The sewers were a dark, damp place. It was also very narrow. Even as someone of below-average size, Jelyn’s arm span was still longer than the passage was at its widest. The ceiling was also very low. Though they weren’t enough to affect the children, she still had to duck her head to move.

Surprisingly, despite the sickening smell, the water flowing through the channel was primarily clean. Everybody was already asleep, after all. Even the slimes, which usually spent their entire lives eating the excrement and garbage that made their way into the sewers, were slumbering in groups of 5 to 6.

Well, that was to be expected, however. The Pharmacy Guild had just tasked, or instead forced, a group of their novices to conduct the regular cleansing of the system a few days ago… which she had the unfortunate luck to be a part of. Combined with the efficiency of the monsters that inhabited that area, the passage was still very usable.

“Is everyone doing okay?”

Jelyn turned her gaze back to where the kids were. Like her, they were all wearing rags to cover their faces. They had an impression that it was to prevent the smell from entering their nose. That was true. But for the most part, it was to avoid anything from the sewers from making contact with their noses and mouths. Those were the prime access points for disease-causing liquids and solids. As for those that travel by air, there was little they could do except wear more layers. But Jelyn had no time to explain it to them. All she told them was that it would block the stench, which was simple enough for the kids to understand.

As expected, most of them had really sour looks on their faces. There was unbridled fear mixed with the disgust they felt at travelling in such a place. But she knew for sure that their little sewer escapade was the cause of their nausea.

It wasn’t that bad. Though the floor and the walls had become soiled from leftover grime that the slimes hadn’t cleaned yet, it was still vastly cleaner than most of the slums. What really surprised Jelyn was how fast the kids became used to the clean environment Soleil had provided them within just a couple of weeks.

“Ugh!” Gered groaned. “We should never have listened to that guy! Why is he making us walk on shit?”

Jelyn frowned. They weren’t stepping on excrement. It was just slime trails. And compared to actual sewage, these were much less unhygienic.

“Didn’t they say there would be undead coming? Then we should go somewhere safe.”

“Since when did you start sucking up on that guy, Tisse? Oh, you like him, don’t you? You looked so happy when he said he’ll teach you how to fight. Will you ask him for some “private” lessons next?”

“... I’ll kill you.”

After being beaten handily by Matthias the day before, Gered had sunk into an easily-irritable mood. But did he actually expect to be able to defeat a registered adventurer? Jelyn wasn’t familiar with how good Soleil’s party leader was, but simply from the self-proclaimed demon lord’s stories, he could at least keep up. Not to mention Jelyn’s friend, Ellen, had told her how Soleil and Matthias had dealt with the undead drake together. From that alone, Jelyn was sure that the pair were, at the very least qualified to be at the same rank as the strongest party in the town, at least in terms of power.

… Then how strong would they be if they had that hunter with them? Jelyn shivered. She really didn’t want to remember that person.

That said, she had to ask again; did he actually think he could defeat Soleil’s partner? The kids knew about how the undead drake battle went, after all.

Maybe it was just Gered’s crush on Soleil clouding his judgment.

“Can you two please stop?” Jelyn asked tiredly. She hadn’t had much sleep, if at all. Leftover work at the guild because she had to take care of the children during the daytime forced her to stay awake for almost thirty hours already. She struggled to keep herself up. Really, the only reason why she hadn’t collapsed was because of the emergency they were in.

“He started it!”

“You kissed ass first.”

“What is wrong with you?!”

Things escalated, and the two found themselves in a prime position to exchange blows. But before that happened, Ekl managed to wedge himself between the two. He pushed both of them away and moved to hold his sister down. On the other hand, Dorian tried to hold Gered down.

“Children! You’re being too loud. You’re waking up the slimes.”

In the spur of the moment, Jelyn came up with an excellent way to calm them down.

None liked the greenish, yellowish brownish slimes that populated the passages. They were only able to walk through them because the monsters were asleep. True enough, the commotion they were causing made some of the slimes stir. The blood on their faces drained in horror. Only Jelyn knew that those slimes would only wake up if either they detected dead matter nearby or the night had turned to day.

The tension worked in her favor, and they forgot about their argument. But instead, it was replaced by an even more profound sense of dread for what was supposed to come. While it wasn’t a good state of mind, it was far better than letting them continue picking on each other.

If Jelyn was being perfectly honest, she was probably much more anxious than the kids. Every time she thought of the undead, the faces of her friends would appear in her mind. Her childhood memories of playing with them would overlap with their corpses reanimating as undead. It would make her blood go cold, and her mind would blank. Even as she feigned confidence at the head of the group, she tried her best not to let the kids notice her trembling knees and lightheadedness.

