"Eeep!" I stopped the branch just before it hit her. The way she was startled by the attack made me raise an eyebrow.
"Why did you get scared? It's not like I will cleave you in two pieces with this branch, right?" Lefiya gulped before speaking.
"I-I know, but I just couldn't help but get startled, you didn't even warn me!"
"I literally shouted, 'Here I come!' What else do you want me to do?!" I argued back.
"..."
"Haa… let's try one more time…" I returned to my initial position and readied myself to attack again. This time, instead of attacking straight forwardly, I spoke. "Okay, then I will count to three, while you start your chant at the same time, okay?"
"O-Okay." She spoke hesitantly.
"Hey, c'mon, I am not going to seriously hurt you, okay, I am not some demon after all, so you can relax. Now 3… 2…"
"Unleashed streak of light," Lefiya started to chant her spell.
"1…!" I once again jumped at her.
"bow limbs of the holy tree—Kyaaa!" Lefiya once again closed her eyes in fright, instead of attacking or dodging the attack.
"Yes, that's not working at all," I announced, then remembered that in the anime, what Filvis told her. "Lefiya, you should stop trying to become a mage who can fight in close combat."
Hearing my words, her face fell in disappointment, "But!" I continued. "You should focus on just dodging and casting your chant."
Leifya heard my words silently, her expression suggesting her contemplation until finally she spoke hesitantly, "...But I always freeze up when I get attacked by a monster, in the middle of my chanting…"
Hmm… I guess that's a valid fear to have. Maybe I should first try to win over her trust…?
"Let's change the method of our training, Lefiya," Lefiya crooked her head sideways at my suggestion.
"Okay, but what do you suggest?" I once again gave her a gentle smile.
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"AAHHH!!" Lefiya screamed as she dodged a goblin attack, only to be attacked by a kobald from behind.
"Don't scream, Lefiya! Chant you magic!" I commanded her.
"I can't do it! What kind of training is this!"
"The kind that will make you a better mage! Don't worry, they won't be able to harm you anyway, now start casting already!"
"I can't do it!"
"Yes, you can! And even if you failed, I won't let anything harm you! So don't be afraid and show me what a spell casted by thousands elf looks like!" Maybe my pep talk worked, as Lefiya dodged another attack this time with more grace than the previous times.
"Proud warrior, snipers of the forest.." Lefiya rolled to the side to dodge another attack. For a moment, I thought my pep talk was not as effective as I hoped, and she stopped her chant, but was relieved to hear her continue chanting.
"Take up your bows before the advancing plunderers. Answer the call of your brethren and ready your arrows. Tinge them with flame, the lamplight of the forest. Release them, the fire arrows of the fairies. Falling like rain, burn away the savages." Lefiya was able to complete her chant while dodging all the attacks raining down on her.
"Fusillade Fallarica!" Her fire magic enveloped all the monsters in flames, leaving behind the magic stone; all the corpses vanished. Seeing that the round one was complete, I stepped towards Lefiya, who was sweating from all the running she had done.
Seeing me approaching her, she looked up at me with tired eyes. I raised my hand and petted her head. "You did well, Lefiya."
Lefiya once again looked down and spoke in a quiet voice, "Tha-Thank you."
We remained like that for a while until Lefiya again spoke. "I guess you are not as bad as I thought, Arin-san. I am sorry for yelling at you all the time."
"Sure, don't worry about it." I really didn't mind that; I was only slightly bitter because she always interrupted my time with the girls.
"Now, then, you have rested enough, I believe, let's go down further in the dungeon, it will make for good practice for you." Lefiya froze up at the news.
"Eh? Umm… can we not finish today's training here?" she asked, hoping I would agree, but…
"No, there's only ten days before the expedition, we need to make every moment count, and so I am counting on you to take care of all the monsters. From now on, I will no longer keep those monsters at bay," I declared and started walking towards the entrance to the 6th floor.
"I take it back! You are a bad human, Arin-san…!"
"Sure, sure. But you are stuck with this big, bad human, now move those legs already!" I ignored her whining and dragged her with me.
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"Arc ray!" Lefiya took out another Orc with her magic while dodging all its attacks.
Hmm… she had gotten better, but it's still not enough.
"Ha… finally it's over." Lefiya took a heavy her shoulder sagging in exhaustion.
"Here, have some water."
"Ah, thank you." I handed her a bottle of water and sat down on the rock near her, and spoke.
"The success rate of your cococurrent chanting has improved from 2 out of 10 to 3 out of 10. But that won't be enough when we go to the deeper floors, so we will be training like this every day from now on."
"Eh? Every day?" "Yes, every day," I repeated. Lefiya closed her eyes, seemingly deep in thought, and when she opened them back, they were filled with determination.
"I understand, I want to be more useful to Miss Ais, Lady Riveria, and others as well. I will do my best to learn it!"
