Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Hiroshi, who had gone off to Darl, had yet to come back on that day.
「I wonder what they forced Hiroshi-kun to do……？」
「Sensei’s weak to pressure when he’s by himself.」
Hiroshi was probably being forced to do something that took a lot of time and effort. While concerned about all that, the group continued preparations for the dungeon crawl at a brisk pace.
「Well, regardless of what they pushed on him, if this involves Igreos-sama, Her Highness, and Magdarena-sama, then he can’t be dealing with anything too dangerous.」
「I’m not concerned about that, but Hiroshi-kun is like a ticking time bomb wherever he goes……」
「Elle’s supposedly with him, so I’m sure she’ll keep him in check.」
Hiroshi’s gynophobia went very deep, given its origins. This sometimes caused him to relive trauma unexpectedly, and Haruna was especially concerned that he was with the queen of Darl, who had the tendency to tread in that area on purpose. As Tatsuya said, it was a good bonus to have Aearis with him, but the tug of war between Aearis’ spiritual insight and the queen’s mischievous nature would probably actually lead Hiroshi’s symptoms into a worse state, and that made her very scared.
「Worrying about it right now won’t help Hiro’s situation. Let’s do what we set out to do.」
「Exactly. If we get advanced materials and hand them to him, I’m telling you some of that trauma will blow away!」
Knowing very well what Haruna was worried about, and understanding it wasn’t something to be taken so lightly usually, Tatsuya and Makoto said slightly lighthearted things in order to comfort Haruna. The main problem right now was that it was too much for Tatsuya’s group to meet up with Hiroshi time-wise, and even if they were able to, by that point Hiroshi would probably be almost done with everything. They were just far too late for that.
「Anyhow, time to get planning. Makoto, sorry, but I’d like you to be the tank.」
「Yeah, yeah, I got it. But just know that I’m not anywhere at Hiroshi’s level, so I’m going to protect myself a good amount too.」
「Right on.」
Makoto said matter-of-factly, and Tatsuya and the others nodded with serious faces. In the first place, Hiroshi was just abnormal. When attacked from behind, it was almost as if he had eyes on the back of his head that allowed him to capture the target without fail. Usually back attacks or interruptions from patrolling monsters, sudden appearances of monsters in dungeons were difficult situations for tanks to deal with, so it was normal for healers or damage dealers to have some ways of defending themselves. Also, usually the front had at least two people as an established practice so as to guard the healers/dps with lightning speed.
「I do happen to have lanterns and mana lights, but what will we use first？」
「It’s scary dealing with flammable gas, dust explosions, etc, so other than areas that cancel mana, we should stick to mana lights.」
「Okay. I also prepared something for lunch, but how far exactly will we be going？」
「Aqua breath lasts at least six hours, right? So probably somewhere around there, I think.」
Makoto and Haruna continued checking basic preparations, including food. This will have been the second time they went head-on into a life-threatening dungeon. The investigation of the dungeon’s specifications the other day was in an area where even normies wouldn’t die from one hit (as long as they had equipment on and weren’t hit in the vitals like the neck area), with essentially weak monsters and that was it. With their equipment, their lives would never have been in danger.
The other dungeon besides Crest Cave and Ortem was Darl’s underground ruins, but said “ruins” were simply an amusement facility, so it was difficult to group it in with the dungeon attacks.
「No other things we missed, right？」
「I don’t think so. Normally I’d say transportation stones, but unlike the game, the dungeons over here just reject special transportation stones or special transportation magic.」
「That part is a drag, isn’t it.」
That was probably the most fatal difference between the game and the world: whether you could teleport or not. In the game, even if it was impossible to teleport inside from outside, you could go from inside to outside. However, in this world, you could not go from outside to inside or from inside to outside. You could only really teleport within the dungeon itself, and unless you were an octogal, there was no guarantee that you could perfectly avoid being “trapped in a rock”, so it was bad to overuse it, and if you were going to use it, it would most likely be for short distance teleportation to an area in your field of vision.
It was a bit strange when you realized that the enchantment effects of Share Capacity weren’t cancelled, but any sort of teleportation was completely cut off. Still, that sort of specification was set, and they could do nothing about it.
「Do we have a good amount of pome in storage？」
「Lately, we haven’t used it for food or explosive power, so we’re good.」
And as per usual, Haruna made a comment based off her apprehension of using pome for food, while Tatsuya nodded and determined that everything was prepared. After checking luggage once more, Tatsuya announced departure.
「Now that it looks like we have everything we need, guess it’s time to go inspecting.」
Nodding at Tatsuya’s declaration, the group checked to make sure everything was locked before leaving. This was a light dungeon search without a main tank. This easy job, which everyone had slight premonitions about upcoming trouble, began with the usual flow of events.
「C’mon, this is ridiculous……」
Hiroshi grumbled for many reasons as he repaired the temple’s treasure house. Right now, in front of him, was a wrecked stone building. How on earth did it get this way?
「I’m terribly sorry about this.」
「So how’d it even get like this？」
「Maybe it’s because Darl’s feng shui has been greatly cleansed, but yesterday shortly before noon, all of a sudden a fragment wedged into Zanafel began to rampage. And then as we detached it to clean it, the other sealed fragment began to resonate with the first piece and began running amok as well. Since the feng shui cleansing began a ways back, I was careless and fell behind.」
「S’that right……」
Apparently what Hiroshi’s group did wasn’t entirely unrelated to this. Still, no matter the reason, he needed to thoroughly repair the building before anything. As he grumbled about doing all this large-scale repair by himself, Hiroshi’s hands and body had already repaired the most urgent spots before you even realized it in the matter of a few seconds.
Furthermore, as to what Hiroshi and the others had been doing before noon yesterday, it was tending to a young daughter of nobility who had yet to reach one year of age. Magdalena and a few other high-ranking members of society asked him to do this. The treatment itself ended within thirty minutes, but Hiroshi had been forced to stay for a medical follow-up until around 3.
The illness itself was not an uncommon one in Farlane or Forre, transmitted from mother to child at a young age. As long as neither your luck nor the way people tried to heal you were bad, then you would almost never die from it. It only emerged in infants and was one of the types that never manifested again, one of the easier diseases to catch as a child and with common symptoms.
Farlane would likely have dealt with it without calling Hiroshi over. However, as there were hardly any emergences of this sickness in Darl, the doctors at the imperial court didn’t know how to deal with it, and had no medicinal herbs to work on specifically rare diseases like these. As a result, the court had no idea what to do, so they conveniently asked for Hiroshi’s help right when he came by.
As she exhibited symptoms yesterday morning, Hiroshi had arrived before anything worsened, but had he missed the timing, they would have possibly resorted to calling over a doctor from Farlane, and you could imagine how much of an uproar that would cause. Considering how Hiroshi might have walked off before Igreos temple’s evil god fragment went on its rampage, it was perfect timing for everyone other than Hiroshi, who had to deal with all this.To Hiroshi, who had many heavy responsibilities forced on him, this really wasn’t something he took kindly to.
Also, Aearis was currently in Darl Castle. She had gone to check on the young girl’s well-being. Although Aearis herself had not showed symptoms, as priestess princess she had heard plenty of stories about this illness. Among these were cases of people dying without the specific cure, or living with slight impairments, so despite knowing it would be all right, she just had to make sure.
「But for the rampage of an evil god fragment, there weren’t many casualties, huh?」
「Nay, of course I am not so decrepit that I would allow such a large rampage. The reason I fell behind in dealing with it was because of the scale of this problem.」
「I see」
As he continued the repair process, Hiroshi gathered whatever information he could from Igreos. As expected, repairing this without any proper information was not good enough considering how the treasure house was a bit too damaged to overlook.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「What else was in there besides the evil god fragment？」
「Other than things here and there to strengthen the seal, there are just a few small tools used for ceremonies once every hundred years, tops. Anything besides sealing tools aren’t much of a problem.」
「Nah, I think that ceremonial tools breakin’ is a pretty huge problem……」
「After using them a few times, they eventually succumb to mine and the feng shui’s combined energy and they get remade anyway. As long as they aren’t historically important artifacts, it doesn’t matter if they break.」
Hiroshi found himself agreeing with what Igreos asserted. They were directly accepting the power of a god, so if the items weren’t something with exceptional affinity or superior finesse, then it only made since for them to break after several uses. Still, wouldn’t the tools still have historical significance if they were only used a few times and every hundred years? Also, Igreos must have done a seriously good job in making sure to continue a tradition that took place every hundred years. But both of these thoughts in Hiroshi’s head were left to slide without comment.
