Chapter 15 (1/2)

There is a saying that misfortunes never come singly, but that didn’t seem to happen to Loren this time.

After a while pa.s.sed since Loren and the others had found the remains of the armor, Lapis tapped Loren on his shoulder.

Of course, she tapped the shoulder that wasn’t injured, and Loren realized that she was able to move her limbs again.

“You alright now?”

“Yes. Sorry about all the trouble.”

Loren made sure to check with her before he softly let Lapis down from his back.

Lapis stomped her feet a few times and stretched out her arms over her head, then nodded.

“Did you unfreeze, young lady?”

Ritz said to Lapis with a smile, without any sort of sarcasm in his voice, and Lapis didn’t detect any either.

“Yes. Riding on Loren’s back was so comfortable, so I wanted to stay a bit longer, but I would be in the way, so.”

“Are you guys in that sort of relationship, by any chance?”

Loren was immediately about to say no, but Lapis covered his mouth with her left hand.

Loren was surprised at her actions, but was even more surprised at what came out of Lapis’ mouth.

“Yes, we are.”

“Well that’s something that can’t be overlooked. You managed to catch quite the jewel there, brother.”

Jack sounded very happy for some reason.

As Jack was about to cheer them on, Nim calmly landed a kick from behind.

“If you want to draw attention, do it alone.”

“I feel like I’m going to get killed by you before monsters ever get the chance to…”

“I think so too.”

Quartz agreed with Jack, who was lying face first on the ground, groaning.

Although it looked like Nim didn’t go easy on him, it seemed like it didn’t do much damage, as Jack quickly got up and stroked his back.

“This means that you can fight now, right?”

Loren nodded at Ritz.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t partic.i.p.ate in fights until now, but it was awkward to do so, because he would have had to let down Lapis first.

If it were an emergency, Loren was going to drop her, but he did feel some guilt to dropping a girl from his back.

“Then I count on you to keep watch behind us. Young lady, you can support him.”

“You can count on us.”

Now that they were a six-man party, Ritz and Jack were in the front line, and Nim and Quartz were in the middle.

Now with Loren and Lapis in the back line, they continued on their way down the corridor.

“Loren, this is quite the rare experience we’re having right now. We’re helping investigate Ancient Kingdom ruins, and even better yet, it’s an unexplored one. It’s a job that copper ranks never get to do.”

Just when he thought Lapis was finally able to walk by herself, she kept talking to him with a small voice, sounding very excited.

The party that was competing with Ritz’s party.

In a situation where a silver rank party may have suffered extreme losses and where there shouldn’t be anything to be optimistic about, her happy expression and excited atmosphere didn’t match.

Loren thought that maybe this was one of the personalities of demon kind that other species hated, and nudged Lapis, who was looking around here and there next to him, with his elbow.

“You do realize the situation we’re in, right?”

Loren asked Lapis in the softest voice he could. Lapis looked back at him, puzzled for a second, then after a moment, suddenly clung onto Loren’s left arm and said with a quiver in her voice.

“Loren, I’m scared.”

“That’s way too forced.”

To Loren’s luck, Ritz and the others, who had completely left the back to the two of them, didn’t notice them talking quietly. Loren wondered what to do with Lapis’ excitement, but he couldn’t think of a way to act in the situation they were currently in.

It was a bother if she did a poor job of acting frightened, but her current state of looking excited and interested with no trace of being scared didn’t seem right either.

“I got that you’re intrigued and all, but keep it down a bit. Alright?”

“It can’t be helped, I guess.”

Lapis looked like she wasn’t convinced, but she let go of Loren’s arm and nodded.

“By the way, what is the goal we are trying to accomplish?”

“Investigating the ruins is the main objective, but we’re also investigating what happened to the other party. Not sure what we should prioritize.”

Lapis nodded at Nim’s upright response, then continued.

“If that’s the case, I recommend that we return to the pit fall where everyone fell down.”

“Let’s hear why, young lady.”

Ritz asked Lapis, who suddenly suggested, for an explanation.

Lapis started to explain her suggestion to everyone like it was nothing.

“The pit fall that everyone fell through was most likely a trap for intruders.”

“Of course, it was.”

Jack wondered why she was pointing out the obvious, but Lapis just continued.

“Since the trap wasn’t set up to kill, it’s likely that this whole floor was made for intruders who fell into the trap.”

“So, you’re saying that they kept monsters loose in here and let them deal with the intruders. But why would they go through all the trouble?”

“I don’t know for sure, but in any period and country, it didn’t really matter how they treated intruders, so.”