Waving his hand Dhruv began a metal platform below their feet stopping them from freefall.

As the metal took shape he began sure of one thing, ’None of them are mages...’

It wasn’t very hard for him to come to this conclusion...

As a magician, one has an instinctive control over the external mana around them, making it very hard for anyone to harm them within this proximity. But the duo in front of him...

There was nothing like that around their mana.

This could only be the result of two things: either they were better manipulators than Aurora, or they didn’t have any control over external mana.

The former was impossible, which left him with the obvious one.

Flaring his wings, Dhruv reached the duo in an instant. Before he could ask anything, though, a question came flying his way.

"You have wings," With a face full of surprise the man with the bow asked.

"Yes, it’s an extension of my ability." Knowing he would use his ’monster part’ pretty often, Dhruv had already made an excuse.

"Forget about me... why are you falling like this?" Creating a platform for himself he asked the question he was curious about.

"You’re Dhruv, right? Right?"

Instead of an answer, a question came once again.

’So they know me...’ Dhruv nodded as he looked at the guy with the bow.

"I’m Oscar. I’m a huge fan of yours... I was so eager to meet you. I tried soo hard to meet you on the upper floor but just couldn’t do it. Please can I shake your hand? Please..."

If not stopped the man could just go on and on on his own...

"H-ha-ha... Th-thank you," Muttering... Dhruv slowly moved his hand accepting his handshake.

’Fan... like fan... fan.’ Dhruv had seen people admiring him numerous times, but hearing someone say they were a fan... a literal fan of his... this was a first for him. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Controlling himself he repeated his question once again, "So, why are you here again? Looking at your condition... you guys aren’t in the best condition to hunt monsters."

"He wanted to meet you..." Richard replied with a smile.

"Just that..."

"Just that... not easy to believe right!?"

"It’s not really easy to digest... but I mean what is nowadays..." Dhruv muttered looking at them suspiciously.

After thinking for a while he continued, "...Still, You could’ve waited at the top to meet me... I mean, there wasn’t any need for you to risk your life to meet m-me here, right?"

"Actually, there wasn’t any risk to our life," Oscar said.

Dhruv looked at him and asked with curiosity, "Huh? How so?"

Richard explained everything once again... only this time, he did it more perfectly, focusing more time on every bit of it, as if there wasn’t any room for mistakes.

"You’ve got quite the theory there with you..." Pausing, Dhruv asked, "So, how long have you guys been falling for?"

"We’ve been falling for 30 minutes straight," Richard replied with a smile.

"Huh! You okay... five or ten minutes would have been fine... but falling for 30 minutes straight... you guys all right.." Hearing their tale Dhruv was beginning to have sympathy for them.

"Still, it wasn’t wise for you to come here unprepared."

"If you hadn’t met me, you could’ve continued falling for God knows how long."

"Well, we ha—" Oscar was about to say something but stopped.

"Huh!"

"Nothing..."

"So yes, how could you have starved yourself to death... not considering getting yourself mixed in with a bunch of monsters,"

"We are strong enough to deal with these monsters," Oscar chimed in between.

Hunting was his specialty, and Oscar wouldn’t let himself be outdone in this department... not even by his idol.

"I could guess that... haha!" Dhruv remarked, looking at his bow.

"It’s an epic one."

"Hmm! Looks quite good, if I say so myself," Dhruv smiled.

After observing them for a few more seconds, he came to a conclusion. "So how do you want to continue... do you want to go up or hunt here?"

"We will hunt," Oscar quickly replied.

"We choose to go up," Richard answered calmly.

Dhruv was surprised to see two totally different answers.

"So, which one is it?"

Before Oscar could say anything, Richard turned to face him and explained, "We have no way of efficiently hunting here... or do you want ’him’ to continue helping us?"

"Shit... I didn’t think of this. Sorry to say this, sir... but we have to go up. If the floor after this is simpler please let me accompany you once. I want to show my ability."

’Right... it is nice that they can make a logical conclusion. It is good for them. Well, it’s not like I was planning on helping them or anything...’

"Huh! In the excitement of meeting you, I almost forgot to ask this..."

"Ask what?"

"Can you let me join your guild? I’ve seen you don’t have any arc—"

"What guild?"

"Huh! The one you’re part of."

"We aren’t part of any guild."

"W-What... then all of them you’re hunting with?"

"Ohh! Them... they’re more like a family than a guild. Does everyone think we’re a guild?" Dhruv asked curiously.

"Y-Yeah! Is that really not the case?" Oscar asked, not sure how to proceed.

"There isn’t anything to gain from lying... is there?"

"No, not really."

Disappointed, Oscar looked at Richard and whispered something. He then turned back to Dhruv and sighed with disappointment.

"I can’t force you to accept some random guy into your family, so... I guess there’s no way for me to partner with you. I was so eager to hunt with you..."

"Can I still accompany you in some of your hunts though,"

"I have a better plan..." Smiling Dhruv remembered something and continued,

"...We plan to open a guild soon. If luck is on your side, you could be among the first to join it."

’Your plan is coming together...’ Dhruv smiled remembering his conversation with Aurora.