Chapter 168: The Saint in the Underground Cave (2) *

Chapter 168: The Saint in the Underground Cave (2) * In the darkness where you couldn't see an inch ahead, the most reliable sense was hearing.

The Reve and the saint walked in silence. It was so as not to lose what little hearing I had.

It was quite inside the cave. In a situation where the only thing that could be heard was their own footsteps, the saintess felt a growing sense of fear in her heart.

The only thing you can rely on is the warmth you feel through your hands. In a situation where I couldn't see anything, could only hear my own footsteps, and my whole body was throbbing from the shock of falling, it was a great comfort to know that I was not alone.

– Tuk.

"Huh?"

First, Lev, who did not go far to explore the surrounding terrain, but was hovering near where he had landed, was hit by something.

A soft texture that couldn't possibly be felt in this space where the only thing there were stones. For a moment, Lev thought he had kicked the saint's leg, but the saint was still holding her hand from behind.

Then what is this?

Lev picked it up from his foot. Scout Lev was able to vaguely guess the appearance of things even in the darkness without a single light.

As she lifted it up to her eyes with her unbroken hand, a rather familiar silhouette appeared. A soft lump that is slightly crooked and round, with a knot like a top on one side. To put it simply, it was a bundle.

Lev lifted his head and looked up at the top of his head. While it was still dark, I could see a large hole in the ceiling a little distance away.

The hole they fell into, and at least the bundle that Lev and the saint were not carrying when they fell.

Lev, who could guess the contents, unpacked the bundle on the spot. If Lev's guess was correct, this was literally a lifeline.

"... Mr. Lev? "What's going on?"

When Lev did not move for a long time and did not say anything, the saint, feeling uneasy, opened her mouth first.

"Ah. Holy woman. "That's good news."

"Yes? Good news... Town."

The saint was startled when something salty suddenly entered her mouth and she almost spat it out. Luckily she was able to avoid spitting out the precious object as soon as she felt the familiar taste.

Hard, salty and slightly fishy taste.

It was beef jerky.

"I think our teammates threw it up there for us. Beef jerky doesn't break if it falls from a high place. Thanks to you, I don't have to worry about eating."

The saint was unable to pack any luggage and was shipwrecked. She chewed her precious food, beef jerky.

"It looks like there was a canteen in the bag too... Unfortunately, the canteen is cracked and all the water is leaking. I don't think the need to find water will change. Still, I'm glad I don't have to worry about eating."

This spread will not stop with just this one time. It was a fact that even the saintess who had been with the hero for about a week knew that no one in the party would abandon their comrades.

Lev and the saint, who had been worried about food, moved with lighter steps in search of water. I didn't forget to scrape the floor with a dagger at regular intervals and leave a mark so that my colleagues could easily join me if they came down in some way.

But did their luck end there? The two were unable to find water for a full day.

◆

"..."

The two of them wandered in the cave without saying anything again today. Now it was so hard that I didn't even have the strength to speak.

The last time I drank water was when I discovered Zizek's magic circle and quenched my thirst just before going into battle.

After that, after a fierce fight for their lives, they fell into a hole and were unable to drink anything, so it was natural for the two to suffer from thirst.

It was a rough estimate that I had wandered around for a day, but in reality, it may have been several days. No matter how good a scout was, the only way to measure time in a space without a ray of light, let alone the sun, was a belly clock.

Moreover, nature did not leave the intruder alone. Demonic beasts living in caves. Because they lived so deep that they could not see humans, the demonic beasts were not afraid of humans and thought of them as prey, so they would attack whenever they could forget about them.

Of course, even if one of his arms was broken, he was not a monster, and he was not a Jill Lev to a magical beast that was simply an animal with magical power, but it was inevitable that his stamina would drain little by little every time he faced him. seaʀᴄh the nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Fortunately, I was able to endure even though it was still difficult because I continued to receive treatment and buffs from the saint's divine power, which recovered over time. However, it was difficult for Lev to guarantee that this situation would continue.

Was it too much to look for water in a cave with no clear view? That's when those weak thoughts began to raise their heads little by little.

– Fondant...

Lev's hearing caught the sound of water.

It was like discovering an oasis in the desert. I followed the sound and there was indeed water.

It wasn't just water, you could feel the warmth just by being near it.

It was a hot spring.

Hot springs were gushing out at bases closer to the ground than here, so it wasn't strange that there were hot springs here.

"... Holy woman. "Saint."

The saint, who was half out of consciousness due to her thirst and fatigue, tried to come to her senses when she heard Lev's voice calling to her, squeezing her hand.

The trusty hand of a man who guided her throughout her day, no, not a day, but maybe several days.

Even if she couldn't see anything, if she held his hand and followed, she could walk without anything tripping her feet.

