"So, you're saying if you really pushed yourself, you made it here in one month...?"
"Technically, it was 'about a month and ten days'... but yeah."
"Barely a difference!"
"Still, having the place we spent years clearing taken down in about a month just feels... you know. Like that."
"Disheartening?"
"'Pathetic,' maybe?"
"Something like that. Well, we were prepared for it. It's like Tenma just proved once again that he's a monster, so maybe there's no point dwelling on it."
"Then again, I had Garat's map. Without that, it probably would've taken me years too."
It seemed the men and women had different feelings about it, but when I mentioned the map, Garat's mood noticeably improved.
After diving into the dungeon for a little over a month, I
at
long
last
reached the lowest floor. And as it happened, we ran into the Dawn Sword, who had been gathering materials near the bottom. That led to the conversation just now. Well, during that exchange, Garat and the others were exasperated with me, and Jin ended up feeling a bit down.
"I mean, we all knew Tenma would catch up in two to three months. Sure, it was a bit faster than expected, but hey—'barely a difference,' right?"
"Right. It's sad to lose our advantage after so long, but there's no use regretting something we all saw coming. More importantly, Tenma, you should head back to the surface and write Primera a letter."
"Oh, and you should probably check in with Merlin and the others too. Every time I run into them up top, they ask, 'Haven't you met up with Tenma yet?' Although, last I saw them a few days ago, they were getting ready to dive in, so they might already be down here in the dungeon."
Leaving the sulking Jin to his own devices, I gathered the latest news from the surface, headed back up, and planned to write Primera a letter before rendezvousing with Grandpa and the others.
So I made my way to the Guild, but...
"Just what exactly should I even write?"
Having never sent a letter to a woman in my entire life — previous life included — I agonized over the problem until I was blue in the face.
"Something like, 'I successfully cleared the dungeon. I don't have a single scratch on me. I look forward to the day we meet again'... that should work, right?"
"No, I really don't think that's very good..."
As I muttered the words I'd composed and jotted them down, I heard Lina's exasperated voice from right behind me.
"Like I was worried about, this is basically just a situation report. Well, the last sentence is pretty good for Tenma, I guess, but the whole thing is way too short."
Menace also seemed unhappy with the letter's content, offering a negative opinion.
"Even if you say that, I have no idea what I'm supposed to write. Isn't it fine as long as she knows I'm safe?"
"Well, if Tenma's okay with it, then I guess it's fine."
"Yeah, he is Tenma, after all. Can't be helped."
This way, if the letter's contents happened to leak out, we could smooth things over in various ways... but I doubted either of them would buy that reasoning even if I said it. Still.
"Looks like something both of you could agree on, so I'll go ahead and send it off. Hey, Ted! I need this delivered to the estate in the Royal Capital. Here's the payment."
The words sounded affirmative enough to me, so if anyone gave us grief, I'd make the two of them share the responsibility.
"Sure thing. Be right back."
Ted, who'd apparently been eavesdropping, quickly sidled up, snatched the gold coin for the commission, and dashed straight out the door.
"Now if anything comes up about that letter, all three of us are gonna get teased."
"You absolute creep! Ted, wait!"
"If we weren't in the middle of town, I'd shoot him down!"
It wasn't like I'd written anything about the three of us having brainstormed it together, so Lina and Menace wouldn't actually get teased — but neither of them seemed to realize that, and they bolted out of the Guild chasing after Ted. Well, Ted had probably caught on that I was messing with the two of them, so he'd likely take off on his Thunderbird right after leaving the Guild, and they wouldn't catch him.
"Well then... I'll head back into the dungeon before those two get back and try to find Gramps and the others."
I wouldn't mind taking a break, but I could do that inside the dungeon too, so escaping from the two of them was my top priority.
"If you're not back in a few days at most, I'll let you know — I'll tell Tenma that if he runs into Merlin, he should come back to the surface and wait here instead of going any further."
Since Garat said that, I promised I'd return to the surface if I couldn't meet up with them in two or three days, and I treated him to part of the tab. He looked pleased when I set down the gold coin, but Jin was already passed out and didn't seem to notice it.
"Just because Jin hasn't noticed doesn't mean you should pocket it, right?"
"As if I'd do something like that. If I got caught doing that, Jin would chase me down."
I'd half-wondered whether he'd do it anyway if no one noticed, but since I'd set the gold coin down in plain sight of other adventurers, someone was bound to see and word would get out for sure.
