Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 112

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Four hours later, Irene and the others from her group arrived at the entrance to the dungeon they had been assigned.

There, waiting for them, was Michael, who had departed at dawn.

“Michael!”

As soon as she spotted him, Irene waved and ran toward him.

“Take it slow. The ground is covered in wet leaves, and it’s slippery.”

Indeed, as she took a step, her body wobbled slightly.

Perhaps noticing her unsteady gait, Michael quickly reached out and pulled her close to his side.

“How’s your body holding up?”

“There’s still some muscle soreness, but nothing serious.”

As Irene said this, she rolled her shoulders for emphasis.

She had lost track of how many times she had swung the wooden practice sword over the past week. Her training hadn’t been limited to the two hours a day spent with Michael.

She had continued to practice in front of the mirror even after returning to her quarters.

‘I can’t slack off.’

It might not seem like much, but she didn’t want to disregard the time and effort Michael had put into teaching her. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to know these skills.

And most of all, she didn’t want to disappoint him.

The first two days, her whole body had ached so much that even moving made her want to scream. But there was something even more dreadful.

“May I touch your muscles for a moment?”

Thinking he would simply poke a few sore spots, Irene had agreed, assuming it would be no big deal.

“Aaaaaaaaah!”

His large hands had mercilessly kneaded her neck, shoulders, and arms. It had been so intense that even the priests from afar came running in shock.

They had been both embarrassed and startled by the sight of Michael, a holy knight, putting his hands on a woman.

However, Michael had explained confidently.

“We were practicing to increase her chances of survival in the dungeon. Due to the lack of proper movement, her entire body is suffering from severe muscle pain. If left untreated, it will affect her future training…”

He went on to name muscles they’d never even heard of, explaining in detail why it was necessary to relieve the tension in those areas.

Frankly, neither Irene nor the priests understood a word of it. They simply accepted it because Michael said so.

While it had been incredibly painful at the time—so much so that it felt like her muscles were being torn apart—once he finished, the pain subsided, and her movements felt lighter.

As a result, Irene had come to rely on him after each training session, letting him work out her sore muscles.

“I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. How is everyone else?”

“They seem fine physically, but…”

“There are far fewer people now.”

“Yes. That’s the problem.”

Irene turned to look behind her and sighed.

The number of pairs participating in the raid had been halved compared to what they had initially reported to the alliance.

“As I was surveying the area earlier, I ran into members of the other raid group. They made me an offer.”

Hearing this, Irene felt even more guilty. She had dragged a holy knight like Michael into this petty power struggle.

As her head instinctively lowered in shame, Michael spoke.

“There’s no need to apologize. Their offer has only made me take this raid even more seriously.”

“What kind of offer was it? What did they propose?”

Instead of answering, Michael smiled and walked over to speak with the alliance staff at the entrance. Left without an explanation, Irene turned to the rest of her group.

Despite thinking they had managed to gather a decent number of people, many had returned to the princess’s side that morning. In total, only about fifteen pairs remained.

‘Including Michael and me, we have 32 people.’

Irene glanced at the paper she was holding. While her group would enter through this entrance, the other three entrances were all assigned to pairs from the princess’s raid group.

The princess had over 300 people in her raid.

‘Ten to one… But we’re not planning on losing.’

Irene racked her brain, trying to recall the locations of the reward chests she remembered from her past life.

In the end, this petty fight would be determined by who secured the most rewards.

‘I’ll have to choose only the most valuable ones.’

She prayed that the locations of the reward chests hadn’t changed.

No matter what, today, they had to win.