I just regained consciousness. I don't remember anything. My body hurts. I have multiple wounds—they're healed, but naturally... Oh, I remember now. Everything about the dungeon. The last fight. I really was pushed into spending all my mana. That was the second real extreme fight I've ever had, because it was kill or get killed. Thankfully, I was the one who killed.
My mana is back, which is a good sign. As for now, I'm in danger—spending all my mana multiple times can lead to a lot of problems. Thankfully, it's back to normal and nothing changed at all. If there's an actual problem, I would've felt different.
So now I guess I know what I'll do. It's the reason I almost died—and it's the treasures.
I really am greedy.
I decided first to heal my wounds using actual magic—this will stop any infection, so why not? After that, I got up and started heading to where the boss was. And as expected, there's a small opening in the wall. I didn't notice it while fighting because I was focused. I guess now I can be considered a grandmaster... or so I wish.
Against a human who has actual intelligence and a special fighting style, I have absolutely no chance.
I also heard no human or demon in history had darkness magic, except someone called the "Lord of Death." What a weird name. But as some people say, this human existed millions of years ago and wasn't an actual lord—but still deserved the name. This thing was so destructive it killed nearly all living things, and it was killed in the end by all the actual lords collaborating. This is nothing more than a fairy tale in my opinion, but some people actually believe it, it may be true, who knows?
Anyway, as I got inside there, I saw a lot of gold. No silver coins nor bronze ones. The room is drowned in coins, but I can see multiple techniques and magical items. I guess everything wasn't in vain—but I still regret coming here a bit.
I started getting as many coins as I can into my backpack, and then started checking out the magical items. They are all things I don't really need. There is another item I could store things in, so I started putting everything that looked expensive inside. After all, one of the specialties I get as an adventurer is that I can store any money I want and retrieve it in any building owned by the Adventurer's Guild. There are a lot of other specialties—I truly love that.
After a couple of hours, I found three other storage items, and yet all of them got filled. Now it's time for the techniques. There's actually a method to get a general idea about a technique. Mother asked me to keep it a secret. Now I can know from the color and how the letter on it is written what's the main purpose of it. I'm very thankful to her.
She was one of the few people who actually had affection for me. She did the impossible just to give me the best education possible. And here I am now. Her knowledge saved me multiple times. And yet he forgot about everything—and sold her life, as well as the lives of thousands of others...
No. He for sure had no choice... but he had the strength to do anything. He could force any choice on anybody... No, I can't just keep guessing. I've got to meet him and confront him about it.
Anyway, I checked all the techniques, so I just stored them and decided to get out because none of them are actually useful. I still have around 20 days of traveling—which will become a month because of everything I'm taking with me. So I guess I have no choice except to endure. No matter how uncomfortable I'll get, I'll try to get there as soon as possible.
And so, I started heading to Goldmere as fast as I can. But now, using a lot of mana is something I won't do unless I'm in a severely dangerous situation.
Around 20 days have passed since I got into the dungeon, and Goldmere is already in sight. I don't understand how I managed to do that, but I'm quite happy—so no need to question it. I should just appreciate that.
I got through the city's opening. Goldmere isn't much different than Dawnwick—just a bit bigger. It even has a castle in the center of it as well.
Winter is starting. It rained often while I was traveling. It even snowed a bit, which is the first real sign of winter. Traveling now is going to be hard, as this continent as a whole is cold.
Anyway, as I came inside, I decided to do the first thing I had to do—which was go and sell everything to some merchant. So I started exploring the city. People still gave me weird looks because of my clothes and my age. I questioned anyone who looked friendly enough not to treat me weirdly for being an adventurer at my current age—who were usually really old people.
They all said I should go to a huge shop in the center of the city. After asking for directions multiple times, I was able to reach it. It isn't really full of people like I expected—everyone here was an adventurer. So I asked the steward if I can sell things here. He nodded and asked me to go to another room.
After I entered, an old guy came into the room a couple minutes later. I'm sitting on a couch and he sat in front of me on another couch. Then he said politely:
"Oh, welcome young lady. What is it that you want to sell here?"
I could feel him thinking I'm mistaking the place and trying to sell something they wouldn't be interested in—but he's still polite. Professional—unlike that other guy taking care of the Adventurer Guild building.
"Not just one thing, mister," I said, as I started showing him the techniques and items one by one. His jaw dropped at the view of everything I collected, but he regained his composure quickly and then said:
"That's impressive, young lady. I guess now I can get down to telling you how much each item is worth. After all, I don't want you to get scammed or something."
