Mia approached the two who were in the middle of a conversation, both facing the dungeon’s brick entrance.

“You will not have to go very far in, the skill orbs spawn in chests scattered about.” Athena spoke, a servant approaching her with a stack of documents “Do not try and clear the dungeon, it is important to the country, after all.” She took the documents, looking them over before snapping her fingers. In front of her a desk and chair were placed.

“Got it, go in, find the orb, get out… are you really not going?” John asked, watching the princess take her seat.

“I will not.” The princess said “Speaking plainly, I have enough on my plate already. If all of my trusted servants were not already busy, I would not even be here, but someone has to make sure you do not get into trouble.” Another servant came over and placed a stack of documents on her desk “Luckily I am able to keep in contact with them from here… but I ask you do make this quick, it is for the sake of your slave.”

John nodded “Yeah, I understand. I’ll go and get-“

“Here.”

“Woah!” John leaped in surprise “When did you… oh well, so you heard the princess isn’t coming with?” John asked and Mia nodded “Good, it’s sad we won’t have her healing magic or spells for support but… let’s get to it!”

Mia nodded again, sneaking a glance towards Athena who was busily overlooking documents, writing things down on a new parchment, and then handing them to another servant who brought the new documents to a third carriage in the back. Mia watched it briefly, wondering just what was going on but she knew better to ask. She had to play the subservient slave for just a bit longer, just as long as she was in front of Athena.

The pair then entered the dungeon, past the entrance the bricked surfaces continued, again Mia thought it looked unnatural, but she assumed that is what a dungeon was like. The light emitting from an unknown source, keeping the dungeon lit despite no obvious signs of a torch also helped with that idea.

After awhile of walking straight the entrance was no longer visible from behind them, it was at this time John spoke up “We will finally get you the ability to read your status, I’m excited.” John stopped “Hopefully we will find out your titles and if you have a hidden skill, I’m very interested to see the reason behind what I can see.”

Mia looked away from him, if she had a choice she wouldn’t tell him, but despite this she was also looking forward to fully understanding her status. “Mn…do I have to tell?” She asked, glancing up towards him.

“Ah, no… you don’t have to if you don’t want to but… we are companions after all.” John said with a nervous laugh.

“Will tell me yours?” She asked, not looking away from his face as he nervously tried to avoid eye contact.

“Ah well… maybe…I mean sure I will! But what if people capture you and force you to tell them…So I think it might be best if I don’t tell you…”

“Hmm…” Some companion…

Deciding it wasn’t worth pressing him or pointing out the hypocrisy, the two approached a crossroad that split into three different directions. This is where Mia’s training paid off and Mia stepped forward, it was time for her to take the lead. “Careful.” Mia warned, they were now in the dungeon proper and would start encountering the dangers that would come with it. While the dungeon they were in right now wasn’t particularly dangerous, Rowan had taught her even the simplest of traps could mean the death of a high-ranking adventurer.

She crouched down slightly as she walked ahead of John, making sure the center of the crossroads was safe. Rowan had taught her several different ways on how to tell if an area was trapped, from floor triggers, faded magic circles, trip wires, pressure pads, everything that he could think of with his experience. Sadly, he hadn’t shown her that many examples, just told her what to look for. Still from what she could see, hear, and sense the area in front was clear.

John followed behind “Cute…” He mumbled, watching Mia’s ears twitch and her serious expression as she inspected the floor “I Don’t think you have to be that on guard Mia.” He said, walking in front of her “This dungeon shouldn’t be that hard and we can’t keep the princess waiting.”

Mia looked up, John had already started down a path “Wait, didn’t check it!”

“Relax.” John said, turning around to face her while walking backwards “It’s fine, it’s fine” he waved her off “I am the hero, besides…” He stopped, raising his foot behind him he tapped the ground with the tip of his metal boots, the entire floor behind him flipped open revealing a pitfall.

“How…?” Mia was dumbfounded, how did he know that was there?

To answer this, John took out a large piece of parchment and unraveled it, revealing the scribbles, no, a map to Mia. He chuckled “This place has already been conquered; they just use it to farm skill orbs. Athena got me a map.” Smiling widely John waved the map in the air.

Feeling her face redden Mia huffed, she felt like all her training was wasted, plus even if he had that map couldn’t he at least let her find on of the traps on her own?

“Oh, don’t worry. This just means we can find the orb faster; it even has…”

Not wanting to hear it any longer, Mia dashed, running up to John and jumping up and yanking the Map away from his grasp. She then leaped back to the center of the crossroads, holding the map away from him “I am the scout, I’ll lead.” She said, not willing to budge on this. She would not have her training go to waste, especially not for John to steal her moment.

Taken aback by this, John looked towards his empty hand, clasping it a few times “o..ok?” he looked at her in surprise.

Mia focused on the map, while knowing she was pushing her luck a bit, but she had good reason to believe John didn’t care too much about how she acted. If Athena was with them then what she just did was out of the question, but as of right now she had to get as much practice and experience as she could. She breathed in deeply, calming herself as she read the map.

She could tell the more detailed lines was the floor layout, finding the entrance and where they were at easily, however her comprehension stopped there. She frowned, looking at the lines separated from the layout that led to grouped up scribbles. She really needed that skill, but regardless… looking at where they were and comparing it to the path John walked down, she found there was a group of words next to a circled part of the map, using this as reference…

“Hey now, careful. I realize I may have made you mad… somehow… but you know you can’t read that.”

She ignored him and looked down another path then compared it to the map, another area was circled. She walked to it and inspected where she believed the circled area of the map was, looking closely she saw a slightly elevated brick. Carefully she knelt and pressed it, causing the floor in front of her to open, another pitfall. With this she confirmed it and would be able to point out the traps with this.

John was once again stunned “You… cannot read… right?” he asked.

She shook her head, standing up with the map in front of her. Knowing there was something like this made her want that skill orb even more. She also remembered the documents Athena had… if she could read, she could have gotten a lot of information… maybe something to help her find her sister… maybe. She looked at the map, reconfirming the layout of the path ahead she started walking, not minding the hero behind her.

“Hey! Wait up!” John yelled after her as he ran to catch up. “Jeez, what is with you today.” He sighed once he caught up to her “Guess you really are excited.”

Mia slightly smiled, side stepping a trap, that was an understatement. It was the first thing she was looking forward to in years. Her excitement was halted when she heard movement up ahead “Monsters.” She said, John getting ready immediately. While she didn’t have presence detection yet, hearing things in this quiet dungeon was a lot easier than in a loud forest.

“What is it?” his weapon in hand john asked.

“Don’t know.” Mia rolled up the parchment and stuck it to her belt behind her, unholstering her dagger. She listened in, hearing the steps, in this quiet dungeon she could make out it was either a beast with 6 legs, or 3 creatures… or one creature with 4 legs and another with 2…two creatures with 3 legs? How would they walk…

Mia shook her head; she was distracting herself. It didn’t matter what it was, they would kill it and move on. At the ready, the two watched as a group of goblins seemingly chatting amongst themselves round the corner, noticing the two immediately they let out a series of grunts and growls.

“Tsk, just goblins, this will be easy.” John raised his sword, the tip clanging on the dungeons ceiling “Lets go Mia!” He shouted, charging forward.