A girl appeared from the magic circle Rei and the others had been looking at. Rei and Elena aside, the girl had no change in her expression when she saw Set and didn’t say a word.

「Mm.」

She walked straight past Rei after arriving though the magic circle.

「Wait a moment.」

Elena, who was next to Rei, involuntarily reached out for the girl’s shoulder.

「Mm?」

Her gesture was cute as she tilted her head, but the expression on her face remained the same, giving off a robotic feel.

「Mm? Wait that’s not the point. This isn’t a place where a child like you can come alone. Are you alone? Where are your parents, guardians or party members?」

「Mm.」

The girl gave a small nod in response to Elena’s question.

Rei observed the girl as Elena tried to interact with her.

She seemed to be about 10 years old or so. Perhaps for ease of movement, she was wearing leather armour that seemed to use monster skin to cover the minimum necessary places, such as her torso and arms. She had a pair of daggers sheathed on either side of her waist and a small crossbow in her hands. On her back, she had a quiver and a backpack.

Her well proportioned features, black eyes and blue hair that stretched to her shoulders gave Rei the feeling that she would definitely grow up to be a beautiful woman.

Her most distinctive trait was her facial expression. Even after seeing Set up close, it didn’t change.

(A kid like her is in the dungeon all by herself? Well, I’m not one who can really say that considering my own age, but still……)

Rei knew that he looked like a 15 year old on the outside, but he had experienced a lot more than he looked. However, although he might only be 5 years older than the girl, the difference between a 10 year old and a 15 year old was massive.

As for Elena, she was surprised to see a girl smaller than herself……or rather, younger than herself, alone in the dungeon. Bending down, she looked at the girl to ask a question.

「It doesn’t look like you’re lost, so why are you entering the dungeon alone today?」

「Mm? ……Mm.」

The girl, still expressionless, tilted her head as she took out a card from a chest pocket and presented it, as if understanding what Elena was asking. Watching the two of them from the side, Rei immediately realised the card was a dungeon card.

「Do you want me to take a look?」

「Mm.」

The girl gave a small nod at Elena’s question as she presented her dungeon card.

Seeing her prompt, Elena received the girl’s dungeon card and took a look at it.

Perhaps the girl lost interest in Elena, she went over to Set with small steps and stared at him.

「G-Guru~?」

Set must have felt uncomfortable at the girl looking at him with an unmoving facial expression as he gave a confused cry.

Staring at Set, the girl suddenly reached out to stroke his head.

「……」

Set had a confused expression as the girl stroked his head with a static face. However, maybe because Set had been feeling nervous after arriving at Exil, the girl’s friendly pats caused him to squint his eyes and give a comfortable cry.

「She went to pet Set without fear after meeting him for the first time? That’s rare to see after coming to Exil. Most people were still scared until they saw Set eating.」

As Rei said that with some admiration, Elena tapped him on the shoulder.

Rei turned to look at the dungeon card that Elena handed over to him.

The name 『Byune Fraut』 was written on it, the girl who was expressionlessly stroking Set’s head in front of them had a surname.

「A surname? Is she a noble? No, what kind of noble would throw a child like this into the dungeon?」

Elena shook her head in response to Rei’s questions.

「No. This girl……Byune, might have a surname, but she’s not a noble. Do you remember? Originally, Exil had four families that governed it as a semi-autonomous city state, but one of them had fallen.」

Speaking up to that point was enough for Rei to understand Byune’s identity.

「So, you are saying that this Byune is a descendant of that fallen family?」

「Maybe. Take a look at the bottom of the dungeon card.」

At Elena’s prompt, Rei looked at the dungeon card again. At the bottom, Guild Rank D was written there.

「Hey, D rank at her age……」

「Yeah. She’s pretty good. As far as I can tell, she’s solo as well.」

「No, it’s not just that.」

「Mm? What’s wrong?」

Rei shook his head in response to Elena’s words.

(Elena doesn’t know much about adventuring, so of course she wouldn’t know about the rank up tests.)

Rei thought to himself.

The rank up test to D rank. It basically involved killing another person. The fact that Byune was D rank meant that the girl in front of them had experienced murder at about the age of 10.

(No, or is it just the guild in Gilm that requires you to kill people? In the first place, there’s no way the guild would let a child like this kill someone, no matter what.)

Several guild staff passed through Rei’s mind. Guild receptionists like Kenny and Lenora, Gran, the person in charge of the rank up test, and Marina, the guild master.

He didn’t think anyone in their right mind would let a 10 year old girl like Byune participate in a rank up test where killing someone was compulsory. Rei himself was probably barely over the threshold, and he looked like a 15 year old……

His thoughts were definitely correct. If the guild master in Exil had been Marina, that wouldn’t have been possible.

However, as long as it was something requested by the descendants of the four families who established Exil, the guild had no choice but to accept it. As a result, Byune had successfully passed the rank up test at the age of 10 and was successfully promoted to D rank.

This could only be called a tragedy as Byune herself only wanted to become an adventurer half-heartedly……but she had talent as a thief.

However, Byune herself had no issues with that if it meant she could earn more money, she was more than happy to dye her hands in blood.

「Anyway, it would be dangerous for a child like you go through the dungeon by yourself. If you don’t mind, how about you come with us?」

「Mm!」

Byune shook her head at Elena’s words.

