Rewards and Trouble

After resting up from the battle with the Infant Dragon and the monster horde, the trio started harvesting the magic stones of all the slayed monsters starting with the biggest one.

The weight of the battle still lingered on their minds, but butchering the dragon's corpse helped calm their nerves and set them more at ease.

Usually, monster corpses grow less durable upon death due to the magic energy leaving their body, but the infant dragon's was still so durable that Leo was incapable of cutting through its scales and flesh. Instead, Cassian handled the dragon's body, while she and Nico headed off to process the other moonsters.

They got lucky, very much so. Aside from the valuable magic stone of the monster, there were also dragon hide and claws. Considering how rare the drops from them were, these were very valuable.

The infant dragons themselves were rare, but their floor placement also made them inefficient to hunt. Level ones avoided them since they were too strong, while level twos didn't want to waste their time hanging around in the upper floors just for a chance to hunt them. It was better for them to go down further in the dungeon.

That is why the rarity of Infant Dragon drops even further amplified. Cassian debated whether to sell them or use them as forging material. In the end, he decided to keep the hide for armor and sell the claws. They were too short to make a proper sword anyway, only being enough for daggers.

The entire process took them almost three hours. The number of monsters they killed in the clearing and the cave systems was staggering.

Nico was unusually quiet during the whole process. It didn't hit him during the combat, since his whole focus was on the fight, but afterward, he realized just how much of a passive role he played during the whole fight with the infant dragon.

Yes, he did his fair share and caused the dragon a lot of injuries, but he couldn't deny that his brother carried most of the fight.

It left him deeply dissatisfied with himself and he decided to intensify his magic training. 'I'm the mage of the group and Cass has more spells than me for crying out loud! I'll need to ask Hecate for help.'

'Right now, what I need the most is better defense and mobility, so I'll need to start developing spells along that line.' Having to be carried by his brother to retreat made him embarrassed and ashamed.

And so, he continued his musings, not realizing that Leo and Cassian were sharing his feelings.

Finally finishing up, they ascended back to the surface and went to the guild. Considering how much money they would make, as well as selling the infant dragon's drops, Cassian opted to go to Rose instead of the usual random clerk.

The result was as expected…

"What the hell do you mean you fought an infant dragon?!"

Rose was currently tearing into them for doing something so foolish.

"I- "

"You both haven't been adventurers for even a month and Leo doesn't even have a Falna! Do you realize how reckless that was?!" Her anger was prominent enough to make Nico and Leo start sweating and shrink in on themselves.

Even Cassian was affected as he was slightly nervous, but he stood his ground. It's not like it was his or their fault.

"Rose?" Thankfully even with her anger, Rose maintained professionalism and dragged them to a private room before giving them an earful.

"What?!" Honestly, Rose didn't fully process why she was so upset.

She was angry and upset, very much so, but not for the reasons the trio imagined. No, most of her dissatisfaction was directed at herself. 'Have I become so attached to them in such a short time? Dammit…'

This was the exact reason she was so hesitant about accepting to be their advisor. She didn't want to become attached to adventurers and then have them torn away by dying in the dungeon. It felt like pieces were being ripped off of her heart every time. And now it was even further amplified by them having fought such a dangerous monster so early on.

"We couldn't have done anything to prevent it. We were hunting monsters on the misty floors as usual when the infant dragon came at us. We tried to run, but it was relentless in its pursuit and we came into a dead end."

"Tch, you really didn't have a choice?" She softened at that a bit. The dungeon was unpredictable and dangerous. If they were thrown into that kind of situation, then fighting was the only choice.

"No, we couldn't get away. Like I told you already, I'm not suicidal and I'm not going to risk my brother's life like that. It was way too soon for us to fight a monster of that scale, but we had to."

"Siiighh" Rose released a heavy sigh at that, letting her frustrations out. She couldn't berate them for that.

With that also came great relief and surprise. She was relieved that they made out safely and escaped death. As much as she hated admitting it, she would be heartbroken if something happened to them. And she was surprised at the sheer ludicrousness of the feat. Defeating an infant dragon so soon into one's adventuring career was unheard of.

Not even the sword princess could accomplish such a thing, nowhere near it in fact. This unconsciously made Rose relax more. If they were so strong and so fast, then wouldn't they be safer?

If only she knew…

'Plus, I'm quite happy after hearing how they behaved. Many adventurers would have abandoned Leo the instant such a thing happened. Especially a supporter not in their familia that they barely know. But they saved her too instead of using her as a distraction. I guess I wasn't wrong about their character.' Rose smiled at that, glad she was correct in their assessment.

'She's quite beautiful.' Cassian was a bit stunned by the sight of Rose's smiling face. 'Easily enough to outshine any model I know.'

