Newlywed adventure trip.
“Wait, wait! Stop, stop! There might be something out there, so no! I’m not showing anyone but Dirk!!”
“…… Grrr…… Fine.”
Dirk listened to my desperate plea and stopped. That was close… I need to be more careful. No matter how sweet he looks, Dirk is still a beast. In fact, that sweetness is probably just the confidence of the strong. If I let my guard down, I’ll get eaten.
Anyway, time to shift gears. Just as I thought that and glanced over toward where I sensed something… there really was something there.
““………………””
We both froze. What stood there looked like… a sloth wearing clothes.
“You! Why. Not lost!?”
The sloth in clothes pointed a finger at me.
“We are lost. Do you happen to know the way out of this forest?”
“No! Lost—Not what mean!”
I shot Dirk a glance. Even though the forest was interfering with our link, we knew each other well enough to communicate with just that.
“Gya!? What you!? Bad person!?”
“I am Rosarin Burton. The world isn’t so simple that you can divide it into good and bad, you know. I’m just an ordinary marchioness.”
“…… Ordinary people, not fall from sky. You, not normal.”
I got roasted by a sloth. Like you know anything about me! Dirk looked like he was struggling not to laugh. Darn it.
“I am normal! Just a regular girl, maybe a bit on the wild side!”
“Normal? That’s scary. You, way too tough. Not normal.”
“Well, yeah, I’d be anxious if I were all alone… but Dirk—my husband—is with me. And even though I don’t like it… I am used to dealing with trouble.”
I didn’t want to get used to it, but honestly, this time’s trouble… actually is kind of serious. We need to either leave or contact someone before this escalates into a diplomatic incident.
For some reason, the phrase “a marchioness whose suction power keeps increasing” popped into my head—not a vacuum cleaner with constant suction power, but increasing. That’s not true… it’s not… it’s definitely not!
“Outta here!”
“Ah!?”
The sloth tried to run, and Dirk moved to catch it—but it dodged. It managed to evade a half-beast-transformed Dirk’s pursuit… not bad, Sloth (temporary name)! The sloth disappeared deeper into the forest.
“Sorry, Rosarin. It didn’t seem hostile, so I tried to catch it alive, but… just as I thought I had it, something was weird.”
Dirk seemed unable to explain the strange feeling properly. Did the sloth do something? From what was clear, it was as if it had teleported and thrown off his sense of distance. But from my perspective, it hadn’t teleported at all. Strange.
“Hmmm… that sloth looks familiar somehow…”
It’s probably part of an in-game event, but ever since I fully merged with Rin, my memories have gotten fuzzy and I can’t recall it. Plus, I wasn’t interested in anything besides Dirk, so I don’t remember sub-events very well. The fact that Rinka had memorized not just the hundred floors of the extra dungeon but all the dungeons and events makes her a total weirdo. Yeah, I’m normal. If only I could contact Rin…
When I explained this to Dirk, he just said, “That can’t be helped.” My darling is so kind. I love him.
“I think I know where that sloth might be. Let’s go check it out.”
When I focused on sensing mana carefully, I noticed an illusion-type spell blanketing the area. Thanks to my all-status-ailment-immune earrings, I wasn’t affected. So glad I had those earrings! They’ve saved me countless times. Thank you, Grandpa Sui!
Dirk agreed, so we decided to chase after the sloth.
“…… That way.”
Most likely, the sloth is at the center of the magic. Dirk picked me up again and we headed for the core.
“…… Hmm……”
Dirk tilted his head, confused.
“What is it?”
“There’s a really obvious trap up ahead.”
Dirk threw a rock, and a pitfall revealed itself. When I asked how he knew, he pointed at an area where three stones were lined up unnaturally.
“A clear marker so allies don’t fall in. There are a lot of these obvious traps ahead.”
“Wow……”
Did that sloth set them up? More like a diligent worker than a sloth.
“If that little guy set these up, we might actually get along.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? I became a knight because of a novel.”
“Oh yeah, you did.”
I forgot the title, but that knight story Dirk lent me was great. The general plot was a classic rags-to-riches tale. A boy inspired by a noble knight grows up and becomes one himself. It’s a heroic tale, like the ones here. What I liked most was how realistic it was—he didn’t start out super strong but struggled even with weak monsters at first.
As I recalled the story… Oh. That explains it. These traps are just like the ones in that novel.
Scratches on trees for wire traps. Stones for pitfall traps. The traps and markers were identical to the ones in the book. All the same, which means someone who read that novel must have set them up.
As we got closer to the center of the magic, the number of traps increased. What could possibly be waiting for us ahead?
What do you think about this chapter?
