“You are you threatening me!?” The soldier could not take the fact that he was being looked down upon by a dirty Fallen. He took a step forward, only for Duglous to stand in front of him.

    “Calm down there, boy. If you take another step, I will take it as an act of hostility against the guild and will cut you down.” Duglous’s words made the soldier take a step back. But that did not stop him from giving Shizuku a dirty look.

Since he could not deal with the Fallen here, he would need to wait until he saw alone to deal with her. He did not mind pressing her under him and showing her who was in charge. She might be a fallen, but she was still beautiful. Once he was done, he would kill her and toss her on the roadside somewhere.

Shizuku could feel the heated gaze from the soldier. It sent a small chill up her spine. She made sure to remember his face in case he decided to try something later on. “Let’s go, Mei.” 

Shizuku began walking to the entrance before stopping and turning towards Duglous. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Margret would get mad at me if I just let things go like that.” Duglous scratched his head as he answered. It was not used to people thanking him. 

Shizuku smiled and pulled Mei along with her into the dungeon. Entering the dungeon was a strange feeling to Shizuku. It was like stepping through a membrane. While the massive metal doors were open, it still felt strange to enter the dungeon. But what she found even stranger was that the steady flow of adventurers that were coming and going were nowhere to be found. 

“Hmm? Is it just me, or are we alone?” Shizuku wrinkled her brow. She was told that dungeons were open to all, but here she was, seemingly alone in the dungeon. “Mei, walk outside the dungeon with me.”

Mei only stared at the hand holding her and allowed Shizuku to pull her out of the dungeon. When they exited, Mei saw many people coming and going and was now just as confused as Shizuku was. They quickly reentered the dungeon only to find it desolate of any adventurers. 

“As I thought…. It’s empty. No people but us.” Shizuku did not know what was going on, but she also felt this was a good chance for them. “At least we do not need to share kills, and we can slowly level up.”

Shizuku slit her wrist and allowed her blood to flow. She then formed a new sword made of blood. “Mei, from what Margret told me, since you are bound to me by a slave contract, you will gain experience from what I kill as well. For now, just protect my rear. I do not want any monster sneaking up on me. I will do my best to kill what is in the front. If something happens to me, just run.”

“No.” Mei suddenly replied. She shook her head. She did not want her new master to die. Her new master was very kind, even to a person like her.

“Mei. I do not….” Shizuku saw the determination in Mei’s eyes and decided it was pointless to make Mei do something she did not want. She could order it, but Shizuku did not wish to do that. She already made a promise that she would never do such a thing and she planned to keep that promise. “Forget it. When the time comes, we can both just run.”

Mei did not say anything, but she sighed inwardly. She was glad Shizuku did not force her to agree to such a request. She had been prepared for it but it seemed like her new Master was someone who kept their word. 

“Let’s start, shall we?”  Shizuku took the lead and began walking towards the first hall. From what she knew, there would be no monsters in the hall, but she should see her first slime when she reached the first room. The entrance acted as a kind of safe zone. A place where adventurers could get themselves ready before jumping into the fray. Margret had told her this was the same for all dungeons.

The strange part about all of this was that she actually had what she considers an instance of a dungeon to herself. But she also was very happy about this. She did not need to worry about being stabbed in the back by another adventurer who hated Fallen. Whether or not this applied to only this dungeon or other dungeons from now on was another story. But at least for now, she could level up in peace. 

She soon came to the end of the tunnel, where she was met with a round blue ball of gelatin that bounced around the stone floor. This dungeon was not a cave of any kind, but like a dungeon, you would find under a castle. Brick stone walls and floors. Stone pillars held everything up so it did not come crashing down. It was what came to mind when Shizuku thought of a city style dungeon.

“Mei, let’s level up and become the strongest, okay?” Shizuku turned and beamed a smile at Mei before charging forward. She really wished to grow strong. She did not wish to live in a world ruled by strength if she had to worry about dying left and right. Her only means of being able to live in this world was to be strong enough to survive so that no matter what was sent her way, she could deal with it without issue.