Leold.
I had a slight connection with him through a Kuun Hunt hireling named Piesu.
He's a first-rate delver who plays the part of a low-ranking drunk at the bottom of the Kuun Hunt hierarchy.
A worn-out old geezer.
But I've actually seen a fraction of his strength firsthand.
And I still haven't forgotten the knife I failed to pick up back then.
Leold put his flask to his lips, then spoke.
"Heard you became a delver."
"Well, yes..."
"Congrats. Someone with talent was bound to get there eventually."
"Was I?"
"Wof. You know these two?"
"No—I only know him."
I had no idea about the maid.
I'd never encountered a maid so beautiful and yet so terrifying.
"............"
The maid stared me down. A chill crept up my spine.
"Hmm... truly a pain..."
"Could it be that you were the one pulling their strings behind the scenes?"
"Ah—wait, wait. There's nothing like that. Kuun Hunt has nothing to do with this."
"So you're from Kuun Hunt."
Bid immediately went on guard. At her cold stare, Leold gave a bitter smile.
"Man, I've really made myself unpopular."
"You've only got yourself to blame," the maid said coolly, her voice like a tinkling bell.
"Well, that's fair, but—oh, right. Wof. Those idiots at the Grave of Death sure caused you trouble."
"Yes, they certainly did."
Those idiots.
The Kuun Hunt delvers who brought their hirelings to the Grave of Death chasing glory.
After the fact, Kuun Hunt made a big announcement that they'd gone without authorization and acted alone.
But the public just called it cutting their losses.
"Want to know what happened to them?"
"No. I'm not interested."
They're dead anyway.
Even if they were alive, they wouldn't be worth much.
More to the point, I genuinely don't care.
They were the worst.
Even after I saved them, they held the hirelings hostage and demanded the Witch and Juicy-san.
I could only conclude they'd lost their minds. I still think they were out of their tree.
"I see. Ah, by the way—was this your doing?"
"Hmm... perhaps... maybe."
"Well, I suppose so."
Leold sighed.
"So what's your reason, for starters?"
"The truth is—"
I explained. Man, lately it feels like all I do is explain things.
Leold nodded along. Hmm, hmm.
"I see."
"They had it coming, didn't they?"
"Well... that's... more or less right."
At the maid's words, Leold nodded, albeit reluctantly.
He glanced over at Haiyan, but I ignored him.
"So... what business does Kuun Hunt have here..."
Riv was on guard.
Leold scratched his head.
"Ah, well, I've been assigned this area more or less. Oh right—I'm Leold."
"...Riv."
"Biddo."
"I am Haiyan."
"Whoa, the rabbit talks. Is this thing a monster?"
"Not a monster."
Leold and the maid both stared at Haiyan.
I quickly interjected.
"Ah, he's something like Alexander."
I said it before I realized I had no idea if that was actually true. But—
"I see."
"I see."
Both of them accepted it without question.
Huh. Alexander-san. He's surprisingly well-known?
Ah, but he is hard to miss. A talking land catfish and all.
Now then. The last one was the maid.
She deftly flipped her skirt, caught the hem between her fingers, and bowed with a graceful dip of her head.
"I am Munieca, a maid."
"As I suspected..."
"Why is there a maid here?"
"Because I am in service."
"Well, yes, but—to him!?"
"Hey. What's with that look? It's not like that. Well... maybe not entirely unlike that."
Leold looked troubled.
Munieca gave him a passing glance.
"By the way—you're the one in charge of this area. So it stands to reason you're the mastermind, doesn't it?"
For some reason, Munieca pointed the finger at him.
"That's not it!"
Was this maid not on our side after all?
"But you did leave them alone, didn't you? We've been attacked in dungeons too, you know."
"Seriously..."
"Of course, we made sure all of them... disappeared from this world."
Well, that couldn't be helped. And that was when I realized something I shouldn't have.
"...Could it be that inside this building, there are women who were attacked or abducted—"
My words turned every woman in the room against Leold.
And Haiyan—stop staring at Munieca like that.
Don't tell me you've fallen for her. You've got to be kidding me. This rabbit.
If it ever came to a fight, I'd hand you over without a second thought.
Setting that aside, Leold was panicking.
"W-wait—that's not the case!"
"How can you be so certain?"
Munieca glared at Leold and pressed him.
He didn't have a single ally.
"Th-that's... fine. I'll talk. These people were surveillance targets. That's why I've been keeping an eye on them."
"Surveillance?"
"Yeah. To find their... sponsor. That's why I secretly helped whenever women were attacked."
"What about us?"
"Leaving it alone when the power gap is that wide seems reasonable enough."
"Well, yes, but I don't much care for that sort of thing."
Bid stated flatly. She's right about that. The women nodded.
Then Bid glanced over at me for some reason before saying to Leold:
"It's not about the power gap. We were attacked by a large group of men, and the truth is, we were terrified. Even if we could have beaten them... being assaulted like that becomes a trauma."
