It's the next day after I talked to Mandy's parents, everything went as normal, but after class was different. Today is the day I and her go to the dungeon island. Right now, me and her were at the station.

"Are you excited?" Mandy spoke next to me.

Thankfully, I still had Shaka with me but still in casual clothes. "I couldn't sleep last night." For more than just anticipation of today.

Besides owning a flying vehicle the only way to leave Kenley Valley is by the sky train, a railcar that transports people from Kenley to the Dungeon like a subway. After a short wait, our train pulls in.

We board, practically nobody else aboard, and have a peaceful talk about our plan as we wait. Since I'm the only one of us with combat potential, I will be doing the actual adventuring while Mandy acts as "mission control" from the guild. From what we've learned so far, this is a common practice here to have slaves take on adventurer work and for masters to collect rewards. Because the train was so fast, we reached the island in almost no time.

The island was surprisingly beautiful, it mainly looked like Mt. Fuji floating in the sky with a town built around it. Mandy and I left the station and followed some instructions from a local dwarf to the adventurer's guild; the guildhall looked like a giant Apple store. We walked up to the counter and met the receptionist, a dark elf man with a short afro and thick glasses.

"Welcome to the Hero Trek Dungeon Island's Adventurer Guild, how can I help you?"

The master, Mandy stepped up to speak. "I am Mandevilla Fullerton, and I am here to register my slave, Aiden Ortega, as an adventurer here."

"No problem, I just need one of you to fill out this form." He gave Mandy a registration form, then I filled it out and gave it back. "Good, it seems he's pretty strong, but I'm afraid he'll need to start at Stone first. Here is a pamphlet to help inform you." He gave her the welcome pamphlet. "As you are his master, you will be needing a set of two earpieces to communicate, as well as a dungeon cam. The earpieces will allow outside communication, and the camera will allow you to keep monitor of him. Altogether, this amounts to 300 mik [~$300], if you can't pay you can charge it to the guild and pay it off through automatic deductions from his earnings."

"Thank you." She was given two wireless earpiece dives and a small ball with a camera lens.

We went to a sitting area in the guild; I set up the camera while Mandy read the pamphlet, after I finished my work I asked Mandy a question.

"You think those rumors are true?" She knows why we're here, but we never talked about the rumors.

"I don't know if there is any truth, but this is the best chance you have." She put in her earpiece. "Give me the camera thumb drive, I can use a computer here to keep watch over you." I gave her the drive. "Today we're only getting a feel, stay safe, and don't overwork yourself."

Outside the dungeon entrance

Me and her separated, she stayed at the guild while I went to the dungeon entrance alone. Apparently, the entrance to the dungeon is the entire base of the mountain and can be entered at any point but there are established paths put in place by the guild; additionally, monsters don't leave because they become lethargic outside the dungeon. The entrance I was at had several people outside, and the entrance reminded me of a blue Torri gate made of gravel; I stepped through, but felt no different from the outside, and walked along the path for a while.

[Aiden, can you hear me?] Mandy came on the line.

"I got you," I responded. "Any information on the 1st level?"

[The pamphlet says the first floor of the entire volcano from base to mouth. The only monsters on the first floor are slimes, kobolds, and giant rats. Compared to you, they shouldn't be a large threat, but they are stealthy and usually move in packs.] She was surprisingly good at mission control.

"Thanks, what about progressing to the 2nd level?"

[It doesn't say, and according to the guild level progression is a tight secret to prevent adventurers from progressing into dangerous areas.]

Looks like I'll have to learn as I go on.

My first day in the Hero Trek Dungeon was surprisingly easy, I didn't need any armor and got out relatively unscathed. I collected all my kills, 4 slime cores, 10 kobold carcasses, and 23 rat hides, and brought them back to the guild; due to the quality of my dismembering, the guild increase my reward. Luckily, we were able to pay off our tab for the equipment but now there was only barely enough for the return ticket home.

We were now on the train heading back to Kenley Valley when Mandy asked me a question.

"Are you miserable?"

"What?" Her question was sudden.

"Are you miserable, being here with us?" She didn't make eye contact with me.

I didn't want to lie to her. "You have done nothing wrong, but I have people who miss me, and I miss them every day."

Without turning to face me she grabbed my hand. "I know you... convinced my parents to let us come here." She paused before continuing. "I might not be as smart as you, but I'm not a fool. You must love your family so much to endure this." Gradually, she began shifting my hand to her thigh. "If it will make you feel better... you could-"

I pulled my hand away, causing her to look at me. "Mandy, you're a very kind and considerate girl, but you're too young to do something like that," I told her, not scolding but sympathizing. "Chronologically, I'm less than half your age, but I'm still a grown man while you're only a child."

She was almost crying. "Thank you. We'll find out more information on the other floors, we'll advance as high as we can go to get you home."