher all of it, but I used the parts I did decipher to make new runes out of it.¡± ¡°That''s pretty amazing.¡± I was amazed that she did it because making magical ruins is not something you can easily do, let alone completely new ones. ¡°Not really.¡± She was scratching her cheek like she was a bit embarrassed by the praise. ¡°I had help from some people in the Mages Guild, and the output doesn¡¯t come close to actual magical artifacts, so I made a card instead of something like a magical weapon.¡± I guess my plans for making magical tools that everyone can use are even harder than I thought. ¡°I see. I at least should try first instead of giving up.¡± Hearing that, she was curious about my response. ¡°You want to make a magical tool that doesn¡¯t require people to be mages; can I ask why since you seem to be so determined?¡± ¡°I always want to use magic, but I don¡¯t have any magical powers, so this is the next best thing.¡± Mila seemed really interested in my answer and smiled. ¡°Well, good luck with that, and if you need help, I can lend a hand.¡± That is really generous of her. ¡°Thank you. If it¡¯s okay, can I have a look into the Akasha Codex?¡± Mila shook her head and said. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not; I don¡¯t own it; it¡¯s locked in the vault of the mages'' guild.¡± Well, that is disappointing. I wanted to see what was inside the book, but granted, I won¡¯t be able to read what any of it says. ¡°I see. I¡¯ll be off them, and thank you for offering your help.¡± ¡°No problem¡± Leaving Mila¡¯s bookstore, I went to my room in the inn I was staying at and began reading. When it was late in the afternoon, Ned and everyone else came back. I greeted them outside my room, but I was mildly surprised to see them. ¡°What do you think?¡± Ned showed off the armor he was wearing; he had a metal chest plate with leather armor underneath and a pair of leather vambraces. It wasn¡¯t just Ned, but everyone in the party had armor. ¡°How did you afford all of it?¡± When he asked what I thought, my first thought was how they could afford all of it because isn¡¯t Acton an expensive place and something like that would cost a couple of silvers at least for each person. ¡°Simple, a few days ago, I overheard of an adventurer second-hand shop, so we decided to go there.¡± ¡°Let me guess, you bought some armor at a discount.¡± "Yep, and not just that, there was a refitting shop next door that doesn¡¯t cost too much to refit.¡± That shop sounds like an interesting place; I should check it out. ¡°So, what else have you gotten?¡± ¡°We also found ourselves a war hammer.¡± Keith, who was holding the war hammer, made me happy that they were using the book I lent them well. ¡°So when are you having your strategy meeting?¡± ¡°After we wash up. Thank you; you¡¯ve been helping us a lot.¡± After they had cleaned themselves up, we went to the tavern next door to get some dinner and discuss strategy. At the table, Ned thanked me again for helping them and proceeded to tell me their plan to fight the 10th-floor boss. They planned to have Keith use the war hammer to knock down the legs of the Latrodec spider and then do the killing blow at the head. Carl is the one who distracts the Latrodec spider, while Ned and Mark are acting as support, with Oliver acting as backup. "So, how is it?¡± Ned asked me how was their plan. Remembering my experience fighting the Latrodec spider a total of 10 times, I tried out many different ways to kill it, and I see several things wrong with the plan. The first one is that Carl should get a rib of his shield because a shield would be useless with how big the Latrodec spider is. The second is that Carl should switch roles with Keith and be the one who uses the war hammer because a war hammer is heavy, so Carl is better suited since he is used to carrying heavy things. Plus, Keith is more suited for the job as a distraction than Carl because the one distracting the Lactrodec spider must be agile enough to get away from its attacks. The third is to have more than one person as support because, from personal experience, I think it is dangerous if just one of them is a decoy, so have Oliver take turns getting the attention of the Latrodec spider. I told them all that, and then I told them about tips on fighting it that weren¡¯t in the book. ¡°Ned, you can climb up the broken pillars; don¡¯t worry about getting knocked down because they are indestructible. Mark, use your viles to blind it, and Ned, do the same. Oliver and Keith, try to take out its legs if you can. And finally, you should get used to your new equipment before fighting the Lactrodec spider.¡± ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°Yes, Ned, I believe that is all.¡± Similar to the time when I critiqued their team, they all thought about it and accepted the critique I suggested. Chapter 27 Ned¡¯s party perspective As Nyx gave her critiques on their plan, they made changes to it. Since Nyx fought the 10th-floor boss all by herself, not just once but a total of 10 times, she knows a lot more than them. Going back to their rooms after eating dinner, they prepared and went to bed early to fight the floor boss tomorrow. Early in the morning, Oliver knocks on Nyx¡¯s door to wake her up, and they go to the tavern next door to eat breakfast. At the table, they order breakfast and go over their plan again until Nyx arrives. Nyx, sitting at their table, yawned and had bags under her eyes. ¡°You look tired; did you stay up late reading?¡± Keith talked to Nyx, showing interest in the book Nyx was holding and was reading last night. ¡°Yep, I bought this book yesterday; I¡¯m halfway done with it.¡± ¡°That is pretty amazing that you can read that fast. I¡¯m not even a quarter of the way done with the book you lent me. So, what are you reading?¡± ¡°Magical engineering.¡± ¡°What''s that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about making basic magical tools.¡± ¡°Are you a mage or something?¡± ¡°No actually.¡± Nyx shook her head while not looking up from her book, answering Keith''s question. ¡°I just found it interesting.¡± Nyx didn¡¯t give out her actual reason because she didn¡¯t want to get them involved in her business and thought it was better if they didn¡¯t know. After finishing their breakfast, Nyx saw them off. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want me to come, Ned?¡± ¡°No, we want to see how much stronger we have gotten.¡± Ned and everyone else in his party wants to do it without Nyx because they haven¡¯t gotten over Zack''s death. If they could, they wanted to kill the direwolf that killed Zack by themselves. However, Nyx already killed it, so they chose to fight the Latrodec spider instead because it was similar in strength to the direwolf, so it was the next best thing, and to prove to themselves that they were strong enough to fight the direwolf that killed Zack. ¡°Good luck then, and remember, if you can¡¯t handle it, you can always run away.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± Ned replies to Nyx and walks straight to the Dradevow dungeon. As they were walking there, they chatted about how they couldn¡¯t believe that they were about to fight the 10th-floor boss because normally it would take at least a month or two to reach the 10th-floor, and they did it in half a month. ¡°Ya, I wonder if my little sister will think I¡¯m a hero when I come back.¡± Carl spoke about his family in the village he left to become an adventurer. Then Mark, Ned, Keith, and Oliver began wondering how their family would react to how well they were doing. Mark and Keith are thinking about their farmer parents, Ned with his hunting family, and Oliver with his single mother, who owns a tavern. However, this led to them being silent for a while because it reminded them of Zack. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Ya¡­ I wonder what Zack would think of us now.¡± Ned spoke what they had been all thinking, it had only been less than a month since Zack died, and Ned had already written a letter back to their village to inform Zack¡¯s family about his sudden death. ¡°He probably would be jealous.¡± Keith tried to lighten the mood, and it worked a little. Thinking of how Zack had died, Oliver regretted that he wasn¡¯t there. Granted, Oliver was the right choice for Ned to send help because Oliver was the weakest of their party, and Ned made a promise with Oliver¡¯s mother to keep him safe. Oliver hoped what Nyx had taught him would be enough because he was still not on the same level as the others but could keep up. When they were at the entrance to the Dradevow dungeon, they entered inside like usual. Going through the first nine floors without too much trouble, they went down the stairway and were in front of the 10th-floor boss room. Anticipation filled their minds as they opened the door. The engraving at the center of the room began glowing, with black ash-like particles appearing out of thin air to form a shapeless glob. Immediately, everyone prepares to fight. Ned prepared three arrows in his bow hand and drew an arrow to fire at any moment; Mark took out viles in each hand, ready to be thrown; Keith and Oliver took out their swords; and Carl dropped his big shield and sword to wield his war hammer. Once the black, shapeless glob grew and formed into a giant spider, the black coloring started to peel off, revealing the Latrodec spider. It screeches, and Ned fires his arrows at its head in rapid succession, following the first step of their plan, which is to make the Latrodec spider momentarily stunned for a bit for Mark to run at the opening Ned gave him to get in range to throw a vile of paint that Nyx suggested making yesterday at the Latrodec spider¡¯s head. It shatters its face, causing the paint to splash all over its eyes. Now blinded from having paint cover its eyes, it moves back and tries to wipe off the paint from its eyes, and Carl runs past Mark to take out one of its legs. The Latrodec spider attempts to swipe its leg in the general direction where Carl just took out one of its legs, but Keith, on the opposite side, swings his sword at the Latrodec spider to get attention away from Carl. Keith then moved away, barely dodging out of the way of a swipe of its leg, and told Oliver to switch. Wiping off the paint on some of its eyes, Ned, who climbed up on a pillar, fired a volley of arrows as Oliver went to attack the Latrodec spider to let Oliver safely get its attention. Oliver started running away as fast as he could as the Latrodec spider began chasing him. As he was running, Ned shouted at Oliver to tell him what to do. ¡°Let it crash into one of the pillars.¡± From what Nyx had told them when she had fought the Latrodec spider, on her third time fighting it, due to the size of the Latrodec spider being so big, it couldn¡¯t stop on a dime. Oliver ran to the closest pillar and suddenly made a right turn, causing the Latrodec spider to crash into a pillar. Then Carl ran to its left side to swing his war hammer to smash another leg, and Keith ran to its right side to cut off a leg. Carl and Keith told Oliver that he did a good job, then Mark came in and threw another vile of paint to splash its face with, allowing Carl to smash another leg as it was blinded again, leaving the Latrodec spider to have four legs left. However, the Latrodec spider, instead of trying to move back and wipe away the paint from its eyes, unexpectedly shoves Carl with its massive body. Carl was sent flying and hit the edge of a pillar about 3 meters away from the spider. Seeing Carl in trouble, Ned jumps between different pillars to get a shot in with his bow to try to stop the Latrodec spider from rubbing off the paint from its eyes as Oliver runs toward Carl. Oliver turns Carl''s body on the ground to check up on his condition; he is unconscious, and blood starts to pool from his head. Oliver, seeing the blood bleeding out of his head, had some difficulty finding where his healing potions were. Eventually, he pulls out a low-grade healing potion from one of his pouches and pours it on Carl¡¯s head. Seeing that Oliver pours his healing potion over Carl, Ned continues to fire arrows at the Latrodec spider while Keith and Mark keep it distracted so it doesn¡¯t come after Oliver and Carl. ¡°Oliver, pick up his hammer!¡± Ned, telling Oliver to pick up the hammer, saw the Latrodec spider was doing something Nyx had warned them about; it was going berserk and charging at Keith and Mark without regard for itself and the arrows raining down at it. This is not good¡ªnot good at all. Ned thought to himself this because they were down a person. Jumping down from one of the pillars and running toward Oliver, Ned took the hammer from Oliver and told everyone to keep the Latrodec spider away from attacking Oliver, who was carrying Carl out of the room, and to retreat after that. As he said it, Keith, who was rolling on the ground, barely jumping out of the way of the Latrodec spider charging at him, had his leg stabbed by one of its legs as it was blindly charging at him. ¡°Gaahhhhh!¡± Screaming in pain, Ned and Oliver rush in. Mark threw another vile of paint and pulled Keith away from the Latrodec spider to try to use a healing potion on him. However, the vile of paint misses and ignores Ned¡¯s and Oliver''s attempts to get its attention, and Mark and Keith take the hit and are sent flying. Chapter 28 Seeing Mark and Keith hit the ground after being sent flying by the Latrodec spider, Ned cursed. Fear, anger, and a general sense of helplessness filled Ned¡¯s mind. He looked at Oliver and said. ¡°Oliver, take Carl and get out of here.¡± He told Oliver to run, leaving everyone behind because, at least, Oliver would survive. Before Oliver could respond, Ned rushed in and shouted at the Latrodec spider to make it focus on him instead of Oliver. However, it did not amount to much because Ned was knocked away, just like Keith and Mark. Seeing that the Latrodec spider was going to run over Ned as he was trying to get up, Oliver stood there without moving. He thought to himself. No, it''s happening all over again, and this time everyone is going to die. I can¡¯t be that weak anymore. He remembers how he ran, even if it was to get help because he was the weakest of their party, someone he cared about would die. Setting aside Carl, he was carrying on his shoulder to run to Ned as fast as he could. Barely making it, Oliver tackled Ned, who was on the ground, out of the way of the Latrodec spider. ¡°I thought I told you to run!¡± Ned shouted at Oliver, confused that he didn¡¯t take Carl and leave. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t.¡± While helping him up, the Latrodec spider was about to charge at them again, so they jumped in different directions. Getting up, Ned managed to smash another leg, but it got him the attention of the Latrodec spider. Oliver slashed it with his sword, but it didn¡¯t take its focus off Ned. Ned ran toward the pillars to make him a hard target for the Latrodec spider to charge at. As he was doing that, he told Oliver to check up on Keith and Mark. Running up to them, Oliver was relieved they were not too hurt, just groaning in pain. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Mark, getting up with much pain, had his left arm dislocated, he said. ¡°I think I can still fight.¡± Then Oliver looked at Keith. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it looks worse than it is.¡± Keith told him the hole in his leg was not a big deal, trying not to worry everyone. Taking out a healing potion, Mark gave it to Oliver to use on Keith since he dislocated his arm. Oliver pours it on Keith¡¯s injured leg and moves him away where he couldn¡¯t get hurt. Going back to fight the Latrodec spider, Mark took out a vile of paint using his only useable arm. Ned, the target of the Latrodec spider, was weaving around the pillars, barely jumping out of the way of the Latrodec spider charging at him. Oliver swung his sword at the Latrodec spider just before it charged at Ned, then Mark threw the vile of paint at it. Having its attention, it was blinded but turned and charged in the general direction of Oliver and Mark. Oliver yelled as loud as he could to make some noise to get its attention as they moved in separate directions, so it didn¡¯t go after Mark even though it was blinded. Running toward Mark with relief, Ned asks if he can fight, to which Mark says he can. ¡°Okay, like we plan.¡± As the Latrodec spider charged at Oliver and crashed into a pillar, Ned managed to take out another of its legs, leaving 2 legs on the left and 1 on the right, so one more to go before it was completely immobilized. Having only 3 legs left, the Latrodec spider became more erratic, but due to losing another leg, its agility was severely reduced. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. It started to lunge and charge at the slightest noise it could hear, so Oliver led it to crash into another pillar, allowing Ned to smash its left leg, causing it not to be able to stand anymore. Then Ned ran to its head and brought the war hammer into its head, dealing the finishing blow. With that, the Latrodec spider was dead, and everyone who was standing fell to the ground in a combination of relief and exhaustion. ¡°That was too close.¡± ¡°Ya, Mark. How about you, Ned?¡± Panting heavily. ¡°Ya.¡± As the Latrodec spider¡¯s corpse finishes disappearing, a medium magic shard and a ring drop, and the door to the 11th floor opens, revealing a forest. ¡°Hey Oliver, check up on Keith; I¡¯ll check on Carl.¡± Going to Keith, Oliver saw that the hole in Keith''s leg had stopped bleeding and was somewhat closing up. Ned walked to Carl, who was lying on the ground. He checked if he was breathing and sighed in relief because he was just unconscious. After telling each other about Carl¡¯s and Keith''s conditions, Ned and Mark gave their healing potion to Keith. Then they all decided to take a long rest before going back up to the surface. During that time, Keith was able to walk somewhat with a limp, and Carl had woken up. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I got taken out like that.¡± After hearing what had happened when he was unconscious, Carl was dejected that he was unable to do his role in the party. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much; we killed it in the end.¡± Mark was trying to comfort Carl to make him not feel bad. "Ya, I wish I was more careful.¡± When they were going up the floors to leave the dungeon, Mark and Keith stayed in the back since they were injured, and Ned borrowed Keith''s sword since he ran out of useable arrows. They took their time going up, and once they were up, seeing the condition of Ned¡¯s party, the guards told them to go to the infirmary in the adventurer guild. At the adventurer guild, Ned told Mark, Keith, and Carl to go to the infirmary first while he and Oliver went to the counter to exchange the magical shards for money. After waiting in line, they took out 23 small magic shards and a medium magic shard. The receptionist was startled to see the medium magic shard when Ned gave the receptionist his guild card that had the ranking of his party because they had beaten the 10th-floor boss despite being a D-rank party, which was rare. This caused an uproar among the adventurers waiting in line behind them, and a lot of eyes were on them, with a lot of muttering showing their surprise and amazement. Ned and Oliver had a wry smile as they exchanged their magical shards for money and walked to the infirmary. When they were walking to the infirmary, they heard a scream. Recognizing that it was Keith, they walked in and saw that he had his mouth gagged and was tied down to a chair with a nurse and doctor putting his arm back in place. The doctor, who just popped Keith''s arm back in place, walked up to Ned and Oliver and asked if they needed anything. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Dr. Victor; how can I help you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to check up on my teammates. How are they?¡± ¡°They are fine; Carl, fortunately, doesn¡¯t have a concussion; we''ve bandaged Keith''s leg, and he would need a couple of days to heal fully; and we just pop Mark¡¯s arm into place.¡± ¡°I see, that is fortunate.¡± Showing some curiosity, Dr. Victor asks. ¡°So, what exactly did you fight? Let me guess, the 10th-floor boss.¡± Ned was surprised that Dr. Victor''s guess was right. "Yes, but how do you know?¡± ¡°I treat a lot of new adventurers who think they''re strong enough to fight the 10th-floor boss.¡± ¡°Ya, we were barely enough to kill the Latrodec spider.¡± ¡°Well, that is a surprise; you¡¯re one of the few parties I know who defeated it on their first try despite being a low-level adventuring party. I suggest you take a couple of days off.¡± They thanked Dr. Victor and the nurses who helped them and went back to their inn. When they were back, Nyx greeted them and asked how it went. ¡°I thought we would not make it.¡± ¡°Really how?¡± Nyx asks in her expressionless self, and Ned guesses that Nyx is showing concern because it¡¯s next to impossible to tell. ¡°Well, Carl got knocked out, Keith couldn¡¯t get away from the Latrodec spider charging at him and got his leg stabbed by one of its legs, and Mark got his arm dislocated.¡± Not being able to tell Nyx¡¯s reaction, Nyx said. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Well, I think we¡¯ll be taking a couple of days off.¡± Ned and everyone else went to their beds and slept the entire day. Nyx¡¯s perspective As Ned and everyone else went to their rooms, I continued on with my reading. The next day, I went to the tavern next door to get breakfast. Eventually, Ned¡¯s party came in as well to get something to eat because they didn¡¯t eat anything when they got back. I asked about how their boss fought since they were really tired yesterday, and I thought it was best if they went to bed. They all explained what happened and that they all nearly died. I knew they could kill the Latrodec spider, but I guess I was cutting it close for them. ¡°So, do you want to explore the second stratum after resting for a few days?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Why so?¡± Well, that is an unexpected answer. I wonder why he doesn¡¯t want to go to the second stratum. ¡°We nearly died fighting the 10th-floor boss; I don¡¯t think we¡¯re ready.¡± I turn everyone in at the party and ask. ¡°Does everyone think the same way?¡± All of them nod. ¡°So, what are you planning to do then?¡± Ned thought for a while and then said. ¡°I think we should go back to training again with our teacher.¡± Their teacher, I never really ask what their teacher''s name is; I wonder who they are. ¡°You¡¯re going back to train then. I¡¯ve been wondering; you never told me who your teacher is.¡± ¡°Oh that, sorry, but our teacher asked us not to tell other people about him since he was a relatively famous adventurer back in the day and wants to live in relative peace.¡± ¡°I see.¡± A few days later, I said goodbye to Ned¡¯s party and saw them off as they went back to their village to train. Chapter 29 After seeing Ned¡¯s party off, for the next month, I continued reading books that taught me or would be helpful to me on how to make magical tools, with Mila occasionally giving me lessons. When I was running low on money, I went dungeon diving, each time going slightly further into the second stratum. Of course, I fought the 10th-floor boss each time instead of using the bypass ring I had. I wonder what the 20th-floor boss would be like; it would be way more fun than the 10th-floor boss because the 20th-floor boss is a B-rank monster. The reason I didn¡¯t just fight the 20th-floor boss is because I would run out of room to store more shards. Plus, by the time I ran out of room for magic shards, I would go back up to the surface; it would already be 4 to 5 in the morning. It¡¯s convenient since there wouldn¡¯t be a lot of people at the adventurer guild. Right now, I am walking to Mila¡¯s bookstore because I have been drawing up a prototype for the last week or so. At the bookstore, I knocked on the door, and Mila greeted me. ¡°How are you doing?¡± Mila said it with much enthusiasm, as usual. ¡°Good.¡± She let me inside and went straight to her workshop. Then she asks me to give her the design I have drawn up. I gave her a folded-up sheet of paper in my pocket for her to look at. She examined it and said it was quite an interesting design.¡± The design was for one of my throwing knives that uses the electricity attribute. When I was making the design, I eventually came to the problem with the runes that Mila made for the adventurer card; they did not have enough output to do much of anything. To solve that problem, I brute-forced my way through it by adding more than one magic circle engraved onto the knife. However, when I told Mila about it, she told me that it would not fit into the throwing knife because there is a limit to how small she could make them, so I came up with another solution to the problem after a bit of thinking. It was to make multiple magic circles specifically to absorb mana in the surroundings, then link them up to the actual magic circle that produces the electricity. Additionally, the reason I chose the magic circle that uses the electricity attribute is because it would be the most cost-effective with mana to use in a fight. With the limited amount of mana being generated, other elements like fire or ice would mildly burn or freeze them, but they don¡¯t do much compared to giving them a shock of electricity, which would better fit my fighting style of using projectiles to make openings and disrupt attacks. ¡°Do you see any problems with it?¡± ¡°One actually, the six magic circles that would power the knife would burn out the magic circle that produces the electricity.¡± ¡°I figure as much, but that shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll start working on the prototype.¡± ¡°Thank you for all your help.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Leaving Mila¡¯s store, I wonder what I am going to do today. I spent most of the morning finishing up my design for my throwing knife, so it¡¯s the afternoon right now. Maybe I should go to the adventurer guild to see if there are any interesting quests on the quest board today¡ªsomething that is different from the magic shard gathering quests I have been doing for the last month or so. As I was walking, I was beginning to think about my life right now because, strangely enough, this was the only time I had free time to think about such things. I remember how I was born into this world of fantasy, then how I was raised to be a noble, only to find out that I have no magic powers, which made me depressed for a while until I decided to become an adventurer. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I wonder how the situation with my family is right now, but frankly, I don¡¯t really care too much about it. However, I wonder about Clare, my personal maid. I hope she is doing well. Then I remember Farsbarow, which was a massive pain to get to by walking, and the people I met there. I wonder when Alex¡¯s party will arrive at Acton because it has already been over a month¡ªclose to two months already. I wonder how much Alex and Wendy would improve because he is the main protagonist after all. They must be stronger than before, which would make them even better sparring partners. Also, I wonder if Lucia would still want to fight me because I really want to fight a mage. Thinking about Alex¡¯s party, I had a slight grin. Then I began listing the names of the other people I met: Emma, Cade, Hutch, Kinwall, Mable, and ¡­ Rain. Why does it feel like I¡¯m forgetting something? After a minute or two of thought, I remembered what I had promised Rain. Oops, I completely forgot to write a letter to Rain. That completely flew through my mind. I should do it now rather than later since I¡¯m going to the adventurer guild right now. At the adventurer guild, I waited in line at the counter and asked them if they could give me a feather pen, paper, and envelope. Then I took it to an empty table and began writing on the paper. I wrote about the journey here with Ned¡¯s party, my time dungeon diving, Mables¡¯ sister, and other smaller things. When I was done, I folded the paper, put it in the envelope, sealed it up, and wrote where and to whom I wanted the letter to be sent. I waited in line again and gave it to a receptionist for her to mail. After that, I went to the quest board. The reason I had come here was to look at the quest board. Most of the quests are related to the dungeon, and not a lot are outside the dungeon. Eventually, my eyes landed on a gathering quest for a rare herb at a stream near the road I traveled to get here. I remember the hair dye Hutch gave me. The makeshift way I have been masking my hair color from a silver color to an ashy black gets really inconvenient, having to do it every day. I should go there at night so nobody can see me when I am unclothed and washing off my makeshift charcoal hair dye. Waiting at my inn until it was late into the afternoon, I took my backpack to pack it with a new set of clothes, a towel, and the hair dye Hutch gave me. At the south side gate, the guards were wary that I was leaving when it was about to get dark, but they let me through either way. I walked for an hour to get to the stream, and it got dark, but fortunately enough, there was a full moon out tonight. The stream was around waist-deep, with the bed made up of rocks and pebbles. I found a spot that was mostly covered with forest foliage, and I set my backpack down by the edge of the stream and began taking off my clothes. I dipped my toe in the stream, and it was really cold, which made me not want to get in. I sigh and force myself to jump in. "God, that is cold!.¡± I shouted to myself that it was really cold, but after a bit, I eventually got used to the cold water. Then I began washing off the charcoal in my hair to reveal my almost shining silver hair. I look at my reflection in the water, which I have not seen for a while now. I notice my facial features have changed somewhat, and my face is starting to look more mature instead of childlike. It was not just my face but my body as well, especially my chest area. I think I am in my growth spurt, but this is going to be inconvenient. Looking back at my reflection again, I think I should cut my hair because it was getting to shoulder length and people would see I am a girl. As I was thinking about cutting my hair, I grabbed one of my throwing knives to cut my hair, but I heard a stick snap. I threw the throwing knife I was holding in the direction of the noise because there was no way a person would be out here at night, so it had to be a monster. However, as I ran to try and get my weapons, I saw someone that I did not expect to see. The knife I threw at the person grazed their cheek and hit a tree directly behind them. It was Alex, here for some reason, face all red. Why is he here of all places? Did he find out that I¡¯m a girl? I tried to cover myself as he attempted to apologize profusely and look away. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to peak¡ª¡± Before he could finish speaking, I grabbed my throwing knives at Alex, grazing his left cheek with some blood bleeding out. Then I throw another one at Alex, followed by another and another, trying to scare him away. He screamed and began to run away, all the while profusely apologizing and begging not to hurt him. After a good bit of time, I looked around the surrounding area to see if he had come back. I sighed in relief that he had not come back and that he didn¡¯t say my name when he was running away, which meant he didn¡¯t recognize me. Not wanting to have another situation like that, I hurried up and cut my hair short, then began using the hair dye Hutch gave me. He told me to just use enough to cover all my hair. I rubbed it onto my hair that was soaked in water, wiped off the excess that got onto my skin, waited for a couple of minutes, and rinsed off the excess hair dye in my hair. When I was done, I looked at my reflection again in the water and saw that my hair was much darker than the greyish-black charcoal dye I made, almost as dark as the night sky. I took a towel to wipe myself dry and put on a new set of clothes. Then I walked back to my inn, wondering why the heck Alex was there to begin with and what was going on. Chapter 30 Walking back to my inn, I was thinking, why the heck was Alex doing at the stream I was bathing at? Maybe it was a different person who looked like Alex; let¡¯s just hope so. If Alex¡¯s party were here, I wonder why I haven¡¯t seen them already. I guess that was probably just luck. I mean, I was focusing on learning how to make magical tools and designing my first magical tool that doesn¡¯t require a mage to use, so the only time I would have seen them was when I was running low on money and had to go dungeon diving. As I was thinking all this, I heard the footsteps of a group of people running a fair distance behind me, so I decided to look back to see what was going on. When I looked back, I saw a group of three shady-looking individuals, wearing black masks and cloaks that covered their faces, running past me. And one of them seems to be carrying a burlap sack over their shoulder. I wonder what that was all about; that burlap sack seems to be oddly hu¡ª Before I could finish my thought, I heard someone shouting. ¡°Someone stop them!¡± I recognized that voice; it can¡¯t be¡­ Turning my head back, I was it Alex, who had that cut I made on his cheek, chasing after them. I was stunned to see him again so soon, and he didn¡¯t seem to be stopping. Due to that, we collided with each other and both fell to the ground. ¡°Sorry. huh?¡± Trying to get up, he looked at me and was surprised, but began to run again. As he was running to catch up to those shady people, he asked me for help. ¡°Nyx, no time to explain; please follow me.¡± I don¡¯t know what this is about, but I think I know what is happening. The shady group of people was kidnapping someone. So that burlap sack probably has a person in it. This was the most probable answer because he is the main protagonist, so he is bound to get into trouble like this. Catching up to him, I ask. ¡°What was going on?¡± Talking between breaths, Alex said. ¡°They are kidnapping Alice.¡± That is an unfamiliar name. Wait, did he get another girl? ¡°Who?¡± ¡°No time to explain; we need to catch up.¡± The shady group of individuals made a right into a particularly bad part of the city that people generally stay away from. Then they made another right into a maze of alleys that led to who knows where. Knowing we were about to lose them, I took out one of my throwing knives and threw it at the person carrying the burlap sack, who had the person named Alice in it, at the head of the group. I hit his shoulder, causing his shoulder to bleed, which was what I wanted because there was now a trail to follow. They weaved around the alleys, making twists and turns, trying to shake us off like they knew the place off the top of their heads, but we persisted. I¡¯m surprised that the person carrying Alice can run despite having a knife in his back; they don¡¯t seem to be normal thieves or kidnappers. It¡¯s only a matter of time before they make a mistake and go to a dead end. After about 5ish turns, they eventually went into a dead end. Seeing the dead end, they took out daggers and the lead. The person carrying Alice removed the rucksack to reveal a very beautiful young girl with a doll-like face, porcelain skin, and blonde hair like the rays of the sun. So this is what Alice looks like; she looks just as beautiful as the other girls at Alex¡¯s party. The person who was carrying Alice was going to hold her hostage by pointing the dagger at her neck, and he told us to stay back. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Before they could do that, I threw three spikes in a volley, hitting his hand, wrists, and forearm. It caused the person to let go of the dagger, and I and Alex took out our swords with the sheath on them. Alex took the kidnapper to the right while I took one to the left. The left kidnapper rushes in with his dagger, but I hit his hand to smack away the dagger. Then I thrust my sword at his chest, causing the air in his lungs to escape and collapse to the ground. For good measure, I swung my sword at the back of his head just enough to make sure he stayed down as I went at the kidnapper who was holding Alice. Seeing his companion, I just knocked him out quickly and with relative ease, and his second companion was about to be overpowered by Alex, so he decided to charge at me. I was ready to counter any of his attacks, but I was a bit surprised that he threw his dagger in an attempt to run away, leaving behind his companions. Parrying the thrown dagger, the kidnapper holding Alice was just about to run past me before I turned around and hit his shin, causing him to fall. As he was falling, I did a quick strike to the back of his head, making sure I didn¡¯t kill him like with the other guy. Then I grabbed Alice by the scruff of her dress to make sure she didn¡¯t hit the ground like the guy I just knocked out. At the same time, Alex knocked out the kidnapper he was fighting by putting the last kidnapper into a chokehold, then walked to me. ¡°Thanks¡± ¡°No problem, but what exactly is going on?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure about these guys, but people are after her. I don¡¯t think this is a good place to discuss it. Let''s go to the inn I¡¯m staying at; it would be a lot safer there.¡± ¡°Okay, but first, let''s check who these guys are before they wake up; I doubt any guards would show up in this part of the city.¡± ¡°Just make it quick, please.¡± I began stripping off the clothes of the kidnappers, up to their underwear, since I wanted them to have some dignity at least, not because I didn¡¯t want to look like a pervert or anything. Looking at their bodies for any insignias, they all have tattoos of a snake wrapping itself around their necks. Then I went through their clothes but found nothing. They are probably black knights, with the tattoos on their necks being a dead giveaway. My father has something similar to this whenever he wants to do something very illegal. However, they are kind of weak for black knights when compared to the ones I have seen hiding their abilities among my family knights during their daily training. I wonder which family they are from because the family I¡¯m trying to find out has enough money to fund a black knight team but not enough for better-trained ones. ¡°How is it? Did you find anything?¡± ¡°Ya, and it¡¯s not good. Who exactly is that girl, and why would black knights be sent to get her?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know; she really needed help, so I helped her, what is a black knight?¡± He doesn¡¯t really know; it kind of fits with his character as an upstanding main protagonist. ¡°They''re a secret group of trained individuals who often do the dirty work of nobles.¡± ¡°How do you know something like that?¡± Alex gave me a questioning look, wondering how I knew such things. ¡°Doesn''t matter, but how is Alice?¡± ¡°She is unconscious.¡± ¡°I think we should take her to the infirmary at the adventurer guild to see if she is okay, then we¡¯ll go back to your inn.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Alex piggybacked Alice, and I was on high alert just in case anyone was following us. Fortunately, no one was tailing us when we went to the adventurer guild. We headed to the infirmary and were greeted by the doctor inside. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Dr. Victor. What do you need me for?¡± A gray-haired, middle-aged guy wearing a lab coat greeted us. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m Alex; that¡¯s Nyx, and I want you to check up on Alice.¡± Alex put Alice on a spare bed, and Dr. Victor began examining her. As he was doing that, he asked what happened. ¡°She was kidnapped.¡± ¡°I see, that would explain why she was drugged.¡± ¡°Drugged?!¡± Alex shouted in surprise. ¡°Is she going to be okay?¡± ¡°She is fine; she just needs a couple of hours for the drug to wear off.¡± Sighing in relief, Alex apologizes for raising his voice. Then Dr. Victor turned and faced me. ¡°So, you must be Nyx; Iris told me about you and that you''re a smart one; how much do you know?¡± ¡°Not a lot from what I have gathered, but I know that this is going to be a lot of trouble.¡± ¡°What kind of trouble, exactly?¡± ¡°Nobles.¡± ¡°I see¡± Rubbing his stubble, he said. ¡°That is some trouble you¡¯ve gotten yourself into.¡± Confused about what was going on, Alex asked. ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t figured it out already.¡± It was kind of surprising that Alex hadn¡¯t figured it out already. I guess being thickheaded is also part of being the main protagonist. ¡°Alice is likely a noble or is related to the nobility in some way.¡± ¡°What?!¡± Alex was surprised by what I said. "Ya, and ones powerful enough to have people sent after her.¡± ¡°What?!!¡± Alex shouted again, even more surprised than before. I gave him a minute to calm down. ¡°Let''s bring her back to your inn. You¡¯re filling me in on what exactly happened.¡± Chapter 31 Alex carried Alice back to his room at the inn where he was staying, and I was being vigilant again, seeing if anyone was following us. When we got there, I was surprised by how nice the inn Alex was staying at was. It looks well-kept and new compared to the inn I was staying at. He led me to his room, and I was again surprised by how big it was, especially the big bed he had. ¡°This place seems awfully expensive; you can afford a room like this?¡± Alex scratched his head and said. ¡°Wasn¡¯t my idea; it was the girls¡¯ idea. Apparently, they didn¡¯t want to sleep in separate beds anymore for some reason.¡± ¡°...¡± How am I not surprised and surprised at the same time? ¡°Anyways, you want to know how I met her.¡± ¡°Ya.¡± Alex told me that they came to Acton around a half-month ago after doing an escort quest to get here, with nothing really of note happening during the escort quest. They did a couple of quests for the next few days, in which they managed to reach the second stratum in less than a week. It led to people talking about them; with the rate they were going, they would become a top-ranking adventurer party in no time. However, like in Farsbarow, people would talk about how Alex is a no-good bastard and playboy who stole the hearts of all the beautiful girls in his party. Okay, going back on track, they met Alice two days ago. At first, they saw a skinny girl being chased, likely by the same people who were going after her. Alex and everyone else stopped them and drove them away, thinking they were just thugs who were going to sell Alice to human traffickers. Alice thanked them, but when they asked if she needed help going back to her home or her parents, she said she didn¡¯t know where they were, so they decided to take care of her in the meantime. However, Alice suddenly became sick the next day, likely due to her frail body, so Maria asked Alex, Wendy, and Chelsie to gather some rare herbs. Coincidentally, it was the same herb in the quest I saw on the quest board. ¡°So you were looking for the herb to cure Alice.¡± ¡°Ya.¡± ¡°And after that?¡± Alex looked like he was about to blush, and an ominous premonition filled my mind. ¡°I think I found a goddess.¡± He has this enrapture that looks like someone in love. Wait, he could mean someone else, right? Let''s hope so. ¡°What did that person look like?¡± He was eager to tell me. ¡°I can¡¯t say much about other girls because Chelsie, Maria, Wendy, and Lucia would get angry when I do, but since we¡¯re both guys, I guess I could tell.¡± Alex had a grin like he was bragging. ¡°I saw her bathing by accident; she had this majestic silver hair that matches the white moon behind her, snow white skin, and an aura of divinity like she was untouchable like I was seeing a goddess.¡± F***, God damnit, **** **** *** *** ***** ******* So he saw me. Of all people, why did it have to be Alex? ¡°Umm, Nyx, are you okay? You¡¯re staring off into space.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m fine.¡± Alex began talking about me when I was bathing, then talked about when I threw a knife when I noticed him, and when he tried to apologize for looking at me, I began throwing even more knives at him. As he was saying all that, a little part of me was starting to die inside each time he spoke. Where is the mind wipe drug from the intelligence division in my past life when you need it; it would be super useful just about now. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. As a little part of me was dying inside with each word he spoke, we heard Alice starting to wake up. Thank goodness, I don¡¯t want to hear any more of this. Alex ran up to her side and checked up on her. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± Alice looked at Alex, then became scared when her eyes landed on me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that is Nyx; he is a friend and helped me fight off the kidnappers.¡± Alex tried to reassure her, and shyly, Alice said. ¡°Th-thank you for saving me.¡± She looked a bit scared but seemed to trust him. ¡°So, what happens after you¡¯ve gotten the herb?¡± Alex didn¡¯t want to stop praising me when he was peeping at me, so I tried to make him focus on what happened after. ¡°Well, we got the herb to Maria, and she made the medicine in no time, and Alice recovered really fast, so we decided to take her out for dinner together, but we lost her in a crowd, which is when the kidnappers kidnapped her.¡± ¡°I see.¡± So that is what happened. ¡°How about everyone else? Where are they?¡± ¡°We split up to try and find her, and right about now they would be coming back.¡± Not too long after, the door opens to reveal Chelsie, Maria, Wendy, and Lucia coming in. They were all surprised to see me, Wendy and Lucia, especially. Wendy curled up into a ball while Lucia scowled and said. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± Alex told her that I helped with fighting off the kidnappers that kidnapped Alice, and she just humph. ¡°Are you going to tell them?¡± I look at Alex, wondering if he is going to fill the rest of them in on why she was kidnapped. ¡°I think you should tell me since you know more than me.¡± ¡°Fine then.¡± I turn and face them to tell them. ¡°Alice is in some ways related to the nobility, and those weren''t normal criminals but people who do the dirty work directly under nobles.¡± All of them were shocked when they heard what I said and turned to Alice. However, they weren''t too shocked. I ask Chelsie why they don¡¯t look too surprised. ¡°Alex helped everyone get out of a similar amount of trouble, so we were kind of used to this.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I forgot about that. Then I turn my head to Alice to ask a question. ¡°What family are you from?¡± She had a troubled look as if she didn''t want to say anything. ¡°You don¡¯t have to answer; I don¡¯t want to force you.¡± If she doesn¡¯t want to answer, it¡¯s fine, because I too have my reasons for not answering those types of questions. ¡°Oh well, since you all are here, could you guard Alice? I¡¯m going to look around the hotel to see if there are any places the kidnappers can use to kidnap Alice again.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll come as well.¡± Alex told me he would come, but since he made me go through hell, I want to get back at him. ¡°Don¡¯t need, you got to explain to them how you peeked at a naked girl bathing when you were gathering herbs for Maria and how you began describing her with great detail.¡± I turned my head to face Maria, Wendy, Lucia, and Chelsie and said ¡°Looks like you''re going to have another girl join in because he seemed really passionate describing her.¡± A little of me died saying it, but it was well worth it. I closed the door because the room went dead quiet, replaced with a murderous aura. Walking away from the room, I wanted to get out of the blast radius of the bomb that was about to explode because, not too long after, I heard a loud screaming of pain and something being thrown around the room, hopefully a dead body. I looked around the inn Alex and his party were staying at, and I was still amazed by how much better it was than the inn I was staying at. Then I exited the inn and walked around the surrounding block. When I got back to Alex¡¯s room, I knocked on the door; surprisingly, Lucia opened it for me, and even more surprisingly, she thanked me for telling me about the girl Alex was peaking at in the most tsundere way possible, which made me want to die even more thinking about it, reminding me that it was me. After I was done, I found several ways for potential kidnappers to sneak in to take Alice. I found that Alex was tied up with rope and gagged, looking like a corpse if nothing else. That is what you deserved, you pervert. Chelsie asked me how it went. ¡°I found several potential ways for the kidnapers to get Alice.¡± One of them is hopping between buildings and using the rooftop to get in. Another is hiding among the guests and getting a room. Once I listed the rest of my concerns and made a plan on who would watch over Alice on a constant basis, I walked over to Alex to get his thoughts on the matter. I nudged Alex with my foot because I wasn¡¯t too sure if he was a corpse or not. Unfortunately, he somehow is not dead and weakly groans in pain. Untying the gag over Alex, he said how could I betray him for outing him, I turned to face all the girls again. ¡°Hey everyone, he is talking about that girl again; I think you should reeducate him again.¡± Alex gave me a look of betrayal, but it hurt me a lot more than it was going to hurt him because another small part of me died saying it. Immediately, Chelsie had a smile but her eyes didn¡¯t; Lucia''s red hair glowed and stood on end almost to the point it looked like it was on fire; Maria had a pained look while taking out a knife; and Wendy had her fangs bared and eyes glinting, looking like she was about to kill her prey. As for Alice, she was cowering in a corner, feeling the murderous air in the room. I make my way out the door and look back. ¡°Nyx, please close the door.¡± Chelsie asked me to close the door, which I obliged because that smile gave me a shiver, just like those two yandere weirdos in my past life. My sight glanced at Alice as I closed the door, looking at me to take her with me. I felt guilty, but nope, not my problem. I definitely did not cause this situation; it was Alex¡¯s fault for bringing it up. Chapter 32 The next day, I came back to Alex¡¯s room. I knocked on the door four times, like what we discussed yesterday, as a countermeasure for them to know that it was me instead of someone else. The door opened slightly, and once Chelsie saw who I was, she opened the door to let me in. ¡°Good morning; has anything of note happened?¡± I asked Chelsie if anything had happened because she was the one who was guarding Alice for the night while everyone slept. We made a plan to determine who would guard Alice on a 24/7 basis and let the others be free. Today I will be joining Alex¡¯s party. I have nothing better to do because it would take a few days for Mila to finish making the prototype I had drawn up. I¡¯m going with just Alex, Wendy, and Lucia today because Maria is next on watch with Chelsie sleeping and as backup, since Maria can¡¯t fight that much. ¡°Wait what?!¡± Alex and Wendy shouted at the same time when I said I was going to join them, looking like they were scared of something. Are they afraid of going inside the dungeon? No, they made massive progress in the dungeon, so it¡¯s not that. Either way, I am more excited to see how much they would improve and maybe a sparring match after we finish our quest for today. Lucia, wondering why Alex and Wendy were shivering at me, said. ¡°What¡¯s the big deal?¡± Then she began dragging them out of the room. I followed suit, and we went on our way to the adventurer guild. Strangely, Alex and Wendy were meekly walking behind me, and Lucia had to drag them to keep up like they didn¡¯t want to go for some reason. At the adventurer guild, I entered the adventurer guild first because I didn¡¯t want to be associated with Alex¡¯s party or get attention placed on me. They had made a big entrance despite it being unintentional; a lot of people were talking about them, and I didn¡¯t want to stand out, so I entered first. A moment or two later they came in, and all eyes were on them. There was a short silence, and people immediately began muttering about them. ¡°Is that them?¡± ¡°Ya, it¡¯s them.¡± ¡°That bastard.¡± ¡°Not fair; why does he get all the girls to himself?¡± Being immune to the glares coming his way, Alex made his way to the counter to enter into the same quest as me. However, some of the people looking at him were looking at Lucia and Wendy. Most of them were guys gazing at their bodies, and some female adventurers looked at them with admiration. Those gazes didn¡¯t really bother them too much except for one or two gazes from some female adventurers who were looking at Alex with lustful eyes. Lucia gave them a glare that could kill a person, and Wendy growled to make sure they backed off of Alex. Once we both entered our quests and were inside the dungeon, for some reason Alex and Wendy suddenly became enthusiastic, and they were adamant that I didn¡¯t fight because, in their words, they wanted to show off how much stronger they had gotten. I stayed in the back with Lucia, which got boring very quickly because Lucia, being a tsundere, still hates me for some reason and gave me the silent treatment, so she wasn¡¯t a really good conversation partner. However, she wasn¡¯t yelling at me anymore or getting angry, which kind of evens out. Eventually, we were on the 10th floor, and I asked them if they wanted to fight the boss or use a bypass ring instead. To my surprise, Lucia wants to go in and fight it. ¡°I don¡¯t think that''s a good idea.¡± Alex said it to Lucia fearfully, glancing at me repeatedly as he said it. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Jeezus, what''s wrong with you today? You¡¯ve been acting weird, and you too, Wendy.¡± Lucia huffs and opens the door to the boss room. ¡°I haven¡¯t done anything, and there is nothing to worry about, so let''s go already.¡± Going in, the Latrodec spider spawned in like the countless times I fought it. As it was spawning in, Lucia walked up in front of the group, and her hair began to glow a fiery red. Then she raised her right hand to begin casting a spell, making a small ball of fire appear and grow to about one meter in size. Once the Latrodec spider was done spawning, Lucia fired off her spell at the Latrodec spider, causing a big explosion and killing the Latrodec spider in one hit. It was honestly very anticlimactic, but seeing how powerful Lucia¡¯s spell was, I stared at Lucia back, and the slightest glimpse of a grin started to appear. For some reason, Alex and Wendy were holding each other, and I could hear their teeth chattering. Were they afraid of the explosion caused by Lucia''s spell, probably not because it became even worse when my eyes landed on them. With a bright and merry voice, like all her anger and stress were gone, Lucia said. ¡°Come on, let''s go.¡± Picking up the drops, Lucia went to the door to the second stratum. I followed Lucia to the next floor; I could hear or it was just my imagination that Alex and Wendy said. ¡°Thank god.¡± ¡°She¡¯s scary.¡± As we made our way down in the second stratum, Alex and Wendy seemed to be straining themselves fighting off the monsters attacking us, especially with the monsters being stronger each floor we go down. They were fighting these plant-like monsters called Corpse Flowers, which are giant flowers around the size of a person. They attack with these tentacle-like vines used to strangle their prey, so fighting them tends to be quite the hassle. From reading the Dradevow dungeon book, some monsters have much higher drop rates for parts than others, and the Corpse Flower is one of them. They drop their flower petals on occasion, which have a restorative effect if you consume them or put them on a wound, equivalent to a low-grade healing potion. Additionally, these petals are one of the ways to upgrade your low-grade healing potion to a mid-grade healing potion if you give it to an alchemist. "Hey, are you sure you don¡¯t want me to step in?¡± Panting heavily, they both shouted at the same time no and proceeded to fight even harder than before. Once we were done collecting the medium magical shards for the quest, Alex and Wendy were on the ground, arms spread out, sweating all over in complete exhaustion. I told them they did a great job and that I would be fighting so they could take it easy on the way up because they looked exhausted. Plus, I really want to fight something because I just watch them all day. However, when I said I would be fighting, they immediately got right back up and said. ¡°What? I¡¯m not tired. We can fight, right, Wendy?¡± ¡°Ya Ya Ya Ya, that that was just a break.¡± Disappointed that I wasn¡¯t able to fight, I sulked a bit in my mind as we went up. As we were going to the guild, I was getting the feeling that we were being watched. I look at Alex, Wendy, and Lucia, and they don¡¯t seem to get the feeling of being watched, probably because they are just tired, causing them to have their guard down. I approached them and asked if they felt like they were being watched. ¡°What do you think, Wendy? Can you find him?¡± ¡°No, there are too many people.¡± ¡°Okay, why don¡¯t we finish our quest to make sure they don¡¯t know that we notice them, then we walk to someplace more secluded with fewer people to see if anyone is tailing us.¡± They all nodded and followed through with the instructions I gave them. We exchange our shards to complete our quest, then regroup and walk to a place with fewer people. ¡°Do you recognize anyone following us?¡± I whispered to them, and Wendy said she smelled the scent of someone following us and had already spotted them. I sighed as Wendy described the person because I thought it was just my imagination, but somebody was following us. "Okay, bye; see you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Ya, see you tomorrow, Nyx.¡± I fake a goodbye with Alex and proceed to walk in a separate direction from Alex¡¯s party. In reality, I began tailing the person tailing us. It was a plain-looking guy with brown hair and blue eyes, wearing normal commoner clothes. The guy followed Alex, Wendy, and Lucia without noticing me. They led the guy into the bad part of the city, the same place the kidnappers ran in an attempt to shake us off. The overall lack of people and maze-like alleys were a good place to capture someone without causing too much of a disturbance. As for me, I manage to get on top of a roof, looking down at the person tailing us. I was waiting for an opportunity to jump and land on him so that we could capture him. It didn¡¯t take too long for the opportunity to come, in which I jumped down from a one-story house. I landed on his back to cushion the fall, causing him to fall face-first onto the cold hard ground. He was knocked out, and Alex helped me drag him to an alley so that nobody would see us. Chapter 33 Everyone was looking at me, wondering what I was going to do to him, which I interrogated him.¡± ¡°How are you going to do that? He is unconscious.¡± ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem, Alex.¡± I lifted my right foot off the ground and moved it back. Then, as hard as I could, I kicked him in the groin. Alex looked squirmish and had placed his hand on his private part. He looked at me like how I could just do that to another guy. Since I¡¯m not a guy, I have no qualms about doing it. His eyes shot wide open, and he began clutching his crotch in pain. Before he could do anything, I took out my sword and pointed it at his neck so he knew who was in control of the situation. I threatened him that if he moved, I would kill him. ¡°So, who are you?¡± The guy had his back to a wall, looking afraid, and was remaining silent. His eyes were darting all over the place, looking at his surroundings, and finally landed back at me. ¡°Then are you the only one following us?¡± Again, he remains silent. I took my eyes off him and told Alex and everyone else to tell. ¡°Go run to Alice; they might be going after her right now.¡± Seeing the opportunity as I wasn¡¯t looking, the guy took out his dagger to try and attack me. I knocked away his dagger without looking at him and stabbed the hand holding the dagger, causing him to let go of the dagger and yell in even more pain. Then I bash the butt end of my sword at his head to knock him back. I intentionally let that happen to reinforce the fact that I was in control and that he was cornered. ¡°Better that you leave; this can get ugly.¡± Alex, Wendy, and Lucia nodded and began running back to check on Alice. When they left, I said to the would-be kidnapper. ¡°Don¡¯t try that again, and don¡¯t make me repeat myself; who are you?¡± This time he answered, but he said he refused as he was holding his hand in pain. ¡°Guess I have to figure it out myself. Let''s see, your so-called master didn¡¯t bother to give you better training with how pathetic you are. I guess they are either cheap or just poor for a mutt like you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare badmouth, my master!¡± He shouted in anger as I provoked him. So, he is really loyal to his master then. ¡°What? Did he pick a piece of trash off the streets?¡± He looks distraught as I continue to provoke him. ¡°Compared to my family''s black knights, you''re just pathetic. However, it does narrow down the list of families you might be from.¡± Obviously, he was surprised when I mentioned black knights because those things are closely held secrets of every family who has them. Knowing them would require someone to be directly involved with the internal affairs of the family. By telling him that I know about their family¡¯s black knights, it means that he is dealing with a family much more powerful than them and that I¡¯m in a family that they do not want to mess with. Additionally, as I spoke to him, I changed how I used to speak, that of a high-born noble. All these factors caused him to gulp in fear, like seeing me as someone far above him who could squash him and his master like bugs. Good. Seeing him agitated, it was good he was like that because he is not thinking straight and is vulnerable right now. ¡°Maybe you''re from the Sulmon, Grennell, Seaford, Eastburn, Stannoll, Lourkimb, Airkirn, Seandring, or maybe...¡± As a noble being born in high society, I was taught to read the slightest signs of emotions, and he is like an open book right now because the next name I said made a reaction. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°So, you¡¯re from the Palning family then.¡± He was really surprised, almost completely losing his composure when I mentioned that name. ¡°How about this, why don¡¯t I spare your life if you tell me the name of your master because he has made an enemy of me, but you¡¯re just a lowly pitiful mutt who I have no qualms with.¡± He decided to remain silent, and when I tried to threaten him some more times, he still kept his lips shut. I doubt I can get any more from him because he is tight-lipped about it and I don¡¯t have anything else I can really use against him. Thinking of what I would do next, should I catch up with Alex? No, I trust that they got it covered. Then I know more about who I am dealing with; I should follow him to see where his base is. ¡°Fine, have it your way. It¡¯s more enjoyable to toy with you; here is a treat.¡± I stabbed him in his right thigh, looking at him with my cold, emotionless eyes. Then I began walking away. ¡°I better get going now. Enjoy your fun while it lasts.¡± As I was walking off, I heard him mutter. ¡°Just who are you? You¡¯re a monster.¡± Chelsie¡¯s and Maria¡¯s perspective Maria was looking out the window of their room, trying to chat with Alice as Chelsie was sleeping. ¡°So do you have any hobbies, Alice?¡± ¡°No, I never had the time to have them.¡± "Oh, I see. Is it related to the thing you don¡¯t want to talk about? It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to.¡± Having a guilty expression, Alice said. ¡°Sorry, I am putting you in a lot of danger.¡± ¡°No problems; Alex usually gets himself in these types of situations, especially for all of us. We¡¯ll figure something out.¡± Alice was a bit confused hearing what Maria had said and asked what she meant. Maria, with a smile to reassure Alice, said. ¡°Let''s see, Alex, help everyone in the party out of a tough spot.¡± Showing some curiosity, Alice asks about her story. ¡°Tough spot?