Kotori and her spirit quickly left the merchants guild with the deed to their land and a title. They hung around and waited for the sun to disappear. Before once again hopping over the wall with Hikari.
The process was surprisingly easy, and Kotori was happy they didn't stay in the capital for longer than needed. They quickly met up with Amelie who was hiding in a nearby forest.
Amelie was busy drawing in the dirt with a stick when they approached.
"Very busy over here" Kotori teased Amelie smirking
"What do you want me to do? Go kill a massive dungeon monster like some kind of idiot" Amelie said.
Kotori grimaced
"Cmon, It's not that bad, we've beaten them every time"
"I don't enjoy nearly dying," Amelie said dryly.
She looked at the roll of paper in Kotori's hand
"There was no issue I assume," She asked
"Yep!" Kotori said cheerfully
"Good," Amelie said looking relieved.
"Also I found a dungeon nearby," Amelie said
"Hmm?" Kotori said in response
[That's odd I don't remember there being a dungeon around here] She thought. It must've been a newly formed dungeon so Kotori probably didn't know about it.
"Do you want to explore it?" Amelie asked.
It would be a pretty low-risk proposition and there was always a chance that the dungeon could be filled with valuable materials which Kotori and her party could sell.
"I don't see why not," Kotori said
"Sure let me lead you all to it"
** ** **
Apparently, the dungeon had formed in the woods that Amelie was hiding in. Kotori nearly had some trauma after thinking about the monkey dungeon.
[Please no monkeys!] Kotori thought
Incidentally, the dungeon was very average. There were a few decently strong monsters but nothing to write home about.
Shu, Umi, and Amelie killed some monsters for sport. They had been traveling for a while so they decided to kill some dungeon monsters for sport.
The monsters in this dungeon were an assortment of big cats like panthers, leopards, and lions. They were easy to kill for Kotori's party who were much stronger from eating the monmochi of the metal slimes and their new weapons. In fact, it was very likely that Amelie on her own could beat Yoom at this point.
Kotori on the other hand was lounging on a handmade chair by Shu. She wasn't a big fan of killing monsters in dungeons anyway and rarely found the activity any fun. She was mostly trying to eat the dungeon itself. It had a spicy gamey taste like curried meat. Which was a flavor she hadn't had before.
That was until Kotori heard voices nearby.
She froze. Although most of the party was unrecognizable Amelie was still easily the most recognizable of the people here. If passing adventurers saw her, she was unsure of what would happen especially so close to the capital.
"Amelie there's people!" She called out
Amelie stopped what she was doing. She looked at Kotori and nodded and quickly hiding into the underbrush
Soon two women passed by. They seemed to be adventurers.
One of them was tall and regal looking. She wore a robe that suggested she was a spell-casting type.
The other woman was shorter. She had green tinged hair which was normal in this world. She wore bulky armor and had a large hammer slung over her back.
Both of them looked around middle-aged which was pretty normal considering adventurers were starting to become geriatric.
Both the women seemed slightly surprised to see Kotori and her party here.
They stared at each other neither saying a thing.
The silence was broken by the taller regal looking lady.
"I think we both know what we're doing here is illegal," The woman said smiling
Kotori nodded. She was technically trespassing in a new dungeon. Something that should be reported to the kingdom.
The taller woman sighed scratching her head.
"Agree to keep this secret?"
Kotori nodded again.
"Alright!" The woman said cheerfully.
"By the way, you can tell your associate to stop hiding in the bush," She said.
Kotori stiffened. This woman was surprisingly astute. Amelie was good at hiding in forests on account of her ranger work in the elf village and now that she had the [Ninjitsu] skill she was virtually undetectable to even veteran adventurers
[Who is this woman] She thought
The lady laughed
"She's hidden quite well; I can tell why you were surprised, but your friend is going to need to work a little harder to be able to hide from someone like me," She said
Kotori instantly used [Status]
Evelynn Barans
Race: Human Age: 45
HP: 83
Mana: 462
Agility: 86
Strength: 53
Defense: 67
Karma: 10,434
Skills: [Lightning] [Wind Blades] [Barrier] [Golem Conjuring]
Traits: [Bishop] [Bureaucrat]
[What are those stats!]
Kotori was right that the woman was a spell-casting type.
Her mana stat was far above anything Kotori had ever seen. This woman could likely fight Nero with Mana to spare. And if she was this strong Kotori didn't want to see how strong her partner was.
Kotori wanted to avoid causing a scene as much as possible
"I'm sorry but my friend is very shy," she said.
"Hmm, I see" Evelynn seemed disappointed.
Her partner on the other hand seemed to be dumbstruck
She tried to whisper something in Evelynn's ear.
Evelynn batted her away.
"Shhh remember? We're just normal adventurers today" She said
[So it seems like they are hiding something as well] Kotori thought
She could tell from the [Bishop] trait on Evelynn that she was likely important to the kingdom.