Did she already know what I would ask her for?

Ch 44: The start of the chain

"I'll be impolite if I don't talk about my past." Zia removed her hand from Alessia's head and settled back in her seat.

"We were four lifelong friends, each with a different age. As the oldest of the group, I decided that our path should be that of merchants since we all had certain achievements in that area. Mm, but the others felt that they had the world in their hands, and they were very reckless. And, since my friends wanted to be adventurers, I had to follow them. From then on, it's the story you can find anywhere. Fights inside and outside the labyrinth, dumb men, the normal"

'Hahaha. So dumb men are normal, huh? I want to deny it, but I don't feel conviction in my thoughts.'

After leaving the city and walking through the forest, we arrive in front of a huge rock, and next to it is a beautiful illusory door with beautiful colors.

"We must form a team before entering; otherwise, only I will be transported to the upper floors."

Alessia pulled the union necklace from her neck and lightly collided her gem with Zia's. The next second, the gems shone, announcing that the new member had been successfully added to the team. I didn’t need to do the same, because I and Alessia were already a team.

And, as expected… A circular icon with Zia's image appeared on my user interface. It didn't appear instantly but took about 5 seconds to appear. For a moment, I thought the gallant clone's guesses were wrong. 

'I'm sorry to doubt you.'

"Follow me"

Zia was the one who entered the labyrinth first, and following her, we also passed through the door.

We appeared in what seemed to be an ordinary hallway, no different from any other.

"This is floor 6, and its default monster is the Hypnotic Bat. We can continue to the next place anytime you want"

"Yes, this is enough; let's go to the 9th floor."

Through the door of the 6th floor, we immediately come to a new corridor.

"Finally, this is floor 9, and the default monster is Wind Cheetah. It is a very fast monster, and even if it is weakened by the labyrinth, its speed remains almost intact."

"Thank you, Zia; this ends the mission."

"You're welcome, Alessia. Whatever the matter you have to deal with here, remember that the difference between a common monster and a boss is enormous. Just because you will easily defeat these monsters, you don't have to think that it will be the same with the boss"

Alessia and Zia spoke warmly throughout this meeting, while I seemed like the chaperone leftover stone. It was so funny when they were both saying goodbye and Alessia looked at me, as if I were only there for that, asking me for the reward money to pay Zia.

In the end, I gave the reward to Alessia, and she passed it on to Zia.

I want to cry. After all, I was the one who created the mission, and I was never treated as such.

When Zia is about to go through the door and get out of the labyrinth, she turns around and looks at us.

"As for Miria… Don't blame her too much for her comment. Our fourth friend died in the battle against that boss. I hope you understand that, at that moment, her mood was not the best, and that is why she ended up offending you… Now, bye, have a good day." Moving her hand sideways, she went through the door.

'I see; now I understand. At that moment, more than insulting us, Miria tried to give us the warning to leave and come back more prepared to face the floor boss, so as not to repeat her friend's tragedy.'

"She's a good woman; she just tends to be a little mean to men. Let's forget what happened?" Alessia said.

"Yes, you're right. All the anger I had for them disappeared with the wind."

With a smile on her face, she nodded in response.

I enlarged my map and managed to see a blue dot slowly moving away from the golden labyrinth. Of course, it's Zia; no one else comes to visit this labyrinth, so there's no doubt about it. I made a mark on her blue dot and added the name [Zia] to it; you never know when knowing her location might come in handy.

Then, I gently rubbed the gem on the binding necklace to remove it from the equipment…

[Do you want to remove Zia from the team?]

[Yes/no]

Emir: "…"

'[No]'

With such a thought, the pop-up window disappeared and everything remained unchanged.

'Remove Zia from the team.'

[Do you want to remove Zia from the team?]

[Yes/no]

I knew this user interface was friendly to humans and the environment. I no longer need to rub the gem on the union necklace to remove a party member; simply with the thought the message will appear.

