Certain things happened and not one but two days have passed. Sargon woke up earlier than usual just to make sure that he will make back to the room, the one where he was supposed to meet Demi-Ura, in time. He hoped that she will be there, even though he was a full day late.

He pushed through the first three dungeon levels, killing the ants only when necessary. He was in a rush but still he had to stop after the fights to collect the cores, otherwise it felt like a waste and he needed the money. He spent all of his last reward to purchase some more cookies. The damn things were godly delicious yet hellishly expensive.

It was almost the afternoon or so he assumed, there was no sun in the dungeon so he had to guess. He was almost there, there was only a small swarm standing between him and the entrance of his destination.

“Begone ants, [Swipe]!” He used a skill he had obtained a couple of days ago.

It was highly effective. Not one, not two but whole three ants were sliced in one motion. Sargon smiled to himself keen to show his new skill to his future companion. He applied his skill a few more times dispatching the rest of the ants quickly.

“Cores can wait. First thing first.” He decided to check if Demi-Ura was still camping in the room, he hoped she did.

“Demi-Ura, are you here?” His voice reverberated in the seemingly empty room, yet still, he was hopeful.

And sure enough, a female silhouette stepped out of the shadows.

“Late!” She complained.

Sargon was all smiles once she revealed herself “Wow rogues are amazing, I couldn’t see you at all. Oh, and about yesterday. Sorry, I am a day late. I could not make it.”

“…” Demi tilted her head as if she was confused. “A day?”

“Ahhh… It is hard to tell the daytime here.” Saying that Sargon just realised that she might have not left the dungeon at all. She mentioned that she couldn’t go outside with him, if so, there was no way for her to know the time at all.

“I just realised you might have stayed here waiting for me the entire time, for whole two days.” Sargon said somewhat apologetically, for sure he felt guilty.

She nodded in response and hit the floor with her hoof “Cookies?”. He had better have them, she was waiting for a reason.

“Yes, I got some. Well, only a few; darn things are expensive you know.”

She stretched her palm forward and demanded “Cookies!”

Sargon pulled out the cloth containing the baked treats and shook the contents straight into her palm. Whole single cookie and another half-eaten one dropped into her palm. Demi-Ura looked at him judgingly.

“Only one?” She didn't sound pleased at all.

“No, one and a half. I had two but I got slightly hungry while here.”

“Mhm *munch* *munch*”

She ate the cookies without even saying a thank you. Sargon did not mind he was the one who made her wait for him after all, and he was still very happy that she did so.

“Water.” She asked stretching her arm.

“Give me a second. I have plenty of water at least. Unlike biscuits, it costs nothing after all ”He passed her his water flask. “So, do you really have no survival gear after all? Did you lose it somehow?”

If she did that would have made sense. Sargon had a hunch that she lost her equipment somewhere deeper in the dungeon and that this was the reason she couldn’t leave the dungeon. He knew that equipment was expensive, if he lost his coa he would need to work for weeks to buy a new one.

“No gear. Easy to sneak.” She said matter-of-factly.

“Hmm…” He was still unsure about the actual existence of her gear. “It kind of makes since, you are a rogue after all.”

“Not rogue.” She corrected him.

“What I am pretty sure you were a rogue type. If not, in what do you specialise?” She definitely looked like a rogue type.

“Casting.”

“A mage?! You do not look like one at all” Sargon was genuinely surprised.

Demi-Ura glared at Sargon.

“Sorry, I did not mean it in a bad way. Just that your melee skills are too good. You were even better than me the last time and I am a warrior.” He was not actually a warrior yet; he still needed more battle experience.

“Were better?” She asked squinting her eyes.

“Oh amm…” Sargon picked up that he somewhat was making her angry, or she was still angry about yesterday. “well maybe you still are better than me, but I learned a new skill. Now I can kill three ants at once!” He boasted with a smile.

“Ohh? Show me.”

