"...Hats?"

"W-Wah!" He yelped, "Uhh, yeah?"

The young angel was still tightly holding onto the hand of support Elegy was lending him, but they would soon reach the end of the first floor's deep darkness. Elegy knew this, which prompted him to mention it, at the very least as a heads-up.

"You'll be happy to know the next area is well-lit." He smiled, "We'll be able to see a lot more ahead of us, isn't that nice?"

"O-Oh..." Hats didn't seem too pleased to hear that, "But we're underground?"

"Come again?"

"We're underground, so how is the area ahead well-lit?"

Certainly a fair question to ask for his age. He knew that the surface was lit up due to the unobstructed sky above, but below the Shrine's brickwork lay no such luxuries. Of course, under normal circumstances, he would even be correct to assume this would be impossible, but the rules of light emission appear to work differently as they do in the Vast World below.

"The second floor of the Shrine is littered with magical crystals, you see." Elegy was happy to explain, "Well, I don't exactly know if they're magical or not, but they do emit light despite seemingly not having any sunlight to take in beforehand. Hmm, actually—I wonder how the surface even has light if there's no sun in the sky?"

"Don't ask me." Hats shrugged, "O-Oh, Elegy..."

Stopping dead in his tracks as he pointed before him with his chin, Hats alluded to the dreary staircase leading into darkness. This was his first time exploring the Shrine, so he really didn't know what could be looming in the shadows, if anything.

"Oh, guess we reached the end of floor one." Elegy took a step forward, only to get stopped by the bulky scaredy-cat holding him back, "Hm? What's up, bud?"

"I-Is that really the only way down?" Hats shivered in place.

Elegy would have easily shrugged the boy's worries off with a light-hearted tease had he not found out Hats' rough mental age. Now things were different, he had reckoned, for he knew how to go about treating him and encouraging him to go on.

"Listen well, Hats. It's okay to be scared." Elegy reached to ruffle his hair, "That being said, I'm gonna teach you how to fight back against those fears."

"I don't wanna go..." He whimpered.

"Don't you worry! Uncle Elegy's gonna teach you all the tricks in life!" He smiled proudly, "Listen well, do you know what arrogance means?"

"Uhh, I've heard of it." He scratched his head, "But no, not really."

"Arrogance means knowing that you're the best." Elegy grinned resolutely, "And the best don't have to fear any monster or opponent that may come their way, 'cause they know they can dispose of them easily!"

It was a simple parenting trick—teach the child to believe in their strengths and give them a healthy sense of self-confidence. Of course, this has a somewhat high chance of making them 'too' arrogant in the sense that they'll over-inflate their egos, but at times even that can prove beneficial. Elegy was essentially attempting to get Hats to think the Shrine wasn't all that difficult, which did end up working—for better or worse.

"I don't get it." Hats tilted his head.

"I'm saying the Shrine is nothing to worry about!" Elegy patted him on the shoulder, "You're a beast of a specimen, I tell ya'! You'll do great in there, I just know it!"

Hearing these words of encouragement and positive reinforcement certainly did make Hats feel a lot better about himself.

"Ehe, is that so?" A smug grin grew on his face, "Yeah, I got my epic arms to smash away any enemies that might jump at us!"

"Attaboy! Ah, but you should probably be a bit more careful for the next area..."

"Rraaaaahhhh!!"

"Hats, no!"

Letting go of his guardian's hand in favor of rushing headfirst down the staircase leading to the second floor, Hats had proved himself to be superior to any and all foes that may try to oppose him. That being said, the second floor was known for another form of danger. One that didn't care about something as trivial as how bold you were.

"Eep!" Hats got pulled back right as the first swinging axe trap brushed past his face.

"Phew..." Elegy breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah, that's what I've been trying to tell you. Arrogance is good for getting that initial rush of motivation, but motivation isn't the only deciding factor."

"W-W-W-What was that!?" He shivered all over, pointing with his finger at the swinging axe as it gradually re-armed itself for another swing.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"That's the second floor's schtick." Elegy chuckled, "Traps ahoy. If you wanna make it to the third floor in one piece, you're gonna need to closely follow my lead. Stick close and try not to touch anything, that's the name of the game."

Mentions of traps immediately set off some alarms in the young angel, but it was now already far too late to back down. In fact, seeing as the second floor was lit up from the crystals and the staircase behind them was completely dark, it could be stated that Hats would even willfully deal with the deadly trap rather than go back now. That is the mind of a child, after all. So naively frightened, yet so brave all the same.

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"Watch closely." Elegy tactically set off the tripwire in front of them before pulling back as the darts fired, "See? Nothing to be afraid of. That is, if you know how to take your time."

"I-I see."

That being said, Elegy knew there would come a time when Hats would have to traverse the floor without any help, so he opted to go about teaching him in a different manner. Namely, in the blink of an Eye, Elegy had perfectly run through the corridor, avoiding setting off even a single trap.

"Whuh-!?" Hats jolted, "How did you...!?"

