Seemingly more excited to see me test out my magic with the Elderwood Staff against something other than a door, Yua practically skipped her way down to the next floor. I followed close behind her, enjoying the view of her tail giddily swishing about, hoping all the while that my magic had become strong enough to impress her while I could.
More importantly, I hoped to accomplish something on this floor. Aside from making money, of course.
“What types of monsters are on this floor?”
At my question, Yua’s ears perked up wearily and she stopped skipping so suddenly that you’d think she’d forgotten how to keep going. Even if she was excited to see what the staff could do, now that we both knew that she shared what happened to her here, the happiness wasn’t allowed to last. It was thanks to this, if I could even be grateful for such a thing, that we were allowed to meet, but I hoped she didn’t make much of that connection. I may have bought her, but I didn’t want the first thing she thought of when she thought of me to be the imaginary collar around her neck.
However, where I thought that the tears she’d shed earlier meant that she was going to find facing the monsters that beat her bloody on the same floor where she then met the man that ruined her life, she instead clenched her fists without so much as looking back. If I weren’t mistaken, she looked even more fired up than before.
“Master, the monsters on this floor are Goblins and Gremlins.”
“More goblins?”
“Yes, but on this floor, they travel in groups of two. Their strength is about the same, but they are still more dangerous.”
So, this level trades power for numbers? That’s fairly understandable. If there was any truth to the story she told me about the monsters here being part of the so-called demon king’s future army, then just a hundred floors worth of what we’ve been fighting so far wasn’t going to be nearly enough. Especially not when I was capable of one-shotting the first floor enemies before my cheats even kicked in. The bosses would no doubt be a danger, but they’d still be lacking in numbers. And if one were to tack on the Adventurers fighting the dungeons on top of any king’s army, then the number disparity would only increase in severity. It wouldn’t be much of an army.
Even if the lowest level monsters were about as strong as or even a bit stronger than your average human, which they didn’t seem to be since any citizen can fight in the dungeons, that strength would mean nothing if they didn’t have the numbers to overwhelm much of anything before the high-level Adventurers and knights fought them back. Overrunning the city would be impossible with just a few handfuls of monsters. So, some floors were probably specifically meant to bolster their numbers with what would essentially be cannon fodder, rather than add new true soldiers to the mix.
I imagined a floor much like the one containing potion ingredients we assumed to exist, except instead of a vast field cultivated with various plant life, there would instead be a farmland growing goblins by the hundreds, their tiny misshapen heads poking out the soil and snarling only when their ready to be harvested.
However, none of this meant all that much unless they actually managed to break free of the dungeon and as things stood, I had a hard time believing they would. Again, barring sneak attacks, only the bosses have managed to put up any sort of a fight so far. The lower floors were still a mystery to me, but I had to hope that the first few weren’t the sort of easy tutorial area I once assumed the forest to be and that the difficulty wouldn’t ramp up past what our levels could handle from here on out.
I did ask the Goddess if I had some other purpose for being here, but she basically brushed me off so cleanly that I assumed I was free to do as I pleased, like she herself suggested. So, I was under no obligation to use my abilities to plow through the dungeon to clean up this mess. As long as the Adventurers currently delving into this place could handle it, then everything should be fine. Yua may have enjoyed the challenge, but that wasn’t much of a reason to continue deeper inside.
As for us, killing two enemies back-to-back would just increase the rate at which we could collect loot and level. That alone was already enough to press forward, but the thought that I could help Yua make up for her past mistakes by forcing our way through the third floor was too good a chance to pass up. Being that I had first-hand experience in what it felt like to dwell on your own mistakes for years, I didn’t want her to have to go through that as well.
If anything, helping her to reclaim the strength she felt lost back then would be a good start to making up for assuming she was any sort of a bad person. She seemed happy now, but I still felt as though I wasn’t seeing the full picture.
“Alright then. Take us to the nearest group and I will see what I can do.”
“Yes, Master!”
In less than a minute, as if all our walking up to that point had been Yua letting me taking the long way around to give me a minute to think, we found ourselves in front of yet another forked path, one of many in the dungeons, it seems. This one split off in three different directions and there, in the center halls was a pair of goblins, as promised. I guess the luck we had going in not having to compete with other Adventurers was still going strong.
These goblins looked so similar to those we fought on the second floor, that I could have claimed they were copied and pasted here and nobody would have been able to deny it. They didn’t seem to have any distinguishing features that could suggest that they were at least stronger than their lower-level counterparts as their levels suggested, let alone that they were of a slightly different species.
As if noticing my disappointment, both of the monsters gnashed their teeth at us. The sudden hatred that fueled their beady eyes once they found us got me wondering if the monsters here really do retain the memory of those that killed them. Or in their case, their family.
I mean, goblins weren’t exactly known for their kindness, but the sheer, raw hatred exuded from them didn’t feel even remotely natural. They didn’t’ stop to question themselves on who we were or what we were doing like a wild animal might. Or, hell, like any sentient thing might. They just jumped straight to bloodlust like a robot set to kill anything that crossed its path. Raising the Elderwood staff, I tried to work out how it was that these two were somehow lesser than a wild animal, but more intelligent than one.
