Episode 28.5

The following day, Lecan and Arios went down to have a meal at Lady Turtle (Fengel) period, and left the inn at two of Fengel.

Afterward, <Good-for-Nothing (Grindam)> left and came back in the evening.

<Grindam> is a three-persons party.

Shortspearsman, Tsuinga.

Dualaxeman, Bruska.

Mage Yoana.

These three members of <Grindam> have a slightly unusual personal history.

All three were born in Tsubolt, and became adventurers here, but Dungeon Tsubolt is too tough for beginner adventurers. Thus they each went to different dungeons outside town to hone their strength. At this point of time, none of them knew one another.

Eventually they all met at Dungeon Sotel. And formed a party together. Which was when they found out they hailed from the same city.

And every one of them also had the same goal, to go explore Dungeon Tsubolt one day.

They went home to Tsubolt together and began their exploration of <Dungeon of Swords>.

It's already been three years since they first stayed at <Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn>.

They have been slowly working their way deeper into the dungeon, and today they're one of the <Depth Walkers>. They're now first-rate adventurers whose fame is known throughout the city.

"It would please me if you could heat the bath."

Tsuinga tends to speak like an old man. Brawny and muscular with a bald head to boot, he looks 10 years older than he actually is.

"I'm taking the first dip, you hear me."

Yoana has a good physique for a woman. Her rather rough speech doesn't help her looking 5 years older than her actual age.

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"Okay then, I'll go in after you."

Dualaxeman, Bruska has a medium build with no particular feature that stands out, but due to his awfully calm demeanor, he looks 7-8 year older than his age.

<Grindam> looks like a gathering of people in their 30s. However, they are all only 27 in reality, they've still got a long road ahead of them.

The reason why Nark knows their ages is because Nark's father and Bruska's father are good friends, Nark's father even taught Bruska his adventurer's knowledge. Nark's father also gave dual axes he found in this dungeon's depth to Bruska. Due to that circumstance, Nark knows Bruska well, and since the other two are of the same age as Bruska, naturally he's ended up knowing theirs too.

The bathroom is connected to the dining room through a door in the back. The tub is barrel-shaped, you heat up the water by putting and kindling firewood below. As it's got walls, roofs and a door, you can get in even in winter. It's located in a secluded area in the yard, hidden away from the streets. There's a big open window inside the bath with a clear view on vegetable and flowers growing in the garden. <Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn> is an inn where you can take a bath.

"Nark-san. We've gotten to Floor 92."

"Hou! That's mighty impressive. Ya did great sonny."

"Thank you. But please stop with the sonny."

Nark is old enough to be Bruska's father and even knew Bruska when he was a baby. There were times when he taught him the basics of swords too. Hence he would occasionally call him like he was still a boy.

It was another cold night, <Grindam> members warmed themselves up in the bath and had a toast.

Lecan and Arios never came back.

Must have moved to another inn.

He thought they were planning to stay at his inn for a while, so Nark found it a bit unexpected.

"Oh dear, it's so lonely without Arios-chan around."

Nell murmured while doing the clean-up.

"Maybe, they're staying overnight inside?"

"Naw, can't be."

There is no one who stays overnight in the dungeon here.

No matter which floor you're exploring, going back to the surface is as simple as going in the stairway you came down from and then warping back to the surface from there. Besides, regardless if your goal is gathering magic stones, treasure chests or defeating giant variants to go deeper, after spending the whole day fighting inside, it's just more efficient to go outside and heal your wounds, restore your stamina, repair your gear, replenish supply and have a good rest to resume exploring the day after.

Though it's another matter if you're doing a protracted battle.

Protracted here means fighting magic beasts inside a room, then leaving the room to heal your wounds and stamina, and sometimes even having meals before going back inside the room to resume the fight.

Dunno how it's like in other dungeons, but at least in this dungeon magic beasts don't step outside their rooms. And the damage you inflict on them doesn't recover, or extremely slowly even if it does. Thus this tactic got established.

Of course, the only time you employ this tactic is when you're up against a giant variant. If a party has to resort to this tactic against common magic beasts, that means that floor is too early for them. And they'd consume more than they earn, so there's no point in employing that tactic. It's only meaningful utilized in the battle against giant variants in order to go deeper below.

Lecan and Arios had just started challenging <Dungeon of Swords> today.

They can't possibly end up in protracted battles on early floors. If a party resort to that just to get to the next floor, that party is too weak to tackle <Dungeon of Swords>. Additionally, as there are a lot of people who wish to challenge giant variants on shallow floors, you can't just monopolize them. The rat the two hired would surely inform them that.

That said, Nark just can't see those two getting killed on shallow floors.

As such, he believed they must have gone to another inn.

Only realizing that he was mistaken evening on the next day.