by Brent Tyman
When we neared the Academy staff, both of them stared at us before the one without any parchments in her hands stepped forward.
“Ah, yes. You are the party that came in first on the previous trial, no?” she asked.
“That is correct,” Aurielle replied, her crimson hair swirling gently in the light breeze.
“Excellent. You are the first ones here from your group. The others have seven minutes to arrive before we will consider them late,” the woman said.
She seemed oddly specific about the time, for some reason…
The other woman stepped forward and used her free hand to flick through the stack of parchments she was holding.
“While we wait, please allow me to verify your identities,” she said.
The staff member took a very close look at the Academy badges that Clarissa, Juliana and Anny had. Aurielle and I each had our Academy visitor’s badges, but as far as I knew, it wasn’t the same thing. She asked to see our Guild badges, instead.
She also mentioned that the headmaster himself should be around here, as well, to make sure that only groups who had passed the first stage were allowed into the Dungeon.
That remark surprised me. It seemed that they weren’t going to allow just anyone into the Dungeon today; just those taking part in the tournament’s second stage. This probably explained why there were so many onlookers here, too.
By the time the woman was done with her questions and examination of our badges, the other two parties we were supposed to compete against had arrived. Both parties’ members were dressed in red garments. I noticed one party consisted of Academy students, with parts of their uniforms proudly displayed, while the other party wore more refined and sturdy armor. This probably indicated that they were adventurers.
As pretty much everyone expected, the Academy students immediately bowed to Juliana while the adventurers simply stared at her, as if they couldn’t believe she was here.
“Good luck in the tournament, My Lady!” A female Academy student chirped. “My Clan owns some of the northern estates in Tasberg.”
Silence reigned for a moment before Juliana cleared her throat.
“Ah, yes. I see…” she said.
“That’s right,” the Sovereignty student chimed in again. “My father’s lands bring in many fine wares from the Yunissan border and beyond. Maybe we could discuss it sometime… how about after this trial?”
“That is quite alright,” Juliana said. “My time is quite limited and my focus is entirely on this tournament.”
“What do you know?” Clarissa said, nudging me. “I think Juliana’s diplomatic skills are getting better...”
“What about…” the Sovereignty student started to say, before the man beside her groaned.
“Please don’t anger My Lady. Our whole Clan will not be pleased, if you drag us all into this,” he said.
“Remember who my father is,” the Sovereignty student snapped. “He has personally fought off many Yunissan skirmishes along the border.”
In almost no time at all, the Sovereignty students were all arguing with each other about who’s Clan was the best. I mean, weren’t they supposed to be on the same side? Although, now that I thought about it, this reminded me of how Juliana’s retinue interacted with each other at times.
The adventurers’ party didn’t say much, other than nodding their heads to Juliana.
This was the group I’d have to watch out for. Each one of them had armor that was well made but looked pretty darn expensive, too. It was naturally dyed red—as might be expected—but also featured hints of silver patterns etched into it. All of them wore helmets that didn’t reveal a hint of their faces.
From their relaxed posture and confidence, I could tell these adventurers would probably go pretty deep into the Dungeon. Heck, one of them even had a sword that glowed both red and blue in sequence. It only needed some green in there too for it to be considered an RGB sword…
“Silence!” The Academy staff member shouted from behind us, breaking up the argument amongst the Sovereignty students. “It is almost time for your trial in the tournament’s second stage. Listen closely, if you wish to succeed.”
She gave us a quick summary of what we were supposed to do, which was more or less to find the most valuable monster loot in the Dungeon and bring it back to this entrance before our time ran out. We had till sundown to do it, which was pretty great for our plan, assuming we could still go ahead with it.
In terms of judging, it seemed the headmaster himself would be deciding the winners of this round personally, assisted by the guildmaster of Tringall’s Adventurer’s Guild.
That was almost interesting, since I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting the guildmaster yet. I wondered how he factored into the judging.
We waited for the parchment wielding staff member to verify the identities of the other two parties. Once that was done and everyone was happy with the rules, her peer prompted us to enter the Dungeon at our leisure.
We all looked at each other for a long moment, before we all rushed towards the entrance of the Dungeon as one.
“Good luck again, My Lady!” The same Sovereignty student shouted. “Did I mention my father has met your father before?”
“So has every minor Clan leader,” her teammate quipped.
“Are all Sovereignty students like this?” Clarissa complained as she ran. “Use some more of that diplomacy of yours, Juliana.”
“Focus on the trial,” Juliana ordered as we reached the stairs. “Anny, you may take the lead.”
Huh, it seemed Juliana was all business, right now, though that was probably a good idea for all of us. The Academy team were a noisy bunch, easy to hear long after we’d all split off in different directions upon reaching the first floor.
“Do you still want to try your plan, handsome?” Clarissa asked. “Those adventurers were… something else.”
“Indeed,” Aurielle agreed, nodding. “The adventurers seemed well equipped to tackle monsters quite deep into the Dungeon. We must be swift.”
I was glad I wasn’t the only one who had noticed how experienced and competent the adventurers seemed to be.
