Chapter 133: Into the dungeon

Klyscha created a map of the current Orario for 10KP. Thanks to my high intelligence, just a glance made a similar map in my memory.

Our next destination was the dungeon sealed below Babel.

Klyscha explained to me about the broken state of Orario.

It happened six months ago. The Evilus had almost destroyed Orario with their magic bombs, and the last two level 7 members from Zeus and Hera Familia. The rest were annihilated by the One-Eyed Black dragon.

Zard, the level 7 of Zeus Familia, beat the level 6 Ottar while Alfia, the level 7 of Hera Familia, trashed Riveria and Gareth, who were Level 5 at that time. It turned out those two were heavily injured after their subjugation of Leviathan and Behemoth.

Strangely, Aiz was already a level 3 before and got promoted to level 4 after her fight with the nightmare Evilus summoned through the sacrifice of several gods inside the dungeon.

Ryuu too was level 4 after her fight with Alfia, the aunt of Bell Cranel. She even mentioned his father being a weak supporter in Zeus Familia and his mother being an ordinary woman from Hera Familia. No wonder Zeus took care of him during his childhood.

All of this information was from an event in Danmachi's mobile game — Memoria Freese. The storyline was written by the author of Danmachi himself.

The game was announced after my death...

On the way, Nao tightly held onto me, narrowing her eyes at the male ogling her body. My natural high human aura was suppressed, giving enough room for men to act on their desires. Though women licked their lips, hearts floating in their eyes.

I shrugged and wrapped my arm around Nao's waist, silently declaring our relationship.

The glares I received became more ridiculous, though the women suppressed a ton of them.

Another typical anime trope...

A left turn took us to a wide bustling street. The stone pavement creaked as hundreds of feet stepped on it.  I squinted at the beaming sunlight and looked up. The main street led toward Babel, the tower made by Gods.

Nao clenched her fists as she gazed up at the tower. "Let's get stronger today."

"Missy, that's some good energy you have there," a middle-aged man chimed in from the side. The two cat ears on his head looked… weird. Sitting before a pile of rings, he smiled. "Young ones are always confident on your first day inside the dungeon… Be careful inside, okay?"

Nao turned to me with a smirk. "Asahi-kun, how strong am I compared to the adventurers?"

"Around high level 4 mage, I think," I whispered back. Her mastery over her wind element was nothing to scoff at. But people over level 4 were usually veterans.

"Sweet."

"It will be another game after I summon your Diva."

And I keep forgetting it. Damn it.

"I will be happy to remind you about it tonight."

"After we finish doing our exercise." I winked.

She blushed and meekly nodded her head.

So cute...

"Ah, couples flirting without regard for others."

I deadpanned at his lame joke and swept my gaze over his stuff. The rings had the vibe of antiques.

Not bad.

I picked a black ring and slid it on Nao's pinky finger. Her eyes twinkled as she examined the ring. Well, it was her third ring since the inventory ring and engagement ring were already on her hand.

The street merchant asked for 500 valis. A reasonable price for the quality. I paid and weaved through the crowd on the main street.

In a street full of adventurers, not many paid attention to us as we slipped inside the first floor of Babel. A spacious hall greeted us with lots of adventurers idly chatting in the queue leading to a staircase or standing around.

That's the dungeon.

The rowdy atmosphere froze in its entirety; every glance turned our way.

"Who is this gigolo?"

"A newbie?"

"Is that a goddess?"

"Nope, but she looks like one."

I could feel my eyes twitching. God damn it, I am not a gigolo.

(Are you sure? You seduced me, a goddess, to conquer your way up.)

'You were the one to seduce me with your legal loli body!'

(Cough. It wasn't me.)

'Suspicious.'

Once the excitement died, we lined up behind the squad of tanned girls carrying sword, axe, bow—all kinds of weapons.

"He is dashing."

"But weak."

"Yeah, weak."

The Amazonesses talked in a loud voice like I didn't exist. My looks didn't matter for the race craving strong men for their genes. They will happily ride a dandy old man in his eighties if he is a strong man.

Nao stifled her giggles with her hand. "They don't know that they are underestimating the strongest man in this world."

She was having fun.

Our turn arrived quickly. A pink-haired woman in her early twenties was sitting on the desk.

She kept her on my daggers for a long moment with a frown. She then shook her head and stretched out her hand. "Identity?"

What a weird woman.

"Wait a second."

I summoned our identity papers to my pocket and handed it to her. The documents had our name written with a rough description of our looks and a stamp of the Village head.

She looked through the papers. "First time inside the dungeon?"

"Yes."

"Level?"

"Both of us are level 1."

Technically.

She sighed and adopted a polite smile. "Why don't you check the guild and see if there is a familia recruiting new fledglings?"

Well, the new adventures had very high chances of becoming the food of the monsters inside.

"Nah, not now. Maybe later."

She shrugged and noted something down in our documents. "The charges are 200 valis per head for registering as a freelance dungeoneer and 500 valis if you would like a guide on weakness and other details on the monster on the first four floors alongside a map."

I nodded and put 900 valis on the table. Nao examined the map given by the woman, her eyes shining behind her glasses.

The staff lady pushed the documents towards me. "Don't forget about joining a familia."

"I will."

Only Astrea Familia.

Saying thanks to the lady, we shuffled toward the open door, which led us to a circular room with a massive hole in its center. The endless stairs spiraling downwards led into the mouth of the dungeon. Sparks drifting around the azure blue painting on the ceiling made it resemble the real sky. The dim light in the dark blue walls—everything combined into a spectacular scenario.

"It's… amazing," Nao whispered.

"It sure is."

Let's start our first date inside the dungeon.