Chapter 69: The Need for Training

“This is a message from the guild. Sion-ssi is safe and has currently returned home.”

A messenger from the guild came to find Lea.

Lea, who had been desperately waiting for news of Sion’s survival, could finally breathe a sigh of relief and relax.

“Young Lady. Are you thinking of going to see the porter right away?”

“No. Let’s just let him rest today. Sion must be tired too. It’ll be fine to see him tomorrow.”

At Lea’s words, Rica nodded and took off the boots she was wearing.

Only after hearing the news that Sion had survived could they rest easy.

Lea took off the leather armor she was wearing and washed her body.

Not having washed for days, her body emitted a concentrated young lady scent.

Perhaps Sion had smelled this scent too.

Earlier, under the influence of alcohol, she had clung to his side and acted coquettishly.

She hadn’t properly realized that her body was giving off an odor.

‘I’m really something.’

Lea self-deprecated inwardly.

Without properly assessing her own condition, she tried to seduce a man by showing her breasts.

She wondered how Sion must have thought of her.

He might have considered her an easy woman, like a street prostitute.

Thinking that, Lea felt very embarrassed about her recent actions.

She wanted to properly understand Sion’s feelings.

Because he always tends to avoid answering.

Lea was curious whether he really had romantic feelings for her.

Or if he was just going along because she’s a noble.

It will soon be a month since she met Sion.

The promise that if he still loves her after 6 months, they would date.

That period was steadily decreasing too.

Now only 5 months remained.

In a few days, people from her family would come too.

There’s a high chance her brother would come.

‘What should I say?’

Lea’s brother is someone who dislikes men approaching Lea.

There’s a high probability he might pressure Sion to stop associating with her.

To ignore the pressure of a high noble, one would need at least a Gold Badge.

Sion needed to grow even more in the remaining 5 months.

Lea thought she might be putting too much pressure on him.

He might not even like her.

Thinking that she’s forcing him to become stronger just because she likes him made her feel self-loathing again.

Her feelings became complicated in many ways.

Furthermore, she missed Sion.

She couldn’t properly understand why she had fallen for him so much.

But.

His appearance of finding solutions in any situation seemed so cool to her.

Even when caught up in the Great Shift, Sion saved Lea without a fuss.

Even in the midst of a sudden monster wave, he proudly protected the party members.

Even when a monster from the deep levels attacked, he didn’t back down and rescued Lea.

It would be strange not to fall for him.

A man who saved her several times, risking his life.

Even though he’s a porter.

In Lea’s eyes, Sion was manlier than anyone else.

Sion, who said he wouldn’t like her after 6 months, seemed ridiculous now.

How could he dislike someone who messes with his head so much?

“I envy Yuria.”

A woman who met him before her, built a relationship with him, and boldly confessed to start living together.

A beautiful woman with red hair, the Guild Master’s daughter, and a veteran adventurer with a Gold Badge.

Yuria always seemed to be ahead of her.

She wanted to catch up, but the gap wouldn’t narrow.

When Yuria was rolling in the labyrinth, Lea was learning etiquette.

When Yuria was going through mana adaptation, Lea was moving through social circles.

Lea was a person whose growth background didn’t really suit the labyrinth from the start.

She knows it’s difficult to catch up now with Yuria, who completed early education.

“But…”

She can’t give up.

Because she’s already given her heart to a man named Sion.

Through him, she learned about the emotion called love for the first time.

While holding his hand, she could truly understand what a man is.

If she were to have her first experience, she wants it to be with Sion.

By this world’s standards, Lea should have lost her virginity long ago, but because her family was strict, she was still a virgin.

While her friends in social circles all boasted about their lovers, Lea always wandered alone.

If she could officially date Sion.

Would the day come when she could boast about her boyfriend to her friends too?

‘My boyfriend is an adventurer.’

Moreover, very capable, handsome, and always with an unyielding will.

She wanted to boast about such a wonderful man.

Although his relationships with women are a bit complicated.

Well, isn’t that the fate of popular and excellent men?

“It’s embarrassing…”

“Hm? What’s embarrassing?”

“Ah, it’s nothing!”

As she was drying her hair and feeling shy alone, Erika, who had finished washing, questioned Lea, who had turned red as a radish.

Of course, she couldn’t say she was embarrassed imagining doing this and that with Sion, so Lea quickly mumbled an excuse.

Of course, Erika knows why Lea is acting like this.

‘She must be thinking about Porter-ssi again. Huhuhu.’

The pink-haired priestess Erika quietly made notes in her notebook whenever the Young Lady acted so girlishly while thinking about the porter.

XXX Year X Month X Day

-Today the Young Lady talked to herself and felt embarrassed again. Very cute.

-She talked about Sion again while eating lunch. Cute as always.

-After finishing training, she said she wants to protect Sion. Extremely cute.

The priestess carefully noted in her diary whenever the Young Lady did something cute.

Another note would be added this time too.

As Erika was carefully noting the Young Lady’s cute aspects, Rien, who was lying on the bed reading a book, casually asked Lea.

