The War of Death's Beginnings (1)

Hamakaze and I had reached the sixtieth floor. I think it's been around four days. I'm not certain, though, since my sense of time is fuzzy down here.

To put it simply, the fifty-second to fifty-ninth floors were a pain.

At first the reason was the dungeon itself, but later on the reason turned into being Hamakaze Shuri.

After all that happened, I had to increase Hamakaze's stats as fast as possible.

This girl got killed by the demons on the fifty-first floor, so I started out those first floors fighting monsters to raise her level.

Around halfway through the floors, Hamakaze seemed to be impatient about something and volunteered herself to fight as well.

She probably thought that I would abandon her if she was useless, a good trait for a slave to have.

But recently, it's been overwhelming. Not letting me lay a finger on them, Hamakaze charges in the moment we encounter anything and turn them into particles. This happens over and over.

Hamakaze wound up passing me in levels, but if it ever looks like her attitude turns rebellious, I'll just tell her that she's released from the contract, so it's alright.

I also came to know something new about one of my special abilities. Although Lich King has an effect similar to resurrection magic, it returns the target to a corpse upon their liberation. I found this out by experimenting on a demon I killed, turning it into a slave before it disappeared into particles of light.

Demons won't disappear if they don't receive fatal wounds. For example, a High Wulf wouldn't disappear even when I cut off one of its legs. The same would happened with its severed limb.

Knowing that was helpful.

Hamakaze and I couldn't eat much, so we were currently both hungry.

We would collapse if we didn't handle the situation carefully, but we avoided the worst case scenario by eating meat. It's a shame that demon meat didn't taste too good at all, but there's nothing we could do about that.

By the way, this is what it's like right now.

"Daichi, please open your mouth."

"Ahhh."

Hamakaze held a slice of Wulf meat she'd roasted with fire-type magic and brought it to my mouth.

After that day, be it her tone or her actions, Hamakaze changed drastically. Her calling me by name so respectfully surprised me, I never thought that she'd do such a sharp turnabout.

She's an honest, obedient girl. Her overdependence crops up here and there, but that's how I managed to win her over, so it's fine as is if that's all.

However, I'd prefer it if she stopped embracing me so tightly in her sleep every night.

I'd be troubled if my accumulating desires went on a rampage. I'm a guy, too.

Those were the annoying things about Hamakaze.

… However. There was a however.

Her being so helpful was a big help. Me choosing her wasn't a mistake.

Yep, not a mistake at all.

"Daichi."

"Ah, thanks."

"No need to thank me, thank you very much."

With Hamakaze making sure I ate, my stamina recovered. I gave some food to her as well.

We have no problems with stuff to drink thanks to spirit rank water-type magic.

"… Umm… Daichi?"

"What's up?"

"W-Well… could I… get you to feed me?"

Hamakaze looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. Her cheeks were faintly flushed.

"Feed yourself. Why would I do that?"

"O-Okay… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it… I'll think about it after we get out of here."

"O-Okay…!"

Hamakaze was so excited her body even started to quiver. She looked down and bit down into her High Wulf meat.

… Just like a carrot and stick.

Finishing our first meal we've had in a while, we sat cross-legged on the cold, hard floor.

"What are we doing next? I can still fight, but…"

"Yeah, that's the plan. We still don't know where the stairs are yet though."

"The enemies' stats won't be a problem, will they?"

"Oh, come to think of it, I haven't checked yet have I?"

I looked toward the collapsed High Wulf a little ways from us.

That one was one of my slaves too, wasn't he? We just used him for food… I got careless.

"Open."

 

 

It's higher than I thought…"

"Yeah. He'd beat that Shit Hero Samejima."

"… You…"

Her smile seemed to ask if she'd said something strange. She tilted her head to the side.

I don't mind her being so blunt though… it's convenient for me.

The more desire she has to carry out her revenge, the better.

"… No, it's nothing. Right, let's take this guy's stats as the standard for the sixtieth floor."

"Let's go."

There was no need for either of us to ask if that was too much.

"Alright. Let's go kill some demons."

"Could I start with this dog, then?"

"Yeah, sure. He doesn't look like he'd even be useful as a shield anymore."

"I agree. O' wind spirits, slice through the air. Wind Slice."

Unable to move due to its missing legs, the invisible blade of air decapitated the High Wulf.