Sooorry!

"Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah… Who're you? Never seen your face before."

Keeping my eyes closed the whole time would be weird, so let me open them and say hi.

Blink…

"A b-beastkin!! And a fluffy type! So cute!!"

"Hah? You, just because I'm a beastkin… wait, wait? C-cute, you said?"

Standing before me was a silver wolf onee-san with wolf ears and tail, even a muzzle (the protruding mouth and nose characteristic of dogs), covered head to toe in fluff. She had both the dignity and adorableness befitting the name Silver Wolf, and stood about a head taller than me.

Well, I thought she was wearing fluffy fur armor.

I'd seen beastkin before with Harumi Kazuchi-oneesama, but those were just ears and tail. This one's the full-body fluffy type that furries go wild for. Wooow, amazing.

"Oops, excuse me. Right, self-introductions. I'm Karina… Um, just a humble magic user."

"I'm Mashiro. If you say 'Mashiro the Silver,' I'm a bit famous around this town… Ahh, wait, so you don't have bad intentions…? Thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome. Oh, I'd prefer if you didn't tell anyone about me."

"Got it, I won't ask. You're my life saver after all."

Saying that, Mashiro-san glanced at the black mantis. Yeah, it's black alright. And the hairworm that'd been shredded to bits… is apparently mithril. If this is all mithril, there's probably enough to forge a sword. I wonder what the actual content is.

"I can't believe it… A Black Mantis and Mithril Devil, just like this…"

"Was that bad?"

"It's not bad, but… as far as I know, no one's ever defeated these things."

"They're that strong?"

"They're the dungeon's punitive monsters. Devils that appear when you seriously damage the dungeon's environment. They rampage for a week until they die, and all you can do is seal off the lower floors and wait it out… Didn't you hear about this at the door on your way here?"

"Eh? Sorry, didn't know."

"You didn't hear? The door guard tells everyone over and over not to cut down the trees here."

Oh.

"M-Mashiro-san. What happens if you cut down the trees?"

"That's why this thing showed up. Some idiot wanted Treant lumber and did some logging. The Treants here are harmless if you leave them alone."

What a coincidence, my storage space is stuffed with Treant lumber I hunted here the other day.

"I'm sorry. That was me."

"… Hahn?"

"N-no, wait. Like, what even is a door guard!? There wasn't anything like that on the path I took!"

"Haaah!? No way, you came from a new route!?"

"Ahh, it was blocked by a hornet's nest… and there wasn't any door…"

"What's that, explain in detail!!"

"Y-yesss…"

Apparently, this onee-san being in danger was my fault.

Oh no, I'm so sorry Mashiro-san. I confessed everything about destroying the hornet's nest and coming through the path beyond it.

"Geez, I don't get it, but if you're strong enough to take down a Black Mantis like it's nothing, I have no choice but to accept it…"

"I'm really sorry. Are you hurt? I'll heal you for free."

"I'm fine, but my equipment got a bit messed up. Need to restock on darts too."

"Okay, I'll fix it and restock for you."

I scanned onee-san's equipment. Ah, the sword's got quite a bit of chipping. There's only one left of those stick-shuriken-looking things that seem to be darts. The leather armor and boots are all scraped up. Well, since I caused all this trouble, using Spatial Magic to compensate is the least I can do.

"How many darts do you need?"

"Huh? You gonna buy 'em? Well then, how about 50 as an apology."

"Here ya go."

I piled 50 duplicated darts on the ground with a clatter. While I'm at it, let me fix the blade chips and warping on the sword. Fixing the metal fatigue too… Hnng. Alright, done.

"… Hah? Wait, where'd you just pull those from?"

"Let's see, the armor… ahh, this part is torn. I'll fix it. Sorry?"

"Eh, no, that was from another time—wait, huh, the armor damage is gone!?"

Onee-san was surprised as she felt where I had stroked and filled in the damage.

This is getting kinda fun… no wait, this is necessary. This is how I'm making it up to her! I gotta apologize with everything I've got!

"Aah! Now that I look closely, there's a wound on your chest too!? I'll heal it!"

"Hey, that's an old scar—whoa!? Wh-wha-what the hell!? The scar's gone!"

"Glad you're happy."

"I-I don't have money, you know!? You did it on your own!"

"Yep yep, I don't need it. Oh, you have a cavity too. I'll fix that."

"Wh-what the hell are yooou!? Is this my fault!?"

Nah, the one who did wrong and is apologizing is me. Sooorry!