Noble Young Ladies (2)
“Burn my enemies! Fireball!” A fireball the size of a basketball materialized and slammed into the goblin pack. With a bang, the spherical flame detonated on impact, sweeping through the surroundings. Amid the swirling dust and smoke, an ominous blood-red sphere came flying toward us.
“For faith and belief! Radiant Shield!” The rapidly approaching sphere struck the wall of light coating Claire’s shield and vanished without a trace.
The battle had gone remarkably smoothly. Smooth, yes… but…
“Sharp blades of wind! Wind Cutter!”
“God’s mace upon the wicked! Holy Smite!”
“……”
Guys. Do you seriously have to shout the skill name every single time? I’m definitely having a word with them once this fight is over. For now, focus.
I charged straight at the goblin rushing me with a vicious glare. Dodging its clumsy swing of a rusty blade, I planted my foot squarely on its solar plexus. Bending my knees to absorb its momentum, I gathered power in my thighs.
“Hup!”
With a powerful kick, I sent the goblin flying. Its ribs shattered and organs burst from the impact alone. It died instantly. The vivid sensation of ending a life. I’d felt it several times since waking up in this body, yet it still left a bitter taste. Swallowing that reminder that I was once a modern person, I watched the result of my kick.
The goblin’s corpse rocketed backward and crashed into two or three others. Most simply tumbled together in a heap, but one unlucky goblin took the corpse’s head directly to its own skull and died on the spot. Lucky for me, I suppose.
The fight continued in the same one-sided fashion. The second-floor boss of the Academy Dungeon—the goblin battalion—was cleared without issue.
……
Now that the battle was over, I could finally speak up.
“Guys……”
“Understood.”
“Huh?”
Theo suddenly spoke out of nowhere.
“This battle confirmed it. What I suspected was true.”
“What you suspected? Ah—the thing you mentioned before we entered the dungeon?”
I’d completely forgotten. I was the one who’d told him to speak up, too.
“Yeah. While fighting, I confirmed it. The monsters in this dungeon are no different from the ones outside the academy.”
“Lord Theo, does that pose a problem?”
“You haven’t been there yet, Claire. The monsters in the dungeon we must explore to break the Goddess’s seal were stronger than those found elsewhere.”
“Y-yes……”
“To put it simply, the dungeon we need to explore might not actually be the Academy Dungeon. Or, conversely, the place we’re currently in might not be the Academy Dungeon at all.”
Oh. He’d already figured that much out? Just as Theo said, the Academy Dungeon was lower in difficulty than the one containing the Goddess’s seal. Weaker monsters, fewer floors. It was like the difference between a full game and a demo, but since it wasn’t an important setting detail, I let it pass. Knowing we couldn’t break the seal no matter how far we cleared this dungeon was enough.
I pulled Theo out of his deepening thoughts before he could sink too far.
“Theo. Do we really need to worry about that right now?”
“Huh? No, not really. I’ll be right there.”
We headed toward the third floor.
…Ah. I forgot to complain about that embarrassing chanting again. I’ll definitely say something next time.
◆
The monsters on the third floor were Thorn Ants and Vampire Bats—large ants with thorny carapaces and oversized bats that attacked creatures to drain their blood. Though bigger than usual, they didn’t move in large groups, so they weren’t particularly difficult to handle. Still, facing ants and bats over fifty centimeters long was more mentally draining than expected.
Honestly, I was genuinely grateful this crappy game wasn’t made in the West. Otherwise, we might’ve run into spider monsters with legs longer than fifty centimeters. I’ll never understand why Western developers are so obsessed with cramming spiders into games. I already screamed at them through a monitor; seeing one in 3D right in front of me would probably make me faint on the spot. Better stay alert.
Fortunately, ants and bats, while creepy, were still within the “safe zone” of tolerability. Mobilizing every bit of my rabbit senses to avoid ambushes, I carefully advanced when a faint sound reached my ears from afar.
- …tired……
- Faye… how……?
- …fight! I’m……!
Even with my rabbit ears fully extended, the distance was too great to catch the words clearly, but I could tell they were human voices.
“Guys, there’s another party nearby. What should we do?”
“How many? Are they close?”
“About four people. Not that close. If we wait a bit, we probably won’t even run into them.”
