"Huuu."
Taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat away from my forehead, I felt a mix of emotions staring at the door in front of me.
'I wonder how he'll react after I show him this?'
No, rather, was he still mad for what I did?
I wasn't exactly sure, to be honest. If it were me, I'd be both mad and impressed. Even though everything turned out for the best, it was true that my actions put the girls in danger.
In most cases, I'd get a good scolding. Perhaps even fired.
'At least, I'm feeling better.'
I wasn't as nauseous as before. Somewhat, I was able to recover to my optimal self. But what exactly caused me to be like that? Was it because of my nervousness, or was it something else that caused me to be like that?
To be honest, I wasn't quite sure.
Still.
Grasping the door, I braced myself and opened it.
"I'm back."
"Where have you been?"
Dean greeted me with a less-than-pleased expression. Judging by the color of his face, it appeared that he had somewhat recovered from the previous incident. Actually, never mind that. He seemed to be really pissed at the moment.
So much so that I could even see the veins on his neck.
"Newbie. I don't know what's going on, but you can't just leave like that after what you've done. I—"
"I met up with Director Lawrence."
"Who?"
I handed the business card I received.
"He's one of the people in charge of a platform called Dungeon Seekers. They're not a very famous platform, but they have a lot of potential. I told him about the girls clearing the dungeon, and beating a red-ranked beast. He's interested in working with us."
"Eh… what?"
Dean seemed somewhat flustered by my words, but he was quick to regain himself as he looked back at the card in his hand.
"Did… did you say Dungeon Seekers?"
"Yes."
"Fuck!"
Uh?
His sudden outburst shocked me. However, his next words made me understand everything.
"We've been trying to contact them for a very long time, and they've ignored all of our calls. Apparently, they were on the verge of signing a deal with another guild, and... No, never mind that. I can't believe you actually…"
Dean turned to look at me.
"...What are you?"
"Excuse me?"
"For now, keep everything a secret. Especially the girls."
"Sorry?"
"Don't tell them anything until the deal is over. I don't want their hopes to rise too much. We just had one good thing happen to us, I don't want to ruin it. I'm going to meet him right now."
Putting on his coat, Dean rushed out of the watch room.
"You go pick up the girls in ten minutes. If I don't come in thirty, just leave without m—ah, right. I forgot you can't drive. You really are a..."
...are a what?
Go on, finish your sentence.
"Just take a taxi back to the station. Send the girls back. I'll meet you at the station."
"Wai—"
Clank—!
He left before I could even say anything back.
Pondering over his words, and crossing my arms, I felt my brows furrow tightly.
'Where's the locker room again?'
***
"We're here."
"Thank you very much."
It took a bit and a little bit of help, but I finally found it. The girl's changing room. It was as average as I last remembered.
No, rather...
"There."
The tape on the paper that said 'Blue Daisy' was a little off so I took it upon myself to fix it.
To Tok—!
"Girls, it's me. Can I come in?"
"…"
There was no response.
'Did something happen to them, or did they already leave?'
Frowning, I was just about to knock again when a lethargic voice echoed from the other side of the door.
"Coome in..."
It sounded like Mia's voice, and I sighed in relief when I saw that.
'Looks like they're doing fine.'
"I'm coming in."
Maybe they weren't doing as fine as I expected them to be. Coming into the room, I saw the girls slumped on the benches, seemingly spent.
"Are you girls tired?"
I picked up the towels on the ground. They were damp with sweat.
"You think?"
Right. I guess they were.
"Girls, I need you guys to get ready. We'll be leaving in ten."
"Ugh… what? Ten? I… I can't feel my legs."
"Me too."
"I wish I didn't have legs."
No, that's a bit...
"We don't have a choice. Our designated time is almost up."
We had about twenty minutes to clear up and change. By then, if we weren't out, even if the girls were in their lingerie, they'd be thrown out.
Actually, I was more surprised by the fact that the girls didn't say anything about the incident from before.
Perhaps it was because they were too tired, or perhaps because they had still not processed the situation, they had not mentioned anything regarding the incident. They didn't even look at me differently.
It was as if this was a regular day on the job for them.
It made me feel a little bit more relaxed.
After all, how could I explain to them what had happened? I didn't even know myself.
"Ugh, fiiiine."
Mia groaned as her body slid from the bench to the ground. It was as if she had no bones in her body.
Sat next to her, OlivIa looked at her with a frown.
"What are you doing...?"
"Getting ready."
"Like that?"
"What's wrong with this?"
"Seriously?"
