Ten days had passed since then.
The cleanup of the Minos Unit incident at the new dungeon still wasn't finished.
The Guild had reopened, but the dungeon in town was still closed as before.
The only thing that had been decided was
The
whole
twelfth
floor
of
the
dungeon
has
now
completely
collapsed
and
is
utterly
destroyed.
a
n
d
e
n
t
r
y
b
a
n
n
e
d
.
There's plenty to say about that. The collapse was my doing.
So as things stand, I'm at the lab. Grilling meat at the Arc Lab.
Why am I grilling meat in a lab?
Because the venue for today's yakiniku party is the lab.
The lab's gate isn't on the 12th floor anymore.
It had been reinstalled on the first floor of the watchtower at my house.
Now I could head to the lab from home whenever I wanted.
"Lord Wof, the meat you grilled is so yummy!"
"That's great. There's plenty more, so keep eating."
Juicy beamed and nibbled on the meat I'd grilled.
I didn't understand how it worked, but the table had been turned into something like a hot plate.
One half of the table held the ingredients—meat and other food and drinks—while the other half was for grilling.
Suddenly, Mineha flew over and pointed at the meat directly below her.
"Hey, can this one be eaten yet?"
"Ah, yes. That one's ready."
"I see. What about these vegetables? Still not done?"
Pakira chimed in from the side, asking about the grilled vegetables rather than the meat.
"Those too… ah, just a little longer."
"Wof, you gotta eat too!"
The one who suddenly tried to shove a skewer of meat into my mouth from behind was Bidd.
I had no choice but to eat it. Delicious.
"Thish ish really good."
"Mm-hm. Young Wof, so you're having Kon's Select Six-Kind Platter, eh?"
"Ah, thank you very much."
"Um, um, Lord Wof. This chunk of meat… I'd like to eat it together with you."
"Wait, wait. You can't just eat meat — you need your vegetables too."
"Here, Wof. This was really good."
"This one's tasty too!"
"Mm... kid... all you do is eat... drink... big sister's... drink it..."
"W-Wait, Riv!?"
W-what is this? I'm completely surrounded by girls.
And every single one of them is incredibly pretty and cute, plus warm, and they smell really nice.
Hm?
"Oh wow, Agaro! You're making First Class!?"
"Yeah. Me, Megadia, and one more."
"One more, huh?"
"Yeah, one more. No idea who."
"Either way. Congratulations. About as celebratory as the heads of the seventh older sister and twelfth younger sister."
"That ain't exactly cause for celebration. And hey, you got a sister and a little sis over there — shouldn't you go talk to them?"
"Don't say that. I'll talk to Juicy later."
Over on the other side, Agaro and Axe and the rest of the guys were getting rowdy all on their own.
Hoss and Rel were drinking and seemed to be having a good time.
So. Agaro and Megadia. Making First Class.
Congrats.
"Now this is good."
"Naa!"
"Just roasting it already makes it delicious, doesn't it?"
"Naa!"
"Oh, Dagaar. Want some more?"
"Naa!"
"Fufufu, how cute."
Lupinus, Seshu, and for some reason Dagaar were all eating together.
Both of them were proper noble ladies, but somehow I could only see them as a delinquent and an ojou-sama.
"Yeah, I know, but, um, that rabbit Seshu has strung up. Is it not... talking?"
"You must be imagining things."
"Since when does a normal rabbit wrap its arms around you screaming about its chest and butt and thighs?"
"Yeah, okay, fair point, but... where even are we, to begin with?"
Dova was staring at the Haiyaan hanging there with a complicated expression on his face.
That guy. He tried to throw himself at Seshu? Impressive.
Everyone was making a racket, clearly having a great time.
This was all because that rabbit had said it wanted to call a bunch of women and throw a party.
When I let them bring in the meat, the quantity somehow became absurd.
I also had to explain the whole situation to Axe and Riv at some point.
And the fact that it was nothing but women didn't help.
Just then, Hoss and Rel made it back safe and sound.
So when I invited them, Agaro came too.
And at the same time, Pakira and Lupinus showed up.
Juicy, Dova, and Sheshu also came back together.
So when I invited them, everyone came.
Apparently, they were going to turn half of the Torquetam outpost mansion into a Tassan family vacation home.
I was a little curious, so I asked Pakira how the Tassan territory was.
She rolled her eyes and said she ended up having to explore the dungeon in Count Tassan's castle.
