Shulim introduced Mico to Alicia, saying, “Sorry, Alicia, I didn't have time to tell you beforehand, but Mico will be partying with us from now on. Don't worry, she's very strong and won't drag us down. I hope you don't mind.”
Since Shulim had never seen Mico fight before, she hadn't known her exact strength. However, after witnessing her battle with that gang yesterday, Shulim realized that Mico's power was quite formidable, even for a C-Class.
Most of those gang members were D-Class, and though the mohawk-sporting leader wasn't particularly impressive, he had indeed reached C-Class. Yet, Mico had easily defeated them in the end.
With this level of strength, she had either reached C-Class shortly after enrolling, or had already been a C-Class before she even entered the academy...
Alicia shook her head. “No, of course I don't mind. In fact, she is more than welcome!”
“However...” Alicia looked at Mico. “I didn't expect it to be Mico Kedar...”
Mico felt a bit uneasy under Alicia's gaze, fidgeting as she spoke. “Um... hello.”
“Hello, Lady Mico. It is an honor to be in a party with you. I am Alicia Serionce—you have probably heard of me. Please take care of me from now on!” Alicia said with a smile.
“Uh... yes, I've heard of you... Um... Alicia... please take care of me too...”
Shulim: “?”
Shulim felt a trace of oddity from their conversation.
“Alicia, why do you say that? Is there something about Mico that caught your attention?”
“Huh? Shulim, you didn't know?”
“Know what?”
“Mico Kedar is a member of the White Cat Royalty!”
“? Eh—?!”
Shulim snapped her head to look at Mico, who quickly turned her face away, avoiding Shulim's gaze.
“...”
“Mico—”
“Why didn't you tell me about this?”
“Eh? But, well... Shulim, you never asked me...” Mico mumbled in a low voice.
That was indeed a very valid reason. Still, Shulim was pretty sure she had asked her where she came from. How had Mico answered? She had claimed to come from some tribe on the plains...
No matter how she tried to recall, there hadn't been a single mention of royalty. It wasn't as if she could have randomly asked her, “Hey, are you a member of the royal family?” out of nowhere.
Come to think of it, when she was being deliberately isolated in the academy, even though all the other students in the Special Class were affected, Mico, her roommate, hadn't been impacted in the slightest. At the time, Shulim had thought the other side's tactics simply didn't work on Mico. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't that the tactics were ineffective, but rather that the other side didn't dare to do anything to Mico...
“Sigh—”
Shulim let out a sigh.
Of course, she was also partly to blame. Looking back, most of the books she read were historical records of ancient eras, as well as things related to Shimulir's geography and biology. Very few of them covered the current political situation of Shimulir.
Although she knew that the cat beastkin tribe held one of the high seats in the Indam Federation Council and that their royalty shared equal status with the royal family of the Pasara Empire, she had never bothered to learn the specific names of those council members. This resulted in her remaining completely ignorant of the fact that her roommate belonged to the White Cat Royalty, holding a status equal to Alicia's.
It seemed she would have to learn more about this in the future, otherwise it would be quite embarrassing if something like this happened again...
“Mico, in the future, don't gloss over things like this when we do our introductions!” Shulim vigorously rubbed Mico's cat ears to vent her annoyance.
“Ow, ow, ow! I know I was wrong, I'm sorry! Shulim, let me go!”
Watching the two of them play-fighting, Alicia couldn't help but feel a bit envious of Mico. As a member of the imperial family, the people around her since childhood had either been sycophants or full of malice. Almost everyone who approached her did so with an ulterior motive. She had practically no one she could trust, and almost no one she could call a friend.
Yet Mico, who held a similar status, could act entirely on her own whims and play around with her friend so freely.
“Shulim and Mico really get along well...”
Shulim stopped what she was doing, glanced at Alicia, and then tapped Mico on the head.
“...I'll forgive you this time. Don't let it happen again.”
“Ow, ow, ow... Shulim, you're too rough, meow!” Mico looked at Shulim with a thoroughly aggrieved expression.
But Shulim ignored her, walking straight up to Alicia and patting her on the shoulder.
“Alicia, why are you being so melancholic all by yourself? You have us now, don't you?”
With that, Shulim waved her hand and began walking deeper into the dungeon.
“Let's go! Since we've rarely had a reliable combat force join us like today, let's go test the strength of the Dungeon Boss on the bottom floor.”
“Eh?! We're going to fight the Dungeon Boss? Awesome! Wait for me!”
Mico, who had looked aggrieved just a second ago, immediately grew excited and quickly scurried after her.
“...”
Alicia stood frozen in place, Shulim's words still echoing in her mind.
“Alicia, hurry up and follow us!” Shulim's voice drifted back.
“...Okay, I'm coming!” At that moment, a genuine smile blossomed on Alicia's face.
“You two, wait for me!”
...
The deepest part of the Glimmer Dungeon.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble...
“Waaah! It's coming! It's coming! Help me!”
Mico cried out as she fled. Behind her, a massive, terrifying wheel was hurtling toward her at incredible speed.
“Mico, quickly fly into the air!”
“Waah! Into the air? Oh, right!”
Boom!!!
“Wings of Wind!”
At the absolute last second, Mico activated her Third-Tier wind spell, “Wings of Wind,” and soared into the sky.
Almost at the exact moment she took flight, the terrifying, giant wheel grazed past her feet and crashed onward.
Crash!!!
Following a deafening bang, the frightening wheel smashed into the stone wall.
The immense impact sent tremors throughout the entire underground cavern.
“S-So scary! I really thought I was going to die!” Mico said, her heart still pounding in fear.
Clack, clack, clack...
As a series of bizarre noises sounded, the giant wheel slowly uncoiled, and a Pangolin Earth Dragon revealed its true form.
“Roar!”
Unleashing a fierce roar, the earth dragon swept up a massive boulder with its armored tail and hurled it toward Mico in the sky.
“Waah!”
Mico hurriedly adjusted her flight path with Wings of Wind, avoiding the attack by the narrowest of margins.
But the Pangolin Earth Dragon seemed to have locked its sights squarely on her.
One boulder after another was scooped up by its tail and thrown at Mico, leaving her with no choice but to continuously dodge.
“Great! Mico, keep drawing its attention just like that!”
“Eh?! Me? Okay, I'll do my best—waah!”
“Alicia, let's go!”
“Right!”
Taking advantage of the Pangolin Earth Dragon being completely distracted by Mico in the sky, Shulim and Alicia launched an assault from the ground.
Rate on N.U.
