The Artificial Dimension - Sector 1.Simulation Sub-Level: The Verdant Plains.09:45 AM.
The artificial sun beat down upon the sprawling, hyper-realistic expanse of the Verdant Plains, casting long, dappled shadows through the canopy of the ancient, simulated oak trees. The environment was a breathtaking masterpiece of arcane engineering, designed to lull the inexperienced first-year students into a false sense of security before the true horrors of the dungeon were unleashed.
Rudeus let out a long, incredibly exaggerated, and profoundly bored sigh.
He was currently walking down a well-worn dirt path that ran parallel to a babbling, crystal-clear creek. His heavy, unenchanted black iron boots crunched loudly against the gravel. Resting casually across his broad right shoulder was the massive, intimidating bulk of his Six-Flanged War Mace.
He hadn't swung it a single time.
Not once.
In the forty-five minutes since they had materialized in this sector, Rudeus had been relegated to the absolute, most degrading role a veteran Vanguard Captain could possibly occupy on a battlefield: he was the spectator.
A few yards ahead of him, Princess Veronica was currently operating as a one-woman, apocalyptic force of nature.
-ZAAAAP!
A brilliant, blinding spear of concentrated holy light erupted from Veronica's outstretched fingertips. It shot through the air with a sharp, ozone-scented crack, perfectly piercing the center mass of a low-level Forest Kobold that had just attempted to ambush them from the thick underbrush.
The kobold—a pathetic, dog-like humanoid creature barely reaching a man's waist—didn't even have time to shriek. The intense heat of the light magic instantly vaporized its rudimentary leather armor and instantly incinerated its internal organs. It collapsed into a pile of smoking ash before its crude, rusted spear even hit the grass.
"And that makes twenty-four," Veronica announced cheerfully, blowing a nonexistent wisp of smoke from the tip of her index finger.
She elegantly stepped over the pile of ash, her silver-blue combat uniform completely pristine, without a single drop of monster blood or speck of dirt marring the expensive leather.
Rudeus sighed again, the sound loud enough to ruffle the leaves on a nearby bush. He reached up with his free hand and aggressively massaged the bridge of his nose.
'This is completely, utterly ridiculous,' Rudeus complained inwardly, his crimson eyes tracking another group of low-level abyssal slimes slowly sliding out from beneath the roots of a massive tree.
Before Rudeus could even shift his weight to step forward, Veronica was already in motion.
She didn't even bother utilizing a complex incantation. She simply snapped her fingers.
Three localized, high-explosive orbs of condensed solar energy materialized directly above the gelatinous monsters and detonated downward.
-BOOM!
-BOOM!
-BOOM!
The slimes were instantly evaporated into clouds of sweet-smelling, sizzling steam, leaving behind nothing but highly scorched craters in the dirt.
"Hey..." Rudeus finally spoke, his deep voice carrying a heavy, unmistakable edge of profound annoyance.
Veronica paused, the glowing aura of light magic slowly fading from her hands. She elegantly spun around on her heel, her silver-blue braid whipping through the air. She looked back at him, her oceanic blue eyes bright with the adrenaline of combat.
"What is it?" Veronica asked, raising a delicate, perfectly arched eyebrow.
Rudeus unceremoniously dropped his heavy mace from his shoulder, letting the iron head thud heavily into the dirt path. He leaned his forearms against the leather-wrapped haft of the weapon, looking at her with a deadpan, incredibly unamused expression.
"Can you, at the very absolute least, please give me some kills?" Rudeus asked.
He paused, forcing himself to add the magic word, though it practically burned his tongue.
"...Please?" Rudeus added, clearly and visibly annoyed that he even had to ask.
Veronica stared at his deeply frustrated, thoroughly exasperated face for a full three seconds. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
And then, she completely lost her aristocratic composure.
"Pfft—hahahahaha!"
Veronica threw her head back and laughed. It wasn't a polite, stifled royal giggle. It was a loud, genuinely boisterous, highly amused laugh that echoed through the quiet simulated forest.
"Haha, oh my goddess, look at your face right now!" Veronica giggled, pointing a gloved finger at him while clutching her stomach with her other hand. "Are you... are you really, genuinely standing there begging me to give you some kills? Like a child asking his older sister for a turn with a toy?"
