The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

The next day, the students continued to conquer the dungeon smoothly.

They had cleared the 19th floor about an hour earlier than planned. The only change from the previous day was Savey's party. As he was sulking after losing to Lilith and not doing his job as a leader at all, I asked one of the Knight School students to take over.

Savey seemed to not even want to look at me or Lilith.

It's unfortunate that we seem to have been disliked.

"Teacher, we've defeated them!"

It was Margaria's party that took down the dozen or so goblins stationed at the exit of the 19th floor.

After reporting to us, Margaria was wiping her sweat and tending to her injured companions.

Although a few had suffered minor injuries, they were just scratches. Margaria's leadership ability was higher than I had imagined. It was as if she had experience in training subordinates somewhere.

As the students finished their preparations, Tanya clapped her hands.

"Now everyone, next is the final 20th floor. There's a large boss room a little way in, and after that, there's a transfer device. Once we reach there, this lesson will be over. Let's do our best!"

"Then, next will be Kurujiddo-san's party, please."

"Yes! Leave it to us!"

The hot-blooded knight Kurujiddo enthusiastically descends the stairs.

Although still inexperienced, Kurujiddo breaks through traps with enthusiasm and spirit. His companions also seem to be influenced by his energy, showing high concentration. Although their average level was the lowest among the parties, everyone is actively participating in battles, so they've gained the most levels during the lesson. They were the party with the highest growth rate in this lesson.

And so, Kurujiddo's party also progressed smoothly in their conquest.

I felt a clear anomaly just before the boss room.

"...Tanya-san, wasn't the boss of the 20th floor supposed to be Gray Wolves?"

"That's right. Normally it's five to seven Gray Wolves, and rarely one of them becomes a Garm Wolf."

"I see."

Gray Wolves are D-rank monsters. Parties that have made it this far should be able to win if they coordinate well.

But what was in the boss room was—

"T-teacher! This is!"

Kurujiddo, who bravely entered the boss room first, turns back in a panic.

What was in the room was a pack of Saber Tigers.

Saber Tigers, which are C-rank individually, numbering several dozen from what I could see.

It's clearly beyond the level of the 20th floor.

The Saber Tigers were slowly spreading out to surround us as we entered the room, glaring at us.

"Teacher! What should we do!"

"W-what should we do, Ruruk-kun!"

"Please calm down. Everyone, get behind Lilith-san. Lilith-san, please handle the defense if worst comes to worst."

"Yes, leave it to me."

The students look anxious. Even Savey is cowering.

The only ones who seem composed are Lilith and Mamared. Actually, Mamared seems a bit excited, breathing heavily.

"So many monsters... *gulp*"

"The students' safety comes first, you know."

"I-I understand."

I wonder if that's really true.

Well, I wasn't planning to let her do anything anyway.

I step forward alone. The Saber Tigers, wary of my confident stride, back off a little.

Since we're here, might as well show Lilith how much I've grown.

As I turn back to wink at Lilith, Margaria, who was next to her, shouts.

"Teacher, watch out!"

The largest Saber Tiger among them pounces.

Taking that as a signal, the others all attack at once.

Alright, let's do this.

I carefully deploy my magic formula.

I generate a cube of air enhanced with information on my palm.

Activate the copy formula. Amplify the formula by 2 to the 5th power with "Threshold Compilation".

Input separate coordinate information into 32 parallel deployed formulas. Success.

All that's left is to activate them simultaneously.

"'Splitting Bullet'"

The air cubes are transferred and hit the coordinates of the Saber Tigers.

The monsters are blown away in an instant.

Only the materials from the Saber Tigers drop in large quantities.

I turn back and give a thumbs up.

"And that was a demonstration of mystic arts."

"As expected of Ruruk-sensei!"

Lilith was clapping with a beaming smile.

The other students look dumbfounded. Well, it's a natural reaction since only Lilith can see mystic arts.

"A-amazing..."

Tanya had slumped down on the floor.

When I ask for help collecting the scattered materials, Mamared immediately starts gathering them.

After that, for a while, only Mamared eagerly collecting materials with heavy breathing, Lilith praising me, and me getting cocky from the praise were moving in the boss room.

Despite some troubles along the way, this is how the second lesson ended safely.

"Cheers to a job well done!"

In a corner of the Guild's tavern.

Clinking glasses (though mine is juice) were me, Tanya, and Mamared.

We properly sent the students home, and we teachers were having an after-party at the Guild. After being on edge during the two-day lesson, it's nice to be able to drink casually like this.

Tanya downs her ale in one go and places the glass down with a thud.

"Thank you both again~ I thought things might go badly when Savey-san and Lilith-san had their duel~"

"That was surprising indeed. Thank you, Mamared-sama, for mediating quickly."

"Such disputes leave lingering resentment, so duels are a way to settle things a bit."

"Yeah, duels are amazing. Do they happen often in noble society?"

"It's a daily custom."

"No way! That much fighting!?"

"I'm joking. This was my first time overseeing one too."

Mamared chuckles at Tanya. So she can joke.

Wait, when did they become so close? Tanya's even using casual speech... You know she's royalty, right?

"But Lilith-san really seems to like Ruruk-kun, doesn't she?"

"It did seem that way. What do you think, Ruruk-sama?"

"Come on, you were having secret meetings, right! Tell your big sisters all about it!"

"You're too close!"

Don't push so much. Are you drunk already?

"It was really just a coincidence that we met. We don't even have a way to contact each other, so how could we have secret meetings?"

"Eh~ Don't you have some secret sign or something~"

"Like throwing monster bones at the window, with the type and part indicating the time and place."

"No one could do that."

Only you could understand that much from a single bone.

