Last night, as usual, there was an attack by Sly Apes. The defeated enemies had been gathered and placed in a corner.
After having breakfast and getting ready, we started the recent routine of harvesting Sly Ape claws and magic stones.
If you leave things in the labyrinth for ten hours, not only do the monsters’ corpses vanish, but even camping equipment that hasn’t been moved gets swallowed by the labyrinth.
Although Sly Apes are not immediately swallowed by the labyrinth, it’s safer to harvest them early.
The harvest was finished in about thirty minutes, and everyone had also finished getting ready. All that was left was to return to the surface.
“Alright, I’ve had enough of that monkey face, so let’s go back to the surface!”
“”””Oh!””””
At Naga’s words, we climbed the path to the surface with our excitement at maximum.
During this labyrinth exploration, Vernier’s skill level increased considerably, and I was able to use it almost perfectly as I intended without any stress.
The rest should be perfect once I attached the nozzle to the chest. When I returned to the royal capital, I’d have to apologize about the Fire Lizard’s skin and, at the same time, request the armor modification.
We proceeded on the long-awaited path to the surface, smiles on our faces.
We hurriedly made our way back through the dungeon since morning and had reached the middle of the first floor, but in about two more hours, it would be time for dinner.
During these nine days, while we were camping on the fourth floor, Joe and the others ended up coming to our campsite three times.
And on the second visit, they brought, incredibly, meat from a wild rabbit that they said they hunted and roasted outside the dungeon.
Normally, I wouldn’t even look at meat that’s just sprinkled with salt and grilled, but the meat Joe brought was so delicious it almost brought me to tears.
Knowing Joe, he probably hadn’t prepared anything like that for when we got to the surface. His lack of consideration was well-known.
Thinking that, I made a proposal on the second level.
“Ms. Naga. We’ll probably come up to the surface around dinner time, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Since I’ll carry it, why don’t we hunt boar meat for everyone?”
Everyone looked surprised, then stared at Ms. Naga with pleading eyes.
“I-I understand. Please don’t look at me with such desperate eyes. I feel the same about tough meals.”
Then, just before ascending to the first level, we hunted a boar and gathered a surprisingly large amount of meat for the eight of us.
Originally, I had longed to see the surface again, but the thought of being able to eat boar meat made us head toward the surface without looking around.
We proceeded through the labyrinth more seriously than ever before. The only thing on our minds was ‘boar meat.’ Even Ms. Naga, who had been watching us with exasperation, was now hurrying toward the surface.
Normally a journey of about two hours, we managed to cover it in just over an hour, and we finally reached the exit to the surface.
“The exit…”
Whose whisper it was… was unclear, but it was certain that everyone felt the same thing.
We slowly made our way outside the labyrinth, keeping our formation.
I felt as if the ‘domain’ had changed, but nothing in particular was different, and everyone was smiling.
“””Good work, everyone.”””
Nearby, Joe and the others had already lit a campfire and were preparing to set up camp.
“Jogna-san. Thank you very much.”
“””Thank you very much.”””
“Jogna-kun, thanks a lot.”
After exchanging greetings in our own way, the other two, aside from Joe, stood up and started putting on their equipment.
“Well then, we’ll head to the royal capital first and get the carriage ready.”
It seemed Godo and the others were returning to the royal capital to prepare a carriage for us.
“Yeah, I’ll be keeping watch until morning so that Aldo and the others can sleep peacefully.”
“I know. That’s why you took sleeping pills during the day and slept all you could, right?”
“D-don’t have to say it. About that…”
Godo and the others laughed and walked toward the royal capital with Joe.
The surroundings had become completely dark, and soon we could no longer see Godo and the others.
“Will Godo and the others be okay? Wouldn’t it have been better to leave in the morning?”
When I said this, worried, Joe started speaking with an exasperated look.
“Aldo. You’re underestimating us too much. The stars are out tonight. We can tell the direction by their positions, and we won’t fall behind the monsters around here.”
“I see. Sorry.”
“What? You’re unusually honest today.”
“Really? I’m always straightforward, you know.”
“Is that so?”
Saying that, I laughed with Joe and moved towards the campfire.
