After Erian finished healing my wounds we moved away from the site of the battle and returned inside the barracks to rest. Since everyone was pretty tired from the fight, we decided to not use the baits anymore and instead advance some more to find a safer place to sleep in. I would have liked to use the baits more, but after all, the goal Alua and Ron gave us was to arrive at the Shovos inner city in five days, so we couldn't prolong our stay here anyway.

While everyone was chilling after the battle, Mark decided to measure his strength. He used the magic tool and numbers appeared into the air: 602 for mana and 593 for ki.

I decided to use it too.

“Hey Mark, pass me that thing.”

He gave it to me without saying anything, I then used it.

The tool measured 611 Mana and 585 ki.

The total of my mana and ki now was more than Mark's one.

'It's just by a minuscule margin, but still, mine is bigger, and that's all that matters. Wait, like this it sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?'

Mark looked at how much I scored and didn't say anything, we stood like that until everyone was ready to go.

We proceeded while following the Shovos pillars and after a while, we found the end of the big cave we were in and entered a narrower one again. We walked through the tunnels for about two hours but we didn't encounter any monsters during that time, it was possible that the minotaur was here before and scared away all the other monsters.

At some point, Jane stopped me and told me she felt a slight presence of water mana in the air. I knew there were underground rivers in this dungeon, so I decided to slow down the pace to look for it. I went ahead to tell Oliver to stay closer to us, then we started advancing while keeping attention to our magic perception. We soon found the tunnel from where the water mana was coming from.

It was a smaller tunnel departing from the one we were in and it was too small to allow us to use proper formations, so it was quite dangerous to venture into it. Still, Mark said that he felt a little less earth mana near the entrance, so I realized that this tunnel probably was a Safe Zone.

Safe Zones were areas with a conformation that somehow made them safe, they were usually found by adventurers, reported to the guild, and then fortified so that adventurers could use them as safe havens during their exploration.

We ventured through the tunnel and soon found a big earth-eating lantern hung on the ceiling, we proceeded and then found a wall with a metal door in its middle. The door had no knob, but it had a rune at its centre, I touched the rune with my adventurer badge and the door opened.

After the door, we found a pretty big open space with a hat and a big pond at the end of it.

It was pretty big for an underground pond, but in its deepest part, the water was probably running so it was better if we stayed near the shore.

The hut should have contained cheap preserved food and a map painted on one of the walls. We were forbidden to use maps, so it was off-limits.

It was pretty late and the others still had to recover completely from the previous fight, so we decided to pass the night here.

As the others took out the food, I went to the pond with Lae to replenish our water supply. The area was almost deprived of mushrooms, but still, the rock under the water was covered in moss, which made the ground quite slippery so we had to be careful.

I didn't want to slip since it would be terribly embarrassing to do it in front of everyone, but sometimes you just can't avoid fate.

Lae that was filling a canteen very near to me slipped off the moss with a cute shriek and landed on me, making us both fall.

She now was on top of me, looking at me with an embarrassed expression.

“S-sorry master.”

Even though her expression was very cute I was feeling irritation creeping up on me, I couldn't show it to the others though. I hastily regained composure, got us up, and said:

“Don't worry, just be careful next time.”

Actually, I suspected she fell on purpose, I've noticed that lately, she has been trying to get my attention more and more, she always tried to stick next to me when she could, she sought only my help when she needed something, and she rushed to me frantically whenever I seemed to need something.

But I didn't think it was a normal crush. Thanks to my blessing I knew she sought a family, or in other words, a place to belong to, more than anything, and our circumstances made me an eligible substitute for it. I wasn't sure if she was aware of it though.

I had no intention to be in a romantic relationship with her, still, the more she depended on me the more she was less likely to betray me, so I wasn't going to stop her.

I thought about the isekai novels I read back on earth, in some of them the protagonist ended up getting a harem of girls completely dedicated to him. I knew this was almost impossible in real life, but I couldn't help but wonder if I could do something similar if I found more girls like Lae. Now that I thought about it, I could make Jane like that if I played my cards well.

I felt a slight feeling of disgust at the thought of going out of my way to twist her mind into depending on me that much.

No, that wasn't good, it was too risky to do something like that if I could feel pity for her, otherwise, it could be me to become dependent on her in the end, and that was unacceptable.