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that interesting compared to the others. When I first came to Farsbarow, I joined a party, but they weren¡¯t as friendly as they seemed. I was not good at fighting, but I found out I had a talent for alchemy. Due to that, I was forced into making potions for them nonstop.¡± ¡°That¡¯s horrible.¡± ¡°Yes, but Alex and Chelsie managed to help me get out of that party and reported them to the adventurer guild.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Hearing Maria''s story of how Alex saved her, Alice began contemplating something in her mind and said. ¡°I guess I could tell a bit about myself. My family is having a dispute, if you can call it mildly.¡± ¡°Is it because you''re from nobility?¡± Nodding yes, Alice preceded to say. ¡°The head of my family and the successor are dead, making the next successor unclear.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Then are the people who kidnap you from your family?¡± ¡°No, my family doesn¡¯t have those types of people, or at least not that I¡¯m aware of.¡± Continuing on with telling her story, Alice explained how she was passing by Acton in a carriage but was attacked by people wearing all black. They took out all her guards as they sacrificed themselves to protect her. Alice clutched her hand tight to the point her knuckles turned white, feeling anger and helplessness for the people who lost their lives for her. ¡°So, what are you planning to do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to try to go back home, then find out who is targeting me.¡± As Alice was saying that, there was a knock on the door. ¡°Room service.¡± Maria thought it was strange that room service was knocking and more worryingly that they did not call for it. Maria told the person to wait a minute and walk up to the bed to wake Chelsie. ¡°Chelsie, I think there is something wrong.¡± Hearing what Maria had said, Chelsie''s eyes shot wide open and she was on alert. ¡°I think it¡¯s the kidnappers again, claiming to be room service.¡± ¡°I see. Alice, as we planned.¡± Following the plan, they made sure if the kidnappers were coming for Alice, Chelsie equipped her bow and quiver, then drew out her knife. Maria opened the window and took out a rope. If it was the kidnapper, Maria would throw down the rope so they could repel out the window and run for it toward the adventurer guild. Seeing Maria ready with the rope and Alice hiding under the bed, Chelsie opens the door while holding her knife behind her. Chelsie told the room service person that they hadn¡¯t ordered anything and that it was the wrong room; however, the guy was persistent in wanting to go in, saying it was the right room. Chelsie didn¡¯t recognize the guy from any of the staff members, and when she tried to close the door, the guy put his foot between the door to stop her. At that point, Chelsie knew that this guy was one of the kidnappers and struck with the knife she was hiding behind her back to get the first strike. However, the kidnapper uses his left arm to guard against the attack, leaving it lodged in his arm, and forcefully kicks open the door. Seeing that he was a kidnapper, Maria threw down the rope to the street, and Alice roped down with Maria following suit. Before Chelsie could go down, she made sure that he couldn¡¯t follow them, so she shot an arrow at his leg. Chapter 34 Seeing people staring at them as Chelsie roped down, Maria held Alice''s hand and began running with Chelsie following. Their plan is to go to the adventurer guild because the city guard can¡¯t do much against the people after Alice, while the adventurer guild has a lot of highly armed and trained people, which would deter them from following inside. The route toward the adventurer guild is about a 30-minute walk, so they should make it in 15 minutes if they run. More people, who were in black robes, began following them; around 5 people total were going to kidnap Alice. Seeing they were running after them, Chelsie told Maria and Alice to take the alley to their right because it was a shortcut, cutting it down to 10 minutes, and so she could shoot them with her bow without risking hitting a bystander as she was running. Chelsie fired off 2 arrows at once, hitting one of them in the shoulder and the other in the chest. Seeing a pile of crates, Chelsie knocked them over to slow them down. Catching up to Maria and Alice, Maria directed where they were going. However, Maria suddenly stopped when she made a turn. Seeing that Maria and Alice suddenly stopped, Chelsie saw two more kidnappers boxing them off. ¡°Maria!¡± Chelsie shouted at Maria, which she knew what to do, while she shot arrows down the alley, stopping the kidnappers behind them from approaching them as they were taking whatever cover they could. Maria took out a white spherical ball around the size of her palm; she told Alice to cover her eyes, nose, and mouth. It was a smoke bomb, and she threw it toward the two kidnappers who were blocking their way; it hit the ground and exploded into a big powdery plume of white smoke. The 2 people in black in front of them started coughing, and then Chelsie ran past Maria and Alice, taking out two arrows from her quiver and stabbing them into the legs of the 2 kidnappers in front of them and in their way. At the same time, Maria turned around to throw another smoke bomb at the kidnappers chasing behind them. They ran, and eventually, they were out of the alleyway and were now in a crowd. Blending into the crowd, they lost them, causing the kidnappers to lose track of them. After a few minutes of walking, they reach the adventurer guild. Maria and Chelsie started looking for someone; they were looking for Iris, someone Nyx had told them about, and someone who could help them in addition to knowing about their situation. Once they found her at one of the reception counters, they waited in line so they could talk to her. ¡°Hi, how can I help you today?¡± Greeting Chelsie, Maria, and Alice, Chelsie said. ¡°You¡¯re Iris, right?¡± ¡°Yes, is there a problem?¡± ¡°Ya, I presume Dr. Victor informed you. We¡¯re from the Arcana adventuring party; Alex is our leader.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Having a serious face, Iris tells them to follow her and apologizes to the adventurers waiting in her line. Then she leads Chelsie, Maria, and Alice toward a room upstairs. ¡°You must be Alice; it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± Iris spoke and bowed really politely as she closed the door because Alice was a noble. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you. I thank you for helping us.¡± Alice spoke in a very ladylike tone and was curtsy to introduce herself. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°If it¡¯s not too much trouble, could I ask what the name of your family is?¡± Giving a deep sigh, Alice said. ¡°I guess I don¡¯t really have a choice then. I¡¯m from the Lunslur household; specifically, I¡¯m the 5th in line for the head of the family.¡± Hearing what Alice''s family was, Iris brought up what she knew in her memory, causing her to look troubled, but she masked it away quickly since she was in front of a noble. ¡°I see, so one of your family members is trying to assassinate you.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, that is highly likely.¡± Alice began filling everyone in on how the head of the household and successor was dead, leading to the next head being unclear and causing candidates to fight about who would be the successor in the power vacuum left behind. One candidate had already died, and Alice''s older half-sister was missing. As Alice was informing everyone about her situation, Alex entered the room, followed by Wendy and Lucia. ¡°Thank God you¡¯re safe.¡± Feeling relieved that no one was hurt, Alex sat on one of the couches, showing his complete exhaustion. Maria, seeing that Nyx wasn¡¯t with them, asked where Nyx was. Alex told them about the person who was tailing them and how they caught the guy, then Nyx told them to leave that guy to him and to check up on Alice just in case she was attacked and needed some backup. Fortunately, Maria and Chelsie were able to get Alice to safety without his help. ¡°Nyx should be catching up to us soon, but what are we going to do after this? We can¡¯t really go back to our inn since they already know where we''re staying. Plus, staying at the adventurer guild is not a permanent solution. I guess the only way out of this is to confront them directly.¡± Hearing the plan, everyone nodded their heads to it, except for Alice and Iris. ¡°That seems too dangerous; I don¡¯t want you all to risk your lives because of me.¡± Alice said it, showing her concern that they were willing to risk their lives for her even though they just met a few days ago. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much; we will get through this together; I can guarantee that.¡± Alex smirked, saying that, making Alice blush seeing how confident he was. However, the girls, Chelsie, Maria, Wendy, and Lucia, seeing Alice blush, caused the room to be filled with a sudden murderous cold aura. It made Alex back begin to sweat; additionally, Iris and Alice, who weren¡¯t even the target of their ire, felt the deep-seated anger and were beginning to sweat. Alex thought to himself. Oh god, I¡¯m dead. I¡¯m dead. Did I say something wrong? Why are they staring at me like that again? Someone please save me; I don¡¯t want to get beat up again. Just before the girls were about to beat Alex up, the door opened to reveal Nyx. Nyx perspective After stabbing the guy who was tailing us in the leg, I climbed up another roof and began watching him. He used a healing potion for his injured leg and hand. Then he began walking, I''ll be it unsteadily with the blood loss, and he started running as fast as he could. I follow him, hoping he will lead me to their base and where their master might be so I could end this farce. Jumping my way between buildings, I followed him for around thirty minutes, and he led me to the building I¡¯m presuming is their base because he stopped running and was in front of a normal-looking house, knocking on the door in a specific rhythm. I climbed down the building. I was watching him so I could spy on him better and so I could take down the master if he was there. Maybe I could just take their master hostage and threaten them to stop targeting Alice once and for all; after all, their training is a complete joke. He was let in, and I began looking around for a window to hear their conversation. ¡°What happened to you?¡± ¡°I was attacked by the people I was spying on.¡± ¡°How did you fail that?¡± The guy he was talking to showed disbelief that the kids he was following noticed him in addition to attacking him. Showing some fear in his voice, he explained. ¡°The kid with black hair and in the white fur cloak is a monster. I doubt that kid is even a kid; he did this to me in that cold expressionless face of his.¡± He showed him the blood that covered his clothes from me stabbing him, then he continued telling him how scary I was as I was interrogating him. I kind of pat myself on the back for doing a good job of scaring him. Eventually, the guy he was describing how scary I was to him shook his shoulder to get him to stop, which he came back to his senses somewhat. ¡°There is more; that kid somehow knows about people like us; even more, he even figured out what family we belong to.¡± The guy he was informing was showing disbelief at how unbelievable it was. However, what he said made him understand who they were dealing with. ¡°That kid is a noble; I don¡¯t know why he is with that adventuring party, but he is from a very powerful family. We must inform our master immediately, or else we¡¯ll all be killed.¡± Seeing the seriousness of the situation, the guy he was talking to had a serious face and said he would try to bring their master here tomorrow to explain what was happening. Hearing that their master is coming in tomorrow, I guess that is all I need, and I should inform everyone else about it. Since they sent people after Alice, I guess I should go to the adventurer guild because I trust that Maria¡¯s and Chelsie¡¯s to keep Alice safe. Chapter 35 As I entered the adventurer guild after going to the inn Alex was staying at to see if Alice was attacked, I came here running because she was in fact attacked. I asked one of the guild receptionists where she was. Fortunately, she made it here safely, and everyone was not harmed as well. When I was in front of the door the receptionist told me about, there was an aura of blood lust seeping out of the room. Did Alex get everyone angry again? If he did, I better go inside to see the carnage because I was still sore from yesterday when he described me bathing in excruciating detail. I mean, as nobles, our bodies grow up way faster than commoners, and in combination with being told that I look a lot more mature for my age, I look older than I was, closer to Alex¡¯s age. But still, why does he have to fall for me? Opening the door, I sadly found out that I just stopped him from getting beat up by the girls. Alex looked at me like I was his savior and jumped to hug me while crying tears of relief. Instinctively caused by my training in my past life and a massive feeling of revulsion, I knee him in the chin midair. Then, with the momentum of his jumping at me to hug me, I grabbed the scruff of his shirt and redirected him out the door to throw him out, causing him to hit the wall face-first. We all look at him, pitifully lying on the ground, knocked out. I closed the door, leaving him out. ¡°You can fill him in, right, Chelsie?¡± Chelsie said ya, and I asked what they were talking about. ¡°I was telling them how I got myself into this predicament.¡± I was surprised when Alice said it because I thought she wanted to keep it a secret. I guess she trusts them enough to say so. ¡°I see, I¡¯m guessing you''re from the Palning family then?¡± Alice looks confused when mentioning the Palning family, which also confused me because isn¡¯t the Palning family going after her? ¡°No, what do you mean by the Palning family?¡± ¡°The people who are kidnapping you are black knights from the Palning family.¡± Alice still looks confused, then she suddenly places her hand on her chin and begins thinking about something deeply. ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± Looks like she figured something out. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not from the Palning family but the Lunslur family, specifically the 5th in line to become the next head. I think my older half-brother Claudius, who is 3rd in line, is using the Palning family¡¯s black knights to kill me.¡± Hearing the name Claudius rang some bells. Isn¡¯t he the guy who made a complete fool of himself in a certain royal ball with how arrogant and ignorant he is by insulting a member of royalty, specifically the first Prince Arthur, to their face without even knowing that it was them they were speaking to? Due to that, he never really showed his face in high society again after that incident. He was lucky that the first prince was known to be forgiving and chose not to execute him. ¡°Why would they work for a complete idiot?¡± Alice was surprised that I knew about her older half-brother. ¡°That is what I¡¯m trying to figure out, but I have seen some letters going to and coming from an unknown individual in that family.¡± ¡°I see, that is certainly interesting.¡± Nodding, Alice said. ¡°If we only knew who was in charge, then it would all make sense.¡± Hearing that, I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem.¡± I turn and face Wendy and Lucia. ¡°Remember the person who was tailing us; I follow him back to his base, and their boss is coming there tomorrow.¡± Everyone was surprised when I said I found their base, especially Alice. ¡°We can fight them tomorrow and end it.¡± ¡°Guess we better start making a plan.¡± ¡°I agree, Chelsie.¡± We came together to come up with a plan, which Alice asked to join in, looking like it was personal. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem with it if you remain somewhere safe until we secure the building.¡± We plan to capture the person responsible for all this by knocking out and tying up everyone inside, including their master. Then we let the city guards in to arrest them because the city guards probably already knew about the recent assassination attempt on Alice, who was passing by on a carriage, so a group of highly trained individuals who just showed up would be the first suspects in the investigation. I turned to face Iris, who remained silent as we discussed our plan to ask her. ¡°Could you limit the number of city guards in the area by the house we¡¯re going to be attacking?¡± We don¡¯t want the city guards to go in because, despite the black knights in the building not having the best training, they could still take out a lot of them and let the boss escape. Plus, Alice wanted to see their boss face to face. ¡°I might have pulled some strings with the guild master, but I can do it.¡± ¡°Thank you; I guess we owe you one.¡± Then I turn to Maria to ask her to make some things with her alchemy. which she said it shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem. ¡°Okay, let''s rest and leave an hour before the sun rises.¡± Iris led us to some rooms with beds, which were for the guild staff who had to work late nights because of how busy they were with paperwork. Maria went to the guild¡¯s alchemy room to start making the things I asked her to make while Chelsie went out to buy some supplies. Everyone else went to bed till Iris woke us up when it was about time for us to leave. When Alex woke up after I had knocked him out, he complained that we left him out of the hallway. I threatened to do it again if he didn¡¯t shut up. We told him about our plan to raid the hideout of the people going after Alice. Everyone gathers, and I lead everyone toward the base they are hiding in. When we were near it, I found a building that would give us a good vantage point of the house we were attacking. We climb up it without anybody seeing us by using one of the back alleys. Then we iron out our plan to approach the house without their master making a run for it. There were two ways someone could leave, the front and back doors. However, we can¡¯t be sure there might be a hidden passageway we don¡¯t know about. After finalizing our plan to sneak in and take out all the guards, we waited for their master, whoever they were, to come. During that time, I tried to talk to Lucia, who was surprisingly talkative. ¡°Your fire magic was quite impressive when you fought the 10th-floor boss.¡± ¡°Of course, I could take that thing down easily.¡± Lucia put her hands on her hip and puffed out her chest, showing pride in her magic. ¡°You want to spar sometime later after we''re done with this? I never fought a magic user before.¡± With a smirk, Lucia said yes to our sparring match. Alex looks at her like she just made a choice that she would definitely regret for the rest of her life for some reason, or that I¡¯m seeing things. ¡°Can¡¯t wait for that; it¡¯s going to be an interesting fight.¡± We continued talking till a carriage arrived in front of the building we were watching. There was a guy wearing aristocratic clothing coming out of the carriage and going inside the house. Chelsie readied her bow to cover the front while Lucia moved to the building to cover the back so they could cut off his escape. Before we go down, I wanted to make sure of something. Untying my short sword from my belt, I gave it to Alice. ¡°Hear, you might not need it, but better be safe than sorry. I¡¯m guessing you know how to use a sword, right?¡± "Yes, and thank you.¡± After handing my short sword to Alice, Alex, Wendy, and I move toward the building to start taking out the guards. And Maria and Alice remain with Chelsie so they can make sure Alice stays safe. We climb up on an open window on the second floor. Once we were in, I made the first move. There were 3 people on the second floor; I threw 2 spikes at 2 of them. The spikes hit the back of their shoulders; they tried drawing out their sword, but due to hitting them in the shoulder, their arms suddenly were paralyzed, and then the rest of their bodies suddenly collapsed. The 2 spikes I threw were laced with a combination of a fast-acting paralyze potion and a strong sleeping potion. At the same time, I immediately jumped on the third person, putting him in a chokehold and covering his mouth so he wouldn¡¯t make any noise. Alex and Wendy were surprised by how fast I worked, mostly due to the fact that I had learned how to do this when I was trained to become a named pilot in my past life. Each of us carries the bodies of the people I knock out to somewhere to hide them with rope tying their hands and feet and some cloth to gag them if they wake up. Then we checked all the rooms on the second floor except for one, which was the room that had their master in it. Fortunately, there wasn¡¯t anyone inside them, just empty beds. We heard people talking in the room that had their master in; for some reason, that voice sounded oddly familiar. I whispered to Alex and Wendy to go downstairs to take care of the rest of the people inside while I listened to what they were talking about. ¡°How the hell have you not captured her already?¡± He sounds angry and upset for some reason; again, that voice sounds very familiar. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, young master; however, we have to stop going after Lady Alice, or else we may deal with another more powerful organization.¡± ¡°Again with that? Eude, How do you know that Brat is telling the truth?¡± ¡°One of my men, who was tailing on the party protecting Lady Alice, was noticed and caught. There was a black-haired boy at that party who was from a family that we should not make enemies of.¡± Snorting, the master said. ¡°You expect me to believe that?¡± There was a short silence, and I presume the person talking to their master was trying to figure out how to explain it to him. ¡°But young master, that black hair child already knows about organizations and groups like us, and he has already figured out which family we are from.¡± ¡°Does not matter; I doubt the kid is even someone special; he is a kid after all; what can a brat do? After all, I¡¯m much more interested in making that girl, Alice, into my slave.¡± Saying in a really disgusting and perverted tone, I decided that I had enough listening and decided to kick open the door. Alex and Wendy should be done knocking out all the people downstairs, so I should kick open the door now. However, as I was about to kick open the door, there was a loud noise coming downstairs and someone yelling. Chapter 36 Alex¡¯s Perspective As Alex and Wendy were silently making their way downstairs, there were 2 people with their backs behind them, making it the perfect opportunity to grab them from behind and knock them out. Putting them in a chokehold and knocking them out, they quickly tie them up and gag them. Alex saw a staircase down to a basement. Quietly, Alex said to Wendy. ¡°Not what we plan, but I¡¯m going to go down; you do the rest for this floor.¡± Nodding yes, they split up. Wendy moves to clear the rest of the first floor, and Alex goes down to the basement. The stairs were creaking despite Alex¡¯s best attempt not to make too much noise. When Alex was down, he saw a decent amount of weapons and armor stored in racks downstairs. Going further into the basement, Alex was really shocked when he discovered there were injured people tied up. ¡°Hey, are you all right?¡± The people who noticed Alex was trying to speak to him, but due to the gag they had, they weren¡¯t able to speak; they just gargled some noise desperately trying to tell him something. As Alex tried to approach them to take the gag out, he felt that somebody was behind him. At the very last second, he blocked a sword strike from someone attacking him. So that was what they were telling him. Alex thought to himself as he desperately tried to get the upper hand. They exchange several sword swings, with Alex pushed back several times, causing boxes and barrels to fall over. Then the kidnapper shouts out loud that there are intruders in the building. Nyx perspective Hearing the noise, I wonder what is happening downstairs; either way, I¡¯m kicking open the door. Kicking the door open, and to my surprise, the young master, the Eudo guy was talking to, was somebody I recognized. It was that noble douchebag who was berating Kinwall in his shop, Yulis Palning. Seeing that douchebag made me surprised for the minuscules of moments, giving Eudo time to draw his sword from its sheath and swing at me with a quick draw. I arched my back so I could get out of the way of his quick draw. Then I counter by swinging my sword at him. However, to my surprise, he blocks my sword with his metal arm guard and kicks me in the stomach, knocking me away. He¡¯s good; I was caught off guard, expecting him to be a pushover like the others, but he is surprisingly more skilled than the others. I smirk, thinking he would be a challenge; however, I also click my tongue when he tells his master to run. Yulis began running like a scared coward, and I tried to stop him but was stopped by Eude, who got in the way. I¡¯m going to have to do something drastic to end this fast if I want to catch him. Swinging my sword at him, we exchange swings where I dodge and deflect his swings and thrusts while he does the same. I jumped on the desk to dodge one thrust of his sword; the room made it cramp to move around, which made it hard to end this fight quickly. Swinging his sword again, it was a feint to draw me in, but I didn¡¯t fall for it, so I jumped down from the desk to reposition myself behind the desk so I could get some room. Suddenly a bright light was coming from the window that had a view of the backyard, which I¡¯m guessing Lucia was stopping that noble douchebag from escaping by casting a firewall. Either way, I still got to catch him. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Seeing what was going on out the window, he took his eyes off me for the slightest of moments, so taking out some spikes, I threw them all at him. However, he knocks all of them away with a single swing of his sword. My grin grew bigger seeing he could do something like that, but I reminded myself not to get too happy and to finish it as quickly as possible. I moved to the right side of the room as he took another swing at me, and then I took out some more spikes to throw at him. Again, he knocked them away with a single swing, which was what I wanted because it was time to do something drastic. I ran up to him to get close to him, and I swung my sword. He swung down his sword in response, but I didn¡¯t intend to swing at him; instead, I threw my sword at him with my right hand. I took the hit with his sword as he swung it down at me; fortunately, my cloak, which was made out of the dire wolf fur, stopped his sword from cutting me, but I did feel the impact of it on my right shoulder. That was going to leave a painful mark after this; however, it did make the perfect opening because I took my sheath with my left hand and a throwing knife on my right hand. I hit his head with the sheath and stabbed his right thigh with my knife, which was laced with the same paralyze and sleeping potion as my spikes, just after he swung his sword down. I was knocked to the ground while he fell to the ground on his side. We both try to get up; it hurts a lot to get up, but I force myself to get up first. I swung at him again, and with the fast-acting paralyzing and sleeping potions starting to kick in, I knocked him out for good. Not having the time to tie him up, I decided to stab him in the other leg to make sure he didn¡¯t run away. I¡¯m going through all this trouble because I didn¡¯t want to kill anyone and gather them as evidence for the guards. Running out the door and going downstairs, I saw that Wendy was fighting two of the Palning family''s black knights. I threw my spikes at them with just my left arm because my right arm just took the blunt force of a sword swing, so I couldn¡¯t use my right arm that much. It gave an opening to knock those two out with her sheath sword. After they were knocked out, I asked her. ¡°Did you see their master running past by?¡± ¡°Yes, he ran out the back door with 2 other people.¡± ¡°We better go; where is Alex?¡± As I said that, Alex ran up from a staircase; I¡¯m guessing the basement. He looked like he fought someone, but there was no time to worry about that. ¡°We better start catching up.¡± Alice perspective As Alice, Chelsie, and Maria were looking over the building. She hoped Nyx¡¯s plan was successful; however, she was getting the feeling that something was wrong. Her fears are realized when she sees a person in aristocratic clothing and two people wearing all black running out the back door, and then a big fiery wall appears from the backyard in the alleyway. Alice immediately recognized that it was Yulis Palning, and she realized it was him who sent those people after and killed her guards. The reason she immediately recognized him was that she had encountered him in the past, and it did not go well because she had found him to be a filthy, perverted person, from whom she could get the feeling that she was being looked down upon due to Alice not having any magical powers. In Alice''s mind, it was he who killed all her guards who had given up their lives to protect her, so anger was nowhere near enough to describe her feelings right now. Alice hoped that the wall of fire would burn him to a crisp. However, Yulis¡¯s blonde hair, which is closer to yellow, started to glow green as he cut the wall of fire in half with a sloppily made wind spell, which was a blade of wind infused with his green mana. Looking at what was going on, Alice told Chelsie and Maria. ¡°We got to go down there; they will escape.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯m coming.¡± Chelsie, saying yes to Alice''s request, they jumped down as fast as they could and chased after Yulis. As they were going down, Lucia¡¯s spell, which had been cut in half, caused her to be surprised. Lucia prided herself on her magic, but this was the first time she had fought another mage, especially a noble, who, in general, has much more mana than a commoner mage. Lucia looked irritated by how her spell was cut in half, even more so when she saw how sloppy the spell he cast, so she prepared another spell, this time making it more powerful than before and with the intent to harm him. Casting a fireball spell, she made a ball of fire, roughly one meter in size. Seeing the big ball of fire, Yulis cast several wind blades and fired them at Lucia, stopping her from casting her spell. Yulis and the two of the Palning family¡¯s black knights began running. However, behind them on their tail was Chelsie, who shot off an arrow in an attempt to stop them. It hit one of the men in black in the shoulder, who acted as a shield for Yulis, causing him to slow down and fall to the ground due to it being dipped in the same paralysis and sleeping potion Nyx was using. They were about to turn a corner, but Alice came running from that corner and tackled Yulis to the ground, surprising him. Seeing Alice tackle Yulis with deep rage shown on her face, Chelsie decided to shoot the other person in black and take care of him for Alice, so they tried to capture that bastard Yulis. Chapter 37 Running out of the back of the house to chase after that disgusting bastard and douchebag Yulis, I found out I didn¡¯t need to because Alice tackled Yulis to the ground and was using the short sword I gave her to hold the blade very close to his neck to a point that blood was coming out. She looked like she really wanted to kill him, given the chance. Alice forces Yulis to go back to the house with a sword pointed behind his back, while everyone else helps move the 2 unconscious Palning black knights back to the house to tie them up. I told Maria that I had gotten injured on my right shoulder and asked her to check it out to see how bad it was. My right shoulder practically turned purple due to that Eude guy swinging down his sword at me. Due to my direwolf fur, the strike only caused some blunt force trauma on my right shoulder instead of there being a massive slash wound. She asked me to take off my shirt, but I refused and asked her just to give me a health potion instead because she would find out I¡¯m a girl if I did that. ¡°Are you sure you want that? No need to be embarrassed, but I need to check if your shoulder is not broken or fractured anywhere.¡± I told her it was fine and not to worry about it, and if one of the bones in my shoulder was broken or fractured, I would just ask her for a healing potion if that was the case. Back at the house, we tied up everyone who wasn''t tied up and put the bastard Yulis in the room he ran out of to get answers from him. Standing next to Alice and pointing the tip of my sword at his neck to stop him if he started using magic or anything. I was using my left arm because I couldn¡¯t use my right arm too much; my right shoulder still hurts a lot even after the health potion. I guess I¡¯ll have to ask Maria for a healing potion, but I have to deal with Yulis first. ¡°So, we meet again.¡± I spoke to him with my default expressionless face and tone of how I used to speak, that of a high-born noble. He, who began to notice who I was, from Farsbarow, turned very white. ¡°What a coincidence; I can¡¯t believe we¡¯ve crossed paths again.¡± I didn¡¯t bother keeping up with how I speak, which is that of a commoner to a high-born noble, because after seeing him in Kinwall¡¯s shop and overhearing his disgusting conversations about Alice, I knew that this guy was a stereotypical spoiled noble who is an idiot. Thinking about it, no wonder Alice¡¯s older brother, Claudius, managed to get Yulis on his side because two spoiled idiots tend to think alike. If he is working for Claudius, it would explain why the head and successor are dead. He is an idiot, and they think so too, leaving them to underestimate him. Due to that, they must have been caught by complete surprise because idiots tend to have, whether by dumb luck or not, moments where things go in their favor. Additionally, I¡¯m guessing that he manages to get Yulis on his side because he is a certain kind of spoiled idiot, a charismatic one, which is really dangerous if he gets his hand on any kind of power. ¡°It¡¯s a shame, really. I thought you would learn your lesson from the first time we met, but it seems you haven¡¯t really learned a single thing.¡± Yulis began shivering in fear. ¡°Honestly, I was planning on blowing up this building with you alongside you and your grunts, but you''re just not worth it revealing my identity to.¡± I look at Alice, who looks very surprised when I just reveal that I¡¯m a noble. However, I¡¯m guessing she suspected that I¡¯m also a noble with how I tend to act and know certain things. Right now it doesn¡¯t really matter since I want her to play the bad cop in the good cop bad cop thing because we need information before the city guards arrest them. ¡°Alice, could you please start by stabbing him in the kneecap first? Since you¡¯re from the Lunslur family, a military family, I guess I could teach you how to torture someone without killing them; after all, he did kill your guards. Plus, judging from the team he sent after you, he seems like a tough nut to crack, probably.¡± Seeing what I was getting at, she unsheathed my short sword and approached him, as he was begging me to stop her. ¡°Wait stop! I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk!¡± Alice stopped shortly, just before she was about to stab him; if I hadn¡¯t told her to stop, she would have really stabbed him. ¡°Okay, speak; we¡¯re listening. I might even let you go if you do.¡± Slightly relaxed, he began blabbering everything he knew. As expected, he is a coward and is working with Alice''s older half-brother, Claudius, to kill Alice, but he is using his family¡¯s black knights behind their backs without informing them about it. Not only that, he even began blurting out that he was going to go back on his word to kill Alice and lie to Alice¡¯s older brother, Claudius, just to have her all to himself. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. What I heard frankly disgusted me and made Alice even more angry. ¡°So, you killed my personal guards just so I could be your slave?¡± "Oh, please, be grateful that I decided to make you my slave. A noble without any magic is nothing more than a lowly commoner.¡± He said it in a condescending and disgusting tone, forgetting who was in control here, which surprised and did not surprise me at the same time, mostly seeming from the disdain for people with no magical powers. Alice took out the short sword I gave her, looking like she was about to kill him on the spot if he spoke another word, which I frankly would have let her if we didn¡¯t have a plan to get rid of this guy without having more problems to deal with in the future. ¡°Wait wait wait!¡± ¡°No, you killed people I care about. Why should I let you live?¡± I could hear the anger resonating in her voice; however, what Yulis spoke next surprised us. ¡°We didn''t kill all of them; we kept some alive so we could lure you in when you escape from our grasp.¡± With the tip of my short sword at his throat, Alice asks where they were, with an absolutely frigid voice. ¡°Downstairs, in-in the basement.¡± After hearing that, Alice rushed downstairs to the basement while I returned my sword to my sheath because we¡¯d gotten what we needed. Relieved, his terrified face turned to one of relief and said. ¡°May I be released, please?¡± He asks it in a meek and relieved tone because I was in control of the situation and he thought I was from a family that was higher than his, which all nobles understand hierarchy, even the really dumb ones. He looked really relieved, thinking that I was about to let him go, and I was feeling a bit gleeful that he would think that because I wasn¡¯t doing that at all. With my sheath sword, I struck him in the head, causing him to be knocked out. Going downstairs to the first floor after tying him up, I ask about Alice and how she was to Chelsie. She told me Alice was in the basement with Alex and Maria, who were tending to their wounds, and she was in a rush. Walking the staircase to the basement, it was a dark, dingy place lit up with a few candles. Seeing Alice, she of 3 people. One had his left arm cut off, the other had an injured leg, and the last one had a big slash wound across his chest. All of them were in their 30s with an air that made them look like veterans. Crying, Alice said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this is all my fault, Garner, Rollo, Arnald.¡± Trying to comfort Alice, the guy with the lost arm said. ¡°No need, lady Alice. It¡¯s our fault for being so weak.¡± All of them nodded, then vowed they would not let it happen again. Approaching them, I greeted them, and they thanked me and everyone else for helping their lady in her time of need. We talk, and I inform everyone in the basement about the current situation and what we learn from Yulis. All of them had grim faces when I told them about the Palning family''s black knight working for Claudius, meaning that Alice going back home is not a safe place because if he was working with Yulis, who knows who else Alice¡¯s brother is working with?¡± Coming downstairs, Chelsie told us that she saw guards coming toward the building and we needed to leave right now. It looks like we can¡¯t really move them with their injuries; however, they would give us overwhelming evidence to convict the Palning family for trying to assassinate Alice. ¡°Hey, you three.¡± Turning their head to listen to me, I said. ¡°The city guards are coming; we can¡¯t move you in your current state, but can you do something for us?¡± The one with the broken leg asked what my request was. ¡°Let the guard pick you guys up and tell them what happened without giving out our identities. I didn¡¯t expect you guys to be alive, but it does give us overwhelming evidence to convict the Palning family, or at least Yulis of attempted murder.¡± They looked at each other and nodded, agreeing to my request. ¡°Good. See you all in a couple of days.¡± We all left the building by going out the back door without the city guards noticing us. If things go well, we will see them in a couple of days. We went to the adventurer guild to inform Iris about the success of our plan and about Alice¡¯s guards, which was better than what we had hoped for. We thanked her for her help, and I decided to go back to my inn instead of getting something to eat and celebrating with them because I wanted to rest after attacking the base where the Palning family was hiding. As we exited the doors of the adventurer guild. Alex asked Lucia what was wrong because he had noticed Lucia sulking. She said that she couldn¡¯t believe somebody like him would be able to defeat her in magic. I interjected and said. ¡°It¡¯s to be expected; he is a noble after all.¡± Mages can grow their mana through training; however, nobles who are mages tend to have way more mana than commoner mages at birth, which is the reason why Lucia''s spell is less powerful than Yulis''s. For some reason, Lucia''s sulking turned to anger, and she had a vain pop out of her forehead. Did I make her angry? Gritting her teeth, she looks like she wants to shout out something, but she storms off instead. Seeing her storm off, I ask Alex. ¡°Where is she going?¡± ¡°Probably someplace to cool off.¡± ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡± ¡°I guess she is angry that you compared her to that Yulis guy.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. I should apologize to her then.¡± I was about to run after Lucia, but Alex stopped me. ¡°Maybe you should apologize to her when she calms down.¡± ¡°I see.¡± At the inn I was staying at, I went straight for my room, deciding that I was too tired to get something to eat. When I opened the door, the room was a mess. It looked like Mila¡¯s bookstore the more I looked at it. There were some small piles of books lying everywhere, just like her store, in addition to a lot of crumpled-up papers lying around the floor, making it a pain to move around. This place is getting pretty cramped. I wonder if I should find an apartment to rent or a house to buy because if I sell my jewelry, it would be more than enough to buy me a house or two. However, the only problem is that people would get suspicious seeing me sell such expensive jewelry even if I acted like a noble. I sat on my bed and took out a healing potion; my right shoulder was still injured and probably cracked a bone or two when I took that Eudo guy¡¯s sword strike. Getting from my bed slowly, I took out a healing potion Maria gave me and drank it. Then I gently moved to lay on my bed, thinking to myself that things ended with Alice¡¯s situation surprisingly quickly. Side Story 4 At the town of Farsbarow, Clare walks up to the gate and waits in line to get in. She was wearing traveler''s attire and holding a suitcase that held her clothes and other essential items, including her maid uniform. After being let in when she paid the fee, she began walking to the adventurer, since that should be the place her lady was most likely going to go. While walking to the adventurer guild, she saw a lot of young adventurers around 13 years old or older who were just starting out. When Clare reached the adventurer guild, she opened the door and went to one of the reception counters; coincidentally, she chose Emma¡¯s counter. ¡°Hello, how may I help you? Would you like to send out a quest?¡± Seeing Clare, Emma assumes that she is here to send out a quest because most adventurers are young, in their teens, and she is an adult. ¡°No, I¡¯m looking for someone; they might have passed by here.¡± ¡°I see, what is your relation if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± ¡°They¡¯re someone I really care about; I¡¯m just worried because they ran away.¡± ¡°Run away?¡± ¡°Yes, around a month ago. Do you know anyone that registers around that time?¡± ¡°I apologize; there are a lot of people who come here to become adventurers; can you describe him or her for me?¡± Thinking for a bit, Clare describes Rita for her, like how she looks and her personality, excluding things that would be a giveaway that her lady is a noble, like her silver-colored hair and other things. Hearing who Clare was describing, Clare wrote the details described to her because, on occasion, there were adventurers who were running away from home. However, when Clare says her lady tends to be expressionless, she looks at Clare suspiciously because it reminds Emma of a particular individual who doesn¡¯t want to be found. After Clare was done describing Rita, Emma said. ¡°Excuse me for a second.¡± Leaving the counter, Emma opened a door that revealed an office behind the reception counter that had people working in there; she asked one of them to cover her for a bit and come back to Clare to ask her to follow her to a room on the second floor. On the second floor, Emma led Clare to a greeting room that had a coffee table and two couches opposite each other from the coffee table. She asked Clare to sit down on one couch while Emma sat on the opposite couch to ask who she was. ¡°I must ask about the person you are looking for; does it relate to nobility?¡± Emma looked at Clare to gauge her response; however, Clare had a poker face from her experience working as a personal maid for a former highly esteemed family. Seeing no noticeable change in Clare''s expression, Emma grew suspicious. Clare told Emma, sensing her suspiciousness. ¡°I¡¯m looking for my master who has run away; I want to be by their side again.¡± ¡°I see, however, I got no way of knowing whether you want to be by their side again or not. He does not want to be found.¡± Hearing he instead of she, Clare shows some visible confusion; however, remembering how her lady, Rita, tends to act and do things, it made sense that she would disguise herself as a boy. Seeing that Emma was still suspicious, Clare decided to tell things about her lady, which are what she and Emma knew about her lady because Emma seemed familiar with her, like her quirks. ¡°I see, then can I say things you and I know about my master? I presume you are familiar with my master''s quirks.¡± Emma nodded for her to go on, wondering what she was going to say to make her believe her. Clare began to tell Emma about Rita¡¯s tendency to get into rather dangerous situations on her own, how she tends to help out people even at the risk of her life, acts way mature for her age but tends to slip up once in a while, and other things she thinks would help make Emma believe she is not an assassin or anything else that would harm Rita. Emma was surprised when she mentioned all those things, with most of the things Clare said fitting Nyx perfectly, and her tone of immense respect for her master as she said those things made Emma''s suspicions die down. However, it did not make her let go of her suspicions completely. ¡°Do I have your trust now?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still skeptical. Is there anything else you can say to make me believe you?¡± Clare thought for a moment and told Emma that she could read Rita¡¯s emotions and how to do it due to her always staying by Rita¡¯s side. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Hearing Clare tell her how to read Nyx¡¯s emotions, Emma was deeply impressed by what Clare said. She put what Clare told her to the test by remembering her interaction with Nyx, causing her to believe her. Now fully trusting Clare, Emma told Clare what she knew about her master, like when he got here, what he was doing, and where he was right now. ¡°I see. Thank you for the information. I¡¯ll be going now.¡± ¡°Yes, I do believe I should go back to work. It was a pleasant conversation.¡± As they walk downstairs and Clare is about to leave, Emma thinks to help Clare. "Also, by the way, when you reach Acton, find a receptionist named Iris in the adventurer guild. She is one of my acquaintances and is more than willing to help if you use my name.¡± ¡°I see. Thank you again.¡± Thanking Emma with a smile, Clare began preparations to go to Acton. Captain Boras Perspective After being yelled at and having a tea cup thrown at him by the mistress of the family, Boras''s face, which looks like a heroic knight, turns into a sneer that makes him look and aura like a gangster or bandit leader. The reason he is sneering is that his gracious master allowed him to do whatever it took to get their disgrace of a daughter back. Putting back his face of a heroic night, he walks to the stables with 2 other knights waiting for him, who are also the Lucendi¡¯s black knights just like Boras. They had prepared everything to travel to the neighboring territory of the Lunslur family because they believed Rita had run away there since the remote manor was very close to the Lunslur territory and a couple of settlements were about a day''s walk to get to. They do not believe Rita has the capability to make it far because they believe her to be a sheltered child. After a week of traveling, they regrouped with some more black knights of the Lucendi family and reached a small town village with no name, which was the last place to look for Rita. It was a small village that people would not notice if everyone went missing. Announcing their presence, Boras and the group of knights he was traveling with cladded themselves in a knightly aura, causing some of the villager girls to blush. They command everyone to gather in the center of the village. In total, there were around 28 villagers who had gathered, in which the village elder approached them. The village elder of the small village asks why they are being gathered in a polite manner to show reverence to them and their authority. Getting down from his horse and motioning for his subordinates to do the same, Boras kept up his knightly facade and said. ¡°I apologize for making you gather. I am Knight Captain Boras from the Lucendi household; we are desperately looking for our lady who has gone missing. We are more than willing to offer monetary compensation for any information on her whereabouts.¡± Boras looked at the elder and then at everyone else; however, none of them looked like they knew what he was talking about. Speaking up for everyone, the village elder said. ¡°Sir Boras, I¡¯m afraid we cannot help you; we haven¡¯t had anyone come by our small and humble village as of recently.¡± ¡°That is quite unfortunate.¡± Seeing that the elder and everyone else genuinely don¡¯t know anything about who they are looking for. Drawing his sword, Boras¡¯s knightly demeanor changes, and he cuts down the elder in one quick motion of his sword. There was a long silent pause as the villagers were unable to comprehend what just happened, seeing the elder¡¯s body falling to the ground with blood flowing out. Then somebody screamed in surprise and terror, causing the others to do the same. With a wicked smile, that of one who enjoys the pain of others, Boras said calmly and gleefully. ¡°Kill them all; don¡¯t let any of them escape.¡± Telling his 8 subordinates what to do, they follow that order, mercilessly killing them all without saying a word of complaint. Some villagers tried to fight back but were immediately cut down. Others tried to run but were shot by some of the knights carrying bows. A few tried to plead for their lives but were also cut down. His subordinates were used to their captain''s behavior as Boras was laughing as he swung his sword at a boy and a girl who were likely siblings. The reason the head of the family, Lord Lucius, chooses him to be knight captain is that he is a person who enjoys the pain of others but can hide his nature from people. After several minutes of the massacre, every villager was dead. The center of the town was drenched in large pools of blood, and dead bodies lay everywhere. One of Boras''s subordinates approaches him and asks. ¡°Captain, what are we going to do about the other people who were not here?¡± Boras, who had put away his murderous smile, told him. ¡°Collect all the arrows; we don¡¯t want any evidence that leads to us. If you find anyone still alive, save them for me.¡± He said that with a bright smile that would make you second guess if you heard it; however, his subordinate didn¡¯t bat an eye to his words and salute to acknowledge his orders. A while later, they had collected the arrows and any evidence that would lead back to them. Boras was disappointed that everyone was dead, but it didn¡¯t bother him that much because it was time to clean up the mess. Taking out a potion of some kind and uncorking it, he pours all of it on a dead body. Then he corked the potion bottle, put it away, and mounted back on his horse. ¡°Good, that should clean everything up.¡± The thing he poured out of the bottle was a special potion that is very illegal to have, if not executed for. It was a monster-attracting potion that attracts monsters in a large area into one spot. Turning his head to another subordinate, he said. ¡°Report to the nearby settlements that this village got wiped out by monsters and we found everyone dead when we arrived.¡± That subordinate acknowledged his orders and rode off with his horse to inform the nearby towns and villages about what Boras told them happened. After sending a subordinate out, he turns to another subordinate to ask about their next course of action since they exhausted most of their leads on finding Rita in the Lunslur¡¯s territory. ¡°I¡¯m afraid we have to expand our search areas, but we don¡¯t have the manpower to do so, Captain.¡± ¡°I see that will be a problem.¡± Boras put his hand on his chin to think for a while and snapped his finger when he got an idea. ¡°That maid girl, that Lady Rita, who was her personal maid. What was her name again?¡± ¡°I believe it was Clare, Captain.¡± ¡°Do you know where she is at right now?¡± ¡°Farsbarow right now, I believe, Captain.¡± ¡®Good, it¡¯s not that far from here. She might do all the work for us; let''s tail her.¡± Chapter 38 As I began drifting off to sleep, alarms were suddenly blaring. My eyes shot open, and red lights were flashing before my tired eyes in my room. I looked at a screen that popped up but was too dreary to read anything. Rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes, I look at the screen that reads emergency sortie, all available pilots are being called, situation developing. I rub my eyes again to see if I¡¯m reading it correctly, but it remains the same, and I wonder what is going on. Our aias is being repaired and we were resting, so to call everyone means something big is happening. Reading that Norn, who was sleeping on her bed on the opposite side of our room, said in a lazy and groggy voice. ¡°What¡¯s with all the noise?¡± As I got out of bed, Norn covered her ears with her pillow to block out the noise, which, to my pleasure, I dragged her out of her bed, letting her fall onto the ground. ¡°Hey, what was that all about?¡± I felt slightly happy that she fell on her rear end because, again, I was the responsible one for this week, which I was laughed at when I had to be responsible for writing up a report to Commander Sharp as a punishment for both of us causing a mess at the training area again. ¡°It¡¯s an emergency sortie; I don¡¯t know what it is specifically.¡± Rubbing her rear end, Norn ran to her closet while I went to mine to change into our circuitry suits. Putting on our matching jackets to cover ourselves since it was skin tight, we ran to the hangers. As we ran, we saw the base was even more busy than usual. There were pairs of pilots and aviators running to the hangers. They all made way for us since we took priority, and as people were making way for us, coincidentally, we met up with Scott. The three of us were surprised that we were running into each other, but it wasn¡¯t really the time to be surprised. Norn asks Scott what is going on right now and why everyone is being sent out because Scott is an aviator and he is wearing his flight suit, which includes a helmet directly connected to his brain, meaning that he can get a constant flow of information. ¡°Any updates on what is going on?¡± ¡°Yes, apparently base 38 has been attacked. I don¡¯t know if I''m seeing this footage correctly or not, but a gate somehow opened up directly in the base itself.¡± ¡°What? How did that happen?¡± I was surprised that it happened because gates are normally open in places away from human civilization. I wonder if it was intentional or just bad luck that it happened that a gate appeared in base 38. Reaching the hangar, we separated into our respective machines. There were already aiases being moved up from their ports and into the airfield to be airlifted, as well as APCs and other transport aircraft being sent out. At our port, maintenance personnel repairing our named aias were getting out of the way for us to sortie. As we were being plated up, I asked the people plating us how much they had repaired our Aias. They told us that they managed to repair most of the damage; however, they weren¡¯t fully done with the right arm¡¯s repairs but still usable and to take it easy with the right arm. Putting our helmets on while going up the elevator, we made sure everything was secure and working properly. Then we used our helmet, similar to Scott¡¯s aviator helmet but specifically made for named pilots, to call for Commander Sharp to know what was going on. Commander Sharp answered immediately, and we got straight to business. I asked what¡¯s the current situation and told him that we already knew that a gate suddenly appeared in base 38. ¡°I see, I don¡¯t have much time to explain, but you''re leading the mission; other named Aiases are too damaged to be used right now or on a different mission and are occupied. Your mission is to protect the transport aircraft moving key personnel and equipment out of the base. More details will be posted.¡± The call ended and we looked at each other; both of us were thinking the same thing, it was time to fight some more kaijus, causing us to grin. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Once we reach the top of the elevator, our faces return to their normal expressionless faces as we enter our cockpit and secure ourselves into the control system to start up the core in addition to all the main systems and sub-systems. After that was done, the hatch above us opened, and the platform our named Aias was standing on moved us up to the airfield, where Scott was ready to pick us up. Up in the sky, we grouped up with a formation of Aias and other transport aircraft, in which Norn, Scott, and I coordinated everyone flying to base 38 and made a plan to secure a perimeter to protect the landing zone when we arrived. As we were doing that, we were also monitoring the situation and communicating with the people in base 38 fighting the kaijus coming out of the gate. They were doing a good job of fending the kaijus off with their Aiases and defensive weaponry, which are mostly level 2s to 3s and the occasional level 4s, with their fortunately not being any level 5s or higher kaijus coming out. However, this would not last forever, and the base was already deemed lost because a gate had appeared at the base, which was a big black sphere that engulfed a part of the base, causing the entire base to be a warzone. It took time to get there, around 45 minutes, and once base 38 was in our sights from up high, we told everyone in the formation to prepare to engage. Seeing that we were close to the landing zone, a screen popped up showing a map of where the Aiases were going to drop that we made. After finishing the preparations for neural synchronization, I told Charlotte to start neural synchronization. Suddenly feeling the surge of Ori energy flow through my body, and then my mind, melding with Norn and our Aias, my eyes shot wide open to see a wooden ceiling. Looks like I had a dream about my past life again. Getting up from bed slowly because my right shoulder still hurts, I make my way out of my room while making sure I didn¡¯t knock over the small piles of books. It was early into the morning, I thought to myself. It looks like I slept through the entire day again. My stomach grumbled, so I went to the tavern next door to get something to eat. After ordering and receiving my food, which was a simple porridge, I was deciding on what I wanted to do that day. It would take a few days for the city guards to sort everything out with that bastard Yulis, his family¡¯s black knights, and Alice¡¯s guards. Going dungeon diving is going to be a problem with my injured shoulder so that just leaves one thing. After finishing my breakfast, I went to Mila¡¯s bookstore to check up on the prototype I asked her to make to see if it was done. I knocked on the door to her shop and told her it was me for her to let me in more enthusiastically than usual. ¡°How is the prototype?¡± I asked Mila how the prototype knife I had asked her to make was going because I was also eager to see the finished knife. ¡°I just finished it yesterday; I really want you to try it.¡± Replying with a bright smile, we went straight to her workshop, and she showed me the knife I had given her, which was bought from a random weapons shop for cheap by Acton¡¯s standards and was similar in shape and size to my own throwing knives. I gave the throwing knife a feel, and Mila told me to give it a try with a wooden board she had already prepared. Readying myself, I aimed the throwing knife at the wooden board, hitting dead center. Immediately, once the tip of the knife touched the center of the board, tiny sparks of electricity came out of the knife for a brief moment, leaving a small electrical burn mark on the wooden board. ¡°Woah, that is quite impressive.¡± Mila was amazed that I hit dead center on the wooden board, but it wasn¡¯t too impressive, to be honest. Approaching the wooden board and removing the knife from it, I saw the magical circle on the knife was almost unidentifiable, with a majority of the magical circles mostly melted. I gave it to Mila for her to look at so I could get her opinion. ¡°Well, they work as intended.¡± ¡°Then could you make a small batch of them to try out in the dungeon?¡± ¡°Yes, however, I think you should buy some knives with better materials because they would probably be able to last more than once since the one you gave me was made from cheap iron.¡± ¡°So I have to get some throwing knives with better quality material, then?¡± Nodding yes, I told her to use the throwing knives I was already using. ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem because I have them.¡± I took out one of the throwing knives I bought from Kinwall, which has mithril mixed into it. ¡°This should do because they have some mithril in them.¡± Mila was skeptical when I said there was mithril in them, which was to be expected because mithril is very expensive; granted, I don¡¯t know how expensive they are, but somebody like me shouldn¡¯t be able to afford them. ¡°Really? Can I see?¡± Giving it to her, she looked at it suspiciously as she began to examine it, then her hair suddenly turned into a watery blue color, causing a very thin layer of mana to start covering the knife. ¡°Unbelievable, my mana flows through it very well; there is definitely mithril in it.¡± Shock, Mila asked me how I had gotten my hands on the throwing knives. ¡°Oh, it was from a blacksmith, and I also bought this sword from him. I believe he said around a quarter or third of it is made out of mithril.¡± Mila was surprised by the answer, so I gave my sword to her to hold. ¡°Please don¡¯t ask me for his name because he does not like being found.¡± Nodding, Mila¡¯s hair glowed a watery blue again, and the sword I let her hold was completely wreathed in her mana instead of the thin layer from my throwing knives. Mila shouted out in surprise even more, and she questioned me about the blacksmith I bought it from, really wanting to know, but I told her that it was a secret. After giving her all my throwing knives for her to engrave magical circles on, I left her shop wondering what I was going to do next. Chapter 39 Leaving Mila¡¯s bookstore, it was almost the afternoon, so I decided to go to the adventurer guild to see if there was any news on the Yulis and Alice¡¯s knights'' situation since Iris was probably keeping an eye on it. At the adventurer guild, I went to Iris¡¯s counter, and after waiting in line, I greeted Iris and asked how everything was going for the Yulis situation. ¡°Well, the city guards had taken everyone into custody; Yulis and his people are in jail cells and are being interrogated, while Lady Alice¡¯s knights are in a medical facility being treated.¡± ¡°That''s good, but." A thought crept up my mind. ¡°I¡¯m worried that the city guards would be a handful and one of them might escape.