Morning was drawing to a close and it was almost noon. The number of adventurers in the guild was much less than the busier morning and evening hours.

The guild receptionists and other staff members were looking forward to lunch when the doors to the guild opened and two male adventurers walked in.

Of course, that by itself wasn’t unusual. There weren’t many of them, but some adventurers chose to enter the dungeon in the afternoon. There were also others that would come in to collect the reward for completing quests outside the dungeon.

That was what a receptionist thought. However, seeing the serious expressions of the two adventurers approaching her counter, she had a bad premonition.

With lunch break so close, she really wanted them to go to a different receptionist’s counter. Unfortunately, the two adventurers headed straight for hers

「I’m sorry, but there’s something I need to talk about regarding the dungeon.」

A male adventurer with a hammer said that. Next to him, another adventurer holding a bow and quiver continued with a serious expression.

「It’s an urgent matter, so I’d like you to let your superior know if possible.」

「I-I’m sorry, but even if you say that, I still have to hear what the matter is before deciding whether or not to report it to the higher ups. Otherwise, the higher ups will have too much to deal with……」

In Exil’s guild, a receptionist had previously caused a big incident by not raising a report to the higher ups because it was from someone they didn’t like. Because of that, rules were changed so that the higher ups would be contacted at any time if anything happened. However, that resulted in more people calling on the higher ups for even the most trivial things, such as dropping potions inside the dungeon. In the end, one of the people in charge at the time collapsed due to overwork, resulting in the current system where several people would hear the story first before the receptionist made a decision.

Naturally, the receptionist that had caused the problem in the first place by not passing up a report was severely punished, sentenced to 20 years in prison.

It was only natural considering the damage that Exil had suffered when monsters showed up outside the dungeon as a result of their late report.

Anyway, for that reason, the current procedure in Exil’s guild was to first present reports at the reception before sending it further up.

The man with the hammer and the archer, Energeia and Menos, both understood this. Looking at each other before nodding slightly, Energeia, the party leader, spoke up.

「We went down to the sixth floor today, but a monster we fought there was several orders of magnitude stronger than ordinary Stone Golems. At the very least, it wasn’t a monster that should have appeared on the sixth floor.」

「So, does that mean……someone else told you that?」

「Yeah.」

「……I see. Can you show me your dungeon card?」

「Understood.」

Energeia and Menos both placed their dungeon cards on the counter.

Seeing their dungeon cards, the receptionist decided that she didn’t need to take Energeia’s information that seriously.

In fact, parties with limited dungeon experience would often think that monsters they fought were significantly beyond their actual strength and report it to the guild. It wasn’t that common, but there were still cases.

As far as the receptionist could see, the two people in front of her were both newcomers who had just arrived in Exil and registered dungeon cards. Of course, they were D rank adventurers with the guild, so they had a certain level of skill. However, conversely, it would probably because of their middling abilities that they couldn’t directly see their own weaknesses……however, Energeia’s next words soon corrected her judgement.

「That judgement wasn’t something we came to on our own. It was what a woman who was part of the party led by Crimson told us when we met them.」

Energeia said that after sensing what the receptionist was thinking based on how she looked at them. When she heard those words, the receptionist stopped breathing for a moment.

A woman in a party led by Crimson. The first person that came to the receptionist’s mind was Elena, the General Princess.

It was inevitable that there would be a misunderstanding at this point. The receptionist only knew that Rei was partying with Elena and Energeia had no idea that Vihera and Byune had only joined them temporarily.

Deciding that she couldn’t ignore something that was said by the General Princess, the receptionist looked towards a few other guild staff members who were listening in before nodding.

「I understand. I will let the higher ups know, please wait a moment.」

Aft that, the receptionist’s boss was called in to hear about their experience in detail.

In addition, when the guild staff who had heard the story talked to some other adventurers, they found that there had been many cases of monsters showing up that were much stronger for the floor they appeared on. Discovering this, the guild was forced to deal with the issue.

 

 

Rei and his group, which had no idea about what was happening in the guild at the surface, continued their way through the sixth floor.

「Haaaaah-!」

Elena swung her sword whip with an enthusiastic shout. The whip like sword tip rushed forward, tangling up the limbs of the Stone Golem. The next moment, they were sliced off by the magic empowered blades.

Of course, the Stone Golem was unable to move any further after having its limbs cut off and most of the stones that made up its body were destroyed before it died.

「……It certainly feels la lot weaker than the Stone Golem Vihera fought earlier.」

「Isn’t that right? That last one was just an anomaly, this one is an ordinary Stone Golem.」

Vihera said that as she watched Rei take out the magic stone.

The expression on her face wasn’t one of frustration from not being able to fight a fierce battle……but one thinking about the current strange situation with the dungeon.

Her concern was that this wasn’t something just happening on the sixth floor, but across the whole dungeon.

……That said, it seemed that her primary worry was that if the incidents persisted, the dungeon might be closed and she would be unable to fight against strong monsters.

