86 I'm Still Ten Years Old!

[Name: Dungeon Giant Treant

Stats:

80 Strength

10 Dexterity

70 Endurance

15 Magic

Magic Skills:

Geomancy (Tier 1)]

Oh… That's a surprisingly big jump in stats… Then again, it's also twice as big as the normal Treants outside too so that makes sense… At least it seems like it's as dexterous as the normal Treants which made it easy to avoid.

The boss noticed us and immediately started stomping its way towards us, which also triggered my music boon to start playing a battle music. This one kind of gives off the feeling that we were rushing To Glory.

I quickly stretched out my hand, "With this spark, may my enemies' movements be hindered. [Static Bolt]!"

The spell hit the giant tree on one of its legs, causing the wood to give out a groan as the monster was paralysed by the spell.

"Nice shot, Miss Aster! Let's go, guys!" Jerry let out a roar.

The three melee fighters rushed forward with their weapons drawn while Vom finally started firing his arrows from behind.

I fired off another [Static Bolt] to keep the boss paralysed just as the three fighters reached the bottom of the boss, their heights barely reaching the giant monster's knees.

Unperturbed by the enemy's size, they began hacking away on the wood with their weapons, causing splinters to fly with every strike.

I idly wondered if there was another spell other than this paralysing ball of lightning I could cast that could do more damage.

Unexpectedly, the knowledge of such a spell came into my mind.

[Spark Strike - A small bolt of lightning that can do considerable damage.]

Ugh… The only problem is that it doesn't seem like it would give me the chant of the spell so I'm going to have to cast this one silently and hope no one notices.

Keeping my arm raised, I concentrated on casting the new spell and watched as a small lightning bolt leapt out of my hand to strike against one of the giant Treant's arms, taking a good chunk of the wood from it.

The giant Treant seemed to let out a groan of pain before raising one of its arms, presumably in an attempt to slam it down on top of our vanguards.

I reacted quickly by casting [Static Bolt] again, striking it just as the giant wooden branch was starting to descend and paralysing it.

That was when Jerry shouted out a warcry before leaping up to slash his sword directly at the Treant's torso.

The moving tree gave out a final groan before it toppled backwards with a loud crash, finally defeated.

All in all, that was pretty easy. Then again, it's the first boss of this E ranked dungeon after all.

"Damn, that was pretty good, don't you think?" Jerry nudged Varry with his elbow.

The head guard nodded begrudgingly, "It was indeed. I admit, you did find a good member, leader."

"So what do you think, you reckon we can actually challenge the final boss?"

Varry raised an eyebrow and looked towards my direction, "Perhaps you should be asking the young lady instead, leader."

"Oh, right, sorry!" Jerry apologised quickly before turning to me.

Why do I feel like I was dragged into something troublesome?

"Miss Aster, I would like to ask if you're feeling confident in going straight for the final boss of this dungeon? If we manage to beat it, we'll become E rank Dungeoneers immediately and get the completion reward too! Of course, I will properly compensate you for the assistance you've rendered us today! So what do you say?"

I hesitated, wondering why someone like him would actually want to take such a risk.

He's practically the heir of a noble family, so it's not like he needs to depend on this to make a living either. If he's purely doing this as his hobby, it wouldn't make sense for him to put himself in such dangers either.

I decided to risk it, "Could I know why you seem to be quite desperate to complete the dungeon?"

He seemed quite surprised by my question and turned to Varry, "Do I look desperate?"

The head guard sighed and nodded solemnly.

The young heir grimaced before turning back to me, "Apologies, Miss Aster. I may have involved you in a wager I made where I need to beat this dungeon in order to win it. I'm nearing the deadline for completing the wager so if you could help me with it, I would be very grateful."

I tilted my head slightly, "I don't suppose you can tell me what that wager is about?"

"That is… Well… Ugh, I suppose it's not gentlemanly of me to lie to a lady…" He sighed before reaching into his pocket and showing me a picture.

