I broke the surface with a gasp.

Outside the reservoir, I saw fallen monsters and the Firebird Hunter sitting on the ground. She looked exhausted. Hearing me surface, she turned around, still panting, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Good heavens! You’re alive?”

Why wouldn’t I be?

One, two, three monsters lay on the ground—the same three we’d fought the first time. Since all three were down, she could handle that many on her own after all. But she looked worn out. Fighting them all at once couldn’t have been easy.

I drew a deep breath, filling my lungs. Mana had let me stay underwater for a long time, but holding my breath was still hard. She struggled to her feet and came toward me while I swam out, clutching the strangely light shield in both hands. When my feet touched the bottom, I leaned on it and stood. I was a little dizzy, but otherwise fine. I didn’t seem to have the bends, either. Mana really was the best.

As soon as I stood, she rushed over and felt me all over.

“Are you all right? You were underwater for so long! I’m sorry. I couldn’t find you anywhere, so I came out first. If I’d known you were alive, I would’ve kept looking. I’m so sorry!”

The words poured out of her as she checked me over. When I looked up, she seemed close to tears. I’d never seen her like this. My return from what she’d thought was certain death seemed to have stirred something inside her.

“I’m fine. But where did these monsters come from?”

“Oh, they appeared the moment I got out of the water. They look like Red Mice, but with all three rushing me at once, their speed made them hard to fight. And...”

After asking, I took a discreet look at the shield I’d brought up. It was small enough for a child like me to carry. On a grown man, it would barely cover his chest. Despite its long stay underwater, it hadn’t rusted at all. A bird in flight was engraved on its face.

‘Huh. It’s pretty heavy now.’

Was that because I’d left the water? Or because I wasn’t feeding it mana? I pushed a little mana into the shield.

HUM.

The shield vibrated faintly and became much lighter. So the lack of mana had made it heavy. A shield that got lighter when I fed it mana—did that make any scientific sense? Then again, I didn’t understand mana itself. With that thought, I examined the shield.

‘The pattern looks a little fainter with mana in it...’

“Where’s your sword? Why are you holding a shield?”

“Oh, the sword was heavy, so I left it on the reservoir floor.”

“But you brought that shield up?”

She gave me a puzzled look. Of course she found it strange that I’d abandoned my sword because of its weight, then brought something else up instead.

“Why that shield... Wait!”

Her expression changed at once. She hurried over and brought her face close to the shield. As she studied the pattern and checked what it was made of, her mouth fell farther and farther open.

“You found it at the bottom of the reservoir? C-could I try it for a moment?”

I considered teasing her when I saw how restless she was, but handed it over without a fuss. “Here.”

I’d found the shield in the reservoir where the vault’s contents had spilled, and its pattern was identical to the one on her sword. I’d known from the moment I fed it mana underwater: this was what she’d been looking for.

When I offered it without hesitation, she took it carefully and fitted it onto her other arm. It had covered a fair amount of my body, but on her arm it looked tiny—about the size of that Captain What’s-His-Name’s shield I’d seen in my previous life.

She held the shield on one arm and her sword in the other hand. ‘Was she a sword-and-shield fighter?’ The combination suited her far better than the sword alone. She took a stance and focused.

HUMMMMM.

I felt mana pour from her body. The sword began to hum, and the pattern on its blade shone brightly. At the same time, the shield’s pattern took on a soft glow. Against the light of the lamp set on the ground, they looked like two birds spreading their wings and rising into the night sky.

HUMMM. HUM.

The sword and shield hummed louder, and the air at the sword’s tip began to shimmer. The same thing happened around the shield, as though an invisible wall had formed there. Just as I’d thought, the shield and sword were a pair. It had belonged to someone else all along. When I’d fed it mana, only a small area in front of the pattern had shimmered. With the right mana, it showed its true power.

She gazed at the shimmering shield, overcome with emotion. She looked as though she’d found something she’d dreamed of her entire life. Left alone, she might stare at it all day. I felt bad interrupting, but given our situation—and the pang of envy I felt—I couldn’t leave her to it.

“Excuse me? Hello?”

“... Huh?”

Only after I called several times did she come to her senses. I pointed at the shimmering shield.

“Is that what you were looking for?”

“Mm. It is.”

