Mary’s house was in the area where the dungeon occurred, so we could not go there tonight.

However, it seemed like that was not her only property. She also had an apartment in the north of the city.

“Did everything go alright, Jane?” She asked while she drove the car.

“Yeah. The staff of the association asked a lot of questions, though.”

“That is normal. This incident was pretty big after all.”

I nodded.

Thousands of people died in today’s dungeon, so I can imagine that tomorrow the news will be filled with criticism towards the government and the association.

It’s understandable that the staff of the association is behaving sensitively.

“Anyway, congratulations.” Mary suddenly said.

I tilted my head. “About what?”

“Well, you got scoot free despite killing someone.”

My body immediately stiffened.

… As expected, she noticed, huh.

I heaved a sigh and smiled wryly.

“What gave me away?”

“Nothing. Your plan was perfect. In fact, I was not completely sure until now.”

I stiffened again.

Fuck, she tricked me!

Looking at Mary, I could see her smiling playfully, as though her prank was successful.

She chuckled when she saw my annoyed expression.

“Don’t worry, perhaps to you, killing someone seems like something big, but in our circle, these kinds of things happen all the time. That was why I noticed that you lied when you talked about how that man died. It was too coincidental.”

I let out a bitter smile.

As expected of an experienced Awakened. It's not so easy to fool them.

“Have you killed anyone before?” I asked.

“Several times.” Mary nodded nonchalantly. “I told you, that kind of thing happens a lot in our circle. In the end, there is a limit to the control that the government can maintain inside a dungeon, so dungeons are the perfect place to commit crimes. As long as you don’t leave any clear evidence behind that you are the culprit, nothing will happen.”

I nodded. I already knew about that.

That was why I was not too worried even though my story had some flaws. As long as there was no evidence that I killed the robber, the law could do nothing to me.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that you can kill indiscriminately inside dungeons. If there are too many suspicious deaths around you every time you enter a dungeon, the government will send someone to keep an eye on you secretly until you are cleared of suspicion, or they find evidence that you are the culprit.

There is a reason why the law and order have not collapsed despite the existence of superpowered individuals such as the Awakened. The power and ability of the government must not be underestimated.

“By the way, Jane, you still need to be careful. Perhaps the government can do nothing to you, but if the man you killed has powerful acquaintances and they investigate the cause of his death, they could trace it back to you.”

“I know. Don’t worry, I already took care of that.”

My mother could seem like a nice and gentle woman, but I knew better. She is one of the most ruthless people I know.

She is a good person and model citizen, but if someone dares to touch her family, she becomes a demon king able to resort to anything to protect her family.

And she has the means to do it.

Now that I told her about what happened, she will take care of the rest.

Mary raised an eyebrow in surprise when she heard my answer.

“It looks like I still underestimated you. You are a lot more impressive than I thought. As expected of a man that I took a liking to.”

I smiled with a helpless expression.

“Stop teasing me, okay?”

“I’m not teasing you. It’s a fact that I like you.”

I did not know how to reply.

It’s my first time meeting someone as forthright as Mary, and my limited experience with women is not helping me here.

At that moment, the car entered an underground parking garage.

“We are here,” Mary said.

The place where we arrived was the apartment building where Mary's apartment was located. We took an elevator to the tenth floor, then, Mary led me to her apartment.

After we came inside, Mary turned on the lights and smiled at me.

“Are you hungry? I don’t use this place often, so there is nothing to eat here. Should we order something? How about pizza?”

“That is fine.” I nodded.

“Good. You should take a bath in the meanwhile. Also, put your clothes in the washing machine. I will get you something that you can wear while your clothes are being washed.”

“Thank you.” I did not reject her offer and went to the bathroom.

The water from the shower felt heavenly. I felt my tiredness being washed away as the water cleaned my body.

I used this opportunity to think about everything that happened since I entered the dungeon. I reviewed every detail, looking for anything I overlooked or that I could have done better.

This was something that the demon taught me. According to him, someone without outstanding talent or overwhelming luck like me could only rely on being careful and meticulous if I wanted to reach far.

I agreed with him, so since then, I have been doing regular reviews every time I do something.

Perhaps this is not very useful in the short term, but in the long term, it can help me to improve further and increase my chances of survival in a dangerous situation.

When I finished showering, I found that Mary had left a kimono on the door. I put it after hesitating briefly and left the bathroom.

Mary was in the kitchen when I left the bath.

“Are you done? The pizza is already here. I was feeling hungry, so I ate a bit while you showered. I’m going to take a bath now.”

“Okay.”

The pizza was tastier than usual, most likely because I was feeling hungry. I had eaten some snacks after leaving the dungeon, but that could not be considered a proper meal.

While I was eating, the demon’s voice sounded in my head.

[I’m impressed, boy. It looks like you are not as useless as I thought.]

I paused my movements for an instant before continuing.

“What do you want, demon?”

[Remember to use the Soul Supplementation Art while you are doing the deed. With your herbivore behavior, we don’t know when an opportunity like this will appear again.]

“Shut up.”

[Hehe, good luck boy.] The demon chuckled before his voice disappeared.

At that moment, I heard the door of the bathroom opening.

When I looked in that direction, Mary’s breathtaking figure appeared before my eyes.

She was wearing only a towel, with glistening drops of water decorating her skin. Her eyes were staring straight at me, and her expression was strangely seductive.

“I’m done.” She said playfully.

I could not help but gulp down a mouthful of saliva.