After tossing Dolnesia a couple pieces of jerky, I searched through the pockets of the men who had collapsed.
Ugh, the stink of piss.
Did I really have to search this?
A tin-can knight rifling through the pockets of unconscious men.
And pockets soaked in the stink of piss, at that.
I looked incredibly pathetic, but there was a profound reason I had to search these unconscious assholes’ pockets.
There was a hidden piece that had made it possible for these men to overpower Dolnesia.
Normally, it should have been impossible for bandits to lay so much as a finger on Dolnesia.
After all, she had an insurance policy left behind by her father.
Dolnesia knew about that insurance policy too, and she had used it well to survive the back alleys.
Even me, with these biceps that looked ready to burst, couldn’t guarantee I could beat that insurance policy.
So the reason Dolnesia had been helpless before these two idiots was...
Fuck, it’s not in his pockets. Do I have to rip open his shirt?
For the record, I do not have a hobby of ripping open men’s shirts.
I was doing this because I had no choice.
All right, the inner pocket. Let’s check the inner pocket.
Riiiip—!
"Eek!"
Had she already finished eating?
A short scream burst out when I ripped open the man’s shirt.
But that was not what mattered right now.
The problem was that what I was looking for wasn’t inside this bastard’s shirt.
I turned toward the other target.
I hoped it would turn up this time.
Otherwise, I might have had to rip up those piss-soaked pants.
Riiiiip—!!
Fuck, where did these bastards put it—ah, found it.
Only after turning both men’s shirts into rags did I find what I had been looking for.
In my hand was a necklace holding a bright-red gem.
This was it.
[Activating Insight Eye.]
The reason Dolnesia had been unable to do anything and got caught.
[Cursed Mana Stone Necklace]
A necklace crafted after an incompetent artisan happened upon a fragment of cursed mana stone.
As it is a shoddy work made with both poor skill and inferior materials, the curse’s effect is not particularly great.
◈ Rank: Common
◈ Beings level 10 or below within a radius of 10 meters cannot use skills.
In other words, it was a cursed item.
It carried a curse that prevented anyone level 10 or below within a ten-meter radius from using skills.
What made this so fucking stupid was that the wearer couldn’t use skills either.
Those below level 10 had to settle things with their fists and no skills, but if their opponent was over level 10, the wearer alone became a sandbag.
Besides, it only worked up to level 10, so in a sense, it was only useful in the early game.
Put simply, it was a device made solely to screw Dolnesia over.
It was an item through which one could truly feel its creator’s bottomless malice.
I had happened to find it in my previous life as well, and naturally, I threw it away the moment I picked it up.
It was a cursed item, so I couldn’t even sell it. And to Dolnesia, whose body was fragile without mana, it was little different from shackles.
But I was different now.
I was a level 1 that transcended level 1.
On the outside, I was a pure level 1 newbie.
But hidden within was the fully developed biceps of a level 14.
I was more than happy to clash with nothing but my fists and no mana.
"Mister, what is that?"
Dolnesia came over and pointed at the cursed necklace.
Her face was scrunched up, perhaps because she sensed something from it.
"It’s nothing."
I put it into my inventory.
In the game, the curse only took effect when someone wore it.
It had been tucked in an inner pocket here, but since the curse had still activated, it seemed that in reality, merely having it out in the open was enough to trigger its effect.
"I feel better..."
Just as I expected, putting the necklace away made the curse’s effect disappear.
"Looks like this thing had been siphoning off some of your mana."
Dolnesia stared at me as though she found that fascinating.
There was jerky seasoning around her mouth.
Though it was blatantly smeared there, she still did not seem to have noticed.
She must have thrown dignity to the wind and wolfed it down.
Even though she had once been a noble and would have been taught better than anyone how to maintain her composure.
It probably proved just how difficult her life had been—difficult enough to make her forget that life.
Wasn’t a typical romance-fantasy heroine supposed to have the whole world helping her, showering every fortunate opportunity on her somehow?
But Dolnesia was the embodiment of being unfairly screwed over, someone who had been through every hardship imaginable.
Until she reached the grand duchy, the entire world would unfairly screw Dolnesia over.
If she were gender-swapped, she would be the perfect web-novel male lead.
Hmm.
To escape Dreamland, I had to beat the dungeon boss.
But there was no such boss here.
In other words, I could not leave Dreamland.
And the person beside me was the heroine, Dolnesia.
Dolnesia, who would have been immortalized in a bad-ending CG if I had not appeared.
I tore a Dreamland ticket and was transported right in front of Dolnesia, just before she suffered a bad ending.
Wasn’t that too perfect to be a coincidence?
Could Dreamland and Dolnesia be connected somehow?
What if the way to leave Dreamland was to take Dolnesia to the grand duchy?
That was the thought that came to me.
Because I remembered Dreamland’s setting from the art book.
Dreamland was said to be a dream that recreated one’s past.
That was why enemies you had defeated appeared in Dreamland in the game.
More precisely, enemies that had appeared in an episode would appear, and killing that episode’s final boss would clear Dreamland.
If Dreamland had changed to suit reality now that the game had become real, defeating the final boss Dolnesia would face might be the key to clearing it.
And in this episode Dolnesia was going through, there was no final boss.
To clear this episode, she had to reach the grand duchy.
To clear this damned Dreamland, maybe I just had to take her all the way to the grand duchy.
I was not certain, but it was the only possible method I could see.
It was already far too late, anyway.
By now, the grand duchy would have realized I was missing.
They would organize a search party.
Even if I was illegitimate, a son of the grand duchy had gone missing.
It was a major incident.
A fucking huge incident.
Alfred had probably lost his mind by now.
Either the grand duchy found us, or we reached the grand duchy.
One of the two.
