chapter_0175

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
175

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
175

The boss on the 10th floor was
utterly powerless before the shield imbued with divine energy.

Previously, it had been
blocked by my parrying as well. There was no chance it could
penetrate a shield enhanced with divine energy.

The golem struggled
desperately, but its efforts were just that—desperate struggles. In
a matter of minutes, it crumbled away pathetically.

As I watched the golem’s
remains fall to the ground, far less dramatically than when it first
appeared, I leaned against the shield planted in the earth and let
out a long sigh.

Ugh, this is seriously
exhausting.

After the battle, I was nearly
half-exhausted.

Fighting the golem itself
wasn’t a significant problem.

I have quite the stamina.

Back when I was training at
the Allen Family, I could keep moving for several hours without
resting.

Given my growth since then, I
could probably go for two days without stopping.

So, getting exhausted purely
from physical exertion is out of the question.

Why am I so wiped out now?

It’s simple. The aftermath of
using [Divine Martial Arts] for too long.

‘Maintaining defence with
divine energy is incredibly draining on stamina!’

As I’ve mentioned before,
I’m still not very adept at handling this skill.

I’ve gotten somewhat used to
using divine energy to enhance my body, but anything beyond that is
still too difficult.

The output is not controlled,
so I always have to use it at full power.

It was the same when I infused
divine energy into my shield this time.

While blocking the golem’s
attacks, I always had to pour in the maximum amount of divine energy.

Because of that, I could feel
my stamina depleting in real-time.

Thanks to my [Unyielding
Will], I barely managed to stand up, but otherwise, I would have just
asked Karl and Alsatine for help.

…Oh. Right. I should have
just asked for help.

Since I accomplished my
original goal of testing my skills, there was no need to face it
alone.

Ah, whatever. Damn it. It’s
all because of that damn sloppy tin can.

Why was that ugly canister so
tough?

In the game, it would just
collapse in about a minute.

And the only reward is a
single Fire Magic Stone?! What a piece of trash, seriously!

“Shall we call it a day?”

‘Yes.’

“Yeah. I can’t bear this
wretched, stinking trash dungeon anymore.”

We originally intended to
continue after clearing the 10th-floor boss, but that’s out of the
question now.

If we force it any further, we
might really pass out. Let’s just head back to our lodgings and clean
up. I can’t stand this grimy feeling any longer.

There was a minor incident
where the perverted Fox dived into the clothes I had worn while I was
cleaning up at the lodgings, but after we sorted everything out, I
threw off my armour and changed into lighter clothes before stepping
outside.

We had to tally up the loot we
got from Menestail Dungeon today.

Most of the items we got from
the lower floors are useless junk from my perspective.

If I were to keep these things
in my inventory, they’d just take up space without being useful.

So, it’s better to just hand
over this junk to the adventurer’s guild.

We could make some money by
selling the loot, and we could also improve our evaluation with the
guild. Plus, maybe I could raise the affection level of the guild
receptionist too… but that’s unlikely. I’ll be glad if I don’t get
on her bad side.

“Sloppy mutt, there’s no
need for you to go. I can handle it myself.”

Karl seemed uneasy about me
visiting the adventurer’s guild again.

He must still be thinking
about all those greedy stares we got yesterday evening at the guild.

He’s probably worried that
I’ll be exposed to that again.

Personally, I think it’s a
useless concern.

If my name hadn’t been made
public, it might have been a different story. But who would dare meet
my eyes when they know I’m Lucy Allen?

What if they decided to pick a
fight with me?

Yes, I may look like a cute
girl right now, but the name Lucy Allen has the power to crush that
cuteness into the ground.

Knowing better than anyone the
power of Lucy’s notoriety, I disregarded Karl’s worry and headed for
the adventurer’s guild. As I stepped inside the guild, I was certain
my expectations were accurate.

The moment my face appeared,
silence enveloped the entire guild.

‘This atmosphere feels
familiar.’

People turned their heads away
to avoid my gaze. Some would steal cautious glances. Others,
terrified, would retreat into the corners.

It was the same scene I would
see if I entered the classroom late.

Lust or greed toward a cute
and pretty girl? There’s no way there could be such things.

As I confidently walked toward
the reception desk, those in line made way for me on their own.

The receptionist cast
desperate glances toward other adventurers for help, but no one
responded to her plea.

‘Excuse me.’

“Hey, Muscleman.”

“Yes, Lady Allen! How may I
assist you?!”

The receptionist addressed me
with a rigid formality, as if to avoid giving even the smallest
pretext for complaint.

Seeing him so tense made me
feel like giving him a hard time.

I could pick faults as much as
I wanted, starting with asking if he was scared of me…

No. Let’s calm down.

Maybe it’s because I’ve
been stressed out all day, but my mind was completely consumed by the
[Mesugaki] Skill.

What good will come from
troubling someone I have to keep seeing?

Barely holding myself
together, I told the receptionist that I was here to process my loot.

“Loot? Could you place it on
the desk?”

‘Here?’

“This shabby place?”

“Yes.”

Hmm. I wonder if everything
will even fit here.

Well, I’ll do as told for
now.

Acting as if I opened the
Dimensional Pocket, I began taking out the loot stored in my
Inventory one by one.

