Next chapter.... . . . 4-6 hours? . . ...
Year 7444, Month 1, Day 17
Since we had a lot of baggage and to avoid as much combat as possible we hurried back down the pa.s.sage we came. We even lessened our caution against monsters a bit to put priority on speed.
"Hurry, even in the case that monsters come out I"ll blow them away. It"s a battle with time."
"Ah!"
"Yes!"
I quickly explained things to everyone after that and without even taking a short break we all ran back the way we came from. The number of corpses of {Bright Blade} that were remaining there was 9 in total. There should be 1 more. Either they were there during the attack but were far enough distance away for me not to notice and ran away or they were left to look after their luggage in the teleport room of the 4th floor I guess. When we teleported into the 5th floor there was traces of a camp on the 4th floor but no one around. So most likely it wasn"t someone looking after their bags but rather they ran away.
Somehow the atmosphere is heavy, I guess I"ll try to change the mood. I started talking while we walk.
"Hey~ everyone. I have a bit of something to discuss. It"s about the days we explore the dungeon."
I said that and everyone made faces like "so it"s finally come" with faces filled with resolve as they looked at me.
"Since we"ve explored quite a bit of the 5th floor. It"s about a good time to go to the 6th floor. I"m going to change our schedule starting next month. Starting from February we"ll enter 3 and then 4 consecutive days, we"ll gradually increase the number of days we spend exploring the dungeon. However, we"ll properly have the same amount of days off per month 7.5 as we have until now. We"ll do the same 2.5 days of cooperation training as well. But, since I"m sure it"s exhausting to explore consecutively, I"ll probably increase the number of days off as well. I"m taking into consideration consecutive holidays. Well I"ll see how things go until partway through February and then modify the schedule. It depends on our stamina."
Excluding Zenom everyone"s making complicated faces.
"That"s true. Even if you increase the number of days off a bit the amount of time we spend deeper in the dungeon should increase so I"m sure our earnings will go up, I agree."
I guess it"s because I talked to him about ti before, Zenom immediately raised his voice in agreement.
"That"s true..It"s just as Zenom-san said. I think that"s fine as well."
Toris agreed as well. Hey now, I thought that you and Bel would be against it though. I mean, if you think about it through the month, the amount of nights we"ll spend in the dungeon will increase. With our schedule of exploring the dungeon until now we"ve only spent one night at a time in the dungeon so it was only 10 days in the month but I think it"ll increase from here on. For him to agree with something that would decrease their consumption rate of "Saya"...
"..I"m fine with it as well. Let"s earn some more."
There was a strange pause in Bel"s reply. I wonder if that means since I"ve spent more time with her than Toris I can read her feelings better?
"If everyone is fine with that then I am too. Let"s give it our best."
Gwine is making a slightly stiff smile but agreed.
"..Che."
I"ll ignore this girl. However, well I guess I"ll say it for her.
"Hey Ralpha, I"ll teach you so you can understand it with that pitiful head of yours. The fact that we"re exploring the dungeon longer certainly means that we"ll earn more as well. Up until now on the days we return from the dungeon and even then only on the Tuesdays or so when there was no training the next did you have chances to drink through the night but when we have consecutive holidays you"ll be able to drink several days straight, so I think the number of chances for you to go drinking will increase.
I intend to do the cooperation training in the afternoon of several days as well."
After I said that and the edges of her mouth raised up a bit. She"s so easy~
............
We returned to the teleport crystal that brought us to the 5th floor. We"re about to teleport to the center of the 4th floor teleport room. It"s a good thing only the top teams are able to make it to that room so either no one will be there, if there is it will be people from a different top team, or it"ll just be the single remaining member of {Bright Blade}. I thought everyone"s expressions would lighten up a bit because we were finally able to return to the safe area but that wasn"t the case. Alright, my carefully selected elite properly understand the critical moments it seems.
We"ll teleport in and restrain the remaining member of {Bright Blade}. Otherwise, counter attack them.
I stretch out my hand to the crystal rod.
"It"s just right, I"ll talk a bit before we teleport."
I said that and looked around at everyone. They"re all tense.
"Once we teleport everyone scatter. It"s fine you drop your baggage on the ground. If you find the remaining member of {Brigt Blade} hold them down without hesitation. If they aren"t there then gather your baggage and prepare to counter attack."
