Chapter 28 : First Dungeon Exploration

2 days later.

After finishing our meals, Eina and I headed to go out. Where are we going? Well, it was to the dungeon. We were heading to the place where we'll meet up with other adventurers. Althouyh... one of them was already following us, her smile too wide it reached her ears.

"Ehehe..."

Hearing her giggling from our backs, I felt my veins in my head pop up. I turned into her and asked in irritation.

"Mom... why are you here..."

Seeing my irritated face, her smile widened even more.

"It's because you guys are going into the dungeon! It's been a long time since I last conquered one! Iwon't pass this chance!"

"But we aren't going there to conquer it! We're going there to just explore the first floor! And what about Algen?"

"No worries, I sent him to your dad's office. I sent him there with excuse of training him. He wants to inherit the business, so it's fine!"

"Nothing is fine! What will Dad say this when he learns of it..."

"Ah, of course I've gotten permission from Glenn!"

"Uhm... the others are staring... please lower your voices?"

"Ack..."

Shoot, looks like we've gathered attention... I quickly grabbed their hands and ran towards the location. Sigh.

And so, after a few more minutes of walking, we reached the gate, and waiting there was a group of people, and they sure look strong.

And there is also a face I recognized. Standing near the tree was Rinne-san, some acquaintance of Mom a long time ago. And... near him, was a guy glaring at him so much he looked like he's gonna eat Rinne-san whole.

Before I even called, Mom shouted again.

"Rinne! Long time no see!"

"Eh? Wait, Zen-kun? And Eris... wait, what are you doing here, Eris?"

After Mom ran and got close to Rinne-san, she explained. But, well, she also stated she's gonna go with us... sigh. And since Mom's kinda popular in this group, they all agreed too. The guy glaring at Rinne-san earlier tried to mock Mom, but was hit by Mom at his neck so easily. Now, he's a deadweight we have to carry inside.

"Anyway, since Zen-kun and Eina was the one discovered it, we'll yave them guide us until we got there," A man with a magic robe and a magic staff, Weiss-san said while nodding. We were walking straight to the cave, not stopping on the village that reported it.

We took a 'shortcut' to fhe forest Gal-san suggested. By the way, he uses an axe that is double his weight. He was a rather experienced adventurer with hir rank almost reaching A-class. And after walking some more, we arrived at the dungeon's entrance.

As expected, the entrance was still closed. However, we didn't open it for now, as it was almost night-time and we decided to camp near. The strange thing was, there was no monsters nearby. That was one of the reasons we camped here. Monsters were everywhere, so they should also have some near here, but there was none other than those inside the dungeon.

Well, it might be a good thing, so we let it be for now. We camped near and enjoyed our dinner, though Rinne-san and the others kept praising us for closing the dungeon door.

"We just used magic to make it close..."

"And that's what amazing in it. A dungeon's door is easy to open, but it's too hard to close. It would take a strength of 30 C-class adventures to even close one of it. And yet you guys did it withninly two of you."

"Gal was right. That means you two have the strength more than that. Be proud of it!"

"As expected of my son and his wife-to-be!"

"Mom, stop making weird jokes right now. It's not funny," I looked at Mom exasperatedly. Gal-san and Rinne-san praised us honestly, but Mom just have to ruin it. Eina too was too silent now. I wonder what's wrong?

I looked worriedly at Eina's direction after Mom said it, and sure enough, she was blushing. Mom's teasing are too annoying, now even Eina's embarrased.After dinner, we slept in our own camps with one of guarding. We did the shifts every 2 hours, and Eina and I were the first to guard.

And so, morning came. After readying our equipments each, we approached the door. Gal-san and Rinne-san, who uses dual swords were at the front of the door, Eina and I with Mom who had her favorite longsword were in the middle, and Weiss-san and the other guy who glared at Rinne-san, Asper, were at the rear, as they were both magicians.

Why do we do this? It was because I mentioned that it was overflowing with monsters here before we closed the door. There is a possibility of them going out on large numbers.

"Alright, I'll count to three. Ready... 3, 2, 1!"

As Gal-san signaled, we readied our weapons, the magss chanted at the back, and for us... I ready my short sword, and Eina was secretly chanting her Spirit Magic. Then, Rinne-san and Gal-san opened the door.

"""...."""

However, what greeted us was... a sheer sileence. There are monsters inside, and I can sense them, but they are supposed to have much bigger number. But it was only 13 monsters I sense near here.

"...Why is it that there's not much monsters than what you reported, brat? Did ya just lie at us, aah?"

Seeing the inside of the dungeon was too empty than what we reported, Asper was looking pissed, but we just ignored him. Gal-san, who were at the most front, frowned as he crouched to look at a broken piece of wood.

"There is a sign of a batle here. However, no monster corpse could be seen. It's baffling how much battle had happened here, and there's no trace of it."

"You're right," Mom agreed. "It feels like someone had just entered the dungeon way more earlier than us... And they seem to be powerful too, if they really did this."

The others nodded. They I looked at the place, and just like how mangas portrayed a dungeon, they were almost similar. Eerie atmosphere, lighting from the wall that came from the moss, and 'rooms'. I was feeling this firsthand, and it's like the feeling clings to me.

I then felt someone tug my clothes. I turned my head, and fhere was a cute Eina holding my clothes, looking scared. I tried to reassure her by smiling and the held her hand to lead her, but then Mom teased us again.

We continued the search around the first floor of this dungeon, killing monsters and gathering chest loots. Apparently, wven if it's like someone got here first, they didn't pay attention to any loots. What could be their goal?

However, it's no use thinking that when we haven't confirmed it yet. And so, qe continued to explore it while Weiss-san draws fhe map of first floor, and Rinne-san was writing about the report. Asper was just exterminating the monster trying to get near us, and Eina and I were not even doing anything.

Then, after reaching something that might lead us to the second floor, Gal-san ordered us to go back now. Most of the first floor was already explored by us, and Weiss-san have almost completed the map.

And so, our first visit to the dungeon ended up with us not even doing anything, just adults doing it. Mom was even so enthusiastic about the treasures. We headed back outside and Gal-san closed the doors himself. Damn, that's some serious strength.

....

...

...

Inside the dungeon.

This dungeon consists of many floors, and many strong monsters were guarding each floor. The more you go down, the more stronger they will be. As a proof of that, the mosnters in the lowest floor, where the dungeon's core was, were guarded by so many monsters. They evennhave bigger physiques too.

But, a lone man was just walking down in the middle of them. Anyone who tried to move was erased. The Fenrir, who was famous for its black fur that absorbs magic, tried to charge at the man.

The man didn't even bother to look at it. And then, he sighed. After that, the Fenrir was almost erased, if not for its big body. It still died anyway, as the hole on its body wasnjust too big.

Then, the man muttered, "Weak."

All monsters froze. No one dared to make a move. The man- who has horns on his forehead and a wing like a bat, started to walk again , heading to the core. No, the core wasn't evenmin his attention.

Ahead the floating core was a small clock, not even ticking. It was floating too. The demon reached his hand into the clock. It then responded to the demon, going near its hands. After landing on it, the clock made a shockwave near the man. It was unknown why it did that.

"...Hee, interesting item. Her Highness might be delighted with this," The man said with a voice that sounded happy. His body disappeared along with the clock, as if fading into the darkness.