A few things had happened with Ren in the past few days.

The first and most important thing was that they had finally arrived in the Adventurer Town of Astelvern. It was much bigger than the last town they’d been at, and for good reason too.

Astelvern was actually meant to be classified as an Adventurer City, but for some bizarre reason the Mayor of this place stubbornly decided to keep calling it a town despite it clearly being the size of a proper city. Nobody quite understood his reasoning, but the name had stuck.

Ren, along with Mandy and Eternia, had officially registered as Adventurers and were now recognized as Astelvern Adventurers. As registered Adventurers in good standing, they could freely visit the Astelvern GUILD... which was one of the biggest and most impressive buildings in the whole town to receive missions, accept dungeon clearance requests, or receive official authorization to enter the famed World Dungeon that this region was known for.

Now, a regular person unfamiliar with adventuring would naturally ask: what exactly was the difference between a regular Dungeon and a World Dungeon?

Regular Dungeons were relatively simple in concept. They were dungeons that adventurers could reach via magical portals scattered throughout the world.

Inside those portals existed different pocket dimensions holding entirely different worlds filled with various monsters and treasures.

These regular dungeons were differentiated and ranked from S-Rank Dungeons all the way down to D-Rank Dungeons based primarily on the amount of raw mana that they released into the surrounding environment.

The more mana, the more dangerous the dungeon.

But World Dungeons were fundamentally different in both structure and challenge level.

World Dungeons were massive vertical dungeons that featured actual numbered floors stacked on top of each other like layers of a cake.

By systematically climbing each floor, adventurers could go higher and higher, battling progressively stronger monsters and facing increasingly difficult mini-bosses until eventually reaching the final floor at the very top where the ultimate boss awaited.

The average World Dungeon featured about 150 floors at the absolute minimum, with above-average ones having 200 floors or even more for the truly legendary dungeons.

As for how Ren had managed to get here so quickly, especially since he was relatively new to this whole adventuring system, well...World Dungeons had a very specific and useful magical ability built into their core architecture.

They could automatically map out exactly where an Adventurer had last stopped their progress through the floors.

When an adventurer used a World Dungeon Escape Crystal to leave the dungeon in an emergency, the dungeon would record their position then when they entered the portal again later, they would magically reappear at that exact same spot where they’d left off.

Ren had simply paid a more experienced Adventurer who was already heading to this particular floor a decent sum of gold to essentially give him a ride along. And voila... he’d arrived exactly where he wanted to be with minimal effort on his part.

’And I even had Jace’s aunt right here in my arms...’ Ren thought with deep satisfaction as he looked at Astrid.

She was a beautiful middle-aged woman with golden blonde hair that caught the dungeon’s ambient light and striking blue eyes that were remarkably similar to Jace’s own features.

She was famous throughout the region as the Twilight Witch of the prestigious Twilight Guild, and most people who didn’t know better often mistook her for the Hero’s older sister because of how incredibly young and well-preserved she looked for her age.

In truth, she was a woman well into her thirties who somehow still hadn’t gotten married yet despite her beauty and status.

Ren did some quick mental math in his head.

From the time it had taken for Jace’s mother to get pregnant with the future hero, then get abandoned by Jace’s father like every main character’s father seemed to do in these stories, then give birth to Jace and raise him and train him until he was eighteen years old now... this woman Astrid still hadn’t managed to find a husband in all that time.

Then again, he really couldn’t blame her for being single... It was her choice and also her list of things she wanted in her men was awfully a lot.

’Oh right, I should thank the Goddess properly,’ Ren thought with a smile that he directed upward toward the divine being he knew was watching. ’It’s because of you that I was able to perfect my Cut technique so quickly my Dear Goddess, I’m genuinely grateful.’

『The Goddess is happy that you are grateful for her assistance and is willing to grant you a Divine Authority if you want one』

The notification appeared in his mind in those distinctive brackets that marked divine communication.

’Oh Goddess, you’re far too kind and generous,’ Ren thought back with his most sincere mental voice. ’Please don’t waste your precious divine power on such a humble man like me. I’m just happy that a higher being like yourself would stoop down from the heavens to help a mere human such as myself. I am forever grateful, my beautiful goddess.’

『The Goddess blushes and says that she will give you much more help whenever you ask for it in the future』

Apparently, somewhere along the journey while he’d been riding in the carriage to Astelvern over the two days of travel, the Goddess had reached out and personally requested to start a direct divine connection with him.

She’d initiated contact, not the other way around, which was highly unusual according to everything Ren knew about how divine blessings typically worked.

According to what Ren knew from reading the original web novel in his previous life before he’d been reincarnated into this world, Jace the protagonist usually spoke regularly with the Goddess through a special divine connection.

The Goddess supposedly had his best interests at heart and consistently guided him toward making good choices and following the righteous path.

So when the Goddess first reached out to Ren instead, he’d initially assumed that he must have done something to seriously piss her off and somehow stolen away her divine favor from the intended hero but that assumption wasn’t actually what had happened at all.

