Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

His tone, which clearly indicated he was lying, made Eina give a wry smile.

Dorumur was a large, muscular man with a distinctly dwarf-like appearance. At 170cm tall, he was considered tall for his race, with thick arms and legs.

He didn't have a beard, and his eyes were always curved into a bow shape. Coupled with his accented way of speaking, he gave the impression of a country bumpkin who had just come from the village.

Dorumur scratched his big nose and smiled nervously at Eina.

"Little sister Eina, are you going to lunch? I'm actually going too... um, if you don't mind, how about we eat together? Of course, it's on me!"

"No, thank you for spending money... Um, Mr. Dorumur, a colleague is with me today..."

This was the umpteenth time. Dorumur would always pretend to bump into Eina by chance and invite her to dinner. To be honest, Eina didn't know how to deal with him.

Judging from the armor covering his strong body, he was an adventurer. He was ranked LV.3—one of the advanced adventurers—and his strength was considerable. Eina used to be his dungeon exploration advisor, and the two had some acquaintance.

She also realized that the other person was interested in her.

Eina had no intention of being narcissistic, but she couldn't pretend to be oblivious either.

(Although he's not a bad person...)

Being pursued by adventurers is commonplace for guild service girls.

However, unlike other adventurers who clearly had ulterior motives, Dorumur was genuinely sincere, making it difficult for her to refuse him directly using the typical waitress's approach. Even when she tried to politely decline with roundabout words, his attitude remained unchanged.

"...Eina~, if I'm bothering you, I'll just go eat by myself?"

"No, don't talk nonsense, Missia...!?"

"Hahaha! Don't say you're in the way just because we look like a good match. No way!"

Missia teased Eina with a smile, making Eina both anxious and angry. When she saw Dorumur taking the opportunity to be smug, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh.

Adding to her worries, Dorumur was older than her.

"Enough already, you lowly dwarf. Can't you see Miss Eina is troubled?"

"Hmm?"

Just then, a sharp voice rang out.

Dorumur turned around and saw a handsome elven adventurer standing behind him.

With blonde hair and ears even more pointed than Eina's, she wore leather armor and carried a quiver and bow on her back. Although her height was similar to Dorumur's, her build was the complete opposite—long and slender.

The elven youth made no attempt to conceal his barbed nature, uttering a curt "Get out of the way" before rudely walking past Dorumur and arriving in front of Eina.

"Mr. Louis..."

"Are you alright, Miss Eina? Did this man touch you with dirty hands?"

"What did you say—!?"

Dorumur was enraged by the harsh words, while the elf Luvis simply snorted.

Luvis was also one of the high-level adventurers—LV.3—whom Eina knew. Eina's relationship with him was similar to that with Dorumur; it seemed she had inadvertently gained his favor when she was an advisor in the past.

After dealing with Dorumur with the typical annoyance of an elf, Luvis turned back to Eina and coughed deliberately, "Hmm!"

"I just passed by a shop and saw some beautiful lavender flowers. I think they would suit Miss Eina very well... If you don't mind, would you please accept them?"

"This...this will really bother me, Mr. Lewis..."

Louis handed her the bouquet he was holding in his arms.

Just as Eina was filled with dread over the colorful flower bowl, a thick arm reached out from the side and snatched the bouquet away.

"What are you doing?!"

"Hmph! You're the one who's bothering Aina! Throwing such effeminate gestures at her in a place like this—think about Aina's feelings at all!"

"You barbaric dwarves who don't even know how to appreciate flowers...! You are not allowed to approach our noble race, the elves!"

"Eina is a half-elf! Don't waste your breath on someone as annoying as you!"

The two seemed to symbolize the relationship between an elf and a dwarf, roaring and cursing at each other.

Having witnessed this scene several times before, Eina had no desire to intervene anymore. She said, "Excuse me," and bowed her head to leave. They were so engrossed in their argument that they didn't notice.

Eina pushed Missia's back and practically fled the scene.

"Is this okay?"

"No... but my presence will only complicate matters..."

Eina glanced back at Dorumur and Luvis, their foreheads almost touching as they argued back and forth.

As the scene before them showed, the two were completely incompatible.

This relationship seems to have become even more apparent since they began to see each other as rivals (?).

In fact, their actions in the past few days have gone a bit too far... That might be an exaggeration, but it has to be said that their behavior has become increasingly intense.

Although the two had previously shown some affection for Eina, recently they've started appearing before her during her private time away from work. Just like with Dorumur earlier, they often seem to be waiting for Eina to come out of the guild's back door; one could say their behavior is getting increasingly worse.

It was as if they were in competition, using every possible method to get close to and pursue Eina.

(They really aren't bad people, but...)

After arguing with Luvis, Dorumur turned his neck in the same motion.

The sight of two pairs of eyes fixed on her made Eina quickly turn back to the front.

Feeling the gazes of the two people behind her, Eina awkwardly adjusted the position of her glasses.

*

Guild Headquarters, Archives Room.

The vast library, containing information on the history of the city and its surrounding areas, monsters, and dungeons, is located in front of the staff corridor that runs through the entrance hall and is not usually open to the public. The library-like space spans two floors, with tall wooden bookshelves arranged in a complex, maze-like pattern.

