Once the guild master stepped in, my role was over.
Basically, I was off the hook. Which meant I could coolly slip out of here— or so I thought.
Right now, for some reason, I’m in Hydrangea’s dungeon.
“I took out the ones above. Quickly and flawlessly, if I may say so myself.”
“No way, I was faster!”
Mineha and Lancia were at it again.
I couldn’t care less which of them took out the mob of monsters first. It was pointless.
“Ugh, how did it come to this?”
I sighed under my breath, watching the two bicker. How did things end up like this?
The current floor is the 40th.
We’re heading to the 67th next.
The reason? Because it’s a quest.
A Delvers’ Guild quest, no less. And a mandatory one. A quest assigned directly by the guild master herself.
Dragged into her office, we were given our orders without any room for argument.
To put it bluntly, it’s basically a punishment. I get that.
But why me too? Honestly, I’m not convinced.
Right. So the party is me, Mineha, and Lancia. That’s it.
Yep. So this is the Makeshift Wolf Pack. Which… iteration are we on again?
Doesn’t really matter.
And what kind of quest is this.
"Go to floor 67 of the Hydrangea dungeon."
That's it.
Suspicious. Not that I'm Lancia, but this is beyond suspicious.
"—We're both going."
"—Child of man, Wof. Perfect timing. You took out a lot of the upper ones, didn't you?"
"—Huh? I'm the one who took out the most!"
"—...We're going."
"—You took out the upper ones, didn't you, child of man Wof."
"—Wof. I took out more, right?"
The two of them asked in unison.
They sure get along.
Either way is fine by me.
The Hydrangea dungeon.
Floor 46, underground.
"—This floor has a teleportation circle that goes to floor 50."
"—I already know that."
"—Lancia. Do you know what's on floor 67?"
"—Of course. You should know."
"—Hey, why are you asking the newbie girl?"
Mineha glared at me.
Why? Because Lancia was the will of Hydrangea's dungeon.
It would make sense for her to know, since she was the dungeon itself.
But Mineha didn't know that fact.
She'd heard of the Incarnation boom, so if I explained it she'd probably get it right away.
Though whether I should explain it was another matter.
If I did, she'd accept it, but it seemed likely to become a new source of drama.
Mineha had been pretty well-behaved lately, but her basic personality hadn't changed.
And despite what you'd think from her appearance, she was ten years old — younger than me.
"—However, there's nothing of particular interest on floor 67."
"There isn't?"
"No, there certainly isn't."
She cut me off flat.
What did that even mean?
"Floor 67. You can take the teleportation circle down to floor 60, but from there you've still got seven floors to descend, right?"
"That does sound like quite a hassle."
Incidentally, this had also been the deepest floor of this dungeon for me.
I had no idea what kind of monsters showed up there.
"That much is nothing to bother with up above."
"I'm not worried about it either, you know."
They were bickering and glaring at each other. These two sure love to pick fights.
While they were at it, monsters started gathering.
Skeletons in armor. Skeleton soldiers. That's what they're called.
Their armor and weapons were uniform, which is why they got the soldier label.
It was their territory, so they just kept piling in.
"Then let's do this, fairy child Mineha."
"What is it?"
"Let's have a race — see who can take down the Skeleton King on this floor first."
"Huh?"
"The Skeleton King is gold-rank mid-tier, right?"
"A gold-rank monster!?"
They show up around the 40th floor?
Hydrangea laughed softly.
"Why, are you frightened?"
"Easy peasy!"
No, no, no — how did this turn into that?
"U-um! Both of you!"
"What is it, child of man, Wof?"
"What's up?"
"Do you need to defeat the Skeleton King before you can step on the teleportation circle?
"That's not the case."
"That's totally not true."
They said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ugh…
"Th-then there's no need to defeat it."
"In that case, ready, start!"
"Ah, wait up!"
"Hey—"
Off they went, charging straight into the skeleton legion—Hydrangea-san and Mineha-san.
Skeletons went flying one after another from the greatsword swings of Hydrangea-san.
From the looks of it, Hydrangea-san was using a speed-type Relic.
For the will of Hydrangea's dungeon, it felt understated, but it was strong.
Apparently, she was the type who valued solid power over flashiness when you least expected it.
