Our routine remained pretty standard over the next few days. We would head out of the village and into the forest, and hunt all day. I'd collect herbs and monster drops while we were out, and use the nights to build up our stores of medicine. Occasionally, I'd have Raphtalia read my medicine book to me, so I could learn new recipes and attempt to learn the language at the same time. Using that method, I'd actually picked up the basics of the alphabet, and was able to start putting together some basic words in the book on my own. Still, I was a long way from fluent.

After a week, we'd both made pretty impressive progress. Eleven days into my time in this world, I had made it to level 13. Raphtalia was level 11, and her skill in combat had been growing quickly. She was able to handle big monsters on her own most of the time, so we were able to work separately and make the most of our time.

I'd used the grinding time as a chance to unlock all of the equip abilities I could. Study 1 had turned out to be especially useful- it showed me weak points in monsters I had defeated previously, making it that much easier to beat them quickly. It was pretty useful for increasing the efficiency of my grinding, as well as giving me a bit of a bonus to my generally mediocre stats when I hit the right spot. Of course, I had to beat an enemy for it to kick in, so it wouldn't be all that much help against enemies I was facing for the first time. Still, me and Raphtalia had found a sort of groove. She would take the lead, slashing up enemies with her dagger, and I would stay back, controlling the battlefield and supporting her. I was best in a support or burst damage type of role, while she could dish out consistent damage and keep the opponent from rushing me. In return, if she found herself in a tough spot, I could leap in and use my magic to save her. Still, there were definitely some notable missing spots in our little dynamic. While I could give some support, I definitely wasn't a hero. Also, while my class was suited to planning, it was hard to come up with complex plans when I only had one party member. We'd definitely benefit from adding an additional person to the party, but I was uncomfortable with the idea of buying another slave. After all, I needed to look out for my reputation if I actually wanted to become a well respected hero, and while slavery was legal, it wasn't exactly seen as very moral.

That night, once we were done farming, we decided to set up camp in the forest rather than head back into town. The monsters around here were weak enough to handle solo, so as long as we took shifts, it was safe enough. I had caught a few fish and picked some vegetables, so I was making some makeshift kebabs by the fire. Idly, I said, "We should check out that dungeon sometime soon. I think we're ready to handle it, don't you?"

Raphtalia nodded, though she seemed a bit distracted. "Something on your mind?" I asked, curious. I wouldn't pry if she didn't want to discuss it, but it was always good to have a feel for your companions mental state.

"Er… yes, sort of." I nodded quietly, waiting for her to elaborate. "It's just… I'm thinking about some of the other slaves I knew. From my first owner. We became close friends. We were all each other had, you know. I was sold, but they weren't. I don't know what happened to them." I could empathize with that. I'd been taken from my world against my will too. I had no clue if the people back home were alright, and vice versa. Of course, I wasn't a slave, but it was a similar feeling otherwise.

And with her being so young… "Tell me more about this guy. Your first master." She shuddered at the request, and looked rather reluctant to talk about her experiences. The crest, however, obviously scared her enough to make her open up a bit.

"He was a noble," she told me, her eyes downcast, "He was a sadist, and he liked buying slaves just to torture them. Once they got boring, he sold them. I was there for longer than most, so I guess I was pretty interesting. Or stubborn, at the least." God, those eyes. She was too young to have a look like that in her eyes. It was the type of look you'd see when your grandpa related old war stories, or when victims would try to open up over old trauma. It was like she was there all over again.

Still, she kept going. "My village, it got caught up in the first wave. It was destroyed. It was an all demihuman village, on the coast. After the wave, the slavers came. They took everyone who was left. Me, and a few of the other kids, got sold to the same person. My friend, Rifana…" Her voice trailed off. I could see tears building in the corner of her eyes.

Intent on alleviating her pain, I said, "That's plenty. I understand." I felt a righteous anger building in the pit of my stomach. How could anyone not, hearing stories of innocent kids getting tortured to make some rich fuck happy. "Can you tell me where you were kept? Where this noble lived?" I tried to keep my face neutral, so she wouldn't think I was mad at her or anything like that. Still, I got the feeling some anger was leaking through, by the way she was staring at me.

"Er… yes, I do. He was the ruler of the Rabier territory. I don't know exactly where that was, but it was close to the border. He lived in a big mansion." I nodded. My thoughts of going for the dungeon were gone. My priorities had been rearranged.

