Volume 3 - CH 3

An underground temple (dungeon) with a decent atmosphere, but a high ratio of slime monsters, and terrible drops.

We decided to stop our exploration at the last possible moment and return to the surface.

"NNnn, Fuhh, Haahnn……S-stop it……Stop……khhh!"

As we turned back to the road, I could hear the faint sound of anguish from the other side of the passage.

This was the place where the hall of the great face relief was located. A dumb elf had been caught in that trap, though.

"This is ......."

When she turned around, Serina must have guessed it too. She had a subtle expression on her face.

"Well, we are adventurers. As adventurers ourselves, we'll take a look at the situation, and if we can help, we'll help. If not, we'll abandon them. I guess that's fine."

I said the party's policy.

"Huh? Abandoning them ......"

Serina looked at me accusingly, but she was the only one who did. The others seemed to agree with me and nodded.

"It's only natural, Serina-san. Adventurers go into dungeons like this prepared to lose their lives. If you can't even save yourself by taking the people you enter to help you, then you shouldn't ask for help and you shouldn't help them."

Ione says rather sternly.

"I understand not asking for help, but isn't that the same as not helping?"

"No. If you don't help, it's the same thing as killing more people. So we shouldn't take helping for granted."

Ione said, but I guess this world usually has a lot of deaths in dungeons. Unlike in games, there is no return to death or resurrection.

If this is the case, the ironclad rules and moral values that protect life will naturally take shape. ......huh? It's not the same as a townie being attacked by bandits in the city.

If you are not an adventurer, or if you are not prepared to take risks, you should not enter a dungeon.

"That's..."

"But I don't smell blood, so she's probably fine."

Meena smiled and soothed Serina.

"Serina, this is a non-negotiable line for the party. If you don't like it, you can leave the party here. I'll respect your wishes. Of course, I'll help you if I can."

The elf I saw earlier was a beautiful woman. I'm going to ignore the fact that she looks dumb.

"I understand. I'm a little torn, but I feel like I'm on the right track."

"Hmm, you think so? Serina, when the time comes, don't drag me down, okay? The party leader is the life of the party, you know. I don't want to make a sweet face just to get someone to like me and end up with dead people."

"Yes, I know.""

Serina seemed to agree this time.　

"I wonder if you're a suprisingly better leader than I thought."

She looked at me as if she was reviewing me a little, but it was a normal logic to follow if you take life seriously, and "unexpectedly" was superfluous.

"Then, let's go. Meena, you're in charge of checking the hall. Ione, you check the exit. When Meena gives the signal to run, we'll all pull back to the stairs."

I'm sure there's no danger of that, but rehearsals and drills are important.

"Yes, I understand, Master."

"Yeah, roger that."

"If we can help her, I'll rush."

"Yeah, but follow Meena's judgment. Understood?

"Okay."

After confirming that Serina nodded, Meena looked into the hall.

"With my [Enemy Counter], there are seven of them."

Serina, who used her skills, whispered, but the number of enemies was a little high.

"Master, it's only slime. I thought we could help her."

"Okay, let's go inside and see what's going on for a bit. Serina you stay out of this."

In this atmosphere, it would be hard for Serina to disobey my orders as the leader.

"Hey! Didn't you plan to watch the game from the beginning and make a long preamble?"

Sometimes she has a good sense of humor.

As I was pondering how to talk her out of it, I heard a voice from the hall first.

"D-Don't come in here! I'm fine!"

"You have no right to say that. This place is not your private property."

I walked proudly into the hall. Serina quickly walked into the hall and almost reached out to block my view, then stopped.

Damn, her armor is still on. I was expecting to see an elf girl with her clothes melted off, naked and being played with by slime.

There was a silver-haired elf with her hands in the reliefs, clinging to the slime.

"I don't need your help. And this, Nnh!, also part of my training……Aahnnn!"

I don't know what kind of training this Erofu (...), whose body trembled with Bikun, is doing.

"Hmm, this may be unnecessary, but I think it could be deadly if left untreated, don't you?"

Serina says, folding her arms somewhat dumbly.

"But, Haah, hah, Khhh, my HP isn't decreased."

"No, I think it's bad for you.……Are you okay if your skin gets rough later?"

"That's a problem, khh, but I can pull it out……"

The knight tried to pull her arm through the hole in the relief, but she still seemed to be stuck.

"It can't be helped, help her."

As I lost interest, I instructed Meena and Serina to scoot over with my chin.

