235-Chapter 16-13 lowest level, reach

So, you're saying that I worked hard and got here in a month?

'In about a month and ten days,' to be exact....

What's the difference?

'And yet, when you take a month or so to capture a place that took us a few years to do, you're feeling...well...like...that. That.

"'Unworthy'?

Is it 'pathetic'?

'Something like that. Well, it's something I was prepared for, and it's like Temma has been proven once again that he's a monster, so maybe I shouldn't worry about it.

'Well, I had a map of Garratt. If it wasn't for that, it would have taken me years to capture it, too.

The men's side and the women's side seem to feel differently, but Garratt seemed to feel a lot better when I mentioned the map.

After only a month and a little over a month in the dungeon, I was able to reach the bottom level of the dungeon. Then I encountered the Sword of Dawn, which was gathering materials near the lowest level, and we had a conversation like I mentioned before. Well, in that conversation, Garratt and the others were taken aback by it, and Jin became a bit depressed.

'Totally, you knew Temma would catch up with us in two to three months. Well, I'm a little surprised that it was faster than I expected, but that's what I call 'not much difference'.

'Yes. It's sad that we've lost the advantage we've had for so long, but there's no point in regretting what we knew. Instead, Temma-san, you should go back to earth once and send a letter to Primera-chan.

'And maybe I should talk to Lady Merlin and the others. Every time I see them up there, I ask, "Have you met Temma yet? And you're asking me. Well, I was getting ready to dive when I saw you a few days ago, so you might be in the dungeon now.

After leaving the sulking djinn alone and getting some information on the ground these days, I decided to return to the ground once and write a letter to Primera before going to meet up with my grandpa and the others.

That's how I got to the guild.

What kind of stuff should I write about in the first place?

I've never sent a letter to a woman in my life (including in my previous life), so I had to worry about it.

'Normally,' he said, 'I have successfully completed the dungeon. I am not injured at all.

'No, I don't think it's very good, but...'

As I mumbled out a thoughtful sentence, I heard Leena's dumbfounded voice from right behind me.

''Just as Leena feared, this is just a status report then. Well, the last sentence might have been a good effort for Tenma, but it's too short to begin with.''

Menace didn't like the contents of the letter either, but he was negative about it.

'That being said, I don't know what to write, you know. At any rate, it's good to know you're safe, isn't it?

No, well, if you like Temma, that's fine with me.

'Well, it's Temma-san, and it can't be helped.

This way, in the unlikely event that the contents of the letter leaked out, they could cover up a lot of things... maybe they wouldn't be convinced if I said that. But.

'It sounds like a sentence we can both agree on, so we'll put it out there. Hey, Ted!　Take this to the palace in King's Landing. Here's the bill.

It sounded like an affirmation to me, so I'll hold you two accountable for anything you say.

'Yes. I'll go say something in a bit.

Ted, who seemed to have been listening, quickly approached and grabbed the gold coins for the commission, and ran straight outside.

'If there's anything about that letter now, it's the three of us who will be teased.

You foreigner!　Ted, wait!

If we weren't on the streets, we'd be shooting them down!

It's not like the three of us thought about it in that letter or anything, so Menace and Leena wouldn't be teased, but they didn't notice that, and they followed Ted out of the guild. Well, Ted seemed to notice that I was teasing them, and since they would be flying off in the Thunderbird as soon as they left the guild, they wouldn't be able to catch up with me.

''Well I guess I'll have to dive into the dungeon one more time to find my grandfathers before they come back.

I would have liked to take a break, but that could be done in the dungeon, so my first priority was to get away from the two of them for now.

''Come back in a few days at the most. If I see Merlin-sama, I'll tell him that Temma will be back in a few days and that he should wait on the ground.

Garratt said so, and I told him that if I didn't see him in two to three days, I would come back to earth and buy him some of the money for his drink. Garratt looked happy when I put the gold coins down, but the djinn was already ready and didn't seem to notice the gold coins.

'Don't catcall me just because the gin doesn't notice?

He said he wouldn't do it. If I do that and they find out, Jin will come after me.