Outside, it was cold, unlike in the labyrinth. However, just because it was warm didn’t make me want to return to the labyrinth.
I cut the boar meat I brought into fist-sized pieces and stuck them on some sticks I found lying around.
Since there were 18 pieces in total, I gave 3 pieces to each person.
Each person put their portion of meat on the campfire, sprinkled salt, and grilled it as they liked.
Impatient Joe, thinking it was cooked, would take a bite, and if red meat appeared, he would grill it again… repeating this process.
Everyone, tired of meals of black bread and dried meat, silently kept biting into the boar meat.
In the end, everyone finished all three fist-sized pieces of meat.
Three fistfuls… Even if one weighed 200g, that was 600g—he really ate a lot.
I rubbed my full stomach, slightly surprised.
From there, Joe wanted to hear about what it was like inside the labyrinth, so I explained it in detail.
Looking at Joe, I could clearly see that he actually wanted to join.
But after actually entering the labyrinth, I realized that C-rank Joe would have a hard time clearing it.
If it were just falling into a teleportation trap like last time, I could follow up, but he was too weak to challenge the Earth Dragon.
Joe must have understood that too. That’s why he declined on his own. He could imagine it would be troublesome.
He would react to my explanations with surprise, get angry with me over the Sly Ape story… With time to spare, I honestly thought that if it were a slightly simpler labyrinth, I’d like to explore it together.
“Joe, in two and a half years, we’re going back to Blue Ring.”
“Is that so… I’ll miss you.”
“At that time, won’t you come to Blue Ring too, Joe?”
“Me, go to Blue Ring?”
“Yeah. I’ll even take Noel with you.”
“Y-You idiot. What are you saying?”
“Only if you feel like it. Just think about it.”
“…Yeah. If I feel like it.”
After eating the boar and filling my stomach… sleepiness still attacked me. Looking around, not only El and Ashera, but even Naga looked sleepy.
Mother had already closed her eyes and started dozing off.
“Joe, can I leave the watch to you?”
“Yeah, leave it to me.”
“If it gets dangerous, wake me up without overdoing it.”
“Got it.”
After putting Mother to bed, everyone lay down wherever they liked.
Ashera, of all people, crawled into my cloak. Ashera-san, your eyes are wide open and I can’t sleep because of it…
I pretended I didn’t see Ms. Naga glaring at me and Joe shrugging his shoulders.
I lent my arm as a pillow for Ashera, and I fell asleep using my backpack as a pillow.
The next morning———–
As I gradually became conscious, Ashera was still sleeping on my arm. Since we were facing the same direction, I couldn’t really tell if she was asleep or not…
Ms. Naga kept glancing at me, and Joe also looked at me with an exasperated face… oh, our eyes met.
I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, but Joe still interrupted me.
“Hey! Our eyes met just now, didn’t they? I want to know how you thought you could get away with it!”
“Tch. That’s why you’re Joe. That’s the part where you should have read the mood and looked the other way.”
When I tried to move Ashera’s head so I could get up, she stiffly woke and started talking as if nothing happened.
“Good morning, Aldo.”
“O-Oh. Good morning, Ashera…”
She definitely was already awake.
“Ashera. You were awake…”
“I just woke up.”
“Are you planning to get away with it by saying that…”
“I just woke up.”
“…”
“I just woke up.”
“Alright, fine. That’s good…”
“Yeah.”
When the noise continued, El also woke up. Only Mother, as usual, was sound asleep.
After finishing the morning preparations, it was finally time to depart.
“We have a bit too much luggage, but once we get through the Wise Wolf Forest, Godo and the others should have the carriage ready.”
“””Yes.”””
“Then, let’s go.”
Under Ms. Naga’s command, the group set out.
There was indeed a lot of luggage—ten wooden crates. Most of it was Sly Ape claws and magic stones.
Actually, for this labyrinth exploration, there was an offer of financial support from the Blue Ring family, but Ms. Naga was reluctant.
Ms. Naga was the deputy guild master, and this time, the exploration was a personal labyrinth search taken during her vacation.
If it were known that the deputy guild master took a vacation to explore a Blue Ring-funded labyrinth, it could spark rumors of collusion with the Blue Ring family.
