While I was deep in conversation with Garcwoajosegiwat about the upcoming story, our discussion abruptly stopped due to the sudden appearance of a drunken man. It was only natural for me, already feeling down about Ethan and Princess Rainy’s engagement, to lash out at him.

“What the hell…?”

“A punk like you, who can’t even keep the hair you were born with, dares to talk about children? If you’re drunk, you should just go home and sleep it off.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

The burly adventurer with nearly bald hair realized the meaning of my words a moment too late and swung the axe he had at his waist toward me.

The axe sliced through the air, aimed at my shoulder.

–KAAANG!!

“You should know that if you talk back here, you might lose an arm!”

“Oh really? Well, since it didn’t get cut off, I guess that means I spoke just fine. Have you just admitted that your hair is as sparse as a newborn’s?”

“You little brat!”

Easily provoked by my shallow taunt, the bald man swung his axe again, and I blocked it with a single dagger, then countered with a strike to regain my stance.

Typically, in the Luminar Academy, those who openly flaunt their pumped-up muscles often turn out to be just ordinary people when faced with reality.

In this world, those who truly know how to fight focus on cultivating their energy. A person who has trained their energy properly will have compressed muscles and a higher density, meaning they won’t have the kind of bulky muscles like that.

As I had anticipated, the guy who picked a fight with me swung his axe with a weakness that paled in comparison to his size, and I merely countered his weapon with my silver dagger.

‘It feels a bit awkward since I don’t use this dagger often.’

It wasn’t that Lyria’s silver dagger was a bad weapon, but it was just that it was less familiar compared to the dagger Seraphim had gifted to Luke and the custom dagger Ethan had made for me.

When I held one dagger in each hand, the other would naturally be used less. I couldn’t very well use a dagger while holding one in my mouth.

However, due to the preparations for entering the dungeon, my Seraphim dagger and Blackwood dagger were both with Ethan for maintenance, so the only usable weapon I had was this emergency silver dagger.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that difficult to subdue a random adventurer… or rather, a drunken man like this.

–KAAANG!!

“Ugh, you little brat…!!”

‘Now’s my chance!’

I absorbed the shock of the dagger strike with my wrist, and as the man’s grip loosened slightly, I thought I could stab his right arm that held the axe and subdue him.

Just as I was about to thrust Lyria’s silver dagger, suddenly…

–PERRRCK!!

“Ugh, what…?!”

“……”

The muscular bald man lost consciousness and fell backward due to the sword strike from Garcwoajosegiwat, who had appeared from behind him.

–THUD!

“…What the hell is this? Was there a villain like this in the original? Lilith, are you okay…?”

“Hey, you jerk! That wasn’t fair stealing the last hit!”

“Eh…?”

“Why the hell is it like this lately?! Every time I try to fight properly, someone swoops in to steal the last hit! What the hell?!”

“Hey, hey, Lilith. I’m sorry, so could you lower your voice?”

“…Oh.”

I recalled the last hit steal that had happened two weeks ago in the Hobgoblin Forest, and feeling unfairly wronged, I lashed out at Garcwoajosegiwat as well. But then I remembered that there were many eyes on us, so I had to keep my cool.

Listening to Garcwoajosegiwat, I quickly composed myself and, ignoring the gazes of the people in the Adventurers' Guild, quietly walked outside with the Hero.

Once we had moved far enough away from the building, Garcwoajosegiwat looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

“What were you thinking?”

“…What do you mean?”

“You could have just let that annoying drunkard go. Did you really have to provoke that bald guy… uh, I mean, that man?”

“What’s it to you? I’m the kind of person who needs a reason to give a punk like him the treatment he deserves.”

“I mean, considering the stuff you’ve done in Lua Gallery, that makes sense…”

Garcwoajosegiwat's gaze toward me was one that seemed to suggest I was some kind of crazy person, which made me feel a bit resentful, and he shook his head.

“Well, I’m not in a position to give advice to someone like you, who’s been around Luminar Academy for ages, but it’d be better to hold back that personality of yours. You’ve gotten into trouble because of it too many times already.”

