Chapter 9 Free Activity
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Classes ended just after noon. This world counted even kids as part of the workforce, so lessons stayed short. Cheap living in Whirlwind and state taxes kept the Academy running. Practical enough.
I met her at the gate.
”So, what do you want to do after this?”
”Hmm… I think I’ll go in. I really wanna level up more.”
”Then mind if I come along? I wanna grab some Mithril from the twenty-second floor.”
”Wha—!? I’m not even close to the safe margin for that yet!”
”It’ll be fine. I’ll be there. Honestly, I could probably carry us to twenty-five.”
”Even if I hit the margin, my stats might not be enough!”
”Yeah, I get it. It’s a bit of a risk.”
She hesitated. She’d always been uneasy about the unknown, about killing. Maybe that was why *Lonisera* suited her—it kept the blood off her hands.
”Look, if I come with you, it’s a chance. You can watch how enemies move while I’m fighting them.”
”…Mm. Okay. Let’s go deeper today. I also want to test a new skill.”
I grinned. Decision made.
* * *
The dungeon was called the *Cavern of Eternal Night*. A hundred floors deep, bosses every ten, new monsters every five. Official record: floor seventy-three—three past where my parents had died. Realistically, humans hit their limit around floor fifty.
I wasn’t aiming that deep. Mithril around floor thirty was enough for a good life. If I could craft with materials from the forties, I could raise kids in comfort someday. No need to risk the nightmares below fifty.
Still, I couldn’t help wondering why she’d chosen this path. She’d whispered about dreams last night, but never told me more.
* * *
”By the way, do you have enough healing potions stocked?”
”Eh? I usually kill them before they get close, so I’ve got extras.”
”Alright. But if you’re ever low, tell me. I can spare maybe a hundred from my stockpile.”
”I don’t need that many!”
Laughing, we reached the dungeon entrance. A massive cave mouth, twenty meters tall, black as ink. State-run, with clerks and knights checking IDs.
”Excuse me. Please present your identification.”
I handed mine over. She smiled, returned it.
”Confirmed. Please be careful inside, and thank you for your cooperation.”
I was about to wait for the girl when shouting broke out. Knights had tackled a ragged woman, pinning her arms. No ID. Maybe foreign adventurer. Maybe spy.
”Sorry to keep you—let’s go,” she said quickly, tugging my hand.
”Causing trouble at the entrance is rare…”
”Not really. Even kids from this country get taken down if they can’t prove who they are.”
There was a bitter edge to her voice. Maybe she’d been stopped like that once.
* * *
Ten meters in, we drew our weapons. The upper layers weren’t deadly, just crawling with pests.
Wings burst overhead, shrill screeches cutting through the dark. I cast Life Drain, and several shapes hit the ground with wet thuds—Giant Bats, wings nearly thirty centimeters across.
Annoying fliers, dangerous mostly for the diseases they carried. Their bodies were intact, so I tossed them into my Inventory; the membranes would work as leather.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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