Unlike these goblin’s hypothetical family, though, these two raised their spears and cautiously approached us instead of barreling towards us like a pair of rabid animals. Maybe being forced to work together actually made them employ what should’ve been a basic battle tactic for fighting in a narrow corridor such as this, as they stood side-by-side, taking up almost the entire width of the hallway they guarded. This gave us no room to circle around them, except for someone like Yua jumping over their heads, which she has done before. But in the same way that was a bad idea for the wolves that tried it on us, it could easily go wrong for Yua if they were to jab their spears into her mid-jump. She may be good, but blocking or parrying two spears at once would be difficult for anyone. Better avoid that.
Maybe when they were alone, the crazed way they would run at us was just them working themselves up in a frenzy to try and get the drop on the naturally larger enemy they were suddenly faced with. All to try and survive. But now they were confident, cautious and organized. They were the soldiers all the enemies before them should have been.
“Alright, let’s see what this thing can do.”
I pointed the staff at the rightfully cautious Goblins and cast a Fire Ball at them. Just like before, a flaming orb three times the size of the ones I cast without the staff shot out of its knotted end. I aimed at only one of them to make sure it hit, but when it did, the ball of flame exploded just like it did against the door earlier. The flames expanded to engulf both goblins at once. Amidst the searing heat, their cries of pain lasted only for a second before their lives ended.
Their bodies remained motionless inside the fire, blackened to a crisp until they and the flame disappeared in a burst of life.
“Wow! Master, you beat both with only one spell!”
“Yea… I guess I did.”
After that, after seeing what the staff was truly capable of, I was already starting to regret that I would need to sell it as soon as we were done for the day. The clearing power this thing possessed was too good to let go. The way it made that fight so easy irked me a little, but in the name of making as much coin as fast as I could, this thing would be nothing but helpful.
“Yua, I’m sorry, but would you mind if I just blast all of the Goblins this time? I don’t want to take away your fun, but this way would be faster.”
Her ears stood straight up at attention and her tail wagged both unashamedly and excitedly against her feline nature, but the second I asked her that, her ears drooped and she started pouting.
“I… If that’s what Master wants, then I don’t have the right to complain.”
You say that, but you clearly want to.
“Don’t worry. It’s just for this time. As soon as we have all the money we need, I’ll let you fight all you want.”
“Really?”
Thankfully, she perked up a bit and her tail resumed its light swishing motion.
“Yup. Don’t worry about it. Besides, I like watching you fight.”
“I-I like watching Master fight too. Your magic is amazing!”
You say that, but with you dressed in such tight, form-fitting clothes, I feel our reasons for enjoying the sight of the other fighting is more than a bit different.
“Right. Beast-kin can’t do magic, right?”
“Nope. We don’t need to either. We have our strength, after all.”
She patted her bicep, which was only about as thick as any other girl’s her age, like it was proof of that same strength that she held so dear.
“But isn’t your Healing Punch kind of like magic?”
“Not at all,” she insisted. “Magic uses mana and Master himself saw that my Healing Punch didn’t.”
I feel like that’s still basically magic… but I guess I’m not the Monk here.
Supposing that was enough of a reason to call them different things entirely, I decided not to question her and just nodded until she was happy. Still, mana or stamina, you are trading one life source to achieve something that, regardless of how you label it, was magical to me.
Satisfied with the results of my little test, we proceeded through the level with relative ease. The Goblins all mistakenly used the same tactic as the first two, so blowing them away became as easy as pointing a stick at them. And thanks to my constant mana regeneration and my increasing levels, I never quite seemed to run out of mana. As long as I only needed one shot per pair, the time between fights was almost always enough to regenerate what I lost. Maybe I was just getting to the point most video games reach where combat was supposed to get easier now that I wasn’t stuck with newbie stats.
By the time I had finished around twelve Goblins, Yua was starting to look a little bored. So, I reminded her that just being with me was making her level, and therefore her Strength, go up.
“I know, Master. Master’s abilities are amazing, but I still want to fight.”
“Don’t worry. Whenever we come across one of those Gremlins you were talking about, you can take them. They don’t come in pairs, do they?”
“No, Master. They prefer sneaking around and stabbing people in the back instead of fighting out right. It would be more difficult to do that in groups.”
“Fair enough…” I said, looking over my shoulder.
Yua giggled.
“Don’t worry yourself, Master. I am keeping my ears open for them this time.”
This time?
Does that mean that a Gremlin is what stole her things and got her arrested last time? It did happen on the third floor. If that’s the case, I’m surprised she isn’t hunting them down one by one for the sake of revenge. Were I in her position, I can at least the temptation to do so would be enough to make me go mad.
Then again, she wasn’t able to detect that trent that was standing still. So, maybe she just has a hard time detecting enemies that are good at stealth. Then again again, as a concept, I felt as though I should have been myself across the face for questioning her ability to detect an enemy adept at sneaking, since that was sort of the point. With her ears and how shitty my own Sneak ability was right now, I felt I was justified in assuming such monsters were likely her weakness.
That or she just had a hard time noticing things that weren’t moving. Either or.
I looked over my shoulder again, feeling as though there was already a shadow lurking about, waiting for me to turn my back to it so it could drive a knife into my back.
“Besides those cute ears of yours, do you know of any abilities or traits that would alert us when someone is trying to sneak up on us?”
“C-Cute… No, Master. I don’t know of anything like that. As a beast-kin, I never felt the need for that sort of thing, so I never thought to look into it.”
