Sebastian bowed his head, “It is my honour to finally meet you, Mistress.”
I nodded my head slightly at him, “Umm… Hello, Sebastian. Could I ask why you’re working at The Guild?”
“As a Combat Butler of the Nilm’s Royal Servant Academy, I have both enough power to escort any nobles through a dungeon safely and also enough authority to not fear intimidation by any nobles. Thus The Guild hires us from Mistress’s Academy to work in the noble district’s branch.”
“I’m guessing you guys also take up bodyguard requests too?” I asked, imagining them to be club bouncers.
“Oh? It seems like Mistress already knows about how we work? We do indeed undertake protection and escort quests from The Guild and the nobles too.”
“I see… Ummm… Katsuki? I think you can stand down now…” I told the Inugami maid who was still standing in front of me protectively.
Katsuki stepped to the side and bowed, “Understood Mistress. Good day, Mister Sebastian.”
The Wrunch nodded at her, “Good day to you as well, Miss Katsuki. I’m looking forward to our training sessions. I’ll make sure to make you a maid worthy enough to escort our Mistress.”
“I look forward to your instruction.”
Right… Ermm… So, with that out of the way…
I brought the conversation back to our current situation, “Why did you lead us to this alley again?”
The answer came from Mary instead, “Because of me, Mistress. We wouldn’t make Mistress walk all the way outside and there isn’t a need to use carriages either. I will teleport all of us there.”
Oh yeah, she’s an Astromancer, forgot about that little bit.
She reached out her hand and the air visibly shifted.
“Link the distance between the spaces, this magic shall craft the tunnel that brings us to our places. Hold fast and hold true, allow my companions to cross with me and render the distance between to null, a space shall open and show the way. [Link Portal].”
A tear opened up in the air and I could see a different scenery on the other side of the tear.
Ok, aside from that really cool portal, what was that chant? Was that something you need in the higher tiered spells or something?
I felt a little awkward to ask that so I just followed them through the portal, finding myself in a clearing when I stepped out with Katsuki right behind me.
Mary had already changed back to her Lina form while Sebastian took the lead, beckoning us to follow him down a dirt path.
“The dungeon we are going to is quite often used by beginners to start out. It’s only three floors and not very challenging to the point that even an F rank party is able to clear it relatively easily,” Sebastian explained as we walked.
“What happens when you clear a dungeon?” I asked.
“You would gain a dungeon completion award and you’ll be teleported back out.”
Oh? That sounds cool.
“So the dungeon doesn’t disappear and you can challenge the dungeon again?”
“Dungeons do not disappear as they are created by the Gods and yes, one can challenge a dungeon multiple times even after completing it. The completion reward is random each time and the more floors you go through to reach the final boss and harder the dungeon, the better the pool of rewards it would draw from.”
Soooo… It’s basically a gacha. And I guess it tracks how many floors you descend to determine the reward so you can’t just teleport back to the final boss room and keep farming them for the rewards.
Pretty cool.
I wasn’t sure what rules the dungeons here operated by so I had to make sure.
“Alright! Then let’s go! I can’t wait!” I cheered, already running ahead.
“Mi… Mistress?! Wait for me!” Katsuki cried out, chasing after me.
A short distance down the path, I found that it ended at a cave with mana leaking out of its opening.
[Plains Dungeon – Miniscule]
Oh wow, so three floors is miniscule, I wonder if that Hell Dragon is the final boss for the Dragon Sanctuary dungeon that is supposed to be small in size?
Sebastian came up from behind me, “I will accompany Mistress as an observer. If I deem the situation is too dangerous or you require assistance, Mary and I will intervene. Aside from that, we will maintain our distance and refrain from interacting with you. Please take over the lead for your party, Mistress.”
I nodded and turned to Katsuki, whom I belatedly realised was still in her maid uniform.
“Umm… Should you change out of that, Katsuki?”
My Inugami maid shook her head, “I will be fine, Mistress. I’ve been learning how to move properly in this dress and part of my training expects me to be able to handle combat in this dress as well. In fact, I should ask if Mistress would like to change out of your dress?”
