She turned around, and sure enough — it was Bidd.
Black hair and blue eyes. Her face, which had no trace of childishness, was dusted with freckles.
From her black hair sprouted Holland Lop ears — floppy rabbit ears.
She was a rabbit beastkin. A blue jumper over a black shirt.
A knife was strapped to the jumper.
As always, she wore those skin-tight pants that looked like black spandex.
In other words — spandex.
A small round white tail was visible against her large, watermelon-like rear.
She was short, with a leather gauntlet fitted on her right arm.
A quiver hung at her lower back. A crossbow was slung at her side.
A Rank-III delver.
Until recently, she'd been a member of the up-and-coming party called "Zan Brave."
But "Zan Brave" had disbanded. Now she was solo.
"Wof!? What are you doing here!? You someone's hireling?"
"No. I became one too."
I showed her my delver tag.
Bidd's eyes went wide.
"Don't tell me — that's a special exception?"
"That's right."
"Haaah... As expected of the witch's apprentice."
Bidd nodded, impressed.
I asked.
"Taking a break?"
Bidd switched his crossed legs and stretched as he answered.
"Nn, yeah. Just finished my commission and catching my breath. What about you, Wof?"
"I'm investigating this recovery spring."
"Investigating, huh...?"
I nodded and pulled out my investigation kit.
The kit contained three long strips of paper and three small vials.
First, I dipped the paper strips into the spring water. Then I placed them into the vials.
I gave them a light shake. The paper changed color. Blue.
"No abnormalities."
"Huuuh. So that's how you check 'em. Are you going around all of them?"
"Yes. Two more spots left."
"Hey, would it be okay if I tagged along?"
"Sure, I don't mind."
"Thanks. Heading straight home after that just feels kind of anticlimactic."
"Huh?"
"Oh? Dagaa's here too, huh."
"Na!"
It transformed from a knife and hopped up onto Bid's lap.
Sometimes Dagaa tags along with Mineha on her jobs.
So it already knows Bid, who partners with her a lot.
Dagaa settled onto Bid's lap, and when Bid scratched its head, it chirped a happy "Na!"
Then it came back to me, perched on top of my head, and shifted back into a knife to slide into its sheath.
Bid stood up with a grunt.
"Alright, let's head out."
"Yeah."
"Third floor's next. That's our turf, so I'll guide you. I know the place."
"Please do."
Having an experienced person along is reassuring.
Second floor. A big light-blue frog called an aqua frog.
Then there was a magic water crab — about human-sized, with one massively oversized claw.
The slightly tricky ones were the water snakes. Actual water serpents. And they attacked in groups.
"Is it always like this around here?"
"Pretty much. But shoot through their cores and it's easy. Like this!"
With that, Bid pierced the cores of all six water snakes with pinpoint accuracy using [Area Shot].
The cores vary between individuals, so they're never in exactly the same position.
And [Area Shot] isn't a guaranteed hit.
One arrow splitting into multiple projectiles and piercing each core individually is a nearly impossible feat.
But Bid pulls it off flawlessly.
I guess this is what it means to truly master a Relic.
There was a blue treasure chest in what looked like a water snake's nest.
I checked it with the Wheel of Fortune and got green. No traps, either.
Opening it revealed a couple of bottles inside. According to Bid, they were either holy water or potions.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
And just like that, we arrived at the third floor.
The third floor had a massive river so wide you couldn't see the far bank, with the faint outline of a huge waterfall in the distance.
Someone who'd never seen the ocean might mistake it for one.
This was the shoreline. There was a forest.
"This is it. The place where islands are scattered across the river."
"Islands?"
"Right. The only land here is the shore and the islands. But this floor is pretty handy — you can reach the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors from here."
"There are multiple routes?"
"Yep. They're all on different islands. There are boats at that pier over there."
"So the healing spring is on one of the islands too."
I looked at the map. Those scattered dots appeared to be the islands.
The pier was lined with a ton of boats — all different shapes and sizes.
Here and there, delvers were climbing aboard and setting off as if it were second nature.
Some people were riding solo on washtubs. Tough crowd.
"So, Bid. Any recommendations?"
"Well, you'd want something that can handle the river's aquatic monsters right away, y'know."
"Then this raft is out, huh?"
"That one's clearly a no-go from the first glance. Something black would be ideal, though."
"Black?"
"Black-bottomed boats are deeper, so it's easier to dodge or block monster attacks, y'know."
"Got it. That does sound good."
Fighting in the confined space of a boat was a pain. I could understand wanting every edge you could get.
Black, huh. Still, there were boats up on the shore too, and some over toward the forest.
There were plenty further in as well. Hmm. That's right — I could try using the Wheel of Fortune.
Lots of boats glowing green. The ones with no light were damaged ones.
So green meant they were rideable. Oh — there was a single yellow glow deep in the forest.
Yellow, huh... Well, it probably wouldn't be a bad deal.
