Athena dove into the dungeon since the morning.

  The dungeon was connected to a shallow underground water vein so here and there water would overflow. Athena splashed her way through the water and continued in deeper.

  「Haa haaa…….f-finally I can move while defeating monsters.」


  From behind her Karen walked calmly and easily through the ankle deep water.

  「Congratulations Princess Athena. You’ve taken a step forward.」


  「Un. Thanks for keeping an eye out for me Karen…….I never thought that fighting while moving around was so difficult.」


  Athena had only trained in raising her magic power and magic strength til now. But after she had gone into dungeons she realized that that was no good.

  「Onee-sama made it look so easy, but it’s actually hard.」


  「That’s right. Dianeia has the power to take down a dragon so I’d say she is at the forefront of humanity in power.」


  「Un, I need to learn from her.」


  Athena nodded at Karen’s words and continued to advance, but each step was heavy.

  Even at the best of times walking through this waist deep water would sap her endurance, but what was worse was that it was filled with magic power.

  「…..for water with magic in it to fell this heavy…it surprised me.」


  「For normal people the magic in this water would make them magic drunk or so pressured that by the time they were submerged this much they wouldn’t be able to move…..you’ve become quite strong Princess Athena.」


  She remembered when Athena had first entered and couldn’t even advance even when running. The magic in the water had seeped into her body and stiffened it so she couldn’t move. It was quite troublesome.

  「If there wasn’t a dungeon like this we would have had to buy tons of cheap potions and created a pool to train in, but as expected a natural one is best.」


  「Ahaha……that was sudden….it looks like it’ll take a little longer to move.」


  Athena was feeling difficulty in lifting up her feet right now and once again thought that dungeons were scary.

  「Are there people that can move normally in places like this? Onee-sama seems like she should be able to.」


  「Dianeia should be fine. Also if there are people like me they should be able to as well.」


  「You mean Dragon Kings?」


  「Yes, this magic water is almost no different from normal water to us and someone else……the one who is even stronger than us could move through here easily.」


  Karen said gazing at empty space. Athena knew who she was thinking of.

  「Yeah, Daichi-oniisan would be fine. After all, he brought that amazing magic juice before.」


  「He drinks that daily and easily…he’s truly outside the realm of normalcy.」


  Karen said and clenched her fists.

  「Somehow just talking about him made me want to see Daichi. I’ll be going through withdrawal symptoms pretty soon.」


  「Ahaha. Karen’s thinking of Daichi-oniisan all the time and getting worked up. You’re a bit like Anne-san.」


  Athena said and Karen looked a little sullen.

  「It feels a little strange to be compared to that girl…but I can’t deny it.」


  The calm and collected Karen of the Capital city would become very expressive when exposed to Daichi’s power.

  Her sharp personality would mellow out as well.

  …….well despite that her personality wasn’t that strict and cold to begin with.

  Athena thought it was a nice change nonetheless. Plus…


  「Un, I know how Karen feels. I wanna see Daichi-oniisan~」


  It felt bad not being able to see that strong and kind man who she looked up to. However, she knew she couldn’t leave this training unfinished.

  …….she couldn’t show him such a shameful thing.

  That’s why Athena wanted to do her best to get stronger.

  「…..this dungeon’s depths are connected to the forest right?」


  「Yes. Though it is very deep within.」


  「So if we do our best and keep going we can meet Daichi-oniisan right?」


  Athena said and it seemed to reinvigorate her spirit.

  Fuu, she breathed out and stood once more.

  「Ok then, break time’s over. Karen I’ll try to move forward some more!」


  「Yes, I’ll keep a close eye on you so please try your best Princess Athena.」


  And so Athena and Karen continued deeper into the dungeon.