Over the past week, I have done everything I can to prepare and prepare items, and the day of the quest in question has come.
When we arrived at the gathering place specified in the quest, several adventurers who had come earlier formed a group and were exchanging various stories.
It was like watching the scene of socializing with friends while waiting for the bus at the departure point on the day of school trip.
Despite the difficult journey ahead, the high morale, the bright atmosphere, and the time zone were in the early morning when the sun was just starting to rise.
There are people who are quite familiar with their faces, but they literally only know their faces. There were no adventurers who were friends with me, so all I did was sit quietly as if I was a loner and wait for her.
“……”
Because of the proven memories of something so real, the good feeling subsided and I smiled bitterly with various emotions.
“Herald! Did you arrive first?!”
While I was sitting still and bruising for a long time, when I turned my head to the familiar voice caught in the corner of my ear, she found me and came running.
“Good morning, I have to be active from an early hour, so it may be difficult to control my condition. Did you get enough sleep?”
When I greeted Erina with a smile and talked about miscellaneous things, she responded with a bright smile as well.
“Yeah! I’m in the best shape! It’s my first dungeon exploration, so I’m excited about something, but my heart is beating too much because of the anxiety about the unknown.”
Then he looked at every nook and cranny of my outfit and showed a slightly puzzled face.
“I said it was a little more dangerous than usual, but didn’t you prepare for it? Harold doesn’t seem to have to do that…”
It seems to be a bit interesting with my chin in my head, but by the way, I prepared this item for Erina, not for myself.
“Now, take this.”
I spit it out and handed him various potions and amulets I had prepared, books I had received from Eleanor, etc.
“Huh? Did you prepare everything for me?”
Then, interest soon turned into wonder, and Erina looked around too many objects, and her curiosity turned into displeasure.
“Harold…”
Suddenly, the energy was blown away and the atmosphere that had soared quickly cooled like hot iron met with water.
It was prepared for her, but why did she react like this…? Did something go wrong?
Embarrassment at the unexpected reaction shook my heart, and I couldn’t quite predict why it had come to such a state.
“Thank you for preparing like this because you care about me… But what you’ve prepared for me is that you don’t trust me that much? Or am I still strong enough…?”
ah….
Hearing Erina’s next words, I immediately realized what kind of mistake I had made.
I have become like a mother who is so worried about her children now.
The children themselves have already grown to a certain extent, so they can solve almost any problem, and they think they are at a level where they can become independent to some extent, and they are mature enough to actually do it to some extent without the help of their parents.
However, the mother still looks like a child to her child, so she tries to meddle in each and every one of them. Rather, she denies the growth of her child, and her excessive goodwill has become a poison to her child.
Of course, there was no malice in the intention itself, but despite being mature enough, excessive favors would rather leave a burden on the child’s heart and ultimately destroy the child’s self-confidence.
But looking back now, it was absurd to think that I had done it myself.
If it’s appropriate, Erina’s self-doubt and self-confidence were lost because of the worst match and over-reacting.
“……”
I realized I was wrong, but because I had already done it, I couldn’t get it back, so I lost my head without realizing it.
“No… I just prepared it because of the very scary atmosphere! It’s not that I hated you at all…!”
I tried to make excuses for the accident that came back late, but the confidence that had already left did not seem to come back easily.
“Ugh… I know Harold’s feelings… Well, Harold isn’t the kind of person he is? Still, something… his heart is strange…”
Even if something went wrong, something went wrong…. Still, her condition is important, but her heart is broken like this before she even leaves for the dungeon…
Read at n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
No matter how much I lamented and rebuked myself, it was already spilled water, so I couldn’t pick it up.If that’s the case, then even new water needs to float…
“Erina…!”
He grabs her hand and encourages her with as much tension and confidence as possible so as not to attract the attention of others.
“Ugh?! Heh… Harold? Oh… Why…?”
“I’m sorry… I underestimated you so much… But I think I overdid it because I was so worried.
I clasped her hands with mine and spoke in a confident voice, a little perplexed, then mumbled something softly.
“Uh… this is a foul… But Harold’s hand… warm…”
Erina, who was saying something to herself, immediately let go of my hand and met my eyes with a better smile than before.
