Chapter 713: An Alliance Proposal
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 713: An Alliance Proposal
“Yeah. I’ve been doing great, thanks to you, you bastard.”
“…You’re being sarcastic, right?”
“Does it look that way?”
Thankfully, Alicia treated me with her usual attitude.
No, on second thought, maybe this “usual attitude” was also an act for her.
I don’t know when she started liking me, but it must have been for a long time—long enough for rumors to spread throughout the Arachne Clan—and she’d been pretending not to every time we met.
Thinking about it that way, it was honestly a little hard to look her in the face.
It was my first time experiencing something like this, so I had no resistance to it.
But I couldn’t just ignore Alicia’s effort to treat me normally.
I had to act like I did before I knew her feelings, like she was just a normal friend.
Well, getting too friendly wouldn’t be good either.
The wary glares from my girls were pretty scary.
“So, what are you guys doing in a place like this? Weren’t those three only at a level to handle the 4th Floor?”
I was finally able to ask the question that had been on my mind.
To be honest, I was most curious about Diana’s proposal from a moment ago, since I hadn’t fully grasped her intentions, but that was a conversation for our clan members to have without Alicia around.
“Hm? Oh. We were thinking of heading down to the 5th Floor soon. That penguin’s attack power is decent, so I was testing their defense.”
“…Excuse me?”
The answer I received was far beyond anything I could have imagined.
“What’s with that look? You’re an adventurer, don’t you even understand the concepts of attack and defense yet?”
Hey, Alicia? Why are you looking at me like I’m the one being absurd? I’m the one who should be dumbfounded here.
I didn’t mishear that, did I?
I glanced over at the trio and saw that the chests of their armor were indeed dented, as if they’d been struck by something sharp.
To be precise, that was only true for the warriors, Kanna and Serena. The priestess Amy’s clothes were relatively unscathed compared to the other two.
“No, it’s not that, but… testing?”
“So, should we just go in without knowing their exact limits?”
“No, but still…”
“Don’t worry. I took a hit first to make sure it wasn’t lethal before I made them do it. Besides, if they can’t even withstand a single penguin’s attack, there’s no way they’d survive on the 5th Floor.”
“……”
I mean, sure, our party’s stats are off the charts for our level, and my aggro ability is practically a cheat code. Maybe for other adventurers, this is normal.
There’s no guarantee you can always block, dodge, or parry a monster’s attack, so you’d have to take a proper hit at least once to gauge the potential damage in an emergency.
It was certainly logical, but… I was starting to understand just why that trio was so scared of her.
For the record, the three of them were still covering their eyes and ears, trembling.
Our conversation was over, so they didn’t have to keep doing that.
Just how tightly were they covering their ears? That’s trauma-level stuff. It’s amazing they can continue their lives as adventurers.
Well, I suppose Alicia’s main role is that of an instructor, so she probably knows how to control the intensity.
“Anyway, I was wondering why the penguin that burrowed into the wall to attack wasn’t coming out, and then you popped out. To top it off, I was just getting interrupted until you finally stole the kill.”
I see. So that’s why the Emperor Penguin suddenly burst out from the passage.
It may be a fake, but it’s still a boss. It shouldn’t wander so far from its boss room.
Then again, that’s a moot point since we already carved a path all the way to this male penguin room.
Hm? Wait a minute. Come to think of it, didn’t the Queen Ant break through a wall in the ant nest a while back?
…Could it be? Maybe that was a clue that the Queen Ant wasn’t the true boss of the sub-layer.
If that’s the case, I might need to be more careful when fighting sub-floor bosses from now on.
Unlike the true Floor Bosses, there’s a chance these guys could flee their boss rooms in a crisis and relentlessly pursue us.
“…Hey. Say something.”
“Huh? Oh! Sorry! I didn’t mean to steal…”
“It’s fine. I can tell that much just by looking. And between us… the defense test was over anyway. I was just giving you a hard time, but if you apologize so seriously, you’ll make me feel awkward.”
Alicia said, slapping my shoulder quite forcefully with her palm.
Seeing that, Sara’s legs twitched as if she had a million things to say, but it seemed she managed to hold back.
Well, just from the way Alicia corrected herself mid-sentence a moment ago, I could tell she was trying to be considerate in her own way.
“Anyway, so you guys came here to go to a place called the 4.5th Floor? What kind of monsters are there? Ah, is that still a secret?”
“No, we haven’t been there yet either. Since we’re all here, want to go together?”
The moment I said that, not just Sara, but everyone except Diana flinched.
Even if we acted like friends on the surface, it seemed they were still wary of me and Alicia traveling together.
As for Diana… she probably thought it would be easier to persuade Alicia if we showed her the 4.5th Floor.
“Nah, it’s fine. It’s not a place I should show them yet. Showing them a place like that will just make keeping it a secret harder. We can go after I talk to Miriel and we can all speak freely.”
But Alicia, whether she was uncharacteristically reading the room or genuinely thought so, declined my offer.
“You talk as if it’s a sure thing we’ll cooperate with you. Weren’t you the one who said it was hard to decide on your own?”
“Well, it’s a complicated matter, but it’ll probably be fine. Our Miriel is… well, she’s like that. We’ll head up first. I’ll discuss it with Miriel right away and contact your clan house.”
“Ah, okay. But the path is blocked.”
Naturally, the hole we had come through had vanished without a trace while we were talking.
But Alicia just swung the greatsword in her hand with a look that said it was no big deal.
