---Thirty Minutes Later---
“We are fifth in line now. Almost there!” Yunyun said anxiously, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Today’s late start is really going to hamper our earning potential. To make enough to rent a room tonight, we will have to hoof it down to the boss. What floor is that again?”
“Calm yourself, Yunyun. I’d be shocked if we do not reach Floor Ten in a few hours. If we don’t, I can lend you money to rent a room somewhere. You can pay me back once we have a steady income.”
“You have done so much for us already,” she murmured, looking at her staff. “I would hate to keep relying on you for everything, even if it is just temporary.”
Her feelings were understandable, but she had to learn to accept help. Instead of sending capable workers to earn money for their impoverished village, the Crimson Eyed Demons sent a shy, inexperienced woman. She was more than up to the challenge; it was just cruel of them to make her shoulder the burden alone.
Roxanne tilted her head. “Couldn’t we make just as much money, if not more, by just killing a bunch of normal monsters?”
“In Rank 5 dungeons, normal drops have very low value. For example, ten kobold blades will earn you exactly one Dia,” I explained. “Only the boss’ treasure hoard holds anything of real value. Even then, you can only expect five to ten thousand Dia. That’s less than a dockworker makes in a week.”
“Rank 5 dungeon?” They both blinked at me in unison, their expressions blank.
I stared at them. At first, I thought they were messing with me. Based on the orientation I got from the Guildmaster, this was basic knowledge. Lucoa gave them a proper explanation… right?
“Hilarious, guys. You can stop feigning ignorance about the ranking system now.”
“Leon, we are being serious.” Roxanne pressed me. “What is this ranking system you’re talking about?”
Upon discovering Lucoa had either forgotten or skipped this crucial information, I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled a long breath.
“In this country, the Adventurer’s Guild ranks dungeons based on the monsters that spawn there. Rank 5 is the lowest; it is also the only type Copper ranks may enter,” I gestured to the Guild IDs hanging from their necks. “After we clear twelve Rank 5 dungeons, you’ll be eligible for a promotion to Silver rank. Passing that promotion test grants access to Rank 4 dungeons—and much better rewards.”
“I see. So, what comes after Silver?” Yunyun’s eyes flared with a competitive spark.
“It’s easier if I just show you the breakdown. These are the notes I took during orientation…”
Adventurer Rank
Dungeon Access
Party Status
Copper
Rank 5
Newbies
Silver
Rank 4 or Lower
Novices
Gold
Rank 3 or Lower
Veterans
Platinum
Rank 2 or Lower
Elites
Mithril
Rank 1 or Lower
Legendary
Grateful for the information, they reviewed my notes as the line continued to move. When we were finally called forward, Yunyun returned the notebook and ran up to the attendant.
“Good afternoon! How are you to—”
“Please present your Guild IDs for inspection,” the man muttered, holding out a calloused hand.
With a deflated sigh, Yunyun presented her ID alongside ours. Unbothered by her response, the employee scanned them with a magic magnifying glass. Small magic circles flared under the pale blue light emitted by the device—the guild’s anti-counterfeiting measures at work.
Once he was certain they were genuine, the worker jotted some notes onto his clipboard and returned the cards.
“We pray for your safety and success. Have a nice day,” he said, his blessing interrupted by a massive yawn. “Next!”
When we moved past the checkpoint, we discovered a shimmering black portal floating between two ancient stone pillars. Eager to experience my first dungeon, I sprinted ahead.
“Last one in is a rotten egg!” I called back over my shoulder, rapidly closing the distance.
“Hey. That is not fair. Wait for us!” they laughed, their footsteps echoing behind me.
As we passed through the distorted opening, the world seemed to stretch for a heartbeat before snapping back into place. We found ourselves in a breezy, purple-hued stone corridor. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and damp earth, illuminated by the soft, eerie glow of bioluminescent moss.
“There is so much mana in the air,” Yunyun whispered, her eyes wide with wonder. “If I am right, I could use advanced magic here without fear of exhaustion. I cannot wait to—”
Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.
Roxanne snapped into a crouch, moving to the front of the group with her buckler and blade at the ready. “Four goblins, thirty feet ahead,” she whispered. “They’ll step out of a connecting hallway in three… two…”
Right on cue, the creatures hobbled into view. Unaware of our presence, they shuffled across the corridor and vanished around the next bend.
