The camp preparations were already done before I could lift a finger, moving along at a brisk pace.
Two tents were set up — a large one and a small one.
Tents were a must since the ceiling glowed bright enough to keep you from sleeping.
I'd heard that every dungeon had spaces like this.
A safe point, or something like that.
Disposable barrier stones were placed around the perimeter to keep monsters from wandering in.
A campfire was built.
They found some decent-looking rocks from the rubble and hauled them back.
With impressive efficiency, they used them as makeshift chairs and a table.
In no time, a simple yet proper little campsite had taken shape.
There was so much I could learn about delving just from watching this.
So this was Thunder Fang — the group known as the genuine article in dungeon delving.
Hoss had a cutting board set on top of one of the rock-tables and was chopping ingredients.
I helped out beside him.
"Much obliged. Those two really can't cook, y'know."
"I'm learning a lot too. Um, do you always get your ingredients from the dungeon?"
"Yeah. Basically, we bring the bare minimum from outside and cook almost entirely with what we find in the dungeon."
What he was cutting were mushrooms, wild herbs, root vegetables, and rock fruit.
All things that grew in the dungeon.
I also helped gather ingredients.
"So why are you so set on dungeon-grown stuff?"
"To cut down on how much we carry. Plus, when you're down here for days, what you brought from outside either gets used up or goes bad."
"...I see."
A perfectly reasonable explanation.
Miscellaneous meat. Scraps of various cuts and types, which made it cheap.
You see it at the butcher shop all the time, but I'd never bought any before.
I guess the word "miscellaneous meat" just put me off a little.
Hoss cut it into fairly thick, dice-shaped cubes.
I sliced tomatoes. These two things were what Hoss had brought along.
"What we're making now is miscellaneous-meat soup. It's easy—just toss the cut ingredients into the pot."
While explaining, Hoss dropped the ingredients into the pot, seasoned them, and put the lid on.
Then he set it over the campfire. The flames were pretty strong, so he adjusted them down.
"Huh? You're not adding water?"
"This soup doesn't use water. Water is precious."
"Then where does the moisture come fr— oh, the tomatoes?"
"Yeah. Tomatoes, plus the wild herbs and tree nuts I threw in. The herbs and rock fruit have a lot of moisture."
"I see."
Sure enough, the wild herbs had been bright and green, and water came out when I cut them.
The rock fruit, too, split open to reveal juicy white flesh.
For reference, the rock fruit grew on a strange tree that looked like stone.
Large pinecone-like things hung from its branches.
Hoss chopped them off with his halberd because they were hard.
Hoss's halberd was a plain, unadorned weapon with a wooden shaft.
There was no decoration to speak of. However, the blade was an alloy.
It was forged from a mix of various metals like steel, holy silver, and orichalcum.
Alloy forging is a specialty of the dwarves.
I'd heard from Burns that they carefully preserve ancient techniques.
"It's a fine halberd."
"This here's been passed down in my family for generations."
"It must have quite the pedigree."
"I don't know all the details, but it's my pride and joy."
"Hmm. Your pride, huh."
"Mineha?"
"What is it, now?"
She was floating there with her hands on her hips.
"I came to tell you. I don't need that anymore."
"Eh, but..."
"Are you saying you don't like what I made?"
"It's not that. But that—I'm going to camp over at those rocks."
The rocky area... the center of the room. Where the collapsed stones had piled up, presumably.
Of course Mineha would pick the rocky area. But that wasn't the point.
"It's dangerous if you're not with everyone."
"Don't worry. I've got the barrier stone."
"But even so, I really can't just let that slide."
"Fine."
"Wof!?"
"That's right. As long as you understand."
She snorted through her nose and flew off to the rocky area.
Hoss and I couldn't help but share a wry smile.
"That really okay, you think? It's pretty dangerous splitting up like that."
"She's just making do on the spot. She won't listen even if you tell her."
"Yeah, that's true..."
"I'll go talk to Axe about it."
"Got it. We're almost done over here, so no worries."
Honestly, one thing after another.
Thinking that, I went into the tent.
Axe was tending to her sword.
Rel was nowhere to be seen. Axe noticed and spoke up.
"Rel went to scout the surroundings."
"By herself?"
"She'll be fine. She knows when to cut her losses. Apparently she's like her tenth sister in that regard."
"How many sisters does Rel have anyway?"
"Who knows. So, is it food time?"
"Partly, but first there's the matter of Mineha."
"...What happened?"
Axe's demeanor shifted.
Pretty obvious, honestly. Can't blame her, though.
"She doesn't want food, and she wants to camp a little ways from here."
"Away from us?"
"Well, still within the dungeon. She's at the gathering of central stones."
"I see. That's fine then."
"One more thing. I feel bad even bringing this up..."
"What is it?"
"I think we're being unfair to Mineha."
My words made Axe's eyes widen. She sighed.
"Even so, she's a higher-ranked explorer than us."
"She's ten years old, Axe."
"............"
"She's in the third tier, maybe, but she's still only ten, Axe."
"............But she's still a delver."
"Delver or not, no matter how high her rank, she's still a child. She's cheeky — I'll give you that. Honestly, I don't much like her. Hate... no, she just makes me uncomfortable. But she's still only ten. We can't forget that. I almost forgot myself... Also, she's like us — not comfortable around the opposite sex."
"............Right. Right, she was. Ten years old. That girl."
Axe finally seemed to realize.
"Yes."
"I'd forgotten about that. She was just... bad with women, and that was all there was to it. My bad."
"You don't need to apologize to me."
"I know. Could you... pass it along to her later?"
"Axe. That's the sort of thing you should do yourself."
"I know, but... sorry."
"Axe."
"Wof. Will you hear me out?"
"What's this all of a sudden?"
"I hate the Relic."
"..."
It didn't seem all that surprising.