I turned around to see Alphonse standing behind me. His beard was a little longer than before, but other than that, he looked identical to how he had before I left. Pierre and Chris were next to him, sitting at one of the tables.

  “Oh, hey Al,” I said, waving at him and his companions.

  “Hey!” he said, beaming. “Good to see you again! Who’s your friend?” he nodded at the illusory dwarf.

  “Magne!” said Natalya, still with the same deep voice and strange accent. “Nice ta meet ya!”

  “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Alphonse, but you can call me Al. And right here are Pierre and Christine.” He gestured towards the two adventurers who had stood up to join us.

  “A pleasure!” said MagNatalya.

  “Likewise,” said Christine, as Pierre nodded.

  “So, since you’re here does that mean you’re done with your training?” asked Al.

  “Yes. I’m here to show Yona my upgraded skills to get my rank 3 badge.”

  “Awesome!” he exclaimed. “Maybe you can join us on our next dive. We were actually just planning out our dive just now!”

  “As long as your skills are up to snuff,” added Chris. “Speaking of, mind if we spectate while you and Yona are doing your thing?”

  “I’d like to watch that- ow!” Christine punched Pierre as he said that. The phantom dwarf laughed loudly.

  I smirked, but otherwise ignored Pierre’s joke. “Yeah, sure. That would definitely be faster.”

  “I’m comin’ too!” said Natalya.

  I looked down at her and shrugged. “Well, it’s not like I’d be able to stop you.”

  We continued to make small talk as we slowly made our way to the front of the line. Al and Natalya became friends instantly, talking and laughing loudly as they told stories about their adventures.

  “Welcome! How can I help you?” said Helena when I finally reached the front of the line.”

  “2 things,” I said. “First, could you let Alyona know that Lucy is here to show her skills to rank up? And second, is there a quest relating to the goblins in the forest to the north?”

  “Of course!” she picked up a nearby quill and wrote something on a piece of scratch paper. “Alyona should be down shortly. And as for the goblins in the north, there was a quest for them, but they’ve gotten strangely quiet recently, so the client rescinded it.” A look of realization passed over her face. “Oh, are you the one responsible for that?”

  “Yeah. Damn, that’s a shame. I even brought the king’s corpse.”

  “Well, I can reach out to the client to see if they’d like to give a reward anyways if you’d like,” she suggested.

  “Will they give me anything?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Probably not, but there’s still a chance. It couldn’t hurt to try.”

  I considered for a moment. “Nah, it’s not worth it. I’m not that desperate for money.” Especially since I’ll have the Lyon family’s backing soon, I added mentally.

  “Sounds good. Now if you just wait over by the stairs, Alyona will be down soon.”

  “Ok. Thank you,” I said.

  I walked over to the bottom of the stairs with my entourage behind me and waited as Helena started helping out the next Adventurer.

  “You have a goblin king’s corpse with you?” asked Al.

  “Yeah. I have [Inventory]. It’s in there.”

  “Your [Inventory] is big enough to fit a whole goblin king’s corpse?” he asked incredulously. Christine and Pierre had impressed looks as well.

  “Yes,” I responded.

  Christine whistled. “Well, an [Inventory] skill that high level is already enough to take you with us, even just as a pack mule. We have spatial bags, but they’re small. With you, we’d be able to carry back so many more monster parts.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll be more than just a pack mule,” I said.

  “I hope so,” said Christine. “You’d be an amazing addition to the party then.”

  Just then, we all turned to look up as we heard footsteps on the stairs above us. When the half-elf branch manager came down the stairs, we were all watching her with anticipation.

  “Well, you’re back. I thought you’d be back a little sooner,” she said. “Well, let’s get-”

  She suddenly stopped talking when she saw Magne and her eyes narrowed with suspicion. I felt a faint pulse of mana emanate from her. I formed a magic shield in front of me, but the wave passed through it as if it weren’t there, and I felt the illusion under my mask get ripped off. I was glad that I had decided to put my mask back on. I looked down at the illusory dwarf- or rather at the place where he had once stood, and found that Natalya had been returned to her original form. She was sitting cross-legged a foot off the ground so that her head was at about the same level as Magne’s was.

  “What the-” said Pierre.

  “Grandma?” said Alyona in surprise.

  “Ah, still as sharp as ever,” said Natalya. “Now, c’mere, gimme a hug.” She floated up to a standing position while moving towards Alyona.

