Chapter 104: A Sweet Duo Queue with Darkness
The afternoon sun was slightly warm and pleasant.
Darkness snuggled up to Kobayashi, her head resting on his shoulder. As if feeling a little empty, her arms were also wrapped around his.
And Kobayashi, too, had his eyes slightly closed, fast asleep.
The two of them were intimately close.
After a long while, Darkness slowly opened her eyes. Still a little dazed, she saw him beside her, and her brain instantly shut down.
"K-K-K... Kobayashi?!"
Why was he beside her? Why were they sleeping together? And why was she hugging his arm?
More and more questions made it impossible for her to think. Her cheeks turned bright red, and her body began to move restlessly.
She also woke him up.
Waking from his deep sleep, he smiled at her and said, "Good morning, Darkness. Did you sleep well?"
"M-mm... fine."
Her cheeks were slightly flushed.
He suddenly said, "You slept with me, Darkness. So you have to take responsibility for me."
This sentence provoked a strong rebuttal.
"Wait a minute, shouldn't you be the one to take responsibility for me?!" she said loudly.
But as soon as she said it, her pretty face immediately flushed bright red, and she lowered her head.
"Pfft—"
He couldn't help but let out a light laugh. "Sorry, sorry. Seeing you so shy and fidgety just now, I couldn't help but want to tease you."
"Kobayashi!!!"
She glared at him bashfully, but then muttered softly, "If you want to take responsibility, you should be more... more..."
She couldn't help but cover her cheeks with her hands, a strange drool trickling from the corner of her mouth as she seemed to fall into a fantasy once again.
He looked at the sky and said to her, "Let's go. We should gather the ore early and then hurry back before it gets dark. Didn't we reserve a big meal at the Guild tonight? How about it? Can you stand up yet?"
"O-oh... I forgot. I'm actually fine, my legs are just a little weak," she said, slightly embarrassed.
"Come on, let's go."
He extended his hand, helped her up, and they walked slowly towards the mine.
Her recovery was very strong. After a short while, she was back to normal, and the two of them picked up their pace. An hour later, they arrived at the mine.
"Hiss—, it's a bit creepy."
"M-mm... indeed."
The overall appearance of the mine was basically the same as the black-hearted coal mines you see in news reports. The exterior was just a small entrance built simply with wood. It was pitch black inside, and an eerie wind would blow out from time to time. On top of that, this was a nearly abandoned mine. Both of them were a little reluctant to enter.
After all, the unknown danger was always frightening.
"Can't be helped. This is the only place where we can mine the ore we need."
"It would be too expensive to buy it."
"That's just how it is."
Kobayashi swung his arm, shouldered his pickaxe, and said with full confidence:
"—Let's start digging!"
Of course, the two of them would dig together. Although mining was also a basic lower-class skill for a blacksmith, this wasn't purely an RPG. Anyone could swing a pickaxe.
But the problem was, the ore they needed was deep inside, where it was easy to encounter monsters.
"Speak of the devil."
Kobayashi raised his pickaxe and aimed it at a large group of small monsters that came hopping out from the depths.
[Smile]
A spherical monster made entirely of stone. On its front were three crescents arranged in a triangle, looking like a smiling face, hence its name.
It liked to eat ore, was fast and agile, and its body was very hard, making it a very difficult monster to deal with.
But by the same token, the reward was high.
Because it liked to eat ore, it would automatically condense refined iron ore inside its body. The purity and precision were several times that of ordinary ore. Therefore, it was the blacksmiths' favorite monster.
"But this is strange."
He frowned, puzzled. "It's rare for Smiles to appear in groups."
Looking at the densely packed Smiles in the tunnel, there was no place to even step. And that was the problem.
Because they were a favorite monster of blacksmiths, quests were often posted for them at the Guild. With the generous rewards, adventurers would hit them hard, almost wiping them out completely. They shouldn't have been able to see them in this nearly abandoned mine. Yet for so many to appear in such a short time, there was definitely a problem.
He thought for a moment and said to the female knight beside him, "Darkness, let's retreat for now. We'll report this to the Guild..."
"Charge forward and kill them, right? I got it!" The eager Darkness instead charged forward excitedly.
Oh no, she's going to feed!
"Wait, I said retreat, right? I definitely said retreat!" Kobayashi watched with a headache as she charged forward without a care in the world.
She was always like this, desperately charging forward whenever she encountered an enemy. Those who didn't know would think she wanted to fight a strong enemy. Those who knew would understand that she was simply enjoying the pleasure of being beaten.
Looking at Darkness, who was surrounded by numerous monsters, he was sincerely glad that the monsters that appeared weren't goblins.
Otherwise—
It would definitely turn into [Goblins & a Female Knight.MP4 (Dungeon Edition)].
Kobayashi picked up his pickaxe and charged forward. "Darkness, hold on! I'm coming!"
"Yahahaha, yahahahahaha—"
She was laughing loudly in the middle of the monster swarm. Even when hit by countless stone monsters, she would not fall. She even excitedly charged forward to take more hits.
It's over. She's completely lost her mind.
He naturally couldn't just watch her enjoy... getting beaten. So he stayed on the periphery, continuously striking the silver protrusions on the back of the Smiles' heads.
