Zairena POV

6:14:08 PM

Hermes and Zairena moved to the next passage where there were some slight chances of encounter from the enemies. There are no enemies sensed nearby but the aroma of corpses from the prison cells winding up in their nose. Zairena closed her eyes as she witnessed the gruesome faith of the deceased except for Hermes, who was almost certain in his action and remained sane in the current path.

Zairena asked to herself who might be this person. Why someone like him who dressed in a weird suit with strange mask, a fashionless and un-trending attire have a courage to save someone from this place? Why is he doing this? - these are the questions she wanted to be answered by him but she was too afraid since she couldn’t question the person that she was just made an acquaintance.

By looking at his eyes, she recalled the person she had interest with. The person she met a long time ago. Suddenly, an image of young unmasked Hermes appeared in her eyes that made her blush. She shook her head, covering her embarrassment.

“What’s happening? Why’d did he suddenly show up in my eyes? Mr. Aljen is not Hermes?” She murmured. Her ears had turned pink even more than before when she called his master’s name.

Gosh…. I hate myself! It is forbidden to make a crush on someone in his caliber. He is definitely not a type of person who will have a courage to go to this kind of dangerous place and placed his life to save his servants, my siblings and other prisoners. And…. Not even me.

When she recalled his master, she clapped her cheeks. She didn’t want to give a strange face to Aljen, to whom she unaware that the person she had interest with was none other than her master, and made him worried.

“I shouldn’t think of him right now. Wait a second, what was the name of the person he’s searching for? I didn’t clearly heard his name but I presumed I already know the name of the person back then. Or am I just trying my best of convincing myself about it that Mr. Aljen and master are the same. No… please….”

As she kept herself engulfed from thinking about her own delusion, a warm and pleasant object touched her shoulder. When she opened her eyes and looked in her right shoulder, a hand was touching it. It is not an object but a part of human body. As she looked at her front, Hermes was apparently looking at her face.

“Are you alright, Ms. Zairena?” he sincerely asked.

“Umm.., uh.., eh...” Zairena couldn’t talk much because of a surprise approach.

“You don’t need to push too hard. It is alright to be too nervous around here. Since we’re separated from the two who are clearly will become a hindrance to this mission, you should remember that you don’t need to think about it. Fear not, I’ll protect you. So, please don’t get too flustered ‘bout it, alright?” Hermes gave a big smile to boost her confidence that was clearly opposed to her feelings.

Eh? Did he misunderstand that I was too nervous and made a conclusion that I was thinking about the condition of our companions? How kind…. But I do hope he knows how we girls think, as well. I wish my master become like him someday except his wrong speculative guess just like Mr. Aljen.

She giggled and covered her mouth, making Hermes appeared confused.

“Mr. Aljen,” she wiped out her tears, “It is not what you think it is. But thank you for giving me courage.” she said.

“Huh?”

“Well, as of now, I am definitely need to think first about our main objective than this unprecedented topic of mine. Now, I’ll take this mission seriously.” she gave him a wryly smile and took a step ahead of him. “Thank you.” she covered his lips when he tried to reply.

Thank you, Mr. Aljen.

Few minutes later, they arrived in a dark and isolated way where nothing but rats and cockroaches showing up from every place. Zairena put her eyes in misery in this kind of place.

What kind of path is this? This is too messy. This need a lot of clean up. Is Mr. Aljen want me to clean this?

“It’s nothing but a bunch of trashes, huh.” he scratched his head and put his right hand under his chin. “Did I mistakenly memorized the wrong way?”

“Is there something wrong, Mr. Aljen?” the young maid asked in sincerity.

“Naah, we’re just having a little bit of trouble right now. But there’s nothing to worry ‘bout it. We barely make it on the exact path…. I guess.” Hermes was beginning to doubt his own words.

“Thank goodness. I thought we’re getting lost. Wait, ” she tilted her head, “Are you implying to say that we’re lost, Mr. Aljen? I hope it’s not what I’m thinking-”

“- well, yeah. Something like that. We’re totally fuck up right now.” Hermes who didn’t care about her own feelings proudly confessed the real crisis. His answer made her even more worried and shook in fear.

“Oh no, how can we possibly be able to save my siblings?” Zairena grabbed his hands, begging to do something. Hermes didn’t blink and flustered in her beauty and extreme cuteness. He remained quiet and seriously looked at her eyes. An eye of a man with a extreme dignity and pride. The young maid closed her mouth and tapped his chest with her right fist. A tap with nothing but a smooth sense touched his heart.

“... Please, I know you have something in your sleeves.”

Hermes held her right hand, and said, “Yeah, we’re lost but you don’t need to be so afraid of losing your little twins just like that. No need to worry about it since I’m just recalling some bunch of traces from the blueprints, I mean from the paintings we recently saw. So keep your face straight up and I’ll try my best… No, I mean, I’ll do my best in order to save yours. We still have a long way to go before we reach their hands. Anyways,” he wiped out her tears, “You’re a heroine of this story so please stop crying or else the main character will try his best to accommodate it and write it in his notes for my crimes.”

Zairena closed her eyes and saw once again the image of her master. The master that saved her before when she was just a little girl. When she opened her eyes, her confidence returned.

Although you said a wonderful phrase in front of me to lessen my fear, what is the meaning of heroine and main character? Is that a new kind of recipe in a menu? But still…

“Thank you once again, Mr. Aljen.” Zairena lowered her hand.

