Shorts break

"So you plan to stay at rank E without stars for the time being?" Ahmed asked Kayla, who had already calmed down.

"Yes... today has been a pretty tiring day for me" Kayla smiled bitterly. She hadn't expected that she would have to face her regrets so directly today.

"I guess it's for the best…" Ahmed nodded. Anyway, he didn't think Kayla and Ethel would want to enter a five-star E-rank dungeon, so it wasn't very important for Kayla to take the test. Well, that was if he forgot the bonus he could earn by registering two five-star adventurers...

"Hmp, leaving that aside, when can we get our adventurer ID, and more importantly, when can we start entering the dungeons?" Ethel asked Ahmed coldly.

She was still angry that he didn't lower the barrier around Kayla moments ago when she was obviously not in a normal state of mind.

"...Come in two days, although it's normally a little longer, I'll give you a hand." Ahmed sighed. "Take it as an apology for what happened before."

"Don't worry, you were just doing your job…" Kayla smiled bitterly. Brice had told her what happened while she was fighting, without mentioning what he did, so he understood Ethel's anger a little.

But despite that, he had told Ethel several times that she shouldn't hold a grudge against Ahmed, only for Ethel to seem to forget everything she said to her when she saw him.

"Hmp, it's the least he can do…" Ethel murmured.

"Shut up." Kayla kicked Ethel's calf as she pulled her toward the exit while Brice followed. "Goodbye Ahmed, see you in two days!"

"Haha, sure, have a good day" Ahmed smiled as he watched them leave. That girl is really strange...

It still seemed incredible to him that Kayla, who a few moments ago was emitting great killing intent, was now smiling sweetly as she dragged her friend away.

"I wonder how far he will go…" Ahmed couldn't help but remember the way he defeated the hobgoblin easily and think about the future.

He had a feeling that he had come across two diamonds in the rough that would one day make a big fuss.

...

"Hey now, we're already out, so stop doing that!" Ethel screamed as she pushed Kayla's hand away. "And stop defending that idiot, he didn't even try to help you…"

Kayla looked at Ethel fondly. She had never noticed that Ethel cared so much about her.

"We both know that he was just doing his job, he had no other choice. Besides, there was no real reason for you to interfere with my test. You should also thank him for speaking up for you when the guild wanted to sanction you." Even though Kayla was pretty mean, she couldn't get mad at a man who was just doing his job and also helping her a lot.

"Still…" Ethel bit her lip. Kayla could only say that because she wasn't the one who saw her friend mentally falling apart little by little...

"Uh?" Ethel opened her eyes when she felt someone wrap her arms around her.

"Thank you... I really appreciate everything you've done, not just today, but for everything you've had to put up with for me since we met." Kayla smiled as she hugged Ethel. She really couldn't express everything she felt in words.

"Silly, that's what a friend does." Ethel hugged her back. "Although I would appreciate it if you were a little taller, now I feel like I'm hugging a little girl instead of a friend."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm so short!" Kayla pouted. Due to the height difference, Kayla's head was resting on Ethel's chest.

Ethel smiled and hugged Kayla tighter. She really liked that Kayla no longer had that dark look on her face.

"Hey girls, can we move? We're putting on a show…" Brice covered his face in shame.

They were currently at the entrance of the adventurer's guild, so there was a large flow of people coming and going. All those people looked curiously at the display of affection between Kayla and Ethel...

Not to mention that both girls still had their clothes damaged from their recent fights. It was fortunate that they received medical treatment from the guild, otherwise, they would have attracted even more attention if they walked with wounds on their bodies.

"Oh, sure…" Kayla quickly turned away from Ethel, embarrassed. For a moment she had forgotten that they were in a public place...

"YES, let's go!" Ethel blushed as she led the way to who knows where. All she cared about was not staying there!

Kayla and Brice quickly followed her while ignoring the stares of the people.

After walking for a few minutes, they finally escaped the gaze of the people as they reached one of the thousands of parks within the capital.

