[Adventurer, Anastasia - 07]
[Adventurer, Anastasia - 07]
"The atmosphere is more tense than I thought, isn't it?"
"Well, it is a B-rank dungeon. Many people come here risking their lives. Besides, this is an advance party that hasn't been properly surveyed yet. Advance parties pay well, but they're just as dangerous."
After all, if you send an advance party predicting a B-rank dungeon, only to find out it's an A-rank dungeon, the difficulty level is on a whole different dimension.
Among them were people who could die even in a B-rank dungeon.
"But is an advance party really necessary?"
"Because having or not having prior information is crucial in a dungeon. If it's more manageable than expected, there are plenty of cases where the advance party clears the dungeon themselves. But conversely, if it's more serious than expected, or if there are troublesome traps or monsters, they share that information in advance."
"......."
Saintess-nim stared straight at me.
It seemed she was quite interested in dungeon talk. Well, since it's information that doesn't hurt to know, I decided to tell her.
"Humanity has cleared countless dungeons, so there is information you can know beforehand. If this monster is here, that monster will likely be here too. If this scenery is inside the dungeon, this situation might occur; if this trap exists, that trap might also exist. It's a kind of strategy guide."
"I see, so you're making guesses based on the information accumulated so far. What's the possibility of being wrong?"
"Dungeons always have unexpected events, so things can be different from what was predicted, or things worse than expected can appear. But regardless, there's a huge difference between going in with a strategy planned out beforehand and not. And if there's something completely different, you have to retreat."
That's why some people who clear dungeons think, 'If you don't die, you win.'
In the case of war, even if you survived, if you lost the battlefield, that was a defeat.
But in the case of a dungeon, that wasn't the case, so if you think it's disadvantageous, you can just pull back and devise a new strategy.
Therefore, if it becomes disadvantageous, or if you feel like there's no way to win, you just run away. It was a wise and very good method.
It was easy to die if you tried to hold out there for the sake of honor or pride or whatever.
In actual combat, people with such strong pride were always the first to die. Of course, there were plenty of cases where it wasn't a big problem if they had put in the effort worthy of that pride and were born with talent.
Usually, in those cases, they were prepared to accept their own death.
"It's more dangerous than I thought."
"That's why the Pope-nim tried to stop you."
"But he still respected my will."
"I was under immense pressure, though."
"Was it?"
He had repeated that I must protect the Saintess-nim while we played chess for almost 2-3 hours.
I thought I was going to lose my mind, and if I had gone to report in the morning, it wouldn't have ended in 2-3 hours; he would have nagged me to protect the Saintess-nim while playing chess for over 10 hours.
The Pope-nim had said before that he considered the Saintess-nim like a granddaughter, but there was also a slightly overprotective side to him.
Honestly, it's not that I don't understand the feeling of being worried, but it's too much.
"I can feel that everyone is tense."
"Right?"
"Tell this one to be a bit tense."
"Nom nom."
Eris had bread in her mouth again.
I started to suspect if there was really a black hole inside her stomach.
If I ate like that, I would have already become a pig, so it was fascinating that she maintained that body even after eating like that.
But come to think of it, the Saintess-nim also liked sweet things, so 5 sugar cubes in black tea was the default.
It used to be 3, but these days she was putting in 5.
"Sweet addict" was the perfect term, and despite eating like that, she didn't gain weight.
To say it's because she's still young... in many cases, the Saintess-nim often has days where she doesn't move and sits all day, or only has enough exercise to walk around the cathedral slightly.
But she eats three delicious meals, and even eats cake and black tea with 5 sugar cubes deliciously.
Even eating like that, not a bit of it goes to fat.
Rather, she seemed to have grown a bit taller, and only her chest and hips grew larger.
Ah, did her thighs get bigger too?
In about 4 years since meeting me, she had suddenly changed from a childish figure to a glamorous one.
Her current height is 163cm, which is slightly taller than average, but looking at it, it seemed she would grow more.
"It's my first time in a dungeon too! I'm very excited!"
"She's someone who is naturally a bit far from being tense."
Still, she used to feel tension before, but as she got used to combat, she gradually stopped doing so.
She doesn't feel tension in anything she's used to.
It sounds easy, but in other words, it meant she could move at her own pace even if an unexpected situation occurred, so as a bodyguard, there was no ability as excellent as this.
Actually, the Saintess-nim doesn't really need a bodyguard, and if we're just talking about magic, it's true that my abilities are more suitable for protection.
