Shahzad cut his camping trip short after just a week to celebrate his younger sister’s birthday.

That was an unusual thing.

Normally, once he entered a dungeon, he wouldn’t return for at least three weeks.

But this wasn’t unusual for Shahzad himself.

It was unusual for the people around him.

Everyone adjusted their expectations to match Shahzad’s dungeon cycle.

They would mentally prepare themselves, thinking, “It’s about time for Shahzad to come back.”

By doing so, even if they ran into Shahzad, they wouldn’t be caught off guard.

However, since he returned much earlier than usual, it caused a stir among those around him.

Because of their reactions, Shahzad mistakenly thought that he smelled bad.

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He even wondered if he had already started to develop an old man’s smell… but thanks to Keya, that misunderstanding was cleared up.

Following Keya’s suggestion, Shahzad stepped into the bath.

One of the reasons Shahzad regularly returned to the surface was for the bath.

Shahzad loved bathing.

But of course, there were no baths inside the dungeon.

He was always on the lookout for a hot spring somewhere, but so far, he hadn’t found one.

Occasionally, he would come across a healing spring, but the water was lukewarm and hardly worthy of being called a bath.

Keya had mentioned that this was leftover bathwater from yesterday, so no one else would be getting in after him.

That meant there was no harm in jumping into the tub before washing his body.

(That would probably feel amazing…)

Even as he thought that, Shahzad first washed his head three times and his body twice, carefully and thoroughly.

That was just the kind of person he was.

After scrubbing away a week’s worth of grime, he finally settled into the tub.

Yet, his face was unusually tense.

It was his beloved bath, the first in a week.

He should have been melting away in bliss.

Shahzad rarely ever wore such a serious expression.

He had a naturally easygoing demeanor, always carrying an air of relaxed carelessness.

Even when delving into dungeons, even when facing powerful monsters, he never seemed tense.

So why now…?

“…Hmm.”

With a furrowed brow, he was deep in thought.

His gaze was fixed on something floating in the water, a single, curly hair.

(…Whose is that?)

Even if he didn’t smell like an old man, at that moment, Shahzad reeked of crime.