Chapter 62 (1/2)

Chapter 62

The weather was fine, but it was now past midday . Daniela and I chewed on some food we had bought on the way, as we walked to our destination .

The scenery that greeted you once you were out of the eastern gate was, well, the plains . There was a path for travelers to walk through, but the gra.s.s that was on both sides was tall enough to reach your knees . You could see them blow in the wind like ocean waves . It was a scene that reminded me of the times I visited my grandmother in the countryside . Though, those were fields of rice .

One step out of this great city and you might as well be in the countryside . There were no houses, and certainly no convenient stores out here . Still, it was all very beautiful .

Once we were out of the plains, a small grove spread out before us . There was a small trodden path that split it right down the middle . It brought back memories of being chased by forest wolves . I walked through with a little trepidation, but the only thing you could hear was the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves . It was peace itself . There was something that Presence Detection was picking up, but Daniela said it was only a few goblins playing nearby . I almost wanted to go and see, but we were in a hurry, and so we moved on .

It took about an hour after leaving Spiris for us to arrive at the crags . There was no gra.s.s or trees here, only rocks . Apparently, there had been a mine here a long time ago, but it did not go very deep, as its resources were thin . It was abandoned quickly . And now what was left of it had become the home of kobolds and all sorts of monsters . In other words, we were going in .

I wouldn’t mind having a helmet now . Those ones with the lights .

“Here we go, Asagi . We should be fine in there if we use this lantern . ”

“Finally . But I do wonder…”

“What is it?”

This is a mine . Narrow, with walls on both sides and a low ceiling .

“Is this really the best way to check the capabilities of my armor?”

“You could test the mobility and defensive ability at least?”

“Well, I guess so…”

I would have much preferred to go to an open area, and freely beat monsters into a pulp at lightning speed… But it was a bit late for that . It was also important to experience combat against kobolds . I would just have to bear going into this dark, dark hole .

“It’s dark even with the lantern…I can barely see ahead of me . ”

“It cannot be helped . This place was abandoned long ago . ”

There was no point in complaining . I knew that very well, and yet, it was so dark and cramped . There were sudden corners and those seemed to take you to even dark areas . And who knew what would spring out?

“If you care so much, why do you not use Presence Detection?”

“Oh, right . ”

I frantically activated it . Woah, there was quite a lot . Ah…but they weren’t that close either . We had to go a little further .

“You see? There are no monsters near us, so you can move away now . It is quite difficult to walk . ”

“Oh, sorry…”

I had hardly been conscious of the fact that I was leaning against her and clutching her sleeve . I was the scared girlfriend in a haunted mansion for a moment there .

“Though, you can do it all you want while we are walking through the city . ”

“Yeah, I’m not sure about that . ”

I had not realized how bad this could be without a map until now . And I had no mapping skills . We walked through the winding tunnels for over an hour . Sometimes Presence Detection would show that a kobold was so close that we might encounter it at any moment, and then it would suddenly become far away . It was no longer reliable . The tunnels here were too complex .

“Asagi, it looks like we made it . They are up ahead . ”