Chapter 16

I rushed down the cobblestone path through the crowded street. I had already applied all the buffs I could at that time. My speed was so fast that I could feel the air blasting right at my face. Thankfully I was able to safely avoid bumping into people despite how fast I was moving.

The dungeon where the hero was stuck was one I had visited before. It was a dungeon full of wisps. Wisps were an ethereal and gaseous creature with a core similar to that of a slime as their main body. They are generally hard to deal with if one didn’t have any magic or range. Aiming to fight them through close combat wasn’t a good choice either since just by being near one, you would suffer from toxic damage.

Though it wasn’t that hard of a dungeon for me considering my stats, it was still hard for some veteran adventurer parties. I wasn’t sure of the details but the hero’s party should be capable of dealing with them. From what I knew they had a core formation of a mage, warrior and ranger along with a hero to top it off. They all had a high potential to be experts in their own respective fields.

Perhaps they faced some unfortunate incident while going through the dungeon or triggered some trap? It could be possible since they were still newbies despite their capabilities. I wasn’t aware of the details as it was just a rumour. For all I know, it could’ve all been a hoax but I didn’t want to take my chances. 

Considering how high profile a hero is, you would usually know where his whereabouts were. One would even know where a hero candidate was even if they didn’t bother about him. It was highly unusual to not receive information about the hero candidate for around 2 weeks or so, especially when I frequented the bar to collect some info. In my eyes, it raised the credibility of the rumours. 

The dungeon at least wasn’t that far away. It was one of the nearer dungeons outside of the city walls. It should take around 30 minutes to reach there with my current speed. I focused back on running without losing myself in my thoughts.

Hopefully, the hero is still safe.

---

After running at top speed for 30 straight minutes I felt slightly exhausted. Despite that I couldn’t rest right now, I had to find the hero candidate. I entered the dungeon quickly. What was before me were darkish purple brick walls with blue luminescent torches hanging on them. The atmosphere was pretty cold and you could hear the weird sounds at times due to the wind.

These kinds of dungeons always gave me the creeps. 

Shrugging off those thoughts, I started searching the area around me. The 1st floor of the dungeon was unlikely to have the hero candidate here as it was one of the easier floors. The monster encounter rate was also low. I wasn’t planning on fighting any of them in the first place so I would be avoiding them either way.

I whizzed past the dungeon quickly while avoiding the wisps. Though these monsters were persistent they weren’t exactly that fast. The only problem is that they are capable of quickly ganging up if you let them be, but due to my speed they weren’t able to properly group up.

The wisps are left behind as I continue to move on, following this the same sequence of actions happens quite a few times. I searched for a few hours straight as I scoured through as many rooms I can. I started to lose hope as I hear a scream resounding through the passageways.

“Ahhhhh!”

Without wasting any time I head straight towards the source of the sound. The number of wisps starts growing denser as I head there, it was a clear indicator of the presence of another living being. While I was going through the crowd I would slash away at them a few times to widen the gaps within their formation. My physique made it much harder for the smoke to affect me so I naturally opted to go with melee attacks.

Countless cores started to fall wherever I went as I got nearer to the person. What I saw was an individual in armour who had its limbs splayed around in the ground. It seemed the person was under the affliction of the toxic poison of the wisps.

I dived through the crowd and quickly grabbed onto the guy. Surprisingly he was quite light. Straddling him onto my shoulder, I gave a quick run for it again. Avoiding most wisps I headed towards a secure location.

The wisps didn’t want to give up but they weren’t a match for my speed, I ended up leaving them in the dust. After reaching a safe enough distance I heaved a sigh. Today had been a lot of running around for me. First and foremost I needed to tend to the guy behind me. 

Considering the quality of the armour it seemed he was the hero candidate indeed. 

I start casting a Purification spell along with a Healing spell. Soon enough the skin tone on his hand regained a flush peach colour. It should mean the poison had dissipated by now. I couldn’t help but take a peek at his helmet at that point. I had never seen the hero candidate by his face, most of the time he only had his helmet adorned.

I saved his life so it should be okay right? Convincing myself I slowly and steadily take off his helmet. His short orange hair comes spilling out of the helmet. His facial features looked really androgynous, having a feminine feel to it also. Considering his petite body frame, if he were to crossdress one wouldn’t be able to recognise him as a boy. 

I myself would’ve been confused whether he was a boy or a girl if I were to not notice the flat and tight chest plate. The settings when I started this world made it so that breast size is automatically augmented, having a flat chest should be a very unlikely occurrence. 

He looked like an ideal little brother one would want. If he were to show his face he would surely be a lot more popular. 

It’s likely this little hero was starving so I got him back onto my back and headed outside the dungeon. Though it took some time the journey was mostly smooth. I was pretty happy I had managed to save someone’s life today, I should treat myself to some meat tomorrow.

---

I had ended up settling down right outside the dungeon premises. A makeshift camp was set up while I started cooking some broth with the ingredients I had. The hero candidate was laying down right beside the campfire I had set up.

I went ahead and took off most of his armour in order to remove any discomfort he might have. 

Before long I heard a surprised gasp as I was cooking. The hero candidate was awake and looked alert. His eyes shifting left and right as he searched his surroundings.

“I am... alive?” he says as his body slowly slumps down. Tears start pouring out of his eyes. “I am alive!” he says once again but this time with relief and bliss apparent in his voice. He starts crying without any regard. Before I realized he jumps onto me and hugs me.

Poor kid must’ve been through a lot. I couldn’t help but put my palm on his back as I pet his head to calm him down. It felt like I had gotten a real little brother who I wanted to spoil. Memories of being with Seris hit me again as I start feeling melancholic. 

I keep patting his head as he buries his head onto my chest. A sigh escapes my lips as I comforted him. In a way he was also comforting me through all the loneliness I had to withstand. A sweet scent enters my nostril while I was patting away the hero candidate.

A certain possibility enters my mind again which I had shrugged off earlier. I was suddenly reminded of my history of misunderstandings which often ended with it blowing up in my face. Though I was reluctant to admit it, I couldn’t run away from the thought.

Was he possibly a girl?