"So, you're looking for a dungeon mission?"
A woman dressed in white, with long hair and clear glasses, spoke up.
A day had passed since we finished fighting the monsters. Nortil was safe and there was no danger of the monsters reaching the village. The monster horde issue was definitely a big one, and that's why Oriana decided to investigate the matter on her own.
The situation changed when the elf girl had nowhere to go. We could not leave her in an orphanage, as an orphanage of human children is not very suitable for an elf girl of another race. Therefore, Alice decided to take care of her until she returns to her hometown. I wasn't sure which city she was referring to, so I didn't pay much interest.
About the two knight achievements I got, there was no need to return to the imperial city to claim them, as fortunately Oriana handed them over to me. Not just one, but two knight achievements. Currently, there were eight knight achievements left to obtain, and that's why I was in Nortil's guild.
[Sefipeon Guild]
The guild's name was definitely eye-catching. As far as I know, guilds have positions on the continent, there being 12 guilds called the 12 heavens. They are the largest, richest and most powerful guilds on the Agrona continent. Their leaders, as far as I know, are 9th circle mages.
I didn't have that much information about the 12 guilds, but that was all I knew so far.
"That's right, but it is necessary for the mission to host a knight achievement."
The woman was silent as her eyes roamed the room.
"Well, an ancient dungeon was recently discovered. The monsters are grade 9, but there are more than one grade 8, though they are weak. This mission has a knight achievement as a reward."
"Okay, then give me the details."
"Of course, here you go."
The woman handed me a paper full of letters, and I began to read quickly.
The paper had information about the monsters, as well as their strength rating. The name of the dungeon was simply "Ancient Dungeon." It was discovered recently, less than two weeks ago. So far, it hasn't been cleared for some strange reason, and that's why one of the rewards is a knight achievement.
"I get it, so you guys are really coming with me then."
I looked at the rest of the group. They had all decided to accompany me on my quest for knight achievements until I obtained them all. The group will disband until we meet again someday, although it would be a bit strange for me to leave this group once I get the achievements.
In the end, everyone decided to stand by my side. Then Alicia spoke up once I asked.
"Of course," she replied.
"Let's go find an acquaintance first. We can't bring Jessica with us," Alicia said, as she looked at the elf girl.
I looked at Jessica for a few seconds and she stared at me, with her blue eyes and blonde hair. She stared at me until she spoke.
"It's... Fine." Normally, she doesn't talk to anyone, just me.
That was why I started to wonder.
She doesn't trust anyone else, but why does she trust only me? It was a series of questions, but I didn't know exactly why, so I just put that aside.
Maybe she knows something I don't, or even thinks something about me that makes her trust me completely.
I didn't know what it was, so we left the guild and started walking behind Alicia.
"Who are we leaving Jessica with?" asked Clara.
After looking at Clara, right next to me, she had actually reached the third circle. I felt like I was falling behind, but my decision was not to advance to the second circle or higher until I got to the Academy. As far as I know, it's not a good idea to even be a first circle at this age.
Encrid had reminded me of that fact, so I just went along with it and decided not to advance to the second circle, though I could at any time if the situation calls for it.
"She's... a friend." Alicia's words sounded strange when she said "friend".
"Out of doubt?"
"I... I didn't. It's a long story, but she's reliable," Alicia replied, as her gaze lowered.
From her tone of voice, it sounded like something had happened in the past, but that's none of my business, not something I'm interested in.
Then, the minutes passed and, after an hour, we arrived at a book store. From outside you could see the hundreds of books on the shelves. Then the group walked in.
"Clin" "Clan"
A few bells rang once the door opened. Books and shelves everywhere were presented right before our eyes. The ceiling was adorned with some chandeliers, there were paintings on the walls along with some very decorative furniture that was all over the place. After looking all around inside, the place was quite large, two stories high.
"What do we have here? An acquaintance and some people I don't know."
A woman with white hair, as well as her eyes of the same color, looked very young, maybe the same age as Alice. She wore an elegant suit that looked like a librarian in fancy clothes.
"It's been a while, Alíz," Alicia said, but for some reason the woman's name bore a resemblance to Alicia's name.
A question popped into my head: is it possible that the two of them are related, or could I be wrong.
"Oh, I'm not. I'm not related to her, we've just been friends since we were little and our names are similar, that's all," Alíz said, as if she knew what I was thinking.
Then I quickly became doubtful of Alíz's words.
"She read my mind. No, that's impossible," I thought.
Then Alíz's face gave a smile and she spoke.
"That is one of my abilities, little one. I can read minds."
"R-really...?" My words almost didn't come out. Someone who can read people's minds certainly is an amazing ability.
"Sigh."
Alicia then took a slight sigh and I looked at Alíz. Her lips curved and she spoke.
"Do you think you can do me a favor?"
"What favor?"
Alicia held Jessica's hand and, with both hands, put Jessica right in front of her legs as her hands rested on both of the girl's shoulders. Then Alicia spoke again.
