Chapter CLVI - Is It Really A Crisis? (part 2)

The six of us took a carriage straight towards the dungeon's location. The location was quite far, so the trip will take some time.

Everyone knows this, and they began finding things to talk about so that they won't get bored inside the carriage.

So… they began comparing swords.

"Fran's sword is so much cleaner. Look, hers is all white!"

Rath said to Cane while pointing at Fran's unsheathed sword. Cane can only cough as he sheathed his sword back. 

He really liked his sword apparently. He polished it everyday, and it looked really bright and like new. I knew that, but to think he is being this defensive is a bit weird.

And… yes, they are comparing swords.

"White swords are fine, but if it gets stained, it will be dirty."

Cane said, which made Fran open her sharp mouth.

"Yeah, unless you are too lazy to clean it."

"Hey, I cleaned my sword a lot! Don't you see how bright it is?"

"You just enchanted it with light magic. You think I didn't notice?"

"I didn't!!"

Fran and Cane really had the worst chemistry. There is simply no one telling the truth when they chat, even I can't tell which one to side on. I simply wave my hands to calm them down.

"Guys, guys... The sword doesn't matter-"

""How can you say that??""

Despite how badly they act towards each other, their minds somehow connected. They both agreed that the sword itself is very important, a mindset I am very much against.

Beauty doesn't really matter… right? I mean I use pitch black weapons conjured by shadow magic. It really doesn't matter what sort of color or design the weapon has.

"Wait, Rize… Take out your sword, now."

Cane demanded me, so I let out a sigh. I knew it would come to this.

"I didn't want to change my sword... I got too used to it."

I took out the sword and the scabbard from my space ring. Seeing the golden dragon scabbard made everyone really shocked at the cool ornaments.

"That's a really cool scabbard!"

"A golden dragon scabbard... I should get something similar to that."

Cane and Fran, along with everyone else, were amazed by the scabbard. But as soon as I unsheathed the sword, everyone could see the pieces falling to the floor of the carriage.

""That was such a let down!!""

The sword is chipped so badly. Some parts even cracked, and some actually not even trying to stay intact and just fall down. It is… barely a sword.

"The last time I fought with this sword was when I was fighting a ton of rock hard monsters that are impossible to be cut with magic. I forcedly sliced them using the sword without any magic, and now it looked really damaged."

"Y-You call that damaged!?"

"That's an insult to all sword users."

Yeah... Despite how terrible they are at each other, they really do work their minds on the same vibration.

Except… for the fact that they are absolutely so much like oil and water…

The two immediately glared at each other angrily.

"Oh? Are you a sword user, Cane? How surprising!"

"Calling yourself the Swordsaint because you can dance a little with a sword? How arrogant!"

"Technically, I am not the one who called myself the Swordsaint. But if you want me to prove my abilities to you, I am more than ready."

Fran took out a little bit of her sword, and Cane quickly panicked.

Definitely… oil and water…

"I-I meant with magic! Simple sword art without any magic can't get you anywhere!!"

"Oh? Are you challenging me to-"

They are at it again…

"Guys, guys… We are still on the carriage. Pay some respect to the driver."

"Yeah! You kids shut the fuck up!!"

Hearing himself getting mentioned, the driver finally lost it and barked from the driver's seat. The suddenly shouting driver made Cane and Fran silent, while Emily and the others tried to hold back their laughs.

I laughed loudly, myself. Seeing them like this made me remember what it's like to have a team, except ten times more chaotic because we got a cat and dog on the team.

We arrived at the location around one and a half hours later. It was such a short trip, despite being over one hour of distance. All thanks to the cat and dog arguing, obviously.

It is on a mission location of a Grey ranked mission, which was how those low ranked adventurers at the Office were able to notice.

It's a dense forest. It's just a sea of trees everywhere. Then where is the dungeon, anyone might ask? It's simply in the middle of these trees.

Meaning, we have to spend another hour… splitting up, and looking for the entrance-

"Right here. I can sense some monsters in the area to the left."

… Or not.

I forgot we have the world's greatest hunter.

Rath led the way through the dense trees, and we arrived on a small hill where we found the entrance. Right outside the entrance are a bunch of monsters, guarding it. I can see the Gargoyles, Lamias, and Misoh, all working together guarding the entrance.

