Chapter: 174
On the 10th floor, the boss was utterly powerless in front of my divinely shielded defense.
This was the same monster that had been thwarted by my parrying before. There was no way it could break through my shield enhanced with divine powers.
The golem desperately flailed around, but it was futile. Before long, it crumbled away into meaningless debris.
As I watched the golem’s remnants plummet to the ground, I leaned my body against the shield that was planted firmly in the earth, letting out a long sigh.
Huh, this is honestly exhausting. I’m halfway to being totally spent right now.
It wasn’t the fight with the golem that drained me.
My stamina is stellar!
Back in my training days with the Alrn family, I could keep moving for hours without a break.
If I was this much stronger now, I’d probably be able to keep going for two nights in a row!
So, it made no sense for me to be worn out simply from a physical limit.
But the reason I felt like dying right now?
It was simple. The backlash from using Divine Shield Techniques for too long.
“Maintaining defense with divinity consumes a colossal amount of stamina, you know?!”
[That’s why I haven’t told you until now. You’ll turn into a vegetable afterward.]
I’ve mentioned this before, but I was still clumsy with this skill.
I was somewhat accustomed to enhancing my body, but any advanced applications beyond that were quite a struggle.
I couldn’t control the output, so I always had to unleash it at full blast.
Charging my shield with divinity was no different.
While blocking the golem’s attacks, I had to pour maximum divinity into it every time.
That’s why I felt my stamina drop in real-time.
If it weren’t for my unyielding willpower keeping me upright, I would’ve asked Karl and Alsetin for help instead!
…Ah. Right. I probably should’ve just asked for help.
Having achieved my initial goal of checking my shield skill level, I didn’t need to go solo against that thing.
Ugh, I just can’t. Damn it, it’s all that bastard tin can’s fault.
Why’s that ugly heap of junk so resilient?
It should’ve just picked itself up and fallen over around the one-minute mark, just like in the game.
And the reward for taking it down? Just one fire stone?! What a total waste of a pathetic, burdensome tin can!
“Are we stopping here for today?”
Yeah.
“Right. I’m sick of this shabby, stinky dump of a dungeon.”
I originally planned to push on after defeating the 10th-floor boss, but it seemed impossible.
If I try to force it, I might actually faint. Let’s just head back to the inn for a wash. I can’t stand being this gross.
*
While I was washing at the inn, there was a minor mishap where a Clumsy Fox dove into the clothes I was wearing, but after that, I got dressed lightly and headed outside.
I needed to count the loot I gathered from the Menes Tail dungeon.
Most items from the lower floors were nothing but useless junk for me.
Storing such things in my inventory would just clutter it without any real use.
So, it’s better to hand over these useless items to the Adventurers Guild.
I could make some cash from selling the loot and boost my reputation with the guild. Plus, hopefully, I can increase the guild receptionist’s favor… as long as they don’t outright hate me.
“You don’t have to go, Young Lady. I can handle it and come back.”
Karl tried to dissuade me, clearly worried about me returning to the Adventurers Guild.
After all, I had met many greedy eyes there last night.
He was probably worried about me being exposed under their scrutiny again.
Personally, I thought it was a needless concern.
If my name wasn’t already known, I might understand. But now that “Lucy Alrn” is out there, who would dare look me in the eye?
What if they challenge me?
Sure, I may look like a cute girl now, but the name Lucy Alrn has the power to squash that cuteness into the ground.
Knowing better than anyone the weight of Lucy’s infamy, I brushed off Karl’s worries and headed to the Adventurers Guild.
Once inside, I was sure my assumptions were right.
As soon as I showed my face, a heavy silence swept across the entire guild.
“Ah, familiar vibes.”
[Yeah. It’s the kind of scenery we’ve seen incessantly at the Academy.]
People hurriedly turned their heads to avoid my gaze, glancing sideways, and some even cowering into corners out of fear.
This was just like the times I’d slip into class late.
Desire or greed for a cute girl? As if there could be any.
As I confidently walked toward the reception desk, people in line conveniently made space for me.
The receptionist cast a desperate glance at other adventurers, seemingly pleading for help, but no one responded at all.
“Uh, hey.”
“Hey, you brute.”
“Yes! Alrn Young Lady! How can I assist you?!”
The receptionist responded to me with a stiff demeanor, as if determined not to show any sign of weakness.
Seeing their tense expression made me want to poke fun.
I mean, if I really wanted to pick on them, I’d have tons of ammo!
Starting from questions like, “Are you scared of me?”
No, no. Let’s calm down.
Maybe it was because I had been stressed all day, but my masugaki skill kicked in again.
What was I thinking, harassing someone I would be seeing for a while?
Barely holding on to my sanity, I explained to the receptionist that I had come to process my loot.
“Loot? Could you place it on the desk?”
“Right here?”
“On this shabby one?”
“Yes.”
Hmm. I wonder if everything can fit on there.
