Ailian took a deep breath and looked at Red, asking with an utterly serious gaze.
“Red, how long did it take you to come up with all this?”
“It goes faster before the twentieth floor, since those dungeons are smaller. But after the twentieth, investigating everything properly gets a lot harder—it takes at least two or three weeks.”
If it were really so easy to fully investigate a floor’s dungeon, Red wouldn’t have nearly lost his life on the twenty-third floor.
Looking back now, Red wished he’d had just a bit more time to prepare…
As long as he spread his creations as widely as possible, figuring out the whole floor’s environment wasn’t an issue.
It just took time, and it was precisely because it took time that Liz always lost her temper with him.
But even so, Ailian still wore a look of shock and disbelief on his face, mixed with all sorts of complicated emotions.
“You…how did you manage it?”
“Patience, that’s all,” Red took a sip of his drink to soothe his throat, “After all, dungeons are so dangerous, you have to study the monsters’ weaknesses. And with so few people in Dawnblade, as you know, we’ve got to save our strength for fighting the boss.”
Ailian was at a loss for words.
He had to admit, Red’s way of thinking…was a bit ahead of its time.
No, to be accurate, his abilities supported this kind of forward-thinking.
Without those Bloodseeking Hunter Spiders, exploring the unknown ahead would have been extremely dangerous and difficult.
If you weren’t careful, you’d lose your life.
So in most cases, what the hero squads chose to do was avoid risk as much as possible.
There was no way, nor any reason, to throw people’s lives at such a large-scale combat plan.
“Red, you know me. I’m not like Liz,” Ailian said with a very earnest expression, “I still want to ask you to join us.”
“Thank you, but I want to rest now.”
Red had no intention of being an adventurer for the time being.
“Yet you still say you’ll help people make plans. How much is he paying you?”
“Not much. Just three thousand.”
“……”
Ailian’s face stiffened a little.
After a long while, he finally spoke.
“Did that guy sell his ass to you?”
“Pfft!”
Red nearly spat his beer out.
In a sense, Ailian wasn’t wrong.
But there was no way he’d ever admit it.
“How could you think that? Do I look like that kind of person?”
“Red, you have no idea just how valuable what you just gave me is. Three thousand…even if the price was thirty thousand, I’d take it without blinking.”
Unlike Liz, who had smooth sailing all the way, Ailian’s Winter Guard had really fought tooth and nail to reach the twentieth floor.
Back then, Ailian always thought that every member of Dawnblade was so absurdly strong that the five of them alone could storm straight to the twenty-third floor.
Now, it seemed that things weren’t as he had imagined.
Ailian could say for certain that most of Dawnblade’s success was thanks to Red’s planning and leadership…
And in the end, they kicked him out?
Thinking of this, Ailian felt like he ought to stand up for Red.
But on second thought, with Red gone from Dawnblade, this was really something to celebrate.
It meant that he could now do whatever it took to recruit Red to his own team.
Money, power, or…himself—it didn’t matter.
“By the way,” Ailian suddenly asked, “Red, have you found a girlfriend yet?”
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“I’ve met plenty of adventurers who want to retire. Most of them leave the team because they plan to settle down and start a family, so I was wondering if you were thinking the same.”
“Not at all…”
Red shrugged, “As you can see, I’m still single.”
Though he was currently living with Litt, it was just two friends under the same roof—nothing romantic, and he definitely didn’t dare think about anything like that.
Hearing this, Ailian breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Red.
“Red, how many years have we known each other?”
“Two years, right? We met when I formed the hero squad with Liz.”
“So…what do you think of me?”
“Hmm?”
Red looked at his good buddy, who suddenly seemed bashful, and felt completely thrown off.
“What do I think? You’re my best bro, of course, right up there with Tos. Besides, I have zero interest in that sort of thing, you know.”
“……”
Ailian’s mouth twitched.
He’d almost forgotten—with his short hair and androgynous style, Red apparently thought he was a man.
In that case, it might be better to come clean here and now.
“Red, actually I—”
Before Ailian could finish, a teasing voice piped up beside them.
“Yo~ Red, fancy meeting you here?”
Ailian stood up and turned to look, only to see no one beside him.
But there really had been a voice just now?
“Hey…I’m down here.”
Looking down, he saw a little girl in a black priest’s robe standing in front of him, her face expressionless with dead-fish eyes.
“Sorry for being short, I guess.”
He had to admit, standing next to Ailian’s six-foot frame, Letia’s four-foot-nine looked positively childlike.
His earlier guess had been right—this was one of those ‘retired hero harem’ stories, and Red was definitely going to have no shortage of luck with women.
Though Red seemed to think Ailian was a guy, and Ailian’s style was awfully androgynous.
But Letia’s sharp senses wouldn’t be fooled.
This wasn’t some perilous dungeon.
Even if someone got blood on them, they’d wash it off right away.
But to have such fresh blood scent lingering…
What else could it be?
Aside from the regular monthly ‘visitor,’ what, did she just slaughter a chicken?
There’s only one truth!
This ‘Lancer’ who Red called brother was, without a doubt, a real girl!
And just now, that situation was totally a confession in disguise.
If she turned her head for a moment, someone might steal a march on her.
For the sake of her bestie Liz, she had to be on guard for thieves.
After all, she was Liz’s best friend, wasn’t she?
A best friend should help her best friend, right?
As for guarding the house from within…don’t ask.
Ask, and the answer is: our alliance is unbreakable.
Though the script said, plain as day, “Red is unlikely to join the Winter Guard.”
From prior experience, scripts could be changed.
So just in case, Red mustn’t be allowed to join the Winter Guard.
Besides, Letia had no interest in fighting other women over a man.
It’d be better to nip any possibility of Red’s goodwill being stolen at the root.
Harem male lead?
He’d better just behave and stay a sweet, pure boy.