Then, as if my question had startled her, she hid her shield-bearing arm behind her back. As if that could hide it... Her mind still didn’t seem to have found its way back.

“That’s great. If the shield is what you were looking for, it’s yours under our contract.”

Her face lit up, then turned apologetic and troubled. “But you went into the water, found the shield, and brought it back. For me to just take it...”

Was she innocent, a pushover, or simply scrupulously fair? Whatever it was, she was consistent.

“It looks like we fell down here because the monsters dug tunnels everywhere.”

I pointed at the dead monsters and the hole in the wall. She nodded.

“Then this shield...”

“The monsters’ tunnels must have caused the vault to collapse, spilling its contents into this reservoir.”

I looked toward the water. “I got lucky and spotted the shield while I was setting my sword down on the bottom. The problem is my sword. I don’t know how to get it back...”

At that, she removed the shield and handed it to me, along with her sword, which she’d sheathed.

“Your sword is on the bottom, and you think the other things from the vault might be down there too?”

“What? Oh, I stuck my sword into the bottom, but I didn’t see anything else besides some junk.”

“Well, even if there’s nothing else, we need to retrieve your sword...”

She swiftly stripped off her armor, then her outer clothes and shoes. In her underwear, she fastened a belt around her waist and hung the lamp from it. She walked into the reservoir.

“Wait here. I’ll get it.”

SPLASH!

“Ah... Wait...”

She dived before I could say anything else. Her speed was astonishing. At a loss, I gathered up the clothes she’d scattered. Then I stood guard beside them, holding her sword and shield. Monsters probably wouldn’t appear before she returned, but it was better to be prepared. Perfectly reasonable as that thought was, I couldn’t help sighing. However I explained it, I was a little boy guarding a woman’s clothes while she was in the water.

While I waited, I tried feeding mana into the sword and shield. Unfortunately, they didn’t react as they had for her. Both accepted my mana readily, but there was no shimmer at the sword’s tip or around the shield. Only the patterns wavered slightly. Time passed.

“One, two, three... Two hundred, two hundred and one.”

I counted once a second as I waited for her. Just as I began to worry that she was taking too long, I heard something—not from the reservoir, but from the cave on the opposite side.

GRRRRR.

“Nothing ever goes smoothly, does it?”

Monsters emerged, growling. One, two, three. Four in all. That was more than I could handle, and even she, who’d barely beaten three, would struggle against them.

“Should I be glad there aren’t any red ones?”

I tried to look on the bright side, but it was no comfort. The monsters saw the bodies on the ground and approached cautiously. As I watched them, the neck that had been torn open a little while ago seemed to ache again. How many times had I died down here already? Dying so often in so little time was taking a toll on me. I didn’t know where my limit was, but I felt I might lose my mind at this rate.

“Come on, come on. It’d be nice if you came out a little faster.”

The moment I muttered that, the monsters sped up. If I lost focus, I might miss their movements. I hastily raised the shield. Then I heard water surge behind me.

WHOOSH!

At the same instant, a greatsword came hurtling through the air from behind me. It passed beside my face and buried itself in the monster charging straight at me.

SKREE!

The monster tumbled to the ground, but the others kept coming. Just as they were about to leap on me, I heard her voice by my ear.

“Sorry I’m late. I was looking for the other things.”

As she spoke, her hand closed over mine on the shield. Mana flowed from her hand through mine and into it—mana that felt a little different from my own.

HUMMMMM!

The shimmer rising around the shield enveloped my body. At the same moment, the monsters descended on both of us.

BOOM!

An explosion rang out.

SKREEEE!

The monsters struck the shimmering barrier and flew in every direction, shrieking.

“Thanks for keeping them safe. I’ll take the sword and shield now.”

She took her sword and shield from my hands, then charged at the scattered monsters in her underwear.

I watched her run off, then heard a growl at my feet. GRRR. The monster lying there with my sword embedded in it was trying to get up.

I gripped the sword and dragged it down with all my strength. SLASH! Blood sprayed as the monster’s upper body split open. I pulled the greatsword free through the gush of blood. The blade was undamaged.

Leaning on my sword, I watched the Firebird Hunter fight in her underwear. Lace fluttered, and her sword and shield swept in every direction. The air shimmered as the monsters were cut apart and crushed. She’d been left panting by three monsters, yet now she was smashing her way through even more.