The bubble of comfort slowly came to an end as she withdrew.
“I am back to full mana, Liam. Shall we keep going, or are we quitting for the day?”
There was something odd about her tone; it was still gentle, warm, yet somehow sounding like she was almost bored.
Back to full so soon? Her mana regeneration is insanely fast.
“Well, since you are back to full and there is still more time before the evening, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to get some cores and earn more coin.”
He was already standing up before he finished. The withdrawal of her embrace had left a strange void in its wake. The reply had earned him a smile from her.
“More money would not hurt to have; perhaps we can even get a feast one day if we manage to fight off stronger things. That, however, is a goal for future us; for now, goblins are the limit, it seems.”
Her mood is better now… why does that make me happy? Maybe she doesn’t have much either, so she was disappointed we couldn’t earn more today. Her robes don’t look cheap after all.
He nodded and started leading the way, with her stepping into pace beside him.
“More money would most certainly be useful. I do still technically owe you a meal since I only bought drinks last time.”
He knew full well she had considered that promise fulfilled with the drinks, but he couldn’t help himself; he wanted to spend another evening with her.
She chuckled lightly.
“Oh? Well, I would not refuse such a lovely promise given again. Shall we call it a date without an actual set date then?”
There it was again; the teasing, flirtatious lilt from yesterday. It made him smile absentmindedly for a few moments before he gathered himself and sped up his pace, trying to hide the effect she had on him by walking ahead; the power she held over him after just one day of being saved by her wasn’t something he knew how to deal with.
“It’s just me showing gratitude for you saving my life. That’s not exactly a date.”
He genuinely believed what he said. He still blushed.
“Now that just sounds like you are against the idea of having a date night with me. Is it such a dreadful idea?”
They were by the cave entrance when she stepped in front of him as she asked her question. She was very close now.
Now that I look at her, she is very tall: taller than me and most people I have seen.
“I’m not against the idea!”
He blurted out without thinking. Another onset of blushing followed.
“So you do want to have a date then?”
Her smile was practically a smirk now; teasing, genuine, and utterly captivating.
“I didn’t say that... I just said I wasn’t against the idea.”
His voice was a weak whisper that sounded far from convincing even to his own ears. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was trying to make her believe him or make himself do so at this point. His scepticism had been fighting a war since their first meeting and losing in the most spectacular fashion to the raw magnetism he felt towards her.
“We will call it a date then; you are, after all, not against the idea.”
She winked as she stepped inside the dungeon again, this time before Liam did.
He rushed in after her. He could feel the heat on his face, which was quite a bit redder now.
I just can’t argue against her. She just twists my words and teases me.
He groaned mentally, though deep down he knew he didn’t mind her mannerisms one bit. In fact, every little teasing smile, every slight tilt of her head was becoming more and more endearing the more he was in her orbit. He found that he didn’t dislike that at all, and that was what terrified him the most about the situation. She was dismantling his mental fortress with an efficiency that should have been horrifying, but he couldn’t really bring himself to feel anything but a quickly blossoming attraction towards her.
“Stand behind me while we’re in here; you never know when we’ll come across a monster.”
He stepped in front of her preemptively this time, a protectiveness he had never shown anyone before.
“Oh, I have the utmost confidence you would defend me anyway, my valiant knight.”
She lightly touched his shoulder. The contact was almost electric even through the fabric of his tunic. A small shiver almost threatened to run down his spine, but he managed to keep himself under control.
The bodies were already gone; the dungeon had already repurposed the remnants for something else somewhere within its confines. Apart from a few stray goblins, which followed the usual pattern of not being in groups, confirming the fluke nature of what happened last time, nothing really was around, making the exploration of the entry floor they were on quite safe.
This is so much easier with a healer by my side; it also honestly feels like the goblins are moving slower, swinging weaker, even if slightly, much easier to react to and punish than it felt just a day ago.
The duo had gathered eight cores before Liam decided to stop; the evening was approaching steadily. That meant the road would soon start getting risky due to adventurers leaving the dungeon and heading back. The majority, including Liam, would try to avoid being inside the dungeon during nighttime, since the spawn rate inside the dungeon would turn nasty with nightfall; far too many monsters would come to have reliable chances of survival for most.
“We should head back before late afternoon passes us completely; it’d be unnecessary to risk staying for later.”
Melissa nodded in agreement, no disappointed looks this time.
“We got enough for the day; not much else we can gain by staying on this floor anyway. It would be better to head back and revisit the dungeon tomorrow; perhaps we could push for the lower floor. You have proven you are better than the goblins here quite thoroughly today, I believe.”
I did prove I am better than them. Even three-on-one, I was the victor. With her behind me, no reason not to at least probe deeper; we could just run away and heal in the worst-case scenario.
His confidence was growing at a rather quick pace, her encouragement funneling the fire of his ambition to show everyone, mostly himself, that he could do this; he could be a successful adventurer. He slowly nodded as he weighed the idea in his mind.
“We could try.”
She matched his pace to settle beside him as they made their way towards the exit. Her robes were still pristine; not a single strand of hair was out of place, and there was absolutely no trace of sweat in her usual scent. It should have struck him as odd; a healer who previously had no party had led him to assume that she was weak, and that meant the amount of healing she had done should have resulted in signs of exertion. At the very least, the goblin blood, the stench of the fight, or the dampness of the cave, along with the fact that they had sat on grass, should have left some faint traces of the fight on her. There was nothing. He didn’t think about the strangeness of it properly.
She is so graceful, an entire day of adventuring, and she is as flawless as she was in the morning.
He glanced down at his own clothes; tattered and ripped in places, dried blood from himself and goblins staining them, as well as faint green patches on the pants; no doubt a gift from the grassland. He could smell his own sweat, the faint metallic aroma of his own blood and the goblins’ mixing all together.
So unlike her perfection, I need to get stronger, be better to make sure she remains as untouched by the filth of the creatures as she is today.
He stopped in his tracks, his ears picking up the clanking of armor and chatter of another party. In rapid, panicked movement, he dragged her out of the clear path into the bushes.
Better safe than sorry.
He had no way of knowing whether the party would be the scummy kind, nor the incentive to find it out, especially with Melissa by his side. He wouldn’t risk her safety.
“Liam… I understand why you dragged us down to hide here, but perhaps your hand does not need to linger on me this long.”
Her voice lacked any bite, just the same teasing, flirtatious lilt she had used earlier. Rather than chiding him, it sounded more like a soft question.
His face turned a slight red, something he hoped the low light hid from her eyes as he withdrew his hand slowly. Moving fast would have made noise and alerted the now close-by party; that was definitely why he didn’t rush pulling back. Definitely not because he enjoyed the contact. He turned his head away, looking down to let the dim lighting help hide the colour of his face.
Neither the movement nor the weak light from the setting sun behind the walls in the distance was enough for her to miss the effect she had on him. However, they were enough to hide the self-satisfied smile and look she had on her face from Liam. One that wasn’t unlike a hunter appreciating the entrapment of prey.