Benevolent Brawlers Have Complaints

With the matter of tending to the injured finally settled, Taejae's supervisor and field team leader, Lee Gyeon, addressed everyone with a face that seemed to have aged ten years in the span of an hour.

"……It appears we will have to effect a self-rescue."

Not that it was a surprise.

We'd been trapped in the mine for well over an hour by now.

There had been no word of rescue, not even a single sound from the outside — anyone could guess something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had gone wrong.

Apparently it's not just everyone else.

What surprised me was that I could catch myself thinking this way so naturally. Perhaps I'd simply been through too many life-or-death situations lately.

Fortunately, even at this staggering announcement, no objections or grumbling arose among the survivors. With young Taejae present, the whole group had chosen to keep its mouth shut.

Right. Let's do this properly.

Lee Gyeon, who had braced himself for an outburst, faltered for an instant — then, as if nothing had happened, began a detailed briefing on the current situation.

"Approximately one hour and forty minutes have passed since the rescue request was filed, and we have still received no word. Under normal circumstances, when a disaster occurs inside a dungeon, the correct protocol is to remain in place and await extraction by the field team, in accordance with safety principles. However…"

But in our current situation, I suppose taking that "correct posture" would be rather inefficient.

"Therefore, I judge that a self-rescue is the better course of action."

At this point, no one knew when rescue might come. It could be tomorrow. Next week. Next month.

A brief silence and discussion followed.

Then people looked around at one another and nodded in unison.

The result: unanimous agreement.

Lee Gyeon turned to Jooshin and asked, "Who here knows the geography of this dungeon best?"

"……That researcher over there."

At Jooshin's call, the scruffy-haired researcher straightened his work clothes and walked out from the corner.

"Is there a route out of the dungeon from here?"

"Given the situation, the only realistic hope is the Section C mine entrance? And if that's blocked too… then we're done for, I'd say."

"……Explain the Section C mine entrance in detail, please."

The scruffy-haired researcher adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses slightly and continued.

"Sections A, B, and C of the mine are all connected through the center. If we keep heading inward from here, we'll hit a fork leading to the Section C mine. Then we just walk — simple, right?"

……And so, following the researcher's directions, we set off on foot into the depths of the mine.

And our short-legged Taejae…

"Taejae, I can carry you."

"I like this Gudari. You shouldn't tire yourself out. You ride along comfortably."

So Jooshin is allowed to get tired, then?

For whatever reason, Taejae declared he would ride pressed against Jooshin instead, and Jooshin — saddled with a child without quite knowing how — was walking along stiffly, like a malfunctioning robot.

The mine ran quite deep.

Here and there, angular, milky-white ores studded the walls and ceiling.

The scruffy-haired researcher, walking beside me, noticed me gazing at them in fascination and spoke up.

"Amazing, isn't it? This milky-white ore only forms in the Elumis sanctuary here, an F-rank dungeon. It's mainly used in weapons wielded by C-rank Hunters and above, or as an ingredient in potions."

The researcher gazed at the ore the way one gazes at one's own child, and then muttered quietly, 'And of course, it's a marvelous ore whose new applications are still being discovered to this day, so there's no end of research to be done. Wonderful, really.'

……Ah. Yes. Of course.

Something about him reminded me of my brother, and I wanted to bolt.

After a few more rounds of polite ore-related information exchange with the researcher, we arrived at the fork leading toward Section C, and after another long stretch of walking, we were gradually drawing near the Section C mine entrance.

------!!!

A clamor of noise reached us.

From that moment, everyone quickened their pace. From the far end, a bright light had begun to glimmer faintly…

"I can see outside!!"

It was true.

The Section C mine entrance was NOT blocked!

Cheers and shouts of joy erupted all around.

Short as it was, we've suffered every hardship there is — body, mind, and everything in between.

I, too, felt the tightness in my chest loosen all at once. And yet, behind that feeling of survival, a subtle unease crept in.

But… why?

The moment the wide-open entrance became visible to the naked eye, a single question rose with it.

Even though all three entrances weren't blocked, why had no swift rescue come?

Don't tell me the rescue request itself never went through?

"Come on, let's get out! Out!"

I did my best to shake off the unease and, swept along by the crowd's urging, stepped outside.

The F-rank dungeon, the Elumis Sanctuary, was a rather peaceful place of endlessly blue skies and dense woods.

At least, it had been until two hours ago.

The moment I stepped out of the mine and took in the scene before me, I was at a loss for words.

At a relatively close distance stood what looked like more than thirty field team members… and fairies clutching sharply honed stones in their hands.

To be precise — a swarm of thoroughly enraged Elumis.

"Weren't the Elumis supposed to only carry around leaves?"

One of the miners voiced his disbelief.

