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✰— this is not proofread, i will edit the mistakes later so i'm sorry in advance for the typos and grammatical mistakes!

"this is so good."

"really good."

somewhere in a crowded tavern on the surface sat a group of adventurers, dining on their food while chatting amongst themselves.

"the worst thing about the dungeon... is not being able to eat this good when we're in it."

said a boy with dark skin, sighing softly as he took another bite of his food.

"let's savour it while we can."

a girl with long black hair replied, and the group agreed with her. in plain sight, they're just your average adventurous party but that's not the case at all.

because one of them strives to be the dungeon master.

"hey there, kabru! haven't seen you around that much. heard you've been doing great lately, huh?"

out of nowhere, man approached the party's table and squeezed himself in there, earning disapproving glances from the members except for one person— kabru.

kabru smiled politely, his usual goody-two-shoes side naturally taking over.

"well, i wouldn't say it was amazing..."

he says in a humble manner, chuckling.

"seems like yesterday, you all were just a bunch of rookies. but look at you now."

the man laughed, taking a slice of pie which didn't go unnoticed by mickbell, the half-foot party member that just so happened to be very snippy about strangers.

"it's good you guys are still together. big parties are quite rare nowadays."

the man says, biting on the slice of pie he took while mickbell watched him while munching on a loaf of bread, unimpressed.

"and why do you think that?"

kabru asked curiously.

"they either go missing or just get sick of each other. the fighting over money is a big reason. but your party has been together for a while now, so maybe you'll be the ones to kill the mad mage."

"yeah, right. we're not that good yet."

kabru said in a dismissive tone, laughing while the black haired girl— who's named rin, watched him with furrowed brows.

"don't sell yourself short."

the man laughed along, before his expression grew ecstatic.

"oh, and i have quite the news for you folks. there are rumors of a giant beast roaming around the third and fourth floor level of the dungeon, and the mayor had put out a prize money for anyone who kills it."

"a giant beast... how come i haven't heard about this before?"

kabru cups his chin, and the man pulls out a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolding it and showing them a poster with the description of the bounty hunt.

"it's a legitimate thing. apparently, it's been causing quite a big trouble to adventures, since it killed a lot of people already, and corpse retrievers can't do their jobs properly with it around."

"they're having trouble killing a beast? if that's the case, then we might struggle with this too. you give us too much credit, you know."

kabru joked, before his gaze turns serious as he reads the contents of the poster.

"but... it is quite a hefty prize, and it won't hurt to try. with this prize money, we can get ourselves new gear and a good amount of food that'll last us weeks in the dungeon."

"are we seriously going to do this, kabru?"

rin asked, voicing her thoughts out for the first time around other people. she was very quiet most of the time and would prefer to stay that way, but this bothered her. after all, it's a dangerous task.

kabru was silent for a while, deep in thought as he stared at the bounty poster.

"...alright, we're doing it."

he finally says, pocketing the poster.

"as expected from you! you don't mind sharing a few coins once ya' get the prize, eh?"

"haha, of course not."

kabru's party members watched him with worried frowns on their faces, all having mixed feelings with the bounty hunt.

nonetheless, their leader has made his decision, and they believe in him.

i'm sure nothing bad could go wrong when you chase after a beast that killed almost all of the people that went after it, right?

"why are you like that?"

"huh?"

rin gave kabru a scrutinizing gaze as they walked through the town's market place, earning a confused hum from the boy.

"why did you accept that job so easily? not to mention, you keep acting so coy around that idiot. why not just be straight up with him?"

rin then pointed to herself with a huff.

"you should've told him face to face. 'of course we'll be the ones to take out the mad mage'. you should've just said that. 'we could never settle for being bottom-rung adventurers such as that goon"."

"rin..."

kabru stares at her for a moment before he lets out a short laugh of amusement.

"they'll know us all by our actions instead of our words. and like i said... that prize money's gonna help us a ton. we just have to take down a beast, can't be that bad."

he says before turning to his party.

