Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

. "W-what have you done?" Simon who could finally move his body as he wished, looked all around himself and saw the shocking condition of the place.

The place no longer looked how it was used to before with adventurers collapsed all over the place and the scene gave off a feeling of a disaster-stricken area.

The corner of his eyes twitching repeatedly, Simon hurriedly called out to the girl who was the instigator behind all of this "Let's get out of here before the situation gets any worse".

"But I have not received my promised Apple Pie?" Adalinda groaned, looking extremely unwilling to leave the place.

Simon who could no longer take her selfishness, grabbed her and hurriedly dashed towards the exit. However, a force of wind that came from the floor above, blocked his way and sealed off his escape.

The energy that blocked the exit, rippled with a strong light which could give even Simon a tough time.

With the exit sealed and a witness with a hidden level, there was no way they could get out of this mess with only an apology.

Turning towards the stairs where the energy had come from, Simon revealed a helpless smile. Everything was going smoothly until Adalinda decided to throw her tantrum. Now that they were found, there was no telling what would happen next.

Heck, with all the adventurers lying on the floor unconscious, bottles broken and floor cracked, it painted a very bad picture of them no matter how one looked it.

Creak…Creak, the sound of footsteps coming from the stairs started becoming more apparent before an old man with white hair and a straight back came down.

He carried a cane with him that did not look ordinary and the gaze hidden beneath his thick white eyebrows were as sharp as an unsheathed blade.

The old man scanned the floor and tapped the floor with his cane a few times. His brows that were locked together tightly, loosened a bit when he realised that all of the adventurers here were alive and simply unconscious.

Next, he fixed his gaze on the only two people remaining standing and observed them carefully.

The gaze of the old man was like a wave of energy that tried to see through his very being as it lingered on him for quite a while.

Simon sweated profusely when introduced to such probing, he immediately understood that the old man was using [Analysis] on him which made him stand on tenterhooks for his identity being revealed.

The aura that Adalinda had emitted out, had enveloped the whole floor and the old man that had endured that, should be quite high levelled or at least as strong as him.

Simon gulped, he was currently using the artifact that Adalinda had provided him to mask his appearance to that of a human. Although he had yet to dispel the effects, a truly strong person would be able to see through his façade.

Fortunately, all of this was his needless worry, the old man other than giving him some confused looks didn't spot anything out of ordinary on him. <br/><script>ChapterMid();</script>

The old man next gazed at Adalinda who appeared to be no more than fourteen years old girl. At that moment due to reflex or from the instigation of Adalinda, but the old man refrained from using [Analysis] on her.

"You people no matter how I see it, don't appear to be ordinary? Who are you and what is the meaning behind all of this?" The old man asked, his gaze strangely fixated on Simon.

Simon couldn't help but laugh awkwardly at this, he had not done anything so why was he held accountable for something he had not done? However, there was no way with Adalinda around. he can scream that out.

Swallowing all of his dissatisfaction, Simon tried to scavenge their way around this. But before he could open his mouth to answer the question of the old man, Adalinda spoke first.

"Hmph, who do you think you are to ask me this question. It was all their fault in the first place, you should be thanking me for not killing them on the spot instead of asking me questions" Her attitude was extremely haughty and it looked like she did not place anyone in her eyes.

'Why are you making the situation even worse' Simon screamed out internally.

Contrary to what he thought, instead of getting angry, the face of the old man told that he was extremely confused by her words and the gaze with which he was looking at her seemed to be looking at an unreasonable and spoiled child.

"Don't mind her, she is just not used to socialising with others" Simon stepped forward trying to soothe the situation.

The old man frowned but did not mind much "So who are all of you? You don't seem to be familiar faces that I'm used to seeing around here?".

Simon deliberated as to how better phrase it before replying "We are indeed new to this city and don't know much about the places and people of this town. We only came here to obtain some information".

The old man closed his eyes before opening them once again, there was a sharp glint in them which he used to stare back at Simon.

"Young man… if you only came here to obtain some information, then what is the meaning of this?".

The old man spread his hands and pointed all around the room.

"Don't tell me that this is not done by you? I have indeed grown old but not so dilapidated that I won't be able to recognise the culprits when I see them. Did you think that all of this can be undone with you running?".

Simon did not know whether to laugh or cry, he himself wanted to ask the same question to the little girl beside him.

"We also didn't want to create such a scene, it was all an accident. You can see that we meant no harm by our actions as none of the adventurers are dead" He said trying to ease out the situation.

"Snort, whether you had killing intentions or not, the matter as it stands is clear to me. Young man, don't think that you can simply get out of this" The old man's eyebrows which were as sharp as sword refused to budge from his stance.

Hearing this, Adalinda's eyes took a threatening glow making Simon who was beside her perspire.

"Hey old man Gill, what's all this ruckus about?" At this moment, a voice that came from the entrance of the building rang out.

Following this sound, a fairly built man in a casual clothing hurriedly entered the hall. The man was not overly handsome but would give anyone looking at it him, a sense of ease and affability.

Looking at the face of the man, Simon hurriedly arced his eyebrows; that was because the man was not unfamiliar to him.

"Oh? It's you Chuck boy… Has your body already healed? How is it, is the sensation on your right arm coming well?" The old man inquired with a friendly face that was devoid of any hostility he had been throwing at Simon up until now.

Chuck laughed heartily at that question and replied "Yeah, although the feeling is still quite sluggish and foreign, other than that, it's functioning quite well. Honestly, when I lost an arm, I did not think that I would have it back so soon. It's all because of that mage you called out all the way from the capital, you have my thanks guild manager".

Hearing Chuck give his heartfelt reply, the old man who was called Gill, Smirked a little.

"Brat do you think that I can reject a request from Godwin? Besides even I'm unwilling to lose a person such as you and see your light dimming".

The high praise of the guild manager made Chuck's expression somewhat embarrassed. He knew that because of the last expedition of his, many of the people had lost their lives and others had to go through quite some trouble.

"Brat I can see why Godwin regards you so highly. After that fall, it would not be surprising for many people to shut themselves out, reject the world and not do anything. I have even seen some people who had tendencies of committing suicide after losing all their companions".

However, you to get back on your feet I must commend that willpower and spirit of yours. Remember take it slow for now, I know what you desire the most right now but you must hold back and bide your strength".

Gill commented observing the condition of Chuck.

Chuck who was repeatedly called brat by the old man laughed and hurriedly tried to change the conversation.

"Leaving that aside, what happened here? Why are all these people down?" Chuck glanced all around him and frowned.

"Snort… no need to ask such unnecessary questions since the culprits are right in front of me?" Gill's eyes immediately became sharp when they landed on the two people who were standing at the entrance.

"Oh… but it doesn't look like all of them are dead." Chuck approached one of the unconscious adventurers and searched for his pulse. Finding nothing unusual, he made a strange expression and looked at Simon and Adalinda.

"Like I'm trying to say it was all an accident" Simon repeated smiling bitterly in his heart. There was a ticking time bomb beside him and who knows what she might do next if did not resolve the situation fast.

Seeing her displeased expression, it wouldn't surprise him if she decided to suddenly blow up this whole city. Despite her innocent and childlike look, doing something like that was as easy as flipping her hands for her.