"Gargoyle, Lamia, Misoh. All three are Yellow ranked... but Misoh can be a higher Yellow, so be careful!"

Fran said as we hid ourselves in the bush, but I simply walked forward.

"R-Rize!"

I was walking calmly in the open, quickly alarming the monsters that were guarding the entrance. The Misoh on the most front noticed me, and quickly rushed forward. It swung its giant blade, and I quickly lifted my chipped sword.

FTENGG!!!

That… sounded very weird…

My knight's sword was too heavily cracked already, and the Misoh snapped it in half using its mightiest attack.

"S-See guys! The sword is… fine!!"

No, it is not. 

There is only half of a sword left.

I formed a grin on my face, but the Misoh behind me swung the blade towards my head. Seeing this, Emily snapped.

"Behind you!!"

TANGGG!!!

Like hitting a powerful metal, the blade bounced from my hair and fell to the ground. The Misoh held its hand, hurt from the blade bouncing away. I turned around and glared at the Misoh. 

My head isn't hurt at all, but it sure is annoying having a blade smacking your head.

"Oi. You're annoying."

BOOM!!!

I lifted my hand, and the Misoh exploded into juice. I threw a super small firebomb at its chest from my finger, and the Misoh got caught in the explosion.

I turned to the others and stared at them confusingly with my hands on my hips. Everyone quickly felt stupid for hiding and they all came out from their hiding spots.

FTANGG!!

BAAARRR!!!

SHRESHH!!!!

After all the guards were dead, we continued by heading inside the dungeon. The path was dark, but there were some light crystals on the ground, lighting the path. 

But just in case, Cane and I conjured some lights to light up the area.

We arrived in a large room where a ton of monsters reside. It was a huge cave with plenty of stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, and the room was lit by multiple large light crystals on the walls.

Tens of monsters seemed to be waiting for us, and they all looked very eager for a battle.

But, so are we.

Me, Cane, and Fran dashed forward and slaughtered the monsters to bits really quickly. Meanwhile Brod, Emily, and Rath can only watch as we slaughter Yellow ranked monsters easily.

Not even the strongest Misoh can last more than a second after meeting us face to face. This is the proof of our growth.

After killing the monsters, we arrived on a quad junction with three different paths to take, each leading to a different route.

Rath threw a rock at one of the paths, and he listened to the echoes from the rock crashing. He was planning to see if he could detect the paths just by using the sounds, but he returned to us and shook his head.

"Yep. I can't tell."

"Great. Then let's split up. I'll go with Emily."

I suddenly patted Emily's shoulder, startling the life out of her.

As I'm apologizing to Emily, Fran went with Brod, while Rath will go with Cane. Brod and Rath agree that putting Cane and Fran together is like asking the dungeon to collapse, so they pick one each to go with them.

Cane picked the left route, while Fran picked the middle route. Me and Emily will go through the right.

The six of us split up into three groups and got engrossed in our own conversations.

"R-Rize, why do you want to team with me?"

Emily asked shyly while we were strolling down the dungeon's path. I asked to team with Emily so suddenly, which definitely led her to think that I have some things I want to do with her. Which is not wrong, but it's cute seeing her asking me like that.

I simply turned my gaze to her and grinned.

"Tell me Emily, why did you become an adventurer?"

"Huh?"

She got quite confused by the sudden question, but she ended up thinking about it anyway.

"I… I wanted to help people… and I can't really do much of that by becoming a knight."

"True, adventurers do help other people. But since you are a mage, why not apply for a mage position in the kingdom? You could become one of their special mage units, right?"

Every kingdom has it, including Mazino. A special mage unit that is capable of dealing with anything regarding magic, and for a muscle-head kingdom like Mazino, such a unit is incredibly precious.

Let's not look at Xyphon for a second, okay?

"I… I don't want that. I want to help people, but at the same time, I…"

"You want the thrill, right?"

She turned to me looking quite confused, but I simply grinned and turned my gaze forward.

"Do you wish to become stronger, Emily?"

It was such a simple question, but Emily knows for a fact that I don't mean it so simply. She knows very well that I have studied abroad at the magic academy, a chance that she possibly never had. And for me to ask her that question, simply shows that I have ulterior motives.

"Yes!!"

She quickly nodded at me with an excited pout on her face… That was cute.

I chuckled and turned my gaze to her.

"Then I shall turn you into a powerful magician."