Summer

I’m currently not in the dungeon, but in Seriana’s parlor, with Seriana, Elena, Teresa, and Fiora all here with me.

Alec is out working with the knight squad, heading to hunting grounds like the First Forest, not the dungeon. With the founding anniversary festival coming up soon, people will gather from all over the territory, so he’s out clearing monsters to keep the area safe.

While the first squad is responsible for patrols along the highways, it’s the second squad that handles the hunting grounds.

Recently, Alec has been spending a lot of time in the dungeon, which has limited his interactions with the squad members who aren’t informed about the dungeon. Because of that, he’s been out almost every day for the past few days.

As a sort of substitute, Zighart has been holed up in the dungeon. Along with adventurers and knights, he’s been preparing tools and staying in the upper floors.

For now, it’s only the upper floors, but soon the middle floors will be opened, and eventually, even further beyond that. This seems to be part of a trial effort.

It’s really… every time I think about the need to research the right way to fight on each floor, I wonder if it’s necessary. But hey, it’s 10 holy coins for each corpse. And it’s not just for our own people, even complete strangers get the same. That’s enough to make anyone serious about it.

Well, I won’t mention how cheerful they were while preparing… but anyway…

“…You really managed to save up this much, huh?”

Looking at what’s piled up on the desk in front of me, Seriana’s voice carries a mix of disbelief, but I understand how she feels. I thought the same last night when I was counting them one by one at the 【Hideout】. When you line them up in bundles of ten, it’s even more impressive.

I can’t believe I managed to hold off this long.

“That’s amazing, right?”

I puff out my chest proudly, and Seriana just shrugs before standing up to grab a sacred statue from the shelf behind her. It’s fine to use my own, but since we’ve earned these holy coins in the capital city, I’ll use her statue for good luck.

“That girl… If I remember correctly, she didn’t have a single one when the dungeon was first made, right?”

“Yes. Since defeating the Demon King species, the princess has been frequenting the dungeon. She said she found a new way of hunting, and she managed to defeat monsters much more efficiently.”

“They had a tough time just hauling out the relics from the 【Hideout】…”

Elena and the others are sitting on the sofa, with Elena answering Fiora’s question.

Since the battle with the boss monkey, Fiora has been busy dealing with its remains and hasn’t been diving into the dungeon. She hadn’t even shown her face here much before that… I haven’t even shared my hunting strategies in the middle floors with her, so she seems surprised at how many holy coins I’ve gathered.

“So… Sera, you have 100 holy coins, which is enough for 10 pulls, right? Are you using them all?”

As she places the sacred statue on the desk, Seriana asks, and I respond immediately.

“Of course!”

100 holy coins… That’s 10 pulls.

I’ve been diligently visiting the dungeon through all kinds of weather: rainy days, windy days, hot days…

Since I mostly entered through the corridors, it wasn’t much different from the mansion, and since there were no people in the hunting grounds, the 【Hideout】 was available, making it pretty comfortable.

It wasn’t that hard, but still, after nearly three months of hard work, this is the result. I’m definitely using them!

◇

Right now, I think my foundation is complete.

I have close-range gear like the 【Shadow Sword】, auxiliary gear like the 【Ankle Bracelet】, medium-range gear like the 【Snake’s Tail】, and gear that works for both ranges like the 【Scarlet Bee’s Needle】.

There are also snakes around, and if needed, I could use magic to blind enemies.

For long-range, there’s 【Danrem’s Thread】, which is a powerful single shot, though it has its limits.

To make up for the lack of mobility, I’ve got the 【Floating Orb】, and to help with my lacking detection skills, there’s the 【Fairy’s Eye】, along with the snakes.

I’m still working on improving my abilities, but 【Prayer】 has been helping a lot, and I’ve been combining blessings and protection items effectively.

If it’s a good result, anything I pull is a jackpot!

Next month is the country’s founding anniversary, and here in Riana, there will be a small festival. People from all over the territory will come to offer their greetings, and of course, Luban from the neighborhood will be coming as well.

At that time, I plan to hunt down another boss that should be in the lower floors.

I don’t know what kind of boss it will be, but there’s almost two weeks until then, so that should be enough time to get used to it.

If it’s something not suited for combat, then I just won’t use it…

One holy coin equals 20 gold coins.

100 holy coins… It’s a big challenge, so I’ll need to give it extra focus!

“By the way… Is there anything you want?”

As I’m getting into the right mindset, stretching a little, Seriana speaks up.

“Hm?”

“You’re not really in need of anything right now, are you?”

“…Well, that’s true.”

When she says it like that, I start to feel like the heat in my head is cooling down. It’s not like I can just target anything, but it feels more balanced to have a clear goal in mind rather than just randomly pulling in the gacha.

Still, I don’t really have a strong preference… Hmm.

I put my arms together and tilted my head, thinking about it when I suddenly had an idea.

“Oh, something cool!”

So far, all the items I’ve gotten have been practical, but visually, a lot of them seem a bit odd.

Alec’s shield and Elena’s dagger, now those are cool…

“…I hope you get a good one.”

Seriana seems to squint her eyes as if she’s thinking something.

…She’s not exasperated with me, right?

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Seria・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】・【Floating Orb】【Shadow Sword】【Crimson Hornet’s Stinger】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】・101 cards

Seriana・【Range Identification】・【】・28 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】・3 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・5 cards