The carriage came to a halt at the intersection of West Main Street, not far from the Dungeon entrance—which was also Babel, the center of Orario—right in front of the pub named the "Hostess of Fertility".
"You aren't allowed to break it again!"
Just before departure.
Cecil retightened the arm guards strapped to Isagi's arms.
The girl maintained that feigned expression of indignation, but it couldn't be helped; it wasn't really his fault that the armor she forged kept getting broken.
Who told the Dungeon to contain things that would jump out at random and shatter armor in basically one hit, or two at most?
As for why he still wore it despite that?
Because without it, a single hit meant instant death; wearing it allowed him to at least block a hit or two.
"I know. I'm off."
"Mmh."
Saying goodbye to the girl.
Isagi walked quickly toward the surging crowds of the distant plaza, while Cecil remained standing there, watching the boy's receding back.
Actually, she was puzzled too. Why was it that every time he came home at night...
Isagi's armor would be completely trashed (sometimes even the shirt underneath was shredded), yet there wasn't a single injury on his body. It was truly strange.
It must be that the armor she forged had excellent defensive power!
Hmph hmph!!
So every time a monster attacked, it could only destroy the armor but failed to leave any wounds!!
Thinking this, Cecil couldn't help but proudly puff out her by-no-means-small, soft chest...
"Stop looking, nya! He's already gone out of sight, nya!!"
The girl's voice exploding suddenly beside her ear nearly made Cecil jump out of her skin, and her chubby little face, as always, began to heat up rapidly, turning a translucent cherry pink.
"Anya, what are you doing! Who... who was looking!!"
"Heheh~ I saw everything, nya! Since just now, I saw it all clearly, nya!"
The cute cat girl slightly bent the pair of cat ears protruding from her short brown hair, mimicking the shape of binoculars with her hands and placing them over her eyes, acting as if everything had been "observed" by her!
In an instant, she had Cecil flustered.
"Go move the supplies! Or Mama Mia will deal with you!!"
"No rush nya, no rush nya. Don't have to work at noon anyway, nya."
Anya was a waitress at the "Hostess of Fertility" pub. Since Cecil had been coming to deliver ingredients these past few days, the two girls of similar age had naturally become familiar with each other—though the main reason was that Anya liked to slack off.
So even though the job was moving supplies, this guy insisted on dragging Cecil into chatting to kill time.
Thus, they quickly became good friends.
"Don't worry nya. Although the Dungeon is dangerous, Isagi is only a Level 1 adventurer, so he'll be fine, nya."
Anya was telling the truth. Orario had a vast number of adventurers, the absolute majority of whom were Level 1. Among these people, many spent years hanging around the Upper Floors, making a living by beating up low-level monsters.
This had even become a "daily job" in a sense. Although accidents weren't non-existent, they were very, very rare.
"Besides, didn't you say, Cecil? Isagi hasn't even been to the 2nd Floor yet, so what danger could there be nya? Pupupupupu..."
Covering her mouth and laughing.
Anya acted like a veteran, comforting the girl beside her. The Dungeon's real danger only started at the 5th Floor, right?
Starting from when swarms of Killer Ants and War Shadows appeared—those two types of monsters that were extremely threatening to novice adventurers.
"It's just ordinary Goblins and Kobolds, nya. generally no difficulty at all. Those guys get exploded with a light punch, nya!"
"Really?"
Cecil had never been to the Dungeon, nor did she have any interest. She was a blacksmith, after all. Back in Solingen, she had only heard some rumors from adventurers who came from Orario.
Later, after arriving here, everything she knew about the Dungeon came from Isagi.
But what the boy said was completely different from what Anya was saying!
Watching the cat girl earnestly clenching her soft little fist, it didn't look like she was faking it, but Isagi had no reason to lie to her.
"But Isagi said the Dungeon is full of..."
Blah blah blah.
Cecil recounted all the things the boy had encountered in the Dungeon over the past few days, leaving Anya with a face full of disbelief.
"Impossible!"
"Why is it impossible?"
Cecil tilted her head slightly and suddenly asked the cat girl.
"Anya, are you an adventurer?"
"Nya?!"
She was stumped instantly!
The pub waitress's pretty face flushed red, and she mumbled, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to get it out.
Now Cecil understood. Turns out the dummy Anya didn't know anything either...
...
The Central Park in the afternoon was also bustling with people coming and going.
Standing at the Dungeon entrance beneath Babel, Isagi felt like a salaryman queuing to enter a subway station.
It was indeed pretty much the same.
Around noon, some adventurers were coming out of the Dungeon to get lunch, while others, having eaten, were preparing to go in and show off their skills.
Wasn't that just like the lunch break of salarymen?
And so, he kept queuing, following the flow of people leisurely down the spiral staircase. Tiny phosphorescent lights illuminated this massive space. If one looked up, they could see a painting of a blue sky on the dome above, giving an illusion so real it seemed fake.
Was that the bottom of Babel?
Probably.
As he reached the end of the spiral staircase, he arrived at the 1st Floor of the Dungeon. The vast majority of adventurers would go straight along the routes already mapped by the Guild, heading toward the 2nd Floor.
The level of monsters in the Dungeon increased progressively with the floors.
And the stronger the monster, the more Magic Stones it dropped—collecting Magic Stones and handing them to the Guild for exchange was the most basic way for adventurers to earn money.
So, in a sense, one could view adventurers as salarymen working for the Guild.
Therefore, even the freshest novice adventurers rarely stayed on the 1st Floor, because there really wasn't any harvest to be had here.
Only the lowest-level Kobolds and Goblins would appear, and in sparse groups of two or three. The numbers were few, and the respawn time was extremely long; even novice adventurers would only feel bored staying here.
In the blink of an eye.
Because there were quite a few corridors connecting the 1st Floor to the 2nd Floor, the flow of people dispersed abruptly. Isagi, who had come down with the crowd, found instead that the other adventurers had already walked far away, leaving only himself standing amidst the intricate cavern crossroads.
Then it was time for him to take action too!
Loosening up his body.
Isagi did not stride straight toward the corridor connecting the 1st and 2nd Floors like the others.
Instead, he cautiously walked into the interior of a certain passage.
Then, as expected, soon enough, from the depths of the cavern where there had been nothing, a heart-palpitating barking sound suddenly rang out.
"Gu gu gu gu..."
The bizarre sound of a beast grinding its teeth came from the distance. Subsequently, what appeared in Isagi's field of vision was a Kobold crawling on the ground, looking completely twisted and maddened.
They had thin, small naked bodies, with completely incommensurate, massive heads covered in dirty fur.
Inside those gaping maws, sharp canine teeth glinted with a chilling light, while foul-smelling saliva splashed onto the ground in great globs.
One, two, three...
Alright then.
Facing the sudden appearance of the three dogs, Isagi drew the long sword at his waist.
A high-end game right from the start; I have to operate seriously!
___
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