"This place is huge!" Kita talked beside me while Gako and Gordon were busy looking around, walking between the bustling crowds of adventurers, we were now in the Canaria dungeon Center.

"Now we will go to the guild dungeon, be careful not to bump into anyone, some adventurers are not patient people" walking around carrying our bags containing supplies, fortunately, I was able to secure weapons that would be used to fight monsters in the dungeon,

and the most important thing is, I get it at a good discount!

Although, I'm really under the red line right now, the credits I had in my account yesterday were 340, buying snacks I used up 80 credits, and the remaining 260 credits including credits I got from working overtime yesterday, I spent them all at the supermarket, so I don't have any money at all... I feel like I want to cry, on the positive side, I don't have any big bills for this month and regarding food I have a box of noodles, maybe I should finish the food Miyura bought for me earlier...

well, I hope the catch for today is big enough because I have to share it among four people.

Walking with Kita beside me, I glanced at the large plastic bag that was being hugged tightly. I initially wanted to ask, but seeing the listless faces of Gordon and Gako behind me, it seemed it was better to leave it alone.

As we walked deeper into the building, there were more and more people around because it was still the holiday season, even people who weren't full-time adventurers entered the dungeon to raise their level a little, after all, strength was always rule anywhere, there was a famous saying in this city, namely "level isn't everything, but it's hard to fight someone who can blow your guts out from behind with one punch" and I agree with those words.

After walking for a few minutes, not far in front of us, we could see a wide staircase leading down, and people going in and out of it, it was the main and only entrance to the Canaria dungeon.

"That's the dungeon entrance" Gako spoke.

"This is the first time I saw the real one" Gordon said while folding his arms, both of them looked at the entrance with firm faces, they must felt anxious for their first time going into the dungeon.

"Shall we go straight in?!" Kita excitedly asked beside me, she seemed to be more relaxed than Gordon and Gako, which surprised me, hearing her question, I answered.

"No, we have to register you first as members of my party and get your adventurer cards, otherwise the sensor alarm on the stairs will sound" I spoke, remembering that we could be fined if we made the sensor sound.

"follow me" I said walking toward the large two-story shop near us which said Canaria Dungeon Guild, even though it looked like two floors from here, I heard the guild was much bigger inside with more floors, well, wood Rank is not allowed to enter apart from these two floors and the lobby.

Entering the glass doors, we were greeted by a larger crowd than usual, a few adventurers glanced at us when we entered but quickly lost interest before returning to their own business.

"This place is very busy" Gordon spoke to me.

"Yeah, usually it's not this busy" I said while looking at the long queues a the receptionists and consoles screen.

To register as a Wood Rank adventurer you don't have to fill in a lot of information or requirements, just provide your ID card or student card on the console and your adventurer card will be printed directly on the spot, what's great is that there are no fees charged for this registration, it's as easy as it gets, after all, conveniences like this can only be found in Aragis, the main headquarters city of adventurer guilds that have branches throughout the world and the birthplace of the most powerful adventurers ever heard of, meanwhile, other cities and countries are much stricter in monitoring adventurers, but still, if you want to advance in rank, there will be requirements for level, ability and also a check on information about your status, and this check is not easy to cheat and may even be impossible because it uses very expensive appraisal magic items.

"I don't think we have a choice, let's queue" lined up with people in front of one of the registration consoles, we waited patiently, there were also several staff in front of the consoles who helped explain how it worked to people who were confused.

waiting while watching around the guild, I felt someone nagging me from behind "What's wrong, Kita?"

Kita, who was standing behind me, still hugging her plastic bundle, whispered shyly "Uhm, Leader, do you know where... the bathroom is?"

"Hm? it's over there" I pointed towards the bathroom, looked at my finger, Kita nodded and quickly handed over the plastic bundle "Eh?"

"Please hold this for a moment Leader! I'm sorry!" Kita quickly disappeared into the bathroom hidden among the crowd of people.

"Want me to hold it for you Ren?" Gordon asked me and looked at this bundle of plastic sourly.

Feeling the contents were quite heavy, I finally asked "What's in it?"

"It's just a strange drink Kita bought at the supermarket earlier" Gordon said.

"is that so?" I stared at the plastic bundle in my hand like it was poison, I often see Kita drinking strange drinks and she likes to offer them to anyone, sometimes they are very good and sometimes very bad, but there are more bad than good, I am lucky that Kita's drink that I drink in the cafeteria is gold among nuclear waste.