「In any case, should we go down to the seventh floor?」

「Yes, I think that would be best. Even for Rei and Elena, it would be good to increase the number of floors you can directly transfer to from the magic device if needed, right?」

「……That’s true.」

Elena spat out a sigh at Vihera’s words.

「What’s wrong?」

「No, it’s nothing. I just reaffirmed my thoughts that I need to keep my guard up.」

At Elena’s words, Rei was confused, but decided that it probably wasn’t anything much as he placed the remains of the Stone Golem into the Misty Ring.

(She wants to let Rei and I to experience fighting more powerful monsters to determine our abilities and improve our combat strength? Anyhow, she’s a women that will only grow more dangerous over time. I should be careful not to mess up.)

Thinking about that, Elena gave Vihera a side glance……and involuntarily felt a cold shiver up her spine.

Vihera was laughing. Yes, she was smiling as if she knew what Elena had been thinking about.

If it had contained feelings of impatience or anger, Elena would understand. But the only thing she could see was a smile. A smile of confidence and of elation.

Seeing that smile, Elena held a strong sense of caution against the beast known as ‘fighting instinct’ that seemed to be sleeping within Vihera while remaining expressionless..

「What’s wrong? Let’s move on quickly.」

Rei called out to the two of them without noticing anything.

Yes, that in of itself was a good indication of the current situation. After all, Rei was very sensitive to the bad intentions of others. However, Rei didn’t seem to have any reaction to Vihera smiling at Elena.

(……I can’t do it right now, but if I tell Rei about it tonight……no, if I talk about it carelessly, Vihera will realise it and will probably try to pull something strange. Rei is really bad at hiding things like that.)

Nodding as she thought to herself, they continued their way through the dungeon.

The order in which they were moving was the same as when they had first arrived on the sixth floor. Byune and Vihera were at the front, Rei and Elena in the middle, and Set and Yellow at the rear.

As she walked forward, Byune would occasionally looked back at Rei.

For Byune, who needed to earn money, Rei’s Misty Ring, which could store all the remains of the Stone Golems, was something she envied. ……However, only Vihera, who had a long relationship with Byune, would have noticed her feelings.

Because the stones that made up a Stone Golem retained a certain amount of magic power, there were used as materials in alchemy as well the creation of weapons and armour. They could also be used as building materials in construction. It made a good profit if you did not consider its weight.

「……Hm? What’s wrong?」

Rei asked Byune, slightly bothered by her stares.

However, Byune just turned away as she continued walking while keeping a cautious eye on the surroundings.

「Does she dislike me?」

「Fufu~, that’s not the case. Byune needs a lot of money, so she’s just envious of your item box.」

Vihera’s earlier smile had disappeared and was now replaced with a seductive smile as she answered Rei.

Although her expression tightened for a moment, Elena continued to keep an eye on her surroundings without saying anything.

OF course, Rei and Vihera also remained vigilant of their surroundings as they talked.

「Mmm……」

Byune looked at Rei again. However, her expression didn’t really move Rei as her expressionless face wasn’t really that cute.

「Well, unlike the proofs of subjugation, I can’t give you my item box.」

He had given her the right ears of Orcs they had killed, which were their proofs of subjugation, so Rei might have seemed like a generous adventurer……however, it wasn’t like Rei would give her the most important item he had on him.

「Ah, I’m sorry about that. However, if you have a bit of money, item boxes aside, you should be able to buy a magic pouch. Haven’t you made a fair bit of money in the past few years?」

「……Mm.」

Byune shook her head at Vihera’s question.

Indeed, Byune had earned a significant amount of money as D rank adventurer in the last six months, thanks to her talent, her determination to make money, and Vihera’s help. She had made a C rank……no, B rank adventurer’s amount of money.

However, most of the money she earned was used to maintain the mansion and repay her debts, leaving little in her hands. As for what was left, it disappeared into consumables that were required to explore the dungeon, repairs of weapons and armour, replacement when repairs weren’t possible, and so on. Because of that, it could be said that Byune had almost no money she could freely spend.

The money needed to buy something expensive like a magic pouch was impossible no matter where she looked.

One of the reasons Byune spend so much time in the dungeon was actually to find a magic pouch. Or to be precise, a magic tool that used spatial magic.

The current time was no different from the past……when the ancient magical civilisation had existed, item boxes were still rare. Although there might have been more items boxes around than there were now, there were still few and far between. Because of that, many other magic items were made with spatial magic instead, such as magic pouches.

……Of course, not all of them had survived until now, many were destroyed or lost due to various reasons. Permanently granting an item spatial magic was much more difficult than making a regular magic item, so magic pouches were still rare, although not as much as item boxes.

「Well, let’s head to the seventh floor. After that, we’ll have to head back up to go to the guild.」

Nodding at Vihera’s words, Rei and his group continued through the sixth floor. ……Defeating all the monsters they ran into across several encounters, they arrived at the seventh floor. After that, everyone ate lunch inside Rei’s magic tent before they returned to the surface using the magic circle.

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