CH 11

December 29, 2022

The second layer does not differ visually from the first. The main difference is the presence of springs and the appearance of cracks. A crack is literally a point from which demons sprout. On the second and lower levels, cracks appear and disappear randomly. Demons spring from the cracks that appear. These cracks can also appear suddenly in combat or during movement. In fact, a rift appeared behind me during a battle, and I was suddenly attacked from behind by demons and hit. That was a few minutes ago. As you can imagine, I was scared. What kind of ambush is that? I was almost killed by panic. But that's what the main party was for. Everyone but me handled it calmly. They're trustworthy people. The quest to this point has taught me something. As powerful as your skills are, it's another thing to master them. I've learned that I need experience and mental fortitude, as well as calmness and composure, or rather the lack thereof. Gaining experience and acquiring knowledge: this is what I am urgently in need of doing now. 　◇ ◇ Marielle reacted when we had made good progress on the second layer. "Someone is coming from the front, there are eight of them." Marielle flutters a little beside me, pointing ahead. Marielle's warning makes, Everyone goes on alert at once, waiting for the leader, Beck, to give the order, a single movement without a stitch of disorder. It's great, isn't it? I've grown up after a few battles since I went down to the second level. It's an open secret that the main reason for my growth is not combat, but Beck's lectures - or rather, guidance. "You're dressed like everyone else. You look like a scout." The additional information provided by Marielle does not make us any less vigilant. The previous gaffe comes back to haunt her. As soon as I let my guard down after learning they were also scouts, a rebuke flew from Beck. Fortunately, the other party was known and nothing happened, but it was a situation where you could have been caught by surprise. Beck says you have to be more careful with scouts than with demons. We live in a very harsh world. "Hey, we're Black Flame, We don't intend to fight!" He called from a considerable distance. No intention to engage, it's a sign of friendship. "Understood. This is the Wind Blade." Thor-san tells the other party in the same loud voice. "Let your guard down, we'll be fine." Beck instructs the whole party. It appears to be another party of acquaintances. When they are within recognizable distance, they greet each other by slightly raising their left, non-dominant hand. According to Thor's explanation, this is one of the top ten parties in town. They are a very attentive group of people, and Mr. Toll was once a customer of theirs as well.

They get close enough to be visible to my eyes. According to Marielle, there are eight of them, all men. There is one young man, but the rest appear to be in their thirties. "It's unusual for you to have a young man with you." Thor-san speaks to one of the other members of the group with a smile. "Hmm? Yes, that's right, I thought I had learned my lesson with you." A man about Beck's age, walking at the front of the group, answered Thor-san's question, looking back. The young man at the other end of the line of sight was about eighteen, not much older than me. "'That's terrible'." At the sight of Thor-san, who responded with a wry smile, a laugh escaped from the members of the Black Flame. "This boy is a promising newcomer." He points with his chin at a young man near the center of the party, just like me. The young man, perhaps realizing he was the topic of conversation, moved slightly closer to Mr. Beck. He may have been nervous, but he was expressionless and quiet. "Well, isn't he a fearless looking young man?" Beck continued, looking at the young man, who was said to be a promising newcomer. "We also have a newcomer." Is that so? Well, they hoped he was. Otherwise, they wouldn't have oriented me that way. He looks back at us and continues. "Marielle." "Hi, nice to meet you." Marielle, with a cheerful response, raises her right hand to make her presence known. "The Fairy is the promising newcomer? Isn't that you?" "No." You said it out loud yourself, Beck-san. After that, the exchange of information with Black Flame's people proceeds without any particular correction. Even though it's an exchange of information, it also serves as a rest. Four female slaves prepare a light meal and hydration. Then, the temporary members went into action smoothly, as if they had been alerted to their surroundings and their roles had been decided in advance. Meanwhile, I turned my gaze and attention to the promising newcomer from the other side. He has a calm and well-defined appearance, but I perceive a certain keenness in his eyes. I value the young man. Can't I value him? Huh? Not at all. To make sure, I try to look at him again, but I see nothing. Is he a reincarnate? I look at the young man in surprise, and he looks at me too. Without a doubt, he looks just like me. You're the first compatriot I've met since I came into this world. I knew they were here, but it makes me nervous to see him in front of me. I was a little, no, very nervous as I walked towards the promising newcomer. "You say you're a promising newcomer? It's like we're suddenly off to a good start'." I tried not to pretend to be annoyed that I hadn't been called a promising newcomer, although it was inevitable that I would show my nervousness and joy at meeting a colleague for the first time. "I didn't mean that. I seem to have some skills that gave me a slight advantage over the others." The other party also showed some nervousness, but responded by smiling, not looking particularly sarcastic about being called a newcomer with high expectations. "My name is Michinaga Fujiwara, I arrived in this city four days ago. Pleased to meet you."

