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[Please spare me from that!]
Sera apologizes immediately. And Dora surprisingly didn"t go easy on her.
[For the time being, let"s just hear her out first. We can think about the future afterwards, right?]
[That is right. Not all of the royal families are necessarily supporting the Heroes after all.]
Maria nods. It"s a strange thing for Maria, who is more or less a Hero who should"ve been supported, to say.
[You could cure just the burns with Midori-chan"s secret medicine series right?]
[I guess so. "Heal" won"t cure something like burn marks, but the secret medicine is different after all.]
I nod at Mio"s word. Midori"s secret medicine is not so out of this world"s logic, so it"ll work out even if it leaked out in the worst case.
[U-Ugh……]
Like Dora told us, she is about to wake up.
[E-Eh? I was, by a volcano golem…… Ah! Oniisama! What about Oniisama!?]
The awakened princess tries to get up but she couldn"t because one of her arms is broken and so she collapses like that.
[Ouch!? Eh? My arm is……, moreover my body……]
Princess is shocked from seeing her own body. But she still manages to get up and looks around. At this stage she seems to be observing us and the disastrous scene around us. She stands up even while disoriented and walks towards a certain corpse.
[Ah……Aah……Oniisama, Oniisama……]
One of the surrounding corpses. The princess is clinging on the corpse whose body was wrapped in the most high grade looking armor. If the corpse is that damaged, then it shouldn"t be possible for us to revive him.
[Ughh……, Why did something like this……, that"s why I said we should return quickly……]
So the princess planned to return on the 10th floor? The princess has been crying for a while but, maybe because she remembered us, she wipes away her tears and approaches us. Even though she herself is also in tatters, she is quite tough.
[All of you are explorers correct? Forgive me, but could not you tell me what occured while I was unconscious?]
I"m glad the princess didn"t say anything to us with an arrogant att.i.tude. I"m confident I would give up on this place if I were to feel unpleasant.
[Yeah, we are explorers. We discovered the volcano golems and this disastrous scene when we explored this floor. There was only one volcano golem left so we defeated it. You were the only survivor so we applied “Heal” on you for now.]
I give a concise explanation and the princess nods as if she understood.
[I understand. My grat.i.tude for your explanation.]
[What happened here? Volcano golems are monsters from a lower floor right?]
The princess showed a behavior like she is pondering about my question.
[Yes. Allow me to tell you what occured here. Before that, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cattleya. I am a princess of this country.]
[My name is Jin. There are many of us here, so the other members will introduce themselves when there"s a chance for that .]
[Yes. Eh? Just that? I am a princess, you know?]
[Yeah, is there something about that?]
[……No, never mind. Would you allow me to call you Jin-sama?]
What"s going on? This is a talk that happens often only when the one you rescued is a princess right?
A : …….
[Err, can you really give us your name this easily to explorers like us?]
Sakura asked. Yeah, I knew it beforehand, but usually you would hide it won"t you?
[I cannot do something discourteous as not giving my name to the ones who have rescued me. I intend to give rewards and payments, so it would be nice if you could refrain from abducting me and so on if possible.]
Her frankness is showing effect. From just the reward. ……Now then, shall I go in a monster house and die? Ah, no good. I won"t receive decent damage if it"s this floor.
Other members excluding me smile awkwardly.
[I dove into this dungeon for the coming of age ceremony. Originally it was fine to go until the tenth floor, but since a fellow traveler cravingly asked, we have gone until the next floors. So arriving here, our party were surrounded by volcano golems and was annihilated.]
[Fellow traveler?]
A guy who could push their opinion even though one of the two royal family is stopping, who is that guy?
[It is a Hero dispatched from Eludia.]
[[A Hero……]]
Sakura and I unintentionally looked at each other"s face in harmony. No, the possibility of them to come to this country wasn"t low, but I didn"t think I would hear that t.i.tle inside the dungeon.
[Is there something the matter?]
[No, please don"t worry about it. It is something personal.]
Cattleya asks us in wonder.
[The hero who was dispatched here from Eludia two weeks ago, had accompanied my coming of age ceremony. I believe there was more or less an aspect of authority to fight alonside the Hero. He said exploring up to the tenth floor was boring and suggested to move on ahead. I was against it, but the Hero advanced on his own accord and so we helplessly advanced as is.]
I checked, but there was no Hero, or rather person from another world among the corpses around here.
