A table at the Seedle Pavilion.
I'd been spending all my time on the second floor lately, so this felt kind of fresh.
I wasn't hungry since I'd just eaten, so I ordered lemonade.
Agaro went with tea instead of ale. Can't blame him for not drinking before work.
Juicy and Narcissus also got fruit water. Dagaa ordered milk.
Agaro took a sip of tea and spoke up.
"The job is investigating ruins on the 20th and 44th floors of Hydrangea's dungeon."
"Ruins?"
"Huh. Of what?"
"A what?"
"The ruins are a control facility for the main waterway connecting the water dungeon to this town."
"Um, um, uh, that sounds like a pretty important facility!"
"It would be."
This town had plenty of water. There was never any shortage of drinking water, especially.
That was because it was connected to the water dungeon. Apparently, some of it even included sewers.
I asked.
"When you say investigate, is something wrong with those ruins?"
"...Actually, the request is to search for the maintenance crew and their escort who went in for an inspection."
"Huh. So it's a missing persons job."
"They haven't come back even though the expected number of days has passed."
"That's..."
I'm assuming the worst. Agaro gets it too.
"But why would a request like that get assigned to a first-rank Doom Sword?"
"The escort... I know them."
"Agaro..."
"They're third-rank, but they're no slouch. Plus, there's the matter of confirming whether the ruins inspection was completed or not. For a first-rank job, it's a pretty reasonable request, don't you think?"
"...Yeah, that tracks. You're the type who'd go out of your way to suffer, aren't you."
"Shut up."
As expected of Narciss. Blunt as a freight train.
"Oh, oh, oh! That sort of passionate sense of duty — it's so delver-like, and I really respect that!"
Juicy jumps in to back him up right away.
Her eyes were practically sparkling. Agaro looked a little put off.
"Y-yeah. Well, that's the situation. We're heading out immediately. You good with that?"
"I don't mind."
"Oh, oh, yes. I'm fine."
"Na!"
"W-wait, shouldn't we prepare for floors 20 and 44 first?"
I get the urgency.
But dungeon exploration can easily take a week if things go sideways.
Floors 20 and 44 — there was no way we'd finish those today.
If we didn't prepare properly, we'd end up facing the worst-case scenario ourselves.
"No need to worry about that. Floors 20 and 44 are important facilities, so they're special. There's a transfer gate from the guild basement down to floor 20. And from 20, you can transfer to 40. Floor 44 is normally off-limits — you can't get in without this key."
Agaro set the key on the table for us to see.
It was a silver key with a crystal embedded in it. Every pair of eyes in the room locked onto it.
"Huh."
"Wafu."
"Na?"
"This is..."
Hm? This key... it looked like the dimple key from my past life memories.
No, wait. It only just looked similar.
"That's why I want to go right now."
"Understood."
"Then it's decided — let's move already!"
Narcissus rose to her feet with a spring in her step.
Delving, huh. Something was bound to come up.
The guild basement.
There were numerous small rooms down here, each one capable of transferring you somewhere else.
This was the third time I'd used one.
The place we always returned to after dealing with the dungeon's irregularities.
When I went to get the Monoceros horn with Pakira, Juicy, and Dagaa.
"Here it is, here it is!"
I picked the lock and opened the door. Inside the small room, a green-glowing teleportation circle had been installed.
I stepped in and felt a brief moment of loss as everything went dark. When I looked up, the same room came into view.
But when I opened the door, the scenery changed completely. First, I heard the sound of raging water.
"A waterfall."
Just as Narcissus had said flatly. Beyond the door, it was a bit dark, and a waterfall was flowing.
I could hear water falling from far overhead. Since I couldn't see well, I floated a light ball into the air.
A cave-like rocky surface stretched from the entrance all the way to the cliff right below the waterfall, like a bridge.
The sky was dark and I couldn't see it. It wasn't night, so maybe it was a ceiling.
