Ch.51Dragon Clan and Demon Clan (4)

# Dragon and Demon Tribe (4)

The hero party arrived at the ruins that Tina was said to be exploring.

Of course, since it was a sudden change of course, Tina hadn’t been notified. In other words, there was no welcome party, and only two guards from <The Eye of Truth> were guarding the open entrance to the ruins.

“Excuse me…”

“Please don’t come any closer.”

“This place was discovered in advance by The Eye of Truth and we have obtained exploration rights. We have also acquired ownership of this land, so outside access is not permitted.”

“You look like some adventurer from the countryside, so please be careful.”

“…”

Just one greeting, and so much suspicion in return.

Esmeralda froze quietly at the scholars’ attitudes, as if they were looking at some ignorant country girl.

“Pfft…”

Was her expression amusing?

Lug, who was standing behind Esmeralda, covered his mouth and laughed.

‘You’re dead later.’

Esmeralda made this promise to herself with her frozen expression as she cleared her throat.

Misunderstandings should be cleared up, shouldn’t they?

“Ahem! So, I’m actually…”

“Hey! I said no.”

“Do you think we haven’t seen people like you before? Country adventurers looking for quick riches are all the same! You’d better leave while we’re still being nice.”

Esmeralda understood.

The best way to clear up a misunderstanding.

“Ah, I’m curious what the not-so-nice way might be.”

First, she drew her sword.

She was about to show them what not being nice really meant.

***

Esmeralda ended up beating up the two guards protecting the ruins.

Though she felt guilty about hitting civilians, it was quite satisfying.

“…We apologize. We didn’t recognize you as the hero.”

“We’ve been on edge lately because many people have been targeting the ruins. We’re sorry, Hero.”

“It’s fine. I forgive you.”

Esmeralda forgave them. Having already beaten them to her heart’s content, forgiveness came quite easily.

“Let me heal you, scholars.”

“Thank you! Saintess. You truly are as kind as the rumors say.”

“Hehe, it’s only natural.”

Esmeralda gave Eirene Saintess a cold look as she continued to work on her image even in this situation. Knowing her true nature, Esmeralda found Eirene’s behavior contemptible.

“Hero. You were too rough.”

“This…! Ugh, I’m sorry.”

Esmeralda felt a surge of anger at Eirene’s scolding but realized that getting angry would only hurt herself, so she quietly apologized to the two guards.

If Eirene, a priestess of the Celestial Order, had stepped forward to mediate from the beginning, she wouldn’t have drawn her sword in the first place.

The more she thought about it, the more unfair it seemed, but what could she do? She was the one who beat them up, and Eirene was the one who healed them.

As stupid as Esmeralda might be, she knew that in this situation, justice was on Eirene’s side.

“May we enter now?”

“Ah, well… What is your business here?”

Having already been beaten once, the guard cautiously asked Esmeralda.

Even if they were the hero party, they couldn’t just let them enter someone else’s property without permission.

“I’m here to see Tina. I heard she’s inside.”

“It will take quite some time for Lady Tina to come out… Oh.”

The guards finally realized why Esmeralda wanted to enter the ruins. She wasn’t planning to wait but to go in and meet Tina.

At her bold approach, the two looked at Esmeralda as if she were a wild boar and quietly stepped aside.

“…”

Stupid, foolish Esmeralda should have remained ignorant of this. That’s the image she had cultivated.

The past three years of her life suddenly felt incredibly exhausting.

“Well, fine. Let’s go in.”

“Ah! Be careful, Hero! I’ve heard that most of the traps in the ruins reset over time. That’s why it’s taking longer than usual.”

“Is that so? Hmm…”

Esmeralda stood at the entrance of the ruins, staring intently inside.

Of course, just looking wouldn’t tell her anything.

After all, wasn’t trap removal Tina’s specialty?

And they were here to meet Tina, so it made sense.

Esmeralda turned around to assess the hero party members.

The Saintess of the Celestial Order, unmatched in barrier magic.

Millia Asrin, the Mage who could detect mana flow even better than herself, the hero.

And Lug, the burden among burdens.

“Don’t worry. This level of challenge poses no threat to our hero party.”

With this lineup, they should be able to navigate through most traps with their eyes closed.

That was Esmeralda’s judgment, and…

.

.

.

“Alright, Mr. Lug. What do you think we should do now?”

“Perhaps take responsibility for this irresponsible outcome?”

The hero party was stranded.

***

Esmeralda had been confident.

She thought Eirene’s barriers would catch physical traps and Millia’s eyes would detect magical ones.

But did she think The Eye of Truth wouldn’t know what she could think of?

If ruins exploration could be completed with such crude methods, The Eye of Truth would have finished long ago.

However, Esmeralda’s lack of foresight and the party members’ collective pride led to carelessness.

“A teleport trap? How can something like this even exist?”

It was a trap that even Millia’s knowledge couldn’t fully counter.

