Before heading straight to the dungeon, we decided to make a stop at the guild for additional information. After all, it wouldn't be wise to enter the dungeon without gathering as much information as possible about it. Aurora-sama had already mentioned that the dungeon would change once we entered, so we were determined to prepare properly.

According to Aurora-sama, the changes wouldn't be too drastic. Only the monsters would become a bit stronger, and a boss would appear. In summary, as soon as we arrived at the guild, we asked all possible questions about the dungeon. If I had to summarize what we heard, I would certainly say that this dungeon is of the "undead" type.

The monsters normally found in this dungeon are Skeletons, Ghouls, Zombies, and other types of undead creatures. Honestly, when I heard this, I thought that the dungeon's difficulty had dropped abruptly. I mean, aren't undead creatures practically level two when it comes to weak monsters, just a little stronger than Goblins?.

After gathering all the necessary information, we headed towards the mentioned dungeon.

"According to the map provided by the guild, the dungeon should be approximately in this direction"

I said, pointing in a specific direction in the forest where we were. With me were Saemi, Fujiwara, Ana, and Aoi. After my words, I turned to Ana and realized that she was already acting without the need for a request. Small ice vortexes began to form around her, followed by small animals resembling crows and squirrels.

After that, Glasy jumped out of my shadow, positioning herself beside me. After petting Glasy's fur, she set off towards the location I had pointed to earlier. Ana's creations also began to run through the forest, each going to a different location.

"Now, I think we just need to wait"

I said, sitting down and leaning my back against one of the many trees surrounding us. Saemi, Ana, Fujiwara, and Aoi did the same, with Ana resting her head on my leg. Unconsciously, I started to stroke Ana's white hair, causing her to snuggle even closer to me.

I really didn't know why, but whenever I looked at Ana, she reminded me of a little squirrel. Of course, to think that way, we had to overlook the fact that Ana could freeze someone to death with a simple breath.

"You know, I was wondering... how do you think the others are doing?"

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Suddenly, while we were resting in the shade of the trees, Fujiwara broke the silence. His words seemed to weigh on the atmosphere, and upon hearing them, a displeased expression formed on my face.

"Ma-kun, is everything okay?"

Listening to these words, I looked at Ana and realized that she was watching me with a slightly worried expression. Although Ana's expression remained the same, indifferent as always, I've recently noticed subtle changes like this.

Forming a small smile on my lips, I looked at Ana and gently stroked her white hair once again. She unconsciously closed her eyes, seeming to savor the moment.

"I'm fine... to be honest, I was also wondering about that"

I said, shifting my gaze back to the sky, watching the clouds pass through the tree leaves.

"Who knows... maybe they're all gone?"

Saemi's response surprised both me and the other girls. Saemi, on the other hand, appeared calm. When she noticed our gazes, she stared back at us with a doubtful expression on her face.

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

Saemi asked as she looked at us with concern in her eyes. While I couldn't speak for the girls, I was surprised because Saemi said it as if it were normal. Or rather, isn't she worried about our classmates? Before I could ask that question, Fujiwara's voice echoed in the area.

"I thought you were concerned about them"

As soon as she heard that, Saemi looked at Fujiwara with even more confusion in her eyes.

"Why should I be? I mean, they're not even my family or anything"

Although I understood what Saemi was trying to say, I can't help but be surprised by this. Or rather, wasn't she different before? My memories of Saemi aren't that frequent, as at first, she hardly cared about me. It was after we met on the train that Saemi started joining Shinji in bullying me, although according to Saemi, it was Shinji's fault.

(Wait, so, in fact, Saemi has always been like this with people she's not interested in?)

Although I couldn't remember for sure, I was almost certain that Saemi was genuinely disinterested in people in general, but... isn't that strange? How can she not care about her classmates?.

(Actually, I think we're the strange ones for thinking about this so far. I mean, Saemi was really right about this. They weren't even our family, so why should we worry about them?)

After that conversation, time passed in a relaxing and peaceful manner. We were still in the same place without moving, and we had no reason to. We had Glasy, who had a much better sense of smell than we did, and Ana's pets scouring other areas.

And, as I expected, some time later, Glasy returned with a bone in her mouth. Since Glasy couldn't speak, that was probably her way of indicating that she had found the dungeon.

Without wasting time, we began to follow Glasy further into the forest, and she always stayed ahead of us, leading the way. After some time, the scenery around us began to change abruptly. The pure and sunny air that surrounded us was replaced by a sinister fog, and the green trees gave way to lifeless, dead trees.

"What happened? This place looks completely different from what it was just a few minutes ago. Are we still inside the forest?"

As soon as Aoi spoke, it became evident that we were definitely out of the forest. As I looked around with a sense of unease, I suggested.

"I think we've entered the dungeon"