Chapter 95 – Breaking Through the Neighborhood Labyrinth (3)I caught my breath and let go of the rake that was hopelessly bent.
It bounced off the ground with a dull clang.
I took one more deep breath and recovered.
I encouraged my body that was acc.u.mulated with fatigue and lactic acid, and faced forward.
In front of me was that d.a.m.ned kidnapper.
If I didn"t stop him, then those adorable twins wouldn"t have been born because of this guy. Just thinking about it made my stomach churn.
“Oi.”
“W-what?”
I called out to him.
The gaudy golden down jacket touched my nerves even more.
The kidnapper, Treasure Hunter Gasaraio, put himself on guard.
I closed the distance quickly and approached him.
Fufufu, it"s good to be scared.
“Answer. Were you the ones who made the town like this?”
I intuitively knew.
I"m generally acknowledged as an idiot, but I"m the type who has a wild instinct.
My intuition is often right.
“H-haah!?”
“Stop feigning ignorance! I know you"re coming to investigate Tusk Crag in the near future! It should have been a while later! But you"re here right now, and Tusk Crag became like that! Just with the circ.u.mstantial evidence, it smells fishy! Just confess!
I kept on talking emotionally.
I lost my cool.
“Why do you know that! Huh? Where have I seen you before…”
Hmm?
Huh?
“Those evil-looking eyes… a crew cut… a villainous appearance you can never forget… Aah! You"re that lariat b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
Ah, did I dig my own grave?
Oops!
I was told not to get in contact with them as much as possible!
“I-I don"t know! That"s the current situation! You Treasure Hunters must have done something!”
For the time being, I"ll try to gloss over it!
“Why did you know about the large-scale investigation? Stop pretending you don"t know, ya brat!”
Oh, did he get irritated?
“Don"t change the topic, idiot lion! Answer me!”
“Who"s an idiot lion, f.u.c.king human! You were the one who was with the dragon at that time, right!? I was looking for you!”
“Haah!? What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? Are you having too many dreams about dragons?!”
“Ah!? Who the h.e.l.l do you think you"re talking to? I"ll crush you! I"m Gasaraio, the youngest brother of the “Paradise Siblings”, you know! You"ll regret it, delinquent!”
“What Gasaraio? Don"t get carried away! Even when you disgracefully cried and ran away!”
“Look, you know about what happened at that time! Ah, I know, you"re an idiot aren"t you! If you"re an idiot, just quietly be an idiot!”
“Huuuuuuh? Are you an idiot! Ah it"s no good, this guy"s hopeless. I"ll teach you how dangerous it is to say idiot to a self-aware idiot, you wimpy lion!”
“Ahhhhh!? Did you just call me a wimp? Is that what you said? Bring it on, human! I"ll make you cry!”
“Do it if you can, ya furball b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
“This is a mane, ya scoundrel!”
Before we knew it, we were grabbing each other"s necks and arguing with spit flying everywhere.
I will do this.
I"ll make his feline face wet with his tears and snot…
“Stop! Stop!”
I was stopped by a familiar voice.
When I turned around, a blonde policewoman I was familiar with was standing there with her hand on her waist.
“Calm down Riot-kun, Kazamachi-kun! This is not the place to do that kind of thing!”
The lovely Officer Doggy with her long ears and bushy tail was angry, it was disheartening.
Her fluffy blonde hair fluttered over her shoulders, cool as usual.
“Uh, I"m sorry.”
“Oh, my bad.”
“Ahh, who do you think you are? You"re disrespecting Officer Doggy. You should say, I sincerely apologize with all my heart.”
“Ohhhh? What"s with you? I apologized properly, ya little b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
“I already said to stop it!”
But this lion with his large att.i.tude and body!
Officer Doggy"s tail was standing up, oh, it looks like she"s seriously angry.
“Aniki, calm down.”
“When did you…”
Kusaka was being protected under Officer Doggy"s arm.
Kusaka himself was also clinging to Officer Doggy"s waist.
No, what are you doing?
Why are you doing something so enviable?
Should I tell on you? To your childhood friend, Lina?
I"ll report everything to the cla.s.s president who looks good with those gla.s.ses, you know?
Well, it probably can"t be avoided.
“Why are you guys here? What happened to school?”
“… I ditched.”
“I"m sorry.”
I"m fine because I have that kind of image, but Kusaka is different.
For Kusaka, this would be the first time for him to skip school.
“Sigh… I can guess why for Kazamachi-kun because of your circ.u.mstances, but it"s no good. It"s an emergency right now. All the schools are awaiting instructions from authorities. The townspeople are in the middle of evacuating to the nearest shelter and you guys are wandering around in a place like this. ”
Officer Doggy placed her hand on her forehead and sighed.
Kusaka left her waist and helplessly looked at me.
“Why is Officer Doggy here?”
“I"m watching Riot-kun. Because Riot-kun was among the treasure hunters dispatched by the a.s.sociation, and he has a criminal record.”
“Hmph! Do you not trust me!”