But for me, the absurdity went beyond disbelief — I could feel a hollow, helpless laugh rising in my throat.

It felt much like using my taming ability on an animal.

Slowly, but precisely, the Elumis' words were translated into human speech and sounded in my ears.

……And hearing it, I recoiled in sheer disbelief.

'Benevolent' and 'Brawler' can go in the same name? No, wait, that's not even the problem here —

'So you're telling me… they're angry because we've been taking away too much of their poop?'

What is that even supposed to mean?

The Elumis brandished their sharpened stone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shards with all the swagger of tiny thugs.

I stood there, dumbfounded, observing the little, little fairies.

With translucent bodies like deep-sea creatures, they apparently got around on the fluttering wings on their backs.

And their furious voices still rang in my ears.

No matter how many times I listen, it's dizzying.

When the fairies' thin, high-pitched cries — closer to high-frequency noise than anything — got translated into human language, it came out something like this:

-Why do you humans keep taking our excrement?

-At first we couldn't keep up with it ourselves, so we allowed it, but this is too much. No matter how much you take, it's too much.

-Should you not at least leave enough for us to tend the forest?

……So, in essence, that was the gist of their indictment.

With the Lower Open Source activating so abruptly, I should have been flustered by that alone — but the content was so much more shocking that I couldn't even spare ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the presence of mind.

Hold on a second…

Am I the only one hearing this?

Looking around, I saw people at their wits' end facing down the swarm of Elumis.

The two sides gestured helplessly at the empty air, heaved sigh after sigh, and one fairy who'd picked out a target to brain with its stone axe got talked down by the fairy next to it.

……So THAT'S why they had no time to rescue us?

Just then, I spotted Lee Gyeon approaching the group of people locked in a standoff with the Elumis.

Well, well. Apparently they've finally noticed us.

Once the survivors realized the situation outside was markedly different from what we'd expected, those who had barely clawed their way back threw themselves into sizing it up.

"What's going on?"

"It seems the Elumis are blocking the gate right now."

"Not just the gate. Looking at them, I'd say they're posturing to keep the people over there completely bottled up."

"Anyone have a guess as to why? Aigoo, honestly… we just barely make it outside, and this is what we get."

As someone unfamiliar with this ecosystem's ways, I couldn't understand why the people over there were being so thoroughly stymied by the fairies.

Against those tiny fairies?

They were, at most, the size of a small child's fist.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked the scruffy-haired researcher. He pointed a finger at the Elumis and said,

"The Elumis are incredibly docile, for dungeon monsters. Friendly toward humans, too. And… well, they're cute, aren't they?"

Cute?

I'll take your word for it… Every last one of these researchers seemed to have a broken aesthetic sense.

"With looks like that, nobody wants to harm them. And while we haven't established a causal link yet, it seems the ore in the mine only keeps generating as long as the Elumis are present."

……I think I might know that causal link.

The Elumis were furious that humans kept hauling off their "excrement." And the only thing humans mined from this dungeon was the "milky-white ore."

Which meant…

It's poop. Elumis poop.

I arrived at this clean and simple conclusion — and quietly swallowed the thought. For now, the wisest move was to nod along as if taking the researcher at his word.

So, to summarize… it was a good relationship in the past, so killing them is out of the question, and if we want to keep milking them for resources, we can't afford a conflict?

……From the Elumis' standpoint, no wonder they're furious?

What they'd handed over, in a manner of speaking, as a gracious gift of their own excrement(?) had been hauled off wholesale without a word of explanation — and on top of that, the humans acted like they were looking down on them.

This is a one-sided relationship, isn't it.

I turned to Lee Gyeon, who had just returned to our side wearing a grim expression.

"Can't even we get out past the gate?"

"No. The Elumis will block anyone from approaching the gate's exit… Apparently they're currently searching for an Awakener capable of communicating with monsters."

"Doesn't sound like they'll find one."

"For now, the field team plans to carry out the remaining rescue work while evading the Elumis' eyes. Returning home… I'm afraid that will be difficult at the moment."

I deliberated for a while.

For Taejae's sake, I want to go home right now.

He'd already had a good cry and worn himself out treating the wounded. It would be stranger if he weren't exhausted.

Seeing that I'd gone quiet, Lee Gyeon hurried off to find some other means ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of contacting the outside.

Meanwhile, I finished my deliberation.

Let's get straight to the conclusion.

If I want to go home right now… then those two species are simply going to have to reach an amicable settlement, aren't they?

And so, there was a way.

A bit of a hassle, and complicated — but a way all the same.

I turned my head toward the scruffy-haired researcher and spoke.

"If I told you I know the secret of the ore here — would you believe me?"

Opening with the one line guaranteed to drive a researcher out of his mind.