As soon as the creature greeted us, Darthmage’s eyes glowed like gold. He truly loved using his appraisal skill. I was not jealous. Well. Maybe only a little bit.

 

‘Damn you, you cheat-skilled bastard.’

 

Darthmage stared at the creature with huge curiosity. He stared. Then stared some more. It was became obvious that he had no intention of stopping.

 

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

 

But then I noticed it.

 

‘Bruh,’

 

His eyes were fixated on the almost non-existent breasts of the creature who greeted us. She became aware of this fact and covered her chest with her arms.

 

The creature was short in stature, but humanoid in form. She also had a deep green skin, pointy ears like one would expect from an elf and horns - similar to those of a demon - perhaps an accessory of sorts. Her pupils were the color of gold and her hair was both straight and silver.

 

She wore simple black ornamental robes, which she wore half-open, exposing her midriff. Likewise, with the exception of a short skirt, her legs were bare down to her toes.

 

“Darthmage….” I said. 'How the hell do you fall for a goblin, I mean... she is cute but... come on.'

 

“W-what?” He responded. Then realized that I knew that he knew. “Oh… I- I am sorry! IS NOT LIKE THAT. But she has weird stats! I have never seen a druid before! And she has a special subclass! She is the guardian of this tower, and-”

 

“And nothing!” Elly said.

 

Everyone in the room observed with amusement as Elly rained abuse upon her poor childhood friend. Who took every single hit as he cried out loud that he was not a pervert or a two timer.

 

‘Strong words for someone who not even a night ago was trying to invite me to his party to form his dream isekai party…’

 

At last. With a few stitches later. Darthmage pointed at the green-skinned girl sitting nearby the abyss as he began dropping cringe-bombs. As Darthmage’s monologue continued, the girl’s glare became progressively more hostile.

 

“Guardian. I, the Hero. Demand you let me and my friends access to the bottom floors,” Darthmage yelled.

 

But the goblin-girl just spitted on the floor. While Darthmage just stood frozen, not knowing what had gone wrong.

 

‘Idiot, this is not a video game, as if that was ever going to work.’

 

“Guardian, you will be wise to allow our passage,” Aurelia said. She did not elaborate further. The threat of violence lingered within the tip of her tongue.

 

The goblin, responded in an unknown language.

 

“Huh?” Darthmage said.

 

“What did she say?” I asked.

 

“I- I don’t know,” he responded.

 

Aurelia snapped her fingers. Then a notification appeared on my screen.

 

[You are now afflicted by: Lengua-Magistra. For a brief time, you gain mastery of all the languages supported by the spell caster.]

 

“What a wonderful spell,” The goblin said, “as expected of a witch.”

 

“My pleasure,” Aurelia said, with sarcasm that even someone as socially inept as Darthmage understood.

 

“For you, my fee will be double,” she said, pointing at Aurelia.

 

“A fee for what?” I asked. Was she charging us for passage?

 

The goblin shifted her attention to me.

 

“You are cute. For you, I would do it for free,” the guardian said.

 

“I-“

 

The guardian stared at Darthmage as he switched into [failed pick-up artist] mode.

 

Darthmage began to laugh, in a very fake way. As he assumed his natural cringe pose. “I see now. Of course! You are a goblin. Therefore, you require a fee to allow us deeper into the ruins. I have you all figured out now. Well Guardian. Then how much money do you seek,”

 

“Adventurer. You misunderstand. The toll is not paid to go down. If you are feeling brave, then be my guest,” The goblin said.

 

“Explain yourself, guardian. What do you mean the passage down below is free,” Aurelia said.

 

“Indeed. If you Adventurer’s wish to descend. I will not stop you,” The goblin said.

 

Something told me that there was a catch. I interrupted their conversation with a question of my own.

 

“Then? What is the toll paid for?” I asked.

 

Both Aurelia and the guardian ignored me.

 

“Come on Witch, tell your friends that which they do not know, if you are smart enough, that is,” The goblin said, with a smirk on her face.

 

Aurelia calmly extended her palm, and a fireball appeared. “I will count to three.”

 

“You surely wouldn’t-“

 

“One,”

 

“If you kill me… then-“

 

“Two,”

 

“Wait! I…. The toll is paid for services rendered!” The guardian said.

 

“Elaborate,” Aurelia said.

 

“Path-finding… Shelter, Cooking, Healing,” The goblin-girl said. “Depending in which services you seek, I offer different tiers and-“

 

“Cut to the point,” Aurelia said.

 

“Two gold coins… is all I ask. You get everything for two gold coins,” The goblin said.

