Rookie Hunting (3)

"Well then, want to head right into the dungeon?"

"Yes, thank you, Gesunoh-sama, Kiwami-sama."

They went into the dungeon, led by Kiwami as their scout. Mai, the blue-haired young lady, set foot into the dungeon—yet still, she was more calm than Gesunoh had thought she would.

He wished she would have at least been excited for entering a dungeon for the first time. Maybe she was just good at concealing her expressions?

"Ojou-sama, have you been inside a dungeon before?"

"Yes, I asked Shina to show me around a little yesterday. Well, we turned back after seeing the second room though."

Oh, so she's already been into a dungeon before?

Gesunoh thought to himself, now understanding why.

This dungeon was particularly special, it was a dungeon you could enter with even a G-Rank in your party, or even a party of F-Rank adventurers.

Though if you wanted to enter with a G-Rank, your party would need to have a person in it of at least D-Rank to be allowed in.

"Shina's here too, a dungeon like this should be an easy thing."

"Ojou-sama, please don't let down your guard. Dungeons are dangerous places, okay? … Gesunoh-san, Kiwami-san, please say something to Ojou-sama as well."

The topic had suddenly shifted, but Gesunoh and Kiwami just smiled.

This young lady being so cocksure would only serve to make it easier on them.

"Oh no no, it's as our Ojou-sama says. A low difficulty dungeon like this is so easy that even beginners are allowed to delve into it. We'll be able to manage even without you two worrying about anything."

"Right? That's why darling and I are here."

Kiwami winked at Mai. Having great timing, two goblins appeared and attacked them. Gesunoh made quick work of them, defending Mai and Shina as they'd declared.

Even with their rotten core, they were still C-Ranks. Mere goblins would never best them.

"Amazing work. Don't you agree, Senpa—Pet-chan?"

"…"

The pet beastkin looked on with cold, expressionless eyes.

… She didn't even look at the young lady. As I thought, the two of them don't get along well.

Kiwami was convinced of it.

"I-I want to give a reward to Gesunoh-sama after doing such amazing work. Please accept this."

Saying that, Mai pulled a silver coin out from her [Safe] and handed it to Gesunoh.

"Haha, I'll keep it as a good luck charm."

How much money does she have in there?

Not skipping a beat and still keeping a smile on his face, Gesunoh started thinking about how things stored inside containers created by space-time magic—[Safe] for example—would spill out if the caster died.

"Oh? I don't get any?"

"The person who defeated the goblins a moment ago was Gesunoh-sama though? Kiwami-sama did nothing. Right, Shina?"

"Yes, Kiwami had done nothing. Rewarding a person who simply stood and watched would be wasteful."

Tch, fucking amateur bitch.

Hearing her say that, Kiwami cursed her out in her mind. In fact, Kiwami had noticed the goblins ahead of time and closed off their path of retreat while Gesunoh took care of them.

However, that could also mean that Shina took her to be a useless individual and may lower her guard a bit more.

Though besides, speaking entirely in terms of how little someone had done, Shina was the most useless as she'd only stood next to the young lady the entire time.

… They preferred enjoying themselves with people that were still alive, but it wasn't exactly a requirement. They could still have fun with someone after they'd killed them.

"Darling, could you give me that? I'm going to embed it into her with [Healing] after cutting the tendons of her arms and legs. We'll do the young lady on her like that and kill her later."

"Kukuku, as expected of my honey. That's a great idea. Let's slice up this Ojou-sama with the sword in there."

Gesunoh and Kiwami spoke to each other in whispers so that the other two wouldn't hear them.

"Well then, how about we check out a bit deeper in? I heard about an interesting room at the guild. Wanna try it? Not like there'll be any trouble with us here."

"Yes, please guide us."

"Ojou-sama, I do not believe that we should go any further in, it is dangerous."

"Be quiet, Shina. We have Gesunoh-sama here, a C-Rank. There won't be any problems."

"…"

The beastkin pet sighed, her eyes still cold.

Making their way through the first floor, they finally made it into the labyrinth area. Even there, they didn't come across any major enemies. Although it did have iron golems in it, all they came across were clay golems.

They were cleaned up about as quickly as the goblins.

Although there was a labyrinth, they easily made their way through it using the map's help and quickly came upon their goal—the [Avarice Trap].

Gesunoh and Kiwami entered first, followed by Mai and Shina after being invited in.

Kiwami approached the pedestal with the sword in it. With everyone in the room—Gesunoh standing in the rear—she pulled out the sword.

Shortly afterward, they heard a noise and the entrance was blocked by needles.

"Crap! We're shut in!"

Gesunoh spoke with a forced tone.

"!? Wh-What happened?"

"Wh-What is this?"

The lady and her escort reacted in similar ways. Their behaviors were so alike that it was like they were connected by strings. Seeing them like that, Gesunoh grinned.

It looked like the ladies hadn't collected any information about this room. It would have been somewhat annoying had they known about it.

"Gesunoh-sama, what is going on?"

"Don't worry about it, Ojou-sama. In truth, after pulling that magic sword out of its pedestal, the room will lock itself down for a single night. It is a safety zone, there is no danger."

"Just one night?"

"Yes. We will rest here and return tomorrow in the morning."

Gesunoh smiled as warmly as he could to reassure the lady.

"Is that so?"

She appeared to be convinced.

"However, you unilaterally deciding our schedule is troubling. We haven't prepared to camp?"

"I am sorry for that. Don't worry, though. We have prepared accordingly, including enough for the Ojou-sama, of course."

With that, Gesunoh invoked [Storage] and took out a collapsible tent and sleeping bags.

The [Storage] scroll was expensive, but it was convenient. Time inside it was stopped, so you could even keep severed animal parts preserved in it.

"Oh? You can use [Storage]? Is that why you weren't worried about meals before?"

"Yeah, we can eat freshly prepared meals like this."

Gesunoh took out some soup, steam still rising from it.

The soup was, however, drugged. It wasn't so much that you would notice after a mouthful or two, but around an hour after finishing it, you would grow numb and become unable to move.

Feeding them this would make their job easier than just attacking them normally, but—

"Ojou-sama. Please eat what I have prepared. We don't know if they put anything in that."

"If you say so, Shina. Gesunoh-sama, please eat that with Kiwami-sama."

"Oh? Oh well, then."

Of course it wouldn't go that smoothly.

Gesunoh clicked his tongue. Even so, they wouldn't have any problems if they just attacked them during their sleep. He decided to wait for night.