“……”

“Just from what I’ve seen, there was that time at the academy entrance ceremony when you fought with the swordsman from the swordsmanship department using real blades… And then you also said something wrong to McHart and got on his bad side. I know he’s a jerk to you because of your unicorn-like personality…”

“…I don’t care. At least I dealt with him before the fourth part boss awakened, so it turned out fine.”

“That’s true, but you can’t just spend your life cursing those you dislike. And you probably haven’t treated Ethan this way either.”

“……”

Actually, I had.

If I were to think about it, the one who had probably received the most curses from me in my childhood was Ethan. I had held back for so long that when I finally exploded, the amount I had cursed him was probably only a tenth of what I would have normally said.

“Seriously, I’m giving you sincere advice: kill that personality. If you take it with you when you become a duchess later, it’s going to be a real problem, you know?”

“……”

“Anyway, I’m off. It was nice to talk comfortably for the first time in a while. As I said earlier, I’ll do what I can about the Angela love line, so don’t worry about it.”

“…Okay.”

Garcwoajosegiwat took my silence as a positive sign and said what he needed to before walking away.

Knowing that a future as the duchess of the Blackwood family was impossible for me, I could only give a powerless response to his retreating figure.

After returning from the Adventurers' Guild where I bought the dungeon map and receiving Garcwoajosegiwat's advice to tone down my personality.

Ethan noticed something off about me when I returned to our accommodations looking drained, but that was all. That day, both of us were exhausted from the long carriage ride, so we fell asleep immediately.

The next morning, I walked toward the dungeon entrance, hoping there might be an opening, but as expected, a long line of students had set up tents, waiting to enter the two-person small dungeon.

“I came to check just in case, but it seems like it will be hard to get in today.”

“That seems to be the case, Lord Ethan.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Instead, how about we do some dungeon research and take a stroll around the city today? I heard there’s a place that makes great pasta in the dungeon city.”

“That’s a good idea, Lord Ethan. Local specialties are often related to the region’s products, so we might indirectly learn about the ecosystem inside the dungeon as well.”

“…Well, that’s not the grand reason we’re going out.”

I wasn’t exactly saying I’d stroll around with Ethan just to learn about the dungeon ecosystem. I was merely providing a convenient excuse to go on a date with him.

Since it was impossible for us to enter the dungeon today, Ethan and I planned to spend the day leisurely as we walked toward the opposite side of the dungeon entrance.

‘Looks like Garcwoajosegiwat went in around last night.’

The eight-person large dungeon required serious strategy to tackle, so it seemed he had prepared quickly and entered.

Knowing him well enough by now, I had no worries. I knew he would manage to navigate the story's assault just fine without my help, and from this point on, my involvement wouldn’t have much meaning anyway.

As I strolled leisurely through the dungeon city, holding hands with Ethan, it was clear this place was large enough to be called a "city."

Unlike yesterday when we only wandered through the makeshift commercial area near the dungeon entrance, entering a bit deeper, I found several facilities such as high-end clothing stores and large restaurants.

Many shops were likely trying to profit from adventurers who came out of the dungeon with good loot. The best way to maintain the economy while promoting the dungeon and sustaining tourism was to ensure the money earned in this city was spent here.

‘Or they could profit from students from various academies, like Ethan and me, who visit a few times a year for dungeon exploration.’

While casually wandering around with Ethan, I spotted a shop with a sign that read “Dungeon Reward Market,” and I pulled on Ethan's arm to direct his attention toward it.

Having played Luminar Academy 24.5 times, I knew roughly what rewards came from the dungeon, but it seemed better to show Ethan directly rather than explain.

“Why don’t we check out that shop over there, Lord Ethan?”

“The Dungeon Reward Market?”

“It’s a shop that buys and sells rewards obtained from dungeons, so we might be able to check what rewards we can get inside the dungeon.”

“Certainly. It wouldn’t hurt to check, as Lilith suggested.”

Nodding as if he agreed with my point, Ethan walked toward the “Dungeon Reward Market.”

While I had taken him there thinking we might find some weapons or armor from the dungeon, it became clear shortly after entering that the “Dungeon Reward Market” dealt with items completely unrelated to weapons or armor.