*Step, step, step...*

A little closer...just a few more steps...

*Step, step, splat...*

"Huh? Webs?!" - Intruder

GOT HIM!

The idiot got himself stuck in my birdlime (webbing, but what's the difference) and is a sitting duck! I prepared my web bombs...only to see I was too late!

Sure, the jerk is holding a lantern, but I thought he would hesitate a little before throwing it at the birdlime (webbing) to burn it off. I never expected that he would FREEZE the birdlime (webbing)! How did he even do that?!

"Who's there?!" - Jerk

Grr, now or never! Web bombs, coming up!

I threw the bundle of webs infused with [Poison Balls], a new technique I'd developed while feeling bored in the city, The super-jerk swept them away with the polearm thing he was holding, and some blue mist around it caused my web bombs to turn into snow bombs-, er, snowballs-, no, that's not right... They turned into ice cubes! ...I failed again.

Argh, whatever! I got more where that came from, and I don't need a stupid lantern to act inside this cave!

The mega-jerk had grabbed one of the ice spheres (I got it right!) and threw them towards where I had been just a few moments ago, but sorry~. I'm not stupid enough to stay in one location. I know the basics of guerilla warfare.

While silently circling the giga-jerk, I kept my Magic Eyes on him. Even status ailments can become a mountain when you pile up enough of them!

The tera-jerk kept on trying to look for me with his lantern, but I kept a reasonable distance from the light. When I saw the chance, I threw some [Darkness Daggers] at him, but they were repelled just as with the poisoned web bombs before. The daggers didn't freeze though, but their attack power is too low. I need to consider increasing my attack power sooner rather than later.

"Alright, I am tired of this game. Of course, I get tired of many things easier, but that is no excuse. Therefore..." - Tera-jerk

What is that peta-jerk doing now?

"I surrender!" - Peta-jerk

...HUUUUHH!?

*Clatter*

"Over there...oh." - Exa-jerk

While I was too surprised over the exa-jerk's sudden and surprising course of action, I'd stopped in my tracks so hastily that I'd kicked some stones off the floor, which allowed the ultimate-jerk to notice me. Was that stunt just now an act to cause this chain reaction? ...No, that can't be right. But this is troublesome...

"Aren't you the girl who almost crashed into the docks before?" - Dock Guard A

Yup. It's the same jerk who scolded me for I-don't-know-how-long the day I first came to town! Now, how am I supposed to dish out some more payback for back then now that he's seen my face...

Not that I was given much time to think about it as some loud, rumbling-ish sounds could be heard from back at the cave depths...again...holy hell! Mira!

"Hey, wait!" - Dock Guard A

I ignored the ultima-jerk and ran back to the giant "Trial Doors", or whatever I should call them. And there was Mira...beaten half to death. THAT IDIOT!

"Hey...I got a little cocky..." - Mira

"Shut up and lay down!" - Garami

Oh no, oh no, oh no! She's wounded all over! Her HP...good! Still a good 30+...but the wounds will make that run empty in no time!

I still have some of the HP potions from the Water-Knot quests rewards on me, so I took all that I had left in my storage and poured them on Mira's wounds. Come on, come on...!

......*Phew*. They worked. Mira's wounds are starting to close. Her HP is also recovering. Thank god..., or not. The god(dess) I know of is far from something you should put your faith in. It will just end up with getting thrown into another Dungeon.

"What are you... Honestly, what is going on here?" - Dock Guard A

Aaaaaand there's still this guy. How fantastic.

I was about to tell him to get lost, but the ex-guard got ahead of me by taking out some medicines from his backpack and handing them to me.

"Here. Potions work for recovering one's health, but when compared to proper medicines, they are not that useful when it comes to healing one's wounds." - Dock Guard A

Okay...... To be safe, let's Identify this goop... It's safe!

"Thanks..." said Mira as she accepted the ointment from the former guard. After she did...I removed my scythe from my storage and aimed its business end at the guard.

"Now, why are you here?" - Garami

"Whoa-!? Right away with the threats!?" - Dock Guard A

"Speak up. Don't dare come with a 'this is just a coincidence' gag at this point of the game." - Garami

"Gag? There is no other explanation than I came here to fish." - Dock Guard A

......Fishing?

---

Later, after Mira's condition had stabilized enough for her to start demanding dinner, we prepared a campfire inside the cavern to not attract any wild monsters to our dinner table.

After that was done...we started to interrogate the intruder...is what I wanted to do. Still, we had to settle with just hearing the dock guard's story normally. Tch.

"So, you quit your job after the whole incident with the fake entry passes and are now working as an adventurer. Is that right, Mr... Holfrey?" - Mira

"Loxley. Alfred Loxley. But everyone calls me Alf." - Alf

"If you say so. But why quit? It's not something I should say, but this business isn't exactly fair or have a stable income. Wouldn't it be better to keep your guard job?" - Mira

True. Adventurers only get paid if they clear quests or bring back valuable information or monster materials on their adventurers. And all of that isn't certain that you'll obtain. Not to mention the dangers to one's life. Sure, being a guard may endanger your life to a certain degree more than, say, being a baker or a shopkeeper. But an adventurer has it way worse, seeing as they must most often leave the city and all the safety it provides to go on adventurers.

