Chapter 11: 11. 3 Kingdoms & Refusal

Leo, Grayfia, Rosemary and Biselda entered the clinic. Once inside they saw that there were many people in there, and most of them were moderately to severely injured. Leo looked around trying to find Lutfana, but he didn’t see her. However, Rosemary keeps walking and they follow her. She walks down a certain hallway and enters a certain room on the right.

“Rosemary? Why are you here? What about the attack?” a male voice asks her.

“The rest of the team killed the monsters, and the other adventurers helped stop the rampage of the ones who escaped. Especially Leo there, we briefly teamed up.” Rosemary informs Zale, the brawl and tank of the Heroes party.

He looks past her and sees Leo with Grayfia and Biselda. “Ah, those two newbies, huh? He was able to keep up with you?” he asked a bit impressed with him.

“No…but he did better than most would, and anyway, we have a friend of theirs that needs healing. Is Lutfana free?” she asks and Zale makes room for them to enter.

“Rose? Welcome! Is everything okay out there? Do you need healing?” Another voice was heard, and this time it was female and sounded very concerned about Rosemary.

“I’m fine, Lutfana. I want you to heal someone. It’s nothing too serious. However, I wanted to do this for him as a thanks for helping me.” Rosemary gestures behind her and Lutfana, their cleric pops her head out to look at Leo and his companions.

“Hello.” Leo put his hand up and Lutfana waved back.

“Ah! It’s the two new adventurers that you recommended! They don’t look hurt—ah, it’s the lady…please put her down on this free bed.” Her demeanor changes as she points to a free bed and Grayfia puts her down.

“My, I never would have thought that I would be treated by the cleric of the hero party. Perhaps getting injured may have been a blessing in disguise~” Biselda mused but was lightly scolded by Lutfana.

“Don’t joke around with injuries, ma’am. Many can be life-threatening."

“I’m sorry, Miss Lutfana~” Biselda tried to act cute, but the cleric just smiled at her. Leo turns around to go out, but Zale stops him.

“What seems to be the rush, Leo?” he asks him and Leo hears Rosemary sigh behind him.

“We just came back from a quest and we were going to turn it in, but an outbreak happened…” Leo explained to Zale as his glare turned into a grin. He then started to playfully smack Leo on the back.

“You’re too serious! I was joking! Gyahahaha!” Zale says in between breaths of laughter.

Leo smiled wearily and made his way past him followed by Grayfia and Rosemary. Rosemary was obviously recognized, and a few people greeted her, although since it was a clinic not many had the same energy as they would.

Once outside the three of them made their way to the guild, occasionally stopping to help someone with repairs, and all the while no one spoke during their short journey. Leo would usually converse with Grayfia but they would usually speak about unimportant things that he didn’t think Rosemary would like to hear, so he said nothing.

However, when they neared the guild, even more people were there. Instead of being in an orderly line, most of them were trying to push into it and were being quite forceful about it. The three of them stopped to look at each other before walking past the line and making their way to the front.

“What’s happening here?” Rosemary asks the guy in front of her.

“Huh?! Wait in li—R-r-r-r-rosemary?!” Once the man shouted that, the crowd stopped to look at her, and then parted like the Red Sea. Taking this opportunity, they went into the guild while being stared at.

“Hmm? Oh Rosemary, I’m glad you could—Leo? I didn’t think we’d see each other this soon.” Vexes says while walking over to us.

It seems the Heroes party was the reason? Leo thought while looking around the place, but he saw someone else and most of the crowd were there and the other members of his party were standing. Who’s that?

The person Leo was looking at was a man in a grey business suit, he has he had slick red hair, and orange eyes. He stood there confidently while speaking with Enora and Sifeh, the wizard and assassin in Vexes’ party.

“That’s one of the chief directors of the main guild’s headquarters in Oseon. His name is Kagami. He’s the easiest one to speak to and approach out of all of them. There are two others but they don’t travel that often.” Rosemary explains beside Leo.

Kagami? A Japanese name…hey, Ageha.