「So do I gotta have the tools order made again？」
「Nay. The next time they are used will be in approximately fifty years, and unlike the treasury, there are plenty of craftsmen here who can easily make them.」
「Understood.」
Even if Igreos were a god, he did not seem so shameless as to force it all on Hiroshi.
「All in all, seems to have been a good idea to leave the barriers over the area yesterday……」
Hiroshi let out a grumble at the work that never seemed to end. I had been late to come yesterday, so by the point in time he was asked to check out the treasury, it was already too late to do any sort of work. The slight miasma leaking out had a dangerous atmosphere to it, so he had at least made sure to erect a cleansing barrier, but by that point it had become dinnertime.
Even with speed like fast-forwarding or rewinding, up till now Hiroshi had still not completed anything other than the repair of the entrance area. Ordinarily, it would be faster and safer to rebuild it from scratch instead of mending it, but with the inside being structured as it was, and with every kind of barrier still active in the treasury, he could not carelessly disassemble the building and rebuild it. Hiroshi could probably finish the outer wall by lunch, but with how dangerous the condition it was in, no one had confirmed what had occurred in the interior, so he really couldn’t say how long it would take to finish.
In exchange for Hiroshi undergoing the repair process, craftsmen deeply familiar with the temple were providing bricks with specific manufacturing methods that Hiroshi asked for. Although they didn’t have as much power as holy coals, Igreos had directly sparked a fire in them, so the finished bricks were the perfect quality for using in magic steel-made smelting furnaces. The correct amount would probably be gathered in half a day. However, Hiroshi’s hands were folded now that he wanted to bring those back with him. The time that Aearis had gone out of her way to secure for him had now been gulped up spectacularly.
「I made tea. How about a break soon？」
As Hiroshi was about to finish repairing the second wall, Nazaria approached him.
「Yup. I’ll be done with this here wall in a jiffy, so after that it’s break time.」
Accepting Nazaria’s offer, Hiroshi neatly, quickly, and thoroughly filled the remaining fissures before wiping off his sweat and washing his hands with water magic. As a precaution, he erected a cleansing barrier and then moved to the rest area in the temple.
「Sorry for pushing all this on you」
「Well, it’s a valid concern, and not mendin’ any o’that after seein’ the state it’s in is kinda messed up……」
Hiroshi responded to a seriously apologetic Nazaria with a sigh as he tipped the tea toward his mouth. It was a fact that leaving the situation like this with the evil god involved would come back to haunt him later on, plus having so many people feel indebted to him was not a bad thing, even if they were not people in power. In fact, not having power dynamics involved made the work proceed in a more cheerful manner, most likely.
「But is it cool if I grumble ’bout how many annoying things piled up in a row？」
「Well yeah, that much is a given.」
Nazaria agreed with Hiroshi’s grievances, the same serious expression on her face. Hiroshi’s reputation would be higher if he just held in his complaints, but he just kept on letting his thoughts out, which was one of the reasons why people saw him as a wimp. Even if he did have an instinctive aversion to power and authority, it wasn’t very cool of Hiroshi to express his discontent through grumbling, especially when it involved the crafting work he loved so much.
「So how much longer do you think？」
「Well, the outer wall’s gonna end by the afternoon, I think. Dunno ’bout the inside.」
「Is that right」
「But that’s just comparin’ it to the outer wall. In actuality, first I gotta clean up the inside before any repairin’ is done, yeah？」
「……Come to think of it, you’re right. How about I bring over some people from the elder/priest side?」
Hearing Hiroshi’s pointer, Nazaria nodded earnestly, announcing she would proceed things along.
「I rebuilt Aranwen-sama’s main temple before, but this procedure’s takin’ a lot longer……」
「Really？」
「Well, there were plenty o’wood supplies I cut down to rebuild the thing, plus the temple didn’t even have the build of a temple. The size wasn’t even that big, and it didn’t take much time to get it completely rebuilt.」
「Could it be that Aranwen’s temple is smaller than the treasure room here？」
「It really is. Well, the only people who usually come are elves or forest giants, plus not even that many show up, so Aranwen-sama himself ain’t mighty concerned.」
「Oh? But I do not care much either.」
Igreos, who had been listening on and off, butted in.
「Well, I do kinda understand when I see that……」
「Ugh, such a irresponsible reaction!!」
「Wait, actually, in general the gods’re all fine with it as long as they gotta priestess ’n holy realm, right? Even Alfemina-sama sometimes don’t even seem to care about religious festivals, ceremonies, rituals, or any o’ that.」
「Aye. Thought I am grateful for all the faith, most rituals/ceremonies are just bluffs, with only a few possessing actual meaning.」
「I wondah if it’s a good thing fer a god to be saying this in their own temple……」
Igreos let out an unexpected statement while holding a double biceps pose as Hiroshi made an exasperated quip.
「Well, I’ll go ahead ’n git back to repairin’. Slack too long ’n the sun’s a’gonna set.」
「Indeed. Then again, if you think also of what’s inside the building, I highly doubt it will end within the day.」
「Igreos-sama, even if that’s true, there’s also the Forre smelting furnace he’s working on. I happen to question confining Hiroshi-dono much further…」
「Aye. Depending on the catastrophe that awaits us within, I do intend to have him instead go over to making the magic steel furnaces.」
Igreos proclaimed with a ringing voice in response to Nazaria.
「Then regardless of how screwed up the inside is, I’ll at least think o’some kinda time-savin’ treatment for now.」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「I really am grateful for your hard work.」
Igreos bowed to Hiroshi once after he said that. Finding it a little baffling that a god would do something like that, Hiroshi just returned to his work and then got to finishing the outer wall maintenance as pledged before looking inside…
「Whoa……」
「Mm, it appears to be still thrashing around.」
In the center of all the junk that used to be the treasury, there was an evil god fragment attempting to crush the barrier that Igreos had erected.
「Before repairin’ this or anything, don’t we gotta do somethin’ bout that？」
「Aye」
「Even I feel like I’d lose my sanity if I weren’t next to Igreos-sama right now, so I bet regular priests/faculty wouldn’t be able to take it.」
Looking at the wriggling evil god fragment, Hiroshi, Igreos, and Nazaria continued their conversation while grimacing. Honestly, you would have to possess a sharp mental game like Hiroshi or Igreos’ divine protection like Nazaria in order to keep your sanity. Of the members from the Japanese team, Mio could probably handle it somehow, but the other three, probably not, unless they had a preventive measure.
「Well, since we obviously gotta erect a barrier to prevent anything leakin’ outside, Igreos-sama, do ya gotta holy elemental offensive strengthening field or somethin’ you can make?」
「Aye, as I am a god. That is the most basic of basics.」
「Then followin’ past procedures, how ‘bout we play Haruna-san’s sutra gospel on repeat.」
By this point, Haruna’s song was essentially being treated like a talisman or like the salt in pickles. Nazaria inwardly expressed her deepest sympathy.
「Now I’ll just fill in the crevices that stick out ‘n then coat the surface with a sheet, I guess.」
「Aye. Please do.」
Since Igreos gave his stamp of approval, Hiroshi moved the work along speedily. Igreos’s barrier (which outclassed Aearis’s holy offensive strengthening barrier) forced the evil god fragment to pour all of its remaining energy into maintaining its life force, now unable to interfere with the outside at all.
Rewinding a bit to the time Hiroshi was relaxing with some tea on break.
「We should be at the first poison gas region soon.」
「About how far do we have?」
「According to the map, that tunnel over there makes a turn, and it’s right at the end there. The spacious room ahead is completely filled with it.」
The dungeon crawl with Haruna’s group was going pretty smoothly. Already at the entrance there were just monsters that even amateurs could deal with, and even going a little further in only yielded capybara-sized mice. Big rats were certainly a handful to beginning adventurers/warriors or amateur excavators, but to adventurers who were accustomed to taking on quests, all they amounted to were sitting ducks.