Over the days of travel in the carriage and arriving here, Ren and the Goddess had been talking frequently through their mental connection, slowly building genuine rapport and trust between them.

She had even personally guided him step-by-step through learning a very simple but devastatingly effective technique... how to eject his Blade Resonance energy outward into invisible slashes that his enemies couldn’t see coming until it was too late.

The technique was simple in concept but required precise mana control that most swordsmen never achieved.

She was like having unlimited access to an infinite repository of forbidden knowledge and secret techniques.

’Haah, I love you so much, Goddess,’ Ren thought with genuine warmth and affection directed toward the divine being.

『The Goddess says she loves you more than you love her』

’No, I definitely love you way more than you love me. It’s not even close.’

『The Goddess insists that No, she definitely loves you more than you love her and you cannot change her mind』

’Fine, but I love you the absolute most though, Goddess. You win this round.’

『The Goddess has blushed intensely from the compliment and has temporarily left the divine connection out of embarrassment』

A moment later, a new notification appeared.

『You will now receive automatic notifications tracking the current Affection Level of Target: "Astrid"』

Ren had to admit to himself... the whole routine was incredibly cringe-worthy and embarrassing when he thought about it objectively from an outside perspective.

It was like something out of a bad romance novel where the protagonist sweet-talks the love interest with over-the-top compliments but apparently the Goddess genuinely loved receiving sincere compliments and praise very much, and she particularly enjoyed the playful, flirtatious teasing that went back and forth between them.

It made her feel valued and appreciated in a way that apparently the original Hero Jace had never bothered to do.

With this divine connection now firmly established and growing stronger each day, Ren had secured a reliable method of eventually earning multiple powerful Divine Authorities... special abilities granted directly by the Goddess herself that the original villain Ren and most of the noble clans spread across the kingdom had never been blessed with.

It was a massive strategic advantage that he fully intended to exploit to its absolute fullest potential.

Astrid shifted slightly where she stood and looked at him with curiosity and gratitude in her blue eyes. "Who are you, kind sir? And thank you so much for saving me back there from that monster."

The woman had a noticeable blush coloring her cheeks as she spoke.

Ren gave her his most charming smile. "Well, the name’s Ren. No family name to speak of since I’m just a commoner. What about you, beautiful miss?"

Astrid’s blush deepened and she looked down, suddenly shy. Among the list of things that she wanted in an ideal man, he had to be very handsome and Ren, even while wearing his commoner disguise to hide his noble features, was still remarkably handsome by any standard.

"My name is Astrid," she introduced herself, then added with a hint of pride. "I’m known as the Twilight Witch. Haven’t you heard of me?"

Astrid didn’t mean to come across as bragging, but she was genuinely one of the top-tier Adventurers in all of Astelvern. Nearly everyone in the nearby regions knew her name and reputation.

But Ren shook his head with apparent ignorance.

"If there was such a beautiful woman as yourself making waves in the adventuring world, then I definitely would have heard about you and sought you out but I come from somewhere pretty far away, so I’m not aware of the local celebrities yet."

『Target "Astrid"’s affection points have increased by 30 points.』

He wasn’t exactly lying about coming from far away. The Capital where his noble family resided was genuinely quite far from this place, which was precisely why it had taken him over a week of travel to get here.

"Oh?" Astrid looked impressed and intrigued. "That’s quite interesting. You really do look quite elegant and well-mannered despite claiming to be a commoner like me. Are you perhaps actually a noble in disguise, traveling incognito?"

Ren gave her a small, mysterious wink. "Probably."

Before their conversation could continue, a broad-shouldered man with brown hair approached them with confident strides.

He was wearing a distinctive scarf decorated with a tiger monster’s head mounted on the side, and he was impressively buff with well-defined muscles. A massive halberd rested casually over his shoulder as he walked.

"Hey there," the man said, looking at Ren with a mix of curiosity and caution. "Who are you exactly?"

"I’m just a passerby Adventurer who happened to be in the area," Ren replied smoothly. "I saw that you guys needed help with that boss monster and I decided to intervene. Or did you not want me to help?"

The man... Marcus, based on what Ren knew from the novel gave him a long, assessing look before finally extending his hand out for a handshake.

Ren took it and they shook firmly.

"Thank you very much for your assistance," Marcus said with genuine gratitude. "Because of your timely actions, we were able to successfully beat the Boss Monster of the 53rd floor. That’s a major milestone for our guild. May we interest you in taking a share of the spoils as payment?"

"Ah, no need for that," Ren said, waving off the offer politely. "This is your Guild’s victory, not mine. If Astrid had managed to land that final blast she was charging up, it would have certainly won you the match anyway. I just sped things up a bit."

He wasn’t refusing the spoils because he was trying to be humble or generous. He simply wasn’t interested in anything the 53rd floor boss would have dropped... The loot from this level was beneath his current needs.

