arc2 · 037-ch37

Episode 37: Share House ②

side Hanazono Himehana

That was really close this time. When the Mithril Golem spawned, I was ready to accept death. I'd thought this kind of moment might come ever since I became an explorer, but when it actually happened, I couldn't stay calm at all.

If Kaoru-san hadn't saved me, I'd be dead. Rin-san got slammed into the wall and stopped moving. Kaoru-san got kicked and sent flying like a soccer ball.

I couldn't think straight anymore—I was so terrified I just charged straight at the Mithril Golem. Looking back on it now, I think I'd completely lost my cool. I could've easily died right there.

But I was saved again. By a certain childhood friend of mine who wasn't even here.

After somehow managing to take down the Mithril Golem, we're now walking toward the transfer stone on the twentieth floor. Maybe it's the shock from before, but everyone's trudging along in silence, just putting one foot in front of the other. I'm carrying Souta's destroyed drone. This drone is the reason I'm still alive. I have to get it home without breaking it any further.

That said—I can't believe Souta leveled up and can now summon small drones. I never would've guessed a Drone Pilot could have a skill like that. So much has happened that my brain's barely keeping up.

Apparently that small drone has a call function, so I was actually able to talk to Souta. His voice sounded mechanical, so I don't think anyone figured out who it was, but being able to talk with my childhood friend deep inside the dungeon helped me calm down a little.

"Three Ferocious Wolves."

I was walking at the back, carrying Souta's drone, when Rin-san at the front spotted enemies. Thankfully, only D-rank monsters appear above the twenty-fifth floor. For us normally, these would be easy prey.

"Leave this to us. Himehana, you protect that drone."

Kaoru-san was considerate enough to take me off the front lines. The others probably understood too—if it hadn't been for Souta's drone, we'd have been wiped out—so they were treating it with care.

"Thank you."

"Got it, leave it to me."

When I made my request straightforwardly, Rin-san answered. Kureha-san had already begun her incantation.

"Fire Ball!"

Kureha-san launched a ball of fire, taking the initiative with a preemptive strike.

BOOM!

The fireball struck right in the middle of the three wolves and exploded, sending the Ferocious Wolves flying. The strategy was to avoid targeting just one and spread the damage across all three.

The Ferocious Wolves, already outclassed to begin with and now slowed on top of that, were taken down one after another by Kaoru-san and Rin-san. All three were defeated in the blink of an eye, and we pressed on.

By avoiding combat as much as possible, we managed to reach the twentieth floor in about four hours. After letting out a sigh of relief, we immediately used the transfer stone and warped to the entrance.

"Thank you so much for saving us this time. And I'm sorry about what happened to your drone."

On behalf of the team, Kaoru-san was expressing our gratitude to Souta. That's how much he'd done for us this time. Tomorrow, when I go to return the drone, I plan to thank him properly with my own words too.

After that, we made it back to the share house and finally let ourselves breathe.

▽▽▽

"I really thought we were all going to die this time. I'm so glad we were able to come back here."

Those were the first words out of Kureha-san's mouth as she sat down on the share house sofa. Everyone nodded deeply in agreement. Being back here, I finally felt like I was actually alive. Proof of that—my hands are shaking a little.

"Let's make sure something like this never happens again and go over what went wrong today."

At leader Kaoru-san's suggestion, everyone agreed and we threw out every reflection we could think of. The biggest takeaway from this incident was that we hadn't confirmed the intel on how golems actually spawn. We never expected one to just pop up out of nowhere.

Then there was the fact that we'd forgotten that wind can blow inside dungeons too. Souta had gone out of his way to detect the Flame Wolf and Aqua Wolf for us ahead of time, and we ended up wasting that advantage. We'd gotten complacent because it was the same dungeon we always ran. This time, we learned the hard way just how deadly that complacency can be.

Even so, we made it back here safely—at the cost of Souta's drone. It was an expedition that really drove home, once again, how important risk management is in the dungeon.

Now that we'd finished reflecting plenty, it was time to move on to checking our loot. This run had also been about gathering materials for our promotion to C-rank. We each pulled the spoils from our bags and laid them out on the table.

Among the mountain of materials spread out across the table, the most eye-catching by far was the ingot dropped by the Mithril Golem. Weapons forged from this Mithril Ingot were items even upper-tier explorers could rarely get their hands on. For us, who still couldn't use Weapon Generation, we'd been dying to get one, but...

On top of that, there were the Mithril Golem's magic stone, the Flame Wolf's magic stone and fang, and the Aqua Wolf's magic stone and claw, among other things. This alone was more than enough to satisfy the promotion requirements for C-rank.

"Something for SS."

Rin-san muttered. Right—I need to do something for the Souta who saved us.

"How about the Mithril Ingot?"

Kureha-san selected the most valuable item without a moment's hesitation. But nobody objected to her choice.

"If SS-san would want it, that might be the best option."

Kaoru-san was also pushing for the Mithril Ingot, but what would Souta actually want? Maybe I should just ask him directly.

"I'll ask him. He might want something else more."

Everyone nodded at my suggestion. With that confirmed, I moved to another room and called Souta.

"Souta, you really saved us this time. Thank you."

I conveyed my heartfelt gratitude, but the man himself didn't seem to care at all—his response was totally breezy. He'd saved four lives, and yet he wasn't rubbing it in our faces or making us feel indebted.

"We talked it over, and we'd like to give you the Mithril Ingot as thanks—is that okay?"

I offered up a Mithril Ingot that even top-tier explorers could hardly get their hands on, but...

"Nah, I wouldn't have any use for a Mithril Ingot. Money should work out fine anyway. More than that—could I get autographs from all the Hyakka Ryouran members like I asked about before?"

Incredible—Souta said he wanted our autographs over a Mithril Ingot. What a selfless guy. I couldn't help but feel genuine respect.

In the end, we offered him various materials, but he was consistent about wanting our autographs, so we went with what he asked for.

The others were exasperated too, but it seemed like they thought really highly of him for it.

After that, we all worked out our signatures together and practiced them over and over, then finally wrote our very first autographs on a signing board. All the excited chatter while we were writing helped chase away the lingering fear. Even in a moment like this, Souta was saving us.

I hope this signing board makes him happy—at least as a small token of our gratitude.

Our minds and bodies were more exhausted than we'd realized. We ate dinner, took a bath, and fell asleep almost immediately.