The usually damp cave was filled with the scent of grilled meat and the sounds of people eating.
I looked at Ilya who was eating with a bright smile on her face.
"You like it?"
Ilya answered without stopping stopping to eat:
"Really...delicious".
I smiled wryly since the meat was just lizardmeat.
"You...strong...how you...came...here?", she asked.
I pondered for a second if I could tell her or not, but I decided I hadn't got a single reason not to.
And so I began to tell her about my bullies, how I got in this world, why I was in the dungeon, what happened to me...
When I reached the end of my story, Ilya was sobbing.
"What's wrong?"
"Toru...suffered...a lot...makes...sad", she said in between her tears.
After that, we stayed silent for a while.
Then I asked:
"Could I...look at your status? If you don't wan-".
But Ilya had already nodded her head.
"Alright..", I mumbled.
______________________________________
Name: Ilya Myroia
Age: 733
Gender: female
Race: Draconian
Class: [Dragon Sorceress]
Titles: [Fallen Dragon Princess]; [High Priestess of the Dragon Race]; [Protected by the Heavens]; [Necromancer]
Lvl: 365
Stats:
HP: 106.728.152/106.728.152
MP: 472.151.378/472.151.378
STR: 89.267.206
VIT: 101.268.190
SPD: 178.289.284
MRES: 417.289.262
Skills: [No-Chant]; [Demon Summoning Master]; [All Element Compatibility]; [Godly Mana Restoration]; [Element Resist]; [Poison Resist]; [Paralyze Resist]; [Mana Affinity]; [Dead Rise]; [Dragon Transformation]; [Dragon Fire]; [Dragon Strenght]; [Dragon Scales];[Godly Body Restoration]; [Demon Control Advanced]; [Magic Eye]; [Foresee]; [Detect Presence]
_____________________________________
Her stats were quite high, but her mana and magic defense were just almost impossibly strong.
As to why she was a 'Fallen' Dragon Princess, I didn't ask.
A soft voice next to me asked:
"Can....I see...yours....too?"
I smiled at Ilya:
"Sure".
Then, I showed her my Status.
It was quite funny to see her face though.
From a quite enthousiastic face, to confusion, to awe.
Ilya looked up to me and stared.
"What is it?"
"You...kill...king?"
"Yeah, the Ogre King. He was quite strong", I answered.
"Why do you ask?"
"Thought...maybe killed...Demon...King".
"The Demon King? Do you think I could beat him?"
Ilya nodded enthousiasticaly.
"You...bit stronger...Demon King".
That came as a surprise.
I actually felt quite proud.
After that, we talked for a while but when I grew tired, I said I was going to sleep.
Ilya quickly agreed and told me she wanted to sleep as well.
So I took out several blankets and gave some to Ilya.
Then, I activated [Life-Force Detection] and sitting against the rock wall, I tried to sleep.
Not long after:
"Toru...?"
"Yeah".
"I'm...little...scared...can I...sleep...next...you?"
"Sure".
Following my words, Ilya took her blankets, sat next to me and laid her head on my shoulder.
My heartbeat got faster since I hadn't slept this close to a girl before, but I managed to relax a bit.
After a while, I heard Ilya's breath getting slow and rythmic and I knew she was asleep.
Looking at her beautiful face, I smiled and finally, I was able to fall asleep.
°°°°°°°°°°°°
Sarah's POV*
My name's Sarah.
A little over a month ago, I, together with about 20 classmates got summoned to a different world as heroes.
And I hate it.
The harsh training, the never-ending stream of hopeful cries of desperate people and of course, the royal family.
They try to influence not only or actions, but also our thoughts and they even succeed in turning several students in will-less puppets.
The only thing that keeps me going is a boy named Toru.
Ever since he saved me from being attacked by a large dog when we were kids, I had always followed and admired him and lately, even fallen in love with him.
But I never confessed to him.
Because I didn't wanted to scare him away.
And that is my biggest regret in my seventeen-year old life.
Right before we were going to be summoned, I had finally made up my mind and decided to ask him out.