"Oh, and this — use it when Menace and the others get back."
When I handed over another gold coin, Garat accepted it with a wry grin.
"If you're going to spend gold coins on winning people over, you could've just not antagonized them in the first place."
"Well, you know how it goes — sometimes you just get swept up in the moment."
Two gold coins — twenty thousand G — might have been overkill for treats and brownie points, but considering this was partly repayment for dungeon intel, it really wasn't too steep. Not that I'd say that out loud, since it'd be a little embarrassing.
"Fine, can't be helped. I'll just casually let it slip that Tenma picked up the tab, and once they know it was a treat from him, they won't have anything to complain about... probably. Oh, and Jin and I are going to grab some food too, so don't complain about that."
Garat seemed to understand it was also a thank-you for the information, and he answered in a light tone.
"Well then, I'm counting on you for Menace and Lina."
After double-checking that I'd made my point about keeping the two of them happy, I confirmed that neither of them was nearby and headed for the dungeon. I'd briefly worried they might be lying in wait near the entrance, but there was no sign of that, and I made it all the way to the sixtieth floor without any trouble.
"Alright, let's start searching from here."
Since the sixtieth floor was about where we'd reached when we'd gone in together, I figured it made sense to start from the same point I'd reached when I went in alone and push forward from there — that way, I'd have the best chance of running into them.
"I could summon the Golem, but that would slow me down, and if Gramps and the others happen to be nearby, Jeanne and Aura could be in danger. Going in alone is probably safer."
The Golem's movements had improved quite a bit, but if a horde of enemies swarmed in while the old man's group was close by, that could get dangerous. So just like last time, I decided to ignore the small fry and push straight ahead.
"Five Orcs, huh... Shall I have the Golem handle them?"
On the way to the rest point on the sixty-fifth floor, I found a group that looked about right, so I gave the Golem some conditions and had it deal with them, but—
"At that level, they're no longer a challenge, are they?"
As a handicap, I'd imposed the rule that the Golem could only target the Orcs' heads, but looking at the corpses lined up before me, three heads had been sliced clean off and two had been smashed to a pulp.
"These should be easy to dismember."
Having secured some nice souvenirs for Shiromaru and the others, I recalled the Golem and headed for the rest area.
"Hm? There are signs of use different from mine... Could it be Gramps and the others?"
If it was Gramps and the group, there was a good chance they'd been using the same spots I'd rested at in the lower floors, seeking them out based on my previous choices.
"Well, if they're moving based on Garat's map, it makes sense the rest areas would naturally end up the same."
But if I kept that in mind while searching, it should make it easier to track down Gramps and the others.
"In that case, rather than camping here until morning, maybe it'd be better to rest briefly and push on ahead."
I'd already cleared this area once, so I had a general idea of the Monsters' strength. Below the seventieth floor you couldn't let your guard down, so rest would be necessary, but up to here a forced march should be perfectly manageable.
"I'll eat, get a little sleep, then set out. I'm counting on you for lookout and as an alarm clock."
Maybe it was because I'd been exploring the dungeon alone, but I'd started talking to myself more and even addressing the Golem directly before I knew it.
I'd have to watch the talking-to-myself habit going forward, but first, I needed to eat. Fortunately, I still had enough beef bowls for one or two more meals, and I'd bought some fruit when I returned to the surface earlier. Plus, there was food that had originally been in the Magic Bag, so nutritionally I was fine, but...
"Eating alone sure is dull."
Until now, there had practically always been someone by my side, so I never imagined being alone could be this boring.
"Maybe I should have brought Goru and Jiru along."
Those two were basically shut-ins, but since this was Seigen's dungeon — their hometown — they'd probably come out at least during rest breaks and keep me a little company.
While thinking about all that, I lit a short candle meant for rest periods (one that had been left at an awkward length when I'd swapped candles out), ordered the Golem to wake me when it burned down, and decided to get a short nap.
"Still a ways to go..."
I went down to the 70th floor, but I couldn't find Grandpa and the others.
"Maybe I should rest first, then go look for them again."
Checking the candle, it was around midday. I didn't know which floor they were on, but if they were following Garat's map, I'd catch up eventually. And even if I didn't, I'd run into them once I made it back to the surface.
"I'll just go with a 'nice if I find them, fine if I don't' attitude. Still, I should've asked Jin and the others which floor Grandpa's group was heading to."
If I'd done that, I could've started searching from around the floor before theirs... but well, no point dwelling on it now.