I look the person straight in the eye and offer my right hand. "I am Robin Hood. Please use just Robin if you can. To be honest, I'm sorry for being serious , so please don't ask me any more questions." He interrupts me with a lack of desire expression and takes my right hand. "Please call me Michinaga too." I thought of telling him : "Don't worry, I know many people who regret their names. You're not that bad," But I swallowed the words of comfort and shook his hand. "Here you go." Dalina offers me a small plate of food and a glass of water. "Thank you." I bowed to her, thanked her and accepted the snacks and water. Is it just for me? I look at Robin and he looks at me curiously. "Sorry, he seems to have forgotten Robin's part. I'll ask him to have it ready for you right away." "That's not good." She grabs my arm as I try to follow Daria-san and keeps talking. "Water and food are precious in the dungeon. It's customary not to share it with anyone outside the party except in case of emergency." Robin grabbed my arm and quickly explained in a whisper. I see, I was about to be scolded by Beck again. I should be grateful for Robin's concern. "I didn't know that. Thank you." "And I don't think it's right to bow to a slave, even if it's a natural way to say thank you, it must seem strange, to those around you." As I thank him, Robin's caution is announced to me again. To be honest, I didn't really care for the way slaves were treated or how they were treated. It may have been a mistake to put off studying common sense. "Well, as it turns out, I also thanked and bowed to an employee/slave at a restaurant I went into for lunch, and I was warned by the owner of that restaurant." Robin let go of my arm as he said this and shrugged his shoulders in amusement. "'---- Anyway, it was an unscheduled incident, so I decided to leave early.'" "It was a disaster, But I didn't expect those two to get hit on the fourth layer." Mr.beck was talking to some people. "Did something happen?" I asked Robin, since I couldn't break into Beck's conversation. "Two scouts we hired temporarily were hit on the fourth layer. They both said they were veterans, but maybe they let their guard down." He was unfazed by the death of his companions, indifferent. I wonder if they didn't have a feeling of camaraderie from being temporarily employed. It's not in good taste to talk about the death of a colleague. So that I'll leave the subject here. "By the way, have you met any compatriots? For my part, Robin is the first time I've met any of my people." I lean closer and whisper in his ear so the others can't hear me. "As for me, Michinaga is also first acquaintance. I didn't pass the qualification before, so I was a little surprised and nervous'." He lets out a chuckle and whispers the same. He hides his mouth naturally with his right hand. "I see. I wanted to expand my network of friends and share information with you. " "Your friends, then? That's probably better than saying you're a reincarnate. " "So you're one of mine. Nice to see you again." "Yes. I'm looking forward to working with you." You both whisper in each other's ears. From the outside, it could look a little dangerous. The most important thing to remember is that you can never be too careful about what you say or do. You really seem to have an unflappable personality. "By the way, was the demon tough?'" I thought it would be better to continue the conversation in whispers, so I asked him about a normal topic, with a normal voice volume and at a normal distance. "I don't know, I don't know yet how strong the demons are either. The enemy is a giant spider. From the looks of the others, I don't think it was very strong. In fact, even after the other two were killed , the rest fought to defeat the demons."

Robin brought up the subject of the death of the party member who had just been interrupted. "Well, maybe I let my guard down after all:" I couldn't force Robin to change the subject when he talked about it, so I adjusted the conversation conveniently. "All right, we should get going." Beck motions for us to start moving. "Well, let's have a drink and exchange information when we get back. Oh, you're okay with a drink?" "Yeah, I'm good. I'm looking forward to it." I heard a clanking sound behind me. When I turned around, Robin was looking at his right hand, 'What's wrong? "What's wrong, are you okay?" A temporarily employed archer talks to Robin as he picks up the spear lying on the ground. 'That spear, it's Robin's. 'Shall I take the spear from him? "Robin, what's wrong?" He walked over to Robin, calling out to him. "Thank you." Robin thanked Mr.temp.worker C, as he took the spear from him and shook his hand. "What's up?" I asked again as I walked over to Robin's side. "I'm sorry to worry you. I seem to have hurt my right hand a bit in the battle. It's nothing serious. I'm fine." "Well, if you want..." I can use light magic to heal it. As I was about to say it, Beck-san called out to me to hurry up. They're calling you. You'd better get going. "Yeah, I'll see you later." Robin nudged me and I ran to Beck.