Earlier that day, a group of three adventurers were at the adventurers' guild. The pretty receptionist behind the desk was flirting with their leader, Coryas, again. Amelia rolled her eyes in annoyance, hoping they would hurry up.

"So, what quest did you two decide to go with again?"

Elwin had been late arriving at the adventurers' guild today. If it weren't for his valuable skills as a scout class and the fact that they had gone to school together, his regular tardiness likely would have been enough to kick him out of the party. However, as things stand, their party was well-balanced and they needed him.

"Well, since we recently made it to D-rank, we decided to take one of the more dangerous quests today. The local stone mason's workshop is requesting we collect gargoyle stone from the new dungeon. Apparently, all it takes is a day for word to get around."

Elwin laughed, before replying

"Yeah, I know Leaf Mason was talking about how he wished he had better materials to work with just a few weeks ago. I'm not surprised he's taking advantage of the new dungeon already. I'm sure others will follow his example as soon as the Dungeon Master decides what other types of resources they want to offer."

Amelia decided not to reply, even despite Elwin's rather upbeat attitude, his words had been a reminder of just how much she was a stranger in this land. Both she and their party leader, Coryas, were half-giants who had grown up in Bluecove City, but they were still very much considered other. Had their features suggested they were even so much as half-elf or they had a spouse or family member who was part of the elven race, things might have been different. Rather, instead, Coryas was half-dwarf, which gave him the appearance of your typical human, while she was half-human, which was hardly anything special.

"Alright, is everyone ready to go? You remembered to bring a tribute, right?"

Coryas asked, looking pointedly at Elwin as he said the last part. The dig was unnecessary as, while he had the bad habit of getting sidetracked, the elven boy never forgot anything essential. It would have been especially bad as a scout class if he didn't always come prepared. Smiling, Elwin enthusiastically declared

"I just stopped by the market on my way here. Picked up some rope and rations for the day. I didn't know we were going into the new dungeon, but I'm sure the Dungeon Master will enjoy a bit of hemp rope as well as anything else."

Coryas rolled his eyes, looking to be in as bad a mood as ever, as he led their group out of the guild and into the dungeon. Amelia had chosen to go with a branch of cherry blossoms herself. She found them pretty and it certainly seemed fitting to give a dungeon in an elven kingdom something nature-related. Besides, from the stories she heard from her parents, the last dungeon had featured a succubus as the Dungeon Master. She was known for enjoying rare flowers and sweets to the point that she'd even show her favor to those who left something impressive enough.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

There was no way to know what type of Dungeon Master was in charge of the newest dungeon without meeting them or waiting for the adventurers' guild to publish the information for the public to make use of. More than likely, they'd be discussing hiring an official mapping group to come through later in the year and would already be offering a pretty coin for any useful information that was brought in now. Their party wasn't likely to have anything of use, though, as they were just supposed to get in, kill some gargoyles, bag up their corpses, and then drag them back to town to deliver to the adventurers' guild who would see to it that the quest giver received it.

When they arrived at the dungeon, they were surprised to see its name over the door. It read "Veronica's Rest", which made it sound an awful lot like some human tavern or inn. Did that mean the Dungeon Master was human? Was her, if it was a her, name Veronica? Shrugging, she stepped through the door to the dungeon. Amelia had too little information to go on and she hardly wanted to make any assumptions.

"What even was that? There were just a bunch of empty rooms and the walls and floors were all made from wood!"

"Did you see that woman's attire? She doesn't look like she belongs in a dungeon. It's great that she brought a weapon, but a dress and cloth shoes just aren't appropriate for dungeon diving!"

Overhearing another group of adventurers talking, it was easy to know which way to go. They waited a moment to give them some space, then they followed through the door. The space immediately became brighter and felt bigger as they went from the dark, cramped, stone hallway to an open jungle. Even as they progressed further into the dungeon, it was incredible how open everything was. Where there would typically be doors separating different rooms, the trees just grew thicker in some areas with paths leading to the different spaces, and no doors in sight.

"Whoa! Is this an open floorplan dungeon? I've only ever heard stories about those!"

Elwin exclaimed. Coryas glared back at him and just barely noticed the gargoyle that was about to ambush them from the trees above. Smashing his hammer into the stone creature, he almost took out Elwin with it. Luckily, they were all similar levels, so it was unlikely he would have been injured worse than a healing potion could handle, but it was still enough to freak the elven boy out.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"No, you watch it, we have a job to do."

Their time in the dungeon mostly continued like that. Once Elwin's head was in the game, he did his job pointing out the [Monsters] and set up a perimeter of [Traps] once they found a room they wanted to farm for a while. Amelia was an earth elementalist herself, which was great for forming defensive barriers and throwing small stone pellets at her enemies. Those were actually the only two spells she had unlocked, thus far, but that also mostly left her to handle the defenses while Coryas carried the team, smashing any gargoyles that dared to get close into smithereens. Amelia didn't mind, though, and happily bagged up the remains alongside Elwin.

After spending several hours in the dungeon and gathering as much as they could carry, they packed up and headed back to the guild. The gargoyles weren't worth much experience, but they were still happy with the small handful of XP they had earned and even happier about the coppers and silvers they'd be paid.