After Nim agreed to form a party, Mirra pulled out a map and showed it to him. Upon seeing it, Nim realized that before meeting her, he had been heading in the wrong direction.
A map was definitely necessary.
Tracing the route on the map, they continued moving forward.
....
Several hours passed and they were now very close to the gate to the next floor.
Along the way, they encountered several monsters which Nim defeated with ease.
Mirra was also able to defeat some on her own, and Nim realized that she seemed to be stronger than adventurers of her level.
Additionally, from time to time, Mirra would take out food and other things from some unknown place.
Apparently, Mirra had a strange item that allowed her to store her belongings in a separate space. Since Mirra didn't want to talk about it, Nim didn't ask.
He also asked her about the core the slime had dropped after dying.
Mirra explained that sometimes, magical monsters could drop a core, and the quality of the core depended on how strong the monster was before dying.
Even so, it was rare for monsters to leave behind a core.
Mirra not only explained this but many other things—so much so that she hardly stopped talking the entire way.
Nim didn't get too bored since most of it was information about the dungeon, with the occasional trivial detail.
—There's the door. See? I told you bringing me was a good choice.
Mirra pointed to a door a few meters ahead of them. Also, that last sentence was one she had been repeating constantly.
—Yeah, that's true —Nim replied. He had said the same thing several times already, but deep down he knew that without Mirra, he'd probably still be wandering around this floor.
Besides, there was something he had to do at that moment.
—Let's go —Mirra started walking ahead.
—Wait —Mirra had only taken a few steps when Nim grabbed her by the arm.
—What is it? —Mirra was surprised by Nim's sudden action.
—I remembered something important I want to tell you —Nim stepped in front of Mirra, turning his back to the door.
—What's the important thing? —Mirra didn't understand Nim's sudden strange behavior.
In the hours they had traveled together, Nim had come across as a somewhat quiet person. Only speaking when asked something.
—The truth is, I wanted to tell you this since the first time I saw you —Nim said this last part awkwardly.
Mirra was a bit surprised by those words, as she had heard them before. More than once, in fact.
—It's just that I li...
Before Nim could finish the sentence, a shadow appeared behind him.
This shadow held a dagger and was attempting to stab Nim in the back.
The dagger was sharp enough to pierce his back and reach his heart.
Nim, who seemed unprepared, suddenly turned around. The shadow, not expecting this reaction, opened their eyes wide in surprise... and managed to see a cruel smile drawn on the victim's face.
Without giving the attacker time to retreat, Nim threw a punch directly at their wrist.
Crack!
The shadow dropped the dagger instantly, their bones shattered.
—Aaah...
Feeling the intense pain, the shadow couldn't help but scream.
Mirra, who had still been waiting for Nim's confession, was alarmed by the loud scream.
—Wh-What's happening? —Mirra asked, instinctively stepping back. Just a moment ago, she had been listening to Nim's strange confession.
Catching up to the situation, she saw that Nim had turned around at some point. And in front of him, there was a person dressed in dark clothing.
In the dark areas of the room, it would've been very hard to notice them.
—An assassin —Mirra knew about this dangerous class, and most of the time only assassins dressed like that.
Realizing this, Mirra broke into a cold sweat, knowing she had narrowly avoided danger.
—You... —the assassin tried to say something.
Nim didn't let him finish and quickly ran toward the assassin. Seeing Nim's speed, the assassin couldn't react in time and was hit with a powerful punch to the chest.
Thump!
The assassin was sent flying like a cannonball, his chest sunken in from Nim's tremendous strength.
He crashed violently into the wall, and his body was destroyed.
A horrifying sound of bones breaking echoed in the room.
Mirra was startled by the brutal death of the assassin. It was also the first time she had seen one person kill another.
Her elders had told her that sooner or later she would witness people dying. After all, people were often more dangerous than monsters.
At that moment, Mirra hadn't fully understood that last sentence. But she had mentally prepared herself nonetheless.
Still, this scene shocked her.
Mirra looked at the corpse, which had already lost its human form. It was now just a mass of flesh and blood.
Staring at it intently, she made sure to burn the image into her mind as a reminder of how dangerous humans could be.
After a few seconds, Nim called her as he picked up his backpack, which he had left in a corner at some point.
—Mirra, let's continue —Nim gestured to her.
Mirra turned to Nim, who didn't seem affected by what had just happened. He simply looked like he had killed another monster.
And regarding that sudden confession, it seemed like it had just been a ploy to lure the assassin.
Thinking about that last part, Mirra felt a bit upset for having her feelings toyed with.
—Yeah, I'm coming —Mirra replied, not showing much on the surface.
Nim and Mirra continued forward and entered the room with the portal to the next floor.
This room was like the others they had seen, with a large space and a green portal in the center.
—Let's rest before we head to the next floor —Nim sat down and began taking some food rations out of his backpack.
—That's fine —Mirra also pulled out some food.
After the last battle, Mirra had stopped talking much and seemed to be deep in thought.
Nim noticed this.
(Maybe I scared her)
Nim thought Mirra had been frightened by seeing him kill the assassin. For him, doing something like that was completely normal... but he knew not everyone felt the same way.
Maybe now she would want to stop teaming up with him.
Just when Nim was about to ask her if she was okay, Mirra spoke.
—Nim, I want to tell you something.
Mirra had a look like she had made a decision.
—What do you want to tell me?
—I want to tell you some things about myself —after seeing a murder for the first time, Mirra had strangely decided to trust Nim and tell him about herself.
—Some things about you...?
—Yeah, you've shown me that you're not only strong, but also someone I can trust —Mirra returned to her previous attitude and began talking a lot again.
—Yeah... —Without realizing it, Nim had earned Mirra's trust.
He, who had been expecting the opposite, couldn't help but think one thing:
(Mirra is a strange girl)