<No. There is no other reincarnated person here. You probably won’t meet any while you journey, and if you do, they’ll most likely get themselves killed because of their own stupidity.>

Huh? What do you mean by that? Leo was confused. He didn’t understand what she meant by that. In most cases that Leo has read, the main character of whatever was reincarnated, or transported to another world and had some kind of advantage, like himself.

<Boss, or some other God gives me the standard system, or whatever overpowered wish they want. They get in over their heads, piss off the strongest beings in that world and then they die. I mean, you’ve read some right? Although most things tend to go the protagonist’s way. Hah.>

You seem kind of mad at those types of stories… However, Ageha just scoffed at Leo who left it at that. "Greetings, Vexes. I heard from Rosemary that you and your party ventured back into the dungeon to fight the monsters? Leo asked.

“Yeah, it’s our responsibility after all. We got down to the 48th floor before we had to come back because we lost two members and it all turned out badly after that.” Vexes seemed bothered by it as he frowned.

“I see. So, why is one of the directors here?” he asked the Hero.

“Ah, he happened to be on his way here, but when he heard about the outbreak midway through getting here, he quickly arrived and helped defend the city. Even though he’s a director, he’s a former S rank adventurer you know?” Vexes says proudly. “He did help train me when I was younger, so I look up to him quite a lot.”

Leo nodded and glanced at Kagami who had stopped speaking with the other two members and was now walking towards them. He quickly arrived with Enora and Sifeh. “Vexes, who might these two be?” he asked while looking both Leo and Grayfia over.

“Ah, hello, Kagami. These are Leo and Bina. They're new adventurers but they were the ones I asked a few days ago to join my party. They have a lot of potential.” Vexes explained to the man who nodded, the slightly stern expression he had softened.

“Oh? If Mister Hero wanted them in his party, then they definitely have potential!” he says with a grin. “I’m Kagami, one of the directors from the guild’s headquarters in Oseon, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He holds out his hand and Leo shakes it.

“I’m Leo and this is Bina. A pleasure to meet you.” He kept his introduction short, and Kagami didn’t seem bothered by it.

“So, why are you here Leo? Here to get a quest?” the Hero asked.

“No…we returned from one, and well, as you saw, an outbreak happened so we had to delay turning it in.” Leo brought out the quest that they took and Kagami’s eyes widened in shock.

“Y-you completed it?!” Kagami asked in a slightly loud voice surprising everyone around him.

“…Yeah?” Leo answered confused by his reaction. However, Kagami stared at him thinking about something, and everyone else remained quiet waiting for the director to say something. He then turned to Vexes.

"As you know, I had a reason for coming here. We sometimes review certain quests that may be a bit more...complicated, and the ranking may change." Vexes nodded in agreement with what Kagami said. He then turned back to Leo. “I received a notification about this quest, and I brought it to what we call ‘Quest Callers'. They are people we employ at the main headquarters.”

“They have the ability to see the future, to a certain extent, and they concluded that this quest was at least an S rank…since the one who accepted it would be facing a demon.” Kagami said seriously, and the realization hit everyone at once and they all looked at Leo and Grayfia. “So I ask again, did you complete this quest?”

Shit...this was unexpected. I kind of guessed it would go smoothly, or at least be bumped up to a B or A, but an S rank quest…? Not good… Leo thought, and was slightly panicking. He didn’t want any kind of big recognition right now, or eyes on him.

<Relax. They didn’t see you since I blocked it. Their weak future sight can’t match up to me.> Ageha smugly declared.

Thanks…? Leo inwardly sighed. “Yeah, we did. So what does that mean?" Kagami took the piece of paper from Leo and examined it.

“These quest forms automatically know when a quest is completed or not. That’s how they were made, with both engineering and magic. Oseon is the continent that is leading our world after all, and I’m one of the directors so I can…” Kagami takes out a magical pen and taps the form. It briefly glows and the ‘taken’ was replaced with a ‘complete’ and Kagami’s eyes widen even more.

“It seems you weren’t lying.” Kagami hands it back to Leo. “You said you became adventurers a few days ago, yes? That means you’re only F ranks…it is too soon to promote you; however, I will keep it in mind.” Kagami walks away and Diego was also there, and they go into another room.

