It was a foregone conclusion that Agra would come to interfere with me.

 

As an evil spirit, he would never leave anyone who could cause trouble for him alone.

 

Look at the pettiness of trying to curse someone with blessings and eliminate them from the start.

 

He does not watch his opponents grow up properly.

 

What an annoyingly practical villain.

 

I knew this.

 

Nevertheless, the reason I was embarrassed was because I never thought I would be under Agra’s watch in the Academy’s dungeon.

 

The Academy’s dungeon is different from ordinary dungeons.

 

This place is an artificial space created by the Academy.

 

Although it takes the form of a dungeon, Agra’s influence is limited.

 

Therefore, it would be burdensome for Agra to intervene here.

 

When I played the game, Agra intervened in the Academy’s dungeon only after I had removed three or more curses and been completely labelled as Agra’s opponent.

 

He should not have intervened in the Academy’s dungeon if I had only removed one of Agra’s curses.

 

So why on earth was Agra already watching me?

 

Why do you perceive me as someone who bothers you enough to interfere in the Academy’s dungeon?

 

Is it because Armadi is watching me?

 

Do you think that’s why his blessings reach me?

 

He’s such a useless and incompetent god.

 

Agra is actively trying to defeat his opponents, but you’re just leaving the person you’re watching alone!

 

Shouldn’t you have given me some kind of blessing, some chance, or at least prevented Agra from interfering?!

 

While I was protesting to Armadi through a sincere prayer, a strange sound resonated from a corner of the boss room, and a door rose up from under the ground.

 

That door, filled with an eerie aura, was definitely the door leading to a dungeon.

 

“… Can a dungeon appear within a dungeon?” “I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

 

<That’s definitely… Agra’s.>

 

I felt sorry as I watched Joy and Jacob’s bewildered appearance.

 

The two people are completely caught up in this because of me.

 

They have nothing to do with Agra, but Agra’s interest in me has only had a negative impact on them.

 

Now that it’s come to this, I have to take responsibility.

 

If anything happens to those two from now on, it will all be my fault.

 

‘Calm down first.’

 

“You sloppy people, calm down.”

 

“How can I calm down in this situation?”

 

‘The Academy must have noticed it too.’

 

“No matter how sloppy the Academy is, they must have noticed this situation. So, if we wait, they will come to save us even if it means losing their heads.”

 

The ones here right now are me, the Young Lady of the Allen family and the Young Lady of the Partran family.

 

If something were to happen to either of them, it would be a matter that would turn the Academy upside down.

 

If the problem gets serious, there could be bloodshed within the Academy.

 

So, if they want to live, they will do their best to solve the problem.

 

“… That’s right, they must have seen what was happening inside.”

 

“The professors at Soul Academy will solve the problem in no time!”

 

In the actual game, when a problem occurred during the Academy exam, the user was given two choices.

 

One was to directly respond to Agra’s Curse.

 

Whether it was a new dungeon or some strange monster, the user had to overcome the curse with their own hands and survive.

 

The other was to endure.

 

If you don’t have confidence in overcoming the phenomenon caused by Agra’s Curse, you can just kill time in the dungeon.

 

Then, the Academy will come to your rescue soon, and you can go outside without any danger.

 

If Joy and Jacob weren’t here, I might have chosen to go raid the dungeon.

 

The phenomenon caused by Agra’s Curse is definitely difficult, but it also offers great rewards.

 

However, I don’t plan on choosing that option right now.

 

My life isn’t the only thing important right now.

 

I don’t want to see Jacob die because of me, and Joy, one of my favourite characters die.

 

So, I had to take the safest option.

 

At least the current situation wasn’t the worst.

 

After all, the dungeon was created by Agra’s curse.

 

If other monsters or curses had appeared in this dungeon, it would have been difficult to even endure it.

 

However, it’s okay because we are currently in an artificial dungeon.

 

No matter how dangerous a place a dungeon is, it’s still just a dungeon.

 

As long as we don’t go inside, there won’t be any problems.

 

So, all we have to do is leisurely wait for the Academy to rescue us from outside the dungeon.

 

‘There’s no need to worry. You panicked for nothing.’

 

“Foolish Young Lady, you’re more scared than you look. Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”

 

“Who said I was scared?!”

 

You were panicking and didn’t know what to do just a moment ago, but now you’re pretending not to know.

 

Well.

 

Okay.

 

I’m a very considerate person, so I’ll pretend not to know.

 

At the moment when everyone was sighing in relief, the old man suddenly raised his voice.

 

<Girl! It’s not time to relax! The floor is breaking!>

 

Floor?

 

After hearing Grandpa’s words, I turned my gaze around and heard the sound of something splitting.

 

Crack.

 

Crack.

 

That ominous sound that seemed to show the crack gradually growing bigger.

 

Damn it!

 

I moved my body before I could speak.

 

“Run!”

 

I hugged Joy next to me and shouted at Jacob to run.

 

We have to get out of this room before the floor collapses.

 

Otherwise, we’ll be forced into the dungeon!

 

However, we were too slow to figure out what was wrong with the room to escape from here.

 

The floor collapsed before we could step out of the room, and we fell.

 

<… Shit.>

 

Ah.

 

Damn it.

 

My head hurts like hell.

 

<Focus!>

 

It’s not just my head that hurts.