Approaching the poison gas region, there were monsters like giant centipedes coming out, which were a nuisance, but even these were no enemies of Haruna’s group. The moment they showed up, Makoto sliced them in half, Haruna cut them up, Mio sewed them onto the wall, and Tatsuya froze them in ice.
Also, the reason Tatsuya didn’t use Oxide Circle was because despite the monsters in this dungeon being of the biological variety, depriving them of oxygen did not work.
「Dungeons are weird places though.」
「Pretty sure when they’re isolated they’re beyond weird, yeah, but specifically what do you mean？」
「Cuz the monsters we defeat disappear if we leave them too long, but the ingredients we retrieve from them, like meat, don’t disappear right？」
「Oh, that’s what you meant……」
Tatsuya commented on Haruna’s rather late observation. Normally you’d think after watching the tower sprout back up after being pulverized, this would be nothing new to see, but apparently Haruna just liked to pay attention to small, pointless details from time to time.
「Also, the monsters disappear, but why not human corpses？」
「Ah～、I see what you’re getting at」
「Come to think of it, the search parties that all got destroyed apparently were one day past expiration when they were found.」
Understanding what Haruna found so peculiar, Tatsuya and Makoto found themselves agreeing.
「Y’know, listening to your observation, Haruna, I thought something……」
「What？」
「It seems like some of the corpses from the search parties had all their flesh eaten. I think the dungeon monsters spawned suddenly out of thin air. So byt hat logic……」
「You’re wondering if they excrete their food？」
「Yeah. Rather, they shouldn’t even be organisms, so it’s weird they’d even require food.」
「Ahー」
The elders of the group let out impressed voices at Mio’s oddly sharp question. Upon hearing it, Haruna tilted her head a bit as she came up with her own new problem.
「I also found that odd. In fact, are they even eating for preservation？」
「What do you mean？」
「What if the monsters in the dungeon grow from experience too…?」
「That’s one freaky theory……」
「Well, a lot changes, like if it’s from individual experience or if the dungeon grows at a uniform rate, etc」
「And so we go back to the initial question……」
Of course, being a talented woman who got third place on the national mock examination, Haruna sometimes had unfathomably sharp intellect when she wasn’t twitterpated. Had she began her first question with the premise she just offered, no one would be questioning why she cared. Instead they would have known it was an important element to consider.
「Honestly, the only dungeons we’ve really been through were Ortem’s and the one over here, so I get the feeling we don’t have sufficient information about the dungeons in this world.」
「Ah～、that’s very true」
「With the Ortem one, we were split into different groups, and with Sensei being together with Artiem, none of us could keep all that calm, so we didn’t even end up properly researching the layout.」
「In that sense, this is almost the first time we’re going through a dungeon, huh」
It seemed like this topic, emerging from Haruna’s misgivings, was more crucial than they gave it credit for, especially when it came to figuring out whether the monsters in dungeons grow or not, and if so then was it on an individual basis or a group thing? They couldn’t ignore that.
「The real problem is how we figure that out.」
「Right…Guess I should have tried asking that when we were at the Sweltering Tower.」
「Well, we didn’t have the leisure to do that, plus we only recently started caring about the dungeon specs.」
Tatsuya recalled an incident in which they could have learned something, clicking his tongue, while Haruna scolded him. But before this whole issue of not knowing enough about the dungeon layout, the team hadn’t even entered the Sweltering Tower to begin with.
「When you think along these lines, there’s a heck of a lot of things we didn’t care about initially that we probably should have pointed out.」
「Such as？」
「Especially with the Sweltering Tower, but just in general, how are these isolated dimensions staying activated？」
「Yeah, I’ve been wondering that for a while. Aranwen-sama and Igreos-sama aren’t experts on that, I don’t think, so I didn’t ask them at the last explanation meeting. If we’re going to ask anyone, it’d be better to try Alfemina-sama or the god of knowledge, Darjan-sama for that…」
「Yeah, Alfemina-sama’s pretty busy usually……」
The group nodded in a serious manner as Tatsuya commented on one of the five gods they had yet to meet directly through Aearis. Darjan didn’t seem to be staying in one specific area like Aranwen or Igreos, and he didn’t visit the priestess more than one or two times a month.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Tatsu, Haru, Mako. No one to talk to right now, so first let’s just examine the dungeon we’re in to see what type it is.」
「Right. We should almost be near the poison gas, so do we pull out the aqua breath？」
「Sounds like a good idea」
Mio asked Haruna and the others as she shot through a giant miasma bat the moment it solidified. It would defeat the purpose of this mission if they let the unsolved problem distract them from dealing with what was in front of them.
This dungeon was brand new. There were still plenty of things that were unknown. The distribution of monsters, the design of the passageways, respawn time, the existence of traps, just tons of things to check out.
「For the time being, we need to examine the poison gas region.」
「Right. If it turns out one aqua breath isn’t sufficient, we won’t be able to go any further. Also, wouldn’t it be a good idea to understand how much resistance it has to poison gas？」
Taking out a blue sphere the size of a ping-pong ball, Tatsuya and Makoto ripped off the paper cover as they confirmed their first goal. The blue spheres, needless to say, were aqua breaths. The cover was a light mana seal, and its role the same as that of the surface of a battery. By tearing this off, the mana circuit ‘s remaining area would become connected before gaining function as an item. This structure was built to share all alchemy-made, endurance-based supportive expendable items.
Also, as the mana circuits were securely planted within, these items notified the user when the effects were wearing out or the defensive effects had been breached. In this case, if the aqua breath was unable to prevent the poison gas from entering the mouth or nose areas, the user would immediately know that aqua breath was unable to do so. Of course, even if the gas touching the skin was hazardous, the aqua breath would still function properly, so it was entirely possible for your defenses to be breached without aqua breath notifying you. All in all, aqua breath was simply a means to protecting the vital organs of the face and maintaining proper breathing in hostile environments.
「Mio-chan, can you investigate the condition of the toxicity？」
「Unsure. I do think I get most of it, but detailed analysis is definitely best left to Sensei.」
「Hm, okay. Do you know if skin contact is safe？」
「I think we’ll pull through.」
Handing one bottle each for poison gas collecting to them and preparing a simple air measuring instrument, Mio answered in a slightly regretful tone. Though they were able to do all sorts of things now, this team was still inferior to Hiroshi by a lot. Also, Mio went to the trouble of analyzing the area because it was always possible that three different poison areas had three different levels of poison. So this time, they were examining different locations from which Hiroshi had investigated beforehand.
「Now it’s time to map it out.」
A limited map in hand and Makoto and Mio in the lead, the group stepped into the poison gas region. Usually mapping was something left to Tatsuya, who wouldn’t be at an inconvenience if his hands were full. Mio mainly attacked with her bow, and right now her hands were full with the air measurer. Therefore, she couldn’t even participate in battle.
You might imagine poison gas to have a poisonous glint to it filling the air, but but no adventurer would plunge into such an obvious trap without preparing in some way. This dungeon’s poison regions were colorless and transparent, filled with gas that even pros had difficulty recognizing.
If this were outdoors or in a regular room, it might have been easier to discern the scent. But unfortunately, these were all dungeon rooms, and there were numerous smells mixing in and out (not necessarily bad smells). Unless you had a good sense of smell and observation, it would be difficult to recognize it anytime soon.
「Absorption via skin contact？」
「As anticipated, nothing in particular. I think aqua breath will block it out.」
「Roger that. So the gas in this region is safe to traverse.」
Nodding at Tatsuya’s additional confirmation, Mio continued checking the rough density of the poison gas with the simple air measurer. Conveying several numbers to Tatsuya and having him record them, Mio continued onward. All the monsters that appeared were killed mercilessly by Makoto and Haruna in mere seconds.
「Poison gas density eight. A little further down and we should be able to breathe normally.」
「Roger. Unless we get stalled by something seriously malignant, we pretty much just break through with aqua breath.」
「Right.」
Three hours after entering the poison gas region. Tatsuya and the others continued through the area at a turtlelike pace where they would normally have taken only one hour to move through. Mio’s report was certainly good news, as everyone was beginning to feel their concentration dipping, but they still didn’t look especially lighthearted just yet. If there was one thing the group understand right now, it was that they could get through the region, but considering how violent the gas was for its tasteless, odorless nature, who knew how twisted the nature of the other areas was ahead.
