arc3 · 167-ch167

Chapter 167: Hyakka Ryouran and Leveling Up ②

Having cleared the tenth floor, Hyakka Ryouran and I decided to push onward, since we had room to spare. We could have gone back once, but with only two days, they wanted to get as deep as possible, so we kept the clear going.

From the tenth floor onward, the spirits that had been that floor's boss spawn as perfectly ordinary monsters. From what I hear, most explorers hunting Mana Potions do their gathering around floors eleven and twelve, slaying spirits as they collect what they're after. Go much deeper, and the spirits' levels rise too; D-rank adventurers sometimes can't withstand the magic attacks and get wiped out entirely.

Just as advertised, we cleared our way through floor twelve with ease. There are plenty of rival parties around, and the number of spirits that spawn is small, but if you're factoring in a safety margin, this might be the best spot there is.

That said, the Mana Potion drop rate doesn't seem all that high, and it looked terribly inefficient here. And so Hyakka Ryouran's members — upper-tier C-rank, the lot of them — headed for the deeper floors.

"Two wind, one earth, one fire."

Midway through the fourteenth floor, four spirits appeared. By this depth, spirits spawn in multiples as a matter of course, and they're clearly stronger than the ones up above.

And this time there was a fire spirit among them — a bad matchup for Hyakka Ryouran. Now then, how would Toomi-san draw up the plan?

"Kureha, fire magic on the winds. Himehana, take the earth. SS-san, would you take the fire?"

Oh? At last, my turn had come. Time to give it everything!

Kureha-san's opening Fire Ball was blocked by the Earth Wall the earth spirit chanted. But in the confusion of the explosion, Himehana and Hayate closed in on the spirits.

"Yah!"

"Gyuuuuh!"

Himehana's battle cry and the fire spirit's death cry overlapped. That's right — before Himehana even pounced on the earth spirit, the magic bullets Hayate fired had dealt the fire spirit a fatal wound. The blazing clump was fading away like smoke.

"Fast."

Asahi picked up Rin-san's murmur. Yes yes, being praised does feel good. But we're in the middle of a battle — no letting my guard down now.

With the fire spirit downed by me, and Himehana starting her duel with the earth spirit, the wind spirits suddenly had no one guarding them. Right on cue, Kureha-san fired in her main event.

"Fire Bullet!"

Several fiery bullets flew toward the wind spirits.

"Auuuuh!"

The two wind spirits tried to block with Wind Wall, but the bad matchup meant it was shot straight through, and both took heavy damage. Toomi-san and Rin-san leapt in without a moment's pause and finished them off for good. Himehana dispatched the earth spirit at almost the same instant, and all four spirits were wiped out without incident.

"Mana Potion. Lucky."

Looking at where the four spirits had fallen — there lay another low-grade Mana Potion. It seemed to be an incontestable fact that this dungeon was the perfect place to gather Mana Potions. Though, just as they'd told me, the drop rate really isn't great.

Still, past floor twenty the drop rate rises, and monsters that drop mid-grade potions and better start appearing. That's why the plan is to dive as deep as we can today, and pass floor twenty tomorrow.

Rushing the clear while targeting spirits wherever we could, we made it to floor eighteen after another five hours — and there, we made camp. Mana Potions gained so far: five. Considering the number of spirits we'd beaten, that was a pretty meager haul. No wonder Mana Potions are so hard to get your hands on.

Hyakka Ryouran's members began setting up camp at the staircase leading to floor eighteen. Tents went up in no time, and then came dinner. Tonight's dinner was the katsu curry my mom made. Stored while still fresh from the pot, it sent steam billowing off the plate the moment it came out, and the smell of curry filled the tent.

"Whoa, this is amazing!?"

"What is this. It's way too good."

"It's even better than the curry rice our family chef makes!?"

Toomi-san, Rin-san, and Kureha-san seemed shocked by my mom's curry — a first for all of them. Of course, of course. My mom's cooking is the best. No surprise they're shocked.

Himehana, the only one who'd had it before, wasn't surprised in the slightest — she just kept wolfing it down. Though her face was pure happiness. They say eating something delicious makes people happy, and watching the four of them now, I could feel the truth of that in my bones.

All four of them went back for seconds, properly, before dinner came to an end. Having learned my lesson last time, I promptly moved the drones outside the tent.

While Himehana and the others got ready for bed, I did a little patrol of the surrounding area. When I got back, it seemed they were taking watch in shifts again — Rin-san was sitting alone on the staircase. I landed Shiden next to her and sent Hayate off to map floor eighteen.

"I have something I want to ask."

I'd just gotten alone with Rin-san, helping with the watch, when she spoke up out of nowhere.

"Yes? What would that be?"

I was a little nervous about what she might ask, but I figured I'd answer if I could.

"What's your relationship with Himehana, SS?"

Oh. Right — that is the natural thing to wonder. Now then, how should I answer this? I've known Hyakka Ryouran a long time, and I trust them. But something told me it was better not to say much about that kind of thing.

"We're... just acquaintances, I'd say..."

I'm not great at lying to someone's face, so I tried to deflect somehow, but...

"Himehana used to talk about a childhood friend a lot. She said her dream was to dive into dungeons with that childhood friend — the one aiming to be an explorer."

Huh? Himehana thought of things that way? Did she become an explorer so she could dive into dungeons with me? Whoa — that sudden piece of info made my chest go a little hot.

"But ever since SS became her exclusive cameraman, she stopped mentioning that childhood friend entirely. For the record, that childhood friend's initials are SS."

Eh? Ah. Seriously. Could it be — have the members of Hyakka Ryouran figured out who I am? No, thinking calmly, these are people this close to Himehana. It wouldn't be strange for them to have noticed.

The chest that had gone hot moments ago went cold all at once. So. What should I do about this? While I was stuck for an answer, Rin-san kept talking.

"It's fine. I have no intention of digging any further. Just as long as you know that we're on your side — Himehana included — there's no problem."

"...Thank you."

Oh no, I might actually tear up. I'd thought of myself as nothing more than a member of Himehana's party's staff, but they'd been thinking of me as one of their own all along. My chest went hot again.

After that, for the two hours of Rin-san's watch shift, the two of us talked. Rin-san seemed to have a real interest in drones, and while we never quite reached President Yamamoto depths, our drone talk got going in earnest. I'd thought she wasn't much of a talker, so it made me a little happy to learn she gets surprisingly chatty when it's about something she loves.

Toomi-san, who took over the watch as Rin-san left, started reading right away, so I parked Shiden at a distance to stay out of her way. The thought that she was on my side too made me want to work that much harder. Before long, Hayate finished the map, and I got to take a rest as well.