"There is definitely nothing here! Let's just go get the boss monster and leave."
"Shhh. It should be here," Caera rebutted strongly, moving a bush to the side.
"We've already been at this for 10 minutes, you know? It's useless!" Jash countered with a frustrated expression.
'I don't know why, but my gut feeling is telling me to leave quickly,' he thought as he used the tree trunk as a foothold to jump ahead, following Caera.
Apparently, she firmly believed she saw something in the clearing where the F-Rank wolf was resting and they were currently looking for it.
Not exactly they, since Jash was more focused on making her agree to leave instead of hanging around.
It was one thing to accidentally come across it, but waiting for it in its home? Now, that would be completely stupid.
Unfortunately, nothing he said fazed her as she stubbornly persisted to find that thing.
Having enough of this tiresome search with a lurking threat, he couldn't hold it in any longer, "Just what did you even see!? Just say it!"
It wasn't the first time he asked her what they were looking for, but her replies remained the same every time.
"Look, I really don't know, alright? You were already running and the last scene I saw were the wolves getting hit and something shone in the clearing."
"And I am telling you that it must've been the wolf!" Jash rolled his eyes before continuing, "Anyways, as I was saying, we really need to–"
"Shh!" Caera threw a branch at his face to shut him up, annoying him further.
However, just as his eyes followed the direction she pointed, he was frozen on the spot, his mind failing to comprehend what he just saw.
'Just how...?'
'Impossible!'
'What in the world...?'
'There's just no way!'
'No... It can't be...'
He couldn't help but deny it with every fiber of his being.
It just didn't make any sense.
'How can this be here!? There's just no way!' Jash refused to accept the scene before him when he felt a kick on his shin, bringing him out of his frozen state.
"Owww"
"What are you doing, Caera!?" he grumbled in a louder voice, prompting her to pout her lips.
"Firstly, lower your voice. Secondly, I've been calling you for so long, damn it! Stop going into a daze! We're inside a dungeon, you!"
At the end of her dialogue, she couldn't think of any appropriate word to call him and chose to change the topic.
"Anyways, look at that scrap. It must've belonged to one of the hunters or maybe from a dead one? I think we should return it to said hunter's family as a memento?"
Caera suggested with a serious tone, dumbfounding Jash further as she tried to pick it up.
"NO!" he exclaimed out loud, a clear sense of warning within his words.
Alas, he was a tad bit too late.
She had already picked it up and asked, "Why?"
Before another second passed, she immediately complained, "Damn! This is so heavy!"
Not wanting to bother holding the heavy scrap for a second longer, she unhesitatingly put it into her storage ring.
All of this happened within the span of three seconds, giving Jash no time to interrupt as he gazed at the entire thing from start to finish with a crestfallen expression.
Looking at it, Caera felt amused, "Why do you have such an expression as if the entire world has ended or something?"
Choosing not to answer, he remained silent and ignored her for the time being despite her numerous calls and led her out of the area.
'The when, why, how doesn't matter anymore. What matters is what to do now?' he mused gravely.
'Damn! My life really sucks! And a scrap? That's like blasphemy! Although just a part, it is still a part of a Holy Sword! One that was literally crafted by those darned Angels! But... how did I even get it in my past life?'
That was all the information he recalled after looking at the hilt, or what remained of it.
Unfortunately, he had no memories of the system, or he wouldn't be so clueless about its origins.
'Wait! Why should I even care? What if I just avoid it? Surely, it won't come back to me forcefully, right?'
After thinking so, Jash visibly relaxed as he increased his pace and headed further inside the dungeon.
"Just what's wrong with him?" Caera muttered to herself, but just shook her head and followed him.
If not for the noises caused by the F-Rank wolf getting farther and farther away, she wouldn't have left the clearing.
Ironically, Jash had lost his focus on the noises as he smiled, 'Good thing she is following without complaints!'
If only he knew that he was the one leading himself into the pit, he would've chosen to return instantaneously.
Along the way, they met many groups of wolves and Jash tried his best to evade them to save time, but some just couldn't be avoided.
'I should probably speed things up. Seeing anything after my nonchalance at the gory sights won't matter,' thought Jash.
He knew that everything that transpired in their first dungeon raid would be reported to his parents.
If Jash used his past life's fighting style, he would face the same dilemma he had been avoiding from the start.
After all, how could a person who detested training suddenly become such a veteran sword user without mistakes?
Focusing back on the current scene, he narrowed his eyes as he noticed three wolves charging towards him from the front.
He immediately changed his footing and channeled mana into his hands and legs, dashing forward towards one of the wolves on his right.
With immaculate timing, he feinted a sword thrust to its head before slashing its stomach as it instinctively stiffened and tried to back away from the thrust.
Before it could get any time to regain its footing, he let go of his sword and swung his dagger to blind the wolf.
He didn't even wait to confirm if his attack connected or not, and sidestepped to dodge the attack of the wolf next to him.
'She took care of one,' Jash noted as he glanced at the whimpering wolf.
He was aware that the last wolf would try to ambush him and prepared accordingly. Thankfully, Caera reduced the numbers from three to two and would also take care of the blinded wolf.
The wolf appeared confused, seeing that its surprise attack had missed. But before it could even turn its body, Jash threw the second dagger.
The throw was swift, not giving any time for the wolf to move as it got struck by the dagger in the middle of its head.
"Phew"
He released a breath of relief as he stopped the mana circulating in his right arm, looking at the limp wolf.
He removed the blood from his sword and daggers as he picked them up and sheathed them while coming back towards Caera with arrows in hand.
She nodded at him and placed the used arrows in a different quiver before they went into another path, leaving behind their dumbfounded maids—guards.
"Something's wrong," Emma muttered to herself, finding the number of wolves to be quite alarming.
Kesha, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered. "Stop overthinking it. They're handling it quite well. This experience will be beneficial to them."
While her words made sense, Emma couldn't help but feel uneasy and muttered, gazing in the direction the twins went, "I hope so too..."