Rookie Hunting (6)

"Uwaaaaaah! … Huh?"

When Gesunoh woke up, he was in some stone passage. Kiwami was with him.

His body didn't hurt, and Kiwami's face had returned to normal.

"Huh? … Oh, it was a dream. What a weird dream."

He had no idea why he'd fallen asleep in a place like this, but he figured it was probably due to a trap or something.

There was no way any of that could have actually happened. Their prey turning out to be monsters, the slave being a monster too, a silver-haired woman who commanded Iron Golems appearing out of nowhere.

Let alone getting beaten up by a swarm of Iron Golems. What a horrible nightmare.

But since his body and Kiwami's face were both fine, it must have been a dream. It was far too vivid and he could recall every detail, but it was a dream. Forget about it, Gesunoh told himself.

"Kiwami, hey, wake up."

"Mmm… what is it, darling? … Huh?"

When Gesunoh shook Kiwami awake, she looked around.

"… What happened to Ojou-sama and the elf escort? And that silver-haired woman?"

"H-Honey, you had the same dream?"

"Dream? … Right, yeah, it was a dream."

Kiwami answered while touching her face.

"So then, this is… somewhere you brought me, right, darling?"

"No, I just woke up too. Honey, don't you know where we are?"

"I have no idea… we're inside the dungeon, aren't we?"

Judging by the feel of the passage, probably. Maybe part of the labyrinth?

Then they heard footsteps. Other adventurers? No, there were too many. Plus, the footsteps were heavy and echoing.

"Don't these sound like Iron Golem footsteps…? And a lot of them at that."

"A swarm of Iron Golems…? Let's hide in that room and let them pass."

Remembering being surrounded by Iron Golems in his dream, Gesunoh felt the blood drain from his face.

Kiwami must have also witnessed a lot of Iron Golems in her dream, because she chose to flee without mocking Gesunoh. It was the natural choice. There were only the two C-Rank adventurers here.

However, Kiwami hadn't noticed. This door was more ornate than those of other rooms.

This was this dungeon's boss room. A doorway leading to an even deeper hell.

… Inside, the room looked like a castle's audience chamber. But there was no one there, just a treasure chest.

"Look, Kiwami! There's a treasure chest."

"Wait, Gesunoh. It's got to be trapped. Let's be careful."

A silver lining in their misfortune. There had to be something useful inside.

When the two approached the treasure chest, the door they came through slammed shut.

And then — it fell down.

THOOM! A tremor that reverberated in their guts. Having landed on the stone floor, it produced grating metallic screeches every time it moved its body.

It spread its wings wide and raised its head. Red jewel eyes devoid of any sense of life locked onto Gesunoh and the others.

Its form was unmistakably that of the strongest species: a dragon.

"PULAAAAAAAAAA!!"

A strange roar echoed through the room, like several metal flutes of different pitches being blown all at once.

"An iron… dragon!?"

"Wha… run!"

Abandoning the chest, they searched for an escape route and spotted a door leading further in.

The two rushed toward it, but it was locked.

"Open it quickly, Kiwami!"

"Wait! It's no good, I can't open it!"

"Wha… you're a scout, aren't you!? Just open it already!"

"How am I supposed to open it when there's not even a keyhole!! This is a boss room!"

It was a door that wouldn't open without defeating the boss.

"I-It's not my fault! You're the one who said to go into this room!"

"You agreed too!! You're a warrior, so go deal with that dragon!"

"Are you kidding me? It's a dragon!"

Thoom, thoom. The iron dragon slowly approached them.

This wasn't the time for arguing.

"… Honey, I have a suggestion. While one of us draws its attention, the other runs for the entrance."

"Oh, so naturally you'll be the decoy, right, darling?"

"How about we both run in opposite directions, and whichever one it chases becomes the decoy?"

"… Fine."

And so the two took off, running in opposite directions to the dragon's left and right.

The dragon headed toward Kiwami —

And its steel tail lashed out at Gesunoh. He'd been slow to decide to run, but something like this he could dodge. Just as he crouched to slip under it…

"Ugoh!"

