CH 6

「Nee-chan, could it be that you only became an adventurer recently? Is that why you’re here?」

Kurtz-kun asked. I nodded.

The older boy tapped on Kurtz-kun’s shoulder.

「Kurtz.」

「Oh, I’m sorry. We’re not supposed to pry into other adventurer’s lives inside the dungeon.」

Hm? He mentioned that word again.

「Dungeon?」

Was this cave a dungeon? This cave looked to be about as wide as a gymnasium, how could this be a dungeon?

「It might be small, but it’s still a dungeon. That’s why slimes appear here.」

Kirika-chan explained to me.

「Here goes!」

Smack. Kirika-chan swung her makeshift slipper at the black devil.

「Ahh, it ran away! Next time!」

Smack.

Watching a five year old girl finish off the black devil with undivided attention was… uuu.

Just watch, this oba-chan here will do her best! Oba-chan won’t lose!

This was no time to shriek at every movement. Oba-chan here was not evil enough to let a bunch of children exterminate the devils by themselves!

Smack, splat, bounce.

「Huh? Ah, it went over there! I’m not letting you escape!」

「Wow, is it just me, or did nee-chan’s speed go up?」

「Onee-chan, you really are amazing!」

I exterminated the black devils whilst collecting the small bottles that appeared occasionally.

「It’s almost time. Let’s leave.」

The older boy said, acting as the leader.

「Ehh? But I only got two…」

Kirika-chan said with disappointment.

「Kirika, those are the dungeon rules.」

「I know. We have to preserve our stamina and leave when it’s time. We can’t be unreasonable.」

「That’s right, good girl. Okay, let’s get out of here.」

Everyone followed the leader’s instruction and went outside.

「I never got a chance to introduce myself while we were inside. I’m Bryce. I’m almost level 10.」

As soon as we left the cave, the older boy spoke to me.

「Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Yuuri. I just registered as an adventurer, and I’m level 1.」

「Eh? Onee-chan, you’re level 1? Kirika is level 3, you know.」

Even a five year old girl was level 3, huh. Then again, being level 1 at this age must be shocking.

「That’s strange. Even if you lived a regular life, you should be level 2 or 3 by the time you’re ten years old, yet you’re still level 1, onee-san.」

Bryce-kun tilted his head to the side in confusion.

「That must mean she didn’t live a regular life. Right, nee-chan? It’s rare for anyone at your age to try and become an adventurer too. Oh, I’m Kurtz. I wanted to become an adventurer when I was three. My dream is to become an S-ranked adventurer like Rofas-san.」

Kurtz-san introduced himself. His eyes glittered when he mentioned Rofas-san.

Could it be that even though Rofas-san called himself an adventurer ossan, he was actually quite popular among the townsfolk?

「Eh, she didn’t live a normal life? Kirika doesn’t understand. Onee-chan, can you tell me?」

「Stupid. She might have been bedridden her entire life, or she could have been a noble lady who did nothing her entire life and then watched her family get destroyed. You shouldn’t ask, nee-chan might be uncomfortable talking about it.」

Kurtz-kun quickly stopped Kirika-chan from asking any further.

I see. Not living a regular life meant I didn’t do anything… in other words, a life where I never worked.

That hurt a bit. It felt like an insult to my last ten years as a housewife.

「Um, you see, I came from a different country. In my country, there are no such things as levels. We don’t have dungeons and monsters, so no adventurers either. Please, teach me about those things.」

Rather than country, our worlds were different.

「Eh? Really?! That’s so cool! You came from a really faraway place then!」

「Then nee-chan, did you come here because you admired adventurers?」

「Kirika, Kurtz, let’s continue this conversation once we get home. There are a lot of things we need to teach her first.」

Bryce-kun said, then pointed at the potions I picked up in the dungeon.

I didn’t think I forgot to pick up any dropped potions after beating the life out of those black devils.

「Oh, she really doesn’t know the difference between good potions and bad potions.」

Kurtz-kun looked at the bottles I laid out by my feet.

「I’ll teach you! Yuuri-oneechan, this one is a potion.」

Kirika-chan picked up one of the bottles and shook it lightly. The yellow liquid inside swayed around the bottle.

「This one is bad.」

She picked up another one, this time with black liquid.

Ahh, so it was quite easy to tell them apart.

「This one is bad too. This isn’t a potion.」

Kirika-chan picked up a bottle that also had yellow liquid inside, but it was a lot paler compared to a real potion.

I crouched down and looked at the other bottles.

This one was yellow, so it was a potion. Then, in order: black, black, clear, pale yellow, potion yellow.

There were many different types of bad potions, it seemed.