"here's the plan. today, we'll go deeper into the dungeon and look for that beast. let's gear up and get ready."

and so the party sets off to shop for their necessities, searching for brand new weaponry and tools they could use in the dungeon, along with the most important thing to have when exploring, which is food.

"welcome, customers."

"hello there. one week's food and two days' water for six people, please."

kabru requested from the shop owner, and after a few seconds, the man came back with a pack of said food and water.

"here you go!"

once the food is evenly distributed to each member, kabru's party prepares to return back to the dungeon.

"dealing with food is a bigger pain than the monsters the deeper down we go. a week's worth of food is heavy."

mickbell huffed as his kobold friend, kuro helped him put his bag on.

"some people even stay for over a month. i wonder how they do it?"

the half-foot sighed, and kabru approached him with a dark look on his face.

"well, mickbell... i'm glad you asked. the truth is..."

he placed his hand on his shoulder rhen leaned in with an ominous grin.

"...they kill other parties they come across and eat their flesh!"

mickbell stares at him before glancing up at kuro.

"...what is he on right now?"

"kabru, are you on that good kush?"

"what? no—"

"that's stupid. it'll be easier to hunt monsters than to hunt another human being."

rin interfered with a huff.

"geez, you guys are what folks call a wet blanket."

kabru sighed, shrugging.

"no, we're just not smoking whatever you're smoking."

"i am NOT smoking anything."

"mhm, sure..."

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"!!!"

"hm? what's wrong, [name]?"

the touden party stops walking as soon as they noticed [name] slowing down, looking around in alarm as if she had just sensed something.

"what is she doing? [name]! are you okay?"

marcille jogged up to the girl, patting her arm as said girl pressed her ear against the floor, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"she probably heard something..."

laios rubs his head, and chilchuck suddenly flinches while cupping his ear.

"wait, i think i just heard it too."

"what was it?"

"it sounded like screams. but now it's gone."

marcille visibly bristled, and she hid behind [name]'s hair.

"s-screams? do you think there's ghosts around?"

"nah, it sounded more like a human's scream. there's probably some adventurers around that's being harassed by a monster right now."

[name] suddenly rose back up, knocking marcille over but was thankfully caught before she could hit the ground, and then the giant girl kinda just held her like a doll while looking in all directions.

"ah! i feel so tall up here."

marcille grins, letting herself be held, hoping she won't get rag-dolled or something.

"we should get going as soon as possible if there are monsters around... it's best to avoid them to not waste time."

laios unfolds his map, looking at where they had to go. they're still far away from their original destination, and they're not really making a lot of progress.

suddenly, [name] began moving forward in a certain direction, ignoring the calls of her friends.

"where the hell is she going now?"

chilchuck groaned as they followed the girl.

"she's actually going in the right direction, so it's fine."

laios says, tucking away his map.

"laios, we'll have to get a new hunt soon. we don't have anythin' to eat right now, you know."

senshi reminded the young man as he walked alongside them, following the alarmed [name] and squealing marcille. she looks like she's having way too much fun, now riding on [name]'s shoulder.

"i sorta forgot the monster in this floor. i think there are mimics around, and... i can't remember."

chilchuck's face hardened at the mention of a mimic, but didn't say a word about it and silently increased his pace.

after walking for a while, [name] suddenly stops in front of quite a bizzare scene, and marcille gasped.

"oh no, what happened here?"

[name] placed marcille down on the ground but used her tail to block her from going anywhere closer to the corpses on the floor.

"what's wrong, guys?"

the guys finally caught up, and was also surprised to see another party completely wiped out while surrounded by all sorts of treasures.

"a party has been wiped out..."

laios steps over [name]'s tail and observes the corpses carefully, while chilchuck and senshi keep their distance.

"what killed them, though? it doesn't look like they have any fatal injuries..."

"maybe marcille was right about the ghost stuff."

