Chapter 6.2: The Blank Adventurer I - (2) (1/2)

「Okay. You!」

A map was proffered to me so I took it. It was more complex than I had thought. The stairs leading to the next floor were marked on it.

「You’ll be the interim leader. Form a party with the five of you and descend to the fifth floor. I'll be waiting below」

Wait a minute, what do you mean?

Was what I wanted to ask, but Otou-san had already ran off.

「That was fast」

Moreover, he had disappeared quietly, without even a sound from his equipment.

Four pairs of eyes turned to me.

「Is there anyone who wants to be the leader instead?」

I had been bad at leading others from way back.

「Should I do it instead?」

The young knight took on the role readily. I proffered him the map, which he took.

「Alright! Everyone, follow me!」

「Not so fast」

I stopped the knight, just as he was about to start walking off.

「The map, you’re holding it upside down」

「Hahaha! I’m sorry about that. It’s because this is the first time I’ve seen a dungeon map, you see?」

He gave an invigorating laugh.

The boy and the girl stared at me. I looked away. Didn’t the woman look more knowledgeable anyways?

「I’ll have it memorized by the next time」

Is that so?

「Sorry. I’ll do it after all. I'm sorry for holding everyone up」

I took back the map. I crouched down slightly and talked into the microphone of my glasses.

「Izora, read the map and guide me. Izora? Makina? Please respond」

Huh?

There was no response. You’re kidding me, was there something that was causing interference? Dang it…… Well, alright. All I had to do was to look at the map and move accordingly. I could do that even without modern technology. Taking out a military card compass, I checked our bearing.

Before we set off, I had to decide our formation.

「Onii-san, I’m entrusting you with being at the front」

「Okay」

「After that—」

The knight was at the front. Next was me, the boy, the woman, and the girl brought up the rear.

「Everyone, turn on your lanterns」

I tried to turn on the lantern that had been given to me, but I didn't know how to use it so I swung it perfunctorily and the light came on. It was a dim and unreliable light. I felt uneasy so I took out a simple probe and turned on its light. The light it gave off was incomparably stronger than the lantern. I could see all the way to the end of the passageway.

「Ohh, that’s so bright. Is that magic?」

「Something like that」

The surprised knight started moving forward. Perhaps because I had seen how Otou-san had moved earlier, the sounds of the party members' footsteps and the clinking and clanking of their equipment sounded strangely annoying to me. Our relationships weren’t close enough for me to say anything about it, so I held my tongue. Still, wouldn’t we get attacked if there was an enemy that detected their prey by sound?

「Turn right at the next crossroads」

「Okay」

The knight stayed vigilant, holding his sword and shield up and checking to his left and right.

My first impression of him was that he was egocentric and unreliable, but this person had fighting experience. There were no wasted movements in the way he carried himself.

「It’s clear」

Following his words, I also turned to the right behind him. Something was behind me.

「Enemy!」

When I raised my voice and shone the light behind us, the sound of flapping wings intensified and a monster attacked. It was a severed human head with large wings where the ears would be. It opened its big mouth and bared its fangs.

「Sorry」

I was grabbed by my shoulder and pulled back forcibly. Somehow, I managed to break my fall while keeping my eye on what was happening.

Everything was already over.

The knight had knocked the monster down with his shield and the boy followed up by piercing it with his sword. It was over in an instant. Just when I was feeling amazed, another monster appeared. It was run through by the girl's spear, and was set ablaze by the woman while it was still skewered on the spear. The nice smell of roasting meat filled the air.

I was helped to my feet.

「This is a Chocho, isn’t it? This is the first time I seen one in the wild」

The woman was touching the monster that had been stabbed by the boy's sword. I was worried about whether there were any germs. And it stank of blood.

「The human face is more well-defined than those bred in farms. The wings are also more than double the size. Um～mm, it’s rather fleshy, don’t you think?」

What had looked like a human face to me was just a pattern, a form of mimicry. From its wings and the arrangement of its bones, I wondered if it was a species of bird. In addition, I had a question about them.

「Is it tasty?」

The woman’s eyes shone at my question.

