11　Kinkaku hame tarou

"Ro-Rook Archery...! "

Silvia was amazed after seeing her status.

Her eyes were still swollen and red from the crying. She said that while still sobbing like a crying puppy. I wish she wouldn't worry that much about me being unreasonable, or rather, I feel grateful.

...Well then. If my prediction is correct, this is Silvia we're talking about, who values chivalry. I bet she will say something like:

"――Second-dono. I truly admire you for keeping a promise made to me as your companion, going as far as crushing your own bones for it. I am very proud to be by your side. Allow me to pledge my life to serve under you."

See? I told you.

Then I just told her what I had told her before.

"Don't worry. Just shut up and follow me."

Silvia locked her eyes with mine.

Immediately after that, she laughed with a "hahaha".

"Second-dono, do you think I'll just shut up because you say it?　What a troublesome person."

Ha, haha. I laughed.

Hahahaha, haha, ha...

......Well, wasn't that unexpected?

After that.

As we pulled ourselves together and headed further inside the Reus dungeon, I noticed a slight change in Silvia.

Her outwardly feel as a 「Useless Knight」hasn't changed at all, but in the moments when I'm about to be attacked by a monster, she makes a threatening face and obliterates that monster with using "Rook Archery". After having to see that angry face for a while, I ended up preaching to her about it.

Anyway, Silvia now really gives off the vibe of 「Second's Knight」, being my knight.. She says it is her job to protect me. Hmm, is this some kind of pretend play?　But, aren't you too old to be playing pretend at 17...?

And then, she finally said "Second-dono, please let me take the front." as if to protect me.

...Makes me wonder. Isn't this quite the hassle?

Well, let's not mind it too much. The only thing left is the boss.

"This is the home of the Flame Wolf."

Reus dungeon's boss, the Flame Wolf. It is a powerful monster in the shape of a large wolf, wearing flames as if coating it. Thanks to that fire barrier, the only damage it receives is from piercing attacks. Although my memory from Mobius is vague, I remember all the intermediate players who came visit the Reus dungeon rated this fight as "A pain in the butt".

However, there is one thing I remember perfectly. And that is――

"Alright, let's entrap it and kill it."

"Yes? "

But at a certain point, that evaluation turned into "time sink-small fry".

The changing factor was a trap approach. Once that strategy was discovered, the formidable Flame Wolf turned into more of a bullied child.

"Ready?　First, I'll attack it with Bishop. Since the Flame Wolf will target me and run towards me, I'll knock it back with Gold. At that point, Silvia will attack it with Bishop. Then, the Flame Wolf will target you Silvia, and when he runs up to you, you knock it back with Gold. The rest is rinse and repeat."

This is an easy to do strategy to defeat the Flame Wolf, its name is 『Kinkaku hame tarou』. This is a famous killing technique that can be done by two or more people.

Using"Bishop Archery" you can penetrate the flame barrier and do enough damage, and if it's of the 12 rank or higher, that amount of damage will certainly pull the Flame Wolf to you. And if the "Gold Archery"is of the rank 9 at least, the cooldown timer will be enough for this strategy to be accomplished by two players. And above all, the attack pattern of the Flame Wolf is  simple and lacks  ranged attacks. Therefore, this evil entrapping technique was easily established.

"Wa-wait. Would it really be that easy? "

"It's fine, if not, this is at least the safest. The key point is to wait until the last possible moment before using Bishop. This is in order to adjust the cooldown timer. All we need to do is stretch the time in order to gain the 10 seconds needed to reuse Gold."

"I s-see..."

"Okay, let's go."

I leisurely went to the place where the boss was at. Silvia was a bit nervous... but at that moment, her expression just turned into a "pokan face". ( O_O )

"Awooooooo! "

Noticing me, the Flame Wolf gave a howl and afterwards it rushed towards me.

"He-here it comes!? "

"Alright. Okay, after I knock it back and the wolf comes at me again, hit it with Bishop at the last second."

While talking to Silvia, I shoot an arrow with "Bishop Archery" at the Flame Wolf. The arrow, enveloped in a red-blackish aura, pierced the Flame Wolf, but it took it like it wasn't a big deal.

"It's n-not working!? "

Silvia was surprised. Well, that is obvious, this is a boss. You can't take it down with a single skill. But he is properly receiving damage.