'[Yes]'

This time, Zia came out of the team and also out of my user interface.

'Everything is clean and in order. Well, it's time to start the indiscriminate hunting of monsters without worrying about the damage to the environment.'

Thinking on the 2nd floor, I went through the door with Alessia. The next moment, we appeared in a corridor very similar to the previous one.

[Hell Cat Lvl2]

The hell cat has red fur and is 50cm tall and 1.5 meters long.

'I remember the time I faced it; I just needed to swing my sword 'a little'. Now that my level is different, how much difference will it make?'

I approached the monster, and when it noticed me, it immediately started running, showing its teeth. When our distance decreased enough to attack, the hellcat jumped in my direction with its claws pointing towards my neck.

With a light step, I dodged to the side and swung my sword.

[Fire Tail]

[x1]

Emir: "…"

Alessia: "…"

'It was too easy… It is true that before, I did not have a sword with the Edge rune, but even so, it seemed that the monster was willing to die, and it conveniently used my sword to kill itself. I don't feel like I killed it or that we fought. The monster just didn't want to live anymore, that's all.'

"Now, can you tell me why we're here?"

"Just wait a little longer, Alessia."

'I don't blame her, no one comes to visit this labyrinth for nothing. But let me show you why the sages have called it a golden labyrinth since ancient times!'

[Fire Tail]

[x5]

[Fire tail x2]

[x6]

"Huh?! Double loot! That's an extremely rare occurrence."

"And it's only the beginning."

"What do you mean, master?"

Without answering her, I walked in search of the next hell cat.

[Snow Wolf Lvl2]

"Alessia, can you defeat it?"

"Yes"

If I defeat it, then the chain will stop. I just have to kill monsters of the same type with this sword. All those monsters defeated by Alessia did not stop or add points to the chain.

[Fire tail x2]

[x7]

"Huh?! Another double loot! What a coincidence!"

[Fire tail x2]

[x8]

"Huh…? Another double loot…?"

[Fire tail x2]

[x9]

"Double loot… Master… How can you do that?"

'Hey, she found me out. Well, it was obvious that the culprit would be me. But well, the best is still to come, so for now, let's show her a serious and cold face.'

[Fire tail x4]

[x11]

Alessia: "!!!"

'— Never… I've never heard that such a thing was possible! Some books indeed mention multiple drops from normal monsters, but hundreds-…thousands of adventurers have tried it, and it's been proven to be a lie.'

[Fire Tail x4]

[x15]

'— The previous snow wolf… master asked me to defeat it. Does it have something to do with this?... …The only possibility that comes to mind is…'

"I already found out. It's a skill of your sword, right?"

'Bingo! With a big smile on my face, I swung the sword again and defeated the monster in front of me.'

[Hell's Eye]

[x16]

Alessia: "!!!"

'- What's that? Could those simple monsters drop such loot? I don’t have to look at it too long to realize that it's a top-class loot.'

"You're right, it's a skill of my sword. What else did you discover?"

"They can only be monsters of the same type"

"Correct. That's why I will entrust to you any other kind of monster than the one I kill"

"Okay, leave it to me."

From then on, Alessia didn't ask again. When the chain reached x21, I felt that I scored points with her, and when it reached x26, I scored more points again. In the x31 chain, the hellish cat scored points with me. Now, in my eyes, it is a lovable monster.

[Hellcat Rune]

[x31]

[Hellcat Rune]

[Adds incineration to a weapon and fire defense to armor]

"A- A- A rune!"

'Her surprised face is adorable too.'

I quickly reached out and patted her head.

"Mn, master. What effects does this rune add?"

"It adds Incineration to a weapon and fire defense to an armor"

"Incineration… hmm, it must be very rare since I don't remember hearing about it"

"The same here. I have never heard of such skill in a weapon. It has to be related to fire, but I don't know what it will look like, or how it will affect the enemy."

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