Chapter 92
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Roren's Turn (2)
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After deflecting the ballista with her shield and turning back to us with a proud smile, Roren looked down at her own shield.
"Ah... No!!!"
Roren polished that shield every single day during training in the clearing until it gleamed like new. She cherished it dearly.
The spot on Roren's shield where it had struck the ballista was torn open, the outer layer ripped apart, and the metal frame that reinforced the core was bulging out all the way to the handle.
Of course, Roren's hand gripping the shield wasn't in good shape either.
"Ow!"
Thud-!
Feeling the pain in her hand belatedly, she dropped the shield, and we could see her hand was badly twisted and swollen.
"Roren's hand...!!"
"S-Sis! Heal!!!"
Whoosh-!
Sia rushed over to her in a panic, grabbed Roren's wrist, and cast Recovery Blessing.
"Nooo, Dongle!!!"
Since when did she give her shield a nickname?
Watching Roren's eyes well up with tears as she stared at the mangled shield rolling on the ground, I felt a bit awkward.
"Hic..."
"I figured your reflexes would let you deflect it or dodge, but I never imagined you'd bounce it straight back like that."
"S-Sorry, Cain."
"No, nothing to be sorry about... Let's take a look at the shield."
"Yeah..."
Usually, sections or passages with one trap don't have others, so I rummaged through my backpack for the emergency repair kit.
"Hmm..."
"W-What's the verdict, Cain?"
"I can only do a temporary fix."
Clang-clang-clang-!
Clang!
In maze-type floors, most monsters were undead types, so unlike goblins, making noise wasn't a big issue.
I diligently swung the small hand hammer to patch up Roren's shield as best I could temporarily.
My Craft stat was insane—even my rough hammering restored the shield's outer appearance almost perfectly. It was impressive.
I folded the sunflower-like torn iron plating back together and patched it roughly, then straightened out the bulging core so she could grip the handle again, finishing up and handing it back.
"You'll have to toss this after exploration or make a new one."
"N-Nooo!"
"A shield that's been crushed like that on the outer layer and core won't last long even if you straighten it out."
"But... hic...!"
I had a word for Roren, who was now hugging the roughly repaired shield with her nose turning red.
"You were too tense and stepped on the trap, Roren. If you hadn't, the shield wouldn't have gotten wrecked like this, right?"
"Yeah... Sorry..."
"Let's rest a bit before moving on. Sia got a huge scare too, and you were way too worked up."
"Got it..."
After soothing Sia, whose heart was still racing from the shock, we sat for a while before resuming exploration.
Clack-clack-clack!!!
"Cain..!"
"Six skeletons ahead."
In the continued exploration, we found no traps and finally encountered our first monsters.
We stopped at Roren's panicked voice and Claude's calm report of the skeleton count.
"W-What is that, Cain! Skeletons moving around!!"
"They're called skeletons. Low-grade monsters."
"That's why—why are they moving like that...?"
"You don't know about undead?"
"Undead...?"
Roren's reaction made it seem like she'd never seen undead before, which puzzled me a bit, but I explained they were monsters like that and reformed our formation.
"They only detect us within a certain range, so Claude and Roren, take point."
"Got it."
"Sure."
Thud-!
Thud-!
Claude and Roren unslung their backpacks and dropped them on the ground before advancing slowly.
Clack-!
Clack-clack-clack-!!
Whish-!!!
"Eek!"
Shing-!
As they got a bit closer, all six skeletons turned to look at Claude and Roren simultaneously.
Roren let out a shrill squeak at the eerie sight, while Claude quietly drew his sword.
"Roren, two are archers, the rest have swords, so block any arrows from reaching Cain and Sia."
"O-Okay, leader."
"And if any slip past me, you know what to do, right? What Frank taught you."
"Yeah...!"
Gulp-!
Roren swallowed hard before her first real combat and advanced stealthily with her shield forward. Claude, heeding my earlier warning not to charge ahead recklessly, stayed side-by-side with her, observing the skeletons' reactions.
Taat-!
Clack-clack-clack!!!
Four sword-wielding skeletons charged at Claude and Roren.
Clang!!!!
Clang!!!
One clashed swords with Claude, while Roren blocked the other two with her shield.
"Roren, push!"
"Hyah!!!!"