I wondered if they would do it if they didn't find out, but since the other adventurers saw that I'd put the gold coins down, they'd be sure to leak the information from someone else.

''Also, use this when Menace and the others come back.

When I handed him another gold coin, Garratt took it with a wry smile.

''You shouldn't have made fun of me in the first place, rather than using the gold coins to get a good mood.

Yeah, it's kind of hard to resist the flow of things.

Two gold coins (20,000 g) may be too much for a treat and a good mood, but this is not too expensive if you think of it as part of returning the favor of the dungeon information. Well, I'm a little embarrassed, so I won't say it out loud.

''Then it can't be helped. I'll dismiss it as Temma's treat when I let him eat and drink at random. That way, there won't be any messing around since it's after the bribe is accepted...maybe. Oh, and by the way, me and Jin will have something to eat too, but don't complain, okay?

Garratt seemed to know it was a thank you for the information and returned it in a light tone.

''Then don't take care of Menace and Leena.

After reminding them of their good mood and making sure they weren't around, we headed to the dungeon. I thought that we might be ambushed around the front of the dungeon, but that wasn't the case and we were able to move up to the dungeon's 60th level without any problems.

''Well then, let's try to find it from here.

Since the point we reached when we dove together was around the sixty levels, I figured we'd have a better chance of meeting them if we proceeded from the same place we dove alone and followed them.

'I could send out a golem, but that would take a long time, and if grandpa and the others were nearby, Jeanne and Aura would be in danger, so it would be safer to proceed alone.

The golems are moving much better, but it would be dangerous if grandpa and the others were nearby when their numbers gathered, so I decided to ignore the small fry as I did at the beginning and continue on.

On the way to the resting point on the sixty-fifth level, I found just the right herd, so I made conditions and let the golem deal with it, but

I don't think I can handle that much longer.

As a handicap, I put a condition that the golem could only aim at orc heads, but the corpses lined up in front of me had three of their heads cut off and two beaten to death.

'This should be easy to dismantle,'

Once I had made a good souvenir for Shiroumaru and the others, I put the golem back once and headed to the resting place.

''Hmm?　There's different signs of use than mine....are they grandpas?

If it's the grandfathers, then it's very likely that the lower levels are also looking for and using the places I used to rest.

''Well, if we acted on Garratt's map, the resting place would naturally be the same.

But if we keep that in mind, it will make it easier for us to find them, Grandpa.

'Then maybe we should keep it to rest and move on, rather than camp here until morning.

I've already conquered this area once, so I have an idea of the strength of most of the monsters. As expected, you can't be too careful below the 70th level, so you'll need to take a break, but if it's just before that, you should be able to get by with a strong march without any problems.

We'll get a bite to eat, get some sleep, and then we'll be on our way. I'll leave the guards and an alarm clock to you.

Maybe it's because I'm hiding in dungeons by myself, but I think I've developed a habit of talking to myself and talking to the golem.

I'll try to take care of the habit of talking to myself in the future, and I need to eat first. Fortunately, I have at least one or two more beef bowls left for one or two more meals, and I even bought some fruit when I returned to the ground earlier. Plus, I have some food that I originally had in my magic bag, so there's no problem in terms of nutritional value, but...

It's not very nice to eat alone.

I never thought it would be so boring to say that I was alone, as it had been enough to say that there was always someone with me.

'Maybe I should have brought Gol and Jill along for the ride if this was the case.

They're two basic shut-ins, but in the dungeon of Seigen, which is supposed to be their home town, they'll at least come outside for a break, and maybe they'll have some company.

With that in mind, I decided to light a short resting candle (the one that was left halfway through its length when I replaced it) and ordered the golem to wake me up when it burned out again, and get a light sleep.

'Still ahead...'

I went down to the 70th level, but I couldn't see my grandpa and his friends.

''Let's take a nap and then go look for them again.

I looked at the candles and saw that it was now about the time before noon. I don't know which level we are on, but if we're following Garratt's map, we'll eventually catch up with them, and even if we can't catch up with them, if we wait on the ground, we'll eventually meet them.

