Who am I kidding? I'm gonna die! I can't even fight 2 goblins without getting hit!
As I slowly went towards the epicenter of the scream, I could not silence my constant doubts and worries as they bubbled in my mind. The only thing driving me forward was the knowledge that if I turned back now then I would live with this guilt for the rest of my life.
I rounded corner after corner. This cave is immense. Judging by how far I've gone so far, I wouldn't be surprised if this cave went at least 100 meters underground. As I went towards the scream, I encountered another goblin and swiftly defeated it by using the torch blinding strategy. I know that it's only thanks to this light at my side that I am still relatively unharmed.
"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME YOU MONSTERS!" I heard this scream from a nearby path.
This is it. Whoever is screaming is just beyond this tunnel. Judging by the voice, it's probably a woman. I need to move now.
I rounded the corner and saw two unarmed goblins that were holding something down. As I entered the room, the woman looked at me and screamed at me.
"H-HELP ME!" She screamed.
"Gragh!" Shouted the goblins in response. They turned towards me and shielded their eyes from the torchlight.
As a response to their reaction, I immediately continued my method of attacking when they were blinded. The closest goblin dropped to the floor once I had stabbed it in the chest, but the other goblin recovered in time and grabbed the woman. It seems like the goblin plans to use it as a hostage.
Not knowing what to do, the goblin and I stared down one another for a moment before the woman acted.
"Take this you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" She shouted as she kicked the goblin in its nether regions.
"Gwuo!" The goblin yelped in pain as it released the woman.
"Now!" The woman shouted to me. I took my sword and ran the second goblin through as it was recovering from its attack.
"Huff… Huff… Huff��" We both simply stood inside of the cave for a moment while catching our breath. After some time, the woman stood upright and spoke.
"Thank you… If you hadn't come then they would have… Well, it's in the past now. My name is Erana. I'm a druid, level 2. I came into this cave to rescue my friend who got taken by the goblins in the night. Who are you?"
This woman is very tan. Her hair is as black as the night and goes down to her elbows. Her soft facial features combine with her thin body to make her look youthful. Her clothes are slightly damaged, but she is wearing a brown travel cloak, a green undershirt, and a green skirt. She is also wearing dark brown boots that go up past her ankles and fingerless gloves.
"My name is Kenji. I'm… level 0. I also came into this cave for the same reason as you."
"You're level 0 but you got all the way down here? How?"
I lifted up my torch and began to explain.
"Goblins don't seem to work well with bright lights so I've been using this to blind them. When they're stunned I stab them. Even though I used this method, I still got hit earlier…" I looked down at my right leg where it was cut. Though the pain has somewhat subsided, I can still feel the slight sting where I was cut.
"Oh! Here, let me help you. That doesn't look like it's a bad cut so I can probably fix this." Erana said as she grabbed a stick off the ground.
"Cure Light Wounds!" Erana said as she began to chant some words and point her stick at my cut leg. Magic circles began to appear in front of the stick in a similar fashion to Tael's firebolt. As this was happening, I could feel the pain in my leg subsiding. After a moment, the pain in my leg had completely disappeared, along with my wound.
"Since I'm only level 2, I can't do any combat spells. I had planned to sneak into here and grab my friend while the goblins weren't looking. I can cast support magic though! Currently I can cast cure light wounds to heal minor injuries!"
A healer! This is incredibly useful. Though I don't plan on being any less cautious than I was before, I also can now recover from any injuries I might sustain! This is good. With Erana's help, I can definitely make it to Tael.
"How did you get down here without a torch of your own? Surely you would have found out that they're sensitive to strong light as well?"
"About that… I was sneaking around by using faint light from my spell." As she said this, she began to spin her stick around in a circle as another magic circle appeared. "Fireflies!" she said.
Suddenly from the magic circle, a dozen fireflies emerged and began to light up the room. Though the light is faint, it's still enough to navigate.
"See? I used this instead of a torch. They must not have much of a problem when it comes to this level of light though. I thought I could sneak past them if I kept it dark..."
"That is useful, but right now we need bright light. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but the brighter the light the better."
"Understood."
"Alright. Now that that's sorted out, what are your plans now?"
"I'm… not sure. I've only been here for a few minutes at most. I want to find my friend, but I have no combat capabilities."
I thought for a moment about our situation. I considered the benefits and detriments of potentially working with Erana and decided that the positives outweigh the negatives.
"Do you want to come with me? I may be level 0, but I have a sword and I've been able to use it pretty effectively so far. With us working together, we can save both my friend and yours."
Immediately, Erana perked up and grabbed me by the shoulders.
"Really? You're willing to do that for me? Thank you so much! I'm saved!"
Too close! I know I shouldn't be worrying about this right now because of the danger we're in, but I just can't help it! Why am I so easy to tantalize? Is it because I've never had a girlfriend before, or is it because this girl specifically is acting cute right now? Maybe it's because the only female contact I've had for the past 7 months has been with an old woman? This is so frustrating!
"W-Well! We better move! I don't know the situation of my friend or yours right now and the longer we wait the worse it can get!"
"Ah! Right! Sorry, I got carried away there! Let's go!"
With that, I temporarily recruited Erana the druid into my party.
