"Large metal doors? I know where some are. I can show you… But… can you take me with you? I would rather die someplace than return to that place..." Jill's eyes were beginning to well up with tears due to Mary's earlier words. She did not want to go back to the settlement and marry her brother, nor did she want to become a breeding mule for the pig men. She would rather die fighting monsters than end up in any of the other situations.
Kana's heart went out to the girl. She thought about it for a minute before taking out one of the daggers she stored away earlier and a few pieces of armor she had picked up after killing monsters. "It's not much, but these will protect you. You can come with us, but your life is in your own hands. We can only do so much to protect you. "
Kana felt like this girl was kinda, similar to her in her past life with how she was alone. Although she had options that would ensure her a future to be able to live, she rather go against it all to keep her dignity. This was the reason why Kana made this choice.
"Kana, are you sure? We will be entering the boss room. If this boss is harder to fight than the other one, then she will more than likely end up dying right then and there." Mary was worried the young girl would die before she had a chance to live.
"If that happens, it happens. It means she died doing what she wanted. Instead of being forced to do things against her will. Let's just say I see a bit of my old self in her." Kana said with a smile as she reached out and patted Jill's head. "You can come with us, but you will need a bit of training before we go to the boss room."
Mary looked at Jill, then at Kana, and let out a sigh as she smiled. She knew Kana was kind hearted. "I will keep an eye on her. And I think she should switch to rang..."
"No, she will use this dagger. For her to be able to run away from the pig men as she was means she has decent speed. Those pig men may be tall and bulky, but they are also quick on their feet. You have faced enough of them to know this. So for Jill, at her age, to keep many strides ahead of them means she has sufficient speed. If she is able to hone this skill, she can easily fight head on. Although in the boss room, she will not need to do anything except try to stay alive. But for her to learn some combat ability now would be good." Kana was not expecting too much from Jill. She just wanted to use the skills Jill has as it was.
She also knew that although Jill was fast, that compared to a pig man's stamina, she would have been caught sooner or later, which was probably why those pig men were laughing as they chased after her. "Okay, so from now on, you can call me big sister!" Kana stood up and put her hand on her hips as she said this. It seemed this was part of her aim as well.
Mary chuckled as she heard this. "I will leave the training to our big sister over here. I am not the best at close combat."
"Okay, we will start with how to punch properly." Kana said as she got into a stance. Seeing Kana beginning to punch out with a basic jab caused Mary to facepalm.
"Are you really going to start from there?" Mary asked. She did not know what to say. She wondered if Kana was truly in a hurry to conquer this dungeon or not.
"Hmm? This is the basics of the basics. Without the basics, how will she build a strong foundation?" Kana was basically taking the words of her instructor and using them as her own.
Three days passed, and Kana taught Jill everything she knew. It was up to her to be able to refine it all herself. Jill was also very eager to learn. Sadly she was not a fast learner, but her determination could not be beat. While Kana and Mary were resting, she would practice until it was her turn to sleep.
On the morning of the fourth day, Kana finally said: "It's time to pack up and head out. From now on, we will support Jill as she fights monsters. The more practice she gets in, the better."
"Then I will keep her covered with my arrows. Jill, which way are the metal doors you told us about?" Mary asked.
"Umm, from where we are now..." Jill looked up through the dense canopy overhead, just barely able to see the sky before pointing in a direction. "Should be this way."
"Alright, let's go." Kana took the lead as they set off.
It was not long before they ended up coming across a group of three eyed monkeys. Kana named it this not because they had three eyes since, in truth, they did not have three eyes but because all of them had a weird eye marking on their fur. It did not matter what color they were since they all had different shades of fur, but the distinct eye shape on their foreheads was hard to miss.
The three eyed monkey was not like other monkeys and preferred to hunt alone. So it was a perfect practice target for Jill. It was quick and packed a punch if you were hit, which made Kana slightly nervous, but she also did not plan to step in to help either.
With the rusty dagger in her hands, Jill gritted her teeth as she charged at the three eyed monkey. She was not charging in aimlessly. She was keeping a close eye on the three eyed monkey's movements. She had learned from her spars with Kana that watching the muscle movement of your opponent was a good way to figure out when she should dodge and counter. This was one of the things she picked up on quickly during these past three days. And one of the reasons why Kana was willing to let her fight alone. She wanted to see just how well Jill would react when it came to fighting something that was out to kill her. So far from what she was seeing, she felt Jill was not half bad. Young with such determination. Thinking back to how she was when she was younger, always running away trying to hide. Kana felt that maybe her past self was a little lacking. If she was more determined like Jill was now, maybe she would have been able to better her situation and not have suffered as much. Maybe she would have still been alive in her old world now. Thinking like this, Kana felt her current life was much better and any world was better than her old one.