Chapter 105: Thirty-Four vol.2

Eighty-two thousand and eight hundred lixels. That was the amount of money they made that day, from three floors of the dungeon. It was equivalent to 46 mana orbs acquired from the third and fourth floor. Split between them, each of the trio received a hefty twenty-seven thousand six hundred lixels, bringing Rose's current, individual, financial funds to fifty thousand and two hundred lixels—1/20th of a million.

'And now I also have a full set of 10 mana orbs back in my satchel,' She thought, glancing at her companions who had been generous enough to allow her to take them even before things were split evenly. As Lilias and Elsa had phrased it, it was far better than buying them for 2k lixels each, 200 more than their selling price.

"For a dungeoneer, it's simply best to keep the mana orbs you plan to use," Lilias had stated.

"Yup yup," Elsa had nodded, agreeing, "So take em."

The trio strolled beside one another, walking the long, wide halls of the Dungeon Association. They passed by dungeoneers dressed in leather, in armor, and in nothing more than the casual wear they also wore. They likely had mana shields on their person, similarly to Elsa. With so much variety, it was hard for Rose to tell anything for certain. However, she also saw some dressed far too similarly to one another, like Walker's men within the slums.

"We've gotten some money now, we're getting closer," Elsa held the back of her head in her hands, head staring up at the dulled ceiling above them. She was grinning. "At this rate, we really will make it into Alos's Mage Academy with no problem huh."

Rose and Lilias both stared at her. They could understand her jubilation. After all, the girl herself had said it was her dream to enter the school. Born in the slums. Raised there. Tinkering with machines until she became skilled enough to fix a mecha. Yet, the bright star she was shooting for was naturally the academy; partly for her own goals and partly for the idealistic hope of helping Rose with her problem.

Lilias smiled, staring forward.

"I suppose I'll take care of the apartment's rent and bills, then," She said, aware that both girls were saving up a million each.

As Rose glanced at her with a raised brow, Elsa protested immediately.

"Huh? Like hell you will," The slum-born girl said, "Are you fucking rich or something? How much lixels do you've got?"

"93.2k lixels," Lilias replied.

". . .what the heck," Elsa was dumbstruck, "How the hell. . .I only have 49.2k. . ."

"Only?" Lilias tilted her head.

"You get what I mean," Elsa rolled her eyes.

Then she turned to Rose.

"50.2k," Rose spoke before she was questioned, shrugging, "Not much difference, just a bit more."

". . ."

It was only obvious. The dragonian was someone, though kicked out of her home, who had still managed to take some funds with her—not to mention joining Paul Walker early on and free loading off of him. Then there was Rose, a homunculus who had practically only spent her lixels on mana orbs within the slums and the city as she didn't need much to survive. Elsa, on the other hand, was human, so needed food, and had tinkered with mechanical creations, which needed money to fuel, causing her to spend the most out of the three of them on a general basis.

"A high maintenance girl," Rose joked, chuckling.

Elsa blushed. "S-shut up. Keep talking and I'll stop cooking."

"Hey wait a minute, you can't do that—" Rose frowned. "I'll die."

"Don't joke about that."

"I'm dying already without your food."

"Why you. . ."

Lilias butted in. "You will still cook for me, right?"

Rose glanced at her.

"But it's fine if she doesn't cook for me?"

The dragonian blinked her eyes. "Who are you again?"

". . ."

Rose felt a vein twitch as Elsa laughed, suddenly itching to slice the dragonian into two.

"How do you fit all of that fried food inside without gaining any weight, anyhow?" She asked, instead, eyes looking over the relatively great figure of the girl.

"Oh?" Lilias smiled thinly. "Don't you know? A dragonian's metabolism is quite fast. And our energy usage is quite efficient. You won't be finding any obese dragonians."

Rose rolled her eyes and left it at that.

"Oh, it's you two," A voice called out.

Within that glass-like building, Rose looked over the group before them as both sides stopped, her golden eyes jumping about and taking in their detail.

They stood together - Five members, all dressed in white. Of the three members in back, one was armored in metal armor, shining even in dull light, a helmet upon their head to block their face. There were two individuals dressed in leather gear, the male sighing lightly with his sniper attached to his back and his arms crossed. He seemed as if he didn't want to be there. The woman, dressed similarly to him, had two pistols attached on either side of her waist and a dagger at her angle.

On each of their chests was a custom emblem in the image of a small shield. It was pale white and lined with black, perhaps a centimeter from its edges, with a single golden blade floating at its center. Certainly, it was a high quality design, and Rose had a nagging feeling that it also acted as a mana shield.

'So,' She thought, brain linking the pieces together, 'This must be a guild, or at least a part of one.'

