Krion’s eyes opeo darkness. His head throbbed, a dull ache spreading through his skull as his senses began to return. At first, he wasn’t sure where he was. As his eyes adjusted, he started being able to make out his unfamiliar surroundings. The barest glimmer of a dle at his bedside cast long shadows across the room that came to rest against the walls. No windows, just a single door across from the bed he was lying in, and a neighb bed oher side of the room. All at ohe smells hit him. Smells he was well used to from his childhood ba Earth. Faint hints of something like aic, though with something else it. Something herbal, maybe.

  He struggled to piece together the events that had led to his arrival in what, he was assuming, was some version of a hospital room. He remembered the Dungeon — the Pit — and the frantic flight up the stairs with Hatsune. He remembered the st, desperate fight against the lizardmen. He remembered carrying the Leporihe rest of the way, her unscious form limp and almost lifeless. He remembered a voice… some argument. The st thing he remembered was the night sky and a Sentinel mask.

  They had made it out then.

  Looking around the room now that his eyes adjusted, he was able to make out a bit more detail. Whitewashed walls stretched outward, their pristine surfaces practically shouting how they were regurly ed. The soft, polished wooden floor beh his bed reflected the faint light of the dle beside his bed, a sharp departure from the grimy, uone of The Pit.

  He shifted uhe sheets he had been covered with, surprised to find that he didn’t feel any pain or aches in his body, nor even the exhaustion he expected after having survived the Dungron. Instead, he felt what was almost a lightness of some sort, as if he had beeed… iveure of the Academy, healed.

  But where was Hatsune?

  Krion’s heart skipped a bit as his eyes immediately locked onto the other bed in the room with him, afraid to find it empty. He breathed out when he saw that the sheets weren’t ft from being made, but instead clumped around his Leporine bodyguard, her face ying across a pillow catg the light of a dle o her bed. Hatsune ale, her features softened in the dim light as she y unscious, just as she had been when he had carried her out of the Dungeon. But unlike back then, her face looked peaceful. She was dressed in a simple white robe, looking far different from the bloodied and battered she had been in the Dungeon. Her chest rose and fell with a steady rhythm, though he could also see that her hands were ed in soft bandages, more likely around her leg out of sight uhe b.

  Seeing she was alright, Krio out a frustrated grunt as he y his head ba the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. A rush of guilt swept through him, sharper than the wounds he had taken ba the Pit. His mind ed with memories of how easily he had trusted Hector, how blindly he had followed him to the Dungeon. The signs had been there — the hints of uhe maniputing words — but he had brushed them aside, ging to the belief that Hector was being a friend. He remembered what the other s had said, how Hector was only relutly ag against him in order to help his family. While a small part of Krion was sympathetic, all he could see was Hatsune being kicked over the edge of the railing to fall into The Pit. No, Hatsune had paid the price for his failure to see through Hector’s lies.

  The image in his mind shifted to the Leporine slumped against the Dungeon pilr, her lifeblood staining the stone. He had been too trusting, too blind. Everything that happeo her was his fault. His nails dug into his pals as he swallowed, the bitter taste of guilt a choking him. He made a vow to himself, that he would never agaihat naive. What was that saying again? Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

  The silen the room felt oppressive as he pulled himself back together. He couldn’t let his emotions take hold. Not now. Hatsune needed him to be strong, to stay focused. He had gotten them out of the Dungeon, and they had survived. But he still had to make sure she was safe, that she was getting all the care she needed.

  Krion swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood shakily, testing his bance as the room seemed to sway for a moment. He took a few slow, deliberate steps toward Hatsune’s bed. Standing alongside her sleeping form, he looked down on her delicate face. Up close, he could see that there was a faint flush to her cheeks, a sign that whatever healing had been done was w. He reached out, gently brushing a lock of hair from her forehead, his firembling slightly. Her skin was warm beh his touch, but it wasn’t the feverish warmth he had half-feared that would be there.

