The Boy Who Can't Do Without Me
"That should hold you for now. It's only a stopgap, but still."
Arsha swept the back of her hand across her forehead as she spoke. She had splinted the injury with a scrap of wood and bound it tight with cloth. First aid was a foundational subject in any swordsman's training. It wasn't a particularly elegant job, but it would keep the wound from getting worse until they reached an infirmary.
The cloth had come from her own skirt. Thanks to that, the hem now sat so high that a few more steps would leave nothing to the imagination. She wasn't embarrassed. After receiving the grace of having her life saved, anyone who got flustered over a glimpse of undergarments wasn't much of a person.
"You all right?"
"I think so."
Yohan gave her a smile, waving the hand she'd dressed.
"Don't move it. That looks like the dungeon exit over there. We got lucky."
She had more than a few questions for Yohan. He seemed to feel the same, because he spoke up before she could even start.
"By the way, Miss Arsha — how did you even find your way in here?"
"I-I just happened to see you going in... It wasn't stalking or anything like that. I was just taking a walk through the Garden Forest, and you happened to catch my eye, that's all!"
Arsha was a terrible liar. She'd lived a life so far removed from falsehood that she couldn't help it. Yohan just smiled brightly and let her story slide.
"A-anyway, how did you even find an Instant Dungeon like this?"
She changed the subject in a hurry. The dodge was painfully obvious, but Yohan played along without a fuss.
"I found an interesting notebook in the dormitory basement."
"A notebook? In the dorms?"
Arsha tilted her head, looking thoroughly puzzled. Yohan's explanation had been a little thin.
"The dormitory I use has been passed down through generations of Academy top students. Maybe that's why it's packed with all kinds of fascinating records the previous valedictorians left behind. One of them was this notebook, and..."
"And that notebook had information on this Instant Dungeon?"
"That's right."
At the Academy, earning the title of top student meant you were a talent whose name was already known far and wide. Even the famous Archmage Ralph Leoris and Swordmaster Flora Tepes had once been top-ranked Academy admits. For the record, there were three dormitories reserved for those students — a consequence of the Academy's three-year system.
"They discovered an Instant Dungeon the Academy itself doesn't even know about, and all they did was jot it down in a notebook? What kind of senior was this?"
"Couldn't tell you. There was no name. I was skeptical at first, too. Who'd have thought a dungeon like this actually existed? The Academy's been around a long time — I guess it's produced its share of eccentric seniors."
The two of them walked together toward the temple. At the heart of the moss-choked stone shrine, half-swallowed by vines, a great altar stood waiting, its face carved in relief with letters neither of them could read. As Arsha and Yohan approached, the altar began to glow, a deep resonant hum rolling through the chamber.
"This is..."
"Yeah. A reward, most likely."
A dungeon reward. A special item granted upon clearing a dungeon, and a critical factor in evaluating a dungeon's worth. Generally, the harder a dungeon was to clear, the more powerful the reward it paid out. Instant Dungeons were especially valuable in that regard. Even at the same difficulty, they were far more generous than ordinary dungeons.
The altar's brilliant light slowly faded, the hum dying with it. When it was gone, a small necklace sat on the stone where nothing had been before — a modest pendant on a silver chain, topped with a gem of amber.
The design was rather crude. Charitably, you could call it a timeless, unfussy look. Uncharitably, it was bland and halfhearted. It didn't look like the sort of thing you'd give a girlfriend.
This is...
And yet, despite that unrefined appearance, Arsha's keen appraisal eye narrowed. Weapons were her specialty, but she had more than a layman's knowledge in other fields as well. Her eye read the accessory's value in an instant.
C-Rank at the very least...
Items of C-Rank and above were coveted even among respectable noble houses. Accessories, in particular, were rarer than weapons. Rings, earrings, necklaces — unlike arms, high-rank accessories were difficult to craft, which kept market prices high. Pieces tailored to popular classes like Warrior couldn't keep up with demand. Even House Swordhorn held far fewer high-rank accessories than weapons. High-rank jewelry was the kind of thing you only saw commonly among the great noble families.
"Tsk."
It was a tempting piece in more ways than one. Arsha clicked her tongue before she could stop herself.
"Looks like a fine accessory. Might be the best piece of gear this dungeon reward has to offer. Get it properly appraised by a specialist later. Even if it isn't a Thief-class exclusive, you should be able to sell it for a good price."
The item obviously wasn't hers. She'd barely helped take down the boss monster — what face did she have to claim ownership? If anything, she'd followed him in on her own and gotten his hand injured in the process. The proper thing would have been to bow her head and apologize.
