To the Dungeon (3)
Though battle was a constant hazard in any dungeon, striking without warning at every turn, Evans was worse than most.
Because it was goblin territory.
Goblins boasted numbers no other monster could match, and the depths they inhabited were a place where combat broke out every few minutes without fail.
Which meant that an opportunity for Lucy to gain real combat experience arrived before long.
Just as she had before, she predicted the monsters' ambush with uncanny precision, and soon enough a clash with a goblin pack unfolded exactly as she'd said it would.
To the knights, goblins were creatures that dropped dead with a single careless poke, so the engagement ended in the blink of an eye.
This time, however, there was a difference.
Two goblins had been deliberately left alive.
"In a dungeon, you'll often find yourself facing many foes alone. So let's have you take on these two. I have faith you'll manage."
All so they could be pitted against Lucy.
At Forsell's words, Lucy tightened her grip on her shield and mace.
Though she planted herself before the goblins, the creatures refused to move.
No doubt the knights' slaughter had frightened them witless.
Left as it was, she'd never get a taste of a real fight at all, so Ferbi murmured a quiet question to Carl.
"Did we go a bit overboard? Against opponents that rattled, this won't be much of a practice."
"No need to worry about that."
"Huh?"
"The young lady will take care of it herself."
Provoking an opponent into fighting spirit was no difficult task for Lucy.
Because she had a Blessing.
One so potent that not only the seasoned knight Carl but even Forsell, a man they called a hero, could barely resist it.
"What's the matter, smelly goblins♡? Scared of a little girl? Ahaha. How pathetic♡"
The instant her taunt landed, the goblins' eyes rolled back with fury.
The fear that had taken root inside them transformed, in that very moment, into rage.
Even faced with emotions directed so openly at her, Lucy didn't so much as flinch.
She simply raised her shield with an expression of effortless composure.
The weapons the goblins carried were nothing so crude as sticks.
Those belonged to the goblin tribes of the open plains.
Dungeon goblins, every last one of them, wielded iron implements of who knew where they'd scavenged them from.
The pair standing before Lucy were no exception.
One carried a mace the size of a goblin's own head; the other, a spear that seemed purpose-forged for a goblin's build.
Either one could inflict a fatal wound on Lucy with a mere graze.
Any ordinary person would have backed away at the sight of flashing steel, but Lucy was different.
Having drilled combat until she was sick of it, she simply stood her ground and watched what the goblins would do.
Before long, the spear-wielder lunged at her.
His choice of attack was the obvious one—a thrust.
Lucy evaded it with footwork alone, then stepped forward.
And smashed her shield into the goblin's face.
For a creature with a child's body, the shield Lucy carried was a horrific instrument of death.
The goblin she'd struck went flying backward.
The moment his companion saw him fall, the mace-wielding goblin loosed its peculiar shriek and swung its weapon in a killing blow.
But that desperate strike was beaten aside by Lucy's shield with almost insulting ease.
THUD!
An attack thrown with full force carried an equally ferocious recoil.
As the mace was knocked wide, the goblin's whole body was left wide open, and Lucy didn't miss her chance.
CRUNCH.
Lucy's mace crushed the goblin's skull.
Having ended one goblin's life, she immediately sprinted toward the other, who was staggering back to his feet.
He scrambled desperately to snatch up his spear, but by then Lucy's mace was already descending upon his head.
Offering no resistance whatsoever, the goblin simply perished where it stood.
And so Lucy's first real battle came to a close.
Watching the entire engagement, Carl could only marvel.
He'd believed she would do well—but not this well!
Neutralizing one enemy first before dealing with the other—that was the mark of a genuinely seasoned warrior.
Who, watching Lucy fight this battle, would ever guess she'd received barely two weeks of combat training?
Who would believe that until a month ago, she had never properly moved her body at all?
Had anyone told him, who knew nothing of her circumstances, such a story, Carl would have told them to quit joking around.
Weapon mastery. Wielding a shield. Fighting a living, breathing opponent.
None of those things came easily.
If anyone could grow that quickly, why would noble houses pour fortunes into maintaining standing knights?
Conscription on demand would be more than sufficient.
Lucy's talent was no ordinary thing.
So this was the bloodline of House Aln, was it?
If the young lady had taken up a weapon in early childhood rather than only recently beginning to train, what kind of monster would she have become?
If someone capable of growing this much in a single month were to accumulate years of experience?
Carl was certain that Lucy's name would have been carved alongside the promising young talents spreading across the continent.
Having finished off the two goblins, Lucy wiped the blood spattered across her face with the back of her hand and drew a long, deep breath.
Who would ever imagine that beneath a complexion so utterly unchanged hid a delicate soul who, after killing an orc, had gone days unable to keep meat down?
Carl had been observing her from behind, and when he caught sight of her trembling hands, he stepped closer to comfort his master.
After wiping the blood from my face, I concluded that if I let my guard down even a little, I was going to lose my lunch.
The goblins' fury directed at me.
Weapons that would have torn into me with a single mistake.
The sensation and the shriek I'd felt and heard when driving my mace down through a goblin's skull.
The revolting stench rising from the blood splattered across my face.
No matter how I tried to spin it, none of it was a pleasant experience.
