Chapter 203 203: Deep Caves
“Hey, how long will we let the little one follow after us? I know we said we will not get involved with her but we cannot allow Mary to follow us like this either. She’s too young to be put in danger.”
Aurora had known that Rita had a bleeding heart when it came to children.
She might react like she did not care for others but Aurora knew how Rita was. If there was one of them who would take mercy on Mary, it would be Rita.
“Let her follow us if she wants to. No monster will attack her as long as she stays near us. Besides, aren’t you keeping an eye out for Mary as well? We don’t need her in our group to keep her safe.”
If Rita was someone who had an openly bleeding heart, then Astoria had a closed-on. She did care about the safety of the child but she could not go out of her way to help the child out.
Not without anything life-threatening happening to the child at least.
Frankly, Aurora was more on Astoria’s side than she was on Rita’s in this case. She did feel sorry for the child following after them but Aurora had not asked the child to follow them.
The child had taken it upon herself to follow after them. It was the child’s responsibility.
“Hey, I know you did not have the safest childhood out there but Mary is still a normal human child. She would die out here without protection.”
Aurora finally sighed after hearing Rita out. The bickering was getting a little too much for her.
Both sides had good arguments for not bringing Mary along. But for Aurora, it was about to resolve.
The journey their group had started was not an easy one. Bringing a kid along would only slow them down. It was not a wise decision when they were on a timer.
And if the child somehow got the idea to quit halfway, then it would be a big disaster. The group would not be able to turn around and deliver Mary back to her parents.
“Rita, we are about to enter the deep caves. We don’t have the time to look after a kid.”
“That’s what I am saving. What if Mary refuses to back down even after reaching the deep caves? Would leave her to die? She can’t possibly enter that place and find her way out.”
Aurora knew Rita was telling the truth. A kid likely won’t be able to find their way out of the deep caves without help.
But Mary will likely give up even before that happened. The deep caves gave off a dangerous feeling to humans. No kid would risk their lives while traveling through the caves.
“If she follows after us inside, then we might take her to our party. But only until we reach the Eastern Continent. I am not looking after a kid more than that.”
Surprisingly, Astoria was the one who spoke. Aurora had not anticipated Astoria to make such a decision, but it was typical of her.
She cared about the child in her own way, and her decision to push the child away was also a way of demonstrating her love for her.
“That’s what I wanted to hear. Well, if this is the case then I have no choice but to agree with you on these conditions. But Astoria, you should not underestimate a desperate human kid. You might get surprised at what you find.”
Astoria snorted, not believing Rita’s words. It was one thing to believe in the words of someone who had magic or power, it was another to believe in an ordinary kid.
Aurora decided to keep herself out of this gamble. She did not want to become a roadblock between this bet.
Besides, Aurora had a feeling that Rita was onto something with her words and her impression. She had seen something in Mary which had convinced her to believe in that kid.
But there was not much time to sit back and think on this topic either. Not when the deep caves were in front of them.
This was the true meeting point between the Eastern Continent and the valley. And also the place where the abyss met the overworld.
Aurora was the last to step into the dark caves but also felt the small presence hesitating outside the cave.
Mary was hesitating whether she should go in or not, but she decided to enter the caves in the end.
Aurora was surprised to feel the human presence enter these caves after her but the shock did not come.
‘Looks like Rita won the bet this time. Humans can be daring when they need to be sometimes. It’s amusing.’
It would not be until later that Aurora would think back on her words and realize she had begun distancing herself from humans as a whole. But for now, she did not find anything distracting in her thoughts.
===========================
Mary took in a deep breath as she stood in front of the scary-looking cave. She did not want to enter the cave.
‘I should stay away. This place is not for me. B-But, Astoria and the others entered it. It should be safe, right?’
For the past day, Mary had done nothing but follow the group around on their journey. She had been quiet in her following.
She was sure that the group had not realized that they were being followed since Mary had kept her distance from them.
She had thought that it would have been difficult to follow after them. These people were powerful and they had magical powers.
But surprisingly enough, Mary had not been found out yet. It had to be due to the lack of monster attacks that happened. Usually, Mary had to keep out of 3-4 attacks a day, but no monster had been spotted today.
‘Oh no, they are getting away. I should stay near them.’
Mary did not know why, but her instincts were telling her that this lack of attack had something to do with these people in front of her. They were the only factor that was different between now and the past.
Besides – ‘I need Astoria to take me in as a student. I want to learn medicine as well.’
Most doctors from the tower charged them a hefty fee for cures. And their medicine was not as fast-acting as Astoria’s had been.
If Mary learned from her, then she was sure that she would get better soon and she would be able to look after her people.
But since Astoria had no intention of taking Mary as a student, she had no choice but to sneak around.
That willpower and courage were what finally convinced Mary to step into the abyss and follow the group. She could not let such a good opportunity pass through her hand.
Mary had not moved too deep when she felt a huge presence attaching itself to her back. It felt like someone was digging their claws into her back and weighing her down.
Mary was strong for her age, but her small body lacked the body mass needed to push the weight off her back.
Not to mention, her lack of magic made her useless in this situation.
“Now, what is a kid like you doing in this deep of the abyss? I know you came here to be my familiar. How lucky of me! I just managed to escape my boss’s room and this is the reward for me.”
Mary turned around with scared eyes. A cat-like creature stood over her and a human female at its side.
The female was human without any doubt but the situation made her look demonic in Mary’s eyes.
‘W-Why is this happening? Why is a human attacking me like this?’
Mary had a lot of questions but her life seemed to be coming to an end here. The cat-like monster raised its paws high up but they landed on Mary too softly to hurt before they slid off her back.
‘Did I survive? B-But how did that happen?’