Chapter 14: Three Will Come (1)

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaah──!!”

A sharp scream echoed.

It was not, of course, a scream let out after I brushed off her protests and she finally took off the sack to see my face.

It was one that erupted from within some ruins quite some time after that.

But for now, the person who screamed was, indeed, Evie.

“Why do I have to be in the frontliiiine──!?”

It was, however, a genuine scream, close to a shriek, that she let out while barely dodging the blade of a greatsword swung fiercely at her.

Whoosh!

“Hyaaaak!?”

Evie, who dodged the fiercely swung blade of the greatsword by bending her waist back, let out another scream.

Looking at the result alone, that heavy blow had missed as a 'critical failure' and didn't leave a single scratch on Evie, but just from looking at it, it was quite a close call.

If she had been just a little bit later, it wouldn't have been strange if her head had been lopped off.

“…Um.”

Perhaps that was why.

Rine, who was also watching the scene, suddenly tugged lightly at my sleeve.

“Is it really okay to just watch from here…?”

Even to the current Rine, who was indifferent to, or rather, fundamentally uninterested in the emotions of others, it seemed that Evie's…

“Don't just stand there gawking, do somethiiiing──!”

…Sense of injustice (?) was being conveyed well.

“To be honest, if the two of us went over there, we'd just get in the way.”

It was obvious that we'd be knocked out with a single hit.

If we were lucky, we'd be near-death, and if not, we'd be lopped off.

Both Rine and I were so-called 'glass cannons'.

Of course, that didn't mean we were useless and should just bring out the popcorn.

“It's not that we're just going to watch.”

I replied to the tilting Rine with a smirk.

“We can share our courage. We can give her hope.”

Ahem.

I cleared my throat once.

“I'm gonna die! I'm really gonna die!! Heeeek!?”

Kwaang!

In the meantime, the large axe that Evie had dodged by moving out of the way smashed into the stone wall next to her.

At that, I began to snap my fingers even faster than usual.

The fact that we could share courage and hope was meant literally.

“A rapturous song, oh, dancing softly, Risstan sways gently, alas."

「Song of Swiftness」.

While Evie was consecutively dodging the fierce attacks pouring down from the monsters she was facing──skeletons in old armor, I played a song that gave an advantage to her ‘Dexterity’ checks so that she could dodge them much more reliably.

At double speed.

『Aaba ripättaa pa rippa riiba ribbi Ribbi dibii disstan delann doe.』

Since there was no one in the three-person party of a bard, a mage, and a thief to take on the role of a standard frontline, Evie, with the highest Dexterity stat, was put up as a so-called 'evasion tank'.

Evie's current Dexterity stat was 15.

She could dodge the attacks of level 3-4 monsters wandering in the early areas with a very high probability.

『Ia bariila stilann deiaä doe Ba-wa-ba-wa-ba woe woe deiavo~』

If you added the buff of this 「Song of Swiftness」 on top of that, you could consider it a nearly 100% evasion rate.

This was the reason why many experienced players used Evie as an evasion tank in this section.

It was a much more efficient method than setting up a dedicated tank and healing them in the early stages when you're bound to be short on potion money.

If there's no one to take the hit for you?

Then just don't get hit.

『Ba risstan dilann si delann doe Ta-ia-ga-ia-ga duu duu deiaä doe』

In fact, Evie was proving its efficiency by dodging all the attacks right now.

“Now, Rine, you too.”

“Yes?”

“Let's instill hope and courage in that girl together.”

“…?”

When I demonstrated by getting into the rhythm first, Rine, though she didn't seem to understand the reason at all, started to nod her head lightly to the beat of my finger-snapping.

With her usual expressionless face.

If this were a world with video sites that started with Y or T, I could have filmed this scene and gained some popularity.

It was a pity.

To soothe that regret, I put even more soul into my song.

“Aratsatsayadibadabidilabarisstadillandellandoabaribattabaribariibaribiribidibiristendellando──”

“──I asked for help, and you're sitting there singing some weird song?! And what's with that strangely irritating nod?!”

Well, from Evie's perspective, it must have looked like while she was being attacked by several skeletons alone, we were over here cheerfully singing and dancing (?).

But this too was all part of the plan.

…Actually, well, from the middle part, it's true that I just got carried away.

“Rine.”

Rine, who had nodded silently, lightly raised her arm and aimed it forward, and at that moment, a large circle appeared at her fingertips, enveloped in a blue light.

“You, damn magic-using bastardsaaaaak──!!”

When Evie draws the aggro of the monsters like that and gathers them all in one place, “Blow them away.”

We finish them all at once with Rine's 「Fireball」.

In short, it's the commonly known mob-pulling hunt.

