Dungeon Again
For several days, the dizziness that had tormented me had finally vanished. The elves, it seemed, had been waiting for this very moment as if it were the only day they had anticipated, and now they dragged me toward the dungeon.
“It's completely unbelievable! How many days have you delayed us!? Tell me, you. Even if you weren't using the excuse of being sick, we would have already cleared this dungeon long ago—*this* poison! Look at this poison!”
“Ugh…”
Black mist poured thickly from the entrance, like something had been burning inside and was now spewing forth. The stench hung heavy at the mouth of the cave, and even a faint cloud of poison had formed around the surrounding area.
“Still, this request is simple. We just need to get rid of the Walkers in this dungeon. I already explained, right? Miasma-type dungeons like this one try to spread their poison across the surface through the Walkers. Look, I can already see a few from the entrance here… Is that okay?”
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Hmph, weakling.”
Unlike me, who was dizzy and stumbling, the elf walked with boundless energy, pointing at the entrance that still spewed forth a volcanic blast of vicious poison. She turned to me with a look that said “pay attention.”
“If we had taken any longer, we would have been forced to pay compensation. Do you have any idea how much the adventurers’ guild has been squeezing us with this thing? Because you got sick without my permission, the work only got more complicated.”
“G-Gah, my head hurts, so sorry, but can you speak just a little quieter… Uwah…”
“Again!? Again, you want to make yourself sick on your own whim! You didn’t even take my words as a lesson, let alone listen with half an ear!”
So arrogant! So incredibly arrogant!
This was no ordinary instant dungeon like last time. It was a proper dungeon, one that had taken root in this land for countless years and now spewed forth its vicious, acrid poison. Just the act of approaching the entrance had forced my body to surrender its strength, and every tiny movement of mine was being drained away by invisible force.
I wanted to step inside, but I couldn’t even walk properly.
I raised my hand cautiously to the elf who was practically jumping for joy to rush into the dungeon.
“My, the poison is too thick here, is there no gas mask or anything?”
“You have no patience at all! A slave with no slave spirit, only looking for comfort right from the start!”
“Not that—I want to go in too, but if it’s like this, I can’t even enter—*cough*”
“Hmph, instead of that, I’ve prepared something even better. Just wait a little longer!”
“Better than that?”
Better than a gas mask? What could that possibly be?
It was a dungeon, after all, and even if Dyna-san was coming, it probably wouldn’t help much.
Maybe they planned to blow up the entrance with dynamite and seal the entire dungeon?
But if that were the case, why hadn’t they already ordered me, “Blow up the dungeon entrance with dynamite!”?
The elf’s anxious expression as she waited for something only made my curiosity grow.
Then, just as I was about to ask, the thick poison mist that had surrounded us began to thin out, as if something had approached.
“We’re here!”
“…?”
“Eh?”
What appeared from behind the mist was none other than Nemea, the lioness saint, and her older sister, Leo.
Could these two be the “something better” the elf had mentioned?
Despite the light poison, Nemea approached unsteadily while I staggered, as if on a picnic, casually clearing the fog with a light step. She immediately went to the elf and began speaking with her.
In contrast, Leo walked straight up to me and simply stared down silently.
“*Cough*, hello! Good day today, *cough*! It was definitely a good day until just now—*cough*!”
“…!”
Unlike last time, when it was related to her sister, Leo showed no sign of wanting to talk to me. She simply stared at me with empty eyes.
If she were herself, she might have tried to start a conversation. But every time I tried, the coughs bursting out stopped me.
“*Cough*, if I had known we would meet, I would have brought some plum juice—*cough*, *cough*—but I’m sorry.”
“…!”
In the end, the usual casual greeting was never exchanged properly, and just as she was still coughing, Leo suddenly reached into her pouch and held something out to me.
“…Put this on your face.”
“Leo-san?”
“…!”
The item she offered was a scrap of cloth infused with Holy Power, radiating a sacred aura. It was the very piece she had been wearing on her face until just moments ago.
“*Cough*, Leo-san?”
“…!”
She silently took out another scrap of cloth from her pouch and held it up for me to see.
