Two days later, the group arrived in a small town, which was half a day away from their destination.
All three of them were already tired from flying for several hours, so they decided to spend the night in an inn and rest.
They booked two rooms.
One room with two beds, and one with a single bed.
Nicole and Samantha naturally shared one room, while Ethan had a room all for himself.
Originally, they wanted to book three rooms, but Ethan voted against it.
He said that since they were in an unfamiliar place, it would be best if the two ladies were in the same room together.
Although Samantha had experience working in a team, her offensive capabilities weren't that good.
With Nicole sharing the room with her, the two of them would be able to react if something suddenly happened.
Ethan, on the other hand, had three protectors with him.
Lilith had come along with him on the journey since Emma couldn't accompany him. The Cat Kin was also very happy because her Master was finally free from his lovers, who would often sneak onto his bed at night to sleep.
There were also times when Ethan, Luna, and Lily would go to the Tree House to do more intimate things. seaʀᴄh thё NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
As for Lilian? The most they did together were hugs, kisses, and cuddles.
Both of them wanted to nurture their relationship more so that when the two of them truly joined together as one, it would be one out of love and not out of necessity.
Ethan's Other Half reluctantly accepted this arrangement out of respect for both parties.
Even so, Lilian's and Ethan's Legacies were growing stronger the more they spent time together, which was a good thing.
Since he would be unable to gather any magic during his expedition with Nicole in the dungeon, the young man brought with him four magical bracelets which Luna filled to the brim with her magical power.
He deemed that they would be more than enough to last him until the dungeon expedition was over.
At least, that was what he was hoping to happen.
Nicole told him that it might take them almost a month for them to reach the 20th Floor.
This all depended on how many monsters were currently in the Dungeon, as well as the number of people who were challenging it at the same time.
Ethan only knew about Dungeons through the books that he had read in the library.
No one knew where and when a Dungeon would form.
Even after years of studies, these questions remained unanswered.
However, there was one thing that they did know.
If someone were to reach the lowest floor of the dungeon and beat its final boss, they would be left with a few options.
The first one was to leave the Dungeon and let it stay the same as always.
The second was to break the Dungeon Core, making the dungeon lose its powers to spawn Monsters at regular intervals.
Once that happened, the Dungeon would remain open for only a month or two before finally sinking into the land, never to be seen again.
The last option was to take the Dungeon Core and plant it somewhere else.
This method could only be used once because a Dungeon could only be relocated once.
When the Dungeon Core is placed in a new location, it would start from scratch, only having a single floor.
It would take the dungeons months or even years to spawn another floor, which was a very time-consuming thing.
Dungeons that were found in the wild were usually cleared and relocated somewhere else, which would be decided by the ruler of the land.
They would then build a city around the dungeon, converting the land into a prosperous Dungeon City.
This was a very common tactic, and the place where they were headed was one of these Dungeon Cities.
For some reason, Teleportation Gates didn't work in these places.
Because of this, the only way to reach them from the outside was to teleport to the nearest city and then travel by land or by air to reach their destination.
"Rest well," Nicole told Ethan before going inside her shared room with Samantha. "Tomorrow, we will head straight to Otto City, so don't wander off in the middle of the night to find someone to warm your bed for you."
Samantha giggled after hearing Nicole's statement.
Ever since Ethan had guessed the color of her underwear, she no longer teased him or asked him any personal questions.
The young man was thankful for that.
Before they knew it, the two had become closer and talked about many things, which was the only thing they could do on long journeys such as the one that they were taking.
Samantha even complained that Nicole should have borrowed a flying ship from her family or a flying carriage so that their journey would have been faster and more comfortable.
The healer from Terra Manor didn't know that Nicole had planned to do just that. However, her brothers and sisters were a tad faster than her, securing all the Flying Ships and Flying Carriages available before she could even blink.
The only saving grace was that not all the members of the Asta Family, who were participating in the Heir Wars, were headed to Otto City.
Some of them were sent to other Dungeon Cities, preventing a bloodbath from taking place.
Currently, Nicole and two other members of the Asta Family were designated to challenge the Weeping Dungeon of Otto City.
The first one to reach the 20th Floor would then move on to the next round of challenges.
Each Heir was allowed to bring two people with them inside the Dungeon.
There would be someone from the family who would serve as the observer, ensuring that the rules of the Heir Wars were being followed by all participants.
Those who would break these rules would be disqualified from the selection, and their family names would be stripped from them forever.
The Asta Family wouldn't tolerate rejects as their future Heirs.
"What time will we leave tomorrow?" Ethan inquired.
"Seven," Nicole replied. "We will eat breakfast at six and make our final preparations before we leave."
Ethan nodded and went inside his room to rest.
As soon as he locked the door, Lilith jumped out of his shadow and stretched her body.
After that, she glanced at the wall to her right side, which was Nicole's and Samantha's room.
'Hmph! Silly girl,' Lilith sneered. 'My master doesn't need to look outside for a bed warmer. I can warm his bed just fine!'
Of course, Ethan had no idea what the black cat was thinking. He simply went to the bathroom to take a quick shower before using a bit of Magic to dry his hair.
After that, he sat on the bed and lightly patted his lap, making Liilth jump on it.
"I'm sorry for always keeping you inside my shadow," Ethan said as he lightly stroked her black fur, making Lilith purr. "I'm sure that it must be uncomfortable there."
"No, Master," Lilith replied. "Being inside your shadow is actually very comfortable. It feels like I'm being hugged by your entire existence. Most of the time, I just take a nap when I'm inside your shadow and only wake up when I sense danger coming near you."
"I see." Ethan nodded.
He didn't really know if Lilith was just saying this so that he wouldn't feel sorry for her. But since she insisted that it was comfortable being inside his shadow, he no longer said anything and patted his Protector's head, who would be sleeping beside him that night.