Even If We're Not Friends, I Can Still Comfort You
Even if we're not friends, I can still give a comforting pat, right?
I advanced through the cave, taking the lead. Since it was a straight path, there weren't any real issues. Of course, there were a few strange traps along the way, but I simply rolled a stone ahead to trigger them first and clear them out.
Clatter.
"Kerrrrrk."
And at last we encountered our first monster: a single goblin clutching a crude sword. Spotting us as we emerged deeper into the cave, the creature screeched in clear alarm.
"Kerrk! Kerrrrrrk!"
I had no idea what it was saying. Still, the hostility was easy enough to read—it drew its blade with a sharp kiing and charged. The distance gave me more than enough time to nock an arrow. The goblin's scramble was so sluggish I could have taken my time and still put it down easily. Yet I never loosed the shot.
"Hm?"
In the end it was Ceryll who finished the goblin in a single stroke. Her blade flicked out almost lazily and separated the creature's head from its torso.
"Kieek."
The goblin vanished without even realizing it had been cut, dissolving into light the way monsters were supposed to when they died.
"Reina, why didn't you shoot?" Ceryll asked while shaking the blood from her sword. She didn't sound accusing—only curious.
I had meant to keep conversation to the bare minimum, but this much felt safe enough to answer.
"Ceryll, arrows aren't free."
"Huh?"
She gave me a look that clearly said What on earth are you talking about?
"Sure, you can recover a spent arrow and use it again, but the durability drops every time. In the end, the fewer arrows you waste, the better."
"…You're saying you held back because you didn't want to waste an arrow?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
"If they get too worn out you can just buy new ones, can't you?"
I clicked my tongue. This is why rich people are the way they are.
"I can't afford that kind of luxury."
I was far from wealthy, and arrows cost an absurd amount for what they were. The academy handed out a basic supply, but once those ran dry you had to buy replacements out of pocket. "Besides, it feels wasteful just to buy the ordinary ones. I'd rather save up for enchanted arrows instead."
"I see."
Ceryll nodded with an expression that said she still didn't really get it. Fair enough—her family was the chancellor's house. Money would never be a problem for her.
"So I'll leave the goblins to you. I'm handling the traps, so that much should be fine, right?"
It wasn't as if I was doing nothing, after all.
"All right."
She agreed without protest.
We pressed forward, ignoring the traps as we went. Whenever a wider chamber opened up, we readied for combat. The single goblin from earlier had grown into a pack of ten before long. Of course they still weren't the slightest threat to Ceryll.
"Kegehgek!"
Ten ants will never bring down an elephant, no matter how many there are. This was only a low-rank dungeon, and everything was going remarkably smoothly.
"Whew. Looks like that's the last of them."
Ceryll surveyed the cave. There was no further passage leading deeper. We had cut down every goblin from entrance to end, so by all rights the dungeon should have been cleared. Her relief made perfect sense.
I, however, felt none of it.
A dungeon break is about to happen.
One minute after the final goblin falls, the break triggers. The monster that appears is a single golem—massive enough to be called a boss, and it keeps regenerating unless you smash its core. I already had a plan for that, so the fight itself wouldn't be the real problem.
…The hardest part was always just walking to where the golem waited.
If you couldn't defeat it, you couldn't leave. The golem was strong, true, but the real issue was that it appeared in a newly formed tunnel at the absolute deepest point of the cave. Reaching it took three full days of walking even if you slept along the way. Neither the original protagonist nor Ceryll had expected anything like that, so they went in completely unprepared. They took turns napping in short snatches and never got a real meal. At one point Ceryll tried eating something she found inside the dungeon and nearly died—enough said.
Well, I came prepared.
Knowing what was coming, I had brought everything we would need. Aside from the actual fight with the golem, nothing else should go wrong.
Ceryll, of course, knew none of this and couldn't hide her confusion.
"H-huh? Why isn't the exit portal appearing?"
The moment the words left her mouth—
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The entire cave began to shake. I tried to stay on my feet, but it was impossible. I ended up on the ground, staring hard at the trembling dungeon around us.
It's weird that not even a single pebble is falling.
An earthquake this strong ought to bring the cave down… not that I had any desire to test that theory. We would be dead for sure if it collapsed.
Soon the shaking stopped.
