Manowa

◎ Blue Rifon Fort, In Front of the Entrance

In front of the fort entrance, after the battle immediately ended due to the partic.i.p.ation of the White Party. All the adventurers were now gathering materials from the monsters. The smell of blood hung over the area, but since that was now a dismantling site, that was something that couldn"t be helped, and Kazane and the others were already used to that kind of scene.

And Kazane and the others were now in the middle of taking materials from the Earth Core Dragon. They also subjugated a considerable number of monsters after the Earth Core Dragon, but they agreed to negotiations to split a percentage of those with the other adventurers.

Since the Earth Core Dragon they defeated this time was made in a dungeon, its Core was a Childstone, not a Dragon Heart. It was a layer 40 cla.s.s, so it had the highest magical power generation ability among the Childstones they had obtained so far, and it was also the largest. Kazane was thinking of using it for Tatsuyoshi-kun Dragoon.

By the way, the Monster Tamer hiding in the middle of the monster group also had a layer 40 cla.s.s Childstone. Although its combat ability was low for that level of monster, its ability to create a pseudo Monster House was extremely dangerous. And that was now owned by the man with the shaved head Bluesea. He may have been the luckiest man that was in this battle, and he was now expressing his grat.i.tude to Kazane.

「That was truly dangerous. The『Ogre Killing Princess』and『Magic Sword Operator』coming...」

「We were saved. Honestly, I thought it might be hopeless when that dragon appeared.」

「As expected of the famous White Party.」

Kazane was gathering materials from the Earth Core Dragon until just now, but since she was called out to, she was now dealing with the three people that were standing in front of her.

One was from the largest party at Blue Rifon Fort, the『Black Duck Party』leader Sera; one was from the second largest party,『Scrawl Killer』leader Bluesea; and the last was Roy, a staff member dispatched by the guild.

「No, we were able to take down some big game, so I don"t think you need to mind it so much.」

So Kazane responded, but the three people were treating Kazane the same as they would any high-ranking adventurer. Although she looked like a child, her true strength had already been displayed to everyone in that place. There was no one there who would look down on a person who could send the head of an Earth Core Dragon flying with only a kick.

「Roy-san, I"ve taken all the necessary parts for now and want to sell the rest, but is leaving it like this and requesting that okay?」

「Yes. I"ve already made arrangements. At any rate, with this amount...」

So saying, Roy looked around. There were probably 150 monsters in all. It seemed like there were people busy gathering materials everywhere he looked.

「I"ve called for wagons from Crimiona City. They should arrive by dusk, and ice spell using magicians from the guild will be coming with them. I can also use refrigeration magic, so there will be no problems with preservation.」

「Okay. Then I"ll leave it to you.」

Refrigeration magic was magic created to preserve monster materials. It was recommended magic for anyone who planned to become a material custodian or guild staff member. They were necessary whenever there was a large enough crowd, not just for cases like this one.

As a matter of fact, when it came to preservation, Kazane"s Crystallization was better. After all, human beings could return to life even if it was released after several decades. Although the effective range was small for living flesh, so she would have to become a dragon and use her Crystal Breath to crystallize something as large as an Earth Core Dragon, but going that far wasn"t necessary right now. Besides, it would be a problem if she was feared more than she was currently.

「At any rate, that seemed like an awfully bad situation; is it always like this?」

「No no, there"s no way, don"t you think?」

Bluesea retorted after Kazane"s question. If it was always like this, they would have been annihilated long ago; rather, if Kazane and the others hadn"t come, this time alone would have possibly annihilated them.

「Bluesea. Kazane-san only just arrived, so she hasn"t heard anything about the situation.」

「Ah, that"s right. Sorry.」

Bluesea bowed his head after Sera"s words.

「No, that"s fine. Then you"re saying it"s usually calmer?」

「Well, that"s right. To begin with, this is the first time monsters have come out of the fort. Excluding the Earth Core Dragon and Monster Tamer, that cla.s.s of monster sometimes appears in the dungeon regardless of layer.」

Because of that, the low ranked parties couldn"t advance very far, since they might inadvertently be surrounded by high level monsters and be annihilated.

「Although if it was normal, the members of the party called O-ring would have taken the lead in the battle. It probably wouldn"t have been such a struggle if they were with us.」

Bluesea reacted to Roy"s words.

「That"s right. What happened to O-ring? They still haven"t returned?」

Roy answered Bluesea"s question with a bitter face.

「Yes, they plunged into the fort depths yesterday and haven"t returned. Based on the monsters that just appeared, it might be best to consider the worst situation.」

「Is that O-ring party strong?」

「Yes, that"s right. The leader Ori is rank A, and the other six members are rank B. The leader Ori is friends with Naoki over there.」

「...Naoki?」

Kazane turned around after Sera"s words. Naoki was standing there dumbfounded.

「Is that story just now true, Sera?」

Naoki asked Sera with a pale face. Apparently the two were acquaintances.

「Yes, unfortunately, it"s like that.」

「Naoki, you know that Ori-san?」

Naoki strongly nodded after Kazane"s question.

「Yeah, he"s a helpful guy. He has also invited me to join his party before.」

Kazane pondered a little after seeing Naoki"s situation, then asked Naoki.