Everyone nods after looking at me.
"We"ll team up with Gwine and I, Toris and Bel, Zenom and Zulu, Angela and Ralpha. In the order I just said we"ll observe the crystal rods in pairs. If he ends up teleporting in alone then kick him down without hesitating. It"s fine to hit him as well. In any case pull him off of the crystal rod. It"s fine if you cut him down as well but if it comes to that make sure you absolutely don"t kill them. Isn"t that fine Zenom?"
"Yeah, I understand."
We"re all holding baggage on our shoulders and in our arms but in a way we can quickly prepare our weapons.
"Alright, let"s go! Ridakkuzu"
..............
We all teleported into the teleport room of the 4th floor. That instant we all dropped our baggage on the ground and scattered in different directions. Simultaneously we pulled out our weapons and looked around the room. There was one party resting in the corner eating some food.
It seems they were surprised because just as they thought we dropped our luggage after teleporting in we suddenly pulled our weapons out and started giving off killer intent. I guess that"s only obvious. However, as expected of the members of the top team representing Baldukk, they reacted quickly. Everyone pulled their weapons close to them and went on guard while gauging us.
They"re the {Verdure Brotherhood} huh?
"Hey, Greed-kun, that"s dangerous. Shut away your weapons."
The leader Vilhaima calls out while standing at the ready. He still has the same deep cool voice even though hes an elf.
One, two, three, nine of them huh? Other than the elf that just joined a short while ago it"s the same faces as usual.
"Ah, sorry about that. We were just attacked by those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from {Bright Blade} so..We were standing on end. Rather than that, how long have you guys been here? While you were here did anyone from {Bright Blade} teleport in?"
I responded while holding my bayonet just like that but while responding I"m still looking around the room. It seems there"s no one but {Verdure Brotherhood} in this room. I give everyone a sign to lower their weapons and,
"Toris, Bel. Sorry but change places for the first lookout. Everyone else gather your bags and take a break in the corner. Since Ralpha and Angela were injured, just in case if you can sleep then get some rest."
I said that and put my bayonet on shoulder before walking towards Vilhaima. I showed both of my hands just in case to prove I wasn"t hiding anything. I guess he was relieved seeing me like that, they started lowering their weapons as well. Id~~iots. Since the palms of my hands are still faced towards you I could bury you alive at any point with magic. Well since I was just attacked and my nerves are still on end I"m feeling a bit aggressive.
Including Virhaima the other members of the {Verdure Brotherhood} couldn"t hide their surprise after hearing my statement but I could also see faces like it somehow made sense.
"Judging off your appearance it seems that you weren"t able to wipe out all of those guys from {Bright Blade}..How many are remaining? Also, we arrived here about two hours ago. Since then the only ones to enter this room including teleport, you guys were the first. And I want you to tell me what happened in detail. Honestly speaking, I think what you guys are saying about being attacked by {Bright Blade} is probably true. But you know.."
s.h.i.t..in other words that sort of thing. But, I guess it can"t be helped. I can comprehend it.
"I see..while we were fighting against the ice monster in an altar room on the 5th floor, when we were just about to defeat it they suddenly ambushed us from a different entrance. Thanks to that, including myself several us were injured. However, there"s only one of them remaining. I got rid of nine of them on the spot there. We gathered their magic stones as well. Will you confirm them?"
After I said that and the members of {Verdure Brother} all faced each other and started whispering things.
"..Are you serious?"
"Does that mean with just them they wiped out {Bright Blade}?"
"It doesn"t..seem like a lie. I remember seeing that armor."
"{Slaughterers}..So their skills were true huh?"
"They said there was an ice monster? Does that mean they defeated the ice monster?"
"They"re saying that so it"s probably true."
"They.. can defeat that.."
"..Che...You~ all are loud~! Shut up?! Sorry about that, they"re all idiots."
"No..I don"t mind. But, I can"t say much more than I just did. After all it was pretty sudden, we desperately fought back and couldn"t do anything like going easy on them. Just look at this. I was shot in the back with arrows. Suddenly in the middle of fighting with the ice monster. It was really dangerous."
I said that and showed them my back where I was shot in the thigh and arm (since the wound itself is already healed, it"s just a mark like where an arrow hits armor) and the half-dried blood still remaining on it. After that I also called out to Zulu and had him bring the arrow that Bel pulled out from me.
