“Me sparring with Noah? That’s absurd.”

I laughed at my swordsmanship skills.

“My dignity as his guardian would be completely crushed.”

“I think so too. Anyway.”

Lynen, who spoke without any particular intention, made me grip the practice sword firmly.

“Building physical strength is never a bad thing. Besides, you need to develop your muscle strength too.”

“I’m perfectly fine as I am now!”

“Then prove it.”

Lynen gestured to Noah to send a slime in my direction.

Boing!

A slime smaller than the ones Noah had easily dispatched crawled toward me.

In terms of level… 1.

“Even the commoners in our territory who’ve received no training can handle monsters like this.”

Lynen stepped back like he was waiting to see my skills.

I snorted and raised the practice sword. Does he really think I can’t cut this one down?

“You’re underestimating me. Fine, watch carefully from there.”

Whoosh! I gripped the practice sword with both hands and swung it sideways with all my might. Then—

“Ugh. It’s heav—”

An unexpected inertial force made my body feel like it was floating along with the sword.

My body, spinning half a circle beyond my control, collided with the wall.

“Ouch!”

“……”

“……”

Boing?

Lynen who was watching, Noah who turned to look at me, even the level 1 slime.

They were all staring at me with looks that said, ‘What are you doing?’

My face turned red as I growled.

“Why should I use a sword? I could just punch this thing with my bare hands!”

“Lady Calliphe.”

Noah approached me seriously.

“Please get behind me. I’ll protect you.”

“W-what?!”

Such an impertinent thing to say!

“Fine.”

How admirable.

I obediently stood behind Noah.

Noah’s shoulders tensed with determination, while Lynen looked at me with contempt.

‘What. Why. What.’

* * *

The dungeon had been peaceful for decades.

The slimes had been able to live without much thought during that time.

Initially, they were merely snacks for powerful monsters, but as time passed and the magical energy in the dungeon weakened, the powerful monsters gradually disappeared.

Only low-level monsters like slimes remained.

However.

“Lady Calliphe, it’s dangerous!”

“Well done! Cut that one over there too!”

“Okay…!”

Slash! Slash slash!

Small and large humans had suddenly appeared and were carrying out a massacre!

Especially the female human controlling the small human was so vicious! The way she laughed “hoo hoo hoo” every time a slime was cut sent chills down one’s spine.

Boing…!

Of course, slimes were such low-level monsters that they couldn’t really think or feel much.

But they did have survival instincts.

Those survival instincts screamed.

‘Eliminate the humans…!’

Intruders threatening their survival.

They had to be driven away.

For this purpose, the oldest monster in the deepest part of the dungeon took action.

An ordinary monster that had grown powerful over time. A veteran that had survived countless threats from intruders and other monsters.

Orders from the leader went out to all slimes.

‘Bring them.’

Boing boing…

The slimes that had been moving independently began to act in unison.

* * *

Since declaring he would protect me, Noah focused even more intently on combat.

Boing!

Countless slimes fell under Noah’s blade.

[Noah’s Swordsmanship Stat: 120]

But perhaps because the opponents were too easy, his swordsmanship wasn’t improving.

Feeling awkward about letting Noah do all the work, I caught a few slimes myself. At first, even one was difficult, but I gradually became more skilled.

‘I might have unexpected talent?’

Ding!

[Filial Piety Quest Arrived!]

[Noah feels anxious every time you clumsily swing your sword. Don’t get injured until you leave the dungeon.]

[Reward: Filial Piety +3]

[Current Filial Piety: 38]

“……”

Is this telling me not to show off…?

As we cut down slimes, we entered the second floor of the dungeon.

From here, skeletons much stronger than slimes appeared.

Human-shaped skeletons carrying swords rushed at Noah.

“Haah!”

Clang! Clatter!

The skeletons were quite skilled, perhaps having used swords when they were alive. Noah finally seemed to realize this wasn’t just a picnic.

After a while of defeating skeletons…

“Hah!”

Clang!

Noah finally brought down the last skeleton in this area.

Rumble. The fragmented bones collapsed like dominoes.

“Good job. Let’s take a break.”

“Huff, huff… okay.”

Noah nodded and turned toward us.

At that moment, a skeleton arm rose into the air behind Noah.

The arm was holding a sword, aiming at Noah.

“Noah!”

“…!”

Before the startled Noah could turn around, Lynen sprang forward.

Clang! As Lynen deflected it, the bones and sword separated and tumbled to the floor.

After rattling a few times on its own, it finally went completely still.

“What was that just now? Moving on its own?”

Lynen examined the skeleton’s bones and sword.

“It seems the monster had been connected to the sword after possessing it for so long.”

“So what moved just now was actually the sword? Like a magic sword?”

“Something similar. The monster’s consciousness hadn’t fully imbued it, so it quickly became useless.”

“Lady Calliphe, look at this!”

Suddenly Noah called to us.

What Noah was pointing at were slimes that had somehow gathered around us.

“What’s this? Wasn’t this the skeleton floor? Did the slimes follow us all the way here?”

“I’ll take care of them.”

Noah stepped forward and slashed at the slimes like a farmer harvesting crops.

The attacking slimes soon began to retreat. We followed them. It was better to deal with them now rather than having them follow us again.

But the slimes’ behavior seemed strange.

“Duke, those slimes keep stopping while they’re running away.”

It wasn’t just that they stopped fleeing. It was almost like they were waiting for us to follow?

Lynen seemed to have similar thoughts.

“Slimes shouldn’t have enough intelligence to lure prey.”

Boing boing.

The slimes that had been waiting for us seeped through cracks in the wall and disappeared. This caused some of the bricks to loosen and rattle.

Through the small gap, it looked like another space was visible.

“Could this be a hidden area? Didn’t the imperial soldiers say they’d already explored this dungeon?”

“The dungeon is a magically constructed space. It might conceal areas that can’t be detected even by a mage’s search. This seems to be such a place.”

Lynen made me step back.

“I’ll check it out.”

He examined the wall and pressed on the brick that the slimes had loosened.

Click.

The brick sank in like a button.

At that moment, Lynen disappeared into the wall like he’d been sucked in.

“Lynen!”