Alex and the others descended to the sixth floor after Isabella finished collecting the usable monster's materials.
Unlike on the previous floors where all floors looked alike and were simple. The sixth floor was different; it looks like a forest made of some strange flowers and giant mushrooms.
Just as they arrived at the sixth, Alex sensed people's presence ahead.
''There are people ahead. They are coming in this direction.'' Alex announced.
Isabella became cautious as she heard the story of how some adventurers did some nasty things.
Seeing her reaction, Alex immediately understood what was going on inside the Knight's mind. Indeed, she was right to be cautious.
After all, anyone could become an adventurer by registering in the guild. Because of that, there were naturally nasty adventurers as well. Adventurers who attacked other people to steal their belongings existed as well. And in the dungeon that they were in now, there wouldn't be any trouble if no one could complain about any events that occurred. If anything happened, it would probably be judged that they died in the dungeon. It was why one must be cautious when inside a dungeon, as you don't know what kind of adventurers you might encounter.
''I see. Then let's wait to see the attitude of the other party. If the party is passing by looking for something, there's no problem. However, if they are scums that are after our wealth, we'll know immediately from experience and deal with them accordingly.'' Artemia said with a severe expression on her face.
Nodding at Artemia's instructions, they waited where they were.
Eventually, after 5 minutes, the three could hear the sound of walking coming from the forest of flowers mixed with mushrooms. Mixed in were also the sounds of armor rubbing against each other. Soon, the shadows of people could be seen coming from the forest.
There were five people. All the members were men. An agile-looking man seemed to be a thief and two swordsmen; the fourth man held a big spear. As for the last man, it was a porter carrying a huge rucksack on his back.
''Huh?"
Before long, the thief, who was walking ahead, stopped and looked at Alex suspiciously. The two swordsmen at the back also stopped to look at Alex with caution as they stepped forward to either side of the thief; the spearman also readied his weapon. For a moment, a grin appeared on the spearman's face; however, it got instantly wiped as if it was an illusion.
On the other hand, the thief glanced at Artemia, and his expression changed; he had the feeling that he knew this girl somewhere; however, he couldn't remember where.
Sighing, he looked at Alex, who was walking toward them, and couldn't help but whistle internally. While it may seem that Alex was walking toward him relatively unguarded, full of opening, the thief knew he would be the one to die if he made a move.
'Better deal with them calmy. No need to antagonist this group.' The thief decided after a moment of consideration.
〖This little thief is sure clever.〗Silveria praised after seeing the thief's expression.
Alex didn't say anything as he stopped not too far from the group.
The first to speak was the thief, who was at the front of the party.
''Hey, it's pretty unexpected to meet someone here.''
Seeing the other party's attitude, Alex decided to go along with it.
''An unexpected meeting, that's a funny thing because you're the first other people that we've encountered since we started exploring the dungeon. We were the first people to enter the dungeon this morning and came straight here. How about you?'' Alex raised a question from the guild staff member stationed at the entrance, Alex's group to enter the dungeon this morning, hence his question.
''Ah! It's that so? We came here for a request to obtain some materials from a monster down here. In addition, we had to spend yesterday night in the dungeon since the monster in question only appears at night.'' The thief explained.
''I see; that must have been pretty hard then?" Alex said.
''Not really. Ah! My bad, I'm Kahil, leader of this group. By the way, it's C Rank group.'' Kahil, the thief, introduced himself. Alex did the same.
''I'm Alex, a D Rank adventurer.''
''I see; you look pretty strong for a D Rank. Well, I won't bother you anymore longer. We will be taking our leave. We rather missed the soft feeling of a mattress. See ya, Alex, and take care.'' Kahil said before leaving with his group; before leaving, he cast one last glance at Artemia. Still, he couldn't remember where he met this girl or where he heard about her.
'Well, whatever, let's forget about that girl.' Kahil mumbled to himself.
From the start, Isabella's presence was completely ignored as if she didn't exist. She didn't mind at all. She was glad that nothing happened as she didn't want to kill another human, not in front of Artemia as the latter believe that Isabella had never killed, that she was just an innocent girl. Well, it was what Isabella thought.
''It went pretty well.'' Artemia, who was approaching Alex, said.
''Yeah! It's only because that Kahil guy is smart. That spearman gave me a nasty feeling. He grinned when he saw you two.'' Alex said after turning around.
''Oh? So, you noticed it too? Well, I would have cut him down if he made any move. Good for him, he didn't.'' Artemia said while caressing her glaives. Alex felt a chill running down his spine when he saw that smile.
''What?" Isabella was confused as she was the only one not to have noticed anything amiss with the spearman.
''Nothing. Let's go.'' Alex said and started walking forward, going into the mushrooms forest. Artemia and Isabella followed him.
Alex had already forgotten about Kahil's group. He wondered how his sister, Luna, and others were doing.
•••••
Back on Kahil's group side.
''Hey, what do you think?''
One of the swordsmen murmured when they were far away enough from Alex's group. He didn't need to say what he was asking about. It was about the strange party they had talked with earlier.
The second swordsman didn't say anything. Meanwhile, the spearman licked his lips like a starving wolf.
''That blue-haired woman was a beauty. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, almost as the Goddess depicted in a story. I want to taste her, I-"
The spearman got interrupted by Kahil, the latter asked.
''Did you say almost like a goddess just now?"
Even the spearman found Kahil's weird, he still responded.
''Yeah. What is it?"
''No way. It's her, the third princess, the famous Goddess of beauty, Artemia Eretria Von Havens.'' Kahil said after remembering Artemia's identity. He finally understood why he found her familiar; he had seen her once, from afar; however, her beauty almost got engraved into his mind.
''No way.'' The spearman trembled when he heard Kahil's words. All his build-up wild fantasy disappeared the moment he heard about Artemia's real identity. He was lucky that lust didn't get the better of him.
''Let's leave; I need to cool off.'' The spearman said; the others nodded, unaware that at the moment, that insignificant porter was grinning as if he knew beforehand who Artemia was; no, it even went beyond that.
'So, it's him. It's showtime.' the porter muttered before silently flicking his fingers.