As I was thinking these things, Erian came up to me with a worried expression.

I felt myself being attacked by nervousness.

Then she said:

“Are you fine David? Do you need healing?”

“Don't worry, I'm fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, 100% sure.”

For an instant she showed a slightly disappointed expression, then she smiled politely and said:

“Well, it's better like that, just let me know if it hurts, okay?”

“Sure.”

I wanted to avoid her healing as much as I could, when she healed me after the last battle I felt very relaxed, I didn't know if it was the holy attribute, her motherly figure, or her kind attitude, both something in her made me feel very comfortable, and that was dangerous, I needed to have my guard fully up at all times.

The fact that she was my type of girl also didn't help. She was the same age as me, the same height, she had ample breasts, a moderately plump figure, she always wore a polite smile and had a kind and relaxing attitude; if we were in an anime she would fit in the big sister type of girls.

Right now she was the one that scared me the most, I couldn't allow myself to lower my guard, I had to keep a firm grip on my heart at all times when she was around, it was very stressful.

I would probably need to talk to her soon though, after all, thanks to my blessing I knew she had a weakness and I needed to find it.

After she returned to the others, I closed my eyes and sighed, then I thought:

'Don't lose focus David, remember: The world is mad and you have become madder than it to survive.'

With this, I felt myself becoming determined again.

I sighed again and got back at filling up canteens.

--Erian's pov--

I was a bit sad when David rejected my healing, I knew he was doing his best to keep us safe so I wanted to be of assistance to him as much as I could. Earlier he went as far as jumping on top of a minotaur even though he had a broken arm, he must have been very worried about us.

I was starting to think I was having a crush on him, I knew it was unreasonable for someone in my position, but when I looked at him, I couldn't help but feel attracted to him. He usually wore a confident and cool expression, but sometimes, his expression showed glimpses of sadness or fear. He seemed very lonely at that times, like he was hiding his anxiety and fear to not burden the others, like he was fighting a losing battle alone, like he felt trapped in a cage, waiting to be eaten alive, waiting for someone to help him, to protect him, to save him.

When I saw him looking like this, I really wanted to hug him and tell him that everything would be fine.

His usual expression was also cool though, it gave me the feeling I could rely on him. Lately, I've been finding myself staring at him more and more.

Lately, I've been starting to feel like the world was mad, that the world, that the people were mad and irrational and I felt very scared at that times, looking at him helped me calm down.

Now I decided to finally start to talk to him, I just needed to find a good opportunity now.

Before we ate, we took a bath in the pond. We girls went first and David, Mark and Ron would be second, last would be Oliver, he always wanted to take baths alone.

When David and Mark went to take the bath I decided to walk randomly between where we positioned our stuff and the pond, so that I could intercept David and talk to him.

While I was doing that, I saw Lae walking towards the pond while sticking near the wall.

I wondered what she was doing so I decided to follow her.

On that side of the cave, there was nothing but rocks so I wondered what she was trying to do.

I walked towards her and she didn't notice me.

At some point, she turned off her light so I turned off mine too, to not be noticed.

She then crouched down behind a certain rock, I could see light coming from the space between that rock and the next, Lae peeked from that space.

'Wait, is she trying to peep on David!?'

I suddenly felt pissed off and hurried to her.

“Lae, what do you think you're doing?”

I whispered to her from behind.

She silently jumped for the surprise and looked at me.

She suddenly kneeled, put her head to the ground, and whispered:

“Your holiness, I'm sorry.”

“Were you trying to peep? Also, please call me Erian.”

“Yes, I was just curious to see my master's body.”

At that words I couldn't help but wonder how David's body looked like, I felt my cheeks getting a bit warmer.

“Yes, you were curious, it can't be helped, right? Still, you shouldn't peep on people like that, please don't do that anymore.”

“Thank you very much your ho- I mean, Erian.”

I looked at the space between the rocks, when I healed David's arm I got the chance to see it up close and I could see his well-defined muscles sticking out, now I couldn't help but want to see the rest too, for an instant I thought about returning here later.

“Are you curious about master too, Erian?”

“Ueagh!”

Lae's question surprised me and I reacted launching a shriek and getting up.

Lae hurriedly grabbed me, brought me back on my knees, and covered my mouth with her hand.