"Hmm? Is this really that good?"
"I'm no accessory specialist, so I can't say for certain... but I'd guess at least C-Rank."
Yohan picked the pendant up off the altar and turned it this way and that. His complete ignorance of the item's value was written all over the careless way he handled it. If he'd known what it was actually worth, he wouldn't be treating it so casually.
"Come to think of it — that dagger of yours. That's an incredible item, isn't it? How does a commoner even have something like that? Ah, I'm not looking down on you. I'm just genuinely curious."
Arsha's gaze fell on the dagger hanging at Yohan's hip. Even at a glance, the chilling aura rolling off the blade marked it as B-Rank or higher. The sword Arsha currently used was C+. Yohan's dagger outranked her own blade. By any reasonable standard, it wasn't a weapon a commoner could buy. When a commoner wielded something like that, it was almost always a family heirloom — and even that was rare as rain in a drought.
"This? I stumbled across it in a haunted house a long time ago. There was an abandoned house near my place that people used as a training ground."
"A haunted house...? Now that you mention it, the aura coming off that blade... it might be a ghostly one."
A weapon steeped in ghostly energy was a double-edged sword. The power of the vengeful spirits layered into the steel amplified its might — but that same energy could just as easily devour its wielder. Stories of people who used such weapons for the power alone, only to have their minds eaten by the blade, made the rounds often enough.
"Be careful with that dagger. If you get the chance, having the ghostly energy exorcised entirely might not be a bad idea. Anyway — picking up a weapon like that in a haunted house. You've got some ridiculous luck."
"Haha! I do have pretty good luck. They say a Thief's supposed to be lucky."
"Wish an ownerless weapon like that would come looking for me."
"Hmm... I don't think I've got any ownerless weapons lying around, but how about this pendant?"
Yohan suddenly held the pendant out toward Arsha. Her eyes went as round as saucers.
"W-w-w-w-what!? Y-y-y-y-you—! Did you even hear a word I said!? This is an accessory that's C-Rank at the absolute minimum!"
Was there another man this foolish anywhere in the world? One shady merchant and he'd be cleaned out of everything he owned. You couldn't even dress this up as adorable denseness.
"Listen to me! At. Least. C-Rank! At least! It could be C+, it could even be B-Rank! A single B-Rank accessory would set a commoner up for life! No — anything B-Rank and above barely even hits the market. You name your price!"
"I see."
"Don't just 'I see' me! You're just handing something like that over!? Did I... do you owe me money or something?"
"I do, actually!"
Yohan answered her not-quite-question by cheerfully waving his bandaged hand. For reasons she couldn't fathom, he looked thoroughly delighted, a broad smile on his face.
"Miss Arsha treated me, didn't she?"
"That wasn't treatment, it was first aid! And besides... that was my fault to begin with."
"Well, that's true."
"You don't have to agree so readily!"
She had the distinct feeling she was being reeled in. Arsha added a new entry to the mental character notes she kept on Yohan. Talking to this man for too long was dangerous. It made her feel like she was the idiot.
"A-ny-way! That's yours. No — it has to be yours. It's your rightful reward."
Arsha shoved the matter back at him. Yes, it was a tempting item. But she wasn't so lacking in pride that she'd let greed stain her reputation with something so petty. If she repaid the man who'd saved her life not with gratitude but with a swindle — snatching his reward — how could she ever hold her head up again?
"Hmm~! Then how about this?"
"W-what now. I told you, it's yours."
"If Miss Arsha would help me out a little, I'd give you the pendant in exchange. Fair compensation for the work, you know."
"Help you? With what?"
"My hand's in this state, so day-to-day life's going to be a bit inconvenient for a while. So... could I ask you to be my assistant for the time being?"
Unbelievable. Asking a young lady of a noble house to play live-in helper. It was a request so outrageous it left her breathless. The problem was that the compensation for said request was an accessory of C-Rank at minimum.
To exaggerate only a little, if you posted a help-wanted ad on those terms, people would flock in until the Royal Capital was packed. Arsha herself would have been happy to stand in that line.
This Yohan fellow really didn't know how the world worked. Leave him alone and some nasty piece of work would strip him for parts. With a head this empty, he'd probably get fleeced at an appraisal shop too.
There was a feeling men got when they looked at a fragile, weak-willed woman.
This girl really can't do without me.
If I'm not around, some bastard's going to hurt her badly.
People called it a protective instinct.
Right now, Arsha felt exactly that toward the man named Yohan.
"Well... if you insist..."