Encounter
“””Whoa!”””
“What!? What happened!?——Owah!”
“Why are you shouting…——Eh!?”
While we were taking a break after lunch, a group of five adventurers came from the boss room on the 5th floor and screamed when they saw us.
The adventurers must have been quite surprised to see us, because Vector was easy to recognize even in his small form, and Joule and Feat had returned to their original forms.
“They are my contracted familiars, so there’s no danger.”
The adventurers were surprised, but they were still holding their weapons, so I quickly explained, so they wouldn’t make a mistake.
“”They are not scary, you know~?””
“Children!?”
“This is a dungeon, ya know!?”
When Allen and Elena called out, the adventurers’ minds shifted to the fact that there were children in the dungeon.
“Allen can fightmon!”
“Elena can fight too, you know~?”
Allen and Elena walked up to the adventurers and spoke to them.
The two showed no vigilance towards them, so they——the adventurers, who were men in their twenties to early thirties, likely were of good character.
“You did not tag along, but came here to fight?”
“”That’s right, defeated lots already~””
“Really? The floors up to here are relatively easy, but this is still an advanced-level dungeon, ya know?”
“”Won’t tell a liemon!””
They also let their guards down and started talking normally with the children. Your adaptability is incredibly good~
I couldn’t keep up with what was going on, so I was just watching, when two of the five approached me.
“I’m sorry for startling you.”
“No, no need to apologize, we just got surprised on our own. But still, it’s amazing. Scarlet King Leo, Fenrir, Celestial Tiger, and Thunderhawk all in one place.”
(I’m here too!)
Unfortunately, he didn’t see Mile, so hers was the only name that didn’t come up, and Mile got angry and stomped her foot down on angrily the ground.
“Mile, you don’t need to be this angry.”
“Oh my, a Forest Rat is here too, I see. N? Is it angry?”
I picked Mile up and stroked her head to quiet her down, and the man who had been talking to me noticed Mile as well.
“Haha, she was the only one you didn’t call out, so she felt left out.”
“Is that so? I apologize for that.”
He apologized to Mile. He was so polite that it was hard to believe that he was an adventurer, and he seemed sincere, too. In addition, he had the appearances of a beautiful woman. Well, he was not androgynous per se, he was definitely a man who was as beautiful as a woman.
“Nice too meet you, I am Takumi.”
“I’m Brian. The leader of Dawn Star.”
“Rovel. More or less, a sub-leader.”
The beauty——Brian-san was holding a thin sword, so I guess he was a swordsman. Rovel-san, who seemed to be the oldest, was wearing a robe, so I guess he was the magician of the group.
“Lemme in, lemme in? Are you introducing yourselves? I’m Kurt! Best regards!”
“I’m Timon.”
“And I am Hughbert. You can call me Hugh.”
Noticing that we were introducing ourselves, the other three, Allen and Elena, came over to us.
Kurt-san was the one who was sociable from the start and answered Allen and Elena when they spoke to him. He also had a sword, so he was also probably a swordsman. Timon–san was the youngest of the five, I think. But he was still probably older than me, though. His weapon of choice was bow. Hughbert-san was of an excellent stature and seemed to use a spear.
“Yes, I am Allen!”
“Yes, I am Elena!”
“Also, Joule, and Feat!”
“Bolt, Vector, and Mile!”
After the other people had said their names, Allen and Elena raised their hands as if it was their turn to say their name. When they were done, they introduced Joule and the others in turn. Jules and the others also responded with a cry after being introduced.
“Well~ even looking them again, it’s breathtaking~ You definitely stand out, so I wonder why I didn’t know about your existence until now, Takumi-kun~”
“Unlike Tamers’ contracted beasts, I have a way to take my familiars with me anywhere I go. Besides, we are active in Guardia and came here just a few days ago to play.”
“Since you said you came to play, it means that you are not changing your base of operations to here, right?”
“Yes, I plan to return to Guardia in winter.”
“Is that so~”
Kurt-san seemed to be a really sociable type of person, and he didn’t hesitate to talk to me. He seemed like someone who can be friends with anyone~
“But you came to a different country to play and dived into a dungeon, was going here your original plan?”
“I wasn’t planning to, but the kids really wanted to go when they heard there was a dungeon nearby…”
“You came here just because the kids wanted to!? Even if you have these incredible familiars with you, isn’t it still dangerous to take the kids in here?”
“I can’t say there’s no danger at all, but we can manage most of the things by letting them stay on the Fenrir and the Celestial Tiger’s backs.”
“That’s true.”
In fact, this place seems to be completely safe for them, but it’s hard to explain in detail, and even if I did, they might not believe me, so I will just fake it.
“Do you guys come to this dungeon often?”
Just as the conversation was paused, I decided to switch from talking about us to talking about them.
“Yes, we are alternating between advancing in the dungeon and completing requests within the dungeon.”
“Heeh~ That means you are working on a request right now?”
Brian-san answered my question.
They seemed to be pretty strong, so it’s not like the highest floor they could reach is the fifth.
“Yes. We have secured the wood from the Treants we were looking for, so we are planning on leaving now.”
“Oh, from the Boss room!”
They weren’t carrying any wood or anything, so they must have a magic bag on them.
“Yep, the Treants from the Boss room. We have challenged the Boss room several times, and it’s always Treants, and they always drop the wood, so it’s easy to find. The only fault of this request is that we cannot advance in the dungeon while completing this request.”
“We are not able to bring enough food and other supplies with us to proceed further after collecting the loot.”
Kurt-san, Hughbert-san, and Timon-san explained in that order.
“So, once you leave, you will come back to proceed with the capture immediately?”
“We will take a few days to rest and prepare, but that’s the plan.”
“If you don’t mind, may I ask what floor you are currently on?”
“No problem. We have just reached the 15th floor.”
I see. Less than a third of the way there.
I didn’t see these people fight, but I will keep it in mind for a general record.
“Fifteen floors, huh. That means you have a boss battle coming up next, right?”
“”A Boss, how nice~””
“Yep. But the Guild doesn’t know the route to the boss room yet, so we will have to start by looking for it~”
“Eh, is that so?”
“The Guild only knows the route to the Boss rooms up to about the 10th floor, and beyond that it’s still vague. There are adventurers who are putting a lot of effort into charting out maps, but they seem to be having a hard time because it’s easy to lose your bearings in this dungeon.”
I guess it’s hard to make an accurate map when the forests in here are all one color, so it’s difficult to find landmarks.
“Do you not have a map of the dungeon, Takumi?”
“I haven’t bought one. I think that being able to wander around the dungeons is the true enjoyment~”
“You are an unusual type.”
“Do you guys always buy a map?”
“There’s nothing better than being able to conquer a dungeon as safely as possible. However, it’s not the information we got ourselves, so we always have to take into account the possibility that the map might be wrong.”
“I see~”
When I listen to people like this, I realize how out of the ordinary we are.
After a few more moments of small talk in the name of exchanging information, the members of the Dawn Star used the teleport device to return to the town.