「For the time being, once we get to a place where we can breathe normally, I’d like to dig through the wall. Is that alright？」
「Alright. Careful though.」
「Yeah」
Nodding at Haruna, who expressed her desire for another essential search, Tatsuya once again wrote in numbers from Mio’s report. Once the poison gas meter hit six and the group approached an area where they could breathe well enough for a while without any negative health effects, Haruna began digging through the wall. Mio slightly changed location as well in order to collect information and begin excavation.
「So what now」
「I feel weird, so let’s check for any crevices. I don’t think Haruna or Mio would fall behind much if they were attacked by the monsters over here while excavating.」
「Roger.」
The place could cave in after they got past the gas region. It was a reasonable trap. No one, not even their team could survive being crushed, so it was best to check anywhere that could be deadly. With that strange conviction in mind, Tatsuya and Makoto began checking the walls and ceiling. After a brief while, once they had come to the densest region, the group heard a loud sound and felt a thundering vibration from the entrance.
「……So it’s THAT kind of trap！」
「More elaborate setups！」
Immediately knowing what had just transpired, they quickly checked the passage that was the entrance to the poison gas region, and as predicted it was half buried with rubble.
「Not enough space for people to get through」
「But it’s not like it’s totally sealed off」
「Must be one of those things where carving one path crumbles another elsewhere」
「Most likely, yeah」
Tatsuya and Makoto just scowled at the ill-natured trap that had activated on their way back. They had investigated all over the place, including for traps, and it hadn’t been all that long since they had given the place a light lookover. As a result there was still time remaining for aqua breath, but not enough for going to another location. That would just be a death flag.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Now then, let’s meet up with Haruna/Mio and figure out how to deal with it」
「All we can do. Plus I’m hungry」
「Yep. Let’s discuss it over food」
It was already getting late for lunch, but the only people who’d get to discussing food at a time like this were the members of the Azuma Workshop aka Tatsuya and Makoto. They had already shifted the mood of the conversation, livening it up with talk of what food Haruna had made as they returned to the safe (though still poisonous) zone.
「We heard a loud sound. Was it a cave-in like we thought？」
「Yeah. Anyhow, we’re hungry and we also want to ask your opinions on dealing with something after eating.」
Haruna asked for the excavation crew, and Tatsuya responded with a grimace. Even Class Five adventurers couldn’t act as leisurely as this, but this group in question was not going to realize that.
「Well, we also are hungry, so let’s eat lunch first」
「Heck yeah. What’s for lunch？」
「I’ve been cooking German style food lately, so I put a little twist on it and went at it from an Italian angle.」
Haruna said as she took out a table alongside an odd variety of pizza whose dough was covered in cheese/salami combo and tomato sauce, fried in oil and a salad/appetizer with a slight stateless vibe to it.
「Now, I figured that cooled meat or pastas weren’t the best for this environment, so I didn’t bring them, but how’s this so far？」
「Yeah, I say it’s fine. It’s not like I feel the need to eat noodles in a dusty environment like this anyway.」
「Agreed.」
「Looks good. Let’s eat right away」
Everyone voiced their thoughts on the food Haruna had made, saying their thanks for the food in a rushed manner so they could get right to reaching for the food. Ripping the crisp pizza apart with your teeth would unveil the fragrance and taste of hot cheese and tomato, an unbelievably delectable sensation. Normally you’d think it to be extremely rich, but you could hardly feel that strong of a taste, and everyone felt they could eat both dishes.
「This crepe thingy is good」
「Yeah, the greasy flavor in your mouth feels refreshing」
A crepe-like appetizer you could grip with your hands, with vegetables and whatnot wrapped around it. Chronologically, this should come first, but with the environment being as hostile as it was, Haruna seemed to have made several adjustments to make it easier to consume. This aim of hers seemed to have hit the lottery, and the splintered air around the group mellowed out quite a bit with this ingenious and delicious meal made out of consideration.
「……Now that we’ve eaten our fill, we gotta think of a way to get out.」
「Tatsu, we’ll decide that after looking at the area.」
「Got it」
Taking in Mio’s opinion, Tatsuya lead them to the collapsed area in question. Mio brought out her general conclusion as she looked around the area to see what situation they were in or the state of the rubble.
「Sensei would just dig it all up and then move on, but we probably can’t.」
「Probably not. But can we make a path at least？」
「No problem. We’ll detonate it with poms.」
「Wha！？」
Tatsuya and Makoto blurted out at Mio’s overly violent conclusion. They were already concerned about making excessive moves, so this was out of the question.
「With the explosive power of poms, there won’t be that big of a shock wave to make other areas crumble.」
「Wait, so you’re saying we can actually do something about this rubble？」
「I would never suggest the impossible.」
Answering Tatsuya’s question in a placid tone, Mio took four, standard-sized poms out from her bag and strew them together with leaf threads before tying their feet together to prevent escape. Any sort of impact would detonate them, so there was a need to get work done quickly and carefully. Tatsuya and Makoto were probably out of the question, but even Haruna’s work would be getting dangerously close to the warning line with reliability.
「What do you plan to accomplish by tying them up？」
「First we set them over here.」
「Ah, I see. Too dangerous to keep them too close, right」
「Mm」
Understanding the meaning of Mio’s actions, Haruna measured out a probably good amount of distance before retreating. Following her example, Tatsuya and Makoto made sure to escape a good distance. Seeing that the members were all plenty far away, Mio also took her distance from the mountain of rubble as she took out the poms. And then
「Hyah」
Along with an extremely flavorless shout in comparison to Hiroshi’s throwing came the loud “woo woo” shrieks from the nearby poms as Mio threw them at the rubble, the pom bundle hitting it dead-on. Small explosions occurred immediately in succession until a few tempos later, the mountain of rubble fell.
「Like this」
「Wow, you can do it after all……」
「Hey, I said I could.」
Mio countered Makoto’s oddly impressed comment with (albeit expressionless) a somewhat angry tone oozing from her emotions. Anyone could make decisions like this as long as they had around initial intermediate level in excavation or engineering. Haruna might be fine with engineering, but her excavation skills were lacking, so of course she couldn’t make such precise judgements.
「Anyhow, let’s stop fighting and get out quickly.」
「Yep. In an isolated dimension, you never know what traps are hidden」
Hearing Haruna’s scolding, the group went back to the area near the entrance, which was comparatively safer.
「So what now？」
「Still plenty of poms in storage」
「Aqua breath’s going to end pretty soon」
Mio and Makoto told Tatsuya the current state of things in response to his question as the basis for their decision-making. Pondering this information, Haruna made the optimal decision after checking the current time.
「I don’t think Hiroshi-kun’s returned yet, so how about we check one of the remaining two places before going back？」
「I don’t really mind.」
「Same here」
「Agreed with Haru’s proposal」
They had to investigate anyway, as per the request, so they may as well check another location before going back. After deciding that, they quickly headed to the poison trap which hadn’t been discovered by Hiroshi. As expected, the same kind of trap activated and they resolved the situation the same kind of way. By this time it was past 8 pm.
「Yeah, at a time like this, there probably aren’t many people in here……」
「I guess we let our greed go out of control？」
「Probably, yeah.」
Smiling awkwardly at Haruna’s dejected observation, the group walked into the apartment they were temporarily using.
「Welcome back. Y’all be super late tho.」
「Glad to be back. Yeah, we kinda took too much time in our search.」
Hiroshi, already back by this time, met them at the door, and Haruna, immediately a bit lively now, responded with a somewhat cheerful tone as she greeted him. Getting as close to Hiroshi as she could, Haruna began the report on today’s findings. She was quite a bit more calm than she was in Darl, but this apparently did not mean that her love interest had subsided. Her outward demeanor was one thing, but her eyes and tone seemed to be telling their own story.
「You seem a lot calmer than in Darl. Or is it my imagination？」
「Well yeah, I sure am. Actually, it’s more like I learned how to distance myself from my feelings, and nothing has essentially changed. In fact, I think things might have gotten even worse.」
「……Well, that’s just the way love is, yup.」
「Yeah……」
While a bit uneasy at this calm yet unstoppable formation of love toward Hiroshi by Haruna and Mio (who was doing the same thing Haruna was), who were both distanced but clearly attached to him, Tatsuya and Makoto were rubbernecks by nature and decided to enjoy this display with grins on their faces.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Hiroshi, who had gone off to Darl, had yet to come back on that day.