"Ugh...that was fucking awkward." Brice looked with annoyance at the sources of his discomfort.

"Haha, I'm sorry…" Kayla apologized embarrassedly. Even she didn't know why she did that...

"What are you talking about? I only remember having shared a nice moment with my friend, I see nothing to be ashamed of" As for Ethel, attesting to her status as a noble, she boldly denied the accusation.

"Wow… it is certainly true that nobles have skin of steel…" Brice murmured, surprised. Even Kayla couldn't help but nod her head.

"Did you say something?" Ethel glared at him.

"I only said that you had very beautiful skin, my lady." Brice stood at attention as his purple eyes showed sincerity.

"Uh… well, thanks…" Ethel had no choice but to give up. Even she couldn't help but feel that Brice was being sincere.

"Unbelievable, two steel fortresses collided…" Kayla murmured when she saw the confrontation between the two titans. She couldn't tell who had the thicker skin...

Ethel and Brice looked at Kayla, and she looked back at them. A few seconds of silence passed before someone finally broke the silence.

"Pfft hahaha" Ethel clutched her stomach while she laughed.

Kayla and Brice were surprised, but quickly started laughing too.

"What idiocy hahaha" Kayla threw herself on the grass, completely feeling the embrace of nature.

"Yes…" Ethel did the same and Brice followed her lead. Soon, the three of them were lying down while looking at the blue sky with two suns in the sky.

The three remained silent, enjoying the moment.

Time passed and when they thought two hours had passed, Ethel broke the silence again.

"Do you have anything to do this week Kayla?" Ethe asked Kayla curiously. She had never asked him in depth about Kayla's plans in the capital.

"Yes... I have to go to the unity church, but I plan to do that after we go to the dungeon in two days." Kayla had decided that she wanted to get some rest. Today she had drained a lot of mental energy...

"So you have these two days off, right?" Ethel smiled.

"Uh? Well yes, you could say…" Kayla sat down and looked at Ethel confused. "Why, what do you plan to do?"

"Nothing!" Ethel smiled.

"...Nothing?" Kayla was perplexed.

"If nothing! These past few months have been very busy, so let's take this afternoon and the next two days as a break!" Even though Ethel was doing this primarily for Kayla, she had to admit that she expected it too.

They had both worked very hard these days!

Kayla went blank for a moment. It hadn't been in her plans to rest, but thinking about it a little, the idea didn't seem so bad.

"Yes, that's not a bad idea. We deserve a break!" Kayla nodded, but suddenly seemed to think of something and turned to Brice. "And you Brice, do you want to come with us?"

"Hey?" Brice's eyes, who had been listening silently, widened in surprise. "What do you mean? I'm her personal servant for this week, of course, I have to go with both..."

"I know that, but I want to ask you, Brice, if you want to go with us. Not as a servant, but as a friend" Kayla smiled.

Although they had only known each other for a short time, she could feel a great connection with Brice. She especially felt it a few moments ago, when the three of them laughed together without worries.

"What?…" Brice looked at Kayla confused. He couldn't understand why Kayla was asking him something like that. It was completely useless since he would accompany them anyway.

However, when he saw Kayla's sincere eyes, he had no choice but to take her seriously.

"First of all, I don't think Miss Ethel would like that…" Brice tried to keep his distance by speaking formally and looked at Ethel, waiting for her to nod her head.

But contrary to her expectations, Ethel shrugged her shoulders. "I don't care, besides, you can just call me Ethel."

Brice's eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't understand Ethel's change of attitude! She had been treating him coldly before!

But that was nothing strange since he had earned her respect and gratitude when he stood in front of Ahmed, stopping him even though it was probably someone stronger than him so that she would not be interrupted in her attempt to reach Kayla.

Brice opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing what to say. Several thoughts ran through his mind. How his hatred of nobles, and the fact that both girls were nobles, and the consequences of not fulfilling his boss's mission...

All possible scenarios ran through his mind and when he thought everything through coldly, the best decision he could come to was to reject the offer. He didn't want to get even more attached to these girls...

