“Shouldn’t you be the one asking that?”
I blurted it out before I could stop myself.
At my answer, Ais Wallenstein’s golden eyes flickered ever so slightly.
It was the first change I’d ever seen on that doll-like face that always seemed devoid of emotion.
She tilted her head a little, as if she didn’t understand what I’d said.
“You’re an executive of the strongest Familia in Orario, the Sword Princess, and you’re asking someone like me, who just became LV2, how to get stronger. If that was supposed to be a joke, it wasn’t very funny.”
I let out a dry laugh as I answered.
She must have seen me wipe out that pack of Almiraj a moment ago.
Maybe she’d found it strange that I could control three swords at once.
She gave no reply to my words.
She simply kept looking at me with eyes full of unclouded curiosity.
That gaze held no deception, no malice at all. It was pure, honest questioning.
She was really asking me, sincerely.
Damn it. When she looked at me like that, there was no way I could snap back at her.
She really was completely natural in the original story, too...
I let out a short sigh.
“I’m just... working hard. Because I don’t want to die.”
“Working hard...”
Ais murmured the words softly, as if tasting them.
Then I heard other footsteps from farther down the passage.
“Ais! What are you doing wandering off on your own again?”
Running toward us with her black hair flying was the Amazon, Tiona Hiryute.
Behind her, the main members of Loki Familia came into view.
“Honestly, if we take our eyes off you for even a second, you disappear.”
Finn Deimne, their captain and a Pallum like me, said with a wry smile.
Beside him stood the giant dwarf Gareth Landrock and the werewolf Bete Loga.
When they spotted me and Ais, they stopped for a moment.
Tiona noticed me and came closer with sparkling eyes.
“Wow! A Pallum! He’s smaller than the captain! So tiny and cute! What’s your name?”
She approached without the slightest hint of malice, but when someone radiating that much insane extrovert energy came at an introvert like me, it was a little terrifying.
“Tiona, that’s rude to say when you’ve just met him.”
Finn stopped her and bowed politely to me.
“Sorry. One of our members was rude. I’m Finn Deimne, captain of Loki Familia.”
“I’m Nia of Istarot Familia.”
I bowed in return.
To think I’d run into the executive members of Orario’s strongest Familia all in one place like this.
One by one, every one of them was a monster whose Level was in a completely different league from mine.
“Istarot Familia... I’ve never heard of it. Is it a new Familia?”
At Finn’s question, I gave a small nod.
His gaze lingered on me for a long time.
There was something in those eyes beyond simple curiosity.
Something like the warmth of meeting a fellow Pallum, and beneath that, a hidden expectation.
The hero who dreamed of the Pallum’s revival.
If anyone could see some other possibility in me, it would be him.
Their eyes naturally drifted to the three magic swords floating around me.
Especially Gareth Landrock, the dwarf, who stroked his beard with interest as he examined them.
“Hmm. Interesting weapons. Controlling three magic swords with different attributes at once. That’s no ordinary skill.”
“Ais, what were you talking about with this kid?”
At Tiona’s question, Ais kept looking at me as she answered.
“He asked how to get stronger.”
At her answer, the expressions of Loki Familia’s members shifted oddly.
Bete Loga snorted, while Tiona looked back and forth between me and Ais with interest.
“What...?”
Finn observed me for a moment, then his small eyes gleamed as he smiled.
“I see. Ais’s judgment is never wrong. There must be something special about you, Nia.”
His voice carried unmistakable goodwill.
He seemed genuinely pleased that a Pallum like himself, and from a new Familia at that, had produced someone with this much ability.
I didn’t want to get tangled up in this any more than necessary.
So I opened my mouth to end the conversation politely.
“I should be going. I’m in the middle of a hunt.”
“Ah, right. Sorry for holding you up. If we get the chance, I’d like to talk again sometime. For the sake of our Pallum’s future, too.”
Finn stepped aside readily, adding those meaningful words.
I gave them a light nod of farewell and passed them by, heading deeper into the Dungeon.
Behind me, I could faintly hear their conversation.
“Really, Ais? That little guy looked that strong?”
“Yeah. His movements were... different.”
“Hmph. Even so, he’s just one little rat.”
That was enough of that.
After parting ways with Loki Familia, I focused on hunting again.
Floor 14, Floor 15... the deeper I went, the stronger and more cunning the monsters became.
Monsters that spat acid from a distance, monsters that protected themselves with hard shells, monsters that attacked in coordinated chains.
But before my newly bought gear, the power of LV2, and my sword control technique with three magic swords, they were nothing more than prey that took a little more effort to deal with.
In particular, the true value of my Genius Skill became clearer the longer the battle went on.
It didn’t just improve the efficiency of my Enchant.
Every piece of information I gained in battle—the monster’s attack patterns, its weak points, the surrounding terrain—was instantly sorted in my mind, and the optimal response came to me on its own.
Literally a genius.
A talent bestowed by heaven.
A Skill that could do just about anything.
I really made the right choice picking it.
Before I got Genius, even the fights I’d been somewhat clumsy in now unfolded as if I’d run them through thousands of simulations, my body and swords moving along the most efficient paths possible.
Thanks to that, I was able to break through to Floor 17 in no time without taking a single effective hit.
My backpack was already stuffed full of Magic Stones from Middle Floors monsters.
‘I guess that’s enough for today.’
At the end of Floor 17 stood the great wall known as the Great Fissure.
And once every two weeks, the floor boss Goliath appeared here.
It was a crazy monster with an estimated potential of Level 4.
Fortunately, today didn’t seem to be one of the days it would appear.
I took a moment to catch my breath while looking out over the grand cliffside scenery.
My next goal was Floor 18, the Safe Zone.
There, I planned to rest and reorganize for a day before launching a full-scale assault on the deeper Middle Floors.
I’d only just reached LV2, but it seemed more than worth trying, so I was going to go for it.
I found the path leading down to Floor 18 and started walking again.
Just the income from today alone would easily cover several months of living expenses for the mansion we were staying in.
I could already picture the goddess’s delighted face.
Without realizing it, a smile formed on my lips.
Then it happened.
Wooooooom──!
A sickening vibration, as if the entire Dungeon had begun to shake.
And from within the Great Fissure, a massive shadow began to rise.
“...Haha, you’ve got to be kidding me, right?”
A giant with gray-brown skin covering its entire body.
The floor boss, Goliath.
Shit, today wasn’t supposed to be the day it appeared!
You can do it, Your swords are enough