Here is chapter 18 everyone! This was chapter that was not going to be much but somehow as I wrote it turn out way better than what I had planned ^_^

Also still looking for book cover ideas =D

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Alice and Sigrid left the dungeon via the secret passage and entered the forest outside the dungeon without anyone noticing them. They followed the map and headed east after checking their direction with a compass Sage had summoned for them. They estimated that it would take about half a day to get to the city based on the map but to be safe they ended up bringing a whole day’s worth of supply for this trip. Alice was very happy to be out again after being inside for so long, it just wasn’t safe for her to come out for long no matter how sneaky she was. As they walked the two girls chatted about their life before coming to Sage’s dungeon.

“This is my first time just walking through a forest like this. Before I have always lived in the snowy mountains as I wasn’t strong enough to leave and I could hardly experience my surroundings during my month on the run either.” Sigrid happily walked through the forest and felt the warmth of the sunlight as she chatted with Alice.

“This is also my first time enjoying it as well. The last time I came out was to scout for information about the dungeon evaluation party that came. Had to focus all my attention on not getting caught so I went back as soon as I found out who it was. I have always dreamt about what bathing in the sunlight feels like as a spirit and now it can see why those animals love it so much!” Alice stretched her body, she sat down on Sigrid’s shoulder and leaned against her neck.

“Hehehe, that tickles Alice.” Sigrid couldn’t help but giggle when Alice’s wings brushed against her neck. Because she had wanted to feel the sunlight’s warmth she didn’t have her cloak on but wore an elegant blue dress. Alice suggested that she should make use of water as her main specialty and make it seem like ice is only a variant. This limited her abilities somewhat but made it so once she appeared her pursuers wouldn’t connect her to the Ice Maiden they were after. Luckily her control over water was good too she just never practiced it as she had always been around snow and ice.

They walked through the woods for a few hours without too much problems. Some stray wolves and wild dogs came by but were easily scared away by Sigrid with a bit of magic. However as they were getting close to exiting the forest they encountered two ogres that blocked their way. These two weren’t going to be scared away that easily so Sigrid prepared herself to fight however she wasn’t nervous as they were still too weak to be any threat to her. But as she was about to cast her spell a figure jumped before her and shouted “Get back, I’ll protect you!”

She was startled by the turn of events and before she could say anything the figure jumped forth and engaged in battle with the two ogres. The man was struggling a bit but holding his own against the two ogres which impressed Sigrid as she could sense that his mana was only that of a rank F adventurer. Alice however was giggling on  Sigrid shoulder and whispered “Look at you, already got people risking their life to save you. Hehehe.”

Sigrid’s cheek turned slightly red at what Alice had said, she felt embarrassed about what Alice had said and replied “He is just being a kind adventurer who helps people in need. There was no way he could have seen what I look like from where he came from.”

“Hehehe, you shouldn’t underestimate your appearance.” Alice continued to giggle.

Sigrid let out a sigh and felt helpless against Alice. Her attention focused back onto the fight and felt like it was time to help the adventurer out. She created some water bullets and shot them at one of the ogres which caught it completely off guard. The adventurer noticed this and immediately took action and stabbed his sword through the ogre’s heart. However this left him open as the other ogre punched at the adventurer’s right arm. Sigrid realize this too late and was  unable to do anything to help but the next moment stunned both her and Alice.

The adventurer wasn’t blown away with a heavy injury like both of them had expected but instead his left hand had stopped the ogre’s punch. Now this was a 2 meter tall ogre and while they weren’t that smart they had strength of a low tier rank D adventurer. It is shocking that this adventurer who only seemed to be at low to mid tier rank F could stop a punch with his own hand. The ogre seemed to be caught off guard as well which gave the adventurer a chance to swing his sword and slice the ogre’s throat.

After the two ogres were defeated the adventurer sat down on the ground breathing very hard. Sigrid recovered from the sudden turn of events and ran up to the adventurer and asked “Are you ok?”

The adventurer turned to look at her and then just froze. He seemed to have lost himself as he stared at her for a long time before Sigrid finally felt it was getting too awkward and coughed. He suddenly recovered himself and realized what he had done. Embarrassed he lowered his head and replied “I’m… fine…”

Suddenly a crisp voice came from Sigrid’s shoulder “Hehe, don’t try and play the tough guy now. Your left arm is clearly injured from stopping that punch from the ogre. Even though you are very strong for low tier rank F you still can’t match physical strength with an ogre yet. Better let her look at that left arm if you still want to use it in the future.” This of course was Alice trying to spice up the situation for her own enjoyment.

Sigrid was startled by Alice’s words and immediately focused her attention onto the adventurer’s left arm. She could see that it is bleeding, the muscles must have torn from withstanding that impact and the bone may even be broken. She quickly used her water magic and surrounded the adventurer’s arm. He was shocked at this but she quickly said “Please don’t move or else the healing effect would lessen greatly.” With that he quietly sat there not moving an inch as Sigrid healed his arm.

After an hour Sigrid ended the spell and the adventurer’s arm now looked normal again. “Your arm should be fine, however I suggest not stressing it today and you will feel very sore tomorrow.”

The adventurer looked at his left arm amazed and finally said “Thank you! I wanted to protect you but ended up causing you more trouble. I’m sorry.”

Sigrid smiled and said “No worries, I’m happy that you came to my aid. May I ask for your name?”