And so he demonstrated on a newly spawned swarm of oversized ants. What followed was not a praise of his proves and skill but a displeased grunt and a competition of sorts.

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The duo was slicing ant after ant and going further and deeper into the dungeon. They were keeping track of how many monsters each of them has killed. So far, the number was equal; 40 to 40.

“How about we call it a tie?” Sargon offered still unable to believe that she is actually a caster. She didn't even cast a single spell the entire time.

Demi-Ura nodded in response and wiped sweat from the brow into her cloak.

“Do you want to go back home? It must be getting late after all.” Sargon asked while harvesting the cores into his pouch. “Which part of the city do you live?” He asked curious. There was no way she will spend another day camping here willingly.

“I live here.”

“What?! Like here in the labyrinth dungeon?”

She made a typical nod she always does.

“No way! So how often do you go out to surface?”

“Never.”

“Eh?” He was flabbergasted.

He stood there shocked with his mouth agape. Sargon was thinking about how she gets her food and other necessities. But then he remembered that she had mentioned about hunting and eating local monsters. So maybe she did actually live here and got all the necessities naturally from the dungeon, after all, she did not look like she had much even if she was more skilled than him.

“So like. How long have you been here?”

“How would I know?” She turned her head away from him. She did not feel comfortable answering that. She assumed he was asking for her age albeit in a roundabout way.

It was time for Sargon to show that he was not just brawl and no brains. “You know how dungeon floor changes its layout every fortnight or so?” This was a rhetorical question but she nodded anyways “You can track time this way? So like, roughly how many times did it do so since you came here?”

She did know that number and her actual age in fact. “Over six hundred.”

“So that makes…” Sargon counted using his fingers for a good minute. “About twenty-two years!”

“No! It is twenty-one” Demi-Ura glared at him again for making her seem older.

“Oh okay.” He noticed her standing with her arms crossed in an offended way. “If you do not get out how about I buy you something you want? Using your share of cores that is?” He offered to mend the sour mood.

“Cores can buy stuff?”

“What? You don’t know?” Sargon learned and forgot way too quickly that she had never left the labyrinth dungeon. “Cores are the reason why we adventurers venture here?”

“Not for skills?”

“Well, that too... but why do you think I, and other adventurers for that matter, collected the monster cores?”

“Trophies?” She said it more like a fact than a question, but her body language and turned head indicated that she was not so sure about it being a fact.

“Amm, you are not wrong, but not right either. Cores and certain parts are taken mostly to be sold for quick coin, Shekels”

“Useless metal bits?” she was fairly aware of it, she had found some of it before, but it served no practical purpose so she did not collect any.

“Yes, and no again! Not useless at all. They can buy stuff like cookies.”

“Tsk.” She spat in displeasure. If only she knew that those useless scraps of metal, or cores too, could be used to get cookies she would have hoarded them like there is no tomorrow. Twenty-one years of not picking them up were wasted. If he had to buy something with her share he collected it better be something useful.

“Buy cookies.”

“I will but… but before that, where is the exit again?” The competition they had just minutes ago made him lose his sense of surroundings and direction. He could not navigate the dungeon at all without getting lost, it almost was like a labyrinth.

“Follow.” She motioned with her tail for Sargon to follow.

He followed her from behind, his gaze captivated by the sway of her hips and the tail.

She turned around quickly causing Sargon to jump as his dazed state was broken. He blushed in the realisation that he has been staring too long where he should have not. But surely there was no way Demi-Ura knew where he had been looking seconds ago. Or was it?

“Exit.” She motioned towards a narrow passage.

“Ah yes, thank you for today. Tomorrow the same place, yes?” He was keen to meet again. He was keen to know more about her, and if she really never left the dungeon, but everything on its own time.

Sargon saw a familiar nod and a faint smile on her face for the first time. He had a feeling that their friendship just only began, even if he had to bribe his way in with cookies.