 

It’s just that every part of me hurts.

 

It felt similar when I woke up the next day after training with the Knights all night.

 

<Lucy!>

 

Who keeps calling me?

 

I’m so fucking tired and worn out right now.

 

What?

 

It’s okay for a spoiled brat to sleep in.

 

<Lucy! Wake up!>

 

I opened my eyes in a hurry the moment I heard Grandpa’s shout.

 

There was Joy’s face right below me, breathing comfortably with her eyes closed.

 

What is this?

 

<Are you finally coming to your senses?>

 

‘Grandpa, what the heck.’

 

<I was worried because you lost consciousness from the impact of the fall and couldn’t open your eyes.>

 

The moment I heard the word ‘fall,’ I was able to recall what had just happened.

 

I fell down because the floor of the dungeon collapsed.

 

After I realized that, my body’s senses gradually returned to their original positions.

 

Small pains continued to torment me as if I had bruises all over my body, and a heavy sensation pressed down on my back as if something was being placed on it.

 

‘Grandpa, is there something on my back?’

 

<It’s probably debris on the floor. There’s quite a lot, but you can lift it now.>

 

In times like these, my grandfather’s words were never wrong, so I gritted my teeth and pushed away the things that were pressing down on my back.

 

Soon after, the pressure I had been feeling on my back disappeared with a thud.

 

After getting out of the rubble, I was able to take in the scenery around me.

 

The overall scenery of the dungeon was similar to ‘Where the Alchemist Stayed’.

 

The only difference was that while that dungeon just now was set in a building that had fallen into ruin after the alchemist disappeared, this dungeon didn’t look like it had fallen into ruin yet.

 

Wow… what the hell.

 

This is really fucked up.

 

This is ‘Where the Alchemist Stayed.’

 

At first glance, this place seemed similar to the dungeon I had just been in.

 

However, the difference in difficulty between the two was stark.

 

So many things changed depending on whether or not the alchemist was present.

 

To be frank, this wasn’t a place I could clear as I was now.

 

My specs were simply lacking.

 

Just like how I had been defeated before by the Minotaur without even being able to fight back, this dungeon had the potential to turn me into a similar person.

 

Fucking Agra.

 

Did you really want to kill me that much?

 

“Uhhhhh.”

 

While thinking of a way to survive, Joy opened her eyes with a groan.

 

She wasn’t seriously injured, perhaps because I had taken the impact from the debris, so she slowly got up, looked around, and let out a hoarse voice.

 

“Young Lady, where am I?

 

It must be in that awful dungeon that just appeared.

 

…

 

“Where is Jacob?”

 

“I don’t know about that little brat either. He probably woke up a little while ago.”

 

I think he’s probably somewhere around here.

 

His location wouldn’t be too far from us.

 

If I don’t panic and move around carefully, I shouldn’t have a hard time finding him.

 

“Then let’s find him quickly. Ouch!”

 

Joy, who was trying to get up in a hurry, suddenly let out a scream and collapsed on the floor.

 

When I looked down, I saw that Joy’s ankle was completely twisted.

 

Did she get hurt when she fell just now?

 

“Foolish Young Lady, it’ll hurt, but stay still.”

 

“Huh?”

 

I knelt down and placed my hand on Joy’s ankle.

 

I never thought I would need Armadi’s mercy during the academy entrance exam.

 

As the miracle of healing unfolded in my hands, Joy’s ankle instantly returned to its original state.

 

“What the heck?”

 

“Move.”

 

Joy carefully got up again and moved her feet normally, unlike before.

 

It was fortunate that I had a healing skill.

 

Otherwise, I would have had to carry Joy while moving around this dungeon.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Don’t worry about it.”

 

“But…”

 

<Young Lady, something is approaching from outside. Get ready to move.>

 

As soon as I heard Grandpa’s words, I turned my gaze toward the door.

 

Who is it?

 

A chimera?

 

Or a perfectly rigged golem?

 

Or maybe some demons tamed by an alchemist?

 

Either way, they were threatening beings that could take our lives.

 

It’s hard to escape now that we don’t even know where we are, so what should we do?!

 

Eventually, something in the shape of a human with eyeballs all over its body entered the door.

 

A guard who hadn’t fallen asleep.

 

Chimera Argos.

 

If it’s that guy, it’s okay.

 

I quickly covered Joy’s mouth and whispered to her.

 

“Shut up, you idiot.”

 

Argos, who has countless eyes, has a side effect of not being able to see with any of them.

 

No matter which eye he looks at, countless afterimages are reflected, so he can’t see even one of them properly.

 

That’s why Argos doesn’t suspect still objects.

 

Because he doesn’t have the ability to distinguish between furniture that was there from the beginning and users who are standing still.

 

At least that’s how it was in the game.

 

It must be the same in reality.

 

It has to be that way.

 

Argos looked around the room and stopped in front of us.

 

Countless eyes were glaring at us.

 

Go away.

 

Please get out of here.

 

Don’t watch us with those disgusting eyes and disappear!

 

Did this prayer work?

 

Argos didn’t do anything and went back out of the room.

 

After the sound of footsteps disappeared into the distance, I took my hand off Joy’s mouth and Joy collapsed on the floor.

 

Her eyes, which had been desperately suppressing her fear just a moment ago, were filled with tears.

 

“This place… what on earth is this place?”