"well i HOPE not. i'd rather not deal with ghosts right now."

"we should set them aside."

senshi began dragging a kobold to the nearest wall, laying his corpse down properly while laios did the same, dragging over a boy with dark skin. [name] has her eyes narrowed at him for some reason, way too focused on that specific tall-man.

"honestly, they look like they killed each other over these treasures."

chilchuck cups his chin in thought, looking at the scattered golden coins, jewelry and gems on the floor. [name]'s focus then shifted to the said treasures, the corner of her lips quirking down, and this didn't go unnoticed by laios.

"hm? what's wrong, [name]? you've been acting strange since we reached this area."

[name] ignores him, still glaring at a single tiny coin as if it had done her dirty in some kind of way. in what way? laios doesn't even know.

once again, he sighs and decides to brush it off for now. as long as nothing bad is happening, he won't fuss over things.

maybe [name] just has a deep level of hatred towards golden coins, since she did almost swallow once before accidentally, mistaking it for a candy.

'[name] vs. golden coins. who would win?'

"i'll cast a spell on them so they won't turn into zombies. i'm sure the corpse retrievers will find them soon enough."

marcille immediately got to work, taking strands of her hair and wrapping them around on each corpse's wrist before chanting a spell under her breath.

[name] went up to laios, poking his head which immediately caught the young man's attention.

"yes, [name]?"

[name] points down a dark corridor, and laios rubs his head, feeling a shiver run down his spine thinking he'd see or hear something approaching, but there was none. i mean, what the hell was that supposed to mean?! is she trying to tell them that she sees something they don't?? aw hell nah.

"do you see something, [name]...?"

laios asked, and the girl puffed her chest out before blowing on him.

"...wind?"

she shook her head, seemingly growing frustrated as she hits the floor with her palm.

she then attempted to growl, making a gesture similar to a zombie.

"ghhrrr..."

"zombies? wait— i just realised something."

he points at [name], his brows furrowed.

"how come you can cast spells out loud no trouble, and yet you can't speak?"

[name] deadpans, her brow twitching at how he was easily distracted and immediately forgot about what she was trying to tell him.

she feels like her brain is gonna short circuit anytime soon.

"what do we do about all these treasures though?"

chilchuck asked curiously, still crouched near the coins on the ground which caught laios' attention.

"we should probably just leave them there."

"but they'll just end up in someone else's pocket. why not take them for ourselves?"

chilchuck was about to pick up one of the coins, when kensuke suddenly began struggling in his scabbard, and laios held him in place before he could go flying off.

he panicked, growing nervous at the thought of getting discovered for sneaking in a monster sword, trying to make kensuke stop moving.

[name] backs away with a hiss, finally sensing the anomaly in the area.

"what the— you good over there?"

chilchuck asked laios, turning to look at him and fortunately avoiding holding the coins on the ground.

"y-yeah! just trying to.. uh..."

laios jolted when he suddenly felt the strong urge to draw kensuke out, the sword somehow letting him know that there's danger around and he should act quick.

just as laios pulls the sword out of its scabbard, the coins that were on the ground began moving.

and then in a blink of an eye, it was flying around like roaches. ROACHES, PEOPLE.

chilchuck shrieked and ran away from the flying creatures as laios swung his sword around, trying to swat them away while senshi merely used his pot to block the insects from swarming him.

"marcille, get away from there!"

laios called out, and marcille turns to them in shock before looking back down at the jewelry on the corpses body.

she stared at the pearl necklace, and then necklace literally stared back at her. no i'm not kidding, the damn thing showed its true colors, and now marcille could clearly see what the hell it is. it's a damn centipede necklace—

BAAM!

the guys thought that an atomic bomb went off at that moment as a blinding light engulfed the whole area, dulling both their vision and hearing.