Suffering a panic attack was fine and all. She hadn’t yet recovered from their deaths, and there was a bit of trauma from the suddenness of it all. But that could wait until she was alone. The person who saved her last remaining companion had entrusted the kids’ safety to her. So, she forcefully pushed down the urge to vomit and cry to placate the children. Whether or not she could keep her cool when she reencountered another undead would be up to her future self to determine.

“How strong are a bunch of zombies and skeletons, anyway? Bet we can kick them back to the grave.”

As usual, Gered’s words were arrogant and conceited. Jelyn shook her head.

While it was confirmed that a single zombie or skeleton wasn’t much of a threat that even she could handle one of them, they rarely, if ever, appeared alone. Similar to insects, low-level undead were swarm monsters. But in a group, their threat rank was two levels higher than if they were found individually.

But…that difficulty assessment only applied to adventurers. That did not mean that commoners could quickly deal with an E-ranked skeleton. In the first place, adventurers weren’t usually recommended to fight dungeon monsters when they were at the beginner’s rank, as they would not be able to deal with even the weakest of them properly. A great example would be… her party. Without their priestess, just a few undead were able to annihilate their party.

Jelyn felt bile claw up her throat.

“Please don’t underestimate the undead. We don’t have a priestess here, and if there’s enough of them, then we’ll burn through the holy water we brought.”

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“But that guy managed to beat a bunch of them, right? That means the undead aren’t much.”

“Gosh, he really hates Sir Matthias.”

She couldn’t help but strike her face with her palm. Gered would have already lost his tongue if Matthias had been like any other noble.

“Wait, maybe he didn’t. He just let Teacher beat them up and then claimed credit for it. Teacher is strong after a–”

“Are you trying to sound stupid, or are you actually retarded?” Tisse looked visibly upset despite half of her face being covered by rags. “Do you really think Sister Soleil would stay with him if he were like that?”

“He must have offered her money. What else can a stuck-up noble do?”

“Oh, so you think Sister Soleil would stoop so low as to be baited by money? You think she’s dumb, huh?”

Gered’s face twisted in anger and yelled, “I did not say that!”

“But that’s what you’re implying.”

She was right. Jelyn almost laughed at how thoughtless Gered’s words were. And judging by his expression, he must have realized that Tisse had a point. But instead of taking his words back, he reacted in a way that fit his character.

“You–”

“Stop it already!”

It was too late. Once again, the two were at each other's throats. But since they had been pulled apart earlier without a chance to reconcile, their frustration towards the other only increased with that instance to the point where their childish patience couldn’t handle it anymore. Ekl could still reign his sister in, but Dorian could no longer hold Gered, who had a much larger build, back. He quickly managed to wring Dorian’s arms off and push her away before running to Tisse–

“Gered! What the hell are you doing?!”

Jelyn’s nausea caused her to move too slowly. By the time she managed to grab onto Gered’s shoulders and pull him back, there was already a bruise on Tisse’s face. Jelyn felt her blood go cold as an awkward silence took over the group.

Most of the children had mixed reactions regarding what had happened. Tisse, whose head had been knocked to the side from the punch, stared at the empty walls in shock. Ekl had a look of outrage on his face but thankfully managed to stop himself from retaliating. Muon seemed like he was about to cry, while Dorian looked utterly confused. The only person insensitive to the incident was the perpetrator, who had a ridiculing smile as if he had won the argument.

“You’re not so tough without your brother.”

Tisse didn’t reply. Instead, she swung her head back so she could glare at him. It was then that Jelyn noticed that her left hand was already on her sword. She might have drawn it if her brother didn’t have a good hold on her shoulders.

By then, Jelyn had utterly forgotten about the undead threat looming over them. Her mind became occupied with trying to think of how to diffuse the situation. Of course, she could try making Gered apologize. But will he? There was a good chance that he’ll make everything worse. No, wait, she thought. He will definitely do so.

Jelyn was well aware that he had a one-sided crush on Soleil. He adored and idolized her strength and “sense of justice”. But because of that, he also thought of everybody else as inferior to her. That was why when he had learned that Soleil was only a “mere” member of the party she was in, he was understandably resentful to whomever it was that, in his mind, took her rightful place. But, during that time, he had nobody to point his vexation towards. So, he immersed himself in his training with the hope that one day he’ll be able to join his mentor out on the field.

That was an impossible dream, however. Jelyn knew that all too well. Soleil’s strength was too abnormal. She clearly remembered the day when she came to her rescue. That memory was tied to her trauma, so it wasn’t something she’ll forget anytime soon. What kind of person could create craters on the ground from just landing? And after listening to Emma’s account of what happened, Jelyn was sure that Matthias’ party was made up of monsters.

