“Seria-dono, like Captain Alexio, are you not gathering any companions to challenge the dungeon? Even in the lower levels, it seemed like you could neutralize most of the monsters. I thought that if there were someone working in your place, the result would have been different…”

Mio, who seemed to have gotten somewhat used to this seat, asked a question.

Well, it’s a perfectly reasonable question… but how should I answer?

“That girl is shy. She wouldn’t team up with someone she doesn’t know,” Seriana answered casually, without hesitation.

While I was hesitating, Seriana gave an answer that was rather careless… and Mio seemed to accept it.

Even my father did, but do I look like someone who’s shy? I think I’m pretty sociable, but… well, whatever.

“Seria can fly, so it’s fine for her, but the others can’t do that, can they? They need to keep fighting the monsters down below until the poison takes effect. And more than that, it’s not easy to get that far,” Seriana said, with Elena adding an explanation to her words.

That’s true… In my case, it’s also because I’m hiding certain things, but the problem is that it’s hard to team up with others.

When adventurers go hunting in dungeons, I’ve heard they mostly stay near the upper or middle levels. Even those who are capable of reaching deeper levels, that doesn’t change.

Monsters roam the dungeon, seeing us as enemies and attacking, and that’s not the only danger. The location can suddenly shift, and you can end up traveling for kilometers while fighting. The degree of exhaustion is far greater than just walking outside.

And normally, when aiming for deeper levels, parties are formed with the premise of staying in the dungeon overnight. However, staying in a dangerous place overnight isn’t something you can easily do, and sometimes, even at the formation stage, they end up abandoning the idea.

In fact, it seems that the difficulty of surviving the monsters is lower than the difficulty of staying in those places overnight. Alex said he explored other dungeons besides the royal capital and Zelkis, but he said he mostly had to give up in the middle layers due to formation issues.

By the way, the reason the hunting grounds in the middle layer of this dungeon are fully occupied is because the problems I just mentioned have been solved. While knights and adventurers belong to different factions, exploration is being led by the lord, and there is cooperation between them. Supplies are provided, and help arrives quickly if something happens. With all that, they can afford to carry out their investigations.

That said, even those hunting in the innermost part of the middle layer will face different challenges once the dungeon opens and the support system is removed. They’ll have to form a new party, and things will change.

Dungeon exploration is hard, that’s the bottom line.

However, for me, all I have to do is fly over the dungeon. I’m not entirely sure how long the dungeon reaches in the lower layers, but it’s probably around 5 to 6 kilometers, I guess?

If I feel like it, I can get there in a few minutes.

Plus, if I paralyze the monsters with poison and leave the finishing blow to my companions, I won’t even get any holy coins…

Elena expressed it quite mildly, but honestly, I don’t see much benefit in teaming up with others for dungeon exploration. If it’s an exploration with Alex or Zighart, people I’m close to, then I can enjoy it like a leisure activity, but with strangers, it just comes with too many restrictions.

Unless there’s some particular reason, I wouldn’t team up with anyone.

While I was thinking about all this, Elena and the others were teaching Mio about dungeon exploration. It seems she has done some training, but she’s not very familiar with actual dungeon exploration. Well, August treats her more like a secretary than a deputy, so maybe that’s fine?

◇

After about an hour, the meeting concluded, and everyone dispersed.

As for the lower levels, Zighart had planned to dive with Alex and the others before autumn. Even though Zighart would be there, he was just insurance, and the party would be made up of a selection from both the knights and adventurers.

Additionally, August, in place of the two missing members, would take charge of the dungeon investigation, as decided by the men in the group.

By the way, we weren’t involved in that decision.

Mio, who was participating for the first time, seemed surprised, but when I thought about it, I realized we usually make decisions casually. Of course, the final decision is made in a meeting led by Liesel, but the things decided here still pass through. It’s like what you’d call a “closed-door policy” in the past world. I didn’t realize it until it was pointed out, but I’ve really gotten used to this world.

Then, everyone who attended returned to their respective mansions or rooms, and Seriana and I headed to the bedroom as usual.

In the bedroom, I was lazily lying on the bed, while Seriana spread out various combs and began brushing her hair. The quality of her hair has improved with the Blessing of Mira, but she still needs to take care of it. She always spends time before bed doing her hair care routine.

When Elena stayed in this room, she used to do it. Maybe I should do it, but… I don’t know anything about hair care…

Luckily, Seriana doesn’t seem to mind doing it herself, but still… hmm…

While I was pondering, Seriana looked at me, seemingly remembering something, and spoke.

“By the way… you reached 10 coins today, didn’t you? Are you going to use them?”

“Holy coins? Hmm… I think I’ll hold off for now?”

“Oh? That’s rare. Are you aiming for 100 coins again?”

“No, not that far, but… someone else took the final blow on the hunt, so it didn’t feel satisfying.”

It’s not that I’m superstitious, but it didn’t end on a clean note… I always feel that way, but I’m pretty satisfied with the current situation, so I don’t feel the need to force a gacha spin.

“Right now, the hunting grounds, both inside and outside the dungeon, are crowded… It’ll probably be a little while before I use them.”

If things go as planned, the dungeon will be publicly accessible in almost three more months. Until then, the hunting grounds near the capital will probably be crowded with people looking for holy coins.

I don’t feel like forcing my way through them to hunt, so… it seems like I’ll be staying away from that bloody lifestyle for a while.

“I see… Well, how you use them is up to you, but… don’t slack off too much, alright?”

“…Yeah.”

She sounds like a mother before summer vacation… But I understand what she means.

Maybe I should find something else to do?

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

Seria・【Hideout】 +1【Prayer】【Mira’s Blessing】【Wind Cloth】・【Floating Orb】 +1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lungs】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Snake’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】・10 cards

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

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・3 cards

Alec・【Strong Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・7 cards