「I wonder what they forced Hiroshi-kun to do……？」
「Sensei’s weak to pressure when he’s by himself.」
Hiroshi was probably being forced to do something that took a lot of time and effort. While concerned about all that, the group continued preparations for the dungeon crawl at a brisk pace.
「Well, regardless of what they pushed on him, if this involves Igreos-sama, Her Highness, and Magdarena-sama, then he can’t be dealing with anything too dangerous.」
「I’m not concerned about that, but Hiroshi-kun is like a ticking time bomb wherever he goes……」
「Elle’s supposedly with him, so I’m sure she’ll keep him in check.」
Hiroshi’s gynophobia went very deep, given its origins. This sometimes caused him to relive trauma unexpectedly, and Haruna was especially concerned that he was with the queen of Darl, who had the tendency to tread in that area on purpose. As Tatsuya said, it was a good bonus to have Aearis with him, but the tug of war between Aearis’ spiritual insight and the queen’s mischievous nature would probably actually lead Hiroshi’s symptoms into a worse state, and that made her very scared.
「Worrying about it right now won’t help Hiro’s situation. Let’s do what we set out to do.」
「Exactly. If we get advanced materials and hand them to him, I’m telling you some of that trauma will blow away!」
Knowing very well what Haruna was worried about, and understanding it wasn’t something to be taken so lightly usually, Tatsuya and Makoto said slightly lighthearted things in order to comfort Haruna. The main problem right now was that it was too much for Tatsuya’s group to meet up with Hiroshi time-wise, and even if they were able to, by that point Hiroshi would probably be almost done with everything. They were just far too late for that.
「Anyhow, time to get planning. Makoto, sorry, but I’d like you to be the tank.」
「Yeah, yeah, I got it. But just know that I’m not anywhere at Hiroshi’s level, so I’m going to protect myself a good amount too.」
「Right on.」
Makoto said matter-of-factly, and Tatsuya and the others nodded with serious faces. In the first place, Hiroshi was just abnormal. When attacked from behind, it was almost as if he had eyes on the back of his head that allowed him to capture the target without fail. Usually back attacks or interruptions from patrolling monsters, sudden appearances of monsters in dungeons were difficult situations for tanks to deal with, so it was normal for healers or damage dealers to have some ways of defending themselves. Also, usually the front had at least two people as an established practice so as to guard the healers/dps with lightning speed.
「I do happen to have lanterns and mana lights, but what will we use first？」
「It’s scary dealing with flammable gas, dust explosions, etc, so other than areas that cancel mana, we should stick to mana lights.」
「Okay. I also prepared something for lunch, but how far exactly will we be going？」
「Aqua breath lasts at least six hours, right? So probably somewhere around there, I think.」
Makoto and Haruna continued checking basic preparations, including food. This will have been the second time they went head-on into a life-threatening dungeon. The investigation of the dungeon’s specifications the other day was in an area where even normies wouldn’t die from one hit (as long as they had equipment on and weren’t hit in the vitals like the neck area), with essentially weak monsters and that was it. With their equipment, their lives would never have been in danger.
The other dungeon besides Crest Cave and Ortem was Darl’s underground ruins, but said “ruins” were simply an amusement facility, so it was difficult to group it in with the dungeon attacks.
「No other things we missed, right？」
「I don’t think so. Normally I’d say transportation stones, but unlike the game, the dungeons over here just reject special transportation stones or special transportation magic.」
「That part is a drag, isn’t it.」
That was probably the most fatal difference between the game and the world: whether you could teleport or not. In the game, even if it was impossible to teleport inside from outside, you could go from inside to outside. However, in this world, you could not go from outside to inside or from inside to outside. You could only really teleport within the dungeon itself, and unless you were an octogal, there was no guarantee that you could perfectly avoid being “trapped in a rock”, so it was bad to overuse it, and if you were going to use it, it would most likely be for short distance teleportation to an area in your field of vision.
It was a bit strange when you realized that the enchantment effects of Share Capacity weren’t cancelled, but any sort of teleportation was completely cut off. Still, that sort of specification was set, and they could do nothing about it.
「Do we have a good amount of pome in storage？」
「Lately, we haven’t used it for food or explosive power, so we’re good.」
And as per usual, Haruna made a comment based off her apprehension of using pome for food, while Tatsuya nodded and determined that everything was prepared. After checking luggage once more, Tatsuya announced departure.
「Now that it looks like we have everything we need, guess it’s time to go inspecting.」
Nodding at Tatsuya’s declaration, the group checked to make sure everything was locked before leaving. This was a light dungeon search without a main tank. This easy job, which everyone had slight premonitions about upcoming trouble, began with the usual flow of events.
「C’mon, this is ridiculous……」
Hiroshi grumbled for many reasons as he repaired the temple’s treasure house. Right now, in front of him, was a wrecked stone building. How on earth did it get this way?
「I’m terribly sorry about this.」
「So how’d it even get like this？」
「Maybe it’s because Darl’s feng shui has been greatly cleansed, but yesterday shortly before noon, all of a sudden a fragment wedged into Zanafel began to rampage. And then as we detached it to clean it, the other sealed fragment began to resonate with the first piece and began running amok as well. Since the feng shui cleansing began a ways back, I was careless and fell behind.」
「S’that right……」
Apparently what Hiroshi’s group did wasn’t entirely unrelated to this. Still, no matter the reason, he needed to thoroughly repair the building before anything. As he grumbled about doing all this large-scale repair by himself, Hiroshi’s hands and body had already repaired the most urgent spots before you even realized it in the matter of a few seconds.
Furthermore, as to what Hiroshi and the others had been doing before noon yesterday, it was tending to a young daughter of nobility who had yet to reach one year of age. Magdalena and a few other high-ranking members of society asked him to do this. The treatment itself ended within thirty minutes, but Hiroshi had been forced to stay for a medical follow-up until around 3.
The illness itself was not an uncommon one in Farlane or Forre, transmitted from mother to child at a young age. As long as neither your luck nor the way people tried to heal you were bad, then you would almost never die from it. It only emerged in infants and was one of the types that never manifested again, one of the easier diseases to catch as a child and with common symptoms.
Farlane would likely have dealt with it without calling Hiroshi over. However, as there were hardly any emergences of this sickness in Darl, the doctors at the imperial court didn’t know how to deal with it, and had no medicinal herbs to work on specifically rare diseases like these. As a result, the court had no idea what to do, so they conveniently asked for Hiroshi’s help right when he came by.
As she exhibited symptoms yesterday morning, Hiroshi had arrived before anything worsened, but had he missed the timing, they would have possibly resorted to calling over a doctor from Farlane, and you could imagine how much of an uproar that would cause. Considering how Hiroshi might have walked off before Igreos temple’s evil god fragment went on its rampage, it was perfect timing for everyone other than Hiroshi, who had to deal with all this.To Hiroshi, who had many heavy responsibilities forced on him, this really wasn’t something he took kindly to.
Also, Aearis was currently in Darl Castle. She had gone to check on the young girl’s well-being. Although Aearis herself had not showed symptoms, as priestess princess she had heard plenty of stories about this illness. Among these were cases of people dying without the specific cure, or living with slight impairments, so despite knowing it would be all right, she just had to make sure.
「But for the rampage of an evil god fragment, there weren’t many casualties, huh?」
「Nay, of course I am not so decrepit that I would allow such a large rampage. The reason I fell behind in dealing with it was because of the scale of this problem.」
「I see」
As he continued the repair process, Hiroshi gathered whatever information he could from Igreos. As expected, repairing this without any proper information was not good enough considering how the treasure house was a bit too damaged to overlook.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「What else was in there besides the evil god fragment？」
「Other than things here and there to strengthen the seal, there are just a few small tools used for ceremonies once every hundred years, tops. Anything besides sealing tools aren’t much of a problem.」
「Nah, I think that ceremonial tools breakin’ is a pretty huge problem……」
「After using them a few times, they eventually succumb to mine and the feng shui’s combined energy and they get remade anyway. As long as they aren’t historically important artifacts, it doesn’t matter if they break.」
Hiroshi found himself agreeing with what Igreos asserted. They were directly accepting the power of a god, so if the items weren’t something with exceptional affinity or superior finesse, then it only made since for them to break after several uses. Still, wouldn’t the tools still have historical significance if they were only used a few times and every hundred years? Also, Igreos must have done a seriously good job in making sure to continue a tradition that took place every hundred years. But both of these thoughts in Hiroshi’s head were left to slide without comment.