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Commander Gal is personally keeping an eye on things. He was a high-ranking adventurer, but he decided to retire and ended up as the commander of the city guards, so I can attest to his abilities.¡± ¡°I see, that is good to know.¡± I thanked Iris for the information, and as I was about to leave, Iris stopped me and said. ¡°Oh wait, I forgot to give you something.¡± Hearing that, I was confused and wondered what she meant. ¡°We received an anomalous letter that says to give it to you.¡± She handed me a letter, which I opened and began reading, wondering who it was. Reading it, the sender was Kinwall of all people; I wonder why he sent a letter. Oh right, didn¡¯t he say something about sending a letter to me when he was moving to a different place to set up shop? I continued reading it, and to my surprise, he had set up shop in Acton and asked me to stop by. Additionally, at the end of the letter, he said I could bring my friends if I wanted, which was kind of a surprise because he usually doesn¡¯t want to be found. ¡°So, if you don¡¯t mind, what is it about?¡± Iris, showing her curiosity, asked about the letter. I told her that it was from an acquaintance of mine who was in Acton right now and wanted to meet with me. ¡°I see. I hope it goes well.¡± I left the counter and went out of the adventurer guild. I looked at the letter again to see the address he had written down. As I walked in the direction of Kinwall¡¯s shop, I encountered Alex¡¯s party by coincidence, except for Lucia, who was not with them for some reason. ¡°Hi, I didn¡¯t expect to see you all today.¡± As ever, the girls seemed to be fighting over Alex; even Alice was getting into the action somewhat, which she was looking embarrassed doing, likely from her noble upbringing and pride to be doing something so shameless. ¡°Yeah, same here.¡± ¡°Where is Lucia? I don¡¯t see her with you.¡± I asked Alex because Lucia was not with them. After all, I wanted to apologize to her. ¡°She is training her magic right now, somewhere secluded.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± That is a shame that she isn¡¯t here, but I guess I could meet her another time. ¡°Anyway, what are you guys doing?¡± ¡°We¡¯re shopping for gear for Alice to use since she wants to dungeon dive with us but doesn¡¯t have any gear. We got most of her gear, and we''re just looking for a weapon she can use right now. And how about you and your shoulder?¡± ¡°My shoulder is healing fine, but what a coincidence! I¡¯m going into an acquaintance right now; he is kind of a traveling blacksmith who makes great weapons. Do you want to come join me? He might have weapons that are going to be better than the ones you¡¯ll find in other shops.¡± ¡°I think that is a great idea.¡± ¡°Good.¡± I lead Alex and everyone else to Kinwall¡¯s shop. However, on the way, the streets became progressively more rundown, making everyone look at me wondering if I knew where I was going, which Alex finally spoke up and said. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hey Nyx, are we lost?¡± I told him and everyone who was looking at me with concern that we weren¡¯t lost and continued leading them. To assure them, I said. ¡°He usually likes to set up shop in these types of places, I think.¡± ¡°You think?¡± Alex gave me a dubious look, which was understandable, but after turning a corner, I saw the wooden sign with the image of two hammers hanging outside a shop, which was Kinwall¡¯s new shop. "See, I told you.¡± I pointed to Kinwall''s shop and opened the door to let them in. Inside, I call out for Kinwall. ¡°Hey Kinwall, it¡¯s me, Nyx. I brought some friends with me.¡± After a second or two, Kinwall shouted back from the back of the store. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you, and you even brought in some customers. Go look around and see if you want to buy anything.¡± I told them, like what Kinwall told them, to look around. They did just that and were impressed by the quality and types of weapons being shown in the shop, but unlike Rain, who saw the prices, they were not too surprised by it. Coming to the front of the shop, Kinwall was using a towel to wipe off the soot of his hands and greeted me. ¡°Well, it has been a few months. How have you been?¡± ¡°Good. How about you, and why did you choose Acton to set up shop?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing well, and I chose Acton because you decided to come here, so why not.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°So, do you need anything?¡± Thinking about what I needed for a bit, I said. ¡°Can you make me some more throwing knives?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you lost them already.¡± Kinwall looks ticked off about why I asked him to make more throwing knives. ¡°No, I¡¯m just doing something with them, and I want some spares to use.¡± ¡°Oh okay.¡± No longer ticked off, Kinwall turned to Alex and his party to ask if they found anything they wanted. Turning to face Kinwall, all of them were surprised to see him, who was a dwarf. Alice was the most surprised out of all of them because she knew a dwarf was next to impossible to see in person, even if you were a noble. ¡°What? A Dwarf?!¡± Kinwall chuckles at their surprise, especially Alice, who shouts it out. After seeing their surprise, Kinwall turned to Chelsie, who wasn¡¯t too surprised and was holding a sword in her hands. ¡°Ah, that''s a nice sword you have there.¡± Chelsie nodded yes and said it was for Alice, then she went to the counter and asked how much it was. ¡°How much is it?¡± ¡°3 silvers.¡± Seeing Chelsie taking out a coin pouch and paying for it. I walk up to Alex, Wendy, Maria, and Alice to ask if there is anything else they might want to buy. Alex and Wendy had stars in their eyes, like a child in a candy store looking at the weapons being displayed. ¡°Yeah, what do you think about this one?¡± Alex showed me an ornately decorated sword with gold trimmings on its hilt that looked very pricey. ¡°Hey Nyx, how about this?¡± Then Wendy showed me a halberd with a big axehead and a flat spike on its other end, which too looked pricey. However, before I could get a word in, Maria interjected and said. ¡°Aren¡¯t they quite expensive? I don¡¯t think it wise to spend this much on new equipment since the ones we have work just fine.¡± Alex and Wendy sulk like children when their parent tells them no to a toy they really want when Maria says it. ¡°What do you think, Nyx?¡± Alex asked me what I thought, to which I responded. ¡°Maria is right; don¡¯t spend on what you want but what you need. But if you do get it, why don¡¯t we do a sparring match to test out your new weapons since we haven¡¯t sparred with each other in a while?¡± Hearing what I said, for some reason they immediately decided not to buy them, looking like they were terrified of something. Alice, who had remained quiet, approached me and politely asked if she could talk to me about something with her outside in private. Outside the store, I wondered what she wanted to talk about, in which Alice said sorry, then in a very formal aristocratic tone. ¡°I wanted to thank you for helping me for the last few days; I can¡¯t thank you enough.¡± Alice put her hand on her chest and bowed like an aristocrat. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem; you don¡¯t have to be so formal.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Changing back to a more casual way of talking, she asked me if it would be okay if she asked me some questions. I told her it would depend on what kind of questions she wanted to ask since I would rather not expose my identity. ¡°Can I ask why you decided to go through all the trouble, even getting yourself injured to help me?¡± She asked that question, which was an understandable one because she already knew I was a noble. As nobles, we are trained to always be suspicious of everyone, especially whenever someone helps you without getting anything in return. Honestly, Alice already knows that I¡¯m a noble, and I am not doing a good job of keeping my noble origins a secret. What, like, a good handful of people already know I¡¯m a noble. Going back on track, I told her. ¡°There is no alternative motive, and you¡¯re a friend of Alex, so it¡¯s a good enough reason for me. Plus, when we were interrogating Yulis, it was a half-truth.¡± ¡°Half-truth?¡± ¡°Well, I was a part of a powerful family before I ran away. It was mostly due to family troubles, but for different reasons like yours.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Alice, surprised by my confession, placed her finger on her chin and thought for a bit like she was making a decision. ¡°I see. I want to thank you again for all the help you¡¯ve given me and everyone. If you need anything, I am more than willing to help.¡± Hearing her offer, I think I got one thing in mind, but I¡¯m going to save it for another day. Chapter 40 After finishing our conversation, we went inside and saw Chelsie finished paying for Alice¡¯s new sword. Chelsie approaches Alice and gives it to her; she holds the sword in her hands to get a feel for it. ¡°What do you think?¡± Chelsie asked what Alice thought of it, which she said ¡°It fits perfectly and feels really good to use.¡± ¡°That is good.¡± As Chelsie and Alice were talking about the sword, Maria, who had been looking at the weapons closely, asked. ¡°Umm, Mr. Kinwall?¡± ¡°Just call me Kinwall, and what is it?¡± "Oh, okay, umm... Kinwall, what kind of metal did you use to make these weapons? They don¡¯t seem to be just made out of normal iron.¡± Kinwall chuckled for a bit and grinned and told her. ¡°That is an amazing observation; you must be an excellent alchemist to see it.¡± A bit embarrassed by the compliment, Maria said. ¡°I can¡¯t say I¡¯m that excellent, but I can see the mixture of metals in these weapons here is very different from the ones you see in other shops. What did you put in them if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± ¡°If you really want to know, I added Mythril in them.¡± Hearing the word Mythril, there was a long silence, followed by a big shout of ¡°Heh?!¡± from everyone. Kinwall grinned like he found it funny. ¡°Surprised?¡± Alex, Wendy, and Maria looked at the weapons in their hands that they were examining and immediately held them like they were expensive, fine, fragile pieces of art. Alice also immediately held her sword with more care because Mythril ore is already rare enough that nobles tend to have a hard time getting it, plus ones forged by a dwarf are even rarer. Everyone then turns to me, and Alex asks how I am not surprised. I shrugged my shoulders and just said. ¡°Kinwall told me a while back, plus all of my weapons have Mythril in them too.¡± They were surprised again by my blank response, which I surprised them even more by saying. ¡°You should be more surprised at why there is Mythril in them in the first place. He works with Mythril quite a lot and even rarer metals, so he tends to put the leftover scraps into his creations because he thinks it would be a waste not to use them.¡± They became even more surprised, causing Alex to ask who Kinwall really was. I looked at Kinwall, and he nodded yes for me to tell. ¡°He is apparently a famous blacksmith who has worked for royalty and really high-level adventurers. Due to that, unsavory nobles tend to pester him quite a lot to work for them. It¡¯s the reason why he moves around so much, so he doesn¡¯t have to deal with those nobles.¡± After everyone was surprised and their jaws dropped for the last time, then calmed down, we left the shop and said goodbye since we had gotten what we needed. Then I said goodbye to everyone else and that I was going back to my inn because it was the afternoon today and I decided to make the rest of the day a lazy day. Back in my inn, I look through the piles of books in my room to look for a certain book. The book I picked up was titled The Tales of the World. This book caught my eye when I was at Mila¡¯s shop buying books about making magical tools. I don¡¯t know why it caught my eye; maybe it¡¯s because I always wanted to read a fairy tale book, but I never was able to due to being told that they were a waste of time to read and I should focus more on my studies instead. This was a fairytale book that had many tales from this world. I always wanted to read the lore of this world, and I wonder if any of it is true since this is a fantasy world. I opened the book, starting with the first page, about the story of the Black Dragon and the Hero Flum. There once was a small kingdom, whose name was lost to time. After the last embers of the age of the gods had burned out, the world was filled with strife; the many races born from the old gods had been at war for centuries. The gods, weakened from the war with the demons, were helpless to stop the violence and tragedy unfolding. The fighting seemed endless, with no end in sight for the violence to stop. Fear, anger, rage, despair, sadness, hopelessness, and misery filled the land. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. However, there were exceptions, and one of those small pockets of light shone into the world of darkness was the nameless kingdom. They did not have much, except for a wise and kind king who ruled over them, caring for his people with what little they had. But in the end, it didn¡¯t last for long because war had eventually come to their lands. Remembering my history lesson with my tutors, this was quite similar to what I was taught: there was a massive war that happened a very long time ago that lasted for centuries, involving all the different races fighting against each other. Looking at the next page, which is an illustration, shows a depiction of the nameless king. He had light glowing around his body while being drawn without a face except for a gentle and caring smile. In addition to the king, in the bottom left corner, there was a drawing of faceless soldiers colored red, symbolizing war is coming to the kingdom. Flipping to the next page, it goes to a village in the nameless kingdom, where it talks about a young village girl. The book describes her with red eyes and blonde hair, like a flower yet to bloom, and tells us that she was the hero Flum. She was born into a loving family and home; she was ignorant of the conflicts and darkness of the world. Once war had eventually come to her kingdom, her life was shattered and her village was burned to the ground. Family, friends, and her home had all burned in front of her. She ran deep into a forest, as far as her legs could take her, for days on end. Eventually, her body gave out, and she collapsed to the ground. Dreary from constantly running, her body could not get up, and she closed her eyes. But just before she did, she saw a mysterious stranger in black robes approach. Looking at the next page of the illustration shows Flum in a white dress in her peaceful village on one half of the page. Separating the other half was a diagonal line that showed her collapsing to the ground in a forest, looking up at the mysterious stranger with a hood hiding his face. Strangely enough, they didn¡¯t have any drawings of their faces for some reason; maybe it¡¯s an artistic reason, probably. After finishing the page and summarizing it since it was quite a boring part, it was about Flum being taken to a house in the middle of the woods and being in his care. Flum woke up in a house she did not recognize, and then the mysterious stranger introduced himself as Linus, putting down his hood to calm Flum with a gentle smile that held no malice. The book describes him as a stunningly beautiful handsome man around her age, with black hair and blue eyes that gave him an ethereal aura. Basically, for the next few days, he nurses Flum back to health, and flipping to the next page, it was about Linus leading Flum to a town once she was in full health. Flum asks Linus if they would meet with each other again with how close they have gotten with each other in the last few days; he says a single word, and it is a yes with a gentle smile. Flum, who was in a new town, made a new life for herself. She vowed to herself to never let what happened to her village happen again, so she desired strength and became a mercenary. If I remember correctly, the adventurer guild did exist during that time; however, their jobs are mostly the same as adventurers of today except for being able to kill other people since that period of time was broiling in constant war. In her new life, she made new friends to call family, but turning the next page, it did not last long because war eventually came to her new home like her village. Choosing not to run, the yet-to-be hero chooses to fight instead of running to protect her new home. Standing on the tall stone walls that protected the town, that was her new home, she watched the massive army outside. There were others as well, who had similar reasons to stay and fight; however, it would be fruitless in the end because the army that had attacked her village and now attacking her new home had weapons from the age of the gods. Yet despite that, she still chose to fight because she did not want to feel the pain of loss ever again. The army attacked, and the fighting was fierce. The defender fended off every wave of attacks but only made the attacker resort to using the weapons from the age of the gods to besiege the walls. They used them, and stars started descending from the heavens even though the sun had not set, and as the stars came in closer, a feeling of dread and shock filled everyone. They did not know what it was going to do, but they knew it was going to be the end of them. Flum, seeing the falling stars, closes her eyes, accepting her fate, only regretting she wasn¡¯t able to meet Linus again. However, death did not come for her; there was a sudden boom that filled the sky, like crackling thunder. She opened her eyes, and black thunder arced through the sky, stopping the falling stars. Then she heard a deafening roar from up high in the sky, and a being started descending from the heavens. The yet-to-be hero Flum, her comrades, and the enemy army stood completely still, recognizing it as something divine; it was a dragon. Scales darker than the night sky, blue eyes that could see through your soul, black lighting crackling across its body, and 3 pairs of magnificent black angel-like wings. It was one of the 7 dragons whose name is spread out through tales and legends: Bahamout, son of the fallen goddess Trelec, who governs war and order among the gods through her divine lightning. Landing to stop the battle, the ground shakes as its massive body dwarfs the walls protecting the town, and no one dares to move in its divine presence. Opening its mouth, it demanded with a dignified voice for all to hear. ¡°Enough, cease this meaningless fighting.¡± The color of the scales and eyes, and hearing the voice, the yet-to-be hero Flum recognizes it, one she had missed. She thought to herself that it couldn¡¯t be. She approaches Bahamut, not showing any fear or doubt of the dragon. Bahamut, turning its massive head to face the yet-to-be hero, said. ¡°We meet again.¡± Particles of blue light glimmered around his body, then his entire body glowed into a black color. Bahamut, whose massive body turns smaller and smaller; his form turns from a dragon to a human. As I turned over the page, it ended and led to the next chapter. It was quite an interesting story and quite unbelievable as well. What I found and liked the most was the part where Bahamut shows up in the battle, making a cool entrance, especially because my named Aias does have a coincidentally similar ability to him, with us using black lightning. If I had my Aias, how much fun would it be fighting him with my sister Norn? Going by the Kaiju grading system, it would be at least a level 6, maybe a level 7 if I¡¯m generous. Putting my book away, it was late into the night, so I decided to read the rest of the book at my own pace for the next few days until my shoulder healed. I was quite excited to read the next part because it left off on a cliffhanger. The next day and the following days, I continued to read the book, which was about how Flum and Bahamut went on a journey to convince the other 6 dragons to agree to end the wars happening on the land, which continues into 6 parts. During that journey, the yet-to-be hero becomes a hero and gathers allies who share her dream to end the war in her journey, completing the task of each of the 6 dragons to test the hero and gain their blessings and support. In the end, it concluded with a happily ever after. After reading the end, I also found it really interesting because it differs from what I was taught, which is a princess instead of the hero Fulm, who is a commoner, falls in love with the dragon Bahamout and starts the first bloodline of magic users. Chapter 41 After a few days of resting, my right shoulder was finally healed. I woke up early in the morning because today I would go to Mila to see if she was done engraving my throwing knives. Going to the tavern next door because I was starving, so I got something to eat. After eating, I went straight to Kinwall¡¯s shop to pick up my new throwing knives. Opening the door to his shop, I greeted him, and he went to the back of the store to get them. They were exactly like my old ones. I thanked him and went to Mila¡¯s bookstore. Knocking the door and telling her it was me, she let me in like always but looked slightly tired. ¡°So, how is the engraving going?¡± I asked her about it, wondering how much progress she made. ¡°It was a lot of work, but I did all 4 of them.¡± Upstairs in her workshop, she led me to one of her workbenches that had my knives laid out. ¡°Go ahead and try them.¡± I picked one up, examined it, and threw it onto a wooden plank for me to throw at that Mila had set up beforehand. Hitting dead center on the plank, it sparks with electricity and leaves some electrical burn marks like last time. Pulling it off the board, I looked at it and gave it to Mila to look at. From looking at it, I saw the magical circles were intact for the most part, just some slight wear to the magical circles. I asked Mila how it was, wondering how many times they would last given that they have mithril in them. ¡°They are in decent condition; I think they can hold up another 2 more times before they stop working.¡± ¡°I see, so 3 is the likely limit.¡± ¡°I think so. Are you going to use them in a dungeon?¡± ¡°Yeah. Also, can you engrave these knives as well?¡± I place the new throwing knives, including the new holsters they came with, onto the workbench with the engraved throwing knives next to it. ¡°I got new knives. Remember the person who makes my weapons? Apparently, he set up shop in Acton recently, and I asked him to make me some more. They also have Mythril in them.¡± Mila was shocked by my new throwing knife and asked who exactly my blacksmith friend really was. I can¡¯t blame her because it sounds ridiculous that I would be able to afford them in the first place. ¡°Again, he prefers that I don¡¯t tell people his name, but he doesn¡¯t mind bringing people to his shop if you like.¡± ¡°Yes, I would love to meet him.¡± ¡°Tomorrow then, since I¡¯m going diving today to test these knives out.¡± ¡°Okay, see you tomorrow.¡± Leaving Mila¡¯s bookstore, I headed for the adventurer guild so I could enter into a quest. On the way, I encounter Alex¡¯s party. ¡°Hi.¡± Greeting them, I turn to face Lucia and try apologizing to her, but she just humphs and turns away from me like I don¡¯t exist. Seeing Lucia turn her head away from my attempted apology, Alex said with a wry smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much.¡± Then he asks. ¡°So, you¡¯re going to the adventurer guild quite late, and how''s your right shoulder?¡± ¡°It healed fine, and I had some things to do before going to the adventurer guild. How about you? You¡¯re going to the adventurer guild a bit late too.¡± Alec turned to look at Alice, and she responded, saying that they went to the hospital to visit her personal guards. ¡°So, how are they, by the way?¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Fine, all of them are recovering.¡± ¡°That''s good to hear. What did you talk about, anything I should know?¡± ¡°Yes, we discussed that I should stay with Alex and everyone else for the time being instead of being guarded by the city guards, while a messenger is sent back to my family estate to inform the rest of my knights and allies about my situation.¡± ¡°I see, are you going back anytime soon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid not; it¡¯s still dangerous for me to go back home, so I¡¯m staying with Alex for the foreseeable future.¡± ¡°Then are you going to register to the adventurer guild and join his party?¡± Alice nodded yes, she said. ¡°Yes, and we¡¯re going into the dungeon to fight some monsters.¡± She had a determined voice, and I could feel her will to get stronger as she said it. ¡°What are you going to be doing today if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± Alex asked what I was going to do, and I said that I wanted to try out some new weapons inside the dungeon. Maria, stepping into the conversation, suggested. ¡°Since we¡¯re all going to the dungeon, why don¡¯t we go together?¡± I looked at her and said. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine with it.¡± Hearing what Maria had said and my answer, for some reason Alex''s legs began shaking, looking like he just saw his life flash before his eyes and was rethinking his life¡¯s decisions. It wasn¡¯t just Alex but Wendy as well, who was acting the same as Alex. We walked together to the adventurer guild; however, Alex and Wendy were trying to make excuses to leave and not go to the dungeon for today, but Maria and Chelsie would remind them that they were helping Alice train and that they were needed. At the adventurer guild, like last time, I went in first, and then came in Alex and everyone else, causing a lot of chatter in the building. Alice was wearing a scarf to hide her face, which honestly I¡¯m kind of envious of; she just needed a scarf to hide her identity. I had to dye my hair and make myself look like a boy, but she didn¡¯t need to do all that, especially her blonde hair didn¡¯t really need hiding because blonde hair is quite common except for the shade, but not really noticeable. Unlike last time, people were also wondering who was the girl in the scarf in their group. ¡°Wait, is that a new member?¡± ¡°You got to be kidding me; he got another.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t he save some for the rest of us?¡± Let''s just say a lot of the guys were giving the death stare to Alex more than usual. I entered into a quest at a random receptionist while Alex went to Iris¡¯s counter since Iris knew who Alice was. I waited outside for a while till Alice and Alex¡¯s party came out after finishing her registrations. We walk together to the dungeon. I show the guards my adventurer card and everyone in Alex¡¯s party does the same except for Alice, who shows her temporary wooden tag. Going in, Alex and Wendy seemed adamant that I did not fight, acting exactly the same with that desperate look when I was with Wendy and Rain after hunting some horn rabbits. I asked why not, and Alex said in a panic tone. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be fighting because umm¡­ Alice should get some umm¡­ practical fighting experience, and umm¡­ why don¡¯t you try out your new weapons on stronger monsters than these weaklings?¡± I turned to look at Wendy, who was vigorously nodding yes, agreeing to Alex¡¯s reasoning repeatedly. Then I looked at everyone else who didn¡¯t really have a problem with what Alex suggested, mostly for Alice to get some experience fighting, except for Lucia, who gave me the silent treatment. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± I was disappointed, but this was for Alice to get stronger. Going down the floors in the first stratum, Alice was in the vanguard, fighting the monsters, while I stayed back. She was doing well but occasionally made some basic mistakes, but Alex, Wendy, and Chelsie were there to cover for her. It wasn¡¯t just that; they were advising her on how to deal with the monsters, telling her what she was doing wrong, and teaching her how to work in a team. Maria, next to me, was shouting out some encouragement at her and was giving her some stamina potions as we progressed down the floors because she didn¡¯t have much stamina like I did before I ran away, due to her noble upbringing. Eventually, we reached the 10th-floor boss room, which Lucia just barged inside for some reason. Everyone was confused by her actions, but we went in anyway. The Latrodec spider spawned like the countless times I fought it. Lucia''s hair glows a much more vibrant, fiery red color than the last time I saw her use her magic to fight the Latrodec spider. She cast her fireball spell much faster and burned much brighter in intensity than before, which surprised me. Has she been training for the last few days? Once the Latrodec spider finished spawning and the black thin layer started peeling off, she fired her fireball at it, which the Latrodec spider didn¡¯t stand a chance with the explosion being much more destructive than what I saw last time. I covered my face with my arm because of how big and strong the shock wave was. Once the spell was over, Lucia, for some reason, looked back at me and turned her head away, like she was ignoring me with the silent treatment again. However, I did notice she looked a bit smug at my reaction. Going to the second stratum, Chelsie suggested that Alice take a break from fighting because the second stratum¡¯s monsters are quite dangerous for Alice, who just became an adventurer today, and in addition, so she doesn¡¯t overexert herself for tomorrow''s dive. However, it did not stop Alice from learning because she was looking at Alex, Wendy, Chelsie, and Lucia fighting together closely. It left Alex and Wendy to be the vanguards of the party. I really wanted to join in, specifically Alex and Wendy, and fight with them, but they did not want me to do so for some reason. I guess I¡¯m an outsider at their party and would break their synergy if I did, maybe. Going back, Alice watches Chelsie shooting arrows with pinpoint accuracy, covering Alex¡¯s and Wendy¡¯s backs. Lucia was casting her magic, using spells to deal with the groups of monsters coming at us. Maria was throwing some bottles of potions at the monsters to inflict status ailments and giving some health potions to whoever was injured. We continued going down the floors; eventually, we were on the 18th floor, with Alice watching them to learn what she could from them fighting. However, we eventually stumbled into new monsters that were giving Alex and Wendy some difficulties, no, make it a lot of difficulties. Chapter 42 Massively tall muscular green humanoid monsters had appeared on the 18th floor, wearing just some loincloth and carrying weapons made of stone and wood. It was easy to distinguish what they were. They were orcs, and there were a lot of them, 11 in total. Alex and Wendy were having a really tough time fending them off at the front as Lucia, Chelsie, and Maria tried their best to help them in the back. The orcs were surprisingly tenacious with the number of slashes they were receiving. Chelsie was shooting her arrow to try to cover for Alex¡¯s and Wendy¡¯s back, and Maria was throwing potion bottles at them to inflict status ailments. Lucia, on the other hand, was using her fire magic to keep most of the orcs at bay as Alex and Wendy were fighting some of them, but she couldn¡¯t use her more powerful spells due to the chance of friendly fire. Standing next to Alice, I wondered if I should go and help because orcs are a staple of the fantasy genre, and I really wanted to fight one. Oh yeah, they are having trouble too. ¡°Should we help?¡± I asked Alice if we should help, and she nodded yes. ¡°You should step in.¡± I rushed in to relieve the pressure from Alex and Wendy, while Alice shouted at everyone that I was going in to help fight the orcs. Hearing Alice, everyone acknowledged what Alice had said, but Alex and Wendy, who had a desperate look, had a look of shock and dread like something bad was going to happen for some reason. They didn¡¯t have that look for long because the orcs they were fighting swung their weapons at them, and they barely got out of the way. Taking out all my spikes from reading the Dradevow dungeon book and watching Alex and Wendy fight them, they would need to be hit in their vitals for them to go down quickly. I threw all of them at once, hitting the eyes of the orks because that would do the most damage and temporarily stun them for a bit. They screamed in pain while I jumped at the orc that was in front of Alex and thrust my short sword right through its throat, coming out the other end. It fell to the ground as I jumped down from its big body while pulling out my short sword from its neck. I turned my attention to the next orc closest to me. I sidestepped away from a swing of its stone axe and slashed at its wrists, causing it to let go of its weapon. Realizing its right arm was unusable, it used its left arm to take a swing at me. Before I was going to decide to dodge, an arrow flew past me and hit its other eye, completely blinding it. I glanced back and saw Alice pointing at the orc I was fighting and telling Chelsie to fire the arrow at it. It wasn¡¯t just that; she then was telling Lucia where to fire her spells and what potions Maria should throw and to who. I don¡¯t know what she was doing, but it looks like she is taking command of the party. She is doing a pretty good job at it, like a natural-born tactician. It seems natural to her, and she is in her element because she seamlessly instructs everyone on what to do, like she had worked with Alex¡¯s party from the start. I was about to grin seeing unexpectedly how well she could instruct others in addition to how much fun it was to fight these orcs. Their tenaciousness was second only to the Latrodec spider and dire wolf, where you have to aim for vital spots, but they don¡¯t make it easy since they are quite intelligent, enough to fight back with some semblance of skill. One main challenge was that there were a lot of them for anyone to deal with, which I wonder if we were really unlucky for getting this amount of orcs since the normal amount was 2 to 3. Before I grin, Alice shouts out an instruction. ¡°Nyx, help Alex on your right!¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Doing as she told me to do, I ran to Alex and helped him out with his orc. As I moved toward Alex, I heard Alice instruct Lucia to cast a fire javelin spell, which was a javelin made out of fire. Then she instructed Lucia to fire it at the orc I was fighting; it went right through the orc and into another, killing both instantly and leaving a massive charred hole through their chests. Running toward Alex while dodging the other orcs'' attacks, I caught it off-guard and slit its throat, then thrust my sword into its heart. Alex, for all intended purposes, looks absolutely freaked out, and his legs are shaking for some reason. He flinches, nearly dropping his sword when I glance back at him but ignore it and focus on the other orcs. As I focused on the rest of the orcs, Wendy had finished fighting her orc. There were now 4 left; one was taken out by me, two by Lucia, one by Alex, and another two by Wendy. Seeing a total of 4 orcs staring at us; 3 had one of their eyes taken out and one didn¡¯t, I decided it was a great opportunity to try out the knives Mila had engraved on them. Holding 2 knives in each hand, I threw them all simultaneously and hit all 4 of the orcs. They hit the orcs, and immediately the orcs began suddenly spasming and screaming in pain, with the electrical current flowing through their bodies. However, when I was about to go in for an attack, something unexpected happened. The little sparks of electricity coming from the knives suddenly grew bigger into what looked to be arks of lightning coming out of the knives, making a small field of electricity. I was not expecting something like that would happen, and not only that, the bodies of the orcs fell over, with smoke coming off their bodies with massive electrical burn marks. Seeing that they were dead, I looked at Wendy, who was staring at me in complete surprise and baffled by what happened. Not only that, but everyone too, by what they saw. Lucia seems to be the most surprised and breaking her silent treatment of me, she shouted out. ¡°What was that?!¡± I told her it was an artifact I found. I said that it was an artifact because I didn¡¯t want them to be involved in the things I was doing, which would bring them trouble if I did tell them. Everyone was even more surprised when I said it. ¡°That is really amazing; how did you get such a cool artifact like that?¡± Maria said it in a fascinated tone as she approached me. I told them a prefabricated story I made beforehand. ¡°A chest suddenly appeared when I fought the Latrodec spider, and they were inside. I just got very lucky, that is all.¡± From the Dradevow dungeon book, artifacts can show up in one of two ways. One is in a chest that shows up by luck if you find them, or by killing a boss, and the stronger the boss, the higher the chance of artifacts dropping. ¡°That''s really lucky of you if you don¡¯t mind me asking, but what does it do?¡± ¡°Well, it sends out a spark of electricity whenever I throw it, but I''ve never seen this happening before.¡± ¡°I see, that is quite interesting.¡± After the conversation with Maria, I was picking up my throwing knives, and I noticed Lucia was enviously looking at me for some reason but she turned her head away when we made eye contact. Looking at the magical circles, they were all completely burnt out, which I feared would happen because of the amount of electricity coming out of the knives. I wonder what caused it. How did it gather that amount of mana to generate that amount of electricity? There weren¡¯t any magical shards that dropped from the orcs when I was picking up my knives and spikes, which was weird. In the book about the dungeon, orcs always drop a magical shard, a medium one usually, or a couple of small ones if you¡¯re unlucky. Could it be because the magic circles that gather the mana in the air also gather mana in the monster, which includes the magical shards? Either way, I better ask Mila for her suggestion; she might know something. Finishing collecting my knives, I turned my head to Alex and Wendy, looking at me like there was still danger. I ask with my normal expressionless face. ¡°What?¡± Alex and Wendy sighed in relief, and for some reason, I was getting the feeling that they weren¡¯t for any orcs that might come towards us. Regrouping, we discuss whether we should head back up or continue. I suggested. ¡°Why don¡¯t we check out the village on the 19th floor?¡± From the Dradevow dungeon book I read, there was a small village made inside the dungeon on the 19th floor that acts like an outpost for adventurers to resupply and rest. Additionally, there were other places down the dungeon similar to the village on the 19th floor but were generally smaller since they were on the deeper floors, like the one at the 3rd stratum that has a camp set up on an oasis. ¡°Wait, there is a village inside a dungeon.¡± Alex looked at me skeptically and was a bit surprised that a village was in a dungeon, which Chelsie responded to him with. ¡°Yes, I believe I¡¯ve heard about it.¡± ¡°We can rest there for a bit instead of just going up since you all are tired from fighting.¡± After discussing with each other, everyone agrees to go to the village on the 19th floor, including Lucia, who begrudgingly agrees, so we make our way to the 19th floor. Chapter 43 We walked down to the 19th floor, and I saw that it was relatively similar to the previous floors. The only thing different was a new monster we encountered, which were these owl monsters called bloodowls. Bloodowls have red feathers and red eyes, but they are mainly called blood owls because they have this strong iron smell to them similar to blood. They were quite a nuisance to deal with if you didn¡¯t have anyone with range options like Chelsie, Lucia, and me with my throwing knives and spikes. After wandering around some paths and fighting monsters for a while, we eventually saw a clearing with wooden walls surrounding a couple of buildings. We gazed at it; everyone was wow seeing the buildings and how people were able to build settlements inside a dungeon. There was an open gate with nobody guarding it when I went in. I guess the people staying inside the village don¡¯t need protection since they are seasoned adventurers. Speaking of the season adventurers, they looked tough and grizzled, with an aura of intimidation as they were sizing us up. They mostly look at us, wondering why children are in the 2nd stratum. Most of them, who looked to be the more seasoned and veteran adventurers, didn¡¯t seem to recognize us and wondered who we even were. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s because they practically live inside the dungeon, so they haven¡¯t gotten out and heard any news above ground. However, the weaker-looking season adventurers did recognize us and did what they usually did and bore holes into Alex with their eyes of resentment. ¡°Oh god, why did it have to be him?¡± ¡°Why is he here?¡± ¡°That bastard.¡± Fortunately, it was only the guys who did it, and the women looking at us didn¡¯t have any interest, especially Alex, only glancing in mild curiosity. We found some makeshift benches made out of logs and sat at them for a while. I wasn¡¯t really too tired and told everyone I wanted to look around. Surprisingly, Alice and Maria wanted to come with me because they also wanted to look around. We looked around the village; Alice and Maria looked like tourists in a new city. They asked me questions about the village because I was the one who suggested coming here, and I knew quite a bit about the village from the Dradevow dungeon book, and I was giving them bits of trivia like a tour guide. ¡°So Nyx, how did they manage to build these buildings in a dungeon?¡± Maria asked me that question, to which I answered. ¡°They''re made from the trees on this floor.¡± ¡°In this floor?¡± I replied with a yes, and surprisingly, the second stratum was one of those strata where you could interact with it, with people being able to cut down the trees. Additionally, I began to further explain that people built this village on the 19th floor because of the lake for 2 reasons. One of them was for the next stratum where it was going to be a desert, and the second, which was the more important reason, was that monsters would not approach or spawn near the lake. The book I read didn¡¯t have a reason for why it happens either, just saying unknown, yet to be determined. Thinking about it, if this was from a game, I¡¯m guessing that the lake is a host to a secret boss, but that is just speculation. We first went to look at the market on the main road going around the village. I told them that compared to normal villages, they didn¡¯t have any buildings for shopping since we were in a dungeon because most of the buildings were owned by high-ranking adventurers who practically lived in the dungeon. Instead, street vendors were showing off their goods on blankets lying on the ground. The vendors mostly sold preserved food and potions, while some sold weapons and armor. Maria commented on how high the prices were, which I told her. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°Since we were in a dungeon, it makes sense that the prices were exorbitant.¡± Exorbitant is an understatement because they were 5 times the prices you see above ground, which were already high enough. ¡°Yeah, I can see that''s why they charge so much.¡± Alice, who was watching us talk, asked. ¡°Is it really so much?¡± I said yeah, that it was a lot. I¡¯m guessing she was asking because she doesn¡¯t have any sense of money and is trying to figure it out since she is a noble now living as an adventurer. ¡°Speaking of which, Maria.¡± Turning to face Maria again. ¡°You could make a lot of money doing business here.¡± ¡°Really? How?¡± ¡°Well, not a lot of alchemists are adventurers, and even fewer come to the deeper floors, so your skills are really valuable here.¡± ¡°I see. I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡± After seeing the market, we went to the lake, which was an amazing sight to see. The water in the lake was completely drinkable and clear, almost mirror-like, where you could see the artificial sky of the dungeon. I told them that, and Maria and Alice wowed again after seeing the lake, Maria asked how I knew so much about the village. ¡°How did you know so much about the dungeon?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s from a book I bought about the Dradevow dungeon.¡± ¡°Huh?! Wait, what exactly does it look like?!¡± For some reason, Maria looked really interested in hearing my response. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a plain brown color book that is quite thick.¡± ¡°Does it have anything on the cover or not?¡± Thinking about it, I told her no since there was nothing distinguishing about the book. For some reason, it didn¡¯t have a title, which I didn¡¯t give too much thought to when I got it. ¡°No way, you actually have one.¡± ¡°Have what?¡± ¡°The book you got is really rare; how did you manage to get your hands on that book? I¡¯ve been looking for that book for a while now.¡± ¡°I got it from a bookstore that Iris recommended, called the Ash Thorn bookstore. But is it really that rare, and what do you need that book for?¡± ¡°I want one because it has information on herbs and other materials for alchemy inside this dungeon, and yes, they are really rare; only a few are made each year.¡± ¡°I can lend it to you and take you to the bookstore too, if you want.¡± Maria looked really gleeful when I said it. ¡°That would be really great, and thank you.¡± After seeing mostly everything in the village, we went back to Alex and everyone else, where we started moving back to the surface. At the guild, I enter first and am followed by Alex¡¯s party, which causes a stir as usual. I waited in Iris¡¯s line, which was my usual counter to go to. She processed the shards I collected, but after she was done, she asked me to come upstairs with her. Confused, I ask. ¡°Is there a reason for me to come upstairs with you?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll see it when we get there; don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s something good.¡± Iris called someone to cover for her for a bit, and I followed Iris upstairs and into a room. Entering the room, Iris said. ¡°I know that you don¡¯t like having attention on yourself, so I reserved this room for your promotion to C rank, so congratulations.¡± ¡°Oh, that is the reason. Thank you for that.¡± Hearing the reason, I was getting the feeling that there was more to this for some reason. Iris pulled out a familiar magical tool from a drawer and placed it on the table, the same one that Emma used to promote me. I took out my adventurer card and gave it to Iris for her to use on the magical tool. My card, which glows a greyish iron color, turns into a more metallic silver color. Giving back my card, I could see my rank had changed to a C rank and my card was now a silver color. After looking at my card, I put it back and thanked Iris again for making my promotion private. When I was about to leave, a feeling that there was more to this started to pop up in my head again, which was proven right when Iris said. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, can I ask you something?¡± Yep, my feelings were right. She did this to ask me to do something for her. Since she helps me out quite a lot, I guess I don¡¯t mind paying back a favor. Stopping, I turn back and reply. ¡°Yes, what is it?¡± Relieved seeing me stop and hearing her out, Iris asks. ¡°Could you come by tomorrow? There are people who want to meet with you.¡± Hearing that people wanted to meet with me, I grew suspicious of who they were because just who would want to meet with me, especially since I¡¯m run away noble? ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s nothing malicious or anything. Remember how you found the pendent that belonged to one of the noble girls in their adventuring party?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Well, they wanted to meet with you and thank you in person.¡± ¡°Why in person and why now? I thought they might have left by now.¡± Iris sighs and shrugs her shoulder, looking tired, and answers. ¡°I guess they want to thank you since they are quite persistent about it and have been asking me insistently for the last few weeks, especially for the last few days now.¡± Nobles, huh¡­ I¡¯m paying back Iris for her help, so I guess I could do it. The noble girls don¡¯t seem to be bad people if they are this persistent in reaching out to me to thank me. ¡°Fine, I don¡¯t mind, but could you make it in the afternoon? I¡¯m quite busy tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°Sure thing.¡± Leaving the room and then the adventure guild, I went back to my inn to rest for the day. Chapter 44 The next day, I woke up early and got something quick to eat at the tavern next door. Today is quite a busy day. I¡¯m going to the inn Maria is staying at to give her the Dradevow dungeon book and take her to Mila¡¯s shop. Then I¡¯m going to take Mila to Kinwall¡¯s shop so they can meet each other. After that, I¡¯m going to the guild to meet up with the noble girls, who want to thank me for returning their pendant. At the inn Maria was staying, she was already waiting outside, looking quite eager to meet me. When we saw each other, we greeted each other, and I gave her the Dradevow dungeon book I had brought her. Flipping through the pages and closing it once she was done, Maria said with glee. ¡°This is the one.¡± ¡°That''s great.¡± Maria thanked me and asked me to wait outside for a bit because she wanted to put the book back safely in her room, and, in her own words, it¡¯s not a place for a young boy to enter in the morning. I guess she still sees me as a child since I¡¯m still younger than her. Hearing what she said, I think I know exactly what she is talking about. Some of the girls were probably wearing scanty clothing since it was Alex after all; I would be more surprised if they didn¡¯t. I feign ignorance by not asking about it and not reacting to it at all with my usual expressionless face to keep up my persona. After around five minutes or so, Maria came out, and we walked to Mila¡¯s bookstore. On the way, Maria asked how I knew the bookstore owner. I told her that apparently, she was Mable¡¯s older sister. ¡°Really, I didn¡¯t know Mable had an older sister.¡± ¡°Wait, you know Mable?¡± ¡°I do; I stop by to borrow some books for my alchemy sometimes.¡± ¡°I see.¡± We continued walking and talking to each other till we were at Mila¡¯s bookstore. I knocked on the door and told her it was me. ¡°Hey Nyx, isn¡¯t there a sign that says it¡¯s close?¡± Hearing what she said, I told her. ¡°Yeah, but she likes it when I visit her, and she opens up on completely random days, so she doesn¡¯t mind letting me in even if it¡¯s closed.¡± ¡°Ah, I see.¡± As we were chatting, Mila shouted back. ¡°Comming, give me a minute.¡± After a minute, Mila opens the door, and for some odd reason, putting it nicely, she is awfully well dressed instead of her usual messy attire and looks. She wore some pants and a loose-fitting long-sleeved shirt and was carrying a bag on her shoulder. It contrasts very differently with how I normally see her in her baggy shirts and short shorts. ¡°Hi there, Nyx. Oooh, you¡¯ve brought a friend; what¡¯s her name?¡± ¡°Hi too; this is Maria. She wanted to stop by her to buy some books if you don¡¯t mind.¡± Turning her head to face Maria, Mila smiled and said hi. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Mila; I own this bookstore. Please come in and find what you would like. Also, excuse the messiness.¡± Maria, hearing Mila''s bright and happy-go personality, said. ¡°Thank you for letting me in.¡± Inside, it was as messy and cluttered as usual, but I soon released and reminded myself how uncoordinated Maria was. When we meet again in Acton, she stops randomly falling on things. Now, in Mila¡¯s bookstore. Maria was tripping all over the place. I had never seen someone so uncoordinated in my current and past life; it was like watching a baby trying to walk for the first time but constantly failing. I wonder if it was a good idea to bring her here; a place like this is like a death trap to her. Constantly falling down, I walk up to her and help her out, but once I pull her up, she falls again by slipping on something and falling into a large tower of books. The tower of books fell on her, and I heard a groan of pain. Getting herself out of the piles of books, a book fell in front of her. ¡°Huh!!!!¡± To my surprise, she looked completely shocked when she saw the book that landed in front of her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Concerned, I asked if there was anything wrong, and Maria replied with an absolutely bright and beaming tone. ¡°I¡¯m fine, but this.¡± Holding up the book that fell in front of her, she showed it to my face extremely enthusiastically. ¡°What is it?¡± Looking at the book, the title said The Book of Magnus. Judging by how excited she is, it must be rare. ¡°Is it rare?¡± ¡°Yes, absolutely, it¡¯s a book about alchemy by one of the most famous alchemists in history. Only 100 books were ever made. I can¡¯t believe this was in this bookstore. It¡¯s what all alchemists dream of having.¡± ¡°Ah, I see.¡± Turning to face Mila with eagerness and a bit of desperation, she asked how much it would cost, looking like she would pay anything for it. Mila had a smile seeing Maria''s excitement in the book and said. "Oh, that one. I got it from an alchemist friend of mine; he gave it to me since he doesn¡¯t need it anymore. He told me that it was quite a rare book, so I guess a gold coin should do.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hearing the price, Maria trembly asks. ¡°Is that really how much?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Mila''s smile grew and said. ¡°You''re Nyx¡¯s friend, and I don¡¯t need it anymore. Plus you make good use of it, more than I would.¡± Maria had a beaming smile and said thank you very much. She took out her coin pouch and paid for it, which she had carried more than enough. ¡°Thank you again; if you would excuse me, Nyx and Ms. Mila, I will be going back to my inn.¡± Bowing with the most sincere bow, Mila responded. ¡°I see, see you again, and just call me Mila.¡± I said goodbye to Maria and watched her run off back to her room. Let''s hope that she doesn¡¯t trip on the way back. ¡°Come on, I¡¯ve been waiting to see this friend of yours.¡± Mila said it after seeing Maria off. ¡°Okay.¡± I led Mila to Kinwall¡¯s shop, and on the way there, I warned her. ¡°By the way, he tends to set up shop in rather rundown and dingy places that people don¡¯t normally go to.¡± ¡°Really, he must really not want people to find him.¡± ¡°You could say that; let''s just say his skills tend to get the attention of unwanted people.¡± Hearing what I said, she caught on to what I meant.¡¯ ¡°Oh, I see. That is surprising.¡± ¡°Yeah, that''s why he tends to move a lot.¡± Continuing the conversation, which led to other things, like Mila talking a lot about her sister, including all the embarrassing stuff about Mable when she was younger, we eventually made it into Kinwall¡¯s shop. I entered the door and shouted out to Kinwall that it was me; he shouted back from the back of the store to give him a minute to come out. Mila didn¡¯t seem to flinch when Kinwall shouted back with his deep, booming voice. ¡°Ah, it''s good to see you so soon. Looks like you¡¯ve brought another friend.¡± ¡°Hi, this is Mila, and Mila, this is Kinwall.¡± I looked at Mila¡¯s reaction to seeing Kinwall coming to the front, who was a dwarf. She had a big smile and said. ¡°Oh my, I didn¡¯t expect Nyx to have a dwarf as a friend. Hi there, nice to meet you.¡± Mila bowed slightly to greet Kinwall, and Kinwall nodded in response. ¡°So, what brings you here?¡± ¡°Mila says she wanted to meet you after seeing the knives and the sword you¡¯ve made.¡± ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± Mila further said. ¡°I came here to ask you to do a job because you have worked with Mythril before, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I have, quite a lot, actually.¡± "Well, that is a surprise; you really are sought after, aren¡¯t you?¡± Mila¡¯s eyebrows was slightly raised to show her surprise, and as for me. ¡°Yeah, they really are persistent even if you say no, which is why I move so much. It¡¯s too much of a hassle to deal with them. So, what¡¯s the job you have in mind?¡± Taking something out of her tote bag, she showed it to Kinwall; it was a big stamp of some kind with a magical circle on the die part of the stamp, but I don¡¯t really know what it was specifically. ¡°Well, that is quite a rare sight.¡± It seems that Kinwall knows what it was, so I ask. ¡°You know what it is?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a magical engraver. It can stamp functional magical circles into almost anything but is rare because it has to be made with materials with very high mana efficiency, like pure mythril.¡± I turned to face Mila and asked what she wanted to do with it. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m guessing that you want me to engrave more of your knives. This just makes the process a lot easier and faster. I couldn¡¯t do it before since there aren¡¯t a lot of blacksmiths I know of that are good enough to handle Mythril until you show me your knives, which I wanted to see if Kinwall can do it.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Facing Kinwall again, Mila asks if he could do it. ¡°Of course I can; I''ve done a fair bit, so I got some experience.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Mila had a big smile when Kinwall could do it. Kinwall, on the other hand, had a curious look and said. ¡°Can I ask what you meant by engravings on the knife?¡± Kinwall had a glint in his eye, looking at Mila. Mila turned her head to look at me, which Kinwall followed; she looked as if she wanted me or her to answer. I answer with. ¡°I¡¯ve been developing magical circles for magical tools that don¡¯t need mages to use, which I got a lot of help from Mila. So far, we¡¯ve made knives that can emit electricity when you hit something.¡± Kinwall was deeply astonished by what I said and said that it was really impressive that I made something like that, to which I replied back. ¡°Not really; it wouldn¡¯t be possible with Mila and her expertise on magical tools. But could you keep it a secret, please? I would rather not let those people know about it.¡± Understanding what I meant, Kinwall told me not to worry and that he had done a lot of jobs that are very confidential and classified, so he could keep his mouth shut. ¡°This is really an interesting job, so what magical circle do you need to reshape?¡± Facing Mila again, Mila took out a sheet of paper with a drawing of the magical circle that was meant to gather mana. After giving the sheet of paper to Kinwall and letting him look over it, Mila looked at me and asked. ¡°How was the throwing knife you used on the monster in the dungeon?¡± Oh, right, I had forgotten to tell her about that. ¡°It didn¡¯t work as we intended it to.¡± Curious, Mila asks what I meant. "Well, it works, but the output was way more than I expected when I threw them at some orcs. It causes the magical circles to completely melt after throwing them just once.¡± ¡°I see, can I see them?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± I took out a throwing knife and showed it to her. ¡°That is quite perplexing; what do you think might have caused it?¡± ¡°My current theory is the magical shards in the monster also might have been absorbed by the knives, causing there to be a massive electrical surge.¡± ¡°What makes you say that?¡± ¡°Well, the magical shards for all 4 of the orcs didn¡¯t drop. They usually always drop a medium magical shard, a small magical shard if you''re very unlucky.¡± ¡°Yes, that might be the reason.¡± Hearing our conversation, Kinwall looked up from the sheet of paper and asked to look at the knife. I gave him another knife for him to look at. ¡°Hmm, quite interesting.¡± As he was looking at it, I asked if he could fix it. ¡°Of course, I can; it''s mostly surface-level damage. It¡¯s quite rare for me to repair something, since, you know, most of my customers don¡¯t even bring them back.¡± Being reminded about his customers reminds me of the blonde-haired guy who came by his shop in Farsbarow and the insane weirdos in my past life, for which I always get a feeling of complete dread remembering them. He seemed happy saying that, and then he asked if there was anything else we two needed. I thought about it, and I guess I¡¯m going to need a bulk order of my throwing knives, say around 20, and new holsters that could carry even more knives for me to use. ¡°Is that all?¡± I reply yeah, and so does Mila. ¡°I guess I better get started. I¡¯m going to start with the magical stamp, then fix your knives, Nyx, and your orders for a lot of throwing knives.¡± ¡°How much is it?¡± ¡°For you, it¡¯s 1 gold and 5 silvers; for her, I guess around 3 silvers.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± I took out my coin pouch, and Mila did the same, and we paid for our respective orders. After paying, I ask how long it¡¯s going to take. ¡°I¡¯m going to be very busy for a couple of days, around 2 days for Mila¡¯s job and 5 for yours.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll see you in a week then.¡± We walked outside of Kinwalls shop, and Mila asked me what I was going to do next. I told her I was going to the adventurer guild to meet up with some people who wanted to meet with me, and after that, I was going to start fixing the problem with the current throwing knives. I didn¡¯t have a problem with them, since that amount of electricity being emitted seems quite powerful and useful but tends to be a problem since it also absorbs the magical shards'' energy, which isn¡¯t too practical when I need to make money. I¡¯m going to have to change the magical circle that doesn¡¯t do that, and my first thought was to put a limiter on the magical circle to fix it. Chapter 45 I walked Mila out of the sketchy area where Kinwall had decided to set up shop because I didn¡¯t think it would be too safe for her to be here by herself. Once we were in a safer place with a crowd, we said goodbye and went our separate ways. When I was near the guild, for some reason Lucia was leaning on a wall outside of the adventure guild with her arms crossed, looking impatiently. I wonder why she was here. Is she waiting for someone? When she saw me, she had a scowl and stomped toward me. ¡°Oh, hi there, Lucia.¡± She looked angry as I greeted her. I think I should apologize to her again. ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± Before I could start my apology, she said something totally unexpected. ¡°I challenge you to a duel, now!¡± She pointed her finger and stomped her foot as she said it. Why is she challenging me? Is it because she wanted to prove something? Either way, this is really going to be fun. Unknowingly for me, from hearing her words, a grin appeared on my face, to which I wondered why she took a step back all of a sudden, looking a bit perturbed. ¡°I see, you want to do it now in the training area?¡± ¡°Fine then.¡± She didn¡¯t seem to back down, and I was getting even more excited, thinking of ways to counter Lucia¡¯s magic when we were going to fight. As we were going to enter the guild, the door opened, and I saw Iris walking out. ¡°There you are; I was worried you didn¡¯t show up. They are waiting.¡± My grin was immediately replaced with my default expressionless face when I saw her because I remembered I had something important today¡ªto meet up with the noble girls waiting for me. I turn back to look at Lucia with disappointment in my voice. ¡°Sorry, I have to do something today. Guess we have to do it on another day.¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re going to run away now!¡± Hearing Lucia shout at me, Iris looks at me and asks. ¡°Did I miss something?¡± I told her. ¡°Lucia wanted to duel me, which I kind of forgot about the meeting.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ I see.¡± Iris had a perplexed expression, then faced Lucia with an apologetic face. ¡°Ms. Lucia, I apologize, but Mr. Nyx has to be in a meeting with some important people, so please excuse us.