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Chapter 390

「Then, ojou-sama, Rei-sama, have a good day. I wish you a safe return.」

Rei and Elena left the inn as Tufal saw them off. Their destination was the stables, where Set and Yellow were.

It was the third day after they had arrived in the Labyrinth City, Exil. Their aim today was, of course, to enter the dungeon.

Fortunately for them, although there was the incident with Byune, the first day in the dungeon had be free of danger. That was why Elena and Rei were discussing whether to go all the way through the second floor and make their way to the third floor today.

(Although, if anything, the bigger issue occured after we left the dungeon.

Elena glanced sideways at Rei, who was walking beside her, as she thought to herself.

In her mind, she thought of Vihera, who had been dressed very suspiciously, wearing thin cloth that could been seen through with barely any undergarments.

(Seriously, instead of been pressed by a woman like that, Rei should have responded resolutely. ……Could it be that Rei likes those kinds of clothes? But, wait……I think Ara once said that men liked women who wore clothing like that. Then……do I have to wear clothes that could barely be called clothes as well!?)

Although Elena’s facial expression barely changed, her heart was in turmoil.

Rei might not have had any idea about what Elena was thinking, but he spoke up after glancing at her as they walked with each other.

「Elena, our goal today is the third floor, but what do we plan to do with traps……Elena?」

「No, but……in that case……but, I’m the daughter of a duke……」

Elena seemed to be muttering to herself about something, completely oblivious to Rei’s question.

While wondering what Elena was thinking about, Rei stretched out his hand to her shoulder, which was covered by her white metal armour.

「Hey, Elena. Can you hear me?」

「-!? Y-Yeah. Of course. Are we aiming for the third floor today? That’s fine with me.」

Although her mind was still in a mess, due to her experience as the General Princess, she had still managed to catch some of what Rei had said. Or, maybe, she had just caught it purely by chance.

Somehow fumbling out an answer to Rei, the two stopped by the stables to pick up Set and Yellow before heading into the city.

The looks they received from the surroundings seemed to be about 70% fear and 20% curiosity. As for the last 10% they seemed quite admiring of Set.

(I hadn’t expected people’s impression of Set to change so quickly. Well, in terms of cuteness, Set isn’t outdoing Yellow……however, I think the initial shock was greater due to Set’s larger size.)

Elena glanced over at Yellow, who was on her left shoulder, and looked around as she stroked Yellow’s back.

Same as yesterday, they stopped by the stall that sold Lizardmen skewers to buy a few. But, compared to the day before, the stall owner wasn’t as afraid of Set.

Of course, his fear wasn’t fully dispelled. However, it seemed he understood that Set wouldn’t attack anyone if he wasn’t provoked. At the very least, Elena could tell that the owner was able to keep a composed expression on his face.

「You’re going to the dungeon again today? Didn’t you just go yesterday?」

「Yeah, we’re going back to the dungeon again.」

When Rei said that, the skewer stall owner nodded with an impressed……yet somewhat concerned expression.

「Is there anything wrong?」

「No, since I sell skewers near the dungeon, I often hear adventurers discuss things. Most adventurers would take a day off after entering the dungeon. At most, they might even take several days off.」

「If you consider their physical state, that might be the best option……but, can they afford to do that? Especially on the shallower floors where beginners can enter. Would they be able to maintain a good income?」

「I don’t know much about that. That’s just what I’ve often heard them say, maybe they take on other jobs when they don’t enter the dungeon?」

Rei looked a bit confused for a few seconds after the stall owner responded.

However, after paying for the skewers, thanking the stall owner and leaving, they decided to continue at their own pace.

「It’s nice that there are stalls opening close to the dungeon.」

Eating the last piece of meat on his skewer, Rei stored it into the Misty Ring.

Elena nodded at Rei’s words, her hands empty. Elena had also eaten a skewer, but just one, so the skewer was disposed of back at the stall.

「Gururu~」

Set nodded, seemingly in agreement as they passed through the gate to the area outside the dungeon entrance.

「Wait! Could you please party up with us!?」

「No, party with us instead!」

「We were first!」

「Wait, wait, wait! I was the first one! I was the first to ask them.」

「This isn’t a first come first serve basis. We should decide things purely based on our ability!」

「It will take a while for them to sort things out when they get like that, so you discuss it with me first……」

「Hey, you there. Don’t think about getting ahead of us.」

「That’s right. You guys always seem to like to lure away all the people we want to invite.」

The moment Rei and Elena entered the area, they were immediately called out to by three different people. The two men and one woman immediately started to argue with each other nonstop.

Rei was stunned for a moment as he watched them argue, but he soon realised what was happening.

Seeing that Set was quieter than what people had expected and that Rei wasn’t as ferocious as what the rumours about him had said, they immediately tried to invite Rei’s group to join them.

「……」

Perhaps Elena had reached a similar conclusion, she gave a sigh as she turned to Rei.