  Alyona tried to step backwards, but seemed to be pulled in by some kind of invisible force and was wrapped up in Natalya’s arms. Initially she made no move to reciprocate and wriggled around, trying to escape to no avail.

  “Nuh-uh. I’m not letting go until you hug me back,” said Natalya.

  “C’mon, do we really have to do this here?” said Yona in a low voice, glancing around.

  The guild had grown silent, and everyone was watching the two elven women with confusion and amusement.

  “Yes,” said Natalya, snuggling up even closer.

  “Ugghhhhh,” groaned Alyona as she finally raised her arms and loosely wrapped them around her grandmother and patted her back.

  “C’mon, you can do better than that,” taunted Natalya, still not letting go. The spectators began to snicker.

  “Fine!” said Alyona wrapping the elf woman up tightly and visible straining as she squeezed. She was even using aura in the attempted smothering, as I noticed with [Aura Sense]

  “Ah, that’s better,” said Natalya, apparently unbothered.

  Alyona continued struggling to crush her for a few more seconds before giving up and pushing her away, and this time, Natalya let her. While they hugged, Al leaned over to me.

  “Did you know?” he whispered

  “Yeah,” I whispered back.

  He seemed conflicted.

  “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in Claude with Alexei?” asked Alyona.

  “Do I need a reason to visit my granddaughter?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wrong.”

  “Then why are you with her?” Alyona gestured towards me.

  “I ran into her at your great grandfather’s, and decided to come along with her.”

  Alyona looked suspicious. “Fine. Whatever. But I need to do my job, so I need to examine her skills.”

  “I know,” said Natalya cheerfully. “I’m going to watch. I’m curious about her skills too.”

  “So are we,” added Pierre. “So that we can see if she’s good enough to join our party.”

  “And you’re alright with this?” she asked me.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” I said.

  “Alright, then, let’s go.”

  Alyona led us out the back door the same way that we had gone when I took my rank up exam. The training ground was slightly emptier than it had been that day, but otherwise, it wasn’t much different. The snow didn’t seem to have reached the training ground, or if it had, it had been cleared. We went back to the same enclosed space with the stone dummies as before, and everyone stood in a semicircle behind me.

  “Alright, start whenever you’re ready,” said Alyona. “Show me the same skills you did last time, as well as whatever else you might have learned since then.”

  I nodded and then began casting my spells. I started with my trusty [Water Siphon] [Water Blade] combo. The first time I used this spell, it only made a small cut, but this time, it nearly took off the stone man’s head. It was similar with [Stone Bullet]. Rather than just cracking the dummy, I blew off half of its head. [Laser] worked much faster than it had the first time, though still not quite enough to fully outdo the dummy’s self repair function, but I did manage to burn a hole almost two inches deep before deciding to stop.

  “Impressive,” said Alyona, nodding calmly. “You’ve used your time well.”

  The other adventurers were less calm.

  “That was just a basic [Water Blade], right?” said Christine. “How was it so strong? What’s your [Wil]?”

  “200,” I said proudly.

  Her eyes widened. “That’s crazy! That’s higher than my [Agi]! What level are you?”

  “45,” I lied after realizing my mistake.

  I glanced at Natalya. She winked at me, but didn’t say anything.

  “Ah, that makes sense,” said Pierre.

  “This qualifies you for rank 3 already, but I know you have more skills,” said Alyona. “Care to demonstrate?”

  “Sure.”

  I turned back to the dummy and then used my non-damaging skills like [Flash], [Blind], and [Dome of Darkness]. [Dome of Darkness] was like [Blind], but it affected an area in a dome, so it was more useful against groups of enemies than [Blind]. I also showed off [Drown], which conjured an orb of water around the head of the dummy. It didn’t do anything to the dummy, and it wouldn’t do anything to the undead in the Dungeon, but it would be useful against living opponents.

  “I also learned some illusion spells,” I said after finishing those.

  I cast [Spectacle] to create the image of a ring of fireballs rotating in front of me and flying at the dummy one by one. They didn’t do anything to the dummy, since they were illusions, but as I had this going, I also cast other spells like [Water Blade] and [Stone Bullet] from different angles.

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  I dispelled that illusion, and then used [Phantom Beast] to create a huge wolf in front of me that glared menacingly at the group behind me. [Phantom Beast] was not too different from [Spectacle], but it was a skill specifically geared towards animals and monsters, and it made it easier to smooth out their movements and make them more realistic.

