CH 206

Episode 205 – Enjoying the Rear Guard

It was the next day after defeating the first Boss, the Two-Headed Minotaur and buying an old style brewing stand at Green Formula, and it was also the day that we would be aiming for the 10th layer.

“Good morning. You seem well today too, Aruna-san.” (Lewin)

“Yup, perfectly.” (Aruna)

“G-Good morning. Looking f-forward to today.” (Rosalie)

Today, Aruna’s big, bright eyes seemed to be more alert than usual, perhaps because she was holding off her sleepiness. And as always, she was lightly quivering like a small animal. In yesterday’s review meeting, we talked a little bit about Rosalie’s social anxiety disorder, and she said that when she would notice that she was the center of attention, her heart would start to pound violently. And then when she’d be asked to do something in that state, her social anxiety disorder would apparently manifest in the form of a strong fear of failure and the onset of avoidance symptoms. She seemed to know the cause herself. But even if she did, there wasn’t anything she could do about it because the main cause was psychogenic in nature.

She said that in the past, at times when she was challenging the Dungeon, it wasn’t nearly as bad, and while clearing it, the social anxiety symptoms wouldn’t manifest at all. Apparently, “something” had happened to the party that she had been working with at the time, and the trauma from that incident caused her to develop a severe case of social anxiety.

Rosalie had been mumbling and stuttering at the time, so I couldn’t really tell what happened. But since it had been a psychogenic reaction, I believed that she would improve as long as we treated her with patience and understanding if she were to make any mistakes in the future. As a party of three, it wasn’t going to be easy, but I wanted to make sure I could offer perfect support to prevent any mistakes from happening.

For that very reason, from this time’s Dungeon attempt and onwards, I decided to proceed with a fixed formation with Aruna and Rosalie in the vanguard and me alone in the rear guard, just as we had done in the battle against the Two-Headed Minotaur.

“Oh. We’re already on the 7th layer.” (Aruna)

“Our pace is quicker than yesterday.” (Lewin)

“Y-Yes. Aruna-san is strong, and thanks to Lewin-san’s support, we’re really moving along quite easily.” (Rosalie)

The problem was, of course, that we couldn’t proceed further unless we defeated the Two-Headed Minotaur once again. If we were to struggle here, it would be impossible to continue, so it was extremely important for us to figure out a way to defeat it easily. This time, we were planning to put Aruna alone on the vanguard, and she would basically be fighting one-on-one.

This was a formation I didn’t really want to take since it would put a huge burden on Aruna alone, but after seeing yesterday’s battle, I felt that this formation was the most stable. She had been overwhelmingly sleep-deprived and out of sorts then, and we probably could have walked away with a crushing victory if the Two-Mino hadn’t suddenly turned on Rosalie in the middle of the fight.

“Well then, Aruna-san. Sorry to do this, but we’re counting on you.” (Lewin)

“S-Sorry.” (Rosalie)

Not long after that, the battle began. Just like she said, she took down the Two-Mino that we had struggled against in a close fight just yesterday. Honestly, she was on a totally different level from me. Not just in combat skill, but there was also a huge gap between us in experience. She was accurate in reading how the opponent would move and how they would attack. In the case of something irregular happening, the speed at which she made a decision regarding the most suitable means of attacking was incredible. Even Rosalie, who was standing next to me, was looking on eagerly at Aruna’s way of fighting.

Also, at the start I didn’t really like the fact that I was staying in the rear guard after having spent so much time training my swordsmanship. But after these last three days, I realized just how much I had learned by being able to watch from the rear. I wasn’t just learning from Aruna. Although Rosalie’s movements were a bit unsteady at times due to her social anxiety, her swordsmanship technique didn’t lose out to Aruna, so I was able to learn way more than I thought I would from these two.

By taking a step back, I could recognize the things I could learn and apply those learnings to my support. I could see that my supporting skills were gradually improving, and I realized that I was beginning to undergo a big change of heart, as I was starting to enjoy being on the rear guard more and more.

“Aruna-san, you fought really well. You dominated even harder than yesterday.” (Lewin)

“Yeah. I’m in good condition today.” (Aruna)

“But if you say that, then Lew―. Hm. Nevermind. Let’s go on ahead.” (Aruna)

“Okay. F-From the 8th layer and onward, I’m also in the vanguard, is that right?” (Rosalie)

“Yes. Let’s continue with the same positions as we had on the 6th layer, with you two in the vanguard. The number of low-level adventurers stuck on the lower floors will decrease from here on out, so we’ll also be facing a sudden increase in monsters. Let’s focus up.” (Lewin)

It seemed like Aruna was about to say my name earlier before she cut herself off, and I felt curious about what she was going to say.

Steeling myself, I gave them a heads-up, and we descended down the stairs.