If there’s a Detect Trap ability, then there had to be something like that available to obtain. If so, I needed whatever class it was attached to. But if she doesn’t know, I’ll just have to gather information about abilities and traits from somewhere else, so I can figure out what I would like to try and get. Might as well make the most out of my ability to have multiple classes and get all their best abilities, right? Unfortunately, I no longer have a computer, so I can’t just look up a cheat-sheet of how and where to get everything I would want to maximize the potential of my build. Whatever that may be at this point.
Luck Mage? Is that even a thing? I have other classes, but with most of my points having been dumped into my Luck stat while most of the rest went to Magic, what else could I be?
Anyway, enough with the pointless tangents. Speaking of abilities, Yua was able to gain the Healing Punch skill by just leveling up her Monk class. So, shouldn’t I be able to gain more spells by leveling up my Mage class?
I decided to try it out and moved to set it up as we walked. While I could move the Mage class to the top of my class list like I did for Yua, I wasn’t sure it was going to make a difference. Unlike her, any class I use in a fight, regardless of whether or not it was set to be my main or not, still gains the same amount of experience. I haven’t gained any new spells by leveling so far and my Mage level is already higher than Yua’s Monk level was when she got her new skill.
Different classes must gain abilities at a different rate. Or maybe Mage abilities and spells were just more powerful and, because of this, they take more time to learn. Either way, until something happens, all having it at the front will do, maybe, is cause it to absorb the experience from battles that Yua solos.
At least I’ll be able to catch the Mage class up to my Adventurer one that way.
Actually, wait. My Adventurer class not only hasn’t gained any skills despite already being at level 23, it doesn’t even seem to start with any the way Yua’s did. Was it because her starting classes were more battle-oriented, while mine could just be a name for someone that travels?
No, that wouldn’t make sense. Even the Merchant and Apothecary classes started with a skill all their own. It should be entirely reasonable that I should have gained some sort of ability, trait or spell the moment I first gained the Mage class, but I didn’t. And I only gained the Fire Ball spell because it was a freebee given to me by the Goddess.
Speaking of her, had that Goddess changed the conditions for how I gain abilities compared to others. If so, maybe this was the Goddess’s way of to rebalancing the fact that I can level up much faster than everyone else. If so, it’s possible that I can’t even gain abilities normally. Maybe it’s tied to me needing to actively see one being used in action or try it myself, like I did with the Dimensional Step and Force Sleep spells.
But then why didn’t I learn Healing Punch when Yua used it? Or Iron Fist, for that matter.
Deciding it best to test this out as soon as possible before I reached some sort of level-cap that would prevent me from learning anything in general, I left Mage as my default class while we continued through the dungeon to see how things go.
After a few more uneventful fights that had yet to prove or disprove my earlier thoughts, Yua stopped mid-stride and leaned in to stare at one of the walls like something of great importance were written on it that only she could see.
“Hey, Master, doesn’t this wall look like the one you crashed through earlier?”
“Hmm?”
Checking it for myself, I saw that the brick that made up a significant portion of the wall in question was indeed a different, darker shade of gray than the rest. These darker stones encompassed enough of the wall to suggest another hidden room lay in wait, but the color difference was so slight, that I was honestly impressed she even noticed. Hoping that meant another piece of rare loot, I stepped back.
“Yua, go ahead and try out your Iron Fist on that section of wall. Let’s see if you can break it.”
“Yes, Master!”
If the Elderwood Trent was capable of smashing chunks out of the stone here, that meant all one had to do to get the same results was to hit it just as hard. While I was worried that she might hurt herself, I figured that her Iron Fist would absorb most if not all of the damage for her. Plus, since all she’s done on this floor so far is lead me around, she’s had plenty of time to rest up. She was practically itching to punch something. I did bring her here in part to help her get over her past trauma, so I really shouldn’t be hogging the limelight just because it makes things easier.
She took a step back and adopted her signature fighting pose, for some reason. Staying like that for a few seconds, I got the feeling that she was trying to decide where and how exactly to hit the immobile target the wall made of itself, like it needed to be struck in just the right way, instead of by the right amount of force, but the wait didn’t take long.
“Iron Fist!”
With a silvery glow and a loud crash, Yua’s hardened fist broke through the brick wall with ease. Well, I suppose it would probably be more accurate to say that she demolished it. In comparison, and the reason why I stood there like a stunned idiot ogling the shattered brickwork, was because the impact of her fist made against the stone made the force it took for my body to crash through a similar wall feel more like a love-tap. Hers, however, sent the bricks rocketing back into the room she uncovered, either embedding themselves into the surrounding walls or outright shattering upon impact like a cheap china pot would after being dropped onto a hard floor.
While I tried to do my best not to imagine being on the other end of that punch, Yua looked at her own fist with pure glee. It was almost as if she wasn’t expecting that result herself and just did it to try.
“Master, I’m so strong!”
“Haha. Yea, you are,” I said patting her on the shoulder. “Now, let’s see what we can find in there.”
Unlike the previous hidden rooms, this one had no glowing lights and only a long, thin treasure chest shoved into a corner of the room. Unlike those before it, this one was made of a plain brown wood instead of the flashier red and gold ones from earlier.
Careful not to let the proof of our good luck get the better of us, I made sure to check the chest for traps before I popped it open. The lid creaked when I lifted it up, as if it had been hidden behind this wall for decades and its hinges were covered in invisible rust. Inside I saw the dull glint a metal sword the moment its blade caught the light leaking in from the main hall.
Yua let out a disappointed “Hmph” when she saw it, but money was money. I cast Appraisal and saw that it was a simple Steel Longsword worth 10 silver. Not the best, but it’s something.