"D-does this always happen when a dungeon is cleared?" Ceryll cried in panic.
I shook my head. "No."
"Right? I was only ever taught that a portal appears. Nobody mentioned anything like this."
She kept glancing around, still hunting for a portal that would never show up.
"Ah!"
Suddenly she thrust an arm upward as if she had found something. Her fingertip pointed straight at the ceiling. I looked up and saw a massive hole that definitely hadn't been there a moment earlier.
"Was that always there?" she tilted her head.
"It wasn't."
"So the earthquake just now made it?"
"Yeah."
Ceryll clearly had no idea a dungeon break had occurred. I decided not to scare her by explaining it. Of course, I was currently under the effect of the honesty drug, so I still had to be careful with my words.
"Maybe there's a monster left up there?"
"There is. That's why the dungeon won't end."
"That must be it, then."
Saying so, she hopped lightly into the air. The height would have been impossible for an ordinary person, yet Ceryll cleared it with ease. Even so, the ceiling was unnaturally high; she never came close to reaching it.
"There's probably some kind of mechanism," I said.
"A mechanism? Ah… yeah, you couldn't just climb something that tall."
She nodded as if that made sense and began feeling along the cave wall. I scurried over to the opposite side and started searching as well.
Where is it?
I knew a device existed, but not its exact location. This place is needlessly huge, so finding it might take a while.
Yet I located it almost at once. Reina's eyes weren't only good at spotting traps—they were perfect for finding mechanisms like this too.
Click.
A soft sound rang out and the center of the floor rose slightly. Pulling the lever would lift the platform upward, almost like a modern elevator. The height meant it would take a little while to reach the top, but that shouldn't be a problem.
"If you pull this, we can go up," I said, stepping onto the raised section.
Ceryll eyed me. "Is that thing safe? Shouldn't we test it first?"
"It's fine. No problem."
In truth it was single-use. If we didn't ride it now, we never would.
"Still…"
She kept hesitating. Left with no choice, I walked over, took her hand, and pulled her onto the platform with me.
"R-Reina?"
The uncharacteristic gesture clearly startled her. Ignoring that, I tugged the lever. It resisted more than expected; someone weak wouldn't have managed it easily.
Archers are surprisingly strength-based, after all.
Do you have any idea how much power it takes just to draw a bowstring?
Whirrrrr.
The floor began to rise. At the same time—
"Kyaaah!"
A scream rang out.
Huh?
There was no one here but Ceryll and me, and I certainly hadn't made that sound. Which meant…
Whirrr.
The platform accelerated the slightest bit.
"Eek!"
Another cry, and suddenly my collar was seized. Of course it was Ceryll.
"Ceryll?"
"U-uuuh…"
She stood with her eyes squeezed shut, staring at the floor. Her shoulders were trembling. Seeing that, I finally understood.
Right… Ceryll is terrified of heights.
She had already jumped higher than this under her own power, yet she still carried that ridiculous setting of acrophobia. Apparently leaping with her own strength was fine, but being lifted by something else was not.
Ah. This was the scene where the original protagonist comforts her.
Up until now the protagonist had always been the one relying on Ceryll. He had believed she had no weaknesses at all. Realizing that even she had a vulnerable side made him decide he needed to become her equal instead of forever leaning on her. That was how the original scene went.
Except the person standing here now wasn't the protagonist—it was me.
…Ceryll already wants to get closer to me. Comforting her here would only make things worse.
I had no intention of becoming friends with her. We had come to Dungeon A together only because I needed the sacred relic. Once this was over I planned to put distance between us again.
I reached out, intending to carefully pry her fingers from my collar. Our hands touched, and the trembling passed straight into me.
Shudder-shudder-shudder.
This wasn't playacting or exaggeration. Ceryll was genuinely terrified. The moment I understood that, I found myself biting my lip.
I am not a kind person, and I never will be. Even so, I could still empathize. When someone is afraid of something, I know better than anyone what they wish someone would do for them. I never received that comfort myself, but at the very least I could give it to someone else.
…Even if we're not friends, I can still comfort someone who's struggling.
Yes. That much should be all right.
Desperately convincing myself, I drew Ceryll into a light embrace and gently patted her back, urging her to calm down.
"It's okay. Everything's going to be fine."