"I see. However, you should know that we can"t decide things with only hearing your side of the story right? Honestly speaking, it"s a monthly occurrence for parties to all be wiped out or take enough damage that they fall apart but when it comes to a party on the level of {Bright Blade} I"m sure it"ll be some huge news. The knight group might come out as well. It would be fine for you to just return to the surface and pretend like nothing happened as well but if it"s just then as expected you know..I"m sure it would be difficult to get rid of {Bright Blade}"s equipment. Even if their faces were like that they were pretty famous after all."
Certainly that"s true. That"s why I was trying to secure the remaining one as well.
"That"s true. It"s certainly just as you"ve said. Well, that"s also why we returned in a hurry after the combat without even properly resting. In order to secure the last one remaining that is."
"I see. It would be fine for us to help with the capture as well but, I guess if it"s just one then it"s fine..Ah, by the way, which one is remaining? Is it Demitoridas?"
"No, we killed the leader Demitoridas. Probably, it was some sort of rear guard that"s always near the end of their party I think? I don"t remember their name."
Honestly speaking I don"t remember the names of every member of other places parties. I"ve checked the abilities of people who stand out and seem pretty strong though.
"Got it...Either Martha, Logmitt, or Bikkens sounds about right then. Do you need help with capturing them? If you do then it"s fine if we help but.."
"No not at all, it"s plenty with just us. We don"t need to go to the point of troubling you that far. Since I"m sure they took a reasonable amount of time to get to that altar room as well. I don"t know how much time it will take for them to get back to the teleport crystal alone but we intend to stake out here for as long as our food lasts."
I said that but I doubt it will take that long. Even at longest wouldn"t it only take around half a day? Including Demitoridas, all of the guys who attacked us barely had any mana remaining after all, so I think they got rid of a decent number of monsters along the way. Since some half-dried food and rotting meat still stuck to the magic stones came out of their pockets after all.
"I see. However, we can"t just accept that. It"s a problem with order in the dungeon. Alright, listen well. I"m not particularly doubting you. But, I want to impartially hear the viewpoint of {Bright Blade} as well. Pull back here. If you intend to do anything more yourselves from here then you"ll be suspected of erasing evidence. If possible I want you to standby outside of the room.
Of course, I promise we"ll take responsibility and secure the remaining member when he teleports in. If you doubt us then it"s fine if you exchange one of your members with ours, I"m sure they wouldn"t recognize from just a glance so that"s fine. If they change helmets and are wearing armor there"s no way to tell. After we capture them, I"ll listen to their story. You guys can come out after that."
What"s with this guy, trying to take command like he"s so important. What the h.e.l.l is the order within the dungeon. Something like that doesn"t matter at all. Or what is it? Do you think you"re the master of this dungeon or something? Well it"s not like I don"t understand what he wants to say and in some meanings it"s more convenient for us that way.
He must have noticed my doubtful face, Virhaima scratched his cheek while continuing.
"Don"t make a face like that. I won"t let things go badly for you. It"s not like we particularly like those guys from {Bright Blade} either. Even you"re interested in what the remaining member of {Bright Blade} says when you"re not around right?"
Vrihaima said it with a slightly more timid feel.
"..I understand, I"m sure it would be the better choice for us to do as you say here as well...We"ll exchange lookouts. We"ll switch in the elf from our party who"s looking out right now."
"Rock, Ben. You heard the conversation right? You two keep lookout first. After that Baas, exchange your equipment with this elf from the Slaughterers. You remain on standby in the hall with the slaughterers."
After hearing that I called out to Toris as well.
"Toris, switch out with the lookout of {Verdure Brotherhood}. You exchange equipment with this person from the {Verdure Brotherhood}. I"ll give you the detailed explanation."
I explained the details to Toris after he quickly ran over and got him to agree and then after switching equipment with a member of {Verdure Brotherhood} he concealed himself in their group.
We all gathered our bags again and moved a bit away into the cave to standby.
...............
