Just as I was glancing at Allen with a grim face, Michelle approached.

“Juno, I’ve already contacted Teacher Gina for now. The military already knows, so she’ll arrive right away with Adrian. I also contacted the police, and they said they’ll come right away to set up a police line.”

“Ah, thank you. Michelle.”

Michelle seemed to have listened to the request despite trembling.

“You should go outside the stadium now, too.”

“But……”

“We’re Awakeners, so don’t worry. Everyone will arrive soon.”

After sending Michelle out, I turned back towards Allen.

Allen was still holding his sword, glaring at the ominously floating gate. He looked ready to charge into the dungeon at any moment.

I carefully opened my mouth to Allen.

“……I know you have several times more experience closing dungeons in New York than us, Allen. I also already know your team is promising. You can even close high-level dungeons alone? That’s impressive. You must have received a lot of training that I don’t know about. But we have to wait for the adults together. We’re still young, Allen.”

“And if I don’t want to wait?”

Allen paused for a moment and asked with a harmless expression.

It didn’t seem like a threat, but a genuine question of what would happen if he disobeyed.

But to me, it’s all the same.

I tried to suppress my boiling anger…

I spat out each word with a trembling voice.

“Yeah, you hopeless case. If you don’t want to, then fine. Go into the dungeon alone. And come out after closing the dungeon all by yourself in a spectacular way. But remember this one thing.”

“Juno?”

“If you go into that dungeon, I won’t exchange a single word with you for the rest of my life.”

“……What?”

Allen’s eyebrows twitched. Victor also seemed to have noticed I was really angry and quietly stepped away.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, then dropped a bomb on that innocent face.

“You’re also banned from coming to our house from now on, Allen Jade!!!”

My shout echoed through the football stadium.

* * *

“Juno! Are you okay? Are we very late?”

Teacher Gina, who rushed into the stadium out of breath, checked on us. Benjamin and the soldiers followed behind her, along with Adrian.

“Juno, are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. I’m not. You came too, Adrian. That’s a relief.”

Meanwhile, Allen had his arms crossed and looked at Adrian with a face full of dissatisfaction.

After controlling two troublemakers, I felt like I could cry with joy at seeing a model student.

I grabbed Adrian’s hand and shook it up and down wildly.

“Adrian, I missed you. I didn’t know I’d miss you this much.”

“Huh? Really?”

Adrian’s eyes widened as if surprised.

“But we just saw each other at school today…”

“A lot has happened since then. You don’t know how I feel.”

I desperately held back the urge to lean on Adrian.

In the meantime, the soldiers who came down with Benjamin used the dungeon grade measuring device to calculate the grade.

Benjamin approached us and said,

“The measurement result shows the dungeon is D-grade. We should be able to suppress it without difficulty. Thanks to two of you being at the stadium in advance, we’ll likely be able to close it quickly.”

“So it’s D-grade after all. As expected.”

I felt Allen’s eyes boring into the back of my head from behind me.

It was like the gaze of a disappointed cat saying ‘I told you so,’ but what difference would it make? I easily ignored Allen.

Just then, Benjamin’s gaze turned to Allen.

“Hmm? The student is……”

“This is Allen Jade from Tieson Boarding School in New York. He’s Juno’s childhood friend.”

At that, Benjamin opened his mouth and said “Ah.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you in passing. You were guarding the front of the gate together with Miss Juno? I don’t know how to express my gratitude for this.”

Benjamin’s reaction was extremely friendly. Allen only nodded with the corners of his mouth raised.

Well, the New York Dungeon Team was the first middle school dungeon team launched in the United States. Their achievements were so incredible that personal information about the dungeon team students circulated not only in the news but also in the mass media.

So Benjamin must know about Allen too.

“I don’t think it’s good to delay any further. Now that all the team members are here, let’s enter the dungeon as is and close the gate.”

“Yes.”

Tools made in collaboration with military supply companies. Preparations to enter the dungeon with safety equipment were complete.

That’s when Allen stepped forward.

“I’d like to go in too.”

Benjamin turned to look at Allen, seeming a bit flustered.

“I appreciate your help, but Mr. Jade, you clearly belong to New York, and the gate opened in Connecticut. The five of us have enough strength to close a D-grade dungeon.”

“Still, isn’t it better to have one more set of hands? Please let me go in too, Officer.”

“But the school and Mr. Jade’s parents will worry……”

Then Allen smiled brightly and said,

“My parents won’t be interested in my work. You can check with the school dungeon team, I already contacted them. I got permission in advance.”