Eirene immediately deployed a barrier when she heard Millia’s panicked voice, but unfortunately, the activated trap wasn’t harmful in nature, so her barrier couldn’t block it.

Teleport, considered the highest form of spatial magic.

It’s several times more difficult than the void magic Millia had learned.

And the problem was that it activated through a simple ruin trap.

“If I had known it would be this serious, I wouldn’t have entered so recklessly!”

“So you admit you neglected proper preliminary research.”

“Ugh!”

The teleport separated the hero party, and Esmeralda miserably found herself separated from the others, left only with Lug, the demon spy.

If this was punishment for her complacency, it was certainly sufficient.

“Alright. I’m sorry. I made a hasty judgment. I’ll pay for this when we get out, but for now, please share any ideas on what we should do.”

“Even Millia couldn’t respond, and the Saintess couldn’t block it. For the two of us to explore ruins full of such traps would be suicide.”

A journey too treacherous for two incompetents to navigate.

“Ugh! What am I going to tell Tina?”

“That you’re sorry for getting stranded while coming to meet her, I suppose.”

“She’ll think I’m a stupid idiot.”

“That’s not exactly… never mind.”

Lug fell silent under Esmeralda’s glare.

It’s best not to provoke someone when they’re already in a bad mood.

“Well, fine. I think it’s best if we just stay put. The guards outside saw us enter, so won’t some rescue or something come eventually?”

“A wise decision.”

Though the action itself wasn’t wise.

Lug nodded while hiding such thoughts. Of course, Esmeralda could see right through him.

By now, she was too tired to even get upset.

Esmeralda just looked at Lug with half-closed eyes before slowly sitting down on the floor. Naturally, she checked the floor carefully before sitting to avoid triggering any traps.

“Hmm.”

However, Esmeralda stood up immediately after feeling vibrations coming up through her buttocks.

Right, there was no guarantee that staying still would be safe in a place they’d been sent to by a teleport trap.

“Mr. Lug.”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t want to die, follow exactly behind me and run.”

“What?”

With those words, Esmeralda started running.

Lug stared blankly at her retreating figure before feeling vibrations strong enough to be felt while standing, and he began running too.

“Wow, is this what I think it is?”

“Probably. Seems like even ancient people couldn’t resist this kind of drama.”

With Esmeralda leading and Lug following behind.

Soon, a massive boulder appeared, chasing after the two.

The highlight of ruin exploration: a boulder rolling through a narrow space.

Of course, there were many ways to deal with it.

In the books that Lug and Millia read, there were plenty about adventures and such clichés.

Like pressing against a corner to avoid the rolling boulder.

Something being common means there are established countermeasures.

And the trap designer of this ruin seemed to be someone who knew how to compromise between romance and reality.

“It’s rectangular! It’s sliding rather than rolling!”

“If you have time to commentate, focus!”

Esmeralda drew her holy sword and swung it immediately.

Lug could see arrows falling in two pieces.

And it wasn’t just arrowheads.

Esmeralda wasn’t avoiding traps; she was destroying them all as she advanced. Her confidence that traps wouldn’t be a problem wasn’t misplaced after all.

“Floor! Watch out!”

“Got it!”

Esmeralda calmly responded to a trap where the floor suddenly collapsed.

Even Lug couldn’t help but be impressed by the hero who preemptively destroyed traps while maintaining a safe distance from him.

‘After all, a hero is a hero. To go this far for me…’

Lug followed diligently behind the hero.

A back worth following.

That was Esmeralda’s back.

But even Esmeralda couldn’t respond to all traps. That’s why she had Lug follow directly behind her.

It was a precaution against traps she might miss. Of course, even with such precautions, they couldn’t follow exactly the same path.

“Ah.”

Following behind Esmeralda, Lug sensed he was screwed when he felt his foot sink in.

Knowing doesn’t always mean being able to respond.

A trap that Esmeralda hadn’t noticed and had missed triggering by just one step was now activated.

Clank!

Instantly, the ceiling opened, and arrows flew straight toward him.

As a mage, it was practically impossible for Lug to react to arrows flying right at his face.

“Duck!”

Fortunately, Esmeralda, who was running ahead, immediately responded to Lug’s dejected murmur.

She had considered that something like this might happen.

She didn’t think the probability was high, but it had happened nonetheless.

Esmeralda quickly changed direction and cut down the arrows flying at Lug.

However, since they had been running hard, even this much threw both of them off balance.

“Hold on tight!”

Esmeralda embraced Lug as he was about to fall and thrust her holy sword into the boulder pushing from behind.

Perfect improvisation.

Dedication to a comrade.

The current Esmeralda was the very embodiment of a hero, but…

‘After all, a hero is a hero. These breasts must surely be what brings peace to the world.’

Buried in Esmeralda’s chest, Lug had no opportunity to see that heroic figure.

They were soft.