Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

They then sent pitiful gazes at the bunch of clowns who had made a fool of themselves and swiftly dispersed from the site of the fireplace.

Inside a wagon not far from the fireplace a voice echoed out from the small conch that was on the hands of the old butler.

"Hmm? What was that commotion all about?".

"It's nothing, everything will proceed as planned Your Highness" Jeeves said, his eerie eyes staring at the wagon that Simon had disappeared into.

"Haha, with you there, no matter what the situation, I'm sure that nothing can go wrong," the voice said sounding extremely confident.

"Leave it your servant. I'll make sure that none of them leave this forest… alive" Jeeves replied with his head bowed.

Inside the wagon where Simon and Adalinda were seated, the young man lazily lounged on his seat and dozed off while the little girl who had been interrupted from finishing her meal, brought it out and started munching on it once again.

"Nom..nom..nom, you should have just killed them why bother intimidating?" Adalinda asked without giving it much thought.

"Sigh… have you forgotten that right now we are adventurers and need to maintain a certain reputation to reach the capital? If not for the fact that we can't use your space magic and navigating a way ourselves would take quite a long time, I wouldn't have bothered with such pretence" Simon replied from his seat.

It was as he had said, if he had applied any more mana on the fireball, the big-nosed man would have been instantly incinerated. That would have left a dark mark on the reputation of the adventurer who he was currently masquerading as.

Plus he would have lost it if those teammates of that man attacked him hence he used [Demonic Eyes] to cower them into submission.

The [Demonic Eyes] skill was a Rare Base tier skill that he got after winning the dungeon war against Gelgar. Since the skill did not have much use on a higher level enemy that Simon was used to facing in the Ghastly Winding Forest, it had never come into use before.

But now looking at the result, Simon was quite satisfied to say that it was quite a useful skill that could save him a lot of time and trouble of dealing with the weaklings.

The [Demonic Eyes] skill as the name suggests, intimidates an enemy with the aura of the user making them unable to move or do anything for a short period of time. It has next to no effect on entities higher level than the user.

In other words, the skill makes the enemy go into a state of shock where they think they are paralysed.

"Hnn~" Adalinda pouted at his words but did not refute.

Inside the most luxurious and well-built wagon, a woman in tight leather armour carrying a sleek longsword on her waistbelt sat across a beautiful woman wearing a purple dress. 

These two women were none other than Alvara the guard commander and Cynthia, the mistress of the Serene Palace merchant guild. Currently, Cynthia was seated in her seat cross-legged and a hand supporting her chin, a deep-seated frown appeared on her delicate and smooth forehead.

<br/>"What's wrong p… miss?" Alvara asked noticing that Cynthia was lost in her thoughts.

Cynthia raised her head and gazed at her closest friend and aide with her deep violet eyes and questioned.

"Alvara if it was you, would you be also able to defeat the Battle Grizzly alone?".

The guard commander fell into contemplation after being asked such a question, a moment later she nodded her head and replied.

"If its just the Battle Grizzly alone, I am confident that I can deal with it. However, I would have to focus all my attention on it. It might have taken me a few dozen minutes but it is not an enemy that I cannot defeat. As for defeating it in a few moves, I think that as of now it is still impossible for me".

Alvara held her head down and said in a somewhat ashamed voice.

Cynthia hurriedly supported her friend and admonished her in a soft voice.

"You don't know how much of your efforts had helped me these past few years, so there is no reason for you to bow your head in shame. It only means that adventurer is special or was hiding his strength".

After that admonishment which sounded more like consoling, Alvara revealed a smile and nodded.

"That is true, even from my observation, that adventurer did not seem to be special. But who could have guessed that his powers would be so great to immediately cower those tough into submission? I cannot begin to comprehend where the bottom line of his powers lies".

Cynthia shifted her gaze on the glass of water in her hand, after some time, she changed the topic.

"Do you think that incident somehow had something to do with my big brother?".

Alvara looked a little surprised at those words before a solemnness dawned into her pretty face.

"We cannot deny that possibility, however, it can also be that we were simply camping at the wrong place at the wrong time," the guard commander said a few comforting words to relieve the woman from some of her worries.

"Alright it's quite late, Miss you should get some sleep" Alvara insisted.

Cynthia did not reject her offer and laid down on her bed. When the first rays of the sun shone down on the forest, the vibrant life within rose into action. A convoy of wagons pulled by Bane moose galloped through the lands as it travelled through the forest.

Groups of adventurers and guards formed a perimeter around the convoy and protected it from any potential enemies. The group travelled like this for a while when suddenly the adventurer who was adept in sensing the presence, held out his hands to stop the march of the wagon.

"Multiple hostile presences ahead, from the looks of it, they appear to a group of Vile Boars" the adventurer reported. He then gazed at the guards and adventurers behind him and nodded his head.

Those people swiftly rushed ahead and after what felt like a few minutes, returned with their blades and armour slightly stained with the monster's blood.

"Seems like we will have a satisfying dinner tonight" the people who went on ahead to subdue the vile boars laughed. The mood around the convoy brightened before they started moving once again.

Time quickly sped by and it was approaching evening, during this time they had encountered several groups of [E] rank monsters like the vile boars and swiftly dispatched them. They stored the things they could in their space rings and discarded the leftovers.

By the time sun was beginning to set, they had travelled quite a bit of distance and spread out to search for a suitable campsite.

"Good, I think we should also set out camp in that small peak up ahead. That way, even if some monsters do find us, it wouldn't be able to sneak behind us" Simon gave his input.

The discussing adventurers unanimously nodded their heads and the convoy sped towards the peak to set the camp for tonight.

After his display of strength yesterday, his position amongst the convoy had cemented. They no longer doubted his strength and instead sought his knowledge and experience at every opportunity they could get.

These people had never met a person so informed and knowledgeable about monsters than Simon who could easily see through the pattern and habits of most of the monsters. One had to wonder what kind of the life the young man had led until now to be so composed and skilled.

Of course, after they had tasted the bitter medicine yesterday, Bignosio and his group did not dare to seek trouble with the provisional adventurer again. And just like that, Simon had somehow become the de facto leader figure of this convoy.

"You seem awfully happy today… is something the matter?" Simon who was assigned the duty of the night guard for the day, looked back at the grinning Adalinda and asked. 

"Of course I am. But there is no need to ask me because you will find out soon" the little girl said with a tone of mystery.

Simon scrunched his brows but did not question her further since he knew, he wouldn't get any answer.

The night had already arrived and soaked the sky with its black ink. However, unlike the previous times where they had to camp in a place devoid of any light due to the thick canopy of trees, their current campsite which was on top of a small peak, allowed the gentle rays of the moonlight to brighten the area around.

The brilliance of the night sky, with infinite stars dotting the space, was finally in full view. From his current position, Simon gazed at the dark forest teeming with cries of monsters. His eyes swept all over the area before stopping in a place covered in boulders big and small.

For some reason, he felt the flow of mana was a little unnatural there.

'What could it be' Simon was a demon noble hence even in this darkness, his eyes were much better than an average human who did not have [Night Vision] skill.

"Wait here, I'll quickly come back" his words sounded out before his body quickly darted off towards the area he felt the irregularity from.

Adalinda who was giggling and imagining some kind of scenario in her head, became stunned when she saw the direction he was hurrying towards "Eh? Wait a minute!!".

Simon who could jump agilely from one branch to another, didn't take long to reach the place covered in boulders. With a glance, he immediately knew that the boulders weren't naturally formed and were made by someone.