[The knights were elite, but since we intended to go until the tenth floor we only brought only one magic caster, we had very bad affinity with volcano golems.]
The volcano golem is tough and hot so it is difficult to do close quarter combat. It"s famous on the 20th floor and first on a list of monsters who would checkmate you if you don"t take any countermeasures against them.
[Didn"t the Hero fight?]
[The Hero…… fought once. But he escaped on his own from the excessively bad affinity with the volcano golem. In order to push the monsters to us, he slashed at Oniisama with his sword and injured him as a bonus…… Then he took distance from the monsters like that and he seems to have escaped using a transfer stone……]
Saying that much, the princess casts down her eyes and shivered. What was reflected when she lifts up her eyes was clearly anger.
[What do you mean "I will protect you"! You coward who ran away from the beginning! Because Oniisama who was the strongest among us was injured, we were annihilated by the volcano golem! It wouldn"t have turned out like this if Oniisama was safe! The magic caster was killed when he tried healing Oniisama! Even though we should have been able to at least escape if all of us were safe! Everything was because of the Hero!]
Having shouted that much, Cattleya was gasping out of breath. You"re the worst human being just from what little I"ve heard, Hero.
[Ah! My apologies. I have shown you something unsightly……]
[No, well, yeah……]
[If you have something to say, then please say it!]
[You"ve been holding it in didn"t you.]
[Certainly! It wasn"t just the horrible behavior of his in this dungeon! He is sc.u.m who gets carried away from being flattered as a Hero! Sc.u.m who tried to court me, who hated it, without thinking deeply about it and getting distracted by other women in the middle of courting me and then going along with my coming of age ceremony by declaring the unreasonable to Otousama! We did not become a Hero supporting country to support someone like that! Once I return I shall have Otousama repeal our support!]
I can feel she is getting very angry. Even thought it"s unpleasant under normal circ.u.mstances, he became her important brother"s enemy, so I guess it"s natural.
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Sakura sends me a telepathic message.
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Sure, there"s plenty of room to sympathise with her. Not to mention, if there is a chance that this country casts away the Heroes then some cooperation should be pretty cheap. ……Looks like I pretty much hate Heroes too.
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After waiting until Cattleya calms down, I ask her.
[Well, what are you going to do with this place?]
[……]
Cattleya ponders for a while.
[First, I would like to bring back the remains of Oniisama and the knights, but would it be acceptable for you to cooperate with me?]
I guess it means helping her with carrying the corpses on our shoulders in order to carry them back.
[I can use the s.p.a.ce magic "Storage". How about putting them in there?]
[That is amazing. ……Can I ask of you then?]
[Sure.]
I say so and I pretend to put the nearby corpses in "Storage" and put them in . Now that she mentions it, only the prince"s corpse have a traces of being slashed with a sword.
[I entered the dungeon from the capital city, but what about everyone?]
[We entered from Lilia city.]
[Lilia is it? It is a little distant. ……In that case, would you mind using the knight"s transfer stone and come to the capital?]
The place you return to when you use transfer stone is the "last dungeon entrance the transfer stone pa.s.sed through". In other words, If I use the transfer stone from the knights that have come from the capital city, I, who entered from Lilia, could immediately transfer to the capital city. There is a restriction where one person could use only one and other people can"t use what you have used, but there"s a certain type of trick where it can be used for movement in this regard.
From what I heard, there seems to be a job called "Porter" who carry transfer stone, moves from one dungeon entrance to another and sell the transfer stones there. Since only one transfer stone is effective at a time, they could only return by walking above ground or by moving through the same route in the dungeon. It"s quite a rigorous occupation
[I don"t particularly mind. Oh, would it be better to report this to Elinsia at Lilia?]
[Are you acquainted with Elinsia?]
[Yeah, we received recommendation for our dungeon EX from her.]
[That is amazing. She only gives a letter of recommendation to capable people who will be of benefit to the country.]
[You too princess, you know a mere knight well don"t you?]
It is strange for a princess to know the leader of a knights order of a land rather separate from the capital city.
[Her parents are in the capital city. She is a n.o.ble"s daughter and even a distant relative to the royal family. She often looked after me when I was younger. Well, her loyalty doesn"t seem to be for the royal family but for the country itself though……]
Now that you mentions it, she hasn"t mentioned a single word about the royal family.
