Chapter 33 – Exploring a dungeon

After having had dinner together, Sophia guided Maya to the bath she created before. Filling it with hot water again, using magic, she left the cat-girl alone to let her have a soak in it.

"That girl," Maya looked around while she was relaxing in the tub. "I never would've thought to be able to take a bath in the middle of nowhere. Well, not that I'm complaining." Stretching her limbs, she looked satisfied.

"Such a free spirit! Just what kind of life did Sophia live until now to end up like that? I'm quite curious. I wonder, would she tell me if I asked? Are all demons as eccentric as her, or is she a special case? Why do I feel like she's actually some sort of bigshot? I have no idea how demons live, but maybe she actually ran away from something instead…? Her power and utter lack of common sense… She isn't actually some kind of noble, right? Right?" Maya got extremely sidetracked and worked up over something foolish. "First time I got interested in something else than magic to this extent. Someone else..."

"Ah, but there's her companion, Fen, who's obviously, uhh, special as well. Would someone like him actually travel with someone who was merely bored? She does have the looks befitting someone of noble or even royal background. Well, at least as long as she isn't covered in blood." She remembered the griphon incident. "Oh, but if she's a demon… princess? Maybe being covered in blood is part of the job description? According to the legends, they love to battle… Ahh, such a great race!" Maya's occasional muscle brain resurfaced. "I can't wait for her to teach me more magic and then fight something strong! Fen, as well. Ignoring, or especially because what or who he most likely is, the things I can learn from him are endless!"

"And it sure seems to be based on the truth. Sophia definitely enjoys… playing with her enemies. She's such a mystery~. Then again, her personality isn't very princess-like, though. Rather, she's all over the place, not refined at all. Is that also a demon thing? Fen seems to be used to it, at least. Well, it's fun to watch her reactions because it's cute. She is pretty cute… Nothing to complain about here, either. Actually, if anything, she's way too pretty! It's kinda distracting! Also, why does she gets so shy and bashful out of nowhere on occasions? It's almost like she didn't have many, if any, interactions with others... W-Was she some sort of princess who was so out of reach no one approached her? Lucky me, she ran away. Let's think of some ways to make her get used to it. While her reactions are fun, I would like her to be more relaxed whenever skinship's on the table!"

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After the cat-girl finished getting worked up over her delusions of who or what Sophia is, she quickly finished her bath and went back to the camp.

"Welcome back. How was it?"

"Great! You did an excellent job there, princess." The weird idea she had during the bath stuck in her head.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"…"

"…"

"S-She didn't react?!" Maya stared at her with big eyes in shock while she mumbled these words. "I-Is she actually used to being addressed like this?!"

"Haa~," Sophia let out a yawn while speaking to herself. "I must be really tired. I already hear things that make no sense at all." It was so impossible for her to believe that she refused to even think it happened. "I think I'll go to bed soon! Ah, what are we going to do about the sleeping situation? I usually sleep while leaning against Fen, but…" She looked at the wolf's side. It would get rather intimate with two people sleeping there together.

"Don't worry, I can sleep wherever and whenever I want, no matter time and date. Even a patch of grass is perfect in my eyes."

"What are you, a cat?!" Sophia reacted without thinking.

"Partly, yes. Not much, but a part of me is."

"A-Ah, right…" She looked at Maya's snow-white tail and fluffy ears on top of her head again.

"Anyway, you really don't have to worry about me and sleep however you want."

"Well, if you say so." Dropping the subject, Sophia made herself more comfortable while leaning against Fen. It didn't take her long to fall asleep.

"Eh, how can one fall asleep so fast? Even I can't do that."

"It seems that sleep's quite important for her as she also gets up late in the mornings."

"Haa… That aside, are you really okay with that, Fen?" Maya pointed at the wolf's side, where Sophia was buried into his fur with a satisfied expression.

"I don't particularly mind. She's been like that ever since we met, anyway."

"How long have you two been together? You seem to be really used to each other."

