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Fortunately, we were able to greet the next day without the alarm magic going off.

I simply scarfed down the remaining chocolate, packed up the sleeping bag and bonfire, and headed downstairs.

The side of the stairs without a railing was a bottomless cliff. Luckily, no one seemed to have a fear of heights. Everyone was cautious, but they moved their feet diligently.

As Luna had guessed, we soon realized this was a mine. It seemed they had dug in several places, as the path split into multiple forks as we descended.

Since the destination was the stage where the final boss was presumed to be, no matter which path we chose, we kept going down. However, at this fork, everyone paused for a moment to discuss.

“One side is stairs like before, the other is a cave… and this one has rails laid down.”

Rakar was unsure which way to go, so he stroked his chin and asked us for our opinions.

“Which way do you think is better?”

“Wouldn’t stairs be easier to go down?”

Everyone nodded at Kane’s words. The rails might have something in the middle, or the path might be cut off halfway. The cave would be rough and require more effort to descend than the stairs.

“Then let’s go with the stairs. Everyone be on guard in case of an ambush.”

As everyone agreed, Rakar took the lead and went down the stairs.

While cautiously descending the stairs, Rakar suddenly stopped and seemed to be listening intently.

“Vampire bats!”

At Rakar’s shout, a swarm of huge bats appeared from the ceiling and rushed at us with noisy flapping.

Aria, who was prepared for an attack, instantly gathered her magic power and used lightning magic to knock a few bats floating in the air off the cliff, but there were so many that it hardly made a difference.

Shuuk-!

At the sound of air being cut, I instinctively swung my spear towards Luna.

Barely blocking the arrow shot at Luna, I quickly turned my head in the direction it came from.

Seeing the goblin archers appearing on the opposite stairs, I urgently shouted to Rakar.

“Goblin archers have appeared too! We need to retreat!”

The worst-case scenario of being attacked from both sides. There wasn’t even cover to dodge the arrows.

Rakar, realizing the situation at my shout, yelled while slashing at the vampire bats.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

As we hurriedly turned back and climbed the stairs again, the vampire bats rushed at us, thinking their prey was escaping.

A vampire bat lunged at my defenseless back, which was busy blocking the arrows shot by the goblin archers, but Luna blew the vampire bat away with wind magic.

Before I could even thank her, I focused on the arrows flying towards us, and Aria’s shout rang out.

“Get lost!!!”

Vast magic power erupted from Aria, and flames directly hit the vampire bats flying in the air.

Avoiding that attack, one vampire bat rushed towards Luna at high speed. I hurriedly thrust my spear, but the vampire bat pushed Luna off the cliff with its body even as it was being stabbed.

The moment Luna’s body floated into the air, I threw away my spear and reached out my hand. But Luna, who was holding onto her book and staff tightly in both hands, ultimately couldn’t grab my outstretched hand.

While Aria screamed as she watched, I instinctively threw myself off the cliff. Without any thought or preparation, I just acted foolishly on instinct to save Luna.

Hugging the falling Luna in mid-air, I then thought that I might be able to survive somehow if I used basic space magic and quickly gathered my magic power.

Fortunately, Luna, who had regained consciousness in my arms, swung her staff, and the speed of our fall decreased.

Just as I was thinking that I could safely create a dimensional exit at this speed, I spotted a large mushroom on the ground that I had seen in class once and stopped the magic.

Come to think of it, this place seems real, but it’s ultimately a training dungeon. They wouldn’t leave the danger of falling off a cliff to death as it is.

As I expected, the large mushroom did its job as a mattress. I felt a slight impact on my back and felt the rapid beating of my heart as I held Luna in my arms.

If this wasn’t a training dungeon, but the real thing, what would have been the chances of survival?

As regret and self-loathing for acting instinctively without thinking filled my head, I then felt Luna trembling in my arms.

Snapping out of it at the body heat and trembling I felt from our touching bodies, I gently stroked Luna’s back.

“Are you okay?”

She was still not calm at my question, shaking all over as if convulsing. I hugged Luna on top of the mushroom for a long time, stroking her back as if comforting a child.

Whether it was because of that action, Luna came out of my arms silently after a while. Seeing Luna’s head bowed and biting her lip, I sighed and said.

“This place is a training dungeon, so there was a mushroom to prevent falling to death, but if it were a real dungeon, we might have both died.”

Luna bowed her head even further at my words and repeated that she was sorry.

“Were the books that important…?”

I subtly blamed her for not letting go of the book and not grabbing my hand even in a dangerous situation. Luna quickly shook her head.

Since it didn’t make sense to me that she was holding the book in her hand even in a life-threatening situation, I looked at her as if demanding an explanation.

Luna bit her lip and made a troubled expression, then put the staff she was holding in her right hand into her arms. She then struggled to take out the book she was still holding in her left hand with her right hand.

Watching her strange behavior, I forgot to even breathe as I looked at Luna’s left hand, staring blankly.

Even though the book she was holding had been taken away, Luna’s left hand was somehow maintaining the shape of holding the book and trembling.

