Episode 28.13

The morning after.

Nark overslept from drinking too much.

As he walked to the kitchen while dealing with his hangover headache, Nell was doing a clean up.

"Hm? Someone had breakfast?"

"It's Lecan and Arios. They went out already."

"Went out?"

"They couldn't wake up <Grindam> folk, so just two of them headed off to the dungeon."

"To... dungeon? That's insane."

"You're insane."

"Stop shouting ya."

"Sluggish ain'tcha? I'll brew you tea. Now go take a seat."

As Nark sat in a dining room's chair absentmindedly, Nell brought him a nice smelling tea.

He felt better after a while, he could finally think things calmly.

Some things are bothering him.

<Willard> has got two people. But two can't explore the depths.

The numbers of spawned magic beasts per room in <Dungeon of Swords> are dependent on the floors. Floor 1 to 9 are one, 10 to 19 are two, 90 to 99 are ten. Overcoming the last one requires five to ten people. Outsiders like knights would even dispatch a thirty man unit and go in the room in turn. Even <Grindam> usually paired up with a five person party, fighting in a group of eight.

What about <Willard> then.

Frighteningly enough, he's never heard of the two ever mentioning doing cooperative diving with another party.

To begin with, unless you're like <Grindam> who's native to his town with many acquaintances here, or a large party that has ten or more members, you have to go through mediation office run by the town lord if you want to find other party for cooperative diving. You normally stay in an inn under the same management until they find a party that meets your conditions.

And yet <Willard> settled down in <Rafin Rock Terrace Inn> right after arriving at this town, and they never seemed troubled by that.

Considering all that, the two must have been exploring on their own all this time. However, two can't explore the depths.

Nark could feel his head aching as he pondered, so he stopped thinking.

The following day, <Grindam> and <Willard> went in the dungeon together. They returned late again that day. They broke through two more floors in one day, and got five Grace Gear that were sold for five big gold coins. They had a toast but everyone were going to retire early to their rooms.

"We're diving in again tomorrow. Departing at Small Turtle period."

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

Thus Lecan proclaimed.

Arios nodded with a look of resignation on his face, but the three <Grindam> members objected.

"Oy oy. We have broken through more floors today as well. It is now time to take it easy and celebrate."

"Yup. Earned a lotsa too. What's there to do but partying it up."

"It's important to take a break. Let's have a day off tomorrow."

"They're right, Lecan-dono. Let's not get hasty now, okay."

But Lecan wouldn't budge even under the four's protests.

"Fumu. Resting is indeed important."

"For sure."

"So you do get it."

"However, taking a half-baked break will get you in a slump. Now that we've got our coordination right, we should push ahead till a good point to pause."

"Lecan-dono. Where is this good point at?"

"Floor 100."

The dining room fell dead silent.

"Floor, 100?"

"Yeah. Heard the really good Grace Gear are dropped from floor 100 onward."

"It's impossible. Do you have any idea what kind of place is floor 100?"

"No, no clue. What kind?"

"Us local adventurers call floors 100 down <The Other Side>."

"Hou."

"Floors 100 down are like a wholly different plane than floor 1-99."

"That it is."

"Fumu. Then we'll get to floor 99 first. We'll think about our future plan then. How's that sound."

"I am fine with that. But, can we please rest tomorrow?"

"Yesterday was a rest day. Resting after every single day is too much. Tomorrow we dive in. But if you guys don't want to, that's alright."

"That's..."

The three <Grindam> members fell silent.

(Tch.)

(Yer' pretty much telling 'em ya can go on without 'em.)

(Go join other party if ya don't wanna.)

(But to <Grindam>, this is their chance to break more floors.)

(Prolly don't wanna to split up with <Willard> still.)

Nark was going to cover <Grindam> but stopped short. This is not something an outsider should butt in. The decision should be made by the parties concerned.

"Lecan-dono. Now that we finally work nicely together, we'll go in with you tomorrow. But can you let us take a break the day after tomorrow, you two can go around floor 90s on your own then."

(Go around?!)

(Going around on floor 90s?!)

(And did he say the two of 'em?)

This was when Nark was truly convinced these two are well beyond his common sense to comprehend.

At any rate, the five of them dived in the following day and got down to floor 97.

The day after that was an off day, then they got to floor 98 the next day after and floor 99 the day after that one, after which they took a three day break.