“Agreed,” I said. “And yeah, let’s head down to the Wolves as quickly as we can and see if we can make this happen.”
Anny took the lead as we made our way to the seventh floor.
I had only one thing on my mind. We had a good shot at winning this, and I knew that if we worked together, we would.
All we had to do, in the end, was take down a single, valuable monster…
25
It felt really strange to simply run past monsters in order to get to the seventh floor as quickly as we could. I normally wouldn’t have considered it, but Aurielle’s gravity magic helped to stun any monsters that got too close to us and, we were soon beyond their aggro range.
It didn’t really help against the Foxes on the fourth floor, thanks to their aggro range being unbelievably large, but for the other floors, we managed to breeze past them with ease.
Anny’s pathfinding skill also helped guide us to the paths that had the lowest number of monsters. Her skill really had become invaluable for us. In no time at all, the icy chill of the seventh floor washed over my armor, and we now had to find the tunnels we had used previously.
“Uhh, I think it was over this way,” I said, pointing down one of the many snow-filled tunnels on this floor. “Right, Anny?”
Anny closed her eyes and stood still for a moment. I took a moment to appreciate the momentary respite. We had been running for quite a while.
“Yes,” Anny confirmed, nodding. “That direction seems to be roughly where we had found the tunnels.”
“We are in for quite the journey then,” Clarissa said. “Shall we, handsome?”
“Let’s do it,” I said, nodding.
Since we now needed Anny to find the tunnels, we decided to take it much slower here. The last thing we wanted was for her to miss the shortcut tunnel enti
rely.
Either way, we had a lot of walking to do.
Anny led us through the seventh floor, taking care to avoid any Wolves in our way. That seemed to be pretty easy, given how spaced out each pack was on this floor.
Aurielle walked in step with me, while Juliana and Clarissa hung back to whisper to each other. I half wondered what they were talking about when Aurielle caught my attention.
“Alex,” Aurielle said. “May I know where you trained in your sword techniques?”
“Well…” I replied, not really sure how to explain that I didn’t really have any training, at all. It was mostly me thinking back on the RPG’s I’d played and loosely drawing upon that knowledge.
My Strength stat made my swings way more effective than they normally would be. Although I had improved a little in my technique, I was certain I still had quite a lot to learn.
“No one has really trained me. I’m kind of learning as I go,” I admitted.
“In that case, I would be more than happy to teach you sword techniques and form, once you have learned my gravity magic,” Aurielle said, smiling.
“Sure. I’ve seen you in action and your sword skills are really impressive,” I replied. “You’ve really become an invaluable member of the party and Clan, Aurielle.”
“Oh…” Aurielle said, her cheeks slowly turning pink. “It is the least I can, given my debt to you.”
“There’s no debt, Aurielle,” I said, more out of reflex than anything else. “But either way, I appreciate this.”
Staring into Aurielle’s eyes as we walked had that effect on me again, and this time, I couldn’t help but lean forward to kiss her. Cold air gently rolled over my face as her warm lips connected with mine. When I finally pulled back, Aurielle’s eyes fluttered ever so slightly.
Gods, she was beautiful…
“Alex,” Juliana said from behind us. “Perhaps we could… well…”
By the time I had turned my head, Juliana had already latched her lips onto mine. I was surprised at first, but soon found myself getting lost in her kiss.
“Hey! What about me?” Clarissa whined. As soon as Juliana withdrew, Clarissa was all over me, wrapping her arms around me and all but devouring my lips.
“Whoa…” I tried to catch my breath, once it was all over. “That was...”
“Quickly now, Alex,” Juliana chirped, smiling widely at me. “We must find these tunnels soon.”
“Yes,” Clarissa piped up, smirking.
“I agree,” Aurielle said, “Please continue guiding us, Anny.”
“Ahh,” Anny drawled, her face showing her confusing at what had just happened. “Okay…”
I shook my head as we continued on our way, although this time Juliana and Aurielle took up positions at my sides. Clarissa winked at me before slipping back a few steps, to a spot a very close distance behind me.
There was little talk, now, but I could tell that the women were in high spirits and looked very satisfied with themselves.
My only thought was that my harem dream just kept getting better and better…
“Finally!” Anny shouted, then clapped her hands over her mouth.
“What’s up? Did you find it?” I asked, and she nodded, first wiggling and then hopping in place.
“Hmm, based on how much time has passed, we should have plenty of time to achieve our aim and get back,” Juliana said.
“Then let’s get a move on, already,” Clarissa insisted, waving a hand forward. “So much snow has melted all over my dress, I’m soaked.”
Clarissa’s eyes perked up as a thought occurred to her. “Unless you like how it clings to me, handsome…” she said, winking.
Yeah, I was pretty sure nothing could ever stop Clarissa’s quips.
Nothing.
“Haha,” I laughed as I ran a hand down her hair, “I’m sure things will heat up once we head down the tunnel.”
“Hmm, I hope they will,” she breathed.