"What's that? You weren't looking~?" Elegy smugly retorted, "Aww, too bad~! Guess that means you're just gonna have to figure it out yourself. Well, good luck, I'll be waiting for you right here!"

"Gah, come back and help me!" He cried out.

Despite his incessant pleas, Hats' demands fell on deaf ears. For a while, the two kept bickering over whether or not Elegy was really going to make the boy go through this alone.

"No means no, Hats."

"Come on, I'm gonna die without you!"

"I can't just go back now." Elegy shook his head, "Too late for that, you're gonna need to make it over by yourself."

This was, for all intents and purposes, a total lie on Elegy's part. In fact, it was previously mentioned how the design of the Shrine is one-directional and linear, meaning that avoiding the traps whilst walking up the Shrine was way easier than making your way down. Hats didn't know this, however, so to his mind there really was no other way than to do his best and hope he doesn't get killed.

"Ahem!" Elegy loudly cleared his throat right before Hats took his first step.

"...Huh?" Hats slowly inched his foot to the left.

"Hm." Elegy slightly nodded.

Well, it appears even Elegy isn't that heartless to completely leave a naive child to fend for himself. Slight hints being dropped here and there surely wouldn't be considered too much interfering.

Hats took a few more steps forward, only to just barely teeter his shin in front of a tripwire. At this point, stepping back would still trigger it no matter what. Immediately—like any child would—his head craned to his guardian for guidance.

"Yaaawn~"

Elegy stretched a bit, making sure to touch his toes to really target those hamstrings. Translation—duck down as you let go of the tripwire.

"Yah!" Hats yelped as the dart flew over his head, "...Phew."

The next trap he had to look out for were the swinging axes. Aligned in a row one after the other, their only goal was to cut a clean chunk of him off without even a hint of struggle. This was considered one of the easier ones to dodge, because you can actually plainly see it in action as the axes swing left and right. Elegy couldn't help but notice how devastating they would be if only they were hidden away.

"Khm, khm!" Elegy yet again coughed, "Ack, got something stuck in my throat..."

"Stuck, stuck..." Hats tried deciphering the message, "Oh, I got it!"

Picking up a few pebbles from the ground, Hats threw some inside the mechanism's railings to hopefully get the axes stuck on them, thus stopping the axes from swinging altogether. Alas, the message Elegy had left him wasn't exactly that, as the measly rocks stood no chance against the crushing force of the axes pressing them up against the railings.

"..." Hats looked over at Elegy, who has long since gone to sleep, "Gah!"

Going back to the drawing board never felt particularly good, but Hats in general had no other choice. Now that he was halfway done with the current set of traps, even backing out seemed impossible. This was when Elegy's earlier statement rang out in his mind.

"Arrogance...!" He realized, rushing headfirst through the rest of the corridor.

"Huh!?" Elegy saw this and panicked, "Hats, what are you doing!?"

"If I keep worrying over every step, I'll never make a single step!" He replied, a confident smile brimming from ear to ear, "Don't worry, Elegy! I'll be over there in a jiff!"

Shoulder tackling the first swinging axe, Hats appeared to have been blessed by a great deal of luck in that moment to perfectly hit its side. This not only had the benefit of him not getting sliced in half, but also destroying the axe and allowing him to use it for himself.

"No way..." A proud smile grew on Elegy's face.

"Huohh!" Hats screamed, taking down the rest of the axes with this one, "Ack, off, dah!"

By this point, he had long since abandoned the notion of "slow and steady", instead mostly focusing on ducking and weaving through as many traps as possible. Nearly a dozen times he could have died, either from getting his feet or hands lobbed off, getting sliced and diced, getting poisoned from the darts, as well as many more various dangers to look out for. Somehow, by the end, he had succeeded in making it to Elegy's side all by himself, and all this without sustaining even but a single scratch!

"Nice job, bud!" Elegy high fived him, "You get a gold star for that."

"That means I passed, right?"

"With flying Colors." Elegy smiled, "Okay, that's the first corridor down. Just 24 more to go."

"E-Eh?" Hats' heart sank the moment he heard the number.

"Hm? What, you didn't seriously think this was all the second floor had to offer? Especially after how long that first floor was."

"I can't do it!" Hats finally threw in the towel, "I wanna rest! I don't wanna do this~! Scary!"

Alas, a child can only take so much before cracking. Adults are good at being arrogant. They know how to trick themselves into believing they are right, not to mention capable, but kids are brutally honest even to themselves. Even this little display was all Hats could afford to muster, but the rest fell on Elegy to deal with.

"Heh, at the very least I can rest easy in knowing you'll be alright without me." Elegy praised him.

"I won't leave you!" Hats admitted, "I won't leave you, so you can't leave me either!"

"Okay, alright. Sorry for the scare."

"It's good. So long as you understand." Hats smiled before opening his Eyes, "Eh? Elegy...?"

"...Boo!"

Once more, the frightful angel had been toyed with by his senior. A small scare was all it took for Hats to fall to the ground a second time, this time only foaming at the mouth however. In a way, that's quite the impressive accomplishment.