¡± Iris then pushed me into the building, and when I looked back at Lucia, she was fuming, causing her hair to glow a bright red. Pushing me inside, Iris told me to go to which floor and room, meant for a really important guest. She also told me to try not to offend any of them in any way because they are nobles. I walked upstairs and stood in front of the door where Iris had told me the noble girls would be. I thought for a moment about how I would go in. I should knock since they were nobles, but how should I act to not let them know I¡¯m also a noble? Either way, I¡¯m going in. Knocking on the door, a voice responds to let me in a second later. ¡°Please come.¡± Opening the door, I saw four girls wearing expensive adventurer gear and equipment, but they still had the presence of a newbie party. I said a casual hello, and they all smiled gracefully at me. What seemed to be the party''s leader asked me politely to sit on the empty couch. Once I sat down, they introduced themselves. ¡°Greetings, I am Hilda Hillrose, the leader and support mage of the party.¡± ¡°Hello, I am Bianca Arden, the magic swordswoman.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°I¡¯m Elesa Cecil, and I am a healer. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± Hearing their last names, I recognize them to be from the new nobility faction. They are one of the two main factions in the kingdom and the faction that opposes the old nobility faction. Their families specifically are from one of the more influential families in their faction, and I wonder why they are even here adventuring. Hearing them introduce themselves and their role in the party, in game terms, their party is pretty stacked with just the three of them and even more so with the fourth person. I turned to the last person who hadn¡¯t introduced herself yet. There was a silence as everyone looked at her to introduce herself, but she didn¡¯t say anything, just staring at me. Why is she staring at me like that? Does she know who I am and see through my disguise? I was on edge and placed my hands near my short sword to draw it out at a moment''s notice, and I looked around the room to make a getaway plan if needed. They are mages, which are a handful to deal with, and I don¡¯t have any experience fighting them, so I cannot fight them and have to make a run for it. I was doing this with my default expressionless face, hiding my suspicions and intention to run away. She got up from the couch and walked up directly to me. I was on high alert, willing to attack them at any moment. I looked at everyone else, and they for some reason had a look that said, Oh no, she is going to do something again, which was strange. Once she put her right hand above my head, I was about to grab her arm and twist it to make her a hostage, but to my surprise, she began patting my head. I was completely stunned and didn¡¯t know what to do. She continued to pat my head like a child, she said. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Serena Darcy. I just had to pat you on the head because you''re quite the adorable child.¡± Hearing that, I was even more at a loss, like my mind just stopped working from this very strange and foreign situation. Everyone in the room except me and Serena took a deep sigh, and Hilda came to Serena''s side with a vein popping out of her forehead. She pinched Serena¡¯s right cheek to drag her away to a corner, then started shouting. ¡°Why did you have to do something like that every time?!¡± Hilda began to scold Sceran while the other two, whose faces were those of a proper noblewoman, broke into laughter like they couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. I was taught that the new noble factions were the enemy, oddballs for nobles, and numerous other things that made the new nobility faction look bad. I always thought they were just lies made to influence me, but maybe some of them do have oddballs in their faction because we nobles have to keep up appearances at all times, but they aren¡¯t and were acting too free-spirited. After things had settled down and I was making sense of things, Hilda apologized. ¡°I apologize for what you just saw; it is unbecoming of us. Please do not think of us nobles like this. Serena was acting too free-spirited when we began our training, and so were Bianca and Elesa, but to a lesser extent. I will try harder next time to not let this happen again.¡± Hilda bowed, and hearing what she said, Bianca and Elesa were taken aback when Hilda compared them to Serena, and Serena spoke up. ¡°What? I just wanted to pat his head; he is really cute, like a puppy or kitten or something.¡± Hilda, with another vein throbbing on her forehead, shouted. ¡°You can¡¯t just do that to people; do you not know how that is rude and¡ª¡± Hilda was back to shouting and gave Serena another earful. After another while, Hilda apologized again for the sight I just witnessed that would definitely make their etiquette tutor cry out in tears of blood witnessing them. ¡°I would like to thank you greatly for finding my family pendant. The reason I ask you to come here is to thank you greatly because it would be a great stain on my family¡¯s honor to not repay our debts. If you need assistance in anything, we are willing to offer our help.¡± ¡°I see. Thank you for your offer.¡± As we were about to finish our conversation about them adventuring to get a feeling for what common life is like, which their parents shockingly agreed to, I was about to stand up and say goodbye, but Hilda asked. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, I feel like I have seen you from somewhere¡­¡± Serena, who was sitting silently, not saying a word like a scolded child, spoke up and pointed at me. ¡°It''s because he is the boy we ran past by as we were running away from that disgusting spider monster.¡± Hilda had a vein on her forehead again and said. ¡°Please don''t interrupt me, and we are children of nobility; why can¡¯t you just act more like a noble?¡± Not dealing with any more of this, I said. ¡°Ya, I saw you run past me.¡± They were surprised when I said yes, except for Serena, who had a smug grin, knowing she was right. Bianca said with surprise. ¡°Wait, how did you manage to get down there? Did you do it all by yourself?¡± I took out my guild card and showed them my rank since it was the fastest way to prove it to them, which they gasped. ¡°Unbelievable, you¡¯ve managed to become a C-rank adventurer at such a young age.¡± ¡°I just rank up yesterday, but the 10th-floor boss wasn¡¯t much of a problem to deal with.¡± ¡°I see, how did you do it? We took several attempts to defeat it.¡± Bianca looked at me with glimmering eyes. I told her that I just had to take out its legs, then ran my sword through its weak spot that could kill it instantly. ¡°That is amazing; it¡¯s a shame that we are leaving soon, but I really would like you to teach me a thing or two.¡± Hearing that, I thought it was also a shame since I never fought a magic swordswoman before. ¡°Yes, that is a shame.¡± After I said that I said. ¡°I think it¡¯s time for me to go.¡± I stood up, and everyone said goodbye to me, with Hilda reminding me that they were willing to help me if I asked. Leaving the room and going downstairs, Iris was waiting on the second floor and asked how it went. I told her it went well, and they offered their help if I asked since they wanted to repay me for returning their pendant. ¡°I see, with nobles, you really get a mixed bag, and I was worried.¡± I said yeah and told her I would be going back to my inn for the rest of the day. It is time for me to start work on fixing the magical circles on my throwing knives. Chapter 46 I was hard at work on my new magical circles that had a limiter in them to limit how much mana they could absorb because it would be a problem with my knives absorbing the magical shards in the monsters, leaving nothing for me after they died. During the last week, I went to Kinwall to pick up the knives that he fixed and the new ones that he made, which included a new holster that could hold a lot of throwing knives. He also gave me Mila¡¯s magical engraver to deliver to her since I was going to her after him to pick up the engraved knives she was engraving, let her check on my new magical circle design, and give her more knives to engrave. I was fixing up the designs for the new magical circle that Mila looked over, till I heard a knock on the door. I grew suspicious of who it was because it might be someone after me, but once I heard the voice, my suspicions went down. ¡°Hi, it''s me; it¡¯s Alice, and Wendy is also here.¡± Putting my pencil down on the table, I open the door to greet them. ¡°Hello, what brings you here?¡± Alice looked a bit surprised by how messy and cluttered my room was, which, if I were still a noble lady, would be very unbecoming of me, so I said. ¡°Oh, excuse the mess; I haven¡¯t had time to clean up.¡± ¡°Right¡­ The reason I came is that I was wondering if you would come fight the 20th-floor boss with us.¡± ¡°20th floor boss?¡± ¡°Yes, we have been trying to take it down for the last few days now and failed every time.¡± Why are they fighting the 20th-floor boss? I asked why, and Alice responded with. ¡°Well¡­¡± Alice said a day after I suggested to Maria to do business in the village on the 19th floor, she just did that, saying that she really needed a lot of money for some reason, so they went to the village to do just that. While Maria was in the village, Alice was with everyone on the 19th floor, and she caught up surprisingly fast with everyone, except for the physical part since it takes time to build up strength and endurance. Hearing that, I kind of expected Alice would catch up quickly since she was part of Alex¡¯s party; after all, Alex is the main protagonist and all. Going on, since the orc incident happened where there was an unlucky amount of orcs that attacked us, they found that Alice was more suited to be the tactician of the party. As they were in the second stratum all day, Wendy, Lucia, and even Maria wanted to fight the 20th-floor boss. Wendy because it would be fun; Lucia because she wanted to test her magic with a challenge; and Maria wanted to get some materials on the third stratum. Alex, seeing that they wanted to fight it and no one objected, thought, Why not? However, it did not end so well because they got their buts kicked multiple times. They tried different tactics and bought better gear from Kinwall, which they could afford with how much money Maria had made. ¡°Oh, that is why you got new gear and Wendy even got the halberd she wanted.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Continuing on, Alice said that they were doing some errands to pick up supplies for Maria with her alchemy and thought it would be a good idea to ask for my help defeating the 20th-floor boss. After hearing her request, I said. ¡°I see, give me a minute, and I¡¯ll be ready outside.¡± Alice thanks me and walks outside to wait. I look at Wendy, who is silent the whole time, if not meek, with her tail tucked behind her legs and ears down like a scared animal for some reason. Honestly, I did not expect today I would be fighting the 20th-floor boss who was an owlbear. Thinking about it made me grin because this would be the strongest monster I would fight yet and would be a great change of pace after being mostly cooped up in my room for a whole week. For some reason, I noticed Wendy was turning pale and was on the verge of tears, with her legs shaking like crazy. Hearing Alice call for her to come down, Wendy slowly moved away from me till she was out of my sight and ran out of the inn. Grabbing my gear, including my new holster, which was a belt that could hold a lot of knives on it, 10 in total, 4 of them being engraved¡ªI went outside where Alice and Wendy were waiting, and we went to the dungeon together. Going inside was relatively uneventful because Wendy stopped being meek and insisted with great determination that she would handle it like a battle maniac. Oh right, she is the meathead of the party. I kind of forgot she was like that because of how different she was acting when I first met her. On the 10th floor, I used the bypass ring for the first time because I wanted to save my strength to fight the 20th-floor boss, which would be even harder than the 10th-floor boss, and so I could maximize the amount of fun I was going to get. At the village, we enter the village, and Alice leads us to everyone, which is a building that looks to be a small house. I asked Alice why we stopped in front of this house. ¡°Yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you, but Maria is renting it out.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Nodding yes. ¡°Your suggestion for Maria to do business down here was surprisingly successful, to the point that Maria managed to get enough money to rent a house.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡± That is actually surprising because I thought it would make a quick buck or two, but how did she manage to get this much? Alice opened the door with a key and let me inside. Going in, they were surprised to see me. Lucia shouted first with her usual tsundere self and pointed her finger at me. ¡°What are you doing here?!¡± Alice had a wry smile and said. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Sorry, but we need all the help we can get if we want to fight the 20th-floor boss.¡± "No, we don¡¯t need him here; we can do it ourselves.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve tried other options, but we need the extra help, so please let him help us.¡± After a bit of a back and forth, Lucia finally said fine, then said ¡°Don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re not going to run away from our duel like last time; I¡¯m not letting it happen after this.¡± After she said it, she was back to the silent treatment again. Oh right, I kind of forgot about it. Well, this day got even better; I got to fight the 20th-floor boss and Lucia. I looked at everyone, and Alex looked like he was about to scream in terror. I don¡¯t really know what that was all about; maybe the owlbear really traumatized him. Seeing them, I saw that Maria and Chelsie were not there, so I asked Alice, and she said. ¡°There in another room, Chelsie is helping Maria with her alchemy.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Alice told me the room where Chelsie and Maria were. I knocked on the door and told them it was me. Opening the door, Maria said hi, and looking inside the room, I saw Chelsie putting some ingredients into a small cauldron. I said hi to her, and she said hi back. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you.¡± ¡°Yeah, Alice brought me here to help you with the boss fight.¡± Maria had a bright smile and said. "Oh, thanks; thank you for always helping us; just give us a minute to get ready.¡± After a minute or two, Maria and Chelsie came out, wearing their adventuring gear and equipment, which looked new and better than the ones she had before. We left the building Maria was renting, and on the way out of the village, some of the adventurers began talking to Maria as if she were very well known around here. ¡°Hey Maria, when is the next batch of health potions coming out?¡± ¡°How is my order coming along?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a contract?¡± Maria responds to all of them. ¡°In a day or two, if things go well, Tobias. I haven¡¯t started with it yet, so a couple of days, Jack. And, no again, Vanessa, I can¡¯t do a contract with your party; I¡¯m already busy enough with my workload right now.¡± It was like this when we were leaving the village, where I was surprised by how many connections Maria had made in a couple of days, especially to the season and veteran adventurers. Outside the village, it was not that far of a walk to get to the 20th-floor boss room, around 10 minutes to get there. Standing in front of a big black metal door, Alex and Wendy looked really scared, but instead of looking at the door, they were looking at me for some reason. Chelsie looked to be her normal composed self; Alice looked determined, and so did Lucia, who looked the most determined out of all of us. However, it left us with Maria, who was beginning to act very differently when we were walking here and even more so at the boss room doors. ¡°Hee Hee Hee¡± She was giggling to herself with a smile, but it wasn¡¯t a normal smile because, looking at her eyes, I felt like there was some madness in them. I was quite concerned, to be honest, because it is almost like she has another side to her like I¡¯m seeing the signs of a mad scientist character in video games. Either way, Alex reluctantly opened the pair of doors, and we went inside, seemingly not perturbed by her behavior but by something else. Inside, it was very different from the 10th-floor boss room. The room looks like a massive hollow-out tree with vines covering the walls. At the center, there was a tree of some sort, and from the Dradevow dungeon book, it¡¯s where the Owlbear spawned in. Additionally, it wasn¡¯t just the Owlbear we were facing but six blood owls who acted as its minions. Vines on the tree in the center started moving. I and everyone else readied to fight but weren¡¯t too surprised because everyone had faced it before, and I already knew everything from reading the Dradevow dungeon book. However, seeing it spawn for the first time was quite an interesting sight because the vines were gathering together from the trees and began tangling into a big, menacing thing. It formed into a bear with the head of an owl around 3 meters in size, then the vines started to detangle to reveal the Owlbear. As the vines were detangling around it, I smelled blood in the air, so I looked up to see six Bloodowls descending from the sky and into the hollow-out tree. Once all the vines clear up, it opens its red eyes and roars, sounding like a mixture of an owl hooting and a bear roaring, which was almost deafening. Standing on its 2 legs, it went on all fours and pawed the ground, leaving large claw marks with its long and sharp claws, to prepare to charge at us. Alice had already told me about their strategy to fight that thing, which is to let Lucia fire off her powerful spells as the main damage dealer while everyone else covered for her. Lucia prepared and charged up a fireball; while she was doing that, the owlbear charged at us, and two of the Bloodowls started to dive with their sharp talents aimed at us. Lucia fired off her fireball, while Chelsie shot some arrows, and I threw my spikes at the Bloodowls diving toward us since our arrows and spikes couldn¡¯t go high enough to deal with them. My spikes and Chelsie¡¯s arrows had been laced with poison beforehand, causing the 2 Bloodowls diving at us to fall from the air and hit the ground dead. The fireball was fired at the charging owlbear, causing a huge explosion that was even more destructive than the last time I saw her use it. However, to my surprise, or I should have expected it, it blew away the owlbear back and hit the walls of the boss room but got up like it was not a big deal. I could see why they had failed to kill it, and the Dradevow dungeon book should have emphasized that it was very tough instead of just saying it was tough; honestly, I couldn¡¯t ask for a stronger opponent. It got right back up with some burnt fur and feathers while coughing out some blood. Alice told Alex, Wendy, and me to fight the owlbear while Chelsie covered everyone from the Bloodowls, and Maria gave Lucia a mana potion to recover her mana because that fireball took a lot out of her to cast. We ran; I took the lead in the middle while Alex and Wendy followed from behind for some reason, reluctantly not wanting to fight it. Are they really that traumatized by the Owlbear? I threw my spikes, using my usual tactic of taking out its eyes, but it moved out of the way and I missed. It ran toward us on all fours, then stood on two legs to use its long, sharp claws to take multiple swipes at me. They were so blindingly fast that I had to rely on instinct to dodge most of them. If I were in my prime in my past life, dodging its attacks would be child''s play, but I guess I could take the challenge since I was cooped up in my room for a week, doing nothing except designing my new magic circle. I had a slight grin as I was dodging its attacks. Alex and Wendy came from behind and slashed at its back with their new weapons. It led to an X-shaped wound on its back and caused it to turn and swipe at Alex and Wendy. The wound looks shallow, but it¡¯s damaged either way. I ran up to it, two Bloodowl diving toward me, but Chelsie shot a couple of arrows at them. The Bloodowl fell to the ground, and I stabbed the Owlbear with my sword into the x-shape wound; however, thrusting my sword into it felt like I was stabbing into a monster with a really dull sword. Just how tough is this thing? ¡°Everyone get back!¡± Hearing Alice''s warning to get back, I saw that Lucia had prepared another fireball. We got back, and Lucia fired it at the Owlbear. She knocks it away, and it hits the walls again. Now greatly pist off, it seems to have taken a great amount of internal damage, to which it roars. Hearing it roar, I knew it had entered its second phase and where we should be the most wary. Vines from the central tree started to move toward Alice, Maria, and Lucia. Anticipating this, Alice told Wendy to take care of the vines while I and Alex dealt with the Owlbear, who was going after Alice, Wendy, and Lucia. I threw some spikes at it, but it dodged my attempt to blind it. At this point, I¡¯m going to have to resort to my engraved throwing knives. Rushing in with Alex following, I ark my body backward at the blindingly fast swipe of its claws and counterattack at its arm, leaving no time for thought, just relying on my instincts and intuition. I continued dodging and counter-attacking, with Alex attacking whenever there was an opening. I was smiling, full-on smiling, because one wrong move would be death. It felt great being in a life-or-death battle again. I was about to start laughing for all the fun this fight was, but a vine, which had somehow gotten past Wendy, had gotten hold of my right leg. God dammit. I cursed myself because I was so focused on the owlbear that I didn¡¯t notice the vine suddenly around me. Plus, I think I heard Alice warning me but was too busy to hear her as well. The vine grabbed my left leg tight, and I couldn¡¯t move out of the way of the Owlbear¡¯s swing of its claws. This is not good. I used my sword and my direwolf cloak to guard against its claws, but it was no good. The Owlbear claws managed to pierce through my cloak, and I was sent flying back with blood coming out. Chapter 47 I was thrown back and hit the wall; the air in my lungs escaped. Falling to the ground, blood was coming from my left side. I tried getting up, but everything went black. Alex¡¯s Party Perspective Alice looked at Nyx and was astounded by how he fought. They were having trouble fighting it because of the vines, causing Alex or Wendy to fight the Owlbear while the other kept the vines at bay. Maybe we can win this time. She thought that because Nyx seemed to be holding his own with the Owlbear and Alice had never seen this level of fighting before, especially for someone who was almost the same age as herself, even her personal guards would have a hard time defeating him. However, Alice saw a vine slip through Wendy and snuck up to Nyx. She tried to warn Nyx, but he was too focused on fighting the Owlbear to notice. It grabbed onto Nyx¡¯s leg, and she saw Nyx thrown into the air with blood splattering all over. Alice turned to Maria and told her. ¡°We are retreating; get Nyx out of here.¡± As she said that, Alex was also thrown back and landed next to them. Maria checked Alex to see if he was okay, and fortunately, his armor managed to stop the Owlbear¡¯s claws from harming him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me; go to Nyx; he is more injured than I am.¡± Standing up, Alex ran back to fight the Owlbear, while Maria ran to Nyx. As Maria began to run to Nyx, Alice told Lucia to fire off her fireball and use her flamethrower spell to deal with the vine so they could focus on escaping. Lucia nodded, and she notified Alex to get out of the way and to carry Nyx out. After the Owlbear is hit by the fireball and sent flying back, Lucia casts a flamethrower spell and shouts out at Wendy to get back since she is going to incinerate the vines and the tree itself. As Lucia fires her flamethrower spell, Maria reaches Nyx, and she sees that Nyx is bleeding profusely and has lost a lot of blood. Three big gashes were diagonally going down from Nyx¡¯s back to his left side. Maria took out two medium-grade potions and poured the first one on Nyx¡¯s back to stop the bleeding. After she was done, the last two Bloodowls noticed Maria separated from Chelsie, Alice, and Lucia and decided to dive on her. Seeing them, Maria instinctively shields Nyx¡¯s unconscious body to try to protect him with her own body, while Chelsie fires her arrows and knocks them out of the air. Maria sighed in relief seeing that Chelsie shot down the Bloodowls and was about to carry Nyx; without warning, vines started moving from the wall, got a hold of Maria, and pulled her to the wall, strangling her. Seeing what was happening, Alice was dumbfounded and thought to herself, How was this happening? She didn¡¯t expect that to happen, and the book Maria gave her to read to formulate a plan, the Dradevow dungeon book, never said anything about what was happening. Is it because we burn down the tree at the center? Alice ignored that train of thought and decided to act. Looking at Chelsie, since there were no Bloodowls in the air, Alice told her to follow her to help Maria, who was struggling to break free of the vines. They ran to her, trying to cut the vine apart to free Maria; however, the vines were much more troublesome than they thought. They were overwhelmed, and the vine had already gotten a hold of them. Vines had wrapped around their necks, and Alice thought to herself, How had things gone so wrong so quickly? The last thing she could see and hear as she faded into black was laughter and Nyx standing up as blood was coming out and staining his clothes. Nyx¡¯s Perspective I lay on the ground, and I felt a searing pain going from my back down to my left side; it was like being slashed by 3 blades all at once, which wasn¡¯t off the mark. How long have I been knocked out? Trying to get up, I felt a warm, viscous liquid around me. I realized it was a pool of my own blood. Everything hurts, but how long had I had this feeling? I haven''t felt this level of pain since I fought the direwolf. good¡­ Tasting the blood in my mouth, I began to laugh. ¡°Heh heh, heh heh ahhh ahahahahahah ahhh!¡± Focusing myself to stand back up on my feet, I took out a mid-grade health potion Maria gave me, uncorked the bottle with my teeth, then splashed it on my open wounds and drank the rest, ignoring how bad it tasted. Immediately, the wound started healing and started closing. My senses sharpened, and my mind worked overtime to see what was happening; the world felt like things had slowed down. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Vines were strangling Alice, Chelsie, and Maria, which was strange because they usually stem from the tree but they were coming from the walls. I looked at the tree at the center of the boss room, and it was completely burned down. Maybe it¡¯s because of that, that if you do certain actions, it would make the boss fight either harder or easier. Finally, I looked at everyone else, Alex and Wendy, who were desperately fighting the Owlbear, while Lucia seemed to be running out of mana because her hair was not glowing as much as before. We both look at each other; she looks completely shocked. Maybe it¡¯s because I managed to stand up with the grievous wounds I received that were still healing or that I was actually smiling and laughing, different from my normal self. Either way, it did not matter because I gripped my sword tightly and began moving. My injury hadn¡¯t finished closing yet, and it hurt like hell, but I was just laughing and enjoying the situation I was in. This is a fun day. Alice should ask me to help them out more often. Swinging my sword at the vines, strangling Maria, Chelsie, and Alice to cut them loose, I turned my attention to the Owlbear and ran straight to it, laughing with a smile. Alex and Wendy noticed and immediately backed off the Owlbear, which I thought was considerate of them to let me have all the fun, but it looked like they were scared of something much bigger coming toward them. The Owlbear swung at me with its claws, but I could see it as everything seemed to slow down for me, enough for me to do a counterattack without relying on sheer instincts and intuition. Blood started coming out of my wound, which did not finish healing, but I did not care, just smiling and laughing in glee. I took out one of my engraved knives and stabbed it into its right paw. There was a large spark of lightning, causing it to have muscle spasms throughout its body. Heh heh heh, so this thing can be affected by my engraved knives. Barely able to control its body, I took out all of my spikes and threw them at the Owlbear, aiming at the eyes because it was the only place I could do any significant damage to since these spikes would not do anything to it with its fur. After hitting its left eye and the engraved knife was done sparking, it grew enraged, and I smiled even bigger seeing it that enraged. Yes, yes, get even angrier; all the more fun for me. It attacks with a flurry of swings from its claws and occasional bites with its beak. I was laughing, even more excited and riled up as I counter-attacked whenever I could; each attack was deadly, speaking from personal experience from just getting hit by it. The rush of adrenaline, my body screaming in pain, and having margin for error made it exactly the reason why I am loving this right now. However, vines started to make their move and were beginning to slither their way to me and began to interfere in our fight. The vines prove to be a nuisance as they sneakily move their way behind me. I took out my short sword to cut them down without looking back, while I simultaneously swung at the Owlbear with my primary sword. Don¡¯t think I would fall for the same trick twice. I could barely cut through its fur or feathers, which just gave it a shallow cut; I guess I had to kill it with death by a thousand cuts. ¡°Haaahaaa Haaahaaahaa ahhhaaaa!¡± Alex¡¯s Party Perspective Lucia was on her knees from draining most of her mana, holding her staff to support herself. She bit her lips as things turned for the worse; half of their party had been knocked out, and she could barely do anything right now. Taking a mana potion from one of her pouches, she downed it as fast as she could to regain her mana. She was about to fire another fireball or two to keep the Owlbear and vines at bay to let Alex and Wendy get all the wounded out. However, as she was about to cast a fireball as fast as she could, she heard laughter. Lucia looked around the room to see who would be laughing in a situation like this. Eventually, her eyes landed on Nyx, who was lying in a pool of his own blood. She was surprised when Nyx stood back up despite his grievous injuries. Taking a health potion and using it, Lucia saw Nyx had a smile. He looked around, and his eyes eventually landed on Lucia. His eyes filled with madness, and his expression, which was always expressionless, was smiling for the first time. Lucia felt chills seeing the sight. Without a moment''s delay, Nyx freed Maria, Chelsie, and Alice from the vine, then ran straight for the Owlbear. Seeing Nyx, Alex and Wendy disengaged and left Nyx to fight the Owlbear on his own. Then they ran to Maria, Chelsie, and Alice to pick them up and move them to Lucia, who was by the entrance. Astonishing Lucia, she asked why they were not helping. Alex said with a terrified tone. ¡°We don¡¯t need to, and we can¡¯t.¡± ¡°What do you mean we can¡¯t?¡± ¡°Nyx is in that state again; he might attack you if you get in his way, and I don¡¯t want that to happen again. Just watching him is already terrifying enough.¡± Lucia looked at Nyx again, who had used one of his artifacts that emitted a large amount of lightning and was actually fighting evenly with the Owlbear, if not pushing it back. It gave a shiver to Lucia again seeing it¡ªhow Nyx, who always has an expressionless face and tone, now was smiling and laughing. It was something she had never seen before, and she felt fear creep through her mind. ¡°You know how we told you never to fight with Nyx? This is why, believe me.¡± Sweat drips from her forehead, and the implication of her challenging Nyx to a duel makes her second-guess her previous bursts of emotions. ¡°Heh heh¡­ right¡­¡± Nyx¡¯s Perspective ¡°Ahhha hahahah!¡± It''s good to feel this way after a while; it''s fun that I get to let loose during a life-or-death fight. I move out of the way as it continues to swipe its really sharp claws at me; however, I cut its arms with countless shallow cuts so that it can barely move or control its arms, just flailing them around like a wipe of some kind. It now relied mainly on its beak to attack, but I dodged that too, and I smiled even bigger; it gave me an idea. Whipping its arms, I dodge, and it then chooses to use its beak to try to chomp down on me. Lunging at me, I jumped back and took out one of my engraved knives, as I used my short sword to cut down the vines coming at me. I threw it at the Owlbear¡¯s mouth, then I thrust the tip of my short sword at the end of the knife into its mouth to make sure the knife was lodged and stuck inside. As it bit into my short sword and swallowed the engraved knife during its lunge, I let go of my short sword that was stuck in its mouth, threw away my main sword, and took out my last 2 engraved knives to bury them in its other eye to make sure it was dead. A large amount of electricity came out of the knives, causing the Owlbear to spasm. Once the electricity had settled down, the Owlbear was still standing with all the cuts, burns, and internal damage it had taken all over its body. I was about to take out two of my normal throwing knives and ready myself to fight it if I needed to while cackling because this boss was really something and even more fun if I fought it alone. But after a bit of waiting for it to move, it swayed back and forth and fell face-first to the ground. Chapter 48 Seeing the Owlbear fall to the ground, I let go of the knives I was holding and fell on the ground as well. I chuckled as it was finally dead. Laying my back on the ground, arms and legs sprawled out, I immediately felt the exhaustion and injuries getting to me. ¡°Ughhh¡­¡± Groaning in pain, my body could not move, or maybe I just refused to move. I was starting to have regrets about fighting that thing, but I could say that it was an amazing fight. Blood started to come out of my wounds from my left side and back. It looks like they reopened; should I have let it fully close before I fought the Owlbear? It hurts too much to use a health potion. Lucia, Wendy, and Alex were still alive and well with barely any injuries; I should ask them, maybe not Lucia since she is still mad at me. My smile was put away, and I was back to my normal expressionless self. With the little energy I could spare, I called out to them. ¡°Hey¡­ Could one of you give me a health potion?¡± Moving my eyes to look at them, they began muttering to each other in a circle like they were passing on something they really didn¡¯t want to do, like kids. I was too exhausted and in too much pain to care to hear, so I said. ¡°Could you hurry it up? I¡¯m bleeding out right now.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Alex, after being pushed by Lucia and Wendy, approached me slowly, and I was thinking to myself, can you hurry up? Opening a health potion, he pours it over the gashes across my left side and back, then lets me drink the rest, which was hell because it was the worst thing I ever tasted. Does a higher-ranking health potion equate to how bad it tastes? After some time for my wounds to heal, Alice, Chelsie, and Maria woke up after being strangled by the vines. Alex filled them in and told them I had defeated the Owlbear, and they asked why they let me fight that thing alone. Alex, Wendy, and Lucia gave a complicated expression that had some fear in it, said you won¡¯t believe us, and left it just that, refusing to clarify any further. Sitting by the walls of the boss room, I was sipping a stamina potion that suspiciously tasted like an energy drink that Maria gave me when Alice approached me. ¡°Thank you again for saving us. I guess I owe you twice now.¡± ¡°You could say that.¡± ¡°Is there anything I could do?¡± Thinking about it, I said yeah. Alice seemed really happy about my response and asked what it was. ¡°You remember about my past, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I was thinking about buying a house or apartment in Acton for a while now since I am running out of space at my inn.¡± ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± ¡°Could you wear your dress to help me sell the jewelry I had taken with me when I ran away and help me buy a house or apartment with the money since, you know, it would be suspicious for a random commoner to have such things?¡± Hearing my request, Alice nodded with a yes, happy that she could return the favor. ¡°When do you want to do it?¡± ¡°In 2 days, I¡¯m exhausted from the boss fight and want a day to rest.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Got it.¡± After our conversation and everyone was somewhat rested, we went through the doors to the 3rd stratum. Going through the doors, immediately, I felt the blazing hot sun bearing down on me, and the dry humidity made my throat parch. We walked for a short bit till we were on a sand dune and Maria began looking around for something. ¡°Hey look, it¡¯s over there.¡± Maria pointed out in the direction of the thing she was looking for and began running to it. Alex shouted out at Maria to not run off since monsters could appear and attack her. We ran to follow her to see she was picking up some reddish-colored fruits from a cactus. Let''s see, if I remember correctly, it¡¯s called a Corryocactus, which can show up with prickly pears that can increase your stamina and help you resist the blazing hot sun. If you make potions out of it, the effects can be more potent and last a lot longer. After Maria had collected a bag of Corryocactus fruit, we went back to the 2nd stratum and into the house they were renting. I looked for Lucia, but she was nowhere to be seen. We were supposed to have a duel after the fight, which I was looking forward to. That is a shame. I was about to leave to go back to my inn, but Maria told me to wait for a bit because she wanted to give me something. ¡°Sorry for the wait, but here you go.¡± Maria had carried out a basket of potions, of which I counted there to be a dozen. ¡°These are?¡± ¡°High-grade health potions.¡± Surprise, I ask. ¡°Are you giving them to me?¡± ¡°Absolutely, you¡¯ve helped me a lot; it¡¯s the least I could do.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Also here.¡± Maria then took out 2 viles, which I was familiar with, regeneration potions. ¡°I know you don¡¯t want me to look at your injuries, so here. Just in case you need it.¡± I nodded and thanked her, then left the house. Going up the floors was relatively uneventful except that my body was completely tired from the boss fight and people were giving me weird looks since I was covered in my own blood. Once I got to my room, I made space in my cluttered room to take off my bloody clothes and began cleaning myself, then changed into a fresh set of clothes and went to sleep after I drank the regeneration potion Maria gave me. The next day my body was sore all over, but I had to do things today, which was to go to Kinwall¡¯s shop to get some armor. I originally thought my direwolf cloak would be enough to protect me from any fatal injuries, but with the Owlbear, it wasn¡¯t enough. Plus I need Kinwall to do maintenance, especially my short sword that had dents in it from letting the Owlbear bight into it. Additionally, speaking about cloaks, my direwolf cloak was shredded, and I need a new one. On the way to Kinwall¡¯s shop, I bought a new cloak from a merchant. It was a black cloak, similar to my old one but better. It was nowhere near the level of my direwolf cloak, but it would have to do. In Kinwall¡¯s shop, he greeted me and asked what I needed. Taking out the weapons I was carrying, I said. ¡°Could you do some maintenance on them? My engraved knives and especially my short sword need to be repaired.¡± Kinwall looked at my short sword and asked what happened to it because there were 2 dents on the blade directly opposite from each other and there were burn marks on the handle. ¡°Oh, Alice asked me to help fight the 20th-floor boss, which was an Owlbear. I basically threw an engraved knife in its mouth and pushed it inside with my short sword to make sure it was lodged inside.¡± Kinwall didn¡¯t seem too surprised when I said I was helping fight the 20th-floor boss with Alex¡¯s party, but when I said I thrust my short sword into its mouth, he burst into laughter. ¡°Aha haha haha! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve done that; I would love to see it.¡± Kinwall laughed heartedly, and once he calmed down, he said. ¡°I¡¯ll get started. Is there anything else you need?¡± I told him yeah and that I wanted to buy some armor since my direwolf cloak was shredded from the fight. ¡°I see. Go have a look around; if you see anything you like, call me and I¡¯ll resize them for you.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I began looking around the shop for some armor that I liked. There wasn¡¯t a lot that could fit a kid, but I managed to find some, which I tried on and moved around to see how much they would impede my movements. I narrowed it down to a set that I wanted. It was leather armor that was from a monster, with a metal chest plate on top and a pair of metal arm and shin guards. When I was done, I called Kinwall, who was in the back fixing my weapons. I told him I wanted to buy the armor I was trying on, which Kinwall asked me to spin around so he could take notes since they were a little too big for me. When I took the armor off and gave it to him, he went back to the shop and gave me back my weapons except for my short sword and engraved knives. ¡°Come by tomorrow to pick them up, including your armor. I¡¯ve finished with the ones that only needed a touch-up.¡± ¡°I see and thank you.¡± I thanked and paid him, and the next day I came back and picked up everything, including putting on my new armor, which fit perfectly. After that, I went to Alice because today was the day I was going to go house shopping. Chapter 49 Seeing Alice come out wearing a cloak and her dress, she said. ¡°Sorry for making you wait; I haven¡¯t done my makeup on my own before; I had to ask for help.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Putting on her hood, we began walking to a certain shop where I asked Iris to recommend me using Alice as a reason since she was still in hiding, specifically one that could keep their mouth shut. On the way, Alice asked me what I wanted her to say when we met the jeweler and what I was planning to sell away. ¡°Well, like how much they are worth and other basic questions I would ask, and that you want to sell off your jewelry to buy a house since you are a noble and don¡¯t want to live in an inn for a while, noble¡¯s sensibility and all.¡± ¡°Noble sensibility?¡± ¡°Yeah, you know how much different a noble¡¯s lifestyle is compared to a commoner''s, especially when it comes to money? It¡¯s the best reason I could come up with since this jeweler already interacted with nobles before and knows how most of us would act.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Alice mulled over my words, which I kind of made up on the spot because, in reality, I had barely any idea of how nobles tend to act toward commoners because my family is powerful¡ªno, make that formerly powerful right now, where I very rarely have to talk to commoners outside of my family manner since they always come to me instead of the other way around. I¡¯m just basing this on my perceptions of nobles in my past life, where they don¡¯t have the common sense like commoners, like with money. From Alice¡¯s reaction, I¡¯m not really too off the mark since her family, though less powerful than my own before I ran away, does interact with commoners more than I would, especially since she is from a renowned military family. ¡°Is there anything specific you want me to say?¡± After mulling over my answer, Alice asked that, so I said. ¡°Ask them to melt the metal down and repurpose the gems so nobody can track me down.¡± ¡°I understand, but can I see the jewelry you¡¯re planning to sell?¡± Alice gave me a curious look, wanting to see, so I said sure. I took out one of my pouches, being careful so nobody snatched it, and opened it so nobody could see them other than Alice. They were a gold ring with an emerald gem, a pair of earrings with blue magic gemstones, and a silver necklace with a large teardrop diamond. Alice was quite surprised to see them and said. ¡°These are beautiful; they are going to be worth quite a lot. Are you sure they would have the money ready to buy all of them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if they don¡¯t, sell them whatever they can afford or ask them to set up another date so they could have the money ready.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± We talked to each other until we reached the shop we were going to, which was in the wealthier part of the city where there were fewer adventurers and more townspeople. This place has a lot of high-end shops and is cleaner overall than most of the city. I saw a lot of open glass windows that showed what they were offering. Most surprisingly, we didn¡¯t really stand out in this place with our hoods covering our faces because other people did the same thing, which I¡¯m guessing are well-known people who want to hide their identity. The front of the shop had a sign reading Perkcan¡¯s Jewelry Shop. It was a clean and nice-looking shop, but not the fanciest one I had ever been to, but a good-looking shop, nothing less. Going inside, a female clerk greeted us. ¡°Hello, how may I serve you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to meet with the owner of this shop.¡± Pulling down her hood, Alice shows her face with all the dignity of a noble being shown to the store clerk. Surprise, she immediately composed herself and bowed, saying. ¡°I apologized, lady Alice; forgive me for not recognizing my lady sooner, please, this way.¡± Hmm... the worker seemed to know who Alice was; did Iris inform them that we were coming? Leading us upstairs and opening the door to an office, she politely asks us to sit on one of the couches and to wait for her boss to arrive. I didn¡¯t sit with Alice on one of the couches but stood behind her, acting like her guard, because we already made up a story that I was her acquaintance whom she met while being chased by the Palning black knights and helped her run, making me trustworthy, which honestly wasn¡¯t too off the mark on how we met. After a couple of minutes, we heard footsteps coming from the stairs, and as the doors opened, it revealed a middle-aged man with a beard, wearing some decently expensive clothing and a pair of glasses. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you; I am Tamsin. I do apologize for making my lady wait, Lady Alice.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. He greeted us with a polite bow, a hand on his chest, and a smile that I could tell was fake, which was him just being cordial since Alice was a noble. He then turns to me and asks. ¡°May I ask who you might be? Please.¡± Alice answered for me and said. ¡°He is an acquaintance of mine and my guard.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Sitting on the opposite couch, he then said. ¡°What brought my lady here to my humble shop?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve come here to sell my spare jewelry.¡± ¡°Ah, I understand, given your situation. It would be a great pleasure to do business with you, my lady.¡± Alice had a mask of surprise since that kind of information would be kept a secret, but knowing the merchant and that Iris recommended him to me, it was par for the course. He definitely has an intelligence network throughout the city and should know what was happening in this city. I¡¯m guessing he is making a jab to know why we were here; however, Alice and I already figured out what he was doing. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m currently in need of funds to make more suitable living arrangements, and if it would be possible, could you recycle the metal and repurpose the gems to make sure no one can trace it down to me?¡± He seems surprised by Alice''s direct answer, which we can tell by the slightest rise of his eyebrow and the movement of his mouth. He is good at masking his expressions, but to us, it was somewhat obvious. ¡°I understand; no need to worry, lady Alice; that is my intention to do just that. Now if my lady would please, may I appraise the items?¡± Alice looked at me, and I took out my jewelry from one of my pouches, then approached him to hand over the jewelry. Taking a circular monocle thing out of one of his shirt pockets, he began to look at the jewelry I had brought with me closely. He looked at them one by one, and once he was done, Alice asked how much he would give. He shook his head, and with a disappointed expression, he said. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I currently do not have the coins available to buy all these stunningly beautiful pieces of jewelry my lady has brought me.¡± ¡°I see, what can you buy with the coins you have right now?¡± He began rubbing his chin in thought and said. ¡°These beautiful pair of earrings for 20 large platinum coins, and please rest assured that selling these would be more than enough to buy any lavish house in Acton.¡± Hearing his answer, I was surprised that my earrings would be worth that much, and they were the cheapest ones. I know, since he is a merchant, his offer for the earrings is worth less than they actually are, but I trust that Iris recommended him to me, and it doesn¡¯t really matter because I just need money for a house right now and I don¡¯t see a need to bargain with him. Alice looked at me like she wanted to get my opinion, to which I nodded yes. ¡°Then it is a deal.¡± ¡°Yes, thank you for doing business with my humble shop, Lady Alice.¡± He had a smile, but I could tell he was showing some confusion that I barely noticed and almost missed. ¡°Please excuse me; I will fetch the coins now.¡± Tamsin got up from the couch and left the room. After a few minutes, he came back with a pouch filled with coins jingling around. ¡°I apologize for making my lady wait, but here are the coins as promised.¡± He politely handed the pouch to Alice, and Alice gave it to me for safekeeping. As Alice was about to declare that we were going to take our leave, Tamsin stopped us by saying. ¡°Before my lady leaves, may I recommend a real estate company?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I would suggest my lady do business with the Earla real estate company. I have personal connections with the company; please use my name as my lady wishes.¡± ¡°I see. I thank you for the recommendation. we will be taking our leave now.¡± Tamsin and the female clerk politely said goodbye to us as we left out the door and once we were sufficiently away from the shop and in a safe place to look at the coins we received. I opened the pouch and was surprised to see the coins inside; they were quite big and shiny, with one being around the size of my hand. After looking at the pouch, Alice asks. ¡°So where are we going next?¡± ¡°The real estate company Tamsin told us since it is closer to the one I originally planned on going.¡± ¡°Okay, let''s head there.¡± At the real estate company, Tamsin recommended to us, it was a relatively high-end building with an ornate exterior, and going inside the building, the lobby was also as ornate as the outside, where they even managed to have a chandelier on the ceiling. We went to the reception counter, and Alice told the receptionist that she was looking for a house. We did what we did in Tamsin''s shop, where Alice took off her hood and revealed her noble self, but this time we also mentioned Tamsin''s name, which for some reason they gave us priority and immediately took us to a room. Once Alice had settled in on a couch, a real estate agent came in and introduced himself. Alice introduced herself and me, then explained that she was looking for a house. The agent then took out some papers with drawings and blueprints of different houses to show us. He presented all of them and suggested the best houses to buy, telling us that they¡¯re fully furnished and they guarantee the quality of these houses so we don¡¯t have to tour them later, which I was surprised to hear. Additionally, he also said they would prepare a carriage for us to go look at the houses if Alice still wanted to see them for herself. Hearing all that, Alice turned to me and said. ¡°Nyx, could you come sit with us because I want you to decide, please?¡± She said that because we had come up with that on the way here, which was to give a reason for me to sign the contract instead of her. The real estate agent looked confused, so Alice said to him. ¡°I¡¯m only going to stay here for a short while, and once I leave, I don¡¯t need a house anymore. I¡¯m giving it to my friend Nyx to repay him, who helped me greatly for the last 2 weeks.¡± Now sitting on the couch, the real estate agent nodded and turned to me, asking what types of houses I wanted. I told him I was looking for the ones in decent areas not too far from the guild, and the real estate agent found 3 that I liked. Surprisingly, Tamsin was right when we had more than enough money to buy most of the houses presented to us, with the average cost for the houses being on average around 77 platinum coins. Choosing the 1 of the 3 houses presented, it was a two-story house for 90 platinum or 18 large platinum coins. It was in a generally uncrowded and safe area, close to the adventurer guild, and surprisingly close to Mila¡¯s bookstore. But the most important thing of all, the reason it cost more than the other houses present was, and the main reason I chose this house was because there was a bathroom with plumbing and a bathtub. Once I had picked the house I wanted, the agent brought a contract, and Alice told me to sign it after reading it. I signed my name, and the agent gave me the keys to the house after paying him with the large platinum coins I had gotten today from selling my jewelry, which the real estate agent was surprised to see. Once we were out of the building, Alice excitedly smiled and suggested going to the house I just bought. I said yeah, also excited by her suggestion. Side Story 5 Alex¡¯s Party Perspective As Nyx leaves, Maria says goodbye, and once he leaves, Alex and Wendy sigh in relief. ¡°Hey Lucia, you can come out now; Nyx is gone.¡± Alex said it to a hatch on the ground that Wendy and himself were standing behind. The hatch opens to reveal a fearful Lucia hiding inside. ¡°Is he really gone?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Reluctantly, Lucia poked her head out and sighed as she saw Nyx was not inside. Chelsie, who saw Lucia running straight for the underground food storage cabinet and Alex and Wendy hiding her, now sees Lucia coming out, ask. ¡°What was that all about?¡± Lucia sighed in relief and said. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to duel Nyx.¡± Chelsie tilted her head in confusion at the answer. ¡°Didn¡¯t you want to fight Nyx and complain nonstop about not dueling him for the last week? What''s change?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to describe, but his smile when he was fighting the Owlbear is just terrifying.¡± Chelsie tilted her head even more confused and asked what she meant by smiling and if she was seeing things, showing her skepticism since Nyx is always expressionless. ¡°He was; I saw it with my own eyes, and he was even laughing.¡± Chelsie gave Lucia an even more skeptical look, even more so with what Lucia just said. ¡°But¨C.¡± Putting his hand on Lucia''s shoulder, Alex said. ¡°There is no point.¡± Alex looked at her with a sympathetic look, and Lucia realized what Alex and Wendy meant by they wouldn¡¯t understand when they told her not to bother after the Owlbear boss fight. ¡°Come on, let''s go back to the surface; I¡¯m tired.¡± Turning to look at Maria and Chelsie, he asks. ¡°Are you coming with us or are you going to stay here for the night?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be staying here; I have a lot of backlog I need to finish.¡± ¡°I see. How about you, Chelsie?¡± ¡°I¡¯m also staying with Maria to help.¡± Hearing their answer, Alex told them they would be seeing them tomorrow and would bring back materials for Maria¡¯s alchemy. They said goodbye to each other and went back to the surface. Going to their inn, they washed themselves, got something to eat, and went to bed. The next day Alex, Wendy, Lucia, and Alice went shopping at an alchemy shop they usually go to. After talking to the owner and filling up 2 backpacks full of alchemy materials and supplies, they went down to the 19th floor to give them to Maria. Once they were done, they went outside the village and fought some monsters for the rest of the day. The next day, Alice surprised Alex, Wendy, and Lucia when she said she couldn¡¯t come today because she had something to do with Nyx since he needed her for something, which surprised them, even more, when Alice was wearing her dress when she was running away and asked Lucia to help her put on her makeup since she doesn¡¯t know how to do it herself. Seeing Alice leave the room, Alex said. ¡°I wonder what Nyx is asking Alice to do.¡± ¡°Either way, I don¡¯t want to be near him.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one to talk.¡± ¡°What do you mean, Wendy?¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Lucia looked at Wendy with a confused look as the three of them were looking out the window. ¡°At least you didn¡¯t have to fight him.¡± Wendy shivered at her response to Lucia, to which Lucia shivered and rebuffed. ¡°At least he is not actively trying to fight you.¡± Wendy and Lucia began bickering, and Alex looked at them pitying himself because he was also one of Nyx''s vic¨C sparring partners, and it was only a matter of time before Nyx suggested sparring again. He gave a wry smile and stopped Lucia¡¯s and Wendy¡¯s arguing. ¡°Come on, let''s get going; we have to pick up Maria and Chelsie today.¡± Wendy and Lucia huffed at each other and said fine at the same time. Going straight to the 19th-floor village, they pick up Maria and Chelsie and lead them up to the surface. Under the light of the sun, Maria was blinded due to being cooped up in her alchemy room all day, while Chelsie stood in the warm embrace of the sun with a slight smile and stretched her arms and legs. Once they were back in their rooms, Maria plopped on the bed and immediately went to sleep, while Chelsie went to a changing room to change into new sets of clothes. Coming out, Alex asks. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± ¡°Window shopping. We made quite a lot of money.¡± ¡°Let''s go.¡± ¡°Yeah, right away, and you''re paying.¡± Alex had a wry smile hearing it but didn¡¯t put up a fight as he was about to be dragged away by Chelsie. Chelsie, on the other hand, had a smile, but it froze when Wendy and Lucia stopped her and said they would be coming along. Going out of their inn and looking at some stores, Chelsie was holding Alex¡¯s arm while Wendy and Lucia were fighting for the other arm because Chelsie gave them a death glare, causing them to back off. Additionally, it wasn¡¯t just for Lucia and Wendy but was also for the women who were looking at Alex with blushes; their faces immediately turned white at a glance at Chelsie¡¯s glare. Consequently, her glare also made the men, cursing at Alex, also turn white. Alex felt kind of bad for all the women and men exposed to Chelsie''s scary glare; however, Alex¡¯s eyes landed on a girl, slightly older than himself, who was unfazed by Chelsie¡¯s glare and just walked away like nothing had happened. Clare¡¯s Perspective In the city of Acton, Clare just had entered the city and was looking for an inn, exhausted from the journey to get here. Tomorrow is the day I will start looking. She thought to herself that because she had the gut feeling her lady was somewhere in this city, just at an arm''s reach away. She continues walking, looking for suitable lighting. She looks around the shops and people around. Compared to Farsbarow, it was much more bustling and crowded with people, something she was not used to seeing. Clare follows the flow of people making their way through the streets and coincidentally stumbles onto a scene. People were making room for the group, and from what she could tell, they were deeply afraid of what was coming in her direction. Eventually, the group walked past her, and she was surprised to see the group be a guy with a girl on one arm glaring at all the women near them and two girls, one a beastkin and the other a mage, fighting for the other arm. The girl who was glaring at all the women they had gone past eventually landed on her for a moment. However, her momentary surprise and that girl''s glare, bordering on murderous, was set aside because it wouldn¡¯t help her find her lady, so she continued walking. Tamsin perspective As Lady Alice and her acquaintance leave his store, the clerk, who is his wife, asks. ¡°Oh my, have you learned anything?¡± His wife looks at him with a weirdly interested look. ¡°You know what I told you, right? Lady Alice is looking for a suitable housing arrangement, and her acquaintance, how do I put it, is quite strange, Kathy.¡± Kathy''s eyes began sparkling, and she said. ¡°Strange, how strange.¡± ¡°Lady Alice really trusts him, to an unnatural extent.¡± ¡°And?...¡± Kathey became even more excited like she was hoping for a certain answer. ¡°I can¡¯t even read him.¡± Hearing the answer, the stars glowing in her eyes were gone, replaced with confusion, and she asked. ¡°What? What does that mean?¡± Tamsin said plainly. ¡°Like I said, I literally can¡¯t read him or get a reaction.¡± Sulking from the response Tamsin asks. ¡°What were you hoping?¡± Walking to her counter and retrieving a book, she shows it to him. ¡°And what is that?¡± ¡°It is the book that I was reading recently.¡± ¡°What is it about, then?¡± Kathy had a big smile and said. ¡°It¡¯s about a commoner boy saving and winning the heart of a noble¡¯s daughter. It was quite popular recently, so I decided to give it a try, and it was an amazing idea because this is an amazing book from the famous and mysterious author Blake.¡± Tamsin gave a baffled look at his wife, wondering if she was right in the head. ¡°You know those types of stories never happen in real life? Are you sure you¡¯re not confusing fantasy with reality?¡± Kathy puffed out her cheeks, which Tamsim found cute, and said. ¡°Of course not, but what happened in the book and what happened to Lady Alice are just too similar; I at least have to hope.¡± ¡°Similar?¡± ¡°The plot where assassins target the heroine''s life and the boy saves her life and feeds the assassins off as the heroine figures out how to live as a commoner.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ you¡¯re right, that is oddly similar.¡± ¡°So-¡± Placing her hands on her hips, Kathy asks. ¡°What are we doing now?¡± Tamsin thought for a moment. ¡°I want to learn more about Lady¡¯s Alice acquaintance. He might be a potentially valuable partner if Lady Alice trusts him that much, but I haven¡¯t figured out why he chose to accept my offer since I only offer half of what it is actually worth.¡± ¡°I see, then why don¡¯t we test him?¡± ¡°Yes, let''s do that.¡± Chapter 50 Heading to the house I just bought, I was getting excited like a kid receiving a present on their birthday. It was around a 30-minute walk from the real estate company. When we were there, I confirmed the address and was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the house looked from the outside. It was a light blue and white house that looked similar to the other houses on the block. The closest thing I could describe it was a Victorian-era house from my past life, which I found interesting since this is a fantasy world and all. At the front door, I wondered what goodies were inside since they said it was fully furnished. Looking at Alice, she seemed to also feel excited like I am. ¡°What are you waiting for? Don¡¯t you want to see inside?