Chapter 134: Daphne Awakens 2

“Big Nose, Big Nose... where did you come from?”

Daphne played with the little creature as she carefully examined him from head to toe.

No matter how she looked at him, she could not find anything particularly unusual.

In truth, many magical beasts were quite willing to live alongside humans, especially low-level ones.

Life in the wild was dangerous for weaker magical beasts. They were constantly threatened by predators, and even finding enough food could be difficult.

Following humans, on the other hand, offered them protection as well as a steady supply of good food.

Most low-level magical beasts willing to accompany humans also tended to possess relatively high intelligence.

Daphne’s knowledge of magical beasts was fairly limited, so she naturally assumed Big Nose belonged to that category.

She had absolutely no idea that the fat little creature resting comfortably in her arms was the kind of existence that could give even high-level magical beasts a serious headache.

Big Nose, meanwhile, clearly had plenty of experience receiving this sort of treatment.

He settled comfortably into Daphne’s arms, closed his eyes, and allowed her to scratch his belly.

Before long, a satisfied purring sound came from his throat.

That only made Daphne like him even more.

She looked up at Kent, her eyes filled with admiration.

Kent immediately felt uncomfortable under that gaze.

“Come on, Daphne.”

“Let’s go find you a mount.”

Inside, however, he was muttering helplessly to himself.

Big Nose didn’t even come here because of me.

There’s really no need to look at me like that.

Daphne suddenly gestured toward the surrounding cavern.

“But... what happened here?”

Only then did her attention return to the piles of Earth Lizard corpses scattered everywhere.

Her gaze eventually settled on the enormous body of the Earth Lizard leader.

Kent immediately brightened.

“Oh, these?”

He answered with great enthusiasm.

“They came looking for death themselves. You can’t blame me for that.”

Daphne stared at him for a moment.

Then she smiled.

“Brother Kent, stop teasing me.”

“With your level, how could you possibly—”

Her voice suddenly stopped.

She frowned and concentrated.

Then her expression changed.

“Wait...”

“Why can’t I sense your level anymore?”

Before, Daphne had clearly been able to tell that Kent was a Level Three mage.

Now, however, she could no longer sense his strength at all.

That genuinely surprised her.

“Heh.”

Kent immediately put on a solemn expression.

“I happen to be a genius among geniuses.”

“I’ll tell you something, but you’d better prepare yourself.”

“I’m already Level Six.”

He nodded seriously.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

His expression was perfectly earnest.

Unfortunately, the words themselves sounded anything but convincing.

Daphne immediately burst into laughter.

“Giggle... Brother Kent, stop joking.”

“Level Four would already be unbelievable enough.”

Then she noticed the enormous dragon lance standing behind him.

Understanding immediately dawned on her face.

“That weapon behind you...”

“That must belong to whoever saved us, right?”

As far as Daphne was concerned, the mystery had just been solved.

Kent glanced back at the massive lance.

“This?”

He patted the weapon proudly.

“This is my newest weapon.”

Seeing the suspicion written plainly across Daphne’s face, Kent suddenly gave her a mischievous grin.

“If you don’t believe me, how about we make a bet?”

“A bet?”

Daphne froze.

Then, for some reason, her face suddenly turned bright red.

She lowered her head and asked in a tiny voice,

“But... don’t you already have a maid?”

“Could it be that you want...?”

Daphne’s words left Kent speechless.

He lowered his head without saying anything, feeling thoroughly depressed.

That old wager had been nothing more than something he had blurted out in the heat of the moment. He had never really meant anything else by it.

Well...

Even if certain thoughts had crossed his mind, nothing had actually happened yet.

And now even this little girl was teasing him about it.

Kent suddenly had the unpleasant suspicion that his reputation throughout the Dark Region might already be beyond saving.

Unable to think of a decent response, he simply pretended not to hear her and reached for the dragon lance beside him.

“Uh...”

Daphne kept her head lowered for a while.

When Kent still did not answer, she cautiously stole a glance at him.

What she saw made her eyes widen.

Kent was carrying the enormous dragon lance around as he dealt with the corpses of the Earth Lizards.

And he was doing it with terrifying ease.

Daphne’s mouth slowly fell open in astonishment.

She was not absolutely certain what the weapon was, but after seeing how effortlessly it had pierced through the Earth Lizards’ defenses, there was only one possibility she could think of.

A dragon lance.

Weapons like dragon lances were nothing like greatswords, axes, or war hammers that could be purchased from ordinary weapon shops.

They were weapons reserved exclusively for Dragon Knights.

And Dragon Knights were among the ultimate military forces of the continent.

They possessed extraordinary speed, overwhelming offensive power, and formidable defenses.

Anyone capable of forming a contract with a dragon was already a powerhouse in their own right.

As for the weapons they carried, virtually every true dragon lance could be considered a divine-grade weapon.

Only weapons of extraordinary quality could hope to break through a dragon’s natural defenses.

And for a Dragon Knight, the dragon lance was the most important weapon of all.

What Daphne simply could not understand was—

when had Kent acquired something like this?

Still, that did nothing to lessen the admiration in her heart.

In Daphne’s eyes, Kent was gradually becoming someone who seemed capable of anything.

