Chapter 31 Wings Sink Deep
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Our dungeon run today had turned into an improvised four-man party: me, Ethelena, plus the additions of Torakuma and Tatia.
We swept aside the now-familiar Giant Bats and Giant Rats with overlapping Energy Drains, heading steadily for the stairs down. From Tatia’s stiff movements behind us, I could tell she was shocked by how smoothly Ethelena worked. Judging from yesterday’s blunders, Tatia had probably charged ahead of Ethelena without ever seeing her real role.
Her reaction made it obvious—this was Tatia’s first time really watching. Maybe I’d brought her down here too soon. Still, to forge the armor she wanted, I had to clear certain prerequisites first.
For any Explorer, iron ore and ingots were the bread and butter of upper floors. Crack open just one treasure chest and you’d usually find at least one. Yet despite Ethelena being present—who could find and lockpick chests—Tatia had brought back nothing. That meant yesterday wasn’t “exploration” at all; it was just rushing forward.
Even Ethelena, when she went in alone for the first time, had at least followed the rules: don’t solo a boss, and run from rare spawns. Tatia hadn’t even managed that. If she kept ignoring objectives, she’d end up exiled from the knight order. That couldn’t be allowed.
One attempt wouldn’t fix her. But with enough runs, I could drill some discipline into her. And since this was tied to my role as next Chief Crafter, I couldn’t have my armor showcased on some incompetent who contributed nothing.
”…So Ethelena-dono alone handles all this?”
Tatia muttered as she watched while she watched Ethelena’s seamless movements. Maybe she was comparing it to my style.
”This is nothing. These are just bats and rats. It gets harder after floor five.”
The deeper we went, the more stubborn enemies became—pushing us to rely on Ethelena’s calls for when to strike, retreat, or chase. Her workload only grew.
At the next fork, Ethelena wet her fingertip, tested the air, and quickly judged the paths.
”Right’s a dead end. Left leads to the stairs.”
”Then left it is.”
”Hold it.”
I blocked Tatia as she started to turn left. She gave me a puzzled look, but I pressed on.
”We go opposite the stairs first.”
”Why? Isn’t moving deeper the goal?”
”No. Our goal is iron ore and ingots. Sure, floor twenty-six is where they appear more reliably, but we should collect what we can early.”
Tatia’d completely forgotten. What would happen if she joined a knight order mission and ignored the objective to charge ahead instead?
”It’s probably just a dead end.”
”Which might have a treasure chest. Exploration means checking.”
I let out a breath and kept explaining.
”Anyway, this isn’t marching, it’s exploration. You go in with a purpose—you make sure you fulfill it. Say the order gave you a mission to capture, but you kill instead. That’s failure.”
”…Why would that count as failure?”
”You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Old man Rogas, what kind of education did you give this kid? Did she even finish middle school? If this is what comes after knight schooling… then compulsory education has officially lost.
”Picture this. The knight order is deployed. A noble takes hostages and barricades himself.”
”Mm. A royal-led incident.”
”Exactly. The higher-ups want that royal captured alive for leverage. That’s their plan.”
”Sounds tedious.”
”…So if you were assigned to that mission, how would you act?”
”A single punishment to scare the rest—kill the criminal!”
”…Were you even listening?”
What, does she just want a war?
”They want negotiation power. Why throw it away? That’s the objective.”
”But we knights don’t negotiate with rebels. Even if they’re royalty, we’d wipe out their whole bloodline if needed.”
”…Great. So now you’re starting wars.”
Both Ethelena and Torakuma were staring at Tatia with horrified expressions. Even I had to admit—maybe she wasn’t fit to be a knight. Old man, seriously, how did you raise her?
”…No. Killing foreign royals on purpose is forbidden. It sets the standard for how your own royals will be treated.”
”Then as long as we make it look like an accident, no problem!”
”That’s a huge problem!”
Ethelena burst out before I could reply. Torakuma looked even more appalled than when I told her about crafting methods.
Why did this world spawn such a tragic monster?
”Can the knight order even handle recruits with these ideas?”
”Knight school’s full of people like me.”
”…So your academy’s real name is ‘pit of poison’ then?”
What a nightmare. A school breeding extremist ideology, turning out walking disasters in knight armor. Old man, I’m begging you—get her out of there before she drags the whole order into war.
