Welf slid a tray with a sandwich over to me and then sat down at the seat across from me.

After mentioning that he had a proposal for me, Welf led me to a small cafe on the second floor of Babel. Or rather, a small table outside of said cafe.

"Here you go. It's not much, but I hope you don't mind."

I shook my head and took the sandwich. "It's fine. Food is food."

Welf laughed. "True enough."

I picked up the sandwich and then said, "So what did you want to talk about? Since you're treating me to food, I'm guessing it's fairly important."

"Mmhm." Welf nodded. "You see, I'm looking to join a party. You look like a pretty experienced adventurer, Bell, so I was hoping I could party with you in exchange for being your personal blacksmith."

"Ah." I frowned and took a bite of my sandwich. After that, I said, "Not that I mind you joining my party... but I'm still a newbie, you know?"

"Eh?" Welf blinked and said, "You're... a newbie?"

"Mmhm." I nodded and said, "I've only been in Orario for... I think a little under a week?" I paused and said, "Come to think of it, I don't think it's even been a full week yet."

"Wait." Welf held up his hand and then said, "What familia are you from, Bell? If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm from Hestia's familia."

Welf frowned. "I don't recognize that name... A new goddess?"

"Mmhm. Both of us are actually pretty new to Orario."

"...Then how did you get the money to buy Black Demon? No offense, but even if it was underpriced by that bastard, it's still more than what a new adventurer could afford..."

"Ah." I nodded. "That's because I got swarmed on the first floor." I paused and said, "I think I had to fight off about a hundred or so kobolds? Either way, money adds up fast."

Welf blinked again and then muttered, "That explains why you need better armor. But seriously?"

"Seriously." I took a bite of my sandwich and said, "Why? Are you second-guessing yourself now?"

Welf shook his head. "No. If that's true, it's definitely what I need to level up."

"Level up?" I blinked and said, "You're a blacksmith though, aren't you? Is there a need to level up?"

Welf nodded. "There is. You might not know about it yet since you and your goddess are new to Orario, but it's possible to earn a developmental ability when you level up. And for blacksmiths like me, it's essential to get the Blacksmith ability."

"Mm... can't you go train with your other familia members though?"

In a place like this, the first place to turn to for help should be your own familia members due to the inherent danger in things. But to go to someone like me...

Welf sighed. "I would, but... Well, it's complicated." He shook his head and said, "Anyway, I need to level up, and getting stuck in challenging situations like that is exactly what I need. So." He leaned forward and grinned. "What do you say, Pal? Wanna make a party?"

"Sure... but just to make things clear, I think the dungeon hates me. Every time I've entered it, I've had a string of bad luck with ambushes and monster hordes. Odds are more likely than not that you'll be in mortal danger every time we enter."

"And when is an adventurer not in mortal danger? Besides, you made it out alright, didn't you? Can't be that bad, right?"

"...Well, don't say I didn't warn you." I held out my hand and said, "Welcome to the party, Welf."

Welf grinned and shook my hand. "Glad to be working with you, Bell. Now... Should we get going? It's probably good to get a handle on how we fight, right?"

"Just let me finish my sandwich... And if it's too much for you down there, feel free to leave whenever you want."

It would probably be dangerous, but if I wasn't alone... Things should be fine? And it wasn't like the Dungeon would spawn *another* horde of monsters so soon after I cleared one out, right?

Welf waved his hand and said, "I'll be fine. I might be a blacksmith, but I'm a lot tougher than I look, you know?"

"...If you say so."

xxx

Welf grit his teeth and then kicked a kobold out of his way. Afterwards, he spun around, swinging his greatsword and cleaving through a horde of goblins running towards him. "You weren't kidding, Bell!"

The white-haired man slid past a kobold swinging its club and quickly snapped its neck. Afterwards, he grabbed it and threw it backwards, bowling over some goblins. "I told you. Dungeon hates me."

Welf quickly wiped the sweat out of his brow and then looked around.

It was the first floor.

It was the first floor of the dungeon, but it had somehow turned out like this.

'Bell hadn't been joking when he mentioned the dungeon hated him...'

After finishing their food, the newly formed party headed down into the dungeon for some light training. A bit of coordination to get a feel for how each other fought.

At least, that was the plan.

But barely a few rooms in, the walls, ceiling, and floor burst into cracks, flooding the place with monsters.

If Welf was being honest, he was scared shitless.

Ten, twenty... at least a hundred monsters were spawning in. And more as he stared at the surroundings.

If he was alone, he might have choked up and made a fatal mistake.

But he wasn't alone.

"Come on. Don't stand around stiff like that. Even dumb guys like this will be able to hit you if you stop moving." Bell calmly spoke out advice while cutting monsters apart.

One slash, three dead. An inhuman precision, killing as many monsters as he could while maintaining a calm demeanor and reserving energy.

True to Bell's word, three goblins suddenly leapt at Welf.

He stepped back and swung his sword, cleaving them apart. And then he moved back some more, scanning his surroundings. "Easier said than done, Pal..."

Everywhere Welf looked, all he could see were monsters. Monsters that wanted nothing more than to rip him apart.

"It's easier done than said, actually. Just keep moving and slashing. These guys aren't that dangerous as long as you keep an eye on their weapons and prevent being grabbed. Besides, you've got the reach of that great sword. Just use it and keep them at bay."

Welf chuckled and then tightened his grip on his sword. "Right. Can't be dragging my pal down like this..." He narrowed his eyes and focused.

It was like Bell said. Welf had the advantage of having his weapon reaching the enemy before they could reach him. Even the kobolds with their clubs were out of range if Welf fought properly.