It saves the trouble and time of searching for mobs one by one, saves Rine's circles, and saves potion money as well.

It was truly a perfect strategy with the efficiency of killing three birds with one stone.

But wouldn't Evie, who became the bait, get caught up in it too?

If it were other mages, that might have been the case.

But, Rine was different.

Rine, as befitting a former archmage, not only had good traits from the beginning, but she could also choose and learn a new 'perk' (different from traits) every even-numbered level, under the setting that she was regaining her lost skills.

And among them, the most popular perk was, of course, 「Precision Aim」, which greatly reduced the chance of friendly fire through magic.

Since Rine's skill set often involved using area-of-effect magic, it was essential to avoid the mishap of wiping out allies close to the enemy, so it was common to choose this perk without hesitation as soon as she reached level 2…

“…Hmm?”

Wait a minute.

“Um, Rine? Are you perhaps… familiar with 「Precision Aim」? Is it your specialty or something?”

For now, I had never touched Rine's stats or skills yet.

I didn't even know if it was possible.

“Yes?”

And Rine just tilted her head with a look that suggested she had no idea what I was talking about.

“……”

When I turned my head again, the huge 「Fireball」, a 2nd Circle spell combining two circles, was already flying, scattering small flames.

Towards the skeletons gathered in one place… and Evie in the center.

“What is thiiiiiiis──!?”

──Kwaang!

With a deafening roar, the exploding flames shot up.

“……Ha.”

* * *

The day before.

Faced with my stubborn resistance, Evie had eventually given up on taking off the sack.

In Evie's own words, "listening to that bullshit killed my mood."

“Well then, I look forward to working with you, Evie.”

“…Evie, Evie, you've been saying that for a while. Only my friends call me Evie, you know?”

“That's why I'm saying it. I want to be your friend. Let's be friends starting today.”

“What's with this confidence, you bastard?”

“Besides, you don't really like being called Evelyn, do you?”

“…Are you really a stalker? What are you?”

“Yubin.”

“What?”

“My name is Yubin.”

“So who the shit is that?”

“Your friend.”

“Since when were we friends?”

Evie chuckled as if dumbfounded, "Ha," and shook her head, but though she didn't know it, she and I had been closer than anyone many times.

Sometimes, even more than that.

“Ha, forget it. …So what, you're going to a dungeon?”

“Yeah. There's a ruin near the city. Let's spend the night here for now, and leave together tomorrow during the day.”

“I've vaguely heard that dungeon robbing is quite profitable. I've never been to one myself, though.”

“It'll be fun. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to show off your excellent [Finesse].”

From lockpicking to disarming traps, dungeons are overflowing with [Finesse] check rolls.

To put it extremely, even without a tank or a healer, it's possible to run a dungeon with just enough damage, but it's practically impossible to completely 'clear' a dungeon without a Dexterity-based character to handle the [Finesse] rolls.

You can run it, but that's all you'll be doing, just running.

Because it means you'll miss out on all the rewards you can get from passing through gimmicks, including the hidden treasure chests in the dungeon.

“I get that, but…”

Just then, Evie, who was looking back and forth between me and Rine, trailed off for some reason.

“Isn't something missing?”

“Hmm?”

“People, I mean, people.”

“Three people can be legally recognized as a party.”

“No, not that, you bastard. Usually, when you go into a dungeon, don't you need, like, a guy you can put in front as a meat shield?”

“Aha.”

In short, she was asking if we needed a tank.

Because both Rine and I must have looked far from the reliable image that comes to mind when you think of a frontline, just as Evie was describing with her gestures.

And we were, in fact, far from it.

But, “Don't worry.”

I had a plan.

And from my perspective, I already had a tank.

Therefore, I looked straight into Evie's doubtful eyes and declared with a confident smile.

“I'll make sure not a single scratch lands on your body.”

* * *

“You, you total swindler!”

Perhaps remembering yesterday's declaration (?), Evie was trembling with a sense of betrayal.

“…I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“What? You said you'd make sure not a single scratch landed on me?!”

I couldn't quite bring myself to look her straight in the eye like yesterday, so I turned my head and replied while glancing at Evie out of the corner of my eye.

“…You didn't get any, did you?”

Anyway, you didn't get any, right?

You didn't get hit even once, right?

“You talked as if you were going to stand in the front and block everything yourself!?”

“…When did I?”

“Hey, you shameless bastard!”

I didn't lie, I didn't lie.

Through the Song of Swiftness buff, I had made her evasion rate practically 100%, and that was the actual result.

“And tell me in advance! I thought I was going to die!?”