At those words, I flinched and raised my head.

……When did he even contact Tieson?

Allen seemed to have finished all the preparations to enter the dungeon with us from the beginning. And he drove the point home, saying,

“I’m also worried about sending Juno into a dangerous place. I promised to protect her for life since we’re childhood friends.”

Then Adrian and Victor’s gazes all turned towards me at once.

I looked at Allen with a considerably flustered face.

“No, there’s no need for you to protect me……”

When I refuted, Allen gently shook his head as if he couldn’t concede.

“Still, no, Juno. Leave you alone in such a dangerous place and stay still? I’ll help, so take me with you. Wouldn’t it be safer to have one more person?”

No, just a moment ago you said it was a low-level dungeon you could sufficiently close alone. You said it yourself. What’s with the sudden modesty?

Just then, Adrian and Victor’s gazes stabbed into my cheeks.

“……Childhood friends?”

“What? Protect for life?”

Those blatant stares made my cheeks itch.

“What, what is it.”

And then they scattered again. Victor looked like he had things to say that rose to the tip of his tongue, but he barely suppressed and swallowed them.

I tapped the stadium ground with the tip of my foot, keeping my eyes on Allen. He didn’t yield his intention at all despite Benjamin’s difficulty.

“I’m sure I’ll be helpful if I’m there, Mr. Trumpets. I have a lot of experience and won’t be a burden.”

“Of course that may be so, but……”

Benjamin trailed off, hesitating.

“Then, sorry to ask, but can you tell me your exact grade and attribute, Mr. Jade?”

Benjamin would also find it troublesome to have more hands as he had to work with and take care of high school students.

I inwardly hoped Benjamin would refuse Allen in a roundabout way.

But on the other hand, I also knew well that he couldn’t do that.

Despairingly so.

“My attribute skill is Demonic Swordsmanship, and my grade is S-rank.”

At Allen’s confident words, Adrian and Victor’s gazes fixed on Allen.

This time, in a more wary direction.

* * *

‘It’s no wonder they’re surprised. S-grade skill blossoming is quite tricky. But to think there’s another one of our kind who cleared the quest, it’s surprising.’

S-grades have high base stats, but they can only blossom their skills after clearing a quest that’s grueling enough to die or with my help.

However, Allen was in a state where his skill had blossomed even before meeting me.

It was ‘Demonic Swordsmanship (S)’.

Allen explained that he received an uncanny sword to be used for Demonic Swordsmanship (S) at the same time as his awakening.

It was called the ‘Demon Sword’.

Allen said he could summon that black and slender sword lacking luster, the Demon Sword, whenever he wanted.

I recalled the scene from the news again of Allen cutting a goblin in half.

What was scary was not the hideous appearance of the goblin, but the guts to kill such a monster without batting an eye.

‘So it wasn’t an empty boast that he closed an S-grade dungeon alone.’

I vowed to myself that I should investigate whether an S-grade dungeon had ever opened on Earth after returning home. After all, I don’t go around memorizing the grades of all the dungeons that appear on the news.

Anyway, Allen’s sword is the Demon Sword.

An almighty sword that can cut anything and be summoned at any time.

Entering the dungeon with Allen may be a bothersome thing, but on the other hand, it was also an opportunity to clearly see his skills with my own two eyes.

Yeah, even if I think it’s a crisis, I can just make it an opportunity. I’ll just watch him without doing anything noticeable.

‘Come to think of it, what is the “Predator” title? There was no explanation about the title……’

Could I find out about this in the dungeon this time too?

In the end, our team decided to subjugate the D-grade dungeon together with Allen. He had told the school dungeon team in advance, and there was no reason to refuse an S-grade Awakener.

“Why do we have to be on the same team as that idiot?”

Victor grumbled with a displeased face, and Allen glanced at Victor and chuckled.

“You said Victor, right? Watch and learn a lot from what I do.”

“Hey, stop getting on my nerves……”

“Please don’t fight, you guys.”

“No, but he started it!”

“Anyway, I said don’t fight!!”

I shouted. Victor looked at me with a flinch.

Benjamin said there wouldn’t be much of a problem, but what I was worried about was the battle of nerves between these two.

Rationally, it seems right to get between the two and mediate, but……

‘It’s a hassle.’

I quietly stood next to Adrian.

“Huh? What is it, Juno?”

“Nothing. I’m just most comfortable by your side.”

Adrian looked at me with a face of not understanding why, and just smiled.