  The door to the room creaked open, drawing Krion’s attention. Turning, he saw a tall woman sweep into the room, her presence immediately andi oddly soothing. Ash-blonde hair was tightly coiled into a bun, not a single hair out of pce. Fine ugh lines framed her dark eyes, giving her a look of experiend present, but restrained kindness. Much like her hair, her white uniform ristirimmed with silver embroidery that denoted a rank of some sort. A small pin in the shape of a caduceus of all things romily dispyed on her chest. The faint st of verailed her as she crossed the room to him.

  “I’m surprised you’re awake, what with how exhausted you were getting out of the Dungeon,” she said softly, her voice gentle and soothing, much like one would expect a o have. “You should really get some sleep. Don’t worry. You’re both safe now.”

  Krion had a good idea where they were, but he o ask to be sure. “Where are we?” He looked back down at Hatsune. “Is she… is she going to be alright?”

  The nurse smiled, a hint of sympathy in her eyes. “You’re on the first-year non-emergency floor of the Infirmary of the Imperial Academy. A Sentinel found you both colpsed outside the entrao the first-year Dungeon known as The Pit.” She looked down at Hatsune. “She especially was in rough shape when the Sentinel brought you both in, but the journeyman healer traihat treated her set her quickly back thts.”

  “So why the bahen?” If a healer had already seen her, Krion would have expected no bao be needed.

  “I did say she was in rough shape,” the nurse said, turning back to Krion. “The trai most of the injuries but made the decision to the remnants of the injuries ht just to be safe. I’m just sorry we weren’t able to save the others.”

  “Others?” What did the nurse mean by that? He didn’t remember anyone else in the area when he had brought Hatsu of the Dungeo alone anyone who was injured.

  “Yes, your party,” she said sympathetically. “Another pair of Sentinels checked up to where the instang effect of the Dungeon kicked in, but no one else was found. Given how long it has been, they likely died in the Dungeon. I am sorry.”

  “Umm…it was just us,” he admitted quietly, gng down at the sleeping Leporine. “Me and her.”

  The nurse’s brow furrowed in disbelief. “Just the two of you?” she said after a moment, her tone shifting to one of . “You attempted The Pit with no team? No healer?”

  “No, we…” Krion trailed off. He thought quickly over what had happened, how a group of ss and their bodyguards had essentially forced the both of them into the Dungeon for the monsters dowo dispose of them. No, he couldn’t say anything about that. But he had to say something close to the truth. He tinued, hoping she hadn’t picked up on the reason for the long pause, “…actally fell down the hole into the Dungeon.”

  “You… actally fell in?” The nurse’s lips pressed into a thin line as she digested his words. “You were fortuhat you didn’t fall too far then, and that you turned back befoing too deep…” She trailed off as she saw something in Krion’s eyes as he shifted on his feet. “You didn’t turn back, did you?”

  Krioated again, the weight of the truth pressing down on him. He could feel the words g at his throat, but he forced them down. He looked back at Hatsune in an attempt to buy ara few moments to think about what he should say. While he did so, the epped closer.

  “As a member of the Academy Infirmary,” she said slowly, “I am forbidden from sharing any information about my patients or their injuries without permission from the patients themselves, unless said information or their injuries pose an immediate threat to other students or staff. Now, please answer my question.”

  “We actually fell a bit further than that,” Krion admitted. “To the bottom floor of the Dungeon, actually. Practically outside the Boss’s room.”

  “Dest figuration, then?”

  “Yes,” Krion firmed the nurse’s guess on the figuration of the Dungeon. “Hatsune was hurt pretty bad after fighting against some of the monsters.” He let out a breath. “We decided attempting the Boss might represent the more likely path to survival.”

  “Of course you did,” the nurse pressed a hand to her eyes. “Describe the Boss and its room to me.”

  After Krio eneral description of the Boss and the room it was in, crifying briefly how the s behaved at the start of the fight, the ook a step back, her eyes wide as she absorbed the information.

  “A Brute-type Boss in a hostile enviro desigo hamper any attackers?” she murmured, half to herself. “Those are some of the most difficult figurations to face for first-years. Even older students with full teams might struggle in such a figuration.” She looked back at Krion, her eyes searg his face. “And you… you ma with just the two of you?”

