LEGEND

Chapter 97

In front of them was a Spriggan, a type of Giant that was over 6m tall.

Even though a Spriggan was a B rank monster, it fought head on and without technique and was defeated by the combined strength of Elena, Rei and the others, its body currently lying in this large room.

「Elena-sama, look!」

Glancing away from the Spriggan, Ara, who was looking around the room, pointed at a location.

There was a staircase that went down that didn’t exist before they had fought the Spriggan.

「I see. When the Spriggan that was protecting this room was defeated, the staircase to the next floor will appear.」

As Elena nodded, beside her, Vel looked to be thinking about something with a troubled face.

「Vel?」

「Ah, nothing. Nothing at all. But just before, if we had gone down one of the other two paths at the crossroads similar to this one, I was just a little bit concerned if there would be so called boss rooms and if stairs would have appeared after defeating the monsters there.」

「I see, as far as I can see from this room, that is probably the case. However, that is only a guess. I can’t say for sure unless we actually went down the other passages at the crossroads.」

Ara tilted her head as she looked at Rei, who was recovering the corpse of the Spriggan.

「But Elena-sama, since there is information about the Altar of Inheritance, doesn’t that mean that there was a party that reached the lowest floor?　If that was so, if we went to the room where they had defeated the monster, wouldn’t the stairs be there right away?」

To that question, Vel answered instead of Elena.

「No, I think the dungeon nucleus will probably summon a new monster when the one defending the staircase is defeated. Whether it will be summoned after a few hours or whether several days are necessary, I do not know.」

「Even for the dungeon nucleus, if it’s not weak monsters like Goblins, some time is probably necessary to summon a B rank monster like a Spriggan……I would hope. When we come back to this level after finishing the ritual at the Altar of Inheritance, it wouldn’t be funny if we had to fight another monster the same rank as a Spriggan again.」

「At the very least, there would only be one. Imagine if there was a pack like the Emerald Wolves.」

Yes. Even if it was a B rank monster, although it may be troublesome for Elena and the others to fight, there was only one. It wasn’t an enemy with the strength to make them despair.

In the first place, Rei had the experience of killing an equal ranked Orc King just by himself and Set was an A rank monster. There was also Elena, the General Princess, who had fighting strength close to his.

「Elena-sama, the Spriggan has been collected.」

Elena had been looking at Rei when he turned around and called out to her, surprising her.

For some reason, she felt as though the inside of her head turned pure white for a moment when her eyes met Rei’s.

However, it was just a moment. Elena soon started thinking of things calmly as usual as she looked at the stairs down to the lowest floor.

(If we go down the staircase, it will be the lowest floor. It’s just a little bit more to the Altar of Inheritance……considering our exhausted stamina, we should spend the night here to restore our physical strength and magic power. Anyhow, a rank B monster appeared on the sixth floor. What type of monsters will there be on the lowest floor……）

Thinking to herself, she turned to look at Vel.

(Besides, Vel has released a considerable amount of traps on this floor. Although we’ve taken some breaks, it would still be better to take a rest. Vel has the physique of a thief, if he fails to disarm a trap properly due to mental fatigue, all the trouble we’ve taken to get here would come to naught.)

Putting those ideas together in her head in a few seconds, she told everyone, including Rei, to come over.

「We will spend tonight in this room, we will go down to the lowest floor tomorrow morning. Fortunately, we only have to watch for enemies coming up the stairs from the lowest floor since that huge door has closed. As for the watch, you won’t be as busy as that time in the forest. As Vel said a while ago, a high ranked monster to replace the Spriggan we defeated probably won’t be summoned soon. However, you shouldn’t let your guard down, if there are any signs of one being summoned, wake the rest up.」

「In that case, will we defeat the monster that was resummoned?」

Elena shook her head slightly at Kuust’s question.

「I can’t say, it depends on the summoned monster. If it’s an enemy that we can easily sweep away, we’ll do that then keep resting until tomorrow morning. However, if not, if a B rank monster like a Spriggan is summoned, we will go down to the lowest level as we wouldn’t be able to rest here.」

「That is so, that’s fine then.」

Kuust nodded in understanding and Elena turned to Rei.