Bam!!!!
The remaining one, flailing alone because the passage was narrow, got shoved by Roren's shield along with two others, sending three skeletons tumbling to the ground.
Kreeek-!
"Arrows!!!"
Thwuk!!!
"W-Wait!!"
Thud!!!!
"...?"
"Phew... Got it. Leader."
Claude shouted belatedly at the arrow from one of the rear archer skeletons, but as Roren pushed the skeletons aside with her shield, creating a gap, she snatched the incoming arrow out of the air with beast-like reflexes and let out a sigh of relief.
"Uh... Nice catch, Roren."
"Heh! Piece of cake."
"Let's finish them off."
"Right!"
After Claude and Roren safely subdued the skeletons, I approached them.
"Roren, how'd you grab that arrow?"
"Huh? Just grabbed it?"
"Yeah..."
"I was gonna deflect it with the shield, but pushing those guys over first meant no time for that, so I caught it by hand. Sorry for my sloppy skills."
"No, you did great..."
With our first real fight cleared safely, we collected the mana stones and continued exploring.
"Alright, let's call it here for today."
"What? Already? I'm not tired yet, Cain!!"
"Look at Sia."
"Hee... Hee... Hic..."
"Whoa! Sia, you okay?!"
"Sis... I'm so tired..."
Thanks to Roren gaining confidence from the first battle, our exploration progressed quickly.
After six straight hours—faster than our usual trio pace—Sia was on the verge of collapsing.
Her stamina had improved from training, letting her hold out, but her trembling legs told me pushing further would be too much, so we stopped here.
"Getting in and exploring for six hours is pretty good."
"Is it...?"
"It's just the first floor—no need to overdo it."
"Got it. Sia, come here. I'll massage your legs."
"Mmm... Thanks, sis..."
As Roren tended to Sia, Claude and I started setting up base camp.
"Not a cave, so no worries about other traps, right?"
"Yeah, tents first."
In maze-type floors, traps and monsters stick to their blocks and rarely venture out, so cleared areas or disarmed traps are safe.
We set up the camping tarp first, then dry firewood for the bonfire and simple cooking tools.
"Cain, pitch tents or just sleeping bags?"
"Roren's new to this, so let's go all out with tents."
"Okay."
We looked like we were on a camping trip—pulled out one-person tents and sleeping bags, setting them up inside.
Roren, who had been patting Sia on her lap, watched the base camp come together, her eyes sparkling more and more.
"Wow..."
"What do you think, Roren? This all came from our porter Cain's backpack..."
Crack-!
"Guh!!"
"Porter? You wanna die?"
"Gah!"
I punished Claude's teasing with a low kick to his thigh and called Roren and Sia to the bonfire spot.
"We're gonna review today's exploration—what to reflect on, what to improve—before eating."
"Yess~"
"O-Okay."
"Don't I have anything to reflect on?"
And so the review session began, looking back on the day's events.
"Roren, you're not tense anymore, right?"
"Nope."
"Then react better when I warn about traps."
"Mm... Got it."
"Sia..."
"Yeah!"
"I can feel your stamina's improved a lot. We went longer than our trio runs, and you didn't collapse. Plus, after healing Roren's hand, you still had this much stamina left. Impressive—you did great."
"Hehe!"
"Claude..."
"What? I did good?"
"Yeah, you didn't charge ahead, and relaying monster numbers and situations to the party is basic. Roren, when we meet monsters, do some analysis and judgment like Claude."
"O-Okay."
"Review over! Strip gear in front of tents and prep dinner."
Claude and Roren headed to their tents to remove gear, leaving just Sia and me by the bonfire.
"U-Um, Cain..."
"Yeah? What's up, Sia?"
Sia fidgeted with red cheeks and whispered in my ear as she approached.
"E-Even in the labyrinth... massage..."
"Oh right, we said that."
I'd told Sia before that even in the labyrinth, I'd help drain the bad stuff, back when she got hooked on masturbation and said she needed it daily. And now here we were.
We pitched tents in a line: Claude, Roren, me, Sia. Tonight, I'd sneak into Sia's tent.
This terrain didn't need night watches, so Claude would sleep soundly.
Roren had good ears—would she hear the sucking and slurping and end up eavesdropping in front of the tent again?