The Wave Jelly exploded into a bunch of lights, leaving a somewhat large blue elemental gem in its place.
Tizmilly grabbed it before she landed gracefully on the ground.
"As I said, I could defeat it with no problem!"
She stated while flashing a proud smile toward me, chest puffed out like she was still that confident noble lady from the Academy.
That's the reason why I recruited you, Tizmilly. Finally!
"Our Miss Villainess is back..." I muttered and wiped a tear from my right eye. The sight was nostalgic. This was the same girl who used to dominate the combat practicals.
"?" Tizmilly tilted her head, wondering why I wasn't responding to her.
I smiled toward her after resetting my feelings.
"Let's continue!" I stated.
"Yes, Boss!" she replied cheerfully, snapping into a salute that was half-mocking, half-serious.
_Eh, Boss?_
Seeing me pause, Tizmilly started fidgeting with her fingers, her earlier confidence evaporating.
"W-was it really that strange for me to use the word?" she asked me with an embarrassed face, avoiding my eyes.
"Well, it's not strange, but why Boss?" I asked her back, genuinely curious.
"It's because I wanted to try it after Gerena addressed you with that every day..." she mumbled, cheeks reddening.
Somehow, I am not that surprised.
Even in the game, Tizmilly indeed has that innocent side in her. She could easily be affected by the people around her. Put her with Carole, she gets haughty. Put her with Sirry, she gets flustered. Put her with Gerena...
If I am not wrong, the reason she turned into a really twisted character is that she befriended... well, the wrong people. People like Raffassa.
"M-more importantly, let's quickly descend to the 11th floor!"
Maybe because she couldn't hold the embarrassment she felt anymore, Tizmilly hastily tapped the option to descend.
After I came back to reality, she was already gone from the 10th floor, so I immediately descended to follow her.
From the 11th floor, the monsters of this Dungeon began to get stronger, Tizmilly explained to me earlier. However, as we fought those monsters, they weren't that strong. The most time-consuming process was fulfilling our kill quotas since we had to wander around for a while before we could find a new monster. The spawn rate here was sluggish, designed for parties of newbies, not two overqualified fighters.
At the 14th floor, Tizmilly started to feel tired. Her mana reserve was also beginning to run out, her sword swings getting just a fraction slower.
To avoid an unexpected situation, I stopped her the moment her breathing started to turn haggard.
"Let's rest a bit. We have to fight even more monsters on the next floor and also have to find the item I mentioned before, so we'll need to conserve our stamina and mana."
Although she looked like she still wanted to fight, stubborn to the end, she obeyed me.
I brought her near the spot where we teleported to this floor. Most of the monsters around here had already been killed by us, so we could rest with some peace of mind here. The water was still, the glowing plants casting faint ripples across the stone.
We sat there and drank some water from our respective water bags to rehydrate.
After resting in silence for a while, Tizmilly turned toward me.
"Mister Roost, may I ask what kind of item you wanted to find on the 15th floor?" she asked with a curious tone, brushing wet hair from her face.
"It's an Aqua Rune," I replied, which shocked her.
"Aq-aqua Rune!? That's a very rare item that hardly drops from the monsters inside water-themed Dungeons like The Bank of Water..." Her eyes went wide. She knew the value.
That's right, the Dungeon's monsters could also drop items, though with an insanely thin chance. Maybe about 1% or less chance. If you were unlucky, you wouldn't even get a single drop item after killing monsters for years.
I myself never got a drop item before I encountered that Irregular that dropped this Boulder Thrust of mine.
Normally, people couldn't get the item they wanted however they wanted it. It's purely by luck, or from the point of view of someone like me, who knows about the truth of the Dungeons, it's luck for the person who gets it + a moment of misfortune for the Dungeon.
"Why are you so sure that we would get it on the 15th floor?" she hastily asked me.
She must've sensed that I knew something she didn't. Her gaze was sharp now, the fatigue forgotten.
If it's Tizmilly, I don't think it would be a problem to tell her, so I opened my mouth.
However, before I could even voice a word, a group of people entered this floor. And not just a random group, but it was _them_.
The moment our eyes met, they immediately glared at us. The water seemed to get colder.
Yes, it's them, they whom I don't want to get involved with the most. The absolute worst timing.
Seeing Tizmilly and me sitting relaxedly on the ground, that pinkhead immediately acted like a scared little thing and hid behind the three of them.
And that, of course, agitated them.
"So you're here, Tizmilly, and you! You can't escape from us anymore! Quickly apologize to Raffassa, or you won't leave this Dungeon unscathed!" The stupid—I mean, the crown prince—barked at us and unsheathed his sword, which was followed by the other two also entering their fighting stances with their gauntlets and bow.
I exchanged glances with Tizmilly.
Both of us had disgusted expressions on our faces. Of all the Dungeons, of all the floors, of all the timing.
_A prince threatening random civilians from the Dungeon City... I wonder if I could report it to the guard later?_
I thought of that idly to escape reality, but of course, they wouldn't let me go that easily.
"Do you hear the Prince, you two!?" Lideon hollered in, voice echoing in the water.
"Are you deaf or what?" Reffion asked sarcastically, nocking an arrow with deliberate slowness.
I really don't want to get involved with these guys.
"Couldn't you guys go play anywhere else? Just don't bother me."
They were shocked for some reason. Even Tizmilly widened her eyes. Then I realized.
_Ah, I accidentally voiced out my thought._
The prince's face became red after he heard my words. His pride was as fragile as glass. Seeing him like that, I knew that my peaceful weekend was over.
The prince sheathed his sword while staring daggers at me. Then he took off his right glove and threw it at me.
The glove hit my chest, then slowly fell to the ground, sinking in the soft silt.
"You! I challenge you to a duel!"
Facing him, I couldn't help but think, _He really likes to challenge people to a duel, huh?_
Even in the game, I always had a hard time whenever a new villain was introduced in a situation where the prince was around Ahlia. He would always challenge the villain to a duel, and since he was... not too strong in the early game, I always had to save his ass every time. History really does repeat itself.
Tizmilly shook her head, signaling toward me to reject it.
Rejecting it wouldn't be a problem since I don't care about honor or whatever after I know about the ultimate doom waiting for this world in the future, but now that he had already gone this far to bother me, well... maybe it's time someone taught His Highness that the real world doesn't play by storybook rules.