8 Irony

The way in which dungeons were regulated was very strict unless it was one where the monsters were fairly weak.

In those cases, all you needed to do was pay the usage tax, and boom you have entry.

Such realization seemed to be shocking to Evelyn as we walked through the cavern inside the first floor of the dungeon.

There were already a few people fighting in different areas. This place was pretty damn big, one of the biggest in the kingdom and also one of the more well-known. It was a place where newbie adventurers went to get used to the adventurer life.

"So uhm, this is what your wearing," I asked Evelyn as she walked by my side.

She had a blue and white armored dress on complete with black leggings and metallic boots.

"What is wrong with it?" She said uncomfortably suddenly growing very conscious of her outfit.

"Oh, nothing."

"What, hey what's wrong with it."

I didn't give her an answer which prompted her to shake me from my shoulders. "Answer me, you bastard."

I just kept walking while hiding my grin. Truthfully nothing was wrong with her outfit, I just wanted to bully her a bit. It's the least she could endure after all she's done.

"Quiet, ready yourself, it's time to see what you got." I stopped the girl's angry rumblings as I felt the faint magic coming from the approaching monsters.

Caught off guard by words Evelyn hurried to withdraw her sword and hold it with both hands.

The moment the 6 legged giant ants reared their heads I could hear an audible gulp come from her and her stance stiffen.

Slowly they approached the girl altogether and I began to wonder how exactly she'd respond.

It was as one of the ants got within range and was about to lash out. Her sword cut through the air and slashed the ant across its leg.

The missing limb was enough to cripple it, but there was no explosion of experience fragments.

"You're going to need a bit more than that if you want to kill the thing," I added uselessly from the back as I watched the girl try to recover from her over extension.

Thankfully the ant was just as stunned and she was able to recover before it counterattacked.

As for the other ants, I interfered and held them at bay with some barrier magic.

Taking a step back Evelyn tried to recover what she assumed to be a good stance. And to be fair, it was a damn good imitation.

Her stance was low her posture relaxed.

She waited again for the ant to step into range before she struck again, this time going for something more vital as her sword dug deep into the head of the creature.

An explosion of purple fell upon her as she got her first-ever kill.

Noticing that alone had taken quite the mental toll on her I dashed forward and easily dispatched the remaining ants.

"I could have done that myself." Evelyn huffed as she stood up.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course, you could. On a different note, how come you never told me you had training with the sword?" It surely wasn't a lot but she had to have picked up a few things from someone.

"Training? No never. Mother thinks such a thing is much too unfit for a proper lady." Evelyn shook her head with a sigh.

"Than the stance?"

"Stuff I picked up from my brother's teacher. My father was tired of my Brother being a lazy sack of potatoes and made him start learning swordsmanship from a tutor. I may not have been able to participate but nothing stopped me from watching." Evelyn shrugged as she looked back and forth between two split routes, checking for any signs of more of them.

"Why am I not surprised? Wait, then how the hell were you allowed to come here."

To those words Evelyn turned from me, her eyes looking everywhere but at me.

It took me two seconds to process her reaction before I yanked the girl by her arm.

"NOPE. Nope. That wasn't in the job description. I'm not about to give your mother a way to ruin my life more." I began pulling her as I headed in the way we came.

"Stop! Let go. It's not that big of a deal, they won't find out." She pulled hard before she finally managed to escape my grip.

She stepped back until there was a good enough distance between us.

"They won't find out… I told them I was going shopping with some friends in the capital. They're used to me taking a long time so they won't suspect anything, promise." Evelyn tried to reassure me but I wasn't buying it.

"And what if you're wrong? What if they do find out? Then what? You go home while my family is somehow blamed?"

To that, Evelyn went silent as she bit her lip. "I'll-Look I'll take the blame if that were to happen. I won't let them accuse you."

"It seemed you haven't changed as much as I thought. You still don't understand your position. You are not someone who has the authority or prestige to challenge your father or mother if they chose to do that."

To my words, Evelyn bit down on her lips harder. Her next action was something I didn't expect.

With quick steps, she approached me until she stood in front of me. She kept her head lowered all the while before it began to lower more as she bowed.

And no, I did not mean a small uncaring lowering of the spine. She fully bowed at a 90-degree angle.

"Please… I know already. But just give me a chance…You were the one who told me that in the first place." She stopped midway as she returned to a standing position and grabbed onto my vest.

"Can't… can't you recognize that I'm trying to change? Can't you show pity for me?" Her words were whispers at this point and sounded desperate.

"You want… pity?"