As if the tail had eyes of its own, it changed trajectory and swept Gesunoh off his feet, knocking him unconscious.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Uwaaaaaah! … Huh?"

When Gesunoh woke up, he was in some stone passage. Kiwami was with him.

His body didn't hurt, and Kiwami was sleeping beside him, uninjured.

"Huh? … Oh, it was a dream. What a weird dream…"

He had no idea why he'd fallen asleep in a place like this, but he figured it was probably due to a trap or something.

… Deja vu.

"Kiwami, hey, wake up, please!"

"Mmm… what is it, darling? … Huh?"

When Gesunoh shook Kiwami awake, she looked around.

"… What happened to Ojou-sama and the elf escort? And that silver-haired woman?"

"H-Honey? Wasn't that a dream? More importantly, did you have a dream with a dragon in it?"

"Dream? … Right, yeah, it was a dream… A dragon? No, I didn't."

Kiwami answered while touching her face.

She didn't see the dragon? In that case, what just happened was also a dream?

"So then, this is… somewhere you brought me, right, darling?"

"U-Uh, anyway, let's get away from here quickly. I've got a bad feeling."

"Huh? … Well, alright, shall we hide in that room over there?"

The room Kiwami pointed at was the room where he'd been attacked by the dragon in his dream.

"We should stay away from that room."

"But I can hear footsteps, and quite a lot of them…"

Gesunoh could hear them too. There were many. And they were heavy, echoing footsteps…

If Kiwami couldn't remember, then maybe it really was just a dream. Besides, if it hadn't been a dream, he should already be dead. With that reluctant reasoning, Gesunoh decided to flee into the room.

The deciding factor was that the treasure chest from before wasn't there.

"Don't let your guard down, honey. Watch out for the ceiling."

"The ceiling? There's nothing there. What are you being cautious of, darling?"

"A dragon. This might be a boss room."

"… Setting aside the dragon thing, it could be a boss room."

At the far end of the room, there was a door leading further in… It matched what he'd seen in his dream.

"… That door is probably locked. And there's no keyhole either."

"Huh? How do you know that from here?"

"I'll hold the entrance door here. Go check it out."

"Well, okay… you're acting strange, darling."

And just as Kiwami headed to check the door at the far end—

"PULAAAAAAAAAA!!"

A metallic roar, painful to the ears. From out of nowhere, as if it had been made invisible, an iron dragon suddenly appeared. It was exactly the nightmare he'd seen, the same shape and everything.

"Hii… uwaaaaaaaaah!!"

"Darling!?"

Gesunoh fled at full speed. Abandoning Kiwami, he went for the door.

And there he found countless Iron Golems blocking the passage in both directions.

"Please go back inside."

Hidden in the golems' shadows was the dog-eared slave.

For some reason, Gesunoh's legs were trembling.

A fully equipped adult adventurer, trembling before a dark-skinned little girl. It was a bizarre sight.

"That's strange, his memories should have been erased… Neru? Did you do your job properly?"

"I diiid, but after five times even I can't completely erase them, you know? Vivid memories of near-death terror are really hard to erase, even under normal circumstances."

"… This is troublesome. Goshujin-sama still wants to test the dragon, though."

Test? Goshujin-sama? That blue-haired… no, the doll? The dragon?

His head was in chaos.

"What's going on!? What are you after!?"

"Testing, like I said… Well, it can't be helped. Let's erase his memory more thoroughly this time. Don't worry, we know from experience that you won't die as long as we heal you, even if an arm comes off. So don't be afraid and go challenge the dragon. Neru, [Possession]."

"Aye aye! [Possession] request! … Permission granted, commencing fusion!"

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

"Uwaaaaaah! … Huh?"

When Gesunoh woke up, he was in some stone passage. Kiwami was with him.

His body didn't hurt, and Kiwami was sleeping beside him, uninjured.

"Huh? … Oh, it was a dream. What a weird dream… a dream, yeah, a dream… huh? What was I… dreaming about…?"

Still confused, Gesunoh decided to wake up Kiwami for now.

How many times this had repeated was something Gesunoh had no way of knowing.