This was their weak point, and also where the ore was gathered.
A Smile's movement speed was very fast, and since its weak point was on the back of its head, very few people could hit it in one strike. But with a knight constantly taunting the monsters, it was a different story.
Kobayashi quickly eliminated the monsters on the periphery. And whenever they noticed something was wrong and wanted to escape, Darkness, who was surrounded in the center, would use her [Taunt] skill, forcibly pulling them back.
Thanks to the idiot knight's thick skin and heavy armor, he was able to defeat the monsters with ease.
An hour later.
"Come on! Come at me! Is that all you've got? Continue your fierce assault!"
The unsatisfied Darkness shouted excitedly, but unfortunately, all the monsters surrounding her had already been dealt with by Kobayashi.
"It's over. Let's rest for a bit."
Darkness was fine, but he was exhausted. Having to swing the pickaxe with all his might every time was also quite tiring.
But the harvest this time was plentiful. The scattered refined iron ore not only fulfilled Bill's commission, but they could also make a big profit.
"But it's still strange. Why did they appear in a group?"
He sat cross-legged on the ground, deep in thought.
Darkness, however, pointed to a monster in the distance and asked, "Could it be because of that?"
Following her finger, in the shadow of an inconspicuous corner of the tunnel, another monster was hiding. Its appearance was also spherical, like a Smile. But the difference was that its third crescent, which served as a mouth, was upside down, making its expression look as if it were crying.
[Cry]
The leader of the Smiles, and also a very rare monster. It also gathered refined iron ore in its body, but the precision was more than ten times that of ordinary ore. The refined iron it condensed could even be used as an alchemy material. It was highly acclaimed by both alchemists and blacksmiths.
"So we just have to take that one out, right?"
Darkness raised her knight's sword and once again charged forward without a care.
She's going to feed again.
"Wait, it's different from those other monsters!"
He tried to stop her, but the high-spirited Darkness couldn't hear him at all.
If it were just one monster, it wouldn't seem like much. However, a Cry was different from a Smile. When it encountered danger, it would explode.
It would really explode!
Darkness raised her knight's sword, her wild laughter not at all like a Crusader who protected the people, but rather like a berserker. She charged at the Cry with a savage ram.
That terrifying momentum made the Cry's inverted mouth curve even further down. It looked as if it were about to cry. Then, a shining light suddenly burst from within its body.
Oh no, it's going to explode!
The two of them were now in a narrow tunnel. It was easy to imagine what would happen if a violent explosion occurred.
—A cave-in.
"This idiot!"
He rushed forward.
Unfortunately, he still couldn't stop the explosion.
BOOM—
The power of the explosion was far less than that of Explosion magic, but because of the terrain, the entire tunnel began to collapse after suffering the fierce impact. The wooden support beams, which were already old, completely gave out at this moment.
They collapsed with a roar!
He had thought they would be buried in the tunnel by the falling rocks, but he hadn't expected the floor below to also be blown away, revealing a space below.
With no footing, Darkness unconsciously fell downwards.
"Darkness—!"
His speed exploded in an instant. He leaped up and caught her.
In his haste, he forcibly twisted his body, trying to act as a cushion. But she instead turned herself around and became the cushion.
Plop—
The two of them fell into the second-level tunnel.
Fortunately, the height wasn't too great, and neither of them was seriously injured.
"Mmm..."
Darkness let out a soft moan.
Due to being besieged by the monsters earlier, the breastplate on her chest was mostly damaged. It was as if it had a magnetic force, pulling his hands onto it.
"K-K-K... Kobayashi?!" she cried out in shy surprise.
However, he was annoyed and scolded her. "Honestly, will you just listen to me! Thank goodness there was a second level, otherwise we would have both gone to see Eris! And why did you put yourself on top just now?!"
"Because... I'm a Crusader," she said, slightly aggrieved.
—I forgot.
Her physical toughness was ridiculous. She could easily withstand the impact from a high fall.
She then questioned him in return. "What about you, Kobayashi? Why did you run over? And you even put yourself underneath."
"...Because I was worried about you. I just rushed over instinctively," he sighed and said in a low voice, "If I had known, I wouldn't have run over to save you."
"W-worried about me... hehehe—"
She became even shyer.
But neither of them noticed that the cave-in above them wasn't over. A piece of the floor silently fell and smashed hard onto his head.
" —?!!!"
His head was forced down, and his lips happened to press against hers.
Smooch—
Her eyes widened. She looked at him, who was pressed against her, and in her panic, she pushed him away with both hands.
"Wh-wh-wh... what are you doing, Kobayashi!"
Her face was bright red, and her hands were flailing.
That flustered and cute appearance was like that of a shy, inexperienced young girl.
However, no one saw it.
After waiting for a moment without getting a response, she found that he had his eyes tightly closed and had already passed out.
"Kobayashi? Kobayashi? Kobayashi?!"
Her calls echoed in his ears, but he couldn't open his eyes. He could only fall into a coma, accompanied by the fleeting gentle touch and sweetness.
As for what happened next, they would have to wait until he woke up.
(End of Chapter)