Well, I can’t exactly tell her that I took a boon that allows me to wear whatever I want and still move as though I wasn’t wearing a dress and high heels…
So I simply laughed and puffed up my chest proudly, “I’ve already trained with Mother to be able to fight in dresses like these!”
“Oh? As expected of our Mistress,” Sebastian praised.
I’m not going to comment on that…
I cleared my throat, “A… Anyway… I’m intending on using my magic to fight this time so could I depend on you to be the vanguard?”
“Of course, Mistress, please leave it to me.”
Ahhhhh~ Just look at her tail wagging behind her! She’s soooo cute!! I wanna fluff that tail so bad!
Ahem…
With Katsuki leading the way, we descended down the cave to start our Dungeoneer test.
Oh no… This position gives me a full unobstructed view of Katsuki’s tail! Ahhhhh!! I wanna fluff it! I wanna fluff it!! It looks so fluffy!!
“Mistress? There’s two monsters on the left and one on the right. Which way should we go?”
I finally came back to my senses to see that we were standing at a T-junction leading to our left and right. Looks like the dungeon’s first floor was the labyrinth type.
I tilted my head at her, “How did you know?”
“Ummm… I could smell them, Mistress.”
Oh yeah, Inugamis are basically wolf people aren’t they? Makes sense.
“Could you differentiate the smells?”
Katsuki understood why I was asking and sniffed the air, “They both have the same smell, Mistress, so they should be the same type of monster.”
“In that case, let’s go right first and see what kind of monster it is first.”
It’s not that I’m worried that the monster would be any threat to me, but I’m worried about how Katsuki would handle it considering what she was wearing and also it was our first dungeon dive together.
Katsuki obeyed and she turned to the right with me following behind her, eventually coming across some sort of giant rat the size of a dog.
<strong>[Name: Dungeon Rat</strong>
<strong>Race: Monster</strong>
<strong>Stats:</strong>
<strong>6 Strength</strong>
<strong>8 Dexterity</strong>
<strong>3 Endurance</strong>
<strong>2 Magic]</strong>
Oh wow, no wonder E and F rank parties can clear this dungeon with no problems, the monsters here are so weak.
Katsuki waited for my order even as the rat spotted us and started making a dash towards us.
I lifted my hand and casted [Laser], the very same spell that stupid Goblin Light Mage used on me back then.
My spell pierced through the rat in the head and killed it instantly, the rat dropping onto the ground and skidding for a metre before slowing down to a stop.
Oh yeah, this might seem pretty OP for a relatively low tier spell, but I found out through testing that it does have some limitations.
The spell creates a beam of light that heats up rapidly to burn through its target, which was of course what killed that rat.
But a stronger being would be able to resist the laser from burning through them for some time, so even Katsuki could resist it for a while as the light might only burn her at the start before it intensifies enough to burn through her.
The way to avoid this limitation was to take time to charge up the light for a while before releasing it, which was what the stupid Goblin Light Mage did in my case since he had so many other goblins buying time for him.
Still, a pretty useful spell considering the travel time of the spell hitting your target is pretty negligible.
I was just about to suggest Katsuki find more opponents for us when my Inugami whipped around to stare at me with wide eyes.
“Mi… Mistress… You don’t chant when casting your magic?”
I tilted my head at her, “Huh? You need to chant?”
She blinked a few times, “Ermm… Yes? That’s how magic works… Doesn’t it?”
“But… Didn’t you cast magic without chanting either? Like the times you used your fire magic to start those camp fires?”
“As part of my assassination training, I learned to chant as softly as I can to avoid my opponents figuring out the magic I’m casting Mistress… Does Mistress mean that all this while you’ve never chanted to cast any of your magic?”
Ah… I guess this was the first time I’m actually casting magic in close enough proximity to her that even if I were to whisper, she would be able to hear it… Which made her realise I didn’t chant at all
I poked my fingers together, “Umm… Yes… I never knew you needed to chant… I just imagined it and the magic just casts by itself.”
“Cha… Chantless magic? I… I’ve only heard about it mentioned in legends… To think it was actually true! As expected of Mistress!”
Ehhhh? But… But… This was how Mother taught me to cast my magic! And she never even chanted to use her magic either! Why is it like this?!
Am I the weird one?!