Chapter 849: The 5.5th Floor
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 849: The 5.5th Floor
“Imagine how I felt when I realized there was nothing to show for it after going through such a horrible hell. So, don’t just leave it to Leia, Matilda, and Silvia; you all should hurry and cling to me for comfort….”
“I, for one, consider it a great achievement just to know that the Arachne Clan can now be freely unleashed. If what you say is correct, doesn’t that mean we can only descend below the 6th Floor if we can interpret that mysterious painting?”
…Well, that’s one way to look at it.
But Diana, that’s not what’s important right now.
“That’s not what’s important! Your husband was pushed to the brink of a mental breakdown and came back! You were so worried about me being mentally unstable after I was shipwrecked and rescued from the 4th Floor, weren’t you?! It’s even harder now than it was then?! So hurry up and cling to me for some mental care….”
“Stop that hand you’re subtly trying to move towards Leia and Matilda’s chests, and stop lying!”
I tried to exaggerate my suffering to get Diana to cling to me too, but she lightly tapped my head with the palm of her fisted hand, as if to say, ‘no chance.’
Ugh. Damn it! Was I caught? I thought if I exaggerated well enough, I could enjoy an even more harem-like feeling than now.
But I couldn’t help it. After returning from that hell, these chests were right there, touching my arm. It’s only human nature to want to touch them, isn’t it?
“Idiot. You’re the type who wouldn’t even say anything if you were truly struggling in the first place.”
And Sara gave me a cold look and a scolding.
Hey. Even so, it’s true I went through a lot, so can’t you indulge me a little?
“Leia and Matilda… well, Matilda can’t be helped. But Leia, too. Leia always indulges him like that….”
Matilda. You’re being treated like that even by Sara. Are you really okay with that?
No, well, looking at this, I suppose she can’t help but say something like that.
“But… he’s cute, isn’t he?”
“Kuh-huk. My Angel….”
“Kyaa! Oh my, oh my. Heh heh.”
At my Angel’s incredibly gentle words, I immediately turned my head sideways and bowed deeply.
Of course, my target was my Angel’s chest.
“Hmph… heh.”
I rubbed my face against my Angel’s upper chest once, and with my cheek still pressed there, I just slightly turned my head to flash a triumphant smile at Sara and Diana.
“Eek…! Get off! Get off!”
Of course, I received Diana’s pat-pat rush as a price, but that much doesn’t even tickle!
“This pervert, really! I’ve been letting you get away with it for too long! Diana, move aside.”
“Grrr….”
Uh, huh? Hey, time out! ‘Not ticklish’ only applies to Diana, not you, okay?!
And Vanessa! You’re standing there expressionlessly behind me as if nothing’s happening, but didn’t you subtly grind your teeth just now?
You too?! Did that provoke you too?!
“Wait! Time out!”
“Why? What are you going to say now?”
“What are you doing during a serious discussion! If we’re going to continue our discussion, first, our top priority is… Ow!”
I thought I had perfectly cut off the flow of conversation, but in the end, I couldn’t help but get a smack on the back from Sara.
Well, after openly rubbing my face against my Angel’s chest and showing off, this is getting off cheap.
“Anyway, it means all our questions will be answered if we go to the room where the 6th Floor’s Floor Boss was.”
Anyway, after causing quite a ruckus, we finally decided to talk seriously.
Oh, and for the record, Silvia is still on top of me, and Leia and Matilda are on either side.
It’s not a joke; I genuinely need healing right now.
It seemed Sara and Diana weren’t entirely unaffected by hearing what I went through down there, so they appeared willing to overlook things, as long as I didn’t overtly touch anything like before.
“Yes. Probably.”
Actually, if Matilda could have continued going into the Dungeon, it would have been faster to raise her skill level down there and use Goddess Advent, but since she can’t go into the Dungeon anymore, that’s probably the fastest way.
Although the painting we found this time didn’t contain detailed information about the contract, even that painting had unnecessarily long content.
The painting in the 6th Floor’s Floor Boss’s room must contain not only the method to descend further but also more detailed information about the contract.
“But I never imagined it would be a meaningful text. I, for one, just thought it was a symbol representing them. Then, did the patterns on the flags the Orcs carried also seem to imply some other meaning to your eyes?”
“No. That was just a picture.”
Come to think of it, there were flags hanging in the Orc settlement too. And that shaman bastard had some kind of tattoo on his body.
Indeed. Even though such a suspicious painting was drawn in the boss room, the fact that all those top-tier veteran adventurers didn’t try to interpret it… was it because there was a precedent?
Did the Goddess perhaps consider even that and place the Orcs on the upper floors?
“Then, do you remember what the painting looked like? If we compare the painting with your interpretation, we might be able to decipher the structure of that script.”
It seemed our Diana was piqued by the appearance of a new script she hadn’t even considered.
Her curiosity about magic is so great that it often overshadows other things, but our intelligent Diana is fundamentally very curious about such unknowns.
“No. I don’t think the painting itself has meaning. It feels more like it was magically processed so that someone like me would naturally interpret it as such a text.”
“Oh! That kind of magical processing! You. Since it’s on your way anyway, wouldn’t you like to stop by again when you have time?”
And at my answer that it wasn’t just a new script but a new form of magic, Diana’s eyes sparkled even more.
