After the first day of the Dungeon practical, things began to go much more smoothly for Lefiya.
The reason was entirely due to her establishing something that could be called trust with the 7th Squad. Having demonstrated how an Orario adventurer got things done, Lefiya was respected and even more idolized by Nano, Miliria, and Cole.
“In the event of an irregularity in the Cave Labyrinth, one possible response is to proceed to a lower floor.”
“In the Dungeon, where it gets more dangerous the deeper you go?”
“I know there’s the safe point, but…it definitely has to be easier to just go back, right?”
“Because it is the Cave Labyrinth, where its structure of caves and tunnels can produce both the worst and best possibilities. It goes without saying that it’s safer to turn back, but…there are situations where that may not be possible. So just in case, keep that possibility in mind.”
“…Escaping into the tunnels is crucial. They are supposed to appear randomly, but is there really no system or pattern to it…? Do you know, Lefiya?”
“That’s a good question, Luke. The caves and tunnels within the Cave Labyrinth are always in the process of opening and closing. Rather than appearing at fixed points, they are concentrated in certain areas at certain times—”
After exploring the Dungeon every day, they would borrow an open room and hold a debriefing and discussion session.
The students eagerly spoke up and asked questions, and Lefiya answered them.
Luke was embarrassed at first, but he carefully heeded Lefiya’s instructions and began to ask her more about what she could teach him as an adventurer. He also made an effort to improve his tone.
His initial desire to save the people suffering around the world had not changed, but he had stopped seeking to advance at unreasonable speeds. He was grappling with what he could do now while trying to find the most efficient way he could achieve without pushing himself or his comrades to an early death. His steadfast earnestness was dazzling to Lefiya.
“You tend to be proactive and go on the offensive, Luke, but you should also learn some of the perspectives and techniques of those who focus primarily on defense. And Cole, you have a habit of hanging back, but you should try to be more aggressive and develop more offensive capabilities. Milly, you should work on more efficient Mind management and Concurrent Casting. And Nano, you should learn the spirit of the great tree…I can teach Nano and Milly, but Luke and Cole, you would do well to rely on Professor Leon and the other teachers.”
And more than anything, Lefiya became more active as an instructor.
Of course, it was not as if she had been holding back before now, but things had changed after her recent epiphany about both the joy of teaching and the responsibility of providing guidance. Stopping by with a cup of tea, Alisa cheered the return of the old Lefiya when she saw her in the guest room, scrawling notes with her quill pen.
And as her instruction of the 7th Squad improved, next up was a full-blown seminar.
“There are adventurers who are much wiser and more experienced than me. Far more than I could count. So I can teach you the change in values that comes with becoming an adventurer after being a student here. Think of it as an update to a student’s perspective regarding Orario.”
She was speaking in a lecture hall.
Every seat in the conical room was filled. There were even some standing in the back to listen. Students’ eager gazes focused on Lefiya as she spoke from the podium.
Her seminar drew a large crowd of hopefuls.
Of course, students whose first-choice career was adventurer were given some priority, but many students seeking other combat careers responded eagerly, and the seminar ended up being moved to the largest auditorium on the academic layer on short notice.
Since she was a graduate of the School District, an active second-tier adventurer, and a member of Loki Familia, her seminar was undeniably popular. As an aside, the adventurers who came as typical recruiters usually did not hold seminars like this. This one was happening because Lefiya was especially in demand as an alum.
“The Dungeon is alive. Many scholarly treatises and papers have said as much, but it has a different meaning to us adventurers. The Dungeon possesses a will. There is a moment when the underground labyrinth that births monsters without end aims to kill adventurers.”
“…!”
“In the course of your fieldwork, I imagine you have ventured into monsters’ dens and ruins, but in the case of the Dungeon, it would be better to understand it as a place where nature—or perhaps it would be more apt to call it a natural disaster—is itself the enemy. Though adventurers might defeat monsters, we have all been defeated by the Dungeon.”
When she first learned how many people had signed up, Lefiya was nervous, but standing at the podium and facing the great crowd of students, she was oddly not nervous.
With a calm mind, she recognized that she would have been only a few days ago, even as she had the presence of mind to observe their reactions while she spoke. The sound of chalk on the blackboard she had been provided filled the lecture hall as she neatly marked a diagram in elegant Koine.
“Other than the presence of the Dungeon, what makes Orario unique is the number of familias. The Labyrinth City boasts the largest concentration of deities, and it is not lacking in turmoil. When I first joined a familia, the thing that left the strongest impression on me was the warning to be careful of sneak attacks at night. Because we were Loki Familia. In later days, I would learn painfully just what that meant…”
As much as time allowed, Lefiya also tried to instill in them the psychological readiness needed to be adventurers in an Orario familia. She felt that her analysis and experience would be more valuable than what they could learn by looking it up themselves.
And that was probably correct.
What the students wanted from this seminar was not knowledge they could learn from teachers but the honest, frank voice of experience.