I said I would, but…
Pretending to open a pocket space, I began pulling out the loot from my inventory one by one.
Wow, taking them out one by one is quite the chore. I had defeated way too many minions thanks to those lousy adventurers.
If I had stuck to my original plan, I probably wouldn’t have had to repeat battles that much.
Thanks to that, I did gain a level up, but I’m not grateful at all. It was way more troublesome and exhausting.
“Um…”
“Hey, brute.”
“Is this it?”
“No, that’s not it…”
“What a load of nonsense! You look as dumb as you are! Just put it on the floor. No complaints, right?”
“Uh, yes. Sure.”
After rummaging through my inventory for some time, I managed to pile up all the loot in front of the reception desk.
In the game, I’d just have to click the mouse a few times, but in reality, this was exhausting.
I think I’ll have to just leave the junk items behind next time I enter a dungeon.
“…Did you really hunt all this today?”
“So?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“No! No problem at all! I’ll handle this right away!”
While the bulky receptionist and several guild staff started organizing my loot, a party approached me.
Oh, I remember them. They were the clumsy party I first trained the monsters with!
I had already planned to give them a piece of my mind, so this was perfect.
Time to vent the frustrations of dealing with useless adventurers during the dungeon.
Waiting to nitpick whatever they might say…
“Please forgive us! Alrn Young Lady!”
““We’re so sorry!””
They all bowed their heads before me.
Wait, huh?
“Because we were audacious and had no idea about our place!…”
“Please, just spare our lives!…”
“I have a sick little brother in my home!…”
At first, I was ready to take them down a peg, but they just kept hitting their heads to the ground, causing my brain to go blank.
Honestly, if it had ended there, I might have managed to regain my composure. But when the original party started banging their heads together, the others who I had saved joined in, and I was left utterly dazed.
The most ridiculous part was Karl.
In a situation where he was supposed to be helping me, he’s back there nodding along!
If Alsetin hadn’t intervened, I’d have been stuck watching this ridiculousness for ages.
Sigh. Just a bunch of dumb mutts that are no help outside of battle.
Just you wait. One day, I might decide to give them a kick!
After things settled down and I listened to their story, I could understand why they were so desperate.
The issue was, my notoriety was far too high.
Think about it.
For them, while they were desperately trying to survive, they’d also put me, the count’s daughter and a troublemaker, in danger.
They probably thought they didn’t know what might happen if they just stood idle. So they chose to bang their heads in apology to keep their heads attached!
“I’m so tired.”
After assuring them I wouldn’t retaliate, I leaned back in my chair and sighed internally.
I’m just so exhausted. I feel like I could die from fatigue.
Honestly, I’ve stayed up all night training with Grandpa and never felt this drained.
[Should we take a break today?]
“No. We have to do what we need to.”
Normally, I’d welcome the idea of taking a break, but not today.
I need to practice how to properly channel divinity into my shield.
After all, you never know what variables might crop up in the Menes Tail dungeon, so how could I afford to rest?
I can rest after everything is finished.
While I was gathering my thoughts, a guy, the start of the apology wave, approached me.
“I apologize again, Alrn Young Lady. It’s my fault.”
He stood before me, visibly shaken, suggesting a sense of responsibility.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
“Just a loser like me! Did you think someone as pathetic as me could matter to someone like you? Haha, talk about delusions.”
The guy was left fumbling for words in response to the masugaki skill’s ridicule.
At this rate, he might end up with holes in his disguise. Let’s let him go.
I still had some words to say, though.
“Aren’t you too weak for an adventurer?”
“Hey, why would a wuss like you, who gets beaten by a girl, even step into a dungeon? If you want to die, just do it alone in your room, will ya?”
Going into the dungeon is a life or death issue.
With a poor skill level like that, you could end up meeting a tragic end.
If you’re begging for your life on the lower floors, it’s better to just give up this whole adventurer gig.
I wasn’t trying to give them a guilt trip, but if it ends badly, it’d be awfully annoying.
But instead of being annoyed, the man quickly waved his hands.
“No! I don’t want to die! Uhm, you see, usually there aren’t so many monsters on the lower floors. But today, the dungeon seems… strange.”
He said he was an adventurer who didn’t have the skills to go further but could barely scrape by on the lower floors.
But today, the dungeon was abnormal. Monsters were appearing more frequently, and their ferocity had increased drastically.
“I’ve been wandering around the Menes Tail dungeon for a while, but this is the first time I’ve seen anything like it.”
As I listened to his story, I found I could only mutter unintelligible sounds.
So, the phenomenon had started occurring on the day I entered the dungeon.
“Uh, Grandpa. Could this be…”
[Hmm. It seems both the Evil God and Armadi are keeping an eye on you, just as Armandus takes notice.]
Right? This has to be because of me, doesn’t it?!
…Thank goodness I was able to save everyone from danger.
If I had ignored it and later found out it was my fault, I would’ve beaten myself up for a long time.
Now, there’s one more reason to rush through the dungeon.
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