’I already asked Mother to send over some advanced Lightning Spells via courier, and Father said he was sending over some rare Starfire spell scrolls as well,’ Ren thought with satisfaction. ’This is the advantage of being born as a Noble... I really don’t need to struggle and scrape for resources as long as I take full advantage of my privileged position.’

He could learn powerful spells from expensive spell scrolls in the comfort and safety of his inn, rather than training under actual lightning storms and praying that some immense plot armor would make lightning magically coat his blade like protagonists did.

Taking full advantage of privileged opportunities and resources was almost always the optimal way to gain power efficiently.

"Well, I must be on my way then—" Ren started to say as he pulled his hand away from Marcus’s grip.

"Wait!" Astrid suddenly called out with her voice carrying a note of disappointment. Ren turned back to look at her with a questioning expression.

Astrid smiled at him hopefully. "Why don’t you join us for drinks once we’re done collecting the loot and leaving the dungeon? It would be nice to get to know our mysterious savior better."

Marcus immediately perked up at the suggestion. "What a wonderful idea, Astrid! Yes, please join us."

Ren pretended to consider it for a moment, then smiled. "Well, since Astrid herself is the one suggesting it, I suppose I can stay for drinks."

Astrid’s smile widened with obvious pleasure. "Excellent! You’ll love it, I promise. I know the perfect drink to order for you."

...

Meanwhile, in an entirely different location miles away from the dungeon where Ren was charming Astrid, Princess Azayla sat at an ornate mahogany dining table directly opposite her father, the King.

The dining hall was massive and opulent, with crystal chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceiling and priceless tapestries depicting historical battles adorning the stone walls.

Her mother had passed away from illness several years ago, and as the only child and sole heir to the throne, the mounting pressure on Azayla’s shoulders grew heavier with each passing day as the weight of an entire kingdom’s future rested on her decisions.

Her father desperately and repeatedly wanted her to get married to other princes from nearby huge Empires to form crucial political alliances that would strengthen their kingdom’s position.

The neighboring Empire of Valdris had been making aggressive moves lately, and a marriage alliance could prevent war but Azayla adamantly didn’t want that predetermined future mapped out for her.

Princes as a whole weren’t financially aware or responsible at all in her experience.

They always spent their inherited fortunes lavishly on this useless luxury item, lavishly on that pointless status symbol, throwing gold coins around like they grew on trees in the palace gardens. Regular nobles from long-established families were no different in their wasteful spending habits... entitled and financially irresponsible to their core.

As for commoners, give them even a little bit of unexpected wealth or a small windfall and they would squander absolutely everything in record time on foolish investments and temporary pleasures.

She really didn’t have any confidence left in the institution of marriage anymore after watching so many examples of financial incompetence from every social class. Everyone seemed incapable of managing money properly.

"So Father," Azayla said with barely concealed frustration, trying desperately to redirect the conversation to something actually productive and useful. "I have a new proposition about a promising new avenue of business investment I could enter into that would significantly benefit the kingdom’s treasury and our trade relationships."

Her father nodded absent-mindedly with his attention clearly elsewhere as he stared at nothing in particular then he asked the same question he’d been asking for days.

"What do you think has happened to Jace? He hasn’t sent any reports or communications back for days now. That’s highly unusual for him."

’Again with Jace!’ Azayla thought with intense irritation. ’All this constant obsessive talk about that Hero is really starting to piss me off beyond measure.’

He was the divinely chosen Hero blessed by the Goddess herself with sacred powers, so obviously he would be perfectly fine no matter what danger or challenge he faced out there.

That was how these hero stories always went in the legends and ballads...The hero always survived and triumphed...

Before she could voice that dismissive thought out loud, something completely unexpected interrupted their dinner.

A flash of brilliant golden divine light suddenly appeared in the air directly above their dining table, growing brighter and brighter with each passing second until it was almost painfully blinding to look at.

Then someone came slamming down onto the expensive table with tremendous bone-crushing force, knocking entire trays upon trays of carefully prepared expensive food aside in a cascade of destruction.

Porcelain plates shattered into hundreds of pieces, crystal goblets toppled and spilled their contents and the legendary holy sword Caliburn clattered loudly to the marble floor, its usual brilliant golden glow now completely extinguished and disturbingly dim.

The figure that had crashed violently onto the table was unmistakable despite the horrific damage.

Jace. The chosen Hero of the world and he had been completely split in half vertically down the exact middle of his body.

His internal organs were spilling out onto the table in a gruesome display, filling the expensive imported tablecloth with gore and viscera.

Blood dripped steadily down onto the polished floor below in a rapidly growing pool.

Her father immediately shot up from his chair with such force that he knocked it backward, the heavy wooden chair clattering loudly against the stone floor. His face had gone completely pale with shock and horror.

"What the fuck?! GUARDS! HEALERS! SOMEONE GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as his voice cracked with panic and disbelief but Azayla just slowly and deliberately ran her hand down her face in a gesture of pure frustration and dawning horror.

’Fuck...’