  After dispelling that, I used [Phantom person] to summon two illusions of myself while secretly making myself invisible. Alyona and Natalya followed my invisible form with their eyes, but Al, Christine and Pierre’s gazes were all fixed on the illusions. I had the two phantoms walk up to Al and Christine while I snuck up behind them. The phantoms then transformed into the people they were facing.

  Originally, I planned on surprising the three by dispelling the illusions and appearing behind them, but I suddenly had a better plan. As the adventurers stared at their clones, perplexed, I went over toward Alyona and stood next to her. She looked at me with curiosity but didn’t say anything. I cast another [Phantom Person] over my own body, copying Alyona, and then used some sound magic to mimic her voice. Using so many different spells at once strained me a bit, and I was starting to get a headache, but I carried on anyway.

  “That was perfect. I am impressed. You get rank 1 now. By the way, I’m a sadist who loves torturing people while disguising it as ‘rank up examinations,’” I said in her voice.

  Alyona grimaced and sent out another pulse of mana, dispelling all of my illusions as Natalya doubled over in laughter. My headache immediately started to dissipate once my spells had worn off.

  “I thought you said you only had 3 elements, but just now you used sound magic,” said Alyona, frowning.

  “That wasn’t sound magic, I’m just good with impressions,” I said.

  Natalya laughed even harder. The three adventurers snickered too, but a glance from Alyona silenced them.

  “Is there anything else you’d like to demonstrate?” she said, trying to change the topic.

  “Uhhh, nope that’s it.” I didn’t want to show her absolutely everything. What I had already shown was more than enough for rank 3, and possibly enough to get some rank 2 consideration.

  “Well, you’ve definitely passed. You can go collect your rank 3 badge at the front desk. I had Helena prepare it a while ago. Now, if we’re done here, I’ll be getting back to work.”

  “I’m coming with you!” said Natalya.

  Alyona glared at her grandmother for a second. “Fine. Let’s go.” She started walking away.

  “Bye, Lucy,” Natalya said. “If you stop by my dad’s place again later, I might be there. If I don’t decide to stay with Yona for the rest of the day.”

  Then she too left the enclosure, following Alyona back towards the main guild building. For a few seconds, the three adventurers were silent and still, then they immediately crowded around me.

  “Who was that elf?” asked Chris. “I mean, obviously she was Yona’s grandma, but what’s her name, and how do you know her? Did you bring her on purpose to mess with Yona?”

  “No to that last one, but if I had known how it would go, then I absolutely would have. Her name is Natalya and her father runs a bookstore here in town.”

  “Wait, Natalya?” asked Alphonse. “Like the Natalya? The archmage who killed the Demon King?”

  “Yep, that’s her.”

  All three of their eyes went wide and they stared at me with admiration.

  “You’re friends with one of the Heroes? That’s amazing!” said Pierre.

  “Well, I’m not sure about friends. We only just met a couple hours ago. I am friends with her father though. He runs a nice bookstore.”

  “Where? How have I not heard about archmage Natalya’s father living here before?” said Al.

  “His bookstore is over on Steelwing Street next to that patisserie where all the rich people go and the tailor that makes fancy dresses.”

  “We should go check that place out,” said Pierre as Al and Chris nodded in agreement. “Can we go now?”

  “Well, I’m sure Anatoly wouldn’t mind more customers, but don’t bother him too much. It would ruin his shop’s atmosphere.”

  “Awesome! Let’s go!”

  “Hold up, I need to get my badge first.”

  “Well, hurry up then.”

  Without further delay, we immediately went back to the Adventurer’s Guild and waited in line as fast as we could. After I got my badge, the three adventurers practically dragged me through the streets over to Anatoly’s bookstore. When we got there I saw two familiar guards standing outside the door facing outwards.

  “Lady Lucille,” one of them said when he saw me. “Lady Lyon is inside, and she would love to meet with you.”

  “Lady??” said Christine.

  “Lady Lyon??” said Al.

  “I’m not a noble,” I said to Christine. Then I turned to the guard. “No need for that formality. I’m not nobility.”

  “As you command, miss,” he said, bowing slightly before opening the door.

  “C-can we go in too?” asked Pierre nervously.

  “You are friends with Miss Lucille, are you not? Lady Lyon will not mind.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Pierre.

  “Yes,” said the guard.

  I walked through the door, and after a slight hesitation, the three adventurers followed. I glance back and smirked at what I saw. It was like a scene from a slapstick comedy. Christine was half hiding behind Pierre, who was half hiding behind Alphonse who was half-hiding behind me, each poking their heads out to the side to get a better view of what we were walking towards.

