Chapter 34. The Reason Wings Rot in the Cave (2)

The central and southern regions had fertile plains along the great river. The temperature and humidity created an ideal environment for living, allowing high-quality fruits and vegetables to grow in abundance.

Monsters couldn't set foot in such places. Before the Dark Lord's descent, it had been a distant dream for them to even attempt it. Areas near rivers, rich in resources and fertile land, solely belonged to humans. These were places where the moonlight was soft and flowers bloomed beautifully.

Thud.

I heard something fall while I was lost in thought. It was the sound of Rena plopping onto a blanket. Soon, her light breaths softly echoed within the hall.

Is she asleep?

I quietly observed the woman. She didn't seem to be pretending to sleep. She had been hanging in the spider web for three days and nights, so she hadn't eaten or slept properly.

I placed another layer of the adventurers’ travel blanket over her. I had plenty of time to think about this woman, so I quietly reconsidered my decision to accept her. I believed my judgment was not wrong.

Moving toward my goal alone would come with many limitations. First, I needed someone who understood humans. The ones I would kill soon were also humans, and those I would kill in ten or twenty years would be humans called heroes.

Hmm.

Rattle.

In truth, I also had the thought of trying to find a companion. I had failed to make Rubia a companion. Before that, I had rattled around aimlessly for twenty years. Excluding my master, I had no one I could call a companion.

Adventurers who entered the dungeon called each other companions, but I didn't have such a thing. I didn't have someone who would even hold my hand, let alone someone who would die trying to save me. I stared at the sleeping woman, wondering if she could become a companion.

Rattle.

I shook my head. We might be able to stay together for a while, but she wasn't a companion. It was too much to use such a familiar term. The woman willingly spoke to me out of a sense of kinship, but I still felt a sense of distance between us.

I could listen to the strange things this woman said and observe what she did. But I couldn't understand her heart, nor would I be able to in the future. I was certain that she would be useful, but I wasn’t so sure about her reliability.

While I was lost in my thoughts, a system message popped up.

Ding!

The familiar, light-hearted sound rang out, just like always.

[B-rank Scenario, Rena's Story, is starting.]

[Help her become the T&T Guild Branch Manager! The Ally in the Dark scenario will be activated.]

[Don't be complacent with her high affection! She could betray you at any time.]

It was an amusing message. My neck rattled as I let out a small chuckle. I thought it was considerate of them to let me know so much. The information wasn't particularly unwelcome.

She can betray me at any time?

I thought of it as a helpful warning. After all, I was a skeleton. Even forming a relationship where a human could betray me was difficult. Betrayal and conspiracies were things that happened to humans, not skeletons.

I looked at the sleeping woman. She was sleeping deeply, her breathing steady.

[B-rank Scenario, Rena's Story, is starting.]

I reached out and touched the sparkling letters that spelled Rena.

Ding!

[Name: Rena

Thief Lv. 5

Health: 13

Strength: 11

Agility: 17

Wisdom: 11]

[Affection: 11

— Rena feels a sense of kinship with you.]

[Basic Skills:

— Unlock by increasing Affection.]

[Perks:

— Unlock by increasing Affection.]

[Titles:

— Unlock by increasing Affection.]

It seemed that without increasing her Affection, I wouldn't be able to see her basic skills, perks, or titles.

But when did her Affection increase?

I hadn't done much, yet her Affection toward me was eleven. She was a woman whose motives I could not grasp.

Rena's abilities were decent. Humans varied greatly as individuals. Some were born with ridiculous strength, and some grew at an astonishing pace. I couldn't see her perks or titles yet, but Rena clearly had talent. If she leveled up quickly, she might soon surpass me.

If there ever came a time when I had to kill her, or if I wanted to kill her, I needed to choose that moment carefully.

I looked at the sleeping woman with cautious eyes.

***

"

Hmm...

"

Rena slowly woke up, and she looked at me with a sleepy expression. Despite appearing capable of sleeping for the next five years, she woke up in less than a day. She had been buried in a deep, dreamless slumber.

She turned over and sat up. Then she let out a sigh and searched for something in her pocket.

I realized my mistake and felt a bit uneasy. She might have some dangerous weapon hidden on her. Humans could have all kinds of special and extraordinary weapons. There were even portable bombs.

If she took out a bomb hidden somewhere in her pocket and threw it, I would be blown away. My entire skeleton would be shattered, and even if I didn't die, I would certainly lose the woman.

Perhaps I had been too careless. Until now, I had never searched the body of a living human, neither Rubia nor Rena. I had no idea what they had or were hiding. It seemed I had been needlessly polite, unknowingly adhering to expectations no one had from me.

I tightened my grip on my sword and readied myself to sever her neck at any moment, but it turned out to be pointless. Rena rummaged through her pocket leisurely, and what she took out didn't seem to be a weapon.

"

Um...

"

Rena extended her hand toward me.

There was a small trinket with a string in her hand. It looked old and crude. At the center of a crossed design was a small cubic stone.

Rena said, "This is my mother's pendant."

"A pendant?"

