“Alright, that’s it for today’s work.”
With the foreman’s signal, the miners began wrapping up. Aldo quickly finished his tasks and left the mine. As he made his way to the dungeon behind the mountain, he found Clara already waiting.
“Hey there, Aldo!”
Clara waved cheerfully to greet him.
“Oh, sorry. Did I keep you waiting?”
“No, not really. Are you okay? You’re not too tired from work, are you?”
Clara leaned in, studying Aldo’s face with concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’d never want to cause you any trouble, Clara.”
“Ugh, that’s not what I meant! I’m the one worrying about you, Aldo! I’m not worried about you being a bother or anything.”
For some reason, Aldo found himself being lectured by the younger girl. In short, she was telling him to take better care of himself.
It seemed Aldo understood Clara’s feelings, and he accepted them earnestly. As a parent himself, he knew the worry one felt for someone they cared about, and he could understand how disregarding that concern might hurt.
“Ah, sorry, sorry. Well, shall we get going?”
“Yeah!”
Clara entered the dungeon with a spring in her step, and Aldo followed close behind. Soon, they encountered their first evil spirit—a dark bug, one that Aldo had fought before.
“It’s an evil spirit… Clara, are you alright?”
Aldo reached for his sword, but before he could even prepare, Clara skipped forward. In a single instant, she closed the distance and sliced off the dark bug’s wing with a swift hand strike.
“Huh?”
Aldo’s mouth hung open in surprise. Her movement was so fast that he hadn’t even seen an afterimage.
The dark bug fell to the ground, dropping a black stone fragment. Clara was about to continue on without giving it a second glance.
“Clara, aren’t you going to pick up this fragment?”
“Eh, even if I pick it up, they’ll just buy it off me for a pittance. Aldo, if you want it, it’s all yours.”
Clara picked up the fragment and handed it to Aldo. Wanting to earn anything he could, he accepted it, albeit with mixed feelings since it wasn’t something he’d defeated himself and felt a bit like charity from Clara.
As they continued, Clara kept effortlessly dispatching every evil spirit they encountered.
“Hi-ya! There you go! Take that!”
With each exclamation, Clara’s voice echoed through the dungeon. Aldo started feeling a bit useless, watching her handle everything alone.
But then, a moment finally came for him to step in.
“Clara, it seems there’s some material affected by an evil spirit nearby.”
Aldo sensed the presence of the corrupted material.
“Huh? Where? I can’t sense anything.”
“Probably in this wall. I’ll dig it out.”
Aldo chipped away at the wall with his pickaxe, revealing what appeared to be an animal bone.
“Oh, look at that. An animal bone turned into material by an evil spirit.”
“Is it valuable?”
“Yeah, this could sell for a good price. Nice find, Aldo!”
Clara took the bone in hand, intending to hand it over to Aldo.
“Oh, should I hold onto it for now?”
“Huh? What are you saying? You found it, so it’s yours, Aldo!”
Clara spoke as if it were only natural, but Aldo didn’t feel entirely comfortable with that. He shook his head, signaling his intent.
“No, if it weren’t for you, Clara, I wouldn’t have even made it this far. So, finding this bone is thanks to you too. Let’s sell it and split the profit.”
Clara’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Wow, I’m really surprised. You see, generally in this line of work, the rule is that whoever defeats the evil spirit keeps the materials, and whoever unearths something keeps what they find. There’s no culture of sharing like that here, Aldo.”
Hearing this, Aldo also found himself taken aback.
“But you gave me the dark bug fragment, didn’t you?”
“Oh, that? That was hardly worth anything, so it doesn’t really count.”
Clara scratched her head, looking a bit embarrassed. She hadn’t thought of it as a favor at all.
“Anyway, thanks to you, I found this bone, so it’s something we both earned. I’m sticking to that.”
“What’s that? That’s unusual. Normally, diggers argue, insisting they should keep the materials they bring back.”
Clara laughed heartily. But behind her…
“Clara! Watch out!”
“Huh?”
Behind Clara was a child-sized humanoid evil spirit—a goblin. It raised its club high and swung it toward Clara’s shoulder.
“Ugh…”
The club struck Clara’s shoulder. She quickly stepped back to put some distance between herself and the goblin. Though goblins are weak, bottom-tier evil spirits, the ambush had caught Clara off guard, preventing her from retaliating right away.
“Leave this to me.”
Aldo stepped forward, positioning himself in front of Clara. He raised his sword and attacked the goblin.
“Hissss!”
The goblin deflected Aldo’s sword with its club, bending the metal slightly from the impact, which sent a sharp vibration through Aldo’s arm.
“Ugh…”
The shock nearly made Aldo drop his sword, but he gripped it tightly with determination. Not missing the brief opening after the goblin’s attack, he lunged forward, piercing the goblin’s chest with his sword.
“Yaaaargh!”
With a direct hit to a vital spot, the goblin vanished, leaving behind a brown stone fragment. If taken to the Digger’s Association, it could be used as a material.
“Phew…”
Facing even a low-level evil spirit had been a close call for Aldo. If he had let go of his sword, he might have fallen prey to the goblin’s club.
“Clara, are you okay?”
Aldo ran over to her. Clara was pressing her opposite hand to her injured shoulder.
“Hehe, guess I let my guard down a bit. But since it’s just a low-level spirit, the wound isn’t too bad… ow.”
Clara gave Aldo a forced smile, though her face betrayed her pain.
“Are you really okay? If it’s too much, we can leave the dungeon and go back.”
Aldo suggested, but Clara shook her head.
“I’m fine. I can heal a wound like this. Apato!”
As Clara spoke the word “Apato,” the injury on her shoulder began to heal. Her strained expression gradually returned to a natural smile.
“What? Your wound healed?”
“Huh?”
Clara looked at Aldo, puzzled by his reaction.
“This is just basic magic.”
“Magic…? Wait, you can do that?”
“Well, most diggers can use it. Can’t you, Aldo?”
“Uh, it’s not about whether I can use it… This is my first time seeing it.”
“No way… Aldo, you’ve never seen magic before? What kind of life have you led?”
Clara looked at Aldo as if he were from another planet, slightly taken aback.
“Ah, sorry. I have amnesia, so it seems I’ve forgotten about magic too.”
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry, Aldo. I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”
Clara clasped her hands together, apologizing with a look of genuine remorse.
“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Reassured by Aldo’s words, Clara relaxed, and the awkwardness between them dissolved.
