We had been sitting in the wagon for around an hour now, and yet only a few words had been spoken between the three of us. While Braxton wasn't picking any fights, an awkward air still filled the wagon as I could tell he wasn't entirely overjoyed with my company.
"So… How long did it take you to get the hang of electricity manipulation?" I asked, breaking the silence. I had grown tired of the stifling atmosphere over the last hour, not to mention the unbearable boredom of watching the scenery go by at around 2 miles an hour.
"A few months." He replied glumly. Not much of a talker.
"Wow, that's pretty fast! I haven't experimented much with anything outside the four base elements myself, you think I could learn how to do it too?"
"Maybe."
This guy.
My attempts at starting a conversation thoroughly refuted, I let out a sigh and leaned back against the wall.
"I think you could learn it!" said the girl to my left. Livi gave me an encouraging look, probably thinking I was upset because of Braxton's dismissing response.
"Really now," I replied with a grin.
"Yeah! I mean, I've kind of just always been able to use ice, so I'm sure you could too!"
"I wouldn't be so sure," Braxton cut in. "Just cause you're a natural, doesn't mean you should be giving him false hope."
Braxton was clearly in an irritable mood, so more out of boredom than actual anger at his comment, I decided to prod him a bit.
"Ah well, even if I can't learn variant magic, I don't think I'll really need it. After all, I managed just fine with you." I said teasingly.
Braxton grinded his teeth in response. "Little brat… don't think you're hot stuff! I'll teach you not to run your mouth!" He stood up quickly, causing the wagon to shake. Looks like our friend Braxton has a bit of an anger problem.
"Now, now, guys, everybody calm down. There's no need to fight!" Livi said exasperatedly. Braxton clenched his fist, but surprisingly sat back down. I didn't expect him to back down so easily, maybe Livi was some kind of master negotiator! Though once he did sit back down, a strangely regretful look enveloped his anger for a moment, as he muttered something to himself.
The rest of the trip went by uneventfully but much faster as Livi and I chatted away, and Braxton spitefully mumbled a few things occasionally.
"Alright folks! We have officially arrived at the Mythril Delves! Remember, this isn't an especially dangerous dungeon, with the only real threat being pitfalls!" Our stagecoach driver called out.
As we all loaded off of the coach, I realized I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into here. "Hey Livi," I tapped her on the shoulder. "What's the deal with these 'dungeons'?"
"What's the deal with them? I mean…?"
"Like what's the difference between this and a regular old cave?"
"You don't even know that…" she gave me a look of disbelief. "Basically, dungeons are areas where there's a lot of mana, so there's a lot of monsters. And for whatever reason, untold amounts of treasures have been discovered within them."
"Places where mana is highly concentrated…" I muttered to myself.
"Yeah, but like he said, this one is a lower level one. There isn't too much mana here." Livi reminded me. "And it's pretty unlikely that we'll find any treasures that are worth much."
"Okay! Is everybody ready?!" The coach driver who seemed to double as a tour guide asked, patting his hands on his knees like a drumroll. All I had on me was the shortsword Elise had gifted me beforehand, so I didn't need to do much double checking. "Yeah!!!" The front group of girls cheered as they began marching into the cave's entrance. Us three guards followed behind them, but were stopped by the coach driver just before we entered. Upon finally seeing the coach driver, an awkward grin formed on my face. "Hey Piers," I said, scratching the back of my head sheepishly. He dismissed me with a sigh.
"Remember, let the girls have their fun, but don't hesitate to jump in if there appears to be any real danger."
"Got it." The three of us responded in unison.
We jogged a little to catch up with the four girls, who hadn't bothered waiting for us as we talked to Piers. As soon as I stepped through the cave's entrance, I could feel the air gradually becoming thicker with mana the deeper we went in. As we ventured further, Adela and another girl created a ball of fire in their palm, serving as a torch. It was an easy enough skill that even those without an affinity to fire frequently learned, because of its usefulness.
The torches shone light on the walls of the cave, embedded with shiny green ore that I had learned was called mythril. Mythril was a metal unique to this world, and was rich in mana, so some monsters used it as sustenance. It was the most common mana conducting metal, leading to many weapons for beginner mages being created from it, due to how easy it was to imbue with mana. As it happened, it was what the shortsword Elise had given me was made from.