"Yes."

A pendant was an ornament worn around the neck, usually with a jewel in the middle. This one looked like a string with a purple cubic stone. The cubic stone had lost its luster and the edges seemed somewhat worn.

It didn't seem like something sold anywhere, not even in an antique shop. Her saying it was her mother's pendant didn't seem like a lie, but even if it were genuine, it didn't hold any meaning for me.

"Why give me something like this?"

"It's a token of trust. Even though you released me, I thought it might still be hard for you to trust me completely."

I thought it was a ridiculous statement. Trust was a deeply subjective feeling that rose from the heart. No object could ever be a token of it. I didn't take the pendant. If I were to trust her, I could do so without her giving me a single leaf.

"No."

"What?"

"I said no."

Rena hesitated. From how she held the pendant, it seemed like it held considerable meaning to her. She looked somewhat troubled.

"This pendant... it's real..."

"If I choose not to trust, even a bottle with a heart in it won't make me believe you." Thinking it wasn't worth it, I continued while clenching my teeth, "Let's just use each other as long as it's helpful."

Even as I spoke, I realized I wasn't sure what kind of relationship I wanted with the woman in front of me. Unlike the feelings I had for my master or Rubia—whose death I had witnessed multiple times—I had no desire to protect her.

Of course, I didn't trust her as an individual either. It was absurd to think that a woman who had no qualms about killing her own kind wouldn't stab me in the back. For now, I wanted to use her. I wanted to provide what she wanted and receive what I wanted in return. Perhaps that was fine instead of soft feelings like trust or the desire to protect. Or maybe...

"

Haha...

"

While I was lost in thought, the woman chuckled softly in front of me despite my rejection.

"This really does seem foolish, right?"

Her face was bright. She put the pendant back into her pocket. At that moment...

Ding!

[Rena's Affection has increased by 3.]

[Current Affection: 14]

She was a woman whose Affection increased in response to strange events.

I changed the subject.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thanks to you. Which dungeon should we go to first?"

"Let's go by rank."

"Then I'll set the next destination to be the Dry Underground Cemetery. Shall we prepare?"

"Do we need to prepare?"

"To be honest, if I’m with you, there probably isn't much we need to prepare."

The Dry Underground Cemetery was an E-rank dungeon. Going to a D or C-rank dungeon would yield more experience points, but it was safer to progress step by step.

Should we go there now?

However, something else was on my mind. Something had been changing whenever I mended the bones of skeletons in this dungeon and killed invading adventurers. I still didn't know what Dungeon Affinity was.

What purpose does Dungeon Affinity serve? What does it mean?

I quietly recalled everything up to this point. When the affinity had increased by 5%, there was a dungeon alert. It displayed who had entered the dungeon and alerted me of intruders. If it increased by 10% or 20%, something else might've been given.

Rena cleared her throat beside me. "

Uh

,

ahem

. What are you thinking about?"

I realized I had been lost in thought, neglecting her for too long. I had left her hanging in a web for three days, and even after releasing her, I had let her remain in a daze.

I looked at Rena.

"Why don't you visit a village?"

"What?"

"You said you wanted to join me, right? You should sleep properly before coming."

I had fed her, but it was far from enough. Even though I'd laid out a blanket, she still slept on the cave floor. Rena looked rather shabby. A living human needed to wash regularly. They needed to clean the sweat and salt from their skin with water. Rena couldn’t do that in a dungeon like this.

The woman looked up at me with a surprised expression.

"

Oh

..." She stared at me as if she found it hard to believe and asked, "Are you really letting me go like this? Seriously?"

I looked at her and retorted, "Do you not want to?"

"Oh, no! I'll go."

Though she said that, she still hadn't gotten up.

Is she worried that leaving too quickly would make her lose trust?

I inspected the pile of goods from the adventurers. There were many miscellaneous items, but nothing seemed particularly valuable or small enough to fetch a high price.

The pile resembled the lives of F-rank adventurers. Everything was bulky and mostly useless. The items lacked liquidity and were worthless.

Clang.

I sorted out the weapons, hoping they at least could be sold for scrap metal. Selling everything could yield some money, but I had no intention of selling them myself. I wasn’t releasing the woman without a purpose.

These items were loot obtained from slain adventurers, far more dangerous than items obtained by fraud, blackmail, or theft. However, Rena mentioned she worked for a guild in the underworld, so she should have more than enough ways to deal with these items.

"As long as the price is right, there must be plenty of people who won't care about the source of these items."

Rena nodded. "Of course."

I pointed to the pile of goods. "Look at the stuff I've gathered."

"Yes!"

"You handle it however you see fit. Sell them, use them, whatever."

"I'll handle it cleanly."

Rena could still run away at any moment. She could abandon me. If I let her go, she might even come back with a subjugation team to attack. However, if I wanted to use her properly, I would have to send her to a human city alone several times. There would be many instances where she would need to act on her own without me.

If I kept her by my side and constantly watched her, her usefulness would be incredibly low. If I decided to keep her alive, it would only be natural to actively put her to work.