Momoko [Judar X Kougyoku]

Dungeon Vinea (Part 1)

The monster wrapped a tentacle around my leg again and yanked me into the water. I held my breath as it plunged me underwater and pulled me in towards its mouth. I still had a grip on my sword, so when it pulled me close enough, I shoved the blade through part of its mouth. It screeched and thrashed, releasing me from its grip. I swam back towards another rock and pulled myself out of the water.

Gasping for air, I called out to my comrade. "Ka Kobun! Are you okay?! I wounded it, so let's finish it off!"

Ka Kobun was staggering back to his feet, clutching his abdomen. The creature was still thrashing around in the depths of the pool.

"Princess! When it comes at us again, we'll attack it together!"

"Right!"

We clutched our swords, and it felt as though our battle auras flared and combined into one. As the monster breached and hurled itself at us to swallow us whole, we seemed to sync our movements flawlessly, leaping towards the creature and delivering our final strike directly to its eyes. The monster screeched in the throes of death, and then it turned into crystal and shattered. The shards of crystal glimmered in the air before fading away like magic. In the creature's place, a huge shining pearl materialized and plopped into the pool of water.

Ka Kobun and I doubled over and panted heavily. I'd cleared my first challenge of the dungeon, but my heart was still pounding and I was trembling from head to toe.

"Your highness," Kobun huffed, "you're not injured are you?"

"No," I said between breaths, "thanks to you. But are you okay?"

"Nothing serious. It dropped something when we destroyed it. I'll go retrieve it."

Ka Kobun set his sword down and waded into the water before diving in. I dropped to my knees to try and ease my shaking legs and calm my breathing. Moments later, Kobun returned to the surface with the huge pearl in his hand, pulling himself up onto the rock beside me and panting heavily.

I let him catch his breath and wring his clothes out, and then I smiled at him. "Hey...we're really here, aren't we Ka Kobun? We're in a dungeon."

"...Princess?"

I hugged my knees to my chest. "It's...it's not a dream is it? This is what I've been preparing for all my life. It's finally happening. And if I hesitate, even for just a moment, I might not return home."

"Princess Kougyoku..."

Ka Kobun took my hand and placed the pearl in it. It was so comically large, about the size of a grapefruit, and yet it glistened beautifully just like a normal sized pearl.

"It's okay to be afraid, you know," Kobun said. "Even the strongest and bravest warriors still fear for their lives when faced with overwhelming challenges. I'm sure if you asked even his highness Prince Kouen, he would tell you the same thing. If you think being brave means being without fear, you're mistaken. Someone who tries to be brave without acknowledging their fear is an arrogant fool that ends up dying too soon."

He picked up his sword and was wiping the blade clean as he spoke. "And I'll tell you something else. Most of my life, I've been driven to make the choices I've made because of cowardice. Having been born into unfortunate circumstances for the first part of your life yourself, you might sympathize. But I've lied, cheated, stolen, and backstabbed my way up the social food-chain. All because I didn't want to be afraid of where I would have to sleep, or where my next meal would come from anymore. And after that, it was just because I thought to myself: 'why stop there when I might be able to reach the top?'"

He put his sword back in its sheath, his lurid yellow eyes meeting mine with intensity.

"I am here beside you because of fear. We defeated that monster just now because of fear. And I'm sure it was fear that also drove you to take up the sword in the first place...a fear of being unable to protect those you love, perhaps. I remember the way you spoke about not wanting to feel helpless anymore when I began teaching you."