“Lucille, you are alive!”
“Ahh...”
“Please calm down Charlene, I’m fine.”
A smiling blue-haired nobledy was being hugged by a young blond girl that went by the name Charlene. The two friends were now back together, the first thing this young earth mage did was toss herself at the ice mage’s dirt-covered body.
The other people around them were a bit surprised by the udy way of acting. Most of the time Charlene wasposed and acted as a proper nobledy of her status. Now, on the other hand, she was even sobbing slightly.
‘Did those two have such a rtionship with each other?’
Rnd had to take a step back after watching the two girls hug it out. He hade across this Charlene person before. From his point of view, the girl was more in line with all the haughty nobles that he knew.
Whenever she spotted him talking about runes with Lucille she gave him that look. One that told him that he shouldn’t associate with one of her friends. Most nobles did feel like themoners were below them in any way shape or form.
This wasn’t anything out of the ordinary as he was just not considered part of their group. People tended to create their own small or big cliques, if someone wasn’t part of them then they didn’t belong. This was the same for these nobles. Only when epted as part of their prestigious group they would start treating someone as a proper human being.
They were now all gathered outside theke area. The mountain goat beastmen were tasked to go grab the Knights. With Rnd, Robert, and Lucille being exhausted from the trip they were in no condition to make it over theke again.
The knights had used the nned encampment and continued with their test even when Lucille was trapped. It seemed that idents like this were somewhat included in the whole expedition.
Losing one of the mages was not apparently a big enough reason to not get a passing grade. Now Rnd was curious if they would not get any demerits as the three people that fell down were able to return on their own ord. This depended on the instructor who was watching over this whole fiasco. He might even want to sweep it under the rug as he was not able to react in time to save a viscount’s daughter either.
“Knight Robert, please give me an exnation, how were you able to return here.”
The loud voice of Lord Percival moved Rnd’s attention away from the two young girls hugging each other. Robert and him had already drunk some healing and stamina potions, all given to them by Lobelia.
Rnd felt a bit ticked off by the tone of voice this noble was using. It was clear that he didn’t think much of Robert as he did not use this harsh way of speaking when talking to either of the nobledies.
Robert’s facial expression that had gone milder after their experiences down in the dungeon reverted to its old stiff shape. His eyebrows went at an angle and he stood up straight while doing the usual knightly salute.
The perfect knight that was starting to show some human traits was back to his old self or at least that’s how it seemed. Rnd’s only worry was him disclosing their run-in with the dangerous boss monster.
He had given them the option of backing out but not like a noble would see it like that. Rnd could be held ountable for endangering nobles. This could bring various troubles his way, which he would like to avoid at all cost.
“Yesmander, I will make my report now!”
‘Huh?’
While standing up straight Robert’s eyes moved to the side and Rnd could see him ncing at him for just a second. This took him a bit by surprise but after Robert started to speak out he realized why he was looking his way.
“After being trapped in the cave we discovered a passage that let us to a series of corridors, with Wand’s help we...”
’Wand? Not the adventurer?’
It felt like Robert was finally treating him like a proper person, before the fall he mostly referred to him as ’Adventurer’. Rnd continued to listen to this exnation and to his surprise, any information about the room filled with metals and the boss chamber was kept out of it. Robert even downyed the number of monsters they needed to face after leaving the boss chamber.
The report that he gave informed Percival that they just found a series of underground corridors filled with bug-type monsters. Then at the end, they found an opening that led them to the middle of theke.
“An exit from the tunnels?”
“Yes my Lord, but after theva flooded, I fear that the entrance has been sealed..”
This was another lie, after they went outside the pathway closed itself automatically. Robert made it sound like the mechanism was a one-way exit.
“Good... at ease...”
Percival nodded with his head, he was not an adventurer so he was not that interested if there were any treasures below the dungeon. He was more concerned about passing this mission and not having a precious nobledy that also possessed a rare ss to die on his watch.
Rnd wasn’t sure what to say, he wanted to thank his half-brother for keeping it a secret. Before he could do that a certain nun from the sun church appeared before him. Her hands were already glowing with the holy light.
“Mr. Wand please don’t move, I’ll heal your wounds.”
A miracle of healing appeared before him, Sister Kassia’s hands glowed in golden light. When this light touched his skin he could feel a tingling feeling wash over him. He had drunk a healing potion beforehand but healing spells were slightly different.
