"Hey, we should be arriving in Seigen pretty soon. Also, by the way, Ku's mood looks like it's about to hit its limit."
Following Amour's remark, I looked up at the sky, and sure enough, the cloud formations looked like rain could drop at any moment. Some suspicious clouds had been building for the past few days, so the weather had actually held up longer than expected.
"Amour, Aura — if it starts raining and it's not too bad, just keep going as-is. But if it looks rough, pull off the road and stop the carriage."
"Got it!"
"Understood."
We were probably only a few tens of minutes from Seigen, but since the road wasn't paved like a city street, it would be better not to push through heavy rain. Well, even if we did press on, I didn't think the Leyden and our current carriage would break down that easily, but waiting a bit might let the rain ease up, and we weren't exactly pressed for time, so playing it safe seemed wisest.
"Jeanne. Just in case, have some towels ready."
"Of course."
"Then I suppose I'll go heat up the bath. Can't say how long it'll take, but we'll need it by tonight regardless."
Grandpa headed off toward the bath, ignoring Jeanne as she said, "I'll handle that later."
"Let's see, Grandpa's hand is... pretty terrible. He's probably about to go on a losing streak — might bail early."
Right now, Grandpa was in the middle of an remarkably long losing streak in his favorite card game.
There were four players, and under the casual rules we'd been playing — where the two commoners at the top and bottom simply swapped a single card, a much looser format than usual — Grandpa had somehow pushed his consecutive last-place finishes nearly to double digits. Incidentally, the other three players besides him were roughly splitting the top spots evenly among themselves.
"Grandpa's weirdly bad at the loose rules, huh?"
"But he's stronger than anyone else under the normal rules."
Since the two of them had stepped away, I collected the cards as a sort of reset. Well, stopping mid-game would have been fine too, but since the whole thing was just a way to kill time with casual rules — and more importantly, since I'd accidentally seen Grandpa's hand — there was no reason to continue from where we left off. Might as well start fresh if we played again.
"Jeanne. Sorry, but could you make some tea?"
"What about snacks?"
I told Jeanne, "There are pancakes — let's put cream and ice cream on those," and the coachman's seat window slid open with Amour and Aura poking their heads in. At the same time, Shiromaru and Solomon moved into standby position beside me.
"Six servings of tea and nine servings of tea snacks."
"Amour, Aura — you two take turns resting. Decide the order now while you can."
When I said that, I could hear rock-paper-scissors being played from the driver's seat. It looked like Aura would be resting first.
"So, how long are you planning to stay in Seigen? Since your stay in Gunjou City got extended, are you going to make it shorter?"
"No, if Primera and the others are okay with it, I'd like to stay for five days as planned. There are the courtesy visits, but I'm also curious about the dungeon's lowest level. I doubt it, but if the cover on the new dungeon's entrance is broken, that could be bad. There are various things..."
I planned to do some mining near the lowest level whenever I had time, so if by any chance the cover was broken and rotting-flesh Golems were wandering around, that would be a major hygiene issue. Jin and the others might be checking regularly, but I wanted to see for myself at least once. And if it turned out to be broken with Golems roaming around, I wanted to clean it up as much as I could.
When I explained this, not a single objection was raised. In fact, Amour — who hadn't had a chance to do anything in Gunjou City — and the old man, who should have been worn out from wreaking havoc, were enthusiastic about the idea, saying it would be a good plan to advance through the dungeon while getting some exercise after all the time cooped up in the carriage. Incidentally, Primera's retort about how Amour had surely gotten enough fighting in with Lily and the others apparently didn't reach Amour's ears.
"I was hoping you'd last ten minutes more... oh well, you lasted longer than I expected."
It didn't rain until just before we arrived in Seigen, but it finally reached its limit when we were just a short distance from our destination — Emi's parents' house. Well, only Amour and Aura, who were driving the coach, got soaked. The rest of us inside kept playing cards until the end. By the way, the old man was overwhelmingly the worst at Old Maid, but once we switched to poker, he kept winning first place instead.
"I never thought we'd be stuck inside the carriage for an entire day."
