Speaker 14

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“Kyaaaaaaaah—!!”

A sharp scream rang through the air.

It wasn’t the sound she made when she ripped off the sack to see my face despite my resistance—it came much later, inside some ruin.

But still, it was indeed Evi who screamed.

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

That scream, close to a wail, came as she narrowly avoided the swinging blade of a massive greatsword.

Huff!

“Hyaaaah!?”

Evi cried out again as she bent her back to dodge another savage swing.

Though the massive strike ended up missing completely, not even scratching her, it looked dangerously close from a spectator’s point of view.

A split second slower and her head might’ve been lopped off.

“…Hey.”

Maybe that’s why Rine, who had been watching too, suddenly tugged lightly at my sleeve.

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to just stand here and watch…?”

Even the currently indifferent Rine, who was usually oblivious to others’ feelings, couldn’t help but react to Evi’s—

“Don’t just stand there staring—do something already!”

—Her sense of injustice(?) was coming through loud and clear.

“Honestly, if we go in, we’ll just get in the way.”

One hit and we’d be out cold.

If we’re lucky, we’d be left half-dead.

If not, we’d be decapitated.

Rine and I are both what they call ‘squishy.’

Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re useless bystanders munching popcorn.

“It’s not like I plan to just watch and do nothing.”

I smirked and answered Rine as she tilted her head.

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

Ahem.

I cleared my throat with a fake cough.

“I’m gonna die! Seriously, I’m gonna die like this!! Hiiieeek!?”

Ka-boom!

While Evi dodged, the massive axe that missed her smashed into a stone wall behind.

That’s when I started snapping my fingers faster than usual.

Because sharing courage and hope could be taken literally.

“A raptsä saa ia dibidäbi dilaaba Risstan dilann delann doe~”

Song of Swiftness.

As Evi continued dodging the fierce attacks of the skeletal monsters clad in old armor, I played a song that gave her an advantage in agility checks, helping her evade more effectively.

Double speed.

“Aaba ripättaa pa rippa riiba ribbi Ribbi dibii disstan delann doe~”

Since our party consisted of a bard, a mage, and a rogue, there wasn’t a proper frontliner.

That’s why Evi, who had the highest agility stat, was set up as a so-called ‘dodge tank.’

Her agility stat was 15.

She had a high chance of dodging attacks from level 3–4 monsters common in early areas.

[la bariila stilann deiaä doe Ba-wa-ba-wa-ba woe woe deiavo~]

With the Song of Swiftness buff added, she could practically dodge everything.

This was exactly why veteran players made Evi the dodge tank in this segment.

It was way more efficient than using a professional tank and healing them, especially early on when potion costs hurt.

If there’s no one to take the hit?

Then just don’t get hit.

[Barisstan dilann si delann doe Ta-ia-ga-ia-ga duu duu deiai doe~]

Sure enough, Evi was dodging every attack, proving how effective this strategy was.

“Okay, Rine, you too.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s give that girl hope and courage together.”

“…?”

As I showed her how to bounce to the rhythm, Rine—though clearly not understanding—began nodding slightly in time to the finger snaps.

With her usual emotionless face.

If this world had a video-sharing site like Ybe or Tk, this scene might’ve gone viral.

A bit of a shame, honestly.

I poured more soul into the song to make up for it.

“Aratchachayadibidabidilabaritchidan…delandoraa barippattaparippariibbitribidibidibirisstandelando—”

“What the hell kind of weird song are you singing?! And what’s with that infuriatingly calm nodding!?”

To Evi, it probably looked like she was being mobbed by skeletons while we were goofing off singing and dancing.

But this was all part of the plan.

—Okay, maybe I was just vibing a bit too hard halfway through.

“….”

Rine silently nodded and raised her hand, aiming forward.

At her glowing fingertips, a large magic circle appeared.

“You damned spell-slinging bastaaaards—!!”

Once Evi had drawn all the monsters’ aggro and grouped them up…

“Blast them.”

