Once Marcus had finished up speaking with Jarek and watching ric demonstrate what he had learned the two of them headed back to the Towering Bear Inn.


    When they arrived, ra came to greet Marcus and told him that she was d he had returned safely from the dungeon.


    “Lady Irene, while you were gone you received a letter from the viceroy of the city. He was hoping to request a meeting with you within the next three days.” ra said as she passed over the letter in question.


    Taking it from herm Marcus read it over before shrugging and storing it away into his time box.


    “I will write a letter to the viceroy telling him I am indisposed and cannot make his meeting. If you would please deliver it tomorrow, ra, I would be much appreciated.” Marcus said without a hint of care.


    ra on the other hand stiffened up, and said, “Lady Irene, I think it would be best to ept. The viceroy is the highest ranking noble in the city and I believe it would not be a good idea to upset him. You just got back, so surely you were already nning on taking some time to recuperate. Extending your rest for a bit longer and going to see the viceroy would not be too much trouble I believe.”


    “Sorry ra, I already told ric I would take him into the dungeon tomorrow since he worked so hard to rank up. Anyway, I do not need any rest, and you know I am not one for noble socializing. Especially when it is likely to be annoying. Normally it is no problem for you to simply reject any invitations.” Marcus said to ra hoping to bring this to an end.


    However, she had a worried look on her face and continued to try and talk Marcus into epting the invitation.


    “Lady Irene, I know I might be out of ce, but I just want to look out for you. In the royal capital it is fine for you to reject most invitations since I simply write in response that you have an engagement already scheduled with your friend Princess Mrazivy or one of your other high-ranking acquaintances, but here you have no one to support you.” ra said, hoping to guide Marcus.


    She already knew that her employer was different from most nobles, but she also knew about how high ranking nobles could do things to make those they did not like miserable.


    “Fine, I will go. Send a letter acknowledging my eptance of the meeting.” Marcus said begrudgingly.


    He could tell that ra was just looking out for him, and it was not like this meeting would cause that much trouble.


    “Irene does that mean we will not be going into the dungeon tomorrow.” ric came up and said with a disappointed look in his eyes.


    “No, we are still going into the dungeon. I will just pop out quickly to go to this meeting and thene back right away once it is over.” Marcus said.


    A look of relief appeared on ric’s face when he said this. And while ra did have some misgivings about it, she did not say anything else.


    After that Marcus wrote the letter and gave it to ra to deliver tomorrow.


    The three of them then ate an enjoyable dinner in the Towering Bear’s restaurant with Marcus taking full advantage of the unlimited free food and having one of everything on the menu.


    Naturally he received plenty of stares as he ate a mountain of food, and ric looked stunned while ra’s normal public smile actually faltered from watching Marcus eat so much.


    ‘That was pretty good. And I was able to get some new ideas for my cooking.’ Marcus thought when they returned to their rooms.


    Upon theing of the next day, he and ric, along with Blitz headed off to the dungeon.


    On the way there ric seemed like an engine revving up with how excited he was to be going into a dungeon for the first time.


    “Sorry ma’am you can’t bring kids into the dungeon.” The guard said when he saw ric.


    Yet his tune quickly changed when Marcus showed off his guild card along with ric’s.


    “Sorry, I see he is a silver rank. It is very rare for children to be such high-ranking adventures. You may go on ahead but be careful.” The guard said with a look of concern for ric.


    Now that they had made it through the gate of the dungeon ric whose anticipation was at its peak began running full speed down the first tunnel. Even using wind magic to help elerate himself.


    Soon they were standing in the first area that was aplete empty room where the kingdom’s army had set up.


    For a few moments ric stood around and stared, taking everything in.


    “Okay ric I know you are thrilled to finally be in the dungeon but now it is time to calm down a bit. This is not some sort of attraction. This is a dungeon. A very dangerous ce where anyone who enters it can lose their lives.” Marcus said with a grave tone.


    Luckily this brought ric back to his senses and his gaze went sharp and he started taking things more seriously.


    He even went so far as to cast his enemy detection wind magic spell and hold it up as he was trained.


    “Good, seems you are ready. Our destination is that tunnel. Now you take the lead, and I will follow behind.” Marcus said as he pointed towards the tunnel that would take them to the winter hills area.


    Nodding his head, ric steadily began walking towards the tunnel no longer needlessly exerting himself and keeping his guard up.


    “Wow it is beautiful.” ric said once they made it into the area.


    Of course, while he took in the sights, he did not let his guard down.


    Once ric was done looking around, he decided to head to the right following along the wall of the area.


    He had read and been told by the members of the Depths Delvers that the deeper you went into an area the more likely you were to encounter a high-level beast or monster, so to start it was best to stick around the outskirts.


    It as not too long after that they came across their first dungeon creature.


    Standing before them and snarling was a pure white wolf with red eyes.


    Both Marcus and ric recognized it from their readings, and it was amon grade magic beast called a snow wolf.


    ‘Level fourteen. About as weak as theye in this dungeon. Also, it is already injured. Looks like it had a territorial dispute with some other beast.’


    Having appraised it, Marcus was certain ric could handle this beast, and figured it would be a good warm up for him.


    “Go ahead. It is already hurt, so as long as you are carful you should win without issue.” Marcus said to ric who had been staring down the wolf.


    With Marcus’ approval, he began casting a spell and running towards the wolf. Ready to take on his first battle within the dungeon.