"I'm completely fine now," Alicia smiled at Alex so the guy would stop worrying about her condition.
"That's good then," Alex was relieved to see Alicia could regain her health faster.
In the afternoon, the six of them meet together again. They would decide whether they wanted to go back to the dungeon or not.
"Mr. Alex, this is our token of gratitude for saving all of us yesterday," Rery gave him all the cores they got yesterday.
He didn't just give rank 3 minotaurs core but also the core they got when going back to the surface. Even though Alex was weak, killing two hundred rank 2 or below monsters was a piece of cake for him.
"No, since Alicia was the one who wanted to go to the 31st floor, I am the one who should apologize to you all. I'm sorry for the trouble you had to face the other day," Alex apologized, he declined all the core.
"Yesterday was my fault for putting everyone in a dangerous situation. I was selfish to think only about my ambition to get stronger. So, I'm sorry," Alicia also apologized to her friends.
"No, there is no need to apologize to us, Princess and Mr. Alex. If we decline to go to the 31st floor, we might not get used to that kind of situation. This showed that our arrogance almost sent us to death. We took things lightly and we thought we were strong enough to fight on that floor as well. So, I guess it's only fair if we also apologize," Rery and the rest apologized to Alicia and Alex.
"We better make this as a way to reflect on ourselves rather than blaming each other. Let's forget about this matter and move on then?" Alex said.
"That's the wisest decision, Mr. Alex," Rery nodded, he started to respect Alex more after the last incident.
"Are you all going to the dungeon again?" Alex asked the group.
Rery and the rest discussed a bit, "We decided that it was enough for us, we won't go to the dungeon again and enjoy the rest of this last week."
"I see," Alex knew that their last experience on the floor might be too terrifying and exhausting for all of them. Alex then took out 50 rank 4 cores, "Please take these cores, this is my thanks for taking care of Alicia this past few weeks."
He handed the cores to Rey, hoping he would receive them as a gift from Alex.
"This...We can't accept this. This too I think," Rery wanted to decline and he stared at three of his friends including Firia to ask for confirmation.
"Alex, you don't have to give all of these to us. Didn't we agree to let this go and use it as an experience to improve ourselves earlier?" Firia joined the conversation.
"Please don't refuse it or else I would feel bad," Alex kept adamant to give them some of the cores he got in the dungeon for the past weeks.
On the other side, Firia was jealous to see how much Alex cared about Alicia. She never saw the man in front of her right now being so worried and considerate until Alicia got hurt badly the other day. Although, Firia was feeling bad if she remembered that Alicia got hurt because she wanted to save Firia. From the start to finish, Firia could see that Alex only talked about Alicia. Her name was the only word that came out of his mouth. 'Was she that important for him? She must be,' she thought to herself.
After Alex persistently asking all of them to accept his cores, they finally accepted it.
"Okay then, since we are not going to the dungeon anymore. How about we go to the hunter guild to sell our core?" Rery suggested.
Alex looked at Alicia and the girl nodded, "Sure, let's go."
With Alicia's confirmation, all of them headed to the hunter guild.
"Alex," Firia suddenly called him out of nowhere.
"What is it Miss Firia?"
"Can...Can we talk after this?" she looked down a bit, feeling a little shy.
Alex looked at her face, she seemed serious so he nodded, "Sure."
Firia then walked ahead leaving Alex behind. After a while, they arrived at the hunter guild.
Alex went to the registration counter by bringing all of his cores. Since he was a gold rank hunter, he could exchange the core with all employees at every counter. So he went to the registration counter because it was the one that he was most familiar with.
Upon noticing Alex came by, Tina immediately greeted him.
"Good Afternoon Sir Alex," she said while bowing his head a bit.
"Good afternoon, Tina," Alex greeted her back.
"Are you going to exchange cores?"
"Yes, also my friends' cores."
"The guild master has a special instruction, he asked us to guide you to his room if you are going to exchange cores."
"Really? But I am coming with them," Alex pointed at the rest of his members.
"Yes, your friends could join you as well. Please, follow me," Tina explained further.
"Thank you and sorry for the trouble I'm giving you."
Alex then went to his friends and told them to come with him to the guild master's office.
