「So, this is a dungeon card?」

Sitting down on a sofa in his inn room, Rei took out the dugeon card that he had registered with the guild.

Seeing him do that, Elena sat down on the sofa opposite and nodded as she took out her own card.

After registering their dungeon cards in the guild, Rei had bought a dungeon map that was on sale before returning to his room at the inn, where Elena followed him inside with an expression as if it were natural for her to do so.

Rei had no intention of complaining so they each sat down in his room facing each other.

As for Tufal, he seemed to keep to his position as a carriage driver or servant and didn’t say anything when Elena went to Rei’s room, instead devoting himself to taking care of the warhorses. Yellow spent his time either in the stables with Set or napping, so only Rei and Elena were in the room.

However, it seemed that the two of them were not used to creating a sweet atmosphere and their discussion went towards the dungeon.

「It seems to be a magic item that was created by an alchemist who lived in the ancient times. I had heard about it before coming to Exil……but it feels strangely convenient.」

「That’s true. After all, with this card, you can record how many floors you have gone down in the dungeon and you can be sent directly to that floor in future using a spatial magic device.」

Elena replied as looked at her dungeon card while thinking to herself how surprisingly high tech it was.

「As far as I can tell, it’s almost the same size and thickness as a guild card.」

The dungeon card stored the owner’s name, how many floors they had cleared and up to 3 special notes.

Regarding these special notes, in Rei’s case for example, it would say his adventurer rank, or in Elena’s case, her position as someone from the family of a duke. It was quite basic, so it only 3 notes could be written on a card.

Even so, what the dungeon card could do made it much more advanced than many other magic items.

(Even though it can only be used within a dungeon, it’s extremely convenient to be able to use spatial transfer magic freely. If that could be analysed to find out how it works, wouldn’t there be huge benefits?)

That was what Rei thought. In reality, many people had tried to analyse the magic device used for spatial transfer installed inside Exil’s dungeon. However, most of them had failed and few people could do anything with what they learned.

Every once in a while, a curious scholar, alchemist or mage would come by to analyse the devices, but none of them had ever produced any results.

「In the first place, no one knows who exactly made the magic device. ……You can’t tell either, even with your knowledge?」

Rei shook his head at Elena’s question.

The only alchemist in Rei’s knowledge was Esta Nord, a member of Zepairu’s group. However, a number of magic devices for spatial transfer had already existed in Exil back then.

(It’s probably something from an ancient magical civilisation.)

Rei thought to himself.

In fact, from time to time, some super high quality magic items that could no longer be made today would be discovered inside the dungeon.

The magic item that Rei and Elena were planning to look for inside the dungeon, one that could be used for remote calls, was actually one of them.

「Anyhow, it’s good know that once you’ve reached a certain floor, you can always transfer back to it whenever you like. This dungeon is so deep that the dungeon core still hasn’t been destroyed and it’s still expanding further underground. If you think about it, it’s a great help that we won’t have to start from the first floor every time we re-enter the dungeon.」

Rei nodded at Elena’s words.

「The first floor is said to pose no danger even to people who had just become adventurers, so it’s definitely a great help. It just takes time to deal with the small fry. But, with a transfer device, can’t people go much deeper into the dungeon?」

「It seems that most ordinary adventurers settle down on a level they can safely handle to earn money. I’ve heard that there are some adventurers seriously trying to capture the dungeon, but they’re more or less a minority.」

「Even if they can be sent straight down to a floor they’ve reached before?」

「Between life, honour and money, they’re most likely to chose the first. That said, that is more or less to be expected of ordinary people.」

Although Elena’s words implied that they weren’t normal, Rei couldn’t really say anything against that. In the first place, he was in an artificial body and Elena was closer to the extraordinary after taking in the magic stone of an Ancient Dragon using an inheritance ritual.

If the two of them were to insist that they were normal people, there would no doubt be many objections from various places.

「The reason I’m going into the dungeon his time is to get a magic item for remote communication. I don’t plan to leave until we get one. ……Although I will probably have to go leave once winter comes.」

「As for me, it’s monster magic stones. I definitely want them to improve Set and the Death Scythe. There are also many magic items that can be found in dungeons, including a lot of practical ones, so I hope that includes a magic item for communication. ……Speaking of which, do you care about the materials from the monsters we kill?」

Rei asked Elena as he just thought of it.

However, Elena shook her head to indicate that it wasn’t a problem.

「As I said before, all I’m really after is a magic item for remote communication. As long as I stay in my role as a general, I have a decent income as well as other perks. ……No, that’s right. In that case, why don’t you get me something with the money you get after selling the materials?」

「……A present?」

「Mm. That is, how to say it. Like that, the two of us……」

As she said that, Elena remembered about Tufal and choked on her words before quickly continuing.

「Anyway, I came to Exil with Rei, so you can just treat is like some sort of souvenir, right?」

「Well, I don’t mind if you say that……ah, that’s right. Then, why don’t I pay for my stay at this inn with the money I earn from the dungeon? It’s quite awkward for me in various ways. If I pay for the accommodation with money I make from the dungeon, I don’t it will reflect that badly on you.」

「It’s not that simple……but it is true. If you really want to do that Rei, that’s fine.」

Rei gave a sigh of relief at Elena’s words.