¡± ¡°Yeah, give me a second.¡± Taking out the keys from my pocket, I open the door with much anticipation. When the door opened, I was greeted by a beautiful interior that gave off the impression of comfort. Stepping in, I saw that there was a living room a couple of steps to my right and a kitchen down the hall. Going to the living room first, there were high-quality pieces of furniture centering around a fireplace. I touched the furniture, which, how do I put it, felt really comfortable like I could just sit on it all day. Seeing the stairs that lead to the 2nd floor, I went up with Alice following me. Upstairs, we proceeded to open all the doors on the 2nd floor. There were 2 guest bedrooms, a closet, a bathroom, an office, and a master bedroom with a really big bed similar to the beds I used to sleep on before I ran away. I placed my hand on the bed and felt how soft it was. It made me think that I really took for granted what a soft bed felt like because I had a strong urge to plop myself on it since I thought I would never feel this level of comfiness ever again when I decided to run away. However, I put that aside and went to the bathroom next since I was interested in the bathtub because I hadn¡¯t taken a hot bath in months, which I missed. The bathroom design was surprisingly similar to the bathrooms in my past life but much more luxurious. ¡°Hey Nyx, can I use the bathtub if you don¡¯t mind me asking? I¡¯ll even pay you.¡± I¡¯m guessing she was asking because she, too, misses taking a nice hot bath since the inn she was staying in didn¡¯t have one. It didn¡¯t take me a moment to decide, which is a yes, because if it weren¡¯t for her, I wouldn¡¯t be able to buy a house like this, or even have the thought of buying a house in general. ¡°You don¡¯t need to pay; just ask me beforehand.¡± Looking happy at my answer, we continued looking around the house, opening all the rest of the doors we hadn¡¯t opened. As the agent said, there was not just furniture but also things like a broom, kitchen knives, cutlery, extra blankets, pillows, sheets, and numerous other things neatly organized throughout the house. Other than the rooms we explored, there was a surprisingly clean attic and a small cellar with an empty wine rack and some wooden crates and barrels underground. Once we were done running around the house like kids, Alice sat down on a couch in the living room while I prepared some tea for us in the kitchen. I boiled some water on the stove, which took me a moment to figure out since it uses wood as a fire, which I never used before. Then I opened one of the kitchen cabinets to get a tea box left for us by the real estate company. I knew what kind of tea it was but didn¡¯t recognize the brand. Either way, I tried out this type of tea before, and it should be good. Going to the china cabinet by the dinner table, I opened the glass panel to take out 2 teacups, a teapot, and a silver tray. Once the water was simmering, I steeped the tea in the teapot and moved everything on the silver platter to Alice, who was patiently waiting. Pouring the tea into the teacups, Alice and I drank it, which had a nice floral and earthy taste, just above average compared to the tea I¡¯d drunk before I ran away. Making conversation, Alice said. ¡°I miss having a nice cup of tea. Did you learn how to brew tea before you ran away because this is an amazing cup?¡± ¡°Yes, I was taught that since my parents thought it would be unbecoming of me if I didn¡¯t know, especially on the rare occasions I have to attend a tea party, but this is the first time I ever had to brew tea myself.¡± The last part was a lie since I didn¡¯t want her to know I was a girl. But thinking about it, I had to attend a lot of tea parties compared to my brother, who rarely attended since he was a guy, which I was kind of jealous of growing up. We took another sip and Alice asked. ¡°What are you going to do now?¡± ¡°Start moving first; it¡¯s going to be a lot of work moving all my things from my inn into this house.¡± ¡°I see. Do you mind if I ask Alex and everyone to help?¡± ¡°I prefer you didn¡¯t since I want to keep this a secret.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± We finished drinking our tea, and Alice said she would be leaving. I said goodbye to her, seeing her leave through the door. Seeing her off, I cleaned the tea set and put it back in the china cabinet. Then I looked outside to see how long till the sun was about to set. Let¡¯s see, I have around 3 hours of daylight, which gives me around 2 to 3 trips to my inn to move my things back to this house. Leaving my newly acquired house, I locked the door and began walking to my room at the inn. At the inn, I grab my backpack lying by a corner to begin packing my clothes, equipment, and other things I would need to move to my new house. After dropping off all of my stuff in the office room, I made my way back to the inn again. This time, the second trip is all the important stuff I was working on for the last 2 weeks. Finally, the third trip was to pack as many books into my backpack as I could to start chipping away from the surprisingly large collection of books I had accumulated. Once I got back to my house from my third trip, I dumped everything in the office, then I went to the bathroom with a new set of clothes and a towel. Getting excited, I turned on the hot water and began filling up the tub. I took off my clothes without any fear of anyone finding out my identity and dipped my body into the tub filled with hot water. I sighed relaxly as I was in the bathtub because I missed this. I thought taking hot baths would be something I had to learn to live without when I decided to run away since commoners don¡¯t always have the option to bathe every day. But now, I took another sigh contently, completely at ease. When I got slightly dizzy from staying in for too long, I got out and looked at the mirror in the bathroom. I looked at my naked self in the foggy mirror and saw how much my body had changed. Overall, I grew slightly taller, became slightly more muscular, and was starting to enter puberty with my breasts starting to appear. I thought to myself that my breasts were going to be a problem. I guess I have to use bandages like some characters in anime and games who cross-dress themselves. Looking closely, I noticed the roots of my hair were beginning to turn back to my original hair color, a silvery white. I was impressed that the hair dye Hutch gifted me would last this long, but I guess I have to use the hair dye again for a touchup. After drying and covering myself with a towel, I went to the office to get my hair dyed and back to the bathroom. Taking a finger full of the black paste, I began rubbing it on my scalp. Once that was done, I waited and rinsed off the excess. I dried my hair and the rest of my body with a towel that came with the house, then I changed into a new set of clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some tea before I went to bed. Once I made my tea and drank it, I went to bed and moaned in ecstasy at how comfy the bed was, which didn¡¯t take too long for me to go to sleep. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Opening my eyes after I synchronized with Norn, I felt a sense of weightlessness from free falling in the sky. Norn and I moved our bodies in sync to move our name, Aias Letricus Crow, to prepare for landing. ¡°Activating thrusters.¡± Saying the command, we move our bodies upward and brace for the hard landing. A plume of debris filled the area where we landed, and we immediately began our work by taking out one of our swords, which was as tall as a building from our back, to fight. We ran out of the plume of debris and cut in half the closest kaiju near us, which was a level 2 kaiju, then followed by another level 2 and level 3. We mow our way through, taking out level 3 or lower kaiju with one swing of our sword, clearing out the kaiju in the nearby vicinity of the airport. Norn laughed immediately at the slaughter, which I could feel and match her through our synchronization by also laughing. After the 5th kaiju we killed, other Aiases detached themselves from the AFCs and landed where we had landed. In a group, they fought together in a coordinated team and cleared out the vicinity of the airfield, all the while reinforcing the defensive line of this base''s Aiases that were defending the airfield. Eventually, a screen popped up, and hearing Scott''s voice, we slowed down a bit to listen to what he had to say. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you two decided to listen to my call.¡± With smiles on our faces, we back-kicked a level 4 Kiaju that looked to be a 6-eyed blueish lion with an armored back then swung our bodies around to decapitate it, I said. ¡°We¡¯re going to ignore that but send traffic.¡± ¡°Well then, if you insist, we¡¯ve reinforced the line; just don¡¯t let any Kaijus past it and intercept any powerful Kaiju the normal Aiases can¡¯t handle.¡± ¡°Acknowledge.¡± The connection was ended, and we continued to fight the kaijus pouring out the gate. The fighting lasted for hours, which was exhausting, but due to our enhancements as pilots and in combination with the fact that we were enjoying it, the exhaustion was negligible. However, as we were about to plunge our sword into a level 4 kaiju, a white-colored Aias with a spear, covered in blue kaiju blood and smeared with smudge, burst out of a building and took our kill. Linking to that Aias with Charlotte, we shouted angrily at whoever was in that Aias. ¡°Hey, that was our kill.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. In a calm and cold voice, a person responded. ¡°It was to get your attention.¡± ¡°What the heck does that mean?¡± Norn angrily shouted that back at them, but seeing the Aias, it was the named Aias, Aigos Pyre. Recognizing the voice to be Kate, a pilot of Aigos Pyre, another voice spoke in the same cold tone; it was Ella, the other pilot of Aigos Pyre. ¡°Oh, please, we¡¯re doing you a favor. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be the flagship? Why aren¡¯t you giving out orders?¡± ¡°We have Scott for that.¡± I told Kate and Ella that, making them silent. We didn¡¯t want to wait for their response, so we began moving and swung our sword at another kaiju running toward us. ¡°You know they are right?¡± ¡°And that is why Commander Sharp always pairs us together.¡± Scott sighed at our response and proceeded to update us on how everything was going while we focused on fighting. ¡°Things are going well; evacuation is at 78%. We evacuated all essential personnel and equipment; now we¡¯re focusing on the civilians. Pyre is here to replace you; the first wave you came with has already left, and your left arm is dangerously low. We should go back to base.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s too much fun not to stop, and I want to wait till a level 5 or higher kaiju shows up.¡± ¡°You should do what he says.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± Kate and Ella spoke, which seemed like a good suggestion for a normal person, but. "Yeah, yeah, later.¡± We and Pyre talk as we continue to cut down more kaiju, with them pestering us to go back while Scott sighs tiredly like he is done with this. ¡°Honestly, why didn¡¯t command let us take charge? We would¡¯ve finished evacuations much earlier.¡± Norn replied with a happy tone as we hacked another kaiju in half. ¡°It¡¯s because you''re more than willing to sacrifice people if it means completing the mission, Ella.¡± ¡°We see nothing wrong with that; it¡¯s logical to do that if it¡¯s worth the loss.¡± ¡°And that is why command has put me in charge.¡± There was another short silence, and Kate spoke back. ¡°Yet, Scott is actually doing all the work.?¡± Bickering with each other was how we normally acted whenever we met together. Compared to other named pilots, we tolerated each other, which is miles ahead of other named pilots. After killing another Kaiju, warning lights started blaring in our cockpit, and so did Pyre, it would seem. A second later, Charlotte warned. ¡°Warning, abnormal readings from the gate.¡± Turning our Aias toward the gate to see what is going on. What¡¯s going on with the gate? Pulses were going from the top of the black spherical gate to the bottom like there was something massive going through the gate. The sensors monitoring the gate were showing the Ori energy starting to fluctuate erratically. Feeling our hair stand on end, we dropped the sword that was close to breaking to the ground and took out a fresh one from our back. ¡°Get me a direct line to commander Sharp, immediately.¡± After a couple of seconds, Commander Sharp responded. ¡°Crow, send traffic.¡± ¡°Crow here; you¡¯re seeing what we¡¯re seeing; what is happening?¡± There were several seconds of silence, which Commander Sharp clicked his tongue and said in a baffled tone. ¡°I don¡¯t know; there aren¡¯t any records of this happening. Be on guard; I¡¯m redirecting Names Aiases to your position, eta 20 minutes.¡± ¡°Copy.¡± The call ended, and suddenly the pulses from the gate stopped, and something was coming out. The thing that came out the gate was a kaiju, looking like a black lizard or gecko walking on two legs. It had a really narrow and tall body with red markings from its chest going down to its tail that split into 3 barbed spikes. Charlotte immediately placed a marker on the mysterious kaiju and analyzed its Ori energy to gauge its level. Not a moment too soon, Charlotte ranked it a level 7, and seeing the evaluation made our smile grow even bigger. ¡°Hey, are you going to fight that thing alone?¡± Ella said it to which I replied. ¡°Of course not; we at least know not to fight that thing alone and have some restraint to prioritize the objective, you know.¡± I don¡¯t know if we can win by ourselves in our state, but I guess it should be some fun fighting it together instead of doing it alone. We prepared ourselves by holding our sword that was sparking with black electricity running down the blade. As for Pyre, they ready themselves with white flames appearing from their hands and spear. ¡°Pyre, tell the other Aias to not interfere since they will get in the way. Charlotte, link me to the defensive artillery batteries.¡± Kate and Ella acknowledged our request, and Charlotte connected us with the defensive artillery batteries at the walls. ¡°All unoccupied batteries fire on that Kaiju.¡± Telling the people operating the artillery batteries that the available turrets turned inside toward the military base and aimed at the level 7 Kaiju. When I said fire, all of them fired simultaneously. Shells flew over us and carpet bombed the area the level 7 Kaiju was in. The ground quakes and the remaining buildings near it that were still standing got blown up. I know the artillery battery''s fire probably wouldn¡¯t do anything to it, but we should at least get an idea of its ability. Once the dust had calmed down, we saw that it was gone, making us even more on guard. Did it turn invisible or something else? ¡°Charlotte, where is¡ª¡± Suddenly, warning lights started flashing toward our right; we turned to look but realized it was too late. There was a strange moving serpentine-like black shadow, which the Kaiju that escaped the artillery bombardment leaped out of like a shark coming out of water. There wasn¡¯t enough time to move our massive body out of the way as it aimed for our head. It''s aimed to clamp down on our head but got our left arm instead, ripping it off completely. The cockpit rattled as we crashed into a building trying to dodge its attack, causing sparks to fly everywhere in the cockpit while we were thrown around in the control system we were secure in. The kaiju that just bit our arm landed on the ground as it jumped out of its shadow with our left arm in its mouth. It then threw away our arm and proceeded to go back into its shadow. However¡­ ¡°Gahhhh!!!¡± I screamed in pain; it was unbearable. I couldn''t think or pay attention to anything because it felt exactly like our own left arms were ripped off from our bodies. Letting go of the holographic sword I was holding, I held my left arm, which was shaking violently. Norn did the same as we were synchronized with each other, which consequently made us drop our building-size sword to the ground, clutching the left stump of our Aias, which was formerly the left arm. Our suit, which had a circuit-like pattern glowing blue throughout our body, was flashing red through our left arm. ¡°Immediate desynchronization of the left arm.¡± Charlotte automatically disconnected the synchronization of our left arm with our aias, which ended our pain. Trying to steady our breathing to calm down, we picked up our sword, which we dropped, despite the backlash of feeling the pain of losing an arm. Our left arm was shaking, but we were ready to fight. Looking at Norn and her looking at me, our faces were expressionless after being distorted by pain, and we began to laugh. ¡°Well, that is a first.¡± Norn had a crazed look in her eyes, and I could feel that there was a sense of madness to it. I felt the same as her, and I¡¯m guessing I might have the same look in her eyes. Getting a sense of our surroundings, we lost focus for around 10 seconds, so we began looking for the Kaiju. Thanks to Charlotte, who already marked the kaiju, it was circling us and Pyre in its shadow, acting like a shark, unlike its appearance of an oversized lizard. On guard, we waited to see what it was going to do because, from the video games we played, I suspected we couldn¡¯t touch it in its shadow. Eventually, it stopped going in circles and targeted Pyre. After seeing what it can do and what happens to us, they have a plan. Jumping up from its shadow, Pyre used their spear to let the Kaiju bite it instead of the cockpit. They let it bite into their spear, then grappled it using their hands wreathed in white fire. Burning its head with the white flames coming out from their hands, causing the kaiju to scream in pain. We ran toward them to help by thrusting our sword into its side, sending in black lighting through its body, causing it to move erratically. Unable to control its body, Pyre manages to pin it down to the ground. However, our sensor picked up the sudden surge of Ori energy from its body and threw us and Pyre off its body. As we got up, it went back into its shadow and moved away from us, then reappeared a good distance away, with a face that was all burned up and a wound bleeding out on its side. I guess this is round two then. Looking at the condition of our Aias through a 3D holographic model between me and Norn, it was not looking too good because that last surge of Ori energy in our right arm turned red and said it was at 24% integrity. At best, we have around 3 surges left before our right arm becomes unusable. We turned our heads to look at Pyre, and I told Kate and Ella with a big grin and cheery voice. ¡°I¡¯ll take the lead, you flank.¡± Without a moment for them to respond, we ran to it, with our right hand dragging our sword on the ground. Coming close to it, we swung our sword in a wide arc. It moved its tall body back to dodge the swing and whipped its spike-like tail that split into 3 ends at our head. We expected this and barely ducked away from its tail at the last moment. Then, with the momentum of running toward it, we tackled it with our right shoulder. Pushing it back, it clawed at our back and then tried to use its mouth again to bite our head off. Seeing what was going to happen, Norn told Charlotte. ¡°Ahhh hahaha, activate Volta mode.¡± Vila Crow began to spark with black electricity, shocking the Kaiju. This didn¡¯t stop the Kaiju from biting us, but it missed our head and bit into our right shoulder instead, which was better than the alternative. Norn and I gritted our teeth, enduring the pain as we pushed the kaiju to a section of the base where the buildings were relatively intact and into a building. Then, elbowing the kaiju back into the building, we took several steps back to get some distance to use our sword. ¡°Hey Pyre, Are you ready?¡± I talked to Kate and Ella, who were supposed to flank them, and they said. ¡°Give us a few seconds; don¡¯t let it get away.¡± The markings on its body were glowing, which meant it was going to dive into its shadow. Thinking what Norn was thinking since our minds are connected, I spoke to Charlotte. ¡°Charge the sword.¡± The sword began to crackle with electricity, and we threw it at the kaiju as it was in the middle of getting into its shadow as we started to run toward it. Due to how our black electricity works, it absorbs any energy it comes across, meaning we could disrupt it from going into its shadow, which I¡¯m guessing was why it didn¡¯t try to get away when Pyre was pinning it to the ground and us sending our electricity through its body. Taking another sword, which was our last, the kaiju, who was in the middle of getting into its shadow, noticed it couldn¡¯t get into its shadow anymore and decided to get out. Seeing us run toward it, it charges toward us. It spun around and used its tail to whip us; we blocked it with our sword, but it knocked us back, throwing off our balance, not realizing how strong its tail was. Landing on the ground, we were thrown around in our control system even more violently than before, with more sparks flying out in the cockpit. We tried getting up, but the Kaiju was right in front of us. God damn¡ª Before the kaiju could take another step, Pyre bursts out of the building to the kaiju¡¯s right and plunges their spear, wreathed with white fire, into the kaiju. They pushed the Kaiju away from us, seizing the opportunity. We got up as fast as we could to use our last sword, and we charged with the bare minimum amount of Ori energy in our right arm. Running toward it, it tried to get away, but Pyre did not let that happen and intensified her flames, causing it to roar in pain. Raising our sword, we brought it down on its long neck, finally killing it. ¡°Haa, Haa, Haa.¡± Breathing heavily in the cockpit, we step back from the holographic image of the Kaiju in the cockpit with our aias doing the same thing. ¡°Is it dead?¡± ¡°Probably, Norn. Charlotte, check for vitals.¡± A moment or two of Charlotte scanning, Charlotte says. ¡°No vitals; Ori energy is dissipating.¡± I turn to look at Norn, which Kate and Ella called us. ¡°Hey Crow, head back to base; you¡¯re heavily damaged and in need of repair.¡± Kate told us to go back, which I guess was not a bad idea since the gate just closed right now, but before that. Thrusting our sword into the chest cavity of the Kaiju, careful not to damage something, we cut open its chest, causing the streets that were filled with rubble from our fight to partially flood with its blue blood. Then, putting our sword into one of the scabbards on our back, we put our foot down on the kaiju''s dead body and plunged our hand into the open chest cavity we had made. With a bit of effort, we eventually pulled out its core, a spherical ball that was apparently black in color. We¡¯re taking it back to hopefully get information on why a gate appeared directly in a base and why it disappeared. Plus, it¡¯s in a relatively undamaged condition, meaning we could make a named Aias for the war effort. After that was done, Pyre came toward us with one of the swords we dropped. ¡°Here, you drop this.¡± Ella told us that, and we said thank you with our normal flat emotionless tone, matching their cold tone since we were no longer fighting. They put it back into one of our scabbards on our back, and I called Scott to pick us up. Hovering above us, Scott had to use the arms of the aircraft to hold on to our wings, which held our swords, since our Aias was heavily damaged. After that and after checking the coupling was secure, Scott flew us up into the sky. Navigating the holographic screen in front of me, I locked up all the joints of our Aias to make sure they didn¡¯t move as we were flying, while Norn controlled our core to sleep mode to cut off any excess Ori energy. Taking off my helmet since I was feeling exhausted, I leaned back on the control system. ¡°Hey Alina, Are you okay?¡± Speaking through the speakers from my helmet, I told Scott. ¡°Just tired; I¡¯ve barely gotten any sleep.¡± ¡°No, not that. Your eyes and hair haven¡¯t gotten back to normal. And if you haven¡¯t noticed, your nose is bleeding.¡± ¡°What?¡± Looking at the reflection on my helmet, I saw my hair was black compared to my normal brown, my eyes were still blue, and blood was trickling down from my nose. I wiped the blood off my nose, and Scott said. ¡°Put your helmet back on. It will stop the Ori energy poisoning you''re receiving; I¡¯ll notify the hanger to get a medical team to take you to the infirmary, and you too, Norn.¡± ¡°Right, and thanks.¡± Putting back my helmet on and waited to go back to base. Chapter 51 Waking up in the morning in the new house I had bought yesterday, I had a strong desire to not get out of bed because this bed was just too comfortable not to. Maybe I should sleep in for the day. Yeah¡­ that sounds like a great idea. Choosing to sleep in the quiet, peaceful morning, I finally got up when my stomach grumbled. I went to the office where I dumped most of my stuff; I took out some rations that I hadn¡¯t touched for a while. It didn''t look moldy and smelled fine, so I decided to eat it as lunch since it was already noon while drinking some tea. It¡¯s better to finish it than let it go bad. I should buy some groceries since I have a small cellar now to store some food. Speaking of it, should I change into a new set of clothes? Since I ran away, I have been wearing the same set of clothes without changing them for days at a time since I¡¯m now living as a commoner, who generally doesn¡¯t have a lot of clothes to change. In addition to that, I also have to do my laundry in secret because I don¡¯t want people to figure out my identity or think I¡¯m a creep for wearing girl''s underwear. At first, I was pretty grossed out by having to wear the same sets of clothes for days at a time, which I had to get used to, but now I have a house where I can wash my clothes more frequently, so why not? Rummaging around the corner of the office where I threw all my stuff, I noticed I didn¡¯t have any more clean clothes left. I had 4 sets of clothes when I came to Acton, but now I have 3 after fighting the Owlbear. I am not about to put on some dirty clothes because I find it even more disgusting than wearing the same clothes for days at a time. Didn¡¯t Hutch say he can deliver if I ask? Yeah, I should write a letter to him because I desperately need some new clothes. Guess I have to do laundry today. I should go to the Adventurer Guild first to send the letter, then go grocery shopping, and start moving my things from my room at the inn I was staying at to my house again. Looking around the office, I eventually found a stack of papers and a pen to write with. I took one blank sheet of paper and began writing on it, starting with saying hi to Hutch, then how I had been, and telling him I needed new clothes, preferably quickly. After writing that, which was brief, I wrote down what I wanted to buy from him, which was a new set of clothes, specifically ones that are slightly bigger than the ones I currently have since I might be in my growth spurt. I wonder how many I should buy. Looking through my coin pouch, I went through the coins I had, and eventually, I pulled out a gold coin. I think this should do. I went back to writing and said to give me how many sets of clothes a gold coin would buy me, including other fees since I¡¯m asking him to make it a rush order, then keep the rest as thanks. After writing the letter and putting it in an envelope with a gold coin and the name of the shop I was sending it to, I thought to myself that since I had already written a letter, I should write one to Rain as well to give her an update. I did just that, writing about what was going on with my life to her, minus Alice since that was a secret and the house I just bought. Finishing writing that letter and sealing it up in an envelope with the letter addressed to Rain, I made my way to the adventurer guild. At the doors to the adventurer guild, I went in and saw that Iris was here today as usual, so I went to her line and waited. Once it was my turn, I walked up to her counter. ¡°Hi Iris, I¡¯m here to send 2 letters to Farsbarow.¡± Iris asked who I was sending the letter to, seeming mildly interested. ¡°Oh, one of them is for a friend, and another is for a shop I want to order from.¡± ¡°I see. The letter will be delivered in around a week or so.¡± I asked, handing over the letters after showing each of them to her. ¡°Is there any way to send them fast?¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Yes, we offer express delivery for 2 bronze coins, which would take around 2 days to get to Farsbarow.¡± Taking a bronze coin from my coin pouch, I gave it to her. ¡°We¡¯ll have it sent right away then.¡± I said thanks to her and walked away. Outside the adventurer guild, I began heading in the direction of the city¡¯s market, which was the first time I was actually going there since I never actually had a reason to go there. As I began walking, I coincidentally saw Alex¡¯s party heading in my direction. We see each other and walk to greet each other, except for Lucia, who for some reason just bolted away in the opposite direction. I wonder what that was all about. I was going to ask her to duel with me since we¡¯re close to the guild. I wondered why she ran, and I wasn¡¯t the only one who thought about it since Alice, Maria, and Chelsie had expressions saying the same thing, except for Alex and Wendy. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect to see you here today.¡± Alex said hi with a wry smile, which I said. ¡°Yeah, good to see you all, but what was that all about?¡± Alex looked back, then with a troubled look like he knew something I didn¡¯t, to not worry about it, while Wendy had her tail tucked between her legs and ears down, looking meek next to him. ¡°So, what are you doing right now?¡± ¡°Doing some errands; how about you?¡± ¡°We¡¯re looking for a specific herb that Maria needs. We already looked through several alchemy shops but had no luck.¡± ¡°I see. I hope you find it.¡± As I was about to leave, a thought came up in my mind: Lucia, for some reason, ran away. Why don¡¯t I spar with Alex instead, since we¡¯re close to the guild, and I want to see how strong I have gotten and Alex as well? ¡°By the way, do you want to spar?¡± Hearing my request, Alex looked really startled, then deeply afraid for some reason. ¡°Sorry, nope, we have to get going; the next shop is going to close soon.¡± As he said that, Maria, who heard what Alex said, said. ¡°But¡ª¡± As Maria was going to say something, which I¡¯m getting the feeling like she was correcting him, Alex covered Maria¡¯s mouth and said. ¡°We better get going.¡± Alex held Maria¡¯s hand and started to walk off really fast. I gave everyone a confused look; they also looked equally confused, except for Wendy, who ran after them. Seeing Wendy run, Chelsie said. ¡°Sorry, I guess we are going now. Bye, it¡¯s good to see you today.¡± As Chelsie began running to catch up with everyone, which left Alice, she looked back. ¡°Hey Alice, are you coming?¡± ¡°Just give me a minute to talk to Nyx.¡± Now looking at me, I wonder what she wanted to talk about. Whispering, she asks. ¡°Can I use your place?¡± Hearing her, she whispered that she wanted to use my bathroom, to which I whispered back a yes, making her really happy. Not whispering anymore, she said thanks and began running to catch up to everyone else. Going to the city market now, which was around an hour of walking. My first impression of the market was exactly what I expected an open-air market would be in a fantasy world, crowded with people and vendors showing off their goods. Looking through the vendors, I bought some fruits and vegetables, then some preserved meat like ham and bacon wrapped up in paper, and I put all of them into my backpack. Additionally, I didn¡¯t just buy meat and vegetables but also some tea leaves and tea snacks from a tea shop. Going back home, I put away the stuff I bought and looked at the sun outside the window; it was about to set. Maybe I should go back to the room at the inn since I probably have enough time to make a trip. Doing just that, I was walking back home with more books and stuff inside my backpack when I saw Alice outside my house with a backpack. Seeing me, she waved and said. ¡°Oh hi Nyx, I was waiting for you.¡± ¡°Hi as well, you can come in.¡± Opening the door, I let her in, and she thanked me again for letting her use my bathroom. Going upstairs, I went to my office and dumped my book in there, then locked the doors to the office since I didn¡¯t want Alice to see what I was working on and my clothes, especially my underwear. Hearing the water running, I went downstairs and began boiling some water on the stove to prepare the new tea leaves I¡¯d just bought. When the water boiled, I steeped the tea in the teapot and took out the tea snacks I bought from the teashop. They were scones, biscuits, and a jar of fruit jam. Putting everything on a tray, I moved everything to the living room. Pouring a cup of tea, I smelled the aroma, which was slightly different from how I remembered it to be, but it was to be expected since the tea I used to drink was on the very high-end side. I sipped it, which I was satisfied with, though it did not compare to the teas I used to drink. Then I began taking a bite from some scones with some jam I put on it. Seeing Alice coming down the stairs with her hair wet and in a new set of clothes, I offered her some tea since it was freshly steeped and the tea snack as well. She gladly accepted, and we sipped our teas and ate our tea snack. When it was dark, Alice was about to leave. I offered to escort her back to her inn since it was dark, and she agreed. At her inn, she thanked me again, and I went back home to do some laundry and take a bath, then headed straight to bed. Chapter 52 The next day, like yesterday, I decided to sleep in because the bed was too comfortable not to get up. When I finally got out of bed, I rubbed my eyes and stretched, then went downstairs to make some food. I tried cooking this time instead of putting things on a stick by a campfire. When I was done, it turned out okay for the most part. I was trying to make something simple, bacon and eggs on toast. However, I nearly burnt the toast while I couldn¡¯t figure out how to unstick the egg on the pan, which I ended up unintentionally scrambling. Man, they really make it easy in video games, like a cooking game about a mama giving instructions. After eating, it was late into the afternoon already. I should get going and continue moving my stuff from the room at the inn to my house. Going back home with another backpack filled with books, this was my 5th trip, and it was already dark outside. Now inside my house, I locked the front door and went upstairs to the office to dump the books out of my backpack. Looking at the books in the office, I think I should organize them on the empty shelves since they are on the ground. Around 20 books were lying on the ground, which was half the amount of books I own, granted I barely read any of them. It took around 2 hours to sort and organize the books and put them on the shelves. Using a chair to put the last book on the top of the shelf, I got down from the chair and decided to make myself dinner. It was my first attempt at making a stew, I¡¯m going to be honest, it kind of tasted bad, but I ate it anyway. Since it was night and I wasn¡¯t getting tired, I decided to go back to the office and get back to work on fixing my magical circle, and when I was getting really tired late into the night, I went to bed. For the next 4 days, I repeated the same routine of moving my stuff from the inn to my house, occasionally going out for groceries, and staying up late into the night to work on my magical circle. It took this long mostly because of my comfy bed and my sleep schedule of going to sleep really late, making me wake up late into the afternoon, which only gave me a few hours to move my stuff into my house before it got dark. Today was like the past few days, but today specifically, I am going to the adventurer guild to check if my package from Hutch¡¯s shop has arrived. I¡¯m hoping for it to arrive now, but I didn¡¯t put my hopes up too high. At the adventurer guild, I went to Iris¡¯s line like always and waited. Once it was my turn, I approached her counter and asked if my package had arrived. Surprisingly, Iris said. ¡°Yes, it just arrived an hour ago. Please wait; I¡¯ll get it for you in the mailroom.¡± After waiting a few minutes, Iris came back with a package wrapped in paper and tied in rope and two letters. Receiving the package and two letters, I looked to see the names written on the two letters, which were Rain and Hutch. Saying thanks to Iris and making my way back home, I began opening the letters, starting with Rain since I really wanted to know what she had been doing for the last few months. Opening the letter with a knife, I began reading it, which can be summarized as her saying hi and that she was doing well, then telling me the quests she had been taking and the recent rank-up she received. I was happy she ranked up and was taking on a monster-hunting quest. She really had changed compared to the first time I met her. Putting back the letter in the envelope and taking out Hutch¡¯s letter, I began reading it, which started with him saying how well I must be doing with the gold coin I was paying him. But as I continued reading the letter, I saw a face that looked familiar, no, someone I knew. I stopped and looked back to see that she stood behind me with her usual expression. Both of us looked at each other, and I was completely shocked to see her. Brown hair and blue eyes with an aura of seriousness. It was Clare, my personal maid before I ran away. ¡°Good afternoon. It¡¯s been a while since our last interaction. Forgive me for taking this to find you, my lady.¡± My mind was momentarily stunned for a good few seconds, and I could only think, oh cra- ¡°Language, please, my lady.¡± Another stunned silence later, questions began filling my mind. Is she alone? How did she find me? When did she arrive at Acton? Is there anyone else who found me? Should I make a run for it? Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Is she reading my mind or something? Oh right, I forgot she could do that when I¡¯m not careful about hiding my thoughts. ¡°Yes, like an open book, but first I prefer my lady not do that. If you may, let us go somewhere more private.¡± Clare turned to look at a back alley and began walking there. At the back, where nobody could hear us, I took a deep breath and cut off emotions from my already hard-to-read, emotionless face to make a mask for myself, which I wondered how rusty I was since I hadn¡¯t had to do this in a while. Clare said. ¡°Yes, no, I asked over a week ago, and no.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Hearing her answer, I was very confused, making my mask falter. ¡°Yes, my lady has gotten a bit out of practice. No, I¡¯ve come to find my lady of my own choice. I ask my lady¡¯s acquaintances. I arrived here over a week ago. And no, I don¡¯t believe anyone has followed me since they should still be in the next kingdom over, looking for you, my lady.¡± She said it in a calm tone, but when she said she asked the people I met running away, I could tell from her eyes, not her calm and professional expression, that she was really ticked off. ¡°Because I am, my lady.¡± She is reading my mind again. I should really put on the mask of a noble back again. Relaxing the muscles on my face, my face became even more expressionless, this time with a nobleman¡¯s smile. Alex¡¯s Party Perspective Fighting monsters on the 19th floor, Alex was fighting alongside most of his party members, Wendy, Lucia, and Alice. They were fighting a group of orcs, killing most of them, leaving one left. Alex was about to deal the finishing blow to the last Orc, but a shiver came down his spine. He instinctively looks back, moving his attention away, leaving him open for attack. The Ork, who was all bloodied and one hit away from death, swung its wooden club at Alex with the last of its strength. Alice, fighting alongside Alex for her training to become stronger, saw Alex snap his head back like there was something much scarier than the Ork in front of him. When she saw the Orc about to swing its club at Alex, Alice shoved Alex away from the Ork¡¯s swing and killed the orc. Once the Ork started disappearing, Alice asked. ¡°Are you okay? What happened?¡± While helping Alex back, he said. ¡°Sorry, I got distracted.¡± ¡°By what?¡± With a deeply troubled look, Alex said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t get it.¡± Alice looks confused by what he said and turns to Wendy and Lucia to try to understand what he meant because they say the same thing whenever this happens which happens more often than not. However, Alice saw Wendy curled up in a ball muttering scary, scary, scary under her breath, and Lucia¡­ ¡°Heh? Where¡¯s Lucia?¡± Back to Nyx¡¯s Perspective With a smile, I asked some more questions, which Clare answered, like what exactly happened after I found out I have no magical power, the state of my family after information came in when I ran away, including their reactions, and who was sent to track me down. ¡°It is what you expect, my lady, and I believe Captain Boras is sent to find you, mistress.¡± ¡°I see, but¡­ Boras¡­ huh¡­¡± Boras is the head captain of my family''s knights; my father must be really desperate to take him away from his duties as head captain to find me. Every time I meet him, I always get the feeling that there is something wrong with him, and my instincts warn me that he is dangerous, like there is something malicious about him. ¡°I see. Thank you for informing me. However, Clare¡­¡± ¡°Yes, Lady Rita?¡± ¡°Are you sure you want to serve me? I¡¯m not a noble anymore and have nothing to give you.¡± Without a second thought, Clare said after I finished. ¡°Yes, my lady, my life belongs solely to you.¡± She said it with absolute conviction, like to her, it was the absolute truth. Seeing her very sure of her answer, I momentarily sigh because I can¡¯t change her mind when she is like that. ¡°Fine then.¡± Clare smiled upon hearing that answer. ¡°Thank you, mistress.¡± ¡°Come on, let''s get going; I want to go home.¡± ¡°Home?¡± Hearing her say home in a questioning tone, my smile, which was a mask, faltered again, and I immediately knew I messed up. I messed up. I shouldn¡¯t have said that. How do I explain buying a house other than selling my earrings? ¡°Well, I meant going back to the inn where I was staying.¡± Trying to answer her question, which was a lie, the people who know part of my identity flash before my mind. Wait! I don¡¯t have a mask on right now. Clare had a blank face, but her eyebrows were twitching, showing a deep fury and exasperation because she definitely read my mind with my slip-up. ¡°My lady, I may excuse Ms. Emma because I believe she was trustworthy if she was the only one, but 9 is just unacceptable.¡± Clare looked disapprovingly at me, which made me look away from her gaze. Then her eyes turned to look at the package and letter in my hand. Raising one of her eyebrows, even more displeased, she asks. ¡°What is that, my lady?¡± Now, with my mask on so she can¡¯t really read my mind, I sigh and say the truth because she already guessed what it is, and there is no point in hiding it. ¡°It''s a package from the owner of a clothing shop in Farsbarow who knows that I¡¯m a girl but doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m a noble.¡± I¡¯m not telling her that shop is a shop for crossdressers because I¡¯m not going to tell her why a shop like that even exists. Clare, knitting her eyebrows, said. ¡°I¡¯m sensing my lady is thinking something very bizarre, so I will not push further.¡± Phew¡­ even with a mask I put on, she can get a grasp of what I¡¯m thinking. I¡¯ve really gotten rusty, to put it mildly. ¡°If my lady trusts him, then I shall trust him.¡± She seemed to calm down a bit, but I shouldn¡¯t make her mad any further. ¡°Let''s go home then.¡± Clare nodded, and she followed me back home. Chapter 53 Leading Clare back to my home, she slightly raised her eyebrow when she saw my house. Taking out my key, I open the door to let her inside. Stepping inside, she asks. ¡°Did my lady buy this house?¡± I replied with a yes. ¡°And how did my lady get such funds?¡± ¡°I have an acquaintance; she knows about my noble identity but doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m a girl and which family I¡¯m from.¡± ¡°Is she trustworthy?¡± ¡°Yes, she is a noble from the Lunslur family. Her name is Alice.¡± I proceeded to tell Clare about how we met, which was through helping Alex catch some black knights from the Palning family. Then I told her the things preceding that, including the conspiracy about her brother targeting her life. Hearing all that causes Clare to look troubled. ¡°But Lady Rita, it is almost guaranteed that he will tell about your identity. Are you sure that is safe?¡± ¡°I understand your worry; even though he would spill everything at the slightest provocation, he doesn¡¯t know my name, and Alice already has it covered. Plus they can¡¯t lay a hand on him, since he is a noble, which falls under the jurisdiction of the third night order.¡± Out of the 7 knight orders in this kingdom, the third knight order mainly focuses on dealing with nobility since normal people, like the guards, are too afraid to touch them and let them do whatever they want. However, in reality, they focus on keeping the peace among the nobility and protecting commoners from their political scheming and whatnot since one or two commoners or even entire villages could let''s just say, go missing if they were caught up in the crossfire. Clare seems to accept my answer, so I proceed to show her around the house. I showed her the many rooms, like the bathroom, the messy office filled with books on the ground, the safe where I store my coins for her to use, the guest room that Clare will live in, etc. Once I was done, I was reminded of something. ¡°Oh right, if something happens, run to the guild and ask for a receptionist named Iris; she is friends with Emma and has helped me out a lot. If that is not possible, go to the inn Alice is in to get her party¡¯s help.¡± For some reason, there was a weird taste in my mouth when I suggested going to Alex to get some help when she was in trouble. The worst thing that could happen is Clare falling for Alex¡­ A strange feeling welled up from the bottom of my stomach thinking about it. If that happens, I have to say goodbye to Alex then, which is a shame. A maniacal smile was about to creep up on my face thinking about ways to get rid of Alex, but Clare suddenly smacked me on the head. ¡°Oww! Why did you just do that?¡± Rubbing the top of my head where Clare just smacked me, she said. ¡°My lady, please. I must ask you to refrain from such disturbing thoughts.¡± I remember Clare only smacking my head a handful of times back when I was a noble, telling me I was getting too riled up as a reason. It mostly happens whenever I see really strong-looking people brought inside my family manor, like elite members of knight orders or high-level adventurers, making me want to fight them. Oh right, I forgot she could get a general grasp of my thoughts even with my mask on, and I did unintentionally let go of my mask for a bit. She must have sensed I was thinking something that could be defined as morally grey. ¡°Morally gray?¡± Clare raised one of her eyebrows like she was questioning me in exasperation, then sighed and said. ¡°If that is all, I shall begin working.¡± Nodding, I told her fine and that I would be leaving for a bite to go to the inn I was staying at, which still had a couple of books left in the room, and to get a refund on the extra days I paid in advance that I didn¡¯t need anymore. At the inn, I collected the last of the books inside the room into my backpack and checked if I left anything else behind, which there was none. Then I went downstairs to the innkeeper to check out. I gave her the key to the room, and she refunded the days I didn¡¯t need anymore. I said thanks to the innkeeper lady and left to go home. When I got back home, I opened the door and noticed that things were surprisingly spotless, even more so than when I first bought this house. I could say Clare did a great job keeping things nice and tidy. Hearing me come in, Clare, surprisingly wearing her maid outfit when I was a noble, came from the kitchen and greeted me. ¡°Greetings, Lady Rita. I have thoroughly cleaned and organized the house. I have also gone shopping, and now preparing dinner.¡± It''s kind of surprising that she did all this while I was gone for over an hour and a half. She is really that capable. ¡°I see, thank you. I¡¯ll be in the office if you need me.¡± I went to the office, which Clare had neatly organized. I saw the mess I¡¯d made in the room for the last couple of days was organized and tidy except for the papers I was working on on the desk. I put the books from my backpack on the bookshelves and sat at the desk to continue working on adding a limiter to the magical formula in the magical circle, which I¡¯m almost done with. I continued working on my magical formula until Clare knocked on the door. I put the pencil I was holding down and told her to come in. Opening the door, she was holding a tray with a plate of beef stew, steamed vegetables, and bread. ¡°Apologies for the disturbance; I have brought my lady dinner. Please enjoy.¡± Clare placed the plates of food on my desk by the corner, not getting in the way of what I was doing. Looking at what I am working on, she asks. ¡°May I ask what exactly my lady is doing?¡± Of course, she would be curious after seeing diagrams and books about magical circles on the desk when she was organizing the office. ¡°It¡¯s a magical circle for a magical tool.¡± ¡°I see, then what is the purpose of these magical tools?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a throwing knife that emits electricity without you having to be a mage. I got the idea from the new Adventurer Guild card the Adventurer Guild has implemented. With the help of Mable, a person who knows a lot about magical tools, I was able to make it. Now I¡¯m fixing the problems with the first magical circles to the new ones.¡± Clare was stunned for a moment hearing my words and said with concern. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°That is quite amazing my lady was able to do something like that, but I have my concerns.¡± ¡°Yes, you are right to be worried, but don¡¯t worry; Mila is the older sister of a friend I met in Farsbarow. I trust her since I wouldn¡¯t be able to make the magical tools without her, and I don¡¯t sense any alternative motives from her. Also, I am aware that certain nobles are not too pleased about what I am doing if word gets out, but I only use them when I¡¯m dungeon diving alone, and I could just say that the knives are artifacts, which should suffice.¡± ¡°I understand, but please be cautious, my lady.¡± ¡°I know; I¡¯ll be careful.¡± Working throughout the night, I eventually finished making the changes to the magical circles and went to bed. The next day, I woke up and saw it was past noon. Rubbing my eyes and stretching, I didn¡¯t stay in my comfortable bed for long today because I had just finished fixing the magical circles for the throwing knives last night and had to get them to Mila to let her look at them. Walking to the drawer in my room to get my clothes, I saw a set of clothes neatly folded on top. They didn¡¯t look familiar; I think they were the new set of clothes I had ordered from Hutch that I didn¡¯t get to open out of the packaging. I guess Clare had put them in the drawer and taken them out for me to put on when I was sleeping since I prefer putting on my clothes on my own. Changing into them, they were slightly bigger than my old clothes, which was what I wanted. I went downstairs and saw Clare dusting some shelves in the living room. Seeing me come down, she said. ¡°Good afternoon, did my lady have a restful sleep?¡± ¡°Yes, I did sleep well.¡± ¡°Good, I have made my lady lunch; please eat.¡± Going to the table in the kitchen, Clare gave me a sandwich she made. Standing behind me while I eat, she asks. ¡°Your hair is rather messy, my lady. May I comb it?¡± I looked at her and said yes to her request, making her smile. She walked out of the kitchen and brought back a comb with her, then she proceeded to comb my hair, making me feel nostalgic. Clare always combed my hair whenever I woke up, which was our usual routine before I ran away, even though I cut my hair, so I welcomed it. After eating and Clare finished combing my hair, I told her I had places to be for the day and was diving into a dungeon, which would make me come home late. Making my way to the door, I said goodbye to Clare, and she told me to be careful with a slightly worried look. Not to make her worry, I told her that I was a C-rank adventurer, meaning that I could handle myself, which made her even more worried for some reason. Going to Mila¡¯s bookstore, Mila let me in like usual. I presented her with the new diagram of the magical circles I had modified, which included a limiter. She looked at it and said. ¡°This should work. Do you want me to start working on it?¡± ¡°Yeah, and are you done with the knives I gave you to reengrave?¡± Mila smiled and said yeah, then led me to the workbench where she was working on them while asking me. ¡°You look oddly different today. Did something good happen?¡± She said it like there was something she was insinuating, which I don¡¯t know what she is referring to. ¡°What? I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± Giving me a disappointed look. ¡°No need to be embarrassed about it.¡± I was still confused by what she meant as I switched out my non-engraved knives for engraved ones on the workbench. When I was done switching them out, I thanked her for her hard work and asked Mila if she could engrave just three knives with the new magical circle to test them first. ¡°Sure thing, they¡¯ll be ready in a few days. It¡¯s good to have an excuse so we can catch up once in a while.¡± Leaving Mila''s shop, I headed straight for the Adventurer Guild and to the quest board to pick up a quest in the second stratum. I¡¯m planning to go to the third stratum today while completing a magical shard gathering quest on the way there for extra money since it won¡¯t be too much trouble. I want to explore the third stratum to see what it¡¯s like because of the newer and stronger monsters that are going to spawn. Going to the reception counters, I saw that Iris was not present today; I¡¯m guessing she took a lunch break or something. I didn¡¯t give it too much thought, and I entered the quest at the reception counter and then headed to the dungeon. At the dungeon, I skipped past the first stratum and went straight to the second stratum, using the 10th-floor boss bypass ring instead of fighting it. I wanted to save my strength to fight the Owlbear again since I have a new play¡­ I mean, a new opponent to fight with. I don¡¯t want my skills to dull since I haven¡¯t fought anything for the last few days, and I want to train myself comparably to my original strength in a past life, since past me could definitely kill the Owlbear easily even without all the augmentations and enhancements done to my past life¡¯s body. When I was on the 19th floor, I visited the village because I wanted to see how Maria''s business was going since I was already here before I went to the third stratum. At the village, I saw a long line of adventurers, and I became curious about why there was a line, so I followed the line to the front to see what was going on. Following the line, I got a vague feeling I knew where it was heading, and when I saw Maria exchanging bottles of potions for some coins, I figured that it was her. When she saw me walking toward her, she waved at me with a smile and told me to come to her. I wasn¡¯t too fond of the people in line looking at me wondering who I was, but I guess it shouldn¡¯t matter too much since someone like me shouldn¡¯t be this deep in the dungeon in the first place. Of course, I would stand out. ¡°Hi there, Nyx, what are you doing here?¡± ¡°Good, I¡¯m planning to explore the 3rd stratum. I wanted to check out how well your business is doing on the way there. How about you?¡± ¡°Great, we have been selling a lot of potions and getting a lot of requests. We¡¯ve even managed to take down the owlbear yesterday on our own. Thank you again for helping us and especially for introducing me to Mila. The book I bought from her is really amazing and has a lot of valuable information on alchemy.¡± She whispers the last part, which I¡¯m guessing is the Book of Magnis or something since I remember that book is extremely rare and valuable. ¡°I¡¯m even thinking of buying a house with how much I¡¯m making.¡± ¡°I could see that you''ve been busy. I¡¯m curious what kind of house you''re looking for.¡± For some reason, she got really excited by that question and said. ¡°A big one with many rooms for our future children; it must have a really big bedroom with a big bed for nighttime activities, and¡ª¡± Maria placed her hands on her cheeks and began to squirm around like someone madly in love while beginning to say increasingly indecent things to me, which I¡¯m still a kid, by the way. The adventurers waiting at the front of the line were giving her really weird looks hearing all that. I walked into that one all right, and I¡¯m regretting it. I better stop this before she says something too obscene because I am feeling my face twitching from every word she is spewing out. ¡°How about everyone else? Where is everyone?¡± Interrupting her rambling, I thankfully managed to stop her. ¡°Oh, I believe they are coming back from the third stratum right about¡ªnow, there they are right now.¡± Maria pointed her finger, and I turned to look in that direction to see Alex, Wendy, Chelsie, Alice, and¡­ Blinking my eyes, I was confused. I could have sworn I saw Lucia; instead, I saw a puff of smoke. When I asked if they also just saw Lucia disappear in a puff of smoke, Alex cut me off and said I was imagining things. ¡°Umm¡­ okay?¡± They seem surprised to see me, especially Alex and Wendy. With a wry smile, Alex said hi, while Wendy had her tail tucked between her legs and ears down, which I guess is the new norm for those two. I said hi back and told them I was just visiting and was going to explore the third stratum. When I was about to leave, Maria told me to wait a bit and proceed to go back into her house. A minute later she came back with 4 potions in hand. ¡°Here, have these.¡± Receiving the potions, I asked what they were because I only recognized 2 of them to be regeneration potions of some kind but not the other two. ¡°These 2 are strengthening potions, and these 2 are regeneration potions. They will help you with the Owlbear fight.¡± Then she came close to me and whispered in my ear so no one could hear and say. ¡°Their potions from the Book of Magnus I made. The strengthening potion can double a person''s strength and lasts up to 12 hours but has the drawback of straining the body after the effects are gone, which is why it also recommends making a regeneration potion from the book to counteract its drawback.¡± Now not whispering, Maria said ¡°Please accept them; I still have to pay you back for all your help.¡± Seeing she wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer, I said thanks. After thanking Maria for giving me the potions and saying goodbye to everyone, I made my way to the door to the boss room of the second stratum. Standing at the front of the door, I held the strengthening potion in my hand. I wonder what it is like drinking it. Probably nasty, but I¡¯m more curious about what it feels like to get strengthened. Is it like having Ori energy flow through your body? Since Ori energy also strengthens your body, probably not. Uncorking the corks of one strengthening and regeneration potion, I drank it each in one gulp. The strengthening potion wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought because it tasted like really bad medicine, while the regeneration potion tasted marginally better. After a few seconds, I suddenly felt my body go hot, filled with energy, and the urge to fight something began to fill my mind. Unbeknownst to me, the corners of my mouth turn upward into a smile. Looking at the doors to the 20th-floor boss, I enter the boss room with small giggles leaking out of my mouth. This is going to be fun. Chapter 54 ¡°Haa, Haa, Haa.¡± Sweat dripped from my body, and I pulled my sword out of the owlbear as it fell to the ground. With a big smile, I began laughing heartily, enjoying myself. ¡°Heh heh heh, ahhh ahhhh.¡± That was fun, very fun. I don¡¯t know why but the strengthening potion made it easier and I enjoyed it even more for some reason. As the owlbear started to disappear, the doors opened to the third stratum. I collected the drops and stepped out. In the hot desert sun, I was mildly annoyed by the glaring sun coming down on me. I really didn¡¯t like how hot it was. On second thought, maybe I should go back to the boss room again because that was fun, and I could feel the strengthening potion was still in effect. That sounds like a good idea; it sure beats dealing with the desert heat. Still having a smile, I walk back to the boss room delighted to fight the Owlbear again. Fighting the Owlbear over and over again, I lost track of time and how many times I¡¯d fought it. As I was about to leave the boss room and enter back for the umpteenth time, the strengthening potion I drank seemed to wear off because my smile was gone, and I fell to the ground, feeling the backlash Maria told me about. I was surprised that it felt this bad because everything hurt. It felt like I was having muscle cramps all over my body. I thought the regeneration potion was supposed to stop the side effects like Maria said. Enduring the pain, I took out a regeneration potion and gulped it down, tasting the very bitter liquid. A moment or two later, I was no longer in constant agony, but things still hurt, and after a while, I was able to move. Getting up, I think I should get up to the surface because I don¡¯t know how long I¡¯d stay in the dungeon, and Clare must be worried. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t use the strengthening potion ever again because I¡¯m not dealing with the drawback again. After collecting the drops, which were 16 bypass rings and 2 Owlbear claws I luckily got, I made my way up the floors and saw that it was late into the afternoon. Have I really stayed down there for that long? Should I really go to the adventurer guild? Definitely not; I should go home as soon as possible because Clare is definitely worried. Walking back home as fast as my tired legs would take me, I opened the door to see Clare was waiting by the door for me. She was very concerned and anxious with bags under her eyes, looking like she had been waiting for me all night. Seeing me come in, I felt really guilty for making her this worried. ¡°Sorry, I lost track of time¡ª¡± Clare hugged me and sighed in relief. ¡°I am glad my lady is safe. But I must advise you not to do that again.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll try.¡± Slightly relieved by my answer, Clare said. ¡°I¡¯ve prepared some soup; please eat, my lady, while I prepare you a bath. You must be tired.¡± I said yeah, thanked her, and deeply apologized again for making her worry. Once I was done eating and took a bath, I headed to bed after my hair dried, completely exhausted. The headquarters of the City Guards Yulis, stuck in a jail cell for the last few weeks, shouted at the guards to let him out. ¡°How dare you confine me in a place like this? I demand you let me out.¡± Hearing the shouting directed toward the guards guarding him, they both sigh at the noise. ¡°To think he would act like this after what he did.¡± ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t get why he is complaining. He is in one of the cells specifically made for nobles; that cell looks even better than my room.¡± They mutter to each other to not let Yulis hear what they say as they ignore his ranting. This made Yulis''s anger soar and his face even redder from being ignored.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Are you listening to me? I¡¯ll have your head once I get out.