Inside a spacious cavern of Goblin Cave.
The Goblin Cave's third stratum.
Crowded by a large group of goblins, two people were fighting in the middle of the cavern.
A man and a woman.
The man had quite an easy time, slicing his foe one after another in a flow.
While the woman was in a hard time.
"M-master... I-I am running out of Mana!"
"W-what!?"
Running out of Mana.
That phenomenon was a case where you used too much Mana, almost emptying your stored Mana inside your Body.
The main problem was not the lack of Mana itself, but the loss of strength after you run out of Mana. In most cases, you cannot even stand properly in this state.
Loryarc immediately makes a retreat, steps back toward Marie.
But when he turned around, he spotted the figure of a Goblin running toward Marie with a raised club.
"Marie, watch out!" He shouted, and he began to run toward Marie.
"Ha... Haa... Haa..."
Marie wiped her sweat, looked at her back after hearing her Master's warning.
The distance between her and the Goblin is about 7 meters, and it kept decreasing while the Goblin ran toward her.
Her eyes feel so heavy, urging her to close her eyes and let her body rest for a while.
But she gritted her teeth.
And raised her punch.
Toward the Goblin, who coming to her.
Unexpectedly, her punch connected with the Goblin's body faster than its club toward hers.
The Goblin stumbled to its back by the impact, groaning in pain.
"Well done, Marie!"
Her Master came to her side afterward.
He quickly raised his sword, sliced the Goblin in two.
"Can you walk? We'll retreat from the third stratum!"
"Y-Yes, n-no problem, Master!"
Marie's knees were trembling, but she could still walk even while sweating and breathing heavily.
Loryarc guarded her back, sliced the Goblins again and again.
After about an hour, they finally reached the second stratum, ascending the stairs.
The Goblins from the third stratum won't follow them after retreat to this stratum because that's where the absolute rule of the Dungeon had, except that something unusual happened.
Marie immediately stumbled to her butt after she reached the cave corridor, the specialty area of the second stratum of this Dungeon.
"Haa... Haa... Ha..."
She really looked like she was in pain while leaning on the wall.
Loryarc smiled gently and handed her a water bag.
"Are you okay?"
Marie weakly nods her head while drinking water from the water bag.
"I see."
Loryarc could only sigh and smile at her with a bitter endearment.
This maid of his was so stubborn.
After exploring this Dungeon, he'd come to realize that fact.
Loyal, yes, very even.
But her feeling toward him, or rather, her 'Master' is...
Loryarc forced himself to stop thinking about that and leaned against the wall as well.
"As expected from the last stratum before the Boss room. The number is crazy."
Marie nodded to his words, already seemed better after drinking some water.
Loryarc, of course, had already searched for information about the Goblin Cave before deciding to enter the Dungeon.
The level of monsters inside was so perfectly matched for becoming his opponent right now.
Not so strong but could endure some movements from him with their numbers, that was the Goblins here.
But Marie... She was a Maid. Not even a real Mage.
Her ability is something to be praised, but her magic, to be honest, is not too helpful.
Maybe she's more talented as a close-combatant instead?
While thinking about that and this, Loryarc breaks the silence between them.
"Do you still... Have more Mana potion?"
Hearing his question, Marie bit her lip and looked at the floor.
"No..."
Her voice is so small, as if she's going to cry over it in no time.
"I-I was an idiot, didn't I?"
Tears began to well up in her amber eyes.
"I follow you, but instead of being a help, I am being a burden for you, Master."
Even before Marie said her next words, Loryarc already knew it.
'I was so useless,' She's going to say.
So he stopped her.
"It's okay, Marie."
And pat her head.
"It's okay, really."
When Loryarc remembered how much Marie had helped his predecessor in the past, her merit toward him was so much that his predecessor might not be able to repay her all his life.
"You already helped me more than enough."
"B-but..."
Marie still looked like she wanted to say something pessimistic, so Loryarc immediately covered her lips with his index finger.
"It's okay, Marie."
Marie's face turned red because of that.
She was stunned, looking at him in silence for a moment.
Then, she blinked.
And nodded, lowering her head, still in red.
"Ahaha, my Maid is so cute~!"
Loryarc couldn't help but laugh at the sight. She's so cute, no lying!
"C-cute!? Wh-what are you saying... M-master!"
Marie couldn't hold her embarrassment anymore and ran away from her Master.
"W-wait, where are you going!?"
And then, the two began their chasing off inside the Dungeon, shouting but with smiles.
***
"He's entered a Dungeon, you say?"
Galird stopped writing his '1000 sheets of apology letter', his punishment because he beat Loryarc 5 days ago.
He then looked at the two guys, his subordinates, Reybond and Attey.
Reybond, the thin-looking man, nodded to him.
"Yes, that's right, Lord Galird! That 'guy' brought his maid to the Goblin Cave."
"And there's also a woman in Burger shir—"
Attey, a bulky man but with an idiotic daze face, wanted to say something, but Reybond punched his face before he could finish his words.
"Wh-why are you suddenly punching me, Rey!?"
"BECAUSE YOU ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THESE UNIMPORTANT THINGS, OF COURSE!"
"H-HUH!? U-UNIMPORTANT, YOU SAID!?"
"Yes, of course it's UNIMPORTANT! Because Lord Galird won't be interested in BURGER!"
"WANNA FIGHT!?"
"HUH!? WHY NOT, BURGER HEAD!"
Galird ignored the two idiots in front of him and frowned, thinking about a certain man.
"That fool, was he already so bored that he wanted death?"
Galird immediately stood up and grabbed his sword, leaning it against his desk.
"Be prepared, you two. We're going to Goblin Cave."
The two stopped fighting and could only nod to Galird while glaring at each other from time to time.
They're going to the Goblin Cave!
To find and teach that fool what the world could give him.
... Also, Galird actually quite liked burgers. They're cheap and liked most by commoners, but he just couldn't forget that delicioussy.