Compared to Ais Wallenstein, Mikoto was not truly a kuudere girl; it was just that the topics of their conversations were more often centered on martial techniques and exploration.
Ron was quite interested in this aspect.
After pleasantly settling the matter of lunch, he did not, as usual, return to the "collective dormitory" to continue the dull and tedious training.
Hestia had said—to look for scenery beyond the life of an adventurer.
And then...
He came to the Pantheon where the Adventurers' Guild was located, with the goal of thanking Eina for taking care of him, as well as consulting her about matters related to weapons.
Standing in front of the counter, the half-elf girl raised her head. Her smile was still sweet, but her tone carried a hint of implication as she said: "I thought my professional ability wasn't up to standard, to the point that Mr. Ron even had friends go to the Guild on his behalf to exchange magic stones."
Why does her gaze feel a bit resentful…
That's not how it works in those side games, right? Shouldn't it be that, after not seeing each other for a long time, you pour out your mutual longing and then happily move on to the progression dialogue?
Ron decisively shook his head.
"Of course not."
"I had just finished a dungeon exploration. I handled the dropped items elsewhere and had arranged in advance to eat together, so splitting up made things quicker."
"After finishing the meal, I thought about coming over to look for Miss Eina."
"Thank you very much for your help during this period. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to come into contact with the drug-testing commission issued by Miss Airmid."
"…"
Listening to Ron's explanation, the calm curve at the corner of the girl's lips gradually lifted into a pleasant arc. This earnest manner of explaining things—she did not know why, but she somehow felt it was a little cute.
Eina stood up and left the counter.
Without any need for notification, Ron tacitly made his way to the Guild's resting area.
She raised both hands, holding up two porcelain-white cups, and asked the young man who was patiently waiting on the sofa, her tone relaxed, "Black tea?"
"As long as it's prepared by Miss Eina, anything tastes good."
No one can refuse pleasant words.
The facts proved it—its effect was very good. Sitting once more across from Ron, the girl's face flowed with water-like gentleness, and her eyes carried delight.
Moreover, the black tea provided by the Adventurers' Guild truly had a rich, full-bodied flavor, with the tea leaves' distinctive fresh aroma and lingering sweetness. It was very refreshing to drink.
It dispelled the drowsiness that came after Ron's carbohydrate-heavy fullness.
After finishing expressing his thanks to Eina, he asked, "Miss Eina, I actually wanted to ask you about matters related to magic staves."
"Oh."
"You can understand a magic staff as a weapon capable of amplifying the form of magical power output."
"For example, magic casters within a team have relatively high demand for magic staves—because, under normal circumstances, they bear the responsibility of providing firepower coverage."
"However, if it's functional magic, then the demand isn't that great."
It was more or less exactly as Ron had guessed.
The Heal magic he had mastered could be used barehanded, but if he relied on the Tarnished character card to obtain glintstone-type magic, then he would have to possess a magic staff with excellent performance.
Ron immediately asked: "Are there any shops in Orario that sell magic staves with relatively good cost-performance? Preferably ones that aren't too expensive—something I can actually afford."
"For that, you'll need to look around Babel Tower."
Eina did not ask for the reason.
She blinked her eyes and took the initiative to invite him: "I happen to have a few days off in a couple of days. If—Mr. Ron has time, would you like to go take a look together?"
"Would that take up Miss Eina's rest time?"
"Mm."
"When a girl takes the initiative to extend an invitation, Mr. Ron shouldn't answer a question with another question." Eina's little lesson officially began.
"At times like this..."
"You should agree readily."
So… does this count as some kind of date invitation?
...
An adventurer's daily life.
It was nothing more than repeatedly heading deep into the dungeon to explore, killing monsters to earn rewards—there was no such thing as boredom. More accurately, it was simply changing the way one made a living.
Bearing the risk of death in exchange for greater rewards.
Ron was in dire need of money.
Especially after learning from Eina that even ordinary magic staves cost four to five hundred thousand Valis, his desire to explore the dungeon continued to surge upward.
As for today's exploration objective.
He already had a plan: as long as they did not run into a hidden room that led straight to the Boss chamber, they would head as far as possible into the second floor to explore and earn enough Valis.
They gathered once again in the courtyard.
However, compared to yesterday, Ron's equipment was clearly much simpler. Because his breastplate had been excessively damaged, the repair process would require more time.
So he was only wearing bracers and greaves.
As for the rest of his gear, it was still the original configuration: a brass heavy shield, two swords with different functions, and a dwarven hand crossbow that served an offensive role when dealing with ranged enemies.
He looked toward the fully armed Mikoto.
In Soulslike games, it was possible to skip classes, so to speak, and avoid Boss battles.
But given the dungeon's nasty nature, if no Floor Boss had appeared and yet one could still proceed into deeper areas, then more often than not, something even more hellish was waiting ahead.
This was the vigilance of a Soulslike veteran!
Ron explained: "As for today."
"I want to explore deeper areas. Ideally, we'd run into a 'Goblin Guard.' After completing that encounter, we'd then enter the second floor."
"As for the specific exploration plan, we can just follow your arrangements."
The girl gently shook her head, indicating she had no objections.
After yesterday's high-intensity battle, her ability values had indeed seen a slight increase, and the rate of improvement was already faster than when she teamed up with members of her own familia.
But even though her strength had improved, when she recalled—the giant goblin that had appeared in the shallow layers—despite not engaging it head-on, the sense of oppression it brought was still impossible to forget.
Can she really defeat a mutated Floor Boss?
"If danger appears, my magic can temporarily restrain the monster. At that time, you can withdraw first, and I'll be able to follow right after."
Why talk about withdrawal before even starting the exploration?
Ron felt that if dungeon exploration really turned into this kind of playstyle, he wouldn't be much different from those knife-running "rats" in FPS games from his previous life—players who avoid fights, grab some healing supplies and valuable loot, and then happily extract.
Without extra monster drops as gains, let alone making money, even the improvement of his various ability values would surely be very slow.
That was something he absolutely would not allow.
Thinking of the abilities on his Tarnished panel—the "Battle Art: Seppuku," which required offering blood and entering a near-death state, adding bleeding to each strike, along with the matching near-death HP-locking prayer; ample Soul Shards, plus two guaranteed uses of the Revival ability—if he really ran into a Goblin Guard, with Mikoto's cooperation—if the Floor Boss still dared to appear in front of him, he'd tear it apart on the spot!
Ron was immediately filled with confidence. Facing the girl's gaze, his smile was relaxed, but his tone was quite firm: "I think whether to withdraw actually depends on the situation."
Because he felt that the current him was terrifyingly strong!
Of course, if he couldn't win, that would be another matter.
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