Young lord Witt rode at the front on horseback, clearing the way with his attendants, while Ryan trailed dutifully at the very rear of the party.
It was quite hot today; Ryan's clothes were already soaked with sweat by the time they left the city, so he took a waterskin off Maeve's back and drank a couple of mouthfuls.
His sidelong glance fell on Ellie, and their eyes met again.
Something seemed off with Ellie; she kept glancing at Ryan, as if she wanted to say something but was too shy to.
"What? You want some water too?"
Ellie shook her head, then perked up the cat ears atop her head.
Ryan blanked at first, then slowly narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, "Don't tell me you want me to touch your ears? What a little glutton of a cat..."
He'd assumed Ellie had no such craving; he hadn't expected she actually enjoyed it.
Ellie didn't answer, turning her head to look elsewhere, as if she truly couldn't bring herself to ask.
Maeve sighed, then put on a heartbroken face. "Ellie has fallen!"
Her voice was a bit loud, making the mercenaries ahead turn and study the three of them curiously.
Young lord Witt even slowed his horse and glanced back at the three of them.
Ryan patted Maeve's shoulder. "Keep it down, stop being so jumpy all the time."
With that, he rested his hand on Ellie's head and gently kneaded her fuzzy cat ears.
"Want your tail touched?"
Ellie refused outright, shaking her head hard.
She seemed to like having her ears touched, but not her tail.
Maeve watched from the side, seemingly unable to understand Ellie's behavior at all. "Is having your ears touched really that nice...?"
"Didn't you enjoy it well enough yesterday?"
Maeve weaseled flatly, "Says who? I didn't. I only let you touch them because I saw you liked it."
That was what she said, but last night she'd whimpered nonstop under his touch.
If he hadn't accidentally brushed her rear, she'd have nearly fainted from the bliss.
"Liars are dogs."
Maeve gave a snort, seemingly unbothered.
The party walked about two kilometers outside the city when young lord Witt at the front suddenly halted.
He dismounted and sent the horse away, then led the party deep into the thickets.
That heavy plate armor of his creaked with every step.
The thickets were full of snakes; before they'd gone far, a mercenary was bitten on the rear by one and made to drink a foul antidote potion by the accompanying priest.
Seeing this, Ryan promptly sent Maeve ahead to scout, treading especially carefully with every step.
"How can you be so mean... what if a snake bites me to death? Boo-hoo." Maeve wore a woeful face, a sword scabbard in hand, sweeping the weeds before her flat.
"We're at the back of the party. The path's already been walked by others, so any snakes have been driven off. Don't be afraid," Ryan reassured her.
Lucky fool that Maeve was, with frighteningly high Luck, she probably didn't need to worry about snakebites.
Just then, Ellie patted her shoulder and said, "Let me go in front. I can hear the snakes, and snake venom barely affects me."
Maeve promptly handed the scabbard to Ellie, nearly in tears. "Ellie... you really are a good person!"
With that, she shot Ryan an aggrieved look.
For some reason, Ryan found the little mutt even more adorable...
After walking on a stretch, the party suddenly stopped.
A few mercenaries craned their necks to look ahead, puzzled. "What's going on?"
A voice came from up front — an attendant shouting at the top of his lungs, "We've arrived. The scouts are surveying ahead; we wait for them to return."
There were far too many people around, packed shoulder to shoulder, and Ryan couldn't see the situation ahead at all; the three of them waited dutifully where they were.
After a while, the mercenaries received the order to enter the cave.
Ryan followed them forward step by step, and a few minutes later only he and his group were left aboveground.
Witt had already led the way down, leaving only an impatient-looking attendant aboveground to direct the mercenaries.
"Get down there, you're the last ones we're waiting on."
This hole was far larger than the one they'd encountered before, wide enough for three to pass abreast, its edges remarkably smooth, as if bored out by a small tunnel-boring machine.
Ellie took one look and said, "This was dug by a Burrowing Demonworm."
"Burrowing Demonworm? What's that?" Ryan asked, raising a brow.
"A huge monster, common in the depths. Dark elves like to tame them for digging tunnels. Hard to deal with."
Maeve's ears drooped, and she mumbled, "I hate bugs most of all."
The attendant urged, "Hurry down, it's just you three left."
"My slave says this hole was dug by a Burrowing Demonworm. Shouldn't you tell Lord Witt?"
"What worm? There are only goblins down there. Hurry up." The attendant pressed.
Ryan had a nagging feeling something was about to go wrong...
He looked at Ellie beside him and asked offhandedly, "Can you beat that thing?"
"No, but keeping the three of us safe is no problem."
With those words from Ellie, Ryan was reassured; the catgirl was always dependable.
Gazing at the firelight inside the hole, Ryan led the way down.
Ellie followed, opened her palm, and a ball of flame rose from it, instantly brightening their surroundings.
Ryan walked behind the mercenaries; the tunnel leading underground was quite long, winding downward, the air growing damper the deeper they went, and soon Ryan heard the sound of running water.
The passage ended in a far vaster underground cavern, with a gentle subterranean river flowing through it.
Ryan looked up and around, with the constant sense that the place had been hollowed out by something; in the darkness, glow mushrooms gave off a faint blue light.
The intruding firelight startled the bats in the cave, and they swept over the mercenaries' heads, shrieking as they flew deeper in.
Maeve was such a coward that at any strange sound she grabbed Ryan's arm, her ears drooping. "It's so dark here..."
"It's fine. With Ellie beside us, what's there to fear?" Ryan looked at Ellie; in the dark, her pupils had grown big and round.
A few timid mercenaries were like Maeve, growing skittish the moment they entered the cave, wishing they could curl up and find somewhere to hide.
Witt glanced back at everyone, raised his helmet's visor, and called out to the party, "Listen well! Up ahead is the camp of those green-skinned beasts. When the fighting starts, no one is to retreat!"
Watching him so brazen, Ryan unconsciously shook his head. "Not good..."
"What's not good?" Maeve grew more frightened and simply clung to Ryan's arm, trembling.
"I don't know. I've got a bad feeling. I hope I'm just overthinking it." Ryan shook his head, warily scanning their surroundings.