“It’s not worth much, but I’ll hold onto it for now.”
I picked up the weapon and pulled its blade out of the attached scabbard to check if it was still sharp enough to cut after being down here for who knows how long. Not that I felt I really needed to, though, since its info box and my Appraisal ability didn’t suggest it was damaged in any way.
Using my Item Box, I swapped out the bronze sword the Goddess gave me for the new steel one, I hoped that the change in metal really did increase its damage output like it always did in video games, for whatever reason. As soon as it appeared on my hip, I felt a heftier weight tug on my belt. Being that the steel sword was longer than the bronze, I even felt its scabbard scrape across the ground where I knelt down.
Unlike the ring, I didn’t mind making use of this find if I needed to. I'd just take this as an opportunity to up our fighting potential with better equipment like I planned to do from the start. But carrying around a longer sword like this would take time to get used to.
“Mmm,” Yua hummed, her ears flicking, finding interest in something else once our prize turned out to be mostly worthless. “Master, I can hear someone on the other side of this wall.”
Someone? If she meant another Adventurer, I really had to hope that he last of our luck wasn’t wasted on finding this sword.
She pressed her ear against the wall opposite the one she destroyed, expertly avoiding the extra bricks her punch embedded in it, and gestured for me to come over. I went ahead and pressed my ear against the wall right next to her, mildly amused that even a cat-girl like her had to do this to hear through walls and equally impressed that she could even hear anything there to begin, as I didn’t hear anything myself.
But by the time I noticed this, I had only just begun to realize that I was only a few inches from her face. She’s really too pretty. I didn’t even need to look down at the softness she pressed into the stone for a closer listen for her visage to leave me so enraptured.
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“Master, slow your heart down. I can’t hear them properly through the wall.”
“Oh, uh, sorry… I can’t hear as well as you. Can you tell me what they are doing?”
“… Sounds like they are fighting goblins.”
“Hmm, well let’s take a peek.”
I put my hand to the wall and thought to try out Material Destruction again. If I could make a small peephole instead of just taking out a big chunk of wall, since that was the only option available in the game it came from and how I’d been using it so far. Succeeding here would mean I could endlessly increase the number of things I could do with this ability.
I tried not to get my hopes up, but using the Goddess’s advice to just put my mind to have the ability do exactly what I wanted, it worked. Just as expected, a hole about as wide as a quarter bored all the way through the wall. Apparently, all I had to do was will a smaller hole appearing while using the ability and it did. I guess if I don’t think too hard about the shape and size of material I remove, it just defaults to a large block.
Smirking to myself, I put my eye up to the wall to make use of another of my senses since hearing was useless. Yua continued to listen, seemingly a bit easier now that my hole gave her a direction connection to the other side as well.
Just as she said, there was another duo of Adventurers over there battling it out with a pair of goblins. The strange part was that they were only about half Yua’s highest leveled class. A pair of their level shouldn’t have been able to fight on this floor, given how much trouble the last few bosses gave us. Even if Yua had managed it on her own down here well enough to think she could handle a horde of these monsters by herself, that was more or less a fluke where levels were concerned. Her skill in fighting was just that high.
Unlike her and unlike the flaming massacres my new spell casting power created when facing off against the goblins, these two looked to be having trouble getting their short swords anywhere effective enough past the range of the goblins’ spears to deal any lasting damage to them. From my point of view, it almost looked like they were just failing their swords around wildly, but my Swordsman class suggested they were trying to knock away the goblin’s spears the same way Yua could with her bare hands. Guess these two were short on both level and Strength. So, why come to this floor?
Seeing that it was useless, they took a few steps back and started speaking to each other. I could heard them speak now, but they were too far away for any of it to be intelligible.
“Yua, what are they saying?”
“… The one on the left said: Maybe we can beat them if we just rush them. If we’re fast enough, we can stab ‘em before they can jab at us.”
Wow, she can even tell which is on the left and right? Wait…
“What? Are they stupid?”
There was no way a pair of level 5 adventurers were going to be able to pull a stunt like that off. I’m not exactly a melee combat specialist, but if they couldn’t win with range, then they should try to bait an attack, dodge it and slip in close to them where the range of the goblins’ spears would be useless. Trying to just run at them would be suicide.
I focused on them as much as I could through the tiny hole, instantly regretting having made it so small since there was really no need to be sneaky, and checked their info boxes again. Leaning down to see their names a little better, I saw that neither were actually Adventurers. Both held a combat class, Swordsman, but both were only level 1, since it was their side-class. Their main classes were actually Merchant and Letter Carrier.
“Agh!”
Jeremy, the one who’s class suggested he was a glorified mailman, cried out an obvious but inaudible protest. Just as I expected, the Merchant, Devin, tried to rush the goblins and quickly and brutally punished with a spear through the shoulder.
Watching that crude weapon pierce right through a living person made me wince and grab at my own shoulder. Until now, the worst we’d had to deal with was bludgeoning damage and a flesh wound. There wasn’t even that much blood, as the movies taught me to expect. The spear itself just plugged the hole it made, refusing to let Devin’s life juices escape the fate he signed up for. I could only imagine the pain he must have felt, even though I was desperately trying not to. The thought of actually getting speared like that almost made me want to head back to the inn and crawl into bed.
As I was cowering from the fight I wasn’t even a part of, the second goblin tried to finish the wounded Merchant, but his friend managed to smack the spear away similarly to how Yua did earlier, but he managed the feat with a heavy, if not barely accurate, swing of his sword.
