Chapter 270: Relaxation

Aurora couldn’t help but sigh and put the reports Liam was sending her about what she had asked for aside.

Then she looked at the young woman sitting on the couch in her office.

Clémentine had come in suddenly and greeted her, but even though she had found out all of a sudden, she didn’t show her emotions.

Unlike the other students, she didn’t cry or get upset. She simply followed her like a little puppy lost in her thoughts.

Right now, it was possible that she was organizing her mind, still disoriented, but at the same time sorting everything out on her own.

Her daze was to such an extent that now Aurora was looking at her and she didn’t feel her gaze.

Aurora understood her because she kept a lot of things to herself and sometimes didn’t speak up to try to solve her problems on her own.

However, the difference was that she herself had her gluttonous sister and Clémentine seemed to have gotten used to solving everything on her own.

Emphasizing her title of perfect student.

“I’m done with my work,” Aurora warned, getting up from her seat.

Actually, there were still a few things to check, but now that this young woman was disoriented, it was necessary for her to get moving.

Clémentine looked at her, coming out of her daze.

“Sorry to disturb.”

Those were the first words out of her mouth, perhaps realizing she was in her office.

Aurora gave her a smile.

“How about we go do something?” Aurora asked curiously and looking at her holographic watch, she commented. “We can do some missions in the protection system... There’s an opening to clear a natural dungeon.”

The protection system log showed her all the tasks that the guilds took and, among them, the mission to clear a natural dungeon was available.

Aurora, without waiting for an answer, quickly took it and signaled Clementine to accompany her, and with her stunned companion, they opened a portal to the basement to go to their destination.

When they arrived, Aurora took some magical beast corpse space rings and passed it to Clémentine, who was still in a daze.

“We’re not going to ask for a cleaning crew and that’s why we have to bring all the corpses and then sell them,” explained Aurora to her partner, who nodded.

As they made their way to the adjoining room, to the training room where the portal was, the young psionic woman stopped.

“Are we going alone?” Clémentine asked, coming to her senses.

“Yes, I don’t think it’s that hard. It’s a B-rank dungeon,” Aurora replied and shrugging her shoulders, she added. “Alice is most likely enjoying her food and reading.”

Liam was working, that was why she didn’t bother him for company and as for her gluttonous sister, she was relaxing.

Besides, the dungeon wasn’t going to be that complicated.

Clémentine donned her gear as she nodded, turning slightly professional as she realized what she was about to do.

She was disoriented, but when a job came along, her more professional and serious side came out, taking over.

Aurora only put on superficial gear because of her combat suit being ruined and her battle armor not being necessary.

“I think I should buy a new outfit,” Aurora muttered as they both entered the portal that had adjusted the coordinates.

After a few steps, space distorted, and the next moment they were near a swamp.

Adding to her mental to-do list updating her equipment, Aurora surveyed the surroundings with some attention.

They had arrived at the entrance of a swamp that looked quite dangerous, leaving several wild animals in plain sight.

Aurora let out pressure from a fighter and made those animals flee as they sensed the fierceness and danger she emanated.

This was the best way to prevent such creatures from suddenly attacking her.

“The dungeon has crocodiles inside. According to the information, the inside is large, so quite a few creatures can be found,” Aurora explained as she flew over and looking at the swamp, she stated. “The most dangerous crocodiles are those with an affinity for water magic, but don’t be fooled. If one of them hits you with its claws, it will be a hard blow.”

It was a single creature type dungeon, but their variety lay in whether they could use magic or whether they focused on agility or strength.

While it was a B-rank dungeon and only creatures of that rank were encountered, the difficulty was not to be underestimated, and more so when Clémentine was an A-rank psionic.

Her body was still weak.

Aurora didn’t use her sword and decided to go melee.

The nice thing about being a fighter was that if she had no armor, there was no problem, since her body was her best defense and attack.

They continued on through the swamp in the direction of the dungeon.

That the dungeon was not reserved was because this place was troublesome to travel in, and not only because of the wild animals but also because of the poisonous snakes and some magical creatures that roamed the area.

To put it another way, the dungeon’s position was in an inconspicuous place where sometimes the danger was greater than the gains.

Moreover, for those who did not have portals of their own like the large guilds, this place was a considerable distance away.

After going deep into the swamp, they both stopped at the sight of a cave in the middle of the swamp.

The cave was spacious enough to let creatures of enormous size emerge from inside, but it gave the feeling that it was a small place inside.

If one didn’t know that dungeons had their own spatial rules that allowed it to have a larger size occupying a small area, then they would be puzzled.

“Are you ready?” Aurora asked curiously.

She was letting out her A-ranked fighter aura and hadn’t used her concept since it wasn’t necessary for a B-ranked dungeon.

Clémentine, who had regained her attention, nodded.

******

What was the best way to relax?

It was hard to say, but Aurora supported the idea of letting all her emotions out through force.

Now Clémentine was doing that with a crocodile, specifically the dungeon boss.

They were deep in the dungeon and she now had a rather large battlefield, as the crocodile was of considerable size.

“GAA!”

That crocodile roared, but that was all it could do as Clementine, using her telekinesis, caught it and lifted it into the air.

There was no doubt that this giant was heavy, but now it was kicking in the air, with no position to assert itself.

It was about six meters long and was a Rank B creature with considerable strength, but with no place to assert itself, its movements were useless.

