Investigation (3)

As Lancell was taking a rest, he felt a bit of disturbance beside him—where he placed the sleeping Aerym. He then greeted, "Good morning."

Aerym, who saw Lancell's face, suddenly jolted as she regained clarity of thoughts. She then pointed a finger at Lancell with a spooked face, "Y-Y-You...!"

Lancell sighed at her expected behaviour, and spoke, "I'm Lancell."

Aerym glared at him, but she spoke, "I know. I heard of you," she said, "blond hair, same colour as shit. Bluish green eyes, same colour as weird shit. And an attitude that regards everyone else other than yourself is shit. I've heard of you, Lancell the Shit. With the capital 'S'."

Lancell went silent at the blatant slander. "..."

However, for some reason, he could feel like the description was a bit familiar. Specifically, a certain girl loved comparing things to shit. So it couldn't be right?

In any case, Lancell ignored the slanderous description, as he asked, "Where did you hear that?"

Sure, Lancell didn't care about those insults. Not the slightest bit. However, if the description spreads and shit becomes his symbol, then that was far cry from desirable. No one wants to be infamous being physically compared to shit.

Aerym shifted her gaze to the side, and answered in a soft voice. "Well, it was a pretty black-haired girl."

'As expected, it's damn Arthur, huh?' Lancell thought as he inwardly sighed.

Well, staying here further would be a waste of time, so Lancell stood. He then gave a sidelong glance to Aerym, and told her, "Let's keep moving."

"H-Huh?!" she exclaimed in confusion, "why should I follow you?!"

"Because following me is your best bet at leaving this place alive."

Aerym seemed to be against his words, but she only opened her mouth but the words didn't come out. Lancell knew she couldn't deny his words, thus the silence.

Once again, Lancell urged, "Let's go."

◇◇◇

Lancell and Aerym trudged against the unstable ground. Lancell just wanted things to get over with by leaping over it, but the low ceiling was preventing him from doing so. He glanced at the girl behind him who was still having trouble adapting with the dark. She was struggling where to put her steps, but still did her best nevertheless.

Lancell felt like giving her motivation, so he did.

He looked over to her, and warned, "Just to tell you," he said in a loud voice, "I probed the place below. It's about a hundred meter deep. If you fall, you'll die from the debris that'll fall with you, so keep doing your best."

Lancell saw her face visibly pale, as she shouted back, "Yeah!" she yelled with a frustrated tone "thanks a lot, asshole!"

Lancell shrugged, "I get that a lot."

And so, they continued on with a lot of trouble—mainly on Aerym's side— until they finally crossed the unstable grounds about half an hour later.

Aerym who finally crossed through, glared at Lancell, "I'm really gonna get you back for this you as—hey! Put me down!" as she was talking, Lancell suddenly grabbed her and carried her over his shoulders.

"No. We're almost close to MY destination, and I'm not gonna dilly-dally." Lancell said as he continued to move onwards. He then lowered his body, and then kicked the ground as he instantly flew a dozen meters away.

"Ah—H-Hey! Slow down! Slo—" Lancell ignored Aerym's protests, and accelerated further.

◇◇◇

After about another hour of dashing, and jumping and running, and more jumping, Lancell finally neared his destination. Or at least that's what he heard from Arkenvalle.

("Can you sense what it is, Valle?")

("No. But I feel dense mana coming from there. I think it's best to prepare for something to come.")

("Yeah. I was thinking that too.")

("Mn. Be careful.") And their communication ended.

Lancell looked forward, as a giant door stood in sight. Lancell had realized the moment he saw it; he was inside a dungeon. And from what it seems, this dungeon wasn't here before.

"Hey Aerym," he called out, "is there really no dungeon in the area we fought?"

Aerym grunted, "There he goes again, speaking as if we're close..." she then looked at him, and answered, "like I said, there isn't. That place used to be the Levelling grounds for the knights, and if there was a dungeon there, Selvenia wouldn't be in such sorry state."

Lancell nodded at her statement. A dungeon for a country was a massive asset. It was a near inexhaustible source of magic cores, materials, and even treasures. It could drastically increase the combat potential of a country far from what it could ever have, and it was a good method to attract foreign warriors and mages, including healers. If there had been more healers last year, Selvenia would have been a lot better place than it was today.

"I see..." Lancell muttered. It was impossible for a dungeon to just pop up out of nowhere, so possibly...

'Are monsters coming out of dungeons? One that is spontaneously made on the spot?' Lancell speculated.

'If that's the case, then it wouldn't make sense why it doesn't appear inside towns.' He inwardly added. Lancell though for a bit more, however, he gave up not long after. Thinking wasn't his strong suit, and if just destroys the dungeon, the monsters might stop coming, right?

In any case, all he could do was fight, and think of methods on how to fight. That was Lancell's entire life in the past, and he had no plans on changing his style. After all, power was what ruled everything in the world.

He glanced at Aerym once more, and called out, "Hey," Aerym glanced at him, "see that door?"

Aerym nodded with a frown, "I'm not blind."

"Good. I'd be troubled if you were." Lancell retorted.

Aerym grit her teeth at his damn good retorts at her insults. Every single time, he knew just what exact words would peeve her, as if she knew everything about her. That too pissed her off.

However, she was the one being saved her, so she could only endure. She coughed a dry one, and asked, "Ahem... anyway, what about the door?"

"It's a the dungeon guardian's room," he said, rendering Aerym in a daze, "and we're going to enter."