Episode 31.8

They had a blast that night.

Lecan always knew Nark and Nell could cook some real good food, but the dishes that day were something else. Had no idea they could make such a feast.

Vegetables of all kinds combined into a dish complements each other flavor, furthering the tastiness.

Lecan had never been into vegetables before even though he would eat them together with meat sometime, but there were times when vegetables really impressed him. And this night was one such times.

The people present there were all fun bunch as well.

<Grindam> and <Willard> were the only adventurers. Which might have made it better in a way.

The frequent nighttime customers of <Rafin's Rock Terrace Inn> are those who are familiar with the dungeon even if they're not adventurers themselves. Naturally, they understand how difficult it is to get beyond floor 100, and thus they know when to extol adventurers who have crossed over to the <Other Side>.

Everyone congratulated them, the party turned even livelier.

Lecan was quite satisfied as well.

The best thing about dungeon diving is the getting your hands on treasure chests after a life and death battle, and enjoying good booze and good food afterward. Although it's not like they've conquered the dungeon, crossing beyond floor 100 in Dungeon Tsubolt is virtually the same as conquering the whole dungeon in other places, or even higher than that. It was more than a challenge as well.

However, the day after, Lecan woke up, recalled the fun yesterday, and then he completely erased that from memory, turning his sight toward the next challenge.

"You're up early, Arios."

"Good morning, Lecan-dono."

He greeted Nark on the other side of the counter as well.

"Yea. Hey Nark, morning."

"Ou. Ya eatin'?"

"Sure."

Nark went in the kitchen.

"Last night was so much fun."

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"Yea."

"<Grindam> folks probably will be staying in their beds."

"Yeah just let 'em sleep."

"Yes indeed. I'm sure it's one of those rare times in life where you can sleep without a care in the world."

"Must be."

"I'm planning to look for boots and clothes somewhere a bit far today. Apparently there's this district where they specialize in selling those."

"No. We're heading for the dungeon today."

"Eh? You're kidding, right?"

"Have I ever joked around before?"

"Feels like you haven't, or wait, have you. Eeeh? It's just yesterday, you know? Shouldn't we take a seven day break to rest our weary bodies?"

"You're not even that tired."

"That's not true at all. Are you aware just how much I have got to run every single day."

"That part eh. There's something I must test out no matter what. Break can come after."

"Shouldn't we stay at <Summit Honors Mansion> before we dive in the dungeon again?"

What Arios means here is that they can't find people to join on exploring floor 100 and below if they don't stay there.

Nark came back bringing breakfast, Lecan thanked him.

Afterward, Nark got back beyond the kitchen, where his living space is.

"No. We're going with just us two."

Arios's face turned grim.

"Lecan-dono."

"Hm?"

"Thanks to the rooms being spacious in floor 100, we can make use of our abilities to the fullest, affording us to make quick work of those beasts."

"Yeah, that's right."

"However, were I roughly put numbers on floor 100 <Guardians>' strength, if I'm 10 then each one of them would be 7 to 8. And that's before factoring the possibility of their magic, or Grace Gear, which could inflate those numbers to 11 or 12."

"Fumu. Yeah, sounds right."

"We managed to overwhelm our opponents yesterday because we were together with <Grindam>. I alone can handle a single 7 or 8-strength enemy by myself easily, but against two, it would be quite a struggle. I have no chance of winning if three of them come at me all at once. We snatched victory yesterday because <Grindam> had the enemies' attention. It's just not possible for just us two to deal with five of those beasts."

"If there's five of them, that is."

"Eh?"

"There's probably only two <Guardians> that spawn when two people enter the inner passage."

"Eeh?"

"There were no magic beasts in any room when we stepped on floor 100. Not even one. Five magic beasts spawned in a room once we got inside its inner passage."

"Is that really a thing?"

"Many dungeons worked like that in my previous world."

Arios got lost in thought.

"Also, my world had dungeons where numbers of spawned enemies correspond to how many people there are in a party."

"Please hang on. There was this what's-its-name eight person party that's been diving on floor 100 down."

"Eight person, guessing you're talking about <Gwintyr Era Slupiner>."

"Ah, yes that. Does that mean that party has been facing eight magic beasts in a room?"

"Nah. Supposedly most parties exploring beyond floor 100 today consist of about ten people per group. And yet five magic beasts per room is still seen as an established fact. Five is probably the max amount of the spawn."

"But that's nothing more than Lecan-dono's conjecture, isn't it? You haven't actually stumbled upon information about a party of four encountering four beasts or three encountering three beasts, have you?"

"Nope. It's more like a hope than a guess."

"Hope?"

"Ain't it gonna be fun if it does."

"You're really."

Arios looked stupefied.

"If five beasts spawn when it's just us two in a room, it's gonna be the end of us. Will you really bet your life just because it's fun?"

"This two beasts for two people theory is nothing more than instinct. But my entire being is telling me that instinct is the truth. And I gotta make sure of that no matter what."

"Err. Won't there be only one beast if you go alone?"

"That's a possibility yeah, but there's simply no telling what's going to happen if there's less than five people entering. While the two of us can deal with most situations. And if five magic beasts end up spawning, no choice then, I'll use my last resort."

"Last resort?"

"Yeah. I'll defeat all five of those beasts with this last resort if they show up. Is that all right with you?"

"All of them. Those things? How do you even."

"Hence, last resort."

Lecan's got several <Bomb Shells> in his inventory. He had them made in exchange for a huge amount of money in his previous world. They're ordinarily used to breach sturdy castle walls and such, their destructive force is beyond any magic Lecan knows of. And since it's not magic, magical defense does nothing against it. They're irreplaceable last resort that he can never get his hand on ever again, but he won't hesitate to use them when the time calls for it.

Arios ruminated over it for a while before sighing out.

"I suppose this is what makes one an adventurer. Then I might as well have you teach me the ways of adventurers to the very end. Fine. I'll go along with it."

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