Aidka

Sorry for the lack of releases. I was a bit busy the past week. Releases should go back to normal after today...

Mary’s words dampened the mood inside the police station.

According to her, the reinforcements will appear tomorrow at the earliest. In other words, we will have to rely on ourselves to survive until then.

The problem is that this dungeon was relatively dangerous.

It would be great if we could hide in this place until tomorrow, but if the spiders discover us and attack, then we will be in serious trouble.

However, while most of the people in the station were worried about being attacked by the spiders, I was worried about another thing.

‘At this rate, I won’t be able to accomplish my goal in this dungeon.’

Unlike the others, I knew that this dungeon would appear beforehand, and the reason I’m here is to use it to train.

Unfortunately, meeting Andrew, Karime, and Jessica in the mall messed up my plans.

I ended having to help them, rendering me unable to follow my plans for this dungeon.

[… You should find an excuse to leave. Anyway, your friends should be safe here.]

Yeah, but I can’t think of any good excuse.

Everything that comes to my mind will make me look suspicious.

In the end, I could not think of a good excuse to leave, so I decided to stay until I found the opportunity to leave.

It’s a shame that I will be unable to use this dungeon to train as much as I wanted, but that is better than showing a suspicious behavior.

Mary was doing a good job as the leader of the group. She made us take turns to watch the surroundings and warn the group in case any enemy was nearby while also sending Josh outside to see if he could find other survivors.

Unfortunately, he did not manage to find anyone else after us.

Nothing happened during the rest of the day, and the night arrived peacefully. However, this was also the most dangerous time of the day.

If a spider enters the station while we are sleeping, it could be dangerous.

Due to it, Mary decided to make us take turns for the night watch.

Nights inside dungeons were different than nights in the outside world. There was neither a moon nor a sun inside a dungeon, so the amount of light was the same regardless of the time.

However, the basic of surviving inside a dungeon is to rest when night arrives even if it’s not any different from the day. Otherwise, people can become tired without themselves noticing, and their performance in the dungeon will be affected.

Andrew and I took the first watch until midnight. Our task was to keep an eye on the surroundings and make sure that no enemy gets close to the police station.

Fortunately, I did not see any monster approaching. Perhaps the spiders had gotten enough prey, so they stayed in their nest.

But when I thought that my watch would end without any incident, I heard a soft sob.

I barely managed to hear it, making me think that I was imagining things, but after a few seconds, I heard it again.

Frowning, I walked in the direction of the sobs, and then, my expression stiffened.

There, I saw the little girl, Chelsea, crouching on the ground and crying softly as tears flooded out of her eyes.

She had walked away from the place where the group was sleeping and came to a hidden corner to cry without being noticed by anyone.

Her eyes were closed, and her body trembled weakly. The fact that she was trying to muffle her sobs made me feel pained and guilty towards her.

For an instant, I hesitated about if to leave or to walks towards her.

I smiled wryly and sighed. Then, I walked forward and crouched down beside her.

The little girl heard my footsteps and looked towards me in surprise. But when she saw that it was me, she lowered her head again.

“… Go away.” She said.

I did not leave. Instead, I remained crouched beside her, listening to her sobs in silence.

Finally, after several minutes like that, I spoke up.

“… I’m sorry.”

The little girl did not reply, but I continued speaking regardless of that.

“I’m sorry for not saving your mother… I’m sorry, I could do nothing for her.”

“… It’s not your fault. Karime explained it to me.”

“She did?” I was surprised. “I see. That is a relief.”

The little girl fell silent once again.

I sighed and sat down on the ground. Then, I looked up at the roof.

“Do you know? My father died as well. He died ten years ago in the last battle before the United Government was created. I could not even see his dead body.”

The little girl’s shoulders shook. Then, she murmured something.

“… I don’t have a father.”

I froze in surprise. No way…

This little girl is so young, she is just a kid, but she is already alone in the world.

“Sorry…” I could only say that.

“… Mom said that he died in a dungeon, but I don’t know if that is true. I was still a baby back then.”

“You don’t have any other family? What about your grandparents?”

“They are dead… and I don't have uncles...”

I opened my mouth to say something, but my words got stuck in my throat.

… In other words, this girl lost her only family today.

And although I knew that this dungeon was going to happen, I did nothing to stop people from falling into it.

A feeling of powerlessness filled me. I felt as though I was trash.

In the end, the only thing that I could do to escape from this feeling was to hug the little girl tightly.

I did not speak, nor I tried to console her. I just hugged her.

But it was as though a dam broke inside her. As soon as she felt my hug, the little girl started to cry again.

She gripped my arms and cried bitterly, this time not caring if anyone else heard her. I just hugged her, patting her short blond hair occasionally and looking at her with pity.

Eventually, the girl stopped crying, and before I noticed it, she was asleep.

“… Well done.” I heard a voice in front of me.

At some point, Mary had appeared and was looking at the little girl with an expression of pity.

“Poor kid. She lost her only family so young.”

“… I wonder if there is something I can do for her.”

“You can, but, how many kids like her are there in the world? Every day, hundreds of tragedies like this happen. Are you going to help every kid?”

I fell silent.

I know that Mary is right, but still, I want to do something.

At the very least, I want to help this small girl.

Just like ten years ago, the Protector Duke saved me.

“Your watch is over. Go to sleep.”

Mary told me before turning around to leave, but suddenly, we heard a shout.

“Damn insect! Fuck!”

Mary and I were startled. We hurriedly rushed in the direction of the shout, only to see Shalim, one of the members of the group, cursing while he stomped the ground.

Apparently, an insect had bitten him while he was sleeping.

I smiled bitterly and shook my head, but then, Claire spoke up.

“… I think that it was a spider.”

All of us froze immediately.

“Are you sure?” Mary asked with a solemn look, and Claire put on an expression of hesitation.

“C-Come on, there is no way it’s one of these spiders, right? I-I mean, it was so small.” Shalim stuttered.

I wanted to believe the same, but–

[It was.]

The voice of the demon in my mind crushed my hopes.

And one minute later, the member of the group knowledgeable about spiders, Keltie, confirmed the demon’s words.

“We need to get ready to face the spiders.”

We looked at each other with ashen expressions on our faces.

Taking a deep breath, Mary put on a determined expression.

“Grab your weapons. It looks like we will have a fun night.”