I gently lift Lexia up, she sucks in air between her teeth as she wraps her arm around my shoulder. With each painful step, she clenches my shirt tighter and tighter; her nails are starting to dig into my skin.

Eda throws Cayden on her back. Her puffy eyes shift back to us, Lexia and Eda both stare at each other for a moment, but no argument ensues. Eda Goes to another tunnel at the end of the room, and we silently follow. Lexia's ragged breath is the only sound that can be heard as we make our way to the dungeon core. I know we are getting close to the core because the smell of rotten eggs is now so thick it makes me want to puke; I'm not the only one as Lexia covers her mouth as she makes a retching sound.

"Cayden was very close to death." Eda says, breaking the silence. "He had to use a skill that drained his health just to keep up."

"Well-" Lexia coughs up a lung as she tries to speak. "We made it, didn't we? Risking your life is part of the adventurer business, that's how it is."

"You convinced him to help you get the core, Cayden usually knows what is and isn't too strong for us. He didn't know you two enough to properly gauge your abilities, so he misjudged how likely we were to win."

"Your point being?"

"My point being that he could've died here, and it would've been your fault," Eda states calmly. There is no anger or sadness in her voice, but it's hard to tell how she feels when she's facing away from us.

Lexia opens her mouth, but with no proper retort, she closes it. It feels like both of them are too tired to talk anymore, I feel just fine though, so maybe I should be the one to continue the conversation.

"Cayden is really strong," I say, trying to steer the conversation towards something a little bit more positive.

"He is," Eda says, her head turns to take a good look at the unconscious Cayden on her back. "We've been friends since we were kids. He used to be such a quiet kid, I remember when I first found him swinging a stick in the middle of the wood. I yelled at him for stomping on some flowers that I needed, and he cried like a baby. That was...fifteen years ago." She turns around to face us, now walking backward. "How about you two, friends or...?"

"We're just two adventurers working together, nothing more," Lexia replies. "We met in the adventurer's guild a week ago as I was searching for party members, it's not much of a story."

A smirk creeps up on Eda's tired face. "That's a relief, you would've been a terrible childhood friend."

"Yeah, I would've been." Lexia nods before coughing some more.

Eda's grin turn into a disappointed frown, she's about to say something else before she bumps into another door behind her. We all look at the wooden door, out of place in what was thus far only stone and dirt. Eda does not hesitate to turn the knob and open the door into a brand-new room, the horrible stench assault our noses as a glowing, cracked orange orb present itself in the middle of the room, it is suspended in the air by roots growing out of the roof.

Eda casually snatches the core out of the roots and puts it in her inventory.

"That's anti-climactic..." Lexia is holding her nose, so she sounds like a duck.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Cores rarely put a lot of defenses in their room. There's just too much mana there for any traps to work properly." She lets out a heavy sigh. "Let's leave before this place falls apart."

****

Finding the way out was easy enough, since Lexia had the foresight of keeping a map of the place as we were exploring it. The hard part was pushing the unconscious Cayden through the smaller tunnels that could only fit one of us; Lexia was making pained sounds every time she had to move by herself, but she managed.

"I healed you multiple times, how are you still so weak you can't move?" Eda asks as we crawl out of the dungeon entrance.

"I gave some of my endurance to James so that he could heal, but now my immune system is awful and everything huuurts," Lexia whines.

"How selfless of you." Eda says.

"Shut up, you." Lexia snaps back. "Seriously, everything hurts. I want to get back my endurance in a hot bath, it should lessen the pain a little. Walking all the way back to the city sounds like a pain though..."

"I could carry you," I say.

"You wha- ACK!" Lexia yelps as I grab her ankle and her back, then lift her up into a bridal carry. She opens and closes her mouth as if she was gasping for air, her head snapping in all directions but mine.

Eda giggles. "That's a good idea, like this she won't have to walk."

"DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!" She shouts. "J-James, come on. Just drop me, I'm a tough girl, I can take it."

"But you saved me back then, so it's only normal for me to help," I reply.

Eda can barely contain her laughter. "Make sure to hold her very close to you, it will make carrying her easier, which means you're less likely to hurt her."

I nod, that makes perfect sense.

"WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAY- MRPH!" Her voice is muffled as I pull her closer to my chest. She painfully pulls her head out and stares daggers at me. "I'm not some kind of princess in distress, if you bring me here like this they'll think I did nothing while you literally carried me all the way there."

Eda rolls her eyes. "Ho, that's what's bothering you." She sounds disappointed. "I'm carrying Cayden on my back, and I doubt anyone will think he didn't contribute at all; I carry him to safety like this all the time." She readjusts Cayden in a bridal carry of her own. "Here, better?"

"It's not the same- whatever, it's better if I'm not the only one carried like this. I guess." She pouts. For some reason, she's back to hiding her face in my chest, I thought she didn't like that--I don't understand her at all.

I guess Eda was right about this being the best way to carry her, as she stops complaining or making any sound at all when we reach the town. We do get a few weird stares, but nothing particularly damning. I don't get why Lexia was making such a big deal out of it.

We drop Cayden and Lexia in an inn. Eda leaves, saying she'll sell the core and come back soon enough, so it's up to me to take care of both of them until she comes back--however long that is.

I gently lower Lexia on the same bed as Cayden, she doesn't look as angry as before, just defeated.

"Why would you put me next to hi- nevermind, that might piss her off if she finds me next to her crush when I come back. That will teach her, maybe I could put my arms around him...mhh, maybe that would be going too far," Lexia mutters. "Did anyone see us? Or look at us weird?"

"A few, why?" I reply.

"Because I don't want people to think I was a deadweight when I boasted about being so strong back then. They'll make fun of me." She rolls around on the bed, accidentally bumping into Cayden.

"I thought you wanted to set your own goals, without it depending on others. I don't understand why it matters what others think if your goal has nothing to do with them." I crouch down next to her. I really don't understand what she wants, Eda is rather honest and straightforward, but it always feels like Lexia is hiding something from me.

"I- yeah but...ugh." She stares at me in silence, as if she's expecting me to find an answer to the weird sounds she just emitted. "It's...it's a long story- well, it's not a long story, but it is a dumb story and-" She mumbles under her breath; I get closer so I can hear her better.

"A dumb story is better than having no story to tell at all," I say. It feels like I never really had anything to tell about myself before Egglin, I think people are lucky to have stories to tell at all.

"Fine." Lexia finally gives in. "Just don't tell anyone else and...promise you won't make fun of me, alright?"