They had previously half expected such a situation to occur if their abilities were revealed. Previously, only one person had tried to approach them as people hadn’t known about what the people in Rei’s group were like. The fact that Rei and Elena’s characters had spread somewhat due to them walking around buying and eating food from street stalls might have accelerated the commotion to its current stage though.

『……』

Rei and Elena both tried to push the other forward as they silently looked at each other, but it was Rei who finally lost. After gently stroking Set’s head, he went over to three arguing people.

While he hadn’t been paying attention, it seemed that the argument between party leaders had somehow escalated to arguments that included all their party members.

One had snatched out promising new members from the side, another had taken away all the materials from monsters that had been killed, yet another had lied about ores they had found within the dungeon.

From the party leaders’ perspectives, there was no doubt that Rei, Elena and Set would significantly bolster their party’s strength if they could be invited to join them. Because of that, they were arguing loudly, saying that they would never give up the opportunity, which only served to furhter decrease Rei and Elena’s motivation to join them.

「I’m sorry, but we have enough party members for the time being. We have no intention to party up with anyone, including you all.」

「No matter how strong you are, it isn’t safe to enter the dungeon with just two people. On average, you would need at least five people, including porters.」

The female party leader argued back at Rei’s words. Rei sighed and gave a small nod as he suddenly thought of something before showing everyone the Misty Ring on his right arm.

「Do you know what this bracelet is?」

「……Is it some kind of magic item?」

The one to respond wasn’t the woman but a teenager who appeared to be slightly older than Rei.

Nodding at the young man, Rei took out his main weapon, the Death Scythe, from the Misty Ring.

At the sudden appearance of the Death Scythe in Rei’s hands, the noisy surroundings quietened down, if only for a moment. It was the same even for the Church of Holy Light, which was the largest group in the area.

「Item boxes……you know that there has been various research into creating similar magic items, right? The amount it can store isn’t large, so it can only be called a simple item box, but this is still one of them.」

Rei said that as he showed off the Death Scythe.

Rei had originally wanted to tell them that it was a real item box. However, he decided that it would have caused too big of a hassle and decided to borrow the same background behind the pouch Elena wore at her waist, a magic pouch created using spatial magic.

Of course, since spatial magic was a very difficult magic to use, magic pouches were highly valuable items. However, Rei decided that it was still better than saying it was a proper item box, of which there were only a few in the world.

「And, that’s not the only one we have. The pouch at Elena’s waist over there is a similar magic item. That means we don’t need a porter. You understand that right?」

「Then, what about your combat strength! Our party places an emphasis on combat. You would still need a certain level of strength.」

The next person to speak was a man in his twenties. He had been the first person to call out to Rei earlier.

He was wearing half-plate armour and had a pole axe in his hands.

(I know that I’m in no position to say this, but isn’t it difficult to use long weapons inside the dungeon?)

Rei thought to himself as he ignored the fact that his Death Scythe was even more awkward to use than a pole axe.

Glancing at the man, Rei slowly shook his head.

「I’m sorry to say, but we have no problems with the strength of our party. As far as I, Elena and Set are concerned that is. It might be a different story if an A rank monster showed up, but we’re still on the second floor. If an A rank monster shows up and we really need the help, we’ll rely on your help then. How about that?」

「……No, dealing with an A rank monster is a bit……」

Hearing Rei’s response, the man was at a loss for words.

The man had been confident in his own party’s strength, which is why he dared to ask if Rei’s group was strong enough. However, he understood that if he were to face a monster of that level, or even a B rank monster, he wouldn’t be able to do much at all.

It was actually because of that reason that he probably wanted to attract more people with exceptional combat strenght like Rei and Set.

If he had known that Elena was the General Princess, his solicitations might have even been more enthusiastic.

(No, would he even have the guts to invite a duke’s daughter into his party?)

As Rei thought that in his mind, he made a blunt statement.

「Right now, what we need is a thief……but only on the provision that they won’t drag us down in comabt.」

When Rei said that they needed a thief, there was a brief moment of hope on the man’s face. However he just gave a sigh when he heard that the thief couldn’t hold them back in combat. It wasn’t just him, it was the same for the other two parties, which also had thieves, as well as those who were watching them from the sidelines.

Some sighed as they looked at their fellow thieves, blaming them for not being good enough. The thieves looked back at those people without hiding their unhappy expressions.

Seeing that, Rei shrugged his shoulders at the three party leaders he had been talking with.

「You understand now right? Well, pardon us, but we have to enter the dungeon.」

「Y-Yeah……」

「I see.」

「……There’s nothing we can do.」

As the three of them responded to Rei, he quietly passed by them.

Meanwhile, several thieves from the Church of Holy Light, who had been watching them, seemed to want to say something before eventually staying where they were.

For the thieves from the Church of Holy Light, they might have seen this as an opportunity to sell their services as they judged themselves to be reasonably skilled. However, as long as they remained in their current situation, they were only allowed to provide assistance when requested, they couldn’t offer it themselves.

Even thought they somewhat sensed the situation from the group of people from the Church of Holy Light, Rei, Elena and Set ignored them as they touched the transfer devices and disappeared to the second floor of the dungeon.