Chapter 9.
Normal POV.
Bell's heart were literally jumping around inside his chest at the sight of the far eastern beauty in a waitress uniform. Waving while jogging towards him in a graceful manner.
As she called for his attention, the young adventurer was reduced into a blushing mess while looking at the girl who just stopped right in front of him.
"I'm so sorry to bumb into you earlier, here is your katana adventurer-san." She held the sword out with both of her hands as she bows.
"T-tttthank yyyooouu!?" Bell stuttered as he tried to reach out for his sword but when his hand slightly touched hers, he yelped.
"The heck are you doing boy? Just take it already, don't make the lady wait." A passing dwarf grinned at Bell before waving as he went inside the guild.
"T-Then, thank you very much ma'am."
"Ah, please just call me Mikoto. My full name is Yamato Mikoto, please take care of me."
"Pardon me for the late introduction, my name is Bell Cranel. I'm sorry for bumping to you earlier..."
With the memories of Zeus engraved inside his head, he kneeled down on his left knee and bowed down to the women in front of him like a knight pledging his loyalty to his queen.
Despite his nervousness, Bell managed to pull it off and made the girl blush slightly but it soon intensified when the people started to whisper and talk about how sweet his gestures are.
"I think it's enough Bell-san, please stand up or people might spread rumors about me... Here please take your Katana, and please be careful inside the dungeon. That place is no joke so please return alive."
"Yes thank you..." Bell took his sword and held it with his left hand but before the girl could leave him, he managed to call out her attention.
"Um.. Mikoto-san?" The boy called out.
"Yes?"
"Are you perhaps an adventurer?"
The girl only smiled before leaving him with a few words. This only made him more and more curious about her identity and why does it feel like she knew a lots of things about the dungeon.
"Come back to the Pub after your exploration." Is what she said.
This echoed inside his head while he was heading inside the guild.
He arrived at the front desk very shortly and asked for the lady with the pink shoulder length hair. The very same person who registered him as an adventurer of Loki Familia during his first day with them.
"Sorry sir but she's not an adventurer's adviser. I'm so sorry if it caused some misunderstanding but I think the fault lies to her." The male guild employee said.
"I'll tell you the details right now. Usually, after being registered as an adventurer, the person in charge of registration will usually pass you to another guild employee available who will then ask you what type of adventurer you want to be and what weapons do you use, after that. The second employee will assign you to a specific guild advisor who is knowledgable of your idea of fighting and type of exploration. But since Misha didn't do that and chose to slack off instead, I will be the one assigning you to an adviser. Is that alright sir?"
"Yes, but may I ask something?"
"What is it?"
"Is it okay to be under the same advisor of the adventurer I know?"
"Well Yes, there is nothing wrong about that. So may I ask who's adventurers adviser you want to be under?"
"Miss Alise Lovel's adviser"
"I see, please wait a moment." The guild member smiled before disappearing at the booth to call out the said adviser that Bell haven't seen yet.
But when the person came into view, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened when the lady clad in the same outfit as the other girl employee of the guild came to him.
Bell's POV.
"Good day Mister Adventurer, I was called here because of your request to be under my wing. If you don't mind, let me introduce myself."
Her voice even though very soft sounded loud and clear to him like every other sound inside the room disappeared.
"My name is Mei. Just Mei, it's nice to meet you Cranel-san"
The girl has a dark violet hair and eyes, she ties it in a ponytail while keeping her bangs slightly messy. She is definitely the personification of Simple but beautiful. But something tells me that she's not an ordinary guild employee, she feels strong for some reason even though her movements were soft and elegant.
"Shall we get down to the business? I heard that you would like to explore the dungeon today am I right?" She asked very politely.
"Y-Yes, I would like to obtain some information about upper floor monsters."
"Please wait a second."
She went to one of the shelfs and started humming. Even though the guild were noisy, I could hear her voice from the counter, but when I heard the tone, my heart felt a sharp pain because of the heavy and sad melody of the song.
"Here, this is the information about the monsters that spawn from floor 1-3."
I was snapped out of it when she appeared in front of me and spoke again with her usual calm voice.
"Thanks... But can I get all of them? I mean, all the information about all the upper floor monsters."
"I could give it to you but what are you planning to do about them? As a rookie, I can't let you go past the 3rd floor on your first day Cranel-san, that would be a suicide."
"It's okay, my familia members said that I can even go to the middle floors solo because of my strength. If you don't believe me, I can show it to you."
Mei-san eyed me for a few seconds before closing her eyes and nodding. It looks like she's going to agree but she just walked out of the counter and gave me a sign to follow her.