We made it to Seigen safely, but the rain that started pouring as soon as we entered the city was so intense that we ended up staying in the carriage. Moreover, we had to wait for the heavy downpour to turn into a light drizzle well past noon, meaning we spent close to an entire day inside the carriage.
"By the way, I haven't seen Namitarou since yesterday. Does anyone know where he is?"
Namitarou tends to stay in the Dimension Bag with Slarin and the others during travel since it's too cramped inside the carriage, but I realized I hadn't seen him since last night, let alone this morning.
"Now that you mention it, didn't he go out yesterday while Tenma and Primera were greeting Emi's family, saying he was going to get a quick bath? What about Jeanne and the others?"
Even when the old man asked Jeanne and the others about Namitarou, they said they hadn't seen him since then either, just like him.
"Well, there's probably no need to worry about Namitarou. He may have his gaps, but the Monsters and adventurers around here wouldn't be a match for him. Plus, in Seigen, plenty of adventurers would have seen or heard of Namitarou from the Royal Capital's martial arts tournament, so it's unlikely to escalate into any trouble... probably."
I wasn't confident about it, but as long as no one picked a fight with him, Namitarou shouldn't go after anyone.
"Hmm... I'm planning to stop by the Guild after this, so I might as well give them a heads-up at least."
If I go to the Guild, Jin or someone from the Tamer's Guild might be there, so I could have them spread the word about Namitarou. Besides, I'd given Namitarou a handkerchief with the Ootori family crest and the like, and he could speak human language, so even if he got caught up in trouble, he might be able to avoid it depending on the other party. If not, though, the other party would be in danger — but adventurers operate on a self-responsibility basis, so if they got hurt, they'd just have to swallow the loss or, at best, call it a draw.
"Well then, the report to the Guild... or rather, the warning? I'll leave that to you, old man. Primera and I will go pay a visit to Master Gantz."
When it came to paying respects to acquaintances in Seigen, Amy's family would normally come first — but I'd already handled that yesterday. After that, it would be Jin and the folks at the Tamer's Guild, but since they were adventurers (the Guild crowd did it more like a side job), there was a good chance they weren't around right now. Well, the old man said he'd be going, so I could just have him pass along a message that I'd drop by later if anyone was there.
So it made more sense to swing by the master's workshop first — it'd be easier to plan the rest of the day around it. Besides, I was curious about what had happened with the master's wife (Kelly's older sister).
"I'm heading into the dungeon with Jeanne and Aura!"
When Amour said that,
"Wait — me too?!"
the two of them exclaimed in unison, startled.
Amour seemed to intend to push for the deepest levels like last time, but with the old man absent, that would be too dangerous. On top of that, with only a short stay, heading all the way to the bottom would leave no time. So in the end, she'd resigned herself to treating this as light exercise and just hanging out on the shallower floors. That said, even with the decision made, I figured if Amour was feeling up to it she'd just keep descending deeper and deeper — so I decided to send Slarin along as a chaperone, and have Shiromaru and Solomon come as emergency escorts (doubling as a stroll, while they were at it).
"I knew it — the roads are in really terrible condition."
After dropping the old man and the others off near their respective destinations, Primera and I made our way to the master's workshop at a leisurely pace, just the two of us. Along the way, Primera spotted travelers and carriages struggling through the muddy roads and murmured. The paved streets had puddles but were still passable, so that wasn't too big a problem — but the back alleys and less-frequented roads were mostly unpaved, so you'd occasionally witness some rather grim spectacles. Well, "grim" was relative — we were talking about travelers getting their feet caught in the mire and ending up caked in mud, or wheels sinking into the muck until they couldn't move or broke. Still, from what I could see, nobody had been seriously hurt.
In fact, since the rain had been letting up when we set out, I'd suggested we travel light on foot, and just take a shared carriage if it started raining again.
But Primera argued that unlike Gunjou City or the Royal Capital, Seigen's roads weren't fully paved, so it'd be better to take a carriage. The girls, who hated the idea of getting their feet dirty, sided with her, and we ended up going by carriage. But now, seeing all these people suffering in the muck, I had to admit Primera had been right. Incidentally, we couldn't go fast on city streets, but even factoring in the speed restrictions and the hassle of stowing Raiden and the carriage in the Dimension Bag at each stop, it was still faster and more comfortable than slogging through the mud on foot — another of Primera's points that had proven spot-on.