Even if we can't catch them, we'll meet them as long as we wait for them on the ground. But still, I should have asked Djinn and the others what level my grandfather and the others were advancing on.

If I had done that, I could have proceeded from the front of that hierarchy................well, it's no use saying that now.

I'm going to eat and sleep.......hmm?　There's something close.

I felt kind of weird, so I checked my surroundings with 'search'.

You're surrounded by a-na-na-ko-da-da and m-ka-de.

The Dark Rubber Anaconda and the Gigant Death Centipede were lurking in the shadows of the surrounding rocks and crevices. There were just three of them each, and they seemed to be aiming at me, their prey (bait). I think they were showing a lot of signs of weakness until a few minutes ago, but they didn't attack me, probably because they were fighting each other.

"I'll do the anaconda and leave the centipede to the golem.

If I left it to the golem, I would probably ruin the centipede material, but in my mind, the anaconda is more valuable than the centipede material, so I wouldn't want to leave it to the golem and not be able to use it.

'Golem, defeat the centipede hiding around there!　You don't have to cover me!

I quickly gave the knightly golem out of the magic bag and ordered it to attack the centipede. The centipede has been hiding, but when the golem destroys the rock I pointed at, it was surprised by the impact and appeared in front of the golem.

The anaconda that crawled out from behind a rock or from a crevice in the rock, perhaps startled by the unexpected, was slow to move. The anaconda, which had been waiting for an opening, is now exposing an opening right in front of me. I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this as well.

You can put that one off for later. Good, done!

The anaconda with a knife in its eye was flailing about, engulfing the two animals in front of it. That made the two in front of them show even more of an opening, so I crowded in all at once and sliced the first one's head off with a single sword, while the second one sliced its head lengthwise with the returning sword.

''That one can wait until it's a bit more mature. But still, it's as hard to cut as ever.''

The first one had a clean cut, partly because it had gained momentum, but the second one had a disorganized cut, partly because it had stopped gaining momentum and partly because the skull was cut from the front. Well, the head wasn't a particularly necessary part of the body, so it didn't matter if the cut was disorganized or not. More importantly, while the performance of the Kogarasumaru had improved, it was more pleasing to feel that he was growing up and cutting more easily than the first time. Incidentally, the two anacondas that had just been cut off seemed to still have their nerves alive, and were moving around in a gnarled, snarled manner.

I guess they look like a lizard's tail, but at this size it's too creepy. Well, leaving all that aside, it looks like that guy has grown up by now.

The two I cut off were almost dead, so I decided to deal with the next one that had a knife stuck in its eye and was flailing about. The anaconda with the knife in its eye seemed to be almost dead as the knife had reached its brain. Thanks to that, it was able to drop its head with ease, and it didn't flail about after dropping its head.

''Well, what happened to the golem.......oh.......''

The anaconda was finished faster than I expected, so I turned around, wondering what was happening to the centipede... just as the golem was about to tear off the top half of the centipede it was trampling on.

Near the golem, there was a centipede that had already been torn off and its head was crushed to death, and a centipede that was sewn to the ground with a large sword and was flailing about.

''That guy could possibly have been possessed by the soul of an evil demon ramshackle, right?

Even though I knew it couldn't be that way, the scene was right in front of me. In the midst of all that, the golem, my expectations?　He smashed the head of the centipede that had been torn off as if in answer to the "I'm a centipede" by slamming it into the ground and crushing it, and then stepped through the head of the rampaging centipede with his heel.

''As I thought, most of the centipede materials are ruined.

Since the upper half of the centipede (especially the head) was torn to shreds by all three of them, the venom and hard shells of the heads, which can be used for medicines, which are the most valuable centipede materials, were useless, so I had to recover only the lower half, which was less than half the length of the centipede. In addition, all three of the anacondas I killed were in clean condition, so the meat and materials would fetch a high price. Well, I'm not going to sell them.

That's all we have for today's meal, but we've got to clean the golem before we can deal with the anacondas.

