.

(Meanwhile)

Only an hour had gone by since they entered the mist, but it felt like nearly a day. The three of them had some unexpected encounters with strong monsters. Golems, Orcs and even Human-Sized Fire-breathing lizards. It was a little too fortunate that they hadn't received any major injuries.

Estelle stopped over to the side of Louis, filling the silence of walking.

"It hasn't been long since you've come back,yet, you are already taking on some big tasks. You did just get done with taking care of the Vangray family. Aren't you tired?"

It was no secret louis was among the best of knights, but surely even the bests of knights had limits.

He replied,

"Wanna know a secret? I am always tired. But some things just have to get done. I live in a run down shack, so if I can save some prisoners and take down this small organization, a big reward will be waiting for me. Then I'll be able to upgrade to something luxurious."

Estelle softly smiled, she knew it was just a bluff. As long as she's known him, he'd always gone out of his way to help others, even while denying it sometimes.

"We both know that's not true."

Louis closed his eyes and released a gentle sigh.

"No. It's definitely true. If I can get some money while saving some lives, then I guess it works out for everyone in the end."

"If you say so. I know how kind-hearted you can actually be. But I'll let you win this little debate."

Ahead, Sylvio stopped at the sight of many structures, ruined and moss-covered. He crouched, inspecting a broken broadsword, slowly decaying in rust.

"This place has ancient history. These structures date back hundreds of years. If we're not careful from this point on, we might stumble on some ancient traps."

Confidently, Louis straightened his posture and replied.

"I have a hunch that we won't run into any traps. You can just follow me."

"Hm. Alright then." Sylvio shrugged, following behind him.

8 steps later, a sudden click was heard underneath Loui's heel.

Click. Crackle.

"Oh…"

"Um, what was that?" Etselle asked.

"Heh..I'm not sure. I put my foot down then there was this clicking noise but I don't think it's anything to worry about. We should keep going."

When he took another step, the ground below opened, swallowing each of them.

Crackle! Fwsh!

They fell a long distance and crashed into a rocky floor. While dangerous debris fell from above, Louisbcasted a barrier around everyone.

Crackle. Sanp! CRackle! Thump! THumP! ThumP!

Once it was safe, he dispelled it.

"..I guess I was wrong, huh?" Louis kept a smile as blood rushed down his forehead.

Alex was already furious with this mistake. "You were really wrong! I thought you said you had a hunch there wouldn't be any traps!"

"Hey, my hunches are USUALLY right. But every now and then, they can be a little wrong."

"You call that a LITTLE wrong? You're a dumbass!!"

Alex grabbed him by the collar, ready to strike his face. Before he could actually throw a punch, a firm tug pulled him away.

Estelle pointed out a bigger problem.

"Now's not the time for fighting. We have other issues."

The enemies that surrounded them became clear. Indeed skeletons were in steady formation, equipped with weapons and armor.

Louis had the durability to keep fighting, but every one else was too injured from the fall.

"This would take way too much time for me to do on my own. So instead of fighting I have a different solution."

He pulled an explosive crystal from his pocket. Clenching it into his palm, he pitched it at the enemies.

Boom! Crackle! Collapse!

The ceiling caved in, trapping the skeletons on the other side.

"Pro baseball style. Easy win."

Alex raised his voice,

"What the hell is baseball? Actually, neverminds, I don't care. Shouldn't we look for a way out now?"

"I have a hunch this is where we should be."

Considering where his hunches got them, Alex was even more agitated.

"Your hunches are what got us all injured!!!!! Use some logical thinking!! Damn idiot!!"

Louis nodded, "You're right. Here's some logical thinking: I have a hunch that my hunch is right."

"That's it!!!"

Alex threw a strike at him but missed, hitting a wall instead.

Bmp! Crumble.

An action done out of anger proved to be fortunate, the wall crumbled into pebbles and revealed a passageway. It was too unexpected that Elax wasn't even mad anymore, just surprised.

Louis gave him a friendly pat on the back, "Nice job. You actually did something useful with that anger of yours."

"Please just shut up already."

The fact that there was a passageway meant this was some sort of lair, or even a dungeon. Either one of those possibilities were bad, it meant strong monsters awaited them.

Being the only way out of the rocky-cave area they were in, they made the decision to go through. Torches along the wall lit the way down the never-ending aisle. All of their voices were echoey.

Sylvio: "I'm glad you made the decision not to fight those skeletons earlier. I sensed that their physical capabilities had been enhanced by magic. They could've caused us some serious wounds, if they were able to hit us."

Louis noticed it as well. He was able to sense those dangerous auras. It was the reason he ultimately decided to run rather than fight.

"Yeah, I sensed it too. It was a pretty overwhelming amount of energy too. Whoever enhanced them wasn't a noob at magic, that's for sure. Honestly, a fight with that many is the last thing we'd want."

Each of them came to a halt, there were two separate paths to continue on.

On the middle wall were some sort of ancient texts.

Estelle: "What does it say?"

Alex: "You think he's supposed to know? It's an ancient language, nobody in the kingdom probably knows."

Louis examined the texts. In fact, he had an ability for understanding any language. Right away, it all made sense to him.

[ Greetings and possibly farwell. One path will guide you on a path to the surface. The other will lead you through numerous challenges. Choose wisely as you cannot change paths later.]

"So basically, we're screwed if we don't pick the right path. One way is a trap."

"That's an unfortunate risk." Sylvio murmured.

"It is. So, make your chives. Left or right?"

It would've been an easy decision for Louis to follow his hunch, but he didn't have one for this situation. If they all ended up taking the trap path by mistake, they would be screwed. Especially if there were more monsters like those skeletons.

Louis stopped at the start of the right path.

"Alright. This way it is. If you want, one of you are welcome to tag along."

Estelle made the choice to follow his lead. They took a good 12 steps down the path, until a wall sealed them inside.

Estelle: "Did we just take the trap path?"

Louis wore an awkward smile, "Oops... I figured if we went right then we couldn't go wrong."

It was the stupidest reasoning Estelle had ever heard, but she kept that opinion to herself.

Estelle: "Aside from your logic, I trust your ability in combat if we find ourselves against foes. I just hope we don't find ourselves against something too formidable."

Louis: "Yeah, me neither. It would be a pain in the rear if I had to create another spell."