But the reason no one questions Eris is that she shows her skills clearly when she exerts them, and at the same time, the Saintess-nim keeping Eris around isn't because of her bodyguard skills, but feels more like having a puppy that follows her around.
Regardless of this or that, Eris, who is loyal to the Saintess-nim, was one of the few people the Saintess-nim could talk to with peace of mind.
She tended to wear a mask to some extent even with her parents or family.
Her younger sister Elin, and me, and Eris—about 3 people were those the Saintess-nim treated without wearing a mask.
In that sense, Eris was also the Saintess-nim's person, and the Saintess-nim was also taking care of Eris in her own way.
Taking care of someone because they are 'my person' might seem selfish, but there's no way someone who doesn't take care of their own people would gain popularity.
If there were someone who claimed to treat everyone fairly and treated their own people the same as strangers, that person would be the strange one.
"Saintess-nim, in the worst case, you might get separated from me. In that case."
"I should just kill them all, right?"
"Don't kill humans."
"I know how to distinguish that much now. And in an emergency, you mean to prioritize saving lives over clearing the dungeon, right? I understood, and I'll take good care of my own life too."
"......."
I was silent for a moment, then looked at the Saintess-nim and smiled.
"Honestly, I don't think there's any meaning in me being in charge of your education anymore."
"Don't say that, I might suddenly pretend to be an idiot. You're not trying to make me anxious and lead me to strange thoughts, are you? If not, just stay by my side quietly until I become an adult."
And I felt like when she becomes an adult, she would tie my arms and legs tightly with invisible ropes so I couldn't move, but now all I could do was sigh.
Honestly speaking, if she told me to marry her, I could do it, but that felt closer to a sense of responsibility than love yet.
I didn't know what would happen if I wasn't there, and I was even thinking that it might be better to just get married rather than see the countless damages and tragedies that would occur if I didn't accept her.
I also understood that it was clearly a rude thought towards the Saintess-nim.
Sighing softly, I said.
"You speak as if you'll quietly let me go once you're an adult."
"You can go anywhere. Every action a person takes comes with responsibility, right?"
"It's scary that it doesn't sound like a threat at all. I'm so happy about the Saintess-nim's growth that I feel like crying."
"Right? Honestly, think about it like this: Ed has a sense of responsibility, so he might marry me because of that. And you're hesitating because you believe that wouldn't be for my sake, right?"
"Yes, well......."
"At the point where you're worrying about that, don't you have at least a little bit of feelings for me?"
"......."
"Think about it seriously. I'd prefer it if Ed asked me, but no matter what, the person who falls in love first loses, so that part can't be helped. Honestly, I don't know if what I'm doing right now is love either. Although I call it love myself."
The Saintess-nim laughed softly.
"Remember how I used to worry that if I got my hands on you, the heat of this emotion might cool down? Honestly, I didn't know back then, but now I don't think that's the case."
I'm thinking about that too.
Because the moment I confirmed the goodness that had permeated inside her, I saw the possibility of 'maybe'.
"Because as time goes by, I want you more."
"......."
"Assemble! Everyone gather around!!"
"Let's go."
"Yeah, Eris, let's go too."
"Yes."
When everyone gathered, I could see someone who seemed to be the field leader at the very front.
It was that A-rank adventurer who had spoken to the Saintess-nim.
If he was enough to take on the role of leader of the dungeon clearing advance party, it was proof that he was someone trusted by the guild in his own way.
Unlike back then, he looked quite intelligent now.
It must be because he wasn't drunk.
"Exactly 10 minutes from now, we will enter the dungeon. There are a total of three dungeon entrances. We will split into teams, and while it is currently predicted to be a B-rank dungeon, there are plenty of cases where it turned out to be an A-rank dungeon after the advance party went in."
"Ooh," the Saintess-nim said, looking slightly happy as she said, "That's what Ed said."
The Saintess-nim used to make such a happy face whenever she saw what I taught her being applied in actual practice or reality.
It's nothing new, though.
She really has changed a lot.
Now she knows how to smile a bit, and it looked like she had developed emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
Kwoong, the adventurer struck the ground with his sword, drawing everyone's attention once again.
'He seems surprisingly used to positions like that, his vocal projection too.'
It felt like his magic power was also quite well-trained.
"The dungeon advance party has a high mortality rate. Everyone, there is a saying about dungeon clearing: 'Even if you are defeated and flee, if you survive, you are the winner.' ...Please, I hope you remember these words. Then, as I said, we will depart in 10 minutes, so everyone do a final check."
The Saintess-nim stared at the adventurer quietly, then made a slightly surprised face.
She was probably thinking the same thing as me.