After the criminal god left, I turned to Lina and finally asked the question that had been bothering me.
"Lina, if Lady Tes…se had said just now that I was a Brave, what would you have thought?"
Since Lina had brought up the possibility of me being a hero, I needed to know how she truly felt about it.
"I would hate the Goddess of Fate, because she would be putting you in danger. But at the same time, I'd think her choice was correct—because, Karen, you're strong and smart."
"Thank you for the compliment. Then… would you want me to be a Brave, or just an ordinary person?"
If Lina said she wanted me to be a Brave, I would tell her the truth.
If she didn't, then I would keep hiding it.
"An ordinary person. That way, you could live a peaceful and stable life, without running around everywhere just to defeat the Demon King."
"I see."
As expected, I would have to keep hiding it.
But the longer I kept it hidden, the more my heart hurt. Maybe I should leave Lina a note when I set out someday… though before that, I'd need to find a way to let her stay safely in the capital.
After that, we tried using the dungeon passage magic. Just as promised, simply thinking about the level we wanted to go to was enough to teleport there.
I also discovered that physical contact allowed me to bring someone along during teleportation—but it was probably best not to let anyone else know about that.
In the end, we returned to level 100 to use the teleportation circle. Since the color of the circle light changed every ten levels, Dex would definitely ask about it, so we needed to understand it beforehand.
Level 100 was a temple.
After Lina stepped into the teleportation circle, I followed her in. A beautiful starry sky appeared before my eyes, and when the light of the circle faded, Lina was standing right in front of me.
"Karen, it's a starry sky!"
"Yeah… it's beautiful."
The moment Lina saw me, she excitedly shared her amazement at the new teleportation light. However, nearby adventurers were staring at us, so I responded a little absentmindedly.
That was because they were talking about us, and I needed to hear what they were saying.
"That's the Black Knight and Snow White Princess right? Haven't seen them in a few days."
"They came out of black circle light, didn't they? Don't tell me they broke dungeon record again?"
"Why are they dressed in plain clothes? Is the dungeon no longer dangerous for them?"
Luckily, they weren't saying anything bad. Otherwise, I would have memorized their faces.
Still, the whispers kept growing. We should leave quickly.
I took Lina's hand and started walking away.
"Let's get out of here first."
"Mm."
It was already evening. If we went to talk with Dex now, the conversation would definitely drag on for a long time—better to leave it for tomorrow.
After that, since we had spent two days inside the dungeon, the inn lady boss was worried about us.
Well… she was worried about Lina.
During that time, Lina had gotten quite close to the inn lady boss, while I, for some reason I couldn't understand, seemed to have fallen out of her favor.
Today is September 17th. The moment we arrived at the guild, we were met with countless stares. No matter how much time passes, I still can't get used to it.
"Hey, Karen and the little lady. It's been a few days. I heard you broke another record?"
Brett appeared. He's a middle-aged man with a punk hairstyle, and he's always called Lina "the little lady." On top of that, he still enjoys scaring newcomers. He never learns.
"How do you know?"
"I heard them talking about it last night. You two came out of black teleportation light, right? You arrived the level 91?"
News travels fast here. It's honestly scary.
"Yeah. We're heading to report to the guild master now."
"What kind of environment is level 91 like?"
Brett asked out of curiosity, but I couldn't exactly make it public. I decided to brush him off.
"It's an environment you can't comprehend—something you'd never see in this era."
"That extreme? What's it like?"
He wouldn't let it go. Looks like I'd have to pull out my trump card.
"There were paranormal incidents too. We didn't even touch anything, but it started moving on its own. Then I felt this sudden chill…"
As I spoke, I exaggerated my gestures for effect. Brett's face went pale—he's terrified of ghosts.
"Y-You stop right there! Go find Dex, now!"
He grabbed my shoulders and forcibly turned me toward Dex's office. Seeing how scared he was made me want to tease him even more.
"Alright. I'll tell you more later."
"Don't! I don't want to hear it!"
At that, Brett ran off in terror. He'd probably go spread wild rumors afterward.
Next, we went to greet Sally.
"Sally."
When Lina called her name, she immediately turned around. The moment she saw us, questions came pouring out, her ponytail bouncing energetically behind her.
"Lina! Karen! Did you break record again?! I heard you came out wearing casual clothes—does that mean the monsters in the dungeon aren't even a threat to you anymore?! As expected of our guild's Rainbow-rank adventurers, everything's a piece of cake!"
By the time she finished, she didn't even need an answer. She was already convinced.
Sally was nothing like she used to be. She worked much faster now, no longer froze up at shocking news, and her lively personality made her popular. Unfortunately, she'd also become increasingly nosy.
"You'll find out soon enough. Is the guild master here?"
"Yeah, Dad's in his office. Are you going up to see him?"
"Yes."
We soon arrived in front of Dex's office. I knocked twice.
"Come in."
After receiving permission, I opened the door—only to see Dex sitting there with his arms crossed, glaring at us with an irritated expression.
"You two finally show up. Where have you been these past few days?"
"In the dungeon. And we've already reached the bottom."
"What?! The bottom?! How many levels is that?! Hand over the dungeon recorder!"
Dex jumped to his feet in shock, urgently reaching for the recorder. We handed it over.
"So the dungeon has 100 levels in total… But didn't you say you'd take it slow? Why did you suddenly clear it all the way?"
After checking the records, Dex leaned back against the sofa, looking like everything finally made sense. After a short pause, he seemed to recall what I had said before.
I had said I'd clear it slowly—but becoming a Brave so suddenly changed my plans. I had no choice but to reach the bottom as quickly as possible.
"Because starting from level 91, there are many things we can't understand."
"Tell me what you saw."
So I began making things up, lumping everything that doesn't exist in this world under the label of paranormal phenomena. Dex listened with a serious expression, which honestly made me feel a little guilty.
"I see… Houses with windmills that spin on their own, and sticks that suddenly light up. That does sound frightening."
(You don't look scared at all.)
Even though he said it was frightening, his face was full of curiosity. How much does he love research? At this point, he might as well become a scholar.
"Yeah. I figured the deeper levels would only get more incomprehensible, so we just cleared it all the way. But we do have a general idea of what kind of environment it was."
"Tell me the environment and the theme."
"It was a city. Starting from level 91, there were residential areas, schools, food streets, parks, highways, commercial districts, building material zones, industrial districts, tourist areas, and a temple."
"Explain it to me in detail."
With his most serious—and somehow most handsome—expression, Dex questioned me. Just how much does he love the dungeon?
I explained everything we saw using concepts familiar to this world, while Dex took out paper and pen to write it all down.
"Did you bring back any items?"
"Of course."
I took out some food we had taken from the food street and a wristwatch from the shopping mall, pulling them from my storage hole. Dex picked up the watch and examined it closely.
"This looks a lot like the dungeon recorder."
"It's called a wristwatch. It's used to tell time."
Dex inspected it from every angle—front, back, left, and right.
"This truly is something that doesn't exist in this era. The dungeon really is full of unknowns."
After that, I helped Dex adjust the time on the watch. Thankfully, there was a pendulum clock in the guild to confirm the correct time. I also checked my pocket watch and confirmed that time flowed the same inside and outside the dungeon.
At last, it was time to be freed from dungeon exploration duties. After taking a sip of tea, I asked Dex:
"Guild master, we don't need to explore the dungeon anymore, right?"
"No. But I want you to bring back more items we've never seen before."
"Okay."
I gave a thumbs-up to show my happiness and agreement with Dex's words.