 

“TWO GOLD COINS!” Darthmage said. Almost choking on his own spit.

 

“GOLD COINS!?” I asked. “How much would that even be in silver.”

 

Elly quietly whispered me the answer.

 

Each gold coin was worth a hundred silver ones. For the average adventurer, two gold coins represented a full year worth of wages.

 

No adventurer would carry that much money on their pockets.

 

Aurelia began laughing and threw two gold coins at the guardian.

 

“What! But you told me you were broke!” I said.

 

“Yes. I down to fifty gold coins,” Aurelia said. “You think an amulet crafted by The Great Archmage would go for as low as that? Impossible.”

 

“Fifty gold coins…” Darthmage said. “How?”

 

“Oh. That. I stole a handful from my father,” Aurelia said. “Not that he would miss them. It probably took years for some obscure bureaucrat to notice the discrepancy in the books.”

 

“Who was your father?” I asked.

 

“Not telling.”

 

“How long ago did you took his money?”

 

“Not telling.”

 

“Come on, that is not fair,” I said.

 

“Let us not waste any more time with silly questions,” Aurelia said. “Time is of essence.”

 

In this we agreed.

 

Elly very passively walked to the edge of the abyss. Where the guardian sat, and began inspecting the rusting elevator that would take us down below. She used her crafting skills to inspect the integrity of the ancient mechanism.

 

“The iron is well forged. The chains seem in good condition. But the iron cage that does not seem to be stable enough to allow more than two of us to go down,” Elly said.

 

“Then if that is the case, we could take turns, two and two,” I said.

 

“Who wants to go first?” Darthmage asked.

 

“Ha! An adventurer who is afraid of adventure?” Aurelia asked. But she did not expect a response.

 

“Is not like that!” Darthmage said.

 

Aurelia immediately hugged me from behind. “Of course it will be me and Berry. Any and all regents that we gather will be ours alone,”

 

“Ehhh?”

 

‘What the hell, she did not even ask me if I wanted to go with her.’

 

“It is ok Berry, we are friends, aren’t we? Besides, I got some goodies for you if you say come with me.”

 

I reluctantly agreed.

 

As Aurelia and I stepped onto the elevator, the ancient mechanism swung slightly from side to side. Like a pendulum.

 

I held tight to the metal bars.

 

Aurelia did not seem to care if we died. She closed the door shut. Then, the lever she instructed to be pulled.

 

The guardian complied. The ancient mechanism began to move. Ancient noises it made.

 

*Crank* *Crank* *Crank*

 

For a second, the chain holding the elevator plunged down, but then the elevator returned to its slow descent into the pit.

 

It was very dark.

 

Aurelia did not cast any of her light magic. Bu without a doubt, she held on to her smug smile.

 

Would her smile even go away if we plunged all the way to the bottom?

 

I did not know. But I was starting to think that it would not.

 

“Berry. You made the right choice,” she said. “These regents, there one of a kind,”

 

“What exactly do they do?” I asked.

 

“Powerful, for summons,” Aurelia said. “Kill a few, and you can turn their life orbs into a minor summoner stone.”

 

“Kill!?” I asked.

 

“Oh? But of course. I hope you don’t suggest that you were expecting to pick up the regents from the floor. Is not like summoner regents grow on trees. Else…”

 

Aurelia remained smug, but did not finish her line of thought.

 

“What the hell are you not telling us about this place?”

 

“What is there to know? This was once a magical tower, one of the many constructed by The Overlord. Horrible experiments were conducted deep within the core. More than a millennium ago, of course…. ” Aurelia said. “The inhabitants of the tower, are not something you should be worried about.”

 

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Isn’t this the first time you come here?”

 

“Ahem, perhaps. But once you have entered one tower, you know what to expect. Lucky for us, this one is not so buried deeply underground.”

 

“I think I am missing some information here. Why are these towers buried. Isn’t the entire point of a tower to be above ground? At this point, aren’t they a dungeon?” I asked.

 

“I am sure this tower extended about fifty levels into the sky,” Aurelia said.

 

“Then… what happened? Did it sink?”

 

“No. It should be obvious that only the levels that went underground survived,”

 

“But how do you know all of this…”

 

“Shhh, remained quiet,” Aurelia whispered. “Here they come.”

 

‘Huh? What did she mean by that.’

 

I stared into the darkness but heard or saw nothing.

 

“Who?” I whispered back.

 

The floor trembled a bit. As the elevator made its landing. The door opened.

 

Aurelia snapped her fingers, vanquishing the darkness and revealing rats the size of a dog.

 

“What are u waiting for? Kill them,” Aurelia said.