"The guardian… it couldn’t be the legend you were discussing with the mayor, is it?” Something about the way she grew excited talking about the dungeon helped me put that together.

“Oh… you listened to that, did you?” She blushed. “If I must be honest, I came to this city specifically because of that guardian. I had heard of it and had some interest. With that guardian, I can have the um… protection I need… if we could mount an expedition and capture the guardian, wouldn’t it be strong enough to beat back this army of bandits?”

I supposed that made sense. She was a healer like me. Even right now, her beauty was causing her trouble. The city was her guardian today, but it had to hurt her to allow them to fight and die for her. Wouldn’t any woman be attracted to that kind of power? A guardian that could keep her safe and allow her to have her free will? Perhaps it might even be a guardian against the church.

“Ah… so you wanted to go down and see, but the mayor wouldn’t risk everything on a chance? He needs every man for the wall, I guess?”

“Yes…” she nodded. “and what of you? Why do you ask so many questions about dungeons? Are you just a healer?”

“Master is much more than a healer!” Miki said stubbornly, “He’s also a true dungeon diver.”

“Ah! Yes… she’s right.” I said, bonking her on the head. “I’ve been in a few dungeons. I guess you could call me a dungeon diver.”

Miki rubbed her head and lowered it in repentance. She slipped up because of Carmine’s tone when she spoke about me. It had just a bit of condescension in it. I didn’t want anyone to know I was a dungeon diver, let alone a true one unless I absolutely had to. I still kept my tattoos hidden, even though the Guild Master thought that no one would be able to recognize them for what they are even if they were exposed.

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However, once Carmine heard what Miki said, her eyes brightened considerably and she put her hands on mine. “Oh! You’re really a dungeon diver? Then, please, go with me. Take me down into the dungeon. I know if I have you by my side, I definitely will be able to bring the guardian back and protect this city!”

“You want to abandon the city? We don’t know how long this would take. In my experience, even small dungeons take months to explore.

She grabbed my hands tighter, and I was stuck between the heat on my cheeks and the cold looks in the back of my skull.

“It shouldn’t take long at all! The dungeon has withered significantly. The levels shouldn’t be very many or very deep. I think we could reach the bottom within a single day.”

“Ah… but what about healing? The bandit is upon us now!”

A quick twitch of irritation flashed on her face. “You shouldn’t worry about that brute! The Bandit King is a coward and won’t attack the city after marching to get here. He also won’t attack during the day! That means, if we go now, we have a full day and night to reach the guardian. This could be the key to saving everything, don’t you see?”

She was getting really close to my personal space. Her nose was right up to mine. The other girls were slaves, so they wouldn’t normally interrupt when their Master is having a discussion. They were quite docile like that, although Miki slipped a little bit. However, when it came to this woman, they seemed to not like her at all. I knew she was a bit touchy, but they didn’t need to keep shooting me cold stares.

“You seem to know the bandit King well…” I said haphazardly.

She pulled away, blushing slightly. “Please… I believe we can make it, and if we make it, we can save this city.”

I admitted I was interested in this guardian as well as this withered dungeon. I looked at my girls, hoping they’d give me an answer.

“We do as Master commands,” Lydia responded.

I sighed. “Fine… we’ll help.”