"That reminds me Ren, where are the weapons you bought? I didn't see you carrying them?" interrupting my stray thought, Gordon asked me.

"Of course I brought it in my bag" I showed the red bag behind my back.

"I understand, but I'm curious about the weapons-"

"S-Sorry!" before Gordon could ask however, a female voice suddenly interrupted our conversation, looking to the side, Kita was surrounded by four mohawks who looked like street punks.

"I should have known" I immediately walk toward Kita.

"come on, Gako" Gordon calls.

"A-Alright!"

the three of us quickly walked towards Kita and I put on my business smile in the blink of an eye.

"excuse me, is my friend causing trouble?"

"Huh? She's bump-"

"Forgive us! let's get out of here"

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"Huh? Hah?" ignoring the confused noises one of the punks with a purple mohawk, I immediately grabbed Kita's hand and left the four punks behind.

"Ren? Is that okay?" Gordon, who saw me immediately pulled Kita's hands away and ignored the punks behind me, asking in confusion.

"It's okay, they can't do anything here" I said while walking towards our previous queue, many adventurers have bad tempers and questionable lives, especially low-level adventurers who have no talent and just hang on a thin thread every day, they usually do bad things to survive, but because the guild is not stupid they built an adventurer monitoring and investigation agency, to minimize the number of crimes that tarnish the name of adventurers, and at the headquarters of this adventurer's guild there are many guards, they can't do anything to us, at least for now.

"Oi?! do you want to die?!"

"Damn brats!"

"You will regret it!!"

"let's teach them a lesson!"

The four punks started to chase us but were quickly stopped by the guards who had been watching.

"What are you doing!? We are victims here!"

the punks protested loudly but were quickly taken away by the guards.

"That was quite scary..." Gako spoke while looking at the punks being taken away by force, while some people looked at this with confusion or fear, most just ignored it, they were people who often came here, in this adventurer's guild, things like this were something that is normal and happens frequently.

ignoring the commotion that was getting further away, I turned my eyes toward Kita and asked "Are you okay Kita?"

Kita who lowered her head suddenly looked at me and spoke happily "That was a great event! very cliche and classic!" Kita jumped in joy and her eyes were shining bright.

"What..." Gordon frowned.

"Are you really alright Kita?" Gako asked worriedly.

while I can only stand there in silence looking at Kita who's smiling happily, are all the strange drinks she's been drinking finally having an effect? Should we call her parents to take her to the hospital?

Seeing Kita's response that was beyond our expectations, we could only look at her with strange eyes before Gordon chose to ask her "Aren't you afraid Kita?"

"scared? Why?" Kita tilted her head.

"No, don't those four people with colorful hair look scary?" I asked doubtfully.

"No? Aren't they just small fry?"

"Wait here a moment, ah here, take your bundle" Hearing Kita's extraordinary words, the three of us took a breath of surprise, so I handed the plastic bundle back to Kita before taking Gordon and Gako away for a moment, Gordon made a difficult face and Gako looked scared.

"Did Kita eat something strange today?" I whispered to the two.

"I don't know about food, but when it comes to strange drinks, you don't need to ask" Gordon whispered back.

"Kita has been strangely excited since earlier, not like her usual self" Gako glanced at Kita worriedly.

Since the beginning, Kita has been a shy girl and gets scared easily, but strangely she is very brave now, usually she would cry if she met punks like that.

"Leader! The queue has advanced!" Kita waved her hand at us.

"Alright, maybe she has drink poisoning, so we have to check her mental state" I spoke seriously and both of them nodded.

"Yes! We're going there!" I smiled, when we got to Kita, she still looked very happy making Gordon and Gako hide behind me, so I put on my signature smile and asked Kita

"Kita, Kita, why are you so happy?" I asked in a childish tone, but Kita didn't pay attention to it and answered cheerfully "Because I can go to the dungeon! This has been my dream since I was little!"

"I see, I see" I nodded with a smile "but why weren't you scared earlier?"

"Hm? There's nothing to be afraid of, they are little villains who often appear in anime!"

"anime?" I glanced at the two people behind me.

"Ah, anime seems like a new type of entertainment in the form of animation and is on the rise these days, especially the realist self-fulfilment genre" Gako explained.

"I understand, so you are happy because you feel like you are in a story?" I spoke to the energetic Kuta.

"yes! It feels like we are the main characters! let's defeat the demon king and marry the princess!" Kita starts to pose like she's holding a sword above her head which attracts attention around us, oh no, Kita's condition is worse than I thought....

"What should we do Ren?" Gordon asked me.

