When they woke up after eating a good meal. Uli woke up and looked round to see Goki in front of him.
- How long have you been awake, Goki?
- I've been up for 3 hours already.
- Oh yes, sorry to ask. It's true that the sun's rays don't penetrate dungeons. So, by modifying its own inner reality, this dawn makes me feel like the polar aurora in the kingdom of Dinnyle. Except that here, the sky is purple. It's hard to believe that this place is one of the deadliest. And yet it's incredibly beautiful, with its ruins and temples. I wonder if people would have lived here, it really would have been the good life. But sometimes the dungeons are so confusing that I can't help thinking that people who don't come back from them might have died in a new universe.
GOKI: You've only just woken up and you're already thinking a lot?
-Forget what I said, sometimes I tend to think out loud.
- Tell me if your eye's feeling better.
Yes, FREDERICO looked after it before I went to bed. ULI froze for a moment, because they had just remembered an important detail. 'SELENE, is she awake yet?'
GOKI: Don't worry about her, she's breathing normally and I saw her wounds close up. She'll be able to wake up any hour now.
Watching SELENE sleep like a log, ULI was reassured about her state of health. He asked about HIRUKO and learned from FREDERICO that he and Imael had woken up very early to look for a place to relieve themselves. After that, they'd spent some time warming up by practising exercises, and they couldn't believe it: they'd been back on their feet in such a short space of time.
- ULI: Me too, as a matter of fact. This proves that you're a very talented person, Frederico.
-Please, even if I have to admit that I still have a lot to learn.
Just then, SELENE woke up and opened her eyes. FREDERICO then called HIRUKO and ISMAEL to come and see her.
-Selene: I don't want to see that incompetent Ismael, I want him out of my sight!
Ismael: Ouch, my heart is bleeding!
HIRUKO: So that's our SELENE we're looking at.
Uli laughed out loud.
-SELENE: How long have I been sleeping?
SELENE: Aren't you going to find out how you've recovered from your injuries, pretty lady?
-I know that, I was asleep, not deaf silly.
-HIRUKO: Wow, incredible! And it's still Frederico's medicine that's done this to you?
-No, not even that. I'll remind you that I had a good training session with my father when I told him I wanted to join the army. He made me do exercises, so yes, I have this ability, or even when I'm asleep, I can be well and truly aware of what's going on around me. I'm not like Uli, he falls asleep, it's like he's in a barracks.
Uli: I was too tired from thinking too much.
-FREDERICO: hahaha I like the good mood your team is in.
Selene: 'Otherwise, we have to be around the second day of Dorothy's challenge. We need to prepare ourselves with a good plan, especially as we need to find the way out. There's no point in looking for that treasure, we're hardly up to it.'
-HIRUKO: Yeah, that draugr hippopotamus got us into so much trouble that we wanted to die without Frederico's help.
-Ismaël: ULI, we're waiting for your instructions.
-ULI: Who? Me? But we almost lost our lives just because of my plans! How can you still ask me that? I can't. If Selene is in this mess, it's because of me, and life won't always give us a second chance.
-GOKI: What are you talking about, ULI? Are you feeling guilty?
-ULI: And I'm scared too, GOKI.
-HIRUKO: What are you afraid of, my friend? Of danger?
- No HIRUKO, if I die or am torn to shreds by the dangers of this dungeon, that's perfectly normal for me. But I am not prepared to have a companion die because of me and the orders I gave him. I don't want that, HIRUKO. Do you realise that Ismael is being crippled as we speak? So please understand my fear.
He felt a hand slap him and realised it was Selene's hand. As his team-mates looked on, Selene scolded him for saying it was his fault. She said: 'Do you think we're still at the academy? Lady Dorothy gave us the choice of giving up, while showing us the risks and agreeing to go through the door of this dungeon. We knew what we were getting into, so stop saying it's your fault. The monster from earlier would even have caused harm by facing a colonel. And you didn't hesitate to get organised. I want you to know that you've never been alone and that we'll support you whatever the cost. That's because we know that, ever since we were kids, you've always wanted to protect us and keep us happy.
-ULI: SELENE
-HIRUKO: ULI, let me reassure you with my conviction. I've also promised my big brothers Arima and Zaruba that I'll get the better of them. There's no way I'm going to die in this dungeon, which they could explore in just a few hours.