“I, I’m sorry for hiding it…. Actually, my left side is un, uncomfortable….”

At Luna’s tearful voice, I finally came to my senses and felt a great sense of guilt at my stupidity.

When we bumped into each other in the library, her left hand trembled. When everyone was doing the left-handed technique, she didn’t stretch out her left hand either. It was all because her body was uncomfortable.

When I looked at her from behind, I thought her waddling gait like a baby duck was cute. I was watching her right behind me, but I didn’t even think that her body was uncomfortable.

That book was just a device to hide her uncomfortable left hand. The reason she didn’t grab my outstretched hand was simply because it was impossible.

The reason her hand trembled at our first meeting wasn’t because she didn’t like me, but simply because her body was uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry, I should have noticed….”

“N, no! It’s my fault for not saying anything…. I, I’m very shy…. It’s hard, hard for me to talk about these things to others….”

After saying that, Luna put the book back in her left hand and fidgeted with the hem of her skirt with her right hand, giving an awkward smile.

“…I’m also very shy, so I don’t have any friends other than Rakar.”

I tried to ease the atmosphere by speaking self-deprecatingly, but the awkward atmosphere didn’t easily dissipate.

I opened my mouth, thinking that I would suffocate from the awkwardness if it continued like this.

“Let’s get out of here first. We’ll eventually meet in the stage where the boss is. If we go there, we’ll be able to join up with the team members.”

Luna, who was also weighed down by the awkward atmosphere like me, nodded diligently at my words.

Since we didn’t know what might pop out, I put Luna behind me and walked ahead.

Fortunately, there were mushrooms that emitted light around us, so the bottom of the cliff wasn’t dark.

As we walked diligently, we saw stairs that had collapsed in various places.

“It looks like we need to go up to continue the path.”

Since this was the only path from where we fell, it seemed right to go up.

“I’ll check it out first.”

Stepping on the remaining bricks of the collapsed stairs, I struggled to climb up and saw a passage.

“There’s a passage here.”

Saying that, I looked down at Luna. Would Luna, whose body was uncomfortable, be able to climb up here?

As if she had read my thoughts, Luna tried hard with one hand, but it looked quite dangerous to me watching.

It was difficult for me to use both hands, so it seemed impossible for Luna to climb up here with only one hand.

I looked around to see if there was a way to pull Luna up, but there was no way there would be such a thing.

Just in case, I checked my exploration bag again, but there was no rope or anything like that.

As I was thinking about whether there was a way, one method came to mind. The only problem was that it was risky.

It was a method of using basic space magic to move Luna to where I was, but I had never moved a person before.

If the dimensional passage closed in the middle, something terrible would happen, so I hadn’t even tested it….

I wondered if it was right to use this method on Luna, but there was no other way.

The fortunate thing was that I had enough magic power to use basic space magic.

Seeing Luna’s appearance of bowing her head like a sinner while looking at me, I made up my mind.

“Luna.”

At my call, Luna raised her head and looked up at me. I tried to ease her tension as much as possible and said with a bright smile.

“Will you trust me?”

I suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu. I felt like I had said the same thing sometime before.

“I trust you…!”

I felt a strange feeling at Luna’s appearance of answering that she trusted me even at my sudden words and nodding her head.

“Then, when I give you a signal, count to three and then jump in place.”

“J, jump?”

Luna asked back with a puzzled face, as if it was a completely unexpected request.

“Yeah, I’m going to use my magic to move you here.”

At those words, Luna, who had been watching me use my spear from the side, immediately understood my words and nodded her head.

“I will.”

At Luna’s answer, I took a deep breath and focused my mind.

There won’t be a problem if I don’t make a mistake. With that in mind, I recognized the spatial coordinates under Luna’s feet and shouted.

“Ready!”

At my shout, Luna nodded her head and counted.

“One, two, three…!”

In accordance with the signal, I created a dimensional entrance on the ground Luna was stepping on and immediately created a dimensional exit above my head.

It wasn’t Nelson’s improved magic that efficiently changed the consumption of magic power by reducing the dimensional entrance, but the existing basic space magic, so my magic power was instantly depleted, but the magic was successful.

“Kyaa!”

Luna, who suddenly lost the ground she was stepping on, screamed and fell through the dimensional exit. I quickly raised my arms and hugged Luna.

I received Luna in a princess carry. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Luna’s expression of being frightened while crouching in my arms.

If Ellie was a cat-like beauty, Luna was a puppy-like beauty with drooping eyes.

Luna’s appearance of trembling in my arms and looking up at me with round, tearful eyes was so puppy-like that she looked cute.

Luna, who was being held, turned her face bright red at my laughter and asked in a small voice.

“P, please put me down….”

At her desperate request, I put Luna down. Luna, who was mumbling as if she had something to say, soon gave up and let out a small sigh, then turned her head away as if she was embarrassed.

Feeling the corners of my lips rising again at that action, I shook my head to come to my senses. Then, I said in an indifferent voice.

“Shall we get going now?”

“Y, yes….”

While heading to the stage where the boss was, Luna and I couldn’t exchange a single word in a strange atmosphere.