Leo shrugged and with Grayfia they walked up to Linda and handed her the quest. “We’re done.” He said casually as Linda was shaking like a leaf, all the while everyone was still looking at Leo. “So, what do we do now?” he asked her but got no response. “Hello? Linda?” Leo waved his hand in front of her until she flinched.

“U-u-uuhmm, y-yes, y-you received your reward r-right?” she asked and Leo confirmed by showing her the pouch he received from Fasel.

Linda nods, takes the form before running to one of the doors. Leo and Grayfia stood there waiting and people were still staring at them. Don’t they have anything better to do? Leo was getting a bit annoyed by all the staring. He didn’t mind the limelight, but didn’t like people randomly staring at him.

Linda eventually came back carrying another pouch confusing Leo. “This is?” he asked her.

“The benefactor will give you a reward, and so will the guild. It will depend on what the quest is and the rank…so you earn 2 gold from this. However, M-Mister Kagami is discussing the matter with Mister Diego and they may bump up the amount you are paid…” Linda explained.

F to S, huh? Well, I don’t mind, all the more gold then. Ah, right. Leo looked at Grayfia after remembering the ogres they got. “We have some ogres too; can we sell them again?” he asked her and she agreed.

Grayfia summoned the dead ogres again and Linda processed them, took them to the back and came back with 16 gold. “Let’s go check some quests before leaving.” Leo said to Grayfia and both of them went to the F rank board.

Upon arriving there, the adventurers that were there parted and let them pick in silence. They’re overreacting, or am I undermining what we did? Well, it doesn’t matter, I’m here just to see potential jobs. We’ll take today and maybe tomorrow off, and maybe explore the dungeon? But that may be a bad idea...we'll see soon.

Leo looks around the board but sees nothing he would like to do. So he heads over to the E rank quest board, and they were more to what he was looking for. Leo looks around the board for a while and sees one he would like to do.

●●●●

[Urgent]

[E – Rank Quest]

[A group of Skerleians have taken residence near the Lake of Tranquility and my family wishes to go there and have a picnic. We will be arriving there in 14 days, and wish them to be removed.]

[Quest Benefactor: Larisa Wells]

[Reward]: 30 Gold

[Time limit]: 14 Days

●●●●

Skerleians? The hell are those? Also, 30 gold for just getting rid of them? Leo thought that this was good, and he even thought that the ones requesting this were quite well off. Leo grabs it from the board and walks back to Lina with Grayfia in tow.

He puts the piece of paper in front of Linda and she looks at it. “Skerleians are quite aggressive, and hunt in groups of 20, but I think you will be fine if you take caution, Mister Leo, Miss Bina.” She takes it, stamps it, then hands it back to him.

“Thanks. Let’s go Gr—Bina.” Leo stopped himself from calling her Grayfia around people since she wants to be known as Bina Lessthan rather than her real name in public. Luckily for Leo, he wasn’t stopped by anyone as they left the guild.

“Let’s take the rest of the day off, and maybe tomorrow since I want to practice a bit more with my newly acquired power.” Leo says to Grayfia and she agrees.

“We only have a few days left in—no, never mind. Biselda’s inn was destroyed, so we have to find a different place to rent, Leo-sama.”

“You’re right, we need to…but most places are still being fixed. We may need to rough it out until we find a place, although I don’t plan on staying here forever. There are other branches around this continent…let’s stay here a little while longer then.” Leo didn’t have a plan for most things right now. He was taking it as it came.

But he did want to explore this world. Therefore, right now he wants to save up some gold, and then maybe go to a different town, city or even kingdom.

“We should ask about the relevant cities and kingdoms in Grosscarriage.” Said Grayfia and Leo agreed. “How about we ask Biselda? She is the person we are closest to in the city.”

“Sounds reasonable. Let's go back to the clinic then. Before the end of the day, let’s check the dungeon entrance to get an idea of what they look like, so if we find any in the wild…” Leo didn’t need to elaborate as Grayfia understood what he meant.

Perhaps that would be the most idyllic way to get stronger? Dungeons that aren’t under cities or kingdoms are said to be weaker in strength. I could also get a chance to get stronger there. Grayfia thought as they walked back to the clinic.

