The Daughter Of Rage And Love (5)

"Is everyone okay?" I quickly trot over to Shinobu and Sakura. As I get closer, I notice a tiny pair of red eyes peeking out from under Shinobu's hair. As soon as they notice my gaze, they disappear into the blond locks.

"What are you smiling about?" Sakura asks, her voice full of derision.

"Oh, nothing. I guess that means you two are fine, yeah?"

"Yes, but why did you leave us on our own? We don't have good close-quarters weapons." I can tell Sakura is upset, but we're in the middle of a dungeon, and we can't afford to lose focus.

"Josh, Shinobu, secure the area. Stay close and keep an eye out for any more monsters. Sakura, help me dissect these two Acriporcos. I'll explain my thinking to you while we're working, but we need to stay alert." Sakura takes a deep breath and forces herself to calm down.

"Okay." We all move quickly to fulfill our roles. I watch Josh and Shinobu out of the corner of my eye as they light torches and scout the area. I crouch down next to the less damaged corpse and begin taking it apart. Sakura moves next to me to help, but I can still see hints of rage in her eyes. "So?"

"Soft skin monsters are particularly susceptible to electric attacks, so I didn't think it could survive more than two hits. Acriporcos are a real headache for sword fighters due to their charging speed, so I wanted to make sure Josh didn't get hurt. Lastly, you had Inari, so no matter what happened, I knew you'd both be fine."

"You didn't think of all those things that quick." She responds in a huff.

"I don't know how much of that went into my decision, but I do know that I was confident no one would get hurt. The worst-case scenario was that we didn't do anything, so pretty much any order would have been beneficial, but I stand by what I said." Sakura doesn't continue arguing, but I catch her leering at me several times as we finish dismembering our prey.

"Alright, I don't think we should get dragged too deeply into this dungeon, but we're all still fresh. I say let's fight one more battle, and then we'll leave; what does everyone else think?"

"What choice do we have?" Sakura rolls her eyes at me. I can tell she's still upset with me, but there's not much I can do while we're still in the dungeon.

"Then let's leave. We came here to check it out, and we did that. I don't think we should stay in such a dangerous place while you're still mad at me. We can always come back another day." I bring up the second option to sate her rage. Josh nods, and Shinobu quickly agrees, so we start packing up. It's frustrating that Sakura is getting so worked up, but it's important that we work these kinks out now.

"Oh, It's gone," Sakura says as she pops up.

"What's gone?" I ask.

"My shield."

"So that lasted about an hour, right?"

"I think so."

"That's longer than I thought. How many times can you cast it in a row?"

"Maybe twice?" she replies with some hesitation.

"Why don't you refresh your shield and give one to Josh? I think that makes the most sense."

"I got it." Sakura narrows her eyes and casts two spells. It must be near her limit as she's left gasping for breath. We give Sakura a moment to collect herself before moving. I decide to take the front while Josh holds the rear in an attempt to placate Sakura. We make our way outside when we stumble upon a small group of goblins heading toward the dungeon. From what I've read, the goblins will leave the dungeon to collect supplies like wood, stone and meat. Most of the structure of the dungeon is built by them, so this is a common aspect of almost every dungeon. The goblins themselves are a pale green color. Their skin lacks pigment due to how much time they spend underground, but they have excellent night vision. The goblins stand about three feet tall, each with its own set of equipment. They can learn a variety of fighting styles and spells, so they have the potential to be very dangerous.

"Flash Step!" I use my skill and burst toward the small creatures. My high velocity means my spear will have no trouble penetrating most types of armor. As expected, I spear through the front goblin and injure the one behind it. The small party of monsters is startled to attention and begins moving to attack. I kick against the goblin weighing down my spear to dislodge it and retreat several steps.

'Vwip!'

I hear the sound of an arrow flying past me, and another goblin falls at the back. Of the seven monsters in the initial group, only four remain standing as their formation crumbles. They charge at me, and I back away to create distance.

"Current Wave!" Another one turns into a blackened corpse.

'Vwip!'

Josh joins my side when only two goblins remain, and we swiftly dispatch them without any injuries.

"Good job, team." I inspect the equipment the goblins carry to see if they have anything useful.

"Nick! What was that?" Shinobu has a shocked expression on her face as she directs a question my way.

"What was what?"

"Didn't you just use the Flash Step skill?"

"Yeah."

"Only high-level jobs have the ability to learn that! How did you learn it?" She seems genuinely upset by this development which is strange. I don't understand why she's getting worked up about an ability that makes the team stronger.

"I picked it up recently," I reply vaguely. "Better yet, how did Josh learn the slash skill? I know he doesn't have the swordsman job yet." Before I spent my levels, I was only at commoner level seven which means Josh can't be much higher than that. Considering he needs to switch from the commoner job to the militia job and then to the swordsman job, he still has quite a few levels to go. We all turn to Josh to hear his explanation.

"I don't know," he responds as he shrugs his shoulders.

"Well, that settles that. Let's dig through this equipment real quick to see if there's anything we can scavenge." I kneel down and begin picking over the corpses when Sakura speaks up.

"You still didn't tell us why you have the Flash Step skill. I've also been wondering how you got the Ironflesh skill too." I sigh internally at her investigative tone.

[She always thinks I'm up to something. This is wearing me out.]

"That's going to have to remain a secret." Sakura glares at me, and I can feel the tension in the air rise. I close my mouth and hold my ground.

"Are you four planning on coming to the dungeon more often?" Inari throws me a line and changes the subject. I thank her in my mind before casually answering her.

"I'd like to, considering how this expedition went. Why do you ask?"

"I'm concerned about the overall fighting strength of my fairies, and I think some live combat in the dungeon should be a good method for them to develop." This is a loaded statement. Inari has said in the past that her purpose is to allow the fairies to live freely. The fact that she is concerned about their fighting strength is essentially a refutation of this goal. For her to change her stance like this can only be due to a near existential threat. I've recently become aware of the guardian, which is the most likely culprit, but there may be something I'm missing. It seems the guardian is not a new threat, or they would probably have told me about it already. If that's the case, then it's possible that the pressure originates from somewhere else. My thoughts immediately drift to the town, which has all but confirmed that I'm working with the fairies.

[If she's planning for war against the humans, then I'll have to pick a side. If I'm found to be a traitor to humanity, it could cause problems for everyone I know.]

"We can discuss this when we get back to the den. Let's get moving for now." We gather the goblin's Monster Cores and whatever looks valuable amongst their shoddy equipment. I stow away everything in my magic bag, and we head back to camp. The light in the forest is fading, which warns us of the coming night. A weight is pressed down on my shoulders as a swarm of thoughts races through my mind. I've just been trying to do what I can to help those around me, but that might come to a head if the fairies were to go to war. On top of that, there's still the threat of the guardian that could surface at any time. Our prospects are suddenly looking very dim. Both Sakura and Inari shoot me glances occasionally, but neither opens up a conversation. It would be a silent walk back if it weren't for Shinobu excitedly talking about our adventure today. Despite being opposed to the expedition, it looks like she was the one who had the most fun. I catch glimpses of her ramblings here and there. She says something about a party she knew getting lost in a dungeon and another story warning people of the various traps that can be found inside. I have no intention of ignoring these warnings, so I make a mental note to talk to her about this later. We return to the cave shortly thereafter. Even though we gained a small victory, it feels as though we suffered a grave defeat.