The problem was how to accompany this girl’s party when her wariness was practically maxed out...
"..."
When I casually pulled out a piece of jerky from my inventory, Dolnesia’s eyes sparkled as she stared at it.
Then, perhaps realizing what she was doing, she cleared her throat and tried to return to her cool demeanor.
How about you wipe the seasoning off your mouth first?
I tossed her another piece of jerky.
She happily caught it and ate it.
Then I took out another piece of jerky.
I could simply leave her alone and wait until she reached the grand duchy, but it would be a problem if she died on the road. Besides, if we took the shortcut I knew, we could get there faster.
It seemed she had caught on to what I was thinking.
She grabbed the jerky in my hand.
"My name is Dorothy."
Dolnesia gave her name.
Dorothy was her alias.
Her current appearance was not her real one either, because the title of fallen noble was truly vicious.
To slave hunters, the title of former noble was practically a golden goblin.
And she could be stabbed by the blind blade of someone who held a grudge against nobles.
In any case, although the jerky had won her over halfway, she did not seem to trust me completely.
Even if I gave my real name, she would not believe I was the illegitimate son of Logres anyway.
Besides, impersonating a noble was a grave crime.
It sounded absurd to say I would be impersonating myself, but if I wanted to avoid trouble going forward, I needed to use an alias.
Then, a name I could use...
Ah, there was one.
"Quixote. That is my name. Add a word meaning noble in front of it and call me Don Quixote."
"Pfft, what kind of name is that?"
Dolnesia suddenly burst out laughing.
Did I say something strange?
I did not think I had said anything funny.
And so, beneath a tree, the two people holding jerky formed a pact.
Thus, it was said, an alliance was forged between a fallen noble lady and an illegitimate runaway son who wanted to become a knight.
#
"Mister, where exactly are we going?"
"You’ll see if you follow me. We’re almost there."
"You said that an hour ago too."
I knew the feeling.
When you are hiking and ask where the summit is, hikers tend to instill hope by telling you there is not much farther to go.
Then an hour passes, you ask again, and after hearing "not much farther" about five times, you realize you have been lied to. That feeling.
But this time, she was mistaken. We really were almost there.
After walking a few more steps, we arrived at a cave.
This was a dungeon.
And one that was extremely important to Dolnesia.
In martial arts novels, they called this sort of thing a fortuitous encounter.
A hidden piece capable of powering Dolnesia up, to the point that it could be called her exclusive treasure, was sleeping belly-up inside this very cave.
The sooner I strengthened Dolnesia, the easier things would be later.
[You have arrived at Goblin-Occupied Spring.]
I roughly fashioned a torch from a branch and entered the cave.
The moment I stepped inside from the cave entrance, a notification window appeared as if to announce, just like in the game, that this place was a dungeon.
The hidden dungeon, Goblin-Occupied Spring.
As the title suggested, it was a dungeon where goblins mainly appeared.
A generous dungeon where most were around level 5 and even the strongest did not exceed level 7.
And the boss was around level 10.
As we pressed farther into the cave, the stale smell of moss and clammy dampness inside greeted us.
Dolnesia did not so much as blink, as though she was used to this much.
Then...
Kehehehehehe.
An unpleasant cackle echoed from deep within the cave.
From the darkness came a flurry of pattering footsteps.
Small, child-sized bodies with green skin.
And long hooked noses.
The recurring weakling guests of every fantasy world.
Goblins, naturally.
In a way, this was my first face-to-face encounter with a magical beast, and since it was my first real battle, my heart pounded a little.
I held the torch in my left hand and an iron sword in my right, taking my stance. I told Dolnesia not to step in.
I wanted to find out how well I could fight if I was going to live in this world, and I needed to monopolize the experience points.
The goblins charged at high speed with their cackles.
Having lived in caves for so long, they were accustomed to darkness, so their vision was better than ours right now.
Which meant...
They were vulnerable to a sudden blast of light.
I shoved the torch right at them.
Keeeeeek—!
The goblins faltered at the sudden flash.
I did not miss the opportunity.
Slash—!
[You have leveled up.]
The iron sword only had 30 attack power, but a sword swung with my physical stat of 55 was truly tremendous.
The chilling sound and sensation of flesh being severed. Along with it, the goblin’s head tumbled across the ground.
Then came the level-up notification, as though confirming that I had definitely sent it off.
Still, even if it was a monster, I had taken a life. What surprised me more was how calmly I accepted it.
If this had been the grand ducal estate, I would have spiraled into a Gestalt collapse, asking philosophical questions like, "Who the hell am I?"
But this was a dungeon where goblins popped out.
I just needed to be careful not to get killed by a stray blade.
I lightly dodged the attacks of the goblins rushing me and used the Logres Swordsmanship.
Logres Swordsmanship.
True, Center, Point, Circle, Swift, Flow, Strong, Conquer.
A sword art composed of eight forms.
You ask why a Western sword art had Sino-Korean names like some martial arts sword technique?
I did not know either. Do not question a romance fantasy too closely.
My swordsmanship mastery was currently level 1, so I could only use True so far.
But level 1 was more than enough against goblins.
Besides, True was the form that served as the foundation for all of Logres Swordsmanship.
It was proper and precise, so it did not particularly excel in any one aspect compared to the other forms.
Which was why it was a sword art that could respond to any situation.
Because it was the foundation, it was the entirety: the Logres True Sword Form.
When one tried to chop down from above, I twisted away and used True to cleave it from shoulder to waist.
I grabbed the head of a goblin trying to strike from the side and smashed it into the wall.
I grabbed a goblin by the leg and swung it around like nunchucks.
Ding!
Ding!
Accompanied by notification sounds telling me I had leveled up quite a lot,
I arrived at the core—the boss room.
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