...The problem was the fighting properly bit. It had only been ten or so minutes, but he was already drained.

Even so. Seeing Bell fighting off so many monsters with just a small knife, Welf couldn't slack off.

"GWOOOOH!"

Letting out a battle cry, Welf stepped forward. Before, he had been just enduring the onslaught, but now he went on the offensive.

A heavy slash, cleaving a dozen goblins in half. Stomping the ground, he stepped back and pivoted, swinging his sword up.

A kobold trying to sneak attack Welf fell apart in halves.

Bell laughed. "Good! Like that, Welf!" He idly dodged a knife thrown at his head and then threw one back. "Keep pressing the advantage."

"How. The hell? Are you... so relaxed?!" Welf spat out his words in between slashes.

"A lot of training and a meticulous work-out regime. I'll share it with you some time. Ah, and to your left."

Welf spun and slashed to his left.

A goblin screeched, trying to grab Welf's knee and failing.

Welf sighed and then raised his sword again.

'Only... sixty or so left to go. Great.'

xxx

"Here." I handed Welf a potion and then sat down beside him.

"Thanks..." The blacksmith downed the potion and let out a content sigh. "Never thought the day would come when I'd be exhausted fighting just some goblins and kobolds."

"Regretting your life decisions?"

"Nah." Welf grinned and said, "Stuff like this is just what I need to build up excelia to level up. Although..." He frowned and looked at me. "You seem used to all of this. Did you fight monsters before coming to Orario?"

"Nope. I was just a regular farm boy living out in the countryside with my grandpa."

Welf shook his head. "You must be super talented then." He looked out at the surroundings and said, "To be able to do all of this..."

I didn't blame him.

Over a hundred monsters corpses littered the ground. Mostly goblins, but quite a few kobolds as well.

A quarter of them were ripped apart by giant slashes, Welf's handiwork. But most of them were killed with precision strikes, perfectly aimed and calculated to kill with the least amount of effort.

I shrugged and said, "Maybe. Grandpa never told me who my parents were, so it might just run in the blood?"

"Blood, huh?" A strange emotion crossed Welf's face and he nodded. "I guess things like that can happen..."

"Anyway... You did pretty good, Welf. I was somewhat expecting you to just get stalled up somewhere, but you did a good job pressing forward and whittling the enemies down."

"Not as good as you. Damn." He shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, using his sword as a cane. "Only a week, huh? I can't even imagine how far you'll go if you're already this strong, Bell."

"You gotta give yourself some credit too, Welf. Personally, I can't think of a person who wouldn't be panicking at being mobbed with so many monsters. Keeping your calm during all of that... Definitely impressive."

"Heh." Welf grinned and said, "Enough puffing ourselves up." He looked around at the monster corpses and then rolled his shoulder. "We should get started on collecting all of these if we want to get back before nightfall."

"Ah." I waved my hand and said, "Don't worry about it. I've got this."

"No. You did most of the fighting, so at the least- Huh?" Welf cut off.

I didn't blame him. After all, the hundred or so monster corpses suddenly vanished, turning into smoke. In their place, monster drops littered the floor. This time, not just goblin ears, but also goblin fangs mixed in with the kobold tails. 

Rare drops, maybe?

That was inevitable considering how many we killed... But it looked like it wasn't a guaranteed drop from each monster. Maybe since Welf killed a few of them? Or maybe my luck streak was running out? Needed to do some testing on that later...

Welf blinked, still confused. "Wait. What just happened?"

I walked over and started picking up the drops, autosorting them into piles in my inventory before dropping them back out. After that, I glanced at Welf and said, "You good with a fifty-fifty split?"

Welf nodded. "That's fine, but seriously Bell. What just happened? Where did all the monsters go? And why are there so many drops?"

I walked back over to Welf and held out my hand. "Bag please. It'll be simpler to fill it this way than by hand."

Welf blinked but did as I asked.

When I grabbed his bag, I opened up my inventory and then shoved as many things as I could inside. Mostly magic stones, but also all of those fangs. 

As a blacksmith, Welf could probably get better use out of those than I could. But even as I filled his bag, there were still a lot of random drops left.

I finished filling his bag and then frowned. "This will be a bit troublesome to carry out, but here."

Welf took his bag back and then looked inside. When he saw the glittering magic stones, he blinked again and shook his head. Looking at me, he said, "A typical farmer boy, huh?"

"Yep." I swept the remaining drops into my inventory and said, "Just a typical farmer boy dreaming of being a hero."

Welf shrugged. "Well... guess this makes things easier." He looked towards the direction of the stairs going down and said, "Are we going any deeper today?"

"I'd love to. But I made a promise to get back early today." I did a mental count of the time that passed and then nodded. "It's around two right now, so I'd like to head back for now. Besides, I think you need some rest... and we probably shouldn't tempt fate."

Welf nodded. "Rest... yeah. I could definitely use some after all of that. Though..." He stared back towards the stairs and said, "If this is what it's like for you on the first floor, I'm a bit worried about what it'll be like going forward. Might have to make a few things to keep us safe..."

I sighed. "Yeah. I'm worried about that too... Still not sure why the dungeon keeps trying to ambush me, but it's better for us not to press our luck. You never know if it might decide to drop a super monster or something our way."

Like the Reaper from Persona or the other various floor cleaners in mystery dungeon games where you dragged your feet too long.

"Mm... That's true."

"Let's get going then." I sheathed my knife and then headed back towards the stairs. "Better not give the dungeon time to rethink its life decisions."

"W-Wait for me, Bell!"