Even watching the knights dispatch the goblins had turned my stomach, and having done the dispatching myself, I found calm utterly beyond my reach.
Tch.
Looks like it's going to take a long, long time before I get used to killing living things.
Think about something else. Dwelling on this will only make things worse. Besides, I've got plenty to chew on.
The moment I felled those two goblins, I'd felt something flow into my body.
It was different from the buff effect of the Mesugaki skill.
How should I put it—it felt as though something was filling up my very soul.
I had a decent guess as to what it was.
A level-up.
If you feel stronger after killing monsters, what else could it be?
But why was I leveling up already?
To go from level 1 to level 2, you normally need to slaughter around twenty goblins.
Two goblins and one orc doesn't come close to covering the experience requirement.
Wait. Am I being counted as part of the knights' party right now?
Am I siphoning a share of the experience from their kills?
That's probably it.
The theory held up. If that sensation just now was a level-up, there was really no other possibility.
Haha. Unbelievable. The day I get carried in Soul Academy has actually arrived!
I spent all my time grinding levels for NPCs, and now I'm the one freeloading off them—honestly, it feels fantastic.
Hmm. Hold on a second.
If I can piggyback off the knights to level, doesn't that mean I could hit level 10 during this very training stint?
Forsell said this training would run about a week, so let's assume I clear this dungeon once a day until then.
I know the experience yield from a fastest-possible clear of Evans Dungeon with a four-person party, so if I run the numbers on that basis...
It's doable—if I clear the Trial of Ruel tomorrow and get my hands on the mace.
As I've mentioned before, Ruel's mace comes with increased experience gain attached.
With that effect active, hitting level 10 is anything but hard.
Now that I know what a level-up feels like, I can track my level as long as I don't lose count. Which means I can control when I level up—no reason to hesitate about it anymore.
Alright. Repeating Evans Dungeon is still the pinnacle of inefficiency, but if I get to ride in comfort, that's a different story.
With level 10 banked, I can chart a maximum-efficiency growth route for the two months remaining until the academy entrance exam.
It'll take some careful optimization, but for a Soul Academy veteran like me, that's hardly a challenge.
Good call following the knights down here.
"My lady."
The voice calling me pulled me out of my thoughts.
When I looked up, Carl was watching me with concern written across his face.
"Are you all right?"
Am I all right? I've never been better!
Where else would a Soul Academy veteran find a situation this delightful?
I'd been fretting over whether I'd perform well enough on the entrance exam, but at this rate, special admission is as good as mine!
Who knows—I might even get to follow the academy-genre clichés to the letter.
Beat an absurdly overpowered opponent in a duel, draw everyone's attention. Have the main characters of Soul Academy start taking an interest in me!
Just imagining it is fun. Who knew I'd actually look forward to the entrance exam?
"Your hands are trembling."
At Carl's words, my lips stiffened slightly.
So that's what gave me away.
My expression's fine though, right?
I figured my face and mannerisms were covered by the Mesugaki skill's correction, so they should be okay.
I experimented with this before, actually—Lucy Aln's face is permanently fixed in an insufferable smirk thanks to the skill.
I don't know what would happen if I were frozen in terror in a truly extreme situation, but that's hardly the case right now.
So I should look fine, right? Probably?
I turned my shield over to wipe off the dark blood and studied my reflection in it.
The Lady Lucy Aln was still wearing her insufferable smirk.
The Mesugaki skill, as expected. Not a single crack in it.
Although if it's going to be that airtight, couldn't it have covered the trembling hands too?
Look at this. My shield hand is shaking so hard the reflection of Lady Aln looks like she's shivering.
No wonder they're worried.
"Shall we rest a while before moving on?"
Forsell's concern piled on top of Carl's.
Mmm. Did they see through me?
Well, it's not like a man that seasoned hasn't seen a hundred people in my state.
How could I possibly fool an old soldier like that?
If I could pull that off, I'd be working as an actress, not rotting away as a gamer hermit.
Still, being worried over doesn't feel bad at all.
Back when I first possessed Lucy's body, I never once imagined a day would come when other people worried about me.
"I'm fine."
I mean that sincerely.
I get why you two keep fussing, but I'm the kind of person whose stubbornness runs bone-deep.
If I couldn't take it, I'd have quit ages ago.
Whether it's the skill or something else, I can just barely manage—that's the only reason I'm still here.
"Truly."
So stop worrying already.
'Knight Commander...'
"You fool, Forsell. What would you have done if I'd been some green rookie knight?"
"...I'd have driven you to the point where you couldn't think of anything at all. Giving someone time to think only makes it harder on them."
'Then I'd have done the same to you.'
"Then I'd have done exactly the same to you. So don't say stupid things, idiot."
Either way, surviving in this Soul Academy world means getting used to it sooner or later.
Someday even this will stop being so damn miserable. I just have to hold out until then.
With Unbreakable Will on my side, I can manage at least that much—can't I?
Forsell listened quietly, his eyes flaring briefly before softening into a smile, and he nodded.
"Understood. If that is what you wish, my lady."
...Uh. Hey. But you are going to leave me room to breathe, right? Right?
You're not going to work the Count's daughter half to death the way you do the other knights—no sleep and all that?