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The first day of living in the cave passed without anything significant happening. The second day was the same, and probably the morning of the third day as well…
“…Good morning.”
“Ah, good morning.”
Getting up groggily and rubbing her sleepy eyes as she greeted me, I responded casually to Rouge. By the way, I’m not sure if it’s actually morning. I’d probably know if I had a clock, but those were relatively expensive and prone to breaking, so they were not something someone with a lot of baggage like me would carry around.
“Want to eat?”
“…Okay.”
“Alright. Here you go.”
What I handed over was hard-baked black bread, dried meat so salty it’s hard to eat as it is, and a metal cup filled with water. Rouge took them and tore the dried meat into small pieces, put it in the cup, and warmed the cup directly with her own fire magic. When the simple soup was nice and flavorful from the dried meat, she dipped the black bread in it and munched away.
“Sigh, I’m getting tired of this too.”
“Haha, can’t be helped. You can eat something tasty when we get out.”
“That’s true.”
Rouge’s behavior lacked vigor, but that’s just because she’s just woken up. The fact that she can say she’s “tired” of the food means she still had some vigor left.
In fact, our life here was more bearable than expected. The lantern could be used indefinitely as long as Rouge replenished its magic, and although we were scrimping, we had the bare minimum of water and food, and even a little to spare.
But the most impactful thing was…
“So? What kind of story are you going to tell me today?”
Finally opening her eyes wide, Rouge peered at my face and asked. Yes, Rouge was quite taken with my rambling, fanciful tales, and for the past three days, we’ve just been continuing such conversations.
For me, the one doing the talking, it used up more energy the more I talked, and above all, my throat gets dry and the consumption of water increases. If I were to prioritize survival, I should not engage in such idle chatter.
But if we spend our time in this confined space in silence, brooding, even if we can conserve physical strength, our spirits would be worn down. That’s why I continued to tell stories, knowing it drained me, and Rouge also listened to them to maintain her mental stability. So, this was a necessary cost, and I didn’t begrudge telling a story this time as well… Hmmm.
“What? Are you going to tell me you have no stories to tell me?”
“Not quite like that… but you’re not far off.”
“What!? Wait a minute, what do you mean by that now!?”
“No, not ‘now’, but after all this talking, I’m starting to run out of stories.”
Rouge and I took turns sleeping, but no matter how you sliced it, for one third of the day, both of us were awake… which means I’ve been talking the whole time. At first, I felt like stories would keep coming to me endlessly, but by the third day, new ideas were drying up.
“Besides, it’s not just me. Let me hear a story from you sometimes, Rouge-sama.”
“My story? I don’t have any interesting stories.”
“You don’t have to have interesting ones. Just tell me where you were born, or why you joined the Hero’s Party, that kind of stuff.”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
While considering my proposal, Rouge munched on her black bread and slowly opened her mouth.,
“I was born in a town called Yukuta in the Kingdom of Linen. My parents were slightly wealthy merchants, they had a shop in the town. Since I had an aptitude for magic, I joined the Magic Academy of Wizdas when I was about 12, and after graduation, I was working there as a research staff when Alexis recruited me… that’s about it.”
“Oh, that’s quite brief. You can take your time and talk more, you know?”
“No thanks, it’s a bother. Besides, I have nothing else to say.”
“Really? If you’re a genius, don’t you have any ‘genius’ stories? Like, you defeated a dragon when you were a kid, or you repelled a villain who attacked the academy.”
“Are you stupid? If a dragon comes close enough for a child to come across it, the whole country would be in an uproar, and if the academy is attacked, the resident security guards will normally handle it. Why would I, a student or staff, have to do anything?”
“Well, if you put it that way… but you’ve lived for 18 years, there must be something, right? An interesting failure story or something.”
“There’s nothing. What you call an ‘interesting failure’ is probably something like getting kicked by a horse after drunkenly kissing its butt, right?”
“Huh, that’s interesting. Did you really do that?”
Impressed by this unexpected side of her, I, however, watched as Rouge’s face turned beet red as she immediately denied it.
“I didn’t do it! And it wasn’t my story! Haa… anyway, geniuses don’t fail… I wouldn’t say that, but they analyze why they failed and link it to success. So, they only make meaningful mistakes, not simple stupid ones… ah.”
At that point, something seemed to come to Rouge’s mind, and she choked on her words. Her wide-open eyes were larger than usual, but her face quickly turned away… I didn’t miss her reaction.
“Oh? It seems like there’s an amusing failure story for Rouge-sama, isn’t there?”
“No, there’s nothing! There’s nothing if I say there’s nothing!”
“Eh? But your reaction just now seemed like there was something. I’ve been telling stories for a while now, so I’d like to hear it.”
“Shut up! If you don’t stop, I will…!?”
At that moment, we unexpectedly heard a small sound made by someone, or something, other than us. Instantly tensing up, I started scanning the surroundings with a serious expression.
“There was a sound just now, right? Is it the rescue team?”
“No, it’s not. If it was, they would have loudly announced that they were here to help.”
We may be trapped, but we’re not held captive. So the rescuers have no need to hide their presence, and there’s no reason for them not to make a noise.
“What should we do? Should we try to make a noise too?”
""
“………………”
I silently considered Rouge’s suggestion. Unlike the rescuers, there were other beings we didn’t want to find us. Namely, if there were still monsters like Rockworms around. So until we’re certain that the other party is a rescuer, we want to stay hidden as much as possible.
“…Hey you… Ed?”
“Wait. Can you still hear the noise…?”
To Rouge’s urging, I told her to be quiet by putting my index finger in front of my mouth. When I quietly strained my ears, I could tell that there was a slight noise mixed in with what I thought was ambient sound…
“Over there…?”
“Is that…?!”
I turned my face not toward the collapsed and blocked passage, but towards the hole that the Rockworm seemed to have dug infinitely. The sound was coming from the other side of that darkness.
“Oi, Oi, Oi, give me a break… Rouge, behind me.”
I got up and drew my sword. Fortunately, the diameter of the hole was about two meters, so I could swing my sword and fight adequately. The blade was slightly chipped from trying to cut the Rockworm’s tough skin, but it’s still a thousand times better than being barehanded.
And from behind me, I could hear Rouge’s voice, who was presumably also getting ready for battle.
“Haa. I’m uneasy about leaving the vanguard to a mediocre guy like you.”
“Haha, sorry, bear with it. I’ll show you at least the pride of a packhorse.”
Perhaps because of the pathetic figure I showed before, Rouge’s affection for me seems to have increased, but her trust in me remains the same or even decreased. It’s entirely self-inflicted, so all I can do is respond with a bitter smile.
Yes, all I can do is try. It would be a funny story if the rescue team had come in from a different route into the Rockworm’s hole…
Mozomozomozo…
“Here it comes… huh, whoa!?”
“Gross!!?”
Emerging from the darkness was a horde of Rockworm larvae crawling on the ground.