Chapter 10

The boy stood there in a daze for a moment, then finally seemed to grasp the situation and slowly opened his mouth.

"Y-You saved me, didn't you? Thank you."

"Yeah. More importantly, why are you exploring alone when you're a tank?"

"Well, actually..."

The boy, stammering, began to explain the circumstances.

The boy's name is Il. About two months ago, he was given the [Shield Emblem], and his current level is 12. The recommended level for clearing the [Thorn Nest] is 18, which he is far from reaching.

When asked why he was challenging it at such a level—

"Some E-rank party told me that clearing this dungeon alone was a condition for joining their party. You know, [Shield Emblem] users aren't very popular, right? So I thought I couldn't miss this opportunity. I heard that my level would be enough to clear it, but it turned out to be quite different..."

"Hmm..."

I began to grasp the full picture. The [Shield Emblem], as its name suggests, grants many tank-oriented skills. It is also a powerful emblem that is highly sought after in parties, especially in the mid to late game.

However, this is not always the case in the early stages. When the level of monsters is low, pure damage dealers are often in higher demand, and the need for support roles, including tanks, is generally low.

This trend likely applies to this real world as well. Il, with the [Shield Emblem], had difficulty joining parties, and this condition was probably set in that context.

To sum it up—

"Um, this might be hard to say, but I think you've been tricked."

"Ugh..."

Il clutched his chest, as if the painful truth had hit him. He must have already had this thought.

With a face on the verge of tears, Il spoke.

"Y-Yeah, I guess so. I can only use [Decoy] to draw enemy attention, and there's no way I can fight alone as a [Shield Emblem] user..."

"No, that's not true."

"Huh?"

It seemed he had a misunderstanding, so I decided to set him straight.

"Regardless of the current situation, the [Shield Emblem] does have offensive skills. You'll be able to learn them a bit later, and after that, you should be able to deal more damage than a mediocre damage dealer."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah. So don't be so down on yourself, and have more faith in your emblem."

"O-Okay! Thank you... um..."

After expressing his gratitude, Il's words became hesitant. That's when I remembered I hadn't introduced myself yet.

"I'm Zeros Sil... no, just Zeros."

"Thank you, Zeros! Thanks to you, I feel a little more confident!"

Il smiled brightly. I had instinctively hidden my family name, but it was probably better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

After we introduced ourselves, I told Il to give up on the dungeon and we decided to leave together. On the way back, Il suddenly spoke up.

"By the way, what emblem do you have, Zeros? Since you're exploring this dungeon alone, it must be pretty amazing..."

"Hmm? Look."

I showed Il the back of my left hand. He looked surprised and exclaimed,

"T-The [Void Emblem]!? So you were able to defeat the monsters that attacked me without any skills!?"

He shouted in surprise.

...Hmm. I remembered that Il had closed his eyes when I defeated the monsters. He hadn't seen me use the Slash skill and was mistaken.

(Well, this works out for me.)

I didn't particularly want to hide the true power of the [Void Emblem] at all costs, but I also didn't want to spread it unnecessarily.

It was convenient that he was mistaken on his own. Plus—

"Even without skills, you can become that strong. I shouldn't complain and should try my best too..."

It seemed to give Il some motivation.

(From the looks of it, there's no need to correct him.)

With that thought, Il and I continued toward the exit.