Sure, the old game scripts sometimes showed royals slaughtered or humiliated. But history here said most lived out their days in peace. Even canon records noted that fallen kingdoms were rare exceptions.
So why did this monster default to “kill them all”?
”…Tatara, if all the knights of this kingdom share such thoughts, then perhaps we must reconsider our ties with them.”
Torakuma’s words landed heavi;y. And honestly, I couldn’t blame her.
”I feel the same. Honestly, I’d rather defect with Ethelena to Torakuma’s country than stay here.”
Ethelena sighed. “No objection from me. This is… too much.”
Hearing Torakuma’s strained tone, neither of us could disagree. For a fleeting moment, I even considered stepping down as Chief Crafter and telling the City Mayor I wanted out.
Then Tatia’s voice cut in, puzzled.
”Am I really that strange?”
”Strange? More like dangerous,” I shot back. “With that mindset, I’d suspect you of planning a coup at knight school”
”If it’s you, you’d go that far?”
”Of course I would.”
No event like this existed in the original game. The knights in those side quests had been stern and honorable, paragons of knighthood. For knight school to be turning out people like this, it would take some massive scandal or a whole generation gone rotten.
Maybe the teachers were fine, but the students? A lost batch.
”Anyway, let’s get back to basics,” I said. “Until you can prove yourself by earning iron weapons, you don’t get armor. We need ore, and to get ore, we have to explore. That’s the job.”
”You… you’re right. Exploration is needed!”
”…Unbelievable.”
Tatia’d forgotten. Completely.
”Tatara,” Torakuma muttered, uneasy, “is this one truly safe to rely on?”
”I think you should cancel the commission altogether,” Ethelena added softly.
”Stop it. Don’t jinx me. The City Mayor’s request makes backing out impossible.”
I forced us back into formation and pushed onward, Ethelena scouting at the front. Soon enough, we spotted a wooden treasure chest. Ethelena glanced back at me, waiting for the all-clear. I focused, casting Appraisal.
”Oooh, a treasure chest! Then let’s—”
”Wait, you fool.”
”Gweh!?”
Before Tatia could charge in, Torakuma snagged her collar and held her like a cat in midair. Having sprung one of these traps before, Torakuma wasn’t about to let Tatia repeat the same mistake.
”Tatara is already using Appraisal. If it’s locked or cursed, barging in is suicide. Wait.”
”Ghh—khh!?”
Tatia squirmed, face turning red. Torakuma didn’t even notice she was choking Tatia.
”Uh, Torakuma? She can’t breathe. Loosen up.”
”Ah! My apologies!”
”Pwahh!?”
Released at last, Tatia bent double, gasping like a fish. The whole scene left me thinking: rough handling much?
”Thank you for the concern, Yohira-dono,” she coughed. “But my body is tough. No trap can harm me!”
”The loot can. Smashing the contents ruins the point.”
”…Ah. True!?”
”Seriously, is this girl cursed?” Torakuma whispered.
”Probably not… I think.”
Maybe a curse that scrambles the brain worse than her “lost-child” gene. Poor Ethelena—expected to manage this alone? No wonder she’d gone quiet; she probably had trauma already.
Old man Rogas, what were you thinking?
”Anyway, Appraisal’s done. It’s safe—just an ordinary chest.”
Tatia nodded, opened it, and drew out…
”A healing potion?”
Standard issue. Expected, really.
”Keep it,” I said.
”…But isn’t this meaningless if no iron shows up?”
”That’s hindsight. A healing potion still sells for good money. Profit’s profit.”
”Mmm…”
Even mid-tier Explorers relied on these. At 150 coins each in the shop, finding one free was no small gain. Knights, though, got theirs as rations, so maybe she couldn’t appreciate it.
”Exploration means chasing objectives,” I reminded her. “If you fail once, you go again. And again, if needed.”
”Isn’t that… indulgent? In the order, we’re trained to complete missions in one shot. No failure allowed.”
”…So you were thinking that.”
Tatia frowned, but stayed silent. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was that ingrained nobility—knighthood itself tied to rank. If knight school taught that only nobles matter, then no wonder she ignored us.
”Well, whatever,” I said at last. “It’s only until your armor’s done.”
”…?”
”I don’t care if you ignore us. I don’t care if you treat commoners as beneath you.”
