The Cave Labyrinth.
It was the name for the area spanning from the 13th to the 17th floor of the dungeon.
A normal Level 1 would meet their maker if they were stupid enough to travel these floors alone.
Being able to explore this region safely was his familia's current goal. All of them had been fighting on the 12th floor for a month now.
There hadn't been any major problems with their battle formation or teamwork.
Gin was Level 2, and objectively speaking, he was abnormal compared to other Level 2s.
Elily's defense was solid thanks to her skill, and the twins and Rem's teamwork were improving day by day.
Even Elise's healing had become more powerful compared to the beginning.
Defeating the Goliath, the boss monster of the 17th floor, might be impossible for his party, but Gin reckoned they had a good chance of surviving the middle floors now.
With him chaperoning them, anyway. He was certain that without him there, his party would meet a rude awakening if they entered the middle floors.
No, even exploring the 10th and 12th floors carried the same risk for them.
He was their captain, but that didn't mean he should carry their weight forever.
They needed to be able to explore the dungeon safely even without his presence, sooner or later.
Well, the time was right for him to leave the party for a while, since his first patrol with the Astraea Familia would be coming in three days.
The question was: how should he deal with his familia?
He could pick one of them to act as a temporary party leader to explore the dungeon when he was absent.
Other than that, calling in a favor from the Loki Familia might be an option.
Finn should be easy to butter up since he had Pock and Pott with him. Even without that, he could probably ask Raul and Aki to chaperone them for once.
Well, he could also tell them to take a break for now.
They had been working hard adjusting to dungeon exploration, after all. A little R&R might be welcome for them.
The last option… Well, the chance of it happening might be slim to none, but perhaps he could ask Hel to contact Miss Dum-Dum and have her contribute to the familia for once.
Thinking long-term, the best option would be picking a temporary party leader for now.
If his familia grew large, it would be helpful to have people who could fill leadership positions.
The question was: who should be the leader? In his head, there was only one answer to that.
'Anyone but Pock will do!'
...
"Alright, settle down, everyone. We will begin our 4th Helheim Open Discussion now." Gin addressed them as everyone took their spots at the dining table.
"As everyone knows, I will be going on a nice private walk with the Astraea Familia in a couple of days."
"It's a patrol, Captain. Please don't pick suggestive words to spice it up," Elily interjected. "So, did you decide to include us too after all? It's just a patrol anyway. The chance of something happening is small."
"Nope, you all will be stuck in the dark, cold Dungeon as usual." Gin shrugged their complaining noises away.
"Hey, if all of us go on patrol, then our familia's income will decrease. Just use this chance to try an exploration independent from me."
"Un, I understand. We are relying on you too much, Captain." Pott nodded in understanding.
"We need to be able to progress on our own merits in the future. This will be a good learning experience for us." She said this to the others, shutting down her brother's incoming complaint.
"So, do you have a plan or order for our exploration, Captain?"
"Simple ones. Stick to the first six floors for now. Retreat if anything goes badly. Have Elise call the shots for a while. If you meet a school of Killer Ants, then just scream as loud as you can." Gin listed them down. "Oh, make sure to restock all the potions you use. All of you can decide the income distribution too."
"Hmm, that's simple."
"Business as usual then."
"Wait, wait, wait." Elise waved her hands to catch his attention.
All of them turned to her.
"Me!? As a leader!? Are you sure, Gin? Am I the right person for the job? I don't have any experience!"
"Then you better learn quickly, First Mate Elise," Gin answered.
"First Mate!? Oh! That sounds cool! No, wait! I still can't do it, Captain! I mean, everyone but Pock is a better choice than me." She looked down sullenly.
"Oi, don't think I'll let that slide, Elise." None of them acknowledged Pock's complaint.
"Elise, I am not just picking you at random here," Gin said to her. "You are the only rearguard other than me. Sure, you can only heal for now, but you have the best view over the battlefield as the rearguard. It's easier to make the right decision when you are looking from the outside. You are the best choice right now."
"Still…"
"Elise, do you trust me?"