「Rei, please prepare for camping here tonight at once. As I said before, we won’t use tents or sleeping bags so that we can act quickly if any trouble occurs. The only things we need are food and blankets for resting.」

「I understand. Please wait a moment.」

Expanding the list of items in the Misty Ring in his mind, he took out blankets, drinks and food.

Food was a potage soup and a large amount of sandwiches. Since everyone was hungry with everything they had done, they reached out for one after the other, bringing them to their mouths.

Still, they didn’t wolf it all down, as expected of people of nobility.

「Gururu~」

Me as well, Set seemed to say as he rubbed his head against Rei. Rei gave him some sandwiches for the time being as he displayed the list of items in the Misty Ring in his mind.

「As expected, all the monsters I roasted for Set have all been eaten……Set, you can have the food for monsters that were sold in downtown right away, it will take a bit of time to roast monsters now. Which one do you want to eat?」

「Gurururu~」

Chira~, Set turned to look at the blood that the Spriggan had shed.

「I see, you want the delicious food as expected.」

The meals for monsters that were sold in the city streets were basically like dog food. Even though it depended on the type of monster, Set didn’t like it that much.

Even though Set understood that it would take some time, it was within Rei’s expectations that he would chose the delicious food.

Anyhow, as he had eaten a few sandwiches, he was fine with not eating anything immediately.

「Well then, what should we do……oh, ah, there’s the Ogre’s right arm.」

While muttering, Rei took out the huge right arm of the Ogre that he had defeated on the fourth floor.

Peeling the skin, which could be sold as material, off the right arm with the Mithril Knife, he cut it into large chunks.

「……Rei, can I ask a question?」

Elena, who was watching Rei cut up the Ogre’s right arm, suddenly called out to him.

「Yes, is there anything?」

「Even if you said you’re going to cook, what about the fire?　No, I know that Rei is good at fire magic, but it would still be hard without firewood.」

「Ah, that’s fine. When I went into a forest for a guild request before, I noticed some dry wood and stored it into the item box in case of emergencies.」

While answering Elena, he took out some dry firewood from the Misty Ring, grasped the Death Scythe and cast a spell.

『Fire, gather on my fingertips……Small Flame』

As he cast the spell, a small flame glowed at the tip of Rei’s index finger as he used it to light the firewood. Then, as the fire gradually became bigger, he pierced the meat chunks onto sharp sticks and used some branches to assemble something like a table to support the meat skewers.

「Gururu~」

Set gave a cry as he began to smell the meat being quickly roasted. Rei lightly seasoned it with salt after cutting away the burnt parts and put it on a plate to give to Set.

「……Now then, first of all, tonight’s watch. The order will be me, Ara, Kuust, Vel then Rei.」

Turning his eyes to look at Set for an instant as Rei heard Elena’s instructions, after seeing that there were no objections, it became free time.

Ara talked to Elena while Rei roasted more Ogre meat for Set to eat.

While watching watching Elena and Rei, Kuust gently frowned his eyebrows as he drank some water from the bottle Vel gave him.

「Good grief, you are so obstinate. ……Hey, eat this.」

Kuust spoke up as he received some dried meat from Vel.

「I haven’t said anything yet.」

「Your eyes say more than your mouth. You understand the main points right Kuust?　Without Rei and Set, we probably wouldn’t have gotten here safely.」

「……I will admit that. But he’s also influenced Elena-sama……moreover, he’s had an adverse effect on her. Vel, haven’t you noticed?　Since we came down from the fifth floor to the sixth floor, Elena-sama has been paying a lot more attention to him. It’s quite apparent that the owner of the voice had something to do with it.」

「The owner of the voice. ……Well, indeed our princess has been behaving slightly strangely since we got to the sixth floor……but I think it’s only natural that she paying attention to Rei because she’s concerned about him.」

「Haa. You are really comfortable and easy going. I would like to have some of your optimism.」

「Don’t say that. Hey, eat this. And go to sleep quickly when you’re full. Tomorrow is finally the lowest level, it will be troublesome if you’re burdened because of some strange reason right?」

Kuust received a small bottle from Vel, inside were some shallow fried fruits, a simple kind of snack.

