They returned to The Crystal Rest Inn.
This time the innkeeper didn't even look up.
"Your gloomy cousin owes me for breaking a spoon."
"I bent it," Kyūsei protested.
"Violently," she replied.
Kazuto laughed all the way upstairs.
After washing and eating dinner, they sat near the room's open window.
Night had covered Valthorin in blue fire.
Thousands of mana lamps glowed across towers and streets, making the city look like stars had descended to earth.
Kyūsei leaned on the sill.
"I still can't believe this place exists."
Kazuto lay back on his bed with arms behind his head.
"Wait till you see the capital."
"There's something bigger than this?"
"Much bigger. Dirtier too."
Kyūsei was quiet for a while.
Then:
"Kazuto."
"Hm?"
"Why are you helping me?"
Kazuto didn't answer immediately.
The city breeze stirred the curtains.
Finally, he said lightly,
"Maybe I'm kind."
"You're not."
"True."
He rolled onto one side and looked at Kyūsei.
"Maybe I saw someone who needed a hand."
Kyūsei looked down.
"People don't usually do that."
Kazuto's smile faded.
"They should."
Before Kyūsei could respond, Kazuto sat up.
"Enough emotional nonsense. Tomorrow we go deeper."
"Into the dungeon?"
"Yes."
"I almost died today."
"You'll almost die better tomorrow."
"That's not encouraging."
"It's realistic."
Kyūsei woke before dawn.
He stared at the ceiling for several seconds, surprised.
No shouting.
No locked door.
No dread.
Just anticipation.
He dressed quickly.
Kazuto was already awake, sharpening his sword.
"You're early."
"You're annoying."
"Good. Means you're recovering."
They ate downstairs and left as the eastern sky brightened.
The road to the Whispering Den was quieter than yesterday.
Morning mist covered the hills.
Kyūsei kept replaying the sensation of mana in his mind.
Fire.
Wind.
And that other thing.
That black emptiness hidden beneath both.
He hadn't told Kazuto how deeply it frightened him.
Maybe because part of him was curious.
At the dungeon entrance, Kazuto stopped him.
"Today's rules."
"There are rules now?"
"Yes."
He raised one finger.
"Don't panic."
"That depends."
"Two: listen immediately."
"Reasonable."
"Three: if I say run, you run."
Kyūsei nodded.
Kazuto raised a fourth finger.
"There were only three, but I changed my mind. Don't touch anything glowing."
"That seems important."
"It became important after a man touched glowing eggs."
"What happened?"
Kazuto grimaced.
"Spiders."
They entered.
The Whispering Den felt colder than before.
The tunnel walls shimmered with veins of pale crystal. Strange sounds echoed from distant chambers—clicking, scratching, low moans carried by the stone itself.
Kyūsei gripped the short sword Kazuto had rented for him.
It felt too light.
Too small.
Too real.
They descended farther than yesterday.
Soon the narrow tunnels opened into a vast cavern.
Blue mushrooms taller than men covered the ground. Pools of black water reflected the ceiling like mirrors. Jagged stone pillars rose like broken teeth.
Kyūsei whispered,
"This place is beautiful."
A monster burst from the water.
It had the body of a lizard, the jaw of a crocodile, and glowing fins running down its spine.
Kyūsei screamed.
Kazuto sighed.
"Your volume remains strong."
The creature charged.
Kyūsei barely sidestepped.
Its tail slammed into his ribs and sent him tumbling through mushrooms.
Pain exploded across his side.
He gasped for breath.
The monster lunged again—
Kazuto's sword flashed.
One fin fell.
The beast roared.
"Stand up!" Kazuto barked.
Kyūsei forced himself upright.
Fear shook his hands.
The creature turned back to him.
Good.
Kazuto had deliberately drawn its attention to Kyūsei.
"You psychopath!" Kyūsei shouted.
"Learning opportunity!"
The beast rushed.
This time Kyūsei didn't freeze.
He felt for the wind inside him.
Pulled.
Released.
A sharp gust blasted dirt and spores into the monster's eyes.
It stumbled.
Kyūsei rushed forward on instinct and drove the short sword into the softer flesh beneath its jaw.
The blade sank halfway.
Hot blood sprayed across his hand.
The creature convulsed.
Kazuto appeared beside him and ended it with one clean strike.
Silence returned.
Kyūsei stared down, breathing hard.
His first kill.
He expected triumph.
Instead he felt shaken.
Kazuto watched him carefully.
"It doesn't feel heroic, does it?"
Kyūsei swallowed.
"No."
"It shouldn't."
Kazuto crouched by the corpse and cut free a larger crystal than yesterday's.
Dark blue.
"Remember this feeling," he said. "If killing ever becomes easy, something inside you has gone rotten."
Kyūsei nodded slowly.
Kazuto tossed him the crystal.
He caught it.
Heavier.
Colder.
They continued deeper.
Kyūsei fought three more creatures that day.
A fang rat.
Two cave hounds.
He was clumsy, slow, bruised, and terrified.
But each time he stood faster.
Moved cleaner.
Breathed calmer.
Kazuto corrected everything mercilessly.
"Too wide."
"Too tense."
"Terrible footwork."
"Nice recovery."
"Still terrible."
At one point Kyūsei accidentally blasted Kazuto with wind and knocked him into a wall.
He laughed for a full minute.
Kazuto promised revenge.
Hours later they entered a circular chamber marked by old runes.
At its center stood a stone pedestal.
On top of it rested a black crystal the size of a fist.
It pulsed slowly.
Like a heartbeat.
Kyūsei took one step forward.
Then another.
The thing called to him.
Not in words.
In hunger.
"Kazuto…"
No response.
He turned.
Kazuto was frozen at the chamber entrance, hand on sword, eyes narrowed.
"Don't move."
"What is it?"
"That crystal shouldn't be here."
The pulse quickened.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
The air thickened.
The runes around the room began to glow blood-red.
From the walls came cracking sounds.
Stone split open.
Shapes crawled out from the darkness.
Six of them.
Tall, skeletal creatures wrapped in black hide, with crystal claws and eyeless faces.
Kyūsei stepped back.
"What are those?"
Kazuto drew his blade.
His voice had lost all humor.
"Something far above this dungeon's rank."
The creatures shrieked.
The chamber doors slammed shut behind them.
Kazuto moved in front of Kyūsei.
For the first time since they met—
Kyūsei saw genuine tension on his face.
Then Kazuto smiled.
A dangerous smile.
"Well," he said, raising his sword, "this just got interesting."