The amount of time we"ve been on standby has continued for close to five hours. We talked about recent events with the elf Baas who exchanged equipment with Toris while waiting so it wasn"t completely boring. Baas is a 36 year old elf and you could say his personality is rough but if you try talking to him just his tone is rough and he"s pretty much a normal adventurer. However as expected of a member of one of the top teams, he"s quite skilled. Since the only one older than him in our party is Zenom, the way he seems to be looking down on us p.i.s.ses me off but it"s true that can"t be helped when we"re all brats.
If I try talking to him he properly replies and he sometimes talks to us as well. It"s true there"s some parts he"s underestimating us on but he understands that I"m the leader of the {Slaughterers} and isn"t bluntly looking down on me. We continue whispering (even if we"re close to the teleport room since we"re outside we don"t feel like talking loud) and laugh over jokes while getting familiar.
It was just then.
"Alright!"
"Ora~!!"
"Gue!! Ou~ch, what are you doing! SO suddenly!? Let me pa.s.s. I"m returning to the surface."
There was a voice echoing from the teleport crystal room. Everyone quiets down.
"Yo~ if it isn"t Bikkens. What are you doing alone? Aren"t you together with Demitoridas and the others?"
That"s Virhaima"s voice.
"Ah? Ah, so it"s you..No, that is..That"s right! Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from the {Slaughterers} are crazy! They suddenly attacked us!"
This must be Bikkens from the {Bright Blade}. He"s babbling on about random s.h.i.t...All of the members of the {Slaughterers} including me were making angry expressions. Only Baas was making an amused face. It"s not funny.
"Ha~!? Are you serious!? And, did the all powerful {Bright Blade}-san just brazenly get done in?"
That"s a skillful interjection. It"s the voice of the Rabbit-people spear user of the {verdure Brotherhood}.
"That is, just listen to this. That brat leader of the slaughterers suddenly hit us with some magic. I"ve never seen a {Lightning Bolt} as amazing~ as that before...Since I was a bit of distance away in the back being careful of monsters I was safe though you know."
"You don"t say, so everyone was done in? What happened to everyone else?"
This time it was the voice of the female dwarf. Her weapon was..what was it again?
"No idea~ I thought it was bad~ so I just ran for it right away...But, it"s true they suddenly attacked us while we were taking a break."
This b.a.s.t.a.r.d, let alone taking a break the ones who attacked while we were in the middle of combat were you all. I have no intention of rejecting that sort of behavior itself. Honestly speaking, I don"t even think it"s cowardly. If you win, your side is just after all. But, think about what to do when you screw up.
"Let me hear about that in more detail. If it"s true then we"ll need to hand them over to the knight group right."
Virhaima"s voice. He"s calm.
"Ah, su, sure. But is it fine to do tomorrow? I"m tired. I want to quickly return to the surface."
"Isn"t it fine, just a bit. We"ll at least treat you to a meal, eat together with us before you. I won"t say to pay us, it"s my treat."
The human woman huh? If I remember correctly she uses a sword and shield.
"No~ I"m really tired. After all I returned while avoiding monsters all on my own. I just want to sleep, already~"
"I guess it can"t be helped. But you know, things won"t go that simply right? What are you going to do if the slaughterers came back here chasing you? You should at least tell us the circ.u.mstances before you go. And {Bright Blade} was attacked in a pa.s.sage right..there"s no way that could have been the case right. There"s no way they"d have been that careless after all."
It"s the voice of the other male elf than Baas. It seems that his skill with the bow is pretty high. Well, even then I think our Bel is several levels higher than him though.
"Che...Even though I"m in a hurry..On the 5th floor you know, isn"t there a room with the altar. We we"re taking a break there. I was the only one being cautious of the pa.s.sage. We were suddenly attacked there. Since we had just defeated a monster, I"m sure Demitoridas-san was letting his guard down a bit. They suddenly hit us with some magic and in no time at all several people fell down. And, since they were all done in so fast, isn"t it scary~? I desperately ran away before they noticed me."
"When is that story from?"
Virhaima again.
"Of course today. It was around 7-8 hours ago I guess?"
"I see. You were able to return alone in just 7-8 hours?"
This is Virhaima as well.
"Ah? Yeah, since the direction of the pa.s.sage I was being careful of was connected to the direction we came from after all.."
"He~ you had quite good luck."
The human man. He should have been using a sword and shield same as the woman.
"Yeah, really though. Is it fine if I go already?"