She continued to laugh, clearly enjoying the absolute absurdity of the situation. The terrifying, brutal 'Monster of the Blackfyre Duchy' who had pulverized his brother into paste just yesterday was currently pouting because she was stealing all the low-level fodder.
"You really should not worry your pretty little head about it, my dear partner," Veronica teased, stepping closer to him, her oceanic eyes dancing with mischievous, arrogant delight. "I'll just happily carry you all the way down until we reach the lower levels of the dungeon."
She reached out and confidently, patronizingly patted his broad, iron-clad shoulder.
"Then, when we finally arrive in the deeper sectors where the monsters are slightly more durable, I will graciously step aside and give you a chance to swing that ugly club of yours and kill some mobs. How does that sound?"
Rudeus violently clicked his tongue against his teeth, physically shrugging her hand off his shoulder.
'This woman is absolutely insufferable,' Rudeus growled inwardly, his eye twitching.
She was clearly, deliberately teasing him again. But what actually, genuinely pissed him off wasn't the teasing itself. It was the deeply humiliating, incredibly frustrating dynamic of the situation.
He felt exactly like a helpless, low-level child being forcefully carried and protected by a high-ranking woman.
'It's exactly like playing one of those old, grind-heavy MMORPG games back on Earth,' Rudeus analyzed, shaking his head at the painful nostalgia. 'I am literally just a pathetic, Level 1 noob character who managed to party up with a Level 99 endgame Sorceress. I am just passively leeching experience points while she runs ahead and aggressively nukes the entire map with area-of-effect spells. I am essentially an escort mission NPC right now.'
"You do explicitly know that I can actively defend myself, right?" Rudeus stated, his voice flat, gesturing toward the heavy war mace resting in the dirt. "I don't actually need you to act as my personal bodyguard against E-rank slimes and malnourished dogs."
"I know that perfectly well," Veronica replied smoothly, not dropping her triumphant smile.
"But..." She then raised a single, scolding index finger, waving it lightly in front of his face.
"Where exactly is the fun in the simulation if I am the one who gets passively carried just because I am a delicate girl, right? I am a Princess of the Rosania Empire. I absolutely refuse to be treated as a useless damsel in distress who needs a man to protect her."
Veronica placed her hands on her hips, her posture radiating absolute, unbreakable pride.
"So, you can just relax, take a leisurely stroll through the woods, and watch quietly while I demonstrate the absolute, overwhelming supremacy of the royal bloodline to these pathetic, crawling fodders," Veronica declared.
To add absolute, devastating insult to injury, she offered a bright, incredibly cheeky wink and audibly added, "Teehee!"
Rudeus stared at her for a long, grueling moment.
He just let out a massive, soul-deep sigh and completely surrendered to her twisted, aristocratic logic. There was absolutely no fundamental wrong in being carried through the tedious early stages of a dungeon, tactically speaking. It conserved his physical energy and mitigated the risk of unnecessary, early-stage injuries.
But it still made him feel utterly, profoundly useless.
He knew, for an absolute, biological fact, that he could effortlessly crush these low-level slimes and frail kobolds into red mist using nothing but his bare hands, his mace, and his newly forged physical strength. They posed absolutely zero threat to him.
And yet, the Princess was unilaterally executing a mass, systematic solo-kill operation on every single mob that dared to spawn on this floor. He bet his entire allowance that all of their other first-year classmates in the other sectors were currently sweating, bleeding, and struggling desperately to coordinate their attacks against these exact same creatures right now.
And here he was, somehow, inexplicably taking a relaxed, scenic morning hike through the woods because the Princess was doing one hundred percent of the heavy lifting.
'Man, seriously...' Rudeus thought, hefting his mace back up onto his right shoulder with a grunt. 'Even back in my past life in Earth, we considered these types of mutated creatures to be absolute, bottom-tier E-rank threats. They are literally just target practice to warm up your muscles.'
Rudeus let out another sigh, his heavy boots crunching back into a steady walking rhythm behind her as they continued down the path.
'Haah... what the hell am I even doing right now? Wait a minute...'
Rudeus suddenly stopped walking. His crimson eyes narrowed sharply, his veteran, tactical instincts suddenly screaming at him, overriding his annoyance.
