Even though the enemy was more powerful than they expected, they still managed to clinch the victory. This fact alone was more than enough to earn a celebration! Of course, not everyone joined in on the mindless celebration mood.
"What are you doing?"
Aster asked Kali, who was kneeling before the Red Cave Spider Mother's corpse, to take pictures of it from various angles. She spared a short glance at Aster before continuing what she was doing, snapping pictures without a pause.
"Mutants are more or less unique monsters; as such, there's little known about their properties." She explained. "I'm taking pictures and will write a report on its properties and abilities before submitting it to the Monster Records and Control Division later."
Aster raised a brow, hearing about the troublesome things she was about to do.
"Is that... something that adventurers are required to do?" He asked.
"No. I'm just doing it just because," Kali answered without stopping what she was doing. "I'm actually an aspiring Cryptozoologist, and researching unknown monsters like this one is one of my few real hobbies."
"Cryptozoologist...?"
Aster could recall the term, but it was used to refer to those who study mythical creatures of folklore such as Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, Yeti, or such.
'Did the meaning of the word change with the advent of dungeons, perhaps?' He mused.
Curious, he watched Kali do her "hobby" until she snapped a thousand images from all angles.
"With this, it should be possible to recreate a 3D model of it." She sighed, showing a genuine smile while reviewing the images she took.
Aster felt a little envious watching her. "Hobby, huh?" he muttered with a sad undertone.
Due to his disease, the only thing he could call his hobby was helping out in the laboratory at times or studying plants and other living things as part of his curriculum as a biologist.
"Well, a hobby or two wouldn't hurt." He shrugged lightly.
"W-What do you mean? I'm no princess." She scratched her cheeks awkwardly.
Everyone present more or less learned her relations right as she gave her name, hearing her last name. However, the person herself was dismissing her apparent connections with the Dragonseal family.
She might be trying to hide her true background, but there's no way such an awkward disguise would deceive anyone. She should've used a different last name, at least, or maybe dropped the "Von" in the middle!
Aster shrugged before turning to her with a serious glance. "Well, suit yourself. Anyway, what brings you here?"
"Ahh~! Cood ish be... you wanna join our parshy~?"
The tipsy Cassy interjected, her body wobbling left and right as she held a beer mug. "You're more zhian welcome~! Ehehe..."
"She has a good background and has little to no possibility of being an enemy. "I am more in favor of accepting her as a member than of having that clingy vixen by your side." Kali spoke in a fast manner.
Tina didn't miss her small taunt and reacted.
"Haa?! Ya picking a fight, you bitch?! Come outside; I'll take you on!"
"No need to go outside; that's too bothersome. Let's do it here, right now. What? Are you perhaps afraid of losing? I'm level 6 now, with you being level 5, so maybe you're scared?"
Not only was she speaking fast, she was even becoming talkative! Aster patted Tina's head, making her quiet down, before turning to Liz, who was still awkwardly waving her hand.
"L-Like I said, I don't have such a good background." She claimed, dismissing Kali's words. "I'm just a lone adventurer, planning to reach the highest rank of S-class with my own strength. However..."
'A lone adventurer without background wouldn't be able to casually donate 200 million Tels, though.' Aster thought as he put down his mug before focusing on listening to Liz's words.
He knew that the main topic was about to come out of her mouth.
Her face turned serious before she nodded her head. "Just as Miss Cassandra and Miss Kali said, I would like to join your party."