This girl, was actually asking me to pity her. Is this not the most hilarious thing to ever come out of someone's mouth?

This girl, who repeatedly came to my home and disrespected us and treated us like piles of garbage, actually wanted me to pity her.

Hilarious.

"Why are you laughing." Evelyn stepped back. It seemed I really couldn't stop myself from laughing.

"This has got to be the most hilarious thing I've heard in years," I said in between my fit of laughter.

"I take back my words Evelyn…you haven't changed at all," I said when my laughter was starting to die down.

"What?!" She snarled.

"Yeah, no I refuse. Maybe come back to me when you can understand why what you said is so messed up." I said before beginning to walk back to the entrance.

For a while, Evelyn stood shocked still. She certainly didn't expect this outcome.

"I'd hurry up. More monsters will come soon enough. No matter how good of an imitator you are, you're still a total beginner." I didn't bother stopping.

"Tch, I don't need you anyway!" I heard her yell before she stormed off in the opposite way of me, deeper into the dungeon.

Not my problem, if you wanna get yourself killed be my guest. Not like I can be blamed right…right?

Shit, I could. The dungeon guard already saw both of our faces together… for fucks sake.

…

(Evelyn POV)

What the hell was I even thinking asking that boy for help in the first place? Why would I need help when he had none?

I couldn't help but slam my foot every time I stepped. The thought of his face contorted in laughter enraged me to no end.

I can handle this by myself. It's a low-level dungeon. The weakest of the weak…I'll be fine.

I reassured myself as I kept walking.

And what the hell does he mean? What exactly about what I said was messed up? I begged the boy. I lowered myself that far and pleaded for his help, if there's anything messed up about what I said or did, it's that.

Ugh, I feel so humiliated. Really why did I even think to ask him? That brainless worm and his stupid shit-eating grin.

It was as these thoughts were roaming my brain that I heard a noise. "Ahh" "ahh" "ahh"

High-pitched screaming noises came from both sides of the fork-way. Soon after, a dozen of strange furry humanoid creatures came out.

Each with brown fur and red eyes, the smaller creatures didn't look much intimidating on their own, but put together I couldn't help back away.

I drew my sword, getting into the stance I had seen that man in countless times. I could do this. It was only around 12 of them. They didn't seem that strong.

'I can do this.' I reassured myself as instead of waiting I was the first to make a move and slashed at one of the creatures.

My blade went halfway through its stomach before it burst into purple fragments. Before I could recover one of the creatures jumped on my head effectively blocking my view.

And just like that, things began to go downhill as when I tried to wrestle the thing off me more of them jumped on me.

They began ripping my clothing and it was only thanks to my armor that my flesh was being protected.

For what felt like an hour I rolled around and clawed at the creatures, trying my best to free myself.

Tears fell down my face as I began to slowly stop resisting. It was only then that I saw a flash and an explosion of purple.

…

(Noir POV)

Jesus Christ please tell me they didn't leave a mark on her, I'm not the best at healing magic.

As the explosion of experience I had caused when I killed the monkeys began to die down I breathed out a sigh of relief. The girl was relatively unharmed.

Her dress was in tatters, her hair in disarray and her face red and died with tears, but she was unharmed. There were no marks on her from the monkeys.

"You okay," I asked as the girl lay there in a daze. Soon enough she sat up and put her face in her hands.

"Do I look okay?" She said as she sobbed lightly.

"Not at all. Also, you might wanna cover yourself… your chest is showing." To my words, she looked down to see the creatures had torn through the fabric of her dress and set her already well-developed breast free for the world to see.

"AUGHHHH." The girl groaned harder as she tried to cover her face and chest at the same time. She failed.

…

The walk back was silent. Luckily the girl was smart enough to pack another pair of clothes.

She was so out of it that she didn't even tell me to turn away when she began undressing to put on her spare clothes. Luckily for her though, I wasn't interested in peeping on girls in distress and so I turned away.

Her goodbye was quick before she entered her ship and left as soon as possible. I'm sure her delusional dreams of being an adventurer had been crushed.

It was probably for the best. She wasn't built for that type of life, and was mistaken to think it was something you could just do without any training.

Well, I had kind of done the same thing. But, I was well equipped, I have a cheat.

On the way back I took my mind off Evelyn and instead focused on the new knowledge I had gained.

If I could earn myself a title, I was free from this ridiculous matchmaking. The thought was so very sweet. Even sweeter was the fact that I had just the way to accomplish that feat.

As I flew home, my thoughts were filled with nothing but dreams of freedom.

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(AN: Gimme power-stones.)