They quickly got back and entered it. They navigated their way to Biselda’s room and were greeted by Zale again.

“Oh? Leo and Bina, are you here to see your friend? Come in.” Knowing each other made Zale a lot friendlier towards the two and he let them in. The two thank him and saw more patients here, and Lutfana caring for them.

“Welcome back you two, Biselda is over there reading a book.” Lutfana greets them and points them to Biselda’s bed.

They walked over to her and she greeted them. “Miss me already?” she grinned at them.

“Something like that, we would like to ask you a question.” Leo says and stands beside her bed. Grayfia grabs a chair and sits beside her.

“If I can answer, go ahead!” Even though she was still recovering, her energy seemed to have come back slightly. Leo nodded and proceeded to ask her a few things.

“I was kind of coddled growing up, so I don’t know much about the world, so do you mind telling me any prominent cities or kingdoms on this continent?” He asked her seriously. Obviously, Leo lied. Biselda closed her eyes to think about it after seeing how serious he was. Both Leo and Grayfia waited patiently and heard Lutfana humming to herself in the room.

The continent consists of quite a few notable cities, as well as 3 kingdoms that are fighting for power, although no war has started, but things are tense." Biselda begins. “However, I’ll tell you a bit more about this continent, is that fine?” she asks Leo who agrees. Biselda put down her book and settled into a comfortable position.

“Now then…first about the 3 kingdoms. The Akulon Kingdom, the Shetregalla Empire and finally the Thaiven Kingdom. Both the Akulon and Thaiven Kingdoms are governed by Kings. In Akulon it’s ruled by King Davut, in Thaiven it’s King Eshim. While in the Shetregalla Empire, it’s ruled by an Empress called Empress Roflora.”

"The Shetregalla Empire is the wealthiest on the continent of Grosscarriage. Empress Roflora is a very wise woman. Even though we are known as the poorest country in the world. However, she is on her way to competing with the richest countries in the world. The second-richest kingdom is the Akulon kingdom followed by the Thaiven Kingdom. Now as to why they may be at war? The Akulon and Thaiven have had acrimonious relations for thousands of years now.”

“Only in recent years have the two started to be on somewhat amicable terms. Meanwhile, they've been fighting over some neutral zones and places where they're attempting to convince cities to join them. Lucky for us, we haven’t been pulled into since the City of Vrearc is in one of those neutral spots.” Biselda sighs at this.

“Other notable places that are in the neutral zones are Tottori City. They're mostly filled with rabbit people, a very friendly bunch. The city of Durgion, it’s a port city. They predominantly live off their fishing and tourism. The town of Ragnfast, it’s a mining area. Finally, the Freehazy Isles, which is mostly a small island south of Grosscarriage and is still neutral.”

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“Oh silly me, the Akulon Kingdom is west, the Shetregalla Empire is south, and Thaiven Kingdom is north. If you’re wondering what’s in the east, it’s mostly small settlements, like towns and villages, and a lot of wild life. So if you travel to those towns or villages that have a guild branch you’ll get a lot of quests related to that area. Many want to expand their towns and villages there after all, but there are many dangerous monsters.”

Biselda puts a finger on her cheek and thinks for a few seconds before a cheeky grin appears. “You can figure the rest out yourself~” however she did giggle and added, “Well, the Nystrup Forest, The Crying Maiden’s Ice Valley annnd The Lake of B’alos are some of the things I’ll mention~”

Biselda finally finished her brief explanation. “Phew~ I spoke a bit too much. Let me rest for a little bit.”

“Yeah…thank you for telling us this, Biselda and yeah rest up.” Leo thanked her and so did Grayfia. The two of them learned quite a bit from her and as they were walking out Zale stopped them.

“Vexes contacted me. He said you two are needed back in the guild, something about Kagami wanting to talk to you two.” He grinned and slapped Leo on the back again. “You’ve barely been an adventurer for a week and now you’re getting that guy’s attention?! Gyahaha! Good luck to the both of you!” He finally let them go.

Once the two of them were outside, Leo continued walking but spoke to Grayfia.

“War might break out; we have to prepare for that. The East seems like a suitable place for the Kingdom, but I’ll have to see the other continents first before deciding. We have a few places to explore before heading to a new one.”