Rine finished everything in one swoop with a Fireball.

A classic mob-pull tactic.

It saved us from running around hunting mobs, conserved Rine’s mana, and saved on potion costs.

A perfectly efficient triple-win strategy.

But wait—wouldn’t Evi get caught in that too?

That might be true for other mages.

But Rine was different.

As a former archmage, she not only had great innate traits, but also gained new “perks” (which were different from traits) every even level due to her lost skills being “restored.”

And the most popular perk of all?

Precision Aim, which significantly reduced the chance of friendly fire.

Given her heavy use of AoE magic, Rine basically had to pick that perk at level 2 to avoid accidentally frying nearby allies.

“…Hmm?”

Wait a sec.

“Hey, Rine? Are you… uh, familiar with Precision Aim? Is that one of your specialties or anything?”

Actually, I hadn’t touched Rine’s stats or skills yet.

Didn’t even know if I could.

“Huh?”

Rine tilted her head, looking completely clueless.

“……”

When I turned back, the twin-circle Fireball had already been cast and was flying off in a blaze.

Toward the clustered skeletons—and Evi in the center.

“WHAT THE HEEEEEELL?!”

-KA-BOOM!!

The fire exploded in a thunderous blast.

“…Huh.”

The day before.

After my stubborn resistance, Evi finally gave up trying to pull the sack off my head.

According to her, “I lost the mood after hearing your nonsense.”

“Well then, I’ll be counting on you from now on, Evi.”

“…You’ve been calling me Evi since earlier. Only my friends call me that, you know?”

“So that’s why. Because I want to be your friend. Let’s be friends starting today.”

“What the hell is up with your confidence, huh?”

“Also, you don’t really like being called Evelyn, do you?”

“…Are you seriously a stalker? What the hell?”

“Yubin.”

“What?”

“My name’s Yubin.”

“And who the f is that?”

“Your friend.”

“When were we ever friends?”

Evi scoffed and shook her head like she couldn’t believe it, but in truth, we had been closer than anyone.

Sometimes, even more than that.

“Whatever. So you’re saying we’re going into a dungeon?”

“Yup. There’s a ruin near the city. Let’s stay here tonight and head out tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’ve heard dungeon looting can be pretty profitable, but I’ve never actually done it myself.”

“It’ll be fun. You’ll get tons of chances to use your excellent [Finesse].”

Lockpicking, trap disarming—dungeons are packed with [Finesse] checks.

Technically, you can clear a dungeon without a tank or a healer as long as you’ve got enough damage.

But without an agility-based character to handle [Finesse] checks, you can’t truly conquer a dungeon.

You might clear it, sure—but that’s all.

You’ll miss out on all the hidden treasure chests and rewards gated behind puzzles and mechanics.

“Yeah, but…”

Evi glanced between Rine and me, then trailed off.

“Don’t you think something’s missing?”

“Hm?”

“People. We need more people.”

“Three people is the legal minimum for a recognized party.”

“No, dumbass. I mean like—don’t we need someone to, you know, stand in front as a meat shield or something?”

“Ohhh.”

So she meant we needed a tank.

Neither Rine nor I looked particularly sturdy or capable of holding the front line, just as she was gesturing.

And, well, she was right.

But—

“Don’t worry.”

I had a plan.

And from my perspective, we already had a tank.

So I looked Evi straight in the eyes and declared with a confident smile,

“I won’t let a single scratch land on you.”

***

“You damn scammer!”

Maybe she was remembering my bold declaration yesterday, because Evi was shaking with betrayal.

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

“What? You said you’d keep me from getting even a scratch!”

I couldn’t quite look her in the eyes this time, so I averted my gaze and peeked at her from the side.

“…You didn’t get scratched, did you?”

She didn’t, right?

Not even one hit.

“You talked like you were gonna be the one standing in front blocking all the attacks!”

“When did I ever say that?”

“God, you shameless bastard!”

I didn’t lie.

With the Song of Swiftness buff, her dodge chance was basically 100%, and it actually worked.