Yet, what caught Rose's eyes the most was the two figures at the forefront of the group.

One was a man who wore sandals and had his hands in his pockets. Though he too had on a motif of white and the emblem of the group, he was dressed casually, as if he were on vacation. Shorts, a flannel shirt unbuttoned to reveal abs, even sunglasses atop his head.

Directly behind him was a woman who wore a metallic chest piece over leather, paired with boots of iron. She was tall, purple hair reaching her hips, swaying lightly with her breath as her lavender eyes seemed glued to the group, particularly on Lilias and Rose's figures while she maintained a perpetual frown.

"So this is the person you two wanted? You've yet to answer our invitation to instead prance around with this thing?" The man spoke after glancing over them, gesturing towards Elsa with his head as his blonde hair shook.

Rose raised a brow at the man's words.

"Huh? The hell'd you call me?" Elsa spoke as soon as she heard his words. Her eyes looked him up and down. "You. . .playboy. . .?"

The man laughed. "Alright alright, this is definitely interesting."

Elsa frowned. She cocked her head at her companions.

"Hey, you two, these guys invited you to join them?"

"Don't be quick to jump, Elsa," Rose spoke up before the mind of the girl could start swimming with thoughts, "You did the same in the slums."

"Yes, but, it turned out I was right to knock Nick with my fists, didn't it?"

Rose smiled. "That's a fair point."

"Rose and I were merely invited by them to join their guild," Lilias said, "We chose to decline."

Elsa nodded as she folded her arms. "Makes sense. You guys are strong."

"I'd like to clarify that we weren't officially declined," The male in front of them butted in, "You just turned us away."

Lilias shrugged. "Semantics make no difference to the end results."

He shrugged as well, smiling lightly.

"That's true," He said, "That's true. But ring me with some answers, would you?"

He glanced at Elsa once more and she glared back at him.

"You were invited by Vanguard, yet you declined?" He asked.

"Yes," Rose said.

"Certainly," Lilias said.

His smile deepened.

"A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the highest ranking guild in the city, founded by Alice Bridget herself? A once in a lifetime opportunity to immediately be made an apprenticed captain before being given the opportunity to officially become one?" He narrowed his amber eyes. "Yet, you two declined it?"

"Yes," Rose said.

"Indeed," Lilias said.

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He sighed.

"A constant monetary wage with bonuses. Benefits including healthcare. Discounts on high grade armaments, spirits, and whatever other vendors Vanguard is connected to—not to mention the amount of wealth we would dump on you initially. And the safety of grouping up and working with a system of dungeoneers who share information, their might, and are rarely ever without funds as they climb Alos's Dungeon," He spoke calmly, though relaxed, drawing his right hand out of the pockets of his shorts, "Why would you turn it all down for this thing."

He pointed at Elsa.

"Why you motherfucking bitch—"

Elsa opened her lips, livid to tear him a new one, but Rose spoke first.

"If you call Elsa 'this thing' one more time." Her golden eyes met the man's. "You won't walk away unharmed."

The man matched her stare as if he were picking for the truth in her words. Would she actually walk towards him, surrounded by other dungeoneers going about their day, to harm him?

"Force of habit," He replied.

Yet, the lavender-haired girl who had stood by him all this while spoke up at that moment.

"You should let her try, captain," The girl said, as if she itched for a battle, hand already reaching for the sheathed sword at her waist as the faint flicker of three lights shone on her thigh, arm, and neck, "I would like to test their strength."

The man sighed as he shook his head, halfheartedly waving the woman off with his right hand.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," He frowned, "Out of last month's batch of testers, we merely invited you because you came in 2nd. Ranked behind these two."

The woman's eyes narrowed but she relented, nodding while her eyes maintained her gaze at them.

Rose, on the other hand, realized the man was referring to the assessment test they had taken to become dungeoneers. Was that perhaps how guilds regularly recruited members? Fighting for the best of the month's batch of testers? In the end, however, she decided she didn't care. She had no desire to join one, after all.

"Won't you two reconsider the offer?" The man asked one last time. This time nodding at Elsa. "We're willing to let her in too."

"No fucking thanks," Elsa rolled her eyes while the man's group stared at him, shocked perhaps. "I don't take handouts."

The man maintained his sights on the homunculus and the dragonian, however.

"What do you say?" He asked, all but ignoring Elsa's words. "Consider it another investment, won't you?"

Lilias opened her lips, crimson eyes glancing over them all.

"I know about your little play group." She smiled thinly. "Founded by Alice Bridget you say? Did she not leave you all behind after growing tired of  your running corruptions? The hands of investors are really something, aren't they?"

The man frowned.

