Chapter 201: Getting Deeper 1
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Mon-Fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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In the dimly lit cave, I slowly moved my hand. Lying on the dirt floor in armor, I could only gently maneuver my wrist and forearm.
In the dark tunnel, where the only light source had vanished, it was hard to see even after adjusting to the darkness.
Yet, the bright silver hair resting on my palm seemed to emit a faint glow, an illusion so strong that it made me forget the fact that long hair often gets tangled and caught.
Due to the cramped space, my arm naturally wrapped around her waist, on top of me.
Despite the armor, I could distinctly feel her slender waist.
Was it because of the game's preference for beauty over historical accuracy?
Lost in impure thoughts, I heard a voice from above my chest.
"Roland, you said you've been an adventurer since you were very young, right? Why did you become one?"
"Because there was a tower in the city."
"Really? Thats it...?"
Stress relief had become an excuse to engage in inappropriate behavior with the noble ladies of the capital, and now I found myself naturally continuing the physical contact.
I tried to comfort her because she seemed anxious, but this was the only way I knew how.
The beauty resting her head gently against the chest plate of my armor.
My hand naturally moved to her soft hair, creating an intimate atmosphere in the narrow cave.
Katie's voice, muffled and vibrating against the breastplate, tickled my heart.
My arm, with nowhere else to go, naturally wrapped around her waist, and she didn't seem to mind my stroking her hair.
"I saw the tower standing tall in the city and thought, I have to climb to the top of that tower."
"You stopped at the 37th floor and came down."
"No matter how strong I am, I didn't want to live like a beggar, unwashed for months."
"Is Hanna that great? She hasnt made a single error so far."
Whether it was due to the light affection that started from camaraderie or the admiration for someone of higher skill, the distance between us had noticeably shortened, and at this point, there was no turning back.
Katie Wesley was in love with me.
A fresh and sweet love, different from the lonely nights with noble ladies.
Katie probably thought the deep darkness of the cave hid her expressions, but unfortunately, Han Se-ah's streaming camera seemed to have some brightness adjustment.
Maybe I can use this for exploring dark places later I can't let my mana drop to the point where I can't use Light magic. Plus, it's not location-specific but attached to NPCs.
Lying on my back on the dirt floor, pretending to look up at the sky, I avoided the gaze of the camera in Han Se-ah's stream window.
In the hologram, there was a beauty with an expression unbelievable for someone buried alive.
Her cheek pressed against my chest, lying as if she was atop a giant teddy bear.
The slight movement of her jaw might be the unconscious expression of regret that my hand, which had been stroking her hair, had stopped.
It was hard to believe that this was the posture of someone buried alive, waiting for rescue.
As a result, the chat was as noisy as usual, if not more so.
-Seeing those two makes my non-existent womb flutter LOL
[Chat deleted by the mod]
-Blond male lead, silver-haired female lead. It's clich.
-Now I see why romance web dramas are trending on the internet.
-Not just annoying kids, but actual pests LOL. Without Grace, they just go at it.
-Oh? I thought Katie was all about knights, armors, swords, golems...
-But Roland does look good. Honestly, could any female viewers confidently say they wouldn't fall for him in that situation?
-If I had a comrade like Roland, I'd retire from adventuring and set up a cozy home.
-Female viewers...
-From today, Heroes Chronicle is romance genre.
-He has savings for retirement, right? LOL. Just buy a mansion and live blissfully as a couple~
-I think all these chatters have cyber wombs installed.
Trying to overcome the anxiety, or perhaps enjoying the time in the dark, Katie moved subtly on the armor, and I held and comforted her.
In the cramped cave, the two of us lay on the dirt floor, leaning against a broken tree root.
Excluding the danger, it was an incredibly touching moment.
Or perhaps, the viewers found it more entertaining precisely because it was love blossoming amidst danger.
Since the camera was openly recording, it was unnatural to maintain silence.
I couldn't stop caressing her hair and enjoying its texture out of nowhere.
I couldnt just stop being affectionate once the camera started recording.
"Hanna is... no, what were your plans after conquering the tower, Roland?"