The adventurer was startled and quickly replied “Where are my manners, my name is John Dawnbringer. May I ask what is yours?”

Sigrid simply replied “Sigrid. Nice to meet you John.”

John replied with a smile and asked “It’s nice to meet you too Sigrid. So where are you headed Sigrid?”

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Alice suddenly shouted “How rude to completely ignore a lady like this!”

John was startled by the voice, he remembered hearing it earlier but didn’t see anything. He looked around but was still unable to find anyone.

“Over here!” Alice shouted again.

Finally Sigrid pointed at her shoulder and John finally noticed a little fairy with red hair and red dress sitting on Sigrid’s shoulder.

“Whoa!” John shouted as he took a few step back and almost fell down. “A...fair...fairy!”

“Looks like you’re not too dumb after all.” Alice said with a mischievous smile “My name is Alice and my job is to keep people like you from trying to take advantage of my friend Sigrid here.”

John suddenly felt very embarrassed again as he did want to get close to Sigrid by escorting her to her destination.

Alice still smiling a mischievous smile finally said “But since you did jump in to help us without any hesitation and risk yourself to help us I’ll allow you to accompany us.”

Sigrid couldn’t help but laugh at what Alice did and at John’s expression. She looked at John and said “We are going to head to the city of Dawn. It will be our first time there so we would be happy to have a guide.”

John quickly pulled himself together and and stiffly said “I was born and raised in Dawn so you can count on me!”

Alice continued to giggle at how awkward John was acting right now and Sigrid couldn’t help but find it kinda funny as well. However more than anything she felt happy as she had always been by herself. Beside her own mother who disappeared  years ago the only other contact she had  with the outside after that was being hunted for a whole month until she found Sage’s dungeon. There she gained a sister in Alice and a parental figure in Sage. Her own mother never really cared for her much, mostly taught her the basics of survival and let her fend for herself. When she was around Sage she felt a sense of safety she hadn’t felt since she was a little girl and the way he took the time to teach her also warmed her heart. Every passing day in the last month had made her feel that her decision that night was the correct one. This was why she was so eager to master the concealing technique so she could be of use to Sage even though she was very scared of having to go out by herself. She was very happy when Alice decided to tag along and now less than half a day out she had already made another friend.

Since John was the most familiar with the area Alice and Sigrid followed him towards Dawn. The reason Alice decided to allow John to accompany them was because she realized who he was. She knew that he was the person who first discovered their dungeon and was the first to complete a trial room. She also knew that Sage saw a lot of potential in him and even gifted him a rank G skill book as his trial room reward. Alice assumed that the reason he was able to stop that ogre’s punch with his left hand was probably due to that book. She remembered that Sage taught that to all the elite monsters too but none of them had shown this kind of increase in power like John. Alice knew that with Sigrid’s ability she would be able to climb the rank of adventurers very fast and that soon she would need to form a team herself.

However with their background they had to be very careful with the people they chose. John became the first candidate for Sigrid’s future team but that would still depend on his own growth down the line. But it was clear that John had already fallen for Sigrid so this would only make it less likely for him to betray her in the future.

Along the way John talked a lot about the area and the situation at Dawn. At first he was very nervous and stuttered a lot but after a while he became much more comfortable talking to Sigrid and Alice and even was able to not blush when Alice teased him.

“The city of Dawn was one of the original cities of Zeal when the country was founded. It is the only major city around and is also the southernmost city of the kingdom. The reason there aren’t more cities is because to the south is the endless wastelands. No one has ever managed to cross the wasteland and the wasteland itself offers no valuable resources so the kingdom never developed this part of the kingdom. However now that we have our very own dungeon this area will begin to flourish!” John was very proud when talking about Dawn, it was very clear how much he loved his home city.

When he talked about the dungeon he suddenly tried to look dignified and said “Speaking of the new dungeon it was I who first discovered it and reported it to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

Sigrid was shocked by this and quickly looked toward Alice only to see Alice nodding back at her.

Seeing that Alice confirmed John’s words she replied “Wow John that is amazing.”

John was startled by those words, after a brief pause he said “You believe me?”

Sigrid looked at him questioningly and said “Is there a reason not to believe you? So far you have shown yourself to be a very trustworthy person John.”

John was lost for words, after a while he recovered himself and said “Thank you Sigrid. Many people would think I’m just boasting but you are the first person to believe in me.” John was truly touched. While he had gained a lot of confidence since forcing himself to enter that dungeon and even earning a skill book that made his physical strength a class above his peers he was still very insecure. He had been labeled as a scaredy cat for so long that a lot of the other adventurers wouldn’t even believe in his achievements. However here was a girl who looked like a princess who probably had every right to look down upon him but instead she chose to believe in him instead. Sigrid and Alice didn’t realize it now but this was a life changing moment for John.

At this moment John had decided that Sigrid was someone he wanted to protect. He knows he was probably too weak right now and that he was probably not good enough to have her but he would do his best to prevent any harm from coming to her even if it meant his life. Alice noticed something had changed in John, after that conversation about him discovering the dungeon. He was no longer nervous around Sigrid anymore and the way he carried himself changed too. Before he was always unsure of himself but the him right now was determined and confident.

Alice observed the changed John for a while and thought “Interesting, I guess Sage wasn’t wrong when he said that this guy had potential…”

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Edited by: Nova