“Hey, Sis, are we really sure about this?” 

While I was walking far ahead, I heard the voice of my brother not trailing far behind me.

I snapped my head towards him; he was already shaken while gripping the staff in his hand like a body pillow. He had crimson hair like mine, and we shared a similar color of eyes, which was yellow. Some would say we were twins, and I couldn’t help but agree with that. We, after all, share similar traits.

“Ken, we're not even there yet, and look at you. Shaking like a cat when frightened.” I shook my head, amused.

However, my brother was not. “Hey! I-It's just that I’m not too sure about this whole mission.”

“Ken, we’re already A-Rank adventurers now. Just a step away from being an S-Rank. We could handle a little cave.” I asserted proudly, my fist against my chest.

I was quite annoyed at the fact I had to remind him to go on dangerous missions every time. Aside from that, his intelligence and ability to think more logically than I do were useful in certain situations. His cowardice was just the only thing holding him back. He knows it but can’t do anything about it.

“B-But this isn't a little cave. Given the description of the map, it seems to be much larger than it looks.” He argued, pulled a map out of his pocket, and was about to hand it to me, but I responded with a glare that postponed his action midway.

“Listen, Ken, We have been traveling non-stop for two days. Fought Wild Gresllies and Hounds all night. We can't stop now, you understand?” I gripped his shoulders firmly, eyes locked onto his.

He stiffened but nodded nonetheless. “Y-You have a point. It would be a waste of our efforts.”

I smiled. “That’s better. If you say that the cave is larger than it looks, then the chances of there’s a dungeon are high.”

“I-I know, but given how unprepared we are if something out of our league p-pops out then—”

“We could handle it, don't worry,” I reassured. “Remember the potion I bought a week ago?” I shot him a sidelong glance, smirking as if I had done the most intelligent thing known to mankind.

“The Teleportation? But it only works on a limited range.” He said bluntly.

I blinked; the confidence that was with me vanished. “...Really?”

Ken's expression turned deadpanned, and the shaking of his arms was gone.

“Sis, don't tell me you bought the potion without knowing its description?” he asked; now it was his turn to glare at me.

I flinched under his stare. Despite my brother’s cowardly nature, his serious side reminds me of my Father; even Mom would occasionally say that Ken is very much like our father in many ways. I could already see why.

“Uhm,” I coughed,  trying to hide my embarrassment, “Well, I made a mistake, so what?” I crossed my arms while I turned away.

I deliberately didn't mention the price when I bought it. Knowing him, he'd probably guess the potion's cost.

My little brother sighed, and the suspicious look in his eyes vanished. “Never mind, Sis. Just leave the buying to me next time.”

My smile returned, and I proceeded to pat his back. “That’s more like it. We all make mistakes; even your great big sister.”

“Yes, yes. All hail great big sister,” Ken said in a joking manner.

I grinned and pulled his arm.

 “H-Hey!”

“Onwards, Ken, we don’t get all day!”

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The entrance of the cave did not leave a good first impression. We, mostly me, expected it to be grand, filled with signs of dangers that no adventurers would dare cross.

But no.

It was just a wooden door, poorly handled and riddled with holes. This made me question if the information and map we paid for were actually fake. Not that my brother can blame me for this one; we both handled it together. Well, mostly him.

“This is it? The entrance seems—”

“Bad?” I chuckled while suppressing the urge to punch the merchant who sold us the map. I remember the smile he had on his face when we were negotiating the deal.

The nerve of him…

Mom was right. Most merchants are nothing but thieving snakes behind human clothing. First, he sold me a weak teleportation potion that cost a lot, and now a fake map?

“So what should we do?”

“Burn it,” I answered simply.

I placed my hand on the wooden frame, muttering a simple incantation. The door then burst into flames. Moments later, it turned to ashes.

“No protection spells as well,” I muttered.

Could there be a booby trap beyond this door?

“Ken, conjure an inspect wave spell. We just need to make sure it's safe inside once we get in.”

My brother complied, and moments later, he gave confirmation that it was safe.

Preparing myself, I gave a nod for my brother to follow.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////

The cave was dark, eerie, and silent, just as we expected a cave to be. We both lit up a torch to illuminate the place for us to see. There weren't any lush plants around; it felt dead inside.

Must be because we were still at the outer section.

From the description of the map, it is said that the cave, unlike others, was filled with life.