However, with his friend crying out in pain and the goblin’s spear able to out-reach his sword still, he didn’t look like he was able to think of a way out. His friend bravely managed to hold onto the spear embedded in his shoulder, but all that did was partially immobilize it and cause him more pain every time the goblin tried to yank it out.
“Yua… let’s help them.”
“But, Master…”
“No buts. At this rate they are going to die and I’m not going to just sit here and let it happen.”
I used Material Destruction to open a hole in the wall for us to get through and keeping low enough to activate my Sneak ability, ran towards the battle.
Honestly, I had no idea why was trying so hard to save them. In my old life, I wouldn’t have even been able to summon up enough courage to talk to them, let alone risk my life for theirs. Yet, here I was drawing my new sword.
It would have been easier to just blow them away with my magic like I have been, but with the two idiots standing so close to the monsters, I feared they might get caught up in the blast. So, I used my one and only sneak attack, assuming the goblins somehow didn’t see me approaching them, and lunged at the one that speared Devin and stabbed it straight in its unguarded chest. It cried out in a pained agony that my magic had so far saved me from hearing.
Surprised by my sudden appearance, Jeremy let himself get distracted and the second goblin, not caring for its partner in the least, tried to lunge at him, but Yua caught its spear with her bare hands, surprising the man even more.
“Now’s your chance,” she said.
Nodding in disbelief at his luck, he pulled back and drove his sword into the goblin a few times, again and again until it finally died. Seeing how mine was still alive, wriggling in agony on my blade but still refusing to let go of its spear to try and escape, I pulled my sword back out and brought it down on its head.
The vibrations against my hands when I struck its skull was more severe than it was when I slashed the forest wolves. So much so that it left the muscles in my hand ringing and made me wonder if going for a head strike was the wrong choice. It obviously softer body likely should have been my target. I suppose that I got just the tiniest bit careless since the Proud Great Wolf, the last enemy I fought with a sword, was just as hard no matter where I struck. Regardless of my ultimate choice, both goblins vanished at about the same time before I or my Swordsman class could come to a conclusion on the matter. With a sigh, I sheathed my sword and checked on the injured man.
The spear that was embedded in his shoulder disappeared along with the Goblins, opening up the wound to the stagnant dungeon air and reigniting the pain. Gritting his teeth, Devin grabbed his shoulder to staunch the bleeding while his friend supported him.
“Thank you. We would have been dead if not for you two.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, really. Thank you. It’s not much, but as thanks, you guys can keep our loot. Come on, let’s get out of here before more of them show up.”
Worried that it didn’t seem they had any potions on them, I watched as Jeremy helped his friend to his feet and as we were given a weak smile and wave as thanks. Due to the blood loss the man could barely stand, so that was likely all he could manage. It may not have hit a vital spot, but a wound that serious could still end up killing him if they didn’t treat it quickly.
When they started back down the path they presumably came from, I checked his info box and saw that, just like Yua yesterday, he was constantly losing more and more health thanks to the continuing blood loss.
Do they not have a healing potion? Why would anyone come down here without at least one? They aren’t even that expensive.
“Hey, wait a second,” I said.
Jeremy turned back, looking worried. And I remembered Yua’s promise to that Adventurer all those years ago when he spoke.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything else to offer you as thanks.”
I waved them off.
“Not that. Just wait a second, will you. Yua, could you heal him? Even if it’s just to stop the bleeding.”
“Yes, Master.”
She bowed her head to me, showing a bit more respect than usual, possibly because there were other people here, and ran to them. I could tell they were just as attracted to her as I was, but neither made a move that would disregard their sincere thanks. So, I let it pass without bringing it up. If anything at this point, I would be a little offended if they didn’t think she was beautiful, since it would make me feel as though I was hallucinating her very existence.
Yua placed her hand over the man’s wounded shoulder and he cried out in pain. His buddy was about to complain, but when Yua called forth her Healing Punch, he quickly shut up and watched her hand emit a green light.
The man’s cries of pain stopped soon after the treatment started and I went to stand next to Yua, just in case she needed the support after she finished. As expected, doing this caused her to break out in a sweat again, but she remained on her feet. I’ve been periodically pumping up her Endurance stat ever other level or so, since she needed so much stamina to use this ability and I was grateful that I did.
The three of us men watched as the wound slowly began to close in on itself. Unlike when she healed my internal injuries, this time I was actually able to watch the skin and muscle tissue slowly repair itself and connect back together, almost like time itself was reversing for his shoulder and only his shoulder. Just like when Yua used that healing potion yesterday, it didn’t even leave a scar when she removed her hand.
“Wow. So, your slave is a Monk? That’s really lucky.”
“Slave?” I asked, wondering how he knew.
“Yea, she called you Master, didn’t she?”
The previously injured Devin rolled his shoulder to test it out and smiled cheerfully. He seemed to be much less amazed to see such a serious flesh wound heal so fast than he was by the fact that Yua had healed him, but that was probably because he’d seen it several times up until now. With as cheap as health potions were, or as cheap as they felt to me, I felt as though I wouldn’t have to go too far out on a limb to assume that most families kept at least one in their homes for a rainy day.
Only just taking notice in him after finding it curious that a Merchant like him wouldn’t have enough coin to spare for a single potion, I took in the full sight of Devin’s thick, braded beard and that he looked to be around thirty years old or so. That combined with how long Yua said it usually takes to level up, he must really suck at the Merchant game if he’s still only level 5 there as well.