A castle is basically a home, right? A dungeon in a castle? A Zecatria dungeon?
According to Juicy, it was the room of her older sister one floor up, holed up in the catacombs.
What's going on with the Tassan sisters, Rel?
Well, whatever.
"Ladies and gentlemen. If anyone would like condiments, please say so. I have approximately twenty varieties on hand. My recommendation is my very own special Munieka sauce."
"Shiro isn't really great with meat in general, but she does like this soup."
In one corner of the lab, an absurdly out-of-place pure white tea table had been set up.
On top of it sat twenty small jars, and beside it, a pure white girl was drinking mixed-meat soup.
Munieka, the maid, and Shiro, the First-Rank Delver with the long name.
Why were these two here? Especially Munieka—oh, she's heading this way.
"Witch's apprentice."
"Y-yes?"
"Don't just grill everything—eat more. There are twenty kinds of sauce over there, so eat with this special Munieka sauce."
"Y-yes. Thank you."
I heap even more sauce—Munieka's special sauce—onto the already mountainous pile of meat.
"If you don't eat, you won't grow big, you know."
"Y-yes."
"Hey, hey, don't go acting like Wof's mother now."
"Wh-what is with this maid?"
"Um, um, um, um?"
"There's a lot of pressure here, isn't there?"
"Why is that maid from back then even here?"
"Mmm… delicious."
Wh-why, why is this happening. Oh, that meat. It's still uncut.
"Ah, um, this meat, it's still raw, so, well, I'll go ahead and cut it."
I head toward the pile of uncut meat, trying to escape from the group.
Come to think of it, this knife I brought from the Tomb of Death. I haven't used it yet.
I found it in the deepest part of the Tomb of Death, but it's nothing special—just an ordinary knife. Alright. I'll use it.
The meat was cut thick, so I should slice it thinner. I take a wide stance; the meat looks a bit tough.
In that case, I'll bring the blade down in one swing.
"Hold on—that meat has a bone in it."
With a harsh grinding sound, the blade bites hard into something solid.
I yank it out with all my strength, and at the same moment—crack! The knife splits diagonally in two.
"Um..."
"Huh?"
"Oh my."
"Well, well."
"My bad~!"
Oh no.
A gemstone-class mid-tier monster known as the "Mountain Eater" exists.
It's a massive hydra with five heads.
Each head spews fire, wind, lightning, blades, and poison Relics, and a single bite can devour an entire mountain.
The Mountain Eater had been causing enormous damage to nearby towns and villages.
Because its nest sat at the bottom of a steep, deep valley in a region destabilized by ethnic conflict, subjugation was difficult.
However, in recent years, the ethnic conflict had ended, and a full-scale effort to subjugate the Mountain Eater had finally begun.
But even when it escalated into a large-scale subjugation campaign, they couldn't take the Mountain Eater down. Instead, they were completely wiped out.
They had by no means underestimated the Mountain Eater.
The subjugation squad was made up of elite delvers, centered around second-rank explorers.
Even so, they were annihilated.
The Mountain Eater was already on the verge of reaching gemstone-class upper-tier status.
And "he" grew irritated. He found the gnats buzzing about to be a nuisance.
So he decided to destroy the place where the gnats gathered in the greatest numbers, and kill as many of them as possible.
For "him," killing gnats was a hobby. A way to blow off steam.
Insects multiply on their own if left alone. That's why he comes to play every few years.
Being this fed up with mere insects was something he simply could not endure.
Before him, consumed by such fury, a single shadow appeared.
One hour later.
The Nest Valley had completely collapsed, and the surrounding mountains had been blown to bits.
And on the widest plain in the area lay the five severed heads of the "Mountain Eater."
Its bisected colossal body lay there with imposing grandeur, as if proudly displaying the evidence of its own defeat.
"O-Oh... So this is... the power... of a First-Class... 'Sword of Swords'..."
On the cliff ledge overlooking the carnage, a male Second-Class delver trembled.
Before him stood a massive man, arms crossed, laughing boisterously.
He was powerfully built with spiky golden hair.
Beside him stood a beautiful elf woman with blue hair, tanned skin, and long, pointed ears.
She carried a pair of white swords — one large, one small — at her hips, eyes closed, silent.
A little further back was a large dog with blue fur.
It leaned against a tree trunk with a bored look, lounging lazily.
Propped against that tree was a long greatsword.
A First-Class delver. The mightiest blade in the world. His title was the "Sword of Swords."