“Professor Luca, you’ve been visiting quite often lately.”
“Haha, well, it’s about time the second-year students are ready to venture into external dungeons. I’ve been coming here repeatedly just in case anyone plans to go to dangerous places.”
Luca spoke casually as he stepped into the administration office.
The professor who had previously been associated with this office had been expelled due to incidents involving Lucy.
He had crossed the line by meddling with someone who was best left undisturbed.
If you’re going to cross boundaries, you should know exactly where they are.
But since he failed to see that... well, what else could have happened?
He had to die.
Betrayal. Anger. Fear. Shock.
Luca recalled the expression in the professor’s eyes, a mix of all those emotions, and quickly erased the memory, replacing it with a smile for the new administration office professor.
The new professor was a noble from the First Queen's faction.
Though from a powerless family, he was obsessed with making a name for himself. When he heard there was an opening, he rushed to fill it.
Seeing this, Luca thought he would be easy to manipulate and placed him in a position where he could be of use.
The new professor, seemingly grateful, would now overlook anything Luca did, even violating regulations and inspecting other people's documents.
“Seems like there are fewer applicants than I thought. Do you think it’s because this year’s academy dungeon is particularly difficult?”
“Well, there weren’t many people who passed the 50th floor to begin with. Even those who did are focusing on the academy dungeon to continue their exploration.”
The academy dungeon this year, even Luca agreed, was of a very high level.
Some even started claiming the winner for this year’s dungeon was already decided.
Usually, many students would leave after progressing a bit, but now they were all fixated on completing the academy dungeon.
Lucy and her friends had likely set the trend.
Even a dungeon that seemed impossible was proved solvable, giving others hope.
As Luca skimmed through the few dungeon exploration applications, he noticed Lucy’s name.
She was heading out again?
She was quite active.
I wonder if it’s because the God gave her a divine revelation again.
Luca looked at the area Lucy had written down and tilted his head.
From what I know, there’s no significant power from the Evil Gods in that area.
Is that all? There’s nothing there that could be considered a force.
The only ones staying there are:
Those seeking death, wanderers fleeing their past, and mercenary bands hired by nobles to manage the area.
Nobody else would bother going to such a barren place. There’s nothing to gain.
Why would Lucy want to visit such a place?
From what I know, Lucy isn’t one to waste time on meaningless tasks.
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freewebnovёl.ƈom Only.
She’s someone obsessed with efficiency, especially when it comes to her relationships with her friends.
“Hm.”
I’ll need to look into this.
“Oh, I see you’re looking at documents related to Lady Arln. I’ve been thinking about it too. Given the risks, it would be best to reject the request, but considering who it is...”
“It’s fine. I’ll approve it. If any other professors object, I’ll handle it.”
“Well, if you say so, Professor Luca, then I’m happy to go along with it.”
The administration professor smiled broadly, and Luca returned the smile.
I hope I can still smile like this in the future.
“Oh, Professor Luca. Did you always wear gloves like that?”
“No. I recently found something I like, so I’ve been wearing them.”
“I see. They look like good quality.”
The weekend morning arrived once again. After meeting with my friends, I handed each of them a small spatial pocket.
“What’s this?”
“What do you think, poor Prince? Want to guess with your pitiful imagination?”
“Not much to guess. You’re not exactly the type to give us gifts. It’s something we’ll need for the places we’re heading.”
Arthur’s nonchalant response made me roll my eyes and act as though I was shocked by his words.
“You think that’s going to fool me? How many times have you tried to pull this off?”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I lowered my head and kept my mouth shut. This was enough. The rest could be handled by the others.
“Third Prince.”
“Prince, this is a bit...”
“This is your fault, Prince.”
“No! What is this? Why am I the one to blame! From everything Lucy Arln has done so far, this is most likely some kind of joke!”
I held back my grin, waiting for the pressure from my friends to continue.
Under the 3-on-1 pressure, Arthur, unsure of what to do, finally apologized in a reluctant voice.
“Wh-what is it? Sorry, I doubted...”
“Puhahaha!”
Unable to hold back my laughter at his awkward voice, I couldn’t help but giggle for a long time, my face full of disbelief.
“Ah, really. Poor Prince, you’re just so easy to play with. I just want to poke you every time I see you.”
“...Damn.”
“Hey, poor Prince, don’t act mad. You’re secretly enjoying this, right? You’re having fun, aren’t you? Because you’re the perverted Prince.”
“Who’s the pervert!”
I ignored Arthur’s shouting and began explaining what was inside the bags to my friends.
“Look closely, you losers. This is water and food.”
“What’s this! Didn’t I say so!”
The place we visited last week didn’t require us to worry about food.
There was a decent town nearby, and the forest itself made it easy to gather food, so we didn’t need to worry.
But the place we were heading now was different. The sand-colored place was so barren that even finding a decent lake would be a challenge.
“Is it the western desert?”
“I’ve visited there before for a brief visit. It was a desolate place. This is going to be a tough journey.”
“Desert? Sounds boring.”
I nodded while listening to my friends.
The western desert wasn’t a place I’d want to visit either.
Though there were a few things hidden there, they weren’t useful to me right now.
It was hard to imagine how terrible the desert could be, especially since if I went there as a character with weak health, I’d lose HP in real time.
After this, I was sure I’d never want to return.
“What can we do? Your abilities are so poor, we have no choice but to go there.”
“Answer me! Didn’t I say so!”
“Just follow quietly, losers.”
“Damn! Let me give you a slap! Just one slap!”
“Yelling about hitting a girl. Poor Prince, you’re really barbaric.”
“Why do you only answer to stuff like this... Argh!”