For Byune, the second floor was a floor she had passed through a long time ago and she hardly felt any danger here. She had only come to this floor because she had been asked by the guild to deliver a special thread that was used in traps on the second floor.

One of the reasons Byune worked solo was that if she joined a party, she would have to split the rewards. No, that was actually the biggest reason.

「Mm.」

Byune looked at her dungeon card that Elena was holding and held out her hand. Elena knew what she meant and gently returned the dungeon card.

「Are you sure you want to continue solo?」

「Mm.」

Byune nodded at Elena’s question.

Seeing that, Elena eventually reached out to Byune’s blue hair with a sigh.

「I see, I really don’t like seeing a child like you enter the dungeon alone……I’m Elena. I’m staying at an inn called the Golden Wind, so if anything happens, please let me know.」

「Mm!」

Byune nodded and then turned to look at Rei.

Seeing her stare, Rei realised she was asking for his name. He shrugged his shoulders as he repsonded.

「I’m Rei. This is Set. The one on Elena’s shoulder is Yellow. Nice to meet you.」

「Mm.」

「Guru~」

Nice to meet you too, Byune seemed to say. At Set’s cry, she reached out her hand to pet him.

「Kyukyu!」

「Mm!」

Byune stroked Yellow’s head as well, after Yellow jumped off Elena’s shoulder with a cry and landed on Set’s back.

Yellow might look small, but he was definitely a Dragon. Yellow might not cause as much fear as a Griffon like Set, but it was still enough to scare some people.

However, Byune stroked Yellow’s head without any fear at all.

「Kyukyu!」

「Mm.」

「Kyu?」

「Mm」

「Kyu!」

「Mm.」

The two of them seemed to have a mysterious conversation. Byune only ever said ‘Mm’, but it seemed to be enough for them to communicate, which puzzled Rei.

Elena kept her usual dignified expression, but watched on with a slight smile on her face.

「Mm.」

In the end, Byune gave a quiet murmur as she stroked Set and Yellow’s heads.

After a few seconds, she lifted her hands from the two, raised her hand slightly at Rei and Elena, and then left.

「Byune, we’ll see you again soon!」

「Mm!」

Byune gave a small nod at Elena’s words before starting to run deeper into the second floor.

Seeing her leave, Elena and Rei both quietly looked around before Rei spoke.

「Well, we should get moving ourselves. Byune was running, so I hope she doesn’t trigger any traps…… Looking at her, she seemed to be a thief though.」

「That’s true. ……Hey, Rei.」

At those words, Rei knew what Elena wanted to say.

Child soldiers weren’t rare on the battlefield. Some were forcibly drafted by their lords, others volunteered as a substitute for paying taxes, others became soldiers, hoping to turn their fortunes around.

However, even though they were called ‘child soldiers’, there were very few who were as young as 10, like Byune.

If you looked around for one, you could probably find one. But at the very least, Elena had never seen one before. It was probably for that reason that she was curious about Byune.

「Well, I don’t think there’s a problem if she’s D rank. ……Also, did you see her deepest floor on her dungeon card? She has reached the 12th floor. If I remember correctly, even current elite parties have yet to reach the 30th floor. That’s what I’ve heard. Moreover, Byune has been working solo. I don’t think she would have any problem on the second floor.」

「I know that, but looking at her appearance……」

「Gurururu~?」

「Kyu!」

Set and Yellow interrupted Rei and Elena’s conversation.

Don’t talk here, let’s get moving. They seemed to say.

「That’s right. It doesn’t make that much sense to keep talking here. If Byune has gone ahead, then maybe all the traps will have been disabled?」

「Well, I don’t know. It’s a dungeon after all……」

Rei replied to Elena as they started walking down the passageway.

At the end of their line of sight was a crossroads. Excluding the path they had just come from, there were still three choices in front of them, forward, left and right.

「……That’s right. If the road splits, then we can’t tell if Byune has disabled any of the traps in the passage we take.」

「So, which way do we go?」

「On the map, the stairs are to the right. ……I’m a little reluctant to go down to the third floor on our first day though. For now, why don’t we go to the left or straight ahead. As for which way, I’ll leave it to your intuition as a B rank adventurer.」

Elena had no hesitation when she said that she would leave it to Rei’s intuition. It wasn’t a bad feeling to hear Elena say that and for her to rely on him. Although Rei’s face was covered by a hood, he had a small smile as he silently pointed to the left.

「Gururururu~?」

「Kyukyu!」

Set tilted his head as he gave a cry. Yellow, on Set’s back, tilted his head as well as if to mimic him.

Feeling somewhat warmed by the exchange between the two of them, they proceeded down the left passageway.

Some monsters appeared along the way, but there were mostly the same as those on the first floor, Goblins and Poison Toads. The only difference was the appearance of Soldier Ants.

「Hup-!」

Dashing forward and wrapping around to the side of a Soldier Ant, Rei swept it up with his Death Scythe before turning it over and stabbing straight into it’s torso.

Beside him, Elena shot a wind blade at a Soldier Ant, slicing it’s body, while Set used his right foot to smash another Soldier Ant’s head.

 

 

They ended up spending several hours on the second floor that day, getting used to combat in the dungeon, before leaving via the magic circle near the stairs.

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