Maybe they were down here trying to level their side classes instead? At least, they didn’t seem to be doing this recreationally like Yua would.
“Yea. Yua’s pretty great, isn’t she?”
“M-Master…”
Her face grew a little pink at what I thought to be an obvious statement of fact, but her tail continued to swish despite her fatigue. I checked her status to make sure she wasn’t doing too bad and saw that she had drained about half of her stamina bar again. Since the man’s wound was way worse than mine what the trent gave me, I figured that skill must take roughly the same amount of stamina to use regardless of the damage. Which sounded about as beneficial as it was a hinderance. For now, anyways. Just need to get her more stamina. But I should be able to mitigate that for the time being by not having her heal every little scratch I get in here.
“That aside, why are you two down here anyway? You don’t really look… like Adventurers.”
Wanting to keep them from feeling insulted by my word choice, I steered rejection of their fighting competency right back to their classes. While Devin looked sturdy enough to be an Adventurer, he clearly didn’t have the skill required of one down here. The Apothecary more or less confirmed that your classes do give you some innate knowledge regarding their practice, but his Swordsman class clearly wasn’t picking up the slack after that foolhardy move.
Perhaps coming to the same conclusion about himself, Devin grimaced behind his beard. However, it was Jeremy that answered.
“I, uh… I was sent to deliver an important letter to Devin here. It was penned by his supervisor and I was told it was exceedingly important. So, I chased him into the dungeons to deliver it.”
“You followed him into the dungeon, just to deliver a letter?”
“Yea, he did,” Devin answered. “And a lot of good it did us.”
Devin slammed his meaty fist into the wall, doing significantly less damage to it than Yua. Jeremy flinched, almost as though he felt the punch should have been aimed at him and was fully prepared, but reluctant to take it.
“Why? What letter could be so important that you’d end up fighting goblins just to deliver it?”
“Like he said, it was from my supervisor. As a trainee Merchant, I have to do as he says or I’ll lose my only chance to learn from a pro.”
“But I lost the letter,” Jeremy said. “I was attacked by a gremlin. It stole the letter before I could deliver it.”
Why the hell would a dungeon monster steal a letter of all things, is what I’d like to ask, but the way Jeremy hung his head and with how Devin punched the wall again out of frustration, I ventured to guess that this wasn’t some ridiculous joke to them.
“We’ve been trying to track it,” Jeremy continued. “But neither of us are any good at that sort of thing.”
“Okay… I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why this letter was so important. Can’t you just go back and ask your supervisor about it directly?”
“Ha. If I could. He wouldn’t have sent this fool if it wasn’t time-sensitive. If I don’t follow his orders… Gah! You just don’t get it! He’s one of the most respected Merchants in all of Amoranth. And what’s more, he doesn’t have a son and I’m his only apprentice. If I play my cards right, I may one day be given the keys to his shop. But all I’ve done is mess things up!”
One of the most respected Merchants in Amoranth… After hearing that, one very influential name popped into my head that I’m sure Yua and I both didn’t want to appear here. But just in case I was right and asking would somehow give us a leg up on him, I pressed forward.
“If you don’t mind my asking, who is your supervisor?”
Without needing to lean in to hear his answer, Yua just flicked her ear to show she was listening and following along. Devin, however, just shook his head, as though the question or the way I asked it didn’t matter.
“It’s Morin. Of Morin Imports.”
Yua and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. While I didn’t exactly want this man harmed, I didn’t want to head further into the dungeon knowing that I helped one of Alphonse’s goons. Though, I have no idea who this Morin is. Since my current assumption of Amoranth is that it looks to be some sort of trading hub, the place was probably filled to bursting with merchants I didn’t know.
I was sure that, even if he failed here, he could find work somewhere else. Maybe somewhere less prestigious, but his lacking level wasn’t exactly something to brag about. Hell, for all I know, maybe this Morin isn’t letting his apprentice actively buy and sell, leaving him to do nothing but watch the shop for him so he doesn’t level up. That way, he’s still gaining the knowledge of the art of mercantilism, but isn’t actually putting it to use in a way that would eventually overshadow him.
Nah. I think the more likely explanation is just because this Morin guy owns the goods they are selling, so the EXP doesn’t count towards him when he makes a sale. Makes more sense this way when you take into account the way trade works in this world works. While I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully trust a Merchant again, I was still pretty sure they weren’t all bad people.
My own Merchant class must be lacking even more than I thought if I put any real thought into that first option. I shook my head.
“Sorry about the letter, but you might still have time to just go ask him directly.”
“Yea… Might as well try. I don’t think I have much fight left in me to keep up the ingredient collecting anyways. Come on Jeremy, maybe if we both explain what happened, Mr. Morin will go easy on us.”
“R-right…”
“You guys going to be okay getting out of the dungeon on your own?”
“Yea. We know the way. There wasn’t much fighting on the way here. So, it should be clear still.”
They waved goodbye and left, both of them now able to walk on their own, albeit a bit unstably due to the blood loss.
While I wondered if we should have told them we were the reason why there weren’t all that many monsters left by now, Yua waited until they were out of sight to speak.
“Master is really kind.”
“What? Isn’t helping someone in need just something you’re supposed to do?”
