Edited by: Kuro and Lille
After planning their next move, Andrea decided it was a good time to rest. They ate a small meal before heading off to bed. They were split into groups to be on the lookout. For the first shift, it was Felicia (Arisa) and Andrea, then it was Genji and Lamine, and lastly, it was Reyner and Grey. Micah was allowed to sleep without being awoken because he was the youngest member of the group.
When it was finally time for Grey and Reyner’s shift, System 225 told him that Felicia’s soul was finally cleansed of the curse. 12 hours went by quickly. Even though it was a short moment, he was glad to spend time with Arisa.
He had to wait for Arisa to wake up so he stayed next to Reyner.
“Edwin… Do you remember?” Reyner finally said after a good 30 minutes of silence.
Grey smiled and put his head on the man’s shoulder. “I do remember our past lives together if that’s what you are asking.”
Micah was sleeping on his lap so he did his best not to move. He wanted to hug God System but for now, this would do.
“I see, you remember in every world right?”
“Yes, I do. I remember every world since the first one where we met.”
“I remember a lot of things, but not everything, so I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, we have time. We still have time.”
Grey’s voice was a soft whisper but Reyner felt it was beautiful, like a melody being sung under the night sky. It was so soothing he wanted to fall asleep.
“I’m glad to have found you right away,” Grey said, “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Me too, so let’s get out of here alive. Then, we can travel the world together.”
“I will be coming back into the dungeon once we leave. There’s something I need to do here. Would you come with me?”
“Of course, I will.” Even though he was in the Hero’s party, now that he had found Edwin, there was no need for him to stay if Edwin was not there.
“I’m glad. We still have to go on our hot springs trip. Do you remember that promise?”
“I do! I’m glad you remember. I’m so thankful to see you alive and well...”
After that, they didn’t say anything else. They just held hands and waited for everyone else to wake up. Andrea was the first to wake up, although he didn’t see how intimate Reyner and Edwin were, he did notice they were quite close to one another.
Soon after, the rest of them woke up. The first thing Felicia did was complain about how hungry she was… Arisa was acting a little too well.
They distributed the rations and began to pack up. They weren’t coming back here and they didn’t know how long it would take for them to find another safe spot.
Once they were done, Grey pulled Arisa aside.
Arisa, who was acting like Felicia, was terrified to be pulled aside again. She mumbled, “What did I do this time?”
Grey softly whispered, “System Barrier.”
Time once again slowed down and only Grey and Arisa were able to move normally. Arisa gave a sigh of relief and her once fearful face turned into a smirk.
“Well, that was easy. No one suspected a thing.” Arisa smiled brightly, much different from when she was acting as Felicia.
“12 hours goes by really quickly... If I didn't know you were in her body, I wouldn’t have known Felicia wasn’t there.”
“Thank you for the praise, Mr. Veteran Host!” Arisa did a little happy dance before settling down. “Are you ready to have Felicia come back into this body? Her trouble-seeking impulse should die down after the curse and her personality should go back to before the editor fucked it up. Well, that’s what System 225 told me before coming here.”
“Yeah, I’m ready. We should do this again sometime.”
“Maybe one day you will need me again!”
After that, Arisa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The system barrier disappeared when Felicia’s soul came back into her body. She looked around confused and noticed Edwin in front of her. She was surprised, scared even, but she didn’t say anything.
“I know you are scared about what happened yesterday. As long as you learn from your mistakes, I won’t scold you. You must be careful, alright? I don’t want you dying anytime soon.” Grey didn’t wait to hear her answer before walking away.
Felicia felt weird. She didn’t know why, but the memories of yesterday were foreign to her. She was there, but at the same time, she wasn’t. Looking back, she felt her whole life was not hers. It was more like someone else was acting as “her.”
Andrea noticed how mellow she was so he tried to ask her what had happened, but she just replied that she was still a bit scared from the near-death experience. She was a newbie adventurer, and she always had Andrea protecting her, so Andrea didn’t find it too strange that she was a bit scared. Maybe it would help her realize the gravity of their situation.
Felicia and Andrea met up with the others. Then they headed out of the safe room.
The floor they were on did not change. That was because they hadn't left the floor. If they went to a different floor and came back to this one, the floor layout would be different.
Since they knew the way to the stairs, it didn’t take them long to get there. Even though they felt it was a waste to leave the treasure chests, their life was more important than the treasures they may not even be able to take out.
As they ascended to the next floor, they noticed that the hallways and rooms were the same as the previous floor, just with a different layout. This time, there seemed to be no order in how the rooms and halls were placed. It was like the typical maze with dead ends and random treasure boxes here and there. There were only two rooms on the floor but none of them were safe to go in.
The monsters were the same: golems and hobgoblins, but there was one more monster that set it apart from the previous floor. It was giant spiders. Luckily for the group, they were solo monsters and didn’t go in groups. They dropped fangs and bottles of poison. Their drops were important for alchemy and blacksmithing.
The other two monsters didn’t drop much. Golems dropped magic cores, but very rarely, and these could be sold for a hefty price. As for hobgoblins, they dropped scraps of their weapons or armors. They can be melted down and used to enhance weapons and armors. This was common and not very sought out.
