Chapter 46 - Why so smug?

Cecil and co. had to spend another day inside the dungeon. They were down in the 10th floor of the dungeon so even with Silver's speed they still couldn't make it out of the dungeon before he exhausted himself from all the sprinting.

On the next day, they were able to safely make it out of the dungeon without bumping into any mishaps along their way.

Lucia was walking ahead of Cecil and Silver while stretching her arms out as they came out of the dungeon.

"Ahhh~ finally we're out of that stuffy place." She said with a smile.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad." Cecil retorted.

"RAAH!" Silver barked in disapproval. He clearly chose to stand on Lucia's side.

"Not you to Silv!"

With Silver backing her up, Lucia continued.

"Come on Cel, you have to admit that it was pretty boring diving into the dungeon. What was the difference between that and hunting monsters normally in the field?"

"..."

Seeing as Cecil had fallen silent, Lucia continued to jab at him.

"Besides... who was the one that kept on complaining in the dungeon~?"

Cecil furrowed his brows at her words. Lucia smirked looking at his expression.

Cecil had to admit that there really wasn't anything special with hunting monsters inside the dungeon. It might even be more troublesome than hunting monsters out in the field since dungeon monsters always seemed to travel in packs and hordes.

In fact, during their whole trip into the dungeon, everyone started to feel disgruntled by floor 5. They had to constantly fight fight fight and fight. There were little to no breaks in between.

Cecil even started to mutter his complaints, he he did this from the 5th floor all the way down to the 10th floor, only Lucia and Silver kept mum.

"Tch... you can't blame me! All my hopes and expectations were dashed with this dungeon!"

Cecil was honestly looking forward to their trip into the dungeon. He was hoping that the dungeons at least were the same as the ones described in the novels and shows back on Earth.

In the end however, he was only met with disappointment. Everything did not go as he hoped or expected. So obviously he started feeling angry and kept on complaining.

Cecil who was feeling irked by Lucia's statements, took a glance at her and found her smiling smugly at him. She was totally mocking him with that look on her face.

"What's with that look huh?! Lulu!!"

"Heh... it was like this when we first registered as adventurers. Now it's happening again!" Lucia mockingly said.

"Hohoho~ looks like someone wants to get punished huh?!" Cecil said while cracking his knuckles.

"Oh boohooo~ I'm so~ scared~" Lucia mocked, she stuck her tongue out cutely and hid behind Silver.

Cecil felt like he popped a nerve. He directed a glare at Silver and said darkly.

"Silv, outta the way... haha... someone's asking for a beating right now."

"Grrrr..." Silver only responded with a low growl, indicating that he did not want to move. Cecil's face immediately turned black at the response.

Cecil only responded with a dark laugh and stalked forward.

Lucia moved out from behind Silver and strutted bravely towards Cecil and said seriously.

"Well, anyway. With that disappointing experience out of the way, what're we gonna do... with 'that'?"

'That' was referring to the adamantium. Cecil and Lucia already agreed that they wouldn't say the word out loud, just in case someone overheard them which might cause them some troubles.

Adamantium was a strategic resource for any kingdom and faction. Just by mentioning the word might cause you to get into trouble, whether it is from the people of the kingdom or from the underworld faction.

Upon remembering that they had a legendary ore in their possession, Cecil's attention was immediately averted from the previous mockery. His face turned serious and he spoke to Lucia in a low voice.

"I already have someone in mind to smelt 'that', but the capital is honestly too dangerous, even if we go to him, I'm not sure we can keep away any prying eyes. So maybe we should investigate the towns in the surroundings. It's better if we can get a blacksmith who's far from the capital that also can't recognize 'that' to smelt it for us."

Lucia frowned at his suggestion.

"Hey Cel, 'that' can't be handled by just any blacksmith. We need someone who's magically capable as well as a good blacksmith with experience in smelting magic ore. If we handed 'that' to someone inexperienced with handling magic ore, then they might even ruin it!"

Cecil could only sigh after hearing what Lucia said. He spoke up powerlessly.

"Well, looks like we can only go to him, right? But the capital... it's still too dangerous though..."

The two stopped and fell silent and began weighing their options. Cecil and Lucia really wanted to use the adamantium right away, the longer they held onto it the more they ran the risk of others finding it in their possession.

An entourage was heading their way as the two stood still in the middle of the dungeon's entryway.

They didn't realize the group had already walked right up to them. The lizardkin man who was in the lead, cleared his throat to catch their attention.

"Ahem..."

Lucia and Cecil turned towards the man and stared dumbly at him for a moment.

"We'd like to pass."

"Ah! S-sorry! Sorry!" Lucia immediately realized where they were standing and pulled Cecil to the side while apologizing.

"Hurry up and move brats! You're blocking the way!" One of the people in the group shouted at them rudely.

Lucia furrowed her brows in annoyance. She turned back and glared at the person who shouted at them. The person turned out to be a smug looking teenaged male lizardkin.

Seeing as Lucia was glaring angrily at him, the boy didn't quite like that so he shouted back.

"HAAAHH?? Got a problem ki–"

"Stop it, Aiz! Like you're one to talk being a brat as well! Remember, we didn't come here to pick a fight!"

"Tch..."

The lizardkin teenager, Aiz, scoffed and turned away. The lizardkin who seemed to be the leader of the entourage turned towards Lucia and apologized.

"Apologies, he's still just a kid. We'll be on our way now."

"...Yes." Lucia responded curtly.

The lizardkin group proceeded into the dungeon, the lizardkin who shouted at them, Aiz, gave them a dirty look and sneered before following the group into the dungeon.

Lucia didn't respond to him and only pulled onto Cecil and headed towards Angla City.

"Hmph, clown! What's to be proud of going into a boring dungeon?"

"Ignore it, Lulu. There's no point in thinking back on it."

Cecil was dragged behind Lucia. He knew that Lucia's mood had gone sour with their earlier encounter.

"Hey, Lulu... remember, we still got some mithril from the dungeon, we could use it to craft some new equipment for us. Let's hurry on back to the city and head to the city's smithy."

Lucia looked back and smiled a bit.

"Okay! Let's get going then!"