The cabinets, floors, and pillars are all dominated by a heavy and calm dark brown color, and employees dressed in black suits quietly move among them with books in their hands.

"It's...it's over..."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. Let me take a look..."

While her colleagues searched for information for their own purposes, Eina stayed in the reading room, which had several tables. She sat in a chair and took the parchment from Bell, a white-haired boy surrounded by a mountain of illustrated books on the tables in front of him.

This is a regularly scheduled private lecture series in the underground city.

At this moment, Eina was having a book club with Bell, whom she was in charge of mentoring.

There is a professional title called "consultant".

It is based on the adventurer's free decision, with the guild providing specialists to support dungeon exploration.

The guild tries to assign advisors according to the adventurer's requirements—gender, race, etc.—so there are more opportunities for contact at the window, and pretty waitresses are more likely to be called upon. Although there is an implicit rule that "whoever is called upon is 100% not whoever they want"—in any case, Eina has served as an advisor to several adventurers to date.

However, she was valued by her superiors for her high work efficiency, and she was often asked to take on administrative tasks and important cases. As a result, due to the workload, the adventurers she used to lead were handed over to the next consultant.

Currently, Bell is the only adventurer for whom Eina serves as an advisor.

"...Well, I've probably carried almost all the monsters up to the 'middle level'."

“Really?”

"Okay, so—come on, let's have a quick test. Write down the specific ways to deal with each type of monster, as well as the terrain features of each floor. Review the parts you got wrong and memorize them again."

"……yes!"

Upon seeing a new parchment in front of him, Bell initially looked desperate, then nodded with his chin twitching.

Watching the boy rack his brains and frantically move his quill pen, Eina narrowed her emerald green eyes and gazed at him tenderly.

Eina has her own unique approach to consulting.

In addition to general consultations and discussions on dungeon exploration, she would also invite the adventurers in charge to meet up for book clubs—to impart the vast knowledge of the dungeon to them.

Eina was beautiful and charming, but her teaching style was extremely strict. The adventurers in charge were terrified of her relentless instruction. Everyone would eventually find it unbearable and run away at least once; even Dorumur and Ruvis complained about it.

Currently, Bale is still trying his best to hold on.

Those deep red eyes sometimes welled up with tears, but she still managed to sit at the table.

His driving force comes from his aspirations.

The lofty goal drove him to desperately keep up with Eina's rigorous training.

His honest and straightforward nature sometimes makes people worry.

A sincere attitude of getting back up again and again even after falling down.

Eina liked all of these.

This at least became one of the reasons why she wanted to actively help the teenager.

(It's almost time...)

Eina, who had been gazing gently at Bell's face, now looked up at the clock mounted on the pillar.

The short hand is pointing to the number ten. Since there was prior communication, the Hestia Familia should have already heard Bell mention the book club, but it wouldn't be good to keep him tied up here any longer.

Since it was already night, there were very few staff members in the archives. In the central reading room where Eina and the others were staying, the only sound could be the rustling of quill pens.

After a while, Bell, who had been completely burned to ashes, handed over the parchment.

He was still a bit careless and answered a few questions wrong, but Eina smiled wryly and decided to let him off the hook this time.

Let's tackle this topic another time.

"Thank you for your hard work, Bell. Let's call it a day."

"...Thank you."

Bell lifted his face from the table, revealing an awkward smile.

Eina said, "Wait here, I'll take care of it," but he still helped tidy up and put the reference materials he had brought back on the bookshelf with Eina.

Having explored the maze, Bell put his removed equipment back on, and the two left the archives room, returning to the lobby via the staff corridor.

Bell said goodbye to Eina and walked away unsteadily. Eina watched his retreating figure until the very end.

"Thank you for your hard work, Eina~"

"Misia...and everyone..."

When Eina returned to the office, she was welcomed by her female colleagues.

It's rare to see all the waitresses present at such a late hour.

"It's amazing that you've been able to stay with the adventurers for so long without any overtime pay."

“Ahahaha…”

The older waitress's words made Eina smile wryly as she took the porcelain cup filled with black tea.

A group of people of the same sex sit in a circle around a table or chairs, chatting and laughing during a break from work.

"By the way, we heard, Zul, another adventurer tried to woo you today?"

"...Misia."

"What can we do? They just can't hold it in!"

Eina gave her informant friend a slight glare, receiving a smile that showed no remorse in return.

Just as she was trying not to sigh, the older waitress crossed her arms unhappily.

"Ugh, even with me here, they only target Zul... Are all the adventurers blind?"

"But Rose, didn't you look down on men who were adventurers?"

"Of course, I wouldn't want to be an adventurer, not even if you begged me."

The werewolf woman named Rose toyed with her long red hair and continued...

"There's never any good in hanging out with guys who're always looking to die."

The atmosphere has changed.

Just as they agreed with what she said, the waitresses lowered their eyes or looked away, while some drank their tea in silence.

"Those guys said they liked you and loved you, but they still didn't come back. Anyway, these adventurers are more obsessed with monsters than women."

Her sarcastic remarks, made with her tongue sticking out, seemed more like a bluff.

The waitresses, more or less—no, the guild members—keep their distance from adventurers.