Odis, Anna, and Reina, the trio had somehow ended up together even in this randomized dungeon. A true testament to their friendship.

“Yo, Ralph!“ Odis raised his hands and I high-ten'd him. Then, I bumped fists with Anna and waved at Reina.

Blaine simply stood behind us, not ready to interrupt the friendly atmosphere that we had built up in an instant. I was on pretty good terms with these three, Odis especially so, Blaine on the other hand was rather stuck up when it came to making friends and wasn't that involved with people.

Before Odis could start stuttering and blame me for snagging some time with beauty, I kicked his shin.

“Ow—”

“You, bastard. Work for us.“

Explaining things would be a hassle and was rather unnecessary with someone like Odis.

Odis raised his leg and glared at me as he rubbed it. Then, he set his foot down, adjusted his spectacles with his middle finger, and scoffed. “Work for you? Sure, maybe if you lick my boots and kiss my feet I would consider helping you out.“

My, my.

I leaned closer to him and whispered in his ears. “You seem like you want everyone to know what you sent me that day. What was it again?“ I raised my voice slightly and looked away, making sure to be as smug as possible. “My favorite classmates?“

Odis' neck bulged as he gulped. His eyes widened enough to peek at me despite being turned away. I could see lines of purple covering his faze as beads of sweat draped his forehead.

“Ralph… I sent that because I trusted you. I am sure you watched too, hypocrite!“

“Hah… It's your fault, fool.“ I leaned further in and grabbed his collar. My voice lowered into the thinnest whisper. “I was never into that stuff.“

“Gah! Traitor!!“ The boy held his chest and curled over in pain.

“Anyway, you'll practically be working for Blaine Sothsfield.“

“Oh.“ Odis stood upright as if the previous reaction was just a lie. He dusted his clothes and smiled. “I am in. What do I do?“

Anna and Reina looked at their friend with eyes of pure disgust. I was sure she didn't hear anything, but even Blaine cringed at Odis' change.

Poor chap.

It was settled though, I had him in my hands. I completely ignored Odis and turned to Anna and Reina.

“Did you two get any points?“

“Ah…” Reina scratched her cheeks and averted her eyes while Anna sighed.

“We killed one,” Anna was the one who answered. “But well, it only gave us a single point.“

I crossed my arms and nodded in understanding. Then, I placed my hand on Anna's shoulder.

“Hey, cheer up. It is tough to get those monsters already, and getting their cores intact is even more troublesome.“

“Just how many do we even need,” Reina groaned. “Ralph, isn't one enough? I mean, they must be thinking something.“

This time, I shook my head, in understanding of course, completely ready to sympathize with them as much as I could. “Do you remember how many points the dungeon key and the boss monster will go for? 500! Just making a point or two is nowhere enough.“

The two of them sighed again.

“But!“ I said, “Don't worry!“

I turned to Blaine and pointed at the bag with my eyes. She looked like she wanted to complain, so I glared at her as well. Blaine loosened the string of the bag without acting out and opened it up. Inside, orbs of yellow and gold glimmered brightly as the air around them slightly distorted. Seeing the bag open, ReRa got up from the side and jumped in. It seemed the trio had their attention snatched too well by the orbs to notice the golem though.

“Are these…?“

“Yup, cores of the monsters, fully intact.“ Next, as a true salesman would, I let my wares do the talking. “Blaine hunted them down and collected the cores with my golems. Hunting down any is too tough already, right?“

Anna slowly turned to me and nodded.

“Well, thankfully, she is willing to give them to us so that we can pass.“

““What! For reals?“” Anna and Reina were in perfect sync.

“Yes,” I nodded. “The monsters are an easy game for her. She's planning to go straight for the dungeon key and the five hundred. You just have to relax and help look for it and your passing is guaranteed. As long as the key is found, she said that she'll happily hand it over to anyone who helps!“

Reina and Anna turned toward Blaine this time.

“Angel?“

“Psst! Anna, goddess!“

I guess hanging out with Odis had affected them adversely. Blaine seemed to be squirming with discomfort, I didn't understand her problem, but maybe she was feeling guilty. She had a wry smile on her face as Reina and Anna praised her.

The two of them moved to the side and started whispering. They were a party, so I left them to their devices. Odis tried to squeeze into the discussion but was kicked out. What was he, their mascot character or something?