「So do I gotta have the tools order made again？」
「Nay. The next time they are used will be in approximately fifty years, and unlike the treasury, there are plenty of craftsmen here who can easily make them.」
「Understood.」
Even if Igreos were a god, he did not seem so shameless as to force it all on Hiroshi.
「All in all, seems to have been a good idea to leave the barriers over the area yesterday……」
Hiroshi let out a grumble at the work that never seemed to end. I had been late to come yesterday, so by the point in time he was asked to check out the treasury, it was already too late to do any sort of work. The slight miasma leaking out had a dangerous atmosphere to it, so he had at least made sure to erect a cleansing barrier, but by that point it had become dinnertime.
Even with speed like fast-forwarding or rewinding, up till now Hiroshi had still not completed anything other than the repair of the entrance area. Ordinarily, it would be faster and safer to rebuild it from scratch instead of mending it, but with the inside being structured as it was, and with every kind of barrier still active in the treasury, he could not carelessly disassemble the building and rebuild it. Hiroshi could probably finish the outer wall by lunch, but with how dangerous the condition it was in, no one had confirmed what had occurred in the interior, so he really couldn’t say how long it would take to finish.
In exchange for Hiroshi undergoing the repair process, craftsmen deeply familiar with the temple were providing bricks with specific manufacturing methods that Hiroshi asked for. Although they didn’t have as much power as holy coals, Igreos had directly sparked a fire in them, so the finished bricks were the perfect quality for using in magic steel-made smelting furnaces. The correct amount would probably be gathered in half a day. However, Hiroshi’s hands were folded now that he wanted to bring those back with him. The time that Aearis had gone out of her way to secure for him had now been gulped up spectacularly.
「I made tea. How about a break soon？」
As Hiroshi was about to finish repairing the second wall, Nazaria approached him.
「Yup. I’ll be done with this here wall in a jiffy, so after that it’s break time.」
Accepting Nazaria’s offer, Hiroshi neatly, quickly, and thoroughly filled the remaining fissures before wiping off his sweat and washing his hands with water magic. As a precaution, he erected a cleansing barrier and then moved to the rest area in the temple.
「Sorry for pushing all this on you」
「Well, it’s a valid concern, and not mendin’ any o’that after seein’ the state it’s in is kinda messed up……」
Hiroshi responded to a seriously apologetic Nazaria with a sigh as he tipped the tea toward his mouth. It was a fact that leaving the situation like this with the evil god involved would come back to haunt him later on, plus having so many people feel indebted to him was not a bad thing, even if they were not people in power. In fact, not having power dynamics involved made the work proceed in a more cheerful manner, most likely.
「But is it cool if I grumble ’bout how many annoying things piled up in a row？」
「Well yeah, that much is a given.」
Nazaria agreed with Hiroshi’s grievances, the same serious expression on her face. Hiroshi’s reputation would be higher if he just held in his complaints, but he just kept on letting his thoughts out, which was one of the reasons why people saw him as a wimp. Even if he did have an instinctive aversion to power and authority, it wasn’t very cool of Hiroshi to express his discontent through grumbling, especially when it involved the crafting work he loved so much.
「So how much longer do you think？」
「Well, the outer wall’s gonna end by the afternoon, I think. Dunno ’bout the inside.」
「Is that right」
「But that’s just comparin’ it to the outer wall. In actuality, first I gotta clean up the inside before any repairin’ is done, yeah？」
「……Come to think of it, you’re right. How about I bring over some people from the elder/priest side?」
Hearing Hiroshi’s pointer, Nazaria nodded earnestly, announcing she would proceed things along.
「I rebuilt Aranwen-sama’s main temple before, but this procedure’s takin’ a lot longer……」
「Really？」
「Well, there were plenty o’wood supplies I cut down to rebuild the thing, plus the temple didn’t even have the build of a temple. The size wasn’t even that big, and it didn’t take much time to get it completely rebuilt.」
「Could it be that Aranwen’s temple is smaller than the treasure room here？」
「It really is. Well, the only people who usually come are elves or forest giants, plus not even that many show up, so Aranwen-sama himself ain’t mighty concerned.」
「Oh? But I do not care much either.」
Igreos, who had been listening on and off, butted in.
「Well, I do kinda understand when I see that……」
「Ugh, such a irresponsible reaction!!」
「Wait, actually, in general the gods’re all fine with it as long as they gotta priestess ’n holy realm, right? Even Alfemina-sama sometimes don’t even seem to care about religious festivals, ceremonies, rituals, or any o’ that.」
「Aye. Thought I am grateful for all the faith, most rituals/ceremonies are just bluffs, with only a few possessing actual meaning.」
「I wondah if it’s a good thing fer a god to be saying this in their own temple……」
Igreos let out an unexpected statement while holding a double biceps pose as Hiroshi made an exasperated quip.
「Well, I’ll go ahead ’n git back to repairin’. Slack too long ’n the sun’s a’gonna set.」
「Indeed. Then again, if you think also of what’s inside the building, I highly doubt it will end within the day.」
「Igreos-sama, even if that’s true, there’s also the Forre smelting furnace he’s working on. I happen to question confining Hiroshi-dono much further…」
「Aye. Depending on the catastrophe that awaits us within, I do intend to have him instead go over to making the magic steel furnaces.」
Igreos proclaimed with a ringing voice in response to Nazaria.
「Then regardless of how screwed up the inside is, I’ll at least think o’some kinda time-savin’ treatment for now.」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「I really am grateful for your hard work.」
Igreos bowed to Hiroshi once after he said that. Finding it a little baffling that a god would do something like that, Hiroshi just returned to his work and then got to finishing the outer wall maintenance as pledged before looking inside…
「Whoa……」
「Mm, it appears to be still thrashing around.」
In the center of all the junk that used to be the treasury, there was an evil god fragment attempting to crush the barrier that Igreos had erected.
「Before repairin’ this or anything, don’t we gotta do somethin’ bout that？」
「Aye」
「Even I feel like I’d lose my sanity if I weren’t next to Igreos-sama right now, so I bet regular priests/faculty wouldn’t be able to take it.」
Looking at the wriggling evil god fragment, Hiroshi, Igreos, and Nazaria continued their conversation while grimacing. Honestly, you would have to possess a sharp mental game like Hiroshi or Igreos’ divine protection like Nazaria in order to keep your sanity. Of the members from the Japanese team, Mio could probably handle it somehow, but the other three, probably not, unless they had a preventive measure.
「Well, since we obviously gotta erect a barrier to prevent anything leakin’ outside, Igreos-sama, do ya gotta holy elemental offensive strengthening field or somethin’ you can make?」
「Aye, as I am a god. That is the most basic of basics.」
「Then followin’ past procedures, how ‘bout we play Haruna-san’s sutra gospel on repeat.」
By this point, Haruna’s song was essentially being treated like a talisman or like the salt in pickles. Nazaria inwardly expressed her deepest sympathy.
「Now I’ll just fill in the crevices that stick out ‘n then coat the surface with a sheet, I guess.」
「Aye. Please do.」
Since Igreos gave his stamp of approval, Hiroshi moved the work along speedily. Igreos’s barrier (which outclassed Aearis’s holy offensive strengthening barrier) forced the evil god fragment to pour all of its remaining energy into maintaining its life force, now unable to interfere with the outside at all.
Rewinding a bit to the time Hiroshi was relaxing with some tea on break.
「We should be at the first poison gas region soon.」
「About how far do we have?」
「According to the map, that tunnel over there makes a turn, and it’s right at the end there. The spacious room ahead is completely filled with it.」
The dungeon crawl with Haruna’s group was going pretty smoothly. Already at the entrance there were just monsters that even amateurs could deal with, and even going a little further in only yielded capybara-sized mice. Big rats were certainly a handful to beginning adventurers/warriors or amateur excavators, but to adventurers who were accustomed to taking on quests, all they amounted to were sitting ducks.