“We’re downwind, so they didn’t catch our scent,” Roxanne noted, glancing back at us. “Should we give chase, or press onward to the next level?”
“I really want to give my new staff a try,” Yunyun said, her grip tightening on the pearlescent shaft. “I say we go.”
“That works for me. Just please don’t go overboard,” I warned.
We rushed forward, staying light on our feet. As we cleared the corner, Yunyun stepped out in front, raised her staff, and coalesced her mana at its tip.
“Fireball!”
A three-foot, searing ball of fire erupted at the end of her staff. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it screaming down the hall. The goblins turned—eyes wide with realization—just as the small sun engulfed them. A hellish explosion followed, sending a wave of dry heat rushing back toward us and charring the nearby moss into blackened soot.
“That was amazing!! I am starting to understand why Megumin loves explosion magic,” Yunyun said, as the dust settled.
“I won’t tell you how to use your magic, but please promise me you won’t become like her,” I said with an exhausted look. “Megumin has a horrible reputation in the guild. She doesn’t care about collateral damage, and countless parties have nearly been wiped out because she needed to ‘vent the immeasurable power’ in her body.”
Yunyun’s face fell. “She does? No wonder those porters have been bullying me so much! When I find Megumin, I am going to give her a good talking to.”
Happy to hear Yunyun had no plans to become a pyromaniac, I turned my attention to the monster drops. On the blackened dungeon floor, three tiny goblin fangs were all that remained of the group. They lay scattered in the soot, faintly catching the light from the unburnt moss.
“As you can see, there is no point in wasting our time with Rank 5 monsters. If you two were weaker, the experience might be worth it, but at your current level, the gains are negligible. We’re better off focusing on reaching the boss room. That’s where we’ll earn enough to cover your rent for the next week.”
Roxanne nodded, sheathing her blade as she walked over to retrieve the fangs. With the meager loot stowed in the pouch on her hip, she vigorously sniffed the air once more.
“More monsters?” Yunyun inquired, gripping her staff as she surveyed the dim corridor.
“No, Roxanne is looking for the stairs,” I said. “Remember what I told you back at the guild? I singled you two out because I saw great potential in you. That nose of hers is one of our greatest assets—it’s our ticket to reaching the next rank in no time flat.”
As she homed in on the scent of the next floor, Roxanne’s tail began to wag, thumping rhythmically against her leg. No one had ever praised her so directly before; the realization that she was truly valued brought a radiant glow to her face.
“Found it!” Roxanne announced, looking behind us.
“We will follow you. Try to avoid combat where you can,” I instructed as she took point.
With that, we ventured deeper into the dungeon’s gloomy labyrinth.
---3rd Person POV, Noble District---
For the last three days, Zola Fou Bartfort had been in unusually high spirits. The assassins she’d hired to eliminate her wealthy stepson had reported total success, describing in vivid detail how a deadly poison had sent him to an early grave.
They hadn’t produced a corpse as proof, but in her eagerness to secure the inheritance, she had blindly trusted their word. Now, clutching a fresh report from the Royal Palace, she bitterly regretted her naivety.
“You swore that brat was dead! Yet this report says he showed up at the Adventurer’s Guild alive and well,” Zola spat, hurling the parchment at the assassins huddled before her desk. “How dare you lie to my face, you bumbling fools!”
“Ma’am, I can assure you, we are just as—”
“The bastard knows it was me who sent you! Leon is already planning his retaliation, I just know it,” Zola snarled, glancing over at her useless son. “Rutart, go round up several dozen street thugs and deal with the nuisance. Make sure he is unrecognizable by the time you are done. I want his siblings to understand what it means to cross me.”
With an arrogant smile, Rutart rose from his plush chair and gave his mother a nod. Though they were step-siblings, the slovenly man held no fondness for Leon or any of the others. All he cared about was seizing the Bartfort family’s noble title.
“Haha! I can’t wait to see the look on Balcus’ face when he realizes his money was used to kill his own son,” Rutart cackled, heading toward the door. “You lot, if you want to make up for your screw-up, follow me so we can—”
A series of powerful explosions rocked the mansion, cutting him off. Seconds later, the sound of terrified screams and the whine of laser rifles echoed down the hallway.