"This is my job, please this way," she guided them.
The guild master was doing some paperwork with Yuna, his new secretary.
Knock
Knock
"Who is it?" the guild master asked.
"This is Tina Sir. Sir Alex has come," Tina said from the outside of the room.
"Oh, please come in. Yuna, can you open the door for them?" the guild master ordered Yuna.
She opened the door and she saw Tina with Alex along with several people behind them, "Please, come in."
Tina then excused herself to leave since her task to bring Alex to the guild master's office had finished.
"Miss Yuna, how have you been?" Alex smiled and he tried to greet her nicely.
"I'm good thanks to you, Sir Alex," Yuna answered, a smile appeared on her pretty face.
"Young Alex! You have come! Please come in here, quickly," the guild master said again.
"Guild master, it's good to see you doing well and healthy. We finally have the chance to meet again," Alex smiled when he greeted the guild master for the first time.
"Yes, I'm also glad you could pay a visit again. Ah, I see that you are coming with Princess Alicia, and young Miss Firia?" he also saw some of Alex's friends on the back.
"Hello Uncle Bernard," Alicia greeted him.
"Greeting guild master," it's now Firia's turn to greet the guild master.
Guild master Bernard nodded, then he turned to the rest of them. "And who are these three young students?"
"My name is Rery Siluart, Sir. This is my friends Viola Acabart and Locko Macfian," Rery hurriedly introduced him and the rest.
"I see, Rery, Viola, and Locko huh? Good day to you, and you don't need to be nervous around me, you can take it easy here," Bernard smiled. "Yuna, please make us some tea."
"Yes, guild master," Yuna then left the room to prepare the tea and some snacks.
"Uncle, my father sent regard to you. He said he missed the time when he dived in the dungeon with you."
"Haha...It's almost ten years since the last time we dive together," the guild master answered with a laugh.
Everyone was getting more relaxed around him because the guild master welcomed them warmly in his office.
"Guild master, why did you give Tina that kind of instruction?" Alex suddenly asked.
"Instruction? Oh, that? I am just worried that I need to dismiss my employee again if you come and the last incident gets repeated."
"...." Alex was speechless, while Alicia and Firia only giggled. The rest was confused because they had no idea what had happened the last time Alex was in the dungeon.
"You are going to exchange the core right?" Bernard asked Alex.
Alex nodded, "Yes, also my friends' cores."
"Tina, please call the teacher who is in charge of today's assessment," he ordered Tina again when the girl entered the room with tea and some snacks.
"Yes, guild master," Tina left the room right away to call the teacher.
It didn't take long for the teacher to come to the office. Alex was surprised to see the teacher in charge, she was the teacher Alex often met in the school.
The teacher was also surprised to see Alex again, "You again?"
"Teacher, we meet again" Alex smiled.
They met a few times already before this, at their first encounter, Alex seemed like nobody to her. The next encounter was when he was with Alicia. That time, she was shocked to see him with a princess. That meant Alex's status wasn't just a commoner. She searched the name and found out that Alex was the dean's student. She was speechless with what she had found.
This time, she met him again and she was more surprised to see Alex hung out with the guild master and princess Alicia. Normally, she would accompany a student to go to the counter to exchange their cores and she recorded them for assessment. But this time, the assessment was in the guild master's office. She knew well that this was special treatment and Alex was the one who received such treatment from the guild master.
"Haiz, you always surprise me whenever I meet you. I'm going to prepare my heart first so I won't get shocked again later," she said right when he saw Alex.
"Hahaha, that's unexpected. Let's just start then? Who is going first? Alex's cores would be counted last, right?" Bernard said.
Alex nodded, he turned to the group to permit them to go ahead.
"Let me go first then," Locko was the first one to be counted.
"Sure, please put all of them in the basket over there," Bernard pointed at a slightly large basket since he looked at Locko's bag wasn't that big.
Locko put all his cores in the basket. A few ten monster cores get inside the basket.
"You got 30 for rank 0 cores, 41 for rank 1 cores, 23 for rank 2 cores, 2 for rank 3 cores, and ... 10 for rank 4 cores," the guild master then looked at Alex who just nodded.