"Hmm, ever since she came to the world, I guess?"

"Oh, so since she's born, huh?"

"Yes, from the point where she was re-born." A slight misunderstanding had formed between them as the wolf hadn't fully voiced the re- part.

"Interesting. Speaking of the devil, who is Sophia anyway?" She glanced at the sleeping girl with a questioning look.

"She has a rather, let's say, complex backstory. Lots of things happened that led to her ending up here. I don't think it's within my rights to tell you. You should ask her about it yourself somewhere in the future."

"I see, so she actually is," The cat-girl's imagination was going wild again. "That girl really…"

"Hmm?"

"A-Ah, no, I didn't say anything!"

"Okay?" Fen had the distinct feeling that something was amiss between their conversation but didn't care enough to find out what exactly.

"A-Anyway, I think I'll rest as well. I have a feeling she'll do something outrageous tomorrow that will tire me out way more than I would like." Maya was glancing at the other girl while giving her predictions for the future.

"That, yes, that might be a wise choice." Fen had to agree.

"Good night, then." She found herself a comfortable spot afterward and didn't have much of a problem falling asleep a little while later.

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On the following day, once the two managed to wake up the sleepy girl, the group continued their travel. It actually took them a couple of days in the end because Sophia kept getting sidetracked, but they eventually reached the Forsaken Maze dungeon.

"Well, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this sure is a letdown." Sophia was staring at the entrance of the dungeon with a disappointed expression. A simple stone stairway led underground with no sort of decoration or the likes. Only a small and shabby-looking sign with the name was put in front of the entrance. Someone even added the words don't bother with a different color on it.

"I did tell you this place has its name for a reason, right?" Maya didn't understand her reaction after all this.

"I do sense some monsters from underground, though." Fen added his own observation to it.

"Y-You can sense monsters, too?" It was the first time the cat-girl heard about it.

"Fen's the one I learned it from."

"Really? Do you think I could learn it, too?" She faced the wolf. "It seems super useful."

"It's quite advanced non-attribute, or more correctly, uncategorized magic."

"I-Is that so…?"

"I don't think it's impossible."

"S-Seriously?!"

"Yes. Although not to the extent of the oddball over there, your magic power clearly is on the extreme side. Once you're comfortable using all sorts of magic completely chantless, having a better control of your powers, ask me again."

"Yes!" The cat-girl sounded motivated.

"I was casually dissed just now, wasn't I? That's what happened, right?!" Sophia reacted to the oddball accusation.

"No."

"Whatever," She didn't push the issue any further. "Now that we're here already… Let's take a look inside!"

"Sure." The other two agreed and descended the stairs to enter the Forsaken Maze dungeon. On the way down, Fen also shrunk in size as it seemed relatively narrow.

"Hmm," Sophia tried to look around once they reached the end of the stairs but didn't see much. "It's pretty dark, huh?" Everything around her was basically black except for some weakly shimmering objects hanging on the walls, illuminating the place just a bit.

"Maybe that's part of why nobody ever found the exit and didn't bother exploring further?" Maya looked around, as well. "Even I can't see very far ahead, and I have extremely good eyes." Her pupils looked really big, and her eyes were slightly shimmering from the reflected light in the dark, almost like an actual cat.

"A-Ah…" Sophia found herself lost in her eyes for a while because she never saw something like that before she snapped back to reality. "C-Couldn't they just have used light magic?"

"…" The shiny eyes focused on her. "Sophia, light magic is one of the rarest types of magic… Actually, you're only the second or third person I ever met that's able to use it, and none of them could illuminate a whole area."

"I didn't know that…" She was honestly surprised.

"I expected no less." Maya had thought that the common sense-missing girl was not aware of her ridiculousness.

"Okay, so let's turn on the light then?" With a snap of her fingers for extra effect, Sophia lit up the entire area.

"As outrageous as ever! Not that I'm jealous or anything."

"I'll teach you sometime, don't worry." She glanced at the cat-girl with a smile.