But I got hindered.
First, by his bullies.
After that, by the summoning.
Lastly, by him splitting up from the rest of the group.
About three days later, those four bullies stated Toru was killed by the boar they were supposed to kill, because of his incompetence, ignorance etc.
And I believe they lied.
Partly, because I believe in Toru himself, partly because I didn't want to accept it.
But, it seems like I'm the only one who was upset about this news and cared about it.
From that moment on, I decided.
I would do what the people from this world told me to do and slay that Demonish-whoever it is.
Then, I'll ask the oracle about Toru.
And follow him, wherever he went.
After I made my resolve, even the hard training of the princess Areya, seemed less difficult.
By the way, our class was divided in three groups.
Those who were physically able to fight were trained under the two princes, Adam and Heyon; those who had an aptitude for magic were trained by the princess Areya and the minority, those with no battle-aptitude, were lead by princess Shilya.
Every morning, after breakfast, we trained until noon.
At noon, we could eat a small meal, before we received a short education period of about 2 hours and then we received another training period, what was followed by diner.
After that, we had to sleep.
It was a harsh training, but finally, after 2 weeks of endless struggle, we could leave the castle.
We were sent to the battlefield, but as to accustom us to it, we first fought in the back.
I was a mage with an aptitude for light and fire magic, but since we didn't have enough healers, my main job was to heal.
And as the other mages and the knights started to march forward, I was left behind to care for the wounded soldiers and adventurers.
Day after day dragged on, and before I knew it, I had already been at the frontlines for over 2 weeks.
I just hope Toru's alright...
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Toru's POV:
When I woke up, Ilya was still asleep, so I carefully put her down and stood up.
Then, I started to prepare and checked all my stuff to be ready to leave at all times.
When I was done and stood up to examine the hall.
"Don't leave me!!!"
Ilya's voice was shaken and large tears fell down her cheeks.
I was so suprised she didn't stutter, I didn't reply immediately and she started to continuously beg.
"Please, don't leave me alone!! I'll do anything, I can be helpful, I don't wanna be alone anymore..."
The longer her trembling voice resounded, the softer she spoke and in the end, she was looking down with her hands on her face while her shoulders were violently shaking.
I walked back to her side and squatted in front of her while putting my hand on her head.
"I won't leave you, you know. I was just going to inspect the place".
Ilya raised her head and looked at me with teary eyes while pouting. She almost looked like an abandoned puppy.
"Really? You'll stay with me?"
"Yeah, I promise", I said smiling.
A bright smile appeared on her face and she jumped up and hugged me, but because I didn't see it coming, I fell on the ground with Ilya on top of me.
"Ah, sorry!", she shouted out, and heavily blushing she tried to part with me.
But I held her tightly and said:" I don't mind".
Upon hearing my words, she looked at me blankly for a while but stopped struggling.
"Un~ ", she answered laying down her head on my chest, closing her eyes.
I could sense she was listening to my heartbeat, and I was doing the same.
Her weight pressing down on me was weirdly enough comforting, like the feeling you have when you come home after a long trip.
It felt exactly that way.
We just laid there for a while, without thinking about the fact we were still in a dungeon, only minding each other's presence.
After an unknown amount of time, we stood up together without letting each other go.
"Thank you, for not letting me go", she said while looking down, obviously embarassed.
"No problem", I said.
Then, for a short while, we kept hugging each other.
In the end, we parted, but stayed close together.
Then, we examined the hall together, and looked for any hidden passages or random treasures or anything.
In the end, we didn't find anything, which was actually to be expected.
Who would place a treasure in the same room as the one they used to seal a dangerous being away? Well, in their eyes a dangerous being.
Finally, I inspected if I hadn't left anything behind, and once I made sure, we went to leave the hall.
Upon reaching the threshold indicating the end of the place she had spent over 700 years in, Ilya hesitated.
But when I reached out my hand to her, she made up her mind, took my hand and walked next to me.
Then, we searched around for the stairs to the next level and before long, we managed to find them and went down to the next level.
____________________________________
POV= Point Of View