“Damn it all! The brat reacted faster than I expected,” Zola huffed, retrieving a pistol from her desk drawer. “I will take care of him myself.”
With his sword in hand, Rutart moved to open the study door and look outside. Just as he turned the handle, his younger sister, Merce, burst into the room covered in blood.
“Leon sent metal men to attack the mansion! They’re slaughtering everyone—even the kitchen staff and maids,” Merce cried, shivering in terror. “Bullets, magic, sword strikes… nothing works.”
“I knew it! He found more than just treasure on that island,” Zola murmured, her mind already calculating the fortune she would claim once she owned that technology.
The uniform sound of marching feet echoed down the hallway. Shocked back to reality, Zola realized her expensive security had been annihilated in minutes. Leon’s “treasure” was truly terrifying.
“Get ready!” Rutart stated, though he was secretly considering abandoning everything and fleeing through a window.
The assassins resigned themselves to their fate, blades drawn. Just as the noise reached the doorway, it stopped. After a long minute of silence, Zola gestured to the door. “Rutart, check outside.”
“Fuck no! You do it, you old hag,” Rutart snapped, his legs refusing to move.
“Grr! One of you men, check.”
He was ready for a fight, but found only an empty, smoke-filled hallway. He scratched his head, looking back at the others in confusion.
“There isn’t anyone out—”
A hole suddenly punched through the assassin’s chest. In front of him, his still-beating heart squirted blood over a petrified Rutart. The dying man tried to scream, but his nervous system had already shut down. He felt the world grow cold before his consciousness vanished.
<Leon wanted your deaths to be painful, but discreet. Unfortunately for you, I believe that is an illogical choice. The only way to ensure others do not target him is to make an example of you. You foolish humans have only yourselves to blame.>
With a mechanical squeeze, the heart violently exploded. As the body crumpled, several humanoid robots shimmered into view. Zola and her cohorts were effortlessly disarmed, seized from behind by cold, metal grips.
“Let me go, you filthy machines!” Zola hissed as her assassins’ heads were violently wrenched from their shoulders. “I am well-connected! If you harm me, Leon will suffer!”
<You are a bigger fool than I thought. Do you think your allies will fare any better than you? If Leon gives the order, I will raze your pathetic society to the ground. You have squandered the sacrifices of your ancestors. Leon would make a far better leader than the buffoon currently on the throne.>
The sheer coldness in the machine’s voice brought Zola back to reality. She had no cards left to play.
“Please wait! Do what you want with them, but spare me!” Merce pleaded. “I never harmed him! If anyone asks, I’ll say it was bandits!”
“You fucking slut!” Rutart snarled. “Neither of us is related to Leon! If you take her to him, he can treat her like a—”
Enraged by the suggestion, the robot dug its fingers into Rutart’s flesh and injected a stream of caustic acid. The machines forced Merce and Zola to watch as Rutart melted, his body liquefying as he writhed in agony. Once he was nothing but a steaming puddle, the robots turned their attention to the women.
“Please, I am begging you, spare me,” Merce pleaded, wetting herself. “I won’t tell a soul about what I’ve seen. You will never see me again.”
<No. Sparing your life is illogical; you are a liability to Leon’s future. I will afford you some mercy and make this quick.>
Grateful for even a small mercy, Merce quit resisting. Forced to stand near the doorway, she assumed she would be gunned down like the servants. When they pointed an unfamiliar weapon at her, however, her expression shifted.
Whoosh!
A wall of fire engulfed her before she could even ask. She didn’t have time to scream before she was wrapped in unquenchable flames. As she writhed on the floor, Zola watched her with cold indifference.
Unamused, Zola spat in her captor’s face, refusing to give Leon the satisfaction of her begging.
<How uncivilized. I doubt you left a trace of your many misdeeds; as such, I will forcibly extract that information from your brain.>
Forced to her knees, Zola watched as several metallic probes emerged from the robot’s forearm. In a flash, they burrowed into her skull. Her body spasmed uncontrollably as she screamed, but no one heard her; they were all already dead.
<The data caches have been delivered to the inn. I suppose I should take possession and begin decrypting once I am finished here. Hopefully, whatever is on them is of use to Leon.>
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