She nodded. "I do, like, 110 percent."
"Then just trust me now too." Gin put his hand on her shoulder, putting his most serious face forward.
"You can do it, Elise. If I picked you, it means that I trust you to carry it through. It's fine if you can't trust yourself. You only need to believe in me that believes in you."
"Gin…" She closed her eyes before opening them again.
She was determined now.
She saluted him.
"Roger, Captain. First Mate Elise will do her best to meet your expectations."
....
Three days later, Gin stood in front of the Stardust Garden, the familia home of the Astraea Familia. It was early morning.
He took a deep breath of fresh air as he looked at his familia.
They were here to introduce themselves to the Astraea members and see him off for his first patrol.
But more importantly, they were here to help him mess with Ryuu!
He nodded to them. They nodded back.
They were all ready!
....
Ryuu Lion wasn't the first to notice the sound of music. Neze Rankett, being the only werewolf in the team, had been the one to hear it first.
It was a gentle note from the violin, flute, and castanets.
Calming, relaxing music was not unwelcome for them.
At first, all of them waved it off as nothing unusual. It was not the first time for Ganesha-sama to parade around the district to help lift the spirits of the people.
He was the God of the Masses, after all.
So none of them bothered to check for the source of the sound.
Well, none of them except their familia goddess, who had put on a cheery smile at the noises.
"Everyone, would you mind opening the windows for me?" Astraea asked them with a playful smile.
"I want to hear the music better."
None of them complained at that. It was a simple favor. So Kaguya, Asta, and Maryuu, being the closest to the windows, opened them.
The sound of music became louder as it gained direct access to the room.
"My, oh my," Kaguya mused as she saw the scene outside. "Ryuu, come here. I think you will like it."
The elf raised an eyebrow at her words.
She liked music, true, but to ask her specifically made it suspicious.
Was there malicious intent involved there?
The rest of her familia had looked out the window, surrendering to their curiosity. Alise and Lyra had been vocal in their cheers after they realized what was outside.
Pushing her suspicion aside, Ryuu made her way to the window.
The instant she glanced at the scene outside, her feet reflexively turned back!
"Wha—! Let me go!"
It was a trap.
All of her familia held her in place as Gin Hvergel made eye contact with her!
The archer smiled playfully at her and lifted one finger to point at her as if saying, 'This is for you.'
And then he sang.
"So, everything that makes me whole, I'll give it all to you now." Gin raised his hand, offering it to the trapped Ryuu.
Everything was going well.
He was decent when he tried to do it seriously. He sang as he imagined Riveria and Hel being up there as well.
'Okay, this is bad, I'm getting cold feet instead. No wait, calm down. It's just Ryuu there. Not Hel or Riveria. Okay, this should be easy. No woman that I love is here. Relax, bro. Relax.'
"I'm…" He was nervous as hell!
He couldn't do this. No, he had to pull through.
'Persevere, Gin Hvergel.'
"Y—"
"—GANESHHHHHHHHHA DA!"
Gin stopped. His familia stopped. The cheering Astraea Familia stopped as well.
Everything came to a halt as an elephant-mask-wearing god appeared out of nowhere.
Gin looked at him blankly. He looked back at Gin.
"Let me join in, young adventurer! To spread happiness through music is my job as well! Because! I! Am! Ganesha!"
Gin looked at him blankly for a while before dodging a flower vase thrown his way.
No, toward the god's way.
Looking upwards, the ladies of the Astraea Familia looked pissed.
"Booo!!! Give our money back!"
"Call security on him!"
"Gin, drop your pants already!"
Gin raised his eyebrows at the last one. Lyra looked back at him and pointed at Ryuu beside her.
"She said it."
Gin hummed. "It was not supposed to be a striptease show, but we can negotiate something later. Maybe on Ryuu's birthday?"
"That's—"
"Whooo! Sold! Shut up and take our money!" Alise hollered over Ryuu's whimpers.
"Give us a preview!" The only amazoness, Iska was it? shouted at him.
Embarrassing himself in front of these many girls and his own familia? Eh, fair was fair.
