Taking my leave from my classroom with my schoolbag in hand, I make my way out of the building, which takes a while since this building is massive, like the rest of the buildings and facilities in the Royal Academy.

Occasionally, I would pass by students and some of the faculty who, not showing it on their faces, were all judging me secretly, thinking that I didn't belong here anymore, like I was a disgusting bug that somehow managed to crawl back to high society.

During the first couple of days of being treated like that, I just found it quite amusing. They went from flattering me, trying to curry favor or get on my good side, just a couple of months ago, to completely scorning me in secret, with all the rumors spreading about me or the occupation's attempts at intimidation.

But after a while, the novelty wore off, and it became annoying really fast. Most of them weren't even good at hiding it from me, in that I could see clearly at a glance what they were thinking.

Internally breathing a sigh at the long day, because who knew being in school would be this boring, to the point that it's exhausting because I have to catch up on my studies and then take makeup classes for the weeks I missed. On top of that, there's all the homework and work I still need to do, most of which I'll probably have to teach myself, since I'm already very behind on everything.

After walking for about fifteen minutes through the building, I finally stepped out onto the school grounds and headed toward the main road that circles around the Royal Academy, where carriages lined up, waiting to take home the noble students who didn't stay in the dorms.

There, among the many ornately decorated carriages, I saw a blue and silver carriage waiting for me.

Seeing Alice in it and staring out the window, I quickened my pace and hurried toward it. The coachman by the door saw me coming, bowed, and opened the door for me.

Then, closing the door as I entered, I said.

"Sorry for making you wait, Alice. A teacher gave me some extra assignments."

Giving me a sympathetic look for my plight as I felt the carriage starting to move, she said.

"That sounds rough, Rita."

Airing out a bit of my grievances, I responded,

"Yeah, at this point, I wonder if I should just hire someone to do it; it's honestly so annoying. I would rather fight a horde of monsters with one arm tied behind my back and blindfolded than this."

Letting out a small laugh, Alice said, "I think so too." Then, sighing, "Things were much more fun during the short time with Alex and everyone; I really miss it."

Hearing that, both of us sighed because we were back to living as noblemen. Alice has to deal with her family and school on top of everything. As for me, I have to make sure no one notices who I really am, except Alice, who already knows, while also handling the mountain of schoolwork piling up.

It's been roughly a month since Athrun called me, and I can't believe I was led by the nose like this. Looking out the window like Alice, I watched as we left the Royal Academy and headed into the streets of the royal capital, remembering what had happened during the last few weeks.

…

…

…

…

…

"What are you talking about, Athrun?"

Against my better judgment, I have a gut feeling I'm not going to like what he has to say.

"I need you to explore an unexplored dungeon by the Royal Capital."

"Unexplored dungeon? Royal Capital? Why do you need me for that? You know I can't be near the capital since my brother and his friends are there, right?"

This sounds very fishy, because there is definitely another motive to it, and there is no way in hell I am going near Aria again. That just spells trouble in the most unexpected way possible.

"And that is why I'm calling. It is something that would completely pique your interest."

"Then spill it already."

"Oh, it's related to the place you've stumbled upon that leads to the lower levels."

"Don't tell me, you've found a place similar to the place I found in that dungeon?"

"No, close but no. It's actually the entire dungeon."

What??!! Nearly saying that out loud, because how? I knew I already would stumble onto more places like Base 38, but not a whole dungeon.

Letting out a small chuckle at my silence, like he had guessed what I was thinking right now, which managed to get my thoughts into order, I quickly responded.

"And why do you want me to go? Can't you go? And explain to me why I haven't heard of this dungeon? There shouldn't be any dungeons anywhere near the capital?"

Normally, if any dungeons show up anywhere near the capital, the kingdom would send the army or post up a raid quest for adventurers to capture the dungeon by removing its core at the deepest level of the dungeon.

"That's a secret, and the reason we can't go is because we're going to another dungeon right now and can't make it. Don't worry, I just want you to scout it out and give me a general report, instead of clearing it."

"Umm… okay, I wasn't planning on clearing it, though, even if you asked."

