How to lose weight in your soul... I know it's weird for me to say, but that sounded like something straight out of some religious talk.
Shiro blinked. Fair enough. I figured I'd have the same reaction if I'd heard it too.
Since we were just standing around, we headed to the nest.
The nest also had a gate to the witch's house.
So from the nest, we went to my room.
Shiro set down the table she'd been carrying on her back.
Huh, that white table Shiro had been carrying. I'd noticed it before, but wasn't it small?
It was clearly smaller than before.
Shiro sat on the bed and spoke again.
"Wof. I don't know what to do with vague statements like 'how to lose weight in your soul.'"
"Um, well—"
I explained that Dagaa had gotten fat.
"Chubby-gaa."
"That's right."
"That name. Funny."
"So it feels like even normal approaches won't make it lose weight."
Shiro made a thoughtful expression.
"That might be true..."
"And diet medicine doesn't really seem to help either?"
"If it's soul obesity, then dieting is pointless. But the concept of a soul getting fat — even Shiro doesn't really understand it."
"Even for the King of Death?"
"Yeah. She doesn't know."
I was told that outright.
At this point, it was clear that ordinary dieting was impossible.
"That reminds me. I should contact the witch about that diet medicine."
The moment I tried using the ring to make a call, Shiro poked her head in.
"A ring?"
"Oh, right — I haven't given you yours yet, have I, Shiro?"
If I hadn't run into her, I would've completely forgotten.
I pulled the ring out of my pouch. Shiro smoothly extended her finger.
I was used to this, so I silently slid the ring onto her finger, turning it pure white.
"It's beautiful."
"So this ring is..."
I explained to Shiro how to use the terminal and the call function.
She listened in silence, followed my instructions perfectly, and even practiced making a call.
She was a quick learner.
"This is really convenient."
"But I hear people end up staying up all night talking on these things."
"Phone?"
"Oh, it's a call."
A term from my past life slipped out before I could stop it.
I answered the call from the witch.
"Hmm hmm. So it was the work of [Widow's Hard] after all."
"Dagaa's partly to blame too, though."
"Well, well, that's just how Dagaa is. He tends to overindulge things."
"Oh my. Soul obesity sounds almost philosophical."
"Slimming medicine might not be very effective."
"Hmm hmm. That's possible, I suppose. In that case, if I were to prepare a medicine that slimmed the soul down mentally… hmm hmm. Now that's another difficult problem."
"Is it difficult even for a witch?"
"Even so, even so — I've never actually slimmed down a soul before…"
The witch laughed bitterly on the other end of the call. That figured.
"Wait — does that mean this is impossible?"
"Hmm hmm. As a witch, I can't just accept that."
"Got some secret plan?"
"Well, well, it's not exactly a secret plan, but there is something I'd like to try. And for that, I have a favor to ask of young Wof."
"What is it?"
"The truth is, there's an ingredient I'd like you to gather from the Earth Dungeon."
"Got it. The Earth Dungeon, right? And what kind of ingredient is it?"
"Well, well — mushrooms."
"Mushrooms...?"
Mushrooms.
"Yes, yes. They're bluish-white and translucent, shaped like a lantern — called Pneuma mushrooms."
"Pneuma mushrooms... got it."
"And also, the Soup of Life."
"That's in the Earth Dungeon too?"
"Yes, yes. The Soup of Life is at the Spring of Life. It's a milky-white liquid."
"Like milk in color?"
"That's right, that's right. So the Pneuma mushrooms are on the 36th floor. The Soup of Life is on the 63rd floor."
36 and 63. That's pretty deep.
But I've got no choice but to go.
"Understood."
"Much obliged, much obliged — I'm counting on you."
"Yes. Oh, right. By the way, where's the witch?"
"Oh my, why do you ask about that?"
"I heard earlier at the Guild that she went to the clan's hideout."
"Ah, ah — come to think of it, that was young Wof's doing, wasn't it? She was at the clan hideout just a little while ago. Ha... I underestimated Nebra a bit. She slipped away."
"She got away?"
I was a little surprised that someone had managed to get away from the witch.
"She was outmaneuvered by Nebra's Relic — the Fog."
"Fog... I see."
A troublesome Relic.
"Well, well — either way, the Nebra Born clan is done for. Nebra's already in the process of being added to the wanted list. He'll be caught soon enough."
"That's right."
"Well then, I'm counting on you, young Wof."
"Got it. I'll go get it."
The call ended.
"Phew."
"I heard the conversation. Shiro's coming with you."
"Is that okay?"
"The Earth Dungeon. The deeper you go, the weirder it gets. Also, I know about Pneuma Mushrooms."
"Life Soup?"
"There's a strong monster on Floor 60. It's dangerous alone."
"...Understood. Please take care of me."
I bowed my head. Shiro nodded.
The Earth Dungeon, huh. Didn't think I'd be going back there.
But having a Rank 1 delver along was very reassuring.
"Well then, let's go."
"Y-yes."
We headed straight for the Earth Dungeon.
Hydrangea. The Slums. A Secret Underground Passage.
"Son of a bitch!"
The man, shrouded in a thin veil of mist, slammed his fist against the brick wall.
"Please calm yourself, Lord Nebula."
"How the hell am I supposed to calm down?!"
"We'll be found."
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue, but even that didn't ease his frustration.
Gray hair, with dark gray circles under his eyes. He was a hunched, scrawny man.
He wore a gray fur coat and black trousers.
He was Nebula — the clan master of the clan "Nebula Born."
His clan had been destroyed, and he was currently on the run with his trusted female aide.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it — what a goddamn joke!"
"I never imagined our use of the sparsely-populated floors would be discovered."
His trusted aide let out a sigh.
She was a blonde elf, dressed in a suit.
They had been using dungeon floors that few delvers visited — due to the absence of teleportation circles — for their crimes.
Until now, they had operated with impunity as a subordinate clan of Kuun Hunt.
However, rather than exploring, they had been indulging in crime.
They had profited from every kind of crime, from murder to human trafficking.
But they were the first to be cut by Arveld's reforms.
Not only that, their past crimes were exposed, and they ended up on the Delvers' Guild's wanted list.
At this point, their delver licenses had been permanently revoked.
"And yet they went and got themselves found so easily."
"I'm truly sorry. However, we were able to sell half of the planned amount."
"Tch."
Nebra kicked a stone. It made a dry clatter.
The woman, his confidant, let out a sigh.
"We'll be heading to the Earth Dungeon now."
"Earth... oh, that hideout."
"Yes. The safehouse."
"There's alcohol, right?"
"Yes. There is."
"...Can't be helped, I guess. Let's go, Kol."
"Yes. Lord Nebra."
The two proceeded through the underground passage.
Earth Dungeon. Entrance.
"Hey, you!"
The one who called out to me was Afro.
A big afro that was way too eye-catching for a fantasy setting.
"............"
Sunglasses with lenses shaped like a golden star and a silver moon — obscenely flashy.
He was tall with a sallow complexion. He wore a bizarre jacket that was broad at the shoulders and tapers to about half the width at the waist.
His exposed abdominal muscles were impressively defined.
On his white T-shirt, in sloppy black lettering printed diagonally, were the words "TOTAL DOMINATION."
His pants with crossed belt straps were normal enough, but he had on beach sandals.
"Hello, long time no see, Mr. Wof. And. Hey, white girl."
He called out casually in that peculiar pseudo-foreigner lingo of his.
There was only one person I knew who could walk around in public looking this outrageously absurd with total confidence.
Well, "person I knew" might be stretching it.
"D-Dokha?"
"Thaaank youuu!"
Dokha. A weirdo through and through.