"Good thing."
A long time passed, and he finally finished. He checked everything—after all, there are exactly 78 techniques and 156 items, I counted each one he gave its price. Then he finally gave the full price:
"13,338 gold coins is the full price. But it's our shop's policy to take 5% of anything worth more than 10,000. So I hope you understand. It'll be 12,671 gold coins. Do you accept our offer?"
Oh damn, that's a lot of money.
"I got one condition if you want this deal done—and it's that you get all the gold coins directly to the Adventurer's Guild so I can store them."
He looked at me happily and said:
"Well then, I guess this is sealed."
I could see he probably scammed me a bit with that 5%, but I don't really mind. I won't find anyone this fair anyway. So he took all the materials I had and told me to wait outside.
The good thing is I can definitely trust this shop—their reputation is very impressive, they can't risk losing it. After a couple of minutes, he came out accompanied by three people carrying huge bags. He ordered them to follow him to the Adventurer's Guild.
After around 10 minutes of walking, we reached it. We all entered the building. Some people looked at us weirdly, but they don't really matter to me. Anyway, the old guy spoke to the receptionist, and then he asked me for my Adventurer's card. I gave it to him. After checking it out, he gave it back and nodded to the old guy, who ordered the three people to put the bags on the floor.
Then the steward said politely:
"You took a mission and accomplished it. I have no right to claim it without you asking—but do you want to claim it?"
"Yes. Add it to the other money. Also, can I report a dungeon I found?"
"Okay, young lady. And where is the dungeon? Are you sure it hasn't been touched?"
"Uhm, no—it has been touched. I completed it. That's how I got this much gold. But there are some treasures left."
"Okay, then. Can you provide me with its location?"He said trying to hide his surprise.
I told him where it was and gave him the rest of my gold coins, leaving about 50 for myself. He thanked me. And as I am getting out, I heard a young girl's voice behind me at the reception. That's not something I see every day, so I turned around. There is a girl arguing with the steward. I can not hear their conversation well, but it was about failing some mission.
I didn't understand why—normally they don't mind if you fail. So I got closer. I heard her say:
"But they said they'll never do it again!"
"Now you're considered a criminal with them.They did way too many bad things. Did you really think they would collaborate with you?"
I think I understand now. The girl's mission was to catch some criminals, and she forgave them and let them go because they said they wouldn't do it again.
What extraordinary kindness... and stupidity.
But for some reason, I feel like helping her.
And before I gave it a second thought, I said to the steward coldly:
"Will catching them again solve the problem?"
"I mean yeah—but you won't get anything from doing that."
I nodded. Then told him:
"Will you give me the criminals' facial features? And three days to do the work?"
He nodded. Then I left after he explained everything. She followed me instantly. She put her hand on my shoulder and turned me to face her. Her short, straight white hair looked good on her pale skin and silver eyes. She was about 15 centimeters taller than me. I'm around 120 centimeters myself. She's still short and petite. What is someone her age doing here?
Then she said:
"What do you want?"
"I just wanted to thank you for helping me out. I'm so thankful. I'll do the mission instead of you. Don't worry."
"Nah. I'll do it myself. I want to try fighting real humans anyway. And I doubt someone like you would be able to do it in three days."
"Look who's talking?" she said mockingly, then added:
"I can tell you're strong just by looking at you. Your strength is terrifying. Don't worry, I'm not that weak, I'd say I can keep up with you."
"Okay, I guess."
The fact that she sensed my strength means she's fairly strong. I don't think she'll hold me back. I'll catch those criminals as soon as possible. Wasting time is useless. I don't even know why I helped her. I'm breaking the promise I made to myself.
"What's your name?" she said gently.
"Emilia."
"Ohh! Such a pretty name!" she said in a cute voice. Then she added:
"Mine is Lina. And thanks again for helping me out. Now let's catch those bad guys—my new friend."
Friend? Why is she calling someone she just met a friend? Isn't friendship supposed to be built on mutual trust? We just met, yet she already trusts me. She doesn't look dumb or anything. Just what is it that makes her think everyone is a good person?
I don't understand.
I think... it's okay to call her a friend for now. She doesn't look like a bad person. And she already trusted me. So maybe... keeping my guard up, but still considering her a friend—for now—is good.
Yes. It's alright.