“Hmm. If it’s Luna’s hearing, it’s probably accurate. What do you think, Claire?”
“Unless they’re in danger, it’s better not to encounter them. This is a practical exercise, after all.”
“True. Meeting up would be convenient, but if it’s too easy, it defeats the purpose of training. Luna, how did they sound?”
“Pretty exhausted. Their voices had no energy. Doesn’t seem like anyone’s injured, though.”
“If that’s the case… Alright. Here’s the plan. We’ll meet them, hand over a few stamina recovery potions, and then part ways.”
“If we’re meeting anyway, why bother with all that?”
“People remember those who help them when they’re struggling. We don’t know who’s in that party, but we’ll be seeing them around for a long time. Building some goodwill now wouldn’t hurt.”
“Ah. So you’re trying to raise favorability.”
“Favorability?”
“Something like that.”
Leaving a puzzled Theo behind, I rummaged through my backpack. We still had plenty of stamina recovery potions. Handing over a few wouldn’t be an issue. Besides, the third floor was the last one anyway.
“That’s enough. Let’s go. Follow me.”
With me in the lead—able to track their position by sound—we moved out. We nearly lost them once during a brief skirmish, but we managed to catch up without trouble.
The party we found was…
“Huff… huff… I’m dying. Let’s rest a bit.”
“Got any stamina recovery potions left?”
“Ugh……”
“Alright! Rest here then! I’ll keep watch… Huh?”
Three people lay sprawled out like exhausted sea cucumbers, while Faye alone bounced around energetically. Her eyes widened when she finally noticed us.
Wow. Running into Faye here? Talk about good luck.
◆
“Thank you. The stamina drain was worse than expected, so we were in trouble.”
“We rushed too much on the second floor. I’ll definitely repay this favor.”
“Still, fighting seems difficult. If it’s alright, could you help us a little longer?”
“……”
The three who had been lying around like overworked puppies just moments ago immediately switched to refined noble-young-lady speech the instant they recovered after drinking the potions. Were these really the same people I’d seen earlier? Speechless at the absurdity, I stood there until Faye sidled over and whispered.
“Don’t look at them too strangely. They’re all noble young ladies, so they have to keep up appearances when others are around. It’s different when it’s just us.”
“Really? Being a noble sounds exhausting. What about you, Faye? Don’t you have to talk all refined too?”
“I’m fine. My family doesn’t care about that stuff. Besides, we’re friends, right?”
Faye winked and stepped back. Haha. Cute.
Anyway, now that I knew this was Faye’s party, the plan needed adjusting.
“Theo. I think we should help this party a bit more.”
“Yeah? Because of Faye?”
“Well… something like that.”
It wasn’t exactly accurate, but it wasn’t wrong either.
“Then I don’t mind. If Claire’s okay with it, let’s do that.”
“What about you, Claire?”
“I’m fine with it as well.”
With Claire’s agreement, there was no issue. We decided to accompany Faye’s party until just before the third-floor boss. By then, they should have recovered enough.
Thus, one close-range dealer and three pieces of luggage joined our group.
……
“Lady Faye, would you mind holding this for a moment?”
“Sure! Hand it here!”
“Thank you.”
……
“Lady Faye, thank you earlier. That was almost dangerous.”
“Nah, it’s nothing! We’re in the same party!”
……
“Lady Faye, are you alright? It feels like we’re the only ones resting comfortably……”
“It’s fine, it’s fine! Focus on recovering. We can’t keep relying on Theo’s party all the way to the boss, right?”
“If you insist……”
……
“Thank you so much for helping us this far. We’ll do a quick check, so we’ll yield the boss to you.”
“Got it. Respawn will take a while anyway. Take your time.”
“Theo, Luna, Claire! Thank you!”
After parting ways with Faye’s party, we headed to the boss room first.
……
The third-floor boss was strong. Not strong enough to defeat our party, but undeniably powerful. Once the battle ended without major problems, Theo approached me with a serious expression.
“Luna.”
“Theo? What’s with the face? Are you hurt?”
“No, it’s not that. There’s just something that feels off.”
“Off?”
“Hmm. It might just be my imagination, but… Faye’s party earlier—didn’t something seem strange?”