After all of the difficulties, heartbreak and tension, we ended up clearing the dungeon. It was by no means a pleasurable experience. I would have to think really hard whether being pressured into learning to solve that puzzle was worse than being isolated and harassed by that thing at the end. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel proud at all of our accomplishment, especially after we learned about the true meaning of it.

Once we showed our golden brooches at the adventurers' center of information we discovered why everything was harder than it supposedly should be. Apparently, in the Eternal Testing Grounds, if you pass through trials in an unusual manner or get through it with minimal to no wounds, the dungeon will start throwing more and more difficulties at you. At the end, if you are able to clear the dungeon in this more difficult state you gain a golden brooch instead of the usual bronze one.

“That's really unusual, you guys must be quite impressive if you can manage that the first time you went in. The last time a party got the golden brooch on the first try, their leader was Gauron. Alexius, is it? You might say you don't intend to become an adventurer, but to me, you are a pretty good one.”

Alexius smiled at that praise, but it felt somewhat off. I decided not to pry, but he seemed not to be all that satisfied ever since we exited the dungeon. Knowing him, he must be worrying about something stupid or being overly critical of himself. I wonder if it's because he was the only one who ended up with a serious wound at the end of the dungeon. Still, it doesn't help to insist on it when he pouts like that, so for now I have decided to leave him be.

About our companion, Kardenon, I must say that going through the dungeon with him really changed the way I see him. While at first he seems like an unnecessarily loud annoyance, as well as a complete blowhard, I discovered that he has some real abilities to back it up. I am not proud to say it, but even if we had gone it with another person, without the kind of abilities that Kardenon brought to the table, we wouldn't have had such a good result. I have to admit that he saved me quite a few times. Ideally, I would love to compliment Alexius for insisting that we keep Kardenon around, but I guess he wouldn't consider that important. I think that being able to find talented people is important for a leader, though I'm sure Alexius would call our meeting with Kardenon luck, or Virtue's guidance. Sometimes he is such a complicated person.

We stayed in Probium a few more days afterward to rest from the dungeon. It was also a surprise to discover that almost a day had passed since we first entered, though I suppose it should be a given that the feeling of time is a bit strange inside a dungeon. It's funny that quite a few parties of adventurers asked us to help them with their requests. After some deliberation, we decided to reject them. Well, I decided. Alexius and Kardenon were all for it, just for the fun of it, probably not realizing that once we started we might end up getting roped into helping too many different people.

They looked slightly disappointed, but after a few days of rest, we left Probium without having any further taste of the adventurer life. We started heading south. Alexius suggested that we visit the Bloody Road where supposedly, a few years earlier, the small army of a noble was massacred by a monster. Apparently there is a very strange dungeon nearby that has claimed the lives of many adventurers. I would rather stay away from such dangerous things. The two looked disappointed once again, but after I said that we could go back to it once we were all more experienced and stronger, the two of them were happy about it. I swear, sometimes they are just so simple...

One day, when we were on the road, Alexius suddenly started looking quite worried, I wonder why.