Approaching the poison gas region, there were monsters like giant centipedes coming out, which were a nuisance, but even these were no enemies of Haruna’s group. The moment they showed up, Makoto sliced them in half, Haruna cut them up, Mio sewed them onto the wall, and Tatsuya froze them in ice.
Also, the reason Tatsuya didn’t use Oxide Circle was because despite the monsters in this dungeon being of the biological variety, depriving them of oxygen did not work.
「Dungeons are weird places though.」
「Pretty sure when they’re isolated they’re beyond weird, yeah, but specifically what do you mean？」
「Cuz the monsters we defeat disappear if we leave them too long, but the ingredients we retrieve from them, like meat, don’t disappear right？」
「Oh, that’s what you meant……」
Tatsuya commented on Haruna’s rather late observation. Normally you’d think after watching the tower sprout back up after being pulverized, this would be nothing new to see, but apparently Haruna just liked to pay attention to small, pointless details from time to time.
「Also, the monsters disappear, but why not human corpses？」
「Ah～、I see what you’re getting at」
「Come to think of it, the search parties that all got destroyed apparently were one day past expiration when they were found.」
Understanding what Haruna found so peculiar, Tatsuya and Makoto found themselves agreeing.
「Y’know, listening to your observation, Haruna, I thought something……」
「What？」
「It seems like some of the corpses from the search parties had all their flesh eaten. I think the dungeon monsters spawned suddenly out of thin air. So byt hat logic……」
「You’re wondering if they excrete their food？」
「Yeah. Rather, they shouldn’t even be organisms, so it’s weird they’d even require food.」
「Ahー」
The elders of the group let out impressed voices at Mio’s oddly sharp question. Upon hearing it, Haruna tilted her head a bit as she came up with her own new problem.
「I also found that odd. In fact, are they even eating for preservation？」
「What do you mean？」
「What if the monsters in the dungeon grow from experience too…?」
「That’s one freaky theory……」
「Well, a lot changes, like if it’s from individual experience or if the dungeon grows at a uniform rate, etc」
「And so we go back to the initial question……」
Of course, being a talented woman who got third place on the national mock examination, Haruna sometimes had unfathomably sharp intellect when she wasn’t twitterpated. Had she began her first question with the premise she just offered, no one would be questioning why she cared. Instead they would have known it was an important element to consider.
「Honestly, the only dungeons we’ve really been through were Ortem’s and the one over here, so I get the feeling we don’t have sufficient information about the dungeons in this world.」
「Ah～、that’s very true」
「With the Ortem one, we were split into different groups, and with Sensei being together with Artiem, none of us could keep all that calm, so we didn’t even end up properly researching the layout.」
「In that sense, this is almost the first time we’re going through a dungeon, huh」
It seemed like this topic, emerging from Haruna’s misgivings, was more crucial than they gave it credit for, especially when it came to figuring out whether the monsters in dungeons grow or not, and if so then was it on an individual basis or a group thing? They couldn’t ignore that.
「The real problem is how we figure that out.」
「Right…Guess I should have tried asking that when we were at the Sweltering Tower.」
「Well, we didn’t have the leisure to do that, plus we only recently started caring about the dungeon specs.」
Tatsuya recalled an incident in which they could have learned something, clicking his tongue, while Haruna scolded him. But before this whole issue of not knowing enough about the dungeon layout, the team hadn’t even entered the Sweltering Tower to begin with.
「When you think along these lines, there’s a heck of a lot of things we didn’t care about initially that we probably should have pointed out.」
「Such as？」
「Especially with the Sweltering Tower, but just in general, how are these isolated dimensions staying activated？」
「Yeah, I’ve been wondering that for a while. Aranwen-sama and Igreos-sama aren’t experts on that, I don’t think, so I didn’t ask them at the last explanation meeting. If we’re going to ask anyone, it’d be better to try Alfemina-sama or the god of knowledge, Darjan-sama for that…」
「Yeah, Alfemina-sama’s pretty busy usually……」
The group nodded in a serious manner as Tatsuya commented on one of the five gods they had yet to meet directly through Aearis. Darjan didn’t seem to be staying in one specific area like Aranwen or Igreos, and he didn’t visit the priestess more than one or two times a month.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Tatsu, Haru, Mako. No one to talk to right now, so first let’s just examine the dungeon we’re in to see what type it is.」
「Right. We should almost be near the poison gas, so do we pull out the aqua breath？」
「Sounds like a good idea」
Mio asked Haruna and the others as she shot through a giant miasma bat the moment it solidified. It would defeat the purpose of this mission if they let the unsolved problem distract them from dealing with what was in front of them.
This dungeon was brand new. There were still plenty of things that were unknown. The distribution of monsters, the design of the passageways, respawn time, the existence of traps, just tons of things to check out.
「For the time being, we need to examine the poison gas region.」
「Right. If it turns out one aqua breath isn’t sufficient, we won’t be able to go any further. Also, wouldn’t it be a good idea to understand how much resistance it has to poison gas？」
Taking out a blue sphere the size of a ping-pong ball, Tatsuya and Makoto ripped off the paper cover as they confirmed their first goal. The blue spheres, needless to say, were aqua breaths. The cover was a light mana seal, and its role the same as that of the surface of a battery. By tearing this off, the mana circuit ‘s remaining area would become connected before gaining function as an item. This structure was built to share all alchemy-made, endurance-based supportive expendable items.
Also, as the mana circuits were securely planted within, these items notified the user when the effects were wearing out or the defensive effects had been breached. In this case, if the aqua breath was unable to prevent the poison gas from entering the mouth or nose areas, the user would immediately know that aqua breath was unable to do so. Of course, even if the gas touching the skin was hazardous, the aqua breath would still function properly, so it was entirely possible for your defenses to be breached without aqua breath notifying you. All in all, aqua breath was simply a means to protecting the vital organs of the face and maintaining proper breathing in hostile environments.
「Mio-chan, can you investigate the condition of the toxicity？」
「Unsure. I do think I get most of it, but detailed analysis is definitely best left to Sensei.」
「Hm, okay. Do you know if skin contact is safe？」
「I think we’ll pull through.」
Handing one bottle each for poison gas collecting to them and preparing a simple air measuring instrument, Mio answered in a slightly regretful tone. Though they were able to do all sorts of things now, this team was still inferior to Hiroshi by a lot. Also, Mio went to the trouble of analyzing the area because it was always possible that three different poison areas had three different levels of poison. So this time, they were examining different locations from which Hiroshi had investigated beforehand.
「Now it’s time to map it out.」
A limited map in hand and Makoto and Mio in the lead, the group stepped into the poison gas region. Usually mapping was something left to Tatsuya, who wouldn’t be at an inconvenience if his hands were full. Mio mainly attacked with her bow, and right now her hands were full with the air measurer. Therefore, she couldn’t even participate in battle.
You might imagine poison gas to have a poisonous glint to it filling the air, but but no adventurer would plunge into such an obvious trap without preparing in some way. This dungeon’s poison regions were colorless and transparent, filled with gas that even pros had difficulty recognizing.
If this were outdoors or in a regular room, it might have been easier to discern the scent. But unfortunately, these were all dungeon rooms, and there were numerous smells mixing in and out (not necessarily bad smells). Unless you had a good sense of smell and observation, it would be difficult to recognize it anytime soon.
「Absorption via skin contact？」
「As anticipated, nothing in particular. I think aqua breath will block it out.」
「Roger that. So the gas in this region is safe to traverse.」
Nodding at Tatsuya’s additional confirmation, Mio continued checking the rough density of the poison gas with the simple air measurer. Conveying several numbers to Tatsuya and having him record them, Mio continued onward. All the monsters that appeared were killed mercilessly by Makoto and Haruna in mere seconds.
「Poison gas density eight. A little further down and we should be able to breathe normally.」
「Roger. Unless we get stalled by something seriously malignant, we pretty much just break through with aqua breath.」
「Right.」
Three hours after entering the poison gas region. Tatsuya and the others continued through the area at a turtlelike pace where they would normally have taken only one hour to move through. Mio’s report was certainly good news, as everyone was beginning to feel their concentration dipping, but they still didn’t look especially lighthearted just yet. If there was one thing the group understand right now, it was that they could get through the region, but considering how violent the gas was for its tasteless, odorless nature, who knew how twisted the nature of the other areas was ahead.
