Book 2: Chapter 5: (5) |
I dunno. Maybe this won’t work out.
A strange-looking guy speaking monster language, a female knight who was rumoured to be dead, and a kind of food they’ve never seen before in the first place…
「Well, if you’re suspicious of it, you can just throw it away.」
I started to trudge back.
「Nah, we’ll have it.」
「Huh? But all that stuff about ‘poison’…」
「I can’t resist the smell, and that slurping noise you were making before – I don’t even care if it kills me!」
His fellow adventurers, panicking, tried to stop him, but Dan brought the plastic cup up to his mouth and slurped up the noodles.
「It’s so gooooooooooooooood! What is it?!」
「Ahhh! What is it? What is it?」
Perhaps because Dan was making so much noise as he continued eating, the other adventurers were unable to hold themselves back anymore.
「You’re right. What is this? I can’t believe how tasty it is……」
「It’s strange how good it tastes.」
The guy who looked like a bandit, the one Ria had helped out, said「Wait, you guys! Don’t eat it all!」
The other adventurers looked at him, shocked. I was about to say ‘There really isn’t any poison in it!’, but……
「If we dip the rock-hard bread we’ve been eating until now in this soup, it’ll be soooooooo tasty.」
Ria and I looked at each other and grinned.
The adventurers practically fought each other to dip their dried bread in Miso Ichiban and eat it up.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
After resting, we said our goodbyes to the other adventurers and set off ahead of them, aiming for the surface.
「Y’know, I’m pretty surprised. For adventurers of that level to be so distrustful… When you get to higher levels, you start to be able to judge when to trust people and when not to.」
Deet was surprised that the other adventurers had eaten the Miso Ichiban that I’d brought.
「Maybe it was a good thing that you took it to them, Thor. You seem pretty peaceful.」
「Are you complimenting me, or putting me down? They gave me a flower, too, you know.」
「A flower?」
I showed Deet the flower that the adventurers had given me by way of thanks.
「That’s… That’s a flower from an ancient tree!」
「Huh? Is it rare? Those adventurers from before had loads of them.」
「It’s one of the ingredients for a Mid-Potion. I see, so that’s the situation, huh.」
According to Deet, flowers from ancient trees were quite pricey, and only some adventurers knew where they could be picked.
Sometimes, adventurers know valuable information that others don’t, and not just about dungeons.
「In other words, this is a message from them. They’re probably saying that there’s a place on this floor of the dungeon where the ancient tree flowers bloom, so we should look for it. I bet the flowers of the ancient trees blossom on these roots.」
「I get it. So they were paying us back for the Miso Ichiban?」
「They seemed really happy, didn’t they? Well, if I’d been there, I would’ve found an even more effective way of earning money than getting ancient tree flowers. You should treat more people to Miso Ichiban.」
Apparently Deet, too, had realised the significance of giving Miso Ichiban to the adventurers.
Sniffing the scent of the ancient tree flower, we went on our way in high spirits.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
We advanced from the fourth level – which had been taken over by the roots of the great trees – to the third level at around the time that my smartphone indicated that, if we’d been in Japan, it would have been almost time for the evening meal.
「 Huh? Is this…?」
「Are you surprised?」
Ria smiled slightly.
「Is this really an underground dungeon? There are no furnishings, but it looks……」
The third level looked less like a dungeon and more like the interior of a gigantic castle.
「Apparently, decades ago, when the dungeon was first discovered, there were furnishings here, too.」
Deet nodded enthusiastically.
「When the dungeon was discovered, it was incredible. There was a real gold rush. There used to be furnishings made of gold on this level, you see.」
「Oh really? So… you were an adventurer even then, Deet?」
Ria just said ‘decades ago’.
「That’s right. Is that a bad thing?」
「No, not at all.」
It might be better to change the subject.
「But what’s a massive castle like this doing underground? What’s going on with this dungeon?」
Ria told me the answer.
「It is said that, although the original castle sank underground, spacetime warped and a castle from somewhere else manifested here.」
The other world really is incredible. Well, if Ria and the others were talking, they’d probably say that Japan was incredible, I suppose.
「By the way, I’m pretty knackered already.」
「If we walk on a little further, we’ll get to somewhere where we can camp.」
「A room?」
「No, a prison.」
「A prison?」
According to Ria, there was a prison on the third level of the dungeon (which looked like the interior of a huge castle), and this prison had turned into lodgings for adventurers.