"Um, um, there's something over there!"
The direction Juicy was pointing. Near the waterfall, there was a dull blue building.
About four square buildings resembling Hydrangea residences stood in a row.
The largest building had a dome on top.
The buildings sat at the edge of the cliff, and several blue pillars extended down into the waterfall basin.
"Is that the ruins on the 20th floor?"
"Looks like it."
"Surprisingly big, huh."
"Um, um, um, I'm sensing something."
"Nah!"
At her words, I snapped to attention and activated my Danger Discernment Relic.
Countless red dots were closing in from above the waterfall, the plunge pool below, and the cliff edge.
"Hostiles incoming!"
They burst forth with a tremendous splash — half-fish, half-human. Sahagins.
They had bulbous fish heads with bulging, unblinking eyes.
They carried tridents. Their upper bodies were naked, covered in scales, with loincloths below the waist.
One after another they leapt from the water, and in the blink of an eye, we were surrounded.
There must have been dozens of them. But not one of us felt the slightest hint of fear, desperation, or despair.
That made sense.
I didn't feel like losing one bit. I gripped Flash Timber.
Time for the real thing.
"Glop-glop-glop-glopp!"
"Glop!"
"Glopuu!"
"Glopra!"
"Gloglopra!"
The Sahagins charged. All at once — were we outnumbered?
Were we, though?
At the same moment, Juicy's arrow was loosed, and Agaro drew Flametongue.
But faster than both of them — faster than anyone — was Narsis.
With the two-handed sword made from Banish, I cut down several Sahagin at once, erasing them.
Then I snickered.
"Aha, that head. It's like Gymnema sylvestre!"
Ah, I'd been thinking it but never said it out loud.
Well, I guess the difference is that over there, the entire fish is basically the head.
Narsis laughed as she cut aggressively into the cluster of Sahagin without holding back.
The Banish sword erased anything its blade touched. Terrifying.
"Wof. 'Doom Sword.' Tasan. This looks like it'll be fun!"
Narsis skillfully sliced through the Sahagin while spinning upside down in midair.
As long as she's having fun, that's all that matters.
Oh — I deflected a trident with Woodflash and thrust.
"Sei!"
"Gyopaa!"
I quickly pulled back, swept upward from below, and thrust.
"Taa!"
"Gyopaaa!"
Thrust.
"Zei!"
"Gyoppoaaaa!"
Hmph. Not bad, actually.
The 'Woodflash' is an easy-to-use spear.
The wooden shaft is smooth, like it could slip right out of your hand, making it easy to maneuver.
And yet, when you grip it firmly, it feels like it clings to your hand.
The spear technique I learned in the training room was the 'Firmament Breakthrough Style—
Firmament Breakthrough Style'
—its creed is 'clear sky in full bloom, single-point breakthrough.'
It's a thrusting-focused spear technique that pursues the art of the perfect thrust.
And beyond that thrust, there lies a blue sky. A vast expanse. That's what they believed.
Honestly, I don't really get that part, but I did like that it's thrust-focused.
Ten thousand thrusts a day is out of the question. Well, more like impossible.
But a hundred or so thrusts a day? That's perfectly doable. It's the kind of spear technique you can feel good about.
"Awoooo-oooo-oooo-oooo!"
A cute, bell-like dog's bark echoed through the air.
It was Juicy. She was punching, kicking, and hurling sahagins with her bare hands instead of a bow and arrow.
Agaro was mowing them down one after another with Flametongue.
Narsis was... yeah. Well.
"Ahaha! AHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Weak. Weak. Weak. So weak! Too weak! You're nothing but Gymnema-Sylvestre knockoffs!!!"
The Purple Demon was cackling maniacally atop a pile of sahagin corpses.
Battle really isn't about numbers, huh. It's about quality. I really felt that.
Before long, the sahagins were completely wiped out.
Our makeshift wolf pack is performing exceptionally well this time.