Danmachi – Card Wizard - Chapter 15

After their lunch, Ais and Aidan continued to explore the dungeon. They would encounter monsters or a group of monsters approximately every five minutes. The time between the monster’s attacks would allow them to recover the energy spent during the previous monster attack. In this way, they continued to travel and explore the second floor of the dungeon until they finally finished mapping the second floor.

Mapping the floor wasn’t hard since they only had to travel in the dungeon, and the magical card would do everything automatically. The hardest part was fighting the monsters and staying safe when they encountered the pantries, the room which offered them food.​​

By the time they finished exploring the second floor thoroughly, it was already time to go back to the surface. The second floor had been more challenging than expected as both still had the basic parameters. Moreover, their bodies hadn’t fully developed yet, which lowered their range, speed and strength behind the blows.

With one last look at the floor, the two made their way back to the first floor and the surface with the help of the map.

After leaving the dungeon, the two looked at the sky through the window of the guild building and were surprised to see the sunset. The two hadn’t imagined having spent so much time in the dungeon. Looking at each other, Aidan smiled knowingly while Ais’s lips slightly rose as they understood what the other was thinking.

“Let’s go and exchange the loot of our two dungeon explorations.” Said Aidan as he walked towards the counter in the guildhall with Ais in toe.

Entering a line with the smallest number of adventurers, the two waited in complete silence as the adventurers in front slowly moved forwards. From time to time, one could hear the scream of an angry adventurer who wasn’t happy about the amount of Valis obtained from the loot brought back from the dungeon. However, despite their shouting, there wasn’t anything they could do since they paid the adventurers depending on the prices offered.

While they were waiting in line, Ais on Aidan’s side kept staring at him. Turning towards her and seeing her troubled look, he asked. “Is there anything wrong, Ais?”

“Do you like being my partner?” She asked as she looked at the other group of adventurers who were talking and laughing loudly together. She had noticed the difference between their group and the others, and it wasn’t their age.

“Hmm. I do. What about you?”

Nodding her head positively at his answer and question, she continued after a long moment of silence. “But, I don’t talk much.”

“That’s fine, isn’t it. Not every group has to be similar. I think we work well together and you’re a nice person. I’d rather we continue being partners than changing teams simply because you don’t talk much. Besides, I think you’re great the way you are. So don’t worry about it.” He answered with a smile on his face, which Ais soon shared, as the corner of her mouth rose in a small smile.

The two soon arrived at the guild’s counter. “Here’s our drop. Please exchange it.” Said Aidan as he took his storage card and released everything on the plate used for holding the loot.

With an eyebrow raised at seeing such rare storage magic, the guild worker still did her job as she started counting the loot collected by the two young people in front of her. She spent a few minutes counting the various magic stones and verifying the magical energy in the cores before turning to the material loot they had collected, which was only a few miserable goblin fangs and kobold nails.

“Alright, it is a total of 40,500 Valis.” Said the woman at the counter as she handed a pouch containing the money.

“Thank you.” Nodded Aidan as he turned around with Ais walking by his side. The adventurers around were surprised to hear the total amount of money they had managed to make, which gave some bad ideas to a few of them. However, they were soon discouraged when they saw the Loki familia emblem on their equipment.

Leaving the guild behind and walking towards the Twilight manor, they stopped at the bald man’s stall and bought a few snacks to eat on their way back. They had eaten their supper, a sandwich, just like their diner, which the cooks of the familia had prepared. However, no matter how good a sandwich was, it couldn’t beat the Jagamarukun, which was just crispy and spicy enough.

Arriving at the familia with their second snack in their hands, they moved towards the house entrance.

“Oh, Ais and Aidan. Are you two just back from the dungeon?” Asked the blue-eyed pallum as he held a spear in his right hand and went out of the manor.

“Oh, hello, captain.” Answered Aidan as Ais merely nodded her head with no expression. “Yes, we just came back from the dungeon second floor. I was wondering, is there a rule about getting our status updated?” He asked as no one had mentioned those rules yet.

“Yes. However, your case is different.” Nodded the pallum as he started to explain. “There are various rules for the others, but due to your young age and your will to become stronger desperately, Loki has decided that the two of you could go and have your status updated whenever you wanted.

Typically, the adventurers enter the dungeon in teams and take the least possible risks. Moreover, after a dive, they usually take a long rest to spend their money. So, their parameters don’t increase much. However, at a young age, the two of you still dive into the dungeon and work hard. Because of this, Loki has decided to let you update whenever you wanted since it would increase your strength and your parameters faster.” Explained the blond-haired pallum as he twirled his spear in his hand. “You can go to the third floor to meet with Loki. She should be free right about now.” He finished as he walked towards the exit of the manor’s grounds.

“Alright, thank you.” Answered Aidan at the departing captain of the familia. “I’ll bring back the equipment first and take a shower before going to update my status.” He said to his golden-haired partner before turning towards the armoury of the familia, which was a few steps away, to hand over his gear before turning away towards his room to take a shower.

Twenty minutes later, he wore back his clothes and walked towards the goddess’s room with his hair still wet. As he walked, he wondered how much progress he had made on his status. They had only dived in the dungeon for a total of two days, and it was evident that they hadn’t gained that much excelia. However, he still hoped to at least increase his parameters to help him fight in the dungeon.

As he arrived in front of the goddess’s room, Aidan explained his purpose to the two guards before one of them knocked on the door to notify Loki of his arrival.

A few seconds later, the guard came back and said: “Come in, the goddess is waiting for you.” Before opening the door and letting Aidan enter.

Entering the room, Aidan saw Ais getting up from the couch as she had just had her status updated. “So, how is it?” He asked as he saw Ais looking at the sheet of paper.

“Didn’t make much progress,” Ais answered while shaking her head and handing over the status sheet.

Taking a quick look, Aidan lifted an eyebrow and asked: “Is this good? It’s the first time I see an updated status sheet.”

“It’s already pretty good. Not many people would make such progress in two days.” Answered Loki, who was waiting by the side. “Next, let’s do yours.” Smirked the goddess as Aidan started to strip his shirt and lie down on the sofa next to the pranking woman.

A few moments after lying down, Aidan could feel a prickling sensation appear on his back which disappeared ten seconds later.

“Alright, get up. Here’s your status sheet.” Nodded Loki as she handed the piece of paper to the shirtless boy.

[Name: Aidan

Level: 1

Strength: H-126

Endurance: H-153

Dexterity: H-103

Agility: H-119

Magic: G-231

Skill: High human

Magic: Card magic

Development ability: None]

Looking at his new status, Aidan nodded his head. It was pretty similar to Ais’s status, except that she had new magic that had appeared in her magic column. The magic was named ‘wind slash.’ It was pretty straightforward as magic, but it fit her fighting style quite well.

Her new magic allowed her to attack with a slash of wind. With this magic, she would be able to shoot from long-distance and attack not only with her sword but also with her other body parts. The way to activate this new magic, according to her, was to call the name of the magic while slashing with either a body part, her sword or any other items. It would create a slash made of wind which would fly in a straight line to the target.

With both their status updated, Aidan and Ais left their goddess to her business as they didn’t want to bother her anymore, and they each went back to their room to rest.