"Yes, normally that would be right. However..." - Alf

"However?" - Mira

"Due to the last incident..." - Alf

"Yes?" - Garami

"The guard captain...decided to increase the training regime for the guards so such outlandish levels!!" - Alf

.........Hmm?

"Why's that a reason for quitting?" - Mira

"Yeah. Being a guard is a strenuous line of work normally. I don't see the difference-" - Garami

"Would you say the same if the training hours got increased from 10 total hours in a week to the same amount for every day?" - Alf

"Uuuuuuuhhhh...." - The two lazy girls

Yeah, I'd quit. Or die. Or kill the captain, then take my own life. When are they supposed to get some guard stuff done?

"Back in my old hometown, I was always swamped with work and bad luck. Enough to give me an almost instinctive dislike to too hard work." - Alf

"Meaning, you don't dismiss hard work as unimportant, but you can't stand having to be forced to have too much of it? Isn't that a natural stance?" - Mira

"Yes. I guess you could call me a little permanently burned out..." - Alf

If you want to be poetic, you could say this guy's in a permanent work-related slump.

"Therefore, being an adventurer is a much better fit for me. I can work whenever I like. For better or worse, my trialing childhood did leave me a little more experienced when it comes to fighting for my life. Fighting off some monsters or gathering materials would be easy compared to those days." - Alf

"Good luck then. And is your first assignment a fishing request?" - Mira

Right, I was also curious about that. That statement from before, and the fact that Alf has some mad fishing gear sticking out from his backpack, all point to the fact that he should be on a sea..., lake-related quest-

"Oh, this? No, I am just taking a little vacation." - Alf

"ALREADY?!" - Garami

"Yes. I did clear enough quests to obtain a fund for my fishing vacation. And the talk of my former colleagues that have been living in this country for a long while said that the cliffs close to this cave used to be an incredible fishing spot before the Great Drought, so curiosity got the better of me." - Alf

"Now I see. Then you didn't have anything to do with the Extra Trial?" - Mira

"Extra-what-now?" - Alf

"Nothing. Just some quest-related stuff we're busy with." - Mira

Well, a quest is an adventurer's way of working, so calling our expedition here to strengthen ourselves a quest isn't...exactly a lie...perhaps...maybe...

"That is fine. No need to tell me if the circumstances prevent you from it. But I think your little fairy friend over there needs some help." - Alf

I did ask Bloom to check out the control panel after Mira was healthy enough to explain to herself why she did something as crazy as trying the "Dangerous mode" when she went to the trial. Turns out that she DID indeed fix the controls so she would be taking the Trial on safety mode, but for some reason, she still played with the fire.

And now it seems that Bloom wants me to come over. This Alf-guy doesn't seem like a bad guy, or at least not someone who would try to attack us when we're not keeping an eye on him. Rather, he has no reason for doing so. That's why I left him and Mira around the campfire while I went to see what that little fairy wanted.

"By the way, is the little lady one of the rumored Knockers?" - Alf

"That's Garami's assistant." - Mira

"I see. How rare to see a Fae now these days." - Alf

Sorry, but she's neither a Knocker nor any Fae at all.

"What's up?" - Garami

"After analyzing this console to the best of my abilities, I can only conclude that someone booby-trapped it." - Bloom

"A booby-trap? Why and how could they have done that?" - Garami

"There are no definite clues as to how they did it, but I would guess they used some sort of Curse-based skill to cause the machine to mistake the input." - Bloom

As in, the gizmo's "danger and safe" options have been switched so it's "safe and danger" now? Like some jerk that has inverted the direction controls of a game that you're playing?

Damn, that's a cheap trick. And I didn't notice it even with my [Evil Eye of Dark Sight]! Then again, they may have used a skill from a different attribute than Curse, or any of the other Gloom-type attributes. Or they are damn good with stealth as well.

But to think it is possible to mess with System-controlled articles like that. ...Or, maybe it's not that strange? Knowing that there are goddesses like a certain one working with the World System, it would be stranger for there not to be any abilities to mess up with otherwise failproof and trustworthy System functions. I've even read that some skills and items falsify Identification results! And I want something like that!

"And as for why they did this, I think they want this Trial Area to be a secret. Or at least to make people stay away from it." - Bloom

"How did you figure that out?" - Garami

"It's simple. This area has run out of aether after Mira's attempt and has turned non-functional because of that." - Bloom

......Huh!?

"Hey, how's that possible!?" - Garami

"I am not sure, but an overuse of the Area may have caused a temporary drought of the nearby aether." - Bloom

"As if there are so many Extra Medals to allow that around here!" - Garami

"Medals? Like this one?" - Alf

I turned around after hearing Alf speaking up and saw that he had...a certain coin-looking thing in his hand.

"...It's an Extra Medal. No doubt about it." - Mira

Mira gave her judgment as she tossed the medal she'd been given by Alf to me. Yeah, this is the real deal. It seems to be a Bat-type.

"Where did you get this?" I asked Alf as I returned the medal to him.

"I found it hidden in the dust at the entrance. Somebody must have dropped it when they visited this cave before. It was pure luck that made me find it." - Alf

...For real? Someone dropped an Extra Medal and didn't bother to look for it? ...Is that because they had a boatload of them to the point where one medal disappearing wouldn't make much of a distance?

I think we've stumbled over yet another mystery here. And something is telling me that it has something to do with where we obtained our medals. Oh boy...