Clearing a dungeon is basically impossible to do alone. You need a massive support network to handle all the logistics, on top of dealing with the monsters and other dangers inside. I know there's no way I could manage it by myself.

"So what is my reward if I accept?"

"Well, let's see." Pretending to think about it, which he was not, he then said. "A lot of money, enough so you can go back to life as a high-born nobleman for several lifetimes."

Saying that, I blankly said, "No, why would I need that much money? I'm fine with the way I was living before my father found me in Acton."

"I know, and that is why that is not all. Not only that, but I'll fully unlock your communication artifact for you instead of some of it, and more importantly, you'll have my backing when your father goes on trial to make sure he is gone for good, and after that."

"I see, but let me ask you something: there is something more to this request, right, Athrun?"

Plainly saying that to him, I expected him to say that it was a secret because of how fishy this all was, and that was his usual response, but to my complete surprise, which turned me speechless for a good couple of seconds, he said.

"Yep, how perceptive of you."

"........... I see."

"So then, Rita, what is your answer? Will you accept or not?"

Taking a moment to think about this, my first thought to all that was absolutely no because this was just too suspicious. However… what he is offering is something I can't just let go.

It's highly likely another base has appeared in this world, this time, a full dungeon. If he's right, I need to check it out and see what's inside. If it poses a threat, I'll put the place on lockdown, and if that isn't enough, I'll find a way to destroy it so the weapons from my world don't fall into the wrong hands.

Begrudgingly, I said, "Yeah, I guess I do."

"Great, I'll meet up with you there, in the capital, to give you all of the specifics, so see you there."

Athrun's perspective

Ending the call with Rita, Athrun stares at his phone with an unusually serious expression and lets out a sigh. Most of it is due to Rita's choosing to accept his request since he didn't think she would accept it in the first place, but fortunately, with the rewards he promised her, she did.

Continuing to stare at his phone till he heard some noise from a room in the suite he was in, Athrun forced back his usual aloof smile and walked into the room.

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Inside, Athrun saw Mila tied to a chair with rope and a gag over her mouth to stop her from screaming.

"Ah, Mila, so you're awake."

Seeing Mila's squirming body and shocked face, like she didn't expect to see him, Athrun can't help but think that the restraints she has on aren't enough to restrain her.

"Just so you know, don't try to use your magic. I have an anti‑magic shock collar that will punish you if you do, so please don't try anything."

Choosing to ignore his words, Mila decided to do the exact opposite of what Athrun suggested. And as expected, her hair glowed a light green, only to have the antimagic collar's runes glow and shock her.

Sighing at that, since he told her not to do that, he approached her after her incoherent, muffled screaming stopped from being shocked. Then, moving his hand to untie the gag on her mouth, Mila's hair suddenly flared with a glow again, just as Athrun removed the gag, causing the antimagic collar's runes to spark again.

Electricity coursed through her body, but in doing so, she also shocked Athrun in the process. Instinctively pulling his hand back in pain, startled by Mila's sudden actions, Mila spoke, enduring the pain.

"Sorry, Athrun, you're getting in the way of my alone time with my cute little sister."

Knocking over the chair she was tied to, Mila used the momentum of her fall to break it as Athrun was recovering from being shocked and his surprise; however…

"Heh?"

Squirming even more, in an attempt to wiggle free, wondering why the chair didn't break, Athrun managed to regain his composure and said to Mila.

"Damn, why did you do that! Thank goodness I bought a reinforced chair this time. And also, don't try to find some way to cut through the rope; I also bought it reinforced as well."

"This won't stop me from getting to Mable."

After hearing what Athrun said, Mila then decided to squirm her way to the door, inching bit by bit, all the while Athrun looked at her with a blank expression.

"Really, Mila?"

Looking like a worm crawling on the floor, Athrun walked to the door and closed it, then walked to Mila to stand in front of her, in her way.

"Athrun, why did you do that?"

"That is my question. You shocked me."

Having a smile that wasn't really a smile, his brow furrowed in annoyance, and a vein popped out. Mila willingly chose to ignore that and thought of an idea.

