Early the next morning, with sunlight just beginning to spill across Demeter Familia's pastoral fields, Genichi met the guard Demeter had arranged for him in the open space in front of the main house.
The instant he saw her, he thought to himself, As expected.
She was a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman who looked fragile at a glance, but anyone who judged by appearances would regret it.
Lunoire Faust
A "bounty hunter" with a bit of a name in Orario's underworld. Thanks to the reputation she'd built on death-match stages with nothing but iron fists, she'd earned the nickname "Black Fist."
She wasn't a member of any formal Familia. Her relationship with Demeter Familia wasn't one of subordination, either; it was more like affiliation and cooperation.
Every so often, Demeter Familia would hire her to handle problems they didn't want their own farmers getting involved in. Lunoire, for her part, respected Demeter as a person, and the two sides maintained a decent private rapport.
So when Demeter said she'd find someone absolutely trustworthy, someone "different," Genichi's mind immediately produced the image of this independent operator, her strength unclear but clearly not low, and someone with personal ties to Demeter.
When Lunoire laid eyes on Genichi, her sharp brown gaze didn't bother pretending to be polite. She looked him over from head to toe, openly assessing.
Way too young. Not bad-looking. Cold aura, like a block of ice…
This was the guy Demeter was willing to pay heavily for, and even call in personal favors, just to have her protect?
A LV.1 kid who looked like he'd only received a blessing recently?
Lunoire's curiosity spiked.
What exactly was special about this boy named Genichi that would make that gentle, kind, but never foolish goddess value him this much? To the point of near-indulgence and overprotection?
Willing to spare no expense to guarantee his safety in deeper-floor exploration?
Still, curiosity was one thing. Professionalism was another.
Demeter had made the terms brutally clear: absolutely, absolutely no leaking any information about Genichi. That included his abilities, his actions, even things he said.
And without permission, she was not to actively probe any of his secrets.
The pay was excellent, the terms were explicit, and on top of that, she had a personal relationship with Demeter. Lunoire took the job, even if it was a strange kind of guard assignment.
Her curiosity itched at her like a cat's claws, but once she took money and gave her word, she didn't break it. That was her line as a bounty hunter.
"So you're Genichi?"
Lunoire spoke first. "I'm Lunoire Faust. Under Demeter-sama's commission, I'll be your guard for the next stretch. My job is to ensure your basic safety within the designated area and provide retreat support when necessary. Other than that, you have freedom of action. I won't interfere. But I'd like you to understand your own limits, and don't do anything suicidal."
Her words were blunt and clean. They defined her duties and boundaries, and carried an implied warning: don't expect a babysitter, and don't pick fights you obviously can't win.
Genichi studied Lunoire as well.
"Genichi."
He gave only his name, then nodded once. "Demeter-sama should've already explained the situation. My goal is to explore and fight deeper than the first floor. During that time, unless it's necessary, don't interfere with my combat."
His tone was equally cold and practical, drawing a clear line: temporary partners, each doing their job, neither prying.
Lunoire lifted an eyebrow. His no-nonsense style matched hers closely enough that she found him a little more tolerable.
Compared to newbies who were either timid as mice or arrogant idiots, someone who knew his place was easier to work with.
"Deal," Lunoire said briskly. "So when do we leave? Target floor?"
"Now. Target…" Genichi paused briefly. "Starting from the second floor, and we go down depending on how it looks."
He didn't lock himself into a fixed answer.
He wanted to test his limits in live combat, floor by floor, and find the "golden floor" where he could kill efficiently without bleeding time and stamina, where the risk stayed controllable.
"Got it. Lead the way, employer," Lunoire said, motioning casually with her hand.
Her posture was relaxed, but her eyes had already shifted into work mode, sharp and scanning.
Genichi said nothing more and headed toward Orario.
Lunoire followed at a steady distance of about two steps behind him, not close enough to feel intimate, but close enough to react instantly if something went wrong.
They moved in silence along the morning farm path.
The sun stretched their shadows long: one tall and austere, the other compact and steady.
Before long, they reached the Dungeon entrance beneath Babel Tower again.
The noise was the same. The crowd was the same.
Genichi didn't pause. He walked straight into the deep, dark opening. Lunoire slipped in after him like a soundless shadow.
Passing through the familiar first-floor corridors, already stale to him, Genichi didn't even spare the roaming goblins a glance.
His goal was clear: lower floors, higher returns.
Lunoire watched him out of the corner of her eye, a flicker of surprise in her brown gaze.
That familiarity, that complete lack of interest in the first floor, didn't look like someone who'd only gotten a blessing a few days ago.