Ryuu had to be embarrassed to death too!
"Like this?" Gin put one hand on his head and the other on his hips before gyrating his body.
The hollering of the Astraea Familia and the embarrassed shrieks of his own familia filled the Seventh District.
...
Gin received the warmest welcome one could get from a familia filled with nothing but beauties.
He sat on the sofa, sandwiched between Lyra and Kaguya.
The former was throwing cookies into his mouth while the latter drew closer to him and proceeded to draw her finger around his chest.
Ryuu was sitting as far away as she could from him.
The only thing preventing her from bolting out of the room was the presence of Astraea-sama holding her shoulder down to the chair.
"Sheesh, you stiff elf. Gin is going out of his way to visit you. The least you can do is show your hospitality to him," Kaguya sneered at Ryuu.
"Nah, it's fine. As long as Ryuu's happy, I am happy too." Gin shrugged.
The others aww-ed at his answer while Ryuu buried her face in her lap.
"Bro, you sound like a guy in an abusive relationship." Lyra snorted.
"It's called being romantic, but I do wonder who can warm my neglected heart?" Gin teased back.
"Oh, trying to signal me, bro? Sorry, my type is a hot blonde DILF pallum with an alias that rhymes with 'beaver'."
"Nice taste. He is a good person. He took me to dinner a couple of times too."
"Wut?"
Gin ignored Lyra's surprise.
"Anyway, thanks for having me tag along on your patrol. I might not be much help, but I'll do my best to pull my weight."
"Oh, please. The strong, scary Garmr will be an asset to us." Kaguya giggled while Gin cringed at the alias.
"I can't wait to see how you have grown in the past months, Mr. Record Holder."
"Ah yeah, to think that helpless guy from back then would be the new super rookie. You can't predict the future, huh?" Lyra mused.
"Gin will overtake you in no time at this rate, Lyra." Alise laughed. "Seriously though, Gin. What's the secret of your growth? Come on, spill the tea for us."
The secret to his growth, huh? He doubted his routine was any different than that of other adventurers.
If there was anything different, something that an average adventurer didn't have, it would be…
'I am the son of Maxim, after all.' Gin closed his eyes for a while, stomping down the little ember of frustration.
His life wasn't an extension of his achievement!
…But was it truly? Could he say that his blood wasn't the thing that set him apart from others?
"Gin?" Ryuu's worried voice pulled him out of his contemplation. "Are you okay?"
Gin looked back at her before surveying the room.
None of the others, save her and Astraea, seemed to notice his dark thoughts.
Ryuu was observant.
"I'm just thinking. I have never thought about it before." Gin smiled at her.
"Hmm, let's see if there's something that would help me along the way. It would be..." He hummed before deciding on his answer.
"Love."
"Huh?" Alise raised her eyebrow and let out a chuckle. "Hoho, quite the romantic, aren't you?"
"What can I say? I'm a lover before an adventurer." Gin played along, ignoring the gnawing feeling inside him. "Well, love in general, anyway. My devotion to Hel-sama. My admiration for Riveria. My wish to support Ais and my familia. Those count as love, yeah?"
Some of them accepted his answer at face value.
Some booed him for giving such a template answer. Gin laughed along with them, distracting himself from thinking too much.
'Love, huh?'
He just hoped it wasn't just his parents' love that pushed him forward.
...
Gin followed his patrol team from behind as they walked through the streets of western Orario.
It had been a couple of hours since they first started, and he could say that...
Patrolling the city was less interesting and engaging than he thought.
There hadn't been any signs of brewing violence, an evil plot, or anything like that, which was good.
It didn't change the fact that it was getting boring, though.
'No, that's not good. Focus, Gin Hvergel.'
Patrolling the city was serious business. With Evilus at large, anything could happen at a moment's notice. Even with the joint work of several big names like the Loki and Ganesha Familias, incidents involving Evilus still happened daily.
It would only end badly for him if he let his guard down.
It was a complicated situation. In an ideal world, all the familias could focus their attention on keeping the city safe, but reality wasn't that convenient.