I hope I get to see that. If not, then the map and information the merchant sold us were fake. And I don't like it when people lie right to my face without me knowing.

They would be in a world of pain.

The only sound was our footsteps and rapid heartbeats as we marched forward.

While we were fairly confident in our battle capacity, we never let our guard down even if the place seemed harmless and safe from a distance. After many missions, we accomplished taught us to never lower our guard even when we think it is safe.

“Sis, what if we get lost?” Ken's voice echoed from behind.

“That won’t happen,” I replied. “I placed a mark on the entrance that should lead us straight back to it.”

Ken let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”

Taking a quick glance at him, I too noticed that he was still severely anxious about this whole operation despite my assurance. While the teleportation potion was not that useful anymore, I still have my trusted mark spell just in case.

On our way, we encountered some threats that weren’t worrisome, namely wolves and large bats. We took them out quite efficiently.

“Venomshrouds,” Ken muttered, kneeling down while inspecting one of the corpses. “They’re C-Rank monsters. I saw them in a book once. They’re monsters capable of manipulating poison.”

I observed the corpses that my little brother was studying. The Venomshroud was just a snake; it had its head and body like a normal snake would have. The difference it had with normal snakes was that its upper body was bent, forming almost like a neck. It had four legs, two at the back and two at the front. It walked, or I should say crawled, on four legs rather than slithering. It had two horns on its head while having tiny spikes on its back.

From a normal person's perspective, it looked terrifying, but for us adventurers, it wasn't that much; we’ve handled plenty of gross and terrifying creatures.

Curiously, I was about to press my fingers onto its skin, but my brother's hand held mine, preventing me from doing that.

“Wait, Sis. Don't try to touch it. Even when it's dead, it still produces a poisonous reaction.”

I blinked and pulled my hands away. “Okay, no touching. Got it.”

Well, my brother was always the smart one in the family.

For about a couple of minutes, my brother continued studying the Venomshroud with full attention. He held a notebook in his hand and frequently wrote down notes.

I passed the time by practicing some spells I learned during the Magi Assembly last week. At times, I would take a peek at what my brother wrote and was left confused by its content.

Seriously, how could he write that much by just looking at it?

I just don't understand how his brain works. Smart people are really different from normal ones.

“Are you done, Ken?” I asked, after waiting for another five minutes or so just to give him time to continue observing the specimen.

He gave a glance and shrugged. “It's alright now. I think I got most of the information I needed about this creature.” He stood up with a smile on his face.

I recognized that face, It wasn’t his normal smile which I was used to. It was different, and my expression turned to horror.

“Quick fact, sis. Did you know that the way they control their position is quite interesting? They have fangs that are capable of shooting poison. But that’s not the only interesting thing; they could control how much their poison can harm the victim. They could decide to kill it or just paralyze them—”

“Ken,” I interjected, cutting him off mid-sentence.

“Yes, dear sis?” He blinked innocently.

“Just stop.” My voice was devoid of emotions as I said that.

He gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, It’s just I am fascinated by these creatures. They are quite uncommon, you know?”

I finally looked at him and couldn't help but disagree and agree. “I know. It would be better if they put up more of a fight. Sadly, they just shoot out poison and nothing else.” I grumbled, giving one of the corpses a kick. There were at least five of them.

“They can be more dangerous if they go in groups,” He added.

“Too bad they didn't.”

////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ken was setting up our camp for our place to rest while I took care of the fire to keep us warm and cook our food. We were starting to get hungry and tired from all the walking we had done.

For the past few hours, we have made a considerable amount of progress in our exploration. Ken even recorded some unusual creatures we found.

“Look Sis, it’s an alluminite ore! I mean it's common but still—!”

“Woah, look at that plant thing!”

“W-Wait, Sis. It's coming towards us!”

I giggled at that memory. The face my brother showed at the moment was truly noteworthy.

We covered most of our ground. I assumed that we were at the innermost part of the cave or probably closer to it. The only thing that could say we were close to our destination was the Oisle Stream which we haven’t seen yet. It was our only clue to find the dungeon.

It is said by the merchant that the end of the stream reveals a horde of treasures left by a dead king. While I had some doubts about whether it was true or not, the merchant showed no deceit when I placed him under an Interrogation spell. Unless he had the ability to counter the spell, which I doubt he would.