He closely observed Veronica's back as she briskly marched ahead of him, her head swiveling rapidly as she actively searched for the next target.
'Is the Princess actually... on a rush?' Rudeus questioned himself inwardly, his mind rapidly processing the tactical data of the last forty-five minutes.
He analyzed her combat patterns. She wasn't just casually clearing the path; she was aggressively, frantically hunting. She was utilizing high-tier, highly condensed light magic on absolute trash-tier mobs, willfully ignoring mana conservation protocols in favor of maximizing absolute, instantaneous kill speed. She was moving at a near-sprint between engagements.
'If she is genuinely attempting to speed-run this entire simulation floor... then she could at least have the tactical courtesy to tell me, right?' Rudeus thought, a slight frown creasing his forehead.
'At the very least, as my designated partner on this exam, she is required to inform me of a shift in operational tempo. There is absolutely no inherent wrong in choosing to rush the objective, even if it completely deviates from the standard, slow-paced exploration strategy we implicitly agreed upon. But she needs to communicate it.'
Rudeus quickened his pace, closing the distance between them.
As he focused his eyes on the side of Veronica's face, noting the slight, tense tightness around her jaw and the incredibly intense, almost paranoid focus in her oceanic eyes, he decided to confront the issue directly.
"Hey, Princess..." Rudeus called out, his voice dropping the sarcastic edge, adopting a serious, inquisitive tone.
"Hmm?" Veronica raised an eyebrow, not breaking her brisk stride, only briefly glancing back at him over her shoulder at the sudden, serious call from her partner.
Rudeus let out a short sigh and asked the question directly.
"Hey... are you currently in a massive rush to clear this floor?" Rudeus asked, his crimson eyes locking onto hers, refusing to let her deflect. "Because if you are actually trying to speed-run this sector..."
He casually shifted his heavy mace on his shoulder.
"There's absolutely no wrong in simply telling me, y'know? We are partners. We can just officially divert from our original, slow-paced exploration plan and actively proceed to rush the primary objectives and finish this exam as quickly as humanly possible. I can keep up."
Veronica froze.
Her heavy combat boots skidded slightly on the dirt path as she abruptly stopped walking.
She stood perfectly still, her back facing him.
Rudeus's tactical deduction was flawlessly, terrifyingly accurate.
She was in a massive, desperate rush. She was actively, frantically attempting to speed-run the simulation.
Veronica looked down at her gloved hands, her heart hammering a chaotic, terrified rhythm against her ribs. He was completely right. From a standard tactical standpoint, she could easily, simply tell him that they were in a rush. She could outright lie to his face and claim that her highly sensitive royal mana-senses felt something "off" or "corrupted" about the ambient energy in this artificial dungeon, justifying a rapid extraction protocol.
But she didn't want to lie to him. Not anymore.
The absolute, terrifying truth of the matter was that she actively, desperately wanted Rudeus to conserve one hundred percent of his physical stamina and his combat focus.
She needed him fresh. She needed him at his absolute, physical peak for the catastrophic, unavoidable confrontation with the Greater Demon General Dratkthar that she knew, with absolute, terrifying certainty, was waiting for them in the lower depths of the labyrinth.
She could, theoretically, at least tell him a partial truth. She could tell him that she was deliberately soloing the fodder mobs specifically to make him conserve his stamina for a potential "boss monster" at the end of the exam.
But she was completely, fundamentally terrified to even say that much.
Because if she admitted that she was actively manipulating the combat dynamic to protect him, she was terrified that he would view her as arrogant or condescending. She was paralyzed by the fear that he would completely lose the microscopic, incredibly fragile sliver of trust he had tentatively placed in her yesterday.
And if she lost his trust... she would lose his relationship points.
Yeah. For Princess Veronica, securing those arbitrary, glowing numerical relationship points from the System was no longer just a distant, abstract goal. It was a matter of absolute, immediate life and death.
She knew that possessing a mere fifteen points with him was absolutely not yet enough to secure her survival. She mathematically calculated that she needed at least thirty, or perhaps even a full fifty relationship points to cross the threshold. Since the System had explicitly mandated that she apologize to him and secure his cooperation to alter her 'Bad Ending', she firmly believed that maximizing those points was the absolute prerequisite for him to truly, genuinely accept her upcoming, sincere apology.