“Yes, I agree, Leo-sama. However, we must deal with this first before we can proceed to the quest in the Lake of Tranquility.” Grayfia reminded him.

“Yeah we do. Let’s hope it’s nothing too tedious…I wonder how much Skerleians sell for?” He had been curious about how those creatures looked like, and if they were edible. Leo wasn’t the type to fuss about what kind of food he ate, as long as it was at the bare minimum, edible.

●●●●

The two of them quickly arrived at the guild and there were a lot less people. However, the Heroes’ party was still there and the few who were still there looked at the two of them as they came in. They spot Kagami and quickly go to him.

“You need us?” Leo asked and Kagami nodded.

“Yes, yes, welcome back. We decided to promote both of you to E rank without taking the promotion test after speaking with the owner and the other directors. Killing a demon is quite an accomplishment, especially for F rank and novice adventurers." Kagami proudly says earning many gasps from onlookers around them.

E rank, huh? We’re also skipping the promotion test, whatever that entails…is this a good or bad thing? If we accept, will we be in his debt? What if we decline? Leo pondered as he looked at Grayfia. Her eyes told him that it was up to him, so Leo thought about it for a full minute before looking back at Kagami.

“What happens if we refuse?” He asked him, stunning him and everyone else around them.

“Y-you surely aren’t entertaining the thought? B-but if you do…then you will just need to take the regular test down the line. However, I do advise you to—.”

Leo put his hand in front of him. “Well decline, I don’t think getting special treatment like this is fair to first-time adventurers like us.” Leo told him. I also don’t want to be in debt to you. Kagami in Japanese means mirror. I might be paranoid or reading too deeply into this, but the mirror usually shows a reflection of you. So maybe you have two personalities? Well, whatever… Leo thought, but that was his real reason for declining. He didn’t want to be blackmailed by him in the future.

…Hmm, very interesting. Leo and Bina, was it? I look forward to seeing more of them in the future… Kagami thought and smiled at them. “Truly? This is quite a rare opportunity. I’ll ask again.”

“We’ll decline. Thank you though.” Leo answered again and Kagami relented.

“I can’t force you, but it is your decision. Quite a noble one, but I await for the both of you to reach a new rank fairly soon." Kagami pulls out a pocket watch and nods to himself. "Since my primary reason for coming here is done, I will get going. Until we meet again, Leo, Bina, and Vexes.” Without waiting for a response, Kagami quickly leaves through the entrance.

“Leo! Why did you refuse the promotion?!” Vexes asked him quite loudly, but Leo just shrugged.

“I just didn’t want to be promoted so quickly. I don’t have any other reason…” Leo lied as naturally as he breathed. However, Vexes for some reason accepted it and didn’t question it. However, Rosemary, Enora and Sifeh looked doubtful at him.

“Anyway we’ll get moving since the inn we were staying at was basically destroyed.” Leo announces and they turn around to leave but he felt Vexes' hand on his shoulder.

“If you like, why not join us at the inn we’re staying at? It’s great and we can probably get a discount for you. It has breakfast, dinner and a bedroom.”

That was what Vexes needed to say, breakfast AND dinner? Leo was sold, but at the same time he was wary of their budget and gold. Yes, they earned quite a lot in the past few days, but he didn’t know the cost of staying in an expensive inn.

“Well, it won’t hurt to check it out. So I don’t mind going.” Leo agreed to go with him and so they left together.

●●●●

They went around the town while also helping some people out, which was all of them thanks to Vexes’ unnecessarily helpful nature. It looked like his teammates were used to it even if they did have slightly annoyed faces. However, they eventually reached a lavish-looking building.

It was quite tall, but wasn’t as tall as the other structures in the city. Vexes entered first, followed by his party and then Leo and Grayfia. Once inside it was even more sumptuous, as many of the furniture looked rather expensive, making Leo second guess his decision.

“Miss Vernendatte a friend of ours would like to know the rates here…and if possible, could we have our discount applied to them too?” Vexes asked the lady a little bit nervously. When the lady turned around, her hair was pink, tied in a ponytail. She wore glasses and a blue dress that was very elegant.