[If you have strength that Elinsia recognizes, then I can understand that you defeated the Volcano Golem.]
[Well, she"s not an unknown go-between and if she took care of you princess, then I think she"s the better person to report to. Besides, there"s even that time where the 20th floor monsters appeared at a village on Kastal"s border. It may have some connection with this]
[Eh, I have heard the story, but could it be that the ones who brought down the monsters flooding at the border village was……?]
[That would be us.]
It"s not something I should conceal in particular.
[It looks like Elinsia is at Lilia city just now. At worst, she should be in the village that"s under reconstruction, so it shouldn"t be a problem to get in contact with her.]
[Aah, there is a possibility that it is a village with an undiscovered entrance to the dungeon. ……Excuse me, can I ask you something? Could the ones who discovered the dungeon entrance be……]
[That would be us.]
I answer the question of Cattleya whose strange hunch came into play.
[……I have understood it well. Jin-sama, you are a what is commonly known as an "out of standard" gentleman are you not?]
The princess says something impolite(?) But it probably fits me.
Ignoring the princess who looks like she understood, Maria announces.
[If we are going to report Elinsisama, then I, an acquaintance of her will go.]
[If you please. Ah, take several people with you there afterwards.]
[Yes.]
[Ah, I want to go there too nodesu.]
Cynthia raises her hand.
[Why?]
[Eh? Because if I go with Marisenpai, I would have free time after business is done and I think I can then hunt in the dungeon nodesu.]
Cynthia, you"re really not being vague about it.
[I will also go with Marisenpai. Together with Karen-chan.]
[I will also go with Marisenpai. Together with Sorchan.]
Since the twins raised their hand, Maria, Cynthia and the twins, those four will return to Lilia.
It doesn"t really feel right, but I take out the transfer stones from the knights" corpses. I leave the rest of them concealed at the corner of dungeon for when Maria and the rest go to capital. I did talk about the decision of "Portal" or "Summon", but we"re in front of the princess so it"s an alternative plan.
[Serchan, Please take care of Jin-sama for us.]
[Leave it to me.]
Maria really hates me acting independently. Seems like she won"t be able to settle down if I don"t have one guard at the very least. There"s also Tamo-san"s case so one monster is also pa.s.sable.
We use the transfer stones the knights held and transfer to the capital city.
[Ah, I will stand out if I look like this, so could you lend me a mantle or something else?]
The princess is wearing a tattered armor, lost one arm, and has burn marks all over her body. She must hate walking outside with such appearance.
I take out a hooded robe from and give it to her.
[Thank you very much.]
The princess wears even the hood and hides her face. If she"s able to skillfully ostracize the Heroes, can I heal her arm and burn marks as a reward? From what I can see, she is a beautiful girl if only the burns aren"t there.
She displayed her card at the dungeon entrance and conveyed the fact she is the princess to the reception. Receptionist urgently dispatched a messenger to the royal castle and prepared to welcome the princess.
Almost all of the buildings in the capital city Estalca are built of stone and there are loghouse like buildings scattered here and there like in Lilia. There are many pedestrians even though it"s already evening. Taking along the princess, we head towards the royal castle. The castle is built at the heart of the city and is 2 km away from the dungeon"s entrance.
Alta, is the Hero in the capital?
A: He is in the castle.
Are you kidding me? Being in the castle despite the fact he ran home alone, what is this……
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Mio stated her deduction, but the possibility of that is almost 0.
Name : Kusakabe Shuuji
LV21
s.e.x : Male
Age : 17
Race : Human (Person from another world)
Skill :
Blessing : Acceleration
t.i.tle : Summoned person, Hero from another world.
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It doesn"t seem like Sakura knows of him, but I do.
I"m not at the point of being close to him, but I"ve more or less talked with him before. It was an impression of him at that time, but he"s the type of person you can"t trust. He was basically a person who doesn"t hold any responsibility in the things he says. He changes his opinion frequently and he clings to nothing but the strong side. His appearance is good in a way, but he was an insincere and smooth-talking guy.
It"s a guy I"m not close to, or perhaps it"s better to say, I don"t want to be close to. Such a guy won"t be up to anything decent if he obtains a cheat in the other world.
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So Sakura declares through telepathy as she clenches her fist. Dora is also being radical.
Having walked for a while, we arrive at the castle. The princess shows her dungeon card and ring to the gatekeeper. It"s probably a symbol that points out the royal family or something.