Wait, there's actual photographs? Oh wait, it's just a drawing. Though I wouldn't be surprised if cameras are in the midst of being invented or there already is a version of it somewhere in this World.

The picture itself depicted a very, very large sized woman with very… Err… Unique features…

Ok, sorry, she's hideous. Like seriously, seriously hideous.

I'm not even sure if she's an actual Mahun or is she a love child between some kind of monster and a Mahun and even then, the Mahun heritage is a little doubtful too.

"She's the daughter of a rather influential merchant family… Their family is rich and their tastes are also a little… Unique…" He explained.

I put two and two together, "Your parents want you to marry her to get benefits from her family. But you do not wish to marry her so your parents gave you the task of conquering this dungeon within a set deadline in order to get out of this marriage arrangement?"

He was a little surprised by my guess but nodded, "That is correct, Miss Aster. Are you, perhaps, also in a similar situation yourself?"

"Eh? What makes you think that?"

"Well… You just perfectly guessed my situation and Miss Aster had also signed up as a Dungeoneer so… I apologise, am I off the mark?"

I giggled, "Fufu~ Sorry to disappoint, but I just have a vivid imagination. I'm not facing the same situation as you are at all, I'm afraid. The reason why I signed up as a Dungeoneer is purely just to explore dungeons and to make myself stronger."

His eyes drifted to my tail before moving back to me, "Ah, I see. I'm sorry but I'm not very well learned about Meslatar culture. But umm… If Miss Aster feels uncomfortable with helping me in this, I would totally understand and we can just stop our dungeon dive here. I truly apologise for keeping this from you."

Damn so he's actually quite a nice guy huh? Now I feel a little bad for suspecting him at the start.

Oh well, I'm an advocate for free love and what not, whoever someone loves is their problem and other people shouldn't force their way into their love life.

Still, there's just one thing I have to make sure of.

"What is the boss monster of this dungeon?" I asked.

Jerry turned to Varry and his head guard took over the conversation.

"The final boss of this dungeon is a monster known as a Goblin General. It's not that strong by itself, but it has a skill that allows it to summon goblins to aid it in battle and also increase the strength of its allies while also improving their coordination. It isn't unusual to see F and E rank Dungeoneers form a party of at least twelve to twenty members to take such a monster down."

I narrowed my eyes at Jerry, "And you're suggesting that we face such a monster with just the five of us? Why don't you just look for more people or something?"

Jerry scratched his cheek, "Umm… Unfortunately… There was also the condition that I cannot make a party with more than six people to conquer this dungeon. Also, I'm restricted to my own personal finances for this venture so I can't afford to hire any especially strong Dungeoneers for this since I'm… Not that wealthy."

Maybe his family is facing a financial crisis? That would explain why they want their son to marry someone like that.

"Then why look for members in the Noble district's Guild? Aren't most of the people who use that building nobles who might not be that strong? Wouldn't you be better off in the other districts?"

"Well… I thought that if I manage to get a noble who also has connections, I might be able to take advantage of those connections to get me out of my predicament…"

"And me?"

"... To be honest… Miss Aster, you're really beautiful and I was quite taken by you at first sight so I thought I would try my luck…"

…

At least he's honest about it I guess…

I looked him straight in the eye, "I'm a futa and I like girls."

He blinked a few times at me, "Oh. I see. I apologise, I did not know you were into girls."

Eh?

"You're not turned off by the fact that I'm a futa?" I asked.

He looked at me with genuine confusion, "Hmm? Why would I be?"

"I thought most men would be turned off if their partner has a penis."

"Huh? Not really. I know a male friends who have futas as their partners though? Is Miss Aster not aware of such norms?"

Ah… I keep forgetting that futas are not considered weird here… Now all of them are looking at me like I'm the strange one for thinking that…

I decided to play one of my trump cards.

"I'm ten years old."

…

All of them nodded with a look that practically screamed 'that explains it', even his guards visibly relaxed showing they felt I was no longer a threat to their ward.

Hey, I really am ten years old in this world!