340 His Story
"Hmph." Once the Undead Knight collapsed on the floor, the man sheathed his blade back. He then walked to the other end of the room and waited for his rewards to be claimed. When the chest stopped rising, he opened it and grabbed the only thing inside. "A mithrill shortsword..." His reward was a mithrill shortsword, which he probably would not wield for the reason that he already had his own mithrill weapon. He even owned several weapons with higher quality materials. Even so, the reward was still made of valuable material with amazing craftsmanship, he could just sell it for a handsome amount of money. "..." Satisfied with his efforts, the man slid the sword into the magic bag hanging on his right waist. A moment later, the room slightly shook again, and a passageway to the 31st floor appeared near him. In dungeons, there were two passages to the next floor on every Domain Guardian Floor. One was inside the Domain Guardian Room, and the other was located beside the Domain Guardian Room, which could be accessible once the Domain Guardian was defeated for the first time. The purpose of that passageway was for anybody who wanted to skip the Guardian Room. The man's name was Sergei. He was a tall and lean man who appeared to be in his late twenties with an average complexion, a shaved, chiseled jawline, spiky palatinate purple hair, and amber eyes. He typically wore light armor made of Tyrant Lizard's hide, but nevertheless, he was always unscathed with his fights so far. Click. Click. Click. As he descended the spiral staircase, the soles of his shoes knocked on the stones. The bottom of the flight of stairs was bright, so after spending a whole day on the dark, gloomy, filthy floors, Sergei was about to refresh his lungs with the fresh air of the Plain Floors. Upon stepping on the grass of the 31st Floor, a vast and windy flatland unfolded before his eyes. He had been in multiple dungeons, and he expected dungeons to be the same. However, strangely enough, no monsters were coming to greet the intruder, instead, there was a young man standing a few meters from the entrance with his back facing Sergei. Soon after, the young man turned his back, which made Sergei hold the grip of his sheathed sword, ready to battle. "Hello, there, adventurer. I congratulate you for being the first adventurer to reach the 31st Floor of the Raevender Dungeon." The young man stood straight and politely greeted Sergei. "...Who are you?" Sergei was perplexed about why there was someone in this dungeon. He had speculations about who he was, but he asked regardless. "Pardon me for not introducing myself from the start. My name is Raphael Raevender, the son of Queen Regnant Mylene Raevender of the Queendom of Raevender, so I am basically the prince of this new nation." "Oh, pardon me for not recognizing you immediately, Your Highness." As soon as he knew that the man in front of him was indeed the prince of this nation, Sergei immediately bent one of his knees and kneeled himself to show his respect. "Please raise yourself, adventurer. You don't need to be too formal with me. I am still uncomfortable being addressed as Your Highness, but you can call me by my name." "Would Lord Raphael suffice?" "Yeah, that is enough." After that, Sergei slowly raised his body and straightened his back. Sergei scanned Raphael from head to toe and found that his black and white combo of slacks, long-sleeved shirt, and vest really distinguished him from how a royal was supposed to be. He then looked Raphael in the eye before they continued talking. "What is your name, anyway?" "My name's Sergei." "I see. Sergei, huh."
Raphael actually used his Analysis to fact-check Sergei's identity, which turned out to be the truth as he did not see any sign of manipulation or tampering on his status board. "So, by the way, Lord Raphael, can I ask why the prince of the queendom is here to congratulate my arrival on this floor?" Upon hearing that question from him, Raphael smiled. "Actually, I noticed your fast pace of exploring the dungeon, and I have been observing you for a while. Can I ask you about a little bit of your background?" "Verily. As I said earlier, my name is Sergei. I am an orphan from the Kingdom of Boulder, and I am currently in this city to make a living." "I also learned that you did not have any adventurer's card before registering here, so your mysteriousness really piqued my interest. So why don't you have any identification card before registering in this dungeon?" "Is Lord Raphael really interested in listening to my story?" "Of course, I like stories, if you don't mind." "Very well." Sensing Raphael's sincerity, Sergei began his narration. "Ever since I was a child, I already idolized adventurers as my father was one. But it changed when that time came. One day, my lovely mother was killed by an adventurer. That news devastated me. Upon hearing that, my father was in despair and trying to relieve himself by alcohol. He could not accept the death of my mother and he took his life in the end. That made me despise adventurers since then." As Sergei was saying the last line, his expression became sour, and his face contorted. "Condolences to you, Sergei." "Thank you, Lord Raphael, but it's fine now." Seeing Raphael nod, Sergei resumed. "Losing both my parents, I ended up in an orphanage. As soon as I turned fifteen, I left the country and secluded myself in the forest. While in the forest, I trained myself and made myself strong while holding my grudges against adventurers. But the more I spent my time alone, my hatred toward adventurers gradually disappeared, and I randomly decided to make myself better. So when I heard of this new dungeon, I made a decision to make it my permanent base of operations." "I am sorry for your loss, Sergei, and I am glad that you changed your view of adventurers. "..."
A minute of silence filled the air between them as they looked into each other's eyes. A moment later, Raphael was the first one to speak to break the ice. "But nevertheless, you have been going so well in the dungeon so far. Actually, in my opinion, your pace is abnormal and it has been disturbing my mind for some time. Apart from that, I heard that you had been frequently in trouble with other adventurers, duking out your conflicts. And today, I am here in front of you." "...So you are here to get rid of me since I am going so fast that you have considered me a threat." "Hm. You are half right about that. I also would think to consider you, a man of unknown origin, a threat to our family for being too fast and remarkably good at exploring this newly discovered dungeon. But I realized I have many things to consider, such as your innate talents and skills." "That means..." "Instead of getting rid of you, I am here for another reason. Why don't you join my ranks?"
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