”What!?”
”If you won’t hear warnings, that’s what it means. Words don’t matter. You’re treating them like animal noises.”
”That’s not—”
”Then why? Why ignore Rogas’s orders? Why ignore ours?”
”…”
”You won’t even admit it. You’ll just think, the dog barked loud again.”
”No, it’s not like that… it isn’t!”
”Then prove it. Show us you understand. Show us you can act on what he taught you.”
”…I…”
”Forget it. Let’s move on.”
Maybe, just maybe, my words had gotten through. I didn’t want to believe Rogas’s apprentice had grown into someone who dismissed others as less than human. I wanted her to reflect—truly reflect—and change.
If she could become even a little more like Calmys, the knight’s knight, I could hand her armor with pride. Maybe that was arrogant of me. But it was what I wanted.
We resumed the search. From her slumped shoulders, Tatia looked crushed. Whether my words had reached her heart… I couldn’t tell. No one could.
As we descended another floor or two, Tatia’s behavior seemed to shift.
She no longer charged treasure chests. She didn’t push past Ethelena to take the lead.
All we’d pulled so far were healing potions and stone, yet she voiced no complaints.
And that, ironically, was what lulled us.
Three levels down from where I’d tried breaking her spirit, we came across a chest more ornate than the rest.
The moment my Appraisal confirmed it was a Mimic, I opened my mouth to warn the party—
—and saw Tatia reaching for it.
”Idiot! That’s a Mimic!!”
Too late. Her hand was already on the false chest.
”Huh?”
Tatia turned at my shout, frozen just as the Mimic sprang. Its maw split wide, aiming to bite her head clean off.
For anyone else, that would’ve been the end—torso severed, gore everywhere.
But not Tatia.
The Mimic clamped down… and couldn’t pierce her skin.
Instead, we were treated to the surreal sight of a knight with her entire head jammed inside a chest.
”Wha—!? Dark! Stinky! Slimy! Somebody help meee!?”
”…”
All three of us just stared. Surreal didn’t even begin to cover it.
So much for her supposed “change.”
”…Ethelena,” I said flatly. “Pull the loot with Steal.”
”…Understood.”
With a sigh edged in resignation, Ethelena strode up, flicked her wrist, and in a flash had an item clenched in her hand.
”Torakuma. Can you cut it clean?”
”…Haa. I’ll try.”
Torakuma’s sigh was heavier, but she stepped forward, katana whispering from its sheath. Three streaks of silver split the air—and the Mimic fell apart, dismembered.
Tatia blinked in shock at the sudden light, still dripping slime. Torakuma gave her a withering look, shook her head, and walked back to us.
”No, wait! This isn’t—this isn’t what it looks like!”
Covered in sticky fluid, Tatia stammered excuses. At her feet gleamed the drop: iron ingot, probably.
”Pick it up and follow.”
That was all I left her with as I turned away.
Even opening my mouth further felt like wasted effort.
The air after that soured, thick enough to choke on.
Tatia tried to force small talk, only to get—
”I need to focus. Don’t talk to me.”
—from Ethelena.
She wilted on the spot. I was in no mood either, and Torakuma kept her eyes outward, silent, as if she’d judged Tatia beyond defending.
At one point, I swore I heard her mutter from behind,
”Three floors, and already forgotten… is she a chicken?”
I ignored it.
By now Tatia had become the outcast of our party. Not even her armor could shield her stomach from the gnawing isolation. I felt no sympathy.
We pressed on until we reached the fifth floor—where Goblins first appeared. Ethelena’s pace grew razor-sharp with caution.
Then she froze, gestured for us to move up quietly.
A sign: enemy contact.
Torakuma and I crept forward without a sound. But I’d forgotten—Tatia had no dungeon sense.
”W-what’s going on!?” Tatia barked.
Her voice rang down the stone halls. The answering Goblin howls told the rest.
”Eight hostiles! One Commander, two Warriors, one Wizard, four others!”
So much for a quiet descent. Meeting a rare type this early… just my luck.
I pushed past, closing in. Torakuma’s steps shadowed mine.
At the center stood the Commander, flanked by two Warriors, four Goblins arrayed before them. The Wizard, hidden behind, would be support.
Forty meters. Just within reach.
