The next morning, the crushing weight of reality finally settled in.
Now I realized exactly what I had missed in my frantic sprint through the depths.
First, there was the catastrophic situation on the 15th floor. What did I do about it, you ask?
Absolutely nothing. The area had essentially transformed into a second Crystal Peak. Because of that massive geological disruption, the Guild was bound to flood the top Familias with mountains of paperwork just to figure out what went wrong with the terrain.
Second, there were the bodies I had left scattered across the lower floors. Leaving that kind of carnage behind was guaranteed to cause a massive misunderstanding, sparking rumors of either a terrifying new monster stalking the deep or a maniacal killer hiding in the dark.
Third, I had completely abandoned the kids at the training ground without even staying to hear what they wanted to say.
And lastly… I had left my actual paperwork completely unfinished.
"Daaamn it," I groaned aloud.
Lid jumped, startled by the sudden, heavy sigh echoing through the dusty room. "What's wrong, Allen?"
I looked over at him, genuinely surprised by how quickly he was adapting to the abandoned church. "Nothing. Just a few massive, self-inflicted problems."
"?"
"I'm going to go deliver these magic stones, then I'll be back," I told him, adjusting my gear. "Stay put."
I readied my things and slipped out of the church. Navigating the sprawling streets, I actually managed to find the Guild headquarters much faster than usual. Don't blame me for getting lost before; Orario is an absolute labyrinth, and I lose track of where I'm going easily.
[Why don't you just use a map, Host?] the System inquired dryly.
'...To be honest, I didn't think about that.'
When I walked inside, I spotted Rose immediately. She looked like a walking corpse, complete with dark, hollow lines carved under her eyes. 'Yikes. Someone didn't sleep a wink.'
"Hey, Rose," I said, flashing what I hoped was a charming smile.
She didn't answer right away. Instead, her left eye just kept twitching violently as she stared at me.
"What's wrong?" I asked, leaning against her desk. "Why do you look like you're about to collapse at any given second?"
"Why do you think?" she rasped, her voice dangerously thin.
"Before you say anything else, let's step into a private room," I suggested, lowering my voice.
"..."
Her eye kept twitching like crazy. At this point, I had a very strong feeling I was the sole reason for her impending nervous breakdown.
She silently led me toward the back offices, but before she could open the door to a standard meeting room, I gently caught her shoulder. "Wait. When I said 'private room,' I actually meant somewhere much bigger. Like a storage vault."
"..."
Given how many times I had dropped ridiculous demands on her, she immediately knew what I was implying. But still, her mind screamed in sheer denial: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, A STORAGE VAULT?!
Lacking the energy to argue, she stiffly marched me down to the secure storage facility. "I don't understand why you need an entire warehouse just for a quick status update, Allen."
"Oh, it's not for a chat," I clarified cheerfully. "It's for a delivery."
Rose froze. "What? Allen... please tell me you didn't."
"It's about the mag—"
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT!"
Her sudden, echoing shout actually made me flinch. It was the first time I had ever seen her lose her professional composure so completely.
Rose let out a long, shuddering sigh, rubbing her temples with tired eyes. "The entire Guild has been working nonstop because a massive anomaly appeared in the Dungeon. It's actively warping the lower environment for no apparent reason. On top of that, there was a brutal skirmish reported on the 18th floor because of some rogue girl, and the executives are demanding we hunt her down. We haven't found a single lead."
"..."
Okay, maybe that last one was technically my fault, but surely the first anomaly had nothing to do with me, right?
"Which floors did you say these incidents happened on?" I asked innocently.
"The first environmental shift is centered on the 15th floor, and the massacre took place on the 18th."
Yep. It was me the whole time. And I didn't even try to clean up after myself.
"And don't even get me started on the upper floors," Rose groaned, tossing her clipboard onto a nearby crate.
"What happened up there?"
"Dozens of rookie adventurers came rushing back to the surface, claiming the upper levels are completely devoid of life. Now there are widespread panic reports about a shadow-dwelling monster sweeping through the tunnels."
"But... don't they just respawn?" I countered, genuinely confused.
