Right then, a voice suddenly rasped in his ear with a lazy, languid tone:
“Hmm... I can faintly hear some... noise coming from the direction of the middle layers.”
Greg froze, spinning his head around. Nightmare was already perched on a rock beside him, her eerie green eyes fixed on the entrance to the middle layers. Her cat ears twitched subtly, as if capturing signals beyond normal human perception.
So that's where she had run off to after vanishing earlier.
“You scared the hell out of me!”
Greg lowered his voice, glaring at her in annoyance before processing the meaning behind her words.
“Noise? What kind of noise? Is it the roar of a powerful magical beast, or the sounds of a chaotic battle?”
If a powerful Lord-class monster deep in the dungeon had suddenly gone berserk, leaking its aura or launching indiscriminate attacks, it could indeed frighten monsters in the middle or even shallow layers into fleeing frantically, causing an unusual gathering like this.
However, a monster frenzy usually didn't last very long.
Judging by how long this pack of Goblins had been lingering here—easily more than a day or two—it didn't quite line up with that explanation.
Nightmare gently shook her black feline head.
“No, it isn't the sound of monsters or battle. It's a sound that is... duller, more rhythmic, and carries a strange sense of discordance. It is a noise that shouldn't belong to this dungeon... a noise that isn't supposed to exist.”
“A noise that shouldn't exist in the dungeon...” Greg repeated the phrase, his mind working rapidly.
He immediately thought back to the three upperclassmen he had encountered earlier.
Not long after they entered the dungeon, this pack of Goblins had abnormally fled up from the lower levels.
The timing was far too coincidental.
Now it seemed ninety-nine percent certain that this anomaly was linked to those three.
“What on earth did they do?”
Greg stared at the wandering Goblins, his gaze sharpening.
To trigger a noise capable of unsettling the local monsters and forcing them out of their territory was definitely no small feat.
Those three were definitely not here just to explore the dungeon.
Seeming to sense his churning thoughts, Nightmare glanced at him with her eerie green eyes, gave a flick of her tail, and said nothing more. Her silhouette slowly faded, gradually sinking into his shadow.
Greg didn't stop her.
He needed to process the situation alone.
That pack of Goblins was blocking the main path to the middle layers, meaning that just stepping into the middle layers would require a brutal fight.
Which meant he couldn't go down alone to investigate the situation. He needed help if he wanted to head into deeper areas.
“If I wait any longer, the End-of-Chapter-One event will kick off. By then, not only will Victoria still be hospitalized with injuries, but Silvia will go missing as well... It looks like the two of us will just have to bite the bullet and clear the first layer now.”
Having made up his mind, Greg quietly slipped away, heading back toward the dungeon's exit.
...
That night, at the Academy Affiliated Hospital.
A soft magic lamp illuminated the hospital room, dispelling the gloom from outside the window.
Silvia sat in a chair beside Victoria's bed, chatting in a soft voice.
“Since the placement results were announced, Class A started official classes over the past few days.”
Silvia carefully read her friend's expression, trying to keep her tone as casual as possible.
“The class load is really heavy, and the instructors have very high standards for both theory and practical work. Princess Lilith... well, she's been very active in class, asking a lot of questions. Some of them even stumped the instructors.”
She paused before adding, “Oh, right! Professor Grace Quinn, who presided over the Placement Exam at the arena, is our head instructor for Class A. She officially introduced herself today and said...”
Indeed, even though Victoria had lost, she was still assigned to Class A thanks to her previous outstanding performance.
This outcome was completely different from the original story, yet it possessed a similar kind of irony.
In the original game, Lilith had lost to Victoria, but owing to her astonishing talent and potential, she was admitted to Class A as an exception, triggering her romance route.
Now, the situation was completely reversed.
The one who had lost was Victoria.
Victoria leaned against the headboard, listening quietly.
The bandage on her right shoulder stood out prominently under the light.
She didn't look at Silvia; her gaze rested on her hands, folded atop the blanket.
After Silvia finished speaking, she waited a few seconds without getting a response.
A trace of anxiety crept into her heart.
Over the past two days, Victoria had mostly remained silent like this, listless about everything, offering at most a soft “mm” to show she had heard.
She thought today would be no different.
And yet—
“Is that so?”
Victoria spoke up suddenly. Her voice wasn't loud, but it was crystal clear.
She lifted her head, her gray eyes fixing on Silvia. The heavy, hollow gloom of the past two days was gone, replaced by a familiar, rekindled spark.
“Sounds like Lilith takes it for granted that she's the strongest among the freshmen.”
Silvia froze.
“Just wait until I'm discharged,” Victoria continued, her voice steady yet laced with unwavering determination. “I will definitely find an opportunity to challenge her officially once again.”
Silvia's pink eyes widened as she stared blankly at Victoria.
The renewed radiance on her friend's face, the burning fighting spirit in her eyes, and the unmistakable sign that she had pulled herself out of her depression left Silvia momentarily stunned.
Then, a wave of immense joy and relief surged through her heart, completely overpowering her surprise.
Thank goodness! Victoria had truly bounced back!
She was no longer that pitiful, helpless mess that broke Silvia's heart!
“T-That's wonderful, Victoria!”
Throwing all grace and composure to the wind, Silvia leaped out of her chair and threw her arms around her friend in bed, hugging her tightly as her voice trembled with emotion:
“You've finally... finally pulled yourself out of it! I knew you'd pick yourself back up!”
Under the soft, yellow light of the hospital room, the two beautiful girls embraced. Victoria felt a bit awkward being held so tightly, but feeling the warmth of her friend's hug and her unabashed, pure delight, a warm swell rose in her own heart, alongside a subtle twinge of guilt.
“I'm sorry.”
Lifting her uninjured left hand, she gently patted Silvia's back, her tone softening. “I kept you worried for so long.”
Silvia released her, wiping away tears that had somehow gathered at the corners of her eyes, breaking into a smile through her tears:
“Heehee, as long as you're alright! I knew you'd be able to get back on your feet on your own!”
At those words, a subtle, almost imperceptible flick of embarrassment crossed Victoria's face.
She averted her eyes, her fingers absently twirling a lock of gray hair draped over her shoulder.
“Actually... it wasn't entirely on my own that I snapped out of it.”
Rate on N.U.