“Don’t worry because I don’t care much, it’s just a little sad, but it’s something I prepared with you in mind, so I’ll be happy to use it well!”
Fortunately, I breathe a sigh of relief with my confidence restored to some extent, and I close my eyes and meditate to calm my anxious mind.
How much time had passed…. While I was also controlling my mind, the action leader of this quest raised his voice and shouted, and everyone’s eyes were focused on it.
“Now that all the quest recipients have gathered, let’s start! The content of the quest is to explore the newly discovered dungeon! The dangers and features are unknown!”
With those words, he took the lead and started to lead the people, and people started to take his steps slowly in accordance with the person.
◆◆◆
Arriving at the quest location, Whispering Dungeon, individual actions are prohibited for safety reasons, so a group of two or more people to act together before entering the dungeon was formed.
It didn’t take long to form the group, probably because the people who arrived in advance had already finished talking before coming here, and I decided to act together with Erina, as always.
“Everyone seems to be ready, so let’s enter the dungeon. After the first floor, it is recommended to disperse in groups, and except in emergency situations, please act with the designated people.”
With the words of the action captain, the huge door of the dungeon opened and we hadn’t even entered yet, but from the outside, the dungeon looked pitch black inside, and an anxious and evil energy came out that made us nervous just looking at it.
“Something seems more threatening than I thought? I should be nervous…”
Just like Erina said, I also swallowed dry saliva in the atmosphere of the dungeon that looked more sinister than I expected.
I always felt it, but what I saw in the game and what I was actually facing here were similar, but there was a big difference in detail.
This dungeon also always looked beyond the screen, and when I tried to jump in myself, my heart started beating faster due to some kind of anxiety.
“Come in.”
Teams with wizards summon lights, and those who don’t have lanterns attached to their waist dances to prepare for the coming darkness.
I can only use beginner or superlative magic, so I cannot use intermediate magic, but I can summon beginner magic that illuminates the surroundings, so I prepare a small, bright light like a bonfire above my head to shine in front of me.
When it was time to enter, everyone killed their horses and just silently entered the dungeon as if it was a promise, but there were no problems from the beginning, so all the adventurers succeeded in entering the dungeon smoothly…
“############”
Whispering of unknown meaning began to murmur directly in my ear, and I could not easily keep it in my ears because it bothered my ears from the beginning as set by the whispering ruins.
“Harold… what do you hear…”
Responding appropriately to Erina’s words, Erina took my arm into her arms in a cool and terrifying atmosphere as if she had entered a house in horror at an amusement park.
“Kie!”
“Kooo!!”
The adventurers easily defeated the monsters that started appearing one after another by using their special skills.
It’s still on the first floor, so even though I and Erina didn’t come, they dealt with me well.
“From here on, it’s on the second floor, let’s keep our seats next to their group and break up temporarily.”
After walking for quite some time, I found the stairs going down, and when everyone reached the second floor, the order was issued.
Those who heard the voice of the action leader were divided into various parts of the dungeon together with the members they had organized, and Erina and I were separated from the group together.
“You ㅡㅡㅡ anything ㅡㅡㅡ true ㅡㅡ”
As we descended to the second floor, the whispering sound, which seemed to be uttering anything, began to become clearer and was now heard to a level that, although fragmentary, could be interpreted to some extent.
“ooh ooh…!!”
As the floors went down, the monsters also changed to stronger entities, and first of all, in order to preserve the maximum amount of magic power, it was decided to replace them with a sword using extraordinary speed.
“Uh-huh?!”
Fortunately, since it is a story quest that belongs to the beginning, the atmosphere is strange, but the monster itself was not at a threatening level, so it was easy to kill without using magic.
When one was defeated, the same type of monsters came out from time to time, probably out of anger at the death of their comrades.
“Ha ha!”

“Aww…!!”
When Erina made a loud cry and swung her sword loudly, the monster that received the sword was soon cycled into Manastone, and the monsters as a whole were not able to compete with Erina.
“Whoa…!”
As Erina defeated all her enemies, she exhaled a rewarding breath and wiped her dry forehead.
Contrary to what I was worried about, I was fortunate to be maintaining good form.
She had abilities and abilities, but she didn’t show any weakness because she had grown up as well.
“Okay, let’s move on. Monsters themselves aren’t that strong, so as long as you keep your rationality, you’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, let’s go like this!”
