NOVEL SIMPLE 058 – Interlude: Katarina III
Katarina Grimoire rises early in the morning.
However, on this day, it was even earlier than usual.
Before the sun rose, Katarina opened her eyes and met Kirina's gaze, who had also opened her eyes. They couldn't help but smile.
Today was the day they would go to the "Labyrinth." The day they could engage in real combat for the first time. The day to demonstrate the results of their training. It was a day they could truly feel their position.
They had been taught by Junos and Serena, and they had trained hard. But Katarina wasn't very aware of how capable she was. Kirina probably felt the same.
For example, Katarina could probably defeat Montego the Orc if she fought seriously. But she couldn't beat most people from her own Grimoire demon tribe. Even facing the Ignia tribe, a lizardfolk warrior tribe, would likely be difficult.
Am I—are we—useful?
Not a day went by without thinking about it.
I want to be useful no matter what. But what about my current self? How useful am I? How much more effort do I need to put in? Am I just holding everyone back? There wasn't a day when I didn't think about such things.
Anyway, after getting ready together in the morning, they joined Junos and the others who had prepared the carriage ahead of them. Katarina was slightly annoyed to see Raft sitting in the carriage as if it were natural.
"Good morning. Are you also going to the Labyrinth?"
"Good morning. I'm not going to the Labyrinth. Jainos told me to apprentice under Dubil's boss. It used to feel like I was just helping out, but from now on, I'll be his disciple."
"You?"
Katarina knew about Dubil Ganon—not very well, but she knew he was a dwarf blacksmith. Originally a slave of some demon race tribe like the Yunofeliza tribe, ordered to raid human territory, he escaped in the confusion and now lived in the rocky mountain area with Serena's permission.
With Euphemia Grimwood's leadership, Orcs, Grimoire tribe members, and Bernard tribe members frequently came and went, and now the Labyrinth had appeared near his dwelling. How did he feel about that?
"Well, yeah. Me. I guess I'm pretty suited for it."
So said Raft without any particular emotion.
Katarina felt uneasy and furrowed her brows.
"Do you want to become a dwarf's apprentice and become a blacksmith?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Even though you don't know, you're becoming an apprentice? Don't you have things you want to do yourself? Isn't that—"
"I don't have the luxury of saying what I want to do in this situation."
With a light tone, Raft said something like dropping a small piece of luggage.
"Katarina, your demonfolks and my demonfolks weren't very close, were they? And most of my demonfolks went into human territory and died. Like Junos's father... the chief, I guess."
"And?"
"Even though it may not seem like it, I'm doing my best. I'll do the work assigned to me properly. If it really seems like I'm not suited for it, I could say something, but I'm told I'm suited for it, and I'm expected to do it. So I do it. Is there something wrong with that?"
"But..."
Both Katarina and Kirina were trying hard to be useful to Euphemia Grimwood. But Raft wasn't.
Accepting what he didn't want to do but had to.
-- Who really serves Euphemia better?
That's what they thought.
In two carriages, about half a day's journey.
Initially, the journey that took over a day on foot now had well-formed tracks due to the frequent passage of carriages, making travel easier. After all, it was a place where Grimoire monopolized ironworking. With the ongoing development of the border forest, Dubil's forge in the rocky mountains, and the village of Sutin where the orcs lived, the Bernard tribe used carriages to travel back and forth daily. With such traffic, it was impossible not to have a road or two.
"Hey, Junos. Do you think there were other things we should have done? Besides... becoming stronger through training?"
Looking out at the clear blue sky from the carriage, Katarina, the demon girl, voiced her inner confusion. Kirina, sitting next to her with her fox ears perked up, was probably thinking something similar.
"Even if there were, would you have wanted to do them?"
Glancing ahead from a slightly distant position, Junos replied with a question.
"Um... no. I'm doing this because I wanted to and because I wanted to become like this. Even if there were other things, I probably wanted to do this... I think."
It was a terribly vague answer even for herself, Katarina thought.
But when Junos turned back to Katarina, he showed a sarcastic smile, nodded a few times, and continued.
"Then that's fine. I think that's what your beloved Euphemia Grimwood would say too. If you want to do something and you're allowed to do it, then you should do it—she'd say something like that."
"I wonder if that's really okay..."
"What is 'real'? Who guarantees such a thing? Is obeying something someone told you to do 'real'? I don't think so."
"But... I want to be useful to Lady Euphemia..."
"I also... do."
Trying to suppress something rising from her chest, she said. Kirina said the same. But Junos just smiled and mixed it up.
"Then, without hesitation, be useful. If you're not useful now, you'll be useful eventually. If that's what you two want, right?"
"We'll show we're useful!"
"We'll show we're useful!"
They shouted reflexively, and Junos nodded with a smile.
"I see. So this time, you're bringing two kids along. And one of them is Lady Serena's daughter, no less. Well, I ain't in a position to say anything, but it'll be safe, right?"
Dubil Ganon stared sharply at Junos.
He wasn't much taller than Katarina. However, his entire body was covered in muscles, and he was stout, with his hands and feet likely twice the size of hers. His face was probably about twice the size too, with a beard thickly covering his mouth and half-balding hair.
A typical middle-aged dwarf.
Though Katarina had only seen about three actual dwarfs, Dubil was maybe the third. She vaguely remembered seeing them when she was once part of the Yunofeliza tribe, living in the territories of other tribes... She was pretty sure she never talked to them. She wasn't confident in her memories from when she was so young, but she remembered they all felt similar to Dubil.
"Is there anywhere in this world that's safe? Just walking around carries the risk of dying. But I vow to ensure Katarina and Kirina's safety as much as possible," Junos said confidently, almost boastfully, but Dubil knew better.
He knew from what he heard on the way.
Junos and the others had already explored the Labyrinth several times and had even cleared up to the third underground floor. Moreover, they did so with ease, and yet the ores dropped by the Labyrinth's monsters were of extremely high purity...
In short, it was a lucrative hunting ground.
"Well, if that's the case, fine. Raft seems to be apprenticing under me, but he's fine with living in, right? I'll tell you, I won't be kind to my apprentices."
"Yeah. As long as there's no unnecessary high-handedness or pointless hazing. It's not right for me to interfere in the master-disciple relationship. If Raft gets tired of it, he can always leave. That's how it goes."
"That's not quite how it goes."
Raft Grimoire, the subject of the conversation, had already started doing menial work at the forge—since he had been helping out before, he knew the ropes. So, the conversation just now between Junos and Dubil was probably like a rite of passage.
"Shall we move on to the strategy meeting?"
"Finally. Honestly, try to imagine how it feels just standing there silently."
Maya said, stretching her body as if genuinely bored. Jainos and Jade, who had also been silent, sighed and shook their heads.
"Alright? First, make sure to remember about the monsters. In the Labyrinth, there are undead creatures. Skeletons are particularly interesting."
"Skeletons?"
"Bone monsters. They're like humanoid bones, wielding swords and shields, attacking. Isn't that amazing? It's something you can't understand."
Maya spoke excitedly, but Katarina couldn't understand what was so fun about it. Neither could Kirina, and Jainos and Jade looked exasperated, while Junos remained serious.
"Listen carefully. The monsters in the Labyrinth—"
As she reluctantly listened to Maya's enthusiastic explanation, Katarina felt a strange sense of realization that she was about to enter the Labyrinth.
This is what I decided.
This is what I want to do.
So—I'll do it.