“Nah, it’s nothing. Anyways,” Hermes looked around, “I guess we’re in the right path. Do you remember what I said before?”

“My apologies, but with my level of knowledge and understanding your own theories, this companion of yours has not been able to fully grasp your lecture.” she gently puffed her cheeks in embarrassment.

“Jeez, you - Arrgh, well whatever, no wonder you’re the most naive person in this game.”

Game? Is that kind of a new food that is trending in Italia?

“But I’m not naive. I just cannot follow your own words.” she puffed her cheeks in anger.

“Gosh,” Hermes put his palm in his face. “What am I even saying? You won’t even understand a single words from our meeting but still, you’re the only one I could use in this case.” He took a deep breath. “Listen up, like I said earlier, there’s a lot of secret passage in this place. Like what we encounter last time, we just barely survived and escaped death from the hands of the handler because of the secret chamber. The secret chamber was an administrator’s room covered with bunches of useful maps and blueprints in this site. I memorized every single digits and lines that can lead us to the other prison cells without taking the original route.”

“Aaah, you mean we’re taking a short cut, am I right ‘bout my guess?” she asked.

“Ugh?” Hermes was totally let down from her answer. Hermes was convinced that she literally knew what they were doing all along. “Oh my, it appears you’re really a good and nice girl, afterall. You should put some skill points in your intelligence right now.”

“How rude. Like I said, I lacked of skill to understand an intermediate class of concepts.” Her cute irritated puff cheeks effectively fluster him. But Hermes took a cough and replied with sanity.

“Then, let’s continue once again. We’re taking a safest route in this tunnel whilst we’re preventing the enemies to find our presence. That is why I left those two in order to appropriately avoid us being caught. Do you understand now or should I repeat it one more time in order for you to fully grasp my explanation?”

“No need,” she wryly smiled. “I fully understand your plan.”

“Oh really, repeat it after me.” Hermes was still doubt her own standard.

“We’re taking a short cut, that’s all. Right?”

He sighed and turned around. He returned to his serious analyzation and critically thought about their current location.

“Yeah, that’s it. The key must be here somewhere. Ms. Zairena helped me to clean up this place. We should be able to find that thing. ”

“So, we’re really going to clean this one. Sure, sir. Leave it to me.” she agreed in excitement. She moved in front of the place and asked for him to step aside.

“Please leave it to me. I’m professionally good in this kind of work, sir.”

“Ooh, go ahead. What are you going to use then?” Hermes mockingly said.

Zairena closed her eyes and casted her spell. Hermes appeared to see that she was using a non-chanting spell in her brain.

Oh, the God of all gods, please give me the strength and power to guide us in the right path. Please let us found happiness and joy in this kind of place. Remove all the sins from this world and let your followers defeat the devil.

Hermes saw two huge blocks forming in opposing matter. He deliberately kicked the rat that was running near him. His smirk made the rat scared and stayed in its place.

“[Splash]” In one clapped, the trashes and the poor little things were pinched into pieces. There bodies were absorbed by the huge hands and when it disappeared only a clean and dust-free path appeared.

“Done.” she sighed in relief.

“Good job, ” he patted her shoulder. “Now, ” he stretched up his arms and cracked his neck from left to right. “We could find the key this time.”

“What kind of key are we looking for? Is it the same key what we found earlier?” she put her index finger in her lips.

“Naah, it’s nothing more complicated than that. No need to worry. This time it is exactly an ordinary key that can be easily find by some random guess. It is something that can be easily see by the likes of you.”

Zairena found something. A shining object behind rat corpse.

“You mean that thing, the shining one.” she pointed at it.

“Woah, you really find it quickly. As expected by a naive girl like you, you’re really competent support. But still that thing is too suspicious. That corpse should’ve be wiped out by your magic and have a blood on it.” Hermes suspected the body and scanned it carefully. “Oh, found it.”

He put to his right palm the silver shining object. It resembled a large fece, making Hermes annoyed.

“What is that? Although I was a training maid, I haven’t seen something like before.”

“Yeah, it is the weirdest thing I ever seen. Damn it, I blame the staff members of our gaming company of making this kind of object and added this kind of lame set in this site.” Hermes mumbled in excessive irritation.

He is saying some words I can’t even understand. Maybe, merchants has a lot of things they have learn from their journey. Maybe, he is referring to the stuffs? I should probably read more books like my master.

“Hey...” Hermes fluck her forehead; she covered the pain part. “You’re losing focus again. What the hell are you thinking inside your brain, huh?”

“My apologies, ” she lowered her head, making Hermes irritated. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Just shut it, will ya. Anyways, this object in my hands is a key to this path. Now, we need to find the door. Help me find the door. Find something that has a hole.”

“There it is!” she pointed at the left part.

“What? You find it in an instant? Jeez, anyways, good job.” Hermes couldn’t believe what he witnessed. Although she was a simple minded person, she had a quick and accurate eyesight.

“You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure to be useful to you, sir.”

When Hermes put the poof-resembled key inside the hole, something triggered behind the wall. The wall was divided into two and slowly separated from opposite direction. A new path appeared in front of their eyes.

“Now then, let’s continue our journey. Let’s move.”

“Follow through, sir. Lead the way.” She gave him a big smile. A smile of a cute and beautiful angel approached an unworthy monster. That monster was the young Hermes who was destined to become the fated nemesis against the protagonist and his party.