Rine's 「Fireball」 too, thankfully, didn't get her caught up in it as she dodged it at the last second, perhaps because the 「Precision Aim」 perk had already been naturally learned, remembering my playstyle. …Probably?

“At that moment, I even thought you might be just a tiny little bit cool…! You, you son of a bitch…!”

Evie was swallowing her anger, seemingly more genuinely upset about having felt that emotion for a moment than about her own treatment (?).

“Ha… I'll deal with you later, you bastard.”

Before long, Evie gave up on arguing, as if she didn't even have the energy to be angry right now.

“…So, was there anything worth salvaging?”

“Hmm? Ah, not really.”

“What?”

First of all, since they were skeletons, the only thing that dropped was practically bones, and even those were so smashed that you literally couldn't even find the bones.

At best, some charred fragments of old armor were left, but they weren't worth much even if you sold them, and they were just junk items that no one would buy in the first place.

“Frankly, it's just scrap.”

“Wha──”

Even if it wasn't skeletons, most of the monsters you encounter in dungeons were like that.

You could assume that there were almost no resources to be gained from hunting monsters, except in very special cases.

“Th-Then that whole ordeal just now was…”

“300.”

“…Huh?”

“That's the experience we earned by taking out six skeletons in one go.”

The reason why many adventurers still visit dungeons is, first of all, for 'experience points'.

“If we do the same kind of mob pulling as we just did about… four more times? Then we can all reach level 4.”

“We have to do this, four more times…?!”

“Of course, I'm not saying we'll actually do it four more times.”

There aren't that many monsters in the first place.

A higher level leads to higher-paying requests.

Of course, if you just want to gain experience, hunting monsters (or humans) outside the dungeon is also an option, but unless it's a battlefield, the monster density can't be as high as in a dungeon.

In other words, it's highly efficient.

“No need to be impatient already, Evie. The rewards from the dungeon are just getting started.”

And of course, it wasn't just experience.

“To be precise, I should say treasure.”

“!”

The moment the word 'treasure' came out of my mouth, Evie's eyes, which had been dull as if she was tired in many ways, began to sparkle with life again.

Her expression was trying its best not to show it, but unfortunately, it was all showing in her eyes.

Seeing that, a smile unknowingly escaped me, and to hide it, I gave a slight nod with my chin.

“Let's hurry up. The treasures are waiting for us.”

Now that we had dealt with one 'wave', it was time for the treasure chest.

Almost all dungeons in the SoSo series (except for certain hidden dungeons) were designed to have at least one treasure chest appear after clearing one 'stage'.

Therefore, after passing through the remains of the skeleton wave that was that stage and going a little deeper inside──

“──Found it.”

It meant that you could come face to face with a treasure chest like this.

Perhaps because it was the first treasure chest she had found since entering the dungeon, Evie, who had stopped in her tracks, couldn't hide her excitement.

“Hey, that…?”

Facing Evie, who was glancing this way, I crossed my arms and nodded.

As expected, the chest was locked with a large, sturdy-looking padlock.

Seeing that, Evie smirked and began to approach the chest, cracking her fingers and wrists.

And the moment she crouched in front of it, ──Clatter.

“…Hmm?”

Suddenly, a sound like a die rolling could be heard.

--

Evie

[Intuition] Failure

--

Then, a window like this popped up in front of me.

--

Eastwood

[Intuition]

Failure

--

The moment Rine, who seemed to have taken an interest in the treasure chest she was seeing for the first time, approached and peeked from behind Evie, the same notification popped up again.

Naturally, you don't roll dice for an [Intuition] check in front of a normal treasure chest.

You feel an inexplicable sense of unease from the treasure chest in front of you.

--

[Intuition]

Failure

--

But you don't know the cause of that unease.

You couldn't find anything particularly strange about the treasure chest in front of you.

……No.

That's not it.

Perhaps it was just a feeling.

This wasn't just a feeling, and it was definitely not an ordinary treasure chest.

And in the first place, I definitely 'knew' the true identity of this thing.

I knew, I knew, but…

'Why… can't I remember…?'

Could it be… because I failed the dice roll?

It wasn't just that my memory was hazy.

Something… if I had to put it into words, it felt like my 'soul' was being prevented from remembering its true identity.

Of course.

The Soul Stone was that kind of thing in the first place.

Once it was imprinted on my soul that it was 'impossible', from then on, it really became impossible.

'No, but what was it really…?'

In the midst of desperately searching through my memories that showed no sign of returning, when I snapped back to my senses, Evie was already touching the lock of the chest.

“Let's see what's in──”

──Crunch!

“!?”

“Ah.”

I remembered.

“It's a 「Mimic」.”

“I-It's dark!? I'm scared──!!”