"And you're the one who kidnapped me from my dearest Mabel. If you won't release me, then I have no choice but to do this."

Taking a deep breath, Mila yelled out at the top of her lungs.

"HELP!!! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!!! SOMEONE STOP HIM, HE'S GOING TO—"

Athrun paled a bit, realizing what Mila was about to say. Instinctively, he reached out to cover her mouth to stop her. However, the moment his hand touched her face, Mila bit down hard on his hand, causing Athrun to let out a yelp of pain.

"Hey, let go!!!"

However, before he tried to pry his hand out of Mila's mouth, her hair started glowing again, which caused the magic shock collar to activate, sending another surge of electricity through Mila and straight into Athrun as well.

Seeing what she was about to do and already prepared for it this time, Athrun's hair glowed golden in response as electricity started to spark around him.

This time, coming from Athrun, a massive amount of electricity flows through Athrun and to Mila, causing her to let go of his hand and scream loudly in pain as her body spasms violently from being electrocuted.

Not stopping and sending out more pulses of electricity to Mila, and after doing it a couple more times, he finally stopped and said,

"Promise me that you won't do anything, and I'll stop. I'm just here to talk."

Steam coming from her body and still spasming, Mila meekly said,

"Okay, okay. I won't do anything."

Hearing that, Athrun sighed in relief and helped Mila up off the floor; however, she was still in her restraints. Athrun asked,

"So… you know why I am here, right?"

"Heh!?"

Dandling a pair of knives Athrun had pulled out in front of her face, in an almost scolding tone, he said.

"You know you can't make these?"

Realizing the knives dangling in front of her, she looked away and whistled, pretending that she didn't know anything.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really, you know I can tell you know something, but it doesn't matter," sighing, fed up with how Mila wasn't taking this seriously at all, not really seeing the irony in his inner thoughts, he continued.

"I already know Nyx was the one who commissioned them. He is an interesting kid. I'm planning for him to join our organization because he has the potential to get noticed by a spirit. So just this once, I'm going to allow it."

Saying that, he gauges Mila's reaction, who was still pretending that she didn't know anything. Athrun already guessed that Mila knows that reacting to one of Rita's aliases' names would not change her reaction, so he had to say the second part, where Rita has the potential to join.

Hoping for her to say something other than "I don't know anything," but she did not show any visible change.

Seeing that didn't work, Athrun considered shocking her again, but after thinking it over, he decided to bring out the big guns to make sure she talked.

"Geez, if you're not going to say anything." Breathing out a big sigh, "I was originally planning to let you spend the rest of your vacation with Mable, but… now I'm thinking of just dragging you back since we need you to make a magical device to open the doors to the foreign ruin we've discovered."

Finally reacting to Athrun's words, she said, horror on her face, "You can't do that. How cruel, to separate me from my cute and lovely little sister, you monster!!!"

Narrowing his eyes, but still having his usual aloof smile that made him look quite menacing.

"Oh, really? And who do you think helped me capture you in the first place?"

"No, that's impossible."

Shocked by those words, as if she wouldn't believe it, Athrun couldn't help but smirk at her reaction.

"Then who was the one who gave you that juice that tasted weird?"

"No, I refuse to believe that my cute little sister would do that. You tricked her, you bastard."

Struggling against the ropes and swinging her bound legs, the chair rocked back and forth, nearly falling over several times.

"How dare you!!! How dare you!!! To go so low as to use the innocence of my Mable to do such a heinous thing."

Athrun's face twitched in revulsion, seeing that embarrassing sight of a grown woman having a tantrum like a kid. Unable to see it any longer, he warned her by reminding her.

"Hey, did you not remember? Don't make me cut your vacation short."

Being reminded of that, Mila's unsightly tantrum stopped, and Athrun breathed another tired sigh.

Looking at Athrun like he was a wicked, black-hearted villain, her eyes began to tear up, which looked, from a third-party observer, like she was a tragic, helpless girl tied up by a wicked, evil doer that was going to do unspeakable things to her.

"Oh, don't— Gah."

