Just when Billy was thinking about that, the door of the library was opened with a loud bam. He imagined someone kicking it, and then he saw a redhead with the stance as if she had truly kicked the door. It was the guild master, Marie…
"I heard of it…" Marie said while furrowing her eyebrows. "You guys already found the entrance of the second level… it was the same as us. We did it in two days as well."
"Really? Who told you that?" Billy asked, feigning some ignorance. "We still didn't find the entrance to the second floor yet."
"You dare lie to me?!" Marie asked while raising her left eyebrow. "You have some balls, punk."
"Sorry, Billy…" Kate said while forcing a smile. "I told Pierre earlier when I went to the toilet."
Billy facepalmed… his friends sometimes just didn't know how to shut up. What was the point of telling that to others? That was completely unnecessary, even to those they might consider friends. He made a mental note to give a lecture to them later…
"Did we commit a crime or something by finding the entrance to the second level?" Billy asked.
"Why are you pretending that lying to me isn't big of a deal?" Marie asked. "Anyway, I am interested to see how you guys fight, so I am coming to the dungeon with you."
"Can we refuse that?" Billy asked.
"No, my dungeon, my rules," Marie said. "Tomorrow morning at the dungeon entrance, don't be late!"
Just like she entered, Marie left… like a tornado… The woman doesn't care about anything aside from her own desires. In any case, Billy sighed since he didn't need any more attention to his party than he already had… Besides, Marie was bound to be troublesome.
"I have to find a way to make this advantageous to us to balance the demerits," Billy thought while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Most of the research was done, so the group decided to return to the inn. This time, Billy heard a lot of noise coming from the other room since the girls were training. It seemed like Kate was determined to learn how to make ice, but even with his rings, Billy had a hard time learning it. That being said, it was easier to learn than discover like he did it.
The next day, they found a massive amount of people nearby the dungeon, and Billy let out a sigh, already knowing the reason. Naturally, it was because of Marie… Pierre was also there with a defeated and apologetic expression on his face.
"You are late!" Marie said.
Billy didn't even have the energy to say that she was wrong. In any case, Billy could only respect someone who had so much self-esteem that was always operating with that idea… Me, me, me. Everything is about me…
"My lord heard of this and asked me to join… to prevent problems," Pierre said.
The others nodded while Billy facepalmed. In any case, it was better to get over that. Marie will probably lose interest after a few minutes. People like her were like that.
They jumped to the interior of the dungeon, and as usual, Alexander and Natalie took out the first monsters. Only when they began to appear in groups of four to six did the others join the fight. As usual, Billy blinded them, Kate used her spears, and Sarah used her large spells to prevent the enemies from using theirs.
"So, it was magic…" Marie said while rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Your party certainly is versatile."
"While you were the youngest, I thought you would fight more, Billy," Pierre said. "Are you always in charge of the miscellaneous chores?"
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Billy said and then sighed. "This is an important job, you know."
"I wasn't trying to say otherwise, but you look like someone who would be more like a…" Pierre said while looking at his sister.
"Go on, finish your sentence…" Marie said while glaring at him.
"Like a common warrior…" Pierre finished nervously.
Billy knew that he meant like a warrior that had muscles for the brain. Still, he wouldn't take offense to that. He knew that the strongest physically individuals tend to be a bit simple-minded, but that wasn't a bad characteristic per se. It was because of that they could pursue strength and become powerful figures.
"Regardless, your magic is a bit different from the monsters," Marie said. "They can create things out of nothing, but you manipulate the environment to obtain a similar result."
"Very perceptive of you," Billy said.
"Well, this is a bit disappointing… unlike us, you didn't force your path with brute strength," Marie said, letting out a sigh. "Still, I want to see if you guys can reach the end of the dungeon-like this…"
Billy sighed again, it didn't seem like she was going to lose interest anytime soon, and Marie naturally wasn't going to help in the fights, so she was literally a dead weight.
"Anyway, it is quite the interesting idea to blind monsters… is stopping the enemies like that your specialty?" Pierre asked.
"No, I wouldn't say that…" Billy replied.
It couldn't be helped since they were on their turf, but some information about them would be passed to the people of that state. While only Kate, Sarah, and Billy's skills were out of the norm, the fighting styles of the others were way beyond the levels of normal soldiers. Maybe that was one of the reasons Jean wanted them working for him for a while.
Nevertheless, the group began to proceed as fast as possible, and Billy noticed that Kate still didn't make much progress with ice magic. Still, she was using Water Manipulation to control her short spears… which was very smart of her.. By using that spell, she would get better at it, so she eventually would become skilled and strong enough to make ice… and while it wasn't much, the water was protecting her weapons from the fluids of the monsters.