9 Chapter 9: Boring first Dungeon run

-Two weeks later-

The entire class was currently inside a large cavern that had a broad staircase leading to the Academy's private dungeon.

Because of course, they had a private fucking dungeon. Money really can buy you anything in life here. Well, from what I learned about it, it was "donated" by the Royal Family to the Academy in hopes of improving the curriculum and practical lessons. Well, I suppose it was a good idea.

But that doesn't change the fact that it was still going to be lame. Less lame than the boring theory lectures I tolerated sometimes when I absolutely couldn't skip them, but still boring.

'Let's see. We'll be fighting the lowest-tier monsters in the dungeon. Because that's all that spawns here. Basic Level 1 to 10 garbage. That's not even spare change at my current level.'

Seriously, I was genuinely thinking of skipping this class but two things stopped me.

Firstly, Olivia requested me to attend it.

Turning to my side, I found her standing beside me, completely serious and a tad nervous. She was wearing the standard brown leather armor provided by the academy, with green accents.

Looking around, the other girls were the same, except that they had custom dyes and some modifications. You could customize your armor, as long as you didn't change the enchantments.

The boys' armor was… okay, what the fuck was this discrimination?!

Why do girls get a proper leather top armor and boys only get a damn leather patch to protect their hearts? Isn't that unfair?

I mean, sure, it doesn't really matter to me.

I could solo this dungeon even naked with nothing but my hands, but that still didn't change the fact that we were being discriminated!

'… wow, I must say I kind of understand the feminists from my old world better now. Well, the ones who were actually fighting for equal rights for females anyway. Seriously, this world is intentionally designed to make guys like me hate the female gender.'

Olivia was my only solace in this shitty world in a way. She was the best because the majority of the others were stuck-up bitches. I would say Eris was my favorite too, but she acted more like a subordinate than an actual friend most of the time. Not that I blame her. That was our relationship, after all. And she did loosen up in time, making fun jokes now and occasionally acting cute.

Anyway, enough about that rant. I wasn't going to start masculinism or some shit in this world to gain equal rights for men. I didn't care enough to bother.

The second reason why I had attended—and this MAY have been 60% of the reason for my presence here— was standing in front of the students.

"All right, everyone!"

The buxom woman in front of us spoke, gathering everyone's attention, especially the male students, with me not being an exception.

She was the hottest teacher in this entire academy.

Professor Ava Fluer Wendelle was the source of wet dreams for the majority of the boys here and even some of the girls… or at least that would be the case if the brats here had fucking eyes. Like, what the fuck, nobody, not a single boy, seemed to look at her in that way! (A/N: Since she didn't get a name in the anime or manga as far as I know, I gave her a name myself. Was kinda surprised that I didn't notice her character in my first read, but now that I'm re-reading manga and re-watching anime, I gotta say, she's smoking hot. Would totally smash.)

'Tsk, tsk. These kids are still wet behind the ears. Screw them. I am not going to ignore the eye candy in front of me.'

As a man of culture who understood the charms of a mature women, unlike these brats and chicks, I couldn't help but judge them.

I suppose they were still young and somewhat innocent in that regard. Most were just around 15 but… One would think the teenagers would be brimming with sexual energy.

Or maybe I was just too horny in my early and mid-teens.

I can't deny that I was. Always been like this, ever since I discovered the playboy magazine from under my elder brother's bedsheet(a terrible place to hide your porn, by the way) at age 9. That was a life-changing moment indeed, but I digress. Moving on.

The raven-haired beauty was stunning and even with those red nerdy glasses she was wearing, she couldn't disguise her charms. She wore a high ponytail and black chokers, with a white shirt that had a more than healthy cleavage shown by the string that kept her shirt together. There was quite a strain on them because of what they were trying to contain, though.

Like, damn, those were BIG.

Unfortunately, the treasures were mostly currently hidden behind a large red grimoire right now.

Not sure why she was carrying a book in a combat-oriented class. Perhaps to hide herself from the lecherous gazes of the students—like me, though I was smart enough to not show it outwardly. What? I am a pervert, but the world doesn't need to know that now, do they? Just because I want to go to Oppai Heaven of DxD doesn't mean I'm like the perverted breast freak.

She was kinda shy in person even though she most certainly dressed to impress. I had talked to her a few times. She was quite interested in me… or rather, my adventures.

With everyone's attention on her—and mine definitely not being on her assets—she began.

"It's your chance to apply the physical and magical skills that you've been learning to test. You've been learning new magic and weapon-handling skills. But the best way to understand your progress is by putting them to the test in a real-life battle. And for that purpose, this dungeon will be incredibly beneficial to you.

Since this is your first-ever dungeon exploration, you will only be going to the third level. Your task is to collect any mana crystals you may find and defeat monsters you may encounter in the process. But remember, you don't have to fight every monster. You must also learn when to avoid them and how to go past larger groups of monsters without catching their attention. Stealth and battle sense are both important when you're inside a dungeon.

Finally, be sure to keep a calm mind. This might seem like child's play to some of you…"

At this point, I noticed her looking in my direction.

'Was she looking at me just now?'

I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but she soon turned her gaze to others as she finished her speech.

"… but that doesn't mean you should let your guard down. That is highly lethal. Never let your guard down, people. Do you understand?"