「That sounds both welcome and unwelcome.」
「It’s because the threat of being attacked by monsters dramatically decreases around here. On this level, there are only weak monsters like skeletons and blue slimes.」
「Huh? Skeletons? Are they really that weak?」
If someone said ‘skeleton’ to me, I would think of an armed skeleton warrior.
In a shocked voice, Deet said「They’re not strong at all. They have no muscles, and even if they’ve got swords, they’re all worn out and look like they might break at any point.」
That was a logical explanation. I guess that’s true.
Flesh-and-blood humans with muscles are bound to be smarter and more powerful. And skeletons might have equipment, but it’s all rusty.
「They’d be perfect practice for you, Thor.」
「Mm…… That might be okay.」
Skeletons might be thought of as weak, but up until now I’d only fought blue slimes and mushroom monsters. I wanted to avoid fighting big monsters like skeletons if I could help it.
「Your level might be going up, but if all you do is that clicking game, you’ll never develop a feeling for combat.」
「Hmmm. Well, since we’re adventuring together, I suppose I don’t have a choice.」
Ria took the rucksack I’d been carrying off my shoulders.
「I’ll take this for you.」
My back felt a lot lighter. But in place of the rucksack, she gave me her shield.
「W-wow, this is heavy! Do you carry this heavy shield all the time, Ria? You must be really strong.」
The lightness of my back was cancelled out by the weight of the shield.
Ria looked embarrassed, and said in a small voice, 「Do you not like strong women?」
「N-no, that’s not it at all!」
「My shield defence skills help me, too.」
I see. So it’s because Ria has those skills that she can use her shield freely?
Deet’s annoyed voice called towards us,「Oi, you two, stop making out! Hurry up and let’s see what you’ve got.」
「Huh? Ack!」
Two skeletons came clattering sadly towards me.
「I’m not mentally prepared yet!」
「You’ll be fine.」
「You telling me I’ll be fine doesn’t make it true!」
「You’ve got plenty of time to mentally prepare yourself.」
「But the skeletons are already…… Huh?」
Wow, these guys are slow. It looked as if they were barely moving towards me at all.
「Once you’re feeling ready, you should start the fight yourself.」
「G-got it.」
I brought the shield up in front of me and slowly but steadily approached them. Well, I was intending to go slowly and steadily, but I found myself walking pretty fast.
I had a hunch that it would be best to attack at least one of the skeletons before they could both brandish their swords at me at the same time. I advanced quickly and brought my ice axe down on one of their skulls.
The ice axe easily smashed in the skeleton’s skull, and the skeleton tumbled to the ground without resistance.
「All right!」
But the other skeleton, of course, had had time to raise its rusty sword above its head. I might have got a head start with the ice axe, but I had to take the force of this blow carefully with Ria’s shield.
The impact of the sword was…… weak. I pushed the skeleton back with the shield that had taken the blow, and knocked it off balance. And, before the skeleton could get back into a fighting stance, I swung the ice axe down.
As I’d expected, the skeleton crumbled to the ground. The two skeletons lay silent.
I was shocked by the results of my own battle. I’m amazing!
「H-how was that? Ria? Deet? Shizuku? Not very heroic, right?」
In order to hide my surprise, I sent myself up a bit. I never thought I’d be able to fight like that.
「You’re doing much better than I did in my first fight.」
「That was so cool, Master!」
Ria and Shizuku interjected.
But what about Deet? I glanced at her.
She breathed a small sigh.
「You were okay. Your fighting senses aren’t bad. There are plenty of guys out there whose status is good but who have no feel for combat.」
「R-right? Hahaha.」
I never thought that even Deet would praise me.
「But you’re far from heroic. After all, you’re unemployed.」
「Leave me alone!」
Everyone laughed. I guess I’m the butt of the joke. The skeletons were pretty weak.
「Looks like you’ll be able to graduate from packhorse to support. After a while, we’ll be able to put you in the vanguard.」
But I’d be just fine being the packhorse.
Thinking this, I was about to take a step forward when Deet came and whispered in my ear, 「I was surprised how good your feeling for combat was. There’s no limit on your level – one of these days, you’ll be able to beat heroes.」
「Really?」
「Yes, really.」
In that case, I’m gonna graduate from packhorse quickly.
Wow, what a discovery those skeletons were!