Thanks to Primera, we made it safely to the master's workshop (though the poor souls wading through the muck shot us some resentful looks along the way). We put the carriage away and stepped inside, but... the moment I walked in, I was hit by an overwhelming sense of wrongness — and I immediately figured out why. Primera, who hadn't been to the workshop often, didn't seem to notice anything off.
"Oh! Welcome!"
One of the master's apprentices spotted Primera and me and called out. When I asked him about the strange feeling in the workshop, he laughed and explained why.
"Yo, Tenma! Glad you could make it!"
He must've heard my laughter, because the master stopped what he was doing and came over.
"Of course — when I come to Seigen, I can't just skip paying my respects to the master. Well, next time I visit, the master and..."
"'Wi—"
"—i—"
"—fe.'"
"...on"
"—I think that would make it one, though."
When he said that, the master glared at his apprentice with a piercing look... but the apprentice had already fled the scene before the master could even glare.
Apparently, the master had spoken with Kelly after that wedding, and he was now in the process of reconciling with his wife with Kelly acting as a go-between. As part of that effort, he'd started cleaning the workshop and his house, which had apparently gotten quite dirty after his wife moved out. It was still messy, but much more organized than the last time—though that bar was so low that it looked considerably tidier to me, while Primera apparently thought it was still a complete disaster.
"Oh, speaking of which, Tenma. Have you heard that the dungeon's been getting rowdy lately?"
When I told him I'd just arrived in Seigen and didn't know anything, the master filled me in on the recent dungeon developments—which he'd heard from adventuring clients, since the master himself didn't go dungeon delving.
According to the master, the water level in the lake on the forty-second floor had recently increased for some reason, submerging the passage that led to the hole going further down. The water level kept fluctuating, rising and falling, but the path never emerged above the surface.
"They say it's not impossible to force your way across when the water level drops, but even at its shallowest, it's still about fifty to sixty centimeters deep. Apparently several people have been attacked by the fish there and lost their lives."
Even without the octopi, those fish had been attacking adventurers in shallower conditions than this and using them as prey for ages. With the increased water volume, the danger level had to be considered several tiers higher than before. Well, we could fly over the lake to reach the floors below, so we didn't need to worry too much—though going there to catch lake shrimp or recover underwater treasure was entirely possible, and in that case, we'd be acting the same as always, so the danger level wouldn't really change.
As I was thinking this,
"Tenma... Amour said he was going to play on the shallow floors, but wouldn't the forty-second floor count as a 'shallow floor' for Amour?"
The forty-second floor would be considered mid-level in terms of Seigen's dungeon scale, but for most adventurers, it was deep enough to be called quite far down. However, Amour had delved all the way to the eightieth floor on a previous visit. In other words, from Amour's perspective, the forty-second floor could easily be dismissed as "upper floors near the mid-level, so it's fine!" And in terms of actual strength, the monsters on the forty-second floor wouldn't differ much from those in the upper levels.
But that was Amour's standard—Jeanne and Aura weren't necessarily on the same level. Besides, Jeanne probably wouldn't want to push forward, but Aura would likely side with Amour's desire to go deeper, reasoning that Slarin and the others were there so it would be fine.
"All we can do is hope Slarin stops them, but maybe we should head there ourselves, just in case."
"You're right. I doubt they'd start from floors below the lake, but they might begin a few floors above it and make the lake their objective."
In a dungeon that was particularly uneventful, a place like the lake on the forty-second floor was perfect as a destination. So it wouldn't be at all surprising if Amour headed for the lake.
"Primera, let's head into the dungeon right away. Slarin's there so it should be fine, but our enemies aren't necessarily limited to just Monsters."
"Agreed. Once that's decided, let's hurry over!"
We apologized to the master for not being able to give a proper goodbye, and then Primera and I raced through the city on Raiden as a light rain began to fall.
GANTZ'S SIDE
"Master, come on, give me a break already..."
