Chapter LXXXIII - Wooden Swords (part 2)

The night went on just as wild. 

Everyone else was already exhausted from the spars, and they all started to play around the giant campfire. The master came around later and brought along Klane and Armir. 

He also brought along a bunch of meat for us.

"M-Meat??"

"Is it really… meat!?"

Everyone went crazy from seeing the meat that Klane took out from her magic ring. There's at least six stacks of them, with each for every group.

Before long, everyone started cooking. There are some incidents where a meat gone missing, or a meat thief (Cane stole Fran's, and now she is incredibly pissed). 

But in the end, everything works out.

Marksus was silent for the whole time, so we won't have to deal with his bullshit.

Hod was tired from commanding all day, so he went to sleep early. Barett also went with him to his tent, which they shared with Brod and Rath.

Fran came over to our tent and had a chat with us, along with her teammate Emily, the magician. She told me stories about how she trained her sword skills with the best swordsman in the kingdom, but only for a year.

I also told her a little bit about my story, like how I fought a Black ranked dungeon boss and won (which I lied to her), or when I somehow lost my ability to use magic. I didn't tell her anything about my charred skin, since it was technically asking for sympathy, and kept on telling her the cool parts of my journey.

Fran was actually very cool. Her personality is a little like me, I guess.

After that night, she and I, along with Emily, Valey, and Cony became closer. At night, we all decided to sleep together at our tent.

Our tents are large, so really there's no issue with it.

After the long night, everyone else also went to sleep. One or two groups decided to stay awake as guards, while the rest went to sleep.

Somewhere along midnight, footsteps can be heard next to the entrance. The adventurers who were on guard quickly come and check it, but turns out it's just Marksus.

"Marksus? What are you doing?"

One of the guards that time, Brian, asked Marksus. Marksus turned around and looked at them. His eyes seemed to be quite tired.

"I'm keeping an eye on the dungeon."

He said while trying not to fall asleep. Brian and Gen stared at each other before turning back to Marksus.

"But, we are the one on guard-"

"Yes, but when something happens, do you think the two of you can handle it?"

Gen and Brian became a little puzzled by his sudden provocation, but they have to admit that it's true. The two are only a Green ranked, and in front of a Misoh, they can only hope they can run from it.

The two then left Marksus in silence and continued their patrol. Marksus kept on staring at the dungeon, and when his gaze was facing the entrance, a grin showed up on his face.

The evening finally came to a close as the sun finally started rising. One of the adventurers blew the trumpet they brought to work as a caller, marking that the first bell has arrived.

The adventurers are starting to awaken one by one. They all came out from their tents and stretched their bodies. 

Except… for me.

"Rize... Wake up…"

Valey said as she tried to push away the feeling of her own tiredness. She, along with the others, had already woken up and tried to remove their dozes. Fran chuckled slightly when she saw that I still haven't woken up yet.

"Rize, wake up… The trumpet has been sounded."

Cony tried shaking my body, but I'm still too attached to the pillow. I brought this pillow from the inn, so technically it's not my pillow.

"I still can't believe she brought a pillow… It was her inn's too…"

"Yeah, we all had to make do with a bunch of clothes, and she had the luxury to steal a pillow from her inn."

Cony and Valey thrown their comments into the air, making Fran and Emily chuckled.

"She is a wild one, isn't she?"

Fran said as she stared at the sleepy me.

"You should have seen her in battle. She is like the goddess of death herself-"

My eyes became wide opened, and I suddenly sat up.

"W-Wha-Rize?"

Realizing nothing was wrong, I quickly shook my head.

"Nothing. Just had a nightmare..."

I brushed my eyes while making sure they didn't see my expression. Valey and Cony laughed, thinking how stupid it is to have a nightmare when you are me, while Fran and Emily chuckled before following them outside.

After removing the dozy feeling on my head, I followed everyone and headed out to clean ourselves up. Since this is no longer the kingdom, we have to make do with whatever bathroom we can find in the wild.

But then, an idea came across Cony's mind.

"Wasn't there a village when we came here?"

All hail Cony.

The five of us decided to go to the village and sneak into one of the houses to clean up. Let's just hope the villagers don't mind.

We entered one of the largest looking houses and picked that house as our bath place. Luckily, the biggest house also means the best bathroom, and apparently, that's the chief's house.

After bathing at the chief's house, we went back to the dungeon's entrance, all geared up from top to bottom. We then regrouped with our teams and prepared.

"There you girls are! My god!"

Hod seemed to be quite annoyed.

"Why? What's wrong?"

I asked him as we approached. From the looks of it, the middle area seemed like a battle ground already. I can see corpses of Misoh in the middle, being carried out of the way by the muscle heads, including Barett.

Apparently, while we were enjoying our baths, three Misoh came out from the dungeon and caused some panic. Luckily, Hod and Marksus were present. The two quickly subdued the Misoh along with the other adventurers pretty quickly.

"If you were here, I guarantee we could kill it quicker."

Hod said at me, but I simply lifted my shoulder.

"We were having a bath… Let's leave the killing until we are inside the dungeon."

"... Fine."

Hod then turned around and headed to the middle tent, where the master is currently at. Fran is also moving around. As the co leader of the group and the Yellow ranked, her main act is on the battlefield, which is after we enter the dungeon. Her responsibility starts here.

"So, is our secret firepower ready?"

A voice came from behind me. I noticed that it was Cane's voice after turning around. 

He had two swords sheathed behind his back now. Looks like he changed his sword skills into a dual wielding type.

"Secret firepower?"

"You heard what Hod said at the meeting. That we have a secret firepower in our midst."

"Huh... I still wonder who that might be…"

I said while pretending to be dumb, and Cane can only chuckle slightly.

"Kill as many as you can, Rize. That will ease our lives."

"You bet."

He then continued his march towards his group, where he somehow got mocked for being smelly after pooping. Did he just take a dump?

I blame my senses for not being able to smell, but at the same time, kind of glad.

The day grows brighter as the sun slowly rises higher. Another trumpet sounded, but this time it wasn't marking the second bell. 

It's to mark the time.

The time to raid has come.