"Bell-kun, you… If you are stained with blood when you return, you should at least first take a shower…"

"Miss Eina, I would think that's exactly what I did though?"

Listening to Eina's complaining, L retorted as he did in fact take a shower as soon as he entered the guild. They are currently inside a small room that is separated specially within the guild hall. Eina and L sat facing each other and were separated by a table. On the opposite side of L, who had just cleaned up his body, Eina apparently sighed.

"Bell, only the staff of the guild is allowed to use the shower facility. This is only an exception."

"Is that so? But as a contractor that ventures into a private property in the name of the guild, wouldn't that put me in the extent of the staff too? or do you consider us adventurers as some disposable personnel that's not even considered staff of the guild?"

L reasoned a shocking remark that left Eina instantly flustered and unable to find a suitable answer immediately.

"T-That not I meant Bell-kun! Please stop saying things like that inside the guild!"

"Sure"

L smirked as he crouched comfortably on the couch. Then Eina was triggered when she saw the victorious expression on his face.

"You actually were able to bring that bloody smell and absolutely terrifying appearance directly across the streets from the dungeon to here. I really have doubts about your brain."

"Didn't you say that I should first take a shower as soon as I return? Are you perhaps telling me to shower in the public fountain instead? I'm speechless, I wouldn't have thought that someone of your caliber would suggest such a barbaric thing to people."

"W-WHAT?! That's not— just use the public bath instead!"

Why is he suddenly so cocky? Where did the innocent child I know disappeared to? Wasn't he all smiles and flowers just this morning? Can a person really change this much in just only half a day?

That's what the bewildered Eina was thinking about as she was completely oblivious to the fact that L was secretly manipulating the conversation from the start so she wouldn't ask anything about where that blood came from. As he was pretty certain that if the woman found out, she would keep nagging him about it for the rest of the period as his advisor and possibly even after that.

<Adventurers must not go on an adventure>

This was Eina's opening statement two weeks ago. Although judging from the text it may seem contradictory, its true meaning is that <You must always be careful and well prepared and you must always place safety as priority>. Especially for a newcomer like me, it is something that I must always bear in mind, because this stage is where the most deaths occur in an adventurer's career.

L couldn't agree more to those words. He still can't understand why the previous owner of his body would do something as foolish as going to deeper floors without any particular backup plans or whatsoever. And when he thought about the fact that the boy only wanted to become an adventurer because he hoped to have an encounter with beautiful girls, L got goosebumps.

According to the new memories L gained recently, meeting a LV. 2 Minotaur on the fifth floor is something that no one can imagine. And from this world's common knowledge, this monster should only come out from the fifteenth floor or below.

Did something happen in the dungeon?

L scratched his chin as he thought that this incident wasn't as simple as it seemed.

Also, that woman's timing is suspicious...

For a LV. 5 adventurer like her to appear in floor 4 just as he was about to get killed by a LV. 2 Minotaur was definitely not a coincidence. L was not so naive as to believe that a First Class adventurer like the Sword Princess that could just fart all the way to the 18th Floor would suddenly appear in 4th Floor at the same time as a LV. 2 Minotaur too.

"?"

As he was in deep concentration, L suddenly noticed that the woman in front of him was trembling. He looked into her frightened eyes.

"Why is it that you look terrified, Miss Eina Tulle?"

"B-Bell, y...y-your eyes… they suddenly turned black"

"My... eyes?"

L thought about what she said for a moment before he suddenly jumped to his feet as he decided that he should leave this place as soon as possible.

"Ah?! I almost forgot! My Goddess will kill me if I am late again! See you later, Miss Eina!"

L quickly grabbed his stuff and bowed towards the anxious advisor before dashing out of the room and closing the door behind him. As soon as he was out of her sight, his fake smile immediately disappeared and was replaced by a dark stoic expression instead.

Change of plans. Meeting that ridiculous 'Goddess' should take the utmost priority.

L thought with his restored crimson eyes as he started running in the corridor of the guild towards the exit.

——

After traversing a few corridors and going down the central stairs, L found himself in the Main Hall of the guild as he could see all kinds of adventurers chatting with each other and minding their business. He quickly scanned everyone around before going straight to the magic stone cashier at the far corner.

"..."

There were two people who came ahead of him, one person was talking with the old man at the cashier and the other one was waiting his turn behind him. The former was close to finishing but the latter had one big ass bag of magic stones hanging at his waist.

This might take a while, that woman would catch up.

L thought as he looked at the ceiling above him and took two Valis coins from his pocket. He then positioned each one in the thumb of his hands respectively before subtly looking at a glass of water in the hand of a nearby bulky looking adventurer beside them. L then closed his eyes and gathered his entire strength onto his thumbs.

*Crack*

The coins even bent from the sheer pressure he put on them. And the moment he heard the person in front of him take a step forward... Chaos broke out.

"Wha—!"

First, the glass in the thug-like adventurer exploded in his hand, immediately alerting all the people in the guild. They thought he was planning something, so everyone grabbed their weapons and demanded an explanation from him.

"The hell?"

Second, the person in front of him heard the commotion and was distracted as he looked in that direction. But that's all L needed.

*Tsu—Clank—Clank*

Another coin rocketed towards the ceiling before ricocheting right back at a terrifying speed as it immediately obliterated the big ass bag of the fellow. At that moment, the world suddenly became extremely slow to L as his eyes turned black without him knowing. He was initially surprised, but soon he recovered and decided to take advantage of this sudden phenomenon for now. He calculated the trajectory of the flying magic stones and took one step back while secretly opening his pocket. The moment he did so, the world suddenly returned to normal as a large magic stone flew unnoticeably into his slightly opened pocket.

"Holy shit! What the fuck?!!"

The Level 4 adventurer was immensely dumbfounded as he cursed while trying desperately to recover the magic stones on the floor.

"..."

L just silently passed by the panicked man and looked at the cashier in front of him. The old man on the other side was unfazed about what happened as he smirked at L and made a sign with his hand. His silent message was immediately catched by L as he clicked his tongue and secretly passed the old man the stolen magic stone without anyone noticing. The old man greedily took the magic stone before shamelessly smiling towards L.

"...this much"

L glared at the old man on the other side of the cashier as he now placed his 'own' magic stones on the drawer.

"There you go, 51,200 Valis"

So a single Minotaur's magic stone is worth 50,000 Valis? I wonder how much the guild profits from that.

L was just about to bargain with the monster masquerading as an 'humble' old man before he suddenly heard a familiar footstep pattern coming down from the stairs.

*Inhale*

L took a deep breath as he struggled to ignore the 'grinning' old man before him. But he still forced himself to quickly take his money and unwillingly decided to leave the guild.

I hope you won't disappoint me, Goddess Hestia.

L steeled his resolve as he prepared to confront one of the Gods of this new world.