Dungeon of Precious Stones Once Again
“”This time, it's red!”"
The day after taking a day off, we were back again at the Dungeon of Precious Stones.
And behold, the forest on the first floor had transformed into a ruby forest!
"Isn't this luck too good?"
"Takumi, don't sweat the small stuff."
“”Don't sweeeat~ it."”
Allen, Elena, and Kaiser naturally proceeded in a direction where no one was around, confirming the absence of people and snapping twigs as they went. This makes it the third type of branches we've gathered~
"Should we have brought Dill along too?"
"Ah~ Dill-san’s request to accompany us has ended, and he's got other plans lined up now~ I think it would have been tough?”
Having cleared the floor where we were likely to encounter many adventurers, Dill-san's role had come to an end.
But now, he received a new request to obtain fragments of branches in this dungeon.
It's probably going to get busy for him from here on out.
"Now that we've secured the twigs, shall we use the teleportation device?"
"Yes!"
"Indeed."
And so, we briskly advanced through the first floor and moved to the teleportation area between the eleventh and twelfth floors.
(Oh, a teleportation device! Is this a dungeon?!)
(Yaaay~ it's a dungeon~)
(Yay~)
Finding no one at the teleportation area, we called for Joule and the others.
Joule quickly noticed the teleportation device and pinpointed the location, causing Vector and Radian to circle around the teleportation device.
Vector should be the oldest among my Contracted Beasts... but he seems to be the same age as Radian.
(Niisama, are we really in the Dungeon of Precious Stones?)
"Yeah, that's right. We're headed to the twelfth floor there."
(I'm excited to see what kind of dungeon it is!)
(Aniue, let's go quickly.)
Everyone seemed excited, so we immediately moved to the twelfth floor.
“”It’s red!””
"I see, so it's like this."
The twelfth floor was different in color compared to the eleventh floor. It was full of red rocks as far as eyes could see.
When Bolt confirmed that it could be used for making sweets, Vector and Radian enthusiastically joined in.
"I’m a little worried about Radian, so someone should accompany him!"
As Soldier Ants are higher-tier monsters, and Allen and Elena were instructed to defeat them using magic rather than physical attacks, we have to make sure to keep Radian from rushing in recklessly.
(Niisama, don't worry. I will look after him.)
“Thank you, Feat.”
I feel relieved knowing Feat is watching him.
(Ah, here it comes~)
(My, oh my.)
Radian immediately spotted a Soldier Ant and dashed towards it, with Feat following closely behind.
... I wonder if Radian is becoming battle-crazed? Or is this the true nature of monsters?
It's something to ponder.
"... Looks like I'm not needed here."
As I contemplated Radian's growth, Kaiser arrived beside me, looking slightly dejected as if he had fallen behind.
"With this much firepower, it's inevitable. Lately, I haven't been facing monsters much myself."
I'm not particularly eager to fight, but I'm naturally curious.
"Kaiser, as you are a seasoned warrior, you can observe everyone's battles and offer advice for improvement."
"Umu, understood."
"Ah, but you aren’t used to humanoid combat, so keep that in mind."
"... Hmm, I'm still not quite sure how much to hold back. For the sake of being with you guys more, I'll do my best."
There haven't been any issues since we don't interact much with others right now, but I absolutely want to avoid things like destroying houses in town or breaking bones in collisions.
Actually, how long will Kaiser stay with us? I thought he was just dropping by for a bit... but he's sticking around quite a while~ Well, I don't mind having him around, and I won't ask him when he plans to leave since that might seem rude.
“Oniichan! We found lots of Ant Honey!"
"Also, also! There were some that weren't red!"
Allen and Elena returned carrying a large amount of Ant Honey, which included the usual golden type that wasn't red.
"You’ve gotten a lot~ I wonder if we can use all of this?"
“”It's okay! We love sweets!"”
"Besides eating it, please help me make sweets with it."
"”Yeah, will help!"”
Come to think of it, I was planning to stock up on snacks, but I came to the dungeon without doing that.
Well, I still have reserves in my Infinite Storage, so it should be fine.
"Now that we've cleared out the monsters around here, shall we move forward?"
“”Yeah!””