Chương 19: Chapter 19

On the 18th floor of the dungeon, all members of the Loki family set up their own tents and started camping. Meanwhile, at the insistence of Ais and Riveria, I will share a tent with them. My sincere behavior with them had attracted the attention of others before they even entered the dungeon. Other adventurers occasionally whispered and gossiped about us.

Frankly, I don't care too much. I never wanted to hide my relationship. Ais and Riveria are also mature enough to not care about others' opinions. Finally, after setting up our tent, we came to a nearby lake to take a bath together. We're all used to it because we've bathed together a few times, but one person among us is quite nervous. For some reason, Riveria dragged Lefia along with us. I have a feeling she's planning something, but I haven't figured out what yet.

Lefia POV.

Since joining the Loki family, my goal has been to become a competent adventurer. Like other elves, I had received magic training before, but this training only covered magic knowledge. I was lucky enough to encounter Miss Riveria when I left the elf forest. After seeing my magical abilities, she asked me to be her apprentice. Being favored by Miss Riveria, the most respected royal elf of all elves, was something I did not expect.

Thanks to her, I was accepted into the Loki family and studied magic with Miss Riveria. I was improving, albeit little by little. But there was a problem. I was afraid of the dungeon. When monsters come at me, I unintentionally get scared and distracted. As a result, I cannot perform well.

However, others are very patient and understanding towards me. This makes me feel even more frustrated. Because even though they treat me this way, I cannot correct my incompetent behavior. A new feeling came over me when I was rescued by Miss Ais on my way back from the last expedition. I want to be like her and be strong enough to stand by her.

But these dreams were dashed after I returned. A new person joined our family. For someone who was a novice adventurer, she was very strong and very skilled. She had unprecedented talent in both swordsmanship and magic. This girl, whose name was Sakuya, caught everyone's attention, including Miss Ais.

Miss Ais became interested in her after seeing her sword skills. Apart from practicing swordplay together every day, they often went out together. Sometimes my teacher, Miss Riveria, would join them. At first I didn't care much. Even though I admired Miss Ais, I wasn't in love with her.

I may have shown a little too much admiration, but this was definitely not love. I may be considered young compared to elves, but I am experienced enough to understand what these feelings inside me are. Anyway, back to our topic, Miss Ais and Miss Riveria had been acting strangely lately. Especially Miss Ais's behavior was clearly noticeable. She was now showing more emotion than before and had started talking more.

I didn't quite understand what caused this until the day of the expedition. I came to Miss Riveria's room to check on her. Just as I was about to knock on the door, I heard footsteps. When I turned my head towards the direction of the sound, I saw something that shocked me. Sakuya and Ais were holding hands. Asi was smiling while looking at her, and sometimes giggling in response when Sakuya was talking.

Even though it hasn't been long since I met Ais, I have heard from others what kind of person she is. She was a person who generally spent time in the dungeon and was not social. Also, I've never heard her smile before. Ais gave everyone the impression of being a doll with no feelings. That's actually why I was shocked.

To avoid seeming rude, I greeted them when I saw them. After they said hello to me, Sakuya knocked on the door of Miss Riveria's room. The door soon opened and Miss Riveria was smilingly looking at us, or rather looking at Sakuya. But something else happened that horrified me. Sakuya hugged Miss Riveria's waist, pulled her to her and started kissing her. I didn't know how to react to what I saw.

The shocks I experienced today were not good for my little heart. If I get any more shock, I could definitely burst into tears. In my confusion, I didn't hear what they were saying, but I came to my senses when Miss Riveria called me, saying we had to go. We followed them to where the expedition team was and soon set off.

When we entered the dungeon, the Captain and the others opened the way, allowing us to move forward easily. Sakuya also sometimes joined them. Even though I had watched her fight monsters before, I still couldn't help but be amazed. I was fascinated by her stance and the power she showed while swinging the sword. She occasionally used magic and waved her sword gracefully as she passed through monsters.

Sakuya seemed built for battle. Every move contained grace. Even though I didn't know her very well, she left a deep mark on my heart. My admiration for Ais was unintentionally shifting towards Sakuya. When I looked from the outside, Ais was always in a hurry and it was obvious that her sword movements were not developed with systematic training. Although I am not experienced with swords, I have interacted with many sword-wielding adventurers. So I can get a basic idea by looking at it.