And furthermore... she harbored a secret, desperate hope that securing a high relationship status with him might finally, miraculously provide her with a psychological solution to cure the suffocating, paralyzing 'Man Hate Complex' that had plagued her entire existence since her mother's death.
"So... sorry, it's just..." Veronica finally stammered, her voice incredibly small, cracking under the immense psychological pressure. She slowly turned around to face him, her hands clasping nervously in front of her chest. She was visibly struggling to continue the sentence.
"It's just what?" Rudeus pressed, his tone hardening slightly. His insecurities flared. "Is it that you actively see me as a completely useless person? Do you think I'll be a liability if I actually swing my weapon?"
Veronica's oceanic eyes blew wide open in sheer, absolute horror as she heard him utter that specific, incredibly hurtful word. Useless. The exact same word she used to hurl at him daily when they were children.
"No!" Veronica shouted, stepping forward, her hands flying up in a desperate, placating gesture. "No, no, no! It's absolutely not that! I don't think you are useless! I know how incredibly strong you are now!"
She bit her lower lip, her aristocratic walls entirely crumbling. She couldn't lie. She couldn't risk the relationship points. She had to offer him the vulnerability he demanded.
"It's just that..." Veronica whispered, her face flushing with a deep, embarrassed pink. She looked down at the dirt, unable to meet his intense crimson gaze.
"That... I desperately wanted to conserve your physical stamina..." Veronica finally confessed, the truth spilling from her lips.
The moment she said it, she immediately, violently cursed herself in her own mind.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Veronica screamed inwardly, her heart dropping into her stomach. 'Why did I say it like that?! He is a fiercely proud warrior now! I just completely emasculated him! He is going to be incredibly insulted! He is going to think I am treating him like a fragile piece of glass! I just shattered his pride! I'm going to lose points!'
Rudeus stood perfectly still on the dirt path.
He listened to her hesitant, embarrassed confession. He let out a long, slow sigh.
For a brief, fleeting microsecond, his initial, knee-jerk reaction was indeed to feel a flash of masculine annoyance and to harshly scold her. There was absolutely no logical need for her to worry about his stamina levels against E-rank fodder. He had enough endurance to swing his mace for three days straight without sleeping.
But then... his Vanguard Captain's tactical mind caught up with his ego.
He looked at her flushed face, her nervous posture, and the genuine, palpable anxiety radiating from her body.
She wasn't trying to insult him. She wasn't trying to assert dominance or mock his previous weakness as the 'Defect'.
She was right. At the exact same time, her seemingly irrational behavior actually made perfect, terrifying tactical sense.
Because Rudeus himself had been feeling an incredibly persistent, unsettling sensation ever since they had stepped through the portal this morning. Something felt profoundly, deeply off about the ambient mana in this specific artificial dimension. Furthermore, the overarching, canonical flow of the story had already been massively, irrevocably changed by his actions. Adelina possessed the Blade of the Dawn. Aemond was in the hospital.
Even though Rudeus routinely told himself that he didn't give a massive, flying fuck about the "plot" of the visual novel, his survival instincts knew better. He still desperately needed to survive this simulation and ultimately escape the borders of the Rosania Empire.
If Veronica, with her highly sensitive royal mana-perception, was instinctively rushing the floor and attempting to conserve her heavy-hitter's physical stamina... it meant she subconsciously sensed the impending danger too. She was acting exactly like a good squad leader should—taking on the brunt of the trivial fatigue to keep the primary damage-dealer fresh for the boss fight.
"You know..." Rudeus finally broke the silence, his voice incredibly soft, entirely devoid of anger.
He reached up with his free left hand and casually ran his fingers backward through his messy, sweat-dampened green hair.
"You could have at least just told me that earlier, Princess," Rudeus said gently, dropping the heavy war mace entirely. It hit the dirt with a loud thud, freeing his hands. "And I absolutely wouldn't have gotten mad at you."
Veronica slowly, hesitantly raised her head, looking at him through her eyelashes.
"Really...?" Veronica questioned his statement, her voice trembling slightly, completely unable to believe that he wasn't furious with her for treating him like a protected asset.