They worked instantly, a tier 3 priest could even recover lost limbs if their magic was high enough. There were even some rumors that tier 4 healing sses were able to resurrect people with a loss to their experience and some memory loss.
If those rumors were true or not was hard to confirm. Tier 4 healers were all candidates for the pope position. It was a somewhat special ss at tier 5 that could be used only by one person per church. This left all the main churches with one pope and only when they died would another pope be chosen.
Rnd wasn’t aware of how this all worked but the rumors said that the gods from these churches were involved in it. Thus getting a tier 4 healer in motion would require a lot of capital and power, probably only high aristocrats of the duke caliber and above could move someone like that into action.
While the nobles were busy with Robert and Lucille, Rnd was able to catch up with his adventurer group.
“You’ve seen better days... at least you can just repair that armor of yours...”
Lobelia was the first one to speak up while Silvio moved in from the side and gave Rnd a pat on the back.
“Good job, d that you were able to make it out alive.”
“You’re tough for human, next time no slip.”
Korgak chimed in with a one liner, then for some reason after seeing Silvio patting Rnd’s back he decided toe over and give one of his own. The half-orc was muchrger than the tracker so his pat was a full time smack to his backte. The already damaged armor rattled slightly while Rnd had to take a step forward.
“Mr. Korgak please be more gentle, Mr. Wand has been through a lot, he must drink a lot of water and rest!”
Sister Kassia shook her head at therge half-orc that somewhat dropped his head down. He was not sure what happened during the stay at the camp but he seemed to be afraid of her.
“Now then Mr. Wand, let me recite a passage of our holy gospel while you recover!”
Rnd’s mostly neutral-looking face that was still covered by the helmet showed a frown. It seemed that this was the problem as the moment the gospel was mentioned the other party members started inching away from the nun.
“I think I’ll pass...”
Rnd side-stepped Sister Kassia while she was reciting some strange passages from their version of the bible. Lobelia and Armand also cleared out from around them while the cleric continued her speech, it seemed that she really let them hear it during the camp stay when he was done.
After going through some awkward pleasantries with his party members, Rnd headed over to Silvio. The party leader was ncing at the nobles that were in the process of looking over their ownrades.
Lucille was the center of attention but even Robert was greeted by the other knights. After spending some time with the two he started thinking slightly differently about nobles. He was still convinced that the exception does not make the rule and that most nobles were still less than pleasant to be around.
Silvio nodded at Rnd while looking over his damaged armor but notmenting on it.
“Will we be returning now?”
Rnd didn’t beat around the bush with his question. He was tired and his armor was rendered useless. After going through a couple of runic mending skills it barely was able to produce defensive spells. All of the mana stones had been broken during the scuffle with the boss and he just wanted to go home.
“That depends on them... we are still contractually obligated to stay with them. The one that makes the decision is that High Knight...”
Silvio motioned with his chin towards the older armored knight. This was the academy instructor that they came with and he would decide if this was over. The time they spent down here was over two weeks and they would probably need a day or two to get back.
“Sir Bertold, this won’t do. We must return this instant, there isn’t even that much time left for the test, Lucille has been through enough to think she proved that she can handle herself here!”
Rnd perked up as the blond-haired nobledy started shouting. After she was done hugging Lucille she strutted over to the High Knight instructor by the name of Bertold.
The old knight in question looked slightly troubled by this request. He was probably weighing the pros and cons of this decision. Finally, after a moment of silence, he spoke out.
“Lady Charlene... I would normally be inclined to let you off but rules are rules...”
At first, the blonddy started to smile but her facial expression changed to a pout. Both she and also Percival were now talking with the High Knight.
“But Sir Bertold!.”
“Now now youngdy, let me finish.”
“This exercise was supposed to take a minimum of three weeks and we are a few days short, may I propose a smallpromise...”
The voices of the group of nobles started to be more silent as they discussed something with each other. From what Rnd could tell it was a positive proposition as the blonddy’s pout turned to a big bright smile.
“They decided on something, I guess we are packing up...”
Silviomented while covering a smirk with his hand. Due to his enhanced hearing, he could clearly hear what the nobles were discussing even though they were standing far away. Soon everyone else was clued in by the Knightmander, Lord Percival.
“Listen up everyone, we will return to our encampment...”
