“Grab onto me, and don’t let go!”
Though Royce didn’t know how to swim, he could at least manage to stay afloat.
He propped Leonora up and tried to push her toward the boat. However, the water demons below were already within reach. The resistance of the water made it difficult to swing a sword, so he simply slammed his fist into a water demon’s face, caving in its skin and knocking out teeth with a single blow. With the two people on the boat also helping, they managed to buy a tiny window of time.
Leonora grabbed the side of the boat, her survival instinct driving her to climb upward. It was only after she had escaped certain death that she felt a brief sense of relief. But the moment she realized Royce was still in the water, she immediately stood up and joined the effort to cover him.
Because he had given most of the escape time to others, the water demons were less than two meters away from Royce by the time he tried to board.
“To hell with it! If I die today, I die!”
Caring for nothing else, he grabbed the edge of the boat, using every ounce of his strength to defend his life. However, a water demon lunged and seized his leg. Its sharp claws tore through his skin and embedded themselves into his flesh like nails, refusing to let him leave.
“DON’T TOUCH MY BROTHER!!”
Cameron’s fury-driven strike landed on that water demon, instantly exploding it into a mess of shredded meat. Seeing this, the other two immediately attacked the approaching demons.
Seizing the opportunity created by his teammates, Royce scrambled onto the boat. He leaned against the wooden planks, panting heavily, completely oblivious to how badly he had been injured.
“How… How was that? I looked pretty cool, huh? Haha.”
“You idiot brother…” Cameron embraced him while trembling. “Stop trying to act cool at a time like this.”
As the two hugged, Leonora lowered her head. Her face, framed by wet hair, was filled with self-reproach.
“If you’re feeling angry, then let all that rage out.”
Hearing this, Leonora looked up at Roland’s face, her expression turning firm once more.
Now that they no longer had to worry about accidentally hitting their companions, the two released Level 3 magic simultaneously. The powers of ice and fire exploded at the bottom of the lake, wiping out more than half of the fragile water demons in an instant.
Afterward, the two went to Royce to check his injuries.
“I’m sorry. I caused this,” Leonora apologized with her head bowed.
Royce just smiled and said, “It’s fine. It’s just a small wound.”
Roland asked, “How is the injury? Do you need my help?”
“No need. My sister is very good at healing. As long as my entire leg hasn’t been bitten off, she can fix me up.”
“But it must hurt.”
“Pain is good. There’s a saying among adventurers: pain is a gift to the brave, and scars are the trophies of the victor.”
“I can understand that.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Roland certainly wasn’t going to mention that her psychological gender was male.
—
After traveling for a long time, during which Leonora remained silent and sat alone, the boat finally reached the shore. Once the boat was secured with ropes, the four of them stepped onto the bank.
“The Third Floor… We haven’t been here before either,” Royce remarked, looking at the spiral staircase before them.
Roland walked to the front of the group. “But you should know at least a little information about what’s below, right?”
“Not much.”
“Brother, you should just shut up. I’ll tell her.” Snatching the lead in the conversation, Cameron explained, “The space on the Third Floor isn’t as large as the first two. Overall, it’s only about the size of the Lake of Water Demons. I’ve heard it’s all water, but people can stand on the surface without falling in.”
“That sounds amazing.”
“There are plenty of amazing things in the world. You see them eventually if you stay an adventurer long enough.”
“Should we stop and rest again? After all, the floor below is the final one.”
“Yeah.”
*Crackle.*
The sound of the rekindled fire woke Roland from a nightmare.
This time, she had a different kind of dream. She seemed to see Miya, and… magical beasts. It was as if someone were editing fragments of the future into a jumbled mess of images to show her.
‘Who exactly is it?’
She knew she would likely suffer from insomnia tonight, so she crawled out of her sleeping bag to read. She found Leonora huddled in a blanket by the fire, her silhouette looking profoundly melancholy.
Because she was also cold, Roland wrapped herself in her blanket and wiggled over like a caterpillar, accidentally bumping into Leonora’s back and nearly knocking her into the fire.
Leonora turned around, annoyed. “What are you doing!”
“I couldn’t sleep. I came over for warmth and to hear what’s on your mind.”
She lowered her head again. “I don’t have anything on my mind.”
“Impossible. Your expression is practically screaming ‘I have things weighing on me, someone please come comfort me.'”
“Then go talk to my expression.”
“Don’t be so exclusionary. I’m your bodyguard, after all. You can tell me what’s bothering you.”
Leonora buried her head in her knees, her voice muffled as she spoke. “Just a bodyguard… I only know how to wallow in self-pity and drag you all down. If you had just left me behind, you might have already cleared the dungeon by now.”
Roland pressed her book against her chest and leaned forward, her silver bangs framing her face. “You really are quite useless. You throw tantrums like a child, run away from reality, defy your parents, and lack a clear sense of self-awareness…”
“Are you here to comfort me or annoy me?”
“Ahem, maybe I listed a few too many flaws. Let me talk about your strengths then. Like my bastard father, you are an idealist. Once you decide on something, you will definitely see it through, no matter how painful the process or how much criticism and verbal abuse you have to endure.”
“I’ll take that to mean you think I’m persistent.”
“Something like that.”
“So, does that count as a strength?”
“I suppose?”
“It feels more like you’re saying I love to daydream.”
“I don’t hate dreamers, and I don’t hate you. Your dream gave me the chance to become stronger. If I hadn’t obtained Elias’s manuscript, I might have died.”
Leonora looked up at her. “Why?”
“Because demons appeared in my territory.” Roland’s voice was calm, as if she were merely recounting a trivial matter, yet Leonora could feel the weight behind the words.
“If it were me, I’d probably just run away in a panic. You’re more like a noble than I am. I’m just a lucky person.”
“Not necessarily. Sometimes that’s just how people are. Even when they know they are facing insurmountable difficulties, they always find the courage to face them at the final moment.”
“Roland…” Leonora spoke in a sorrowful tone. “You really are so kind, willing to tolerate a bad child like me who is full of flaws. It must be a very happy thing to be your daughter.”
“Then why don’t you call me ‘Mother’ and let me hear it?”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Do you want to be my daughter or not?”
“Maybe in my next life. I really envy the child you adopted. If only there were magic that could exchange lives… I want to experience the feeling of being cared for, too.”
Roland reached out, resting her palm on top of Leonora’s cold head. “I care about you.”
Whether it was the warmth of the palm or the words reaching her ears, Leonora’s body trembled.
‘Do I even have the right to feel this love?’
‘This is clearly just a transaction, so why are you being so kind to me?’
‘A rat from the shadows should die in a dark corner. Why are you letting me see the sunlight?’
Painful memories flooded her mind, and the suppressed guilt, inferiority, and cowardice of the past few days broke through her heart.
There was no “pursuit of freedom,” and there was no “becoming an adventurer.” She was completely deceiving herself and others. In the end, she was still just running away, yet she kept saying she wanted to be cared for.
She was a liar!
She might as well just die in the dungeon; staying alive would only cause trouble for others anyway!
Leonora buried her head deeper and began to sob quietly. Her words were barely audible even to someone listening closely. “I’m sorry…”
“Cry if you want to. There’s no shame in being a crybaby. You’ll grow up someday anyway, as long as you don’t forget the version of yourself that once cried.” Roland gently embraced her, her tone as gentle as a kind mother’s.
‘Come to think of it, Miya rarely seems to cry…’
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