-ULI: Thank you friends, thank you for the strength you've just given me, and I assure you I'll always make sure nothing happens to you during this exploration. Otherwise GOKI, come, I've got something to tell you.
HIRUKO: Well, here I am looking at my childhood best friend, as intelligent and self-confident as ever.
-Frederico: Hiruko, can I ask you a question, please?
-Yes, I'm listening.
- Did you say 'big brother Arima and Zaruba'?
-Yes, I did. Why is that?
- Are you referring to the two powerful daimios of Inun and Eishin, who were part of the most brilliant squad ever, still known as the 'Golden Dawn Squad'?
- Yes, I grew up with them.
-Hiruko: Yes, yes, can I ask why you're asking me this question?
-Hiruko: Yes, yes, can I know why you're asking me this question?
You should know, my friend, that I've always been their biggest fan and that they've inspired a lot of young people to join the army, hoping to become like them.
-No kidding, I didn't want to join the army myself, but when I saw them do it, I changed my mind. What's more, they made you feel confident, you thought the danger had never existed.
- Now I've made up my mind. When I leave this dungeon, I'm going to open a publishing house and devote myself to writing a book about them. No, one will never be enough, I think, devoting my life to talking only about them.
-Ismael: I find them a bit strange, those two, ULI.
Hiruko has always been like that when talking about her mentors though, I didn't think that a grown-up, fairly important person could be so fascinated by them.
-FREDERICO: So, friend, where did you meet these two daimyo?
- Hiruko: Well, me and my elder brother got to know each other...
- GOKI: We don't have time for this, we've already wasted several minutes chatting when there may already be a group who've made it out of this dungeon.
-HIRUKO & FREDERICO: Sorry, Goki.
-GOKI: ULI and you too, you didn't give us this scene just to screw up like a nobody.
-ULI: Ouch!
HIRUKO: He's gone in search of respect.
-FREDERICO & ISMAEL: THAT'S FOR SURE !!!!
- ULI: So, this time, I suggested we continue our exploration in pairs. Frederico and I on one side, Hiruko and Selene on the other, and finally...
-GOKI: I don't want to be with that obsessed pervert.
-ISMAEL: You're calling me a pervert and an obsessive. I assure you I'm not as passive as ULI and I'm going to give you one.
-ULI: Well, I thought you'd understood everything.
-GOKI & ISMAEL: But...
-ULI: There's no question about it!
- GOKI & ISMAEL: OK, they replied, tilting their heads down.
Walking along, contemplating the landscape.
Hiruko: Goki?
Goki: Hm?
-Hiruko: You know, I'd like you to tell me about your family and where you come from.
-Why do you want to do that? Do you want to know? - Because we have the same names? But we don't know each other?
- Yes, but also to find out where you learned to wield your katana, it normally takes several years of practice, and even Big Brother Arima had trouble mastering the katana and all its movements.
- And what makes you think I've mastered it better than a daimyo? You've barely seen me use it once or twice.
-Selene: Yes, it's not like him, but of the three of us, no, I'd even say of our entire class at the academy, there's no one more observant. Just by watching you practise your art, he can deduce your level of mastery of it, even for soldiers with dungeon stones. Even if he's already met some and seen few using them.
Hiruko: Yes, like Konrad, all his mastery of the art of combat is banal.
Uli: Yeah, and that's why you're on 13 wins for him and 13 losses for you.
Hiruko: That's not true, every time I've had to face him in a nakama duel at the academy, I've come close and the only area where he's surpassed me is in his mastery of Anima. That's why I'm losing to him, otherwise I'd be better than Konrad.
Selene: Mastering the Anima isn't the only thing you're not good at, Hiruko.
Hiruko bowed his head in shame and because Selene was right.
Goki: But you amaze me, how do you manage to do that? It's a huge asset, you know?
Hiruko: Habon, do you think? Well, I'd say it's all down to intention and muscle, because they never lie. Crossing swords with your opponent also helps you get to know him, but what I find more effective is...
-Selene: Guys, stop!
-Ismaël: What's the matter Selene?
Selene: Look ahead!!!
Hiruko and her comrades saw several people walking at an elephant's pace in the distance, a hundred metres away, their eyes devoid of hope. Hiruko and her companions concentrated to see that it was in fact...
Goki: Look closely, are they soldiers?