"Let me eat and get some sleep... Hm? Something's nearby."
Something felt off, so I scanned the area with Exploration,
"I'm
sur-
round-
ed by
an a-
na-
con-
da and
a cen-
ti-
pede."
Several Dark Lava Anacondas and Gigant Death Centipedes were lurking in the shadows and crevices of the surrounding rocks—three of each, to be exact.
Prey
It seems to be targeting me. They'd been leaving plenty of openings earlier, but the reason they hadn't attacked was probably because each of them was keeping the others in check.
"I'll take the anacondas myself, and leave the centipedes to the golem."
If I left it to the golem, the centipede materials would probably end up worthless. But in my mind, anacondas were more valuable than centipedes when it came to materials, so if the golem ended up rendering them unusable, that would be a problem.
"Golem, take out the centipedes hiding over there! You don't need to cover me!"
I immediately issued orders to the knight-type golem I'd pulled from my Magic Bag and set it on the centipedes. The centipedes had been concealed, but when the golem destroyed the rock I pointed at, the shock startled them into revealing themselves right in front of it.
"This one came out too, startled by the impact… Hyah!"
The anacondas that slithered out from behind the rocks and through the gaps in the stone seemed caught off guard by the unexpected development—their movements were sluggish. These were the same anacondas that had been biding their time waiting for an opening, and now they were practically handing me one on a silver platter. I hurled a knife at the one that had been positioned farthest back among the three, and it sank nicely into its eye.
"I can deal with that one later. Heave… ho!"
The anacondas with a knife in its eye thrashed about, taking the two in front of it down with it. That left the front two even more exposed, so I closed the distance in one burst and took the first one's head clean off with a single stroke, then split the second one's skull vertically on the return slash.
"I'll wait for that one to calm down a bit more. Still, it's just as tough to cut as ever."
The first one had still been carrying momentum, so the cut was clean, but the second one had already stopped moving, and I'd cut straight through the skull head-on, leaving a ragged wound. Well, the head wasn't particularly important anyway, so a messy cut didn't really matter. More than that—while Kogarumaru's improved performance certainly played a part—the fact that I'd cut through them more easily than the first time made me feel like I'd genuinely grown, and that made me happy. By the way, the two anacondas I'd just severed were apparently still alive at the nerve level, writhing around on the ground.
"Probably like a lizard's tail, but at this size it's just creepy. Anyway, let's put that aside—it looks like that one's finally calmed down too."
The two I'd cut were practically dead, so I set them aside and decided to finish off the one that had been thrashing with a knife in its eye. The knife had apparently reached all the way to the brain, putting it in a near-death state. That made it easy to take its head, and it didn't thrash about afterward either.
"Now then, how did the golem do… Whoa."
I'd finished with the anacondas faster than expected, so as I turned around to check on the golem's progress, I caught it right in the middle of tearing the upper half of a centipede apart.
Nearby, there was already a centipede that had been torn in half and then crushed through the head for good measure, and another that was pinned to the ground with a great sword and still writhing.
"Did that thing get possessed by the soul of some demon or fiend or something?"
Even knowing that couldn't possibly be the case, the scene before my eyes was enough to make me think it. Meanwhile, the golem, as if answering my expectations—or maybe just my curiosity—smashed the severed centipede head against the ground to pulp it, then ground its heel through the skull of the one that was still flailing.
It was a pretty gruesome way to dispatch them, and while it wasn't exactly something I could just shrug off once I considered how faithfully it had followed my orders, it had just achieved a complete victory against three B-rank Monsters, so it was a minor issue. Probably.
"I knew it — most of the centipede materials are ruined."
The upper halves of all three centipedes (especially the heads) had been thoroughly destroyed, so the poison and hard head shells — the most valuable parts of a centipede's materials — were unusable. That meant I'd only be recovering the lower halves, which were now less than half their original length. The anacondas I'd taken down, on the other hand, were all in pristine condition, so both the meat and materials would fetch a good price. Not that I planned on selling them, though.
"That takes care of today's food, but… before I butcher the anaconda, I need to clean the golem."
The knight-type golem was filthy. It was caked in centipede fluids and venom, with dirt and dust clinging to it like mud. If I didn't clean it thoroughly, it could end up hampering the golem's movements, and if the residual venom wasn't washed off, anyone who touched it could end up poisoned.
"I'll blast it with water to get the grime off, let it dry, then oil it up. That should do it."