"I would like you to take care of this little girl. She is of our race."
It was then that Alíz moved a lock of hair that covered the side of her ear. I noticed the peculiar pointed ears of an elf. So she is an elf.
This must have been the reason Alicia was looking for this woman; because of their race, they have a certain connection between them.
"Okay, but I need you to bring me something in exchange for taking care of the girl."
"What is it?"
"You know the red flower?"
"Of course I know it."
"Good, then bring me just one of those flowers. That's enough."
"That's all, but why such a hard-to-find flower? It's only found in high grade dungeons."
"Then I won't be able to take care of the child."
"All right, I'll bring her."
A red flower, why did he want a flower, is there something special about that red flower that is even found in high grade dungeons? But why did Alíz want something like that?
"I will make an elixir," then Alíz spoke.
I forgot that she could read people's minds, so that was her answer: an elixir.
"What is that?"
"You don't know, but you have traces of having ingested an elixir before, specifically a healing one and a very strong one at that."
"..."
Then my face contracted, remembering that I had drunk two of those blue-colored vials the day before. So, that's called "Elixir" and, if it's so hard to obtain one, just knowing how hard it is to get an ingredient, then that means....
How expensive was that elixir that Oriana had given me to cure me of my wounds? I just wished that I wouldn't be charged for it later. I just hoped that.
"Hey... and the elixir you say is strong, how much do you think it costs?"
"Of course three crystals."
"..."
Three crystals equals three thousand gold coins. So, a total of six thousand gold coins were spent just to recover from my injuries the day before.
"Then it's about time we got moving," Alice spoke up.
"How long will it take?" Alíz asked.
"We are not sure. We'll go to a dungeon."
"I see. Then, good luck to them and don't forget my red flower."
Finally, we left the book store.
***
—Change of scene.
According to the information we have about the dungeon, it is located just to the east, where some mountains rise in that place. We have to go through a forest and reach a high point of the mountains; then, the entrance to the dungeon will be there.
The walk took about three hours. Of course, it was still early morning, so it was only ten o'clock in the morning. We had reached a high point on the mountain. The walk was long and we had no problem, as it was a monster-free path.
Fortunately, we arrived without the need to fight, and finally, the entrance to the dungeon was right in front of us.
Spear-shaped spikes were on the sides of large black doors. Down a few small steps until we reached the stairs, the spikes were as big as the door.
"This is what a dungeon entrance looks like," I thought.
The wind was rushing, and then the group started walking.
"It's definitely a grade 9 dungeon, but I feel something strange inside it," Alice said.
He was right, something felt unsettling just standing in front of this dungeon. Its entrance was already very striking, especially the bodies of some monsters that weren't that far away from us; they were monsters I hadn't seen before.
"From now on, we must be very alert. Although it's a low-grade dungeon, it's still dangerous. It's possible that we may encounter traps along the way."
Alice, as usual, spoke in a tone like a great leader would. Certainly, a dungeon is very different from an open field where it is possible to see monsters approaching, but this time it would be different. No one knows what surprises await us inside a dungeon, and the chances of monsters being a danger in this place were far from unpredictable.
Then, unnoticed, quickly my mana moved to the tattoo and Encrid appeared in its sword form. I held it from the hilt.
"This isn't your first time in a dungeon, is it, boy?" Encrid spoke.
"That's right, this is my first time in a dungeon. Although where I found you isn't a dungeon because it was contained by humans, isn't it?"
"You're right to a certain extent. Although it was built for me to stay there until I waited for my successor, it's actually a dungeon as well. You can tell that from the golden-winged guardian."
Then, the memory of that time came back, recalling that large faceless monster, a tall white muscular body with two large golden wings. It was a monster that instilled great fear; fortunately, it was not an enemy back then, because if it had been....
"The guardian was a monster classified as grade 1. Although he was already very old, he was still strong. Not even a ninth-circle mage could defeat him so easily."
"..."
So, a grade 1 monster has enough strength to even kill a ninth circle mage.
"Sigh."
For the moment, it wasn't time to think about that fact. Then, Dik took the step and opened the large dungeon doors.
"Grind."
The doors opened with a creaking sound, at the same time a layer of darkness and dust enveloped us once the doors finished opening.
Then we stepped inside, and suddenly the ceiling of the place began to emanate a faint blue light, and a narrow hallway appeared right in front of us. From the hallway, it looked like some kind of maze, but who knows what kind of things we will encounter along the way.
Then we started walking slowly as everyone's eyes widened and then silence enveloped us. We continued to move forward slowly and followed the straight and narrow hallway of the dungeon. I wasn't sure where we were headed if we followed this half-dark hallway.
"Muffled sound."
At the end of the corridor we heard some sounds; they were similar to footsteps, but there were a lot of them, and we also heard some claw scratches.
"They are three-headed wolves. They have a big size and they walk in packs," Alice said at the moment when a big black colored body of an animal of almost three meters, with three heads, appeared just at the end of the corridor.
That... is a three-headed wolf....