The Dungeon, the final floor of the upper region: the 12th floor.
In the vast, grassland cavern shrouded in white mist, several adventurer parties each held their own "spawn point," pushing forward slowly and cautiously. Every one of them kept a tight formation, their footsteps soft, their eyes constantly sweeping the surrounding walls and ceiling, as if at any moment a monster might burst out and catch them off guard.
This near-reflexive wariness clearly wasn't something rookies possessed. Only adventurers who had taken their lumps and bled in the Dungeon developed caution this bone-deep. Anyone who could reach this floor was, naturally, long past being a true greenhorn. So it was no surprise that the whole cavern was steeped in that restrained, methodical exploration rhythm unique to veterans.
But just as they parted the waist-high grass and tried to press deeper into the mist...
Clang! Clash! Crash!
A burst of frantic, hurried footsteps, tangled together with the ring of clashing weapons and unrestrained battle cries, suddenly erupted from the direction of the floor passage.
The members of those parties all started at once, and before they could even exchange glances, dark figures came tearing through the thick mist, chattering noisily as they swept off toward the depths of the grassland...
"Aaaah! Miss Kureha! You, you you you you...!"
A young woman's voice, so aggrieved it nearly cracked into a sob, drifted from somewhere far off in the mist, as though denouncing a comrade's "betrayal."
"Why are you stealing our monsters?!"
"We, we agreed before we came down, everything before the 18th floor was supposed to be left to us!"
Not far off, Leon, Persephone, Jeanne, and Rose traded a smile, watching the figures dart ahead in a flurry of flashing blades, all chasing and being chased in turn. Laurier and the others were protesting even as they scrambled to fight Kureha for every monster that appeared.
Before this Expedition set out, there had indeed been an agreement: the fighting before the 18th floor would go mainly to Laurier, Aura, Irisviel, and Margaret, who were still Lv.2 and Lv.1. Partly to let them get used to the rhythm of an Expedition, and partly to rack up experience fast through real combat. With veterans like Leon watching over them, all they had to do was focus on fighting; everything else was none of their concern.
It was just that... the moment Kureha swooped in to snatch a kill, Laurier was stunned right where she stood!
In Laurier's mind, the strength of Miss Kureha, the Sword Saint, could no longer be measured by something as simple as level. Her swordsmanship and killing efficiency were on a transcendent tier even within the entire Familia (not counting a certain cheating bastard). It was precisely this deep-rooted impression that made her completely forget: Kureha Clyret... her level was actually only Lv.2.
"Sorry about that, Laurier."
Kureha's voice drifted over lightly, carrying the faintest trace of a smile.
"I'm a Lv.2 too, you know."
"...So I didn't break our agreement!"
Laurier froze in an instant, her eyes going blank.
"...Eh?"
"Lv... 2?"
Beside her, Aura calmly pushed up her glasses and added in a level tone:
"Miss Kureha really is Lv.2. Don't let her off-the-charts combat performance fool you."
Laurier opened and closed her mouth, and after a long moment finally squeezed out a single sound:
"...Huh?"
The little elf stood rooted in place, her little head spinning furiously.
She thought it over carefully, and, um... it seemed like, probably, maybe, possibly, if she remembered right...
Miss Kureha really was Lv.2?
Wait... huh?
Crack...!
The world before her seemed to shatter like clear glass. The mirage built out of stereotype was mercilessly smashed in that moment, and the truth came back into view.
"I remember now!"
"Miss Kureha could have leveled up to Lv.3 ages ago, she just got stuck without being promoted because her Basic Abilities weren't maxed out at the time..."
At that thought, Laurier whirled around and "glared" at Leon, her little mouth puckering as she launched into a teary, aggrieved accusation:
"It's, it's all your fault!"
"Why haven't you leveled Miss Kureha up yet?!"
Leon rubbed his nose guiltily, turning his face away and stiffening his neck as he made his excuses:
"Ahem, this really isn't my fault... mostly it's because Kureha went to sleep too early that night."
The truth was, that night... because he'd used a Stimulant Elixir on Rose, things got a little too wild a little too fast, and he just forgot about it.
At that thought, Leon suddenly felt he really owed Iri and Margaret an apology, so he hurriedly grabbed hold of Kureha, who still wanted to go chop up monsters, patting her little hand as he coaxed:
"Don't go joining in on this. Leave these monsters for them to practice on."
"When we stop to regroup on the 18th floor, I'll level you up right away. On the [Great Tree Labyrinth] and the [Water City] after that, you'll have plenty of chances to show off!"
Kureha licked her lips, still not satisfied, a flicker of unfulfilled disappointment passing through her eyes.
"O-okay, fine..."
"I won't lift a finger, then..."
Afraid this battle-crazed young lady wouldn't be able to restrain herself, Leon quickly stuffed Iri's [Wonder Pack] onto her back.
"Here, be a good girl and play Supporter!"
"Look, all those 『Magic Stones』 and 『Drop Items』 you hacked to bits all over the ground."
"What are you standing around for? Get to work!"
Kureha: "..."
"Pfft!"
Watching the "Saint of the Sword," who had just been cutting down everything in sight, get her head shoved into the role of a dedicated pickup Supporter in the blink of an eye, everyone around couldn't help bursting out laughing.
It was mostly that the contrast of a dazed Kureha was just too funny.
When Kureha, a beat behind, finally caught up, she punched Leon in a fit of mortified anger, then lowered her head to gather up the spoils with a flushed face. The smiles still hadn't left anyone's faces, as if they'd been quietly infected by the ease of it all, and the mood brightened along with it.
...
Leon's group chattered and roughhoused the whole way, the atmosphere so relaxed it hardly seemed like they were exploring a Dungeon fraught with danger. Quite the opposite: that bone-deep looseness about them looked more like a spring outing.
That air of theirs wasn't put on at all.
The nearby parties watched, dumbfounded, as they pushed rapidly toward the depths of the floor, and only once that group's figures had vanished entirely into the white mist, not even a sound left behind, did they slowly draw back their complicated, hard-to-name gazes.
A young human Supporter clutched his pack straps tight and couldn't help murmuring:
"Look at them... it's like a picnic, they're so relaxed."
"This is the first time I've ever known Dungeon exploring... could even be like that."
His elf captain shot him a look:
"That's the Demeter Familia's party. See that one lady who's the only one without a hood? The tall beauty with the glasses and the big golden waves, that's Lady Persephone, the [Priestess of Desolation], captain of the Demeter Familia, level Lv.4!"
"If you got to team up with a big shot who's Lv.4 too, you could go on a picnic in the Dungeon as well."
The youngster's jaw dropped, struck speechless:
"What?!"
"Lv... 4?"
"Hss...!"
...
"Tch, boring..."
A young werewolf stomped a sneaking imp flat and curled his lip, his tone gone sour.
"Hey, Bete!"
"Get over here and help out! We've got six of them here!"
"On my way!"
[Read 10+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/NiaXD]