Kent, meanwhile, had already begun collecting his spoils.

With a thrust of the dragon lance, he split open the lower jaw of one Earth Lizard and extracted its magic core.

As for the hides, he only bothered cutting away the hardest portions around the head.

He ignored most of the blood, bones, flesh, and other materials.

Compared with the first time he had killed a Demonic Ape and desperately tried to make use of nearly every part of its corpse, Kent’s standards had risen considerably.

His own level was higher now.

He had seen better things.

At this point, he almost could not even be bothered with ordinary magic cores.

Unfortunately, Kent was still annoyed after being teased by Daphne.

So the already-dead Earth Lizards became convenient victims for him to vent his frustration on.

By the time he finished sorting through the battlefield, the harvest was actually quite respectable.

There were forty-two magic cores in total.

One was Level Six.

Six were Level Four.

Thirty-one were Level Three.

And four were Level Two.

The Level Two ones had belonged to the unlucky Earth Lizards that had been too slow to escape at the end.

Kent also removed two large fangs from the Earth Lizard leader.

They were excellent materials for forging daggers.

Its hide, however, was mostly ruined.

The best section had already been punched through by the dragon lance, leaving an enormous hole.

“Let’s go.”

Kent called to Daphne and immediately took the lead.

He moved quickly.

Although he felt stronger than ever, this was not a place where he wanted to linger.

Too many Earth Lizards had died here.

The overwhelming smell of blood would spread rapidly through the underground caverns and attract other magical beasts from far away.

And once that began, the situation could spiral out of control.

The more beasts he killed, the stronger the smell of blood would become.

The stronger the smell became, the farther it would spread.

And the farther it spread, the more magical beasts would come.

It was a vicious cycle.

Kent could not fly.

And even if he could, the underground world hardly offered enough open space for flight.

If they were completely surrounded, strength alone would not save them.

Forget Kent.

Even a Level Nine powerhouse could be dragged down and killed under those circumstances.

Daphne immediately followed.

Before long, she was walking beside him.

She glanced at Kent’s calm expression several times.

Then, gathering her courage, she suddenly reached out and wrapped both hands tightly around one of his arms.

After that, she refused to look at him at all.

Under the glow of the illumination spell, however, the slender curve of her pale neck quickly turned bright red.

Her other arm remained wrapped around Big Nose, holding the plump little creature against her chest.

Kent felt Daphne tighten her hold on his arm and gave a faint, helpless smile.

It was not that he had failed to notice her feelings for him.

He had noticed them quite clearly.

The problem was that, deep down, Kent still thought of Daphne as a minor.

Technically, she was older than he was.

But the moment the word minor entered his mind, a powerful sense of guilt followed with it.

In a place like this, however, he could hardly bring up such a subject directly.

And there was something else weighing on him.

Kent knew that he would not remain in the Dark Region forever.

Sooner or later, he would return to the surface and travel across the continent.

But what about the Dark Elves?

On the surface, they were regarded as a cursed race—a people believed to have betrayed humanity itself.

The gnomes were treated much the same way.

If members of such races openly appeared on the surface, would the entire continent turn hostile toward them?

Kent could not say.

And because of that uncertainty, he did not want to become too deeply entangled with the races of the Dark Region.

“Brother Kent...”

Daphne noticed that his expression had gradually become more serious.

Her voice softened.

“Are you unhappy?”

“Is it because of me?”

As soon as she asked, she lowered her head, looking like a child who had done something wrong.

Kent had been so absorbed in thought that he barely registered her words.

“What?”

He turned toward her.

“What did you say?”

“Waaah...”

For some reason, Daphne’s heart immediately ached.

Tears began falling from her eyes.

“Brother Kent... do you not like me anymore?”

Kent immediately stopped walking.

He reached out and gently wiped the tears from her face.

“Silly girl, what are you talking about?”

He sighed.

“I was thinking about something just now. I didn’t hear what you said.”

His fingertips brushed against Daphne’s soft, youthful cheek.

For the briefest moment, his heart stirred.

But Kent immediately suppressed the feeling.

To him, allowing that thought to linger felt almost like a violation of the girl’s innocence.

Daphne’s face turned red the instant his fingers touched her.

Still, after hearing his explanation, she gathered her courage.

“Then... do you like me or not?”

Kent gave her an awkward smile.

“You’re still young.”

“What do you even know about liking someone?”

“When you’re older, you can ask me that question again.”

He paused, then added,

“Besides, I already have a girlfriend on the surface.”

In truth, Kent simply had no idea how to answer.

If he said he liked her, he would not be able to get past his own moral reservations.

But if he said he did not, he was afraid Daphne might react badly.

Daphne immediately straightened.

“What do you mean I’m young?”

Her voice rose sharply.

“I’m older than you!”

“And I’m almost as tall as you!”

She puffed out her chest indignantly.

“So tell me—where exactly am I small?”

Kent opened his mouth, but she did not give him the chance to answer.

“And it doesn’t matter if you already have a girlfriend.”

“I can be your girlfriend too.”

Daphne said it with complete seriousness.

“Aren’t human men allowed to marry more than one wife anyway?”