Two minutes later…

The cave was filled with the corpses of spirit wolves and several tiny sparks of blue Heavenly Fire. Blue Maple and Blue Snow quietly stood beside several spirit wolves they had just killed. Blue Maple’s face was as calm and collected as he had always been, while Blue Snow was a little dazed with incredulity.

“Wow! Little gangster, we really slaughtered this pack of wolves. Let me take a look… oh… there are around fifty of them. Wow! We’re so powerful!” Blue Snow bounced passionately as her pretty face was overcome with excitement. Blue Snow didn’t expect her to challenge so many high-level monsters, since she only had a normal Hidden Class.

Even though Blue Maple was the one doing most of the work, she was still present throughout everything.

“Wow, wow! So many items, so much money!” Blue Snow seemed like an absolute miser as she ran forward to pick up the equipment, and was still bouncing on her toes as she ran.

Blue Maple felt a little exasperated as he shook his head, but she did look extremely adorable as he watched her deliberate over an item. Blue Maple smiled faintly as he leaned against a wall and waited quietly.

Blue Maple was smiling this time, perhaps because he was amused.

“Oo… this item seems decent! Wow! There’s a necklace. Oh, it’s ironware…” Blue Snow went over the items from the beginning to the end, and even asked Blue Maple to lift up his feet to see if he was stepping on any money when she walked past him.

Blue Maple didn’t know what to say. He had just given Blue Snow more than eight thousand gold coins. Wasn’t she the eldest daughter of a large family? Why did she behave like a money grubber?

Blue Maple decided to close his eyes and rest. He no longer cared about Blue Snow picking up money because she was probably afraid of being too poor after splurging on a house.

Blue Snow spent five minutes picking up money, which was already longer than they took to kill the spirit wolves. They didn’t need more than two basic attacks and two Skills to deal with a wolf, but she had to pick up coins from the ground one by one, which took a long time. That was why Blue Maple typically didn’t pick up anything that normal monsters dropped, and only picked up a Boss’ items.

Blue Maple held onto seven or eight items after picking everything up as she ran before Blue Maple excitedly.

“Little gangster! Gangster!” Blue Snow shouted excitedly and poked her cute face closer as she stared at Blue Maple, while he was almost falling asleep against the wall.

“Ah ~ You’re done? Let’s go.” Blue Maple sounded like he had just woken up, and yawned as he spoke.

“Wait. These are yours,” said Blue Snow as she handed several items to Blue Maple. Even though there was only a single Silver-tier item, she only left a single normal bronze item and an iron necklace for herself. There were several other iron items that she didn’t want on the ground at the other side.

“I don’t want them.” Blue Maple rejected her plainly and decisively.

“Eh? No. You’re basically the reason we have everything. Oh, even though I took your items last time…” Blue Snow felt a little embarrassed herself as she spoke.

“But it’s different this time. These are yours,” Blue Snow said, like she was right this entire time.

“Oh? Why?” Blue Maple found her words interesting as he responded with a question.

“Perhaps you don’t want these items because you don’t need them, but the biggest reason must be that you’re lazy!” Blue Snow had a proud look on her face, like she had already seen through everything.

Blue Maple was momentarily stunned and said nothing.

“Heh, heh. I could tell when we were eating. The restaurant’s drink were so tasty, and you clearly wanted more after finishing your drink, but the jug holding the drink was on the other side and you had to get up to grab it, so you ended up glancing at it once and sat back down quietly. The jug was so close, but you were too lazy to even get up to pour. What are you, if not lazy?

“Don’t tell me that you didn’t like the drink. You’re obviously someone who likes to drink beverages, and I dare say that you have many in your bag right now!” Blue Snow detailed Blue Maple’s ‘crimes’ as she beamed proudly, and if she had a tail it would have been arced in the air.

Blue Maple stared at Blue Snow deeply before his expression reverted to an indifferent one.

“And so what if you’re right? Is that worth eight thousand gold coins?” Blue Maple responded plainly. He meant to say that he had casually given her more than eight thousand gold coins, so why would he care about these things?

“Eh? That…” Blue Snow was a little speechless.

“Oh, I do recall that I lent you twenty gold coins before, and you still haven’t returned them to me even after so long.” Blue Maple continued with a smile on his face, an amused look on his face as he looked at Blue Snow.

“Oh… I… You’re so annoying, little gangster!” Blue Snow’s face flushed red as she covered her blushing face in the pile of items. She hadn’t returned those twenty gold coins from before, and she wanted to treat Blue Maple to dinner, but he treated her instead and ended up lending her another eight thousand coins. Blue Snow’s skin wasn’t very thick, and she couldn’t hold her own.

“Keep those items for yourself.” Blue Maple didn’t care about what Blue Snow wanted to do, and handed her a drink that she had never seen before as he turned and headed deeper into the cave.

“Oh.” Blue Snow reached subconsciously to take the drink as white light flashed weakly and the items were placed into her backpack. Blue Snow still had her head lowered, and her cheeks were still blushing.

Blue Maple was about to disappear into the darkness when Blue Snow looked up again.

“Oh… it is tasty. He does have drinks in his backpack, after all. Why don’t I ask him for some? But how do I ask him?” Blue Snow muttered to herself as she followed Blue Maple, who was already using Heavenly Fire to cover himself and light the way for her.

------

Cleave!

Cold Light Slash!

Blue Maple and Blue Snow teamed up to kill an elite-tier spirit wolf, and it dropped two items and a bunch of coins on the ground.

“How long have we been walking, gangster?” Blue Snow still appeared like she had a lot of energy as she picked up the dropped items.

“Thirty minutes.” Blue Maple casually responded, gauging the time that had passed.