"Yah."
"Well, fine, but at least move away from my clothes. You're going to get your sweat on it."
"Don't wanna."
"Get off."
"No~"
"Do you want to fight?"
"Pftt. As if you can fight me in your current state."
"That's true…"
Frowning, OlivIa tried to stand up but ultimately sat back.
"I'll let it go for now. Not like I'm someone who doesn't have any patience."
Oh, no.
Seeing the look on Mia's face I suddenly felt a bad premonition. And my intuition was right. Too bad I wasn't able to stop it on time.
"Mia st—"
"Bitch."
As if time had stopped, the entire room quieted down. Covering my face with my hands, I just lazily sat down on the wooden bench. It's fine as long she doesn't kill her.
"The fuck did you say to me...?!"
Olivia abruptly stood up and rushed toward Mia who hurriedly cuddled up on the ground.
"Kyaak! Patient my ass!"
Olivia slumped over Mia who hurriedly raised her hands to protect her head.
"Patient? Who's patient?!"
"That's not what you said before!"
"You misheard."
"No, I di-kaaaayk! W-ait, where are you touching!?"
"...Rather soft."
"Kaaaayk! Manager, help me!"
I looked away from her. I'm not here.
Thankfully, Joana was present and she quickly mitigated the situation between the two. Only then did Olivia stop and move away from her.
Pui!
But not before spitting on Mia who was lying on the ground with hollow eyes. Well, at least made it look like she spit. Wasn't sure if she had actually done it.
"I… I've been tainted."
'It looks like they're doing fine.'
Seeing that they were rather unaffected by the situation, I silently left the changing room.
"Girls, remember. You have seven minutes to change before we're kicked out."
"Wait, wasn't it ten?"
Hearing Mia's voice, I waved my hand.
"Yeah, three minutes ago."
***
In the end, Dean didn't show up so I booked a large van for the whole team. As I sat in the front seat of the taxi, I looked at the girls behind me.
Mia, and Lyla were already sleeping. Their bodies slumped over the seats of the mini-van.
Sarah appeared equally fatigued, with her eyelids drooping ever so slightly. Her grip on the candy grew weaker, and her hand grew sluggish. Yet, despite her evident exhaustion, she persevered and forced herself to bring the candy to her mouth before eating it.
Nuuum. Nuuum.
Even her chewing had become sluggish, reaching a point where it lagged behind the time it took for the candy to reach her mouth.
Slowly, but surely. Her cheeks were starting to fill up more and more.
'Just what is she?'
And the sight made me question if she really was a human or not. By now, shouldn't she already have diabetes?
"Don't mind it. You'll get used to it."
Joana said, noticing my stare. I looked at her for a moment before nodding my head.
"Perhaps…"
I wonder. I doubted I'd ever get used to that though.
"Thank you."
"Sorry?"
I looked at Joana. Her face wore a simple smile as she looked around her.
"If not for you, we would've been forced to use our return stones. It's not like we can't afford to use them, but with our previous lackluster results, if we really had used them then we might've really been in trouble."
"Oh, that…"
I shook my head.
"That's all you. What I did was nothing compared to what you did."
Joana shook her head.
"No. You're underestimating yourself. Without you, this would've been impossible."
"Perhaps so. But, in the end, this was the result of your own effort. I can only take so much credit."
Regardless of how good someone's orders were, unless they could execute them, then the mission would've been impossible.
They executed everything flawlessly.
Joana smiled.
"Still, thank you."
I nodded back without saying anything.
This feeling of gratitude. It didn't feel so bad…
No, rather. It felt a little addicting. It reminded me of the feeling I got whenever I saw my skills improve back when I trained all day.
I wanted to experience it again.
'What is she doing?'
I was about to turn when I suddenly caught sight of Olivia. She was sitting at the far back of the van, and her expression seemed extremely serious.
Her brows furrowed together as she fixed her gaze on her hand.
'Is she injured?'
Although I had only known her for a day, Olivia's unwavering seriousness struck me as a bit strange. However, thinking back on her actions within the dungeon, I wouldn't be surprised if her hand had been injured.
The fact that she endured its full impact was already remarkably impressive.
I'd be more impressed if she didn't get injured from that.
OlivIa maintained her focus on her hand, gradually closing and opening it in a deliberate manner.
'So it's her hand that she injured. Wrist, maybe?'
It would be rather problematic if that was the case.
'I need to inform Dean about this.'
She repeated the motion multiple times before finally uttering something under her breath. Just loud enough for me to hear.
"Soft."
"…"