It's like faith―――

When her thoughts reached that point, the saint was startled and completely came to her senses.

'What was I thinking?'

Fortunately, perhaps because she was too tired, her ridiculous and profane thoughts quickly volatilized from her memory.

Okay. Hand. I was thinking about my hands. However...

Hands are hands, but the male smell that Lev gives off was also a problem.

Lev did not even use clean magic to save even the slightest amount of magical power. This is because, if she had to do anything, he had to reduce his physical strength consumption by consuming magical power instead. This was the same for the saint.

The two, who always held hands so as not to lose each other, naturally smelled each other's body odor along with the musty smell of the cave.

That was natural. What was not natural was the body of a saint.

Every time the saint smelled Lev's body odor, she felt a rumbling feeling in her lower abdomen. It was my first time feeling that way.

The saint had never dreamed that her own body had been manipulated without her knowledge. She was just embarrassed by the unknown sensation.

Still, she didn't feel bad, so she didn't want to think too much about it. Because she had a lot of other things to think about.

For example...

"... Saint? Are you okay?"

"Ah! Yes? Yes."

Lev's question brought the saint's thoughts, which had been spreading through her consciousness due to her fatigue, back to reality.

"You can rest now. "I found water."

"Well, finally... "

Even though she was in a dazed state, her mind was not so stiff that she could not understand its meaning.

If she had stayed where she fell in the first place, at least her physical strength would have been preserved, but the reason she moved her body around was because of the water.

"So, saintess, how much is her divine power?"

"You mean divine power. Yes. This is enough to use heal once. Then right away... "

"Oh, wait. "Wait a minute."

Lev assessed her restored divine power and immediately stopped the saint from trying to heal Lev's arm.

"Rather than that now, wouldn't you like to purify this water?"

"Jeonghwa? Of course, it's possible, but then we can't treat Mr. Lev's arm... "

"Are you okay. It's not too late to get treatment after drinking water and recovering your stamina."

"... I see."

The saint thought about something and decided to purify the water as Lev said...

For...

"... Mr. Lev."

"Huh?"

"Where is the water?"

"Oops. "The saint can't see it yet."

The saint, whose senses were all dulled compared to Lev's, could not even find where the water was even if she came this close. In the end, the saint was able to use the purification only after Lev pulled her hand and allowed her to touch the water directly.

Although she had some ups and downs, she felt that her lost stamina was slowly coming back as she quenched her thirst with purified water and regularly ate the beef jerky provided by her colleagues.

Moreover, since it is next to a hot spring, you can feel the warmth.

Her stomach was full, and her back was warm.

The saint could not overcome her fatigue and closed her eyes.

...

-Slap, slap...

The saint, having had enough sleep, opened her eyes feeling most refreshed since she fell into her hole. But all she could see was darkness.

As soon as the saint woke up, she looked for the person who had always been with her, Lev.

"Mr. Lev?"

Then Lev's voice was heard from a little distance away. It was in the same direction as the sound of lapping water.

"Ah. Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"No. I got enough rest. But this sound... ?"

"It's no big deal. "I'm just taking a shower."

"Washing... ?!"

The place where Lev's voice was heard wasn't that far away. In fact, it would be more accurate to say she was close.

It was very stimulating for the saint to see a naked man washing so close away.

The saint's face turned red just from her imagination, and she suddenly remembered that her Lev's arm was still not healed.

"Hey, is your arm okay?"

"Huh? Ah. It's a little uncomfortable, though. But it's not to the point where I can't wash it."

"..."

The saint thought silently.

I owe Lev a debt that cannot be repaid. If it weren't for Lev, he would have died when he fell into the hole, and even if he had survived, he wouldn't have been able to survive in this pitch-black darkness, or he would have gone crazy.

So the saint decided to move to repay her debt, even if only a little.

Relief... It's a strange way to say it, but it looks like Lev needs help.

"... "Can I help you?"

"The saint? "What?"

"That... Washing... "

"... ?"

The saint could tell even without looking that Lev was truly confused.

It felt like it had been a very long time since Lev, who had always been so serious, had fallen into her hole.

The saint took off her clothes to help Lev bathe. She can help you only if you go into the hot springs with her.

It's embarrassing to be naked... It doesn't matter since you won't be able to see it anyway.

As the saint took off her clothes, one by one, clothes that did not belong to her suddenly fell from her body.

It was the Rev's own clothes that the Rev covered her while she slept, in case she was cold. Because the only cloth they had was clothes.

Of course, she had left her underwear somewhere else. Still, she had not been able to use clean magic for several days, and no one had yet noticed what kind of reaction the clothes, which had inhaled the body scent of her rev, would have caused while the saintess was sleeping.