After whispering for a few seconds, Anna and Reina turned to both of us with wide smiles.

“Fine!“ Anna said. “We'll do it, we'll help you.“

“But,” Reina added right after. “What if we don't meet up in time, and well, what if some other situation comes up? Why don't you give us some of those cores in advance? We'll help you with all our heart, of course.“

“Yup!“ Anna joined in again. “There's no trust issues between us and Ralph, after all.“

Blaine side-stepped over to me and tilted her head closer to my ears. “Scary, these two.“

“You'll get used to it.“ I muttered back to Blaine.

It was a shame, but not something I wasn't expecting. The two of them planned to take the cores as insurance and then look for the secret key. With the point situation solved by our cores, they would look for the key with all their heart and just keep it for themselves. It was so basic it couldn't even be counted as a scam, but most wouldn't be able to counter such a problem.

Most wouldn't.

I pulled out the map from my pockets and unfolded it. I dangled the map in front of the two.

“Don't worry about those things. No matter how the entrance of the dungeon shuffles, its structure remains the same.“

The map of the dungeon showed a rather tame and circular amoeboid plane with a few parts softly sticking out like limbs. The rim of the entire plane was covered with large black marks signifying stone walls and in the center of the map from all directions was a red circle that marked an altar of stone. The circle of red was covered with mana, this was likely meant to be the core that would serve as an exit after the collapse.

Anna and Reina were stumped at the sight of the map.

“You just have regroup at the correct time and we can share information, as far as a dangerous situation goes—”

“—The Academy has it covered.“ Blaine suddenly interrupted and completed my sentence.

“R-right…” Anna nodded. There were some other arguments left, but since she had already said yes to helping and was planning to capitalize on trust, using any of those wasn't an option.

The system was missing out on quite the fun stuff.

“Lastly,” I said, pointing at the black scribbles at the bottom of the map written in ominous characters. “This here says that the key is guarded by a fearsome being since a large part of the dungeon's mana comes from it.“

“Oh? Really? What language is that?“

“I-its Mesopotamian. Blaine speaks it…”

“Multitalented angel.“

“Psst. Multitalented goddess.“

Anna and Reina turned to Blaine again. This time, even Blaine couldn't hold back and started stepping back in a fluster. I wanted to tease her further and ask her to say a word or two in the language, but decided to save it for next time.

“W-well then,” Blaine spoke up in an attempt to change the topic and get us back on track. “Will you guys be up for it? Without any insurance at first, of course.“

Rookie mistake. You weren't supposed to ask, just force them in.

Anna and Reina nodded, but before they could say anything, Odis swooped in front of Blaine and grabbed her hand,

“I wouldn't need any insurance, just your word is enough—”

Blaine pulled her hand back. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped it off.

Pathetic.

We had successfully gotten Anna and Reina to work for us. They also said they would try to convince any other people struggling with the monsters to help out if they ran into any, which eased my work a lot. With everything decided, we decided to split up with their party going away from the center.

“Where are we in the first place?“ Odis asked.

I looked at the map.

And then around us.

Then at the map again.

“Uh… no idea. I am used to the ones with GPS…”

“Leave it to me,” Anna said and reached into her pockets. She pulled out an analog compass and held it up.

“That thing works in here?“ I asked.

“Nope, compasses don't.“ Anna poured in her mana into the compass and the needle inside started spinning. “This is a magic tool that uses a scout's skills. I learned it in an elective.“

The needle came to a stop after a few seconds passed. Anna took another look at the map and nodded satisfactorily. “That's north,” she said, showing us the needle of the compass. “We'll be heading off in that direction, then.“

With that, the trio of Anna, Reina, and the clown separated from us. Blaine and I watched them walk away till they were out of sight.

“Shall we set off too?“ I asked, pivoting over to the south, opposite where the trio had left.

Blaine picked up the bag again and started walking. She passed me by and I strutted ahead next to her.

“Where are we going? To search for that thing?“

“Nah, those 500 points are uncertain, so let's let them handle it for us. We should go and kill the boss instead.“

“What—Actually… never mind, I don't even want to argue anymore.“

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Seriously, though? Mesopotamian?“

“Hahaha!“