*slash, slash*, After quickly cutting off the slime that clung to her, Meena and Serina then grabbed the female knight by both arms.

"All right, after One-two, let's do it together."

"Okay."

"One-Two, Now!"

"It's huuuurt! W-wait!"

"Huh? What's going on?"

"My wrist is trapped in between the stone."

"Hmm. Can't you twist it?"

"No. I can turn it, but I can't get it out. See."

The elf twisted her arm and showed it to Serina.

"It looks like it's about to fall out..."

Lily said, but it must be the perfect amount of tightness.

"But I'm sure it's not a vicious trap."

I'll point it out. If we're really stuck here, it's not a lesson, it's a dangerous trap.

And if it's dangerous, the adventurer's guild will be informed, and Serina and Ione will know about the dangerous trap.

"No, this is the first time in my life I've been trapped this hard."

The elf said.

"Isn't there some kind of switch in the back?"

Serina had a good idea.

"That's right,.......there's a protrusion at the bottom of the back, If you push this ...... ooh!"

There was a click and the trap seemed to have been released.

Pulling her hand out, the elf sighed in relief, then plunged her hand back into the hole.

"Hey!"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh?"

"Oi."

As expected, we were surprised by her behavior. It's not always possible to unlock the same thing a second time.

"Hmm, actually, there's a small treasure chest in here that I can't seem to get my hands on."

"I don't think so, but did you trying to pull it out while holding on to it?"

"……Don't sweat the small stuff."

"""Ehh?"""

"*cough*, my name is Sylvie-Walloy-Attarma. I would like to thank you for your help."

The greedy Knight gave a bow.

"Wow, that's a dumb name."

"Murgh, Lily, no. You can't make fun of people's names."

"She're right, you can't make fun of a person's last name. Well, then, Sylvie, I may not have saved your life, but I saved you from trouble. You should be paid accordingly."

Based on the adventurer's rule, I say.

"Umu, as is the custom of the world, I'll give you some of the copper coins I found there, though I didn't ask for them. No silver coins."

The copper coins weren't much, but I let Lily, who was itching to pick them up, pick them up. In the meantime, She let Meena carry the lantern.

"Sylvie, if you give me one of those silver coins, I'll give you the pouch."

I offered her a deal.

She would have a hard time carrying around the silver coins since the slime had melted all of her cloth.

"Come on, Alec, don't be such a downer."

"That's right. One puch will cost you a hundred gold at most."

"Alec-san..."

Ione gave me a questioning look, so I decided to give it to her.

"Okay, okay. Then, I'll give it to you for free."

I gave her an empty pouch.

"Oh, thank you."

"Then, Let's go up.

"Wait."

It seems that Sylvie still has something to do.

"What is it?"

"If you're going back to the city, I'll escort you."

"Ha, isn't that the wrong word for "escort'?"

"Would you like to try my skills?"

Sylvie pulled out her sword.

"You'd better not. She's several steps ahead of Alec-san."

Ione seemed to gauge her strength just by looking at her.

"Well, I'll leave it at that. I'll leave it to you, Sylvie."

"Yeah, leave it to me. Lately, since the beginning of this month, there have been a lot of adventurers dying in this area. You'll have to be careful."

I want to tell Sylvie to watch out for herself, because she's falling for a dumb trap.　

"Do you mean on the field, on the ground?"

Serina asked, seemingly curious.

"No, on the dungeon."

"But I didn't see any dead bodies here, but..."

"Yeah, because of the slime. Besides, the goblins and kobolds collect bones and armor, so there won't be any bodies left. At most, there will be relics." Said Sylvie.

"Hmm? Then how do you know there are so many dead bodies?"

Lily asked, but I'm guessing it's a count from the Adventurers Guild or the city gatekeepers.

"The adventurer's guild has sent us information about a missing person, and they've asked us to strengthen our patrols and investigations of nearby dungeons. I've been given that order by the captain."

"Oh..."

"So, are you getting anywhere?"

I ask the important part.

"No. I was wondering it was most likely attacked by rare monster, a vicious trap, or something like that. ......"

Sylvie's words trailed off as she didn't even seem to have a clue.

If we can't find them right away, there's no point in us worrying about them for the time being.

Even if it is a low level enemy, we need to be careful about monster houses where monsters are gathered in one room.

"There's no point in doing this here. Let's go."

We are in a dungeon. We heard that there were a lot of dead people in the dungeon, so this was not the time to relax and talk.

We decided to go back to the city.