Author Note:

I have created a patr eon page. If you want to support my work, please visit it. There you could find 6 chapters in advance for patrons.

https://www.patreon.com/finlegost

You can find the character concepts here:

https://www.instagram.com/finlegost

Many thanks to my patrons. Here are the nicknames of some of them:

Javauni Samuels

*******************

[Unknown Girl's POV]

He is incredible. 

When Sofia told me that he was young, I don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not this. 

He must be around my age, and yet he doesn't seem to have a problem fighting the goblins on the 23rd floor. 

Sebastian takes care of a few of the monsters, but most of the work falls to the boy and his drake. 

In the case of my bodyguard it is normal, considering that all his equipment is made of mithril. Which is one of the hardest metals, second only to orichalcum.

On the other hand, this guy has a simple leather armor and a steel sword, but the goblins look like butter to his blows.

His spirit is also amazing.

 I thought he had some trick or technique that would allow him to fight using his bonded spirit, but it seems to be just brute strength and speed. And the drake has amazing speed and strength.

 I can't even think how in world my cat could fight like that. When I think about that, I feel the embarrassment of Yuumi, my partner, through the link and I feel guilty. After all, it's not her fault that she can't do what that drake did. 

When we have a moment of rest I will ask him how he managed to get his drake to fight like this.

It was worth sneaking out of the academy to look for this guy, even if he didn't help me to learn anything yet, he is someone worth knowing.

 The strange thing is that he seems to avoid killing some of the enemies and settle for leaving them badly injured on the ground for Sébastian to finish the job.

We've been in the labyrinth for an hour now and I see that Sébastian is starting to seem tired. Something that my stupid holy magic, which my mother takes so much pride in, is completely useless for.

 It only serves to heal physical wounds and enhance abilities for a short period, and for both of those things I have to maintain physical contact with my target.

"The boy is not very talkative" I say through our communication device to Sébastian, while I think about the three or four words he spoke to us since we entered the labyrinth "What do you think, Sébastian?"

"We should be- careful, miss. I don't know- how well I could defend you against such a- monster" the message, though in parts, come to my head thanks to the artifact. That's the only bad thing about this communication article. It requires the person to concentrate to send the message and, since Sébastian is busy with combat, he doesn't have much time to reply.

"Sebastian!!! Don't be like that, it's not right to call people monsters. Besides, we have no reason to think badly of him" I tell him, while I watch at Xelean, who is decapitating a goblin with a clean downward cut, as his drake, biting the creature in the leg, knocked it to the ground.

"I know, miss. I was-- just highlighting a fact. I'--m surprised, I think this is one --of the few times in my --life when I feel that I may not-- be enough to protect you, excuse me-- for my vocabulary" comes Sébastian's broken response, after he, using the shield to block its magic, stab a goblin mage in the chest.

"I understand, Sébastian. I'm also very surprised with the boy" I tell him and decide to leave the conversation for later, since, right now, it's not good to distract him. 

Who knows, maybe I could even recruit the boy for my guard. After all, my mother is always complaining that I only have Sébastian for protection.

After another hour of fighting, we arrive at a restroom or safe room as Xelean calls it, and the boy chooses to rest for a few minutes.

 The room represents a meadow bathed in the sun and, since we are only following him, we cannot oppose his decision even if we wanted to, but I think it is a good idea. Sébastian needs the rest.

[Xelean POV]

I am resting lying on my back on the grass, with my eyes closed, while I think about my strange company.

 I don't trust them and, for that very reason, Azur, having reduced its size to a minimum, is snuggled into my chest vigilantly.

They, for their part, are also lying on the grass, but a little away from me. 

I don't know how much of what she's seen in the fights was of help for Vin. She didn't lie when she said that she can’t fight, but at least she doesn't get in the way. 

Her friend, on the other hand, is pretty good at fighting. Although I have seen that he loses a lot of chances to finish enemies quickly due to being distracted by the safety of his partner.

"Hey, Xelean, there's something I don't understand. How can your drake fight like that?" I listen and, confused, open my eyes to look in the direction of Vin, who I see lying on her side, looking at me.

"what do you mean?" I ask, not understanding her question.

"My bonded spirit is a cat, but it must not have even a tenth of the abilities that your drake has, why is there such a difference if they are both summoned spirits?" she asks, frowning.

"Ahh, the answer is easy. I guess Sofia told you, but a summoned spirit has abilities proportional to the summoner…" I say, but Vin cuts me off.

"yes, yes" she says with a bored tone "but how can it be that you have so much strength? My Yuumi can only do a tenth of what I do. Following that theory, you are ten times stronger than Azur"

"That would be if Azur was at the same level as your Yuumi, but that's not the case. Maybe you don't know, since probably you haven't been practicing magic for long, but in magic, as it happens with other things in life, its performance improves with practice" I say, while I form mana bullets and shoot them into the sky, where they disappear after reaching a certain distance. That's the biggest drawback of magic, that it has a fairly low effective distance limit. And so, depending on the situation, the bow is better. "The more I practice with mana bullets the easier and better I can create them, why would the summoning magic be any different?" I ask her, with a smile.

"So, Azur has a lot more than a tenth of your capacities, right?" Vin asks, with emotion on her face.

"Yes. Azur has a little more than half of my capabilities" I explain, as I stroke the head of the little drake nestled on my chest.

"Ohh" Vin says, covering her mouth with her hand in surprise "Amazing! Sofia hadn't told me that. Anyways…It's also impressive how strong you are for your age. Also, I see you know how to do other spells too... Considering your strength and speed, wouldn't it be better for you to join the kingdom's military instead of being an adventurer? I'm talking while thinking about the salary stability and the difference in work safety"

"I couldn't, even if I wanted to. I tried, but someone from the nobility decided they didn't need me in the army" I say, annoyed.

"A noble prevented you from enlisting? It's strange... They are the ones who protect the kingdom and, as far as I know, they don't discriminate against anyone" she says, frowning "are you sure..."

"They don't discriminate! Sure" I snort, interrupting her and, after a moment, sighing, I add "I don't know if all nobles will be the same, but my experience was that... and I'm not the only one who has been discriminated against by the nobility. I could even say that my experience was pleasant compared to what that same nobleman did to a friend" I say with a bitter smile.

"Could you tell me what happened to her or him?" she says, with a strange smile on her face.

"I don't know if I should... It's a horrible story, it's not something to tell while you're in the labyrinth. Though this place is, somehow purer than the outside. Since, although there are monsters here, at least there aren't hidden in plain sight" I say, remembering Julia's story.

"Ohh, come on, we have to pass the time while we rest with something! or do you think I'm going to be scared?" she says, still smiling and changing to a smirk, she adds "It's very chivalrous of you to want to protect me"

"No.." I say, uncomfortable "It's just that I shouldn't talk about a story that someone else confided me..."

"You could tell me the story without revealing the names or appearances of the people in it. That wouldn't be a problem, right?" she says, putting her palms together in front of her, pleading "please, I'm bored! if you tell me the story I'll tell you the reason why I want to learn to fight with my magic, deal?"

"Well… okay" I say, still a bit hesitant. Thinking back to the time Julia told me her story, almost a year ago, when I was resting after one of the training sets. I guess that, as Vin says, I can leave out any details that link the story to Julia, and then I wouldn't be betraying her trust... right?