¡± The two guards just look at him, still baffled by the threat he made hundreds of times over. They wonder if he actually knows what position he is in. At first, the guards were afraid of Yulis because he was a noble, and it was the first time they actually had to confine one, so they tried their best not to anger him. But after a while, all the rotating guards that were assigned to guard Yulis did not care anymore. The guards assigned to Yulis already know about the circumstances of why Yulis was being confined, meaning any threats to them don¡¯t have any weight because the evidence was damning on its own, even if Alice¡¯s older brother Claudis was the mastermind, and he is just digging his own grave continuing to threaten them. ¡°I can¡¯t believe he is still spouting nonsense like that. What does he get to complain about?¡± ¡°I know, I just want this shift over with because I¡¯m starting to have a headache from it.¡± ¡°At least we have about a week left for this to end. I wish the knights from the third knight order would come faster.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a shame. If one of his lackeys had spilled everything, then we would have enough evidence to send him straight to the royal capital for judgment without the help of the third knight order coming to get him.¡± As they were muttering to each other, ignoring Yulis''s shouting, the door opened silently, and what seemed like shadows snuck inside. They covered the guards'' mouths and slit their throats with a knife without a sound except for the blood coming out of their necks. Before the guards knew it, they fell to the ground, lying motionless as blood pooled around them. Yulis turned white by the blood pooling from the dead guards, then grew a smile and spat. ¡°T¡ªthat''s right, you deserve that for ignoring me.¡± Looking at the shadowy figure in black robes and carrying daggers, he said, figuring they were here to get him out. ¡°What took you so long? Do you not know how much I suffer staying in this hellhole?¡± Yulis spoke indignantly at them, to which the presumed leader of the group of 3 shadowy figures kneeled and spoke in a reverent tone that showed deep shame. ¡°I apologize, young master. We rushed here as fast as we could once we heard the news of your unjust detainment.¡± Snorting, Yulis said. ¡°Just get me out of here; I really want to get back at that brat who put me in here.¡± ¡°I apologize for my incompetence, but who is the young master referring to?¡± ¡°That Black-haired boy who claims to be from a powerful family. I want to get back at him; I knew his threat was a lie.¡± ¡°Lie?¡± ¡°Yes, he said he was going to ruin me, but this clearly never happened while I was held here against my will. I¡¯m going to kill that brat; maybe I¡¯ll even have that whore Alice watch.¡± Yulis had an evil, disgusting, vile look on his face telling them what he was going to do against that boy. ¡°I see, an excellent plan, young master.¡± ¡°Yes, now let me out.¡± ¡°As you wish.¡± The leader looks at his subordinates, who take out a key and open the cell for Yulis to come out. As Yulis walked out of the cell and continued to rant about what he was going to do with Nyx and Alice, he suddenly stopped talking. Yulis realized he couldn¡¯t speak, then clutched his throat as he tried to breathe but couldn¡¯t. He tried to tell the people in black for help, but they just watched him struggle and fall to his knees, choosing not to catch his fall. Deep anger filled his mind as he saw them not do anything but look down at him as he was on his knee clutching his throat. Without warning, the leader kicked Yulis in the stomach, sending him flying away and hitting a stone wall to the side. The leader began laughing and took off his black hood to reveal a handsome man with dark blue eyes and brightly glowing dark green hair. It was Captain Boras, revealing himself as the person who had cast the spell. Yulis had a look of anger and betrayal as his face turned purple since he couldn¡¯t breathe, wondering what was going on for someone lower than himself to hurt him. Boras smiled in delight seeing the expression Yulis had made. His hair, which is glowing a dark green, fades back into a grey color because he decided to release his spell since Yulis would pass out, which would ruin his enjoyment. ¡°Ha¡­ ha¡­ ha¡­ ha¡­¡± Gasping for air and gritting his teeth he screamed indignantly still not knowing his situation as his hair started glowing to cast a spell in retaliation. ¡°How dare you hurt me, you lowly¡ª¡± Before Yulis could finish, Boras¡¯s hair glowed a dark green again, using the same spell again to take away his breath before Yulis could cast his spell. ¡°Uh-uh, please be quiet; you talk too much.¡± Back to not being able to breathe, he stopped his concentration, and when he tried to resist Boras¡¯s spell with his own mana, he found he couldn¡¯t do anything because there was a massive gap in ability between them, causing him to be unable to comprehend a commoner being this strong. ¡°Oh my, how was my acting? Did you believe I came here to save you?¡± Snickering. ¡°What a lovely face you have there, but¡­¡± Now with a bored face like he was done with a toy, he said. ¡°You nobles who think you are better than everyone are all too common; they break too easily, and I got bored playing with your type a long time ago.¡± Boras turns to his subordinates, who have an earpiece on his right ear, which is a rare but widely known communication artifact that comes in a pair called a bud. ¡°Have you gotten any word on his lackeys? Did you get anything out of them?¡± The subordinate pressed the artifact on his ear and spoke to the other person using the other bud artifact. After a moment of them going back and forth, he said. ¡°We made contact, but they figured out immediately that we weren''t here to get them out, so we had to kill them.¡± ¡°Well, that is a shame; I really wanted to play with them, but he¡¯ll have to do.¡± Disappointed looks like a kid not getting a toy they wanted and he asked. ¡°So, how long till the guards notice their colleague''s dead?¡± ¡°About 10 minutes, Captain.¡± Boras turned to look at Yulis, whose face was purple and a shade of white after seeing a dark, sinister smile Boras had on his face. ¡°Well, good news for you; I guess we¡¯re breaking you out after all because we still have use for you.¡± Yulis tried to get away, but Boras cast another spell to bind his limbs with the wind. Slowly Yulis''s vision turned dark as he suffocated from a lack of air, and terror filled his mind. Chapter 55 Early the next morning, Clare gently woke me up. My body was still sore from yesterday, so I told Clare to let me stay in bed for five more minutes. ¡°Mistress, please, you must maintain a proper sleep schedule.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t want to.¡± Clare looked at me with exasperation as I was hugging a pillow, acting like a kid, as if this was the first time she had seen this side of me, which it was. ¡°Lady Rita, please.¡± I slightly opened my eyes and looked at Clare. I thought to myself, I did worry Clare a lot yesterday; I should listen to her because I still feel really guilty about making her worry. ¡°Fine.¡± Reluctantly, I got out of bed. ¡°Thank you, my lady. Please come downstairs after you¡¯ve changed; I made breakfast.¡± Once Clare closed the door to my room, I did just that since I was still uncomfortable letting someone change my clothes for me. Going downstairs, I saw Clare prepare me breakfast, which was a plate of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and a fruit bowl. Clare poured me a cup of tea and started combing my hair as I began eating. Once I was done, I put on my gear to go dungeon diving again since I had nothing better to do, and I wanted to train with the owlbear again. I said goodbye to Clare and told her I would return before sunset since I really made her worried yesterday. I don¡¯t plan to overdo it this time, so I¡¯m fighting the Owlbear five times instead of sixteen times like yesterday. Going to the guild to enter into a quest, I saw Iris was not there; I guess she must really be sick or something because I didn¡¯t see her last time I came by, two days ago. I didn¡¯t put too much thought into it and went to the dungeon to start diving. Going straight to the 20th-floor boss room, with a slight smile starting to form on my face, I entered the boss room. Iris Perspective Early in the morning at the Adventurer Guild, Iris was busy entering the names of adventurers and quests into the quest logs. Clare looked at the line of experienced, strong-looking adventurers, who would make a normal person quiver in their boots, by her counter to call the next person with a customer service-like smile. Iris thought it was like every other busy day: hectic but nothing out of the ordinary. However, as she was entering a quest and the name of the next adventurer into the quest log, one of her co-workers pulled her away and told her. ¡°The guild master is calling for you, Iris. He said it was urgent.¡± Iris wondered why Skis was calling for her, and then she turned to look at the adventurers waiting in line. ¡°Could you cover for me?¡± ¡°Mr. Skis already told me to cover for you; don¡¯t worry.¡± Iris nodded and went to the third floor, to the guild master''s office. Opening the door to the office, she saw that Skis, who is the adventure guild master of this city that always looks unreliable, looked visibly distressed like something really bad had happened. Seeing Iris, he asks her to close the door. With a serious and hardened expression, she asks. ¡°How bad is it?¡± ¡°Very, it¡¯s about Lady Alice.¡± Iris grimaced upon hearing Skis bring Alice¡¯s name up because she thought that problem was done and finished, but it apparently was not. ¡°I received news that the city guard headquarters, which is holding that Yulis person, was attacked, and they found him missing.¡± Iris grimaced even more and asked how many casualties there were. ¡°10 guards and all of Yulis¡¯s underlings were found dead during one of the guard shifts.¡± ¡°Did anyone see who the intruders were?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, nobody saw anyone because the place Yulis and his underlings were being held was a corner-off part of the building.¡± A name pops up in Iris¡¯s mind for the main culprit, Alice¡¯s older brother Claudius. However, upon giving it some thought, she has her doubts because Iris doesn¡¯t see a real motive for Alice¡¯s older brother to save Yulis even with information about how Alice describes her brother. Deciding to take a shot in the dark, Iris asks about it, wondering if Skis knows anything. ¡°Could it be that Lady Alice¡¯s older brother, Claudius, sent people to get Yulis out?¡± ¡°He could, but there is no way of knowing. Either way, everyone will point their fingers at the Palning family as the biggest suspects.¡± ¡°So we don¡¯t have any way of knowing till more information is available and when the 3rd knight order has a grasp on things when they arrive.¡± ¡°I see, this is very much a problem. I¡¯ll inform Lady Alice immediately.¡± ¡°Yes, do that. When you come back, please help me prepare for their arrival because things are going to be hectic.¡± Iris nodded and left the office, while Skis leaned back in his chair and sighed exhaustedly, wondering why he took this job from the previous guild master. Nyx perspective The fighting was fierce, and there were some close calls. I wasn¡¯t using a strengthening potion, limiting where I could hurt it with the strength I have right now; I managed to kill them each time without being hit. After the fifth Owlbear fell to the ground and disappeared into vines, I controlled my urge not to fight it again and ascended up the dungeon to trade in my drops from today and yesterday for money except for the pair of Owlbear claws from yesterday. When I got back home, Clare greeted me as she came out of the kitchen, telling me she had already prepared a bath anticipating my arrival, and was now cooking dinner. I sat on the sofa to rest my tired body for a bit before I took a bath. As I sat down, I thought about my fight with the Owlbear. Compared to yesterday, it felt like a workout more than anything else, which was kind of nice instead of being completely exhausted every time I came back after fighting a boss. I then thought about what I needed to improve and how to kill the Owlbear faster. It is tough to pierce through its hide, so I¡¯m limited on where I could hurt it. I was intentionally not using my engraved knives to make it more of a challenge and to get at least a magical shard out of it since one knife will drain a portion of its magical shard, making it smaller and less valuable. Taking out the pair of Owlbear claws I was carrying, I looked at the long, slightly curvy claws that had a really sharp tip. I wonder if I should make a weapon out of them, which sounds like a good idea. My primary sword and throwing knives are the only weapons that can realistically hurt it, making my spikes and short sword useless. Since the claws came from the Owlbear, it should be enough to pierce through its hide, and I remember the book saying something like that too. I looked outside, and the sun was still out, close to setting. I should make it to Kinwall¡¯s shop and come back when Clare finishes cooking. Getting up from the couch, I stretched a bit and told Clare, who was preparing dinner. ¡°Hey Clare, I¡¯ll be leaving for a bit, not for long. I have something to do.¡± ¡°Please be quick about it, my lady, and be safe.¡± ¡°Okay. I will.¡± Leaving out the door, I headed to Kinwall¡¯s shop in a brisk stroll. At Kinwall¡¯s shop, I enter and call for him.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Coming out of the back, I saw Kinwall look like he was in a foul mood. ¡°Did something happen?¡± Grunting and crossing his arms. ¡°Some of my clients stop by, and I have to reforge most of their gear and weapons.¡± He said it very displeased, which I get and feel because I too know what it¡¯s like to deal with people with screws loose. Just thinking about it reminded me of the named pilots I had to deal with in my past life, which unbeknownst to me, a frown appeared on my face, making Kinwall raise his eyebrow in a mix of shock and surprise for some reason. ¡°What?¡± I asked if Kinwall was okay, with my frown unknowingly going away. ¡°No, nothing. So, what can I do for you? ¡°Could you make a pair of daggers out of these?¡± I took out the pair of Owlbear Claws and showed them to him on the counter. ¡°I see. What kind of blade do you want me to make?¡± I thought about it for a moment and said. ¡°Double-edged, but I want it mainly for piercing and stabbing.¡± The tips of the claws are really pointy, so I want to keep it that way because it would do the most damage against the Owlbear. ¡°Got it. I¡¯ll have it ready by tomorrow.¡± Hearing that it would be finished by tomorrow, I wondered why it was surprisingly fast, which I asked. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m making this a priority order because, let''s be honest, I¡¯m getting really sick of remaking the same gears and tools for those idiots over and over and over again. It just drives someone insane. Kinwall sighed and then said. ¡°Is that all? Do you want me to do something else?¡± ¡°No, that is all. How much do I have to pay?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°Nothing?¡± ¡°Yeah, I really want to work on something else than what I¡¯m doing right now.¡± ¡°So how about your clients?¡± Kinwall shrugged his shoulder and said. ¡°Eh, what about them? They can just wait an extra day; what do I care?¡± ¡°...I see, thanks.¡± After handing over the Owlbear claws, I left his shop and went home. When I returned home, Clare greeted me by the door. I greeted her back, and she told me dinner was ready. Clare led me to the dinner table and served me my dinner, which was steak with mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and freshly baked soft bread. Then she took a step back as I began eating. I cut a piece of the steak and put it in my mouth, and it was just like how I remembered it when I was still a noble. I¡¯m honestly surprised that she could make food taste this good with what she has around her. ¡°How is it, my lady?¡± ¡°Amazing.¡± Clare slightly smiled at my compliment. When I was done eating, Clare suggested I relax in the bath while she cleaned up since it was still hot and ready for me to use. As I was about to go upstairs, I heard a knock on the door, which sounded like someone was desperate. Clare and I look at each other, wondering who would be knocking this late. I grabbed my short sword by the couch in the living room and went to the door. I open the door, holding my short sword in my right hand behind the door to hide it. To my surprise, the person I saw was Alice, who looked rather irritated by something, and not just her, but Chelsie too. Why did Alice bring Chelsie here? ¡°Hi, what brings you here? It¡¯s rather late, don¡¯t you think? And why is Chelsie here?¡± I turned to look at Chelsie, who was surprised to see me opening the door of my house. ¡°Sorry, Nyx, but this is urgent.¡± ¡°Urgent how?¡± I was perplexed when I heard the word urgent, wondering what it could be. Letting them in, they saw Clare, which caused them to be momentarily surprised, so I told them to have a seat. I already expected Alice to encounter Clare but not Chelsie, which was going to be a pain to explain. Shutting the door and putting my short sword away in its sheath, I sat on the couch, with Clare standing behind me, opposite where Alice and Chelsie were sitting. I look at Clare behind me, letting her read my thoughts. You can tell them I¡¯m a noble but not a girl since Alice already knows; one more can¡¯t hurt. Clare slightly nodded and spoke. ¡°Shall I prepare tea for our guest, master?¡± I turned to look at Alice to get her answer, which was. ¡°No, I won¡¯t be taking too long; I don¡¯t want everyone to worry if I come back late.¡± Alice turned to look at me after answering Clare to say. ¡°This is something secretive; I prefer it were just us speaking.¡± Alice wanted to talk about something in secret, but I told her. ¡°No need; Clare already knows about my circumstances and a bit about yours as well. She is a trusted servant back home; you can trust her.¡± Alice looked at me confusedly but said. ¡°Very well.¡± There was a pause as if Alice couldn''t find the words she wanted to say due to a strong emotion welling up inside her, which I could tell was deep-seated anger. Gritting her teeth, she said. ¡°Yulis escaped.¡± ¡°What?¡± Hearing what she said, I wondered if I had misheard it because that can¡¯t be right. ¡°Yulis has escaped.¡± Hearing what Alice said again, I just wondered how. ¡°What do you mean he escaped? And how do you know?¡± Hearing my question, Chelsie gave a rundown on the situation, which was Iris telling them as they came back from their dive today that infiltrators somehow sneaked into the headquarters of the City Guard and into the corner-off section of the building where Yulis and his subordinates were being held. They¡¯d kill everyone in that part of the building without anyone noticing, including his subordinates, and manage to get Yulis out.¡± Clare''s expression hardens when I glance back at her because it is not good news. ¡°I see. Thank you for informing me, but what are you planning to do next?¡± ¡°We¡¯re planning to leave in a few days because it¡¯s too dangerous to stay here.¡± A few days? I wonder why they didn¡¯t just leave now. Thinking about that, Alice answered my thoughts. ¡°Alex, Wendy, Maria, and Lucia are taking turns guarding my knights until the third knight order arrives.¡± Knowing that Yulis had escaped and his underlings killed by the people who helped him escape, it only makes sense that her knights are going to be the next targets to cut off loose ends, which also means Alice is a target. I¡¯m guessing that is why Chelsie was accompanying her, but thinking about all this, it doesn¡¯t make any sense because why would Alice''s older brother Claudius or Yulis¡¯s own family free him like this, since the best thing they could do is deny everything he says, making it so he did this on his own volition. Alice and everyone definitely figured this much, and they¡¯re planning to leave to not deal with that unknown factor for the time being. ¡°That is all. I think we should be taking our leave.¡± Seeing them get up, I said. ¡°Sorry, Chelsie, but could I talk to Alice alone for a minute? You already know I¡¯m a noble; it is something we cannot talk about in front of commoners.¡± Chelsie looked at me surprised that I admitted that I¡¯m a noble but said sure. Once she closed the door, I said to Alice ¡°Sorry about that again, but do you mind me coming with you to the hospital? I haven¡¯t gotten to know your knights yet, and I think it¡¯s best that Clare stay with Alex and everyone in the hospital for a few days since I can¡¯t really protect her at all times.¡± ¡°Yeah, I think that is best, but I have a question. Is Clare really one of your servants?¡± Alice looks at Clare suspiciously, and I understand why she is asking that. ¡°Yes.¡± With a sigh, looking back at Clare and back to Alice. ¡°She was one of my personal servants before I ran away, and no, she was not sent by my family to find me. She can be trusted and is very loyal, almost to a fault.¡± Clare looked slightly proud of herself when I said the last part about her like it was a compliment. ¡°You really trust her then?¡± ¡°Yes, completely. I¡¯m just worried about her safety, and it¡¯s better that Clare was acquainted with everyone than not.¡± Looking back at Clare again, she did not say a word because Clare knows her own limitations, but it didn¡¯t stop her from feeling like a hindrance to me, which I was the only one who could tell by her slightest change of expression. ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± Alice went to the door and opened it, asking if I was ready to go. ¡°Just give us a minute to get ready.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Alice nodded, and I put back on all my equipment while Clare, on the other hand, went to the kitchen to put out the fire and other miscellaneous things around the house. After Clare and I were done, we went out, with Alice and Chelsie waiting outside. Clare was wearing her everyday outfit to not attract attention to herself and me since the maid outfit she wore was extremely high quality, making people notice. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go then.¡± Locking the door, we started walking to the hospital. As we walked, Chelsie whispered to me quickly. ¡°So, you''re really a noble, like Alice?¡± I whisper back with a yes, making her surprised that I openly admitted it again. I mean there was no point in hiding it from her. ¡°Huh? But why?¡± Chelsie didn¡¯t seem to change her tone when I told her, but I welcomed it because she was the logical one in the group, and angering a noble would be bad. I guess it is because she knows me and isn¡¯t too concerned about it, which I hope for. I already made up a lie since I knew she would ask, which was. ¡°My family has a secret tradition of letting their child live amongst the commoners for a bit.¡± ¡°Really, they would do something like that?¡± ¡°Yeah, my family, like Alice¡¯s, are kind of similar in some ways. One that values strength and, more importantly, self-reliance.¡± ¡°I see then what about your house or your maid?¡± Chelsie turned to look at Clare, finding it all fascinating even though it was a lie I had made up, based on a story in another game I used to play for a bit. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a reward for being on your own for a while. We get things back when I was still living in my family manor.¡± ¡°That is quite interesting.¡± Chelsie turned to Alice, who was hearing the lies I spouted out, and said. ¡°Does your family do that?¡± Alice, playing along, said. ¡°Not really; the closest thing I could think of was my siblings working with the soldiers, either on patrols or monster extermination missions, but not on the same level as Nyx over there.¡± ¡°I see.¡± We proceed to talk about this as we walk to the hospital, where Chelsie asks about life before we met, life as a noble, which includes Clare. I¡¯m honestly starting to regret answering her question because I did not expect her to ask this much. Chapter 56 Alex''s perspective Walking through the hospital hallways, Alex passed by guards patrolling the hospital, returning to a particular room, carrying sandwiches in his arms. Alex eventually made his way to the room he was going to, which had two guards stationed in front. He greeted them, and they respectfully nodded back to let him in because they knew he was an acquaintance of Alice. Entering the room, Alex was exasperated by what he saw. The people they were supposed to protect and stay in bed were up and about despite doctors'' orders. ¡°Aren''t you all supposed to be on bed rest? And Wendy, why are you sparring with him, and why does Garner have a sword?¡± Alex saw Garner, Rollo, and Arnaud moving around when they were not supposed to. Lucia was sitting and looking out the window rather impatiently, while Maria was sitting next to her, reading a book, not stopping them. The conditions of their body were severely malnourished from being held captive and barely being fed by their captors. Health potions only heal injuries, which is why Garner can¡¯t regrow an arm, Rollo''s left leg needs physical therapy, and Arnaud is recovering from an infection from the x-shaped wound on his chest. ¡°Apologies, young master Alex, I cannot go idle knowing that I am even more of a burden to Lady Alice than we already are.¡± Garner told Alex that as he was sparring with Wendy, holding a sword with his left hand to reteach himself how to use a sword since he lost his right hand, which was his dominant hand, during the ambush that separated him from the lady he meant to protect. Rollo was walking with a cane from one end of the room to the other, trying to put some weight on his injured leg, and Arnaud was doing push-ups without his shirt that revealed bandages covering a large wound across his chest, said. ¡°Yes, we cannot allow that.¡± ¡°I agree, we mustn''t be more of a burden than we are right now.¡± Alex sighed at their response and said. ¡°Just don¡¯t overdo it, and again with the young master thing, why do you keep calling me that?¡± All of them smirked, and Rollo said. ¡°Young master Alex, you are our lady¡¯s lover; of course, we will use honorifics for our lady¡¯s future husband.¡± Alex felt like he was about to get a headache from their response, so he went to Maria and Lucia sitting next to the window. ¡°Sorry for the wait. I brought you all dinner; this is what I could find this late at night.¡± Maria and Lucia said thanks and grabbed one of the sandwiches Alex was carrying in his arms. Sitting on one of the empty chairs, by Maria and Lucia, Alex asked what Lucia was looking out the window for. ¡°Oh, we¡¯re just bored. There is nothing to do.¡± Lucia answers Alex impatiently since waiting around was never really her thing, and she would rather go off dungeon diving or do training. Looking up from her book, Maria asks. ¡°Have you seen Alice and Chelsie? "Shouldn''t they be back by now?¡± Alex turned to Maria, who took her eyes off her book, which she had been glued to ever since she bought it, and said. ¡°No, let''s just wait for a bit.¡± He said that with some concern as he looked out the window and began eating his sandwich. Alex wondered why Alice was adamant that she wanted to go with Chelsie to find Nyx instead of letting Chelsie do it by herself. He trusted Alice to handle herself; with Chelsie, he shouldn''t worry, but he still had thoughts that something might have happened to them. After a bit, Alex was relieved to see Alice and Chelsie come back, but when he saw Nyx come in and, for some reason, an unfamiliar person. Relief mixed with a bit of dread caused him to have a wry smile because of the unexpected greetings. Alex was grateful that Nyx came and should have expected it, but from his experience, he was more afraid of him than anything else. He wondered about the older girl who came after Nyx. Before he could think all that, Lucia, sitting next to him, looked to have an expression of complete and utter terror, like her life was flashing before her eyes as Nyx glanced at everyone in the room. Lucia¡¯s hair instantly glowed, and she puffed into smoke from where she was sitting, like those street performers he had seen walking around the city. Alex turned to look at the chair where Lucia was and the now-open window. Looking back at Nyx¡¯s expressionless face, he hoped Nyx didn¡¯t see anything but... ¡°Huh? Was that Lucia just now?¡± Nyx said the question Alex did not want him to ask, causing him to jump out of his chair, dripping cold sweat, trying to wrack his mind with an answer. He turned to look at everyone, who were relatively unfazed since this was a recent common occurrence whenever someone brought up Nyx despite not knowing the reason. Ever since Nyx unintentionally insulted her by comparing her to Yulis, it caused her pride as a mage to be hurt, so Lucia had been working hard training by herself nonstop to prove Nyx wrong. After a few days of nonstop training, she managed to grow much more powerful all by herself, surprising everyone in her party, especially Alex. However, Alex remembers the day after their fight with the Owlbear with Nyx; Lucia''s loathing for Nyx turned into complete fear. Compared to himself and Wendy, Lucia dug her own grave when she adamantly challenged Nyx to a duel multiple times, so she could not just use an excuse like himself and Wendy. This led Lucia to desperately find ways to run away from Nyx if they ever met. That desperation ultimately led her to teach herself a certain particular and rare skill, which was instant casting. Alex remembered Maria being really amazed since she told him it was something very few mages could do, granted she could only do it with simple spells. Before anyone could say that was Lucia, Alex answered. ¡°Nope, you¡¯re imagining things again.¡± ¡°But I definitely saw Lucia jump out the window.¡± ¡°Again you¡¯re imagining things.¡± ¡°Then what is with the smoke?¡± Dripping cold sweat, Alex desperately tried to figure out an excuse, which caused him to shake. The shaking made him hear a certain clattering sound from one of the pouches on his belt, which gave him an idea. ¡°Oh that, I was playing around with some smoke bombs and dropped one by accident. You must be imagining things; you really must want to spar with Lucia, right? It¡¯s a shame, but she is off training somewhere.¡± Unable to read Nyx¡¯s expressionless face, Alex continued to drip cold sweat, waiting for his answer. ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Before Nyx could say another word or anyone could correct him. ¡°Well, hello, what brings you here, and¡ª¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Trying to change the conversation, he looks at the mysterious girl he could have sworn he recognized from somewhere; she has a sharp gaze, a well-groomed appearance, and a professional demeanor that gives off a cold distance between everyone. ¡°What is your name?¡± The mysterious girl answers by saying something Alex never expected. ¡°I am Clare, and young master Nyx¡¯s maid. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Alex.¡± Alex''s mind, which was wracking on how to cover for Lucia since Wendy was no help because she was frozen stiff, afraid of Nyx, was now stunned and stood silently, wondering if he had misheard something as Clare bowed in greeting. ¡°Huh?¡± Nyx, speaking up in the moment of confusion, said. ¡°She is my maid, from back home.¡± Alex turned even more confused, wondering what Nyx was even talking about. What do you mean, maid? Aren¡¯t maids supposed to serve people like nobles or rich people? He thought that; not connecting the thoughts that Nyx is a noble because, from his personal experience, he can¡¯t possibly be a noble with his particular personality, since it was different from his perception of a noble based on the only noble he knew, which was Alice. Alex still has memories that were burned into his mind of the time Nyx mounted him with a sword by his throat. Nyx sighed, which Alex could understand as exasperation with his expressionless face, and turned to Alice''s knights. Alex wonders what he is about to do. He sees Nyx¡¯s demeanor, and the air around him changes when he turns to Alice¡¯s knight. Alice¡¯s knights, noticing the sudden change, faces turned stern and stood ready like they were in the presence of someone important. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet all of you; I haven¡¯t properly introduced myself. Please excuse me; I am using an alias for personal reasons, but my name is Nyx.¡± Nyx put his right hand on his chest, his left arm behind him, closed his eyes, and bent his body slightly in a smooth, dignified manner befitting nobility, looking like he was a completely different person. Seeing Nyx¡¯s introductions, each of Alice¡¯s knights got onto one knee and kneeled. ¡°My name is Carner.¡± ¡°I am Rollo.¡± ¡°I am Arnaud.¡± ¡°We are knights to Lady Alice and in your debt, Lord Nyx, for saving our lady¡¯s life.¡± All of them said it at the same time, but Alex did not notice all that because he and Wendy saw something that terrified them to their very core: Nyx was smiling. Alex¡¯s teeth were chattering, and his complexion turned pale as a ghost as he screamed in horror in his head. On the other hand, Wendy, with her beastmen instincts, curls up into a ball, trying to make herself look as small and non-threatening as possible. Maybe it is different because Nyx''s smile was different from his battle frenzy state, so he won¡¯t attack me, right? Thinking that to himself, Alex immediately threw it out of the window and looked at the window Lucia jumped out of. Remembering that Lucia jumped out, he thought he would do the same, as his fear and terror made him unable to think straight. Alex slowly reached out to his belt that held his adventuring equipment and pulled out a couple of small white shape balls. Similar to Lucia, Alex threw them to the ground, causing a small explosion of smoke around him, and he threw himself out the window. Sliding down the drainage pipes out of the hospital room that was 3 floors high, Alex looked up once he was down to see Nyx looking at him with a smile on his face. Without thinking, Alex just ran without looking back. Nyx perspective As I told Alice¡¯s knight to raise in a dignified tone like I was still a noble, I heard sudden popping sounds with smoke appearing where Alex was standing. The guards rushed in while I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, wondering if we were being attacked. I ran to where Alex was and looked out the window. I saw Alex sliding down a drainage pipe, and when he was down in the streets, Alex looked up, and we stared at each other. For some reason, before I could say anything, Alex looked really terrified of someone or something, and then he began running away as if his life depended on it. What was that all about? Looking outside, I saw that there were no threats. I turned to the guards, letting go of my nobleman mask, had a smile back to my normal expressionless face, and said. ¡°Sorry, false alarm.¡± They nodded and went back outside while I turned back to look out the window with Clare approaching me and bewilderingly asking. ¡°What exactly did you do, young master?¡± I looked at her and said. ¡°I don¡¯t know; I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± I shrug my shoulders, not knowing either. ¡°Really?¡± Clare said it in a spectacle tone. I mean, ever since our sparring session in Farsbarow, he had been acting weird compared to how we first met with how enthusiastic he used to be. It''s a shame because he really makes a good sparring partner with how much of a beating he could take and that he could fight back. Thinking that, Clare raised her eyebrow and was slightly aghast by what I was thinking. Oh wait, I think she definitely knows what I was thinking because she wasn¡¯t supposed to read that. Not amused, turning to Wendy, who was curled up into a ball, Clare asked. ¡°Then, did you do the same thing to her as well, Ms. Wendy, I believe?¡± I wonder what she meant because I still have no idea, and this was the first, no, the second time I¡¯ve seen her like this. Tilting my head, I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°Really, young master?¡± Clare gave me an even more skeptical look like I had done something wrong. Not wanting her to look at me that way, I turned away and saw that Maria, Chelsie, and Alice were looking at me strangely like they were seeing something they couldn¡¯t believe. Maria, who was next to me, sitting on a chair, rubbed both of her eyes and said. ¡°I think I¡¯m seeing things, but did you just smile?¡± ¡°Yeah, is there something wrong?¡± Is everyone surprised that I smiled? I guess they would be since I don¡¯t show any expression. ¡°Oh, sorry. I had never seen you smile before; it¡¯s a very strange sight.¡± ¡°I guess you''re right.¡± However, that doesn¡¯t explain why Alex jumped out the window and ran away, and Wendy curled up in a ball. Clare looked at me like she really wanted to say something, but I ignored it because I wondered why Alice¡¯s knights were up and about since they should be on bed rest, not because I didn¡¯t want to be under her disapproving stare. ¡°Hey Alice, aren¡¯t Carner, Rollo, and Arnaud supposed to not do any strenuous exercise while they are recovering?¡± Alice sighed and responded. ¡°Yes, but they don¡¯t seem to listen to me.¡± ¡°My apologies, Lady Alice and Lord Nyx¡­¡± Interjecting into our conversations, Carner said. ¡°For making you worry, however, we cannot let ourselves burden our lady and stay how we are right now, especially when our lady''s life is in danger.¡± ¡°But you are not; stop thinking of yourselves as that.¡± Alice raised her voice when she said it, showing her disapproval of what he said about themselves. Hearing all that, I said. ¡°I get it, but just don¡¯t push yourselves too hard.¡± Honestly, from personal experience, it¡¯s better to let them be, like Clare still being my maid despite everything; it¡¯s practically impossible to stop them. ¡°Yes, we won¡¯t, Lord Nyx.¡± ¡°Good, but please call me Nyx; I prefer to keep things casual.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Arnaud and Rollo began to go back to what they were doing, except for Garner, because Wendy was still curled up in a ball for some reason. Seeing that, Maria approached Wendy, asking if she was okay, for her to mutter, scary, scary, scary. Seeing that I might have caused it, I suggested to Garner. ¡°Since Wendy is not going to spar anymore, why don¡¯t I spar for a bit?¡± Hearing my words, unbeknownst to me, Wendy''s ears shot up, and she looked slightly up at me with deep terror, causing her face to turn even more pale. ¡°I will gladly accept, lor¡­ I mean, Mr. Nyx, with your offer.¡± Saying yes to my offer, I unknowingly smirk and let my mask fall off. Since he is missing an arm, I should hold back a bit. Again, unbeknownst to me, my unknowing smirk started to form the slightest bit of a smile on my face. It shocked Alice, Maria, Chelsie, and even Clare next to me, while Wendy looked like she was about to pass out. I took out my sword and readied a stance as Garner did the same with his own stance. This is going to be fun. Thinking of ways to go about it, I was about to make the first move with a simple thrust, but Clare smacked me on the head. I instinctively covered the part of my head that Clare had smacked me because it really hurt, wondering why she did that again. Clare looked at me with a mixture of deep disapproval, wonderment, and sheer exasperation. ¡°Clare, why did you do that for?¡± ¡°Young master, I fear you are too riled up; I must ask you to refrain from what you are about to do.¡± ¡°What do you mean? We were going to spar for a bit; I don¡¯t see a problem with it.¡± ¡°I fear that it is not going to be just some sparring.¡± Clare insisted that I didn¡¯t spar with Garner, which she was adamant about. ¡°Fine¡­¡± I sulked like a kid and said. ¡°I won¡¯t do it then.¡± Turning to Arnaud, I regretfully said in my normal flat tone. ¡°Sorry, it appears that I can¡¯t.¡¯ Garner said he understood in an understanding way. Since I can¡¯t fight anyone, I should go home now because I finished what I needed to do here, introducing Clare to everyone. When I was about to turn to everyone, I saw that Wendy was acting strangely. She was no longer curled up in a ball but had her mouth wide open, looking at Clare like she did something really amazing. She looked like she was about to grovel before Clare''s feet like a god or something. Weird¡­ ¡°I guess we are going to be leaving; it¡¯s getting late. I¡¯ll stop by tomorrow to help, okay?¡± Chapter 57 Going home, I was careful to make sure nobody followed us, which thankfully nobody was. When we were home, I sighed at everything because this was going to be a pain to deal with. Clare offered to prepare a bath for me again, but I told her not to do that because I was too mentally exhausted after hearing everything. Honestly, none of it made any sense; I doubted I figured it out with what information I was told. I just changed my clothes and went to bed with my short sword under my pillow. I haven¡¯t done this in a while, but I better be a light sleeper for the next few days to be ready if someone attacks us. Maybe I should make Clare sleep in my bed since it¡¯s big enough for two and safer because I will be next to her if anything happens. Thinking that, I don¡¯t think Clare would want that because Clare wants our relationship to be more of a master-servant one than friends. I sigh my last sigh and shut my eyes to go to sleep. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Feeling a stinging pain across my cheeks, I shot my eyes wide open. ¡°Hey, you awake?!¡± ¡°What did you do that for?¡± I tiredly and annoyedly complained as I looked around my surroundings after being slapped by Norn, to see I was in the elevator going down from my named Aias to ground level while on a stretcher, carried by two medics. ¡°You collapsed when we got out of the cockpit. Be thankful that I caught you and that Scott prepared a medical team on standby.¡± ¡°And whose fault was that? I¡¯ve barely gotten any sleep this week from having to write reports since you''ve gotten us in trouble this week.¡± I gave Norn the snake eye, which Norn could only tell under our expressionless face. She looked away like she was blissfully unaware and didn¡¯t see anything as the elevator doors opened to ground level. We walked out of the elevator as a maintenance worker returned our jackets. We then went to a cart, ready to take us to the infirmary. The driver began driving as I looked up from the stretcher to see the hangar¡¯s massive ceilings above me and the heads of multiple Aiases. When we were at the door to the infirmary next to the hangar, I recovered enough strength to walk with Norn¡¯s help. A couple of nurses led us to a room specifically designated for us as we passed by other pilots sitting on special-looking chairs with tubes, monitors, pumps, and other medical equipment on them. These chairs are called Ortif chairs. They take blood in our body and get rid of the Ori energy in our blood while also injecting medical nanomachines to repair our body from the strain and damage from Ori energy flowing through our body. Going inside the room designated for us, which had Ortif chairs that looked different from the ones outside since they were newer models and a wall full of medical supplies just for us, Norn sat on the one on the left, while one of the nurses helped me sit on the one on the right. I put my arms on the armrest, and it caused a clicking sound that locked my wrist and elbow to the armrest as a nurse took out a blood bag from one of the medicine cabinets with a refrigerator and put it into the chair for me since I was coughing out quite a bit of blood when I got back. Feeling a pinching sensation on both my wrists, which were needles being injected into my wrist and into my arteries, a loading screen opened in my helmet. Blood started flowing out of my left wrist, and new blood, from the blood bag, flowed into my right wrist. A minute or two later, the screen that had been loading finally finished, giving a full scan of my body. I touched the touchpads in front of my hand on the armrest to see the report. Overall, everything was mostly within expectations. My OBL, or Ori blood levels, are at 0.87%, higher than expected. Normally when we go on the Ortif chair, our OBL is around 0.70% to 0.80%. For comparison, the fatal level for a normal person is around 0.40%, while for a normal pilot, it is around 0.90%. For a named pilot, it¡¯s kind of unknown, but the theoretical limit is probably 1.40%. The reason I coughed out blood and had a nosebleed was because of the strain of sortieing for the last few days, especially our last mission, and barely getting any sleep from having to write reports as punishment from Commander Sharp, which made my tolerance for Ori energy weaken. I should ask Commander Sharp to stop making me write reports because we are in a war right now, but, for now, I should get some shut-eye. ¡°Hey, Norn.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Tiredly I said to her. ¡°I¡¯m taking a nap; don¡¯t disturb me.¡± It should take around 1 hour to get rid of the Ori energy from our bodies completely and repair the damage to our bodies, normally. However, with the number of missions we have been doing and being severely sleep-deprived, I¡¯m stuck here longer than Norn, maybe around 3 hours from what the screen told me. Drifting off to sleep, I was awakened to loud clattering sounds and things falling. Looking at my surroundings, I saw Norn sitting on her chair, no longer connected, playing a game on one of our old-school handheld consoles. I guess she went back to our room to get it and came back here, waiting for me to finish, and it appears that I¡¯m done, but what is with the racket? We look at each other, and it would seem that Norn seems to be wondering what¡¯s with the noise as well, but I¡¯m getting a distinct feeling that we are not going to like it. Hearing a pair shouting at each other, we had visible frowns on both our faces, knowing what it was as we looked out the door. ¡°You bastard.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re the bastard.¡± Recognizing the voices, I moaned in displeasure because it was the pair of idiots again, James and Lupin. ¡°It¡¯s them, isn¡¯t it?¡± In an equally displeased tone that anyone can pick up on, Norn said. ¡°They¡¯re fighting again, aren¡¯t they? You know what to do, Alina?¡± ¡°Yep.¡± I really didn¡¯t want to do it and wanted an excuse, but it had to be done since I¡¯m the responsible one this week¡­ Looking at the time on the screen in my helmet as I was about to take it off, I saw it was 1 am in the morning. Huh¡­ it''s already the next day and¡­ the next week. A smirk visibly formed on my face. Seeing my sudden smirk, I told her some devastating news for her and great news for me: it was Sunday, meaning it was her turn to be responsible for the whole week. Upon hearing the devastating news, Norn yelled a big What? and groaned, sulking like she was about to roll on the floor and have a tantrum like a kid. Begrudgingly, Norn got up and asked. ¡°Where are the brass knuckles?¡± Back to my expressionless face, Norn could tell I was gleaming inside. I put my hand out, signaling her to give me the console first. She gave it to me, and I told her. ¡°In my jacket¡¯s pocket.¡± She walks to my jacket and pulls out a pair of brass knuckles, then walks outside. Being courteous, I saved her progress and loaded my own save file as Norn left the room. Hearing the noise outside as I started playing, I heard a pair of screams, first, ones of anger, preceded by ones of pain, then of terror, and finally, screams that increasingly turned to a higher pitch, which we could all guess what was happening. ¡­ ¡­If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡­ Hearing footsteps outside my room, I immediately woke up, grabbed hold of my short sword under my pillow, and shouted out. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± There was a tense second of silence, but I was relieved to hear a familiar voice. ¡°Apologies, my lady, for disturbing your sleep. It¡¯s me, Clare. May I come in? ¡°Sure, no need to apologize; I thought you were an intruder.¡± ¡°Oh, I see mistre¡­¡± Opening the door, Clare was about to finish what she said when she paused and looked at me. Reading her expression, there was confusion and surprise in her stone-faced, maid-like expression. ¡°What? Is there something wrong?¡± Clare rubbed her eyes and stared at me for a bit like she was questioning what she was seeing, and another couple of seconds of silence later, she finally said. ¡°Lady Rita, are you making a frown?¡± Not knowing what she meant, I touched my face and realized I was frowning. I guess that is to be expected because one of the only ways that makes me break my expressionless face is having to deal with or remember name pilots in my past life, especially those two idiots that I had the displeasure of remembering in a dream about. I frowned even more in disgust and tried repressing those memories because, god, they were annoying to deal with. ¡°Is my lady alright?¡± After repressing those memories, my frown went away and back to my expressionless self, as Clare looked at me with worry, I said. ¡°Yes, I just have a dream about something I''d rather forget.¡± ¡°Oh, I see. Since my lady is awake, I¡¯ll be downstairs preparing breakfast. Please go back to sleep, Lady Rita, until I wake you. I apologize again for waking you.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Clare proceeded to leave my room and close the door after picking out my clothes for the day. I proceeded to go back to sleep, which was about an hour, till Clare came to my room to tell me breakfast was ready. She left my room and closed the door for me to change, and when I went downstairs, Clare served me breakfast while grooming my messy morning hair. When I was done eating, I readied myself to go to the hospital and saw Clare was carrying a picnic basket. ¡°What¡¯s that, Clare?¡± ¡°Oh, my lady, it''s food for us and your friend. I thought it would be best to bring extra for everyone.¡± ¡°I see. Let¡¯s get going now.¡± Leaving my house, I remembered I needed to do something today that I completely forgot about. Noticing me stopping, I told her I needed to go somewhere first to pick something up before we went to the hospital, which I forgot to tell Clare when we came back yesterday with everything. ¡°Where are we going, master?¡± ¡°A blacksmith shop, he is an acquaintance. His name is Kinwall, and he is a dwarf.¡± ¡°A dwarf?¡± Clare seems surprised when I mention dwarf, which was to be expected. ¡°I must ask how you meet such a person, master.¡¯ ¡°It was in Farsbarow; I saw a shop in a rundown alley; it caught my eye from the weapons displayed.¡± Clare looked confused when I said Farsbarow and asked. ¡°Master, didn¡¯t you say this friend of yours, his shop is in Farsbarow?¡± ¡°Yeah, but now he is in Acton mostly because he is a dwarf. People seek out his work, especially nobles; he moves a lot to not have to deal with them.¡± Clare nodded in understanding since she knew how arrogant and self-serving nobles can be as we continued on our way to Kinwall¡¯s shop. When we were in front of Kinwall¡¯s shop, Clare was not amused with the location of the shop because, like in Farsbarow, it¡¯s in a run-down alley. I opened the door with Clare following me and called out for Kinwall, who was clanging his hammer in the back. Hearing me call for him, he came to greet me, wiping soot off his hand with a rag. ¡°Hi there, Nyx, and who is this miss with you?¡± Since I already told Alex and everyone that I¡¯m a noble and that Kinwall also knows, I told him. ¡°She is my maid; my family sent her to me.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Kinwall had a bemused look, so Clare spoke up. ¡°Yes, I am my master Nyx¡¯s maid.¡± Bowing in an elegant and dignified manner, showing her strict training as a maid, Clare said to Kinwall,. ¡°Excuse me for my appearance; my master does not want to attract attention.¡± Seeming to be convinced by Clare''s greetings and acknowledging Clare with a nod, he turns to look back at me and asks. ¡°So, you¡¯re here for the daggers?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Kinwall seemed to be a bit disappointed when I said yes to his question. ¡°Your daggers are ready. It was a nice change of pace to be making something new instead of making the same thing over and over again for those idiots. I was hoping you would pick them up some other day because I really wanted to work on them more.¡± Kinwall looks at me and grumpily sighs since that means he had to get back to work and remake the same gear for the idiots he was referring to. I get it because I remember the times I had to deal with some idiots of my own in my past life, over and over again. Pulling the Owlbear daggers up from under the counter, he presented them to me. I took the daggers out of the sheaths and looked at the pure white blade. Its shape was like a really thick needle, and surprisingly, Kinwall put a lot of work into it, especially the handle, which had an inlay of silvery metal made to look like vines. I put them back into their sheaths and equipped them on my belt, really surprised by his craftsmanship. He really wanted to waste time and put off what he was doing. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll get going now.¡± As I was about to leave, Kinwall spoke up. ¡°Wait, before you go, do you want me to make you anything else? How about you, Ms. Clare?¡± Hearing what he said, I thought for a moment as Clare responded. ¡°Apologies, unfortunately, I do not have a need for your services as of this moment, Mr. Kinwall.¡± Kinwall seems disappointed by her response and looks at me with slightly pleading eyes. ¡°How about you, Nyx? Do you need anything else?¡± Understanding his pain, I thought about my dream last night for the very slightest moment, which is what I could tolerate before I made a frown and thought of something. ¡°Hmm¡­ I think I might need you to make something for me.¡± Remembering my dream last night about those two idiots, I feel like that is a premonition of something. I know it¡¯s a stretch, but I¡¯m not risking it, and this is a fantasy world after all, so I said. ¡°Could you make me a pair of brass knuckles?¡± In my past life, Norn and I shared a pair of brass knuckles to deal with those idiots because it got annoying after the first hundred times. Kinwall was happy with my answer and said. ¡°Sure thing.¡± ¡°How much will it cost?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it for free.¡± Surprised that he is doing it free this time again, I ask. ¡°Again? Aren¡¯t you losing money already doing it for free, twice?¡± Kinwall shrugged his shoulders and said. ¡°I make plenty of money from my other work; it shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± Since he is doing it for free, I guess I shouldn¡¯t complain about it. ¡°I see, thank you again. I will be going, and when will it be ready?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be seeing you again in 3 days, and hopefully you too, Ms. Clare.¡± Saying goodbye to Kinwall, Clare bowed as we left his shop and went to the hospital to meet with everyone. When we got to the hospital, the guards outside the room where Alice¡¯s knights were staying and the ones near the room let us through, remembering us from yesterday. Inside the room, I saw only Maria, Alex, Alice, and Alice¡¯s knights. Alice seems to be watching Alex and Garner sparring with each other, while Maria is looking out the window impatiently for some reason. ¡°Hell¡ª¡± Before I could finish, Maria ran up to me. ¡°Nyx, hello. How are you?¡± Seeing her run up to me, I wondered if something happened. ¡°Good, but is everything alright?¡± Clasping her hands, Maria said. ¡°Yes, but could you do me a favor?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Could you get something in the house I rented on the 19th floor?¡± Hearing her request, I wondered why she was asking me. ¡°I didn¡¯t store some of my herbs properly since, you know, we are guarding Garner, Rollo, and Arnald. So, could you bring them to me, if you don¡¯t mind?¡± ¡°Umm, why are you asking me? Why not ask Lucia since she is off training or something?¡± ¡°Oh that, Lucia came back yesterday and is in the other room, sleeping with everyone else since she was guarding everyone with Chelsie and Wendy throughout the night.¡± For some reason, Maria and Alice were skeptical about what Maria said like they didn¡¯t believe it, while Alex was dripping cold sweat like he didn¡¯t want me to know something. However, I ignored all that and was more curious when Maria mentioned everyone else because I was wondering where they were. ¡°Everyone else?¡± ¡°The hospital let us use the unoccupied room next to us to sleep in.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Turning to look at Clare, she nodded back, giving her approval to let me go to the dungeon for a bit. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be back in a few hours.¡± After Maria told me what herbs to get, I made my way down the dungeon floor quickly since I wanted to get back fast. Eventually, after around an hour and a half where I ran and ignored all the monsters I passed by, I made my way into the village and in front of Maria¡¯s house. People were giving me weird looks again, which was to be expected since a kid down here is an odd sight. However, they were surprised when I took out a key and opened the door to Maria¡¯s house. Closing the door behind me, I went to Maria¡¯s alchemy room and looked around. Maria told me to look for a pouch filled with a purple-colored herb with a heart-shaped leaf, which I eventually found on a table with a lot of equipment on top. Grabbing the pouch, I left Maria¡¯s alchemy room and the house. However, when I exited the house, three adventurers approached me. ¡°Hey kid, are you Maria¡¯s friend?¡± Seeing them, they looked to be normal seasoned adventurers you see in this village. However, I don¡¯t know why, but my intuition of a noble I developed in this life was warning me for the first time after I ran away. Reading their facial expressions and body language made me suspicious of why they asked because I felt like they were hiding their malice. Compared to everyone, I could tell if they were hiding something, like Alex, who for some reason was putting his life on the line every time he was hiding something from me. I didn¡¯t really mind it because, so far, I had never met someone who had the secret desire to do me harm like the hellscape of noble society. ¡°Yeah, why do you want to ask?¡± ¡°We were wondering when Ms. Maria will come back; we haven¡¯t seen her in a couple of days. Did something happen?¡± Another adventurer chimes in. Hearing their reason, I told them, on guard. ¡°There is some personal reason that came up. I won¡¯t tell you what specifically, but it should be resolved in a couple of days. I just came here to pick some things up for her.¡± ¡°I see; that is a shame. Thank you for informing us.¡± Turning to look at one of his party members, he said. ¡°Go inform the party leader that we¡¯ll need to make some runs outside.¡± Looking back at me, he thanked me again with a grateful expression, which raised alarm bells in my mind. When we walked away from each other, out of the village, and out of the 19th floor to the 18th, I felt like I was being followed. Chapter 58 Noticing unusual shadows and leaves rustling, I don¡¯t remember any monsters from the Dradevow Dungeon book that exhibit this behavior, so it''s definitely got to be people who are following me. I stopped walking and turned to face the people following me. I was in a hurry and would rather deal with them now than later. ¡°Hey, all of you come out; I know you¡¯re there.¡± Hearing my shout, there was a moment of silence before they came out of hiding, one by one. I counted seven people, three of whom I recognized as the people who approached me in the village. They all looked to be well-armed, and one seemed to be a mage. My intuition warns me that they intend to harm me, which means they are most likely red-listed or black-listed adventurers. Black-listed adventurers are expelled adventurers who are wanted criminals for breaking the law. However, red-listed adventurers are like black-listed adventurers, but the main difference is that they are in the guild and haven¡¯t been caught yet. Seeing my predicament, I thought to myself, this is a good opportunity because I get to try out my new daggers. Pointing their weapons at me, one of them said. ¡°Hey kid, give us your key, and maybe we¡¯ll let you go.¡± The person who said that to me was the guy who approached me first back in the village. His smiley demeanor was gone and was replaced with that of a thug. Hearing a very generic line you can see from a thug or bandit in most fantasy stories, I was unimpressed by his threat and wasn¡¯t taking it too seriously. In all likelihood, they want Maria¡¯s key to her house to steal everything inside while she is away. They¡¯ll probably kill me if I do what he says to hide the evidence since a dead body is easily disposed of in a dungeon. From how they hold their weapons, I can tell they are trained and well-experienced, but they have a lot of rough spots, so they aren¡¯t too much trouble to deal with. However, the real trouble and unknown variable is the mage in the back because I don¡¯t have a lot of experience fighting mages, and I don¡¯t know what attribute he has¡­ good. A big smile started to form around my face from all the excitement inside me, and eventually, a snicker leaked out. ¡°Heh heh heh.¡± Hearing me snicker, one of them got angry and said another generic line, thinking that this was funny or something, which I didn¡¯t listen to because I was now laughing. ¡°Ahh, ahh, ahh!. Ahh ha hahahaha!¡± As I began laughing out loud from my excitement, they took a step back, as if I were crazy or something. They had a mage at their party, and I had never fought one on my own; of course, I would be happy about it because Lucia offered me to duel her, but one thing or another came up, which led our duel to be postponed. With them, I get to at least scratch that itch I was having. The fight started off with three of the closest red-listed adventurers charging at me as their mage¡¯s hair glowed a light blue, preparing to cast his spell, which I¡¯m guessing is a spell relating to the water attribute. They were surprisingly coordinated because I could tell they were planning to force me to move in a certain direction, which was in the line of sight of their mage, who was preparing multiple large ice shards. I was not about to let that happen and did the opposite of what they wanted. Putting my daggers in my right hand in a reverse grip, I ran at one of them who was charging at me. I dodged a swing of his axe and got really close to him, where he couldn¡¯t use his weapon, causing him to be deeply surprised. With the hilt of the dagger in my left hand, I struck his chest, causing the air in his lungs to leave his body. Now disoriented, I move my right hand upward and hit his chin with the hilt of the dagger in my right hand. To make sure he was truly knocked out, I took another swing with the hilt of my dagger in my left hand diagonally upward into the side of his head. Dealing with him took a few seconds, which led to the other two people on my left and right to deal with. They thrust their swords at me and swung them when I moved back. I then twisted my body away and jumped away to get some distance. Their mage won¡¯t fire on me because I did the opposite of what they wanted, which was to attack them head-on. ¡°What is with this brat?¡± They seemed really confused about how I managed to take down one of them easily, and then they began bickering with each other. After a couple of back-and-forths, one of them said. ¡°Screw it, he¡¯s just a kid, and it was just luck.