Careful to make sure no venom or soil remained, I washed the golem down, let it dry, and then oiled its joints. Its movements actually improved compared to when it was caked in filth. Just like armor, regular maintenance was clearly a must.
After leaving the golem to lightly move around to work the oil in, I set it to standby and turned to the anaconda meat. I sliced it up into rough portions and grilled them up. The meat was surprisingly delicious, so next time I'd have to throw a barbecue party with everyone. Fortunately, all three anacondas ranged from just under six meters to eight meters in length and probably weighed somewhere between a hundred and two hundred kilograms, so there was more than enough for everyone I knew to eat their fill.
"Stomach's full, and this time for sure… I can't sleep."
When I pulled out my bed, ready to turn in, I heard a wolf's howl in the distance — Shiromaru. He was probably somewhere just below this floor, had noticed the sounds of the golem's battle, and from there had sensed my presence…
"I can hear Monsters gathering."
If the sound was reaching me, that meant every Monster within the same range could hear it too. The same thing that happened when I'd led the golem around to lure Monsters would happen again.
"The old man's there, so it should be fine, but depending on the numbers it could get dangerous… Come on! Let's move, fast!"
If things truly turned dire, Jeanne and Aura — who'd likely just be a liability — would duck into Slarin for safety. But if they got pushed into a tight space by sheer numbers, there was always the chance something could go wrong.
"It looks like they're handling it, but there are quite a few… Old man! I'm coming to help, so don't accidentally attack me!"
"Tenma! Thanks for coming!"
When I descended to the lower floor and headed toward the noise, I found the old man's group surrounded by a horde of Orcs easily numbering over a hundred. Some of them appeared to be higher-tier variants, so there might even be an Orc King somewhere in the mix.
"First, let's thin their numbers… Golem, charge!"
On the whole, the old man's group clearly had superior combat power, but with the ceiling threatening to collapse, the old man couldn't use his large-scale magic; Amour couldn't swing his beloved Bardiche in the cramped dungeon corridors; Shiromaru couldn't utilize his mobility with enemies packed so tightly around him; and Solomon lost his aerial advantage. Only Slarin seemed able to operate as usual, but with Jeanne and Aura presumably still inside him, he was holding back at the rear rather than pushing to the front.
"With this many Monsters of decent strength, I can't really blame them for struggling."
Even if they weren't performing at their best, the difference in raw power meant they wouldn't lose — but the sheer numbers were dragging things out. That was, until the knight-type golem, which could transform into a demonic brute by simply flailing its limbs with brute force, crashed into the enemy from behind. In an instant, the tide of battle turned.
"While the Orcs were in disarray, I... was there."
Using Search and Appraisal on the scattered Orc horde, I spotted the Orc King on the opposite side from me — a little ahead of where Amour was fighting.
"Planning to use his pawns as fodder and flee? Well, for a King, he's at least clever — by Orc standards."
When they had the advantage, they'd overwhelm the enemy with numbers, and once things turned against them, the King would cut and run. The thing is...
"If he'd fled just a little sooner, he might have actually made it out alive."
Their numbers had already been dwindling before the Golems even crashed the fight, so he should have cut his losses early. I couldn't tell whether he failed to recognize that he was losing the numbers game, or whether he believed he could push through eventually — but either way, that miscalculation cost him his standing in the horde, his glory, and ultimately his life. Clever or not, in the end, he was still just an Orc.
"Amour! That big one trying to sneak away in the back is the boss! Go after him!"
"Roger that!"
Once I relayed the King's position to Amour, he used the surrounding Orcs as stepping stones and charged forward. And then—
"The enemy commander has been slain!"
He drove his spear into the Orc King's neck.
With their boss dead, the subordinate Orcs panicked, their coordinated formation dissolving as if it had never existed. Shoving their own comrades aside, they began fleeing for their lives.
"Slarin! It's safe now, so release Jeanne and Aura — then go after them!"
We needed every advantage we could get, so I deployed several more Golems and launched a hunt for the remaining Orcs. During the pursuit, the Orcs mounted a few counterattacks, but with momentum fully on our side and their morale in freefall, we swept that feeble resistance aside in an instant.
"So much meat!"
"Yes, it really is too much..."
"I'm starting to feel sick..."
Quite a few Orcs had managed to escape, but even so, the sight of dozens of Orc corpses strewn across the ground — combined with the stench of blood — was enough to turn anyone's stomach.
"Alright! First priority is collecting the meat!"