“Please focus on our objective,” Juliana said, shaking her head. “Anny, we must make haste.”
“Right,” Anny said, nodding. “This way.”
It didn’t take long at all before we managed to spot the blue lines on the ground. Most of them had been covered quite deeply by the snow. Anny eventually led us to the tunnel, and I was relieved to see that it was still very much intact.
“Please allow me to go first,” Aurielle said.
I nodded. “Sure. If I remember right, it’s a long way down,” I said.
“And then we have to fight a Glower Serpent,” Anny said nervously. I noticed that her hands were gripping that very same cloth she had showed me earlier—the one that had sparked this whole plan.
“Don’t worry about it, Anny,” I said. “With all of us here, I’m sure we’ll be able to overcome one Glower Serpent without too much trouble.”
“Indeed,” Juliana said. “My magical Power has also increased, thanks to your growth skill, Alex. I am far more prepared than I was before.”
“Ugh,” Clarissa complained. “If only that librarian hadn’t sold off every worthwhile magic spell in the Academy.”
“The Strength you have gained is impressive, Clarissa,” Aurielle said. “And your healing has become extremely powerful.”
Clarissa grinned at that as she put her hands on her hips. “My skill, plus all the extra stat gains I received thanks to handsome, here, has made me the best healer in all the three nations,” she said.
I remember she had made a similar remark before, and I quickly pulled up her stats to check on her.
Clarissa Vos Hoganna
Strength: 116
Speed: 38
Defense: 113
Magical Power: 104
Magical Capacity: 63
Luck: 8
I blew out a breath as I read through each stat. I knew that her stat growth would match mine, but compared to when I’d met her, these numbers were astounding.
“Clarissa, your Magical Power…” I said, and she grinned.
“Over a hundred, now! Isn’t that great handsome?”
Out of everyone, it was Juliana who seemed the most surprised.
“Over a hundred? Mine is just a few points below that,” she said as she crossed her arms. “To think that you have gained so much Magical Power in such a short space of time…”
“And you can too,” Anny chirped. “We’re only doing this so that you can join Alex’s Clan, right? You would get all of the experience, then, instead of just half like you do now.”
Juliana looked at me, her beautiful lips curling into a smile. “Yes, indeed it is.”
I smiled back.
We decided that it was probably time to get going. The tunnel was just as narrow as ever once we entered, but we also had to make sure we didn’t lose our balance. We were descending this time, and the gradient here was pretty steep, just as I remembered.
The blue line was finally visible. At least it was, once Clarissa cast a spell to bring her floating light orb into existence. We all knew we would need it when we reached the darker reaches of the deeper floors.
The passageway burrowed deeper into the Dungeon. We occasionally passed through entrances onto other floors, which we needed to cross to continue our route downwards. The aesthetics of the floors changed drastically between each one we stepped into. I only wished I knew which floors these were.
If this passageway took us by the fourteenth floor, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to grab a Soldier Ant’s loot, just in case. When Aurielle had first heard of my plan, she had suggested we should stop on one of the earlier floors and fight whatever monster was there, as a fall back plan.
It was definitely an option, but I figured that no one, not even those adventurers, would come back with anything more valuable than a Glower Serpent’s scale. The amount of gold it was worth truly made it unbeatable.
At least, that was my hope.
After what seemed like hours, we finally arrived at our destination, the floor with the
green patterned walls. I made doubly sure that there weren’t any Glower Serpents in the immediate vicinity, and Aurielle did the same, before we let the rest of the women come through.
“Huhh,” Clarissa yawned, stretching out her limbs. “Finally. Those Yunissans need to have their mages dig wider tunnels.”
“At least we arrived safely,” Juliana said, looking around. “We wish to simply dispatch one Glower Serpent, right Alex?”
“That’s probably all we’ll have time for,” I said honestly. “We take one down, and then head straight back up. That passageway takes hours to traverse, each way, it looks like.”
“Then allow me to take point,” Aurielle said as she unsheathed her sword and pulled out shield. “I will protect the rest of you, on my honor.”
Aurielle always seemed to get so formal, when it was time to get down to business.
“Alright, then, let’s do it,” I agreed, drawing my own sword. “Anny, this time, just point us in the right direction.”
Anny closed her eyes as usual, but for some reason, frowned at whatever she was sensing.
“Is there something wrong, Anny?” Clarissa asked, a touch of concern in her voice.
“No… well…” Anny said, starting to fidget with that cloth in her hand. “I knew there wouldn’t be many Glower Serpents around, but I can’t sense any at all.”
“That’s not a problem,” I said. “I remember it was pretty sparse before. Let’s choose a direction and I’m sure we will come across one.”
Anny still seemed pretty flustered and confused at the auras she was looking at but didn’t protest, as we headed off.
Maybe it was due to the fact that there weren’t dozens of soldiers with us, but this floor seemed a lot more eerie than before. I was also a bit stronger than when we’d last been here, though, and had some magic under my belt, to boot. Plus, if we were really lucky, Aurielle’s Ethereal Spears should make short work of any Glower Serpent we came across.