Lilias, however, merely sighed. "So much pushing and yet, even the highest ranking guild, more than five hundred members strong, remains stuck on the 90th floor. Taking not a step past."

The man narrowed his eyes.

"You know your stuff," He said. "Researched us?"

Lilias nodded.

"Naturally," She matched his glare with the placidness of crimson eyes as her voice fell, "It's nice to meet you, Victor Lambert. A man toying with accomplishing what no one else has using his father's influence. Did you wish for us to fight as your dogs while you sat back and watched? Then take the glory to become Vanguard's guild master?"

Rose glanced at the dragonian as the man seethed with silent rage—Elsa grinning ear to ear. The girl was far too deadly with her mouth alone. It was no wonder even she had managed to be rightfully angered by her in the slums. Yet, her words rang a truth she had been avoiding since the voice of Alos's Dungeon asked her to reach its top.

Much less the estimated 100th floor at the top of Asura's Legacy, no one had ever passed the 90th. Those who tried were never heard from again, and the one individual who had returned alive kept his mouth sealed.

Rose watched, curious as the man before them retained his silence while Lilias smiled thinly.

"Do I speak the truth?" The dragonian asked, tempting him to deny her words.

Victor frowned as his tensed figure relaxed, returning his hands into his pockets. He considered himself a relatively smart individual. At the very least, he had never failed to obtain what he wanted. Though he was not yet the guild master of Vanguard, only time and effort kept the status away from him, whether the current master was the strongest dungeoneer alive or not. Oddly, though, he found it interesting that the girl before him could tell his aim immediately after a bit of research and a single meeting.

"Everything you said was the truth," He acknowledged her words as he sighed, calming himself. Something he was rather proud of being able to do within seconds. "It makes me want you more, if anything."

Lilias chuckled.

"Well you can't have her," Elsa flipped him off, "And you can't have Rose either."

He smiled.

"Does she speak for you two?" He asked, one last time. "Is that your final answer?"

Rose and Lilias both nodded.

"Alright," Victor sighed out once more. He glanced behind and around himself briefly. His party stood by his side, and a slew of dungeoneers within the association's halls had stopped to stare. Partly, most likely, because he was here.

He glanced back at them.

"What are you chasing in the dungeon, anyway?" He asked, looking particularly more so at Lilias. "You don't look like the sort of person who wants money or fame."

The dragonian maintained her expressionlessness. "A certain crimson dragon."

"Oh?"

He nodded, content with that answer. Then he glanced back at his party.

"Let's get on our way then," He spoke as he began walking, the group following him. "I'll leave you three to your own bidding, then."

Rose watched his back as he passed by the trio.

"What if we break past the 90th floor?" She asked, curious. After all, that was her plan.

Victor laughed, waving a hand behind his back.

"Well, if you do, I'll do anything to have you guys join the guild, and I'm sure any other organization will do the same."

"Oh?" Elsa quipped in. "How the hell will you know if we actually do, though?"

The man was meters away, but his voice still cut through the chattering in the hall.

"Ah, you guys really are newbies," He chuckled, "The platforms that take you closer to the dungeons, girls. They're not just shields and transportation. They also listen to you, and keep track of what you say when you disappear, logging the highest floor you've entered each time."

". . .the heck. . ."

Victor Lambert turned around, smiling as he paced backwards to stare at them, then he stopped in place, his group doing the same.

"A word of advice from a veteran. Everyone who climbs the dungeon has a reason to, else you could forever stay at the bottom, entering and exiting the first floor if money was all you were after," He articulated. "When you reach the higher floors, when other people aside from your party come into play, be careful. Some floors will pit you against each other, and others will let the human spirit do its thing."

His amber eyes rolled over the trio.

"I wish you three luck, you seem promising."

He turned back around and began walking once more as Rose's golden eyes followed his back.

"Is he the leader of Vanguard?" Rose asked.

"Don't be silly," Lilias replied, shaking her head, "That man isn't the guild master of Vanguard. He's merely the son of one of the guild's investors. And, as such, he managed to become one of its top officials. Though not only through influence as he is, additionally, a Geared of great renown."

'What an interesting person,' She thought. At first sight, he reminded her of Paul Walker. Then again, that man was the only authoritative figure that she had met in her short time of living, so it was no wonder. But, Victor Lambert seemed different. He seemed just as calculative, but less manipulative - honest with himself and his goals.

'Perhaps,' She thought, 'It's due to the fact that you can't simply kill someone in the city and walk away. . .'

She paused her thoughts and narrowed her eyes at his back.

'Except within the dungeon?'

If that were true, and Vanguard was a guild with more than five hundred members, then his words could be taken another way.