“Roland, why do you look so distracted?”
In the café, Leonora, who had already finished purchasing supplies, asked in confusion. Beside her sat a large backpack filled with materials for the upcoming dungeon raid.
Roland took a sip of her coffee and said, “Just some family matters. Don’t worry, it won’t affect our upcoming plans.”
“Family matters? Do you have a bad relationship with your parents too?”
“My parents are dead. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father died protecting his territory.”
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have brought that up.”
“It’s fine. I’m not that sensitive.”
Leonora didn’t dare ask any more questions, fearing she would step on another landmine. She shifted the topic to herself. “I actually left home behind my father’s back. I don’t get along with him. One of the reasons I ran away was to spite him. If I can conquer the dungeon, I’ll go back and tell him I’m done being a noble.”
“Why? Isn’t being a noble good? Born with power, no need to worry about food or shelter, and the ability to do whatever you want.”
Roland felt that if Leonora actually experienced commoner life, she’d probably want to go back to being a noble within a few days. After all, it was easy to go from luxury to poverty, but hard to go from poverty to luxury.
Facing the skepticism, Leonora replied indignantly, “But it all comes with a price. You’re a woman too; you must understand the feeling. Being forced into an engagement with a stranger since childhood, and once you grow up, being married off to a strange place, separated from everyone you know. My fate should be in my own hands.”
“And because of my gender, everyone looks down on my ideas. They think me becoming an adventurer is just providing snacks for slimes. That’s why I want to conquer the dungeon—to give those people a real shock.”
Roland looked her over carefully and offered an evaluation. “You do look like prime food material. However, I heard slimes don’t eat people. Their stomach acid just dissolves clothes.”
“Why do even you think I can’t beat a slime! I’m angry now!” Leonora crossed her arms over her chest, putting on a fake angry face.
Roland asked back, “Can you use a sword then?”
Leonora stammered, “N-No.”
“Magic?”
“Only a little…”
“Then I’ll restate: you’re stronger than a slime. Even a mage with just a stick can beat one.”
Leonora puffed out her cheeks, her ears turning red from embarrassment. She looked like a rabbit being held by its ears.
Roland wasn’t in the mood to tease her further and fell silent, quietly savoring her coffee.
What they had to do next was simple: go to the Adventurers Guild to register for identification. Once they obtained a dungeon exploration permit, they could formally enter.
Both adventurers and dungeons were divided into five ranks. From lowest to highest, they were: Copper, Dark Steel, Earth Star, Sky Light, and World. Anyone could become an adventurer, and one could rank up as long as their strength and reputation met the criteria.
The higher the rank, the more respect an adventurer received, and the more privileges and commissions they would get. Generally, after reaching Earth Star rank, one didn’t have to worry about making a living and could consider starting their own small team.
The Anides Dungeon they were targeting was scaled to Dark Steel rank. Although the rank wasn’t high, one still needed to be cautious.
After finishing her coffee, Roland stood up. “Let’s go. To the Adventurers Guild.”
For safety reasons, she didn’t bring Golem with her this time. Instead, she left him at the manor to protect Mia.
Seeing Roland leave, Leonora gulped down her coffee and followed with her travel pack.
Arriving at the Adventurers Guild in the center of town, they heard a cacophony of loud voices before they even entered. When they opened the door, a strong smell of alcohol hit them. Roland frowned at the stench, while Leonora, unable to stand it, covered her nose and coughed.
The arrival of two new faces quickly caught the attention of the adventurers, especially since they were such beautiful girls.
Ignoring the uncomfortable stares, Roland went to the front desk and spoke to the receptionist. “We want to register as adventurers. For two people.”
“You want to become adventurers… right?”
The receptionist might not have been exceptionally skilled, but she was good at reading people. She could tell at a glance that Roland and Leonora were different—not like vagrants desperate for money, but more like noble daughters sneaking out to experience life.
“Yes,” Roland confirmed. “We also need to process exploration permits for the Anides Dungeon. Can it be done today?”
“In that case, the total fee is 1.01 crystal pounds. It’ll be ready in about ten minutes. But… are you really going to explore the dungeon? It’s very dangerous there.”
“We are both mages.”
“Fine.”
Hearing that Roland was going to explore the dungeon, an adventurer behind them shouted jeeringly, “Arisa, stop telling the newbies how dangerous it is. They’re in a hurry to go be the Goblin King’s harem brides.”
“Cormac, watch your mouth!” Arisa, the receptionist, scolded the adventurer, but to little effect.
“How am I talking nonsense? It’s just the truth.”
Cormac’s cronies chimed in, “Yeah, exactly.”
Leonora was the first to lose her patience. She walked up and glared at the loud-mouthed adventurer, shouting, “I think you’re looking to be a best man for a goblin! With a mouth like that, you only spew filth.”
Despite being a viscount’s daughter, Leonora was surprisingly good at cursing. She completely ignored propriety, earning a look of newfound respect from Roland.
Cormac slammed his mug onto the table and stood up, shouting, “You little bitch, try saying that again!”
The noisy guild hall suddenly fell silent, and the air grew thick with tension.
“Is this common?” Roland asked.
Arisa replied helplessly, “Well, being an adventurer is the most free profession. There can’t be too many restrictions. We can only try our best to ensure no violence occurs.”
“And if it does?”
“Everyone relies on their own skill, as long as bystanders aren’t hurt.”
“That’s good.”
Roland was originally worried about whether she’d go to jail for killing someone. Now she could comfortably take action—though she could have just paid her way out of jail anyway.
Facing Cormac’s provocation, despite his numbers, Leonora wasn’t afraid. Instead, she cursed even harder. “Looking for a scolding that badly? Are you so pathetic you can only get attention this way? If you recognize me as your mother, I wouldn’t mind calling you my dear son.”
Compared to Leonora’s relatively sophisticated insults, Cormac, who hung around adventurers all year, spewed nothing but crude trash talk.
But the people around them didn’t help; instead, they egged them on, hoping for a fight.
Just as Roland was considering using force as a deterrent, Arisa stepped out from behind the counter and pushed the two apart.
“Quiet down, everyone! No more fighting! Cormac, you really need to fix your foul mouth. Last time you mocked a knight, you almost got your hand snapped off and still wouldn’t back down. Don’t you know that disaster comes from the mouth?”
An angry Arisa was like a lioness. With just a few words, she silenced Cormac.
Their friendship was one thing, but on the other hand, Arisa had been an adventurer herself at Dark Steel rank. Handling troublemakers was easy for her. After all, truly skilled adventurers wouldn’t spend their time drinking and bragging at the guild; those who did were usually third-rate.
Seeing him finally shut up, Arisa apologized to Leonora. “He’s just like that. Please don’t mind him; I’ll deal with him later. Here are your ID tags and dungeon permits. Please take them.”
Seeing her polite attitude, Leonora couldn’t stay angry and accepted the tags, indicating the matter was settled.
Roland stepped forward to take her own ID tag, then patted Leonora on the shoulder. “Now that I know my employer isn’t someone whose head is only filled with makeup, I’m relieved.”
“My head isn’t filled with makeup!”