  “Lucy!” called Sylvia when she saw me.

  “Sylvia!” I called back.

  I heard gasps from behind me.

  “It’s been quite a while,” she said.

  “So it has. It’s good to see you again,” I replied.

  “It is good to see you as well. Who are your friends?”

  Al bowed deeply and started to speak. “I-I’m Alphonse, my lady- your grace- er…”

  Sylvia laughed lightly. “Oh, there’s no need for that. You are friends of Lucy’s. You can call me Sylvia when we’re not in public. Lady Sylvia if you must. No need to bow either.”

  “M-my lady how could I-” Al started to protest.

  “I insist.” Sylvia was smiling, but her tone was firm.

  “A-as you wish,” he said.

  “Lady Sylvia, I am Christine. It is a pleasure to meet you.” Christine’s speech was more steady than Al’s but she was clearly still nervous, and couldn’t stop herself from giving a slight bow of her head.

  “My name is Pierre, Lady Sylvia,” said Pierre.

  “A pleasure to meet you all,” said Sylvia with a small curtsy. “So, Lucy. Anatoly was telling me that you were planning on accepting my offer.”

  “Yes. As soon as I clear the Halls of Abomination. Actually, these three are going to be my companions when we go raid it.”

  “I see. Why not accept now though? If you’re already planning on taking the offer, why wait to receive the benefits.”

  “I want to do at least this much on my own, without the support of a sponsor. Besides, at this point, I don’t think there’s much you can do for me for this Dungeon.”

  “Oh? There’s plenty I can do for you right now though. I can get you equipment. Swords, knives, staffs, armor, rations, large spatial bags… Whatever you need. It would be no problem at all. I could hire you the best guide in town. I could send my guards with you.”

  “No. I’m going to do this on my own, with ordinary tools and ordinary companions. I’ll accept your generosity in the future, but for now, no thank you.”

  “Woah, hey, Lucy,” said Pierre. “You shouldn’t be so quick to turn down offers like that.”

  “I’m not turning it down. Just postponing it,” I said.

  A gleam appeared in Sylvia’s eyes. “Well, Pierre, if you and your companions need equipment, I’d be happy to provide. I’m investing a lot in Lucy, so I want her to be protected by the best.”

  “We would gladly accept that!” said Pierre without hesitation.

  “Hey!” I protested. I was about to say more, but the glares from my three companions made me pause. “Fine. Don’t get them anything insanely powerful though. I want to experience the Dungeon properly.”

  “Of course,” said Sylvia brightly. “Just some equipment upgrades here and there, and a few artifacts would be fine.”

  “Yes!” said Alphonse.

  “Thank you very much, Lady Sylvia,” said Pierre, unable to keep a smile from his face.

  Anatoly chose that moment to finally speak. “So, Lucy, what brings you back so soon? Did you forget a book that you needed?”

  “Don’t forget, I’d be happy to pay for any that you want,” added Sylvia.

  “Ah, no. Actually, these three wanted to meet you,” I said, looking at Anatoly.

  “Me?” he said.

  “Yeah. Natalya made a little bit of a spectacle at the guild, and they learned that she was the hero and that you were her dad, so they wanted to meet you,” I explained.

  “Oho, is that so?” he said, looking amused.

  “Yes, sir,” said Christine with excitement. “Are you really the hero’s father? Does that mean you’re stronger than her? How old are you? Are you an archmage too?”

  “Well, yes, I am her father…”

  Anatoly and the three adventurers launched into an animated discussion that reminded me of videos I had seen of fans meeting celebrities. While they talked, Sylvia turned to me and started to speak.

  “Are you sure I can’t convince you to accept the offer right now?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” I said.

  “Oh well. Then I look forward to the day you do accept.”

  “I do too.”

  “Then why not accept now?”

  “No.”

  Sylvia huffed in frustration, and then turned to listen in on the story that Anatoly was telling, and I did as well. We spent another hour talking in the shop before leaving. In that time, Anatoly managed to convince the adventurers to by a total of a dozen books about his past adventures, and the famous historical figures he had known. Sylvia offered to pay for all of them, despite them not being for me.

  We left the bookstore with Sylvia, and immediately went shopping for supplies. When we went into the blacksmith’s shop, the adventurers acted like kids at a candy shop, and Sylvia was more than happy to pay the part of the mother. By the end of the day, she had spent over a thousand gold on weapons, armor, and other tools for the adventurers, but despite the large sum, she seemed happier than ever.