“And a little heads-up would’ve been nice! I thought I was gonna die!”

As for Rine’s Fireball—it luckily didn’t hit her either.

Maybe “Precision Aim” had been automatically remembered because of how I play?

Probably?

—

“There was this one moment—just a tiny, tiny moment—when I actually thought you might be kinda cool…! You son of a bitch…!”

More than her treatment, Evi seemed genuinely upset that she had felt that emotion even for a second.

“Hah… Just wait ‘til later, you bastard.”

Eventually, Evi stopped complaining, looking like she didn’t even have the energy to be mad anymore.

“…So, did you get anything good?”

“Huh? Oh, not really.”

“What?”

They were skeletons, so of course all they dropped was bones—except they got blown to pieces so hard, not even the bones were left.

Just some charred, busted-up old armor fragments.

And even those were basically junk no one would ever buy.

“Let’s be honest—it’s just trash.”

“What—”

Honestly, most dungeon monsters were like that.

Unless it was a special case, monsters didn’t drop valuable loot.

“So all that hell we went through just now…”

“Three hundred.”

“…Huh?”

“That’s how much experience we got from wiping out those six skeletons in one blow.”

Still, the main reason adventurers flocked to dungeons was for experience.

“If we do that kind of mob pull like… four more times? We’ll all hit level 4.”

“You want to do this crap four more times?!”

“I mean, it’s not like I actually plan to do it four more times.”

There weren’t even that many monsters left.

Higher levels meant higher-paying quests.

Sure, if you just wanted EXP, you could fight monsters—or even people—outside the dungeon.

But nowhere had the same monster density as dungeons, unless it was a literal battlefield.

In other words, it was just more efficient.

“No need to rush, Evi. The real dungeon rewards are just starting now.”

And of course, it wasn’t just about experience.

“More accurately, we’re talking treasure.”

“!”

The moment the word “treasure” left my lips, Evi’s dull, tired eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.

She tried to hide it, but her eyes gave her away.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but smile.

I nodded with my chin to keep her from noticing.

“Let’s go. The treasure’s waiting for us.”

With that wave cleared, it was treasure chest time.

(Except for some hidden dungeons,) almost every dungeon in the “Soso” series was designed so that clearing a stage spawned at least one treasure chest.

So if we walked past the remains of that skeleton wave and headed deeper—

“Found it.”

—There it was.

Our first treasure chest since entering the dungeon.

Evi stopped in her tracks, clearly unable to hide her excitement.

“Hey, is that…?”

She glanced at me, and I crossed my arms and nodded.

Sure enough, the chest had a big, sturdy-looking lock.

Grinning, Evi cracked her fingers and wrists and walked toward it.

As she crouched in front of it—

Clatter.

“…Huh?”

We heard the sound of something rolling—like a die.

Then a message popped up before my eyes.

Evelyn: [Intuition] Failed

Eastwood: [Intuition] Failed

Rine had stepped up behind Evi, also intrigued by the chest, and she triggered the same message.

Normally, you don’t roll for [Intuition] when facing a regular treasure chest.

[You feel an unexplainable unease from the chest before you.]

[Intuition] Failed

[But you can’t identify the cause.]

There’s nothing outwardly strange about the treasure chest.

…No.

That’s not true.

Maybe it’s not just a feeling.

This isn’t a normal treasure chest.

In fact, I know exactly what it is.

I knew what it was.

Then why… can’t I remember?

Did I fail the dice roll and forget?

It wasn’t just fuzzy memory—something deeper, like my very soul was blocking me from recalling the truth.

Of course.

That’s what soul stones do.

Once something’s engraved on your soul as “impossible,” it really becomes impossible.

“No seriously, what was it…?”

While I was frantically clawing through my memory, I suddenly snapped back to reality—

—and Evi was already touching the lock.

“Let’s see what’s ins—”

“!?”

“Ah.”

Crunch!

I remembered.

“Mimi.”

“”

“It’s dark! I’m scared—!!”

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