The next morning Mat and I stood waiting at the tower for Callie. I had not told her that Mat would be with us. I had not escaped my notice that Callie and I had not exchanged contact information yet. It would be useful in the future if our plans suddenly changed.
Soon I could see blond hair shine brightly amidst the crowd of people walking on the busy streets. Callie's smiling face froze when she saw the tall man next to me with a giant shield on his back. She awkwardly walked up to us with her arms and legs in perfect sync.
"Callie, this is Mat. He is going to go into the dungeons with us. His job will mainly be to block attacks and keep the main focus on him."
"It is nice to meet you! My name is Cal…"
Callie bit her tongue in the middle of her introduction. I hid a smile behind my hand and tried to hold back the laugh that threatened to escape my lips. Callie's cheeks grew red in embarrassment as she bowed her head to avoid eye contact.
"Well Cal, it is nice to meet you."
Without meaning to, I let out a brief chuckle. Little blue eyes locked on to me in anger as I turned around. Why did she have to be so cute? Part of me wanted to pinch her cheek, but I cleared my throat and turned back to them instead.
"Right, let us go into the tower. I picked out the perfect dungeon for you Callie."
I hoped that mentioning the new dungeon would improve her mood and I was right. Callie's face returned to her normal angelic smile and jumped up and down in excitement.
"Really? We get to go somewhere new? I positively can't wait. Thank you Kai!"
A soft smile crossed Mat's face as he watched this sweetness on display. I nodded to myself and led the party into the tower. Mat and I had spent the night going into each of the towers on my map with question marks.
Now I had information on every tower on my map besides the super difficult one that the mysterious being wanted me to enter. I was sure that I had dark circles under my eyes, but Callie did not seem to notice as she was too excited.
Today we were entering the familiar forest dungeon I had taken on not too long ago. I recently learned that the name of this tower's dungeon was the Loyal Forest Tower. It was a strange name for a tower and I briefly wondered why it was named such.
"Callie, we are going to be entering a dungeon that has a lot of speed type monsters. You need to stay vigilant and remember to stay near Mat or me."
"Of course!"
The scent of trees filled our noses as we stepped into the wooded area of the dungeon. I remember how difficult I found the monsters here my first time. I had gotten much stronger, of course. So there should be no worries in regards to safety.
We had swept through this floor briefly last night. It was a simple matter with Mat by my side to take on the many monsters in this dungeon. If all else failed we could make it to the hidden room to rest.
"All right! Callie, focus on healing. Mat, try to block the cat monsters that might try to surprise us as we enter the forest."
A black blur descended upon us as soon as we hit the tree line. I was more or less expecting this, so I called out to the two of them beforehand. Mat managed to pull up his shield in just enough time to stop the medium sized black cat from attacking Callie.
The monsters were already targeting her. I was afraid that this would happen. Recruiting Mat was a good idea. I gripped my knife and ran it through the side of the monster.
The dungeon quickly sucked up the body and left a small claw and the usual wrapped meat.
"What? Why is there wrapped meat all of a sudden?"
Callie was shaking her hands wildly as she pointed towards the drop from the monster. Her eyes were wide and a faint sense of excitement was about her. I hid a smile behind my hand.
"This is what we call a meat dungeon. You get some material drops as well. The association should buy everything that Dyno doesn't want."
"Dyno?" Mat looked at me confused.
Oh right, I forgot to tell him about Dyno and Clay.
"We have an exclusive weaponsmith and potion maker."
"Exclusive? I didn't expect that." Mat muttered under his breath.
I gave Mat a half smile before moving further into the forest. Mat had been making similar utterances the more time we spent together. I didn't want to explain anything to him. This was not the first time I had turned away from him as he tried to piece together why I knew so much.
Another blur entered my vision, but Mat moved into position almost immediately. A half breath later I was plunging my knife into the spotted fur. The monster melted under my knife.
"Kai!" Callie screamed my name from my left.
I felt pressure on my shoulder, but the armor remained strong and protected me from the sharp claws. I would need to thank Dyno later. Mat had pivoted around me and sank his short sword into what was attacking me from behind.
We did not have any time to rest as two more large cat monsters attempted to flank around us and get at Callie. Mat and I locked eye contact and nodded to each other.
Mat took the left monster that looked to be a pale green color and I ran towards the bluish purple one to the right. This was the first time I had seen those colors in this dungeon. I had spent most of the time in this dungeon along the outskirts of the circle that made up this level.
It seemed the farther towards the center we went the stranger the monsters became. I shivered to think about what kind of damage these fast monsters could cause if this dungeon overpopulated. I never wanted to see such carnage again.
It was more difficult to take on the large cats alone, but we managed to protect Callie with minimal damage. We settled into this rhythm soon enough, trying to take on as many opponents together as possible.
It was cute seeing Callie get all worried each time there was a lull in attacks and scanning us for injuries. She really had the disposition to be a healer. My theory that one's profession had something to do with their personality was probably correct, if only for getting healing abilities.
"You must be more careful! I can only heal small cuts and bruises."
"Yes I know. Don't forget to save your mana in case we need it later."
"You don't have to keep reminding me."
Callie's cheeks puffed out and I could tell that she only wanted to help us despite her weak abilities. However, she did not know that she was getting stronger with each use.
It wasn't noticeable at first, but her casts were becoming shorter and she was healing more. Just the minimal amount of progress, but once she had enough experience she would be far more valuable than she was now.
I could tell that Mat had noticed as well. Being out of the beginner dungeon was a good idea. It seemed that her experience levels were a lot lower in that dungeon. Or maybe it was because she was actually using her magic on others.
I could experiment and cut my arm and have her heal it over and over again, but I wasn't quite masochistic enough to attempt it. Maybe I should run that idea by Mat later. I gave a mischievous look to Mat's backside.
He seemed to sense something amiss and gave me a questioning look. I shook my head and hid a smile behind my hand. My scheming would have to wait as another cat monster came flying at us from the dense branches overhead.
I had entered somewhat into the same agreement with Mat as I had with Callie. I made him promise to keep everything he saw or heard about me to himself. He had given me a suspicious look but I had brushed him off.
"I have reasons to keep myself hidden at this time. Please understand."
He nodded and a thin line formed around his mouth as I let his imagination run wild. It was not hard to imagine why a woman wanted her information kept secret. Also, it was becoming all too common to keep your hidden skills to yourself.
Otherwise, the many newly minted guilds would never leave you alone. I had received a visit from mysterious recruiters not too long ago. I suppose if anyone pried too deeply I could just say they had scared me. There were plenty of witnesses amongst my old neighbors to corroborate my story.
It was with these convictions that I tightly grasped my knife at my side while I hid the very surprising truth that I had lived through this previously and had gone back in time.