「It's delicious. It's a bit ferocious, but you can keep it as long as you have a dark room, and you can eat almost everything except for its fangs and bones. Above all, their eggs are exquisite. It's being sold under the name of Guinelle large egg. The big bird called Guinelle originally did not live on the right continent. This chocho egg was sold as a substitute as it has almost the same taste and richness, and it took over the name after it became mainstream. There, a lesson on trivia for you」

「You can eat this?」

Only the knight had a pale face.

「Eh~, even we have eaten it before on our island. It is delicious even if you simply add salt after you fry the wings in oil until they are nice and crispy. Making it into soup might be nice too~」

「Don't talk about the island. We’ll be treated as hicks」

「Knight-sama, 30% of the food that can be eaten in the city is from the dungeon, you know?」

「Is that so? Sorry, I didn't even think about where the food came from」

「What? Are you a sheltered young master or something?」

At the boy’s rude remarks, the young man replied softly.

「Being a fringe noble is not something to be proud of」

「Knight-sama, as I suspected, you came from a good lineage!」

「Eh, really?! Are you rich?!」

Handsome, tall, personality seems good, and to top it off, a noble. Yes, if there was a woman who did not gobble him up, she would have to be a pretty perculiar person.

The boy and I were looking calmly at the knight being bombarded with questions. Considering where we were at the moment, we should really stop them. But, as we were men, if we cut in now, it would probably look like we were being jealous. I didn’t want that. Even if I had already lost, I still didn’t want that.

「Hey, kid」

「Huh?」

During times like this, it was best to talk about something totally unrelated.

「What do you think those Chochos eat?」

「Probably insects or rats, I guess? Aren’t there small animals living here too? Otherwise, the dungeon would probably be piled full with feces and rotting meat」

「That's true」

It was a simple food chain. And then, I uttered a question that had naturally popped up in my head.

「Well then, is the Chocho the apex predator of this floor?」

「There’s no~ way that’s true. There were some guys who farmed them on our island, but they were all eaten by wild dogs. They’re not a really strong species. Just the fact that they use mimicry means that they’re weak. I was just a little surprised that it was wild」

「Hmm」

Two female giggling voices. The refreshing smile of one knight-sama.

We were high and feeling elated after our first battle in the dungeon. We had great coordination when fighting off-the-cuff despite not having planned anything in advance. And we had won. With that, it would be strange if we weren’t in high spirits. Our excitement was rising.

But,

The fact that the boy and I were feeling a little less excited had just a little bit of an effect. But, it still wasn’t enough.

We did not notice the approaching presence of the predator of those birds.

「BOOOOOOOOOH!」

A loud roar.

It was a fattened pig. Simply put, it was big. Both its width and height were near the limits of the passageway. It was about three and a half meters in length. Excited by the smell of blood and turning its wild killing intent onto us, it charged at us! At its speed, it would take less than five seconds for it to make contact with us.

I remembered the words that my classmate, who used to work part-time raising livestock, had said in the past.

『Those pigs? They're fricking ferocious. They get eaten in fairy tales, but if there were three of them, the wolf would be the one getting eaten』

After that momentary escape from reality, I raised my voice.

「Run away!」

The boy grabbed the sexy woman and the girl and pulled them back. The corner. If we turned at the corner, we could take its back. With that huge body, facing it from the front wasー

「Come on! You monster!」

In front of the approaching pig, the knight-sama raised his sword fearlessly and held up his shield.

「In front of the enemy, those who are knights will never retreー, GYAAAAAAAA!」

He was flipped upwards by its huge nose. Fortunately, he landed behind the pig. I didn’t have the time to check if he was okay. For now, I pointed the light at the pig to draw it over here. We’ll recover him later.

「Run! RUN! Turn right at the next corner! Go straight for a while!」

The boy ran in front. Next was the woman, who ran the slowest. The girl and I followed behind her.

「What is that?! What did it eat to grow so big?!」

To the girl’s shout,

「”Everything”, I suppose!」

I replied.

「NOOOOOOOO!」

I would probably have screamed too if I was alone. Being chased by a huge pig in a dark dungeon was considerably harder than you could imagine. And it was easy to imagine what would happen if it caught up with us.

「Kid, next is left!」