The current knight-type golem is very dirty. Because it's covered in centipede body fluids and poisonous fluids, and dirt and dust are stuck there like mud. If it wasn't cleaned up quite well, it might hinder its movement, and if it wasn't properly cleaned of the poisonous fluid, it might be poisoned if someone touched it.

'Can we just spray it with water to clean it off and then let it dry and oil it?

I washed the golem, being careful not to leave any poisonous liquid or soil behind, and after drying it, I oiled it, and it moved better than when it was dirty. After all, just like armor, regular maintenance seems to be a necessity.

The golem was moved lightly to allow the oil to blend in and then waited, and the meat of the anaconda was cut into appropriate pieces and grilled and eaten. The meat was quite tasty, so next time we'll all have a roast meat party. Fortunately, the three anacondas must have been about six to eight meters in length and weighed about 100 to 200 kilograms, so there was probably enough meat for everyone we knew to eat.

''I'm bloated, and this time.......it looks like I won't be able to sleep.

As I got out of bed to go to sleep, I heard a wolf.......Shiroumaru's howl from a distance. Perhaps he was just below this level and noticed the sound of the golem fighting, and that's where he noticed me...

I can hear the demons gathering.

The fact that they can hear me as far as I can, means that the demons in the same range can hear me as well, which means the same thing that happened when I was gathering demons with my golem in tow.

'I'm sure it's okay since my grandfather is here, but depending on how many there are, it could be dangerous... or... follow me!　Let's hurry up!

If it became a real danger, Jeanne and Aura, who were likely to be slowed down, would flee into Slarin, but if they were pushed by the numbers in a small space, it could be a contingency.

'It looks okay, but they're pretty much gathered... grandpa!　I'll assist you, don't attack me by mistake!

"Tenma!　Please!

When we descended to the lower level and headed in the direction of the sound, my grandfather was surrounded by a herd of orcs that exceeded a hundred in number. Some of the higher species of Orcs are mixed in with them, so maybe there is an Orc King in there somewhere.

''Let's reduce their numbers first.......Golem, charge in!

From the looks of it, Grandpa and his friends are far ahead of him in terms of overall strength, but Grandpa can't use big magic because the ceiling might collapse, Amur can't wield his signature Bardiche due to the small size of the dungeon, and Shiroumaru can't make use of his mobility because of the dense surrounding. Without Ora, Solomon has lost his advantage since he can't fly around in the air. The only one who seems to be able to move as usual is Slarin, but he seems to have Jeanne and Aura inside his body, so he's not in front of them, but behind them to cover them.

''If there are this many demons of strength there, it's no wonder they're so fiddly.

Even though they hadn't been able to show their real strength, they weren't defeated because their ground power was different, but it was like they were taking their time due to their large numbers. However, when the knight-type golem, which can transform into an evil demon rasta by simply waving its arms and legs with force, attacked from behind, the shape of the situation suddenly tilted.

'While the orcs were confused, I was.........'　

'You're trying to run away with your minions as discarded pawns... well, you're only a king, you're smart for an orc.

When we have an advantage, we attack at once, and if we are at a disadvantage, we run away even if it's just us. Just.

If only we had gotten away a little sooner, maybe we could have gotten away with it.

Their numbers were slowly dwindling even before the golem broke in, so they should have given up on them early, but I don't know if they failed to recognize their numbers as being outnumbered, or if they thought they would eventually be able to push through, but either way, because of that misjudgment, their position in the pack, their glory, their lives It would mean that he was only an orc, even if he was clever, since he would also lose his

''Amur!　The big guy in the back trying to escape is the boss!　Get that guy!

Yes, sir!

When he told Amur of the King's presence, Amur used the orcs around him as a springboard to run. And.

General, I've got a winner!

He thrust his spear into the Orc King's neck.

With the boss dead, the orcs under his command panicked, as if their previous collective actions had been a lie, and began to flee from this place, pushing their friends away.

''Slarin!　It's all right now, so let Jeanne and Aura out and Slarin go after them!

We needed a few more hands, so we sent out a few other golems and the hunt for the rest of the orcs began. There were a few orc counterattacks during the hunt, but since the current was completely coming at us and the orc's morale was low, we kicked off the orc's counterattacks with a touch of armor sleeve.