"a-a stunning spell..."

chilchuck muttered while stumbling around, seeing nothing but stars before bumping against laios who was experiencing the same thing.

marcille panted hard, clutching ambrosia as she scoots away from the motionless bugs. honestly, if i found out those things were ugly ass bugs too, i'd blow the whole dungeon up. i hate bugs more than anything, so same marcille. same...

[name] had covered her eyes just in time before she could get blinded by marcille's spell, and she held a dizzy senshi in place after he almost stumbled over the edge.

"ahhh!! what the heck?! treasure insects?? gross!"

the elf girl shouts, stomping around while trying to avoid the wriggling little spawns of hell.

once the group had regained their vision and hearing back, senshi began gathering the insects around— much to marcille's horror because she already knows where this is going.

"no way..."

she muttered to herself as senshi taught laios and chilchuck how to differentiate a treasure bug from a real treasure.

senshi then starts cooking the treasure bugs in different ways. first, he fried the coins on a pan and sautéed them. then, he skewered the damn ugly ass GROSS pearl necklace centipede thing, roasting it over a fire.

ehem, sorry. i hate anything that wriggles around like a worm, if it's not obvious enough.

finally, senshi cooks the crown type of treasure bug, crushing it and boiling it in a pot before stuffing it in a jar once it was done.

and there we have it! stuff that [name] will definitely never eat because why the hell would she!

ehem, again, i apologise for the unprofessionalism.

[name] peeks over at the freshly cooked food, before scrunching up her face. sure, the cooked gems one looked pretty appetising. it looks like crystal candies, but the rest? nah, [name] would rather skip.

she has some... let's just call it "beef" with insects and coins in general, like laios guessed.

"woah, this actually tastes good."

chilchuck says, immediately digging into the coins after tasting one of it. marcille looked hesitant, biting onto the skewered pearl necklace and grimacing from the gooey texture of the bug.

"it's creamy... uuuuh.... i am never wearing necklaces ever again."

"these kinda tastes like fish."

marcille groaned, staring at chilchuck as the half-foot pops the coins in his mouth like popcorn.

laios made a sandwich from the bread they made last time, using the boiled gems as fillings and no cap, it actually looks good. looks like a sandwhich from a seven year old's dream, and what they probably thought a unicorn's shit would look like.

'it's real sweet. can't get over how it looks too.'

laios hummed, enjoying his sandwich. [name] watched them, shaking her head and clicking her tongue like a disappointed mother, cradling her bag of her eggs in her arms. they have disappointed her by enjoying her worst enemies, unfortunately.

after the group had finished snacking on their food, they decided to clean up the place, preparing to continue further down the lower floors.

"why exactly can't we eat this one? is it poisonous or something?"

chilchuck asked, holding a small pouch of treasure over the edge before letting it go, watching as it fell.

senshi's next words shook him to the core, and he felt like his world slowed down.

"what do you mean? you can't eat real treasure."

chilchuck stares at the void blankly, before screaming when he realised his mistake along with marcille who had overheard the conversation, the two of them looking over the edge where the pouch of real treasures fell down into the darkness.

"why didn't you say so in the first place?!"

"noooo!!"

the two were grieving the loss of their precious treasure the whole time they were walking, while laios just fussed over kensuke as if he was holding a newborn child, while senshi is just being senshi.

they were all too distracted to notice [name]'s obvious discomfort, as she kept glancing behind them from time to time, feeling a presence following them from the darkness of the corridor.

she could've sworn she saw something peeking over the corner.

laios then pulls out a jewelry sandwich out of nowhere, munching on it.

"you're eating another one of those things?"

"we've got leftovers. plus, it's really good."

marcille only sighed, deciding to leave him be.

out of nowhere, the temperature dropped and mist covers the floor, alerting everyone.

[name] was the first to react, hissing at the general direction of the ghost, confirming her suspicions of the entity following them.

"this is...!"

marcille gasped in realisation, shuddering.

"we should keep going."

laios says, urging the group to walk faster.

"[name]?"

he called, and the girl