This is Ronin's fault

The skill, Blessing of the Blade Goddess, was special. It was, without a doubt, an S rank skill. The difference between an A rank and S rank skill was night and day. While an A rank skill consists of one amazing ability, nearly all S rank skills possessed multiple abilities. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the title S rank skill was a misnomer; rather, it was several amazing skills all under one name. And the Blessing of the Blade Goddess certainly fell under that category.Natalia was very much aware of this fact. It was one of many things she inherited when her father died some five years ago. Overnight, she went from a normal noble girl with some sword training into the seat of an S rank adventurer with the power to topple nations.

“My lady,” Shisa knocked on the door, and found Natalia already up, sitting by her desk. “You’re actually awake,” she gasped in surprise.

“Why are you so surprised?” Natalia sighed, brushing her hair aside. “Didn’t sleep well, been having weird dreams lately.”

“Well, hopefully that doesn’t affect your performance today. We meet at the entrance of the dungeon within the hour,” Shisa said, walking over to help Natalia get dressed.

Most of the S rankers were already there by the time they had arrived. Liandra arrived shortly after Natalia did.

“Morning, Blade Princess,” Kagan grinned, striding over to where Natalia was. “I’ll be watching your back. You know, in case you need us.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Natalia smiled, closing her eyes. “Perhaps I can leave you some weaklings, so that you won’t be too bored.”

Kagan roared in laughter. Natalia turned her attention to his party. There was his brother, Leo, an A ranker, as well as a few other beast men serving in other essential roles. Natalia also noted several weak looking adventurers in poor equipment. It struck her as strange; she hadn’t seen Kagan’s party in action, but it seemed to be a bit crowded.

“This is your second deep delve, correct?” Kagan asked. “The first was after your father croaked. You were just a little girl then.”

“And you were always a scumbag,” She wanted to say, but held her tongue. “Yes.” Was all she managed to say.

“Well, hopefully it’s a bit more exciting this time around,” Kagan yawned. “I’ll let you go, Blade Princess. See you on the battlefield.”

“I hate that man,” Natalia huffed, gritting her teeth.

“Please focus on the task at hand, my lady,” Shisa instructed.

Natalia wore silver armor today, which had been specially made for it by enchanted steel. Her hair was held in a ponytail, and her family’s blade hung from an ornate scabbard at her right side. Shisa dressed in a travel maid’s outfit that still donated her status, but carried some protection consisting of chain mail and hard leather on her vitals spots. She also carried a satchel filled with healing potions, stamina potions, mana potions, and poison antidotes, everything one would need in an emergency.

The rest of the adventurers filled in as the morning sun began to peak on the horizon. The entrance to the dungeon, normally an empty stone door surrounded by a few guards, soon gave way to a large crowd of intermingling delvers and merchants of all races and social status. The S rankers stood towards the stone door, their personal area cordoned off by guards that kept the rabble from entering first.

“As planned,” The Guild master began, stroking his gray beard. “This delve should take a week in total, depending on what we find down there. Lady Crestfall will take the lead, supported by Lord Kagan. The rest of the S rankers will be the main attacking force, reserving their strength for powerful enemies and any bosses we may encounter. High Priestess Liandra will remain in the backline, and will rotate up if we need to supplement each party’s healers.”

“My maid’s blessing, Telecommunication,” Natalia said, pointing to Shisa. “Will allow us to coordinate from the front lines.”

Shisa bowed, saying nothing.

“I don’t anticipate any real difficulties until we reach the new cavern,” Natalia continued, reciting the speech Shisa had drilled into her. “If we do face any powerful enemies, Shisa will relay it to the main force.”

“My blessing will allow me to supplement the front line,” Markus said.

“Yes, please,” Natalia said. “Any raid bosses will be dealt with directly by the S rank parties.”

“And what if we encounter a foe we can’t defeat?” Zena, the elf sorcerer, asked.

Natalia flustered. This wasn’t in the script.

“We assess the situation, and if needed, tactical retreat.” Liandra said, coming to her friend’s aid. “No need to risk our lives on an exploratory expedition.”

Natalia smiled at her. She needed to thank her later, if she had the time.

“If there aren’t any further questions,” Natalia turned to face the stone door entrance, drawing her blade. “I’m headed in.”

The door slide open, sending a grinding noise that echoed in the early morning of the town. People living nearby would no doubt be awakened by it. The sound silenced the bustling group of adventurers behind the guard line, sending a wave of eager expectation and anxiety throughout the crowd.

Natalia took a deep breath. For some reason, her thoughts lingered on her recurring dream. This time, she was sure she saw someone standing there… A figure right by the sword. She was frowning. Natalia shook the vision from her head, pointing her sword forward as she plunged head first into the dungeon.

The Blessing of Blade Goddess had many skills to it. Attack Anticipation gave her premonitions of any attack that would hit her. Blade Mastery would show her the ideal location to position her sword to deal lethal blows, manifesting as thin blue streaks of light that she merely had to trace with her blade. Combat stamina gave her an inhuman amount of energy, bolstering her endurance with little food or rest. These were a few of the many, many abilities given to her by her skill.