The first sentence didn’t sound right but soon Rnd knew why Silvio was smiling.
“Only half of our force wille with me while the rest remains with Lady Charlene and Lucille. We will only be returning to take the magic tents and the remaining provisions...”
From the order, it looked like they would be taking a smaller force to clear out the camp from what was left there. After hearing that Lucille was alive and well, half of them moved here while some people remained at the old encampment.
“We will then meet up with the adventurer party before the boss chamber and then head up to the city where we will stay for the remainder of the week...”
“Oh?”
“Aren’t you d Wand, just rx, you’ll be home soon enough. Isn’t it great to have that Percival fellow on our side, he gave that old knight an offer that he couldn’t refuse.”
"An offer?"
Rnd asked while not really sure of what Silvio was talking about. He did not hear any part of the conversation but not like he was listening to the nobles from the start. Silvio on the other hand was quite sneaky about it.
"Use your imagination, what could an old knight like that be looking for at this point in his life?"
Silvio gave him another pat on the back while moving out to do a sweep of the area. He left Rnd with more questions without exining much but he got the gist of it.
The tier 3 knight was already past his prime. This could mean that he was looking for a ce to retire. Percival belonged to a count’s estate, he might even be the heir of the whole estate. With a few good words here and there he could propose a position at the count’s side, maybe even let the tier 3 knight be some kind ofmander there.
’If it’s like that then maybe...’
The nobles were to return outside of this dungeon but they would stay in the city for longer. It would look like the Knights stayed for three weeks down in the dungeon which would allow them to pass their test while also looking less suspicious when they returned. It seemed nice to have connections with high nobles but why Percival used this card remained unknown to him. It didn’t seem as if he would have failed, either way, was he really just being cordial towards the tired Lucile?
If Rnd had to be truly honest, he thought this was the wrong decision. This only showed the young nobles that if someone had connections they could get away with murder. Even though they were trying to keep it hidden, probably some of the knights knew what was going on. Something like this would certainly not go down well during an actual war.
While shaking his head about this deal the rest of the people started moving. He was now separated from his two oldpanions while Agni remained. His Ruby Wolf had actually leveled up quite a bit thanks to the boss fight and then the many monster encounters after it. He would probably be evolving soon as he was already level 46 at this point.
“Woof!”
‘Tamed beasts have it easy...’
Rnd patted the wolf on the head while grumbling that Agni had it too easy while leveling up. Even with his debugging skill he wasn’t this fast.
“Let us head out!”
The knights seemed a lot more coordinated after the two weeks of being here. Now without the two slow mages in the party, they were even able to get through theke in one piece.
While walking he could only think about it finally being over and that his identity was safely kept hidden away. He had tomend himself on adding a few more attachments to this helmet and having Bernir almost weld it in ce.
The helmet visor that he was using was also slightly different and even when he opened it up, the top part of his face was covered. He had enough space to get food into his mouth without Robert noticing anything.
Sometimeter they arrived at the boss room exit. They had to make a temporary encampment there while waiting for the second part of the knights. They needed to spend one more day here till they moved back up.
He noticed Robert and Lucille ncing his way from time to time but now he was back to his old party. The adventurers had their own encampment while the nobles spend the time together.
After not having much sleep for almost a whole week, he retired to his tent that he had to mostly set himself yet again. Armand had gotten the hang of setting these up, so he would not stay awake for that part.
Even while being stuck with the talkative Sister Kassia in his room he managed to fall asleep rather quickly. Unbeknownst to him, the woman prattled on for hours as due to his helmet she couldn’t tell that he was dozing off.
The rest went well and without a hitch. The High Knight and Percival returned without getting ambushed by overleveled monsters and they all headed up. All of the knights had leveled up while fighting the tier 2 monsters in the lower levels so they had no problem with these tier 1 variants.
“Finally I’m out... I’m not going into this stinky dungeon for at least another month!”
Lobelia sprinted up the dungeon stairs and was the first one outside. The other adventurers were quite interested in therge party of knights and adventurers that wereing out. There was one person in particr that stood up. The beat-up armor was making a lot of noise and it looked like it was going to fall apart at any minute.
It was finally over, Rnd could feel the clear air and even see the sunlight shining down into his visor. He had made it out in one piece and had gained a lot while doing it. What remained to do was to return home and count the coins...