Chương 50: Third Encounter

Before I knew it, the time had come for us to take on a dungeon for our exam. Over the past week, I had taken some time to recover my taxed mind until the person who was supposed to help me control this new aspect of my power showed up. I was quite surprised when it turned out to be another member of the Oxen race.

This was my first time meeting another member of my race, yet I knew immediately that we were the same. Her name was Isabella Renner, and she was a beautiful woman with black hair and violet eyes. She spent a lot of time training me on how to activate my mind safely, but the danger the technique posed meant that progress was slow. I only managed to get enough control to the point that there was no chance of me using the power accidentally again.

Isabella also mentioned she had a daughter who was also attending the academy named Maria. She asked me to try and befriend her if we ended up meeting. There are few Oxen left in the world, and Isabella wanted her daughter to spend time with someone who could truly understand her. It was strange to think that one of my kind had been so close to me all this time, yet we hadn't run into each other, but I had no doubt we would end up meeting eventually.

I learned a few interesting things about Mako and finally got around to talking to Haruka as well.

I had spoken to Mako about why she came on so strongly, only to lose interest soon after, and she said it was because I wasn't ready yet.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's exactly as it sounds. I'll admit when we first met, I was drawn to you in a way I didn't understand, but that wasn't everything. I sensed a strength in you and thought that you might turn into someone interesting in the future. I've been searching for a worthy partner and thought that if I observed your growth, you might turn out to be the one.

"And it turned out you were wrong? Why would you say all that stuff about growing stronger and becoming a better man then?"

"The reason I lost interest wasn't that I misjudged your potential. It was because of your actions and how you looked at me."

"Huh?"

"You seemed unsure of yourself, hesitant. It didn't feel like there was any real desire coming from you. Almost like you were mindlessly going through the motions because I had shown interest, and I didn't like it. Even sex friends have some level of intimacy between them, but I didn't sense that from you."

"Things are different now, though. I'm not sure what happened recently, but there was a noticeable change in you. You seem more confident and sure of yourself, and that desire that was missing is now visible in the way you look at me. As long as you become someone worthy of my noble house, then the offer from before still stands."

Was it really like that? I hadn't noticed. I guess the ordeal with Dorian and Fleur solved any doubts I might have had. Still, a part of me thought that it was also due to my inexperience. I haven't quite grasped the timing of when it's okay to actively pursue a woman yet, so I asked the person who I thought had the most experience.

"Huh, you want advice on romance?" Carin said.

"Yeah, I figured you had the most experience in this subject."

"Hmm. You're not wrong. Still, what exactly do you want to know? I don't usually get romantically involved with others, you know."

I told her about what happened between Mako and me, and the answer turned out to be quite simple.

"I think you already heard the answer. Just be sincere. Don't mindlessly through yourself into things. It's good that you two worked it out. I would have been upset if my friend got hurt."

"Friend? I find it hard to believe you would be close to a refined noble lady like Mako."

"Refined? That sloppy woman? aha, AHAHAHA!"

It turns out Mako was a friend of Carin's and is actually a former adventurer as well as a world-renowned artisan. She apparently had a habit of draining men dry and struggled to find a man able to satisfy her. She found a kindred spirit in Carin when she learned they suffered the same problem.

The whole thing was quite shocking. She doesn't give off the impression of someone that spends all day in a forge and hunting down rare materials in the wilds.

My time with Haruka was equally fruitful, and we resolved our differences after I mentioned that she wouldn't be held accountable for using her charm on me. I also brought up the topic of earning passage to her village, but she said to think it over carefully. The Foxen Matriarch would likely ask me for something in return upon my arrival. I decided to put it to the back of my mind for now.

"Rune?" Luna said.

"What's up?"

"Nothing. You just seemed like you were spacing out a bit."

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about everything that's happened these past few days."

"Hey, what do you think the dungeon will be like?"

"I'm not sure. I've never been to one myself, but I'm interested to find out."

"Anyways, we should get going. Is everyone ready?"

''"Yes!"'' the three replied in unison.

Our meetup spot was half a day's journey to the north in a rocky area situated between the Kingdom of Veronica and the Forsaken Mountains. The areas surrounding the kingdom have high traffic, so the monsters are regularly culled. Stronger enemies occasionally come down from the north, but the ones we encountered were relatively weak and weren't anything we could handle. A few packs of Beast Hounds and some Radiant Armadillos were all we encountered.

The beast hounds were fast and had an acidic bite but were quickly dispatched with some wide-range spell support from Raya. Even if we were to get bitten, Fleur could have healed us easily. The Radiant Armadillos proved the most tricky, as they would blind us with their luminescent bodies and fire off their armor plating while our sight was hindered.

When we finally arrived at our meet-up spot and saw who we would be working with, I immediately began to question Carin, who was standing off to the side next to the other team's mentor, with an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Carin, what the fuck is this? Why is he here?"

"I'm sorry, I tried to get you a different team to work with, but there wasn't much I could do."

"Now, Mr. Rune, Dorian assures me that he feels guilty over what happened between your groups. I hope you two can use this opportunity the patch things up and work as a team."

The person who had spoken up was the mentor for Dorian's group. He was also a member of the wolf clan, and although his words spoke good intentions, the glint in his eye told me they were anything but sincere.

"That's right. I'm very sorry, Rune, and to you too, Fleur. I deeply regret my actions and hope that our two groups can come to an understanding." Dorian said.

The smug look on his face, as he apologized caused even Carin to grimace at the sight of it. The rest of his group consisted of one of the boys who helped pin down Fleur and two new girls. And they introduced themselves curtly and went back to ignoring us. They weren't as open with their intentions as Dorian, but I doubted them all the same.

"Alright, that's enough introductions for now. If you look behind me, you will notice what we call a Gate. A dimensional doorway leads to the dungeon. Every dungeon has its own unique environment, and these can range anywhere from poison swamps to an underwater hellscape."

"Once you enter through those stone doors, you will not be able to leave until you clear it. We have special tools to stabilize the gateway, so we made sure that this dungeon is a lower difficulty, but the possibility of death is still real. So stay alert and good luck."

With those words of encouragement, the 8 of us approached the Gate. As I passed by Carin, she patted me on the shoulder.

"Stay on your guard. He's likely going to try something in there."

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