"Not yet. But you know, Demitoridas is quite the fool. Why was it only you alone that was keeping lookout? Going off that store then there were three pa.s.sages connected to that room right?"
"Yeah, that"s right. The hall we came in from, the hall ahead of that I was keeping lookout on. And after that is the hall that the {Slaughterers} attacked us from, just those three. Is there something strange about that?"
"It"s strange right? Even giving you the benefit of the doubt, it"s still fine that you weren"t being cautious of the hall you guys came from in the first place. But, it"s completely strange that out of the remaining two halls you weren"t only being careful of one of them right? I can"t think that Demitoridas is that much of a fool."
That was the Wolf-people woman who uses a bow.
"What was that! So you"re going to doubt me! It"s not a lie."
"I didn"t say that far right. I just thought it was too weak too not have a proper lookout setup when you"re taking a break in the dungeon."
The Wolf-people woman continued saying that.
"Ah, no, ma, Martha might have been keeping lookout as well. I think she was probably done in by the {slaughterers} first."
"Oh, I see. If that"s the case then say that from the start."
"Yeah, sorry about that."
"And, Martha was done in without even being able to raise a voice. Did he kill her instantly with a spell?"
Viruhaima again.
"Isn"t that how it went? Since I didn"t see it I don"t know though.."
"But you know~ Even if they were to suddenly be ambushed with a strong {Lightning Bolt}, that they would suddenly be done in without being able to do anything is just a bit.."
It"s the human female warrior I guess.
"Yeah, it seems like they at least counter attacked. I saw Demitoridas-san shooting a bow. But I thought it was no good even then."
"Ha~? That"s amazing?! He was able to shoot back with a bow after taking a hit from {Lightning Bolt}..Don"t lie, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
That was the voice of the old man dwarf who uses a {Battle Axe} bigger than the one Zenom uses as he retorted it.
"Ah, no, that"s just how I saw it and he might have done in before he could shoot it."
From there it just started to drag on. He ended up getting caught up in several places from Virhaima"s guided interrogation and was captured.
After being called out by Virhaima we entered the room and Bikkens openly started to panic.
I showed the arrow that hit me and since it was a considerably high quality arrow it would be easy to determine who purchased it, and while that arrowhead was already dry it still had blood and some meat stuck to it. The fact that I took the arrow from behind. The fact that there were marks on the back of my helmet and armor which matched up with the form of different arrowheads, when we pointed that out to him and he showed an expression of resignation but it didn"t go to the point of admitting that they attacked us.
How stubborn of him.
In any case after we all tied up Bikkens, we returned to the surface.
We reported it to the knight group but Bikkens denied it at that time as well.
............
After that, it"s a story from another day but there was backup fire from an unexpected place.
Doruleon, the guy who we previously saved when they were attacked by a slime and nearly wiped out was still in Baldukk. He was the second son of the owner of the high-cla.s.s restaurant "Dorureon". Right, that restaurant that I went to the firm time I took orders from the commander of the first knight group Baron Logan.
"Greed-san and the others didn"t just save me from a perilous situation but they didn"t demand the equipment from my dead allies either. They returned everything saying it was the belongings of my deceased allies. Of course, I paid them a bit as thanks for saving me but that"s the obvious thing to do. I can"t think that Greed-san and the others like that would progressively attack other adventurers."
Of course, it"s not proof of anything at all but it became an important testimony for reference.
It might have been big that the knight group of Baldukk also visit "Dorureon" a lot of as well but in any case, Bikkens ended up being executed on the next judgement day.
The equipment and a.s.sets of {Bright Blade} all ended up becoming mine. However, all of their savings outside of the dungeon (as expected even these guys had a locker with the government office) were confiscated by the government office it seems. Since it"s not something that we gained as a result of combat in the dungeon, so it ended up just being processed as if a citizen of Baldukk died. I thought it was a waste but it can"t be helped.
The two suits of metal armor {Banded-mail} that were still in reasonably good condition I had Zulu and Toris use. The long sword that was of pretty good quality I had Toris exchange with his, the broad sword to Angela, and the spear to Gwine. All of the other armor and equipment than that we sold for money. Furthermore, there was a high-quality bow as well but Bel said "something I"m used to using is better" so we just sold it as well. I"m sorry the order of dates might be a bit out of place but of course this was all concluded around May.