As we continued through the cave, the path stayed the same size but the width of the cave gradually became larger and larger, with a long drop on either side. It almost seemed that the path we were walking on was man made, because of how high up it was raised relative to the bottom of the cavern. The path was still wide enough for it not to be treacherous, but we all made sure to stay clear of the edges.
After we had been walking for around fifteen minutes, an unsettling chittering resounded from somewhere ahead. It echoed heavily across the cave, making for a very unnerving sound. The noise made me want to jump ahead and defend the girls, but we were told to let them deal with things at first, so I held my ground.
Adela coated her hands in electrically charged mana, while the other girls readied their weapons. It seems like electricity is a pretty common thing among the Milbournes. As for weapons, Adela had only a sheathed dagger, so I guess she wasn't as multi-talented as her brother.
The chittering grew louder as we all tensed. After a few seconds of silence, a creature came into the torchlight. It resembled a large fruit bat from my old world, but its face was contorted strangely, and it had two fangs protruding from its mouth. It hung from the low ceiling upside down, its red eyes watching us carefully.
Without warning, the bat let out an ear piercing screech, and extensive amounts of chittering echoed all around us. Unnerved, I created a ball of fire in my palm that shone much brighter than the ones Adela and her friends created, which illuminated what looked to be around twenty more of these bat creatures surrounding us, eerily hanging from the ceiling on all sides.
The moment Adela saw the horde of bats, she wasted no time in firing off a series of electrical zaps at them. The zaps didn't seem to be enough to actually kill the bats, but they served well to incapacitate them and cause them to fall down, bringing them into range where the other girls would finish them off with melee weapons. I imagine they had all actually done some training for this, because they functioned surprisingly well as a team.
Continuing this routine that I so gracefully dubbed "the zap and slap," the rest of the bats were wiped out with relative ease. The girls seemed to be a bit tired, but they all had a big grin on their faces. Especially Adela. I was glad to see that she was getting to enjoy this, even with all the company she had to endure.
We ran into a few more hordes of the bat-like creatures as we continued through the dungeon, which I learned were just called Cavedevils, but they posed no real threat to the well oiled machine that was the zap and slap, and were easily dispatched. I wasn't sure what our goal really was though, as we had been just walking around aimlessly for a while now. Braxton had stayed silent for the entirety of our journey so far, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. He occasionally gritted his teeth and looked to be distressed about something, but I didn't want to prod him too much, so I didn't inquire. I could tell Livi was growing restless though, so I decided to ask Adela about what was happening.
"So what's the plan from here?" I called out to Adela ahead of me. It was her day after all, so I figured she should be able to call some of the shots.
"I wanna find a treasure!" She exclaimed, a childish smile on her face.
Looks like we would be here until we found something shiny. "Alright then," I laughed, "Let's find ourselves a treasure!" The four girls and Livi cheered, while Braxton only rolled his eyes.
"Alright, can we turn back now?" Livi asked exasperatedly. We had slain enough Cavedevils with the zap and slap technique for a lifetime, with not a single shiny thing to show for it. Livi and the other girls had been trying their hardest to remain motivated for Adela's sake, but after Livi had gotten a mean scratch at the claws of one of the bats, the straw had finally broken the camel's back.
"Yeah, you're right. Maybe we'll find something on the way back," Adela said with a dejected look. I felt bad for her, but it really was past time we got out of here. We began to backtrack, which was easy because of how straightforward the path was, with only a few diversions. It really was unbelievable that this was a natural formation.
At some point, Braxton had meandered awfully close to the edge of the path, casually walking next to a drop that you couldn't even see the bottom of. He still had that troubled expression, and while I was trying to get a read on what he was thinking, he suddenly called out to me.
"Hey Ikarus," he said, his voice shaky. "There's some kind of treasure lodged into the wall there…" He pointed downwards at the wall overlooking the abyss. At those words, I expected Adela to run over and come see what he was talking about, but her expression remained strangely neutral.