"We're going. Tomorrow, we're going to go there. I want to speak to this noble." Raphtalia, wide-eyed, frantically shook her head.

"N-no! We can't! He's strong, much stronger than you would expect! He would kill us!" I stared at her. Of course she would think that, right? He was responsible for torturing her when she was just a kid! Maybe she was just overhyping him.

Then again, who was I to argue with her first hand experience? Hero or not, I was only level 13. My stats were fairly mediocre, and while I'd been pumping points into my ofuda, especially my Red Balloon Ofuda, constantly switching between them to unlock equip bonuses had left my points spread pretty thin. I relented. "Fine." She immediately let out a sigh of relief. "But we will be confronting this noble as soon as we can. I'm a hero. I can't just sit around when I know children are getting tortured. I'm going to get them out of there."

She stared at me, for a moment, her eyes once again brimming with tears. Then, in a move that surprised me enough to almost sprawl me out onto my back, she threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me and burying her face in my chest. Not really knowing how I should react, I hesitantly hugged her back, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close to me. I could feel her body shuddering as she cried. Her tears were soaking into my top. I let her stay there for a while. She'd been through a lot. She deserved a moment of comfort, even if I was the one giving it to her. I patted her back, running my hand gently through her hair, just trying to help her calm down. "Th-thank you," She said, rubbing her face on my shirt, "Thank you, Naofumi!"

I sighed. I didn't like hearing her thank me like that, but I'd accept it once. It was obviously a very vulnerable moment for her, and she didn't need me bossing her around while she was dealing with how she felt. As she cried, my mind drifted to thoughts of her friends. Stuck in some torture dungeon somewhere, waiting for someone to liberate them. I couldn't let them go on. Still, if the noble was really some former adventurer, he'd have a lifetime more experience than me. I had to get strong, quick, so I'd be able to go and fight him without worrying about myself or Raphtalia getting injured.

"Okay," I said, allowing her to stay where she was, "It's settled, then. We need to get strong. Not just for the wave, anymore. We should go to that dungeon as soon as possible, so we can level up." She nodded into my chest. It felt oddly familial, the way she was pressing herself into me. It was like caring for a little sister or something. My little brother was only a few years younger than me, so we'd never had a huge gap like the one between me and Raphtalia.

At some point, she stopped crying. Her breathing calmed, and she stopped wriggling around. She'd fallen asleep with her face buried in my chest. Good grief, this girl. How could she be so comfortable around me? I wrapped one arm underneath her so I could hold her as I stood up, moving to pull the kebabs away from the fire so they wouldn't burn. I grabbed one for myself, sitting back down and taking a bite. It was pretty tasty. Definitely better than my first try at cooking in this world, at least. I had used Raphtalia's dagger to clean the scales, and slice it into cubes. Apparently, as long as I didn't intend to attack, I was able to wield it. What exactly was considered attacking seemed a bit arbitrary. I had been able to cut up the fish once it was dead, but when I tried to finish off a live fish with it, I got shocked just like before. It wasn't like I had a fish cleaning ofuda, though, so I just had to be careful when I was using the dagger.

Speaking of, I had fed my Ofuda some fish scales after cleaning the fish earlier, and had unlocked a fairly interesting ofuda.

Fishscale Ofuda

Level 1
XP: 0/50

Rarity: C

Skills:

Basic Attack (0/5)

First Air Bubble (0/5)

Air Bubble was definitely an interesting sounding ability. It sounded like the type of skill that would let you explore underwater temples in an rpg. I hadn't heard of any underwater dungeons yet, but it would surely be useful if I ever did have the need to go underwater.

I ended up holding Raphtalia like that for a few hours. I ate a few kebabs, and wrapped the others in some cloth so that when she finally woke up, she'd have something to eat. It really did start to feel almost normal. There was something nice about holding her as I went around, knowing that I'd keep her safe.

Still, I could only stay in that position for so long before my arms started going numb. Eventually, I had to set her down so I could get some time to relax. As soon as I did, she started shifting around and mumbling in her sleep. Not too long after, she actually woke up. Was she really that starved for touch? If she couldn't get any sleep without me, we'd have a serious problem.

