Manowa Chapter 163

◎ Blue Rifon Fort, Seventh Layer

「I'm sorry, Aneki.」

Naoki apologized with a downhearted expression.

「I already told you, it's fine.」

Kazane said, but was Naoki still depressed. Up to this point, the battles had been entrusted to the group of three and it had been proceeding smoothly, but some time ago Naoki had panicked, and there was the risk of someone receiving a serious injury. Fortunately, everyone was fine, but it was a dangerous development that left them in a cold sweat. And the reason Naoki panicked was an Earth Dragon Modoki.

「So it's still useless, huh?」

「Since there was no problem before we started, I thought he had already overcome it.」

Lyle and Emily were watching Naoki anxiously.

The Earth Dragon Modoki that caused the problem this time was a lizard similar to a 4 meter long Earth Dragon that lived around Hyvern. Its appearance was very similar to an Earth Dragon, but the pattern of the scales and their defensive power wasn't as high.

So naturally, Kazane gallantly jumped into the battle when it became a pinch and brought it down with a dragon claw axe kick without activating Killing Leg.

Then Kazane got the『Fabricated Coercion』Skill. Apparently it was a Passive Skill that allowed her to emit a high level air of intimidation. That may have been why the Earth Dragon Modoki was feared beyond what was necessary.

Since it was Passive, it activated the moment she obtained it, and when she was asked by Emily「Um, are you angry at Naoki?」she turned it off. She wasn't particularly angry. Kazane thought it probably gave her a dramatic atmosphere like in a manga, but since she wasn't in a manga, she didn't really know. Kazane was a real girl.

And it seemed Naoki was still carrying around the trauma of being chased by an Earth Dragon Modoki when he first appeared in this world. He was able to fight against the Earth Dragon Modoki at first, but it seemed he suddenly remembered the old days and became panicked.

「Well, scared feelings can't be helped. I'm sorry, if Onee-chan knew, you could have stayed back.」

So saying, Kazane patted Naoki's head. Naoki's face immediately turned red. He was also embarrassed, but it was mainly because he thought the face of his older sister as she was worried about himself was painfully cute. He was a hopeless younger brother. And when he thought of how he was feeling in that kind of situation, he was ashamed and turned his face down. Emily thought (it's probably embarrassing being comforted by his older sister) as she looked on with a smile, but there was no person there who could point out the difficult misunderstanding.

「Even so, the number of monsters has really increased, hasn't it.」

Kazane asked Sera while stroking Naoki's head. In addition, Kazane was delighted at being able to act like an older sister.

「Yeah, that's right.」

Sera replied, but there were even more than Sera realized. Since Kazane was using『Dog's Sense of Smell』to avoid many groups of monsters, the actual number of monsters was 4 or 5 times the amount Sera was aware of. Since Kazane herself understood the discrepancy, she thought the number was correspondingly large.

(Then they were caught by a Monster House...)

Kazane thought, and that was a natural prediction. The monsters going above ground itself may have been because of the guidance of the highly intelligent Monster Tamer, but she couldn't think of anything other than a Monster House that could generate such a large number of monsters.

Then Kazane and the others discovered the remains of one of the members of O-ring as they were travelling on the 11th layer.

◎ Blue Rifon Fort, 11th Layer

「No, I don't recognize the face.」

When they discovered the fallen body in the corner of the dungeon, Naoki so announced without self-confidence. He wasn't able to speak with conviction because the state of the damaged corpse was awful, but he knew the body was a member of O-ring because he was wearing the signature blue armband of the O-ring party. Since he was torn to shreds but not eaten, he was probably attacked by a non-biological monster.

「I think it's the newcomer, Alz. I also don't know that guy well, so that's only a maybe, though.」

Sera said when she looked at the body. Since Sera wasn't well acquainted with the member Alz, she also lacked self-confidence. She had probably only had a conversation with the leader Ori and her friend Naira.

Then Kazane put the remains in a bag and placed it on High Hippo-kun, behind Naoki and Tatsuyoshi-kun Dragoon.