「This is?」

「It’s my special snack. It’s not like what a noble eats but it’s not a problem in such a place.」

「……Only snacks, there’s no alcohol is there.」

「I think you will be scolded by the princess if you drink alcohol while camping in the dungeon at night.」

「I’ve said this before, how many times have I told you not to call her princess……」

While talking in such a way, eventually one, then two more people went to sleep. Set was still eating the Ogre meat as Elena took the first watch. Along with Rei, they were the only people still awake.

「Gurururu~」

After Set finished eating all the meat that had been roasted on the campfire, Set gave a satisfied cry and moved somewhere a bit further away before lying down and closing his eyes.

Seeing Set off, Rei stood up after cleaning up all the food……

「Rei, are you okay?」

Elena, who had been watching him since a while before, spoke up.

「Yes?　I don’t mind but……do you want something light to eat?」

「No, if you don’t mind, I’d like to talk for a bit. Of course you can refuse if you’re too tired.」

Thinking for a couple of seconds, Rei sat down again before the campfire. While watching, Elena spoke up with a smile on her face.

「Rei, to be honest, I wouldn’t have been able to come this far if you weren’t here.」

「Well, normally I should be humble here……it’s quiet, don’t you think?」

Hearing those words, Elena gave a wry smile.

「You……actually, it’s fine even you don’t speak to me in formal language?」

「Well, it’s not that different is it. Anyhow, with just master and me……no, with just me, my master and Set, I only know about formal speech from books.」

「I see. You still talk with Vel and Ara in your usual way though.」

「That’s right. I wasn’t brought up speaking formally as normal.」

「……Hmm, that’s true. Thank you for your painstaking efforts so far. For non formal locations, I hope you don’t mind speaking with me in a casual tone.」

Elena told him as the campfire crackled and the flames bounced around.

As the surrounding walls glowed gently, the light from the campfire illuminated Elena and Rei.

「Is that okay?」

「It’s fine. Ordinary nobles will be strict with this, but as you know, I’m different from an ordinary noble.」

「Well, certainly, daughters of nobles usually don’t do things like coming out to the battlefield.」

「I’ve told you not to use formal speech.」

「Pardon me. ……No, I’m sorry. Is that okay?」

「That’s fine, I appreciate it if you could treat me with that kind of attitude.」

「Although you’re a noblewoman, you’re not good with honourifics……is that fine?」

Elena smiled wryly at Rei’s question.

「Not all nobles are that formal, look at my guards. Kuust aside, Ara and Vel dislike dealing with those things.」

「……What?　Although it was obvious that Kuust was a noble, Ara and Kuust are as well?」

「Ah. Ara is the third daughter of a Countess and Vel is the second son of a Viscount.」

「Indeed, that was surprising……」

In this way, as the light of the campfire illuminated them vaguely, Rei and Elena continued the conversation between the two of them for another hour……soon, Rei stood up from the campfire.

「Well then, I’m going to sleep soon. We will finally be at the lowest floor tomorrow. I don’t want to think about starting while still tired.」

「I see. ……That’s right. Certainly Rei was more active than anyone else today. You did well.」

「Ah, then goodnight.」

Saying that, Rei started to move away from the campfire……

「Rei!」

Suddenly, from behind, he was called with a strong tone.

「What’s wrong?」

「That is, today’s……no, it’s nothing. I just wanted to say I’ll be relying on you tomorrow.」

「? Well, naturally, I don’t intend to do a lousy job.」

Glancing at Elena’s face with a puzzled look, he wrapped the blanket around himself to finally rest.

(Rei……I, you……no, I’m a bit regretful.)

Elena shook her head slightly.

In this way, the day before they went to the lowest floor passed.