  She bid us farewell as the sun was setting, and immediately, the three adventurers surrounded me like sharks on a bleeding whale and thoroughly interrogated me on my relationship to Sylvia. I gave them as much truth as I was willing, saying that I had a few unique skills, and that Sylvia was trying to hire me. I didn’t tell them the exact details though. There was really no reason not to, but I wanted to keep some cards close to my chest, and I doubted I would need to use anything they didn’t already know about down in the Dungeon.

  Once they were satisfied, they invited me back to the inn they were staying at so that we could plan our Dungeon dive, and then we went to bed. Or rather, they went to bed. I lied, saying that I had another place to stay, and left as they were settling down, promising I would be back by sunrise. Then, I wandered the streets until the morning, idly training a few of my unobtrusive skills that I hadn’t capped yet.

----------------------------------------

  Natalya returned to her father’s shop late that night, but Anatoly was still up, writing something down in a notebook.

  “Ah, you’re back. Did you have a good time with Yona?”

  “Yeah. She was adorable. It was a lot of fun.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Yeah…”

  There was a moment of silence, before Anatoly spoke again.

  “So, now that you’ve met her, what do you think of Lucy?”

  “She’s suspicious. And she’s definitely hiding something. She’s way too competent and adjusted for someone who supposedly doesn’t have any memories before a few months ago.”

  Anatoly nodded. “I thought the same.”

  “And she shrugged off my [Intimidation] like it was nothing,” she added.

  “Despite how she dresses, she cares greatly about her appearance. It’s possible that she did feel it, but hid it well.”

  “I suppose… Her [Wil] is pretty high, and it wouldn’t be too far-fetched for her to have some kind of resistance skill against mental attacks. Regardless, it’s still strange. But I don’t think she’s malicious. She didn’t seem that way to me at least. I can’t tell if she’s related to the Demon Kings or not.”

  Anatoly nodded again. “I’ve been observing her ever since she appeared. I don’t think she is aware of it, but I have watched her almost every move since I met her. From what I’ve witnessed, I do not believe she is a Demon King. Whether she is related to them or not remains to be seen, but at the very least, she is not some monster that will need to be put down at the expense of the lives of the brave.

  “That’s good…” responded Natalya. “So you’ve been observing her this whole time? What else can you tell me about her?”

  “Not too much. She hasn’t done anything suspicious. Not to me at least, since I know she’s a vampire. She has been living in the woods, subsisting on the blood of monsters and leveling her skills. I can, however, tell you that her talent is real. She grew from not knowing a thing about magic to her current level in about 5 months.”

  “That is impressive. And you’re certain she’s not a Demon King?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hmmmm…” Natalya put her hand on her chin, thinking deeply about something. “If she’s really not a Demon King, she would make a fine student. It’s been a while since someone as talented as her existed.”

  “So it has. It might also help you keep her under observation if you’re still suspicious of her.”

  “Yes, that’s true as well…” she said.

  “I think it would not be a bad idea to take her in as your apprentice. As I told you before, she’ll be sponsored by the Lyons soon, and they will probably try to provide her with a teacher. She is an intelligent and cautious woman, but if you approached her saying you were hired by the Lyons, I don’t think she would be overly suspicious of you. You would be able to observe her freely, and in case I am wrong, you would be in a position to stop her.”

  “Yeah… yeah, you’re right. Alright, I’m gonna do it.”

  “Excellent. I will also be joining you, by the way.”

  “You will? What for?”

  “The Lyons have been trying to recruit me for a certain task for a while. I’ve been rejecting them, but I’ve formed a friendship with the young lady of the house, and if I go to Claude, I will be closer to Lucy, who may be one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.”

  “Oh, awesome! I’ll have to head back before you leave probably, but you should stop by my place once you get there.”

  “Of course!” Anatoly said. Then he yawned.

  “It’s getting rather late,” he said, closing his notebook and standing up.

  “That it is. I’m a bit jealous of Lucy, not needing to sleep at all,” responded Natalya, as the two of them went to the back of the store and then up the stairs.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I enjoy sleeping. Especially the dreaming part. And being awake all night would be lonely.”

  “I guess…” They stopped in a hallway on the second floor, each standing in front of a different doorway.

  “Well, good night, Dad,” said Natalya, moving to hug her father.

  “Good night 'Talya,” he said as he returned the hug.

  Then, they went into their rooms and slept.