"well, isn't this interesting?" I smiled wryly, looks like Dungeon Fever isn't just a slang after all.

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

Meanwhile, when the three of them are facing Kita, who shows her unexpected side.

the four mohawk punks who were thrown out by the guards grumbled in great annoyance.

"Damn Kids! How dare to embarrass us!" Purple Mohawk spat with hatred, he was the leader of this group.

"That's right! Even though we are victims!" The skinny yellow Mohawk spoke to fuel his leader's anger.

"Are we just going to keep quiet?! Let's wait for them to come out and teach them a lesson!" The big red mohawk spoke irritably.

"Even though I was just about to ask the girl's number" the fat green mohawk spoke while scratching his stomach.

they were talking noisily in front of the Guild but the people passing by just ignored these four who clearly had no manners, like them, these four were street punks who thought it would be easy to be an adventurer and get rich quickly, however, in the end they had no talent or mentality of being adventurers and only being bullies who have little power to terrorize people weaker than themselves, a textbook small fry.

"Okay! Let's wait here and make them feel the consequences!" the purple mohawk spoke. The guards inside the guild frowned at their lame chatter and even would throw them out of the dungeon center if they misbehaved again, However, before that happened, the purple mohawk's smartphone rang.

picked up the phone, the purple mohawk's face was a little frightened before picking up the phone in a hurry.

"ahem! Boss! how are you? healthy?" The purple mohawk subconsciously lowered his head even though the person behind the phone couldn't possibly see him, while the other three mohawks immediately knew who was calling.

"tch, you bastard, are you done with your work? where are you!?" an angry-sounding man's voice answered displeasedly.

"I am really, really sorry!" Hearing that person's harsh words, the purple mohawk who had been acting strong a moment ago could only apologize tremblingly.

"You losers, I told you to sell some items to the guild and you guys couldn't even do it?!" the man shouted from behind the phone.

"N-No, it's not like that boss! We were going to sell the items you asked for! But we got into trouble with some bastard kids!" the purple mohawk quickly made an excuse.

"Huh?! You think an excuse like that can make me nod?! You damn bastard!" the man behind the phone became increasingly angry.

"I apologize..."

"That's it! Go back to headquarters now, we have a lot of new members joining in and I have some new jobs for you"

"G-Got it! we'll be there soon!" the purple mohawk straightened his back. without waiting, the man behind the phone immediately hung up the phone, really rude, thought the purple mohawk, he could hear loud music and women's voices from behind the phone, the boss must be partying again, sighing, the purple mohawk spoke to the group.

"The boss is calling! We have to go to headquarters as soon as possible!" nodding, the four quickly walked out of the front yard of the adventurer's guild without waiting for Ren and his friends to come out.

walking like rabbits with their tails between their legs, they wanted to rush out of the dungeon center or their boss would get angry again if they were a little late, that was how scared they were of their boss.

"But to think we were being bossed around by a high school kid..." the big red mohawk sighed.

"Oi! Watch your mouth! Or I'll hit your face!" the purple mohawk quickly grabbed the red mohawk's jeans jacket.

"Do you know the consequences if the boss hears what you say?!" the purple mohawk shouted.

"B-but boss can't possibly know" the yellow mohawk spoke to calm the purple mohawk.

but the purple mohawk couldn't calm down, fear was embedded in his heart, he knew how scary that person was, age didn't matter, their boss was crueler than even the bad people he had ever met.

"You don't know how cruel and strong he is! He may be a beginner now but soon he will become a big man with his power and connections! we shouldn't mess with him!"

the purple mohawk warned loudly, but his three friends only nodded half-heartedly, they had never truly seen the bad things his boss did and the potential he had, but he already knew it, and he would ride this wave to change his life, even though he hoped his boss wouldn't crushing his head any time soon, that guy could do it without hesitation after all, but since he was going to be a great person later, he needed to curry favor with him as much as possible.

"Kah! we're wasting time here! let's go quickly!"

The four of them started walking again to meet their boss who was probably having fun at the headquarters.

in this world the strong rule, and as long as you are strong you can do anything, and the boss of the mohawked punks believed in that more than anyone else, the boss who entered the criminal world as a promising newcomer, a very you one at that, who quickly built a clan and gathered so much money by exploiting many people, including people from his own clan.

a loyal follower of the law of the jungle, who believes strength is everything.

who does things arbitrarily according to his way, who hides even more rottenness behind his veil.

someone who is notorious for his bad behavior.

His name is Donma Handre, one of the Five Pillars.