After making Agaro and Riv drink the elixir, things settled down for the moment.
Oh, right. I could just give them a call.
I immediately placed a call to Axe through the ring.
"Hello?"
"What do you mean, 'hello'?"
"Oh, oops. No, it's nothing."
"Wof?"
"Yeah. I wanted to know where you are right now."
"We're on the 63rd floor."
"Did you run into any strange monsters on the 55th floor?"
"An anomaly in the dungeon?"
"Yeah. So you did run into them."
"Yeah. The old man took care of them."
"The old man… oh, Ensu!"
Yikes. I'd completely forgotten he existed.
He just doesn't have much of a presence, that guy.
His wife was so overwhelming that it makes him seem even more invisible by comparison.
"As expected of a First-Class, huh."
"Yeah, there's a lot to learn… How about your side?"
"We finished over here without any problems."
"I thought it would turn into an intense fight, but was it really that easy?"
"We didn't fight."
"You didn't? What do you mean?"
"Well, you see..."
I explained what happened.
Axe groaned.
"How... peaceful."
"How about your side?"
"Well... it's, uh, Suzu's been going wild. She got all fired up after watching the old man in action."
"Suzu?"
"She's beating up monsters left and right with her bare fists."
What kind of duke's daughter is that?
Same with Shesh. Same with Juicy.
Are the Tasan sisters some kind of barbarian tribe?
Then again, this country does have its fair share of nobles who are "nobles" in all the worst possible ways, but...
...most of the nobles here don't really act like nobles at all.
Well, I haven't been to the royal capital — the den of nobility — but from what I hear, it doesn't sound like such a bad place.
"So what'll it be? If you're heading this way, I can come pick you up."
"Nah, we'll keep exploring. It's a good opportunity."
"Understood. Well then, get in touch if anything comes up."
"I will. If anything happens on your end too—well, it's probably fine."
"If anything comes up, I'll let you know."
"Got it."
"Right then."
I ended the call.
Oh, I need to contact Isibara.
"Hello?"
"Wof. What's with the 'hello'?"
"Ah, no, um—the anomaly on the 55th floor of the dungeon's been dealt with."
"Oh, right. Got it. Just the 93rd floor is all you need, yeah?"
"That's all. Please pass the word to Sheshu."
"Roger."
I ended the call. That should do it.
"Phew."
"Good work. Here's some tea."
Munieka handed me a teacup.
I took it. The smell of black tea.
Nice aroma. I sipped it quietly. Yep. I like this flavor.
"By the way, Munieka—"
"What is it?"
"That. Is it okay?"
The pink sphere remained floating in place.
*Beep... beep... beep...*
It sometimes let out those beeps, which was eerie.
Munieka answered without looking at it.
"Yes, it's self-repairing. It should start moving again in a little while."
"That's troublesome in its own way."
"Don't worry. It'll reflect on its behavior and behave itself."
So it can reflect on things, huh.
As we enjoyed our tea like that, Jess asked me something.
"Wof. What were you doing just now?"
"Checking in. Axe and the others are exploring the dungeon, you know."
"Axe? Is that the one we were watching at the core earlier?"
"Huh? At the core... oh, right, we could do that."
That's right. You could watch each floor in real time from the dungeon core.
I'd completely forgotten. Ahaha.
When I let out an awkward laugh to play it off, Jess put on a strangely serious face.
Hmm. It was a face like something in between his and mine.
It somehow reminded me of siblings.
"Hey, what should I do from here on out?"
"Huh? What should you do...?"
"Yeah."
What should I do... hmm.
I don't even know what to do with the rest of my own life.
Well, anyway.
"As an apology, how about you help Ishibara out in this dungeon? After that, you can do whatever you want, I think."
The 100th floor boss of this dungeon is probably a no-go now.
Maybe I'll just build a different one.
"Got it. That's what I'll do for now."
Jess nodded.
And so, they all lived happily ever after. Glad it ended on a peaceful note.
All right then — next up. I turned to face Pakira.
She was leaning against a pedestal near the Dungeon Core, teacup in hand, relaxing just the same.
Pale green hair. White streaks ran through her bangs, covering the left side.