I walked behind her, matching her pace until we reached a room with two couch and a tea table in between it.
"Please sit down Cranel-san, I would like to ask you a few questions that the other adventurers shouldn't hear."
Before she closed and locked the door, she put a sign at the door knob. A "Do Not Disturb" sign before sitting in front of me.
"Cranel-san, I can tell this already but let me clarify it. Did you have any experience before setting foot here in Orario? Please tell me in detail."
"Yes... I grew up with my Mom and Uncle who trained me when I was still 4 years old. They were both retired Level 7 before their return here in Orario the other day."
"Wait, Level 7? Don't tell me it's Predator and Silence? Since they are the only adventurers that fits your description."
"Yes you are right Mei-san, Alfia is my mom and Zard is my uncle. They raised me and taught me various things about fighting and dungeon exploration. Thanks to that, After 10 years of being trained by them, I became as strong as a second class adventurer before obtaining a Falna... But I don't think you'll believe that part... Since I look weak and all."
I dropped my gaze and clenched my fists. I knew that she would never believe me even if I told her the truth, but there is a part of me that says that it will be alright. And that part of me turned out to be right.
"Cranel-san, please look at me. Everything you said just now did not contain a single lie, I can tell just by looking at you. I'm not a goddess but I can feel your honesty when you told me everything. That's why I believe in you."
I looked up and saw her serious face. It got my hopes up because for the first time, someone believed me without any demonstration. Just from words alone.
"But please, never go far beyond 10th floor just for today, alright?"
I don't know why but when I saw her pleading, I also caught a glimpse of sadness in her eyes although momentarily, but it was definitely there. That's why I obeyed her and promised that I would only go as far as the 10th floor today.
"Thank you Mei-san, this is actually the first time that someone believed my strength without demonstration. I'm really glad when you said that you believed me earlier."
Our conversation then came to an end and we came out of the guild. She sent me off with a wave but before I continue to the babel, I made a promise.
"Mei-san, it really really made me happy earlier when you said that you believed me. Because of that, I promise you that I'll come back later without a single scratch on me! I'll be off!!" With that, I ran off towards the Babel.
I arrived at the third floor without any problem, the 1st and 2nd floor monsters were just like animals in forest with slightly stronger physical strength and a bit wilder but nothing to be afraid off.
The 3rd floor were the same, the goblins were not difficult to kill even though they have some coordination when attacking, they still have openings everywhere and gets easily scared if their attack did not work.
The easy adventure continued until I reached the 6th floor where I saw a strong type of monster that only spawns at this level. War Shadows.
According to the recods that I received earlier, this is one of the strongest upper floor monsters because of their abilities to phase through the walls and ability to land a sneak attack.
I fought 7 of them in total and I can say that if I'm not as strong as I am right now, I might've already been injured. These monsters knew how to attack your back. If you don't enhance your senses, they will back stab you especially if there are this many.
After that meaningful but not difficult battle, I continued to come down and arrived at the 9th Floor where I've only encountered a single monster.
The whole exploration of that floor were silent and eerie, I can only hear my own foosteps. Nothing else, but even though I feel no presence, I still have my senses up if something happens.
Until I arrived at the 10th floor.
It was a very different place compared to the other floors. It looks like an open field with white colored grass and a few white colored trees.
I came down to the field but still found no monsters. But then I felt the ground shake.
I took my stance and drew my sword only to find monsters running towards the upper floors.
At first, I thought I'd just let them go but then, I remembered that not everyone is as strong as me before becoming an adventurer so I killed every single monster I see trying to go up to the 9th floor.
As I continue to slay these monsters, their ashes and magic stones continued to pile up around me until not a single monster remained.
"Whew, I wonder why are they trying to escape towards the upper floor. Anyway, it will be dangerous if I let those monsters go up from here, there might be a newbie level 1 with no experience trying to explore the upper floors, I can't let these monsters harm them."
I stayed in my position and observed my surroundings of any incoming monsters but there were none so I decided to put all the magic stones inside my bag.
"Again...?" I felt the ground shake, but this time, it was a lot heavier than the one earlier.
I drew my sword and waited for the incoming monsters.
"What was that!?" When the monsters came into view, I tried to search about it in the monster records but found nothing.
The 3 monsters have an appearance and the head of a giant bull but it's body were mixed of a human and a monster. I then remembered a story from the picture book that my grandpa always read for me when I was still a kid.
"Minotaur huh...?" I gripped my sword and inhaled deeply.
"Alright, let's dance..." I launched towards the minotaur that was holding an axe.