According to System 225, it took them 5 hours to get through the floor. There were no major problems and everyone followed instructions. Even Felicia, who was usually more talkative, was eerily silent.
The change in her personality was too large and quick. She was shy, meek, and paranoid. She never strayed too far, attaching herself to Andrea as though they were conjoined at the hip. She also never uttered a sound, not even a sound of displeasure. It felt like Arisa was the “real” Felicia and the Felicia in front of them was a fake. Andrea was the first to notice her change and wanted more than anything for her to go back to “normal.”
But for Felicia, this was actually her normal. It was her personality before the editor had changed it to better fit with the ending.
Andrea glared at Grey thinking that he was the cause of her change in personality, but Grey ignored him. There was nothing Grey could do for Felicia. Once her curse had been lifted, her true self resurfaced. It was not like he could just shove her other personality back to where it was before.
There wasn’t a single restroom for the next three floors, so they took turns resting in the hallways.
With the help of System 225, he made sure they avoided trap rooms and monster rooms. He made sure he didn’t act too suspiciously and even explained that he had a heightened sense of danger. It made Lamine, who was the scout of the group, want to be his disciple.
Four floors from the room they fell in, they finally found a safe room.
Once they got settled in, Andrea couldn’t help but complain as he ate his rations. “How many more floors until we get out of here…”
“I wish I knew the answer to that.” Genji sighed as he drank some of the water that Felicia made.
Felicia didn’t say anything. She just slowly ate her rations and sipped on some water. She was sitting next to Andrea, but it was like she was trying to minimize her presence.
She wanted to tell Andrea how she felt, but she didn’t know if Andrea would believe her. Andrea lived all of his life with the “other” Felicia. She was afraid that he would see her real self as fake. This thought made her unwilling to say or do anything out of her bounds.
Micah, Edwin, and Reyner were sitting together and eating in one part of the room. They didn’t say much to one another, but it was peaceful.
Edwin was also looking at the maps that System 225 had scanned of each floor they had been on. He was studying them. He felt that the number of the traps and monsters was decreasing as they kept going upward. In his opinion, he felt that they were really close to floor 20. Maybe 3-4 floors away.
Micah, who was stuffing his face, tugged on Edwin’s sleeve. “I heard you will be coming back into the labyrinth after we leave.”
“Yes, there’s something I need to find in this Labyrinth.” Edwin patted Micah on the head. “You will come with me, right? I will be sure to protect you well.”
“Yes! Also, is it alright if you teach me how to use a weapon? I feel bad not knowing how to use one…”
“A weapon…? Do you want to do close-up or distant combat?” Edwin knew that Micah wanted to ask him to train him, he just didn’t know when. Grey was glad that Micah finally had the courage to ask. It was best to start as soon as he could.
“I want to learn how to use a bow!” His eyes twinkled at the thought of learning how to use a bow. Certainly, there were no bow users in this group, so it wouldn’t hurt. It would also give Micah a way to protect himself.
Though he wondered if Micah was not traumatized by those giant arrows coming out of the wall. Did he find that bows could be powerful too? They were strong enough to pierce into the wall… It seemed like he was fine though.
Edwin didn’t know how to use a bow, but Grey did. He could say that knights in his home had training with the bow as well as the sword. It was a bit of a lie, but it would be enough to not cause suspicion. Or he could say he knew the basics and Micah would have to find a teacher for more advanced skills.
Either way, he would do his best to help little Micah! This would have to wait until they leave this place though.
Micah already had his stats focusing on dexterity (or Dex) and defense (or Def), so it should be fine. He would be a tanky archer. This world was like a video game with statuses, stat allocations, skill points, etc. It was a strange world but not foreign to Grey.
Meanwhile, Andrea was sitting next to Felicia and trying to cheer her up. He felt it was strange that she barely talked, so he tried to talk about things that she would enjoy.
This made it harder for Felicia to tell Andrea anything. She felt like shutting herself away so that she could adjust to her new surroundings. It was strange. She felt so out of place. She didn’t understand why and felt like she had no one to talk to.
That night, Felicia stayed by Andrea but didn’t say much the whole night.
She felt so alone and wondered if there was anyone who would understand what she was going through.
kuro_kama: Everytime I see ‘little’ used before noun I read it as ‘Xiǎo’ and not little. Anyone else?
Lille: I’d probably read it as ‘xiao’ if the person’s name is in Chinese, otherwise I’d actually read it more as ‘little’ hehe
Grandpa Marky: SORRY I'M LATE. I wanted to post my new short story at the same time as this chapter, so it took some time but it's finally here! Thank you so much for being patient with me. If you like angst, depressing, tragedy-type stuff, this short story is up your alley. If you like to cry because you, uhh, like to abuse your feelings, this story is also for you. If you aren't good with these kinds of stories, but you are curious, good luck. As for those who do not like this genre, that is okay. After Teaming Up with System 225, I already have a new story planned (and I am working on it along with this one, just not posting it yet). That one is a comedy, slice of life, reincarnation to another world type of story. I hope you will continue to support me here and then haha. Thank you for reading and being patient with me, I will see you all next week. Also happy mother's day! It's also my cat's, Bean's, birthday :D.
https://tapas.io/series/I-Will-Live-for-You/info
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/490108/i-will-live-for-you/
