“Now… you see here, a lone zombie. Try to attack it.”

Before we got into a worse situation, I wanted her to familiarize herself with the weapon. Before we fought our way out of the dungeon, I wanted to make sure she could handle it. Plus, perhaps we could earn a few levels. I even considered equipping Hero and trying to level it. The skills I unlocked with Hero were bound to be powerful. Well, Return didn’t work in a dungeon, I had already tried it, so even Hero skills had setbacks, but there was always hope.

“Yes, Master, I’m ready.” Lydia looked more determined than before; her tail was lashing excitedly as she held her sword tightly in her small hands.

“Wait, before you do that, let me try this. Divine Aura!”

I tried to cast the spell on her. I was pretty confident it was a stat buffing spell. Perhaps it would help her fight monsters. In that respect, maybe it was something I could cast on the zombies to weaken them as well.

{This spell can only be cast on objects.}

“Ah… it seems I misused it,” I said while Lydia cocked her head in confusion. “Divine Aura!”

This time, I aimed for her sword. It suddenly glowed a bright white and then faded. Afterword, the sword looked white in color and gave off a hint of glow. Lydia’s eyes locked on her sword, which looked slightly magical, and an exciting look grew on her face.

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“Master is amazing.”

“I can just do what I do. This should give you more strength. Make sure to attack when it's not looking.”

Lydia nodded and kept herself squat, waiting for the zombie to turn away. Then, she silently raced towards the zombie, moving far faster than I could have while making no noise. She really did have the stealth of a cat. She could be a genuinely terrifying enemy if she wanted to be. The zombie didn’t even turn as she struck it in the back. There was a white flash and a sound of burning flesh. The attack looked much more brutal than a simple slide should have been.

However, this was a 5th level zombie, so this wasn’t enough to defeat it. The monster turned around and swiped at Lydia. However, her agility was far beyond the swipes of a zombie, and she easily avoided it. I cast Weak Heal on it, and the zombie was stunned. She used the opportunity to attack again. We repeated this three times, and the zombie finally fell. I didn’t level, but I had the feeling I’d be leveling very quickly this way.

“Master… we defeated him!” She ran up to me excitedly, delight shining in her eyes.

I didn’t realize why she was standing there until she awkwardly leaned her head towards me. I gave a wry smile and then patted her head. She closed her eyes, and the smile from before showed on her face. Her ears were right there, twitching. I couldn’t stop myself, so my hand went out and stroked her ear.

“Ahnnn…” Lydia moaned, but then she pulled away, grabbing her ears and blushing. “M-m-master… th-that…”

“Sorry…” I blushed. “I got carried away.”

“It’s… it’s okay… because it’s Master,” she said, but I noticed she didn’t offer me her head again.

It looked like I had pushed things a little too far. Well, I barely knew her, after all. Instead, we should be focusing on escaping, but it was getting a bit late, and I was tired and hungry.

“Let’s look for a safe place to rest,” I suggested.

“Yes, Master…” She spoke in a shy voice, and the atmosphere between us felt strange.

I shouldn’t have touched her ears. I let out a sigh.