''A lot of meat!''

Yes, it's really too much...

'It's starting to get weird...'

He had let quite a few orcs escape, but the sight of dozens of dead orcs still lying around was almost sickening, partly because of the smell of blood.

''Alright!　First we have to retrieve the meat!

Since there are so many of them, the golems will be the main focus of the work, but since it's more reliable to give detailed instructions each time, we all split up and went around to collect them.

''Even so, they came early, didn't they?

''Garratt's map was accurate, and the knightly golem performed better than I expected.

If it was only a few B-ranked demons, the presence of a city golem was quite large, even if it was painful. After all, they didn't know how to get tired, so it was possible to keep them on standby for the entire time they slept, and they were well suited to serve as shields.

''It was especially nice to be able to leave them in charge of our backs, wasn't it?''

The most annoying thing about being surrounded is that they take your back, so I was most grateful that I didn't have to worry about that.

''If these golems are available to the public, the concept of partying might change...''

There are three broad categories of adventurers' actions: teaming up with people, working solo, and teaming up with demons. When teaming up with people or demons, there are communication problems, and when working solo, there are difficulty issues. On the other hand, golems obey any order without complaint, so there is no such hassle.

'Well, solo adventurers will certainly jump at it. Also, adventurers who aren't good at communication. But golems with this kind of performance aren't possible, and it's going to be years before adventurers can walk around with them.

It might take decades or hundreds of years, if not years, but royalty and aristocrats might be able to get their hands on it sooner. Well, it would be difficult to mass produce.

''So, Shiroumaru who caused the orcs to attack us...''

When I looked for Shiroumaru to punish him, he was already lying on his back looking at me.

''Shiroumaru you're not tired, are you dressed like that?''

As Jeanne had said, Shiroumaru wasn't just laying there with his belly showing, he was reflecting with his arms and legs stretched out in a pinched position.

''It kind of makes me feel less angry...''

I'm starting to lose interest in getting angry because of Shiroumaru's strange outfit, but...

It's in your head. Shiroumaru, come here for a minute.

I thought Shiroumaru laughed for a moment, so I decided to piss off Shiroumaru as planned.

'Temma, that's about right. Shiroumaru was just excited to see Tenma for the first time in a while.

I released Shiroumaru on the way out, if my grandfather allowed it.....but then Slarin had him. It seems that even if me and grandpa allowed it, that's what it was, and Slarin seems to be lecturing me about it.

'So, Grandpa, how far did you dive?'

Well, if you only want to go under, you'll have to go up to the seventy-first level. But it's difficult to protect Jeanne and Aura in that area. So, while we were trying to get them accustomed to the upper levels, Shiroumaru started running.

Well, I'm happy for the owner if I think that's how high my emotions have gotten.

''So, what are you going to do now?　Are you going to join us and head down to the lowest level, or will you return to King's Landing once?

Hearing Grandpa's story gave me the suspicion that perhaps Shiroumaru's emotional upheaval was for food.

'Temma, I'm hungry,'

'Let's go back then. I was going to get some sleep myself, so let's cut this short and go upstairs to discuss the future.　

I still had some food left on my end, but it was just the right time to return to the ground and have a meal in the carriage. I heard that the place where the carriage was to be taken out was rented on Amy's parents' property as usual, so it was decided that we would eat and discuss the food there.

''Also, we need to talk about orc meat and such.

I'll eat it all up!

When I brought up the subject of the large amount of oak meat we have, Amur said something about making it all food for our family, but since we didn't know how many years that would be (in our house, it's possible that it wouldn't last a year), we decided to sell most of it, keeping only the good parts of it for what we could get in the future. That decision was made by majority vote (me, Grandpa, Jeanne, and Aura voted in favor of it), but Amour, Shilomar, and Solomon were still not happy about it. Well, it was easy to persuade them, because they were convinced as soon as we said we'd be serving some unusual meat (anaconda meat) for dinner. However, it was not calculated that we would lose almost a portion of the meat, as even the djinn and other members of the Tamer's Guild came over who had heard rumors of the barbecue.