“If it isn’t Laulau and her husband, Nutria. Oh, hello, Lord Shuna!” After getting my name and Lana’s wrong as per usual, Freyja ran over to Shuna. I wasn’t even human to her anymore; somehow, I’d turned into an invasive rodent. “Fate must have brought us together again here of all places!”
“Uh, hello.” Freyja clasped both Shuna’s hands and shook them vigorously up and down.
Her face devoid of all emotion, Lana announced, “Darling, this thing is where I draw the line.”
“Yeah, I hear you. But…”
Though an incorrigible troublemaker, Freyja was also a powerful mage, one of the five who could raze the world to the ground if they joined forces. She was annoying, brought chaos, and bore the infinitely annoying title of Champion of Light, but if you could ignore her grating personality, she had the potential to be an extraordinary adventurer. As for her maid, Lazalisa, she was stupid powerful, plain and simple. I’d only scratched the surface in terms of her capabilities, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she could go head-to-head with an elite adventurer.
“How wonderful to see you again so soon, Lord Souya,” the reptilian maid greeted me. “I apologize for the trouble that incident caused you.”
“Whoa!”
Lazalisa disappeared from sight and somehow instantly reappeared behind me, her warm breath grazing my neck.
“Ohhh, yes, it really does sparkle so marvelously,” she cooed, panting as she rubbed her cheeks all along the blade of my enchanted sword she had so easily stolen from my quiver. If it weren’t for this weird fixation of hers, she would’ve been a perfectly normal person.
Speaking of odd, who was this new—?
“Hey, dude.”
“Huh?” The toy soldier gave me a wave. I recognized that voice.
Her hands still gripping Shuna’s, Freyja introduced him. “Nutria, this is our newest companion, a dwarf. Very rare for an adventurer, isn’t it? He simply would not take no for an answer, so the day before yesterday, I granted him permission to join my party.”
“True story,” he confirmed.
“Do you mind?” I pulled the self-identified dwarf aside, crouched down, and whispered, “Gaslark, what are you doing here?”
“Her Wickedness told me to give Freyja a hand since she’s, you know.”
I’d certainly never met a dwarf before, but I knew damn well under all that armor hid a goblin. Back up, what kinda Champion of Light has a Dark Lord, relation or no, send one of her subordinates to protect her out of pity……?
“How did you get around the adventurer registration and portals and stuff?” I couldn’t imagine he’d registered and made it this far in only two days.
“I signed up ages ago. Looks like I was still in the system.” I guess goblins could register, too.
“Just curious, how far have you gotten?”
“About thirty floors. But I can’t tell ya anything useful about this next gatekeeper.” Holy moly, he’s my mentor in the making.
“Hey, isn’t that—?” Éa leaned onto my back.
“Éa! Shhh! Not a word!”
“Don’t even think about it, elf.”
“Whatever, I’ve pretty much guessed already anyway.”
The adventurers in line stole curious glances our way. They probably thought we were best friends with this weird party. As if she only just then noticed the existence of said adventurers, Freyja called out to Evetta.
“You there, Horns. What might these fine people be waiting for?”
“A chance to fight the gatekeeper. Should you like to try yourself, you will have to partner with at least one more party.”
“Hmmm.” Freyja looked at me. Lana faced me, deep disgust etched in every line on her face. “Nutria, if you absolutely insist, I would be happy to let you partner with me.”
“………Yes, please.” Lana’s grimace tugged at my heartstrings. While the two mages worked in perfect unison when casting spells, Lana apparently took it as a great indignity to have to follow her former classmate. It must have been unbearable for a proud elf, especially one with unparalleled confidence in her spellcraft.
Sorry, Lana. Bear with me just this once. Also, my goddamn name is Souya, not Nutria!
“Lord Souya, I cannot apologize deeply enough.”
“Yeah, sorry, dude.”
The two more intuitive members of Freyja’s party offered their condolences. Lana, on the other hand, had grabbed on to my poncho and, in what I took as silent protest, was flapping it up and down.
“Evetta, can you please put my party and Lady Freyja’s down as a team?”
“Understood,” my counselor agreed, then wrote our names in a form kept in her binder. “Then you’ll be the last group of the day. If you try to skip the line or otherwise throw the order into disarray, I will crush you.” Damn, she’s scary.
There was no knowing exactly how strong Evetta was, so I took my proper place in line.
However.
At least three parties had already passed through the doors, but none had returned. Was this sentinel that much of a pushover? Or were those bands exceptionally talented? The second group seemed obviously much weaker than us, which I guess could be sort of reassuring.
“Hey, huddle up real quick.”
“Tee-hee-hee, no need. I’ll enchant away all our problems with a flick of my wrist.”
“Milady, shut your mouth, please.”
“Ugh!” Astonished by the disdain in Lazalisa’s voice, Freyja stumbled and grabbed on to Shuna. He looked a bit uncomfortable, though maybe it was because he was just a shy growing boy.
“Shuna, I don’t mind if you mess around with her as long as you toss her away in the end. So I forbid you from having anything serious with that woman! Choose another girl if you must!”
“What the hell are you saying? Scumbag,” the redhead coolly jeered, snapping me back to reality. Sorry. I thought I saw a parasite latching on to you, and my parental instincts kicked in.
“Lord Souya, after we reunite inside, I would like to take the vanguard with Gaslark. Would this be all right with you?” Lazalisa, frustrated at the lack of progress in our discussion, took the initiative to move it along.
I appreciated the suggestion, but— “Yeah, it would be great if you two can stand at the forefront, but would you mind if I have Shuna follow close behind you?”
“Of course not. However, uncoordinated teamwork will only lead to chaos. I’d like to ask Lord Shuna to take the lead if and only if both Gaslark and I fall. Would you agree to this promise?”
“Shuna, you okay with that?”
“Yeah, got it.”
Shuna and Lazalisa had dueled it out once before, and Lazalisa had knocked him out cold with a single punch. Shuna was morally opposed to using his sword against women, so you could technically pin his loss on that. Still, he must’ve realized she was stronger than him anyway, because he accepted her terms without a fight.
“And, Lis, I want you by my side protecting Lady Freyja and Lana.”
“………” Aaand no answer. I pinched both her cheeks. A good squeeze is what you get for ignoring me.
“What do we say?”
“Shurrrup, stahp.”
“What do we say?” Lightly, I pulled her cheeks up to force a smile.
She swatted my hands away. “I can’t be bothered.”
“Keep it up, and for the next expedition, you’ll get nothing but hardtack and dried potatoes.”
“Wai……… Understood.” At least our line of defense was secure.