He really wanted to refrain from constantly relying on Elena for everything.

「Now then, since our goals have been decided……it’s time to discuss the biggest drawback of us entering the dungeon.」

「That’s right. If the two of us went down the dungeon by ourselves, it would be equivalent to suicide. That’s because we don’t have a……」

『Thief.』

Rei and Elena’s voices overlapped perfectly.

Yes, it could be said that thieves were indispensable for challenging a dungeon. It might only have been a small dungeon, but the dungeon they had entered to reach the Altar of Inheritance was deeply etched into their bones.

However, there no longer existed Vel. Not just in the Mireana Kingdom, he had gone from the world. He had died as a demon soldier in the war with the Bestir Empire.

Although Rei had bought a map for up to the 5th floor, it was highly unlikely that the magic item they were after would be found on levels where maps would be sold. Such rare and expensive items would be found in places that had yet to be explored.

「I had originally intended to hire a solo thief from the guild, but today’s commotion has made that difficult.」

Elena gave a sigh as Rei gave a bitter smile.

The fact that Rei was Crimson had definitely spread past the adventurers who were there during the time. The only good news in that misfortune was that it was just information about Rei was spread by the receptionist’s words and none about Elena.

However, being Elena, she had the unique feature of being an incredibly beautiful young woman. If she tried to hire a thief, she was sure get into a lot of trouble with people trying to take advantage of them.

For better or worse, the number of thieves in the guild was also much larger than other guilds because it was a labyrinth city, making the situation even more complicated.

「If it’s come to that, then it’s only possible to go down the shallower floors with you, Set and Yellow and wait for the commotion to subside before looking for a solo thief……?」

「That would be the safest thing to do, but the problem would be if the commotion doesn’t die down by the time we break through the shallower floors.」

「Things should have settled down by then. Or rather……I hope things will have settled down by then.」

Rei voiced his wishes with some uncertainty.

「Better yet, we could just deal with the commotion and hire a thief tomorrow. If we continue to hire them, it shouldn’t be as much of a problem.」

「That is true, but it’s difficult to choose from such a large number of people. We’ve just come to Exil and we don’t know who is a good thief.」

「……I see what you mean. Then I think it would be better to go with the idea you had.」

Rei had no objections to his own idea and nodded at Elena’s words.

(In the worst case scenario, I can use the thin layer of flames I used back in the dungeon with the Altar of Inheritance, but……no, it lacks certainty because it can only detect traps set on the ground and walls. In the end, a professional thief is essential.)

Thinking to himself, Rei spoke with a sigh.

「At the very least, even if there are traps, if they are set by monsters, some odour will remain. With Set’s sense of smell, he should be able to detect them.」

「Yellow is still not experienced in that area, but it should still be fine for reconnaissance.」

「……Speaking of which, has Yellow always been like that? He’s a familiar created using Dragon Language magic right?」

「To be honest, I don’t know. I know that the magic can be used to create a familiar, but I couldn’t read the section that explained the magic. However, I’m completely satisfied with the current adorable Yellow.」

「Well, you took quite the gamble.」

「Not really. I was certain it was magic for summoning a familiar. In the first place, Dragon Language magic is very rare, so I decided that I should use whatever magic I could find for it.」

「But, with your magic power, it would be quite a huge problem if the familiar went out of control……」

Rei couldn’t help but think that Elena’s actions had been done without too much thought.

However, Elena gave a small smile to reassure Rei.

「It’s fine. I might not have mastered it yet, but I’m someone who inherited the power of an Ancient Dragon. Even if Yellow went out of control……I should still manage to suppress him somehow. And……」

Elena glanced over at Rei.

「Until I saw you again……」

She was about to continue what she wanted to say when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

『Pardon me. Rei-sama, is ojou-sama inside? She wasn’t in her room.』

「……」

The voice from the other side of the door was unmistakably Tufal’s voice and the person that he was looking for was in front of Rei.

……However, while Elena’s expression hadn’t changed, she had subtlety started to give off a lot of pressure.

『It seems that Rei-sama isn’t inside either. There’s no other choice. I’ll keep searching the inn for now.』

He probably didn’t realise that Elena was inside as Tufal muttered to himself and left the door.

Although Rei had half expected to suffer from the awkward interruption, he wasn’t used to dealing with love matters at all. Even if they were in battle, Rei had no idea how he how he was supposed to deal with the current Elena, who was currently a very dangerous object.

So.

「Oh……it’s about time for dinner, so why don’t we head for the dining area?」

As expected of a high class inn. There was a clock in each room, which seemed to be an expensive magic item. Rei noticed that it was close to 6pm as he said those words.

It was finally, properly, summer and it was still bright outside at 6pm. No, in fact, it was too bright and too hot for anyone still directly under the sunlight. However, for better or worse, the Golden Wind inn that they were staying at used even more magic items than the Dusk Wheat, making the inside of the inn a comfortable conditioned place to stay.

「Mm, that’s fine. I’ve come to expect a certain level of food from this inn.」

Rei left his room following after Elena, thinking to himself that he had managed to deal with her.

Like so, their first day in Exil passed by.

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