"Have they gone mad?" said some students who saw Rafe doing the Level S quest.
"They seem to be just as crazy," said another student.
"We'll just take this quest. This is my adventure card," Rafe said as he handed over the quest.
"Are you sure?" the academy guild staff asked, trying to suppress their laughter.
"Yes. You shouldn't be worried, right?" replied Rafe confidently.
"Yes. We won't be responsible for the risk you take later, if you fail, this quest will be put back on display for other students," the guild staff explained as they handed over Rafe's adventurer card.
"How will you know if this quest fails if we don't tell you?" asked Rafe.
"The quest card is embedded with special magic that detects when the owner dies, so if you die in the dungeon, we will declare it a failure," the guild member explained.
"Okay, I understand," Rafe replied as he left the guild academy, followed by Hayato.
"Shouldn't we recruit others to help us?" asked Hayato, who still looked worried.
"Did you suddenly become stupid after being influenced by that woman named Lola, huh?" mocked Rafe while laughing.
"A fool like you doesn't deserve to call me a fool! You ancient human!" snapped a visibly annoyed Hayato.
"That's the Hayato I know. After all, who would want to help two F-rank students complete a S-tier quest, even a fool would know that," Rafe said casually.
"Tch. Your brain always comes in handy when it doesn't matter," Hayato grumbled.
Two days had passed since Rafe and Hayato had completed the Tier S quest. Rumors about their stupidity had spread among the students of Elexia Academy, and some F, E, and D students began to doubt Rafe's actions, even though they had been very proud of him before. Even now, there were only a few first-year F rank students who wanted to greet him.
But Rafe didn't care. Hayato was also no longer gloomy since the incident with Lola, the rumors about her stupidity were now discussed more often than the rumors about Hayato's embarrassment when he was affected by Lola's elixir.
Today Rafe came out of his room with supplies in his small bag, he was surprised because Nova, Elena, Nlo and Pino were already outside. They seemed to be waiting for him to come out of his room.
"Rafe, are you sure you want to do this quest?" asked Nlo.
"Hehehe... of course, look at the supplies I brought," Rafe replied, pointing to the small bag at his waist.
"Aren't you going to ask a teacher for help? Maybe Professor Nia can help you," Elena asked.
"Hey, what happened to the angry girl? Did you turn into a moody girl?" Rafe taunted with a chuckle.
"Don't call me a moody girl! You pervert!" snapped Elena as she looked away.
"We are worried about you, so far we might be the only ones left to greet you, for us you are still the pride of the F rank students," said Pino.
"Hahaha... you don't act like I'm going to die. Still, I've explored the dungeon to the end, the monsters on the tenth floor are nothing to me," Rafe replied, stamping his feet.
"Rafe," Nova called. At that moment, Rafe turned and looked at Nova.
"Don't die, I still want to read you a book in the library," Nova said without the slightest expression.
"Yes. I'm not going to die," Rafe replied as he stroked Elena's head.
"Why are you stroking my head, you pervert!" Elena snapped as she glared at Rafe.
"I wanted to stroke Nova's head, but she's too far away! Please tell Hayato I'll be waiting at the gate!" yelled Rafe as he ran off.
"You freak! Watch out if you come back later! I'll beat you up!" yelled Elena.
Rafe just laughed at her. His figure was no longer visible from the hallway of the Rank F dormitory. Suddenly, the door to Hayato's room opened and he came out with a big bag on his back, the bag looked so full that he had trouble walking.
"Hahaha ... I guess you're the kind of NPC who worries about main characters like me, you must be worried because I'm going on this impossible journey," said Hayato while posing.
"Don't die, you fart boy," Nlo said as he left Hayato.
"Don't be a burden to Rafe," Pino said as he left.
"Nova, how about we go back to the library after we study?" suggested Elena as she left with Nova.
"Hey, I heard you talking to Rafe earlier! Why are you only acting like this with me, huh?" snapped Hayato while pointing at the four of them.
"Tch. Even though I deliberately did not go straight out to have a memorable dialog with them, even though Rafe got the ration of stroking the head of one of the beautiful girls," Hayato grumbled in his heart.
"Damn you, Rafe! You always take my share as the lead!" Hayato shouted as he rushed to catch up with Rafe.
"Hey, did you bring your bedding in that bag?" asked Rafe when he saw Hayato coming with a big bag on his back.
"A fool wouldn't understand! You think a dungeon doesn't need food?" grumbled Hayato.
"Hahaha... you idiot! There are many plants in the dungeon, even if some of them are poisonous, they can still be cooked and eaten. Why take food there?" said Rafe.
"Isn't there just monsters and dirt?" asked Hayato in shock.
"Where did that dungeon come from, there's plenty of vegetation there too. You idiot," Rafe taunted.
"Tch. Hearing that from an idiot like you is really annoying," Hayato grumbled.
Rafe just shook his head. The two of them immediately made their way to the west of the Ruttera capital. The Ruttera Dungeon itself was located at the foot of Mount Ruttera to the west.
Outside the dungeon was a building used by the dungeon guards to record people entering the dungeon. Several adventurers and miners were also seen chatting in the tavern outside the dungeon, and their attention was immediately drawn to Rafe and Hayato, who were wearing Elexia Academy uniforms.
A few adventurers seemed to whisper and laugh when they saw the wooden emblem the two were wearing. But Rafe and Hayato didn't care, they immediately registered with the dungeon guard before finally entering the giant gate.
"It looks like the materials here are well used," Rafe said as he walked past the miners who were bringing materials such as crystals and others from inside the dungeon.
"All these materials belong to the Ruttera Kingdom, they just get the mining fee," Hayato explained.
"Huh? What a disadvantage, even in the Acedia Era, ordinary citizens can still mine freely," Rafe muttered.
The two of them began to explore the first floor of the dungeon, which was very large, several miners seemed to be swinging hammers to break out crystals buried between ordinary rocks. Rafe paused occasionally to take in the surroundings.
"Why do you look worried? Didn't you hear the dungeon keeper's explanation earlier, he said that there would be no monsters on floors one to five because there are many miners and soldiers," Hayato said, surprised to see Rafe stopping his steps frequently.
"It seems that there are ten people who have been following us since we left Elexia Academy, I just wanted to make sure. But it turns out that they were following us," Rafe replied.
Just then, Hayato turned his head to look behind him.
"Ouch!" Hayato screamed as Rafe forcibly turned Hayato's head back to the front.
"You idiot! If we turn around like this, they'll realize that we already know that we're being followed!" grumbled Rafe quietly.
"Tch. You don't have to turn my head," Hayato grumbled as he winced in pain and clutched his neck.
Continued...