Rudeus nodded firmly, his crimson eyes locking onto hers with absolute, unyielding sincerity.
"Yeah. Really," Rudeus replied, taking a slow step toward her. "I wouldn't have gotten mad at all. After all... I would gladly, willingly accept that specific tactical decision."
He took another step, closing the distance until he was standing directly in front of her. He looked down into her wide, oceanic eyes.
"Because doing something like that... taking on the entire burden of the grunt work simply to ensure your partner is perfectly rested for an unknown threat..." Rudeus said, his voice dropping to a low, incredibly earnest register. "That just shows me that you deeply, genuinely care for the well-being of your teammates, and that you are actively prioritizing the survival of your partner."
Then, before Veronica's paralyzed, shocked brain could even begin to process his words, Rudeus moved.
He slowly reached out his large, heavy, calloused left hand.
He didn't grab her collar. He didn't draw a weapon.
He gently, incredibly softly, placed his large hand directly onto the top of her head.
Veronica gasped, her entire body flinching violently. Her breath hitched in her throat.
Because of her severe trauma, because of the 'Man Hate Complex' that had defined her entire adolescent life, the physical touch of a male—any male, regardless of age or status—usually triggered a violent, nauseating wave of absolute repulsion and blinding panic within her.
But as Rudeus's hand rested on her silver-blue hair, the expected wave of nausea never arrived. The panic didn't materialize.
Instead, a sudden, overwhelming surge of incredible, radiating warmth flooded her entire body.
He began to gently, affectionately pat her head.
Rudeus honestly didn't even fully understand why he was doing this. It was an instinctual, entirely subconscious reaction. But he recognized the deep, spiraling anxiety in her eyes. He saw a comrade who was drowning in her own thoughts. If executing a simple, comforting gesture like a head-pat could put her racing mind at ease and calm the deep thoughts she was drowning in, then he would gladly, willingly do it.
After all, regardless of their past hatred, they had officially stepped through the portal together. She was already formally designated as his Vanguard comrade for this mission. Which meant, under his absolute, unbreakable military code, he needed to support her tactical decisions, stabilize her morale, and at least try to protect her at all costs.
Veronica slowly, involuntarily closed her eyes. She was in a state of deep, paralyzing, euphoric shock. Her face, from her neck to the tips of her ears, flushed a brilliant, burning shade of crimson red.
"So, next time..." Rudeus murmured softly, his voice a comforting rumble above her.
He shifted his hand, gently running his fingers through the soft strands of her hair.
-RUFFLE!
-RUFFLE!
"Just try to be entirely honest with me from the start, okay?" Rudeus requested, continuing to gently ruffle her silver-blue hair. "I won't get mad at you. I promise."
He withdrew his hand, letting it fall back to his side, and offered her a soft, incredibly genuine, breathtakingly handsome smile.
Veronica slowly opened her oceanic blue eyes, staring at his smiling face. They were wide with absolute, world-shattering disbelief.
She had been entirely, fundamentally certain that he would literally explode in anger after she had outright lied to his face and patronized his combat abilities. She thought his fragile, newly forged masculine pride would be completely shattered, and his ego mortally wounded. In aristocratic society, almost all high-born men would be absolutely furious and deeply humiliated because she had just stepped on their pride by actively doing all the violent work and treating them like a protected bystander.
But Rudeus... he was completely, fundamentally different.
He didn't get mad. His ego wasn't bruised. He didn't view her power as a threat to his own masculinity.
He literally, instantly understood her underlying tactical reasoning, no matter what. He looked past her arrogant facade and saw her protective intent.
She slowly, dazedly nodded her head up and down.
"Tha... thank you..." Veronica shyly replied to him, her voice barely a whisper, her heart fluttering uncontrollably in her chest like a trapped bird.
Rudeus threw his head back and laughed heartily, a bright, clear sound that chased away the shadows of the artificial forest.
"Yeah! Just trust me, okay?" Rudeus said, bending down to retrieve his heavy war mace from the dirt. He swung it casually back onto his shoulder. "Just trust me to watch your back... exactly as I implicitly trust you to watch mine."
Veronica nodded again, biting her lower lip to stop it from trembling.
