Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Giving a bright smile, he looked at Irene's crystal blue eyes and said "Yeah, I let my guard down for a second and got hit from their attack. But you don't have to worry, the wound isn't deep and would quickly heal after some time".

Irene Didn't know why but she moved her gaze away the moment she realized that Simon's bright eyes were staring straight at her. "If it's light then it's good, it should heal away in no time given your recovery skills," she said in an impassive tone.

Simon locked his brows in surprise because given the way Irene spoke previously and now, there was a huge difference. If previously her ice-cold voice pushed others far away then now it no longer had that distance feeling whenever she talked to Simon.

It might be him imagining things too much but he felt like he had closed the distance between them ever so little.

Though her voice still had that coldness that pushed people far away, it might be because of her inborn powers. Given how even Simon was able to tell the difference, it seemed that Irene herself was unaware of the drastic change she had gone through a few months after coming in contact with Simon.

Cecilia riding on top of the Bloodthorn Demonic Warhorse looked at Simon and Irene from behind as they walked side by side. A cute smile bloomed on her face as she watched the two discussing something. To her, they looked just like a couple.

Irene was the most beautiful woman she had ever met and although Simon was a demon, he was far better than any human and coupled with his courage and headstrong attitude made him a perfect match for Irene.

The thoughts of the five-year-old girl spun as she observed the two of them and smiled. Maya who was beside Cecilia was also staring at the two of them. Simon's honest speech earlier struck a chord in her, he had not only helped her best friend when she was being chased by those adventurers but also risked his own life to save them.

A sense of gratitude rose from the bottom of her heart as she said "Thank you for saving all of us master and mistress of the dungeon".

"Eh?" Simon was walking at the forefront almost fell onto the ground when he heard what she said. Looking towards Irene who for some reason was avoiding eye contact, he couldn't help but laugh awkwardly.

He didn't know what had transpired after he had left nor the reason behind them calling him and Irene in such a way. Of course, he didn't take the words of a child less than eight years old seriously

"Don't think too much about it. Cecilia is one of us now, that being said saving you all who are her clansmen is a given. Anyways we are gonna approach near the dungeon soon" saying so, he hurriedly changed the subject.

However, Maya still bowed her head deeply in gratitude, it was not only her but all of the forest spring sprits were the same as they bowed towards Simon and Irene. To them who had lost all hopes of surviving, Simon did a huge favour by not only saving them but even rescuing Cecilia, the daughter of their patriarch from the evil clutches of those adventurers.

Even if Simon did not see it that way, as the eldest here, Maya clearly knew how big of a debt they owed to him.

Seeing their serious and haggard expression, a strange feeling that even he couldn't put into words welled up within him. 'Dammit, kids should be more carefree and free-spirited'. One look and anybody could tell that they had gone through a terrible experience. He could see in their eyes worry, anxiety and defeat.

All of this was because of those adventurers who had discarded their humanity. Whenever he thought about those humans he met back near the ancient treants territory, he erupted with a belly full of anger.

Unbeknownst to Simon, the pride fragment within him started to affect his emotions ever so slightly and his eyes glimmered with an unknown light

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After marching a while, they finally approached near the vicinity of the dungeon from where he could use the teleportation.

Turning around Simon observed all of the Forest Spring Spirits and said "Get ready everyone. From here, I'm gonna teleport every one of you to my dungeon. Once inside, you all will become the inhabitants of my dungeon. As long as you help me manage the dungeon, I promise to protect you all with all my strength".

Looking at the Forest Spring Spirits who became awed by his spirited speech, he nodded and opened the teleportation gate. Space became distorted and started rotating, a wide warp hole appeared that connected the outside with the inside of the dungeon.

Just when he was about to lead everyone inside, a boy who appeared to be one of the eldest among the children there came up to him and asked.

"Why did you save Cecilia... what notice do you have behind helping her?" without cowering, Jarred looked straight at Simon's crimson that looked like they could devour one's soul.

Looking at the boy who was staring straight at his eyes without blinking, he could see the boy's strong determination to seek the answer. Giving it some thought in his mind, Simon sighed and said "I don't know what kind of heroic answer you were expecting but I'm not your hero, I'm a demon after all. Even though I'm a demon, I chose not to abandon a girl who had lost all hope and whose eyes sought help".

Simon put his hand on Jarred's head and continued "I don't know if this answers your question or not but I decided to live my life to its fullest. At that time I decided to save her and so with you all, I'm a selfish demon after all" a wicked smile plastered on his face.

The boy seemed to be stunned as he continuously looked at him. Simon thought 'Did I say something weird?' as he looked around and saw that everyone present had a stunned face.

Unsure, he turned towards Irene and was bewildered to see her laughing while covering her mouth with her hand. Cough… with a forced cough, he decided to become thick-skinned and ignore the situation.

"Let's get inside" Simon couldn't delve into this any longer as he had other matters to look after. With that, all the Forest Spring Spirits went into the portal.

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SPLASH… with a wide swing of his longsword, Chuck killed one of the wind wolves that jumped at him from behind the mist.

CLANG… CLASH… scenes of battles continuously rang out inside the wide cavern covered in thick mist. And after a while, the cavern seemed to become completely silent and only the footsteps that echoed could be heard. "Leader we have cleared all the monsters on this floor and I contacted the other team it seems they found the entrance to the next floor" one of the adventurers leading a team of ten people came up to Chuck and reported.

Currently, Chuck was seated on top of a large rock as he listened to the report, his hand was continuously fondling an object.

It wasn't long before the other team also joined them. Lina walked towards Chuck and with a cheerful smile, she reported "Hehe, leader we found the entrance to the next floor". She acted as if she wanted to get praised before she took something out from her ring and presented it to Chuck

"Look leader I found something and there is a lot of them in here". The object she had in her was a small crystal glimmering with a silver light. Silver crystal, a material used by blacksmiths all over the world to forge weapons and artifacts.

Though it is not a rare ore, it is still in high demand as all the blacksmiths and apprentice blacksmiths require a huge amount of these crystals every month to craft.

Not only that but the appearance of Silver crystals means that there would be a chance for Whitesilver, Blacksilver, and other such rare minerals to appear.

Chuck looked at the Silver crystal on her hand and that beautiful smile on her face. He couldn't help but tease her "Do you mean this crystal? The other team found them a long time ago".

"Eh?" Lina looked like she received the shock of her life. She glared at one of the warriors who was the leader of one of the teams and pouted.  Snort, she thought that since the mist restricted their vision, nobody would be able to spot the Silver crystals growing on the walls.

However, it seems that wasn't the case as the other team was also able to spot them.