After the boss [Monster] was defeated, Tobias called out
"Is everyone alright?"
Thodin stood up, stumbling forward as he complained
"My armor is dented now, but I'm alive."
Mirabella rolled her eyes as she replied
"I've got a few scratches on my armor as well, but I'm just glad it's my armor and not my skin. We were being pelted with those rocks like crazy. I had to feed Matthias a health potion since he ended up with a gash on his arm."
Matthias looked guilty as he replied
"I can pay you back, if you want? Here, I should have a health potion in my bag."
Mirabella shook her head, causing Matthias to glance from his outstretched hand holding the vial of potion to her in uncertainty.
"Are you sure? I'd hate for you to be short on potions after I leave and end up dying because of it."
Tobias rolled his eyes as he replied
"I doubt this slime is going to end up killing one of us and we won't be moving on to any new floors without you."
Thodin guffawed as he boasted
"I think we are just too good for a first floor boss [Monster]! This guy wasn't that bad for a first floor boss [Monster]. It'll likely end up taking a good number of beginner adventurers by surprise. I doubt they'd be expecting such a tough fight after having it so easy in the rest of the dungeon."
Matthias was quick to add in
"A lot of people could end up dead."
Tobias frowned before replying
"Alright, I'll make sure to send a progress report to the adventurer's guild tonight then. So long as they are aware of the issue with the boss [Monster], that should mitigate the damage the boss can cause."
Matthias wanted to complain some more, but he chose to remain quiet. At least their party leader was taking his concerns seriously. Anything more would just annoy his party members, which wasn't ideal considering he'd soon be taking a leave of absence. If he wanted them to leave room for him to return, he needed to stay on good terms with them.
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The rest of the journey through the maze was quite short. There was a direct path out of the room after the boss fight was completed. When they entered the short 5-Units-long hallway, Violet was already waiting for them.
Violet felt it made sense once she saw who had made it past her new boss [Monster]. These adventurers seemed to be much stronger than most of the ones who entered her dungeon. Plus, they had mentioned something about needing to fully explore the first floor of her dungeon for some sort of job. It only made sense that they would need to defeat the boss [Monster].
"Is there something I can help you with?"
Matthias stepped forward nervously, extending his arm out as he offered his tribute to Violet.
"I... um... I'm planning on taking a break from exploring your dungeon to visit my family. However, I wanted to offer you a parting gift before doing so. I noticed you always carry that sword around, but you don't have any other adventuring gear. I thought you might appreciate this."
Violet looked at Matthias with curiosity. Her expression quickly morphed into one of surprise and excitement as she took in the steel scabbard and leather belt. Now, she'd be able to put her sword away when she wasn't using it! That would make things significantly easier for her and she'd no longer look like she was actively threatening everyone she met.
"Wow! This is really thoughtful of you, thank you!"
Violet exclaimed.
Matthias nodded in acknowledgment, but, otherwise, remained silent. He didn't want to seem arrogant by saying she was welcome or otherwise upset her and had decided that was the best response. After exchanging greetings once more, Tobias's party headed out of the dungeon.
After their party left to take a break, Violet absorbed the tributes, including the scabbard and leather belt. Then she spent 3 MP to make a new leather belt and 10 MP to make a new steel scabbard before equipping it and putting her sword away. It felt strange to not constantly be holding her sword as it had almost been like a safety blanket, albeit a rather dangerous one. However, it also felt like a relief mentally to now have a proper home for her sword.
She spent the last 35 MP she had on furthering her pond hole. She now had 85 MP out of 170 MP spent on building the pond hole. So, she was halfway there, it wouldn't be too much longer before she'd be putting in cute little koi fish and jade tree frogs. Violet could already imagine some of the locals wandering into the dungeon just to fish at her pond. Since the wildflower meadow was pretty safe and the pond room was just to the left of it, it would be perfectly safe for anyone to go fishing there.
The best part for Violet, of course, was the fact that she'd be able to earn plenty of mana in exchange. Maybe the locals would even start to bring her tribute and she might be able to get new tributes from what the adventurers tended to bring. A tailor might give her various types of cloth while a blacksmith might bring her a small bit of some rare metal. Maybe that was a bit too much to hope for, but Violet preferred to remain hopeful about her endeavors.
Of course, it might take a while before she could get anyone to even notice the new pond she was building. From what little she could tell, it seemed like it was, mostly, the same few people entering her dungeon each day. There was a pair of two adventurers with weak energy, Tobias's party of four with a mix of weaker and stronger energy, David and Alice, and, occasionally, Elivyre would visit. There had been some others who had entered several days ago, but they had yet to return to her dungeon.
While it had only been just shy of two weeks since Violet had reincarnated into this world, it felt like progress was slow. Well, building the dungeon was going pretty smoothly, but it was taking a good bit longer for adventurers to take notice of her dungeon and choose to visit. Perhaps things would be different when Violet unlocked her second floor and things were just slow now since she was still in a new dungeon. Only time could tell what would happen.