“Have you heard? Apparently, there are a lot of treasure chests inside the Black Dragon’s Lair in the Northern Forest.”
“What nonsense are you seriously spouting? Who in their right mind would bother provoking a dragon? And who would stash treasure chests in its lair? Next time, try fooling yourself before trying to fool others.”
“It’s true! Some adventurers accepted a quest to explore the dragon’s lair, and a Record Crystal was accidentally activated right in the guild hall. Now everyone’s scrambling for those exploration quests.”
“Seriously?”
……
The Adventurers’ Guild in Moravia was still bustling—no, it was more lively than ever before.
The news of “treasure chests existing in the former Black Dragon’s Lair” spread from one to ten, then to a hundred.
What had been an S-rank quest that only a handful dared to accept was suddenly overwhelmed by eager adventurers overnight.
The guild scrambled to adjust the quest ratings, and the rewards were slashed from ten Gold Coins down to ten Copper Coins.
Even so, nothing could quell the enthusiasm of those eager to explore. Some didn’t even wait for the guild to repost the quest before heading straight for the dungeon at the center of all the buzz.
Thanks to this, the guild’s poster girl, Miss Selia, was overwhelmed with work, her dull eyes losing some of their clarity.
From the very start, she kept glancing at a peculiar master-servant pair sitting quietly in the corner.
No one knew what nonsense the silly noble girl was up to this time—today she was wearing a Maid Uniform.
Her usual chestnut-haired maid was unusually dressed in finely crafted leather armor.
To allow for ease of movement, the slightly reflective reddish-brown armor covered only the vital areas, which ironically drew more attention to them.
Beneath the armor, a white lace-trimmed lining peeked out. The workmanship was so exquisite it didn’t seem to belong to this world, and the fabric was made of some unknown material, certainly not the common linen or wool of the region.
But the best part was her ponytail tied neatly at the back of her head, perfectly complementing her delicate features. It wasn’t hard to imagine how valiant she must look in battle.
If every adventurer’s guild had beauties of this caliber, working overtime would be no complaint at all.
Yet right now, all she saw were muscle-bound men radiating raw testosterone. No matter how she looked at it, this mess was all their fault!
Who accidentally dropped a Record Crystal when turning in a quest? And who just happened to inject magic into it? And to top it all off, the image froze right on that blonde silly noble girl opening a treasure chest?
Wasn’t this just blatant showing off?
Well, that wasn’t so bad. At worst, she could grumble a bit.
But the nightmare days came as expected.
“Miss Selia, the quest for ‘Exploring the Black Dragon’s Lair in the Northern Forest’ is gone from the board again. Could you write me a handwritten copy, please?”
“Little Selia, I want to take leave—a full eight days this week.”
“Selia, Selia, I finished the quest! There really are treasure chests inside the Black Dragon’s Lair. Please help me settle the reward. Also, I’m taking leave too!”
……
Please, someone save me—she was willing to do anything!
Huh? Why was that chestnut-haired maid smiling? She even looked happy chatting with the blonde silly noble girl in front of her.
Since the beginning, the noble brat looked restless. If you’re going to be embarrassed, don’t wear a Maid Uniform out in the open!
What kind of humiliation play was this?
Was the entire Adventurers’ Guild somehow part of their roleplay?
Here she was, working hard, while those two were playing couple games right in front of her.
Damn it!
————————————
“Clorel, that’s enough. Let’s hurry back—the counter lady over there is giving scary looks. Besides, this outfit is way too embarrassing.”
“What did you just call me?”
“Ma… Master.”
Unlike Clorel Greenville, who was savoring the sight of her own embarrassed expression with a faint smile, Su Yao wished he could just sink into the ground right now.
Obviously, he had lost the previous bet.
At first, everything had gone as expected. The Dorodori Sisters and Clorel had been completely lost in the maze, running around like headless flies.
Sofia couldn’t solve the puzzle on the metal gate, and if things had stayed that way, Su Yao’s victory would have been certain.
But he forgot one thing—the white-haired girl had an ace up her sleeve. The “Mana Perception” skill was just as powerful as Su Yao’s own sense of the dungeon labyrinth’s status.
Though it was the same skill, the blonde girl was nowhere near as proficient in using it as the skillful Sofia.
She could perceive subtle details, like traps triggering or the slow rotation of a twisting room—any operation powered by magic in the dungeon she could sense.
Naturally, she never got lost.
The only thing she wasn’t so good at was the math and riddles set by Su Yao on the two metal gates blocking the labyrinth’s passage.
She’d never encountered those types of puzzles before, but that wasn’t a problem—she just needed help.
Using her skill and finely honed senses, she successfully found Clorel and the Dorodori Sisters wandering in circles.
Together, they solved the metal gate puzzle Su Yao had set and managed to reach the deepest part of the labyrinth within a day, opening the vacant Gorgeous Chest.
A cause for celebration.
Now Su Yao finally knew how to improve her labyrinth, though the cost was having to wear a Maid Uniform, call Clorel “Master” for a whole week, and serve as her body pillow.
What? Isn’t that two wishes?
Indeed it was. Sofia gave up her chance to wish so Clorel could have it, though she could have just wished for Su Yao to be Clorel’s body pillow anyway—either way, the result was the same.
The blonde girl’s flag raised before the bet came back like a boomerang, perfectly hitting herself.
“Now you know how I felt back then, don’t you?”
Clorel looked at the blushing girl nodding shyly before her, seven parts pride, three parts teasing. She vaguely felt her heartbeat quicken.
Maybe she was beginning to understand the charm of this outfit.
“Ahem, we really should go back. The dungeon must be insanely crowded by now. Besides, we can’t keep Sofia working overtime alone.”
Clorel cleared her throat and said.
After a week of relentless effort, Su Yao had leveled up from 10 to 18 and could now command Gargoyles.
Why had she leveled up so fast? She owed it to Clorel and Sofia.
When a Dungeon Boss leaves combat within the dungeon, its health and mana rapidly regenerate, and killing monsters in the boss room grants more experience.
After some trials, Su Yao found that killing Minotaurs gave the most experience since they were dungeon monsters priced at 1000 DP each—the highest level of any creature she’d summoned.
Using them to level up was cost-effective and fast.
Unfortunately, after placing treasure chests and devices to interfere with magic detection, Su Yao only had enough DP left to buy a dozen or so Minotaurs.
Using the DP rewarded after kills, she barely managed to buy twenty in total.
Well, now that she was hooked on leveling up, her DP was gone again.
With kind Hilvi absent, Su Yao had no choice but to open the dungeon labyrinth early.
Currently, the monsters and traps inside were sparse, but since she needed to build fame at the start, these days could be considered a “grand opening sale.”
Oh, and the boss at the labyrinth’s deepest part was now a genuine Dungeon Boss.
Why? Because Su Yao couldn’t command the Minotaurs and had temporarily entrusted Sofia to guard the treasure chests.
But people needed rest, and since they’d confirmed the situation at the Adventurers’ Guild, it was time to hurry back.