Not that I could really believe that myself. Sure, in my old world, it was commonly accepted that you should help others when and if you could, but that didn’t mean everyone did. I certainly didn’t. At least, not most of the time. The few times I tried, I either ended up getting yelled at for not helping correctly or for making the problem worse. So, eventually I just stopped trying, save for doing little things like helping the more vertically challenged elderly by grabbing products off the higher shelves in the supermarket.
She shook her head and gazed up at me, a faint pink tinge still coloring her cheeks.
“Master, there are a lot of people in this world that need help. People who are hungry, who are sick, who are hurt, but most people just turn their heads and ignore them. They think, it’s not me, so it doesn’t matter. Not many people go out of their way to help, because if they do, they themselves may end up like those they tried to help.”
I suppose it’s true that people that actually go around spending their own money trying to help those less fortunate may end up spending more than their means could actually allow, only to bankrupt themselves if they aren’t careful, but that’s something else entirely. There’s helping someone when you can and there’s putting yourself too far out there. I think people are just overly cautious of that happening.
Then, of course, there’s the innate human cautious distaste for shoving your nose where it doesn’t belong. I can’t begin to say how many times my good intentions got me in trouble back on Earth, specifically because the thing I tried to help out with either wasn’t meant for my eyes or because the person was stubborn enough to refuse help.
What I did was nothing special. I just didn’t want to bear witness to a death that I could prevent. I didn’t feel myself so lost in my own self-pity that I couldn’t help someone else in dire straits when I had the means to easily solve their problem. Besides, ignoring that I could help so easily would just be sheer laziness. And lazy was one thing I just could not allow myself to be anymore.
“It’s fine,” I said. “You and I can handle Goblins easily, so it’s not like we were in any danger. If anything, this was a slight detour that just so happened to lead to helping someone. We even got paid for our efforts, so it’s not like we did this out of the goodness of our hearts.”
I picked up the two spears the goblins dropped and shook them in front her before disappearing them into my item box.
Yua’s lips turned up into a smile, like she didn’t understand what I said and continued to gaze at me. Feeling a bit embarrassed by her unflinching eye contact, I felt my cheeks get hot.
Then her eyes grew sharp, angry. Without so much as a word of warning, she bared her fangs in a snarl and lunged at me. The turn was so sudden, it reminded me of the way the goblins filled with hate so instantaneously.
“Iron Fist!”
Before I could think of what to do or muster up the brain power to tell my arms to throw themselves up in front of my face self-defense, Yua called out her favorite ability and let her glowing fist fly. My eyes could barely follow the trajectory of her fist as it flew, not towards me, but towards something right behind me. Just when I realized this, I heard the sickening crunch of bones being pulverized and then something heavy being slammed into the wall so hard that it split the stone.
Gulping back a flinch, I spun around to see what it was and found her fist rammed so far into the chest of a creature that she might have punched straight through it were it not for the wall stopping her fist’s momentum. The creature was a bit shorter than the goblins and unlike them, it wore proper clothes. Baggy and tattered ones, but clothes nonetheless. If you didn’t count the ugly wrinkled face and the jagged teeth, half of which were scattered across the floor, it would have looked almost human.
But I hadn’t seen it until it was already dead. Where had the damn thing come from? I turned on my heel, facing the hole we made in the wall and found that there was a path running perpendicular to it that I hadn’t noticed when I raced to help the others.
Shit. I didn’t even think to check for other monsters when we jumped in. Am I relying on Yua too much? Her ears are strong, no doubt, but she’s still just a person. She can mess up and get distracted too.
Still. To think this thing could have caused Yua’s expression to suddenly become filled with a bloodlust so palpable that it almost made me forget that she was truly on my side after clearing up that whole thief thing. I checked its info box to see what it was before it could fade away and tugged at my collar.
“S-So, this is one of those gremlins you were talking about?”
“Yes, Master,” she said, clenching her fist at it, as if daring its corpse to get back up. “It snuck up behind you and was about to steal your staff.”
“My staff? I don’t think something that small would have been able to tear this from my hand. I’d be more concerned if it came at me with a knife or something.”
Tearing her glare away from the Gremlin, she shook her head disapprovingly at me.
“No, Master. When you aren’t prepared for a fight, your grip on your weapons loosens a little. It happens to everyone. Gremlins wait for that moment to strike because they’ll be able to get away right after without having to worry about getting hit as soon as they’re noticed.”
I nodded, unable to refute that at all, since I hadn’t noticed the quality of my grip at all. I had no problem taking her word for it, but since I was still shaking a bit from the sound of the impact. I’m just glad that punch wasn’t aimed at me.
I checked what it dropped when it finally burst into light and faded away and found only the burlap sack it had apparently been holding. That must be how it was planning on stowing away whatever it stole. However, when I picked the thing up, I felt a light, but definable weight inside it.
“Hmph. Trying to steal Master’s things after he went out of his way to help someone. Unforgivable!”
I chuckled to myself.
While I was sure that Yua could have handled the twin goblins here with relative ease, the gremlin was clearly even weaker than them. Even if it managed to get my staff, I could have just blasted it with magic and still probably killed it in one hit. Or Yua could have chased it down before it even reached the corner. My spell and Yua’s fists would have put the staff at risk of breaking, since it was only made of wood, but unless the gremlin used the thing as a shield, it would have been fine.
I put my hand on her head between her perky cat ears, amused at how worked up she got on my behalf and tussled her hair a bit. I had done so without thinking, but instead of getting mad, she just smiled at me. She even pressed her head against my palm to increase the pressure I put on her just a little, sort of like a cat begging for more petting when you try to pull away.
