When the third card was pulled from the third amount, the old woman caught Nathalia's wrist before there was time to turn it over to see the design.
"Are you sure you want this letter?" Looking the girl in the eye, Madame asked.
The Elf nodded, and the woman then let go of her wrist. As soon as the girl turned the card over, the design of a Khopesh Sword revealed itself, a bow-shaped blade whose golden ornaments complemented the beauty of this famous weapon.
The half-wolf couldn't tell how a Khopesh Sword, a Druid, and a Sparrowhawk were related, yet he didn't doubt the cards' meanings and didn't trust he could interpret them.
Finally, the girl went to the fourth amount of cards, and instead of taking the first one, she took the last one. Again the old woman asked if that was really the letter she wanted.
The girl this time returned the last card to the deck and took the one in the middle. When he turned it around, he saw a Hawk again. "A repeated letter?" She asked out loud.
"Do you prefer to know the meaning of each one, or just the mixture of them?" The old woman gathered the four withdrawn cards and put the rest of the cards aside.
"Second option."
Madame closed her eyes and stayed like that for a few seconds, with the cards under her hands. Opening her eyes, she said:
"A young girl, with many successes ahead of her, but there is a dark stain in her future, and she is in the heart of one of the people close to you. You must be careful."
That didn't even make sense to the girl, as she didn't know enough people to worry about bad intentions.
"Tsk! Let's go, Luke." The Elf, annoyed, placed two gold coins on the counter, took the bag with the Return Stones, and left the store.
Luke thanked the old woman and paid the ten silver coins for reading. As soon as he left the store, he saw Nathalia looking at him sheepishly.
She knew she had done wrong, yet she refused to believe that someone she trusts could not be trusted. Finally, they both started walking towards the Dungeon, which could be easily seen from afar through the giant obelisk at its entrance.
As they approached, the flow of people in armor intensified more and more, to the point that there were hundreds of adventurers all around the two. That flurry surprised Luke, given the disparity that existed between a Mine-type dungeon and a Tower-type dungeon.
Also, the smell wasn't as bad as that of the Oukiwa dungeons; it was still pretty bad, but not as poor.
Around the obelisk at the entrance to the Dungeon building, there were many shops and professional blacksmiths, where Panspermia Weapons, Armor, and even Monster Genes were sold.
"Do you think I should go see how much this Goblin's scroll worth?"
"We see it on the way back! C'mon, C'mon!" Nathalia had a huge smile on her face. This was the first time she had seen a dungeon this close. All the other times, the carriage could not even approach a large number of pedestrians.
As they reached closer to the huge building, one could easily see a vast dome, whose roof was a huge skylight, which, from the glow it emitted, seemed not to be made of glass but of crystal.
In front of the place, at least ten guards were standing. All wore obsidian armor, a material of the highest strength. Among them was a single man with an even more serious expression, his face strewn with scars.
The man saw Luke and Nathalia approach and dismiss the quintet he was checking.
"Take off the Cloak." Before saying anything else, he ordered Luke.
Luke took off his hood first and revealed two wolf ears in his black hair. Then he took off the rest of his cloak, dropped it to the ground, and held up his hands. His little tail was tucked into his pants, but you could see his bulk without the cape covering it.
Nendou, the guard responsible for allowing entries into the dungeons, looked him over from head to toe and said, "I've never seen you around here. What time used to come?"
"It's our first time," Nathalia replied. The half-wolf remained motionless because he knew that this type of person just wanted an excuse to attack him, and it wasn't every day that you saw a half-wolf accompanied by an Elf.
Remaining expressionless, Luke had his belts touched a few times. Since his sword was in its scabbard, he thought he wouldn't have a problem with anything, but the man still found something to complain about.
"Where's the sword belt? You are carrying a bag of papers, a sword, and throwing knives in the same belt. Don't you feel the weight of it all?"
"No."
"Tsk... You should take more care of your animal, miss."
Nathalia looked him up and down and considered telling him who she really was, but before he could do that, Luke said with a smile,
"If I were her dog, I bet she'd tell me to bite your shin right now."
The girl could not contain her laugh, and as it was an elf there, Nendou just gave a sour smile and cleared the way for the pair. "Tomorrow, I want to see you with a new sword belt!" The guard yelled, still unconvinced that a half-beast was in his city.
"Are you secretly fun?" Nathalia questioned, still with a smile.
"It was just a way out of that situation," Luke replied, putting his cloak and hood back on.
Upon entering the building, they came across a substantial white brick patio, where there were also a few dozen people. The place was silent, and its architecture evoked memories of the mosques that used to be in Oukiwa.
In the center of the place, there was a freight elevator that descended to the first floor of the Dungeon.
"Should we have brought food?" Nathalia questioned, looking at the quintet who had entered before them. All carried huge luggage.
"I can't say, I'm also a beginner just like you."
The rotten smell got a little worse as they approached the elevator, but it was still bearable. Luke found the odor similar to that of a decaying corpse.
When the elevator returned, the Elf looked at the half-wolf. "Are you ready to meet the Dungeo—" A girl from the quintet interrupted Nathalia.
The girl looked as fierce as Luke's. His low eyebrows, orange eyes, and mechanical arms didn't match his height, which should have been less than five feet.
"Want to help us kill a Gorgko? We paid twenty-five silver coins for each one."
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