*Boom!

Clémentine, without letting that creature stay in the air for too long, threw it against the wall, causing a sonorous roar.

The walls of the dungeons were hard, and that was because the magical energy naturally fortified the walls, but when Clémentine moved, the wall cracked.

“GRaaa!”

Even so, the crocodile got up and Clémentine, without hesitation, waved her hand and a great pressure fell on that crocodile’s back.

She could take it out quickly if she used direct psionic attacks, but she was letting off steam now, using the physical force her telekinesis provided.

Generating an intangible force to crush it, then pick it up and throw it against the wall, then throw sharp rocks at it.

Now what she was doing was letting off as much steam as she could.

Pushing out his worry, throwing away her negative emotions and letting out her fear from deep inside her.

Blow after blow, the scales of that crocodile began to fall off until it couldn’t hold on too long.

The crocodile was tough on the outside, but such blows caused internal damage and sometimes its bones cracked... The person who was hitting it was an A-ranked psionic.

A very strong one.

“...”

Everything went silent again as the creature finally died.

“Well, with that, our profits will decrease,” Aurora joked with an amused smile.

Her words woke Clémentine up, but instead of apologizing as she would before she arrived, she laughed softly.

She seemed more relaxed and calm, which made Aurora smile at the sight of her.

“Thank you for this. I needed it,” Clémentine said with a half smile.

Aurora kept the body of the large crocodile in her dedicated creature ring and then gave a glance at that young girl.

“Don’t worry, this is what we friends are for,” Aurora replied, and giving a half smile, she added. “Besides, it’s also good for me to wear a free A-rank.”

Her little joke managed to get another smile out of Clémentine.

It was hard for Aurora to tell what she was feeling and while she knew what it was like to lose people she knew; the difficulty came from Clémentine thinking about something else.

Clémentine was thinking about her future, her actions and her duties... She was thinking about the difficulty of losing someone or the possibility of it.

However, thinking about the possibility was not healthy.

It pushed him to make decisions that could turn out to be wrong and often pushed him away from people who could have changed his life if she let them in.

Maybe it was different in Clémentine’s case, but it wasn’t that far off.

“I’m embarrassed to say it, but I care about them,” Clémentine commented and giving a half smile, she murmured. “True friendships are quite precious.”

The person who was speaking was someone who had a high charisma and managed to attract a lot of people, but she was someone who placed a higher importance on ‘true friendships’.

“I lost my mother a long time ago... It was hard to think that one moment she was there and the next moment she was gone, but it was all cruel. Accepting reality was too painful,” Clémentine explained and giving a half smile as she saw the look on Aurora’s face, she revealed. “That was one reason to become a heroine... To prevent others from suffering the loss of their loved ones.”

Aurora was silent. She could understand her loss. Maybe it wasn’t that deep, but at least it was close to her understanding.

“Once upon a time... Before I came to Africa, it was about getting close to people. Relating to them, and getting close to the people I saved. Then, when I lost them... I tried to stay away from people, avoiding getting hurt again by the people I might lose in the future,” Aurora revealed and giving Clémentine a look, she stated. “I realize now that it’s a mistake.”

Clémentine had opened up, revealing part of her personal life that she may not have told anyone, and she did the same to try to get her to get closer to this young woman.

Before arriving in Africa, Aurora was a heroine who got close to the people she saved, it was true and while she omitted that she took revenge on those who caused so much harm, she did not deny that she had distanced herself from the people.

She had many acquaintances in Zerzura, but in all her history of acquaintances the person she came closest to was Akira and to some extent Cesar.

She stayed away for fear that the future might lose them, but it was a mistake.

That mistake came from the fact that she lost the possibility of meeting new friends, just as she lost the possibility of meeting people who at this moment were no longer with her.

“Making you strong will keep the people you’re trying to save from dying, but it won’t keep the people you care about from putting themselves in danger,” Aurora pointed out earnestly.

If she became strong, she could save more people, of that there was no doubt and it was even certain that she could save her friends in case of need.

However, it wouldn’t stop those loved ones from putting themselves in danger... Like herself.

No matter how strong Clémentine was, Aurora would still move for her ideals and many of those times, putting herself in danger.

It was not about her personal strength, but simply the ideals and the other party’s own thoughts.

In that sense, Clementine was like her gluttonous sister, who wanted to take over everything with only her strength... Even if it meant restricting her in some way.

“I know. However, the only way to be up to the task for when they need help is to be strong,” Clémentine replied with a more determined tone.

Aurora smiled.

Understanding that strength would not rid her of the worst possibilities was the first step to understanding her own goals.

If she wished to become strong, her desire alone was not enough... She needed a deeper motive that would push her to jump that abyss that was S-rank.

“If so, then think carefully about what you wish to do and mainly why you wish to do it. Once you find your goal, focus on it with everything you have,” Aurora advised and giving him a look, advised. “Don’t get lost in the possibilities and the ‘what ifs’.”

Feeling the loss of close was a good way to organize and rethink her goals at the same time it could give her the push she needed.

The important thing was not to get lost in unnecessary questions and to move forward.

“That I will do,” Clémentine replied understanding that Aurora was telling her to aim resolutely for the S rank.

Aurora smiled as she saw Clémentine looking more energetic... Looking full of vitality.

Very different from how she had arrived.