"They were...?"
Upon hearing what Hazel claimed, even Raive felt weirded out.
"What happened?"
If they survived together, it would make sense for them to have grouped up and moved together, just like Raive and the others did.
But looking at her, now all alone, that didn’t seem to be the case.
"Nothing much, really." She sighed. "They just turned out to be a bunch of scumbags. They tried to jump me, to use my body for their twisted desires... So I turned the tables on them."
"I... see."
She didn’t say it directly, but basically, she meant she killed them herself.
One girl against four. It sounded like it should end on a bad note for her, but... with skills already awakened, turning the tides could be simpler than anyone would think.
For example, Shymine could literally kill the other four instantly if she ever felt like it.
And that should also be the case for Hazel.
She was someone blessed with a similarly powerful skill!
"So, you’re alone now...?" Raive asked.
"Yes." She nodded without delay, almost as if she didn’t really care. Her expression didn’t even change one bit. Even Shymine couldn’t hold a candle to her stoniness.
But instead of finding her creepy, Raive found this an opportunity.
He quickly spread his arms and offered.
"Actually, I’m leading a group myself. Myself, this guy, a little girl, a lady, and a woman upstairs, five of us. What do you think of joining our team?"
Given how the world had turned out, staying alone was nothing but a liability. Grouping up and forming teams was definitely for the best.
"What’s the catch?"
Hazel knew this too, despite looking so detached.
She knew that her chances of survival dropped the moment she delivered the final rites for her old teammates. As such, Raive’s offer was actually a godsend to her.
"Nothing much, really." He said. "As long as you contribute to the team in your own way, and protect everyone as much as you would yourself, then you’re welcome."
"No taxes? No extra rules? No hidden rules?"
"None."
"Suspicious..."
"Well, I won’t blame you." Raive raised both hands in surrender. "But if you’re interested, the three girls are at the third floor, gathering food right now. Check them out and say Raive sent you, so they’ll know."
"...Alright. I’ll go see for myself."
After confirming that her "trash" had finally turned to ash and the smoke had cleared to a pristine white, she walked away.
Raive and Khamish moved to avoid blocking her path, keeping a safe distance.
"Wow, what a scary woman."
After she disappeared, Khamish commented, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
"She’s like a cold-blooded killer or something. She didn’t even bat an eye telling us she just killed someone!"
Raive just smiled, waving off Khamish.
"Isn’t that good? In this world, you need the will to at least cut someone down to survive."
"That’s... also true, huh."
"Yep."
"But still... despite being so scary, she was so beautiful I almost fell for her!" Khamish added, going off on a tangent. "Does she have a boyfriend? She’s your campus Madonna, right?"
"If she does, then that man would’ve died from getting mobbed by her fans already."
"Oh... So that means she’s free. What do you think? Do I have a chance?"
Seeing Khamish do poses before him, Raive couldn’t help but feel a bit of disgust. "You? If you weren’t a balding old man, then maybe. You can pass as her floor mat."
"Getting stepped on by such a beauty every day doesn’t sound too bad!"
The two men chatted as they made sure to dispose of all the bodies they cleaned up. But given the sheer quantity, it was difficult to burn them all at once. They could only shove them in batches, waiting for everything to completely burn before chucking in the next one.
All in all, the two chatted for an hour before their job concluded.
When they returned upstairs, to the third floor, something they didn’t expect waited for them.
"Ah! Brother! You’re finally back~!"
Hershey, seeing Raive enter, quickly rushed toward him and gave a big hug. Of course, he didn’t have any reason to dodge, so he just dropped to one knee and welcomed it.
But that wasn’t what surprised him.
Rather, it was the hundreds of shopping carts filled to the brim with various food products.
"...I did say to prioritize the foods you like, but this..."
Rather than selecting, it looked more like they picked everything on the third floor!
"Ah, this?" Hershey turned to look at the numerous carts, and smiled. "Half of these are sister Hazel’s food carts!"
Raive couldn’t help but prick up his ears at what he heard.
"Half... Wait, sister...?"
He looked around and found the three girls by the empty item counter, leaning against it while chatting amicably, almost like three friends who just met after a long time.
Even Shymine, who usually didn’t change her expression from her pout, was now showing a sweet smile!
"What the fuck...?"
Although it was him who told Hazel to check the girls out, he didn’t expect that she’d fit in so fast! But well, not like it’s a problem either, since he had invited her into the party anyway.
Anyway, Raive ignored them for now.
After all, they still had work to do.
Raive, Khamish, and Hershey worked together, putting all the food the girls gathered inside the infinite storage bag.
Although only Khamish could take things out of it, as long as he’d already opened the bag, anyone could actually put objects inside. This little detail allowed all three of them to work together, speeding up the process.
When the girls noticed Raive’s presence, they started helping push empty carts away and full carts closer, while still chatting nonstop.
Weirdly, although Raive could hear them speak, he couldn’t figure out what they were even talking about.
By the time he figured out what their topic was, they’d already changed topics twice!
He intended to join their conversation to pass the time, but looking at it now, even if he abused his auto-load ability...
’There’s no way I can butt in.’
He just gave up and silently worked.
After all, they still have more dungeons to conquer!