¡± He said it angrily and charged at me. Seeing that nobody is following him, a snicker leaks out of my mouth as I sheath the dagger in my left hand to use as a blunt weapon because I didn¡¯t want to kill any of them. Like the first guy, I dodge his swing and enter into close combat. However, different from the first guy, he expected it. After seeing his sword swing miss, he let go of one of his hands that was holding his sword and swung a fist. In response, I moved my head out of the punch and stabbed his fist with my dagger that wasn¡¯t sheathed. To my surprise, it felt like cutting through butter¡ªor, I should say, piercing through butter, given the ease of piercing through his skin, muscles, and bones. He, of course, screams in pain and tries to yank his hand back, but all that did was let the dagger slice through his hand. Before he could register that his hand was cut in half, I knocked him out with a thrust to the forehead and a swing to the side. As the guy fell to the ground, I turned to look at the mage, who was holding onto his spell, ready to fire at any time because I figured a bandit group or red-listed party would not care too much about their members, especially this hot-headed idiot. Large shards of ice flew through the air and aimed at me. I rolled on the ground and behind a tree for cover. Quickly checking myself if I was hurt, I was fortunately not injured anywhere. However, looking at my cloak, there was a big hole, and part of it was frozen. I looked at the ground where the shards of ice landed; the ground and the tree I was taking cover at were frozen solid and covered in a thin layer of ice. I don¡¯t know what kind of spell it is, but it is quite interesting and dangerous. It is probably an intermediate or advanced-level spell since it can freeze whatever it hits. I reach my hand to my thigh, where I keep my throwing spikes, and take out 6, three in each hand. Determining it suitable to move out of cover, I threw three spikes at the mage when I spotted him then dashed him as he was the main threat to me right now. One spike hit his shoulder, while the other two hit his arm as he reflexively guarded against the spike I threw at him. This gives me an opening to throw another three spikes, but the three people closest to the mage seem to panic and get in the way of me aiming at him, trying to stop me. Seeing that, I decided to target the three of them with one of my three spikes in my hand. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Aiming at non-lethal areas, I threw my spikes at them as I continued to run toward the mage. The first one hit the closest one, in the back of the hand that was holding his sword, which I promptly struck the back of his head. The second one was hit in the throat, where his airway was, not his carotid arteries, causing him to clutch his throat. I hit the side of his head, making sure he didn''t fall forward to not have the spike pierce through his spine. Finally, I hit the third one in the forehead, which stunned him, leaving him unable to fight back. I hit his head to the side, the same reason as the second guy. Since there were no more obstacles in the way, I went for the mage. However, dealing with the three that got in the way gave the mage enough time to hastily cast another spell. Sensing something big about to happen, I began retreating back into the cover of a tree. A layer of ice formed around him on the ground, and suddenly ice spikes shot out, rapidly coming toward him. When I got to the tree for cover, it fell over as multiple huge spikes pierced through the thick trunk of the tree. Seeing the tree about to fall on me, I got out of the way. However, the ice spike did not stop at the tree I took cover from and began following me again. I looked at the mage and saw that he was holding his staff with sweat falling from his forehead in deep concentration as I was making erratic movements. I tried to move toward him, but he moved the ice spikes coming after me in a way to stop me. Knowing what to do, I threw the dagger in my left hand at him. I intentionally missed as the dagger I threw at him hit the tree behind him, but that did take his attention elsewhere and gave me the opportunity to run straight toward him. Realizing that I was coming straight for him and the spell too, he stopped the spell and looked like he was going to cast another spell, most likely a barrier. It was too late, however, because I punched him in the stomach. Then I pulled out my dagger, from the tree behind him that I threw, and kicked behind his knee to make him kneel. Pointing my dagger at his neck, I look at the last two people I haven¡¯t knocked out yet. They looked visibly shocked at everything because, in less than a minute, I had taken nearly all of them out. Dropping his sword, he raised his hand and said. ¡°We surrender; please don¡¯t hurt us.¡± Upon hearing his words, I was disappointed that he would say that because that wouldn¡¯t be fun. ¡°Heh heh heh, why would I?¡± Knocking out the mage I was holding hostage on the back of his head, I ran to attack the only person holding a sword while the other ran. He swung his spear at me, but I dodged out of the way and cut the wooden shaft of his spear with my surprisingly sharp dagger. Then I kicked his side and hit his head with my sheath dagger. Seeing the last guy run away, I wasn¡¯t going to let that happen, so I¡ª ¡°Gahhh!!!¡± Feeling the air around me that hit me like a truck, I went back several meters and hit a tree. Hitting a tree from being blown back, I fell to my knees. Thankfully, my armor protected me and stopped me from breaking a rib or two, but that hurt a lot, and what was that? My smile was gone after I got up and looked at my surroundings to see what just attacked me. I didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary, except for the last guy, who was groaning in pain, attacked by the same thing I was attacked with. I then heard slow, deliberate clapping a couple of meters away, so I turned in the direction, which was behind a tree. The clapping continues, and someone walks out. I stood there in shock because I knew who that person was. Boras? Why is he here? The slow clapping stopped as his glowing dark green hair turned back to its normal color. He then spoke with a genuine smile that caught me off guard, as I had never seen him make an expression like that before. ¡°I¡¯ve finally found you, Lady Rita.¡± He said it reverently and respectfully, still acting the same when we interacted before I ran away. However, what surprised me was that he wasn¡¯t hiding his true feelings too much because I could tell he was expressing some playfulness and genuine joy seeing me, not a fake one. ¡°I apologize for not coming fast enough.¡± ¡°Then why did you just attack me, and why are you clapping?¡± I said it with scorn, not putting up with his charade. ¡°Whatever do you mean, my lady? But I apologize if my clapping offended you. I was merely admiring how much stronger my lady has gotten, especially when my lady doesn¡¯t have any magic.¡± He was not putting away his false pretense like he was trying to get me to react, which was working by making me very agitated, but I didn¡¯t show it on my face. Father probably already knows I¡¯m here in Acton, and I¡¯m guessing Boras is not alone. Almost as if he guessed what I was thinking through my expressionless face, he said. ¡°Allow me and everyone to finish these low lives off for my lady.¡± As he said that, he snapped his fingers, and people wearing all black emerged from the forest, with their swords ready. They began finishing off the people I knocked out, while one of them dragged the person Boras had attacked to him. Being dragged, he was no longer in a daze and looked at Boras with surprise and anger. ¡°It¡¯s¡ª¡± Before he could finish, which I presume was you, Boras cut his head off. ¡°Oh my, I apologize for the sight; shall we get going?¡± Seeing his dead, headless body fall to the ground, Boras looked to see my reaction. I¡¯d killed people in my past life, during the late part of the war, and I never really felt anything or was affected too much by it because I and Norn were taught to accept people dying and that we might kill people in our missions. However, I was still slightly perturbed because this was the first time I saw someone kill another person in front of me. He was making a threat by killing that guy in front of me, but if I went with them, I¡¯d be taken back to my family manor, and who knows what my father would do to me to keep me under control? Maybe a slavery magical circle branded on me at the minimum. Slavery magical circles are banned throughout the kingdom, but knowing my father, he will definitely do that. Untensing my body to show that I had given up, Boras looked genuinely disappointed. ¡°What?¡± Boras sighed and said. ¡°I thought you would fight back, my lady?¡± Trying to look like I was giving up, I said. ¡°And?¡± ¡°That smile I saw and that laughter, I want to see that again.¡± He had a genuine smile that would make anyone blush, man or woman. However, that is only on the surface level because my instincts are telling me he is a psychopath from the genuine malice mixed with the happiness I was getting from that smile. I wasn¡¯t getting that feeling alone because the people in black, my family knights, had their faces turned pale upon the sight like he was a monster. So, these are his true colors. It takes a lot to get them to be afraid of something, which I genuinely did not want to find out. Realizing something, Boras said. ¡°Oh, is it because my lady thinks we¡¯ve taken Ms. Clare, who is at the hospital right now? Don¡¯t worry, we haven¡¯t gotten to her yet.¡± Hearing what he said, a deep anger began to fill my mind for threatening Clare. I really wanted to beat Boras up, but I set that aside and put my daggers back in their sheath, while not letting a bit of that anger be noticed since that is what he wants. Seemingly disappointed from failing to provoke me, he sighs another sigh of disappointment. Seeing him sigh, I saw an opportunity. Seeing everyone slightly loosen their guard, I immediately grabbed two spikes and threw them at Boras. Expecting my spike to miss, I drew out my sword and began running away. I needed to get away as fast as possible because I doubted I could take on everyone and get back safely since I couldn¡¯t even tell how strong they were or even notice them, and someone like Boras was a no-go. Bora''s Perspective As Boras saw Rita run away, the slightest bit of joy filled his heart again from his disappointment. He had expected Rita to comply and come with them; instead, Rita threw a spike at him. After seeing a completely unknown side of Rita, where she had a big smile and laughed while fighting the red-listed adventurers he had hired, he thought they had found the wrong person, but he was pleasantly, no, absolutely delighted that it was the very lady they were supposed to drag back. This new side of hers was something he never in a million years thought he would see. It absolutely delighted him to think of a new toy to play with because he originally thought Rita was baseline emotionless and wouldn¡¯t be fun to play with. But after seeing Rita fighting with a smile and laughing, he was proven wrong. Boras wondered to himself how much it would take to make her angry because the spikes Rita had thrown didn¡¯t have the intent to kill or even express other emotions Compared to Yulis, who he half-heartedly played with, Boras now saw a new toy to play with that wouldn¡¯t break too easily. That maid of hers, would that break her? Boras thought that to himself as he playfully told his subordinates to go after her. Nyx perspective I swung my sword at one of my family''s black knights, who were in the way, to run away instead of fighting them. I had to get back to Clare and leave Acton as soon as possible because it was not safe anymore. Our swords clash, but I immediately let go of all my strength in my arm and redirect the momentum of his downward swing, sliding down my sword and to the ground, away from me as I pass him. I then positioned my sword, as I ran past him, to slash his right thigh. However, that did not happen because he recovered his stance and used the guard on his sword to stop my sword from slashing at him, then pushed my sword away and countered. Seeing the sword coming at me, on instinct, I barely move my body out of the way. Feeling a stinging sensation on my left cheek and a warm liquid coming out, I threw a spike at him and continued running. That was close. He is good, almost as good as or better than the Black Knight Captain from the Lungslur family I fought a while back. If I¡¯m going to escape, I¡¯m going to have to broaden my definition of non-lethal, like chopping off an arm or leg, because I am not about to drench my hand in blood in this life. I felt a bit of excitement from the stinging cut on my cheek, but I immediately stomped on that repeatedly growing feeling I was getting because I needed to escape, and this was not the time nor place to get excited. Passing by some trees, I saw a group of my family''s Black Knights, 5 in total, catching up to me quickly. I didn¡¯t see Boras and everyone else running with them, which is not a good sign. Gritting my teeth, I continued running, but eventually, they caught up. Chapter 59 Around a couple of meters away, one of them shouted at me to stop, but I ignored that and continued running. Boras sent 5 of them to catch me, which I find odd. Why didn¡¯t he send everyone, since I counted around 15 of my family¡¯s black knights when they revealed themselves? He¡¯s playing with me, isn¡¯t he? After seeing his true side, it¡¯s most likely. Boras was my family''s knight captain before I was born. My father told me that Boras was one of his servants he brought back from a slum, but that is, in all likelihood, a lie. I would guess, if it was a story or something in my past life, that Boras was from an evil organization or different family, and he was sent to assassinate my father, but my father tempted Boras into working with him with his psychopathic tendencies. My father is a power-hungry person but is also cold and calculating; someone of Boras¡¯s talents and capability cannot be thrown away. ¡°My lady, I must ask you to lay down your weapon and surrender. We do not want to harm you.¡± Hearing one of them say to surrender again, I remained silent and bided my time to think about my next course of action because I am never going back to my family. They didn¡¯t seem too keen on harming me, which I could use to my advantage. Seeing me not stopping, they hardened their faces, looking like they were getting serious. They increased their running speed into a sprint, and one of them swung his sword at me. It looks like he is trying to knock my sword out of my hand with that swing. Seeing the sword being swung at me, I immediately stopped running and spun my body around to counter. However, that leaves me open to the next black knight running up to us. I knew this was going to happen, which is why I pulled my sword back from the first guy, using a feint to go after the second black knight coming toward me. The first of my family¡¯s Black Knights took a step back from my faint while another ran up to try to pin me down to the ground. I thrust my sword at him, but he knocked it away with his own sword. We proceeded to exchange some swings, but our difference in stature forced me back. I am certainly more skilled than them, but that is not enough because of the fact that they are adults and I am a child, which made up for their skills that are marginally below my own. On our last exchange, he thrust his sword at me, but I moved in front of his sword to force him to awkwardly adjust his thrust to not kill me, which I then swung at his legs. Feeling a searing pain in my right arm as I moved back, I saw that I slashed his right thigh in our exchange, but I had a shallow cut on my right arm. This is not advantageous at all; I need to start running again because I thought that I could take on more than one at once, but I was proven wrong. Before the rest of them caught up, I made myself look like I was attacking the first guy, which caused the second guy to try to stop me. However, I took out my last three spikes and threw them at the rest who were catching up to me. Then I made a run for it because there was no way for me to get back to Clare by fighting them directly. Running again, I need to make a plan to lose them. I looked up at the sky at the fake sun that never moved and how long I was running to gauge where I was on the 18th floor. I am about to reach the edge of the floor and close to a particular place I would like to hide in. Since the 2nd stratum is forest-themed, there are a couple of small caves scattered about through the stratum. If I remember correctly, from the book, the small caves used to be secret loot spots. It was a good place to hide because they are well hidden, and I doubt they know anything about it since they are the type of loot spots that never actually respawn, so the knowledge of the small caves is not widely known. However, I need a distraction, maybe a pack of orcs or something to make them take their eyes off me. If I continue to run, eventually, I will encounter a monster. My engraved knives emit a large amount of lightning when they hit a monster, which makes a decent flash and loud distraction. As I was thinking that, a pack of orcs really did appear. Running straight toward the orcs to aggro them, I dodged out of the way of the orcs'' attacks as I ran straight through them. It seemed to make them angry, and they started chasing me, while my family''s black knights seemed to go around them, slowing them down. It took me some time to go to the cave since my family¡¯s black knights had to be careful not to aggro the orcs as they were having a bit of trouble moving through the forest foliage and terrain. Eventually, after a minute of sprinting, I spotted a small ledge of some kind from the uneven terrain of the forest. I think that is the cave; better now than never. Turning my body around, I threw two of my engraved knives at the group of orcs. Timing this correctly, I moved my body to look like I was going in a direction other than the cave, but when the flash came from my engraved knives emitting a large amount of electricity, I ran and jumped down the moderately tall ledge. Then I immediately went into the cave by going into the bushes and thick foliage that hid it. Luckily I was right, and I entered into a dark cave. Controlling my panting from sprinting to make as little noise as possible to not let them hear me, I heard the pack of orcs roaring in anger as I disappeared, then they noticed my family back knight, who was also surprised to see me disappear and attack them. ¡°Where did Lady Rita go?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I think I saw her go that way. We should go¡ª.¡± ¡°Gahhh!!!¡± ¡°God damn it. You go in the direction you think Lady Rita has run in, and we¡¯ll fan out after we deal with the orcs.¡± Hearing what they said, I sighed in relief that it worked. Should I stay here and wait till they finish fighting the orcs or wait it out? Looking into the dark cave, maybe I should go a bit deeper just in case since there is very little light down there. Placing my hand on the cave walls, I walked deeper into the cave, making sure I didn¡¯t trip on anything. Alone with my thoughts, I debated whether to wait it out or go when my family¡¯s black knights left after fighting the orcs. If I leave after they¡¯re done fighting the orcs, I will be on Boras''s tail and will make it to Clare since Alex and everyone will hold out enough for me to reach them in time. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. However, if I wait it out, it will be a lot safer but give time for Boras to go to the surface and more than enough time to get Clare even with Alex and everyone there. Anger began to swell inside me, thinking that, Clare was one of the only people I had a relationship with in my life. I was born a noble, so I always have to put up a front around everyone. Compared to my past life, in which I did not have a lot of people with whom I was close, except for Norn and Scot, who were always with me. In this life, I didn¡¯t have anyone when I was back at my family¡¯s manor. My father is a cold-hearted and power-hungry person; my mother only cares about money and flaunting it, while servants only listen to me because of my title and name. This leaves my older brother, who I only have an amicable relationship with because he never really bothers to talk with me unless we have to since he was too focused on being the next head of the family to make our father proud or something, not realizing that father only sees us as pieces on a chessboard. Trying to calm my emotions, I continued deciding whether to wait it out or not, and I decided to do the latter because I was not going to let Boras lay a hand on Clare. After reaching a decision, I began plans to get out of the city and find a new place to lay low for a bit. As I was doing that, I reached the end of the cave, which had an open chest that was shown by what little sunlight was poking in the cave, with nothing in it. I touched the chest, which made me think that it¡¯s honestly weird that a game mechanic in a game would be in this world, especially because you can¡¯t even move the thing. Immediately, as I touched the chest, seeing it, the lid would move, and the wall behind the chest suddenly began rumbling and falling apart. What the? Seeing the wall about to collapse, I internally cursed myself for touching the chest because that definitely made a lot of noise, enough for my family¡¯s black knights, who were fighting orcs above me, to hear. ¡°What was that?¡± Hearing them slaying the last orc in the pack, I needed to make a decision quickly, whether to leave the cave or go through the unknown passageway. I didn¡¯t have a choice, however, because I heard one of my family knights jump down the ledge I had jumped down, and one of them said. ¡°Hey, there¡¯s a trail of blood here.¡± Hearing what he said, I looked at my right arm, which was bleeding, as the rest of my family¡¯s black knights jumped down to look. Seeing blood dripping from my arm, I completely did not notice my clothes that were absorbing the blood coming out of the wound in my right arm dripping onto the ground. I internally cursed myself because I was used to fighting things in a giant robot, and I didn¡¯t realize something as obvious as that. Of all days, this is not a good one. I didn¡¯t have time to decide anything anymore because they were at the entrance of the cave right now. The only way I saw out of this was to go into the passageway and hope there was a way out because I couldn¡¯t take on 4 of them at the same time without having to kill them, which I am not about to do in this life since it hasn¡¯t been that desperate yet. Grimacing, I ran to the end of the cave and into the newly opened passageway, which was for some reason lit with torches. From the knowledge of games in my past life, I can certainly say that this leads somewhere; maybe it¡¯s a shortcut to somewhere if I¡¯m lucky. If it¡¯s not like a secret treasure room, I could use the narrow passageway to my advantage, or if it¡¯s a secret boss room, maybe I could make the secret boss fight my family¡¯s black knights. From reading books about dungeons in Farsbarow, secret bosses are like floor bosses but are generally weaker or equal in power. From briefly exchanging swings with them, I could confidently say that one of my family''s black knights can¡¯t fight the owlbear on the 20th floor on their own, but two might. I am betting on it being a shortcut of some kind, but if that is not the case, I need to prepare. Putting my hand into my potion pouch, which has 6 high-grade health potions, one antidote potion, one regeneration potion, and a strengthening potion, I took out the regeneration potion and strengthening potion Maria gifted me. Gulping down the two potions without choking on them as I ran, I threw them away and saw a light at the end of the passageway. I ran to it and was in a circular cave-like room with a rusted, almost worn-down metal door at the end. It was empty, and I was on guard because this seemed like a boss room. I ran to the metal door with my guard up as high as I could, ready to react at the slightest thing because I didn¡¯t know why, but the air in this room was very familiar for some reason. At the end of the room and at the door, my family¡¯s black knights show up at the entrance. Immediately as they entered, we heard a loud roar on the ceiling and looked up. I saw a pair of bright red eyes in the dark ceiling that jumped down to reveal itself to be a drake. It had ruby-colored scales and feathers on its front legs but, most surprisingly, had glowing marks around its body that made it look like a mini kaiju in my past life. Seeing the thing, the strengthening potion I had just drank gave me the urge to fight it, but I immediately stopped those feelings and focused on my objective, which was to get out of the dungeon and leave the city with Clare. A Drake is in the middle ranks of B-rank monsters, but from its appearance, I guess it¡¯s special. At best it¡¯s as dangerous and strong as the owlbear boss on the 20th floor. However, my eyes shot wide open as it attacked one of my family¡¯s black knights and ripped his whole body in two in a blur. I barely saw what happened, and my instincts immediately warned me that thing was dangerous, more dangerous than the owlbear on the 20th floor. ¡°Heh heh, Ahaa ahaa hahahahaha!¡± I began to laugh, and I could feel the muscles in my mouth form into a smile. ¡­ Why am I laughing, and why am I smiling? Confusion filled my mind because my body and mind were not acting in sync. Is it the strengthening potion? No, that is not it because I am suppressing my urge to fight anything and was thinking logically right now. Just why am I laughing and smiling? I didn¡¯t get to think about it for long because the drake just tore apart another of my family¡¯s black knights with its claws. I saw organs and blood fly through the air and continued to laugh and smile. I needed to stop my family¡¯s black knight from dying because seeing that thing, I needed all the help I could get to kill it. Before the drake could target another of my family¡¯s black knights, I threw an engraved knife at it as it was tearing apart the dead body of one of my family''s black knights. The knife flew through the air and entered its mouth as it was chomping down on one of the dead bodies of one of my family¡¯s black knights it just killed. As the lightning dies down, it gets the drake''s attention because it turns to me, annoyed, like eating that amount of electricity was nothing. Guessing it was going to go after me, time seemed to slow down like my mind was in a state where my thoughts were accelerated. This feeling that was flowing through my body seemed so familiar, and I don¡¯t know why. I thought that as I moved out of the Drake, using its powerful arms and legs to lunge at me. It wasn¡¯t a blur anymore, and I could see it coming toward me. Moving my body out of the way was like getting out of the way of a speeding car. It landed on the wall instead of crashing into it and swiped at me with its claw. I block the swipe with my sword while using my other hand, which was not holding my sword, and place it on the flat side of my sword to absorb the momentum of the swipe of its claws. I could not dodge out of the way of its swipe, and even if I did, it would leave me open to another attack, so I decided to use the momentum of its attack to be thrown back since I needed to get some distance between us. Hearing myself laugh as I was being thrown back, some part of me was enjoying this, and for some reason, I couldn¡¯t stop it. I made sure I was thrown back in the direction of my family''s black knights. I positioned my body in mid-air to land on my feet next to the last two of my family¡¯s black knights. ¡°Hey, why don¡¯t we work together for a bit, or else, you know, we all are going to die.¡± They looked stunned seeing me land next to them, even more so when I said it in a happy tone, which also surprised me. The two of them looked at each other and said at the same time. ¡°Yes, my lady.¡± They would have been reluctant at first, but after seeing me fight the drake, it changed their mind. ¡°Good.¡± As we were talking, the drake began climbing up the walls and into the ceiling, staring at us again, ready to leap at us at any time. Seeing this gave me some time to tell them where to target their weak spots. Normally a thing like that doesn¡¯t have a lot of weak spots since it¡¯s a dragon. The only way to damage it is to use a blunt weapon and hit it as hard as you can, hoping it is hard enough. However, we are carrying bladed weaponry, so that method is useless, which leads us to the other method, which is to thrust our sword under its scales. It would be a problem since that thing is incredibly fast, which means I would have to be bait for them to hurt it. I planned to hurt it enough to make it resort to using its dragon breath, which would reveal its dragon heart. If I could stab it while it¡¯s preparing a dragon breath, I could kill it. I told them to just thrust their sword under its scale while I acted as bait. As I said that, blood started to come out from my nose, and that small familiar sensation I was feeling started to grow to a point where I recognized it. I turned to look at my family¡¯s black knight, and they were turning pale. They also had nosebleeds, and then they were suddenly vomiting out blood. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Chapter 60 Ori energy poisoning¡­ My mind was frozen as I did not understand why this was happening. Why was there Ori energy inside a dungeon? How is this even possible? The questions that filled my mind didn¡¯t last long because the drake, seeing my family¡¯s black knights suddenly fall to their knees and cough up blood, immediately pounced on us and tore into my family¡¯s black knights. I moved out of the way with much more strength than I thought I had, and that emotion that was building in me that I did not seem to control burst like a dam. I held my arms, and I couldn¡¯t hold in my uncontrollable laughter as joy filled my every being; I must looked like a crazy person right now because I was smiling and laughing near a couple of dead bodies right now. Yes, yes, yes. Something interesting has appeared. I want to kill it. I want to kill it. I want to kill¡ª Ori energy strengthens any living being when they come into contact with each other, and it looks like that drake is bathed in it, if not infused into its very essence from the glowing marks around its body. From my family¡¯s black knights, seeing them cough up blood in around a minute and that they are extremely fit military-age males, I could estimate the ori concentration in the air is high, probably enough to give me an OBI level of 0.25 to 0.30 because I haven¡¯t dropped dead yet and just have a nosebleed. It would seem, even in this life, that my Ori energy tolerance is still high for some reason. Retreat is not an option because the passageway I came in was just big enough to let it go through, and who knows how many people would die before someone took it down. Thinking all that, I threw it all out the window because why should I care about that? Why should I care about other people dying? All that filled my mind was how fun it would be if I fought it and outsiders were not welcome. The drake was busy tearing apart my family¡¯s black knights'' dead bodies, thinking no one who came in here was a threat. It¡¯s time to get its attention and make it see me as a threat. Running up to it with it not noticing me, I thrust my sword at its sides and under one of its scales. Surprisingly, I managed to slide my sword under its scale with not too much trouble. Normally, I would have trouble cutting the flesh of high-level monsters, but with the Ori energy in my body, I could guess my strength is that of an average adult, and with the strengthening potion, I now have around double the strength of an adult. I moved back as the drake roared in pain and immediately whipped its tail in retaliation because I twisted my sword right under its scales to make it hurt even more. Yes, that¡¯s it, get angrier. Make this even more fun for me. ¡°Heh heh, ah ha ha ha ha!!!¡± Proceeding with the tail whipped at me, it stretches its arms and swipes at me with its claws. Dodging by the skin of my teeth, I was about to dodge out of the way of its claws, but it managed to graze my left shoulder, so I took out one of my engraved knives and stabbed the drake under the skin at the base of one of its claws. It reeled back in immense pain as a large amount of electricity was being emitted from my engraved knife. Moving away from me, it tried to get the engraved knife out but couldn¡¯t. Feeling my skin being torn on my left shoulder, I was exhilarated by it and ran to the drake as it was in pain and distracted. Stabbing it under one of its scales at its side, I wonder what internal organs I manage to damage. Before I could take my sword out of its body, it surprised me by slamming its body against me, throwing me back in the air and into the ground. I was careless there; I thought the pain momentarily incapacitated it, but I was happily proven wrong. Getting up, I look at the drake, and it looks at me back warily. It didn¡¯t just attack me but was showing caution like I was a threat to it. There were a couple of seconds where we stared at each other, and then suddenly it readied its body to lunge at me. It lunges at me in full force and faster than before. I knew that it was going to do that from its body movement and prepared for it. Seeing the slightest tension in the drake''s body, I moved out of the way, fractions of a second before it was about to lunge at me. Rolling on the ground, I immediately got up as the drake landed on the wall I was standing behind because there was a deafening shockwave as a small crater formed on the wall it landed on. I saw it look like it was going to do it again, but like last time, I preemptively moved out of the way. This happened a couple more times until it started screeching at me in anger and began running up the walls. Oh come on, it¡¯s running away. Annoyance filled my mind as I saw it hang on the ceiling instead of fighting me directly. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ Seeing the drake upside down on the pitch-black ceiling, I saw its red eyes coming out of the darkness, but suddenly a bright light started glowing, lighting up where it was hanging. I knew it; this really is like a game. It looks like the drake is preparing a breath; I don¡¯t know what element it is going to use, but it¡¯s probably fire from its red scales and eyes. I was proven right when it opened its mouth and a ball of fire started to appear. It then shoots the fireball at me, followed by another and another, so three in total. The fireballs were about one meter in diameter, and they were moderately fast, so seeing the drake aim at me, I began to run sporadically. I managed to dodge the first fireball by rolling out of the way to the right, and then the second one with another roll to the left, and the third one, I jumped back. Looking at the drake above me, it looked annoyed that I didn¡¯t burn to a crisp, and it prepared another breath. This time it looked like it was going to do something different and more powerful because the light from its dragon heart glowed even brighter and bigger throughout its chest, illuminating the pitch-black ceiling and the entire room. Seeing that, my only thought was you have to be kidding me. I thought that because it wouldn¡¯t come down and was just firing down fire breaths, one after another, to fight me, which would not make it a fun fight. Thinking on my feet, I took out 4 of my engraved knives. I wonder if this would work. My engraved throwing knives absorb mana from their surroundings to emit electricity, and when they¡¯re in a monster, they make the electricity even stronger. So what happens when I throw it at something that has an extreme amount of mana, like a powerful spell or the drake¡¯s breath? Timing it correctly, I threw my engraved knives at the mouth of the drake, where it was charging up something big. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Releasing its breath, a stream came out of its mouth, moving in my direction. I jump out of the way and cover myself with my cloak to protect my body from the fire as my engraved knives fly through the air to the drake. However, my cloak didn¡¯t completely protect me, and my upper left thigh was burned from the fire by a hole in my cloak made by that red-listed mage during our fight earlier. I giggled a bit from the burning pain from the burn I got on my left thigh. So this is what it¡¯s like to get burned by fire, not bad. Hearing a surprisingly loud explosion, I then heard a loud thud like something big had fallen down. Taking off my now singed and burning cloak, I look at where the loud thud came from, which was the drake hitting the ground from falling from the ceiling. Seeing the drake, I saw that its jaw was heavily damaged with a couple of teeth missing and blood coming out. Other than the drake, I saw what seemed to be red-hot pieces of metal around it, which I guess were my engraved knives. I didn¡¯t think it would be this powerful, but it would be good to know since I could use them on mages when they are casting their spells. Laughing out loud I found it funny because it looks afraid, and when a monster is afraid, it either runs away or fights without holding back. The excitement started to build up in my mind to the point where I started belly laughing because the best part was about to happen. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Finally, the main course is going to¡­ Feeling something in my stomach, I felt my stomach was turning like something was coming out. I tried to stop it by covering my mouth with my hand, but it didn¡¯t stop me from vomiting. Seeing that I was bending over vomiting, the drake lunged at me. I tried to move out of the way but realized I couldn¡¯t, so I did the next best thing, which was to not get pierced by its claws. Feeling the force of it lunging at me, I willed myself not to go unconscious when I hit the ground, pinned down between its claws, by tasting something rancid in my mouth with a strong iron taste, which I realized was vomit mixed with blood. My face on the ground, I look up to see the drake looked surprised from not skewering me with its claws, then visibly pleased pinning me down. It made a deafening roar at me with saliva mixed with its glowing blue blood being drooled and spit on my back. I gritted my teeth as I felt a somewhat familiar painful burning sensation that felt even more painful than being burned by fire. It felt like the Ori circuits under my skin were being burnt out and seeping into my flesh in my past life. Ori circuits are implants that go under my skin, which increase my tolerance for Ori energy and efficiently distribute it throughout my body, other than in my veins and arteries. Kaiju blood, or at least something very similar to it from how it was glowing, is, as the name suggests, kaiju blood, which is blood coming from a kaiju. It¡¯s very dangerous to all normal living beings because the thing that makes the blood flow is highly concentrated Ori energy. It is corrosive and would seep into any living being¡¯s skin, then into their veins, and their entire body. My strength was not strong enough to let myself slip free from its grip. ¡°Huh heh heheheheh, ahahahah ahahahaha!!!¡± Well, it looks like I am cornered. This is a fine surprise and more than makes up for the fact that I¡¯m running out of time. I cough out blood, and the kaiju blood on my back would make my time fighting this drake short. I doubt I would last a few more minutes if I don¡¯t kill it soon and get out of here. I was about to do something very dumb, something I never thought I would do since I always fought in my Aias or in my base in my past life. Using my left arm, I grab one of my engraved knives. Then I stab my engraved knife into the base of its claw. I laugh wildly as electricity flows through both our bodies because this is nothing and not the worst pain I¡¯ve ever felt. It hurt like hundreds of needles were poking my body throughout my body while my left felt like there were a thousand needles. The drake tried to resist, but in the end, it let go of me. For a big, bad dragon, I laugh at how it can¡¯t handle a little pain. Getting up, I vomited out some more blood. So¡­ my time is shortened even more because of its kaiju blood. Feeling my exhaustion, the pain from the burn on my left thigh, and my back that had a very weird and very painful sensation like something was coming out. I looked at my left arm, which had electrical burns that went up to at least my shoulder, and for some reason, I couldn¡¯t feel anything from it. The engraved knife I stabbed at the drake was still in my hand, and I could smell burnt flesh, to see I was still gripping it. However, what was most concerning was the black electrical sparks coming from the engraved knives that I was still holding. Looking at them, I guess there must have been some sort of malfunction because the magical circles in my engraved knife didn¡¯t completely burn out since I didn¡¯t let it go due to the electrical currents going through my body and the drake pulling away before it shorted out. After quickly going over my condition, I continued laughing again because I didn¡¯t care who would win or anything; nothing mattered except for fighting that Drake over there since this was just too much fun. I ran to the drake this time instead of it coming to me because it was my turn to attack first. Time, for some reason, was even slower than before, and my nosebleed was even worse, but I did not care and dodged the drake¡¯s swipe of its claws and a whip of its tail. I repeatedly stabbed it under its scales with my daggers, which was much more effective than my longsword. Seeing me dodge its attack and get up close to it, it tried to bite me, but I threw the dagger out of my hand and into its mouth, then moved to the side. Taking out my short sword, I was on the right side of the drake''s head as it was gagging on the dagger that I threw at its mouth and stabbed its eye with my short sword and then with my engraved knife that was burned into my hand. Ripping out the engraved knife in my palm, I move back out of the range of its physical attacks as black electricity starts coming out of my engraved knife and being conducted through my short sword, maybe through its brain. The black electricity started to grow much bigger than I expected, and the engraved knife in its eye turned red and exploded, taking out its right eye. I instinctively cover my face with my arms seeing that explosion. I thought to myself that it was a shame that that malfunctioning engraved knife exploded because that would be potentially useful to know and a new discovery, but that is for a later time. Reeling back in pain from its eye exploding, I was delighted by its resilience because that certainly would have killed most monsters, but since it¡¯s a dragon, it only makes sense. I guess I have to stab its dragon¡¯s heart to kill it. Grabbing my other dagger with my only usable hand, I ran to it. The drake, seeing me coming for it, chest glowed red. Great, I smile even bigger because that was lucky since I wanted it to do that. Laughing even harder from seeing my luck, the drake seemed to be mustering up all its strength and was about to let out something big, which I¡¯m guessing was the flamethrower thing. It immediately let it out as I was close to it. I moved out of the way of the breath, but my right shoulder was burned. I did not let that stop me because my chance to win is now. Under its chin and in front of its chest, I stab deep into it and into its dragon''s heart. However, as I did that, the drake swung its massive arms at me. Ripping out my dagger from its chest, I guarded its attack because I couldn¡¯t get out of the way in time. Feeling the force of its arms hitting my body in full force. I felt like my right arm broke, and a few of the bones in my rib cage also broke as I was sent flying back across the room. Hitting the floor, I rolled on the ground. Heh heh heh, that hurt a lot. Trying to get up with all my might, I looked at the drake while I held my dagger with my formerly only usable arm that was broken. Blood started to come out of its chest and other wounds. I dealt it, but it seemed to move. Seeing me, it began running toward me for some reason instead of lunging, which I¡¯m guessing it was on its last leg. It ran charging at me while I prepared to meet it head-on because I was also on my last leg. However, midway toward charging at me, it fell to the ground. From its momentum, it slid onto the ground till it was a meter in front of me. I waited and waited, but it did not move. Did I win? Slowly and carefully I move toward the Drake and lightly kick the drake for there to be no movement. Realizing it was dead, I let out a small and weak giggle, vastly different from the boisterous laughter I had fighting the drake. So¡­ I killed it. Regaining a small hold of my emotions due to the main thing that made me that way was dead, I thought to myself that I should go back to Clare after taking a health potion. Fortunately, it looks like I only twisted my arm instead of breaking it, and I could feel my left arm, which had electrical burns, start to have some sensation again as I¡ª Suddenly, without warning, I began vomiting blood, way more than usual and only blood, but not only that, my vision was turning red, and I could feel a viscous liquid coming out of the corner of my eyes. Internally cursing to myself, I thought, I stayed here for too long; I need to get out. I try taking a step, but I collapse. I tried to get up but didn¡¯t have the strength to do so. I tried moving my arms to move but couldn¡¯t, and my vision was getting weaker and weaker. I forced myself to stay conscious, but it was useless. Goddammit, is this how I die? No, I need to get to Clare and everyone; I need to get to¡­ My vision finally went dark, and the last thing I saw and heard was the door to the boss room opening with some strange beeping and humming sounds and a mysterious black feather falling in front of my eyes. Chapter 61 Clare''s perspective After seeing her lady walk away with a bit of worry in her eyes, Alex approached Clare with a smile. ¡°Hi, I haven¡¯t properly introduced myself. I¡¯m Alex, Ms. Clare.¡± Seeing Alex introduce himself with a smile that didn¡¯t look strained when her lady was around, she bowed and replied. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Alex, but please call me Clare; you are my lady¡¯s friend after all.¡± ¡°Oh, okay. But you can call me Alex too.¡± ¡°If that is what you desire.¡± Upon hearing Clare¡¯s formal and professional tone, Alex didn¡¯t really know how to respond back since he had never met someone like Clare who gave off a presence like they were from two different worlds, so he turned to the basket and asked what was in it, awkwardly trying to change the conversation. ¡°Sandwiches, I made them earlier this morning for everyone. I don¡¯t believe you have eaten anything yet; please have some.¡± Upon hearing Clare made food for everyone, Alex''s stomach grumbles since he hasn¡¯t eaten breakfast yet. Alex blushed and scratched his head a bit from embarrassment, but Clare did show a reaction and offered Alex one with a smile, which he happily accepted. Clare walked to the chairs by the window and put the basket on one of the side tables to open the picnic basket. She reached inside to retrieve one of the sandwiches wrapped in paper and gave it to Alex. After giving it to Alex, Clare then asks everyone. ¡°Would anyone desire one, Lady Alice, Ms. Maria, Sir Garner, Sir Rollo, or Sir Arnald?¡± Alice, Garner, Rollo, and Arnold happily accepted, while Maria shyly accepted as well. Clare handed over the sandwiches to everyone as Alex sat on the chair he was sitting on and unwrapped the sandwich. He was deeply surprised to see the sandwich in his hand because it looked really good and tasty. It was a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, which looked simple at first, but upon looking at it closely, the bacon was glazed with honey, the egg and cheese were made into an omelet with herbs, and the bread was a soft white bread that was lightly toasted with butter. Alex took a bite and was immediately blown away by the soft, lightly toasted white bread; the salty, sweet, savory, and crispy bacon; and the herby and cheesy egg omelet. Taking another bite, Alex could say that this was the best thing he had ever tasted. He began devouring it until there was nothing left. Watching Alex devour the sandwich with much enthusiasm after the first bite, they unwrapped their sandwich, took a bite, and were also amazed by it. ¡°It¡¯s really good.¡± Alice complimented Clare¡¯s cooking, deeply impressed by how good it tasted, while her knights also had the same expressions. Maria, on the other hand, no longer looks shyly at Clare as the sandwich manages to win her over. Everyone complimented Clare¡¯s sandwich and thanked her as she responded humbly to it. When Alex finished eating his sandwich, he didn¡¯t realize he had eaten it all and was momentarily confused about why the sandwich he was holding had disappeared. After a second of thought, Alex looked disappointed, realizing that he had suddenly eaten it all. Seeing Alex''s sudden change in expression, Clare reached into her basket again and offered Alex another sandwich. ¡°No need to worry; I made extra.¡± Alex had a big smile hearing that and gladly took the sandwich Clare offered; after eating the second sandwich, Alex sighed, satisfied and happy. He turned to Clare, who was sitting on the chair next to him, looking out the window, and started a conversation with her with a big smile. For some reason, as he was conversing with Clare, he was getting a feeling that someone was staring daggers at him through a wall. He, however, did not notice it because he was really enjoying his conversation with Clare, talking about all sorts of things, since Clare, as the personal maid of a formerly powerful family, was trained to be a good conversationalist as a maid. They continued talking till the door opened to reveal Wendy tiredly entering the room. Rubbing her eyes, Wendy sniffed the air around the room with her mouth starting to drool. ¡°Oh, Wendy, did we wake you?¡± ¡°No, Chelsie is being really scary in her sleep again, and I smell something tasty¡­¡± Opening her tired eyes, her eyes landed on Clare, and she immediately ran up to where Clare was sitting and hugged her; then she started nuzzling her and wagging her tail like a dog with their owner. Clare and everyone were surprised by Wendy¡¯s sudden and strange action, so Alex said. ¡°Ummm¡­ Wendy?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you a bit close to Clare?¡± Alex was deeply surprised by Wendy because she isn¡¯t usually this close to someone even though this is their second interaction. Clare, who was regaining the small bit of her composure from Wendy that she lost, said. ¡°It¡¯s fine; I don¡¯t mind.¡± Clare let Wendy continue to nuzzle her because, from their first meeting, she saw that Wendy was completely terrified of her lady, as well as Alex and that Lucia girl, who had puffed into smoke and jumped out a window. She doesn¡¯t know what happened to them to get them to be that afraid of her lady, but it is the least she could do. ¡°Ms. Wendy, you must be hungry. Please eat this; I made this just for you.¡± Clare reached into her basket and took out another sandwich, different from the ones she had given to everyone from how big it was. Giving it to her, Wendy stopped nuzzling Clare and received the sandwich. Unwrapping it reveals a sandwich filled and stacked to the brim with meat. Clare told Wendy to enjoy herself as she was sitting on the ground while Alex looked a bit jealous watching Wendy eat her sandwich that was around the size of her own head. Seeing how Alex looked, Clare continued her conversation with Alex, which improved his mood. They talk about many things, like Alex¡¯s adventures or Nyx. However, Clare became increasingly agitated as time passed, and her professional mask had cracks showing because her lady did not show up. Everyone in the room seemed to see Clare¡¯s irritation and was also worried for Nyx. They tried to reassure her by telling Clare how tough and strong Nyx was, meaning he could handle himself, which calmed Clare for a bit. However, as they waited for Nyx to return, Nyx didn¡¯t come back. Eventually, Chelsie and Lucia woke up and came into the room, and at this point, Clare did not try to hide her worry. Seeing Clare, they greeted her and asked what was going on because everyone looked worried. ¡°Did something happen?¡± Chelsie asked after seeing the mood inside; Alex turned to look at them and said. ¡°We sent Nyx to get something in the house we¡¯re renting on the 19th floor, but we have not seen him come back yet. So yeah, something definitely happened.¡± Chelsie grimaces hearing that and suggests. ¡°Why don¡¯t I and Wendy go look for her?¡± Wendy, who was by Clare¡¯s side after seeing Clare grow increasingly distressed, was surprised but understood. They both nodded, and Chelsie told everyone that they would be leaving to look for Nyx. Nyx''s perspective Feeling my body was in a huge amount of pain, I was in agony as I slowly regained my consciousness. Hearing the sounds of machines beeping and the smell of medicine in the air, I wondered where I was. I slowly opened my eyes and saw the ceiling of a hospital room. Realizing I was lying on a hospital bed, I wondered if I overdid it again because the pain I was feeling throughout my body was the strain of experiencing Ori poisoning. Looking at my room, I saw that there was only one bed, and I did not see Norn with me. Maybe she is going to our room to bring one of our games back, but I don¡¯t remember being in a standard hospital room like this since I¡¯m a named pilot. Using the little energy I had, I called for Charlotte. ¡°Hey, Charlotte?¡± I waited for Charlotte to show up, but after a while, Charlotte did not appear. ¡°Charlotte, answer?¡± I called Charlotte again, but there was no response, which made me wonder what was going on, so I decided to call another system. ¡°System call, Lumina.¡± Every medical institution has a universal system called Lumina, which is why I call for it, but I don¡¯t know why Charlette is not here since I¡¯m in a place like this, which typically never happens. However, as I spoke, I soon realized something, which was that I was speaking in a childlike voice. I try my best to search through my memories of any of this, even the little memories I had before I became a named pilot, but I honestly don¡¯t remember. Is this a dream? I thought that because I have been having quite a lot of dreams of my past life as of lately. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. A thought came up in my mind that this was a nightmare because the last thing I remember was suddenly collapsing after fighting that drake that for some reason had Ori energy in its body, with Clare in my mind. As I was thinking all these things, the lights above my bed turned on, and a ball of light appeared above my head. ¡°Greet¡ªhow can¡ªyou.¡± Hearing what it said as it was breaking up between words, I wondered if anyone did any maintenance on it because the voice box was broken or something. I turned my head slowly to look around the room and realized that there was something strange. The room I was in looked worn down, like it hadn''t been used or set foot in here for a while. I guess this is part of a dream or something, but deep down, a small part of me wondered if I had died again. I ignored those feelings and said to Lumina, wondering if I could troubleshoot it. ¡°Lumina.¡± ¡°Ye¡ª ¡° ¡°System restart.¡± ¡°Con¡ªirm, starting re¡ª, 15 min¡ª¡± Hearing it took about 15 minutes to restart, I began to move my body out of the bed and realized I was in the body of my current life and was wearing a hospital gown with nanite bandages, which are bandages made with medical nanomachines, wrapped all over my body. It hurt a lot when I moved and took all my mental fortitude to not give up, which made me doubt this was a dream, but at least on the positive side, the reincarnated life I was living was not a dream from a coma or something. I went to the door, expecting it to automatically open, but it didn¡¯t, so I pressed the touchpad on the side to see if it was on, but I was disappointed to see that it also didn¡¯t work. I try shouting for someone to help me, but all I hear is silence. Grimacing, I guess I have to do this manually then, which is going to hurt a lot. The thought of this being a dream or nightmare started to go away as I moved my creaking body to open the panel on the emergency lever in the door and used all of my strength to turn the handle. Pushing open the door, I peered out of the room and put my guard up but saw no one. I could see, from the dim lighting, that the hallway seemed clean but looked worn down and old, like nobody had stepped foot in there for a long time, similar to my room. I tried putting up my guard, but I had to lean against the wall to catch my breath because using the emergency lever and moving the door took a lot out of me. I began walking down the hallways with just my gown and bandages covering my body. Could this be some sort of abandoned hospital? Thinking that, it created more questions than answers because I didn¡¯t know where I was, and the last thing I remember before I lost consciousness was the door in the boss room opening and then familiar beeping and humming sounds. I realized it was something I had heard before and one that was in my past life. It was the sounds of medical drones, which are drones that work in medical institutions to automate the process of most things, like getting things for doctors and nurses or, in my case, working together to help move patients. With that line of thought, it made even less sense because how can there be a hospital from my past life in a dungeon? While I was trying to make sense of everything, I reached one of the hallway doors in the hallway. I tried to use the emergency lever to open it, but I was exhausted after walking here and didn¡¯t have the mental or physical strength to even try. ¡°Damn.¡± Catching my breath, I guess that was a waste of time. I should go back to my room and wait for the system to restart since no one is here. Let¡¯s hope that Lumina will give me some answers and that I¡¯m not actually dead. Going back to the room I woke up in, I lay on the bed and rested my aching body while waiting for it to restart. Since I took my time walking out of the room and back, I didn¡¯t wait for long. When it finally restarted, I watched in anticipation as it booted up again because I was hoping restarting it would get it to work. A dinging sound indicated it was done restarting and starting up, and it said. ¡°Greetings, I am Lumina. How can I help?¡± Relieved that restarting it fixed it, I asked Lumina. ¡°Where am I, and what is going on?¡± ¡°You are in the medical bay of base 38, but please specify your second question.¡± Base 38? If I remember correctly, base 38 was abandoned when a spatial ball appeared in the hangar, causing part of the hangar and the entire infirmary next to it to presumably be destroyed. Spatial balls are massive black balls that started showing up in the third Kaiju War, and I remember it first appearing in Base 38, where I was sent on a mission to assist in evacuation. From researching it, they are like temporary gates that spawn in kaijus and a really powerful one at the end, but the most threatening part was that it can show up anywhere, and whatever the black sphere touches disintegrated. My instinct from playing video games and reading a lot of storybooks is that, in all likelihood, the infirmary I am in right now wasn¡¯t destroyed but somehow ended up in the dungeon. Spatial balls are like temporary gates that poke through the fabric of reality, while dungeons are mysterious places where entering them is like going into another reality or a different world altogether. So¡­ it¡¯s highly likely that both a spatial ball and a dungeon can interact with each other, and this is where part of base 38 ended up. It was kind of a stretch, but if I base this on a fantasy story, it kind of makes sense when you think about it because this is a fantasy world after all; it¡¯s bound to happen sometime or later. I better confirm everything first by asking Lumina. ¡°How did I get here, and where is everyone?¡± Upon hearing what I said, Lumina spoke. ¡°Our sensors sense a spike of Ori energy near the infirmary, so we sent a medical drone to investigate. This led to us finding you lying on the ground with fatal injuries in the Ori energy-rich environment and next to an unknown creature. We immediately sent more medical drones to your location to pick you up and stabilize you. For the question of our staff, I do apologize, but all our staff are currently deceased.¡± Hearing the word deceased, I asked what it meant and for clarification. ¡°There was a sudden and unknown incident that killed everyone, including our staff and patients. The autopsy suggests that it was sudden Ori energy poisoning that killed them. Due to no one being alive and that we are cut off from the outside world, we followed protocol and properly disposed of the bodies, then went into hibernation with only critical systems operating.¡± So¡­ my guess was right. I took a moment to take it all in; this was too much for me because, in some way, I am still connected to my old world in my new life¡­ Seeing me silent and not asking any more questions, Lumina asks. ¡°If you have no more questions, would you not mind me asking questions of my own?¡± ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± ¡°Okay then, can I ask for your name? Our system doesn¡¯t recognize you, nor any records.¡± Listening to what it said, I took a breath and uttered my name from my past life that I hadn¡¯t said in a long time. ¡°Named Aias Pilot, Lieutenant Alina Garner from base 27, officer code 2-4-0-4 Lima-Charlie-Echo.¡± There was a second for Lumina to process what I said, but it flashed red and said. ¡°Apologies, but your voice and biometrics do not match up. Are you sure this is you?¡± A picture pops up with a picture of me in my past life being shown to me, which I look fondly at. It¡¯s been a while since I saw the face of my past life, with brown hair and green eyes. Huh¡­ did I really look that good in my past life? Maybe it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t looked at my past life self in a long time, but I realized I look just as beautiful as I do in this life. Strange¡­ Seeing me not respond, Lumina asked me the same question again, so I said. ¡°Yes, that is me, access code manual input, Code 12, override biometrics and voice recognition.¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± ¡°1100 x10 Alpha Zeta Gamma Mike Fox¡ªM S C E electric Eternal¡ªAthrun.¡± There was another second later for it to process what I said, and I sighed in relief when it worked because I had died in my past life, which meant my access code would not work. But since it had been cut off from everything, my access code still works. ¡°Confirm, welcome back, Lieutenant Alina.¡± ¡°How may I assist you?¡± ¡°How is the medical bay and the hangar?¡± ¡°The medical bay is 82% operational; however, the last of our perishable medical supplies expired roughly 13 years ago. For that, I do apologize for not administering any painkillers. As for the hangers, it is currently unknown what the condition of the hangers is; we lost our connection to the hangers when the incident happened.¡± ¡°I see. Is there any way for you to connect to the hanger?¡± ¡°Unfortunately no, we only receive information from the hangar and do not have the authorization to interact with its systems.¡± ¡°I see.¡± That is a shame. Disappointed, I was hoping to have access to the hangar, specifically the armory, to get some guns, but it appears I can¡¯t since I needed a keycard at least to enter the hangar. Disappointed that I didn¡¯t have access to a gun, I thought to myself that this was everything that I wanted to know for now because I needed to leave here right now and back to Clare, hoping I was not too late¡­ Oh right, it completely flew through my mind, but¡­ ¡°Lumina, how long was I asleep for?¡± ¡°Around 27 hours.¡± Hearing that, I sighed in relief because I thought I had been asleep for longer, like a week, but I guess the combination of the nanite bandages and the regeneration potion I drank managed to heal me fast. Speaking of which. ¡°Lumina, where is my stuff?¡± ¡°In storage, would you like me to retrieve them?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Confirm, is there anything else you would like me to get?¡± Hearing that, my stomach grumbled and I felt my throat was thirsty, so I told Lumina. ¡°Could you give me water and something to eat if there is any?¡± ¡°Confirm. Two drones will be sent; please wait 2 minutes.¡± I did what Lumina said and waited in my bed till the drones arrived. The first drone arrived with a bin that had my stuff, while the second drone arrived with food and water on a tray. Going through the bin that had my stuff, I was really disappointed to find that other than my underwear, belt, and shoes, all my clothes and armor were shredded from my fight with that drake or cleanly cut apart, which I guess the medical drones had to do since I was on the brink of death. Not only that, but my weapons too; I only have one of my daggers and a couple of throwing knives left. ¡°Lumina, are there any clothes you can give me?