“Enemy ahead, cave troll!” She yelled back to Shisa.

“Very well,” Shisa nodded, taking a position further back.

The beast stood several heads taller than Natalia, with pale green bumpy skin and a wart covered face, with a large wooden club in its right hand. The troll barely noticed as a flash of crimson hair appeared suddenly. Attack Anticipation activated, creating an image of the ugly troll slamming its club into her right side. She flipped over the attack just as Blade Mastery activated. A thin blow line appeared from her blade, creating a streak that traced through the air and right through the center of the troll’s chest. As quickly it appeared, she swung her blade, the force of it severing straight through sinew and bone and bisecting the troll. The encounter lasted three seconds.

“Down,” Natalia reported, flicking green blood from her blade.

“Excellent execution, my lady,” Shisa walked over, assessing the kill.

“Let’s keep going,” Natalia said, turning and continuing.

Anticipate attack. Trace blue lines. Anticipate attack. Trace blue lines. Dozens of monsters fell to the dance of her blade. It didn’t matter if it was a slime, or a cave dragon, or a golem. Natalia simply went through the motions, cutting down countless foes in her wake. It was the same as her meetings. Just motions. She went through the motions, calling out threats, and tracing the blue lines. At least in the meetings, she could stare out the window into the garden. In the upper levels of the dungeon, it was all darkness and stone.

By the time the day was over, Natalia had killed nearly fifty monsters personally. The last to go were the cave dragons and two cave giants. She left them there. The backline would come and claim any loot of value from the corpses, and she would receive a fixed commission from the guild as payment, which in turn would be invested into the banking guild, which would multiply the wealth more than dungeon delving alone could ever achieve.

They came to a stop by an underground lake in the wide caverns that lead into the Sunless forest. The baggage train would arrive, and set up a dungeon town. Shisa got to work, instructing several supporting members of Natalia’s party to set up her camp. It took them about fifteen minutes to set up her personal tent. It was quite large, consisting of four separate “rooms” cordoned off by canvas dividers. The main entrance would serve as a meeting area, complete with a fully set up foldable table with chairs. The next room over was Natalia’s personal bedroom, with a wooden framed bed and personal side table. A bath area was towards the back, with a simple metal tub, and wooden dividers set up all around, lest anyone manage to get close enough to the tent to cut a hole in the canvas. Finally, the last area would be Shisa’s personal quarters. It was the smallest area, but afforded a basic level of privacy, with just enough area for a cot on the ground. It was about as luxurious as you could get inside the dungeons.

“I'm beat!” Natalia yawned, plopping face down onto her bed in full armor.

“My lady! The sheets!” Shisa panicked, trying to pull Natalia off the bed.

“Don’t wanna…” Natalia protested, digging her face deeper into her pillow.

“Blade Princess,” A voice called outside the tent.

“Geh!” Shisa and Natalia reacted in unison.

Five minutes later, Natalia was seated in the common area across from Lianadra and one her hand maidens. Shisa poured them both fresh hot tea.

“We made a lot of progress very quickly,” Liandra smiled, taking a sip of her drink.

“Still felt like a drag,” Natalia sighed, looking down at her drink. “Plus I could feel Kagan’s gross gaze on me, is it just me or has he gotten worse?”

“He’s upset,” Lianadra explained.

“Why? Did he find out we’re always bad-mouthing him?” Natalia asked, not even looking the least bit guilty.

“My lady, you’re the only one who does that, please don’t implicate a member of the clergy,” Shisa chided.

Natalia gave her a look. Shisa’s face remained neutral.

“Ronin beat him in a fight some time ago,” Liandra explained. “And now he’s been trying to puff himself up with this delve. I heard he even pushed Markus to bring it to the guild master.”

“Conveniently, Ronin also decided he didn’t want to come along,” Natalia squinted. “So you’re telling me that this is Ronin’s fault. I’ll kill that bastard!”

“Now, now,” Liandra said, waving her arms to calm the fuming Natalia. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.”

“Kagan or Ronin, doesn’t matter. I’m here wasting my time being a vanguard when I’d rather be doing something else,” Natalia clicked her tongue.

“That’s not fair, Natalia.” Liandra began. “You know, not everyone here is as favored by the gods as you are. They’re risking their lives for something you consider a boring chore.”

“Isn’t it kind of waste for people without strong skills to be down here anyway?” Natalia asked. “Not every skill is meant for adventurers. And I heard some people come down here without skills at all. Isn’t that crazy?” Natalia laughed.

“Natalia,” Liandra chided, a stern look on her face. “Miss Shisa?”

“Yes, High Priestess?” Shisa turned to address Liandra, bowing her head slightly in reverence.

“Do you mind if I borrow Natalia for a bit?” Liandra asked, a suspicious look on her face.

“Huh?” Natalia turned her head, not sure whether to look at Liandra or Shisa.

“Well, as long as she’s not out late,” Shisa shrugged.

“Shisa!” Natalia sat up, slamming the table and nearly knocking the tea kettle on it over.

“Come along, Blade Princess,” Liandra smiled. It sent shivers down Natalia’s spine.