"They should respawn!" Rose snapped. "But the regeneration rate has plummeted. The delay is completely unprecedented; it's heavily exceeding the standard cosmic limits of the Dungeon."
Yeah... also me.
"Is there... anything else?" I asked. On the outside, I was the picture of perfect calm. On the inside, absolute panic was setting in. Why? Because a massive Dungeon crisis meant one terrifying thing: a metric ton of mandatory paperwork for the Loki Familia.
"We sent couriers to alert the top factions," Rose sighed, slumping against a shelf. "The Freya Familia completely ignored the summons, which makes sense—they never care about Guild politics unless it suits them. So, naturally, we forwarded the entire priority brief straight to the Loki Familia."
OH, NOOOOOOO.
More homework?! Riveria is going to skin me alive!
"Anyway, forget about the logistics for a second," Rose said, pointing a trembling, angry finger at my chest. "What I want from you right now is a guarantee that you aren't going to contribute to this absolute disaster."
I stared at her finger, then looked at the vast, empty space of the storage vault.
"I'm sorry, little one," I whispered.
—THUD. THUD. THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!—
The moment the rhythmic, heavy clattering echoed through the chamber, Rose shivered. She slowly spun around on her heel, and her breath was completely caught in her throat.
High-grade magic stones were literally raining out of thin air, cascading from the void in a ceaseless, roaring avalanche. They bounced off the floor, piling up into a glittering, sapphire mountain that threatened to swallow the entire room. It just kept going, and going, and going.
Suddenly, the puzzle pieces violently clicked together in her sleep-deprived mind.
The missing monsters. The delayed respawn timers. The sudden lack of prey for the rookie adventurers. Nobody in the management office knew who the culprit was—but staring at the endless mountain of wealth overflowing in front of her, the truth was blinding.
"ALLEN!" she screamed, whirling back around, her face flushed with pure fury.
"Peace," I said.
Flashing a quick peace sign, I let the Void swallow my frame, teleporting cleanly out of the room before she could grab me.
"..."
Rose stared blankly at the empty space where I had just been standing, then looked back at the magic stones that were still pouring from the ceiling.
"Allen... I swear to the gods, I will make you pay for this!"
Normally, Rose maintained an incredibly tough, stoic personality—a necessary armor forged from years of watching her assigned adventurers march off to their deaths. But the severe lack of sleep, combined with a rogue teenager dropping a literal ecological disaster's worth of paperwork on her lap, cracked that professional shell wide open.
Outside the Guild
Swish.
I materialized in a quiet alleyway a few blocks away. Well, at least now I know exactly what's waiting for me at home.
I basically had two distinct choices here. Option A: go back to the Twilight Manor right now and accept a brutal lecturing from Riveria. Option B: vanish into the wilderness and completely disappear for the next eight years. But then again, elves live for hundreds of years; an eight-year disappearance would be a mere blink of an eye to her. She'd just be waiting at the gates when I got back, twice as angry.
"Meh, whatever. I'm screwed either way," I muttered to myself. "Better to take the beating now than live in fear."
I walked back toward the Manor at a snail's pace, doing everything in my power to stall for time. 'Come on, Allen, man up. It's not like she's going to be standing right at the front door waiting for you.'
Steeling my courage, I approached the grand arches of the estate. The gate guards stood like unmoving statues, paying me no mind.
"Hello," I mumbled breezily, picking up my pace as I slid past them.
The moment I looked up at the main entrance, I realized I had officially jinxed myself.
"There you are," a cold, melodic voice echoed across the courtyard. "I was beginning to think you had run away from our deal."
It was Riveria. Her arms were crossed, her regal elven features set in a terrifyingly stern expression.
I squeezed my eyes shut, silently accepting my fate. Honestly? I fully deserved whatever was about to happen next.
----------------------------------------------------------------I
Hello everyone I'm sorry it took me a full 19-20 days not writing anything which was surprise to me because I feel time ran fast.
Anyway for some reason I started to be lazy (even though I have exams after 2 weeks.) and I felt relaxed that whenever I lie down I started to feel sleepy.
Now I don't know if this is a problem or not because I was never like this before.
So I want you guys to forgive me for that.
Now thank you for reading my story and I wish you all happy life.
Stay safe everyone.