"That's the spirit! Now let's go down to the 17th floor and say hello to the monster rex!" I shouted, and Lefiya got up with me as well, her arms raised high towards the dungeon ceiling.
"Ye—Wait! What?!" she shouted, her arms going back down. "Are you crazy, Arin-san!" Lefiya clung to my arm and complained.
"Hey, it's fine, I am not asking you to defeat it, we will just go there to get you familiarized with a strong monster, it will help you keep your calm when we go to the lower floors, okay?"
"Arin-san, you are crazy…"
"Rude! Anyway, let's go!"
"Ah, yes, I am coming, you don't have to pull me like that!" Man, did she complain a lot…
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We were able to make our way down the 16th floor pretty easily. With my strength, it was not that difficult to get here. I let Lefiya rest a little, since she had been using her magic constantly till now.
Before long, we were at the entrance to the 17th floor, and I turned to see Lefiya shaking and nervously grabbing her wand.
"Lefiya, stop shaking already! Aren't you level 4 as well?!"
"No, why are you so calm? It's the monster rex of this floor! It's not an opponent that only two normal level 4 can take it easily!"
"And who says that we are normal level 4? Now, stop wasting time and get going."
"Can you stop dragging me around already?!" At first, I was finding her constant howling to be annoying, but man, it's so fun to mess around with her.
We entered the 17th floor to find the Goliath already spawned on this floor.
"GAAAAAAAA!!" it roared, seeing us entering its layer, moving its trunk like legs to approach us at high speed.
"Lefiya, start casting your magic, while dodging its attack!" I gave her the instruction before creating a foothold of compressed air under my feet to go out of range from the Goliath viewpoint. And settled there, looking over at Lefiya, I could see she was barely dodging its attack, and her casting was being interrupted again and again.
I observed her like that for a while, but decided to intervene when I clearly saw that I may have hurried over some steps bringing her here.
"GOOAAAA!!"
"Eeeekkk!" The Goliath raised its fist high in the air to hit Lefiya, who just closed her eyes, freezing on the spot. I jumped near the goliath's face and gave a punch to its chin, rattling the monster's brain. The giant fell to its knees, trying to regain its balance, while I grabbed Lefiya and bailed from there.
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"Are you okay, Lefiya?" When we had reached a significantly safer area, I lowered her to the ground and asked.
"Yes, I am fine, Arin-san. Thank you for saving me—" I motioned her with my hand to stop her from thanking me, shaking my head, I spoke.
"No, you don't have to thank me; rather, I should be apologizing to you. I am sorry for pushing you like that." I lowered my head slightly. I really didn't think things straight, and put her in danger. Even if I was confident that I could take care of any problem on these floors, my plan might have traumatized her if things had gone south.
"Please stop apologizing, Arin-san! I was the one who agreed to be trained by you, and you did help me a lot today. Being able to do concurrent chanting is like a dream come true for me! I don't even know how I can repay you for this, that's why thank you very much, and don't apologize for helping me."
I went silent, hearing her words. I had thought that she would be angry with me if not blame me outright, but I guess I misjudged the person named Lefiya Virdis.
"Okay, I won't apologize anymore," I concluded, "Now, we should get back home."
"Yes, let's go back. But I am exhausted, so you will have to take care of all the monsters on our way back," she said a little smugly.
"Oh? Then you will be collecting all the magic stone that drops." I flung the big bag around her shoulder, the weight of all the magical crystals making her hunch over slightly.
"Ugh, why is it so heavy?" Lefiya shifted the bag slightly to a comfortable position.
"These are all the magic stones of the monster we killed today. Why else? And it will become double its current weight until we reach the surface, so make sure to collect all the magic stones that drop."
"Ehh… Arin-san sometimes you make it really hard for me to guess if you are a good person or not…"
"What did you say?"
"Nothing!" Lefiya hurried behind me, collecting all the magic stones that dropped on the ground, as I cleaved through one monster after another.
"By the way, our final goal is for you to significantly injure the goliath if not defeat it alone," I informed her, as she froze in the middle of picking up the magic stone.
"Wha—what?"
"Are you sure you are an elf, Lefiya, or do you have weak ears in comparison?" I asked a little doubtfully.
"My ears are working fine! Anyone would react like that when they are asked to take on a monster rex alone!"
"You shout a lot as well… try to keep the volume down from now on."
"Why you—!" "Hey! Stop throwing rocks at me!" "I have decided I will tell Lady Riveira about all this!" "Hey, you said you won't do it, you are going back on your word!" "I don't care!" "You cheeky little—!"
Our small banter continued as we made our way back to the mansion, and unlike what she said, Lefiya didn't complain to Riveria, which saved me some trouble.
Guess I will train her a little harder in return, to repay her. I decided that in my heart.