Sorria and her party left the Dungeon after they finished cutting up the boss for me.

I insisted that they leave first since I can't be seen leaving with my Shadow Guards in tow or else Instructor Henry and any other classmates who happened to be there might start asking questions.

Thus, I gave them the excuse that I needed to sort out all the loot we got first before we headed out.

They looked quite disappointed by that and they asked if they could meet me again some time in the future.

Since they were actually quite competent Dungeoneers, I didn't think it was a bad idea to have some extra connections so I told them that I was a student at Aerialla Academy and they would be able to find me there.

I also told them about Mother's vineyard outside the city just in case they wanted to look for me directly and I wasn't at school.

If they did go there, one of the servants would come and look for me to tell me about it so that shouldn't be a problem.

They assured me that they would look for me to repay me for my help in achieving their new Dungeoneer rank, even though I felt they've already repaid me by helping me process the monster materials anyway.

On another note… One other thing I learned about my new sword was the Soul Bound effect.

It seems like I could store it away in an alternate space and recall it out whenever I want and even if I were to toss it somewhere, I could always just recall it back to me when I wish.

That's really cool, especially since I didn't even need to do the motion of drawing the blade from a sheath and could just summon it in my hand directly.

I stored the blade away and waited for a while to make sure those four Dungeoneers would have moved away from the Dungeon entrance before getting my Shadow Guards inside my shadow and leaving the Dungeon.

When I stepped outside, the previously empty area was now filled with my classmates.

The ones closest to the entrance waved at me and greeted me with smiles which I returned with greetings of my own.

"Oh hello, Aster! How far did you manage to go? We heard you went in alone!" One of the girls asked with sparkles in her eyes.

"I bet you completed the Dungeon, didn't you?" The boy beside her grinned.

I scratched my cheek, "Ah… Yeah, I did."

"Oh wow, I was just kidding about that. That's so cool! What did you get as a Dungeon reward?"

I was just about to politely decline showing him the reward when someone charged towards me.

I almost attacked the person until I realised who it was and let myself get pulled into a hug by said person.

"Sister Aster!! You're ok! Wahahaha! I heard about how those idiots tried to challenge you and you won against them didn't you? You're so cool!!"

"Mnngh… Yeah… I'm guessing you remembered about your past with them?"

"Ah… Wahahaha! I sure did! I completely forgot about them until recently! Wahahaha!"

I knew it… Those poor guys definitely thought Odeta saved them and trained them because they were special or something but in reality… They were just a part of her training journey to get stronger and nothing more. ŕ𝐚𐌽ȪʙЕṤ

Pretty sad if you think about it but I think I can safely say that Odeta most likely did not give them any hints about her being interested in them and probably even outright said that she wasn't interested from the start. But they either had other ideas or didn't accept it.

Which brought my attention to the group of boys currently stuck in holding a horse stance over there which included Haddock as well.

Odeta must have returned earlier and found them out here, got the entire story from either Instructor Henry or from the boys and went ahead to give them some extra training.

"I think you can tell them to stop now, don't you think?" I pointed out.

She turned in the direction of where I was looking at and let out a bark of laughter, "Oh right! Wahaha! I forgot I made them do that!"

She then released me from her hug to march over to them, "Alright! You can stop now! Remember what I said, ok?!"

The boys collapsed onto the ground, all of them breathing hard but they still managed to eek out a reply.

"Ye… Yes…"

"Wahahaha! Good! At least now all of you know how awesome Aster is!"

I sure hope she's not bullying them…

Oh who am I kidding? She probably can't even be bothered to do that even if she's given the opportunity to.

Instructor Henry appeared right then and bellowed out his instructions, "Alright! All group leaders, check that your party is present and report to me! All Guardians, send a representative to accompany the leader!"

Odeta gave me another hug before she marched over to the group that she was in charge of, leaving me to return to the boys who were still laying down on the ground.

"You guys alright?" I asked, looking down at them.

Haddock looked up at me, using the back of his hand to wipe away the sweat on his face, "Give me… Huff… Huff… Give me a minute…"

"Geez, how long did she make you guys stand like that?"

"Lost… Lost count…" He groaned, flipping himself over to his stomach to try and push himself up.

As soon as he tried to put his hand underneath him, his arm wobbled before he lost strength and fell flat on his face.

Odeta walked past and scoffed, "Only an hour of that and all of you became like this? No wonder you're all so weak."

Oh wow, I take back what I said about Odeta not bullying them… Though I guess they kind of deserve it after what they've done to us anyway.

Putting that aside, we still need to go and report to Instructor Henry so I went ahead to cast [Heal] on him just to ease his muscle aches a little. At least enough to allow him to stand up on his own.

"Ughh… I forgot you were proficient in Iatromancy…" Haddock groaned, finally managing to stand up.

"I believe I healed you guys before haven't I?" I pointed out.

"Like I said… I forgot…" He huffed, right before suddenly flinching unexpectedly. "Ah… I mean… Sorry… You're right…"

I tilted my head, "What's with that sudden change in tone?"

"Sorry… I… I need some time to get over the fact that I was wrong about you… That I was the one that was mistaken this entire time… I'll change, I promise."

Well, at least he's trying.

He then gestured towards Instructor Henry, "I… I should go, I suppose? Will you come with me?"

I nodded and gestured for him to lead the way.

He started walking there and we joined the group of my classmates who had also gathered in front of him, letting him do a head count on all the assembled people to make sure everyone was present.

While waiting, he leaned over to me, "So… You went back into the Dungeon on your own?"

"Yes I did, why?"

"Did you reach the end of the Dungeon?"

"You're asking if I completed the Dungeon?"

He nodded.

"I did. And before you ask, I'm not going to show you my Dungeon clear reward. All I can say is that it's pretty good and I will keep it to myself."

"Oh… Err… I wasn't going to ask that… I wanted to ask… In your opinion… If it would be possible for us to beat the final boss of the Dungeon."

"Definitely not," I answered him without hesitation.

He winced, "That bad?"

"Are you able to fight several minotaurs all at once up a hill consisting of several waves and after beating them, you will need to fight the final boss in single combat without taking a break?"

"What's… What even is the final boss?"

"A Dungeon Minotaur Warband Leader."

"Is that… Err… Is that stronger than whatever boss we fought and lost against?"

"Yes."

He shuddered, "I see… I guess I really have no idea how big the world is… Here I thought that we were at least strong in a certain sense only to learn that we are still weaklings who barely even managed to make it out of a D ranked Dungeon alive…"

I chuckled and patted his head, "If it makes you feel better, a D ranked Dungeon would usually only be frequented by experienced Dungeoneers and you aren't one. So it's normal for you to struggle in this one."

He lowered his head slightly, "Tha… Thank you… Aster."

Wow, now that the misunderstanding has been cleared, it's like he really changed into a different person huh?

Well, I guess I can just forgive him for what he's done so far…

Explore new worlds at m,v l'e-m|p y r

Oh? I'm being soft?

Not really, because you see… I fully intend to invite him and his group to my birthday party that's coming soon~

I already can't wait~

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!

Report chapter

Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter