CH 43.1

Litty, Goes Underground

Litty looked around first. The impact from the fall was not as great as she had expected. When she looked up to see if it was deep or not, it turned out quite high.

She wondered if she could get out by jumping using cave walls as support, but the foothold was not stable, so looking at the situation she concluded that it would be too dangerous to try it out.

Litty quickly got up and shouted, “Catalina-san!”

There was no reply. Either her voice had gone unanswered or Catalina had already called for help.

But then Litty reconsidered. With Catalina’s personality, if Litty asked for help here, she might simply think that Litty was not qualified to be a Rank 3.

Litty was fed up with Catalina, and that was beside the point. From the way Litty’s voice had echoed earlier, the area was wider than expected.

***

“Hooded Muffler person! Are you safe?”

Litty wanted to confirm her companion’s safety, but there was still no response. But then Litty remembered that this was a person who would not respond even to a normal conversation.

Once Litty realized that she was safe for now, she continued through the cave, using light magic that Roma had taught her to illuminate the area, which turned out to be a limestone cavern.

“Whoa!”

Litty rolled to dodge a surprise attack from overhead. It was a steel bat that reacted to being hit by the light magic.

They were Rank 5 Monsters, but they usually moved in a swarm. It was said that if one discovered one of them, then there should be around 20 more in that area, at that time all of them were flapping their wings and were heading towards Litty.

The targets were small and flying, so Litty kept her cool to make sure she didn’t mishandle them. They were somewhat quick, but they were still Rank 5 monsters, the same as goblins, they did not pose much of a threat to Litty.

“Fuuh…”

Done with steel bats, Litty put her hand on the wall and turned off the light magic. Partly to save Magic Power, but also to not attract new bat swarms.

Besides, with Litty’s small amount of magic power, the release time was limited to a small duration. Carefully probing the walls of the cave, she proceeded further into the cave.

Litty wondered if the Hooded Muffler girl was safe. How could she be so quiet? Litty was sure that the girl didn’t hate her because when Litty saved her from the goblins, Hooded Muffler had faintly bowed her head.

All kinds of people were in this world. Litty decided to take her time and communicate with that girl slowly.

Then Litty suddenly stopped. There was something moving on the ground. It was too dark to see the whole thing, but the head alone was as tall as Litty’s waist.

Deciding that she should avoid a battle in the dark, Litty daintily jumped over the head of the unknown being with her feather shoes.

“Fuggah?!”

The Monster woke up from her movements, as Litty made a dash out. Litty’s first move was to use light magic to get a feel for the surrounding terrain and Monster.

The Monster launched a surprise attack from behind in the form of its huge claw.

It was a mole Monster with dark brown body hair. The Rank was unknown, but the terrain was completely in its advantage.

After running for some time, Litty had unexpectedly headed towards a dead end. Then…

“Hundred Thrust!”

The skill that was intended as a warning was repelled by the mole’s claws. Determined to face it head on, Litty grinned.

In this situation, and with this Monster, Litty was clearly in a desperate situation, but Litty was still smiling broadly. It was the same elation she felt when she fought Nils.

“The claws it is using to guard are hard, but my attacks should be able to go through its skin. Since it is a mole, it should be able to dig to escape or attack. If that’s the case…”

It was right after Litty had come up with the idea of a counterattack. An explosion hit the giant mole from the side, heavily damaging it. The blast also knocked Litty off, sending her to the cave wall.

“What happened…?”

In the direction to the left of the mole stood the Hooded Muffler, and beside her was an unfamiliar Monster.

It had an ape-like face with horns and exaggerated bat-like wings on its back. Crouching in a hunched posture, it was what one might call a Demon.

“What is that Monster?!”

The relationship between the Monster and the Hooded Muffler was unclear, but for the moment there was no sign of attack from that Monster.

Then the Demon shuffled his tail and lightly tapped Hooded Muffler’s leg.

“Frekekeke, I saved you. You should be thanking me?”

“Yes, thank you. And what are you?”

“I’m her summon, A Demon.”

“Demon… oooh, so she’s a summoner?!”

Hooded Muffler did not give an affirmative answer, but the Demon said yes. The unexpected encounter gave Litty the urge to ask more questions, but Hooded Muffler probably would not answer. Even now, she was looking away.

“So you were summoned by that person?”

“That’s right. This fellow’s lucky, huh? She’s lucky to be friends with an Arc-Demon like me.”

“Luck?”

“Summoning magic is difficult. It’s fine if you can summon the one you’re looking for, but if you’re not good at it, it might cost you your life. And even if you did not get killed, it can destroy your life.”

“Is it really that hard?”

Ilysis recommended Litty to get a Summoned Beast, but she started to reconsider a little. As if seeing through her thoughts, Demon laughed again.

“There is a big price to pay for a contract with a strong summon. But since I’m a nice guy, I made a contract at a cheap price, you know?”

“Cheap?”

Demon asked Hooded Muffler to agree, but Hooded Muffler didn’t nod, and Litty felt a faint discomfort. She observed, but no clear answer came from the duo.

In any case, it was true that they helped Litty. Moreover, Litty did not pursue the matter, as she had also witnessed the power of that Demon.

“It’s going to be difficult for you to continue to be with her. Anyway, call me when you need me. See you.”

With that, the Demon whirled away and disappeared. Hooded Muffler then, without any word, walked through the silent cave.