"Oh yeah?" I replied, joining him at the edge of the path. I squinted my eyes to see where he was pointing, when—-
*SHOVE*
BRAXTON MILBOURNE
Braxton Milbourne was a child with a strong head on his shoulders. He had something he wanted, and he would stop at nothing to have it. That was what he believed, how he lived. But the mission he was tasked with today challenged his strong will. He wanted nothing more than to appease his father, to win his favor and eventually lead the Milbourne blood. All he would have to do…
was get rid of a boy.
At first, Braxton had the misguided impression that this would be an easy task, one he needn't even bat an eye at. He convinced himself that he would easily dispatch the boy, as he already held ill will towards him. But Braxton was not as evil a man at heart as his father. Even with every reason to, Braxton struggled with the idea of committing a real assasination.
Once Braxton actually came face to face with Ikarus in the stagecoach, his confidence in his ability to kill was shattered. After all, Braxton did not truly hold any animosity towards Ikarus. Sure, he was angry, but he had no intent to kill. Even so, the boy continued to try to make himself believe that he truly hated Ikarus. He allowed himself to be prodded by Ikarus's jeers, desperately trying to fuel his rage in order to lessen the burden on his soul, but it was to no avail.
Throughout the remainder of the coach ride, Braxton chose to distance himself from both his problems and the other passengers, spending his time listening to Ikarus and Livi's idle chit chat and avoiding the issue he faced altogether. He found comfort in this stance, and planned to continue it for as long as he possibly could. However, once he heard Adela's definitive confirmation that they would be turning back, he couldn't hide from it anymore.
It was he himself who had pushed back the decision to this point, and it was he who would reap what he sowed. His mind fell into an anguished state as tried to sort through his feelings. He would admit it now, he didn't hate Ikarus. When he was beaten the first time they met, yes, he was angry. He was frustrated, but happy. He saw Ikarus as a rival, and he wanted to get strong enough to beat him fair and square.
He didn't want to kill him.
The thought appeared in his brain, bringing a sense of calm that settled his nerves and allowed him to breathe again.
"So what?"
"You don't WANT to kill him? Hah! Who cares!" A cold and ridiculing voice appeared in his mind, ruthlessly mocking his resolution.
"This just isn't about what you want. If you WANT to become the next head of the Milbournes, if you WANT to surpass your brother, if you WANT to earn your father's approval…"
You have to kill him.
A frigid resolve passed over Braxton. The voice was right. This wasn't about what he wanted at that moment. This was about maintaining his resolve to become who he strove to be in the future. This was merely a stepping stone.
IKARUS VELOR
This angle definitely isn't right. I was looking towards the bottomless cavern head on, instead of at an angle. The moment I felt the impact on my back, it was as if time had slowed down. My brain failed to adjust to the sudden falling motion, and I was left in confusion. I heard faint screams coming from above me, but the sound of the wind blocked out most of the details.
Wind brushed past my face faster and faster as I sunk deeper into the darkness. He pushed me? Braxton? That bastard…
Anger clouded my head as I continued to plummet into what seemed like a bottomless abyss. That thought gave me an idea that cut through my clouded head. I can't slow my fall at this speed, but maybe I can see if there is anything at the bottom that I could survive on. I can't resign myself to death yet, and my fury directed towards Braxton could wait.
I conjured a ball of fire in my palm, and with as much emphasis on speed as I could manage, sent the spell down below me into the pit. It illuminated the walls as it zoomed past, revealing the narrow yet wide cavern I was in, almost like an elongated rectangle. The ball continued further and further ahead of me, and I began to wonder if there truly was a bottom at all.
Then I heard the impact. The ball of fire slammed into the cavern ground, dispersing across the floor as if there was oil under it. The fire illuminated a large portion of the ground, which revealed…
Absolutely nothing.
The anger and determination my soul had been burning with just moments ago all but evaporated into despair. My eyes frantically scanned the cavern ground, but to no avail.
"Hah."
"Ha!"
"HAHAHA"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" My maniacal laughter echoed across the narrow cavern.
"A second chance? A break? How naive am I?!" I shouted.
As if life could be so kind.
As the cavern's bottom came closer and closer, my state of mind became further frenzied.
"Well wasn't this fun. Was it!? Did you enjoy this?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, as if I was cursing a god, but my screams had no real direction. I was just bitter.
"…GOD DA—-"
And so my frenetic outrage was cut short by a sudden collision with the floor.