How to Suck Honey at a Warrior’s Party

I couldn’t hide my excitement after that.

BANG!

Saak-! Kugung!

With a straight face, the warrior continued to defeat the traps that popped up all over the dungeon.

“Isn’t it hard?” and “You’re amazing, cutting down all those arrows in one shot,” were some of the things I said to him, but he only said thank you.

Then came the rock golem, which must have been made in ancient times.

This time, I really didn’t think he could handle it on his own; a golem would be stronger than a slime, and even a golem that was “ancient” and made with an unknown “technology” was a rock golem, the hardest of all.

Most naturally, I thought, I’d try to use magic on it, unbeknownst to him. I tried to think of a spell that would look like a sword cut.

He swung his arm once. The tip of the blade glinted for a moment.

Silence descended on the long corridor. The knife, swung once and then brought down, looked so ordinary. I rolled my eyes dizzily, wondering what it had cut and if it had even touched the golem.

Suddenly, I wondered why the rock golem wasn’t moving.

Kugugung-!

A thin diagonal line sliced through the golem’s body, and the rock golem collapsed. The line that sliced through the golem was the same as the trajectory of the sword wielded by the warrior.

“Have you been waiting long?”

Wow, that was fantasy.

No matter how sure I was that I was in a book, I hadn’t known anything about this place for over twenty years.

I knew it was a ridiculous world by the standards of my previous life, but I hadn’t realized it. I could recite the ‘rules of fantasy fiction’ off the top of my head, but I’d never really felt the ‘fantasy’ itself. This was especially true because I was a mage.

When I realized that ‘magic’, which I thought was the most fantastical thing, was the result of a lot of research, like in my previous life, I was able to accept anything.

As someone who had studied magic, it made sense to me. There was a formula, there was a process by which the formula was created, and there was a hell of a time to create the process.

But it wasn’t swordsmanship. I didn’t understand it at all, and I couldn’t see why a simple action would have such a devastating result, but I’d conceited myself that a four stars was acceptable.

I couldn’t help myself and asked him a question.

“Warrior… didn’t you say three stars?”

“Ah.”

‘Ah?’ I was about to blurt out.

“Is that….”

Seeing that he was avoiding his eyes, I forced myself to look at him. I’d have to tell him, even if it was under pressure.

“I guess you’re getting better.”

He chuckled, a laugh that sounded like it wasn’t there. I swallowed hard, wanting to nod my head in agreement. I spat out the question.

“How much?”

“Um, one… four stars?”

Oh my gosh!

After a brief confrontation, we walked slowly down the street again.

Thinking about it, it was because I wasn’t in a position to say anything to him. I even felt sorry for him, thinking that he had the same reasons for hiding his skills as I did. I felt like a wannabe extra who couldn’t be an extra. I wondered how much weight the title of ‘warrior’ would carry if he had the same reasons as me.

“Where do you think Reg and Herrin are?”

Thanks to the spirits, I didn’t have to worry about getting lost at the forks in the road, but I’d been walking too long. I hadn’t realized the scale of the place before we entered, and I was getting nervous. The spirits had lost their temper and were calling for a mage to help them. What if the situation was too dire?

I could still feel the wind at my back.

“I’ve been hearing horses around the far end.”

The warrior said. Now that he was so advanced, he didn’t seem to be trying to hide it. It was impossible to tell what had changed in the warrior’s mind.

Was it the shock of being attacked by magi and having nightmares? However, magi were a rare substance before the rise of the demons. It took about forty failed experiments in a magic tower before some was produced.

No wonder a warrior wielding a sword on a Moroccan estate was having trouble coping.

“How long have you been hearing it?”

“Maybe half an hour ago.”

The answer was hard to ignore. I raised my eyebrows.

For a moment, I’d forgotten how unexpected the warrior’s skills were. I’d been terrified of what magi might have done to the dungeon until we’d entered it, and now my sense of urgency was gone.

“Are you okay, Cylon? I don’t think there’s any magi here….”

Come to think of it, he was strange, too. Perhaps it was because he had absorbed so many magi from the protective spells, he had cast too late. He was a kind and true leader, and he was walking so leisurely. I thought I should check on him after we left the Horn Mountains.

“I’m fine, Mohan. I’m more worried about Reg and Herrin than I am about myself. I was stupid and forgot to tell them….”

“….”

“I think this dungeon might be under the influence of magi, because the candles here are apparently kept alive by magi, and as you’ve seen, magic and magi have as many differences as they do similarities, which is why they fight each other and….”

I started to explain excitedly, but quickly stopped myself. I couldn’t do something like Kassel.

I was going to demotivate!

“Don’t worry, Cylon. Those voices you’re hearing on the other end of the line aren’t screams. Um… although I do think the dungeon was affected by magi.”

Unfortunately.

The warrior muttered, looking around the long corridor. There hadn’t been a trap in the long corridor since the Rock Golem, and there was no way a dungeon made of bone could have such an inefficient long corridor.

Spatial distortion again? Damn it.

“Spatial distortion, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Shuffling.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, shadows growing in the direction of the flickering candlelight.

Shouldn’t we be hearing screams at this point in a horror-thriller film, I thought absentmindedly.

“It’s bad, the spirit seems to be lost.”

“…What?”

The warrior said something even more terrifying than the screams. It stood still and looked up at him. The candlelight created a dark stain on his face.

“…The spirits keep pushing at our backs, don’t they?”

“Um… the wind keeps blowing sideways, doesn’t it?”

This time, the warrior couldn’t relax, and I could see his throat clearing. There was a moment of silence.

I listened. Whistle, I caught the sound of the wind. The wind was blowing, yes. I just didn’t know where it was blowing.

It was a conundrum. My senses seemed to have gone haywire, but I wasn’t sure if it was due to the magi or if it was a feature built into the dungeon.

“Oh, well, then maybe those voices I’m hearing, Reg and Herrin’s, aren’t coming from the other end.”

Concluded the warrior, who quickly understood the situation.

Lost, season 2 is back. All too soon.

“How long do you think it will be?”

“Well, at least not before we starve to death.”

“Reg’s kind of positive.”

“I am. I can’t do mercenary work if I’m not positive.”

“You seem to love your job a lot.”

“So are you.”

“Of course.”

Reg and Herrin sat with their backs against the wall. They were in a small room. The floor was padded with fluffy straw, and they were surrounded on all sides by stone walls.

Herrin glanced up. There was a square hole in the ceiling of the room, and they fell through it to the ground below. If the floor hadn’t been lined with straw, and if the spirits hadn’t helped them, they would have broken in several places. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

They asked a sylph who could sense Cylon’s magic to summon Cylon and the warrior.

The only thing left for them to do was wait. The only good thing was that it wasn’t dark in the room. The only light in the room came from the treasure chest in the center of the room.

They hadn’t touched it until just before they fell into it because they had been talking about a monster called a mimic that was said to be frequent in the dungeon. But the light was divine. Especially since it was in the dark and full of straw. It was, therefore, ironically off-putting.

Not to be deterred by the treasure chest, Herrin spoke to Reg.

“Do you know the endgame?”

“…Isn’t that what children do when they’re learning to talk?”

“Uh-huh! There’s no age limit on the final word.”

“…I see.”

“Well, let’s go! Everyday life!”
(TL/N: 하루살이)

“Moving…?”
(TL/N: 이사)

“Be confident, Reg! Hunting!”
(TL/N: 사냥)

“He’s crueler than I thought. Very.”
(TL/N: 생각보다 잔인한 사람이었어. 아주)