I triggered the explosion glyph beneath my feet, wind magic blasting from my back. The world blurred, body hurling forward like a cannonball. Too much thrust, though—the imbalance promised a redesign. Maybe waist nozzles next time.
My kick misfired, glyph only flipping my leg upward—straight into a Goblin’s skull.
Bone crunched. Head pulped.
Landing half in a slide, I steadied myself and hefted my warhammer. The two Warriors lunged.
Then one Warrior’s head vanished in a spray of gore—Ethelena’s mana bullet. The other rushed me, while two Goblins leapt for my sides—
—but Torakuma’s blade flashed. In three strokes, they were nothing but corpses.
The last Goblin bolted for Ethelena. She swung her rifle up, sighting down—
—and Tatia threw herself in front of her.
Wrong place, wrong time.
Instead of covering, she blocked the shot, leaving Ethelena unable to fire.
Explaining team tactics hadn’t sunk in. Maybe it never would.
At this point, I had no expectations left for Tatia.
The Goblin Warrior swung down with its blade. The Commander barked an order, sharpening the strike, power coursing through the blow.
Torakuma slid forward in front of me, a silent message in her stance—go.
I surged past, acceleration glyphs kicking in, boots pounding stone as I closed on the Commander thirty meters ahead. A quick Appraisal exposed its stats: stronger gear, boosted defenses, but nothing my warhammer couldn’t break through.
I triggered Combo Attack, hammer sweeping wide. One, two, three crushing arcs slammed home. Bone cracked. The Commander’s skull burst, blood jetting from every hole as the body crumpled.
But behind him—a Wizard. The chants had already finished, three watery orbs floating like fists.
I dropped my hammer, braced both arms. The Water Ball barrage splashed uselessly against my armor, little more than a brat’s water gun.
The Wizard froze at the sight. I lunged, hand locking onto its face, lifting it clean off the floor. The slam drove its head into the ground hard enough to pulp it.
When I glanced back, Torakuma was smirking like, seriously? Though I was sure she could’ve just crushed it outright.
Then came the blast. An explosion behind us—Tatia, scorched and smoking, coughing in a haze.
Had she eaten a Goblin’s self-destruct head-on? That skill hit me hard when I’d taken it, yet she stood there with only singed hair and smoke trailing from her armor. That defense really was absurd.
”…Can’t believe a Goblin just blew itself up…”
”…And can’t believe you’re almost unhurt,” Torakuma muttered, exasperated.
The timing matched—the Commander must’ve ordered a delayed suicide attack. Without Tatia’s wall of a body, Ethelena might’ve been out.
”Tatia,” I called.
She turned, tilting her head. “Hm? What is it, Tatara-dono?”
”Thanks for protecting Ethelena.”
”Eh—ah…”
Her eyes darted toward Ethelena, realization dawning late. Maybe it hadn’t even been conscious.
”…But you lost points for blowing our cover with your voice.”
”Guh.”
”And more points for blocking her line of fire. You kept her from shooting.”
”Muuuh…”
”…Next time, I’ll expect better.”
”A-ah! Y-yes!”
At least she seemed to take it seriously. Hopefully it stuck.
We harvested mana stones from the corpses, Tatia perked up once I explained how monsters sublimate after absorbing them. She even busied herself with the collection. We needed those stones badly anyway—for Demonsteel, for Shape Memory Alloy, and eventually, for her armor.
Later, at the stairwell, we checked our growth. My skills hadn’t shifted, but Ethelena’s Agility Boost I and Mobility Boost I had maxed out and she’d ranked them up on the spot. Scouts gained speed naturally, and with Lonisera burning mana nonstop, her progress outpaced the rest of us. Ethelena had chosen the upgrades herself—I had no complaint, though keeping up with her was another story.
Torakuma studied her own status with furrowed brows, likely debating her next skill.
Tatia… had nothing new at all.
Once everyone was ready, we pressed on. Ethelena scouted first, Tatia trailing her. Torakuma and I followed, already straining to keep pace with Ethelena’s boosted stride.
Then she peeked around a corner, hand-signaling us back. Her motions were tense, sharper than usual.
We all drew together and leaned in to see what she’d spotted.
Notes:
• Calmys – War God’s knight, Mayor’s guard chief, whip-master hiding as a swordswoman; sharp tongue, big-sister vibe to Tatara, grants him and Ethelena church protection.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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