They had been killing spirit wolves over the past half hour, but they weren’t as clustered up as before. Blue Maple’s Heavenly Fire had forced the previous groups together; the rest were pieces of cake for them.

They didn’t have much trouble at crossroads through the caves, because they could tell the marks on the ground with one look. The side caves were a little smaller, while Blue Snow was determined not to enter those side caves when she saw spiders on the ground.

“Are we still going to kill the Boss of the spirit wolves? Do you think it’ll be a Rank 65 Spirit Wolf? That should be the strongest wolf in this place, and the items have to be excellent.” Blue Snow was already thinking about the items that killing this Boss would drop.

“No.” Blue Maple’s answer was cold, and he interrupted Blue Snow’s fantasy about the items that killing the Boss would drop.

“Why not? A dungeon like this definitely has a Boss.” Blue Snow was a little confused as she answered.

“If you’re that fellow’s master, what would you do?” Blue Maple asked her a seemingly strange question.

“Eh?” Blue Snow was momentarily stunned, but immediately started thinking.

Yes. The Samurai Warlord’s master stole the jade mirror that he gave to his lover more than one hundred years ago, and has come here to end his own life. Why did he choose this place? Perhaps this place was important one hundred years ago to him and his lover. However, a bunch of spirit wolves have taken over this place. The Samurai Warlord’s master hasn’t slaughtered the spirit wolves here; he was being very merciful.

“Perhaps he doesn’t want to kill the Spirit Wolf King.” Blue Snow had already thought through everything, and was radiating with a little sadness.

A hundred years had gone by, and his lover was no longer here. The present that he had given had fallen into a wealthy merchant’s hands, and had become a treasure unique to the city. A place important to him in the past had also been taken over by a group of wild wolves.

“Perhaps. It’s just the Spirit Wolf King, after all.” Blue Maple spoke plainly, and without a single tinge of sadness. Blue Snow couldn’t tell what he was emotional about before this.

“Alright…” Blue Snow reluctantly admitted reality. Perhaps that person wouldn’t kill the Spirit Wolf King, while the Spirit Wolf King was already treating this place as its territory, and it wouldn’t tolerate any intruders, so…

You were obviously sad back then, but you’re maintaining a plain expression now. Furthermore, you can already tell that the Spirit Wolf King has already been killed for some reason. Why is a person like you still so cold?, Blue Snow thought to herself. She felt increasingly confused about Blue Maple’s personality and thoughts, even though she had already seen through Blue Maple’s lazy nature.

Blue Snow became a little sad, but quickly recovered her image as an energetic and radiant young woman. The cave tunnels became increasingly wide and spacious, while the fluorescent objects lighting the walls were more numerous, lighting up the dark and gloomy cave a lot.

The walls became smooth and glossy, while the cave’s deeper areas weren’t as dark and cold as they had imagined. Instead, the temperature became even higher than before, while they could feel warm winds gusting around them. The reason for all this was clear.

The cave wasn’t closed, and the other side had to open into some other place.

------

They continued forward for another ten minutes, while the fluorescent substances started becoming less numerous. Furthermore, there weren’t any more spirit wolves. It would appear that they were nearing their destination, as the normal spirit wolves didn’t dare come near.

They could already clearly feel the warm winds coming from the outside world. They could see a single ray of light shining on the wall over a corner in front of them, while Blue Maple summoned a single stream of fire. He wasn’t preparing to fight, and was just trying to help his eyes adjust to the light.

They had been in the darkness for too long and would be temporarily blinded if they were suddenly exposed to light. Blue Maple’s action was meant to help them adjust to more light before that.

Blue Maple’s habitual action was a result of daily conditioning, because he had needed to engage in fights and battles where he could lose his life at any moment in real life. The game world was more relaxed, so Blue Maple didn’t behave like he normally did. However, he still had his habits and his instincts and would display them subconsciously.

Blue Snow glanced at Blue Maple, but said nothing. Even though Blue Snow didn’t know whether Blue Maple was a professional killer or something of the sort, she speculated that he was something similar.

They turned the corner and saw what lay beyond.

The end of the cave was a very spacious area; there was another opening at the end of it. A protruding ledge appeared outside this opening, and the skies could be seen filling the horizons. This place was probably a cliff.

There was an elderly man dressed in military attire sitting quietly in the center of their field of vision. He appeared absolutely infatuated as he stroked the jade mirror he was holding.

The man probably wasn’t actually an old man, and just looked old for other reasons. He was wearing a military uniform and appeared extremely valiant. Blue Maple didn’t look at this man’s attributes, and just inched forward as he observed him quietly. Blue Snow followed behind, surprisingly quiet.

The man’s unnatural hoary look didn’t mask his valiant and heroic demeanor. He was muscular, his shoulders were broad, and his skin was a healthy bronze, although he looked a little old with a dash of obsession and calm on his face. His face didn’t match his build. Sinister black vapor rose slowly from his body; Blue Maple knew that this was a sign of demonizing. He had forced many wild monsters to demonize and mutate, and couldn’t be any more familiar with it.

“You must be the ones who killed Little Vic. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you. That’s still better than me killing him with my own hands after demonizing.” The man’s infatuated stare at the jade mirror subsided as he turned to look at Blue Maple and Blue Snow, a faint smile on his face.

“He would probably try to kill me even with his dying breath if I demonized. I would definitely have to kill him if that happened, so this is a great outcome.” The man still had a faint smile on his face, but his smile was radiating an inexplicable sadness.

Blue Maple and Blue Snow said nothing as silence took over.

“Can you listen to me narrate a story?” The man was still staring at them with a faint smile on his face and was pleading with his eyes.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

Blue Maple and Blue Snow answered at almost the exact same time.

The man beamed at them.