I don't know how time passed, but I came to my senses after Goliath fell. We were going to stop to camp on the 18th floor. After insisting and getting Sakuya to use the same tent together, Miss Riveria and Ais finished their preparations. I overheard them taking a bath later.

Mrs. Riveria suggested that they bathe together, saying that this was a place where she usually bathed when she was here. The other two agreed and decided to go. I was a little jealous. Frankly, I wanted to talk to Sakuya more and get to know her. As I was about to return to my tent in a bad mood, I heard Miss Riveria's voice:

"Lefia, you're coming with us. Come on." My thoughts stopped as Miss Riveria took my hand and dragged me away. When I came to, we were already at the edge of a lake. The lake had a clean and clear appearance and was surrounded by trees. If Miss Riveria hadn't brought me here, I wouldn't have known there was such a lake here.

"Although this is a very quiet place, it would still be better to set up a privacy barrier as a precaution." At this time, I heard Sakuya talking. After a silver magic circle formed at her fingertips, a barrier began to form around her. What caught my attention was the magic circle in front of her hand rather than her wordless spell casting. There was a strange symbol inside a circle and around it was text in a language I had never seen before.

"Sakuya! What was that!" After my teacher, who was a magic enthusiast like me, saw the magic circle at Miss Riveria, she ran towards Sakuya with excitement and started asking her questions. Sakuya started giggling when she saw her actions. Thinking that she had done something inappropriate, Miss Riveria immediately let her go and tried to act as if nothing had happened, while her cheeks turned red.

"Calm down, Riveria. It's a magic circle." Said Sakuya. However, those who were there, including me, gave her a blank look.

"We all know that, Sakuya. It's just that your magic circle was written in a language we've never seen before, and we can't tell what its effect is." Riveria sighed and asked what we were wondering. Even Ais, the person least interested in magic among us, was eagerly waiting for Sakuya's answer.

"Ahem. Sorry, my bad." Sakuya apologized to us, embarrassed at first, and then began to explain:

"This magic circle is a magic circle that my family has passed down to generations. It was created to make it easier for us to cast spells, to reduce the cost of magic, and most importantly, to enable us to use a spell we dream of. Where I come from, every noble family has its own magic circle. The one I use is my mother. "It's a magic circle used by 's family."

"Sakuya, you said you've never met your family before. How did you get this? Please don't misunderstand, I'm just asking out of curiosity." Riveria asked with a face that was partly curious and partly apologetic. From this conversation, I can understand that Sakuya did not grow up with her family. When I thought about this, I felt a pain in my heart.

"It's okay, I'm already used to it. Coming to your question, I got this magic circle by chance. At that time, I was still young and was doing everything I could to research my family. Even though I couldn't get clear information yet, I had the chance to get this magic circle." Even though Sakuya doesn't show any emotion, I can sense that she is upset about this.

Miss Riveria and Ais must have felt it too, so they rushed forward to hug her. After remaining like this for a while, Miss Riveria spoke again:

"So can others learn about this magic circle?" While Miss Riveria was still wrapped around Sakuya, curiosity got the better of her. Sakuya chuckled and shook her head in the negative.

"Unfortunately no. This magic circle can be used by Demon nobles, their consorts, and low-level demon subordinates that the nobleman allows it to use." When others, including me, heard this, we were demoralized. Obviously, a magic circle with such an effect was very useful and a new subject of study for us, but Sakuya's next words overwhelmed our hitherto world view.

"However, if not now, later I can turn you into a demon. This way, you can use the magic circle." Sakuya said with a smile, but it was a little difficult for those of us who heard this to react to something that had never been heard before. We were all looking at Sakuya expressionlessly.

No matter how you look at it, changing the race of an intelligent creature is something that has never been heard of or seen before. If another person had said this, I would have said she was making fun of us, but looking at Sakuya's expression, I feel like she is serious about this. I don't know how to react. This situation is both scary and intriguing.

Riveria and Ais were staring at Sakuya, motionless in her arms. I'm sure they feel the same way I do. Especially Miss Riveria. As an Elf princess, she had access to a lot of knowledge unlike the others. As her disciple, I know that there is no book or scroll that holds such knowledge.

I'm also sure she didn't hear anything about this from Goddess Loki either, because if she had known about this before, she definitely wouldn't have made the face she does now. I think we all need some time to recover.

--------------------------

Cover image was made with AI application. Follow @ai_arts.image on Instagram to see more.

--------------------------

1910 words.