「It smells like a considerable number of monsters have roved around here. It's a bit hard to tell, but the scent of people is also mixed in. I need to concentrate, so be quiet.」

So saying, Kazane closed her eyes. Everyone silently watched Kazane. This time Kazane wasn't only relying on scent, but was also using trying to dowse with the Infinite Key. It was better to have as many clues as possible.

「That way..... I think?」

Kazane said before moving on.

Then a spacious room appeared ahead of the party's advance. It was wide, and a considerable number of monster corpses were scattered about. In the center was a treasure chest that was grander than what was normally seen inside a dungeon.

「Aneki, what is that?」

It seemed Naoki had never seen one. That was the same for the other members.

「When a Monster House appears, an excessively grand treasure chest will also appear. It's the reward.」

Kazane had heard that when they previously encountered a Monster House. At that time, everyone was safe, so they were able to laugh at the end. But Kazane became sad when she looked at the body bag behind Naoki. Adventurers had to be prepared for such things, but sad things were still sad.

「Aneki has seen this before?」

「We were hit by a Monster House before.」

Naoki's face paled after those words. That same happened to the other members. There was a very low chance of surviving being directly hit by a Monster House. In other words, the girl in front of their eyes had passed through such a fierce battle.

「You did well to escape. As expected of my Aneki.」

Naoki so responded with a dry laugh,

「No no, we diligently killed everything.」

Kazane immediately replied. Everyone in that place became speechless for a moment.

And although they were surprised, Lyle and Emily's grandfather was connected to the Ogre Killing Princess, so they knew more stories about her and knew about the Monster House incident.

(Ah, that? The Ogre Killing Princess's Leftovers)

(There was a story like that, wasn't there)

There was a story that the White Party spearheaded by the Prince of Minshiana encountered a Monster House before the dragon extermination. Although it was considered that having that happen and then successively subjugating a dragon was an impossibly absurd series of battles, so people thought it was probably exaggerated. Lyle and Emily also thought so.

In addition, the story was called The Ogre Killing Princess's Leftovers because when the other parties arrived at the large hall where the White Party fought, there was an enormous amount of monster corpses there, and the parties were able make a small fortune by gathering the large quantity of materials there. Since that story overlapped with the Black Rock Dragon scale gathering, Lyle and Emily thought the Monster House encounter was a fictitious story that lacked any credibility. But according to the words of the girl in front of them, it seemed that was also true.

Well, Kazane didn't notice the state of mind of the surrounding people as she looked around and nodded.

「There is no doubt that the Monster House generation point was here. There was a diverging path between the place Alz-san died and this place, so we'll backtrack a bit.」

「Aneki, what about that treasure chest?」

「Let's collect it. We'll decide on the ownership after meeting with Ori-san and the others.」

The rules of the Adventurers Guild stipulated that the ownership of a treasure chest went to the person who opened it...... but since Kazane wanted to get along with the person who had taken care of Naoki, she was thinking that she wanted to honor the other party's intentions.

And the item they obtained was called a Water Orb. It produced water when given magical power. Since the water it produced was drinkable, it was very convenient.

Then Kazane and the others decided to return the way they came. When Kazane sensed that the smell diverged, the group advanced down the forked path. Kazane felt like the scent was probably around half a day old, but it was certain that the O-ring party successfully escaped the Monster House hall since they made it this far. It seemed that one of the companions went the wrong way, but the remaining members were possibly alive. Everyone in that place had that hope, and they advanced further into the dungeon depths.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Ogre Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Accumulator, White Magic Accumulator

Level : 30

Health: 107

Magic Power: 181+420

Strength: 52+10

Agility: 43+4

Endurance: 29

Wisdom : 57

Dexterity : 38

Spell : 『Fly』 『Torch』 『Fire』 『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』

Skill : 『Warrior's Memory』 『Night Vision』 『Crushing Blow』 『Dog's Sense of Smell』 『Golem Maker: Lv3』 『Rush』 『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』 『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』 『Air Jump: Lv2』 『Killing Leg: Lv3』 『Fear Voice』 『Invisible』 『Tiger Eye』 『Wall Walking』 『Intuition』 『Cheat Death』 『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot』『Sturdier Teeth』『Crystallization』『Fabricated Coercion』

Yumika:「The Monster House, huh? As might be expected, collecting everything was impossible.」

Kazane:「Right?」

Chapter end