◆◆◆
As we continued to fight through the monsters and gradually headed towards the depths of the dungeon, we reached the 7th floor.
“You are a useless existence– a worthless life—“
As we kept going down, even the whispers we couldn’t hear were able to recognize part of the sentence, and the whole content was booing to break the heart.
It was Erina, who was holding up her mind even though she whispered more than expected…. As time passed, her complexion deteriorated and it became apparent that she was struggling with the exhausted stamina.
“Are you okay, Erina? There don’t seem to be any monsters around here, so should I take a break to replenish my stamina?”
She barely nodded at that question, and sat down on a flat marble piece, holding her breath.
As it is also an auspicious auspicious book, Erina was suffering despite taking a break, and covered her ears as if she didn’t want to hear it.
“Don’t worry about the voice that bothers your ears, I always said? Have faith…. Be confident as always.”
Hearing my words, I wanted to focus a little bit, and then my expression softened a little.
After all, it’s a bit of a difficult place for her…
It was necessary to take a longer break than planned and to adjust the condition as much as possible.
While sitting and resting, Erina drank the potion I had given her, put the tribe in her arms, read the book she had received from Eleanor, and held her mind as high as she could.
So, after she turned the paper to some extent, her complexion returned and her condition looked not that different from the second floor, I checked with her and decided to go down again.
“Ahhhhh!!”
Read at n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Now that it is a certain depth, the size and danger of the monsters have increased, and now it is decided to use magic safely.He repulsed the enemy using the cost-effective magic received from the goddess Abne, and Erina did her best to cut down the monsters.
Some of them consumed stamina, but their strength was greatly weakened due to the whispering sound unique to this dungeon.
Like that, one floor… one level… supporting her spirit as much as possible, and going deeper, I was able to come down to the 12th floor.
“You are trash!”
“die.”
“You are an incompetent being who shouldn’t breathe the air of the world…”
Read at n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Now, I felt that I was heading towards the deepest part of the whisper that I could hear clearly and clearly.At the same time, the expected crisis naturally arrived.
dump!
“Erina?!”
And although she had been following along well so far, it seemed like she was slowly reaching her limit because of her very unfavorable personality.
“No! I… I…! I’m not that kind of person… Ugh… Don’t be mean!!”
He fell to the floor and started screaming to himself, covering his ears and floundering on the floor.
“Calm down, Erina!!”
He hugged her, who was in so much pain, and managed to sit her on the structure to comfort her.
“Can you hear me? Erina… Erina!!”
“Harold… I…”
She could barely hear me, but when she recognized me, there was nothing to worry about.
“I’m sorry… I’m not feeling well right now… I’m a bit distressed…”
He embraced me as much as she could and gently caressed her back as if to support Erina, who is enduring her own struggle, and prayed that she could overcome it safely.
“It’s okay, you have no problem at all… It’s perfect, so don’t fall for this dungeon’s tricks and stay rational.”
As I listened to my words of encouragement, I felt fortunate to see that my face gradually became more comfortable, little by little.
“Ugh… Harold… Thanks…”
“Yeah, it looks difficult, so let’s rest once more, and when you recover again, move again-“
“Hmm~ You don’t want to give me time for that~?”
Evil, creepy voices echoing through the ruins, intercepting my words, have ridiculed us.
“?!!”
When we quickly turned our head to the real voice, not a whisper from afar, a monster was watching us from beyond.
A demon who has a normal but meaningful voice compared to his ugly appearance, with thorns growing all over his body, rough and hard skin that matches it.
“I’ve been monitoring the scattered adventurers as a whole… That woman seems to have a particularly weak mental power.”
He spit those words out in a light and relaxed tone, and protruded a sharp thorn from one hand.
“I’ll throw that girl first as the first food for our children, please be happy~”
Malua, the boss of this dungeon with an evil smile befitting a demon, and a mean demon that destroys people’s minds for weakness, has aimed at us with a thorn.
“Come on, kids? It’s time to eat!”
Kugugugugugugugugug!!
At the same time as Malua’s shout, I wondered if it felt like an earthquake, but then…
“”Creep….””
Behind her, it was dark and we couldn’t see clearly, but countless silhouettes and glowing red eyes stared at us.