"I planned to make a name for myself, then buy a peaceful mansion away from annoying nobles. Fill every room with magical domestic appliances and live in luxury."
"Hmm, Roland, you seem to like magical appliances more than the nobles."
"Theyre convenient, cant help it."
"Well, that's why you stopped climbing and came down."
I had actually thought conquering the tower would allow me to return to Earth.
That a Goddess, creator, or shattered demon king would appear, explain everything, and send me back.
It was a fantasy I had given up on, but Han Se-ah's involvement rekindled that hope.
I prefer comfort and an easy life.
Not exactly a lie, more like a secondary life goal, so now I could talk about it comfortably.
No matter how strong one's body, you can't escape the passage of time.
I didn't want to keep roaming battlefields as an old veteran, so planning for retirement was only natural.
Wanting a comfortable and peaceful old age, her giggling breath tickled my jaw.
"If you prefer comfort so much, shouldn't you have become a knight instead of an adventurer? Especially in the North, where even commoners with skill can join knight orders. Of course, starting as a squire."
"Thats true. If I hadnt seen the tower soaring high into the sky, maybe I would have joined a knight order."
Ah, the North's clich of hiring based on skill, even among commoners.
Early on in this other-worldly existence, if I hadn't been fixated on climbing the tower to return to Earth, I might have joined a noble household instead of becoming an adventurer.
Given my situation of being dropped without any noble status, I probably would have joined a northern knight order, as Katie suggested.
"If you had joined a Northern knight order, it would have been interesting. With your skills, you would have quickly risen to a high position and might have even become close to my father."
"Then I would have been disciplined for failing to prevent the second lady from running away with the family treasure on the day of her coming-of-age."
"That's true... If Roland had been there, maybe I wouldn't have run away."
She murmured so softly, but her words were clearly audible to me and the camera.
It didn't seem like she intended to hide her words, as a soft chuckle echoed in the darkness.
---
Raei Translations
---
While we were unexpectedly developing a romance in the cave, the rest of our group was busy above.
With two close-range vanguards buried underground, the team was in a predicament.
"Ill recover mana and then dig down to them. Luckily, they're not buried too deep."
"Even in this situation, you left mana spikes behind? That's impressive."
"Thanks to Hanna, we can rescue them without waiting a day."
-Mana spikes, cant, feel, them, excellent, control
Despite being well-prepared, Han Se-ah thought it was a long shot to break through from the 40th to the 35th floor with just an archer, a mage, and a priest.
She chose to stay above the unstable ground, intending to let Manaashi guard her while she recovered her mana.
Knowing our coordinates from the mini-map and intending to dig down vertically, she confirmed our safety through the camera.
If we had moved down to the second or third cavity, it would have been a straight path to a reset, but realizing the situation in the first cavity saved us a day.
Han Se-ah's image as a genius mage seemed to have solidified even more.
"Even a high level wouldn't sense that... amazing!"
"Ah, haha... Don't flatter me too much, ."
"A little bit more and even Roland wouldn't be able to sense that, right?"
In reality, it was a trick using the mini-map and a streaming drone, but to the NPCs, it seemed like a discreet and precise magic control that even superior mages couldn't detect.
Manaashi, who was guarding the area with his trident, also praised the ability.
While I was breaking the ceiling and embracing Katie, Manaashi had burst forth with his mana to save the nun, leaping high into the air from the dirt floor.
He shattered the ceiling again, saving Irene within the protective spell.
A little slower than me but intuitively sensing the collapse, he was a sensitive and skilled warrior, admired by Grace and Irene.
"Seriously, now even the temporary NPC ally is praising me? How did I become such a genius mage..."
-The genius mage self-praise LOL
-It's been since you started taking donations for asking the Magic Tower questions.
-Down below it's a romance, but above it's comedy. Planning to combine them into a rom-com?
Ignoring the teasing from the viewers, she firmly secures the ground where they are standing and begins to dig above our heads little by little.
With the help of the mini-map and camera drone, her confident actions only deepen the misunderstanding.
Embarrassed by what's happening behind her, her face reddens, but to those unaware of the situation, it simply seems like humility.
---
raei: Katie in love? ()
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