The Hostess of Fertility.
As Orario's most famous tavern, even though its prices were more expensive than those of other restaurants, it still attracted countless adventurers to visit.
The main reason was that the food it served tasted quite good.
On top of that—every single staff member recruited by Mama Mia, the shop owner, was a beautiful young girl, a feast for the eyes.
Under normal circumstances, Ron would absolutely not come here. His familia was still in its initial stages, and anywhere money could be saved had to be saved as much as possible.
Unless someone else was treating.
Lefiya had made so many requests in succession that he really could not bring himself to refuse.
It was just that—
Looking at the honey-glazed stewed chicken, the grilled fish set meal, and the extra-large serving of chicken chow mein placed in front of him, Ron inexplicably thought of the goddess who was currently working part-time.
He looked at the abundant spread laid out before him and felt a little guilty.
But not very much.
'When my level goes up later, and we recruit new members and such, we can consider coming here to celebrate.'
During today's dungeon exploration, under the application of the skill-intensive "shield-thrust style" play, the overall amount of physical exertion far exceeded the total of the previous several days combined.
It was close to noon.
Ron's stomach had long been growling. He looked toward the yamabuki-colored elven girl sitting across from him, who, when truly spending time alone together, had instead become somewhat introverted.
"Thank you for the treat. Then I won't stand on ceremony with you!"
"Don't mention it."
"This is what I should do."
Lefiya hurriedly shook her head. When she truly saw Ron start eating, a gentle smile of relief finally appeared on the girl's pleasant face.
Although the time they had interacted was very short, it did not hinder her from having a very good impression of the young man in front of her.
When she had been careless, unprepared, and chased by mutated goblins and kobold monsters, he had kindly guided her toward the route out of the Dungeon.
Secondly, when encountering the "Goblin Guard," he had been willing to get injured in order to protect her.
All in all, she was very happy to have met an adventurer of excellent character like Ron, and also to have the opportunity to repay a life-saving favor.
"Is this enough to eat?"
"Do you want to consider ordering a few more dishes?" Unlike other elves, she was not aloof. The girl was like a next-door younger sister, gentle and cheerful.
Besides that, her heart was full of curiosity regarding today's encounters in the Dungeon, but she simply had not found the chance to ask.
"It's completely enough."
After becoming an adventurer, as his ability values increased, Ron could feel that his appetite was gradually growing. But judging by Lefiya's ordering trend, it was clearly heading in the direction of raising a pig.
He shook his head. "If you don't mind eating and taking leftovers, I don't have any objections."
"Okay."
The girl was very simple-minded. Just as she was about to pick up the menu, Ron, looking rather helpless, reached out and took it from her, then placed it on the chair to the other side.
"Just kidding."
"I know, of course."
Lefiya blinked her eyes mischievously. After lowering her head and twirling the noodles around her fork, she finally could not hold back and asked curiously, "About the Dungeon."
"How did you know the name of that giant goblin?"
"And also, when I watched you fight the other monsters, you seemed very familiar with them…"
How could he not be familiar?
All of that was experience paid for with life and pain.
After thinking for a moment, Ron gave a simple explanation. "This kind of giant goblin—I encountered monsters of the same type back in my hometown."
"As for the other monsters, for adventurers who are familiar with close combat, dealing with them would only be easier."
Did that mean she herself was not familiar enough?
The girl could not find any reason to refute it, but she did not doubt this explanation. As a student of the "School District," traveling the world was unavoidable.
Not only Orario's Dungeon.
Even in other parts of the world, monsters also existed.
And if an aberration occurred in the Dungeon, it would indeed give rise to some—monsters that even the Adventurers' Guild had no records of or registrations for. Lefiya did not press further.
The girl shrugged her shoulders, feeling somewhat emotional.
"It can only be said that our luck was pretty good. I've been in Orario for two years and never encountered anything like this. But without this incident, it would have been hard for us to meet."
She had no other thoughts.
If Ron did not already belong to another familia, Lefiya really would have wanted to bring him into the "Loki" familia—he would definitely be able to become a reliable companion.
But he already belonged somewhere, and overly close contact would only lead to misunderstandings from the gods of their respective familias.
Looking at Ron, who had heartily finished his lunch, the girl hesitated for a moment before adding, "If… you run into any difficulties, you can come find me."
"You already treated me to a meal."
"No!"
"I absolutely won't allow a life to be repaid with meal money alone—but anything I can help with will be within my abilities." This was the girl's peculiar sense of competitiveness.
After Lefiya paid the bill, she stood up and left with light steps.
Although she had not yet heard Ron's name in Orario before introducing herself, she still said with firm conviction, "I think that, with your effort—"
"Absolutely!"
"—it definitely won't take very long before Orario's adventurers all know your name."
"That's for sure."
Ron accepted the blessing without hesitation.
In the high-pressure environment of the "Dungeon's Hatred," and with a Souls-game protagonist template, turning talent into results was, in his view, merely a matter of time.
And then—finding a way not to get killed by that damn Dungeon!
...
"As for the equipment repairs, I'll be troubling Lady Hephaestus."
Inside the weapon shop office.
Ron placed the brass heavy shield that needed repairs on the floor. Once he had sufficient earning ability, there was no need to keep fleecing Hephaestus.
He handed the check written by Airmid onto the tabletop.
Leaning back against the sofa chair, the red-haired woman, whose every gesture exuded a mature charm, had no intention of taking the money at all. When she raised her head again, Hephaestus looked at Ron and stated calmly: "There was a great disturbance in the Dungeon today."
"—In the area of the Dungeon's first floor, an aberration suddenly occurred, and many special monsters appeared that even the Adventurers' Guild has no records of."
"Some eyewitness adventurers even saw the existence of something similar to a floor boss."
As she said this, she looked without the slightest hesitation at the handsome young man.
When Hestia had just recruited him as a member of her familia, she had already told Hephaestus that Ron carried the "Dungeon's Hatred." But judging from the current situation, how could things be as simple as she had thought?
Referring to Orario's history, the closest case was still that one five years ago, which directly led to the destruction of the "Astrea" familia.
But that was also because they had encountered the framing of the Evilus faction, the "Rudra" familia, causing the special incident in which the 30th floor's forest ravine of the Dungeon gave birth to the Juggernaut. That incident resulted in the deaths of all members of that familia except "Gale."
Hephaestus could not imagine what kind of secret Ron was carrying that could make the Dungeon, as if defying common sense, give birth to a floor boss in the area of the first floor.
"…"
"The Adventurers' Guild is investigating the situation. The Dungeon may stop being open for the next few days."
"My suggestion is—if you don't want to be exposed too early to the attention of Orario's gods, then for these next few days, it would be best not to go to the Dungeon."
"Thank you for Lady Hephaestus's suggestion."
The development of the situation was even more serious than he had expected.
Ron, of course, took the advice. The Dungeon had repeatedly failed to deal with him; it had even released a Boss merely because he approached the stairs leading to the deeper floors.
Before the hatred had completely calmed down, he could not use a sensitive identity to test the Dungeon's bottom line. Otherwise, he truly could not imagine what kind of perverse monster that damn Dungeon would pinch out!
After confirming that this guy had fully taken it in, Hephaestus did not take the Guild's check placed on the table. With a somewhat complicated gaze, she let her eyes fall on the handsome young man in front of her.
"Seriously."
"If the Adventurers' Guild finds out, you'll definitely end up on their exploration blacklist!"
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