Come to think of it, Hydrangea's dungeon didn't have much flashiness either.
She was swinging a broad-bladed greatsword with a wide, rectangular crossguard—some kind of flower engraved at its center—with effortless ease.
Not to be outdone, Mineha-san was sending skeletons flying with her pale blue spear, the "Demon Star Manifestation Lance."
The "Demon Star Manifestation Lance" was a spear that fired nine "star"-called bits.
I knew that, but it was still overwhelming.
With things going like this, I hadn't had to fight at all. Easy pickings. Except for the mental toll.
But seriously, Hydrangea-san. The Skeleton King was a monster you set up yourself, wasn't it?
And you're out here gleefully defeating it like that's perfectly fine?
"Haa..."
All I could do was sigh.
And the Skeleton King's castle was being demolished by Mineha's Spiral Dawn.
It was collapsing spectacularly, with a very "BOOM" kind of vibe to it. Honestly, at this point it was basically a weapon.
"I did it!"
Poor Skeleton King.
"Mineha, daughter of the fairies. That is a barbarian's method."
"Excuse me?!"
"If it were the superior one, they would have handled it with the utmost elegance."
That's what you say after I already smashed the skeleton knights to splinters with my greatsword?
The scattered remains were a truly pitiful sight.
Either way, they're both the same.
"Anyway, I won!"
"The superior one does not acknowledge that."
"What?!"
"Besides, do you really think the Skeleton King was defeated that easily?"
"Wait, you mean..."
Mineha and I looked at the collapsed castle.
It had completely crumbled into a mountain of rubble.
"............"
"............"
"............"
The mountain of rubble didn't budge an inch.
Lancia-san wore a disappointed expression.
"So weak. Pathetic."
"He's properly dead, isn't he? It's confusing. I win!"
"No. The weak Skeleton King is to blame."
"Don't mess with me, you pink old woman!"
"What did you just call me? You barbarian queen's daughter, Mineha."
"Who's a barbarian?!"
"...Sigh."
Exhausting.
Can I go home now?
I stepped onto the teleportation circle to the 50th floor.
This floor was a grassy plain.
The main monsters were Big Boars, Rising Elks, and Ripper Rabbits.
Inside a dilapidated shack, I found a treasure chest.
Using [Banish] to break the keyhole and open it, the contents were a sword.
Judging by its appearance, it was a pretty decent sword.
A sword, huh.
Oh my, child of man Wof, aren't you going to take it?
I'm cursed, you see. Can't hold a sword.
What a shame.
I don't need a sword either.
Lan doesn't need one either since I have this 'Hydrangea'.
Lan gave the greatsword a brief glance. Hydrangea, huh.
Since nobody wanted it, I closed the chest. Sorry about the sword.
We're the worst, aren't we — people in a fantasy dungeon who don't want a sword that came out of a treasure chest.
Floors 51 through 54 progressed smoothly, despite the constant bickering.
We took a break on floor 55.
Just when I thought we'd reach floor 67 at this easy pace—
There was an endless line of human corpses on the stone steps leading to the ruins of a temple on floor 56.
What the heck… is this?
It's obvious if you look. They're corpses.
That's not what I meant and you know it!
……
From the parts that hadn't been absorbed yet, these endless corpses were brand new.
And these corpses. They were all dressed in identical black outfits. And also… somehow.
They look like ninjas.
What? Carrots?
"No, I mean, a group of people dressed up like ninjas and—"
Though, ninjas really are the most Japanese thing ever.
Speaking of Japanese... one person comes to mind.
"I can hear the sound of fighting up ahead."
"Huh?"
"That's our source of nutrition—that is, where the corpses are coming from. Shall we head that way?"
"Hold on."
Hydrangea cheerfully headed toward the temple ruins up ahead.
Mineha followed after her. I hurried after the two of them as well.
It suddenly hit me.
Don't call dead people a source of nutrition.
When we entered the grounds of the temple ruins, a single woman was fighting multiple black-clad figures.
Actually, they were carrying kunai, so they were definitely ninjas.
And that woman in the hakama... just as I suspected.
It was Kaede Akima—the Rank I delver known as "The One-Cut Bisector."