Magna leading the way and Faye trailing closely behind, the two walked deeper into the dark corridor for a while. At one point Magna suddenly came to a stop in front of a goblin corpse.
He knelt down and gently scooped the mother goblin onto his back.
He expected Faye to ask why he was carrying a dead body, but surprisingly, she just watched him in silence.
It was for the best, as he didn’t feel like coming up with excuses anyway, so he simply kept moving forward.
After walking through the pitch-black tunnel for some time in silence, Faye finally broke the quiet. Holding her nose with a slight frown, she said in a low voice, ’’This place stinks.’’
The cave had always smelled terrible, considering goblins were hardly known for their hygiene, but for some reason, the stench seemed to shift and thicken the further they went.
Magna didn’t answer. He remained silent, merely quickening his pace as if trying to outrun her complaint.
Faye hurried her steps to keep up with him.
Soon, the two arrived at the entrance of another side chamber, which Magna hastily passed without even glancing inside.
Faye followed him with the same speed. Since the foul smell was at its absolute worst right there anyway, she only wanted to get past it as fast as possible.
While passing, she did notice the strange piles of stacked stones lining the side of the corridor, but she didn’t dwell on them, seeing no value in them for her trial.
After walking a bit deeper into the passage, the unbearable stench began to fade behind them. Faye finally let go of her nose, breathing a little easier.
The cave corridor turned out to be much longer than Magna had anticipated. Though he had spent months living here, this was the first time he had ventured this deep.
As they progressed, they occasionally passed more scorched goblin corpses, but eventually, those disappeared as well, leaving behind nothing but empty, desolate tunnels.
Without a single source of light, the passage was swallowed by absolute darkness, so deep that even Magna’s enchanted eyes struggled to see ahead.
He was forced to rely strictly on his ears and the feel of the wind against his skin to navigate.
’’Sister, it’s so dark...’’ Faye said softly, reaching out to grab the hem of the mother goblin’s clothes to ensure she wouldn’t get left behind.
’’Yeah. Just make sure you stay close to me,’’ Magna replied.
Truthfully, he was starting to feel the tension creep up on him as well. If not for his cold-blooded assassin trait, keeping his nerves in check, he suspected he would have had a heart attack in a place like this long ago.
’’Sister, why don’t you ignite a fire? I really can’t see anything,’’ she called out again, her voice starting to tremble with fear.
’’No,’’ Magna cut her off strictly. ’’If there’s a goblin nearby, it will see the light and run away. We wouldn’t want to waste our only chance, right?’’
Faye found the logic sound enough, so she didn’t press the matter and fell silent again.
Soon, just as his vision was rendered completely useless by the pitch-black darkness, Magna’s ears picked up a faint, distant sound ahead.
"I hear water. There might be an opening further down with an underground river."
"You can tell?" Faye’s voice carried genuine disbelief.
At that moment, she felt as deaf as she was blind, unable to hear anything over the sound of their own echoing footsteps.
They continued forward, and after another ten minutes or so, the faint rushing sound finally reached Faye’s ears as well. Impressed, she mentally gave her sister full credit for her sharp senses.
Shortly after, a soft glow appeared at the end of the long, dark corridor.
Quickening their steps toward the light, they finally reached the exit and stepped into a massive, open cavern.
After being in complete darkness for so long, the dim blue glow inside was enough to make them blink.
Phosphorescent moss covered the stone walls, lighting up a large underground river that cut straight through the middle of the cave.
The air here was damp and cold, but at least the bad smell was finally gone.
Faye let go of the goblin’s clothes and looked around in awe.
"It’s huge..." Her voice echoed off the high stone ceiling.
Magna was equally impressed as his adventure-loving nature momentarily surfaced.
Still, his assassin instincts immediately took over as he started scanning the open space for any potential enemy arround.
A room this big meant they could see ahead, but it also meant whatever was inside could see them too.
"Stick close," Magna muttered, adjusting the mother goblin on his back before taking a cautious step forward.
Faye nodded quickly, falling right into place behind him.
She had initially come here alone to find and kill a goblin, but now she seemed to have completely forgotten about that, content to let him take the lead while staying safe behind him.
Though what Magna was actually looking for wasn’t a goblin, but an exit he could escape through.
’If I follow the flow of the river, I can probably find an exit.’ With that goal in mind, he kept moving alongside the bank.
The river wasn’t moving too fast, but the sound it made echoed through the entire cavern, enough to affect his hearing.
Fortunately, this time there was enough light thanks to the strangely glowing moss, so he used his eyes to scan his surroundings.
Faye, who was also looking around with keen interest and eyes shining with curiosity, decided to speak.
"Sister, how rude of me. I didn’t even ask your name." She wasn’t even trying to look cold and indifferent anymore, completely embracing the childlike demeanor in her voice and expression.
Magna, who wasn’t particularly interested in talking, feigned not hearing her.
But she was unfortunately the insistent type.
Thinking her voice just wasn’t loud enough to reach him, she picked up her pace, stepped up beside him, and asked again, "Sister, how rude of me. I didn’t even ask your name."
Magna wanted to turn his head and try to ignore her again, but catching a glance of her bright blue eyes staring so intensely at him, he couldn’t find an escape. He finally answered, "Magna."
Faye’s face shifted for a moment with subtle surprise. ’’Magna? Huh, kind of a weird name. ’’
Her surprise quickly turned into slight panic as she rapidly added, "I mean, it’s just unusual. Not weird-weird, you know? Just... not the normal kind of weird. Like, a cool way of weird."
Realizing she was only making it worse, especially since Magna wasn’t even responding, her steps slowed down as she fell back a pace.
Though just a few seconds later, she picked up her speed again and caught up to his side. "I’m Faye. Faye Winterborne."
She expected a reaction, even a flicker of awe or disbelief, after dropping her prestigious household name, but Magna merely muttered, "Right. Nice to meet you."
It was the first time she had ever seen someone hear the Winterborne name without staring in total astonishment.