In reality, even if that weren’t the case, we judged that it wouldn’t lead to a good result for either of us, so we decided to explore the labyrinth at our own expense this time.
Thus, Joe pulled five wooden crates packed with Sly Ape claws and magic stones with a rickshaw, and El, Ashera, Mother, Naga, and I each carried one crate.
Mother, of course, complained about having to carry one crate apiece.
She started with ‘We can put one more on the rickshaw,’ then said ‘It would be fine if Al carried two,’ and in the end even blurted out, ‘Isn’t it okay to just throw away one crate?’
In the end, Naga responded, ‘If you’re going to throw it away, then go toss it on the fourth floor,’ and Mother reluctantly carried it.
Along the way, the bushes rustled a few times, but when I shot Wind Bullet at them, they startled and ran away.
After walking through the Wise Wolf Forest for about an hour, we finally reached the highway.
Catching my breath and looking around, I saw Godo and the others waving nearby. Next to them were two covered wagons, stopped with drivers.
I had the covered wagons attached next to the rickshaw and loaded ten wooden boxes onto one of the covered wagons.
On the other covered wagon, the five of us plus Joe and the other two, eight people in total, rode along.
On the way, Godo and the others, just like Joe did last night, seemed eager to ask about the labyrinth.
After all, those who aren’t excited about exploring a labyrinth probably wouldn’t become adventurers in the first place.
Watching Godo and the others listen to our story with sparkling eyes made them look like boys who didn’t feel their age.
While we were having that kind of conversation inside the covered wagon, quite a lot of time passed before I realized it. The covered wagon gradually stopped, and I heard voices from outside. When I called out to the driver and looked outside, the gatekeeper was staring at us with a bewildered expression.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but this is work for us too. Could you show me your identification?”
Everyone hurriedly took out their adventurer cards from their pockets and showed them to the gatekeeper.
“Two B, three C, one E, two F… Training for newbies, huh. Boys, make sure to get taught properly.”
“””Yes!”””
When El, Ashera, and I replied to the gatekeeper, I pretended not to see Joe and the other two making some indescribable faces.
The carriage arrived at the adventurer guild without any problems, and we split up to carry the wooden boxes inside.
When Joe and the other two entered the guild to carry the boxes, they were greeted by many people, but the moment I appeared carrying the boxes after them, the inside of the guild fell completely silent.
It was really unpleasant. I stopped and looked around, and most of the adventurers were looking down so as not to meet my eyes.
Then, a laugh echoed, breaking through this tense atmosphere.
It was Joe. Ignoring the adventurers who were standing silently with their heads down, Joe pointed his finger at me and laughed.
“Gahahahaha… Aldo, just how much are you feared… pfft…”
“You… you’re laughing too much…”
“Of course I’m laughing. What is this atmosphere? Are you some kind of wild beast or what… hehe…”
Because Joe was laughing alone, gradually the air was filled with a sense of exasperation.
“You guys too, don’t keep acting disgracefully with kids around.”
Finally, Joe shouted in a loud voice so that everyone in the guild could hear and then left the place.
After finishing carrying the wooden boxes, everyone gathered outside the guild.
“Well then, since everyone must be tired today, shall we distribute the rewards the morning after tomorrow?”
“””Yes.”””
“””Understood.”””
“Well then, good work on the long dungeon exploration. The next exploration is scheduled for seven days from now.”
Thus, the long dungeon exploration reached a temporary conclusion. I had to prepare as much as I could for the next one in seven days.
I was walking on the road to the Blue Ring manor together with El, Ashera, and Mother, but for some reason, Joe was also tagging along.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, no… I-I just thought I’d maybe take a bath…”
“Hm? …Noel?”
“Ah, well. That might be part of it too…”
“I see. That might be part of it. I’ll tell Noel it’s on the way.”
“Y-you, that’s not allowed, right? Don’t tell her. Absolutely don’t tell her.”
Joe, that was just a bluff. You sounded like you wanted me to say it.
The next expedition was in seven days. Ultra-vibration, Vernier training, armor modification, and improving our meals. There were a lot of things to do before the next expedition.
I might not be able to do everything, but I’d do what I could and try my best.
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