No. You saw the painting in the 6th Floor’s Floor Boss’s room anyway, didn’t you? You didn’t feel any magical processing then, so I think the painting there would be the same.
“…Later, if we go to the 6th Floor, then there, maybe.”
But I couldn’t say such a cold-hearted thing to Diana, whose eyes were sparkling, so I subtly avoided her gaze and said that.
Sorry, Diana. I want to grant all your wishes if possible, but even so, I really don’t feel like passing through that muscle-bound den again.
Even if it’s not a sweaty male party, but with you all… no, precisely because I’m going with you all, I can’t let such a disgusting sight be seen by my women’s eyes.
“Anyway, how are the two people you brought back? Do you think they can properly keep the secret? I think it’ll be fine since your judgment of people is accurate, but…”
“Oh, what’s gotten into you? You’re acknowledging me so much.”
“…Idiot. I can’t help but acknowledge your judgment of people.”
Saying that, Sara scanned the faces present.
Well, I guess that’s true. Since I always jokingly say that my eye for women is the best, it might sound like a joke, but it’s true.
Sara seemed to completely agree on that point.
Hmph. I am a man acknowledged by my women like this.
…Didn’t I just get a smack on the back? That’s a separate matter! A man is originally meant to live while getting a few smacks on the back from his woman, you know!
“Well, it’ll be fine.”
The Tiger worships me so much he’d pretend to drown himself in a dish of water if I told him to, and the Justice Pervert, true to his nickname, is genuinely fervent about justice.
Since I hammered home that it’s a mission given by the Goddess and related to a world crisis, they won’t open their mouths no matter what.
Of course, the Justice Idiot, despite his name, has the weakness of being subtly susceptible to authority, but this time, that’s not a weakness but a strength.
When it comes to pushing with authority, it’s doubtful if anyone in the world could beat me.
I myself am a Saint, I have an Archmage, a high-ranking noble knight, and a Cardinal as lovers, and a princess who is also the local lord as practically a sex friend.
“But the word ‘rehearsal’ bothers me a little. What could it mean?”
“Well? At most, maybe the enemies we have to fight mainly use grappling attacks, or something like that? Other than that and it being a ‘pepper field’ [a place full of men], there wasn’t really anything different from other places…”
“Guwon-ssi? What’s wrong?”
As I stood there with my mouth agape, unable to finish what I was saying, my Angel peered at my face with a worried expression.
Her chest pressed even more against my arm, but I was too flustered to even notice.
Come to think of it, the muscle-bound guys had one more distinguishing characteristic from other monsters.
Namely, they had a more human-like appearance than any other monster, and although they only used the single word ‘Muscle,’ I could clearly understand what they meant.
No, of course, they weren’t perfectly identical to humans in appearance, to the extent that I classified them as monsters and massacred them.
Their skin was a perfect black, a color impossible for human skin, they had horns on their heads, and despite being completely naked, their fists, elbows, knees, and feet were covered in carapace. The texture of their skin itself was also difficult to consider human skin.
But despite that, it was also true that their appearance was so human-like that I thought they resembled humans the moment I saw them.
Perhaps. Truly, perhaps.
What we have to deal with down there isn’t a Demon God or some powerful monster, but humans?
No, of course, I’m not the type of protagonist from a typical coming-of-age story who would whine about not being able to kill another person.
Although he was Sara’s enemy, I dealt with that bastard Pots in such a way and felt no guilt whatsoever.
And in the first place, the 5.5th Floor was a ‘pepper field’—a place full of men.
If our final target were human, it was highly likely to be a stinky man.
Honestly, I was confident I wouldn’t hesitate at all.
But my girls are different.
Sara is unexpectedly soft-hearted, to the extent that she showed a somewhat depressed reaction even after dealing with Pots.
And Diana, you might not think so because of her past runaway incident, but she originally has a personality that loves people so much she established magic and spread it to the world. She only ran away because the Mage Association members clung to her too much.
Furthermore, there’s Leia, who goes to the slums for volunteer work whenever she has a chance, and it goes without saying for Matilda, who was originally gentle to everyone and was said to be more fitting as a Saintess than anyone else.
Given those girls, if our final goal was to kill people, I didn’t know what would happen.
Silvia might be a bit more okay, at least? Since she’s a knight, fighting against people would have been her main duty originally.
“Ah, no. Nothing.”
“…Guwon-ssi.”
I tried to brush it off, shaking my head as if to clear the thoughts from my mind, but Leia didn’t seem willing to let it go.
We agreed there would be no more secrets between us, didn’t we? Under that gaze, which seemed to say just that, my resolve gradually weakened.
No. But even so, this….
“It’s not even certain yet.”
“Guwon-ssi.”
“…I’m thinking that what we might have to deal with isn’t a Demon God or a powerful monster, but humans. I told you. The monsters on the 5.5th Floor had a more human-like appearance than any other monsters we’ve encountered so far.”
Under Leia’s unwavering gaze, which demanded I look her straight in the eye and tell her, I finally had no choice but to state the hypothesis that had formed in my mind.
“That’s absolutely not it, so please don’t worry.”
But at that moment, Matilda, who just moments ago was in ‘pink mode’ and only kissing my neck, suddenly denied my hypothesis in a serious voice.
“The Goddess loves all people, and she is someone who wants to see even more of the potential people possess. What do you think is the reason we sanctify and actively encourage sexual acts?”