"Their price is 32,050 copper coins," then he turned to Alex, "Though I'm already familiar with this event from the academy since they always hold it every year. Giving cores to other students isn't prohibited, many students have tried to buy them from another student or hunter to increase their score.
Even if it's not prohibited, I really won't recommend it as it might give a negative impact on the student. Of course, students don't want to sell it to another student, unless they are certain they won't pass this examination. And if they want to buy monster cores from hunters, many hunters still reject it as the hunter guild will record how many monsters the hunter already hunted.
If they sell them away to students, their achievement won't be recorded in the hunter guild. But of course, few hunters agree to sell with an exorbitant price. That's why you guys, don't be too proud if you get the cores without your strength," the guild master explained.
"Yes, we understand, master guild," all of them said in a unison.
Guild master then turned to the teacher, "Teacher Farida, please score them."
Farida understood Bernand's order and she nodded, "The points for those cores are 420, summing up from your previous score, the total is 1380 points."
It seems that Alicia and the rest were coming back to the surface periodically. Unlike Alex who was a maniac and preferred to stay over a month in the dungeon.
"Thank you, teacher," Locko was happy with his results.
Alex whispered something to Alicia, "Alicia, how much the point we need to pass?"
"800 points," Alicia answered.
Alex just nodded.
"Who is next?" the guild master asked again.
This time, Viola presented her cores and the guild master said, "You got 42 for rank 0 cores, 53 for rank 1 cores, 29 for rank 2 cores, 2 for rank 3 cores, and 15 for rank 4 cores, the total is 47,506 copper."
"The points are 580 and the total you accumulated is 1640 points," Farida said right away.
"Thank you, teacher," she thanked her politely.
"Next is me, then," Rery brought all his cores.
"You got 59 for rank 0 cores, 67 for rank 1 cores, 35 for rank 2 cores, 3 for rank 3 cores, and 25 for rank 4 cores, the total is 78,197 copper."
"The points are 857 and you accumulated a total of 1923 points," Farida counted in real-time.
"Thank you, teacher," Rery stepped back to give Alicia and Firia a chance to count their cores.
Alex was perplexed about something and he asked Alicia, "Alicia, what is exactly their relationship?"
"The rumor said that the Acabart family had arranged their daughter's marriage with the Siluart family. They are Rery Siluart and Viola Acabart."
The relationship between these two seemed okay for Alex, after feeding his curiosity by asking Alicia he focused back on the assessment's process.
"As for Locko Macfian, Macfian family is a vassal of Siluart Family," Alicia continued.
"I see."
"Next is...Hmm, who wants to go first? Miss Firia or Princess Alicia?" Bernard asked.
"Let me go first," Firia said and gave all her cores.
"You received 56 for rank 0 cores, 62 for rank 1 cores, 27 for rank 2 cores, 3 for rank 3 cores, and 40 for rank 4 cores. The total is 122,738 copper."
"The points are 1112 points. You have accumulated a total of 2001 points."
The rank 4 monster cores were personally given by Alex. At first, she was mad, because there seemed only Alicia in his mind after going back to the surface so she rejected. But Alex insisted that she received the core, she then reluctantly took it.
"Thank you, teacher," Firia went back to where she was sitting, waiting for Alicia's results.
"It's my turn now," Alicia said.
"For Alicia, you got 59 for rank 0 cores, 65 for rank 1 cores, 25 for rank 2 cores, and….100 for rank 4 cores, the total is 302,077 copper," Bernard was slightly surprised to see the cores she got.
Of course, the rank 4 core was also given by Alex. Firia bit her lips because she knew that Alex seemed to dote on Alicia the most, she was jealous.
"The points are 2289 points, you received a total of 2907 points, Princess Alicia," Farida said again.
"Young Alex, it's your turn now," the guild master said with a headache after looking at Alex's oversized bag. Farida was slightly confused by the look on the guild master's face, she was worried what kind of surprise she would receive now?
Alex took out all the cores from his bag, many cores rolling on the ground. The shocking thing was that there were no cores from rank 3 or below. That meant, all the cores in Alex's bag were rank 4 or rank 5. Alex didn't bother to pick core from rank 3 or below in the dungeon.