“By the way, Lea… Can we really go down to the deep levels..?”

Lea, who had been dreaming of a future with Sion, instantly returned to reality.

Erika, who was smiling at Lea, and Rica, who was quietly meditating, were the same.

The deep levels of the labyrinth. Because that’s Lea’s goal, what they need to reach is that deep below.

They felt it today.

The monsters of the deep levels are strong.

No. They were terrifying beyond simply being strong.

The monster of the 6th floor Crystal Cave, the Observer.

If it hadn’t been in a state of having received a fatal wound from Guild Master Moira’s hand, they probably would have all been torn apart and died on the spot.

The Observer was in a state of being sealed by Moira’s magic eye, unable to properly use magic.

So it had no choice but to attack Sion using its most inadequate ability, tentacle whips.

Because the Observer is originally a monster that focuses on magic.

If its abilities hadn’t been sealed and it wasn’t injured, not only those in the tavern, but the whole area would have been devastated.

Below the underground city is the real otherworldly demon realm.

It’s an area where you need at least a Gold Badge to be active.

“We’ll be able to go down.”

We must go down.

She had to find out what the being that had been calling her since childhood was.

If she doesn’t solve this problem, Lea would probably live her whole life feeling an inexplicable frustration.

“To go down beyond the underground city… We can’t do it in our current state..”

Rien’s words were right.

How can we go down beyond the underground city with skills that struggle on the 1st floor?

They couldn’t know how many years it would take.

“Rien is right. I felt it from this labyrinth trip. It’s important to go to the labyrinth right away and gain experience, but. We really need to learn more.”

Rica also agreed with Rien’s words.

It’s important to go through mana adaptation and gain abilities through labyrinth trips.

But it’s also true that individual skill proficiency is still lacking.

They are women just entering their 20s.

They couldn’t handle their abilities well at an expert level.

Because they weren’t that skilled yet.

“I… want to seek more learning.. at the magic tower in the Labyrinth City..”

Rien discovered some secret books in the Labyrinth City’s magic tower that couldn’t be obtained outside the city.

The magic level of the Labyrinth City was one step above the academies outside, and she wanted to delve deeper into the depth of knowledge here.

Furthermore, she really wanted to properly confirm if she only had an aptitude for fire attributes.

“I too felt my inadequacies.”

Rica suddenly felt like she wanted to be cooped up in the martial arts hall and engage in fierce battles with the warriors there.

Although she’s still among the strongest in Lea’s party, her sword was too focused on the kingdom’s standard swordsmanship.

She felt that a knight’s swordsmanship wasn’t suitable for dealing with monsters.

“The barbarian named Gon who taught Sion. I think if I ask him for teachings, I might improve in adaptability. That’s what I think. What about you, Erika?”

“I.. well. I’d like to increase the variety of blessings I can use a bit more.”

Erika also wanted to train at the temple in the Labyrinth City, which could be considered the main headquarters of her sect as a believer of the Goddess religion.

Because the number of divine blessings that can be learned in the kingdom that suppresses the Goddess religion is limited.

She had a strong desire to gain more prayer techniques in the Labyrinth City, which administers the potion of resurrection.

Everyone wanted deeper learning.

Through this labyrinth trip, they clearly recognized their lacking areas.

Lea nodded as she looked at her companions.

“So everyone thought that way. Good. Let’s completely stop labyrinth trips for a while.”

Lea too realized through this labyrinth trip that she was far too lacking.

This won’t do. She needed to learn and hone her skills properly from her teacher.

“I want to properly learn how to handle silver thread from the teacher.”

Lea’s master is a woman called the Spider of the Labyrinth City.

Lea wanted to learn how to handle threads in earnest from her master.

If she could freely handle threads made of silver iron, and furthermore, be able to weave spider webs enough to seal off an area.

Then it seemed like she could dream of the deep levels of the labyrinth.

“Then it’s decided. Let’s tell Sion tomorrow. That we’ll be doing personal training for a while.”

They would probably need to train steadily for about three months.

Unlike adventurers who urgently need money, they had enough financial leeway to obtain sufficient learning.

If they start training, the time they can meet Sion will probably decrease, but if they aim for deeper places, training was essential.

Lea had no intention of stopping her growth.

‘If my family interferes with Sion and me, then..’

Then she just needs to become a Platinum Badge and ignore her family.

Yes, this was the biggest reason she was trying to become stronger now.

Asking to get a Gold Badge in 6 months. It’s an impossible task.

Lea knows too.

It seemed like she had put too much pressure on Sion.

That’s why she decided to become strong enough to chew up her family.

Lea has a strong proactive personality.

She enjoys achieving things herself more than demanding from others.

That’s why she now intended not to force Sion to become Gold Badge.

She wanted to become a stronger Platinum Badge herself, protect Sion, and furthermore, be officially recognized to date by her family.

With the appearance of the Observer, they gained a firm goal.

Beyond simply entering the labyrinth, they clearly realized the reason they needed to become stronger, and could realistically feel how difficult it would be to survive in the deep levels.

The experience of encountering the Observer led them to aim for an even higher place once more.