Chapter 27

“You and John made an interesting partnership,” Isak said all of a sudden. They descended the dungeon, following the stairs to level thirty. A one-way trip took almost an hour. They could go faster if they ran, but they didn’t want to waste their energy on something so pointless.

Kei kept warning Leyla about using her magic in moderation. If only she had limitless magic, they could teleport there immediately. Still, considering the fact that she was alone with Isak, that might not be the wisest idea.

“What do you mean 'partnership'? Your eyes need to be checked.”

“Despite the way you act, neither of you are regular people, right?”

Leyla narrowed her eyes in suspicion. The question had nothing to do with their previous topic. Did he mean to throw that question in there? Just how much did this person know? Using teleportation wasn’t regular, so that was something. John and Leyla didn’t have a good relationship, but they still traveled together.

“What I am is none of your business. Let’s just get this over with.”

They still had three more chairs to find. Considering the vast distance between the first two chairs and these two, the last three may be far from each other. She would prefer not to waste even more time on this one.

They finally arrived in front of the doors on the last floor.

“Ready?” Isak asked, his hands on the doors.

Leyla returned a quick nod. Isak then pushed the door open. A massive snake waited for them, slithering around a chest. Unlike the ones before, this chest was as tall as a person. It wasn’t locked, its open lid revealing its sparkling contents.

“Is that gold?”

“Gold?” Isak murmured, surprised.

The two came closer. The snake was asleep. The two exchanged glances. Isak shot forward, brandishing his sword. He leaped upward and slashed the snake’s head off its body. The snake’s eyes opened wide, letting out a hiss, still moving after being cut off.

Holding the torch in her left hand, Leyla formed a large fireball above her right hand and hurled it straight toward the snake, killing it. She formed a second fireball and struck the rest of the body. The snake fell silent.

“That’s a bit anticlimactic," Isak murmured.

Despite being the one who killed it, Leyla thought the same. She was stronger compared to a regular human, but not kill-every-monster-with-one-shot strong.

“I wasn’t expecting that, either.”

“Well, I guess monsters do grow stronger the lower the level goes.”

They were only at level thirty, short when compared to many other dungeons. It wasn’t supposed to be a surprise that the monster wasn’t powerful. Other dungeons, especially those that reach up to floor a hundred, often had monsters powerful enough to level entire cities. Leyla had read their stories in the library during her research with John, so maybe that was the reason she expected something a lot stronger.

“Guess we now take this back?” She walked toward the chest. Isak cut up the parts of the snake around the chest, then pulled the chest away. It was much heavier than anticipated, and inside it was pure gold, shining underneath the torch’s shine. It should be several hundred kilograms at least.

“So we didn’t find anything in the floors above, but we found this here? How are we supposed to even bring this back up?” Isak murmured. It was too heavy for them to carry back with just the two of them.

… I mean, I don’t use it often. Surely this once is alright…

Leyla reached out and held both the chest and Isak before teleporting them back to the guild.

•••

“Impressive.” Ellie did little claps. “So the boss is right, there really is something down there.”

“I’m surprised he knew,” John said.

Isak caressed his chin. “So the boss knew… huh?”

“Probably a wild guess. Not my problem, though. Give me a while as I calculate the worth.”

Ellie pulled out a piece of paper and began examining the gold. The massive chest covered a portion of the guild floor, making moving around it difficult.

“Excuse me… yes… this here is nice…” she murmured some things, continuing to write things down.

Just then, the door swung open. An old man with gray hair entered, escorted by guards and a maid. They recognized the maid. She was the one who accompanied them when they visited the count’s mansion. This person then…

“... Boss?”

“The quest is complete, I see.” He had short white hair with a beard going down to his chest. Despite his age, his features looked no less sharp. He turned his glare toward Isak. “And you, what are you doing here?”

“I’m just helping out a bit. I didn’t even ask for a reward. Such a kind person, right?” Isak said with a chuckle, but his gaze was no less intense. The way the two glared at each other reminded John of how he fought with Leyla sometimes. The girl in question didn’t seem to care at all in regard to this little conflict. She wanted her reward.

She turned to Ellie. “The chair?”

“You can have it after this, just keep quiet for now,” Ellie replied, looking serious.

“Welp, looks like my job’s done here. See you two later.” Isak waved, ignoring the count, and walking straight out. The noble gritted his teeth at the disrespect. John and Leyla themselves weren't keen on the idea of meeting him again. The fact that he could act so casually with a noble, even if only a count, meant that he wasn’t a regular person himself.

The two didn’t want to deal with the count, though, so they placed themselves near the old bulletin board, standing right next to it. The maid glanced their way, not saying anything. The man must have noticed them as well. But maybe, in his eyes, they weren’t significant enough. Unworthy of his attention.

“So… I’ve calculated the- Ack!”

Without even giving her a glance, Count Karejo pushed Ellie aside. Ellie knocked her back on the desk. Leyla rushed in to support her, stopping her from falling. Without even turning back on her, the count signaled his guards to pick up the chest.

“I’ll send the earnings later.”

Some more guards came in. It took a total of eight guards working together to carry the chest, along with all its gold, out of the building. The count said nothing else and left.

“What the…” Leyla growled, the three of them watching his back as the door shut.

“It’s alright,” Ellie let out a strained laugh.

“Is he always that violent?” John asked. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she straightened herself up. “He never really cares about me. If I’m gone, he’ll just find someone else to run this branch. I expected it.”

“He didn’t even apologize…” Leyla murmured. If it truly was an accident, he should’ve said sorry. Despite clearly pushing Ellie, he didn’t even bat an eye.

“Oh, that’s just him…” Ellie returned to the receptionist desk. “Anyway, here’s your chair. The bonus will have to wait, though.”

The bonus had become secondary to John. Ellie had helped them throughout their time in town. John thought of her as a friend. Leyla most likely thought the same. Neither of them wants to see their friend hurt.

“What’s with your faces? I’m fine, I’m fine. Whoam… Just go and let me get some sleep,” she said with a smile.

Not sure what else to say, John and Leyla returned to the guest room, bringing the chair with them.

“So… that’s the kind of person we’re facing, huh?” John murmured as he sat down on the chair.

“Facing? I don’t want to come face-to-face with him ever again.”

“Me neither.”

They could only hope that neither of the last three chairs came close to this noble.

“... What does this one do?”

“... It’s probably one of the chairs that needed other people to-”

A knock came from the door.

“Come in,” Leyla answered while John remained seated. They expected the door to swing much harsher, but instead, it slowly creaked open.

“... Excuse me…”

It was Ellie, but the way she acted was much different. “Umm… about- ah, sorry!” She straightened up. The way she acted was unnatural, most likely because of the chair. Did she come knocking just because of that, or did she have something to offer?

“The reward… I’m trying to-”

John stood up. Ellie tilted her head.

“... What… was I doing here?”

Leyla glanced at John before turning her gaze back at Ellie.

“Did you have something you needed to talk to us about?” Leyla asked.

“Oh, I just want to say that the process might take a while, that’s all. I’ve got the predicted amount right here.” Ellie brought up and tapped her notebook. Despite talking about the amount, the notebook was closed, so neither of them could see the amount. After what happened, they didn’t want to ask.

“But don’t worry. A promise is a promise, I’ll pay you whoam… fairly… Yeah, that’s it. You can use the room until you get your reward.” Ellie waved her hand and pulled the door closed.

“What was I thinking?” They could hear her words from beyond the door, followed by her footsteps disappearing into the distance.

John and Leyla exchanged glances.

“... Let’s call Kei.”