Chương 55: On We Go

[You are now in Floor 16] My boot sank into grass where I expected broken paving. I lifted it, checked the ground beneath the bent stems, and took another step out of the entrance. Petra came through behind me. She stopped close enough that her bow brushed my elbow, then moved aside without saying anything. I knew this place. The slope ahead had carried a tank down toward the buildings.

I had fought shadows along its lower edge and put a staff through a ghoul's mouth beside a wall that should have been somewhere to my left. Grass covered most of it now. Farther away, a few pointed arches stood above the field. The rest of the old buildings had fallen into heaps around them. Tall windows, narrow towers, all that unnecessary stonework humans put above places they intended to live. I remembered defending those buildings. From here, I could barely tell where one had ended and another began.

Petra drew in a long breath. The air was fresh enough that I did the same, cautiously. There was no ordnance in it, no burnt wood. Above us, the sky was blue. I looked for the low grey cover I remembered and found sunlight instead.

"A pleasant morning," Mimir said.

"Try not to take offence." I crossed my arms and opened my resources. [RESOURCES] [Health: 310 / 310] [Mana: 300 / 300] [Stamina: 100 / 100] The numbers held when I read them again. Leaving Mana Circulation running gently through my body while we rested had helped considerably. My mana had recovered, and I could move my arm without the bandage pulling against something painful underneath. I rolled my shoulder once.

"Ye could thank the lass," Mimir added.

"I already did."

"Aye. With all the warmth of a tax collector returning an empty purse."

"She gave me medicine. I thanked her for the medicine."

"Then we've exhausted gratitude for the season." I sighed and looked away. Petra stood with her hands behind her back, looking from me to the ruins. Her bow was secured, her pack settled properly against her shoulders. After the rest, she seemed ready to walk. I was about to tell her which side of the field we would follow when a small notification above her caught my attention. I focused on it. [Party Member: Petra] [Level: 5] For a moment, I kept waiting for another digit. Five.

'How the hell are you still alive?' Petra tilted her head.

"What?" I had apparently made a sound. I closed my mouth and looked at the number again, which remained exactly as unhelpful as before. She had been at least level twenty when I encountered her in previous runs. Sometimes higher. I remembered checking because it affected which routes she could survive, and I had gone through that process enough times to be certain. This was wrong.

"Carlos?"

"Your level." She glanced toward the space above herself, though I doubted her display sat in the same place as mine.

"What about it?"

"You are level five." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Yes." She said it without any indication that she intended to correct the situation. I looked back toward the ruins. Her account of completing subquests had sounded straightforward over tea. I had pictured someone capable of surviving a mistake along the way. At level five, I would have to reconsider what counted as a mistake.

"Have you been level five long?"

"A while." Her hands came forward.

"I told you I didn't fight everything."

"Quite," Mimir murmured.

"Some pilgrims reach the shrine without wrestling the mountain." I ignored him. I would have to do the fighting. Petra could remain behind me and use the bow when there was enough distance, though even that required care. I had reinforced the weapon. I had done nothing to improve the person drawing it. She watched me for another moment.

"I can still help."

"I know." I needed to stop looking at her level before she asked what I had expected. I turned toward the route along the field and raised a hand to indicate where we would go. A sound reached us from beyond a low rise. I lowered my hand immediately. Petra opened her mouth. I pointed down, then crouched beside a broken section of wall half buried in grass. She followed after a brief hesitation, settling awkwardly beneath the weight of her pack. I listened again.

Hooves struck something harder than earth on the other side of the rise. There was an uneven pause between steps, followed by the scrape of a shoe against stone. I eased Mana Circulation down until the outward trace was as small as I could manage. The ghouls on floor one had taught me to be careful with that. Firing Arcane Burst inside the tower had announced my presence quite effectively. I had spent enough time dealing with the response. Petra shifted her knee. Dry grass rasped against her trousers.

I held up a finger. She stopped moving. The horse came into view first, its head rising above the grass. A goblin sat in the saddle with a spear strapped across its back. One foot hung lower than the other, and the rider adjusted it without slowing the animal. I watched its hands, then the spear. Neither was moving toward us. Something knocked against the saddle. Petra made a small sound beside me. I looked at her because it was louder than anything either of us had done since crouching.

Her eyes were fixed on the horse. One hand covered her mouth, and the other had closed around a handful of grass. I followed her gaze. Five human heads hung beside the saddle where a traveller might have secured a pouch. The skulls showed through in places. Enough remained that they could not have been hanging there long, and the cords moved as the horse picked its way across the broken road. Mimir muttered a curse.

"Grave-robbing little bastard." I waited for the goblin to turn toward the sound. It continued riding, picking at something caught beneath one of its nails. The sight was familiar. I had seen worse arrangements made with the dead, including a few that humans had been responsible for. What mattered now was whether the rider belonged to a patrol and how soon another might follow. Petra's hand pressed harder against her mouth.

'Humans are so dramatic.' She had seen the heads. Continuing to look at them would provide very little additional information. I wanted to tell her that, but speaking carried more risk than waiting for the horse to pass. Mimir's eyes moved toward her.

"Lad," he whispered.

"Put your hand on her shoulder." I glanced down at him.

"Your hand. Her shoulder. Must I carve instructions?" I reached across and rested my palm against her shoulder. She flinched beneath it. I almost withdrew, assuming I had hurt her, but she turned toward me before I could. Her fingers loosened around the grass. I kept my hand still because changing the arrangement seemed likely to make it worse. After a moment, she lowered the hand covering her mouth. I pointed toward the ground between us, hoping she would look there instead of at the horse.

She did, and her next breath came out slowly through her nose. Mana particles gathered near the edge of my sight. I nearly moved my hand to brush them away. They drew together before I touched them, forming a rounded shape with an absurd little point at the bottom. Then the words appeared. [Affection +10] [Stranger: 10 / 10] [Relationship Updated: Acquaintance: 10 / 50] I stared at the notification. This was an inconvenient moment to be reminded of party functions.

I could still hear the horse, and Petra was close enough to see me examining something over her shoulder. I dismissed the window. Right. Bonds. Once people joined a party, their connection could develop alongside the arrangement itself. I had used that before, though almost a thousand iterations might have passed since I last gave it any attention. Most of my encounters with Petra had been abrupt. We met, something went wrong, and there were more immediate matters than checking whether she liked me.

The horse snorted. I looked over the wall again. The goblin was farther down the road now. Its spear had caught against a low branch protruding from the rubble, and it leaned sideways to pull free. I waited until it continued before thinking about the notification again. Some people had higher ceilings than others. A party could gain more from a strong bond, but there was a limit, and that limit varied between people.

I remembered examining those differences long ago, usually after deciding somebody was worth keeping around for a difficult floor. I had forgotten how little it could take to begin. Petra touched my wrist. I looked at her.

"You can let go," she whispered. I removed my hand immediately.

"I wasn't holding you."

"I know." Her fingers remained near her mouth for a moment before she lowered them to her knee. She watched the place where the horse had passed, then looked down at the grass she had pulled loose. Mimir kept quiet. I preferred that to whatever observation he was saving. I rose just enough to see over the wall. The rider had gone beyond the ruins, and the road behind it was empty. I checked the rise, then the gaps between the remaining arches. There was nothing else ahead.