“Of course you idiot. What"s with that att.i.tude? I"ll send you flying!”
Think about what you did!
“Look, stop! Cut it out!”
“Uh, because…”
This guy is irritating!
“I understand Kazamachi-kun"s feelings, but please bear with it for now. Even if you don"t, you"re saying unnecessary things.”
Officer Doggy came next to me and whispered into my ear.
Certainly, I"ve become too emotional and said too many things I shouldn"t have talked about.
“Riot-kun was with me, and the other two paradise siblings were with Officer Inoue, so they"re not the cause of this, because we were with them all this time.”
“Look, there you are. It was just you arbitrarily misunderstanding.”
“Now, this town is under martial law. Riot-kun, along with other treasure hunters, has been granted permission to use magic tools and weapons. Multiple dungeon monsters have been confirmed.”
“There"s more other than that wolf?”
“Allow treasure hunters to use weapons?”
The situation seems worse than I had thought.
“Yeah, it looks like the trees are growing according to in a certain way. It"s spreading out around the walls and buildings, but it doesn"t interfere with the road. I was just talking about it with Riot-kun earlier.”
“It"s the expansion of the dungeon.”
Expansion?
Tusk Crag"s?
“There are quite a few dungeons above cla.s.s B. There is an automatic floor generation type. For example, the dungeon I went to recently was a dungeon with a strong water attribute, but it"s not like the entire floor was filled with water. The walls, rooms, and size are arbitrarily decided by the dungeon. “
Hey. How does such a mysterious power work?
What is a dungeon?
“Based on that, this is an extension of the Tusk Crag dungeon, because it was originally a dungeon with a weak earth attribute. It will happen occasionally by some chance. For example, if a magic stone grows, It wouldn"t be strange for it to change to a wood dungeon since it"s a derivative of earth, though the growth of magic stones rarely happens.”
“Isn"t it happening?”
“Who knows.”
What kind of irresponsible thing is this guy saying?
It"s hopeless, I have to choke this cheeky cat right here.
“Then, the growing tree is under the influence of magic stone. If you consider that the dungeon is expanding by using the interior of Tusk Crag as reference, then you can see why there is no effect on the roads. Roads and paths are pa.s.sageways. Buildings are rock faces and large s.p.a.ces are collection points. It is exactly the structure of the dungeon.”
“What the h.e.l.l are you showing off for, you furball? Then, isn"t this the center of the dungeon, where monsters come out normally?”
That"s bad.
The Rock Wolf from earlier. Isn"t it a dangerous existence that can easily kill people by itself?
They group up by default on Tusk Crag"s upper layers, and darkmeat and Buster Cow may also appear in the lower layers.
“The chief couldn"t help but rely on the treasure hunters to protect the citizens, so we had to permit the use of magic tools and weapons. I was also in the middle of returning to the station to get equipment. Since my car was crushed.”
Officer Doggy pointed at the bottom of the slope with a troubled expression.
When I looked, there was a mini patrol car on the middle of the slope, blocked by trees.
“Because I was told by radio that ambulances and firefighting were also on the move, and the evacuation of the townspeople will be given priority. Of course, that includes you guys as well.”
Eh, wait a minute.
I have to go home.
“Officer Doggy! I!”
“Calm down.”
Officer Doggy hugged me and whispered by my ears.
“Mom sent me a text earlier. Aoi-chan, the twins, and your brother are okay. They said they were panicking, but will call you when they calm down a bit.”
“T-that"s…”
“It"s true, I"m not saying it just to console you.”
My shoulder drooped at once.
“That"s a relief…”
“U-um!”
Kusaka raised his voice.
“M-my sister goes to an elementary school near Tusk Crag! I have to make sure she"s okay!”
That"s right.
If it"s near there, then it should be the same school as Shouhei.
It seems that Shouhei can already go home because they only had morning cla.s.ses today, but I don"t know about Kusaka"s sister.
“She said that she had something she needed to research in the library! I don"t know if she"s still at school or not!”
“Keep calm, the nearest community center near the elementary school is the closest evacuation shelter. We"ll also bring you there. Let"s trust that your sister is safe.”
Officer Doggy separated from me and patted Kusaka"s head.
“… The monsters in that dungeon are small fry to an armed hunter. My siblings are heading over there. Don"t worry.”
Gasaraio lifted the cylindrical object he was holding.
It"s a bazooka, no matter how you look at it.
“For the time being, let"s quickly leave. I know a shortcut to the community center.”
Officer Doggy lead the way, pointing at the road beside the houses.
“Kusaka, let"s hurry now for the time being, okay?”
“Y-yes.”
I nudged Kusaka, who was still worried and followed Officer Doggy.
I looked at Tusk Crag that could be seen in the distance once more.
The splendidly transformed Tusk Crag was covered with trees, and now it just looks like a single unbelievably large tree.
After confirming its appearance, I turned around and proceeded.
I noticed later that I saw a large silhouette flying out of Tusk Crag at the edge of my field of view.