“I know the other side is open, so it’s fine. We just have to break through before we get buried or suffocate.”
…Hey. You’re way too tough.
“You look like you have something to say, bastard.”
“No, I was just worried.”
“…Y-You don’t need to worry!”
Hey. You were so obviously bluffing, but getting all shy about it just makes the mood weird.
You were doing so well until now, what’s wrong?
…Not that I’m one to talk, being the one who rejected her.
“Hmph. In that case, I shall resolve this.”
Just then, Diana, who had been listening to our conversation, stepped forward.
“Huh? Diana?”
“Mm. Since you are going to discuss the proposal I have made, I shall offer some assistance.”
With those words, Diana casually raised her staff, drawing a magic circle in the air while simultaneously beginning a chant. A rather long one, at that.
What kind of magic was she trying to cast?
The answer came as the scorching ball of fire forming at the tip of her staff grew brighter and brighter.
“Inferno.”
The sphere, which eventually became so white-hot that I couldn’t look at it directly, shot forward at Diana’s signal and touched the ice cave wall, carving a straight path through it.
The magic was so intense that the wall melted before it was even touched, without making a single sound.
W-Wait a minute. Then what was the point of all that nonsense I spouted about Bird Missiles and whatnot to barely make a path earlier?!
No, my efforts had already been rendered pointless the moment I showed them this place, but still! It feels so unfair!
“Go quickly, before it closes again.”
Having created a path with such ease, Diana looked at Alicia and spoke calmly.
Her tone was calm, but because Diana was maintaining her dignity, it almost sounded like she was kicking her out.
“Whoa. Ah, yes. Well then. We’re off. See you later. You guys! How long are you going to stand there like that! Let’s go!”
It seemed that even for a top-class adventurer like Alicia, seeing such magic was a rare event. With a slightly dazed expression, she nodded, gave me a quick farewell, and led the trio back up the passage where the Emperor Penguin had been.
Not long after Alicia’s party was out of sight, the wall that had been pierced by Inferno sealed itself up again without a trace.
As soon as she confirmed the wall was completely blocked, Diana, who had been wearing a composed expression, suddenly called out to me.
“You. Catch me.”
“Huh? Whoa?! What’s wrong?!”
Suddenly, Diana’s body gave way.
I barely managed to catch her before she hit the floor, pulling her into an embrace. When I glanced at her face, it looked a little paler than usual.
“I used too much mana…”
“You idiot. Why’d you put on such a brave face if this was going to happen?”
“You are truly rude. Did you not see how that young woman was overwhelmed by my dignity just now?”
“So you want me to do the same?”
“Absolutely not.”
Diana said, rubbing her cheek lightly against my chest.
She was such a carefree person.
“I put my name on the line, so I thought showing a bit of my dignity would make the negotiations go smoother. In any case, this place is safe, and I was planning to rest here if I ran out of mana from the start, so isn’t this perfect? You have questions as well, I presume.”
With a carefree tone that was a world away from the dignity she had just displayed, Diana spoke and weakly lifted her arms.
“…Right. Then I guess we’ll get ready to rest here.”
I gave Diana a piggyback ride and took a tent out of my inventory for the first time in a while.
It really had been a long time. We had no use for it on the 4th Floor, after all.
“Mm. Work hard.”
From my back, Diana patted my head.
Hey. I’m carrying you because you have no strength, but aren’t you being a little too obvious about slacking off?
Well, come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve carried her like this. It reminds me of the old days, so I don’t really mind.
And so, after retrieving the male penguin’s magic stone, we finished setting up camp on the spot.
Since we had the chance, we sat around and even had a meal, and I was finally able to get an explanation from Diana.
“To put it simply, I did it for our safety.”
“Safety?”
“Mm. You’ve been to the 5th Floor, so you may have an inkling, but what do you think is the greatest barrier holding adventurers back on the 5th Floor?”
“Huh? Are you talking about something like the water on the 4th Floor?”
“Mm. The 2nd Floor had heat. The 3rd Floor had cold. The 4th Floor had water blocking the adventurers’ path. So, what do you think the 5th Floor has?”
Just as Diana said, with the exception of the 1st Floor, each floor had some kind of environmental condition that made descending through the dungeon tricky.
And when I thought about the environmental factors of the 5th Floor in my memory…
“Everything is absurdly huge?”
“That is merely a secondary effect. The defining characteristic of the 5th Floor is that everything on that floor is imbued with an astonishing amount of mana. In other words…”
“The monsters are that much stronger…”
“Mm. That is the greatest feature of the 5th Floor. Unlike the other floors that use cheap tricks, the 5th Floor is a place that blocks adventurers’ paths with the pure combat power of its monsters. And we may have to explore past that 5th Floor, to the 5.5th Floor. Perhaps even the 6.5th Floor.”
I see. Hearing that much, I understood what Diana was trying to say.
A sub-layer is a place that strongly retains the influence of the preceding floor.
The Kobold Cave had characteristics of the 1st Floor, the ant nest had characteristics of the 2nd Floor, and the ice cave had characteristics of the 3rd Floor.
That meant the 5.5th Floor was likely to be an unimaginably, brutally dangerous place.
And we would have to explore such a place blindly, with no information whatsoever.
To prevent that, Diana was trying to form a cooperative relationship with the Arachne Clan, the strongest and most exploration-hungry adventurer clan.
If we leaked information about the 5.5th Floor, the Arachne Clan would gladly dive right in.