Why is she so cute? Come on!
“Th-Thank you for protecting me.”
“Of course!”
I wondered if her happiness was because of my praise, or because she thought of it as getting revenge on the monster that caused her to get arrested and then enslaved all those years ago. I’m sure it was the latter, but I hoped it was both as I stuffed my hand into the burlap sack and felt the corner of a stiff piece of paper prick my finger.
Realizing immediately that the existence of paper in this dungeon, and in a gremlin’s bag no less, could only mean one thing, I tore the envelope out and looked it over. As expected, on the front was written simply “To Devin,” but the back held a wax seal that had been pressed with the symbol of a fish weighing down one side of a scale. Taking this seal to mean that he and Morin ran some sort of nautical-themed shop, it only brought into question why he was down here farming goblins, when the only ingredients that I knew them to drop were their ears. I silently swore not to eat any fish in this city for fear of what they might be seasoning them with, but it didn’t matter.
I flipped the envelope so Yua could look at who it was addressed to. She smiled up at me and, without my asking her to do a thing, she took off running for the two idiots. I followed close behind as her nose led us straight to them. Naturally, since our levels were much higher and our Speed greater, we reached them in no time.
“Devin, wait,” I called, holding out the letter. “I think we found your…”
“Give it here!”
Before I could even get the words out, the bearded man snatched at the letter as soon as he saw it. I made sure to let go before he could be considered a Thief for taking it, assuming it even counted as mine after Yua killed the gremlin.
Without so much as wasting a breath to wait and show Jeremy what we handed him, Devin tore the seal off the envelope with that same greedy smile Merchants seemed to enjoy wearing so much and flipped its pages open to read its contents. While we watched him silently run his eyes over the paper, we explained to Jeremy what happened.
When our brief retelling of the already brief encounter with the gremlin was done with, he sighed and palmed his forehead.
“To think we were so close to finding the bastard.”
“Yea, but think of it like this,” I said. “The gremlin was probably waiting to sneak up on you during your fight with the goblins to take something else.”
If the little shits were smart enough to wait until you relaxed your grip on your weapons to jump on you, then surely they were smart enough to know when you were too distracted with battle to notice their approach. Our sudden appearance probably just gave it pause. It then changed its plans when it saw these two leave while Yua and I stayed.
“Probably,” Jeremy sighed again, but when he looked to the paper in Devin’s hands, he looked relieved.
“Ha. That’s it?” Devin laughed. “I took a spear for this? Hell, this won’t take but an hour at best.”
“What’s so funny?”
“Hahaha. Mr. Morin wishes for me to deliver a message to an old friend of his. Apparently, the Amoranth Auction House has some interesting enchanted items for sale tomorrow.”
“… I don’t see why that was worth risking your life to learn.”
“Hahaha! Because that’s not all! He also wants me to use this chance to get in good with his friend. You know, build a business relationship and what not.”
“And that’s only going to take an hour?”
“Of course! I have a way with words, you know? How else do you think I got this fool to stay and fight with me to find the letter? With a goblin’s sword, no less!”
He laughed again, but I hadn’t even noticed Jeremy was using a goblin’s sword until he pointed it out. I thought it was just a short one. Now that I look at it, it looks more like a long dagger, than a short sword. Devin must have given it to him from his own loot when he asked him to stay.
Jeremy didn’t seem to find the moniker of fool to be all that impressive despite the jovial laughter of what I assumed to be his friend lighting up the dungeon a little. He shot Devin a glare and crossed his arms, almost stabbing himself with the goblin sword in the process.
“And I believe you promised me a gold piece for my troubles. I hope you didn’t forget. I’m a courier, not a fighter.”
“I didn’t. I didn’t! You’ll have your coin once we make it out of here.”
Still beaming with joy, but looking like he only just remembered he was in a hurry, Devin turned to us.
“Thank you so much for finding this. I’m sure it means nothing to you, but this right here is just another step towards my future.”
“I understand. Glad we were able to catch you.”
“As am I! Oh, what luck that you managed to find this for me when I’d already given up!”
“Yea… well, you better get going. Now that you know what to do and all.”
“Will do! Come, Jeremy. No more dawdling.”
“You’re the one that stopped to read in the middle of the dungeon...”
“Oh, quit your griping. Help me get out of here in one piece and I’ll make you my official courier once I take over the shop!”
“… I look forward to it. But if you’re…”
As their backs receded into the distance on their way out of the dungeon, their conversation drew further than my ears would allow me to listen. Yua, of course, could likely hear it all and if her smile was anything to go by, Devin was likely fostering a second business relationship today. Good for him. I guess.
Yua’s ears gave a flick, but when I looked over my shoulder, prepared to end another gremlin, she giggled. Seemingly, though, her laugh wasn’t aimed at my misinterpretation of her involuntary act.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” she said, failing to hide even an inch of her smile behind the finger she touched to her lip. “Master really has been lucky today, hasn’t he?”
“… Yea. I guess so. And I hope to get lucky again later… Oh, uh, I didn’t mean it like that!”
Yua tilted her head. Still smiling, she didn’t seem to understand why I got flustered at my own words. Meanwhile, my heart was dancing all over the place at the implications.
Of course. “Getting lucky” probably wasn’t a common phrase in this world.
“Master?”
“Oh, uh, it’s nothing. I just… Have a good feeling about tomorrow.”
“Hehe. Me too!”