"Very well, I'll let this go, but please be more careful in the future." To which all three nodded. "Now, you wanted to exchange your loot, no? Hand it over and I'll handle it."

After counting it all, she was once again astonished. The number of monsters they slew numbered more than a thousand. It was very unusual for adventurers to come across these numbers of monsters at the same time.

The total amount with all the stones and drop items was 1,070,000 Valis. An insane amount for rookies.

Leo's eyes were practically about to pop out of her skull when she was handed 107,000 Valis. This was more than she had seen together in her life!

Bidding farewell to Rose, they left the guild, but before parting ways, Cassian called out to Leo.

"We're planning on going out to eat after getting our goddess, do want to come with us? My treat."

"Really?" Her eyes shined. A nice meal after today sounded amazing.

"Yeah, I'm starving. Plus, I'll introduce you to our goddess." Which earned an enthusiastic agreement from her.

'Let's see how this goes.' After all, bringing her along wasn't purely for food.

So, they started going back to their inn. Cassian was planning on having their Falna updated. He was extremely curious and excited about the increase it would have experienced. But suddenly his thought process was interrupted.

His back straightened and an unpleasant shiver went down his spine. He felt as if suddenly someone's eyes were crawling on his back. No, it went deeper than that. It felt as if a gaze was piercing through him and gazing at the deepest parts of him.

His senses and instincts were screaming at him, while the Witcher medallion tucked in his armor was going wild with how much it was vibrating and jumping around.

His head instantly snapped behind him and reflexively locked onto the tower of Babel, more specifically the top part of it. His eyes widened in realization and dread started encroaching on him as he quickly realized what was happening.

Exactly who it was that was gazing into his soul at the moment.

'Shit Shit Shit! It's her!'

This was bad, beyond bad. Her attention on him was very unwelcome since at his current strength he would be incapable of doing anything against her.

And judging by the intensity of the stare, he knew his useless hopes of being uninteresting to her were dashed, even if it was wishful thinking from the start.

He couldn't tell the emotions the unwanted watcher held, but judging from the extreme intensity he felt from the gaze he knew he had kicked the hornet's nest.

"What's wrong?" Nico noticed his brother suddenly freeze up and start looking back with a slight fear on his face, so he became nervous.

Finally, tearing his head away from the tower he regarded his little brother, but decided to hold off on telling him until later, when they had privacy.

"Nothing, we'll talk later." He shook his head and forced his body to relax. There was nothing he could do about this now. Only wait. 'I'll need to talk to Hecate about this.'

One thing was for sure though…

Freya had set her sight on him.

---- Elfin Lounge ----

"Hey boys, you're back!" Hecate greeted them with a cheerful smile. Quickly running up to them and hugging both to welcome them back.

"And you've brought a guest!" After releasing them, her attention shifted to Leo, who was awkwardly standing to the side.

"Leo this is Hecate, our goddess, Hecate this is Leo, our supporter." Nico decided to introduce them.

"Is that so?" She spoke with a thoughtful tone, before smiling mysteriously at her. "It is nice to meet my boys' party member."

"Likewise, goddess Hecate! It is an honor to meet you!" Leo spoke a bit reverently and bowed.

'Hmm, I guess people outside Orario are more reverent towards the gods. People in this city see them so much, that they've become pretty desensitized to them. Wasn't Hestia working at a food stall?' Cassian thought before shifting his attention back to Hecate. If Rose made him slightly nervous, Hecate was already filling him up with dread.

'Why am I reacting this way? I got into trouble plenty of times and got disciplined by the matron back in the orphanage, but why is Hecate making me so much more worried?!'

And she did not disappoint. After worrying and fussing over them to make sure they were okay, a sinister look entered her eyes, and all the kind motherly charm she exuded transformed into an aura of a frightening witch, making the brothers gulp.

By the time she was finished chewing them out, both of them firmly had their eyes locked on the ground. Even Leo was fearfully sweating and had retreated to the corner of the room.

"Haaah… I guess I can't be too mad at you, since you did try to avoid the confrontation. BUT! Since both of you are so determined to get into so much trouble then I will at least make sure you can handle it by training you to the bone!" She said with a note of finality.

"Ah, I've already got plans to train and get better. It'll work great for me. Nico on the other hand will be glad for you to train him, right brother?" Cassian quickly deflected the witch who was clearly on the warpath and threw his brother under the bus to take the fall instead.

'You Asshole!' Nico's betrayed and livid eyes burned into Cassian, but he completely ignored it.

'Sorry brother, I wish you luck.' He could only mentally apologize and pray for him.

"Oh I see, I'll trust you on that. Well, it means it's just you and me then, Nico. Don't worry, I'll only train to half to death." The innocent look she gave was betrayed by the sadistic gleam in her eyes, making Nico fearful of his continued livelihood. "Now let's update your statuses!"