CH 154

I meet up with Fred and the others in front of the dungeon seven days later, just like we agreed, and we enter the dungeon on the sixth floor. I use my card to contact the others, and get a response right away. They’re already on the fifth floor.

Apparently this feature that lets people registered in the same party communicate through their cards only works if they’re on the same floor. No one really knows why, but adventurers are thankful enough to be able to talk to people far away like this.

It’s very helpful because as adventurers keep going down, it’s not uncommon for them to fall into traps and get separated from their parties.

“I’ll try firing magic in the air. Tell me if you see it.”

And so, I use Fire Magic.

I’m a bit worried that it will hit the ceiling, but it doesn’t. It explodes about fifty meters up in the air. But the noise might attract monsters, so I make it so it doesn’t echo.

“Confirmed. Heading there now.”

“Don’t rush. If you can’t get here in a day, make sure you rest.”

I turn around, and for some reason Edel’s face twitches.

“We’ll make preparations to camp then. Should we hunt the monsters around here and secure this area?”

This time, the entrance to the sixth floor is in a cave in a rocky area, so the staircase is in a hole in the ground.

Fred and Gown take the lead and scout ahead. The area around the cave is all bare rock, but there’s a forest up ahead.

It feels like the forest is surrounding the staircase, and this area probably looks pretty strange seen from the forest side.

But this is a dungeon, not a place where common sense should be expected. The scenery doesn’t look right, but it is what it is.

It’s hard to manipulate earth when the surface is bare rock, so we move our camp to just before the forest. I say camp, but all I do is make a small wall and clean up the ground.

But that’s enough to impress Edel. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I didn’t do this last time.

I’m not going to explain everything about how I used Earth Magic and my skills and magic energy and all that. He accepts it when I say it’s a skill, but does that mean there are skills specifically used in construction? I should have probably looked into that sooner, but I think I’ll check out what kind of skills are those.

Paper is a precious thing in this world, so books and stuff like that aren’t sold in stores like I’m used to. I’ve never seen a library either.

We come across wolves while exploring. They’re taken aback at first, but Fred and Gown grab their swords and take them down with Edel supporting them with wind magic.

And me? I’m acting as Edel’s support, and taking down wolves that go around and reach us. I’m obviously not using my gun, but I use Intimidate here and there to stop my targets so I can swing my sword at them more easily.

“Not bad.”

I say after we scout this area.

Fred is surprised, but looks happy too. Although it doesn’t feel quite right that he’s happy about hearing that from someone younger than him.

“Just goes to show that we were totally unprepared.”

And he immediately goes back to picking faults and makes himself sad.

“And I have quite a bit of combat experience, but not much against superior species. I mostly just fought what I knew I’d be fighting.

He elaborates by saying it’s normal for adventurers to pick floors based on the monsters that appear there, and take only the items needed to fight them. That means people build a pretty good foundation to fight against monsters they’re used to fighting, and can raise their reputation and go up in rank by hunting a lot of relatively strong monsters.

That’s why he thought of himself as being pretty strong, but his confidence came crashing down after facing that superior species.

The three of them have been working as adventurers in this city, and almost never worked anywhere else. That feels odd to me, but they say a lot of people are like that.

“That’s why you have all those items, right Sora?”

“I’ve been traveling around various places. and since I don’t choose them based on what monsters appear there, I have to be prepared for anything. Well, having an item bag helps too.”

“But you’re a merchant, right? It’s honestly unbelievable.”

“Yes, I’m a merchant. It’s not like I go out looking for danger, but the monsters that attack me don’t care. I need to be equipped to protect myself at any time. I think you’ll understand if you get out of the dungeon and walk around outside.”

That’s only half true. If I don’t have things, I can make them. But I still need to have the necessary materials with me.

Fred and the others take the wolves apart while we talk. They drain their blood and take them apart very smoothly. They say that taking monsters back with them as they are just increases the stuff they have to carry, so taking monsters apart was one of the first things they learned.

I definitely can’t do it like they do.

When I first started working as an adventurer I wanted to try to learn, but now not so much. If I have time to take apart monsters, I’ll make potions with Alchemy instead and make more money that way.

It’s not like I’ve been accepting quests to hunt monsters either, and delivering a lot of them at once would draw attention, so I just stuff them in the Item Box.

It’s time to eat, and I’m the one cooking. I ask them what they normally make, and they say they either sprinkle some salt on something and roast it, or just eat preserved food. Is that enough for you? Is that how it’s normally like?

Apparently yes, it. Only a few adventurers go into the dungeon with cooking utensils.

We go to sleep, and I use a barrier on myself and activate Parallel Thinking, but nothing really happens.

But they don’t get here the next day, or the day after that.

We’ve been talking every night, and I make sure to fire magic into the air to show them where we are.

I told them there’s no need to rush, so we just have to wait. Meanwhile, we check our surroundings to make sure we’re safe, and do some mock battles.

I’m getting used to fighting too, so my win rate is pretty good.

Fred fights with a sword, Gown switches between a sword and a spear, and Edel uses a staff and a short sword. It’s nice to be able to face people using different weapons.

Fred and Gown are always exhausted by the end, but I don’t think that’s good. I mean, we are still in a place where monsters walk around.

This is how we spend the four days we stay here, until the girls arrive safely.

Hikari jumps into my chest as soon as she sees me. Did you miss me that much?

“Master, I’m hungry.”

Oh… I guess she’s just hungry.

The sun is about to set, so I might as well make a nice dinner tonight.

And I really feel like eating with bright and cheerful girls is a lot different than eating with rugged guys.