With so many carcasses, the Golems would handle the bulk of the work, but I wanted to give specific instructions as we went to make sure nothing was wasted, so we all spread out and got to work.
"Still, you got here pretty quickly, huh?"
"Garat's map was accurate, and the knight-type Golems performed even better than expected."
Having a few B-rank Monsters at most was tough, but the presence of the Golems in the city was a huge advantage. After all, they never got tired, so they could be left on standby the entire time we slept, and they fulfilled their role as shields perfectly.
"Being able to leave your back to them was the best part."
When you get surrounded, the worst thing is having someone sneak up behind you, so not having to worry about that was the greatest relief.
"If these Golems became available to the general public, the whole concept of parties might change."
Roughly speaking, there were three ways for adventurers to operate: teaming up with other people, going solo, or partnering with Monsters. When you teamed up with people or Monsters, there were communication issues, and going solo presented difficulty problems. Golems, on the other hand, would follow any order without complaint, eliminating all those hassles.
"Well, solo adventurers would definitely jump at the chance. And so would adventurers who aren't great at communication. But Golems with this level of performance aren't something you can just make on a whim, and who knows how many years it'll take before adventurers can walk around with them."
It wouldn't just be years — it could take decades or even centuries. Though for royalty or nobility, they might get their hands on one sooner. Well, mass production would still be difficult, I figured.
"So, about Shiromaru, who caused the Orc attack..."
I went looking for Shiromaru, intending to give it a scolding, only to find it already lying on its back facing this way.
"Shiromaru... aren't you tired in that position?"
Like Jeanne had said, Shiromaru wasn't just lying on its back with its belly exposed — it had its arms and legs stretched out perfectly straight, the very picture of a pet reflecting on its misdeeds.
"I'm kind of losing the will to be angry..."
Shiromaru's ridiculous posture was draining my anger, but...
"No, that's just what it wants me to think. Shiromaru, get over here."
I thought I saw Shiromaru crack a smile for just an instant, so I decided to go ahead with the scolding as planned.
"Tenma, let it go already. Shiromaru was just excited to see you again after so long, that's all."
Since Grandpa was letting it off the hook, I released Shiromaru halfway through — only for Slarin to catch it afterward. Even if Grandpa and I forgave it, Slarin had her own say in the matter, and Shiromaru ended up getting an earful from her too.
"So, Grandpa, how deep did you get?"
"Well, if we're just going deeper, we made it to the seventy-first floor. But around there, it gets tough trying to protect Jeanne and Aura at the same time. So we were heading up to a higher floor to let them get used to it, when Shiromaru suddenly took off running."
As I suspected, it noticed us thanks to the sounds and smell of battle, but running off like that was a reckless move — if it had only stayed put, it wouldn't have gotten surrounded by Orcs. That was definitely Shiromaru's blunder. Still, thinking about it from a pet-owner's perspective, it was kind of endearing that he'd gotten that worked up.
"So, what do we do from here? Do we rendezvous with you all and head for the lowest floor, or do we head back to the Royal Capital first? Either way, our supplies are running low, so I think it'd be best to head back to the surface for now."
Listening to Grandpa's words, a suspicion crept into my mind — maybe Shiromaru's emotional outburst had been less about excitement over seeing us and more about hunger.
"Tenma, I'm hungry."
"In that case, let's head back. I was thinking of taking a short nap anyway, so why don't we call it here and discuss things on the surface?"
My own supplies were still fine, but the timing worked out, so we headed back up and decided to have our meal inside the carriage. Apparently, as usual, they'd arranged to use the grounds of Amy's family's estate as the spot to summon the carriage, so that was where we ate and talked things over.
"Oh, and we also need to discuss what to do with all that Orc meat."
"We're eating all of it, so it's fine!"
When the topic of the massive pile of Orc meat came up, Amour immediately started going on about how all of it should become their food supply, but that much meat could last who knew how many years — and for us, it might not even last a full year — so thinking about future acquisitions too, we decided to keep only the best cuts and sell off most of it. That decision was made by majority vote (Grandpa, Jeanne, Aura, and I all voted in favor), but Amour, Shiromaru, and Solomon still seemed unhappy about it. Of course, once I mentioned we'd have some unusual meat — Anaconda — for dinner, they accepted it right away, so convincing them was easy. That said, word of the barbecue spread to Jin and the others at the Tamer's Guild, and before we knew it, they showed up too, so nearly an entire animal's worth of meat vanished — which was definitely not part of the plan.