"Hey... Wof-kun. Where exactly are you heading?"
"Um, I thought I saw something that looked like a black boat deep in the forest."
"The forest? You've never really gone in there before, right."
I mean, they were on the pier, so nobody would bother hauling out boats from inside the forest.
I stepped into the trees.
"......"
What can I say. Seeing all kinds of boats abandoned between the trees felt surreal, or maybe just weird.
Bid probably felt the same way. He was looking around uneasily.
The fact that there were no monsters around only made it creepier.
"......Wof, um, how much further are we going?"
Bid asked nervously.
"A little more."
"We're already pretty deep in here, though......"
"Just a little further."
"Hey......does it actually exist......"
I could understand the doubt. There was clear skepticism in Bid's voice.
We had come quite deep in. Normally, nobody would come this far.
Anyway, we were definitely getting closer to the yellow light.
Just a little more, just a little more......and suddenly we emerged into an open space.
There was a tributary of some great river. A stream flowed through, and there stood a half-ruined, peculiar little shrine.
Something was in front of that shrine.
Long, light-blue hair and face. At that point, it was already clear this wasn't human.
They had politely hidden half their face behind a scarf made of water.
Their eyes were closed, but the features made it obvious they were beautiful.
They held a knife of water in one hand. That hand was also made of water.
Slender arms and legs. Both the chest and hips were generous — an incredible figure. But still...
Moreover, she was wearing a bikini style draped in multiple water veils.
"Water spirit dancer!?"
Bid-san was startled.
"Water spirit?"
"Usually a guardian in front of a treasure chest on the 40th floor or below, they're part of the water spirit puppet series, and that one's a water spirit dancer."
"40th floor... a monster like that is here in a place like this?"
"It seems to be guarding that shrine."
"..."
The yellow light was inside the shrine.
That meant this water spirit dancer had to be defeated.
"For reference, since there's no Relic, its rank is Bronze, but its strength is on the lower end of Silver."
"Silver rank... do you think we can win?"
"Actually, I'd prefer a few more people. We just need to hit its core, but water spirit puppets have multiple randomly placed cores and move quickly. Even with my Relic [Lightweight], it's all I can do to keep up."
"So you need a decoy, right?"
"That's true, but surely not you, Wof!?"
I drew my knife. It was Agaro-san's modified knife.
"Bid-san. I'm counting on you."
"No way! Wof, knives are—!"
As we approached, the water spirit dancer began to move.
Spreading both arms wide and standing on one leg, she turned her face toward me.
"H-Hi there."
I offered a halfhearted greeting and stepped forward. The water spirit dancer performed a light half-turn and leaped.
She twisted mid-air, flipping upside down, and before I knew it, two knives were bearing down on me.
I noticed at the last moment and dodged. She went into a backflip spin and threw a kick.
I used Banish to crush the kick. But she immediately followed up with a rotation and retreated.
This one. Banish doesn't work on her. Right — because she's water.
The water spirit dancer floated lightly and spun diagonally like a game piece, circling behind me.
She entered striking range and swung her knives.
I quickly raised my knives to guard.
"Wof-kun. Don't!"
Ah, right — because she's water, the blade would pass right thr— *Clang!*
I caught the water knife. What's going on here?
I deflected it and pulled back. The blade didn't pass through, even though she was water.
The water spirit dancer extended and retracted her arms and legs, opened and closed them, dancing acrobatically.
With graceful movements, she deftly swung, thrust, and slashed her water knives in combination.
"Gh!"
Impressive speed, agility, and overwhelming pressure. And a relentless barrage with no breaks.
But the witch had been faster and had more moves, hadn't she?
I used the Relic Stillness to calmly read her attacks.
I dodged two knives, blocked one, parried one in a clash, and knocked it away with force.
The Water Dancer sways.
There! I caught a split-second opening and cut the Water Dancer's arm.
Cutting water. That was incredibly stupid and reckless.
But the Water Dancer's arm, made of water, was severed and fell.
I did it. It worked.
If
a
water
knife
can
cut
me...
then
I
can
cut
her
water
arm.
"Y-you cut through it?! Wh-what the heck are you?!"
That must have been truly unexpected, because the Water Spirit Dancer's movements faltered ever so slightly.
This was my chance.
"Now, Bidd!!"
"Oh, come on! I'll explain later, okay?!"
Bidd bellowed as he fired his crossbow. A single arrow split into multiple projectiles through Area Shot.
The multiplied arrows pierced every core in both the Water Spirit Dancer's hands and feet within range.
Tattered and falling apart, the Water Spirit Dancer dissolved back toward the water.
But its form still remained. Could the core have been... ah, there!
"This is over!"
I drove my knife deep into the Water Spirit Dancer's left chest with all my might.
Despite being made of water, it felt soft against the blade, and the moment my knife pierced the core, the Water Spirit Dancer collapsed into nothing more than a puddle.