I immediately destroyed it's weapon before it notices me, I then proceeded to slice of it's left leg to prevent it from moving. The other two then joined the fight and attacked me from each side which I easily dodged.
"I see, they lack speed but boasts in power just like in the legends.." I sped up and run circles around the monsters which made them panic.
They tried to run away but I cut the other two's legs too and finally slashed their heads off.
The three monster vanished just like the others and turned into ashes. They also left a large chuck of magic stones and a red colored horn.
"A drop item? Hahaha lucky me!" I smiled before tucking them inside my bag.
I felt my backpack became heavy so I finally decided to head back up until a very familiar voice called out to me.
"Wow that's amazing Bell! You're really strong!" I saw my crimson haired friend a long with Kaguya-san, Ryu-san and Lyra-san coming down from the 11th floor.
"You defeated 3 of the middle floor's strongest monster! You're really something!"
"This is the first time that I saw a rookie adventurer slaying minotaur, on his first day too." Kaguya-san smiled.
"Well, thanks Bell! Those minotaurs actually ran away from us earlier." Alise-san said with a beaming smile.
"Yes thanks to you idiot, if you didn't go as wild as you did earlier, we wouldn't have to chase those monsters up here." Kaguya-san glared at her captain.
"Ahahahaha! Sorry sorry! But I'm glad that you're alright Bell. Not to mention that you're so clean! Not even a single scratch or drip of monster's blood on your clothes! Unlike me when I first came down here. I was covered in kobold's blood when I went back up!"
"Really? I can't imagine you covered in... Wait, actually I can kind of picture it... Ahahaha..." I scratched my cheeks when an image of Alise san covered in dirt and blood popped in my head.
"Anyway, are you finished for the day? or do you plan on exploring the middle floors too?"
"I'm heading back now, my advisor said that I shouldn't head farther down since it was my first day."
"Is that so? Then let's all go back up!! Everyone, let's goo!!!!"
Our journey back to the surface were uneventful and full of laughters because of Alise-san's cheerful attitude and Kaguya-san's sharp toungue. Sometimes, Ryu-san asked me some questions but other than that, she was quiet.
"This is where we part Bell, see you next time and good luck on your exploration tomorrow!" She waved at me as she walks away with her companions.
I turned away from her direction and started walking back to the guild before I caught a glimpse of a familiar face.
"Eh?"
She has a gold hair kept with a blue head band and white dress with arm guards and breast plate. She ran past to me and headed towards the babel.
"Isn't that Aiz-san? I remembered that she's one of the executives. I wonder if she's also going to train?"
I continued my journey towards the guild and at the entranc, I saw my advisor welcoming those who are coming inside the guild.
I jogged towards her and tapped her shoulders.
"Oh, Cranel-san. Welcome back, and.. Ehehe... You really fulfilled your promise didn't you?"
I smiled at the sight of my guild advisor lightly giggling.
"Of course, I made a promise to a girl, how can I call myself a man and face my grandpa if I can't fulfill that promise?" I smiled confidently as we went inside the guild.
"So, how's your first adventure inside the dungeon?" She asked me ws soon as she reached the counter.
"It's a really good experience. The monsters might be weak but they taught me a lot about basics of adventuring inside the dungeon."
I told her everything about my journey to the 10th floor but when I mentioned the minotaur, she immediately got worried.
"Wait, you encountered a minotaur!? Are you really fine!?"
"I am Mei-san, I'm alright no need to be worried, I also defeated them. I even found a drop item after killing it. Here."
I presented her the horn that I found beside one of the magic stones earlier.
She gasped in surprise when she saw it.
"You're really not kidding, this is a Minotaur's horn. It can be exchanged for a lot of money."
"Really? Alright! I'll go ahead and exchange this a long with the magic stones I got earlier."
"Alright, please do. Also, thank you for coming back alive. I was actually scared earlier when you went down. Because other than Alise lovel, all of the other rookies that's under me all died on their first day... That's why... I'm grateful..."
She left me with those words and a gentle smile. I spaced out a little because of that but the man in the exchange snapped me out of it and told me the amount that I earned.
"Here kid, 78,000 Valis. That's very huge boy! Not many solo adventurers earn that many!" The guild employee gave me a thumbs up before I left.
"Wow I really earned a lot... Is this how every adventurers earn daily? Wait no. The employee said that it was rare for a solo adventurer so maybe it's all thanks to the minotaur earlier... Anyway, let's head home. I'll try and treat mom to a dinner at the Pub."
With that, I went to the twilight manor happily skipping as I went back home.
A/N: Hi, that's it for now. The Pub can wait till the next chapter.