After three days straight of lessons, Tizmilly had already reached a level where she could easily cook a soup without my mother watching over her. She is still far from becoming the skilled chef she wanted to be, but that at least put me at ease.
That's why today I decided to do a bit of diving into the Dungeon.
"You wanted to go out?"
"Um? Yeah..."
"Then bring me along as well."
But then Tizmilly saw me bringing my spear out and insisted on joining me.
"I am heading to the nearby Dungeon, you know? It's dangerous."
I tried to persuade her, but as the Villainess, of course, she was stubborn.
"I also wanted to make some money. It felt wrong to keep depending on your family without doing anything. I am also skilled in my sword and magic, so I'll make sure not to pull you back."
After she said so, of course I couldn't just shoot her determination down and told her to just focus on mastering the art of cooking.
Dungeon City, as the name suggests, is a city surrounded by numerous Dungeons. There are a lot of types of Dungeons around this city. Some filled with the undead, others filled with goblins and their variants, and more.
The one I often dive into is a Dungeon called The Beast Mountain. Inside that Dungeon, there are a lot of beast monsters, from wolves, bears, eagles, and even monkeys. It is called The Beast Mountain because not only was it filled with beast monsters, but it also used the terrain of a mountain by default. The deeper you dive into this Dungeon, the bigger the mountain you are in.
"The Beast Mountain, huh? I never tried this Dungeon before..." Tizmilly muttered as she followed me to the entrance of the Dungeon.
Since we are here to dive into the Dungeon, a dangerous place filled with hostile monsters, she now wears her combat outfit provided for her by the Academy as one of the Academy students. I also have that outfit, but I already bought the better one, so I never used mine since I got it after I become the student of the Academy.
She also used to wear her own armor, but after her family threw her away, they took the armor back with them, so Tizmilly only had the one the Academy provided her. Her sword is also a sword I bought for her, not the one she used before.
The more I looked at her, the more I realized how poor a girl named Tizmilly is. I should quickly open the restaurant so she could improve her life without feeling guilty for always depending on my family to live.
I pray you a good future, Miss Villainess!
"Oh, Mister Roost, good morning!"
The moment I entered the Dungeon post building, the receptionist immediately greeted me.
There are other Dungeon Divers in the post today, but since I had visited this Dungeon many times, we had grown to know each other well. It is to the point of turning this receptionist, Lady Risa, into almost my exclusive receptionist. At least other Divers saw us that way. I heard rumours about that often around here.
"Good morning," I replied to her greeting.
"Hm? How rare, you actually brought someone else with you, Mister Roost. Who is this young lady?" Lady Risa asked after she saw Tizmilly walking beside me.
"This is Tizmilly, my friend," I said.
Tizmilly nodded politely after me.
"Nice to meet you," she greeted Lady Risa.
Lady Risa smiled in response.
"Nice to meet you too! Aw~ you're so cute, and yet you ended up instead with this crazy kid who is obsessed with Dungeon Diving, so unfortunate!"
My reputation around the circle of Dungeon Divers, suffice to say, is rather unique. Since I am the only Diver left who never used Gemgun during the dive, they saw me as a hardcore Diver who likes to risk my life and enjoy hard battle or something.
They are completely wrong, of course. I just picked the most efficient and affordable option I have at that moment. I had also thought about buying a Gemgun for emergency measures before I saw how Tizmilly was thrown away by her fiancé and her family.
But they just won't listen to me, even if I told them all of that, so I just left them be since the last time I tried to clear my name from all the strange rumours.
Tizmilly tilted her head toward me, silently inquired of me, but I wouldn't explain it to you! It doesn't matter, after all.
After registering our names on the list of people who entered the Dungeon today, I immediately led Tizmilly into the gate connected to the 'mouth' of the Dungeon.
The surroundings changed the moment we stepped into the first floor.
Just a moment ago, we was at the center of the city, and now we are at the leg of a small mountain... Or a hill, since it was not that high.
In The Beast Mountain, to enter the next floor or exit the Dungeon, you should reach the peak point of the current floor you were in. There, you would be faced with two options: to go to the next floor, or to return to the entrance.
"The first floor is peaceful overall. There was only Kicking Rabbit here, so even a newbie could easily defeat them," I explained as we headed toward the peak point of the hill.
"They could jump pretty high, but that's all."
Tizmilly nodded seriously at my words, her sword in her hands.
Soon after, a Kicking Rabbit noticed our presence and approached us. I let Tizmilly handle it alone, and she could kill us with two moves. The first move is to block the kick coming from the Rabbit, and the second move is to behead it.
Swift and clean moves.
"As expected of the Villainess..."
I am impressed.
With that level of sword skill, Tizmilly would probably be doing fine even if she were thrown into the tenth floor of this Dungeon.
"Ah, btw, what kind of Magic do you have, Tizmilly?" I asked her after I recalled it.
Tizmilly collected the gem left behind by the rabbit before turning around.
"Ice Rose. I could create roses made of ice with my mana."
Tizmilly extended her palm toward another Kicking Rabbit to show me her magic.
Small pillars of red ice slowly grow out of the ground before shifting into the form of a stem.
Leaves and buds popped after that.
By the time the buds blossomed, the Kicking Rabbit was already trapped inside the stems cuffed its limbs.
The thorns grown on the stems also pierced the rabbit, so it slowly went limp after it lost most of its blood.
I clapped at her.
"Whoa, that's cool. Not only it usable for crowd control, it could also damage our opponents."