Even Leold seemed shaken by the earnestness in Bid's words.
But why had she looked at me before saying that?
"Sorry about that. I was debating how long to let them run free, but those people... it was hard to get the goods on them. And before I knew it, things turned out like this."
"Hmm... sooner or later... it was bound to happen."
"Yeah. So as far as this outcome goes, it happened the way it was going to happen—no complaints there. And I've got nothing to say about wiping them out."
"Rather, you should have crushed them sooner."
"Since when are you on their side?"
Leold snapped irritably at Munieca.
Munieca retorted without so much as a twitch of her eyebrow.
"I'm a woman. It goes without saying that I'm on women's side."
Fair point. Leold let his shoulders drop.
"I shouldn't have brought you along..."
"There's no point in arguing outcomes after the fact."
"Tch. Yeah, you're right."
What kind of relationship did these two have?
Munieca turned to me.
"Now then—I despise wasted time. Witch's apprentice."
"Y-yes?"
"Shall we go? The documents you need should be in the back."
"Documents—oh, right."
Munieca started walking. The rest of us followed in bewilderment.
Also, why had she addressed me of all people?
Searching the house took about an hour.
We found documents and letters, but nothing of any real value.
The building had two floors above ground and one below, with plenty of rooms. So there'd been reason to hope.
But there was no treasure or anything. Just spare change.
However, there were no remnants left alive—the entire lot had been at the entrance.
They really had all been wiped out.
"Hmm... nothing at all... how boring..."
"What's going on?!"
"..."
Something was off. Not a single item of importance existed here. Far too unnatural.
Leold caught on.
"So this means it's been hidden."
"Or alternatively, it could mean the important items were never here to begin with."
"If that's the case, we're out of luck."
"Hmm... all that effort... what a waste..."
A mood of resignation began to settle over the group.
"Hey. Wof. Watch yourself."
Haiyan spoke from his perch on my shoulder.
"Shouldn't you be watching yourself and your inappropriate behavior?"
This rabbit. During our hour-long search, he'd latched onto Riv's chest, groped her—
He'd even jumped onto Bid's rear and groped her, committing sexual harassment over and over.
Both women had been patient enough to tolerate it the first one or two times.
But it didn't take long before murderous intent began to simmer in the pair toward the overconfident perverted rabbit.
Somehow I ended up mediating, apologizing to both of them on his behalf.
And then a condition was imposed: he had to stay on my shoulder and not come down.
...Had I done something wrong?
If not for the Mineha thing... you'd better brace yourself.
"Munieca. She's in disguise."
"...What do you mean?"
"I don't have proof."
"...Get proof before you make such claims."
"So, to get that proof, would you mind asking Munieca to carry me in her arms?"
"..."
I silently picked up Haiyan and placed him on the tallest bookshelf I could find.
He kept chattering, but I ignored him and headed for the next room. He could dry off up there.
Oh—Bid was looking at me like she wanted to say something.
Her rabbit ears twitched as she approached.
"What are you doing? Wait, where's the perverted rabbit?"
She drew her Flash Step Sword and scanned the surroundings.
Checking at her feet and behind her, especially.
"I put him away. He won't be causing trouble for a while."
"Good."
Bid sheathed her sword, looked left and right, then leaned in and whispered to me.
"Hey—about that thing... are you going to use it? If you're worried about being found out, I can help."
"...That thing?"
She was so close that her warm breath brushed against my ear, and my heart fluttered.
On top of that, Bid was warm and gave off a soft floral scent.
No good, no good. I shook my head vigorously in my mind.
This isn't Haiyan.
"Oh come on—the Relic. The one that can find treasure."
"Ah, right—I forgot about that. That could work."
"You really are careless, Wof."
Bid grinned at me, mischief in her eyes, face-to-face.
"Too much has been happening around me."
"I suppose so."
She seemed satisfied. Then she pulled away quickly.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh—ahaha—well, go ahead and use it."
"Right."
Pulling myself together, I used the Wheel of Fortune right away.
No reaction from this room. Nothing from that one. Nothing from that one. Hmm—no response.
"Ah, Bid. There's something inside that jar over there."
"This one? What is it—a ring of keys?"
It was glowing green. Wh-what. From that green glow, a green beam of light extended outward.
I'd never seen anything like this.
"Wof?"
The beam of light led underground. Down there... was the prison cell, wasn't it?
It was dark, so I lit the way with a sphere of light. No one was inside.
If there had been, I didn't want to imagine what Leold might have done.
The light beam pointed to the back wall of the cell.
There was something on this wall... in the middle, small and hard to notice, but a strangely unnatural hole.
Oh—this, this is... a keyhole.
A key? Could it be—I borrowed the key ring from Bid.
I tried each key one by one, and the fourth one fit. When I turned it, a square section of the nearby floor vanished.
Where it disappeared, a staircase led downward.
And the green beam of light extended down the stairs.