His pace and sense of direction were good, too.
They didn't waste time. They quickly found the route to the second floor.
The moment they stepped down, the environment changed.
The light was dimmer. The phosphorescent moss was sparser.
The air felt wetter and colder, carrying a faint, sharper stink that wasn't the goblins' usual musk.
The passages twisted more. There were more branching paths, and occasionally, distant roars sounded, lower and heavier than goblin screeches.
The main monsters here were kobolds and small numbers of giant ants.
Kobolds were a bit stronger than goblins, quicker on their feet, and sometimes used crude stone weapons. Giant ants hit harder, their carapaces tougher, and they tended to show up in groups.
Genichi stopped and focused, carefully reading the environment and the presence of nearby monsters.
He didn't strike immediately. Like a hunter in ambush, he observed and analyzed.
Lunoire stood a little behind and to his side, arms crossed, leaning against the rock wall. She looked casual, but her muscles were held in a subtle tension, ready to explode into a lethal hit at any moment.
She was watching.
Watching how Genichi would handle a new environment and new targets.
Soon, a lone kobold spotted them. It snarled, raised a stone axe, and charged.
Genichi moved.
His motions were cleaner than yesterday's. He shifted his footwork, avoided the kobold's clumsy chop with ease, and his sword snapped out like a viper's tongue, slipping into the gap at the kobold's neck and chest plating.
Thk.
The kobold collapsed, turning into ash and leaving behind a magic stone a touch larger and brighter than a goblin's.
The whole exchange took less than three seconds.
Efficient. Precise. No wasted movement.
Lunoire's eyes sharpened, a faint glint of interest flashing through.
Not bad.
Good judgment, stable nerves, nothing like a newbie.
Maybe Demeter's attention wasn't just "favoritism."
Genichi didn't stop. He pressed onward, soon running into a small cluster of giant ants.
This time, he took it a bit more seriously.
Their strength and defense were clearly a notch above goblins and kobolds. The carapace was hard enough that ordinary slashes wouldn't end them quickly.
Genichi used his superior speed and mobility, weaving between three ants, hunting for openings and landing accurate thrusts.
The fight lasted about a minute before the three ants dropped one after another.
His breathing was a little heavier, but the cost wasn't large.
Still not efficient enough, Genichi judged.
He lifted his eyes to the passage leading down.
"We keep going," he decided.
Lunoire offered no opinion. She simply followed.
Watching him, she found herself increasingly curious. He looked less like someone "dungeon diving" and more like someone running a cold evaluation of monster strength versus profit.
What, exactly, was this kid searching for?
Third floor.
Fourth floor.
Genichi continued like a tireless testing machine, dropping to each new level and engaging different monsters: killer butterflies, poison moths, horned rabbits, and little imps.
His fighting style adjusted continuously.
Against different traits and attack patterns, he began experimenting with kill methods that were more efficient and less draining, occasionally even using terrain.
His combat experience accumulated at a frightening pace, forged directly in live fights.
Lunoire's gaze shifted from observation into something closer to appreciation.
His learning speed and adaptability were absurd.
He almost never repeated the same mistake twice. His grasp of monster weak points grew sharper, and his rhythm became smoother with each encounter.
In her eyes, his raw power was still within LV.1 territory, but his combat sense and rate of growth already surpassed most LV.1s, and even many LV.2s.
Finally, after they stepped onto the fifth floor and Genichi fought a fierce battle with a monster known as a Battle Shadow, he stopped.
He was breathing a bit harder. A few shallow scratches marked his light armor. But his eyes were bright, almost blazing.
This is it.
Killing a Battle Shadow took far more time and effort than killing a goblin, but when he weighed total return per unit time, risk level, and the way it sharpened his fighting technique…
The fifth floor, at least for now, was the golden floor for a LV.1 to grind stats and stockpile resources.
He looked at Lunoire and nodded once. "We'll stay here for now."
Lunoire studied him, then glanced at the Battle Shadows reforming in the distance. The corner of her mouth lifted by the slightest margin.
"Smart choice," she said simply. "All right then, employer. Do your thing. I'll watch from here."
She chose a shallow recess in the rock wall, relatively safe with a wide view. She sat back with her arms still crossed, eyes sweeping the area like a precision radar. Unless a large-scale monster surge erupted or an elite variant appeared that clearly exceeded Genichi's ability to handle, she wouldn't move.
Genichi drew a slow breath, tightened his grip on the sword, and locked onto a Battle Shadow that had just finished forming not far away.
(End of Chapter)
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