Holding onto the sleeve of the staggering Riona, I made my way through the crowd toward Lili.

“What is it, Li—Instructor Ituka?”

“Can I borrow a bit of your time?”

Exchanging glances with Oujin, I turned back to Lili.

“I don’t mind, but… Oujin, sorry, but could you drag Riona to the entrance of the girls’ dormitory in my place? You can dump her somewhere around there. She should have at least enough homing instinct to make it back on her own.”

“Y-You want me to approach the girls’ dorm!?”

To Oujin, the girls’ dormitory must be akin to a web of a black widow spider. The man who had remained composed even before a dragon was now grimacing in fear and embarrassment.

Honestly, I think he’s overreacting, but to be fair, if he goes too close, he might really get surrounded by the girls. They probably wouldn’t attack him, but still.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

“Fine!? What makes you think that!?”

“It’s fine. Just go.”

“No way! I’m not going unless you explain why it’s fine!”

“It’s fine. See?”

As I pushed Riona’s waist toward Oujin, Lili cleared her throat and spoke to him.

“That won’t be necessary. Belzhein, Oujin, you two come along as well.”

“…Huh? Us too?”

“Yes. If you have the time.”

“O-Of course!”

Oujin nodded enthusiastically.

For him, the War Maiden was likely an object of admiration alongside the Sword Saint Blythe. And if he was to take down the Sword Demon, he would at least need to be on par with them.

Or maybe he was just relieved that he wouldn’t have to go near the girls’ dormitory. …Probably the latter.

“Then, let’s go.”

As Lili nodded and began walking, Oujin and I, still gripping onto the unresponsive Riona, dragged her along in pursuit.

The place we were led to was the usual rooftop. By the way, the rooftop of the main building of Lehan Royal Knight Academy is normally off-limits.

Yet, when Lili unlocked the penthouse door with a key, Void was already there waiting. Seeing him, Lili narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Why are you here first? This area is restricted.”

“Came in through the window.”

Void answered shamelessly, and Lili sighed before giving up with a simple, “I see.”

It seems that in the year before the ceasefire when Hunter Void participated in the war, Lili had quite a hard time dealing with him. I can already picture the scenes.

Well, considering Lili was the one who had given me, Blythe, a hard time, I guess it’s just karma.

Incidentally, when Team Three gathers on the rooftop, they also enter through the penthouse window. It’s probably best not to let Lili know about that.

Once everyone was on the rooftop, Lili closed the door.

Void pointed at Riona and asked me, “What’s up with her? Something happen?”

“Ah, seems she was shocked to have lost to you in the rankings.”

Riona shuddered. She was silently shedding tears. Poor thing. There, there.

Void clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“What a joke. That was obvious from the start. —More importantly, Ituka, whatever you want, hurry up. I’m not here to waste time.”

As if you had anything better to do than nap on the rooftop.

Lili gently rebuked him.

“Show some respect, Scale.”

“Yeah, yeah. Instructor Ituka.”

After pausing as if to gather her thoughts, Lili finally spoke.

“You all know the results of the instructors’ meeting regarding the Dungeon Curriculum, right?”

We exchanged glances and nodded.

Simply put, since there was no confirmation of a dragon, the exploration would continue.

“At this rate, sooner or later, there will be casualties. To be honest, I was debating whether I should go in alone and wipe out all the monsters from the seventh floor onward.”

Everyone except me was left speechless.

Oujin was the first to speak.

“W-Wait a minute. No matter how strong Instructor Ituka is, that’s just reckless.”

“I’ve seen your strength firsthand on the battlefield, but I’ve also seen the homunculi and dragons. You cut down a homunculus, sure, but wasn’t that only because Eremia set things up for you?”

Even Void and Riona were taken aback. They must have thought it was impossible.

“Lili-chan didn’t see that dragon, so…”

“Call me Instructor Ituka.”

We gave a detailed report on the homunculi, the dragon, and the number of goblins and ogres we had defeated.

Judging from the size of the living quarters, there were likely still many ogres hiding and surviving. The homunculus aside, there was no guarantee that the dragon was the only one of its kind. And the existence of that monster that reduced the dragon to mere ashes was still a mystery.

Moreover, given the vast scale of that dungeon, even if a full company of knights were sent in, it wouldn’t be an easy conquest. The proper approach would be to send multiple companies over several years, carefully probing the depths.

And yet…

Even if no one else understood, I could comprehend what Lili was saying. Because on the battlefield, Blythe was a lone beast, cutting through hundreds of enemies.

If Lili truly was Blythe’s equal, then perhaps solo dungeon conquest wasn’t entirely out of the question.

“But if you go off and do something like that on your own, won’t you get fired?”

Riona asked.

“It’s fine. They can’t fire me. That would mean going against His Majesty’s will.”

“Oh yeah, you only became an instructor because Kilpus ordered you to, right?”

“Eremia, call him properly—His Majesty.”

I know that, but he’s still my parent. In my past life, he was my friend.

Calling that guy ‘His Majesty’ doesn’t sit right with me. Even if I have no choice.

“And even if I do get fired, I don’t really mind. I was planning to leave the military once I retired anyway.”

Kilpus would probably be on the verge of tears hearing that.

Well, no one needs to report to the other instructors about who cleared the dungeon. As long as no one says anything, it won’t be an issue. Though, even if kept quiet, there’s only one person capable of pulling off such a feat—the War Maiden. People would catch on.

But that isn’t the point.

Because—

“You’re beating around the bush, Instructor Ituka. If it were really that simple, you wouldn’t have consulted anyone. You would’ve gone in alone at night and taken care of it already.”

That’s what Blythe would have done.

Of course, even then, as someone living with her, I would have noticed. In our past life, there were times when she tried sneaking out at night, only for me to catch her.

“In other words, you’ve decided against doing it.”

Lili cast me a bitter look.

“…Eremia, you’re annoyingly sharp at times.”

“What do you mean, at times? I’m always brilliant.”

“That’s exactly what—”

She started to say something but then shut her mouth.

She was probably about to say I reminded her of Blythe. Whatever.

“So? First, we had to babysit Class One, and now what do you want us to do?”

Looks like I hit the mark again.

Lili gave me a troubled look before letting out a small chuckle.

“Club activities.”

…Huh?