Leon

One week later

"So how do you think Jake has been doing so far?" I ask Pallus out of curiosity as I sit behind my desk with a few documents in front of me.

We have gone into the dungeon a few times over the past week with Jake coming along with us, and I personally think he has done well enough. Although he still has their air of depression around him from losing his friend...

Pallus looks up from the letter he is reading on one of the comfortable chairs within my office and says, "He has been okay. We already have an archer, but his understanding in magic has been helpful once or twice. Not all that often mind you, but this dungeon is only Tier 1 still, so that's understandable."

He then glances at the letter in his hand once more before folding it up and putting it into his pocket before leaning back in the chair. "Overall, I think he will work well with our party, given time. Assuming he can get over his lost companion that is."

I lightly nod my head and mutter, "I agree, and-"

I am cut off mid-sentence as a knock sounds from my office door.

Pallus glances at me before getting up from the chair and opening the door to reveal a surprised Aidan on the other side.

"What do you need, Aidan?" I ask him out of curiosity before looking back down at the documents on my desk.

"Well..." Aidan begins before he grunts at something.

I look up out of curiosity only to scowl at the sight of the man nonchalantly pushing Aidan out of the way to enter my office.

"Hey, Leon!" Luke says with a light wave before someone else follows behind him. I can't make out who the person is, nor can I even see any of their features. They are wearing a large cloak that completely covers their entire body with a hood that stretches all the way down their face.

The only thing I can tell about them is that they are a higher Tier than me.

A much higher Tier.

But seeing as they are with Luke, it makes some sense, so I turn my attention to Luke before saying, "You can go now, Aidan."

I see Aidan bow his head from outside the door before leaving down the hall, meanwhile Pallus reaches over and closes the door behind the two with him still inside.

Luke and the person with him both turn to Pallus before a stern expression replaces his usual mirth-filled one as he says, "Leave us."

Pallus raises an eyebrow and turns to me.

I shake my head before saying, "He can stay."

Both Luke and the unknown guest stiffen at that before Luke turns to me and says, "This is a discrete matter, so I really think it would be best if he were to leave."

"There isn't much he doesn't already know about me, so unless it's about business, then he can stay if he wants," I say back to him with a shrug before looking down at the document on my desk and signing it.

I hear a faint intake of breath from the two before Luke says, "If that's the case..."

A few seconds of silence pass before I hear a gasp from Pallus' direction.

I look up out of curiosity before dropping my quill in shock at the sight of Ari standing next to Luke with a smile as she stares straight at me.

"Little Leo," she says, full of warmth as she stares at me without blinking.

Fenrir

Dawn and I quietly watch the group of intruders as they make their way through the spider's nest on the sixth floor.

This group of intruders is probably the most interesting group that I have seen in my entire life. Even more interesting than the Hybrid's party.

Literally every single member of the party is a different species!

For one, there is an Undine, which is the first semi-aquatic species I have ever seen. After that, there is the Halfling archer, the Elf Scout, the Human great shielder and leader, and the Dwarven... whatever he does. The stocky man uses a large hammer, but he seems to stick to the back and doesn't really fight all that much, so I'm not really sure what he does.

As for the Undine's fighting style? She uses swords, but she also seems to have magic. Which reminds me a bit of the Hybrid's style of fighting if I am being honest.

"What do you think is up with this area of the floor? It doesn't really match any of the other areas," the Dwarf says with a different accent than most of the people that have entered my dungeon.

The other reason why I am so interested in this party right now is that they are the first party to have found the memorial nest of spiders, so I am very interested in how they will react to the reward when – or if – they clear it.

"I'm not sure, but we will find out soon enough," the party leader says as he blocks the strike of one of the arachnids.

He's right about that, considering that they are almost at the end of the nest.

The Halfling shoots an arrow at the arachnid clinging to the Human's shield before turning around, crouching down, and quickly firing another arrow at an arachnid as it jumps down from the ceiling at him.

"It's possible that there are more nests like this on the floor, but we just missed them while going through," the Halfling says after getting back to his full height of about slightly above half a meter.

"I doubt it," the Undine interjects, causing everyone else to fall silent as she continues while cutting up an arachnid that tried to sneak up on her with both of her blades, "either you or Elisah would likely have noticed it if we passed by other nests like this."

"She has a point," I mutter to Dawn as I once again take note of how all of the other intruders in their party seem to respect her a great degree. "The members of this party are actually pretty damn skilled."

The only other party that has been through my dungeon that can compare to this one would be the Hybrid's party.

I wonder if it's because of the various different species in their party? Maybe the different racial bonuses add to their variety of skills?

Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder what each of these species' racial talents are anyways?

My thoughts are interrupted as Dawn says, "That's true, but I wonder how they all ended up in a party together like this."

"You have a point there," I mutter as I continue watching the intruders as they enter the final cavern of the nest.

Let's see how they fare against the arachnae...