"I…" He opened his mouth, about to refuse. But suddenly, the few but fun times they had together flashed through his mind. Finally, he couldn't help but sigh in defeat. "...Of course, why not"

"Yey!" Kayla celebrated. Even Ethel couldn't help but smile.

And so, the trio spent the next few days in a relaxed manner until the day arrived when they would go to the dungeon.

...

"Take care" Brice looked with concern at the girls who were at the entrance to the adventurer's guild.

"Don't worry, you've seen how strong we both are and this one is only going to be a rank E dungeon without stars, we'll see you in a few hours" Ethel smiled confidently.

"That's right, so don't worry, we can take care of anything! Wait eagerly for us at the inn, we'll bring back memories of the dungeon!" Kayla smiled excitedly. She couldn't wait any longer to enter a dungeon for the first time.

"Sure, I hope they're good things~" Brice smiled a little. He knew that they were too strong for a simple E-rank dungeon to cause them problems.

In these last few days, the three had gotten quite close, becoming true friends, compared to before when they barely knew each other's names.

The two talked a little with Brice about her future plans before saying goodbye to him. Brice had some errands to run to carry out a plan that both girls were unaware of.

Both entered the adventurer's guild after separating from Brice, without attracting much people's attention since they were now wearing battle suits, the usual attire in the guild.

Kayla was wearing comfortable gray pants and a black shirt with leather armor on top of it, and she completed her outfit with the black tunic that Zinon had given her.

Ethel, on the other hand, wore a blue wizard's robe. Apparently, it increased mana regeneration.

Both of them, who now seemed like true adventurers, looked around in search of a person and quickly found him. They walked quickly towards Ahmed, who was waiting for them next to some stairs that led to the underground floors of the guild.

"Hello girls," Ahmed smiled professionally.

"Hello Ahmed, do you have them?" Kayla asked excitedly.

"Of course," Ahmed laughed as he took out a pair of black bracelets with several buttons on his body from a white space ring. "Here, this is what you paid those five gold coins for."

Kayla and even Ethel looked excitedly at the bracelets. They had already asked Brice these days if he knew what the adventurers' identification cards were like and what he told them left them in shock.

The bracelets that Ahmed had given them were in fact his adventurer's "cards"!

Apparently, a few years ago there had been a techno-magical advance and these bracers came to light, which were used especially by the adventurers guild to replace the obsolete physical cards of before!

Kayla quickly fiddled with the bracelet as she put it on her left hand, pressing a few buttons. And suddenly, a panel, almost identical to that of the system, appeared before her.

[Kayla Gale - Level 38

E-rank adventurer, zero stars ]

"Wow…" Kayla sighed in admiration. Even though he had the system, it felt different that one of his ID cards was a holographic panel. She felt like she was in the future

She turned to Ethel and noticed that she was also looking at a panel similar to hers.

Yes, since they are not part of the system, anyone can see it... Kayla quickly realized this and promised herself to be careful. Having other people know your level was quite dangerous.

"Well, now that you've tried out your adventurer's bracelets, what are they called, do you want to go to your first dungeon or do you want to do something first?" Ahmed asked them despite already knowing the answer.

Kayla and Ethel didn't even look at each other as they responded at the same time. "The dungeon!"

All newbies get excited when it comes to entering their first dungeon. Ahmed noticed that especially in Kayla, who looked like she would be jumping with excitement if it weren't for the fact that Ethel would surely scold her for making a fool of herself...

Under the insistence of the two girls, Ahmed guided them towards their first dungeon and the trio went down the stairs that led to the basement of the guild.

Both girls looked curiously at the well-lit stairs and quickly noticed that the material of the walls was different from that of the first floor.

Instead of that gray cement that looked like clean gray concrete, the walls were made of dark silver metal.

And what caught their attention the most was that the metal became darker and darker as they went down. However, the differences they saw were not much since they only went down to the second floor.

