Anko still couldn't accept Syifa's death, Anko could only cry by his side with a very big feeling of regret.
'If only then...'
'If only I hadn't run away, and fought together with her…'
'If I don't rush my curiosity about the ancient ruins, and delay traveling until my powers awaken…'
'This is no different from not fighting for your dreams and failing first.'
'Syifa, I'm sorry, I was late to help you... you were so good to me, I won't forget you! And from today... I will continue your determination, I will go around the world traveling with you...'
Anko had time to pick up Syifa's sword which had been broken.
'Even if your body is gone now, I will never forget you.'
"I'll take this!" Anko intends to take the hilt of the broken sword along with the remaining blade of her sword. She picked it up to commemorate Syifa, the person who had been so kind to her.
Anko wiped her tears, she stood up and then slowly walked away from Syifa's helpless body. Slowly, Syifa's body cooled and shattered into pieces like asteroids.
Why is it like that? A strange fantasy world whose life system is still unclear.
At least those are the items left from Syifa.
Picking up Syifa's remaining broken sword, he tried to continue his journey...
But, Anko forgot one thing, she hadn't found out exactly where the book was in this building called one of the ancient ruins that looked like a maze.
As soon as Anko was about to head for the exit, she was silent for a moment.
"Oh, yes! I forgot what our original goal was…"
'No! My goal was to know what the ancient ruins looked like but, it was Syifa who invited me in. Maybe he's been going in alone in a building like this all this time...?'
'Hmm... it is said that there is a book in it! But where are the books?'
As soon as I looked left and right in the seemingly dimly lit hallway... there were a lot of smaller slime monsters and different colors.
"...?" suddenly raised a question within Anko, 'Why is a monster of the same type here while the color is different…'
'Hmm… however, for an orc the size of this smaller building it can't be entered.'
'Ah! Possibly, from the start, this place was a slime's lair or the weak slime had no place to live because it was seized by other monsters. Since this building is unused, the slimes will stay here as a hiding place.'
Anko was sure that slimes were not evil monsters, she had often encountered them when playing fantasy games before. Though slimes were the weakest monsters, and even if they were evil that meant it was because of the actions of the previous few monsters, they were controlled.
At that time, Anko who remembered something from that battle saw Syifa's broken sword she was holding in her right hand and thought, "How did Syifa find out at that time, huh?"
"Hmm...?"
However, because Anko felt that her ability was still a beginner type she realized that she still didn't know.
Then, on the wall of the hallway that felt at the very end, there was light...
"Ah! Certainly!" Anko very confidently approached her, she ran slowly as if she had found something that if she didn't come quickly, she would soon be lost.
"Eh!?" but what was there was...
[Loch] a small pond or some kind of lake where even the sun's rays can reach the bottom. Usually in a mountain, cave, or limestone.
It is very strange if in a labyrinth there is a lake where the water is clear and looks glowing from a distance.
Anko approached him...
She thought that maybe the loch started from a hole that gave rise to a spring that suddenly grew bigger.
"...."
If this was a building that had fallen from the sky, most likely a loud bang from a building hit the outside of the ground and the bowels of the earth, releasing a splash of shrill water like a stab wound slowly tearing a blood vessel.
However, Anko's steps stopped when she saw the figure of a woman with long, pale yellow hair soaking under the lake...
Judging by his two ears which were longer than a human at first...
'It must be an Elf!' Anko felt like she had met an elf who was guarding this place.
At first, she didn't believe that there would be real Elves in this world, most of the people she met were ordinary people. Maybe all this time, Syifa's goal of visiting the ancient ruins was to meet an Elf.
'She's the one who told me in the water the truth back then… her story was very convincing but I don't think he ever knew the real elf. There are still some remaining elves up there as she tells her story while looking up at the sky.'
What an unexpected thing appeared in front of Anko.
However, the elf didn't seem to notice Anko's presence approaching even the crowd of Anko's fight in the previous place.
Anko was silent for a moment and looked around the place.
That's why this place although ancient but still clean because there are residents, residents who were not seen from the outside before...
A curious Anko tried to greet him, "Excuse me...!!"
However, Anko's sudden greeting made the Elf surprised and instead hid at the bottom of the lake if she couldn't see it.
"Eh!?" Anko said in surprise that she tilted her head and put on a lazy face.
Anko's intention ventured to know him but why did even the Elf look frightened when found by him?
________
To be Continued