Cutting Athrun off, Mila slammed her forehead into his face, catching him completely off guard as blood spurted from his nose. While Athrun reeled from the hit, Mila, having already analyzed the collar's runes during the earlier shocks, subtly manipulated its output to burn through part of the reinforced rope binding her. Discovering that the collar only sent shocks to areas of her body containing mana, and the intensity varied depending on how much mana was present, and combined with her constant squirming, weakening the ropes, it gave her just enough room to move and the opening she needed to headbutt Athrun.

However, Athrun, being an experienced fighter, recovered quickly, which Mila already knew, so she then moved and headbutted Athrun again; this time, her hair glowed brightly a light green.

In proportion to the mana inside Mila's body, a massive amount of electricity surged through her. But the one who started screaming wasn't Mila; it was Athrun, who was screaming in pain from the electricity flowing through Mila's body.

Even though it wasn't that she wasn't feeling it as well, she just didn't think it necessary to do so, and she pressed on to the next objective.

Shocking Athrun, it gave her a few seconds since she recovered much more quickly than him, since she had time to mentally prepare herself for it.

With her mouth, Mila grabbed the throwing knives Athrun had dropped, which he had let go of to avoid the risk of hurting her when he tried to instinctively counter. He had originally only meant to pin her down, right up until the electricity hit him, coming from the magic shock collar caused by Mila, who was wearing it.

Instantly swiveling her head to throw the throwing knife at the reinforced rope, already knowing that it was the one that didn't have the limiter on it by a glance, as the tip of the knife hit the rope, barely digging into it, Mila's hair glowed a light green again, and she focused on giving the throwing knife her mana, ignoring the shock from the collar on her neck and from Nyx's throwing knife.

Enduring it for a couple of seconds, the throwing knife burned through the reinforced rope, where only a little of it remained, just enough for Mila to physically break from it. Then, still enduring the shock from the magic collar, her freed hand moved to it.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Seeing what she was doing, Athrun knew exactly what she had in mind. Being one of the most gifted enchanters on the continent, Athrun immediately leaps toward Mila to grapple her and prevent her from doing anything more, with his hair glowing a golden color as a countermeasure to stop being shocked.

However, finally having access to her hands, giving her much more control over her mana, certain runes glowed in the intricate and numerous sequences of runes engraved on the shock collar. Using her skill with the scattered glowing runes in the collar to compensate for a lack of a proper sequence to activate them, she improvised it to produce a single spell.

Shutting her eyes, the shock collar she was wearing instantly shone brightly, like a flashbang, as she rolled away, away from Athrun, who was leaping toward her to try to stop her but was now blinded, missing her completely.

Just before immediately getting up, with both her hands still gripping the collar, she activated a different set of runes from the collar.

Just before immediately getting up, still having both her hands on the collar, she made a different set of runes glow. It caused a tear to form on the collar, which quickly split through the rest of the shock collar.

So, immediately running out the door, Athrun quickly shouted out.

"Wait, get over here, we still aren't done," as he repeatedly rubbed his eyes, trying to regain his vision.

In response, Mila stuck her tongue out and said. "You're wasting my Mable time, so butt off."

Taking a few steps toward the door, with the intention to kick it down and run off, she remembers something and peeks her head back, as Athrun gains his vision back a bit.

"Also, yeah, yeah, just so you won't waste any more of my precious time and to stop tricking my dear little sister, I'll come or whatever."

Placing a hand to lean against the wall, Athrun used it as support to help him up, and he muttered to himself.

"Damn, even that is not enough. Sorry, Mable, but it seems that you can't have your alone time. Maybe I should just invest in some artifacts that completely immobilize next time, so she wouldn't be able to interfere with them."

A couple of minutes later, after regaining all of his vision, he blinked repeatedly to make sure and took an extremely deep sigh, the deepest one yet today, because Athrun thought to himself, Jeez, Mila is really a handful when it comes to her sister, if not completely insane, like she has a screw loose or something, as usual.

Picking up Rita's throwing knife that was left on the ground, Athrun examines it, specifically at the slightly deformed magical circles, at which he smirks and says. "I think I know what to do with this."

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