On the right, a pair of blue, mysterious cat eyes peered out.
She had a beautiful, cute face, and was sixteen years old — three years older than me.
She wore a black-patterned, flowing robe, white cat ears, and a tail of varying length.
A member of the Fourth-Rank delver party "Four Star," and a beautiful cat-folk girl.
"Um, Pakira. Do you have a moment? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."
— Yes?
— Um, well, speaking of which… I don't seem to see Bido anywhere.
It was strange not hearing that energetic and bright "I'm off!" greeting.
— That fellow. He has today off.
— Did something happen?
— He caught a fever. A high one, at that. Right now, Chardina and Anna Kreutzen are looking after him.
— That's quite… timely with the season, isn't it?
— Indeed it is. When this season comes around… We must be careful as well.
— You're right.
Pakira gave a faint, wry smile.
This season. The temperature drops erratically, so people get sick.
For a moment, I wondered if an elixir could cure him completely.
— …………
No, I need to get to the point.
— A-Ah, actually, well, I thought I should clear up one little misunderstanding first.
— A misunderstanding, you say?
— Ah, before that, here is a bit…
— Hmm. Then, shall we move somewhere else?
— Yes.
Pakira and I walked to the back of the dungeon core. To a corner in the deepest part.
No one was around here.
"So what's this misunderstanding about?"
She tilted her head, looking puzzled, and swished her mismatched tail as she asked me.
"The, um, wooden statue — not a figure — that I have on display in my room, you know the one?"
"Y-Yes..."
Pakira's cheeks flushed a faint pink, and she turned her face slightly away.
"That isn't a statue of you, Pakira."
"...Hmm? Then who is it?"
"It's Lady Yomido."
"The god of the underworld?"
Pakira furrowed her brow.
"Yes. A god of dungeons, too. That statue belonged to the leader of a radical Palèdo sect that worshipped Yomido."
"...Could it be that the reason I was summoned at the audition for the King of the Death Wind was—"
Ugh, sharp.
Pakira swished her mismatched tail, perked her cat ears up, and her right blue eye gleamed.
"There are two reasons."
"Hmm. Let's hear them, then."
"One is that you were officially recognized as Yomido's representative."
"What did you say? Officially?"
"Yes. First of all — why did I end up searching for the King of the Death Wind in the first place? Doesn't that seem strange?"
"Indeed. I did see you make Anemos the King of the Death Wind."
"That was because Yomido asked me to do it personally."
"What did you say...?"
His eyes widened in the most fascinating way.
A cat's retinas really are as beautiful as gemstones.
"I was startled when we first met. You looked just like Pakira's 2P color."
"What's a 2P?"
"Oh, um, well — the thing is, that wasn't Pakira. It was Yomido."
"Hmm. Fancy that..."
Pakira folded her cat ears back and rested her chin on her hand.
"I can see why that'd be hard to believe."
"No, I'm talking about your story. Something just came back to me. In my homeland, Yomido was said to be of the cat-god species — the goddess of us cat-people. But to think she'd look so much like me..."
God of dungeons. God of the underworld. God of dreams. And now, apparently, god of the cat-people.
How many positions can that goddess possibly hold?
The goddess of knives only has knives.
A sorry goddess of measly little blades.
Shouldn't they give her a couple more duties to shoulder?
Oops, my train of thought derailed.
"So, here's the thing — Yomido is actually quite interested in you, Pakira."
"What?!"
"Um, so, well... she says she wants to meet with you."
"With me?"
"Y-yes."
"That is quite the honor... but however does one go about meeting her?"
This is it. My stomach's in knots.
I can't afford to mess this up.
"Yes. My hand and—"
"Hmm?"
No good. I flubbed it. Embarrassing. But I have to get this out fast!
"Please go to sleep connected to me!"
The moment the words left my mouth, Pakira's eyes — her cat-like pupils dilated wider than I'd ever seen.
And her face, her cheeks flushing bright red, and — huh. Wait.
What did I just say?
"Please go to sleep connected to me!"
Wha — n-n-no no no no no no no no no!?
I — n-no no no no!?
Pakira ran. Damn it!