If adventurers started neglecting their dungeon exploration, the income of the city would plummet from the lack of magic stone exports.
Not only that, the status gain of all adventurers would go down as well.
The collective fighting force of Orario would turn weaker.
If that happened, then Evilus would be emboldened in their approach.
The best deterrent for Evilus was the presence of a strong and competent familia. If the city lost that, Orario would be fucked.
Well, now that he thought about it... How the fuck did Evilus members grow stronger anyway? They fought adventurers, true, but that didn't seem to be a stable and reliable way to get stronger.
Common sense dictated that they grew through exploring the dungeon too, but the entrance to the dungeon was always watched by security from the Ganesha Familia.
There was no way for them to gain access.
No, well. They did somehow get access, though.
His mind went back to the encounter with Thanatos a few months ago.
'Hmm… Could it be that they had some ways to enter the dungeon too? Like a secret entrance or something?'
It wasn't impossible, maybe.
He knew there had been instances when a new entrance to the dungeon appeared, case in point: the Leviathan Seal in Melen.
That was a tunnel connecting the outside world straight to the Dungeon's Water City before it was sealed up by Leviathan bones.
Like, for example, what if Evilus somehow made a tunnel connecting the dungeon to a hidden part of Orario, the waterway or the sewers, perhaps? Stuff like a hidden entrance inside the sewer was a staple in stories anyway.
That way, they could go in and out of the dungeon without being detected. They could even run to the dungeon when things got rough on the surface.
Better yet, what if they had a tunnel system that connected all of their hidden bases and the dungeon, maybe even going far outside the city?
Gin thought for a while and arrived at the conclusion that his random patrol thoughts could mean something.
Well, why not try to voice it out to the others while he was at it?
"Hey, do you ladies mind listening to a crazy speculation I cooked up?" Gin called out to them, keeping his tone casual so as not to be dissed if the idea happened to be too stupid for their taste.
His patrol team, consisting of Ryuu, Alise, and Lyra, remained silent as he talked about his latest hypothesis.
"So, from 'Holy cow, this guy's stupid' to 'That idea sounds kinda legit', what do you guys think?"
"Leaning to the latter, actually." Lyra gave him an appreciative whistle. "You are smart, eh, bro? There are some details that need work, but all in all, it is a sound theory."
Ryuu looked at him. "Then shouldn't we make a move with that idea in mind? If you are right, then we could bring the fight to their doorstep for once."
"I agree with you. It should be the ideal move." Gin nodded. "There are a lot of things that we need to keep in mind, though. Even if my theory is right, we don't know the exact location of these supposed hidden passages, yeah?"
"So? We just send people to survey it out," Alise said, but Gin shook his head in disagreement.
Lyra nodded along with him.
"Nah, not enough manpower," Lyra retorted. "It's not like they will build something like that without making effort to hide it from prying eyes. Finding something like that in a city this big? Fool's errand. If we get too focused on searching for something that 'might' be there, then we will be missing out on the important stuff instead."
That statement shut out the incoming complaint from Alise
. As expected, the safety of the residents was more important to her.
"Well, let's just leave it here for now." Gin clapped his hands to get their attention and made an easy smile to calm the air.
"I'll bring this up with Sir Finn and Riveria when we are done with the patrol. They should be able to make a good decision for it."
"Double aye here, bro." Lyra went along with him. "My Braver is the best man for the job. You'll agree with Riveria's decision too, right, Ryuu?"
Ryuu stayed silent before nodding.
As expected, Riveria's authority over elves was something else.
"Alright! Let's change gear for now," Alise yelled out to all of them. "How about we patrol the 8th District and look for some lunch there? It's about time for that anyway."
"I'll follow you forever, Captain Alise!" Gin saluted. "My brain needs some sweets since it's been thinking hard."
"That's just your sweet tooth talking," Ryuu sighed.
"No, no. I read that you make use of sugar when you think." Gin grinned at her as he led the way to the foodie district. "Trust me, eating sweets will help you when you need to think about complicated stuff."
He headed to the 8th District as their conversation devolved into small talk again.