-33- Trouble 1
His face that I saw for the first time in two days had lost just a bit of the fat attached to it.
「Did Lichtenstein-shi joined your group? A single man together with a pair of beautiful girls is truly enviable.」
He is cracking a joke but he looks tired. Did he lose appetite too? Usually, he would be eating two servings of food, but settled down with one today.
「It’s not just me. Yesterday, it seems that you participated in the dungeon exploration for the first time, how was it?」
「Hah hahaa haaー, Nagaokshi’s handling is really rough. Just because the ones who know detection is just me and her, she made me in charge of guarding so the time I feel at ease was not much. Moreover, adding the role of carrying the luggage as well, my legs and shoulders are sore. Not being sent around to fight might be my only relief. Because of the plan of staying overnight in the dungeon today, the amount of load will be unbearably larger than yesterday.」
Were the complaints piled up in just one day? Sagara kept venting his them. I feel that bringing up this subject was a mistake.
However, since his treatment slightly resembles my current situation, there was also a part of me that can sympathize with him just a little. Without a role in fights, the matters regarding patrolling and handling the luggage are the same.
「Fuh fuuh fuuh… Today, it’s been a week, isn’t it? At first, when we were summoned by Streiyshi, I had been dreaming of a slave harem using cheats, but reality is cruel.」
「Hahaha, it is.」
「Tsk, damn traitor.」
I, who was able to do a lovely girl, understand the jealousy if I look at it from Sagara’s point of view. If my relationship with Heidi is exposed, I feel that it will become something really troublesome.
One week.
Because I ambiguously relied on my body before acquiring the clock, I don’t know the accurate changes in time. In these seven days, it can be said that it was lucky that there were no big injuries and casualties. Not a single person gave up. Although it is slow, the capture of the dungeon is progressing.
Finishing our meal, we also enter the dungeon after seeing the departure of the party led forward by Tsuzuki and Dekoko. If possible, the plan is to advance to the depth where the gate is discovered by Wazuka’s group.
◆
I step cautiously on the rugged footing that was illuminated by a pale yellow light.
I probably got familiar with using detection, it reached to the point that I am able to pick up fragments of information even if I’m doing another work in my spare time. I know that there are two groups exploring in different routes of the upper floors of the dungeon and also a mouse is nesting approximately 300 meters ahead.
Because I can completely leave the fighting to the two, I am making an effort to train on my own while walking. Whenever I have spare time since yesterday, I kept on training the release of mana. It is slow, but I also discovered tricks to it.
It was a miserable result during the first time where it was the size of the basketball, moves slowly, and with a 50 centimeter distance. Now, it is compressed to the size of a baseball, moves at a running speed, and the range was extended to a radius of 5 meters. Still, there are a lot of points to improve since it can only take a simple curved trajectory.
The mouse-type monster, that noticed us approaching, heads this way. Heidi slowly stepped forward. Its movement is considerably fast for a large body bigger than a shoe, but it will not be able to avoid the attacks.
I aimed for the timing when it enters within the range and shot the released mana towards the monster. The mana hits according to my prediction. However, if it doesn’t pierce through the target like a bullet, it won’t flinch because of pain either.
In its current state, it only gives the sensation of being lightly hit by a pebble. With the way it is, it has completely no effect against a beast that exuded rage in front of it. I would probably won’t know If I did a bad job.
The approaching monster is blown away in a straight line with one swing from Heidi. It crashed against the hard bedrock and slid down without moving while leaking body fluids. The corpse disappears after its vital signs stops and only a mana stone, which doesn’t look like the other stones scattered in that place, remains. The body fluids that should have been sticking on the walls also disappeared visibly.
I put away the mana stone that was handed over by Heidi in the backpack. I’m really useless. Since I should have been able to control mana considerably, and yet I still show no signs of being useful.
Is it lunch time soon? Fetching the clock from the backpack, I check the time. I call out to the two and, after thoroughly confirm the safety of the surroundings with detection, proceed to meal preparations.
◆
The dungeon is vast.
The path does not stretch out straight and, with bends, dead ends and branches, it continues deeper as it repeatedly converges and splits.
I don’t know how long the entire length of the labyrinth is. I don’t even plan to ridiculously try completely traveling all the paths either. Even if I effectively use the magic skill detection, no one can imagine how many days it will take.
Selecting different routes inside a vast dungeon like that, meeting another party going on an exploration is very unlikely. Even if I have the skill like detection that tells me their location, I don’t think I want to meet them.
One of the reasons why I don’t want to meet them is that the increase in party members will result in the reduction of PP that can be obtained from defeating monsters. The monsters seem to be not taking the POP type of system so it might lead to competition for resources. It’s also expected that I want to avoid divulging information as much as possible. Therefore, thinking that careless meeting will cause annoying troubles, we advance by choosing a different route.
Well, there might be also someone who would follow us using a skill like Heidi though.
However, it appears that the world doesn’t go the way I want.
「Hiiragi-san, Heidi. It should be still quite far away, but we might get in contact with another party.」
「Which group is it?」
「There are five people. Eliminating the two groups, and unless there is a vacancy in their members, I think it’s Maizuru-san’s group.」
「Do you know where Yuuko’s group is?」
I concentrate.
I catch their location, speed, and their trail in detail from the subtle movements of mana. Furthermore, I improve the analysis from the difference in monster densities. The distance is slowly getting closer. It appears that their route has a part that is barely connected to the one we are taking.
Also coincidentally, as a result of the timing with the part where the paths overlapped, it seemed to have given rise to the possibility of meeting.
「I get the impression like they’re a bit hurrying.」
「They had been challenging the dungeon by staying overnight since yesterday. Isn’t it possible that they got into trouble at the forty kilometer range?」
「The monsters have started to use magic, don’t they?」
「Yah, if we assume that they’re running back, I guess that also explains their quickening pace. Do you think that it’s possible that they’re looking for some rescue?」
Showing a slight complicated expression on her face, Heidi spoke.
「The threat of monsters gradually decreases as it gets closer to the entrance, so isn’t it all right even if we leave them alone?」
「It might become quite a detour if we avoid the trouble, but there’s also another path.」
「It’s troublesome if our time will be taken up, right?」
「Yes, does it mean that we would not meet them?」
I nodded to show my affirmation.
「Well then, let’s advance as we are.」
「Oh well. If we meet them, isn’t it just fine if we deal with them appropriately?」
We took an optimistic view.
That unpleasant and troublesome situation arrives here just when we didn’t want it.
In less than two hours, our party met the other inside the dungeon.