"T-Thanks."

"Well, let's explore!" Taking in the new details, Sophia got excited for a moment. "Hmm, even if the light's super useful, I still can only see up to the next corner." The path in front of them took a sharp right turn not too far away. Taking the lead, she was about to turn around the corner when Fen suddenly stopped her.

"Wait a moment." He bit into the neck of her shirt and lifted the girl from the ground.

"What's wrong?" She was dangling in the air, unable to take another step. "Did something happen?"

"This maze has some hidden traps. Maya, grab a stone, and throw it in front of where Sophia wanted to go."

"Err, sure?" Doing as told, she grabbed a fist-sized stone and threw it. The moment it hit the ground, the floor crumbled away and revealed a pit filled with sharp spikes. "Y-Yikes!"

"S-Seriously?! A deadly trap after the first corner?!" Sophia actually looked angry rather than scared. "What kind of joke is that?! Those are supposed to be on the lower floors only!"

"Have you entered a maze before?" The cat-girl was wondering where her knowledge was coming from.

"N-Not personally, but I read a ton of books regarding, or containing dungeon exploration and such."

"Having had access to so many books…" Maya's misunderstanding about her background kept getting fueled. "A-Anyway, Fen, how did you know that there was a trap? Can your detection magic do that as well? Not just living things?"

"It's something similar. If I had to name it, I would call it Danger Detection magic.

"Oh~." Sophia was interested. "You have to teach me that one later."

"Sure."

"What do we do now?" The cat-girl looked at the big hole in front of the group that was blocking their path.

"Err, it's a bit anticlimactic, but why don't I just use earth magic to fill the hole?" After saying it, Sophia did just that.

"It lacks elegance, but it does the trick." Maya had nothing to add.

"Fen, warn us again if you spot any trap, okay?" With Sophia in front, the group continued their exploration for a while without anything happening at all. After the first welcome trap, there had yet to appear another one. Something else was bothering the leader, though, causing her to stop.

"O-Ouch!" Not expecting her sudden stop, Maya bumped into Sophia's back. "W-What's wrong?"

"My detection magic caught something. No idea why I only just now realized.”

“Sometimes, dungeon walls can block certain types of magic.” Fen gave her an explanation.

“Is that so? Well, there are four targets around the next corner."

"Really? What kind?"

"Let's see…" Sophia took a couple of steps and glanced around the corner. "A-Ah," Identifying the enemy, her entire body turned white while she completely froze up on the spot.

"S-Sophia?!" The cat-girl became worried.

"…" There was no reaction. A couple of moments later, a blue light shone around the corner, accompanied by the sound of a flaming inferno and an enormous heat.

"Ehhh?!"

"Haa…" Sophia's color slowly returned while she let out a sigh. "T-They're all gone now!"

"W-What kind of monster was there to frighten even you?!"

"S-Spiders! Giant freaking s-spiders!" Her entire body was shivering.

"Spiders…? Ah, you mean Spyders?" Maya corrected her with a slightly different sounding term.

"I-I don't care how they were called! They're gone now!"

"You're kinda adorable, aren't you?" She looked at the trembling girl with a warm expression.

"S-So disgusting!" Sophia was still so creeped out that she missed getting embarrassed by the cat-girl's remark. "F-Fen, can you detect any other monsters of the same type inside this maze?"

"A couple, actually."

"Eliminate them."

"Which one?"

"All of them."

"Are you sure?"

"Eliminate. All. Of. Them." Her eyes looked scary.

"As you demand, my queen." With a roll of his eyes, Fen concentrated for a second, and soon after, explosions could be heard from various distances inside the maze. "They're all gone."

"G-Good…"

"Shall we, uhh, continue?" Maya wasn't sure what to say in this situation, other than making a mental note on how the wolf addressed Sophia.

"Y-Yes."

Once their leader calmed down, the group continued while nothing out of the ordinary happened because the floor was emptied out now. After a while, guarded by another pitfall trap, they found stairs that led downward.