Alicia watched Ryuji drinking the potion her mother gave her. She felt that his reluctance to drink was cute compared to his usual self.
'Ryuji seems to be very respectful to mothers. I can use this, hehe.'
While watching his lips touch the elixir, she felt her mouth beco dry and beca unsure why she started kissing him; the first ti when she kissed his forehead, Alicia could swear she felt sothing warm and pleasant flowing into her body...
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Thus, she kept doing it as if to feel that pleasant feeling.
Even though it made her feel a little more conscious of him as a man afterwards, in the past, she joked and flirted with him about those things, but Alicia had never dated a man before and just wanted to show off and copy Sheila.
"Okay, I think I'm alright now... The pain is gone, though I'm still dirty, haha."
Ryuji laughed off his pain while standing up and performing squats as if to show he was fine. His lips curled into a smug smile.
'He's a little irritating when acting so smug...'
"Then let's go. I'll make sure to keep you safe this ti." Alicia gave a slight huff while grasping her longbow, keeping two arrows between her fingers, rubbing the wooden shaft against her knuckles with a third arrow ready to draw.
"Yeah, yeah. I am the one protecting you."
Ryuji walked ahead, his movents different from before; his legs would sweep the ground as if checking for traps or anything that might give information.
At first, Alicia found his actions funny or a little wasteful...
Until he found a bear trap.
With a clang, he triggered the trap and tossed it away using the poml of his axe, looking back at Alicia, who pulled out her tongue, feeling annoyed that he had actually found sothing.
'That arrogant and handso face... so annoying.'
The dungeon felt too easy, with Ryuji, Alicia, and the other party mbers all thought so. Her mind flocked back to the past, with the previous tanks that their group travelled with, always complaining about her archery...
Because elves have a natural affinity for archery, which increases their accuracy and aim to a level beyond human limits, it's sothing that others don't understand.
The divine blessing of accuracy even took an ally's movent into account!
'How many of those tanks complained and told to stop shooting through the gaps... If they didn't overreact, I wouldn't hit them, though.'
"Alicia! Hobgoblins! Support from behind with your arrows!"
Ryuji's voice called out, almost stunning her, before she stepped forward with two graceful steps and hopped onto a slightly elevated fallen pillar.
She could sense the movents, reactions and flight path her arrows would take, all while drawing her bow, a slight green light shimring within her eyes from the divine blessing.
Four hobgoblins stood ahead of Ryuji, who blocked their attacks. His usual reckless self seed absent as he seed to test sothing.
Alicia narrowed her eyes, and then the slowed movents of each creature entered her vision; taking a deep breath, she loosed her first arrow, the green tip tearing through the air.
By the ti it left her bow, she had flicked the second arrow from between her fingers and drew to take a second shot; the tight feeling of her muscle and the ache of her hand faded as she aid the second shot at the hobgoblin at Ryuji's right.
Its crude, goblin-sized sword crossed with Ryuji's axe, the sparks flowing from the black pole as it flicked the hobgoblin's chin upwards. The next mont, the whoosh of an arrow sounded as her second arrow penetrated its eye, killing the monster instantly.
Drawing and releasing a third followed a fraction of a second later, striking the hobgoblin fighting against Ryuji's left. Her target groaned out while dodging the headshot and blocking the arrow with the wooden shield. However, in doing so, its body and neck entered the range of Ryuji's axe that swiped across the air, beheading the other two goblins.
As for the other goblin, Alicia's first arrow penetrated its neck while Ryuji moved to block the first goblin strike.
"Phew..."
Alicia felt a sudden burst of delight; the sound of distant water flooding an overflowing pool or maybe a waterfall echoed with the death of the hobgoblins, yet she felt great peace in that sound.
Ryuji trusted her arrows, and he didn't complain or look worried, even when they might have hit him.
The fact was that, like Alicia, Ryuji had his form of danger sense; thus, when she shot her arrows, he never once felt any danger and acted naturally, and the fact his vision could see the enemy with every movent helped him to win.
"Those were so amazing shots, Alicia." Ryuji, who grasped a knife and began cutting the ears and pulling the teeth from the monsters, smiled as he looked back.
'His smile makes feel strange... Is this irritation?'
Alicia didn't understand the budding emotion that started when she first t Ryuji. Her eyes always felt drawn to him, whether in battle or idle. It was at that mont she rembered sothing.
"Ryuji, for the chosen tournant, you need knights to join you, right...?" Her foot sweeping across the ground while her ears lowered, she wondered about his reply, but heard his feet, the wet steps of his boots growing more distant.
In her chest, she felt devastated. Did he reject her? Or maybe he didn't need soone who could only shoot arrows...
However, before her mind could sink into more delusions and thoughts, his voice echoed through the wet, musty walls in a cheerful tone.
"If you can take a shot to attain victory but worry because I'm in the way, just call out. I will trust your aim."
Alicia walked forward, her feet dipping in the wet puddles while her mind digested his sentence. Her lips, originally a frown, slowly transford into a smile as she heard his voice echo once again while he stood against the wall at the end of the dungeon path, leaning on a door.
"I would love for you to be a mber of my party for the tournant."
"Really!?" Alicia couldn't help her excitent. This match also ant her promotion if they won. She couldn't think of anyone else but Ryuji to fight beside.
'I'm so happy... I thought he might choose much stronger knights to support him. Maybe I should have told him he could take ANY knight? No! Good job, , now I can finally get Mother to praise , ehehe.'
"Of course I can, don't worry. I didn't know who to ask, so you made it much easier for ."
Ryuji nodded before opening the door that led to a wide chamber. In the middle was an altar, but the thing that caught his eye first was two pillars that connected to the roof...
Because tied to those pillars were Ryo and Akari!
Akari appeared unconscious while the plump Ryo struggled. He would pull and twist his body, the white cloth that bound him not moving a bit, though his vision seed to be covered by a black cloth. Ryuji then saw the enemy...
A group of goblins and a strange hobgoblin as their leader.
It didn't take a genius for Ryuji to understand the dungeon master's plan, nor for him to know Ryo and Akari had been kidnapped for a reason. Thus, he didn't rush in like usual, instead leaning back and turning to Alicia.
"Do you have any good ideas?"
"Kill the goblins?" Alicia looked at him while tilting her head.
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