  Krion leaned back slightly, uneasy under her scrutiny. “It wasn’t easy. We almost didn’t make it.”

  The nurse shook her head, still struggling to prehend what he was saying. “How? The Brute-types are notorious for their raw strength and resilience. How did you even bring it down?”

  “We found some runes on the pilrs he start of the fight,” Krion expined. “Whe them, the s shifted from attag us to seizing the Boss, which was dragged back to its ptform.”

  The nurse’s expression grew more armed. “But immobilizing the Boss e. How did you survive o broke free at full strength?”

  Krio her gaze evenly. “It didn’t get free.”

  “It didn’t… get free?” she repeated slowly, her tone disbelieving.

  “I killed it before it could break loose,” Krion crified.

  The nurse’s hao her chest as though to steady herself. “No real damage before it was immobilized, and you killed it before it could break free,” she said softly. “That… that’s unheard of.”

  Krion shifted unfortably. “We didn’t have much choice.”

  The nurse walked over to sit down heavily in the chair by Hatsune’s bedside, her face a mixture of amazement and disbelief. “And then the Dungeon deposited you outside, I assume,” she said, more a statement than a question.

  Krion shook his head, fused. “No? We had to fight our way back up and out.”

  The nurse’s head snapped up, her expression now angry. “You…you fought your way out? Why in the name of the Seven Princes would you do that? Why didn’t you just wait for the Duo send you out?”

  Krion froze, embarrassed. “The Dungeohat?”

  The nurse’s jaw dropped, and then her face turned a furious shade of red. “It does that?! Of course, it does that! Dungeons like The Pit that only have a single Boss automatically eject surviving delvers from the final room following a short period of time after the Boss has beeed. It’s standard knowledge for anyone who’s ever paid attention to the most basic of Dungeon delving information!”

  Krion winced under her tirade. “I didn’t know,” he muttered.

  “Didn’t know?!” The nurse’s voice rose another octave. Krion noticed Hatsune’s ears curl slightly, but she stayed asleep. “What kind of s are you? How could you not know something so fual?”

  Krion’s sileretched unfortably, and the nurse’s anger gradually gave way to fusion. “Wait a moment,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “What is your css, anyway? Did you unloe already, and that was how you mao survive all of that?”

  Krion awkwardly shifted, trying to avoid eye tact. He could already guess how she was going to respond to what he was going to say. “I don’t… have a css yet.”

  The nurse’s expression froze, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. For a long moment, she simply stared at him. “You don’t have a css yet?” she repeated slowly, as if the words were fn to her.

  “Not yet,” Krion firmed, feeling a wave of embarrassment rising. “I… haven’t even started looki, holy.”

  The nurse’s shock turo ht disbelief. “You… don’t have a css,” she said again as if trying to make sense of it. “And you went into The Pit? Killed the Boss? Fought your way back out?”

  Krion nodded slowly, though her tone made it sound as if he had just cimed to perform healing miracles using a rubber chi he found outside the infirmary.

  She let out a long, slow breath, her hands trembling slightly as she pressed them to her knees. “I don’t know whether to call you a fool or a prodigy,” she said finally. “Probably both. But ohing’s for certain — unless you are leaving something out, you are reckless beyond belief.”

  Krion offered a faint, apologetic smile, refusing to add anything else. The other ss were a problem he wao spend some time thinking over himself, at least for now. “I’ll try to do better ime.”

  The nurse groaned, rubbiemples almost violently. “ime? Don’t even think about it until you’ve taken proper steps to prepare yourself, and you have picked a css!” In a violent motion with one hand that Krion had trouble trag, the nurse made a g movement and the fmes of both dles in the room abruptly went out. The only light in the room came from the hallway beyond the partially opened door.

  “I think that’s all I take for the night,” the nurse said standing, rubbing her face. “I would ence you to get some sleep tonight. You have css in the m.”

  The nurse walked out, pulling the door closed behind her. Just before it shut, she spoke once more.

  “And don’t worry about the Leporine,” she said, her voice back to its reassuring tone. “She will be well enough to go with you to css tomorrow. Good night.”

  Hope you all ehe test chapter!

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