Had she been preparing to demonstrate it to me?
I didn’t know the reason, but I wasn’t the type to refuse kindness, so I immediately covered my nose and mouth with the cloth. Surprisingly, the nonstop cough I had been suffering vanished. After about ten seconds, it stopped completely.
“Thank you. Thanks to this, I feel much better.”
“…Indirect kiss.”
“Eh?”
What did you just say?
I leaned in closer because I could barely hear her, but Leo, as if my proximity was bothersome, stepped back little by little and distanced herself from me.
“Ugh, this squid! I’m really going crazy!”
“…!”
In the end, she hid behind Nemea, who was even smaller than her, after backing away.
Nemea, who had been whispering with the elf, patted her chest in frustration at Leo’s behavior, but I, who couldn’t understand their words, could only stare wide-eyed at their outfits after inhaling the now-purified clear air.
“Nemea-san?”
“Yes, your Saint Nemea speaking!”
“Th-That outfit…”
“Eh? Is there a problem with my outfit?”
Racing girl.
If I had to explain Nemea’s current outfit in one word, it would be exactly that.
No matter how much the saintesses of the Saintess Village forced their high-exposure clothing to be called “Saintess attire,” the way it was revealed rather than covered was beyond anything I could describe.
While she had at least covered her shoulders and arms with a tank top and sleeves, her lower body was nothing but a dark-red bikini bottom and nipple pasties.
And as the final touch, she held a large flag in her hand.
She looked less like a saint and more like a racing girl.
“This is combat gear! A sacred combat outfit for the Saint Tribe!”
“If it’s called combat gear, it looks like some kind of cosplay outfit, but still… it’s so revealing.”
“R-Revealing?!”
Apologize!?
At my words, Nemea puffed her cheeks cutely and bounced in place.
But I had already finished examining her outfit and wasn’t really listening. Instead, I quickly glanced at Leo’s again.
“Leo-san looks really great in it.”
“…!”
Leo was wearing a bikini armor that was no less revealing than Nemea’s.
Unlike the snow-white Nemea, however, her tanned, sun-hardened skin and the well-defined abs on her belly left no room for vulgar imagination. They instead pulled the word “warrior woman” straight from my mind.
It was as if she were a heroine who would rise up fiercely if the world ever went topsy-turvy.
She was incredibly reliable.
“…Really?”
It seemed like my sincere words had piqued her interest.
The shoulder that had been hiding behind Nemea’s body earlier trembled once upward. Then Leo secretly stepped in front of Nemea and surprisingly spoke to me.
“…For real?”
“Yes! It suits you perfectly! You look so manly and cool!”
“Eh, ahh! If you say that, then…?”
“Eh? Huh?”
*Shhh…*
Maybe it was my imagination.
Her expression and posture hadn’t changed, but Leo’s shoulders suddenly slumped heavily, and the aura she emitted looked extremely gloomy, like something that would drain the energy from anyone who looked at her.
“Sis! I told you from the beginning not to expect that kind of thing! I said it! Because you’ve been shutting your mouth for three years, the image has already been built up toward that side, so it’s impossible to do anything about it right now! We have to push the ‘reliable big sister’ character now…”
“…!”
And then they turned their backs on me and started whispering something again.
I wanted to know what they were talking about so secretly, but at that exact moment.
For some reason, the elf who had been staring at us with a sullen face stepped on my foot.
“Ouch, why?!”
“Hmph, you like any woman, don’t you! Was that weak act from earlier just an act after all?”
Because she stepped on me naturally, as if she were breathing, I reflexively grabbed my foot and jumped in place, but the elf ignored it and simply called out to the two lioness sisters.
“And you too! It’s fine to plan some lewd scheme, but if you promised payment, you should help us at least that much, right?”
“Ah, yes! Then I’ll go right away!”
As soon as Nemea received the elf’s call, she unfurled her flag, and the poison mist that had surrounded us began to clear rapidly, centered around the flag and Nemea.
“Holy Barrier Deployment! You must not leave my side from now on!”
The real exploration had begun.