31: An Honest, Simple, Regular Dungeon, Part Two

An Honest, Simple, Regular Dungeon, Part Two

"I must say, if you are keeping something important to yourself, it is rather shameful, Neve." Erin pouted as she slithered toward Neve's position. Immediately as she saw the arrows, her tone softened. "Are you alright, though?"

"I'm fine," Neve replied. "I just- wait, what are you doing?"

Erin paused just as she'd begun to wrap a hand around one of the arrows. The second one she'd taken, which her body had not yet extracted.

"Hm? I'm going to pull the arrow out."

She said that with a slightly confused tone, as though her actions should have been obvious.

"N-No, you don't need to. I'll be fine."

"Huh? Nonsense," Erin replied. "You've been struck by an arrow. Its head could get loose in your body right now. Frankly, I'm impressed by how little pain you sound like you're going through, but we must extract it before it cuts your internal organs."

"No, seriously, trust me," Neve replied. "Just wait a moment."

"You say that, but... Do you not trust me?" Erin asked, taking on a sad expression. "I may be royalty, but I promise, I have done this before. I can-"

In the middle of her sentence, the last arrow stuck inside Neve's body popped out.

{Healing Ground} finished repairing her body and Neve felt good as new.

Erin blinked.

"How did you do that?"

"Like I said," Neve replied. "I had it under control."

Erin looked down at the arrows and then back up at Neve. Shaking her head, she chuckled.

"My apologies," she said. "It's clear that it is I should have had slightly more faith in you. Now that I think about it, it is rather comical that I was so worried for the person who saved me."

"It's fine," Neve assured her. "Help me up."

"Certainly."

As Neve got to her feet, she and Erin looked into each other's eyes and the healer saw an impressed expression on the other woman's face that let her know she'd just gained some respect.

It was strange to speak of such a thing regarding a summon, but, at this point, Neve honestly felt like if it wasn't for her disappearing a minute after combat was initiated, Neve likely would have forgotten this lady wasn't a real person.

Or, was she? Neve's mind was brought back to the discussion she'd had with Tamira.

She could speak with Erin, and it was clear that, although she would ultimately follow any orders, Erin had her own thoughts and feelings. She could touch Erin, as evidenced by how her calloused hands, vigorously trained over the years, helped her get to her feet. And, she could feel herself getting lost in Erin's presence as, looking into her slitted pupils, Neve had gotten lost in her eyes just now.

So, that begged the question. How "real" was she?

[That's not something I should be thinking about right now. Maybe ever. I should just focus on the dungeon.]

"... Let's keep moving."

"Understood."

---

As the two of them continued into the next path, Neve's right hand hovered over the spot where she'd been hit.

She prodded at the spot as she finished allocating the points she'd earned from leveling up.

Level 41

MP: 600/600 (+300)

EXP: 5/410

AP: 1190

WS Tokens: 5681

---

Endurance: 20

Speed: 28

Precision: 15

Strength: 5

Arcane: 60

[It almost feels like the wound is still there. Like my mind is failing to process that it was healed away. I hate it. Tanks feel this often, huh? My heart goes out to them.] 

The healer kept looking from one side to another, making sure to keep her eyes peeled.

Her mind wandered a little, as she thought about what she could do going forward. 

[There are, generally speaking, three ways to get stronger as a player,] she thought, as the hall became slightly more narrow. [Those are: leveling up, finding new techniques, and acquiring items that are stronger than what you currently have. Outside of beginner equipment, items, skills, and techniques are class-locked. That means that, in my case, leveling benefits me the most because the Priestess class is notoriously limited in terms of options. And, I mean, it makes sense.]

She pointed at a tripwire up ahead and made Erin stop. With a {Fireball}, she triggered the trap and some spikes went up from the ground.

[If circumstances are normal, my job is usually a simple one. Everything my class does revolves around making other people better and taking care of them. However, even if that's the case, it's just a fact that I need some serious upgrades in terms of the spells I'm using.]

Recent events flashed through her mind as she had that thought. The punishment dungeon, the fight against the golem, Carson dying in front of her.

[... If I had a better healing spell available, I might have been able to save Carson. If I wasn't as lucky as I apparently am, I probably would have died at Roha Vala. That luck isn't going to last forever, and, I would bet that one of these days I'll be in the same position Carson was in. Something will happen to me, or to Erin, that {Healing Ground} just can't fix quickly enough. I need more options.]

"Uh, any more of those things nearby?" Neve asked as Erin slithered in front of her, leading her forward. "The enemies, I mean."

"Not that I can see," Erin replied. "Rest assured, however, if I do find something, I will-"

Erin moved over a plate of some kind.

It dipped into the ground, making the woman look an inch or two shorter.

"Hm?" Erin looked down. "What-"

A blade swung from the side of the wall, like a pendulum.

Neve flinched.

The blade went straight through Erin's head.

Neve's jaw dropped.

The lamia fell to the side. Her body twitched twice before disappearing. The only sign that she'd been there, to begin with, was the blood that had spurted onto the stone around them.

Neve was too shocked to move for a moment.

[That was... unfortunate. Holy shit. Brutal.]

She checked behind her and looked ahead as well, remembering how triggering the trap back at Roha Vala had caused the enemies in that area to begin moving.2

[... Looks like I'm fine. Uh, let me summon her again.]

Taking a step back, Neve summoned Erin in front of her.

The first thing the lamia did was glance down at herself. She looked forward at the splashes of blood around her.

Turning toward Neve, she asked:

"What just happened?"

"Uh... You stepped on a trap and kinda hit your head pretty hard there. Are you alright?"

"I... believe so?" Erin looked back at the blood. "Must have been quite the blow," she muttered.

"It was but I healed you back up! You're fine."

The more stuff like this happened, the more Neve wanted to let Erin know what was actually going on, but the problem was this was, essentially, an actual person walking alongside Neve.

Because of that, Neve feared that telling her "hey, you're not real, you're just a summon" would result in an existential crisis that would prevent her from performing well throughout this dungeon.

[It's probably best to just keep that to myself until this dungeon is over... I really should have handled that before coming in here, though. That's my bad. I didn't think this would be a constant problem here.]

"Well, uhm... How about we keep going?" Neve asked.

"Right," Erin replied, though she couldn't take her eyes off the blood. "Let us continue."

Making it to the end of the hall, they arrived at a room with multiple plates on the ground just like the one Erin had stepped on before.

There was nothing else in here. It was just the hall they'd walked through, a dozen or so plates on the ground, and another door at the opposite end of the room.

[Shit.]

"Hm..." Erin slithered forward and looked at the first plate. "I've heard about people who put puzzles in their homes like these to play pranks on visitors or to eliminate thieves. This does seem rather treacherous, however. It's likely best if we turn around and leave at this point, is it not? We likely lack the required information to complete..."

Erin kept talking as she looked at the first row of plates.

Neve summoned Tamira in her mind.

[Um... Tamira?]

[Yes?] The snake replied telepathically.

[If I order Erin to do something she doesn't want to do, will she hold that against me?]

[There is an option in your Summon Settings, in the Personality section, that allows you to erase your summon's memories to a certain point. Just use that, you sadistic little minx you~]

[I'm not- whatever, I don't need to explain myself to you.]

Sighing, Neve hesitated for just a moment before saying:

"Erin, move forward."

"Understood," the lamia replied, robotically.

As soon as she did, a bolt fired from both the left and right sides of the room. She was shot down on the spot, disappearing.

[... I'll make it up to her later. I promise.]

And so, she summoned Erin again.

"Huh?" Erin asked. "What just-"

"Walk to this block," Neve ordered, pointing at the block to the right.

"Understood."

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