Sarah's Story Chapter 043 - Dungeon Exploration Preparations

By the end of the week, Delphi was able to spar blindfolded.

Not win a spar, but just functionally react to simple attacks without her sight.

Nor could Sarah land any sneak attacks on her anymore. It started to become habit, to be ready to draw her daggers at a moment’s notice, especially when Sarah was around.

She even managed to graze Sarah’s hand during one of those spars.

“Oops, stop.” Sarah said, and Delphi froze, then pulled off the blindfold. “You win.”

Sarah never said that. This was something new. Delphi kept her eyes wide and used all her senses to watch her surroundings, and her hands gripped her wooden training daggers tightly.

But the Brawler smiled awkwardly and lifted her hands, palms out, attempting to show she was no threat.

Delphi wouldn’t fall for that again!

“No, seriously. I meant to spar with you without the blindfold, but if you can already tag me blindfolded, I misunderstood your progress.” The girl folded her arms and looked up into the late afternoon sky. “I wonder if that’s why my dad was in charge of my training, instead of mother.”

That night, they celebrated. They ordered the finest dishes the Guildhall had to offer, and the ale flowed freely. Delphi had a hard time relaxing, at first, but Lawrence advised her to just rely on her [Threat Awareness] Skill. If it wasn’t reacting, she was fine. But Delphi frowned. It had grown by leaps and bounds, but it was still only level nine.

Over time, she relaxed and was able to enjoy herself.

Gregory eventually cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Sarah, I know you typically help out with the spars on Saturdays, but what do you say about joining us in the Grim Forest Dungeon tomorrow?” He looked around the table at the rest of the Golden Swan. “We need to shake off some rust after the travel and this week of training, and we do owe Sarah some Scout training, no?”

Everyone turned to look at Sarah. Her eyes sparkled. “Yes, please!” she said enthusiastically.

Gregory smiled. “That settles it. I’ll file the paperwork tonight, and we’ll meet in front of the Guildhall at dawn.”

Helen was still up when Sarah returned that evening.

“Hmmm, I’ve never been in a Dungeon before, but if you’re with an A Rank party I can’t imagine it’ll be too bad. What rank is the Dungeon?”

“It’s C Rank,” Sarah replied. “Delphi’s apparently the best at dealing with traps, and everyone in the party is super strong, so, yeah, it should be fine.”

Helen put a hand on her cheek. “It’s just too bad that Gregory fellow wouldn’t spar with you again.”

Sarah grimaced. “Er, yeah, Sam said I might have gone overboard…”

Helen frowned, and then pulled her daughter into a hug. “No dear, that wasn’t your fault. The way the conversation was going, of course you would think he was challenging you to fight the entire party. Anyone would think so.” She drew back and looked Sarah in the eye. “It was entirely his fault, but it’s good to double check to make sure you’re on the same page with someone, just in case. That’s the essence of good communication.”

Sarah smiled and nodded. “Right, thanks mom.”

The next morning, the Golden Swan and Sarah gathered in front of the Guildhall. Sarah just wore her normal training outfit, loose cloth pants and shirt and simple shoes. The rest of the party was wearing their normal every day clothes as well.

“Ho, Sarah, right on time. It’s about an hour walk past the city gate, so let’s get moving. We’re not staying overnight but the faster we get there, the longer we can spend inside.”

Gregory took the lead and everyone fell in behind him. Sarah walked alongside Clara and Delphi in the middle of their loose formation. Delphi alone was wearing her full armor getup. “It’s just more comfortable…” she mumbled when Sarah asked why.

At everyone’s hips was a small, leather satchel. Magic Bags. Enchanted to hold far more than they reasonably should, with massive reductions in weight. The finest bags wouldn’t change weight at all, regardless of how much gear, supplies, and loot were stored in them. But they were expensive. Incredibly so. Magic Bags were the single largest expense for Adventurers at all ranks, even surpassing armor and weapons which, themselves, weren’t cheap.

Most parties had one bag, typically carried by the Scout or whoever filled the Rearguard role.

The Golden Swan had a bag for everyone.

Clara saw Sarah eyeing the bags. “It is impressive, isn’t it? And it’s all thanks to Delphi here.” She clapped a hand on Delphi’s shoulder, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “There’s way more treasure in Dungeons than people think. Especially the older, higher ranked Dungeons.”

Delphi smiled softly.

Sarah smiled at Delphi as well. “Now it’s my turn to learn from you, teacher!”

Delphi raised her chin proudly. “Yes, well, be prepared for some harsh training, oh pupil of mine!”

Clara and Lawrence both laughed at that. “Yeah, better get ready, Sarah. Delphi definitely owes you some good, harsh training!” Lawrence warned playfully.

A little under two hours later, after passing through the city gates and showing their Adventurer’s Licenses to avoid the toll, they reached the entrance to the Grim Forest Dungeon. There was a road leading right to it, and there were a few stalls set up selling food, drink, and potions. The entrance itself was a cave entrance in the side of an outcropping of rock, with stairs leading down.

Gregory hummed as he looked it over. “Hmm, no smiths out here, Arthur.”

Arthur grunted. “It’s fine, I’ve got spares in my bag.”

All the men paused and pulled out their armor from their magic bags, and assisted each other putting it on. Delphi, already wearing her armor, and Clara wearing her pristine snow-white robes, stood next to Sarah and waited patiently.

Once they finished, Gregory gave them a brief overview of the Dungeon. It mainly contained treants and beast-type monsters up to Rank D, with the boss barely clearing Rank C. The Dungeon itself was ranked C, in part because it had somewhat more traps than average.

“We think the Dungeon will also have correspondingly more treasure, too. That’s the pattern we’ve been noticing the last year, since Delphi joined the party.”

Once the briefing was over, they waited a few minutes while Clara cast barriers and wards over everyone. “The barrier will reduce the damage from attacks, and will last until midnight. We should be back in the city by then, though. The ward is triggered to block one strong attack, and then that’s it. It’s calibrated to what should be fatal for each of us individually, but for you, I made it more sensitive. If you take a strong hit, let me know immediately so that I can recast it, Sarah.”

Clara’s breathing was a little ragged after casting all that magic. “Are you okay, Clara?” Sarah asked.

She nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just a lot of magic to cast all at once, but I have the [Fast Mana Recovery] Skill. I’ll be good to go before we finish descending the stairs.”

Gregory nodded. “Clara’s one of the top Mages in the world,” he boasted. He gave everyone one more look-over, then said, “Okay, let’s go.”