「For the time being, once we get to a place where we can breathe normally, I’d like to dig through the wall. Is that alright？」
「Alright. Careful though.」
「Yeah」
Nodding at Haruna, who expressed her desire for another essential search, Tatsuya once again wrote in numbers from Mio’s report. Once the poison gas meter hit six and the group approached an area where they could breathe well enough for a while without any negative health effects, Haruna began digging through the wall. Mio slightly changed location as well in order to collect information and begin excavation.
「So what now」
「I feel weird, so let’s check for any crevices. I don’t think Haruna or Mio would fall behind much if they were attacked by the monsters over here while excavating.」
「Roger.」
The place could cave in after they got past the gas region. It was a reasonable trap. No one, not even their team could survive being crushed, so it was best to check anywhere that could be deadly. With that strange conviction in mind, Tatsuya and Makoto began checking the walls and ceiling. After a brief while, once they had come to the densest region, the group heard a loud sound and felt a thundering vibration from the entrance.
「……So it’s THAT kind of trap！」
「More elaborate setups！」
Immediately knowing what had just transpired, they quickly checked the passage that was the entrance to the poison gas region, and as predicted it was half buried with rubble.
「Not enough space for people to get through」
「But it’s not like it’s totally sealed off」
「Must be one of those things where carving one path crumbles another elsewhere」
「Most likely, yeah」
Tatsuya and Makoto just scowled at the ill-natured trap that had activated on their way back. They had investigated all over the place, including for traps, and it hadn’t been all that long since they had given the place a light lookover. As a result there was still time remaining for aqua breath, but not enough for going to another location. That would just be a death flag.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Now then, let’s meet up with Haruna/Mio and figure out how to deal with it」
「All we can do. Plus I’m hungry」
「Yep. Let’s discuss it over food」
It was already getting late for lunch, but the only people who’d get to discussing food at a time like this were the members of the Azuma Workshop aka Tatsuya and Makoto. They had already shifted the mood of the conversation, livening it up with talk of what food Haruna had made as they returned to the safe (though still poisonous) zone.
「We heard a loud sound. Was it a cave-in like we thought？」
「Yeah. Anyhow, we’re hungry and we also want to ask your opinions on dealing with something after eating.」
Haruna asked for the excavation crew, and Tatsuya responded with a grimace. Even Class Five adventurers couldn’t act as leisurely as this, but this group in question was not going to realize that.
「Well, we also are hungry, so let’s eat lunch first」
「Heck yeah. What’s for lunch？」
「I’ve been cooking German style food lately, so I put a little twist on it and went at it from an Italian angle.」
Haruna said as she took out a table alongside an odd variety of pizza whose dough was covered in cheese/salami combo and tomato sauce, fried in oil and a salad/appetizer with a slight stateless vibe to it.
「Now, I figured that cooled meat or pastas weren’t the best for this environment, so I didn’t bring them, but how’s this so far？」
「Yeah, I say it’s fine. It’s not like I feel the need to eat noodles in a dusty environment like this anyway.」
「Agreed.」
「Looks good. Let’s eat right away」
Everyone voiced their thoughts on the food Haruna had made, saying their thanks for the food in a rushed manner so they could get right to reaching for the food. Ripping the crisp pizza apart with your teeth would unveil the fragrance and taste of hot cheese and tomato, an unbelievably delectable sensation. Normally you’d think it to be extremely rich, but you could hardly feel that strong of a taste, and everyone felt they could eat both dishes.
「This crepe thingy is good」
「Yeah, the greasy flavor in your mouth feels refreshing」
A crepe-like appetizer you could grip with your hands, with vegetables and whatnot wrapped around it. Chronologically, this should come first, but with the environment being as hostile as it was, Haruna seemed to have made several adjustments to make it easier to consume. This aim of hers seemed to have hit the lottery, and the splintered air around the group mellowed out quite a bit with this ingenious and delicious meal made out of consideration.
「……Now that we’ve eaten our fill, we gotta think of a way to get out.」
「Tatsu, we’ll decide that after looking at the area.」
「Got it」
Taking in Mio’s opinion, Tatsuya lead them to the collapsed area in question. Mio brought out her general conclusion as she looked around the area to see what situation they were in or the state of the rubble.
「Sensei would just dig it all up and then move on, but we probably can’t.」
「Probably not. But can we make a path at least？」
「No problem. We’ll detonate it with poms.」
「Wha！？」
Tatsuya and Makoto blurted out at Mio’s overly violent conclusion. They were already concerned about making excessive moves, so this was out of the question.
「With the explosive power of poms, there won’t be that big of a shock wave to make other areas crumble.」
「Wait, so you’re saying we can actually do something about this rubble？」
「I would never suggest the impossible.」
Answering Tatsuya’s question in a placid tone, Mio took four, standard-sized poms out from her bag and strew them together with leaf threads before tying their feet together to prevent escape. Any sort of impact would detonate them, so there was a need to get work done quickly and carefully. Tatsuya and Makoto were probably out of the question, but even Haruna’s work would be getting dangerously close to the warning line with reliability.
「What do you plan to accomplish by tying them up？」
「First we set them over here.」
「Ah, I see. Too dangerous to keep them too close, right」
「Mm」
Understanding the meaning of Mio’s actions, Haruna measured out a probably good amount of distance before retreating. Following her example, Tatsuya and Makoto made sure to escape a good distance. Seeing that the members were all plenty far away, Mio also took her distance from the mountain of rubble as she took out the poms. And then
「Hyah」
Along with an extremely flavorless shout in comparison to Hiroshi’s throwing came the loud “woo woo” shrieks from the nearby poms as Mio threw them at the rubble, the pom bundle hitting it dead-on. Small explosions occurred immediately in succession until a few tempos later, the mountain of rubble fell.
「Like this」
「Wow, you can do it after all……」
「Hey, I said I could.」
Mio countered Makoto’s oddly impressed comment with (albeit expressionless) a somewhat angry tone oozing from her emotions. Anyone could make decisions like this as long as they had around initial intermediate level in excavation or engineering. Haruna might be fine with engineering, but her excavation skills were lacking, so of course she couldn’t make such precise judgements.
「Anyhow, let’s stop fighting and get out quickly.」
「Yep. In an isolated dimension, you never know what traps are hidden」
Hearing Haruna’s scolding, the group went back to the area near the entrance, which was comparatively safer.
「So what now？」
「Still plenty of poms in storage」
「Aqua breath’s going to end pretty soon」
Mio and Makoto told Tatsuya the current state of things in response to his question as the basis for their decision-making. Pondering this information, Haruna made the optimal decision after checking the current time.
「I don’t think Hiroshi-kun’s returned yet, so how about we check one of the remaining two places before going back？」
「I don’t really mind.」
「Same here」
「Agreed with Haru’s proposal」
They had to investigate anyway, as per the request, so they may as well check another location before going back. After deciding that, they quickly headed to the poison trap which hadn’t been discovered by Hiroshi. As expected, the same kind of trap activated and they resolved the situation the same kind of way. By this time it was past 8 pm.
「Yeah, at a time like this, there probably aren’t many people in here……」
「I guess we let our greed go out of control？」
「Probably, yeah.」
Smiling awkwardly at Haruna’s dejected observation, the group walked into the apartment they were temporarily using.
「Welcome back. Y’all be super late tho.」
「Glad to be back. Yeah, we kinda took too much time in our search.」
Hiroshi, already back by this time, met them at the door, and Haruna, immediately a bit lively now, responded with a somewhat cheerful tone as she greeted him. Getting as close to Hiroshi as she could, Haruna began the report on today’s findings. She was quite a bit more calm than she was in Darl, but this apparently did not mean that her love interest had subsided. Her outward demeanor was one thing, but her eyes and tone seemed to be telling their own story.
「You seem a lot calmer than in Darl. Or is it my imagination？」
「Well yeah, I sure am. Actually, it’s more like I learned how to distance myself from my feelings, and nothing has essentially changed. In fact, I think things might have gotten even worse.」
「……Well, that’s just the way love is, yup.」
「Yeah……」
While a bit uneasy at this calm yet unstoppable formation of love toward Hiroshi by Haruna and Mio (who was doing the same thing Haruna was), who were both distanced but clearly attached to him, Tatsuya and Makoto were rubbernecks by nature and decided to enjoy this display with grins on their faces.