I didn't have the energy to deal with it right now, though. "Hey, keep watch for a few hours. I'm going to sleep for a bit." Raphtalia nodded. Reluctantly, I opened her menu and added a restriction, making it so she couldn't move more than a kilometer away from me. I really didn't think she would run away, but I had to do it for my own peace of mind. "Don't go too far." I told her, just so she wouldn't accidentally wander out of the range and trigger it without actually intending to run away. Once again, she nodded, and I felt comfortable enough to lay down my head and go to sleep.

I only got a few hours of sleep, though. I had been so focused on working and leveling up recently that I'd become a bit paranoid, and it was hard to get any proper, deep sleep. A bit of sleep was better than none, though, and when I woke up I definitely felt much better. It's hard to tell how tired you are until you aren't anymore. Raphtalia was still there, and still wide awake. She had kept watch vigilantly. The birds were beginning to sing, even though the sun wasn't rising yet. It was nearing morning. I patted Raphtalia's head, and said, "Good job. Thanks for keeping watch. Let's get going. If we head to the dungeon now, it'll be light by the time we're out." I'd taken the opportunity to gather a bit of information from the townsfolk. Apparently, the dungeon was fairly low level. Many adventurers would take a detour from Melromarc to come out this way and level up in the dungeon before heading out into more dangerous ideas. Me and Raphtalia were definitely strong enough to do the same.

We cleaned up our fire pit, making sure the embers were properly snuffed, and after washing our faces in the river, we moved out of our camp. The entrance to the dungeon was only about ten minutes walking. On the way there, we took a shortcut off the beaten path and through some thick foliage. Before we could get through, a new sort of enemy that I hadn't seen before emerged from the bushes. It rolled towards us, much like the balloons had. This one, however, looked like an egg. It had that same angry face and sharp fangs of the balloons, though, so I thought they must have been related to the Balloons.

Regardless of whether they were or weren't, it was easily defeated. I didn't even have to step in. As soon as it attacked us, Raphtalia grabbed her dagger and sliced through it with a crack. The shell was thin, and it was filled with yolk, like a real egg. It smelled nasty, though. Definitely not fit for eating. Raphtalia had to pinch her nose. I squatted down, grabbing a few fragments of shell, and kicking some dirt over the rest in hopes of dulling the smell. I allowed the shell to be absorbed by my Ofuda.

Egg Ofuda

XP: 0/50

Level: 1

Rarity: C

Skills:
Basic Attack (0/5)

First Guard (0/5)

Cooking 1 (Locked)

Yet another interesting ofuda. A cooking skill, as well as a guard spell. Both were things I could definitely make use of. The cooking skill did confuse me slightly- I had already been cooking, so it wasn't like I needed a skill to do it. Would it just work like my Absorption skill, and raise the level of anything I cooked? Or would it show me basic recipes? Either way, I could definitely use it. Still, we were about to head into a dungeon. I couldn't use that as a chance to play around with a new ofuda. I swapped back to my Red Balloon ofuda. While it was a beginner ofuda, it was definitely my best one for combat, especially after I had put a few points into its spells.

At this point, the Red Balloon's stats were like this.

Red Balloon Ofuda

XP: 352/1600

Level 6
Rarity: UC

Skills:

Basic Attack(0/5)

Zweit Air Burst (1/5)

All Zweit Cyclone(4/5)

Reset: (5/10)

They definitely could have been better, if I had been solely using this, but the equip bonuses had taken precedence, and I didn't regret that decision. They gave me a wide variety of bonuses that carried over to all my ofuda. Regardless, level 4 All Zweit Cyclone packed a serious punch, and despite the fact that it took slightly more magic with each level, I had enough magic points to make it worth using. Adding the level points to it had not only increased its base damage, but made it last longer, which made it that much more useful. Raphtalia had gotten stronger too. I was genuinely confident that we had nothing to worry about in this dungeon.

As such, I led us to the entrance. The mouth of the cave was surrounded by mossy stone bricks, and a weathered stone staircase led down into the darkness. Raphtalia seemed scared. She scooted towards me, even grabbing onto the end of my ofuda. I did my best to look reassuring. "Don't worry," I said, "We'll finish this dungeon easily. You and I together won't have any problems."

She nodded firmly, and stepped away from me once more. She tried her best to look determined, but I could tell she was still a bit scared. "I'll go in first."

"Are you sure?" She asked, biting her lip and fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "What if there's a monster in there?"

I gave her a thumbs up. "If there's a monster in there, I'll kill it without fail. Just watch, okay?" With that, I turned my back on her and took the first steps down into the dungeon.