'How...' Veronica thought inwardly, a profound, overwhelming wave of emotion crashing over the crumbling walls of her heart.
'How can I possibly even pretend to hate you anymore... if you constantly, effortlessly show such profound, genuine compassion and understanding like this to me... Rudeus...'
"Alright then! Let's continue moving forward now," Rudeus announced cheerfully, pointing his free hand down the dirt path. "Since you already aggressively soloed all the hard work and cleared the sector, we should easily be able to locate the primary mana beacon and proceed to the next floor. Lol."
Rudeus laughed clearly, entirely amused by the absurdity of their unbalanced partnership.
"Mhm!" Veronica replied, a bright, genuine smile finally breaking through her blush. She quickly fell into step beside him, no longer rushing ahead.
Suddenly, the air directly in front of Veronica's face shimmered with arcane light.
The translucent blue system window violently popped up, completely obstructing her view of the path.
[ System Notification: ]
[ +10 Relationship Points awarded towards the Target: Rudeus Maximilian Blackfyre. ]
[ Relationship Status Update: ]
[ Acquaintance ------------> Trust ]
[ Current Accumulated Relationship Points Status: 25 Relationship Points. ]
Veronica let out a heavy, internal sigh.
'Seriously, you really don't need to explicitly show me these notifications right now and ruin the moment,' Veronica complained inwardly, swiping her hand to dismiss the glowing blue box.
'Though, at the very least...'
She glanced sideways, watching Rudeus confidently marching down the path beside her, humming a low tune.
'...He is truly not mad at all. And I have finally, officially earned his Trust.'
Veronica clasped her gloved hands tightly together in front of her chest. She focused her beautiful, oceanic eyes, locking them entirely onto the broad, dependable profile of the boy walking next to her.
'I-I just hope...'
Veronica suddenly stopped walking for a fraction of a second, her breath hitching in her throat.
She sighed heavily, a dark, incredibly cold shadow abruptly creeping into the corners of her mind.
'I just hope... I won't lose you.'
'I just hope that....'
'...There will be absolutely nothing wrong on this exam, and—'
'All of us can escape this dungeon, and we can all still be alive to see the sun.'
Veronica vividly, horrifyingly remembered the visceral terror of the 'Bad Ending' dream she had been forced to watch in the void. Even though she knew the fundamental future had already been significantly changed by their actions—even though she had actively allied with Rudeus instead of going solo—she was still deeply, profoundly worried.
Because she knew the cruel nature of fate. There was still a massive, statistical chance that the overarching tragedy of the future would stubbornly try to correct itself. The timeline might still demand a sacrifice. She was terrified that she would still lose the person she cared for the most in the dark depths of this labyrinth.
And what was infinitely worse... an intrusive, terrifying thought bloomed in the darkness of her mind. She didn't even want to fully acknowledge it.
It might not be Amanda who dies this time. It might be him.
It might be Rudeus. Fate might demand that he be the one who violently replaces Amanda's role in the 'Bad Ending', sacrificing himself to buy her time to escape the Demon General.
She absolutely, vehemently didn't want to feel that world-shattering pain again. She couldn't survive watching another person she cared for be decapitated in front of her.
And what was even more concerning... as she stared at Rudeus's back, it seemed as though a dark, whispering voice in the back of her own mind was actively, continuously telling her to act.
To not abandon him, no matter what the cost...
To hold onto him tightly, and never let him out of her sight...
To absolutely, unconditionally never let him go from her grasp, even if the world burns...
Veronica violently gasped, physically clasping both of her hands tightly over her face, shaking her head vigorously.
She completely, forcefully rejected the dark, obsessive, creeping thoughts that were threatening to poison her rationality. She refused to succumb to the possessive madness that the System's trauma had seemingly planted in her head.
'Enough!' Veronica scolded herself inwardly, lowering her hands, her oceanic eyes hardening with a terrifying, unbreakable resolve.
'We are still currently traversing the absolute first floor of the simulation. There is still ample time to prepare. There is still time to strategize.'
She broke into a light jog to catch back up to Rudeus.
'And there is still time to meticulously forge a successive, flawless tactical plan to escape this artificial hell... without losing a single person.'
'And without letting him get hurt.'