「Mmm. Naoki, can you still go on?」

「Aneki?」

Naoki didn"t understand the intention behind Kazane"s question and tilted his head.

「We"ll also have to check with Lyle and Emily. We can plunge into the fort after a short break, but if it seems impossible, we can postpone our departure.」

Naoki"s face brightened after those words.

「Umm, will you be all right?」

Roy asked Kazane with an anxious face. Only a short time had pa.s.sed since the battle.

「Well, there should only be a small number of monsters left inside, right? If we have enough stamina remaining after the battle, shouldn"t we go?」

Kazane said carelessly to brush aside Roy"s worries, but her true thinking was that if her younger brother was indebted to that person, it was natural for her to go help him.

「If that"s the case, I will also go.」

Sera interrupted and raised her hand after watching that situation.

「I think it would be best to bring along a person knowledgeable about the inside of the fort, and I also owe a debt to Ori.」

「Yeah. That will be helpful.」

Kazane meekly bowed her head and said「Please.」Kazane was a girl who knew manners.

And just like Naoki, Lyle and Emily were acquainted with Ori, so naturally they said they should go. And after a slightly late lunch, Kazane and the others finished their preparations and entered the fort.

◎ Blue Rifon Fort, Second Layer

「Even though it"s like an ordinary fort inside, it has become exactly like a labyrinth.」

The dungeon wasn"t nothing but caves like the entrance of Rock Hold Cave, and Kazane said such a thing while making Hippomaru-kun run. The surrounding walls were just like the fort as seen from the outside, but the internal structure was clearly different from the outward appearance of the fort. Nevertheless, the walls and doors were like a fort.

(Since Rock Hold was a cave I didn"t notice, but if I remember right, it was also like a labyrinth from the beginning layer, just like a different world.)

The appearance changes as they entered the lower layers eventually gave that otherworldly feel to Rock Hold Cave as well, but since Blue Rifon Fort was originally a building, it seemed she could quickly understand that here.

「The otherworldly feel is stronger as you advance.」

Sera sitting behind Kazane said.

Currently, Kazane and Sera were riding Hippomaru-kun, Naoki and Dragoon were on High Hippo-kun, the Barnes siblings were on Hippo-Kun Clear, and Yuuko-nee was running ahead of the horses. Kazane had originally developed small Hippo-kun to use as decoys, but with her increased Magic Power reserves and Yuuko-nee"s『Intuition』detection ability, she decided to try using Yuuko-nee as a scout. Their current speed was around 20 km/h, which was a fairly fast pace, considering they were in a dungeon.

「At any rate, those horses were for running inside a dungeon.」

「I was certainly wondering why they were coming along even though there was a carriage.」

Lyle and Emily conversed while riding Hippo-kun Clear. At first, everyone other than Kazane was surprised at riding a horse inside a dungeon, but unlike ordinary horses, Hippomaru-kun and the rest could dexterously advance regardless of the evenness of the road. When they descended to the second level, they easily walked down the stairs.

「Even so, these horses are useful.」

「They are my prided items.」

Kazane grinned and replied to Sera as the clop-clop of Hippomaru-kun advancing sounded. Since they were currently inside a dungeon, the eyes were shining with the light released by the Indestructible Crystal Lamps. The intimidating air made Serra draw back a little at first, but including things like the comfort of the ride, she was now pleased with it.

「So the destination is the Heart Orb on the lowest level, isn"t it?」

「Yeah, Ori and the others have captured up to the 10th layer, so I think it should be around there.」

It wasn"t complete, but they had also received maps up to the 10th layer. However, when they entered, there were more monsters than expected. This is... Kazane thought with a bad premonition.

「Nya」

And then Yuuko-nee"s cry arrived. Kazane also knew, since the scent of enemies had arrived. Kazane understood from the smell that there were probably three Orcs, so she signalled the party to prepare for battle. Kazane was thinking that the original party of three should deal with the battles as much as possible this time, so she left the battle to them.

「Hmm」

Then the battle started. Kazane observed the start of the battle.

From appearances, Naoki was the vanguard, Emily was the rear guard, and Lyle worked as Emily"s guard. Certainly, Lyle"s ability was inferior by one step, so acting as escort for the rear guard wasn"t bad. The bow using Emily was a good increase in rear guard firepower.

In Kazane"s party so far, Kazane was vanguard, and Yumika and Jinrai switched off joining her as vanguard and guarding the rear guard. If Lyle acted as escort, both Yumika and Jinrai could act as vanguard, so their firepower would increase.

(Rather, should I give Tatsuyoshi-kun Normal to Lyle as an escort?)

Normal worked fine with only Childstone power. With the layer 40 cla.s.s Childstone from the Earth Core Dragon, it would be able to freely partic.i.p.ate in battle without any worries... Kazane was thinking such things as the battle finished. Of course, it was Naoki and the other"s victory.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator

Level : 30

Health: 107

Magic Power: 181+420

Strength: 52+10

Agility: 43+4

Endurance: 29

Wisdom : 57

Dexterity : 38

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior"s Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog"s Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv3』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv3』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』『St.u.r.dier Teeth』『Crystallization』

Kazane:「Giving away Tatsuyoshi-kun...?」

Yumika:「Troubling, isn"t it?」