¡± ¡°One moment please.¡± Lumina, which was an orb of light, began scanning my body and said. ¡°Yes, please wait for a moment.¡± Seeing Lumina send the drone that brought me something to eat and drink on a tray after it put the tray on the bedside table, I moved my arms and hand to turn the bedside table toward me, I then looked through the bin that had my stuff and took out a high-grade health potion. I opened the cork to the health potion and opened the food Lumia brought me, which was a nutrition bar, which is an energy bar that contains the daily nutritional and caloric value of an average person. I didn¡¯t care about my hunger, but it was mainly to get the taste of the high-grade health potion out of my mouth. Preparing myself, I gulp down the disgusting liquid and immediately bite down on the nutrition bar, which tastes like chocolate but a bit chalky. I immediately felt the pain from my injuries start to go away, and a minute later I could move my arms freely again. Stretching my arms to get a feel of my range of movement, I began taking off my bandages. ¡°Lieutenant Alina, I must advise you not to do that.¡± Hearing Lumina tell me not to do that, I told her. ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Removing the bandages covering my body, I saw my left arm was covered with electrical burn scars, my right shoulder had another scar, my left thigh had a burned scar, and I guess my back had another burned scar from the drake¡¯s blood, drooled over my back. Health potions only heal injuries, but they don¡¯t fix scars. I guess I shouldn¡¯t have taken off my bandages because they would have healed my scars if I didn¡¯t remove them. Turning to Lumina again, I told her. ¡°Lumina, get me some more bandages, and do you have any anti-scarring cream?¡± ¡°Yes, we do have anti-scarring cream. Would you like us to retrieve it in cold storage?¡± ¡°Yes, do that.¡± Lying on my bed, I drank a cup of water and ate the rest of the nutrition bar until the drones sent to get me some clothes and the one sent to get me bandages and anti-scarring cream came to my room. It gave me a new shirt, which was white, and a new pair of pants, which was a deep, dark blue. I removed my hospital gown and put on my clothes, then I began putting on my belt that carries most of my pouches, which included the bandages and anti-scarring cream I just received. Putting my dagger in its sheath, I told Lumina. ¡°Okay, Lumina, could you lead me to where you found me?¡± ¡°Confirm, please follow this drone.¡± Hearing the hallway lights begin turning on, I started to follow the drone Lumina told me to follow. Walking through the hallway, I made my way past the door I couldn¡¯t open before and walked through it. Eventually, the drone stopped, and I could hear Lumina¡¯s voice from the drone. ¡°We are here; is there any other request you would like to give me?¡± Seeing the door I came in, I saw, from the reinforced glass panel, a cave-like passageway, like the entrance to the boss room, so I told Lumina. ¡°I am going to leave, so go back to hibernation.¡± ¡°Acknowledge.¡± I didn¡¯t have time to explore the infirmary for more stuff I could use since I was unconscious for over a day; I needed to get to the surface as soon as possible. Boras didn¡¯t send out all of my family¡¯s black knights to get me, almost as if he wanted me to escape them. He is a psychopath and does things that are most fun to him, which means that he doesn¡¯t always follow my father''s orders to the letter. A small part of me was hoping that Boras didn¡¯t get Clare because he wanted to see me express another expression like anger to play with me, so taking Clare right in front of me would be a possibility. If that is not the case, I need to come up with a plan to rescue Clare on my own if I have to, so I do not have any time to lose. Walking through the automatic door, I walked through the passageway, hoping it was not the case. Chapter 62 Going through the door, I walked down the cave-like passageway that looked completely different from the hallways of the infirmary behind me, which would make anyone do a double-take as if it were some sort of illusion. After less than a minute of walking, I reached a familiar-looking door, which was the closed door in the secret boss room. It was a metallic-looking door that looked worn down and heavy. When I approached it, it did not open for me, so I placed my hand on it to see if it would work, and it did. However, as the doors opened, the secret boss room I was expecting was not there; instead, I saw nothing. The door that just opened revealed to me a place that was filled with nothingness, like a pitch-black void. What the¡­ This can¡¯t be right. The boss room was supposed to be past the door; why isn¡¯t it here? Did Lumina send me to the wrong place or something? No, that can¡¯t be right either¡­ Hearing the sound of rushing water, I wondered what it was till I saw a massive amount of water suddenly fall into the empty void, and then the water suddenly began flooding the passageway I was in, somehow. You have to be kidding me. I felt the force of the rushing water slamming onto my body. Disoriented, I tried my best to hold onto something as the rabidly flowing water was trying to drag me with it. I held onto the thing I was holding as hard as I could until the water stopped moving. Opening my eyes, I saw the passageway I was in was filled with water, and the empty void past the door was too somehow. I wonder if the infirmary is all right, but the doors should be strong enough to hold against the water slamming into it. Looking out at my surroundings, I try my best to calm down from this absurd situation and quickly assess it. Seeing the empty void outside the door filled with water, I saw what seemed to be sunlight starting to pierce through the deep, dark water. Maybe that is where I can make my way out of here. I should decide now because I was on a time limit. In my past life, I could hold my breath underwater for 4-5 minutes while moving, so in this life I got about 2-3 minutes to see if the sunlight was a way out, and if it was not, I could make my way back to the infirmary for Lumina to let me in if it was the case. Without a moment to lose, I began swimming. I remember my training to ignore my instinct to breathe as I continued swimming up to the light. Going up, the sunlight began getting brighter and brighter, and I could see a glimpse of a bright blue sky. It¡¯s good to see that, but where does this lead me, and more importantly, why is this all happening? One thing after another keeps happening. It¡¯s almost like I have the luck of the main character of a story, where things like this keep happening to them. Maybe it¡¯s because Alex¡¯s own main character''s luck is rubbing off on me. Nearing the surface of the water, my hand broke through the surface tension, which made me feel relief that this wasn¡¯t an illusion or something. My head now out of the water, I gasped for air as I immediately turned my head to look at my surroundings. I saw a familiar-looking sun and lots of sand. I then saw palm trees and, strangely, tents in the distance. Am I still in the dungeon? Is this the third stratum? Looking at the tents again, I confirmed that they were tents, which led me to believe I was on the 29th floor, specifically the water hole where the 29th-floor village was. After realizing where I was, I couldn¡¯t really complain because it¡¯s better than nothing, and at least I know where I am. I can¡¯t believe I have the simultaneous bad and good luck of a main character. Today is not a good day because I need to go back to Clare as soon as possible. Making my way to shore, I saw someone, with a hood covering their face, taking a nap. That person really looked relaxed, like we weren¡¯t in a dungeon or something, especially with the fact that he had a straw in his mouth.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. When I got close to the shore, he seemed to have woken up as I began dragging myself out of the water. Rubbing his eyes from his drowsiness, he slowly looked at me. It took him a moment till he said. ¡°Huh?... Nyx? Is that you?¡± Hearing him say my name, I was stunned and deeply confused because how did he know my name, but, for some reason, that voice seemed really familiar. I looked at him confusedly and on guard, so he then removed his hood, and I was surprised to see his face. ¡°Yes, and¡ª¡± With blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked to be someone in his mid-20s and had a face that could charm anyone, I said his name. ¡°You¡¯re Eric, right?¡± Standing up, he approaches me with a smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you. You looked quite different; I can see it in your eyes.¡± Looking at Eric, I said. ¡°Yeah, me too, and what about my eyes?¡± ¡°Nothing really, just how different you look compared to the last time I saw you, but how did you get here?¡± Listening to his question, I too honestly did not know how I got here because I went through one nonsensical thing after another, which I doubt anyone would believe me if I told them. Plus, I would rather not let him know about the infirmary I just came from because I don¡¯t want anyone to figure out where it is, since I haven¡¯t fully figured out how it got here in this world, and I don¡¯t think this world is ready for the technology of my old world, especially if someone manages to find their way to the hangers; it would not be a good idea. ¡°I don¡¯t have the words to describe it, so I honestly don¡¯t know.¡± Since he asked, I was trying to say it in a way that a normal person in this world would try to explain what I went through. I showed him some bewilderment that was mixed with my true feelings in my mind since he could guess my thoughts on the surface level. ¡°I see.¡± He looked at me, still curious about where I came from, with a smile, but for some reason, I sensed there was a slight seriousness to his expression that was covered with a jovial expression. ¡°Yeah. If you don¡¯t mind, could you please tell me the directions to the 28th floor? I need to get to the surface as soon as possible.¡± I wasn¡¯t hiding my desperation when I told him that, which he could tell under my expressionless face. ¡°Really? This is the third stratum, you know; the monsters down here are quite dangerous.¡± ¡°I know, but I have to get out of here.¡± Eric looked at me as he placed his finger on his chin in thought and suggested. ¡°Why don¡¯t I and my party help escort you out?¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah, we don¡¯t mind; we haven¡¯t really gotten anything interesting to do, and we have a lot of time to waste.¡± ¡°Time to waste? Oh, you mean Kinwall, with your gear?¡± When he said he had time, I guess it meant they were waiting for their gear to be remade, which had been postponed and delayed because of me. I felt a bit guilty about it, but¡­ I frowned and made a visibly displeased expression because I realized they were the party Kinwall told me about. Seeing me make a frown, which I could also tell from the tension on my face, he asked, looking genuinely worried. ¡°What''s wrong?¡± ¡°I generally do not like people with screws loose, which I realize are people in your party Kinwall had warned me about.¡± Eric had a wry smile when I told that in front of him. I could not tell if he has a screw loose, but his entire party has a screw loose from what Kinwall told me. ¡°Is that really what he told you about us? I guess I can¡¯t blame him because he doesn¡¯t have a good impression of us with the amount of trouble we have given him.¡± He said it with a casual smile and then said. ¡°But I think you should meet with everyone to see for yourself because you seem to have a really bad impression.¡± ¡°Okay, and sorry, it can¡¯t be helped, mainly because of personal reasons.¡± ¡°I see. Why don¡¯t you tell me how you got here and why you want to get to the surface so fast?¡± Hearing his question, I debated whether I should tell him about my situation or not. He is a noble like me, but I sense no malice in his words, and the fact that he is one of Kinwall''s patrons made me decide to tell him a rundown of mostly everything. I told him that I was a runaway noble, how my family''s black knights attacked me in the 2nd stratum and tried to drag me back, how I momentarily lost them but a passageway opened up that led to a secret boss room, how I beat the secret boss and how my family¡¯s black knights died, how I was unconscious but a regeneration potion saved me from being on the brink of death, how I woke up in an unfamiliar place, and finally how I got here and why I wanted to go back to the surface. Excluding the infirmary part and other stuff, Eric looked at me with that same smile like he actually believed me and said. ¡°That is quite the story and an interesting one at that; I believe you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes, it''s not the most insane story I heard. I mean, if you want, why don¡¯t I tell you some of mine?¡± He said that casually, like he experienced things that were even crazier and more absurd than what I went through. I thought to myself, oh god, I was right; he really is insane. ¡°Anyways, let''s meet up with my party; we''ll have you back in no time.¡± Chapter 63 Seeing Eric start walking away, I debated whether to follow him or not because he was going to lead me to a group of people who all were going to have something wrong with them in their heads. I sigh and follow him because going back to Clare is the priority, and I guess I could tolerate them for a bit. ¡°Hey, are you coming or not?¡± Sighing again, I told him yeah. Following Eric, he then asked me about other things since we¡¯re a fair distance away from the camp. ¡°So, do you mind telling me more about your fight in the secret boss room?¡± ¡°Why are you asking?¡± ¡°Oh, I was just wondering if what you found was a shortcut.¡± Shortcut? Hearing what he said, it didn¡¯t cross my mind, but that makes sense because that would explain why I was on the 29th floor. However, when I saw his face, I got a feeling that he was probing me for something. I should leave something out and be a bit vague because I don¡¯t know if he wants to know where the shortcut I found is or something else, which my instincts are telling me is the latter. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°Really, could you tell me where?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Why so?¡± ¡°I need a map to tell you; it¡¯s in the middle of a forest, so there aren¡¯t any landmarks to tell you where it is, and it is pretty well hidden.¡± ¡°I see, that is a shame.¡± Changing the subject. ¡°Okay then, how about telling me who we are going to fight?¡± Hearing his offer, I thought about it. If I did tell him, he would know about my identity, and then there was a possibility that knowledge of my disappearance would circulate. It would not be good for me since my father would order that I and probably everyone who came into contact with me be assassinated. Then my father will probably fake my death in a way that I committed suicide or was murdered by monsters or something to hide the fact I ran away with the excuse of me being dead as the reason they were trying to hide me from high society. However, if I¡¯m optimistic, I could make it so that killing me would not be worth it. If news spread that I ran away far and fast enough, especially about where I live and what I am doing, then I would be too hot a target to kill. I debated this in my mind as I remained silent for a good minute, which Eric interrupted by saying. ¡°You really are taking your time at this.¡± He said that with a playful tone and smile, and then he said something that I completely didn¡¯t expect. ¡°You know you don¡¯t have to tell me. After all, you don¡¯t see a young noble child from the old nobility faction running away too often.¡± I immediately stopped walking and stared at him with deep suspicion and shock as he said that because how? From what he said, he definitely knew who I was. Is it that I reference my family¡¯s black knights or something else? He still had a playful expression, but I could tell he was enjoying this, which irked me. ¡°You¡¯re wondering how I know; well, it¡¯s not what you think. I knew who you were when we first met, Ms. Rita.¡± I stared at him with even more shock inside me because he even knew about my name. ¡°I have my sources, and a really young kid around your age being an adventurer near the Lucendi territory does fall in the realm of possibility. But the main thing that confirmed it with me was your face and the unique presence you gave off.¡± What does he mean by the unique presence I gave off? Is it the air of nobility I may be unconsciously leaking or something else? Still remaining silent, he continued. ¡°I know this is subtle, but you know the name I gave is a clue. I won¡¯t tell you my real name, but my friends call me Athrun.¡± After a good while, I finally spoke as Eric, now Athrun, looked at me with that same playful tone and smile. ¡°You got to be kidding me.¡± Athrun snickered for a bit and said. ¡°I¡¯m kind of surprised you haven¡¯t figured it out. After all, it¡¯s your own brother''s name.¡± Sighing from my shock, I told him. ¡°To be fair, we aren¡¯t really that close. We¡¯re more like acquaintances than anything else. Plus Eric, how do I put this, is so brainwashed by my father that he thinks my father actually loves him or something, so he spends all his time studying to become the next head.¡± ¡°Really, that is good to know.¡± ¡°Yeah, I presume your sources already know what kind of a person my parents are?¡± Athrun grimaces at my negative statement about my parents, which he knows is true, so he changes the subject. ¡°What are you planning next?¡± ¡°Next?¡± ¡°What are you planning to do after you leave the city since it¡¯s not safe for you anymore?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still figuring that out, but I already have a place in mind to hide for a bit.¡± Athrun nodded and said. ¡°I see. Let''s get going now.¡± Proceeding to walk again, I thought of what he said and walked behind him. Going to the 29th-floor camp, I saw the white-colored tents and numerous strong-looking adventurers around them. From their gear and presence, they give off a really strong aura, different from the adventurers on the 19th floor, like they are seasoned veterans.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I felt eyes staring at me as they looked and were surprised to see me, slightly more than the people in the 19th-floor village. They began whispering among themselves, with most of them being baffled that I was here, and I felt no actual malice coming from them since they were just curious. Turning back to look at me, he said. ¡°We¡¯re almost here; I hope you change your mind about us.¡± Seeing a really big tent in front of us, much bigger than the other tents around it, Athrun opened the flaps to let me in. Going inside, he introduced me to everyone, which were two people. One was a guy with a muscular build who was doing maintenance with a full set of plate armor and a giant shield. The other was a girl wearing a white robe with gold trimmings and holding a staff, sitting and reading a book. Looking at them, I was getting the feeling that the guy, who I''m guessing is a tank, is a masochist, while the girl, who I¡¯m guessing is a healer, is a sadist. Something was telling me that this was the case because I feel like I''ve seen this before, but I better put up my guard just in case I¡¯m wrong. ¡°Hey everyone, this is Nyx, and we''re helping her. It¡¯s the kid I told you about when I went to Farsbarrow to get my sword repaired. Apparently, her family is coming after her, and they might be targeting a close acquaintance, so we¡¯re also helping her with that since we have nothing better to do.¡± Hearing what he said, the two of them looked at me with an amicable smile but then with some surprise for some reason, but turned back to an amicable one again, which I found strange. ¡°Hello, I am Cro, a tank.¡± ¡°And, I am Sarah, a healer; it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± They greeted me normally enough, which was off-putting because I wasn¡¯t expecting them to be so¡­ normal. That, how do I put it, tasted weird when I said it inside my head. Compared to the named pilots I had to deal with in my past life, they seem like normal people. Maybe Kinwall was over-exaggerating them or something. ¡°I¡¯m Nyx; it''s a pleasure to meet with you all. Sorry for troubling everyone with my problems, and thank you in advance for helping me.¡± ¡°It''s no problem at all; we are happy to help.¡± Hearing Sarah''s completely normal response, the thought of them being people with a screw loose started to die down. Interrupting our conversation, Athrun asks Sarah. ¡°By the way, I don¡¯t see Nox anywhere.¡± Sarah gave Athrun a troubled look and said. ¡°He ran away somewhere, and we weren¡¯t able to stop him.¡± Athrun, upon hearing that, took a deep sigh that sounded all too familiar. ¡°Give me a couple of minutes; I¡¯ll go find him.¡± Stepping outside, I watch Athrun by the open door to see him standing still outside with his eyes closed. To my slight surprise, his blonde hair started glowing into a golden color. Sparks of electricity started to form around his body. I felt a tingling sensation on my skin for a while till he stopped and looked in a certain direction, while his hair was still glowing. Before I could notice anything, there was a sudden flash of lightning, and he disappeared before my eyes. I stood there, completely confused about what just happened, till Sarah walked next to me to explain. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, he just turned himself into lightning and moved to find Nox.¡± How can he do that? I was surprised by what she said. I''ve seen it in games and stories, but I didn¡¯t think someone could do something like that in this world. He must be really powerful to be able to do that. I was kind of jealous that he was able to do that; maybe I could do that if I had magic because that seemed really cool to do. A couple of minutes later, I hear Athrun''s voice in the far distance. I turned to look and saw him running toward us while dragging someone by the collar. I then turn to Sarah and ask her. ¡°Is that him?¡± She had a wry smile and said yes as Athrun stopped running and took a moment to catch his breath to say. ¡°Sorry for the wait; I had to get this idiot back.¡± Athrun wasn''t too pleased when he said it, different from his usual jovial tone. ¡°And Sarah, you know what to do; could you heal up this idiot? And Nyx, let''s go back in; I want to give you something.¡± Seeing the person in front of me, he looked really beat up is what I could best describe it. There were some bruises as well as burns across his body, bumps on his head, and a black eye. The people around the camp we were in were mildly amused by it, like they had seen it before, which is likely the case. Everyone at Athrun¡¯s party does not seem amused by him. I guess he has a screw loose or something because Athrun had the exact same expressions and feelings I would have from dealing with named pilots in my past life. Plus, I don¡¯t know why, but that guy is giving me Deja Vu; it reminded me of a certain pair of idiots who were always butting heads with each other in my past life. Grimacing, I better go back to minimize contact with this guy. Going back into the tent without looking back, I saw Athrun and Nox putting on their gear. Noticing me coming in, I ask him. ¡°What are you going to give me?¡± ¡°I saw that you just have a dagger with you, so I¡¯m giving you this.¡± Tying a sword to his belt, he then tosses me another sword that looks identical to the one he just tied to his belt. I caught it and asked. ¡°You¡¯re giving it to me?¡± ¡°Yeah, I usually dual-wield, but I think you need it more since you¡¯re in the third stratum. Just be careful; it¡¯s really sharp because it¡¯s made out of pure mithril.¡± ¡°I see, but how about Kinwall since he is lending them to you?¡± ¡°Oh that, it¡¯s fine.¡± With a wry smile, like he felt guilty about something. ¡°He kind of expects us to break or lose things, so it won¡¯t really bother him too much, I guess. Plus, he doesn¡¯t mind if it¡¯s with you, right?¡± Hearing his response, I guess he is kind of right. Seeing him back with his playful smile, I unsheathed it to look at it, which was a bit difficult since it was a bit big for me. I was a bit surprised when it looked like a normal, plain sword. Thinking about it, it made sense because Kinwall had lent it to them, and he knew they might lose it, so he didn¡¯t put much effort into it. After seeing it, I put it back in its sheath and tied the sword to my belt, next to the empty scabbard that was supposed to hold my sword that I lost. After I was done, I saw Sarah and Cor come inside, which made me instinctively put up my guard against him. Cor had a big smile on his now-healed face, which he said. ¡°That was fun; you really know how to throw a punch. It¡¯s a shame that I didn¡¯t get to kill that desert-armored lizard with my bare fist.¡± Athrun sighed at him, which was strangely similar to how I sighed when I had to put some named pilots in line in my past life. Cor continued with his smile as Athrun gave him a death glare while turning his head to me. ¡°Hi there, I¡¯m Cor; you¡¯re Nyx, right?¡± Hearing his enthusiastic greeting, I thought that I might be wrong about him, like everyone, thinking that he was more eccentric than crazy. However, that soon shattered when he said the next few words. ¡°Let''s fight.¡± Without warning, he drew his blade and swung it at me. With a hair¡¯s breadth, I moved back as time slowed down and saw everyone¡¯s surprised reactions. Realizing I dodged his swing, his big smile grew even bigger, and he swung another swing. I dodge his swing and counter with a quick draw of my dagger. I moved my dagger at his head, but it was faint because I pulled back and moved my free hand, which was my left, to palm strike his chest since that is the second most effective way to incapacitate someone from personal experience. Seeing what I was about to do, he moved to the side, which was what I wanted because that was also a feint. As he moved just out of the way to my right to dodge my palm strike, I took him by complete surprise and swung my leg at the most effective place to incapacitate someone, especially when they were a guy. I swung my leg, in full force, at his crotch. Immediately he fell over, clutching his private areas as his face turned pale and in agony. Seeing him fall to the ground like that, Athrun ran up to me to ask if I was okay and apologized because they didn¡¯t expect him to do something like that. I ignored what he was saying because unpleasant memories began filling my mind, which made me feel all sorts of unpleasant or downright awful memories. Not only that, my body, on muscle memory, began walking to Cor as Athrun wondered what I was about to do. I was behind him, where he was on his knee still clutching his private area, too much in pain to see his surroundings. Pulling my foot back off the ground, I kick him again in his nether region, then again, and again, and again, and again. I did not stop as he started to beg or when he was frothing at the mouth; I just didn¡¯t stop as my body moved on its own while I stared coldly at him. Chapter 64 I kicked and kicked at this lump of meat that was no longer moving or screaming. I continued kicking this thing for making me feel a really unpleasant emotion that made me express anger on my face for the first time in this life till I felt a hand on my shoulder. They pull me slightly back, which pulls me out of my trance that was filled with deep, slow-burning anger from my past life. ¡°Nyx, stop; he¡¯s no longer moving.¡± I turned to Athrun, who pulled me back, and he stepped back a bit, which I¡¯m guessing was because I still had on my angry face. Putting back my glare, I took a moment to take a breath to expel the unpleasant emotions in me. Relieved that I stopped and calmed down, Athrun was about to tell Sarah to go heal Cor, but I did not care because I pulled back my foot again and kicked Cor in the nether region as hard as I could. Cor whimpered a bit, and I took several steps back, finally calming down. Arthrun was surprised when he took his eyes off me, then had a wry smile as he was relieved that I finally calmed down and went back to my usual expressionless self, while Sarah looked concerned, and for Nox, he gave me an approving look. ¡°Ummm¡­ Are you okay? Are you hurt?¡± ¡°No, and sorry for that; I tend to react violently to people like him.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I can see that.¡± Turning to look at Sarah and Nox, Athrun asks them. ¡°Heal him just enough so he doesn¡¯t wake up again, and Nox, could you carry him?¡± Sarah and Nox nodded, but Nox looked displeased, which I could understand since he was carrying a lump of trash on his back. ¡°Fine, but I¡¯m throwing him off when we get into a fight.¡± Healing Cor, Sarah''s hair started to glow white, as white light shone around Cor¡¯s body, which I¡¯m guessing was healing magic. After that was done, everyone prepared to leave; we left the tent and went out of the camp to start going up the dungeon floors. We trekked through the hot desert sand and eventually stumbled upon a monster. We saw something big swimming through the sand like it was water, but Athrun and everyone else seemed to be calm about the situation, which I guess I should have expected because they are, I presume, high-level adventurers with what I know about them. Nox stood at the front, readying his shield while throwing Cor on the ground off his back as Sarah¡¯s hair glowed white, preparing a spell. Meanwhile, Athrun''s hair started glowing golden, and he took out a pair of knives. Athrun started first by emitting electricity from his body and to the pair of knives he was holding. He then threw them one by one, and as he threw the second knife, electricity started to come out of his hand and toward the second knife he threw, then to the first knife like a chain. When the lightning connects to the first knife thrown, it starts emitting a large amount of electricity and hits the monster like a tree, causing it to jump out from the sand. Coming out of the sand, it was a desert-armored lizard. It was really big, almost as big as the direwolf I had fought back in Farsbarow and had overlapping plates covering its body that made it look vaguely familiar to an armadillo lizard in my past life. It came running straight toward us, so Nox positioned himself to be the target of its attack as it rammed into his shield. They are B-rank monsters, as strong as the owlbear boss on the 20th floor. Thinking that, it really surprised me when Nox stood his ground and actually took the brunt of the desert armored lizard¡¯s attack. He was only pushed back marginally, which he then repelled back instead and bashed its head with his shield. I was surprised by his raw strength since I didn¡¯t think any normal person in this world would be this strong, especially because he did not seem to be using magic or having any buffs. Nox skillfully used his shield to guard against the desert-armored lizard, while Athrun took out his sword and Sarah fired her spell. Chains that looked like they were made out of light sprouted out of the ground and restrained the armored lizards as Athruun ran up to Nox, charging up his sword with electricity. Athrun then proceeded to cut apart the desert-armored lizard with barely any effort. Seeing that, when he said I should be careful, I guess he meant it. When the desert armored lizard started disappearing, Athrun picked up a small, semi-clear, spherical object and tossed it toward me. I caught it and asked why he gave it to me because the thing I just caught was a monster core. The stronger the monster you fight, the larger the shard inside it becomes, but at a certain point, the shard inside it will be turned into a core. So selling it could make a decently large sum of money. Athrun shrugged his shoulders and said. ¡°We don¡¯t really need it; you can have it.¡± He didn¡¯t seem to care about the core; from how they dealt with them, I guess the core was not worth a lot to them, so I said okay, and we proceeded to make our way through the 29th floor and to the 28th floor, fighting monsters as we did. However, for some reason, we were constantly being attacked by an abnormal amount of desert-armored lizards because, in our last encounter, there were 5 that attacked us. Plus, my pouch, which was holding the desert-armored lizard monster cores Athrun kept on giving me, was already full. ¡°Hey Athrun, isn¡¯t this an abnormal amount for desert armored lizards attacking us?¡± Curious, he asked what I meant by it. ¡°They usually spawn alone and very rarely work together since they typically would kill each other if they ever met. I read this from a book about the dungeon.¡± One or maybe two is fine, but the last encounter, 5, is just weird. ¡°Oh, I see¡­¡± Thinking about something, Athrun then had an annoyed look as if he thought about something. ¡°Nox, drop Cor, and Sarah, wake him up.¡± Nox and Sarah were confused by Athrun''s request, but Nox got an annoyed look while Sarah looked troubled, like they knew what he was thinking. Nox threw Cor off his shoulder; Cor hit the ground with a thud while Sarah began healing him. Nox isn¡¯t really that gentle with him, but from who Cor is, I would do the same. Wondering what was going on, I asked Athrun, to which he responded. ¡°I think I know what¡¯s going on; you might want to take several steps back since we¡¯re waking him up.¡± I looked at Cor and did exactly what he said and then some more since I didn¡¯t want to be near him when he woke up. Maybe I should step back some more just to be safe, but as I was thinking that, Cor sprouted up. Looking at his surroundings, in which Nox¡¯s giant body blocks his view of me, I hear him ask. ¡°Hey, where is that kid, Nyx or whatever?¡± He said it with a bright and cheery tone, which made Athrun stare daggers at him. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Why do you want to ask?¡± ¡°That thrashing she gave me was something; I want a round two.¡± Oh god damn it, I had my hopes up that he would be afraid of me after what I did to him, but he is really like those two idiots in my past life, James and Lupin, who were never able to learn their lessons even after countless beatings. Am I cursed to meet people like him? ¡°So, where is she?¡± Athrun looked at him with a sigh. ¡°First of all, please call Nyx as a guy since, you know, Nyx is trying to hide her identity.¡± ¡°Oh right, I forgot about it.¡± Having a look, like he expected that answer even though he told everyone about me, he then asked. ¡°So, where is she, I mean he? I want a round two.¡± Athrun looks exasperated by his response; he then turns to look at me. His eyes widen a bit when he sees me staring daggers at Cor, different from my usual expressionless self, which I could also tell from the muscles in my face tensing to make that expression. It was the first time I was actually staring daggers at someone, which came as a surprise for me because I didn¡¯t think there would be a person in this world that I would hate this much to be around or in the vicinity of. Looking back at Cor, back with an annoyed look, he then asks. ¡°Do you know why desert armored lizards are attacking us?¡± Cor put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment, then proceeded to go through his pocket to pull something out. It was an empty vial of some kind, which Nox snatched away and put up close to his nose to smell. He grimaced, which made everyone grimace as well. ¡°You''ve got to be kidding me, not again.¡± Athrun smacks his forehead and groans, and I sense something bad is about to happen. ¡°Nyx, please come over here.¡± Hearing Athrun calling me over, I reluctantly ran back to them. Upon seeing me, Cor''s smile grew bigger, and I had to put up my guard and everyone else''s too because there was no telling if he would attack me or not, which everyone else seemed to think so even though he was their ally. I stare at him with an even colder stare, which he seems to be delighted by. I then turn to Athrun to ask. ¡°What is it?¡± Athrun turns to look at Nox for his explanation, so I also turn to look at him. ¡°He just used a monster-attracting potion of some kind on himself, but¡­¡± Athrun and Nox looked at Cor with a cold and stern expression that would make anyone shiver. ¡°Where the hell did you get a potion like that? I don¡¯t recognize it.¡± Cor finally did not have a smile on his face and squirmed a bit before telling. ¡°Ummm¡­ You see, there was a girl in the 19th-floor village who was making potions there; I forgot her name, but she made it for me when I requested it. She said it was special because it only attracts strong monsters and doesn¡¯t have a scent.¡± Huh? Girl in the 19th-floor village? Wait¡­ did Maria give it to him? Monster-attracting potions are illegal to have, so why did she make it for him? Athrun mentioned he had done it before, multiple times, but when he said he couldn¡¯t smell it, I presumed monster-attracting potions have a smell to them. Since Cor got it from Maria, did she use one of the recipes in her book about alchemy to make it? ¡°I got bored and wanted to fight some monsters but since we were at camp, I used the potion to attract some monsters to fight. I was hoping you wouldn¡¯t notice, but you did¡­¡± Everyone except for Sarah, who had a disappointed look, began staring daggers at him even more until we felt the ground start to shake. We looked in the direction of the rumbling and saw a small sandstorm coming toward us, with things swimming through the sand. There were too many to immediately count, but I could tell they were desert-armored lizards coming straight for us. ¡°Not again.¡± I turned to look at Athrun, who said that, wondering what he meant, but after a moment of thought, he told me that they had done a lot of crazy things, and I guess this is one of them, taking on a horde head-on. Sarah''s hair glowed white, and so did Athrun''s, with his golden hair, while Nox drank a potion; as for Cor, he just had a smile like he was enjoying this, which made me want to punch him, but I refrained from doing it because that would just excite him. A glowing mist-like aura that was the same color as Sarah¡¯s glowing hair started to surround Athrun, Nox, and Cor. Then when the mist-like aura fully surrounded their bodies, Cor, as expected, ran at them first, followed by Nox. As for Athrun, he didn¡¯t move, but I saw his hair start glowing and disappear into light. A streak of electricity arced through the air toward the horde, and then there was another flash of light, where Athrun had appeared above. He extended his open hand to the ground, and lightning started to come out of his hand, aiming directly at the center of the horde. There was a loud boom, and I saw multiple desert-armored lizards fly through the air, hit by the electricity. I counted roughly 10 or 12 that got hit, which was almost half of them. Falling, Athrun landed on a desert-armored lizard that seemed to be paralyzed from his spell and dispatched it with his sword. I watch Athrun proceed to kill each of the armored desert lizards he paralyzed one by one while dodging each of their attacks as they climb over each other to attack him. Turning my attention to Nox and Cor, I saw Nox accelerating with unnatural speed, passing Cor, likely from whatever spell Sarah cast. With his shield up, he ran straight toward the horde of desert armor lizards and plowed through them. It was like an actual car or truck was gliding through the horde, not a person. When Nox was at the center, he suddenly stopped and started fighting the desert armor lizards, focusing their attention on him instead of Athrun. Jumping past Nox was Cor, who jumped up high in the air with the same unnatural strength I saw from Nox; he landed on one of the desert armor lizards, stabbed it through with his sword, and then jumped to the next one. I wonder why he did not finish it till I saw blood coming out of its eyes and then its body. Oh, I see, it was poison. I¡¯m kind of surprised he would use poison since he is a battle-crazed lunatic, but I guess¡­ Wait! Didn¡¯t he use that sword on me when he attacked me without warning? Looking at how fast the desert armor lizards fell to the poison, that is more than lethal enough to kill me a hundred times over. I walk up to Sarah and ask her. ¡°How the heck is he in your party?¡± She looked at me confused but realized I was talking about Cor, so with a wry smile. ¡°Well¡­ it''s because of his instincts and intuition.¡± Huh¡­ Instinct and intuition, I guess that makes some sort of sense because there are times when you have to rely on them to make decisions, so I guess his instinct and intuition are good enough to have around despite the trouble he brings. However, guessing what I was thinking, Sarah corrected me. ¡°More specifically, we do the complete opposite of what he says. He had an unusual ability to go straight into danger instead of out.¡± ¡­ I honestly didn¡¯t know how to think about that because are his antics really worth it? Sarah''s wry smile turned to a normal smile, and she asked. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, is it fine to call you by your real name?¡± Hearing her request, I guess it¡¯s fine since nobody is around, especially since no one would want to go near a horde, so I say okay, wondering why she asked. ¡°Thank you, I want to say sorry about earlier. I¡¯m sorry, Lady Rita.¡± Hearing what she said as she bowed in apology, I told her to just call me Rita and also asked what she was apologizing for. ¡°We should have expected him to attack you in the back of the tent, with how you say, his personality.¡± The thought of why they allowed him on the team started to fill up my mind again, which Sarah could guess by my expressionless face staring at her, which made the air around us awkward, so she hurriedly said. ¡°Other than his instinct and intuition to go straight into danger, he really has saved us a lot of times and more than made up for his quirks. We won¡¯t have it any other way.¡± I honestly don¡¯t understand their logic because I would have just kicked him out or left the party since beating the daylight out of him would not work on him and definitely make him want to fight me even more, but I could see some sense of comradery with her. I guess he¡¯s like one of those friends that you can never get rid of. ¡°That is¡­ how do I say it, commendable.¡± Sarah happily nodded at my response, and we continued watching everyone fight the horde. They all were skillfully fighting the horde without breaking a sweat, even, begrudgingly, Cor too. I saw them take out half of the horde while I was talking to Sarah, and eventually, they managed to finish killing all the desert armored lizards. Coming back, I saw everyone running back, but I went on high alert because I saw Cor not slowing down and was running straight toward me with a smile on his face and sword still drawn. Oh, you have to be kidding me, not again. Athrun and Nox, seeing what was going to happen, tried to stop him by trying to tackle him to the ground, but he moved out of the way without looking back. I turned to Sarah with a glance to tell her to restrain him because I really didn¡¯t want to fight him if I could, in which she hurriedly cast a spell, but when I looked back to Cor, it was already too late. He swung his sword at me, and I immediately jumped back. I dodged each of his swings, and I felt anger start to swell up inside of me. I took out my dagger to guard against the sword he was swinging at me. Then I swung in a feint, followed with another feint, and finished it up with a kick to the nether region. However, that did not work because he expected that. Oh, great, he is learning; of all the things he learned from the previous beatdown, why can¡¯t he learn to stop fighting me? He counters, and I move to the side and then try the same thing again, but when he dodges my kick to his nether region, I jump forward to punch him in the gut as hard as I can, followed by poking his eyes, and then I grab the collar of his shirt and use all of my weight to drag him to the ground. When he was on the ground, for a slight moment there was a pause because I was staring at him and was beginning to see red, in which I moved in to kick him in the balls continuously until Athrun caught up and pulled me back away from him. ¡°Are you okay? Did he hurt you?¡± Athrun looked at me to see if I was okay, ignoring Cor next to us. I told him that I was fine, and we looked at Cor. I glared at his unconscious body, and my body started to move on its own again, but Athrun stopped me from kicking him any further. I continued glaring at him, and Athrun placed a hand on my shoulder as Sarah began healing him because this was going to be a long and annoying trip up the dungeon. Chapter 65 Wendy''s and Chelsie''s perspective. Wendy and Chelsie rush to the dungeon, pushing past people and adventurers to get to the entrance. They presented their adventurer cards to the guard and went in. ¡°Do you have anything, Wendy?¡± Sniffing the air. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s faint, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s the scent we¡¯re looking for. I think it¡¯s the scent when Nyx entered inside; I don¡¯t smell him leaving.¡± ¡°He is still in the dungeon, then we better get going; take the lead.¡± Reluctantly, like a part of her didn¡¯t want to do it, Wendy says. ¡°Okay, but when we find Nyx, you¡¯re approaching him.¡± Confused, Chelsie asks. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just in case of something.¡± Wendy shivered a bit as she began running. Chelsie follows, and they make their way down the floors. Passing the first stratum and into the second, Chelsie asked Wendy again if she smelled anything, but Wendy shook her head. ¡°So Nyx is in the second stratum; do you think he¡¯s okay? It¡¯s been hours already.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he is fine; it¡¯s Nyx we¡¯re talking about.¡± Wendy had a meek smile, looking afraid, like she was trying to repress a memory when she said that. They continued making their way down the floors, hoping they would find something. Eventually, on the 18th floor, Wendy finally noticed something. She suddenly stopped and sniffed the air around her. Seeing her stop, Chelsie asks. ¡°Do you have something?¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­¡± Grimacing. ¡°I smell blood; I think it¡¯s Nyx.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah, not only him but other people too.¡± Hearing that, Chelsie also grimaces. ¡°Where?¡± ¡°That way.¡± Wendy pointed down the trail, and they began running again, following the trail and going off of it till Wendy stopped. Chelsie was about to ask if Wendy had something, but when she was about to ask, Chelsie smelled the distinct scent of blood in the air, which she even could smell. They looked closely at their surroundings and saw traces of a battle. When they investigated the area, they saw pools of blood scattered around everywhere despite not seeing any dead bodies. Chelsie turned to Wendy, about to ask if she smelled any of the pools of blood were Nyx¡¯s, thinking about the worst-case scenario, only to see Wendy immediately start running in a certain direction. Stopping near a tree at a distance, Wendy put her nose close to the ground to smell a couple of small droplets of blood. She smells the blood and grimaces even more. Chelsie ran up to her and asked what she found. ¡°This is Nyx¡¯s blood; he ran in that direction. I think he was being chased by someone.¡± Wendy sniffed the air again and said. ¡°They¡¯re from a completely different group.¡± ¡°Different group?¡± ¡°Yes, Nyx was definitely attacked, but another group showed up and attacked him next, much more dangerous than the first group.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°The first group, I could smell from their stench, but the second, I could barely smell them for some reason, like they were trying to hide their presence.¡± Chelsie and Wendy had a serious and grim expression because from what Wendy had said, it meant Nyx must have dealt with the first group that attacked him, but he had to run away when the second group showed up. ¡°Could it be those black knights Alice told us about?¡± Wendy nodded but had some doubts because, from the Black Knights they had fought, Wendy didn¡¯t expect someone as strong and crazy as Nyx to run away from a fight. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°We better hurry.¡± They began running again, this time much faster than before. Eventually, they found the ledge where Nyx jumped from and the cave Nyx went in. Wendy stops again, smelling the air in the cave, then tells Chelsie. ¡°Get a health potion out; I smell a lot of Nyx¡¯s blood.¡± Nodding, Chelsie took out a health potion, and they carefully walked deep into the cave, reaching the end, which had an empty chest and a mysterious passageway. Looking at each other, they made their way to the passageway, but when they reached the end, they were shocked by what they saw. They saw a circular room that had blood and body parts scattered around the room; gory is what they thought best described what they were seeing. That was not the most shocking thing because there was the dead, unmoving body of what seemed to be a drake. It has wounds across its body, and Nyx¡¯s own weapons stab into its body. Approaching the dead drake, Wendy cautiously approached and pulled Nyx¡¯s sword and short sword out of the drake''s body in case the drake was still alive since monsters usually disappear after they are killed in a dungeon. She held the sword and sniffed the air around her again, then walked toward the only closed door in the room. ¡°What''s wrong, Wendy?¡± ¡°I smell Nyx going through this door.¡± Chelsie followed Wendy to the door, where Wendy placed her hand on it to open it. The metallic door slowly opens to reveal another cave-like passageway, like the one they came in. They walked in and reached another door. When they saw it, they were a bit surprised to see it since it was a very strange and weird-looking door that had a small window that showed a very unfamiliar place past it. They tried opening it, but it would not open, so they tried forcing it open, but it also did not work. Realizing they couldn¡¯t get past the door, Chelsie told Wendy. ¡°No use; we better get back.¡± Reluctantly, Wendy replied with a yeah. Making their way out of the dungeon and back to the hospital to inform everyone, they walked into the room with grim expressions because it was news nobody wanted to tell. The door opens with everyone in the room looking hopeful that Nyx is with them, but¡­ as they see Wendy¡¯s and Chelsie¡¯s grim faces, their hopeful expectations are dashed. Seeing Nyx not with them, Clare was the first to ask. ¡°Where is¡­¡± Clare was about to say her lady''s name, but she had enough composure to catch herself and said. ¡°Master, Nyx?¡± They looked at Clare, and Chelsie spoke. ¡°We weren¡¯t able to find Nyx.¡± Chelsie told everyone how Nyx encountered and fought two different groups of people, ran to a cave and a mysterious passageway that led to a boss room, and then to a mysterious and strange-looking door and the place past that door. Clare stood still upon hearing the news. ¡°Clare, are you alright?¡± Clare did not respond, so Alex asked again, this time in a gentle voice, to prepare himself to be the target for her anger instead of Chelsie and Wendy for not finding Nyx. ¡°Clare, are you okay?!¡± However, contrary to what he thought, Clare responded in a calm, almost cold tone, not what Alex expected. ¡°I see.¡± Clare forces herself to bottle up and control her emotions from the thought of her lady missing, not knowing if she was alive or not, and her powerlessness in her situation of not being able to do anything significant. Alex had a guilty expression seeing Clare have an unnatural, cold, and detached expression, so he turned to everyone. Sensing what Alex was going to say, Chelsie stopped him. ¡°Alex, no, we can¡¯t just leave to find Nyx, not right now.¡± Hearing her words, Alex gritted his teeth. Nyx is Alex¡¯s friend. He feels a similar sense of helplessness as Clare, and he can¡¯t help him back and return the favor. Taking a breath to cool down, Alex, with some calm, asks what they should do. ¡°We wait until the knights from the capital come, which should be at least a day or two from now. Until then, we need to prepare.¡± Skis''s perspective In the guild master¡¯s office, Skis was talking to two people in the room. One of them was Iris, while the other person was a blue-haired and-eyed woman, wearing ornate knight armor, sitting on the couch to the right of Skis¡¯s desk and opposite the couch Iris was sitting on. Gracefully, she picks up the teacup offered to her and sips it, then asks. ¡°Did you find the thieves?¡± Skis, with an expression that he didn¡¯t want to answer, made himself look small and meek from her intimidating glance. Her name is Lieutenant Argena Vanca, second in command of the third knight order. She had personally come and rushed to Acton upon hearing of Alice¡¯s assassination attempt since the Lunslur family was in a really precarious situation. Their power struggle within the family didn¡¯t just affect them but noble society as a whole. Due to how influential and powerful the Lunslur family is, if any more were to happen, it would cause chaos, which would lead to instability in the kingdom, something Argena cannot allow. ¡°Unfortunately no, we just found the document went missing at most two days ago.¡± Skis had answered her question, to which she responded. ¡°That is very unfortunate.¡± ¡°Then what exactly did the thieves steal?¡± ¡°It was the file of an adventurer closely related to Lady Alice.¡± ¡°I see, may I ask who this adventurer is, then? Ms. Iris?¡± Iris looked at Skis to get his approval, to which he nodded in affirmation. ¡°His name is Nyx; his relation to Lady Alice is through Alex. I believe you know of him from our report.¡± ¡°Yes, I have.¡± ¡°You see, Nyx is friends with his party, and by chance, they ran into each other when Lady Alice was kidnapped. In the end, he helps Alex retrieve Lady Alice back from the kidnappers.¡± ¡°That is quite strange.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± ¡°We should talk to him then if there are any possible leads he could give us. Do you know his whereabouts?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid we do not since we don¡¯t keep track of those things, but I think we should ask Alex and his party because they probably do know.¡± ¡°I see, and where are they?¡± ¡°I believe in the hospital, helping guard Lady Alice¡¯s knights while they are recovering.¡± Turning to Skis, who was silent in the conversation, Iris asks him. ¡°Guild master, could you go find Nyx while I help with the investigation?¡± Reluctantly, Skis said yes. Iris and Argena nodded and then left the office as Skis went to a cabinet to retrieve his sword since there was a chance that his life would be targeted. Taking the sword out of the cabinet, Skis unsheathed it and looked at the metallic blue-colored sword with a wry smile. ¡°I guess I need you again.¡± Chapter 66 Boras Perspective Far away on the roof of a building that gave Boras a view of a certain room of a certain hospital, he looked through a pair of binoculars. He watches a certain person expressing distress, which he finds pleasure in seeing because he is seeing Clare, a person he knew as someone who was hard to get a reaction from, like her lady, now showing cracks in her demeanor. Boras watches as Clare impatiently walks past the window, showing her irritation and impatience for him to see. ¡°Captain.¡± A subordinate next to him who also had a binocular, told Boras what he spotted. It was Wendy and Chelsie running back to the hospital. Boras smiled upon seeing them but was a bit disappointed that he didn¡¯t see Rita with them. He had wondered if they split up to make him think they did not find Rita, like there was a plan or something else. Boras thought these things because the 5 knights he had sent to chase Lady Rita were just enough people for Rita to defeat, leaving no room for her to hold back. In short, it left no other choice but for Rita to kill them. Boras wanted to see Rita''s expression when she had to kill someone. Will she be in anguish for taking another person¡¯s life or not? Those are the types of questions going on inside his mind, after all only one of the 5 knights, the one that Rita injured in the leg, came back and told him he couldn¡¯t find any of his team members. Boras presumed Rita had killed them because by now, they would have come back even if they were knocked out, so it means that they were dead. Smiling even more at that thought, another of his subordinates asks him something that makes the air around them turn frigid. ¡°Captain, when are we informing Lord Lucius about Lady Rita¡¯s whereabouts?¡± The subordinate who spotted Chelsie and Wendy turned pale at his coworker¡¯s question. The one who asked was relatively new to their organization and did not know the full extent of Boras¡¯s tendencies, so the air around them filled with a murderous aura, Boras told the subordinate that asked, with a bone-chilling and ice-cold tone. ¡°Why should I? Are you going to spoil my fun?¡± Boras placed his hand on his sword, and his hair started glowing, about to kill him on the spot for even suggesting that question. Trying to stop him, the subordinate who spotted Chelsie and Wendy spoke up. ¡°Captain, I must beg you not to kill him; we¡¯re already low on manpower right now; please excuse his inexperience.¡± Boras turns to look at him, no longer with a bloodthirsty aura around him. Seeing that Boras had calmed down, he was relieved that Boras did not kill the new guy; however, as he blinked, he heard the sound of blood splattering on the ground, and Boras¡¯s sword was drawn with blood on it. The sound of a body fell lifeless on the ground, which he saw was the new subordinate who asked Boras the question that angered him, with his throat slit open. He was about to scream, but Boras''s hair glowed to cast a spell. As he was about to scream, the air around him vanished, and he realized he couldn¡¯t breathe. He tries begging for forgiveness from Boras to spare his life as he clutches his throat, but he sees Boras have a slight smile, like he is getting a faint sense of amusement from seeing him struggle to beg for mercy. Eventually, his face turned purple, and he fell to the ground. Boras watched him turn unconscious from the lack of air around him, but Boras didn¡¯t stop, and in the end, he died of suffocation. Upon smelling blood from the roof, two people rush up the stairs. The door was slammed open, and they saw the bloody sight. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Turning to them, Boras had a smile. ¡°Oh, what good timing. It looks like we have some bodies to use. Cut them up and freeze their bodies. Make sure they look like they were killed by monsters, okay?¡± The two of them took a step back as Boras spoke to them and meekly nodded, which made Boras smile a bit. They guess what happened, which was one or both of them was a threat to his fun, so he killed them. Boras began walking down the stairs as he told them that, which he then said. ¡°I¡¯m going to play with that Yulis fellow in the basement. I¡¯m thinking of tearing his fingers apart, so have the bodies be ready by then. Also, set up some watchpoints, and if anyone sees Lady Rita, tell me.¡± The Lucendi Estate Eric was walking the hallway of his family manor; he saw many unfamiliar faces as he was walking. They were the new servants his father and mother had hired. They did not bow nor stop what they were doing, showing their lack of training as proper servants. Many of the servants in their employment had left and found work elsewhere, and very few of the old servants who worked for them were left. Eric thought to himself self-deprecatingly because none of them showed the same level of respect as the old servant. At first, he felt anger about it, but when he had to return to the royal academy, he thought it wasn¡¯t so bad. When he returned to the Royal Academy from spring break, life was normal. However, a month into his classes, rumors started to circulate that his sister, Rita, did not have any magical powers. The rumors started to grow and grow, and many of the people he thought to be his close friends started distancing themselves from him. It only compounded when there was no announcement of her sister¡¯s magical powers after several weeks, and when she hadn¡¯t made any appearances in high society after her appraisal ceremony, it only confirmed the rumors. This caused a few people who still remained close to him to just leave him, acting like they were strangers whenever he tried to talk to them. Life in high society was harsh, especially when one showed weakness, which made it more apparent when he was an easy target due to his sister. He was the target of being bullied, all the more apparent when some of his former friends were his bullies. The sense of betrayal causes Eric to go through a really dark period of his life. He felt resentment at his sister for being born without magic, hatred at the people he thought were friends, loneliness from people isolating him, hopelessness as he saw no hope out of it, and many more of these deep, dark emotions he felt. He felt that way for weeks on end, thinking everyone in the royal academy was his enemy. However, one day, as he was on the rooftop of one of the buildings, where he typically stayed to eat lunch because he didn¡¯t want to experience the stares of people openly ridiculing him any more than he had to, a girl approached him with a smile. When he first laid eyes on the girl who approached him on the rooftop, he immediately grew suspicious, wondering if someone put her up to it because he remembered the girl to be an illegitimate daughter of a baron. Eric remembers looking at the girl, who had blonde, pinkish hair and a face that gave an impression of innocence. Eric then remembered what she said, if she could join him, which made him smile as he walked because that was the start of the first real friendship and genuine he ever had. He continues smiling till he reaches the door to a certain room. Stopping in front, Eric prepared himself and knocked. Hearing the voice of his father telling him to come in, he opened the door and walked in. ¡°Father.¡± Eric greets his father, who looks more haggard than the last time he saw him. ¡°Eric, what is it that you need of me?¡± With deep determination in his voice and the courage that he had been building up for this moment, he asked. ¡°I desire to join in the effort of finding my sister, Rita. I know you have been tirelessly looking for her. Please allow me to join in the search for her. I know she will be unwilling to come back, but I¡¯m sure I can convince her.¡± Lucious looks at his son''s determination and asks with a scowl. ¡°How do you know your sister is missing?¡± With some resolved. ¡°I heard it through the new servant we have hired, who seems to be gossiping about it.¡± Lucius shows his anger and fury at the slightest of moments upon hearing that the servants in this manor are spreading that information, which makes him grit his teeth and wonder if he should punish them, but he then puts on a tired expression like it was troubling news. ¡°I see, thank you for informing me about this.¡± Eric looked happy at hearing his father praise him, and he then asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure you want Rita to come back, but how are you going to do that?¡± ¡°I will find some way, after all, Father, you are a forgiving person, and I¡¯m sure I will convince her. She likely has her own reason for running away.¡± Hearing Eric¡¯s response, Lucious felt disappointed by his son¡¯s naive answer because he knew Rita would never come back on her own, especially because she was a smart child who understood what kind of a person he was. Acting like he was thinking about it for a short while, he made it look like he made up his mind. ¡°Fine then, I will allow you to join the search effort but on two conditions.¡± Upon hearing his father¡¯s acceptance of his request, Eric asks with happiness in his voice. ¡°Thank you, Father, and what are these two conditions?¡± ¡°You must keep this a secret from everyone, and you must inform me if you find her, then wait for me to send someone to get her, okay?¡± Lucious held up two fingers for his conditions, and Eric happily accepted.