So it was all for her

"Hm? Oh, that..."

Greg followed her gaze to the shaman's corpse. Even he felt a lingering chill at the gruesome way it had died.

"...Yes, that was me. A kind of...well, dark magic I haven't quite mastered yet."

When he had first used it, he really had thought Dark Wave was a useless skill. It looked pathetic, lacked any presence, and surely couldn't do much damage.

He had never imagined it would be so devastating in actual combat. Or rather...so sinister.

It had slapped the target with a lethal dose of debuffs, outright cursing a LV23 elite monster to death.

Still, he had only gotten lucky this time.

If that little black dot had missed, or its effects hadn't been so absurd, Sylvia might have...

A wave of belated fear washed over Greg.

Lately, he had gotten used to exploring the fringes of the Dungeon alone. In combat, he focused more on his own positioning and chaining his skills together. He really hadn't been mindful enough of covering his companion.

Sylvia was a ranged support fighter. She lacked both the ability to defend herself in close combat and actual fighting experience. He had to learn from this and devote more attention to her from now on. He couldn't let her fall into that kind of danger again.

"I knew it..."

With his confirmation, Sylvia's eyes brightened even more as she looked at Greg, filled with unmistakable admiration and belated amazement.

He had easily handled more than a dozen Goblin warriors attacking him alone, neutralizing every attack with a black armguard unlike anything she had ever seen, as though it could devour everything.

At the critical moment, he had instantly killed a Goblin shaman whose danger even she could sense, using some utterly incredible method, and saved her while she was completely defenseless...

Senior Greg was far stronger than she had imagined, and his methods were unfathomably mysterious.

And this was already the second time he had saved her...

Senior Greg...really was amazing.

So reliable, so attentive. He was so strong, yet he'd kept such a low profile all this time...

And when he rushed over earlier, he seemed so anxious...Was he worried about me?

Her heart seemed to skip a beat, and her cheeks grew a little warm.

Sylvia instinctively lowered her head, not wanting Greg to see her expression.

A feeling mingled with gratitude, admiration, and something hazier and harder to name quietly took root in her heart and spread.

The hand he had held seemed to retain the warmth of his touch.

Greg looked away from the shaman's corpse toward the dark entrance leading to the middle region, his brow furrowing again.

"I really didn't expect this. Even something on the level of a Goblin shaman has come up from the deep region to the shallow region..."

In the original story's setting, Goblin shamans were elite monsters that only appeared in the deep region of the first floor. At LV23, they already counted as high-tier monsters on the Academy Dungeon's first floor.

Its appearance here undoubtedly confirmed that something unusual had happened in the middle region, perhaps even the deep region. And it was probably more serious than he had anticipated.

He was growing increasingly curious about the situation below, but also more wary.

What exactly had driven these monsters, which should have had fixed territories, to cross their boundaries and come to the shallow region?

After taking a moment to steady his breathing and ease the slight fatigue from the battle, Greg turned to Sylvia, his tone more serious than before.

"You've had enough rest, right? We need to keep going and check out the middle region. From now on...I'll pay closer attention to you. I won't let you end up in danger like that again."

"C-closer attention to me?!"

Sylvia abruptly raised her head, her pink eyes widening slightly. The blush on her cheeks seemed to deepen.

The way he said that...didn't it sound a little special?

"Yes."

Greg nodded and explained quite naturally, "After all, I promised Victoria I'd keep you safe. I have to keep my word."

"..."

The expression on Sylvia's face froze for an instant.

The sparkle in her eyes seemed to dim a little, as though scattered by an invisible breeze.

"Oh," she murmured, her voice dropping. That subtle excitement and shyness quickly faded, replaced by a faint sense of disappointment that even she didn't fully understand.

So it was because of...Victoria...

She remembered how Greg had given that precious Reflection Gem to Victoria without a moment's hesitation.

She remembered how he had gone alone to visit Victoria in the hospital late at night, and all the comforting, encouraging things he had said...

And now, even his promise to pay closer attention to her stemmed from a promise he had made to Victoria.

Thinking it over carefully, Sylvia realized that Senior Greg seemed to be closer to Victoria than he was to her.

But I'm an emissary of the goddess just like him. I've been trying so hard to help, too. And just now...he really did save me, and he seemed so worried...

So why did it feel as though Senior Greg's gaze, his attention, and all those special gestures of his always fell more on Victoria?

Victoria was her most important friend, and Senior Greg was someone she respected and felt grateful to.

She should have been happy that they got along so well.

But what was this lingering, bitter ache of disappointment in her heart?

Sylvia instinctively bit her lower lip and bowed her head, avoiding Greg's gaze.

She didn't want Greg to notice her strange mood. It would make her seem so unreasonable, so...petty.

"What's wrong? Are you still feeling unwell?"

Seeing her suddenly fall silent and lower her head, Greg thought she was still shaken by what had happened, or perhaps felt physically unwell.

"N-no, it's nothing!"

Sylvia hurriedly shook her head, trying to force a natural-looking smile.

"I'm fine, Senior Greg. Let's...keep going. I'll stay close behind you."

She did her best to rally herself, but that inexplicable emptiness in her heart wasn't so easy to dispel.

If Greg had known what she was thinking, he would have laughed himself silly.

What do you mean, I'm closer to that gray-haired girl?

My Excalibur is still glowing because of you, you know!

But of course, Greg had no idea what she was thinking.

Although her smile seemed a little forced, he simply assumed she hadn't fully recovered from the fright. He didn't ask any more questions and merely reminded her again:

"If anything feels wrong, or you're using too much mana, tell me right away."

"Okay, I will."

Sylvia answered softly and followed behind Greg as they once again headed toward the entrance to the middle region, which radiated an ominous aura.

But her gaze wandered between Greg's straight, vigilant back and the empty darkness, leaving her looking somewhat distracted.