Chapter Forty Two:Confidence

"Thanks for your healing magic, little elf girl, and thank you for the potion, baby boy. As a reward, baby boy the next time you visit the Entertainment District, contact me, and I'll gift you a free 'King's Package' for the night… Stop, stop, I'm joking! Please put the swords down!"

The beautiful Amazon woman lay on the ground with a katana and a rapier crossed at her neck. The cold expressions of the two elf women told Aisha that one wrong word and she'd be saying goodbye to her head.

"What's a 'King's Package'?" Ryuu quietly asked Alicia, who was standing beside her. She instinctively knew it wasn't something good but lacked a deeper understanding.

Alicia hesitated before whispering in Ryuu's ear: "Exclusive….One-on-ten….pole dance…strip….unclothed."

Ryuu's face flushed red as steam seemed to rise from her head. Alicia's face reddened too.

"Al…Alicia…how do you even know about that?" Ryuu stammered.

Alicia blushed harder, "I overheard some idiot guys in my familia talking about it…"

The Loki Familia once had a male adventurer who embezzled a huge sum of the familia's funds for a trip to the Entertainment District. Afterward, he was swindled by a bad woman, losing all the money in a few days. 

And the unnamed hero [High Novice] Raul, spent so much money in the Entertainment District that even now, he still hasn't paid back his debt.

Thus, Raul Nord and the Entertainment District, Raul Nord and his massive debt, and Raul Nord and the  'King's Package' became the stuff of legend within the Loki Familia.

"What's with these two perverted elves?" Aisha silently grumbled, watching the two elves act all shy and awkward, though she knew better than to say it out loud.

"So, you fell down to the 16th floor due to a vertical hole, and then fell even further when the ground below collapsed due to the impact. That's truly unfortunate," Shirou said, "I'm Shirou Emiya. What's your name?"

"My name is Sanjouno Haruhime," the fox girl said softly.

Haruhime had a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes, long golden hair, a pair of fox ears and a fluffy golden tail with a white end.

Shirou, in as gentle a tone as possible, said, "Understood, Miss Sanjou. From here on, follow behind me with Lefiya. I'll protect you both."

"Understood, thank you," Haruhime bowed even deeper. Her soft-spoken nature made her hesitant to correct Shirou's mistake in pronouncing her surname—though technically, it wasn't entirely wrong.

Haruhime sneaked a glance at Shirou as he tried to comfort Lefiya, trying to get her to pull herself together.

"The way Shirou-Sama vowed to protect me… is just like a hero. But I am…a prostitute destined to bring disaster to heroes." She lowered her head again, her golden ears and tail drooping in sync.

…..

"I'm fairly certain our familia's expedition team just returned and defeated Goliath on their way back. It shouldn't have respawned yet," Aisha chimed in, getting back to her feet.

The Amazons race's most remarkable trait was their resilience. A few floors' worth of fall damage? One potion, and Aisha was back on her feet, ready to fight again.

The Ishtar Familia boasted over ten adventurers at Level 3 or above, with their captain being a First Class Level 5 adventurer. Even without sending out the entire familia, taking down Goliath was hardly a challenge.

"The Goliath shouldn't have respawned yet; that much is certain," Aisha muttered, still puzzled as to why preparations were being made to hunt Goliath again.

"You don't understand the 'Dungeon's Malice,'" Alicia said. "The Dungeon can make all sorts of unreasonable things happen just to target adventurers. It's not impossible that a Goliath has been forced to respawn early."

"Alright, but with you and Gale here, even if we're short on numbers, defeating Goliath shouldn't be too difficult. I can help out, too."

Though Goliath was a 'Floor Boss,' it was essentially a Level 4 monster with superior durability. Here, they had two Level 4 adventurers—both [Elleaf] and [Gale] were amongst the strongest Level 4 adventurers.

Aisha, though known for her occupation as a prostitute, had not earned her reputation solely through that. Both her physical and combat abilities were above average, and she even had a powerful attack magic, making her a prominent figure in the Ishtar Familia.

"To be honest, because you're here, we're actually even more worried," Alicia said. "Don't get me wrong, it's not that we underestimate you, but with you added into the mix, defeating a Goliath seems a bit too easy."

The fighting strength of an adventurer party increases noticeably with more members, and having Aisha, a Level 3 Amazon, as a frontliner was more than adequate. This allowed Ryuu and Alicia's offensive power to be fully unleashed.

"The Dungeon's purpose is to kill us adventurers. That's why I'm concerned—is things really going to be so easy?"

Alicia then shifted the topic and asked, "That Level 1 fox girl, is she of any use?"

Aisha immediately replied, "No, she's just a rookie. She doesn't have any skill or magic."

"I see." Alicia didn't press further, though she still harbored doubts.

Would the Ishtar Familia really send a Level 3 adventurer like Aisha, to personally protect a Level 1 adventurer with no skills or magic?

And wearing a kimono in the Dungeon—wasn't that a bit too strange?

Alicia suppressed her curiosity. Delving into another familia's secrets was not polite.

Seeing that Alicia had lost interest, Aisha quietly sighed in relief.

Haruhime did have a magic, and it was an incredibly powerful, almost absurdly broken magic. That was exactly why the Ishtar Familia sent so many high-level adventurers to protect and look after her.

Honestly, the Amazons weren't even this attentive to their own mothers.

Because of that game-changing magic, Haruhime was one of the Ishtar Familia's biggest secrets. If not for the current situation, she should have never appeared in the presence of someone from the Loki Familia.

At that moment, Ryuu returned. She had been assigned scouting duties due to her high agility.

"I've confirmed it—the passageway to the upper floors is blocked."

Though they had anticipated this, she double-checked just in case there was a miracle.

"Thanks for checking. It seems we only have one option left. Let's get moving before monsters start spawning in this room."

"Understood."

"You're in charge."

The three experienced adventurers made their decision.

Meanwhile, with the three newcomers…

Haruhime hung her head, recalling rumors she'd heard from the prostitutes back at the Entertainment District: "I've heard that the Dungeon deliberately targets promising rookies with 'abnormal situations' to eliminate potential threats. So, this disaster must have happened because of me. I've brought upon this calamity."

Lefiya was feeling equally down: "It happened again, the "Dungeon's malice" must be aimed at me. I've dragged down Shirou, Ryuu-senpai, and Alicia-onee-chan."

As for Shirou… he wasn't thinking anything like that. He simply closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on preparing his mind and body for the battle ahead.

————-

(TN:Shirou probably doesn't know what skills or development abilities he temporarily acquired due to Roadless Valhalla.)