""Yes, ma'am!""

The students echoed in chorus.

And with that, her speech was over. Say what you want about her, but she was dead serious about her job and a genuinely good teacher.

After that, we were divided into teams.

And this is where things went differently than in canon.

We were divided into groups of 5 or 6. And interestingly, my group had two members from the main cast.

"Ian, we are on the same team. Yay!"

Olivia cheered, feeling relieved and joyful that she got on my team.

I smiled back.

"Yay indeed."

'Yeah, she doesn't need to know. We were supposed to choose our own groups. I guess she didn't pay attention to that bit. Probably because of how tense she is right now. But this is a surprise. I didn't expect 'her' to be in my group.'

I looked at the prim and proper blonde who stood a bit further away from Olivia and me, with her two lackeys.

She stood there devastated and depressed, though she hid it fairly well behind her façade of a Ducal princess.

A few minutes ago, she had a very public argument with the prince and his new female 'friend'.

That Marie girl seemed to be doing quite well, considering she was already favored by a few of the power ranger boyband members.

Long story short, Angelica saw her sticking to the prince, got mad, got into an argument, lost the argument because the prince is kinda dumb and easily manipulated, and now she was the subject of all the murmurs going around.

Angelica was not having a good day.

But how did that link to her being on my team?

Well, the others, being the sheep that they are, isolated her. Even her own damn lackeys seemed to be unsure. So, she sucked up her pride and came to me, who only had Olivia on my team because I refused to carry the amateur little shits here. Some of the fuckers had the gall to demand that I help(read: carry) them. Yeah, not gonna happen, bitches.

Seeing I didn't have much to lose and I did want to gain some favors with her, I accepted. Her lackeys demanded that she be made the team leader. But I made sure they understood who was the one in power here. I'll still be technically carrying them through the dungeon given they're all noobs, but I will make sure they do their fair share of work.

At least, Angelica seemed to not mind. She was probably still distracted by the incident from before.

"Well, then."

I started, looking at the group.

"I guess we are all set. Let's go in first. I can see the others are still meandering about, waiting for some to enter first."

'Pussies.'

"I have no intention of wasting my time here. So, here's the plan. We'll be following the 2:1:2 formation, with I and Angelica as front fighters, Olivia will be our support and will be in the middle, and finally, the two of you as our reserved fighters, protecting us from any surprised attacks from our blink spots."

I pointed to the two lackeys who seemed to be a bit grumpy because I didn't bow down to them like the rest of the male students. At least they were paying attention and didn't question me and instead nodded. Yeah, damn right. Listen to your betters, you chicks. I was exploring dungeons when you were growing your first pubes. Okay, that makes me sound like an old man. I was still technically in my 20s. And technically, I was also growing my first pubes when I started hunting monsters to earn money and buy equipment pieces. Anyways.

"We'll be interchanging the front and reserved fighters every 20 minutes to ensure everyone gets a fair share of fighting experience. Our goal is to reach the third floor within an hour. Professor Wendelle said we have 3 hours to finish it, but that's way too long for just traversing the first three floors. I reckon most would finish in around the 2 to 2-and-a-half-hour mark, but our team has some of the best students, like the honor student Olivia and Angelica here who are adept at support and offensive magic. And from what I can see, the two of you are decent at close-quarter combat."

I once again turned to the 2 no-name lackeys. I believe their name was mentioned a few times, but I couldn't be bothered to remember. I'll just refer to them as Fem lackey 1 and Fem lackey 2 from now on. Of course, not in front of others. That'll piss them off and I don't want to be bothered dealing with some angry stuck-up girls.

"All in all, this should be a walk in the park for our team. So, don't worry about this being your first dungeon exploration, and let's aim to finish first. (So I can go and try to flirt with our hot teacher—is definitely not my intention.) Does anyone have any questions or complaints?"

I finally asked after laying out everything. Honestly, I was being overkill right now. There were only a couple of ants and some monkeys and maybe a few mole rats at best on the first few floors.

But it doesn't hurt to show off my knowledge.

Judging by the impressed looks on the team members, including Angelica, I would say I succeeded.

It was easy. Too easy, in fact.

… Actually, what was I doing trying to impress some inexperienced teens?

'Ugh, I am supposed to be the adult here. Why do I act so silly sometimes?'

Anyway, once I got their nod of agreement, we began our adventure.

As we were approaching the stairs that led to the first floor of the dungeon, I noticed another group making a move.

'Seems like the boyband and their shared onahole—okay, that was unnecessarily rude, me. Stop being a total jerk. Anyway, they are making a move too. At least their team is the same as from what I can remember. The 5 power rangers and the Marie girl. Meh, good for her.'

Our eyes met for a brief moment at that time and I noticed her shudder and then cower behind the blue-haired prince.

'… Guess she's still afraid of me. Welp.'

Luckily, no one found anything suspicious. Noticing the reaction of others, it seems the prince thought she was scared of Angelica. Speaking of Angelica, I gave her a glance and noticed her ignoring the other group entirely.

'Hmm, better than what I expected. I thought she would be glaring at the Marie girl—Oh, never mind she just glanced at them.'

And her fingers were now twitching furiously.

'Hmm.'

I focused back my attention in front, leading our team to the core of the dungeon.

***