"So far?" Kayla asked as she looked at the place where they were. They had reached a hallway where they could go left or right. Neither side seemed to have an end in sight.

As they tried to look at the end of the hallway, they both noticed that the walls had black metal doors, one facing the other every five meters.

"Yes, this is where the E-rank dungeon doors are stored." Ahmed agreed as he walked to the right and stood in front of a door that was just a few meters from the stairs. "And as a favor, I have chosen an E-rank dungeon without stars with good rewards, which is quite compatible with both."

Kayla and Ethel, who was no longer so angry with Ahmed, agreed. They knew it was best to leave that kind of ng to a professional like Ahmed.

Without any objection, Ahmed rolled up the sleeve of his butler's suit and revealed his own adventurer's bracelet, which was white, unlike the ones the girls wore.

He passed the bracelet over a sensor next to the door and with a beep, the black door slowly opened, revealing a bright blue teardrop floating in the center of a black room.

Kayla's face turned pale when she saw the teardrop-shaped dungeon door that looked like the teleportation portal she had taken a few days ago.

"Urgh... I didn't know the dungeons were going to be like this..." Kayla felt like crying, but despite that, she didn't think for a moment about leaving.

"Hehe, I guess I'll see you throw up again" Ethel mocked Kayla.

Ahmed looked at them a little confused, but he ignored the girls' game.

"Girls, get serious, this is not a game. Although this is just an E-rank dungeon with no stars, it is a place where they can die. So don't treat it lightly" Ahmed reprimanded them. Even though they were both very strong for his age, he had already seen many young geniuses die because of his arrogance. He didn't want these girls to have the same ending.

"Yes…" Kayla and Ethel nodded seriously. They both knew very well the danger of what they were about to do.

Ahmed nodded satisfied and asked the question that was asked of all newbies.

"Although I know that asking this is pointless, I have to do it because of protocol, girls, are you sure about entering your first dungeon?" Ahmed looked at them seriously.

Kayla and Ethel looked at each other and smiled.

"Of course, an E-rank dungeon won't be a problem for me," Ethel spoke with confidence.

"Don't become arrogant, because, with a simple carelessness, you can die…" Ahmed looked at Ethel with frustration. It was obvious that the girl was not going to change. Luckily she had the strength to back up her confidence.

And Kayla wasn't much different.

"Of course I'm sure, I've been waiting for this for a while!" Kayla looked at Ahmed with the same confidence as Ethel.

"Sigh... I guess there's nothing else I can do... come in, you can do it now." Ahmed resigned himself and just prayed to the Goddess that both girls would return safely.

Kayla and Ethel smiled mischievously and approached the dungeon door.

"List?" Ethel asked Kayla as he extended his fist toward her.

"Of course!" Kayla bumped her fist into Ethel's.

With smiles on their faces, Kayla and Ethel reached out to knock on the dungeon door.

When they touched it, a panel appeared in front of them.

[Do you want to enter the Starless E-Rank Dungeon, Valley of Hundred Rivers?

Level limit: 75]

They both looked at each other one last time before taking a step towards the dungeon.

Come with everything, dungeon, I don't want it to be too easy for us to clear you! Kayla murmured a few words in her mind, without knowing that very soon he would regret saying them...

When Kayla passed through the blue tear, just like when she used the teleportation portal in Alteon, she magically appeared in a strange black space filled with large gray cracks and saturated colors.

"So I'm here again…" Kayla smiled. Since she already expected to come to this place, she was not as shocked and afraid as the first time.

However, that was until something happened that didn't happen the previous time.

Kayla, who was waiting to appear in the dungeon, watched in disbelief as red sparks emerged from her body.

"What?!" Kayla screamed. But her surprise was even greater when a red system panel appeared in front of her.

Even before reading it, Kayla already had a feeling about what was going on. And as expected, he couldn't help but curse when he read the blood-red panel.

[BUG!!!]

"DAMN BUSTY GODDESS!!"

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[A/N: Guys, the next chapter is going to be paid, I hope for your support!]