Chapter-09 · EP-134

Episode 134: Kyoya Murasakimura (Part 5) – Persistent Obstruction

After school today, I went dungeon exploration with Mamoru again.

When we came to the dungeon, Dokujima-kun and Numabe-kun from Class B were waiting for us.

"Well, well, I thought it was someone, but it's just level 1."

"Hey, hey, you should call him 'Top Student-sama,' pfft!"

Yesterday, they waited for us as we came out of the dungeon, but today, they'd finally come inside the dungeon to harass us.

"Didn't you two already reach level 2? What are you doing in the dungeon?"

"Huh? None of your business! We're here for potions, not to level up. We're here to defeat slimes and get potions!"

"Gu…"

That was probably a lie. They'd come to interfere with me.

As I hesitated, Mamoru said to them.

"Is that so? Then do your best. We'll do our own exploration, so please leave us alone."

I was glad the calm Mamoru was with me. He brushed them off coldly.

But their reaction was different from what I expected.

"Hey, don't be so cold. You don't have to be so standoffish."

Their tone irritated me. Then Mamoru grabbed my arm.

"Enough. Wasting time on them is pointless. Let's go, Kyoya."

"Ah, yeah."

Prompted by Mamoru, we entered the dungeon.

That's right. I didn't have time to waste. I had to defeat as many slimes as possible.

Thinking that, Mamoru and I advanced, but they followed us from a short distance away.

No matter how many times we turned, they followed.

Finally bothered by it, I raised my voice.

"What do you think you're doing, following us?!"

"Huh?"

They responded with a feigned surprise.

"Following you? That sounds bad. We just happened to be thinking of exploring this way, that's all."

Dokujima-kun answered hypocritically.

"If you're going this way, we'll go back!"

I said, and as I passed by them, I decided to return the way we came.

Then Dokujima-kun muttered,

"Ah, suddenly I feel like exploring this way too."

and started following us again.

My face twitched with irritation.

Noticing, Mamoru grabbed my arm again.

"Don't worry about it, Kyoya. You shouldn't engage with guys like that. Ignore them and focus on our exploration."

"Ah, yeah. You're right."

Mamoru said that, but there was a frown between his brows. He was probably also trying hard to suppress his anger.

I was truly grateful to have Mamoru with me. If I'd gotten into an argument with them, I wouldn't have been able to explore at all today.

After walking for about five minutes with Dokujima and his friend tailing us, Mamoru finally spotted the first slime.

"There's one over there."

Mamoru pointed to a wall a short distance away.

"Good."

Just as I gripped my wooden sword tightly and started toward the slime.

Whoosh!

A stone flew past me with a whistling sound.

Startled, I turned around. There was Dokujima-kun with a slingshot.

He was taking out another stone to shoot again.

"That's dangerous!"

As I protested, a second stone flew past me.

I hurriedly dodged to the side.

"You're in a dangerous spot, Murasakimura! Don't get in our way."

"What are you talking about…"

I couldn't immediately understand his words and faltered.

"The slime we found is right there. Don't come late and get in our way."

They were claiming that the slime Mamoru had found was actually theirs, that they'd found it first.

"D-don't be ridiculous! We found it first!"

"Huh? You're the ones being ridiculous, aren't you? Besides, we're the ones who attacked it first, aren't we?"

They just wanted to interfere with me.

"Calm down, Kyoya. Let's give them that slime. Let's look for the next one."

"Ah, yeah. If you say so, Mamoru."

Mamoru said goodbye to Dokujima and his friend.

"We'll let you have that slime. We'll go look for another one, so don't follow us!"

As he said that and tried to leave, they didn't bother finishing off the slime and instead started following us again.

I couldn't help but turn around.

"I told you not to follow us! And what about that slime?"

"Huh? That slime was too far away, so we couldn't defeat it. So we just came this way."

"There's no way you couldn't defeat it! If you got close, you could have!"

"Why are you so angry? We're just exploring the way we want to, that's all."

Dokujima-kun answered with a smirk. It was clearly a lie. He just wanted to get in my way.

Their harassment continued after that.

Whenever we found a slime, they'd throw stones to interfere. When we moved, they followed. When we tried to put distance between us, they'd deliberately talk loudly.

In the end, after exploring for over an hour, we only managed to defeat three slimes.

Normally, I could defeat ten.

The time allowed for exploration, as per school rules, was approaching 7:00 PM, so we reluctantly left the dungeon.

Thinking they'd mock us again if we checked the Skill Board, I skipped checking today.

As we left the dungeon, a voice echoed behind us.

"Hey, hey, aren't you going to check if you leveled up? Ah, you're still level 1, so I guess you don't need to check!"

"Pfft…"

Hearing their laughter at my back, I could only bite my lip.

The frustration of having made no progress again today grew stronger.