"You shoot the Gold when it is around in this position."

When the Flame Wolf was around 2 meters away from me, I shot it with "Gold Archery". At that moment, the arrow, covered in a golden aura,hit it with a dazzling effect and the Flame Wolf was knocked about five meters back. This is its knockback effect.

"It'll be coming at me again soon. Get ready to shoot Bishop right in front of me."

"Ye-yeah... I know! "

Silvia was still filled with tension.

After the Flame Wolf restored its posture, it rushed at me again without paying attention to anything else.

"Kyaun! "

Silvia's arrow coated in "Bishop Archery" pierced the Flame Wolf when it was around 3 meters ahead of me.

The Flame Wolf was like "You hurt me!? ", and then it changed targets and rushed towards Silvia, glaring at her as it approached. This monster surely is stupid.

"Let it get very close to you."

After giving her instructions, Silvia knocked off the Flame Wolf using "Gold Archery". Silvia wore a serious expression the entire time, and nodded at my instructions.

After that, Silvia and I repeated it about 15 times.

Saying stuff like "This sure feels easy" or "Wanna eat dinner together later tonight? " I tried to make small talk.

And after the fifth round, Silvia started to respond to my questions.

Seems like we're going to eat dinner in that bar again.

Then, at the 16th round.

"Se, se...Senden (advertisement)" "Denpun (Starch)" "Purin! " "Rihitenshutain (Liechtenstein)" "What is that?" "The name of a country" "...Well, its fine, I, Inkan (seal)" "Kaikan (pleasant feeling)" "Ka, ka, ka, kazan (Volcano)" "Zakkubaran (Frankness)" "Ra——-imugi pan (Rye bread)" "Pattern" "...What was that, ta? a? "

"A" "A..."

We we're killing time playing Shiritori when the Flame Wolf died.

"...Damn, it's a miss."

I said after looking at the item dropped in the place where the Flame Wolf died.

"Hmm? "

Silvia also noticed and came closer.

"T-this is!? "

I wonder why she is so surprised. It's just some 『Flame Wolf Fur』.

"Isn't it Flame Wolf fur!?　This is a miss!? "

"Eh, yeah, why do you ask?"

"I-idiot, don't say stupid things!　Isn't this a luxury item that can be sold to a merchant for 1 million CL!? "

"A million–!? "

Way higher than I thought!　No, isn't it too expensive!?

The best item from the Reus dungeon is the 『Bow of the Blazing Wolf』 and that goes from 800,000 to 900,000 CL at most. 50,000 would've been a good enough price for the fur.

To think it would be twenty times its price. Wait a minute...

Considering that, how much would a rare drop from an Upper dungeon go for?

...I can't stop grinning.

"Alright, let's bring it back."

"Umu. Isn't that obvious?"

Chuckling to myself, I placed the Flame Wolf fur inside my inventory, and afterwards we left the Reus dungeon.

After defeating the boss, we took the shortest route to the exit. 「How to reduce travel time」is a very important aspect for those who want to play an MMORPG to perfection. In that facet, Mobius was quite terrible. Its crappy magic system didn't allow you to learn instant movement magic unless you were quite advanced. The intermediate and lower players are stuck traveling in horses or flying dragons to get where you need to go. Therefore, I feel very grateful that I knew the existence of this dungeon, since it was quite close. Feels like the grace of getting the occasional sweet meal in prison where everything is tasteless.

"Alright, should we go for a drink?"

"Okay. Exactly what I wanted."

It was dusk outside. We were inside the dungeon almost the whole day.

Along with Silvia, we both went back.

When I said "Next time, let's aim to clear it multiple times", Silvia answered with a " How many?" Then I said "Let's try for at least three clears in a day" and she just "Hahaha, Idiot" answered with a dry laugh.

After that, we talked about our hobbies. I heard about her family, and we laugh at some silly things on our way back to the capital.

Just a trifling conversation about our everyday life. But it was relaxing and fun.

...I wonder what this is?

I feel so happy that I could barely think about my previous life.

My life in this other world as my alt character is filled with fun, and I even got a friend named Silvia.

And you can even tell that, as we've trained together, we've grown closer.

In this world――I'll became the world's rank one.

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Thank you for reading.