18 The Raid [3]

Rita was wandering on the lowest floor for a few hours now. She was looking and observing her surrounding, but she had a little difficulty trying to read the map.

"I can do this," Rita said to herself. Now that she was alone, she understood that she lacked a lot of things.

After Lucian left, she began to think about what she needed to do next. Then, she realized that she still didn't know where she needed to go or what she was supposed to do even though she had money.

Lucian told her to think about a way to increase her chance of survival when they go inside the Abyss.

'So we are going inside the Abyss?' Rita was a little scared, thinking about this. 'What should I do? I don't know anything about the Abyss and adventuring?'

She began by assessing her own abilities. Although she wasn't particularly frail, her physical ability was lacking. And compared to Lucian, her intelligence was mediocre. She also didn't have a relic. In other words, she was completely powerless.

But then, she remembered Lucian's words. Imagination was her greatest weapon, and when she didn't understand something she needed to ask herself why she didn't understand it.

Why was she weak? Why did she not know anything about the Abyss?

"Hmmmm… What would Lucian do in this situation," Rita thought out loud about what she could do. "Observe. Think. Learn. I know! It's exactly what he said. I don't understand it because I don't understand why I don't understand."

After saying these words, Rita wondered what she was even saying, but she understood the idea.

"I need to observe first. Then think about the best solution," Rita said, but it also sounded as if she was just repeating everything without making a progress.

It was hard to put into words. She was more impressed by Lucian. He made sound like it was so easy as if he had the answer to every question.

Still, she believed that she was changing. Before, she didn't even think about something like that at all.

Her priority was to figure out what did she lack and how to increase her chance of survival.

The problem was that she didn't even know what to observe. It was more difficult than she thought.

What could see probably do in three days? It was almost as if she was just playing with words inside her head.

"For now, I need more information. I need to acquire more information to be able to make a more accurate observation," Rita said to herself. She knew that this might be not the best solution, but she had to begin somewhere.

"E-excuse me." Rita approached the guards that were patrolling around the artifact below the huge moving woman figure. "Can you please help me to find a place where I can find information about the Abyss on this map?"

The guards were taken aback by Rita's question. It wasn't that they couldn't talk to anyone, but until now, no one had approached them.

Rita was extremely beautiful. The guards would even agree that it wasn't an exaggeration to say that she was the most beautiful woman that they saw in their life.

In fact, Rita was attracting a lot of attention as she was wandering around the area, and the guard had also seen her, but she looked like she was engrossed in her thoughts to notice the stares.

"If you need information about the Abyss, you need to go to the library or the guild hall." One of the guards answered Rita with a smile. "The guild is here and the library is here."

"T-thank you," Rita said, bowing her head respectfully.

The two guards couldn't help but feel a little bit embarrassed. They were curious about why Rita wanted information about the Abyss but they didn't ask after seeing her smile at them.

"No, it's okay. You should ride an automated vehicle though. It's quite far. The blue symbols on the map are the place where the stations are."

"I-I understand. Thank you very much."

Holding the map in front of her, Rita began to walk to her next destination, the library. The library wasn't common so this was the first time she would visit such a place.

"Chupyu~"

Suddenly, someone stood in front of Rita. A woman wearing a black dress and holding a little black umbrella. It was Valentina.

The woman stared at Rita without saying anything and Rita also stared at her.

"C-can I do something for you?" Rita was the first one to say something and her words reflected her character.

"Choupyu~" Valentina made a strange pose with her fingers which confused Rita. She didn't even know if this was normal or if she wasn't just aware of the habits of the people in this city.

"That stylish man asked me to show you how to teach you how to be an adventurer~"

"S-stylish?" Rita tilted her head in confusion.

"He was mysterious and strong," Valentina said. If someone heard her description, they would never guess the person that she was referring to.

However, for Rita, there was only one mysterious and strong person that she know.

"Lucian? Were his eyes covered?" Rita asked, thinking about Lucian's appearance.

"Yes, him. Choupyu~"

Rita still didn't understand why Valentina used the word 'Choupyu' nor why she made these strange poses with her fingers.

"I see…" Rita muttered. Somehow she felt something weird in her chest. "Ah… Many names are Rita. I will appreciate your help."

"I am Valentina," Valentina said, approaching Rita. "It's simple~ To be an adventurer is to kill mutated beasts inside the Abyss~"

Valentina wasn't joking. This was what she did. Now, all she needed to do was to bring Rita to the guild, or so she thought.

Rita tilted her head, knowing that what Valentina said didn't help at all. However, she looked serious and Rita didn't know what to say. Why did Lucian ask this person to help me, Rita thought.

"Huh… Miss Valentina, I understand what you are saying but I am still trying to figure out how to become strong enough to be able to fight monsters," Rita answered politely.

"Choupyu?!" Valentina tilted her head, feeling like there was something not right about this conversation. Seeing Lucian, she fought that Rita was also strong. "Do you have a relic?"

"No."

After heading Rita say that, Valentina's mind stopped working. She was someone who had a high-level relic so she didn't know how someone who didn't have a relic could become an adventurer.

She finally understood how difficult this challenge was.

"Well, thank you but I am on my way to the library. I don't have much time for a chat," Rita excused herself and walked away.

Rita looked at the map and looked at the place where she could embark in an automated vehicle.

"M-miss Valentina?"

However, she noticed that Valentina was following her without saying anything.

Valentina tilted her head, her expression was still unreadable as always.

Rita didn't know what to do so she just left Valentina alone. It looked like Valentina wanted to come with her.

Rita didn't know that Valentina was trying to find out how to help her.