For the location of the Oisle stream, Ken had some guesses and so did I, but we settled on having a quick break first before continuing our search.

“Ken, fetch me the spare meat in my bag, please.”

“Be right there.”

With the meat on hand, I plunged them one by one on a stick, leaving them closer to the fire, and slowly cooked them at the right amount of temperature. I called Ken to keep watch on the food while I was gonna scout the area.

“Let’s see here. If I’m right, then this place should be close to the Oisle River.” Looking at the map in my hand, I attempted to pinpoint its location.

In the end, which I thought would be the area the stream was in, was a dead end.

‘No, this isn’t right. It should be in front of me.’ Confused, I looked at the map again.

Could it be to the other side? I thought, closely examining the wall. There was something off about this wall. I compared it with the rest beside it and what I could tell was it was different. I couldn’t put a finger on it.

To confirm my suspicions, I planted my ear on the wall and listened closely.

*splashing*

*splashing*

Sounds of gushes of what seemed to be waves from a stream reached my ears.

‘It seems I am indeed right. It's on the other side but how?’ I returned my focus to the map and studied it closely.

The map shows that the Oisle stream is not blocked, different from what I experienced.

“Could it be... someone placed it here?” I mumbled, scratching my head.

But that’s impossible. How could someone place a rock that perfectly?

If I hadn't had keen eyesight. I wouldn't have noticed it.

I folded the map and placed it safely in my small bag.

“Let me try something…”

I curled up my fist, and a burst of flame ignited around it. I proceeded to smash the rock, but surprisingly, it stood still without cracking.

I was shocked. “What?”

What I did was the Flaming Fist, A Famous A-Rank spell used mainly in close-quarter combat. It had enough strength to crush a boulder, and you tell me that this rock didn't leave a single crack?

‘Something's going on here; I gotta tell Ken.’ I thought.

Before going back to the camp, I gave one last glance at the rock before returning.

//////////////////////////////

“You’re saying that it’s blocked?” Ken couldn't help but question in disbelief.

I nodded. “The rock appears to be placed there, not something natural,” I said, thoughtfully.

“You're saying there’s someone here other than us?”

“If they placed it there, almost perfectly blending in with the walls, then someone’s here, alright,” I replied.

“But the door had no signs of someone opening it,” Ken pointed out, to which I agreed.

“I had the same thought,” I said, then paused as a realization struck me. “Or maybe, they're already living in this cave.”

I could see my brother's pupils shrink. His arms shook violently, struggling to grip his staff.

“A-A ghost?!”

Oh, right. I forgot he’s afraid of spirits.

“No, not like that. It would be impossible for a spirit to carry a large rock on its own,” I said, assuring him. “What I’m saying is it could be something quite large. A golem could be a possible suspect.”

My brother somewhat calmed down. “So what should we do?” he asked.

“We should go around it,” I suggested.

“Couldn’t we just, like, destroy the rock?” he proposed.

I looked at him and sighed. “I tried. But the rock is harder than it looks. If I whipped out some advanced spells, then this place would collapse. I can’t risk that.”

“That strong, huh?”

I handed him the map and stood up. “One thing for sure, this map is correct. Just outdated,” I murmured the last part.

“Then that's good news. At least the money we spent on it didn't go to waste,” Ken breathed a sigh of relief.

“You're still worried about that?” I raised a brow at him.

“Of course, it's expensive. It better be worth the money.”

A smile formed on my face, and laughter escaped through my lips.

“You're really like Mom sometimes. Always worrying about the prices.”

Ken's eyes widened. “Huh?! Wait, don't put that on me. You're the one that keeps buying stuff we don't need. I’m just making sure we buy the stuff we actually need.”

“Since when?”

My brother glared at me. “Remember the bracelet that cost 100 rubies, which you thought would gain protection over spirits?”

“But that did work! I’ll have you know I personally tested it,” I argued.

“Sis, I inspected it and saw it was only a low-tier spell enchanted on it, barely enough to deflect spirit-based attacks. So what do you have to say about that?”

I blinked and proceeded to place both my hands on my ears.

My brother's eyes narrowed at me. "Sis—"

"I can't hear you~"

"I know you can hear me!"

"Nope~"

So here's the second interlude, Took me a while but here it is. 

Any comment, feedback, criticism, suggestions is very welcome.