We continued to the castle along with two soldiers. The princess instructs them to treat us hospitably as the explorers who have saved her.
[Excuse me, it isn"t possible to hold an audience so suddenly, so could you wait for a moment? Please place the corpses of Oniisama and the knights at the morgue in the meantime.]
[Alright. Where can I do that?]
[One of the soldiers will guide you.]
One of the attending soldiers guides us. I then take out the corpses from in the room we were guided to and lined them up.
[So the prince really is dead……]
I lined up all of the corpses while hearing the murmurs of the soldier. Many of the corpse was burnt and battered, but it should be a relief that there aren"t any corpses that has no distinction at all.
[You"ve helped us. They should come with a reward, including the matter with her highness the princess. Excuse us for having it near the morgue, but please rest in the room next door.]
We continue to the room next door while guided by the soldier.
[What was requested of us is pretty much this far, but what do you want to do from here on?]
I asked mainly towards Sakura.
[If it is possible, then I don"t want to meet him. But I want to see the Hero being driven out of this country.]
[Got it. Then, shall we have you look at it through Tamo-san? Let"s have her follow the princess secretly the next time she comes. Then, you could share Tamo-san"s vision and hearing with .]
[Tamo-san is convenient often.]
Mio smile awkwardly.
Oh, it looks like someone is coming. This is……, the king?
-Bang!-
The door to the room next door was opened vigorously.
[Julius!? Ooh, why did something like this!?]
When I look at the map, I see the king clinging onto the prince"s corpse. The king seems to have gone ahead somehow, princess and soldiers caught up with him afterwards.
[Otousama! Please do not go ahead on your own!]
Princess rebukes the king.
[My apologies…… But I just can not believe it. That that Julius would die so easily……]
[It is because the Hero slashed at him. He could have been able to do something about the Volcano Golems if only he wasn"t injured……]
[Is that what happened……]
[Yes……]
[Let us prepare the funeral service. And then summon the Hero. There is something I have to ask of him.]
[Otousama, please consider replealing the Hero support.]
[Indeed. I can not acknowledge a person who would injure his party member, make them a decoy and flee as a Hero. There is no value in supporting such group!]
The king declares out loud. Looks like this country is going to repeal their Hero support. Sakura is also smiling.
Currently those people
Midori : Jin"s follower monster, Dryad
Producing a new secret medicine "Soma"
Midori >
Soma
Cures lost limbs. A fabled item.
Kastal adventurer team : 8 slave adventurers, aiming for S rank.
In preparation of establishing a clan. A record of accepting a fixed amount of B rank commission is necessary for establishing a clan.
Cloud [We"re accepting B rank commissions. I guess about 5 more.]
Coco [My chances of meeting Master has gone down recently, I"m lonely!]
Roro [If we establish a clan, it will be at a different place right? Sigh~~]
Lusia : Jin"s slave, No. 2 believer, former queen knight.
She is gradually expanding the range of their work from Kastal. Alta has acknowledged. Jin is unaware of it.
Lusia [Everything is for Master"s sake!]
All maids [For Master"s sake!]
Sakuya : Kastal"s queen, nojaloli (Formal Stance)
She is having meals at Jin"s mansion. The chefs can cry.
Nino : Head chef of the slave maids, believer
For Jin"s sake, she"s practicing cooking for other people as a bonus.
Sakuya [Nino-chan! Won"t you come to the royal castle? I will give you a grandiose salary!]
Nino [I"m sorry. Yes. I can"t do that no matter how often you ask, Sacchan. Yes.]
Yurika : Revived Person, Memory loss
Becomes a C rank adventurer. Arrives at Konoe town for request.
Yurika [It"s like I"ve seen this place before, or not……]
Mira : Former human, now vampire
She appeared in the story recently so she is abbreviated.
Mira [Aren"t you treating me cruelly~?]
Dinosaur egg : Little girl (Decided), Shapeshifter (Decided), Tyrannosaurus (provisional)
An egg that pop up immediately after the tyrannosaurus was killed. It seems it will become a tyrannosaurus after all!
Egg [It seems it will take a long long time until I am born.]
Potechi : Mio"s follower monster, a good for nothing dog
Living a dog kennel in Kastal mansion. They will let him in the mansion if it rains.
Potechi [Ku~~n……]