"Holy Warrior, then?" Aurelia asks when we explain to her who Kathrina is.
"Yes, and Malkor's Eagle," I say
"Ah! Yeah!" Kathrina says.
For a moment, she seemed to be thinking about something else, and reacted in surprise when I mentioned her faction.
She barely presented herself, which seems odd to me. She was beaming with happiness when she explained to me who she was.
She seems confused, unfocused.
Maybe she is shaken... or she is not telling me something.
"Ah, so goody two-shoes." Aurelia comments.
"I guess I am, hehe," Kathrina answers.
"Your friend is acting weird." Floating beside me, Kari looks at Kathri with her head tilted.
And yes, I decided to start calling them Kathri and Kari. It makes it easier for my brain.
She was with me when I met Kathri. She was there, even if she was just in sword form.
Aurelia gives Kathri a Silver Sword she had.
"Think you can handle this, Holy Warrior?" The dragonkin asks her.
Kathri nods and takes the sword. The whole time, she is holding it in her hand.
The exploration continues. As we go up, I notice that the majority of monsters are avoiding us. I saw a Dark Crawler looking at us from a corner in the ceiling, only to hiss and run away when we attempted to get closer.
That causes Aurelia to growl.
"Stupid cowards! A big tit Holy Warrior enters the party, and they all go running?! What about me?! I am a fucking Tyrant!"
"I am not sure if you are pissed because they are not coming or something else," I answer.
"Any negative comments about my body, miss?" Aurelia gets closer, menacingly.
"N-no!" I put Bloodless in front of me, with scabbard and everything, in an attempt to protect myself.
"She cannot hurt you, stupid," Kari says, rolling her eyes.
Of course, she cannot. But how else can I respond when a dragon-girl who is a bit taller yells at me angrily?
I just overcome my fear and we continue the exploration.
Not so long after, we find a couple of Mechanical Guardians. Aleria scoffs, and leans against another wall.
"All yours." She says.
I am impressed how she is meant to fight for me and doesn't do it.
But Kathri helps me this time.
Aurelia casts her Buff spells once more on me to make sure I am top notch. I get the increase in HP, MP, and Magic.
I look at her and then nod towards Kathri.
"She has no need," she answers.
Kathri doesn't flinch and runs towards the Guardians. She slices one of them. While she tanks, I cast [Electric Ray] on the one that is not in line with her.
The systems of the one hit with electricity malfunction, making it miss more often.
Kathri pierces the one she is fighting with her sword, and it falls.
The one I attacked uses [Rush] towards me and quickly closes the gap. I get hit by the impact.
[Mechanical Guardian Rushes at you! You are critically injured (-1850)!]
"Shit!" I curse when I feel the slash of damage. But I am still alive.
I see Kathri run towards us.
But I cast [Firebolt] right directly there to the Guardian, and it is enough to kill it.
The bodies of the monsters drop and fall apart, leaving parts in their place. I kick them. I see if I get something from them.
[You got Scrap Metal x3]
I know these items and resources, even when they are scrap, are going to be useful.
"You are always the hoarder," Kari says.
"Hey! You never know when you will need something. It is that simple. Besides, I am getting too much judgment from someone who is barely doing anything!"
"I am literally your sword. If it wasn't for me, you would be stuck at level 1 in everything."
"I swear, you look like a madwoman talking with that spirit. I wonder if you hit your head at some point." Aurelia speaks.
"There must be a way to make her visible..." I take Bloodless and start to shake her.
"H-hey! Stop that!" Kari demands of me, and then I see her face turn even more blue. She was getting dizzy.
"Oh, what I do with your sword really affects you!"
Kathri laughs at us.
"You look like you are going crazy." She comments with a hand on her mouth and another on her back.
Her comment makes me blush at that moment. I put Bloodless back and close my eyes, avoiding making accidental eye contact.
"L-let's move."
We reach the second floor. We were going to leave this place. It was easier than I expected it to be. Thanks to Kathri and Aurelia, I am capable of surviving this first challenge.
My mind is still wondering what happened to the kingdom. Why would they betray me like that, steal everything, and then have me thrown into a medium-level dungeon, too high for me, with a curse?
Thankfully, they did not count on Bloodless and that I would get lucky and pull a [Summon Ally] scroll that would summon Aurelia. I could have gotten a small cat for what I know can be pulled from it.
But then I see the stairs to the first level.
"We are finally leaving!" I say with glee.
My tail starts to wag behind me without my control. When I notice I become too self-aware of it and I immediately try to catch it with my hands.
When I notice what I am about to start to do, I look at Kathri, remembering that she laughed at me when I did the same last time. But I only see her looking at me with weird curiosity.
"W-what?"
She tilts her head.
"You are cute." She says.
"W-w-what?"
I was stunned. How could I expect a compliment like that? It was unexpected.
"Do you think I am cute, too?" She asks and starts to approach me with slow steps.
I freeze for a moment. I-is she confessing to me?
T-this is too sudden! We just met!
"I-I have since we..."
SWOOOSH!
A blade gets in front of us. My eyes go wide when I see it cut the air between us.
It was Aurelia's scythe, to my disbelief.
"Aurelia, what are you doing?" I ask, trying to make sense of what was happening.
She puts herself between us, pointing the scythe in front of her.
"Stop it with this bullshit, blondie... who the fuck are you?"