While I was lost in thought, the voice of the disciple who'd stuffed the dumb ideas into Tenma's head drifted down from above. Right after Tenma and the others had left, I'd hung him upside-down from the ceiling, and he still seemed to have plenty of fight in him. He'd probably be fine if I just left him up there a bit longer.
"Seriously though, Master. Did Tenma really need to rush off like that? Even if he might be going as far as the middle layers, Amour should handle it no problem, right? And with Slarin and Shiromaru there, even if they were stuck carrying two deadweights, I don't think it'd be an issue."
Another disciple who'd been watching the hung-up one walked over to me, scratching his head.
"Well, any adventurer in Seigen worth their salt would know that Amour and the others are traveling with Tenma — or rather, they *should* know. But lately, more and more folks from other regions have been showing up. The chances of some idiot trying to cause trouble are pretty high."
"Even so, surely they'd have at least heard the rumors about Tenma, Amour, Slarin and the others?"
"Anyone who's only heard the rumors won't truly understand until they've been made to feel the pain firsthand. That said, I doubt anyone who can't even make it past the middle layers could beat Amour or Slarin, but Jeanne and Aura are another story — you never know. And besides..."
"And besides?"
"Well, I'd rather not have family members killing people on their honeymoon. Even if it was technically self-defense."
At that, all the disciples nodded in unison, apparently satisfied.
"Though I suppose that's just the official line — honestly, I think I just don't want Amour and the others having to kill anyone either."
That little mutter seemed to fall on deaf ears among the disciples.
Which one was Tenma's true feeling, I couldn't say for sure. But he'd always been soft on family, so the latter was probably the real answer. Then again, even if that was the case, he'd probably deny it if you asked him directly.
GANTZ SIDE — END
"The drizzle may have been light, but we're pretty soaked by now."
Once we arrived at the dungeon, I immediately got Primera registered and then headed to one floor above the lake level — the forty-first floor. Ideally, since it was Primera's first dungeon, we should have started from floor one, but given the emergency and the fact that Primera's abilities were more than sufficient even around floor forty, I'd made the call as the leader of Orasion to bring her straight here.
While Primera was registering, I asked around to see if anyone had spotted Amour — or someone who looked like Amour and their group. A few people had seen them heading into the dungeon, but no one had seen them come back out.
"Let's go check on the lake first. Sorry, but I need you to dry us off as we walk."
I handed Primera a cloth and set off at a brisk pace toward the path leading to the forty-second floor.
"The water level's higher than I expected..."
The first thing I noticed upon descending to the forty-second floor was that the water had risen more than I'd expected. There was less dry land than the last time I'd been here—it looked like roughly two-thirds of the floor had been submerged.
"It doesn't look like Amule and the others have been here."
No one was in sight, but just to be sure, I used [Search] to check—and sure enough, there wasn't a soul around.
"Primera. It doesn't look like Amule and the others are on this floor or the ones above, so let's change here first. After that, we'll head back up and ask at the reception desk again. If they still haven't shown up, we'll start searching from the forty-first floor and work our way up."
If we repeated that process a few times, we'd be able to find them if they were heading toward the lake like we'd guessed. I'd also asked the reception staff to let Amule and the others know to wait near the dungeon entrance or at the Guild if they spotted them, so we shouldn't cross paths easily. Even if we couldn't meet up, after a few passes we'd start drawing attention, and fewer idiots would think about pulling anything stupid. By the way, for the creeps who were casting leering looks at a rain-soaked Primera, I made sure to return their gazes with a healthy dose of killing intent.
We headed back and asked about Amule and the others, but they hadn't been spotted, so we started our search from the forty-second floor. And then, thirty minutes after we began...
The
Forty
Second
Floor
—and that was where they found Amule, who had been beating several adventurers senseless, leaving them looking like tattered rags.
"Did I... get here too late?"
"No, they're still moving, so I think we made it just in time... Ah!"
Primera had been relieved to see the adventurer lying at Amule's feet still moving, but the very next moment, she watched Amule's kick catch the man square in the jaw—and was too stunned to find words.
"Hm? ...Wait—Tenma and Primera? What are you doing here?"
At the sound of Primera's voice, Amule noticed us and tilted her head, looking our way with a puzzled expression.