And while Gered certainly did train hard, there was a sizable difference between those who only did so and those who exerted effort and had talent. And Gered, in his worship of Soleil, had tried to copy even her method of fighting. But he did not have the knack for it.

Jelyn was at least aware of that much. In his case, Matthias had made that point clear.

“Your moves are the same as Soleil’s. Not gonna lie, it doesn’t fit you.”

Matthias was his greatest enemy. He stood to deny everything Gered believed and worked for. And Matthias managed to do so with intending to.

Jelyn knew Matthias didn’t force Soleil to be a member of his party; she was the one who joined him. The “leader“ position wasn’t taken from Soleil; she gave it to him. He didn’t take credit for defeating the undead drake; she needed him to win.

It wasn’t a stretch to say that the one who went against Gered’s lofty idealism of her was Soleil herself.

Jelyn sighed. Things shouldn’t continue as they were. Besides being a little mean with Gered the day before, Matthias didn’t do anything wrong. And since she owed her life to them, she felt obligated to help them in any way she could. Even if Gered wouldn’t listen, she should still do her best.

So she pulled on his shoulders and grasped them so they could look at each other.

First, she would tell him to apologize to Tisse and perhaps her brother. Then, she would tell him he was wrong as best as she could. That was a start. The conversation should at least happen. She would take her time explaining what Soleil should have done from the start. That was the plan.

But… things rarely went according to plan.

The moment Jelyn opened her mouth, her hearing, which had sharpened due to the relative silence of the sewers, picked up a particular sound.

Footsteps.

Immediately, she turned to look at the other kids. None of them was walking. But the footsteps were still there, coming closer and closer.

The three beastkin siblings had already noticed it and had their eyes focused on the direction from which they came. Dorian saw it a beat slower than the rest, likely because of some remaining tinnitus after hitting her head.

None of them uttered a sound. Everybody kept their ears peeled, particularly for any groaning sound that would give a zombie away. But none of them heard it. What’s more, the footsteps were light and regular. It was definitely not the pace a zombie or even a skeleton would have.

“Kids. Get behind me,” Jelyn whispered with a trembling voice.

While she didn’t want to be the first in line on the zombie buffet, she would much rather protect the children than herself. But surprisingly, of the five children, the only one that was forced to the back was Muon. Tisse, Ekl, Dorian, and even Gered maintained their positions and looked poised to fight.

Jelyn smiled. Despite their differences, they were still good kids at the end of the day.

And so they stood there, waiting. The glowing mushroom plant she had brought could only illuminate at most five meters from where she stood. In a way, instead of providing them with a safe bubble, it just made the darkness ahead of them all the more oppressive. What monsters were hiding in the dark? Jelyn could imagine rotten hands suddenly extending from the dark to engulf them.

She forcefully swallowed the mouthful of vomit that rose from her stomach. It was not the time to puke, she thought.

After what seemed like an eternity, the first vestiges of the figure appeared before them. First, a foot. Then, their bosom. When Jelyn saw their face, she felt faint.

Manna stood before them. Her outline was blurred under the dim light of her glowing fungus. It was like her body was trying to return to the darkness behind her. While she looked inhumanly spectral, Jelyn did not doubt that it was her.

The dread she felt was clear proof of the other party’s identity.

“M… Miss Manna…”

She nervously bowed. Her clothes rubbed uncomfortably against her sweaty back. The shaking of her knees intensified to a level more unbearable than before. She struggled to utter words through her rapidly-drying throat.

“What… what brings you here? Is it–”

“Shut up.”

After hearing those words, Jelyn immediately bowed her head further and quieted herself. A simple statement from Manna was enough to raise all of Jelyn’s hair. While it may have been nothing but an order for her to keep quiet, for her, it was like being chastised by a cruel murderer. She could clearly feel the huntress’ displeasure. And that fact frightened her to her core.

Manna strode towards them nonchalantly. Her steps were measured, consistent and… almost deathly quiet. Unlike when she approached them, nobody could tell she was moving unless they saw her with their eyes. Did she purposefully create noise earlier to announce her presence? Regardless of what it was, the mere fact that she wasn’t trying to pass them made Jelyn’s heart beat fiercely.

What did she want?

Did she even want to find out?

“What the hell do you w–”

“Keep quiet, Gered!”

Jelyn’s shout almost sounded like she was begging. Even the children were shocked by the apparent desperation in her voice. But she couldn’t help it.

She didn’t want any of them to die.

“You’re… Gered, right?”

At that moment, Jelyn felt her heart stop.

She heard the sound of a blade being drawn.

Immediately, Jelyn raised her head. And just as she feared, Manna had her dagger firmly against Gered’s neck.

“I came here to fetch everyone. But I changed my mind. Let’s go sightseeing, shall we?”