"So, Ruruk-kun, what about you? If Lilith-san asked you out, what would you do?"

"I'm curious about that too. It concerns my marriage prospects as well."

"I told you it's not like that. Why are you so eager to know? It's just between minors, isn't it?"

"Well, you know,"

"Other people's love lives"

"Are drinking topics!"

"Don't use me as a snack!"

As I shout, the two laugh loudly. Their faces are already red.

And this has absolutely nothing to do with Mamared's marriage prospects.

"Geez... Oh, by the way, Tanya-san. If you know, what causes dungeon bosses to suddenly change?"

"You mean the Saber Tigers from earlier?"

"Yes. That's not the level that should appear on the 20th floor, right? With that number, it's B-rank difficulty."

"That's right~ But I have no idea why. I reported it to the management department earlier, but they were quite skeptical, thinking we might have seen wrong."

"I see."

So the cause is unknown.

If it happens intermittently, it might be necessary to change the recommended levels for the floors. Originally, from the 40th floor onwards, including traps, it becomes quite high difficulty, but if that level starts from the 20th floor, the number of adventurers who can explore will be limited.

If that happens, even this royal capital's Adventurers' Guild might have to change somewhat. Although this Guild is quite lively and has many serious adventurers, the number of people will almost certainly decrease.

"They said they'll properly investigate. If anything comes up, there should be an announcement."

"I see. It would be good if it was just a one-time thing."

Though my companions prefer stronger monsters for exploration. Especially Elen and Punisuke.

"Well, I think we'll have an answer by the next lesson."

"When is the next one again?"

"Next is in summer. We'll cover from the 21st floor to the 30th floor. It naturally takes more time, so the number of applicants usually decreases quite a bit. We're lucky if we get even 10 people."

"All the way to the 30th floor at once? That's long."

By the way, at the average adventurer's pace for this dungeon, it takes about 10 days to go from the 20th to 30th floor.

From the 30th to 40th floor takes several months.

From the 40th to 50th floor requires just over a year.

Dungeons are basically pyramid-shaped, so the area increases with each floor.

The Bargia Dungeon of similar scale took about the same amount of time. However, the pace can vary greatly depending on whether you have excellent scouts, trap detection and neutralization abilities, and enemy detection abilities.

The reason why Elen and I could conquer dungeons at a faster pace than anyone else was solely because Elen's enemy detection ability was cheat-level so we didn't get lost, and I could forcibly break through traps with my healing skill.

You could call it a brute force conquest.

"Two more ales here, please."

"Certainly~"

As Mamared orders more alcohol, she quietly murmurs.

"But this time, there might be more participants."

"Why's that?"

"Because everyone already knows that Ruruk-sama has a transfer skill. Usually, no matter what happens, you can't escape unless you reach the transfer device. But with Ruruk-sama, I heard it's possible for everyone to return together in case of emergency. This is significant."

"Well, that might be true."

"Also, I heard from the students that before it was decided that Ruruk-sama would become a teacher, there were only two applicants from the Ladies' Academy for the lesson."

"Eh? Was that so?"

"It seems that some students, led by Lilith-san, rushed to apply. The reputation of the talked-about rookie isn't just for show."

"That's right. Plus, he's the leading conqueror of the famous high-difficulty dungeon in Stoania, right? Of course people will gather."

"His ability was certainly impressive. I was really surprised today."

"Right! Instantly killing that many! It was amazing!"

Tanya and Mamared praise me unreservedly. It's kind of embarrassing, so I wish they'd stop.

Well, it's better to have more students for the next lesson. Though Savey probably won't come... But still, half of the summer vacation will be spent in the dungeon. Is that really okay, dear students?

"For some people, it might be the opposite? The dormitories are closed during summer vacation, so there might be kids who don't want to go back home."

"I understand. I was sick of the royal family's constraints too. Now that I've become an adventurer and live in a cheap inn, I really understand the value of freedom."

"I like freedom too... Wait a minute, Mamared-sama. Did you say cheap inn?"

"Yes, I recently moved to an inn in the back alleys of the southern district. Are you planning to sneak in at night? If so, I must take a shower first, so I should—"

"I'm not coming! That's not it, I was just surprised that royalty would stay at a cheap inn."

"I see. How misleading."

Mamared sighs.

"But does the Queen allow it? Before, you couldn't even go out without guards."

"That issue has been resolved. When I told her I was doing solo adventurer activities, she seemed to give up. Even though she's my mother, it was a wise choice."

Mamared looked triumphant.

I think the Queen probably just got tired of arguing.

"The Queen is that beautiful person, right? I saw her at a ceremony before, we really live in different worlds~"

"I agree that my mother is beautiful, but it's not a world Tanya-san should aspire to. If you want to live normally, a commoner's life is the most comfortable."

"Is that so? But Mamared-sama, you're beautiful like the Queen, so you probably haven't had troubles because of your appearance. It's unfair that your skin is so clear without makeup, isn't it? I'm a receptionist and I take care of my skin and hair, but they get rough so easily. What skincare do you use?"

"I didn't use anything special before, but recently there's been a popular cosmetic product in high society. It's a lotion sold by Luney Trading Company..."

"Ah, I know that! I heard you can use it when you wake up, before makeup, and after removing makeup, is that true? You're not being deceived?"

"You'll know if you try it. If you'd like, shall we go shopping for it together next time?"

"Really? I'm so happy!"

The girls start hitting it off again, leaving me out of the conversation.

Speaking of lotion, in this world, skincare was basically limited to plants, oils, or animal milk until now, so this is clearly a cultural hazard. Gin must have done something.

I listened carefully and took notes for my party members. I'll go buy some next time.

And so the night wore on.