Right after I heard a voice coming from over the rocks.

“Hey Mark, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Oh, nothing, I must have imagined it.”

Lae then removed her hand from my mouth and sighed in relief.

“S-sorry,”

I whispered.

“You don't have to apologize, it was my fault in the first place. I didn't know you were so uncomfortable with these things. I thought that being the saintess of a goddess of fertility and a healer you were used to the male body.”

“You see, while I was studying as a healer we only saw drawings. Regarding Esha's cult, once her priests actively made children with as much as they could, even outside their marriage, but since the imperialist faction took over, all priests are strictly forbidden to have sex outside marriage. I belong to the traditionalist faction, but I had to keep it secret and ended up not learning much about the other sex since those topics aren't welcome inside the church anymore.”

“Is it fine to tell it to me that easily?”

“Yes, it doesn't matter anymore.”

“I see, anyway isn't it strange for the priests of a goddess of fertility to be this prude?”

“Well, yes, but although those belonging to the imperialist faction call themselves Eshians, the only one they truly worship is Horus, they call him the incarnation of the goddess' will, but there is no mention of any future messiah in the ancient texts. Once the cult worshipped life only for its beauty, while now creating life is worshipped only as a means to strengthen the empire's military power. The church also changed its sacred attribute from the light attribute to the holy attribute.”

“I see.”

Lae's opened her eyes wide like she just had an idea, then her expression turned into a smug one, and said:

“Do you want me to share some knowledge? You see, I know quite a lot of that stuff.”

I was surprised by her proposal, but I couldn't help but be curious.

“Well, if you don't mind.”

“Well then listen: first, you have to know that.............”

She started instructing me.

“I see.”

“........... touch you..........”

“Umu umu.”

“.......... in the ass.........”

I was starting to heat up a bit.

“Awa awa.”

“........... come with him........”

As her in-depth lesson continued, I felt my mind gradually become lighter.

--David's pov--

After I washed and dressed up again I walked to our camp and as I walked I saw a girl walking slowly in the same direction.

She was staggering while looking at the ceiling, her cheeks were very red, there was drool coming down of her mouth and she was looking absent-mindedly at the ceiling while laughing.

I got near her to see if she was fine, it would have been a problem if one of my party members was feeling bad and I didn't know it.

“Erian, are you fine?”

She didn't respond and continued to laugh while looking in the air.

I pinched her cheek.

“Ueagh!”

She looked at me.

“Erian, do you have a fever? let me touch you in the forehead a bit.”

“T-t-t-touch me?!”

“Yea, I know it's a pain in the ass but let me do it.”

“I-i-i-in the ass?!”

I touched her forehead, she was a bit hot, but nothing too worrying, she just needed to cast some healing on herself.

“Ok, nothing too big, now just come with me back to the camp.”

“T-t-too big?! C-c-come with me?! Uwaagh.”

Erian fainted.

I caught her and kept her from falling to the ground while being crept out by her drooling smile.

'What's wrong with this girl?!'

Lae suddenly appeared from behind me.

“Do you need help with something, master?”

“This girl just fainted on me, do you know what's her problem?”

“Oh, my, she said she was feeling a little sick but I didn't think it was that bad. She said it happens, sometimes, I hope it won't be a hindrance to you, master. It's a real pity she has that problem, it would make her a troublesome wife after all.”

“What has marriage to do with this now?”

“Just saying.”

“Anyway, bring her to the camp.”

“Yes, master.”

I looked at Erian's face, now her expression turned into one of peace, it was different from her usual expression. Her usual expression was a polite and kind smile, the expression of someone that would have liked to help everyone in the world; but now, her expression was the one of a baby sleeping peacefully, like she wasn't thinking about anything or anyone at all, it was an egoistic expression, in a sense, but still, looking at her like this felt comfortable. The picture of her scene came back into my mind.

“No I changed my mind, I'll bring her to the camp personally.”

“What? Are you sure master?”

'I wonder.'

I didn't know why I felt like doing it, but thinking about it, doing her a favour would help me when I would need to find her weakness, like this she would be more likely to open up to me. Yes, I was definitely doing it only for that.

“Yes, I'm sure.”

I picked up Erian in a princess carry and brought her back to the camp.