Wow, taking them out one by
one is actual work. I hunted way too many mobs because of those
sloppy adventurers.

If I had stuck to the original
plan, I wouldn’t have had to fight so many battles.

Thanks to that, I did level up
once, but I’m not thankful at all. It was more exhausting and
annoying.

‘Excuse me…’

“Hey, Muscleman.”

“Is this it?”

‘No, it’s just that…’

“What are you babbling
about? You’re as slow-witted as you look. There’s not enough
space, so I’m putting it on the floor. No complaints, right?”

“Oh, yes. Yes.”

After rummaging through my
inventory for a while, I was finally able to lay out all the loot in
front of the reception desk.

In the game, a few clicks of
the mouse would have been enough, but in reality, this is hard work.

Tomorrow, when I enter the
dungeon, I’ll just leave the junk items behind.

“…Did you really hunt
all this today?”

‘Yes, that’s right.’

“Why is there a problem?”

“No! No problem at all!
We’ll process this right away!”

While the muscleman
receptionist and other guild staff were calculating the loot, a party
approached me.

Ah. I remember them. The
sloppy party I first saw who came at me with the monster train.

I had already decided to give
them a piece of my mind, and now was the perfect time.

Sloppy adventurers. It’s time
for them to face my pent-up frustration from all the dungeon
challenges.

As I was waiting, ready to
catch them on whatever they might say,

“We’re sorry, Lady
Allen!”

“We’re sorry!”

They came up to me and bowed
their heads deeply.

No. Wait. Huh?

“We acted above our
station, how dare we!”

“Please, just spare our
lives!”

“I have a sick sibling at
home!”

I initially planned to crush
their self-esteem bit by bit, but when they immediately lowered their
heads, my mind went blank.

If it had ended here, I might
have managed to compose myself. But as soon as the first group bowed
their heads, the other adventurers I had previously saved joined in,
making me truly dumbfounded.

The most frustrating one was
Karl.

In a situation where he should
have helped me, he was just nodding his head from behind!

If Alsatine hadn’t stepped in,
I probably would have had to watch people bowing their heads for a
long time.

Sigh.
He’s as useless as a dumb sloppy mutt outside of combat.

Just wait. I’ll kick him in
the butt later.

After the situation settled
down, I learned why the adventurers were so desperate.

The problem was my infamous
reputation.

Think about it.

They were desperate to
survive, but after all, they had put a noble lady, a notorious lady
at that, in danger.

They must have thought they
would suffer some unknown consequence if they just stood still. So,
they bowed their heads first to try to save their lives by
apologising.

I’m tired.

After assuring them I wouldn’t
retaliate and sending them off, I leaned back in my chair and sighed
inwardly. I am so tired. I feel like I’m going to die from
exhaustion.

Even when I trained with
Grandpa all night, I didn’t feel this dead.

‘No. I have to do what needs
to be done.’

Normally, I would have
welcomed the suggestion to rest, but today is different.

I need to properly practise
infusing divine energy into my shield.

Who knows what kind of
variables might arise in the Menestail Dungeon? There’s no way I can
rest now.

Rest can come after everything
is over.

As I was steadying my mind
with thoughts of visiting Partan Territory later, the man who started
the wave of apologies approached me.

“I deeply apologise, Lady
Allen. It’s because of me.”

Given that he approached me
even though he was completely terrified, he must have a sense of
responsibility.

‘It’s okay. Don’t worry
about it.’

“Trashy follower. Do you
really think I would care about a sloppy commoner like you? Pfft.
Such delusions.”

The man, unsure of how to
respond to the criticism from the [Mesugaki] Skill, hesitated
awkwardly.

His stomach might end up with
a hole at this rate. Let’s send him away quickly. Still, there’s
something that needs to be said.

‘Aren’t you too weak to be
living the adventurer life?’

“Hey. But why does a wimp
like you, who gets beaten by a girl, even enter a dungeon? If you
want to die, why don’t you just do it pathetically in your own
room?”

Conquering a dungeon is a
life-and-death matter.

If you go in there with
half-baked skills, you’re just throwing your life away.

If you have to beg for your
life even on the lower floors, it’s better to give up being an
adventurer.

I felt uneasy thinking things
would end badly without my intervention, and the man waved his hand
dismissively at my question.

“No! It’s not that I want
to die! Um, it’s just that, normally, there aren’t this many
monsters on the lower floors. But today, the dungeon is acting
strange.”

This is what he said.

He wasn’t skilled enough to go
to higher floors but could survive on the lower floors as an
adventurer.

But today, things in the
dungeon were different. More monsters appeared than usual, and their
ferocity had doubled.

“I’ve been exploring the
Menestail Dungeon for quite some time, but I’ve never seen anything
like this.”

Hearing his story, I quietly
bit my lip, unable to say anything.

It was the first time this
phenomenon occurred.

On the day I entered the
dungeon.

‘Um, Grandpa. Could it be
this…’

Right? This has to be because
of me, right?!

…I’m glad I managed to save
all the people in danger.

If I had ignored it, knowing
it was because of me, I would have surely blamed myself for a long
time.

Now I have one more reason to
hurry and conquer the dungeon.

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