Holy shit…is this the evil Disney step mom or something…? She has so much jewelry it’s insane… Leo couldn’t help but stare at her. Vernendatte notices this and points at Leo.

“You, state your name.”

“…Leo?”

“Leo, I see. Our rates are usually 25 gold per night. However, if the Hero is advocating for you, then it is 2 gold a night which includes your bed, breakfast and dinner.” She looks at Grayfia. “I assume one room, yes?”

25 gold a night?! What the fuck? You better be serving water made out of a goddess's piss or something!! Leo’s mouth twitched but he still answered the woman. “Yes?” Leo also concluded that this might not be the most expensive place on this continent, if what he heard from Biselda earlier holds true.

The Shetregalla Empire ruled by Empress Roflora is the richest in Grosscarriage, and Biselda speculated she may have a chance of competing with the rest of the rich places in this world. But we’ll see…but still 25 a night? Jeez that’s a bit… Leo knew he needed more money going forward. Hey, Ageha—.

<The dungeons do not drop gold. But you can sell anything you find in there for high prices.>

Leo’s dreams were crushed but then were raised by Ageha in the same sentence. So we just need to find a dungeon in the wild and take advantage of that. How far or close are the dungeons located to major cities or kingdoms? he asked her.

<They tend not to appear close to each other, so if you’re expecting to find one near the City of Vrearc, you’re out of luck, but the cities mentioned by that woman earlier, they do have them. And there are a few that are still undiscovered. However, let me warn you...do not be reckless about it, otherwise you may just unleash an outbreak unintentionally in that place.>

I know, I’m not stupid…we’ll prepare properly before taking them on. Leo quipped back. He had to delay his plans for diving into a dungeon. He wanted all the treasures from the dungeons he'd enter in the future. He also wanted to avoid an outbreak, not because he didn’t want people to be unnecessarily hurt, but because he wanted the money and whatever else they offered.

It was a selfish reason; he knew it but didn’t care too much. Leo noticed that he was walking in a hallway. When he looked at Grayfia she was holding a key, and Vexes’ party wasn’t with them.

“Um…”

“I answered the questions that Vernendatte asked. We will be here for 2 weeks, and I paid 28 gold in advance. We will be sharing a room, Leo-sama.” Grayfia explained.

“We have 95 gold left then…” They had around 120 gold coins before that transaction occurred. While they still had a lot of gold, Leo wanted more, so he couldn’t wait to do the quest they picked up earlier.

Grayfia stopped by a door and pushed it open. Both of them stepped inside and found that the room was quite large and extravagant. The furniture and bed frame were made out of the same wood variant used in the lobby.

“Fancy…” Leo muttered and started to explore the room. “Is this…a refrigerator? Well, whatever the equivalent to it is in this world...this is probably ice magic...no, a crystal?” Leo saw a crystal in the small container. When he touched it, it was quite cold.

“It appears so, Leo-sama. What should we do now? You mentioned earlier that you wanted to take the rest of today and tomorrow off.” Grayfia asked him.

Leo sat in a chair and thought about it. We can train a bit for the rest of the day…and then at the end of today we can take a look at the dungeon entrance. Tomorrow we can explore the town and maybe get armor or items that can help us? Well, I doubt Grayfia needs anything, but it won’t hurt to check those shops out.

Leo thought that this was fine, and he could just come up with something else when tomorrow comes. Therefore, he told Grayfia his plans and she was fine with it.

“I am fine with it, Leo-sama. However, what do you think of the Heroes?” she asked him while taking a seat beside him.

“The Heroes? I mean…I don’t have much of an opinion on them all, but…Vexes is your typical nice guy who’ll save the world Hero you read in books. The rest are kind of the same, although I admit at least Zale, Rosemary and Lutfana are fine. We got to speak with them, albeit briefly.”

To Leo Zale was the loveable muscle head of their party, Lutfana the typical helpful female cleric, and Rosemary...she was the one he has spoken to the most. Therefore, his opinion of her is slightly higher than the rest. As for the rest, he didn’t know anything about them. As of right now, his ranking of them looks like this:

Rosemary>Zale>Lufana>Vexes>Enora=Sifeh.

