Novels by Fried-Tofu

Dungeon – Floor 3After a brief rest, we continued our journey toward the final floor, the boss room.The farther we went, the more monsters blocked our way.Perhaps because we were already close to the dungeon’s core… and no one had ever reached this point before, since it was a new dungeon.“Oh… six goblins at once,” muttered Victor, standing calmly as he waited for them to approach.Three goblins in front immediately charged together, leaping straight at him.“Hah… why do they always do the same thing?” sighed Victor, swinging his sword in a wide horizontal slash.As soon as they entered his range,–slash–all three fell at once.The fourth goblin leapt high, aiming straight at his face.Victor stepped forward and slammed his shield upward, right into the goblin’s chin.Crack!The goblin was flung into the air, tumbled, then crashed hard onto the ground.The fifth rushed quickly, brandishing its dull dagger.Before the weapon even touched him, Victor once again slashed horizontally

Meanwhile, Lyanna and Cedric went to find a water source to clean the rabbit meat.Victor focused on setting up the tent for Reina, while Rhoderic gathered logs for the campfire.And Reina? She was still playing her role as the young noble adventurer.Why? Because we were still being watched.Through the earpiece in Victor’s helmet, she asked quietly,“Shall we continue the act?”Lyanna replied without hesitation,“Of course. If they move, we can capture them, and if necessary, just behead them.”Hearing that, Victor immediately responded,“Can’t we just incapacitate them?”The line went silent for a moment. No one answered.Then, as if nothing had happened, they all went back to playing their roles.They all knew, those eyes were still lurking.While Lyanna’s hands were still busy cleaning the rabbit, she asked with a scornful tone,“Hey… Prince, why bother capturing that useless rabble?”Her voice dripped with contempt.“Savages like them… it’s better if they just die,” she said ang

After collecting several bundles of spider webs, we continued our journey.Along the way, Victor occasionally spotted Horned Rabbits.The small ones, he ignored, but the big ones…Upon seeing one, Victor immediately took out his crossbow and a tube of bolts from my spatial bag, then said,“Reina, wait a moment,” his gaze locked on a large Horned Rabbit ahead.“What is it?” Reina asked, following the direction of Victor’s eyes.“Practice,” he answered while quickly taking a crouched stance.Victor steadied his footing, adjusted his posture, and raised his weapon, ready to aim.This one was larger than before… and faster too.But if he could land a clean hit, it would mean he was improving.He held his breath for a moment, shutting out all distractions.His heartbeat slowed.His fingers tightened around the grip of the weapon.Once he was confident in his aim, Victor murmured,“Now…”and released the shot.–Thump!–‘Let’s see… if my instincts are still sharp.’After retrieving the Horne

Six months had passed.During that time, Victor spent most of his days dueling with Rhoderic or practicing Rune Magic under the guidance of his teacher.‘And who is my teacher? Obviously… none other than the beautiful Witch herself, Lady Veyra,’ thought Victor as he glanced at her.‘Although her methods of teaching are somewhat… unconventional, I managed to learn how to interpret, carve, and apply rune magic.I’ve even begun modifying my armor so that it can adjust to my growing body,’ he continued while analyzing the magic patterns he had drawn.“Like this…?” asked Veyra, swinging her spell with an elegant motion.“Yes, yes, just like that,” Victor replied quickly, his eyes fixed on the glowing mana trail, trying to imitate the mana flow into the form of runes he was shaping.“Wait a moment, Teacher,” he added, scribbling notes quickly, without shifting his focus.Hearing that, Veyra suddenly spoke in a cold tone,“What…?”Victor blinked, confused by the change in her tone. He was ab

Dining Hall, Royal PalaceAbout thirty minutes after Paul’s departure, King Louis glanced at the guards and servants standing still around the room.“You may leave us,” he said calmly.“Yes, Your Majesty.”After bowing in unison, the servants and guards silently left the room.Their footsteps sounded light and rhythmic, slowly fading away behind the long palace corridor.Once the door closed behind them, only King Louis and Queen Valessia remained at the grand dining table.Silence hung in the air, broken only by the faint clinking of silverware and the gentle breeze brushing against the stone walls of the palace.Then, without turning his head in the slightest, King Louis spoke,“Come out. It’s only us here now.”He and Queen Valessia both turned toward the corner of the room, where shadows danced behind the dim candlelight.For a moment… nothing happened.Then, the voice of a woman came from the darkness, smooth and laced with a teasing tone.“As expected of someone bearing the Titl

Morning came.Victor awoke as sunlight began to shine upon his face.He saw Reina, already dressed in her maid uniform, quietly cleaning the room.“Good morning,” he greeted.Hearing his words, Reina replied without turning her head,“Good morning, Prince. Would you like to take a bath first?”Still half-asleep, Victor answered drowsily,“Yes…” while lying back down on the bed, looking exhausted.“Alright, I’ll fetch the water,” she said, then walked out of the room.It took him several seconds to process her words.“Fetch…? Water…?”The moment he realized what she meant, Victor immediately sat up.“Wait, don’t—”But the door had already closed.She was gone.Victor let out a long sigh.(Two hours later, after bathing and changing into the clothes prepared by the maids…)Now clean and neat, Victor sat at his desk, examining the damage on the exo-armor he had used the previous night during the attack.Several mana rune circuits were severed, the metal plating on the legs was bent and d