He hadn’t spoken to the wizard and assassin of Vexes’ party, and Vexes’ himself was a bit too generic for Leo to have any sort of opinion on him. But he hoped he would find out more about them in the future, whether it be due to coincidence or whatever other factor that may play into it. Leo told this all to Grayfia who silently listened and nodded along.

“I agree with those opinions, Leo-sama, however, I may rank Lutfana higher since she healed Biselda as we spoke quite a bit when I went to see her earlier.”

“Fair enough, I did speak with Rosemary more than you too. Anyway, let’s head out and train for a bit. I’ll just try to increase my capacity for the day…” Leo also hadn’t checked his card yet, so he would do that after training.

●●●●

Five hours had passed since then and both Grayfia and Leo were going back to the city as they had finished training. Like last time, Ageha gave Leo some pills to restore his mana/ki and stamina, and he pushed himself quite a bit. He focused mainly on his flame manipulation, and spear mastery.

His second summon would be a harsh critic of his spearmanship, so he wanted to be ready for when that time came. He asked Grayfia for some pointers, and she gave him some but as she doesn’t use any kind of weapons, she couldn’t give him in-depth advice. So Leo did what he could. However, the two of them did not spar this time around, and mostly focused on individual training. Grayfia would occasionally give him advice if she saw him doing something wrong or inefficiently.

Leo got better at shaping his flames, and got faster at it. When he was fighting earlier in the outbreak, some of his swords and spears looked strange. However, since he had to fight and save people, he didn’t think about it too much, and luckily, the weapons he made worked well enough.

The two of them had arrived back and greeted the guards.

“Oh, you two…which way is the dungeon?” Leo asked them, and they both looked nervously at each other.

“W-why do you want to know that?”

“We were just curious about its appearance and wanted to see it. We won’t be going into it or anything like that.” After hearing his explanation, and while still hesitant they told him. He thanked them and they walked away.

 The entrance to the dungeon was to the west of the city, and they wouldn’t miss it. Leo and Grayfia made their way there and once they arrived—.

“He wasn’t kidding, that’s certainly something…a hole in the ground? There seemed to be an entra—.”

“Hey you two! You can’t be here, it’s still quite dangerous!” Leo was interrupted by someone shouting and when they turned around, they saw a man walking towards them. “We just had an outbreak; we don’t need any more adventurers going in there right now and starting a new one.” He said sternly.

“Oh no, we were just seeing what dungeons looked like.” Leo explained but got a weird look from the man. “My parents shielded me from the world, so I didn’t even know about dungeons and outbreaks until recently.”

“Ah, I see. But still, my point still stands. Don't go down there, you hear me?” Both of them nodded, and the man left satisfied.

Ageha, do they all look the same?

<No, but you feel it right? They feel almost identical, albeit slightly different. This one has a variety of different monsters that will come out, some will just have one, that will rise up in power, like that camp of goblins you saw.>

I see…so in theory, if there’s some kind of ice-like place in this world, and a city or something was under it…it would potentially have ice-based monsters, right? he asked her.

<Yeah, that’s right.>

Great, thanks. Leo looks around a little more before turning back to Grayfia. “Let’s go back. I’m getting hungry.”

●●●●

“Leo, was it? Can we talk?”

As soon as Leo and Grayfia arrived at the inn, Enora and Sifeh were waiting for them. Leo was surprised and looked at Grayfia who was looking at the two suspiciously.

“Sure? I won’t be long, Bina. Stand by.” He answered them and whispered the last part to her, and the maid nodded.

If they try to harm Leo-sama, I will... Grayfia's power slowly rose alarming the two.

“W-we're just here to speak with him. Will you calm your maid down?” Sifeh put her hands up defensively, not wanting to fight. Enora was also quite shocked by the amount of power she briefly felt from Grayfia.

They walked away while Sifeh sighed in relief. Enora was now more curious and cautious of Leo and Grayfia. Once they arrived at a spot near the inn where no one could hear them, Enora faced Leo and looked at him seriously.

“What are you?” Enora asked him.

“Huh?” Leo was perplexed by the question.

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