Arc Lab ④
Timidly, we descended to the second basement floor… Was it a storeroom?
Wooden crates and barrels were just placed haphazardly along the stone-paved passage.
Bid-san tried breaking one or two crates, but they were empty.
I used the Relic [Wheel of Fortune] just in case, but there was no reaction.
Only a line of green light stretched deeper into the passage.
What’s going on here? Well, I guess I have no choice but to trust it for now.
As I walked, I heard crunching sounds underfoot.
“What’s that?”
“What is it-ssu?”
Looking down, I saw wooden planks. Fragments from the crates.
Ah, so that’s what I stepped on. Relieved, I continued forward.
After a while, just as I was thinking it was quite a long passage…
“Um, hey-ssu. Wof-kun.”
“What is it?”
Turning around, I saw Bid-san, who was following me, looking somewhat restless.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and she was looking down slightly.
Huh, this feels like what happened in the Water Dungeon.
“…Is there really something here-ssu…? Even though it was hidden.”
“Yes. Um, could it be, Bid-san…”
“Wh-what is it-ssu?”
“Are you scared?”
“Eh?”
“Well, I mean, we have the Orb of Light, but it’s pretty dim here, so I thought maybe places like this scare you.”
The Orb of Light was convenient, adjusting its brightness depending on the location.
Since it was narrow here, it illuminated our feet but didn’t reach much further ahead.
That’s why it was dim.
“…………Ah, well, yeah, I guess so-ssu. The place I was attacked was like this too-ssu.”
Her words made me feel a pang of guilt. R-right. That too.
“S-sorry.”
“Ahaha, there’s no need for you to apologize-ssu, Wof-kun. It’s just, well. Like before, I just thought that whenever I’m with you, Wof-kun, we always end up in places with no people around-ssu.”
“Ah, now that you mention it.”
In the Water Dungeon too, we headed towards areas without people.
I hadn’t really thought about it, but now that she says it, we are a boy and a girl.
Could it be… she suspects me?
No, that’s not it. Is it because we’re opposite genders?
Once I became conscious of it, I started feeling apologetic and awkward.
Bid-san gave me a wry smile.
“Sorry-ssu. My attitude seems to have troubled you somehow-ssu.”
“No, I should have been more considerate.”
“What’s with that-ssu? That’s not how you talk to a child-ssu.”
Bid-san giggled softly.
Perhaps this cleared the air for her.
She came up beside me, and saying there was nothing else to do anyway, suggested we chat, so we started talking idly.
There was something I was a little curious about, so I asked.
“Ms. Pachira and the others. They went to the Tasan Territory, right?”
“Seems like it-ssu. I don’t know the details either-ssu.”
“They mentioned something about support.”
“The support system for female Seeker parties-ssu. I heard it’s a new venture by the Tasan Family-ssu. The Tasans are a famous matriarchal noble family-ssu. Speaking of which, Juicy-chan is too, right-ssu?”
“You know her?”
“Mineha introduced us, and she sometimes worked as a Hired Pup for me-ssu.”
“Is that so?”
“She’s probably back in the Tasan Territory with her older sisters now, maybe with Pachira’s group-ssu.”
“I see.”
Our conversation flowed easily from such innocuous topics.
But then she suddenly said, “I want you to know about me-ssu, Wof-kun.”
So, I played it safe and asked about her favorite and least favorite foods, music, and hobbies.
“Favorite foods, let’s see-ssu. I like tomatoes and apples-ssu.”
Not carrots?
“You like fruits?”
“That’s right-ssu. But I also quite like smelly things-ssu.”
“Do you mean fermented foods like cheese?”
“Yeah-ssu. There’s a traditional dish from my homeland made by stuffing a seabird into the gutted body of a sea monster called a Tukaran, carefully removing all the air, tying it shut, coating it with fat, and leaving it buried in the snowy ground for several months-ssu.”
“…That’s an incredible traditional dish.”
A dish? Ah, Kiviaq. The outrageous fermented food of the Alaskan Inuit.
It exists in this world too?
“I like that-ssu. The innard juices go really well with hard bread or beans-ssu. My least favorite foods are fish and octopus-ssu. I don’t like the bones in fish-ssu.”
“Ah, I understand that feeling. Is it the texture for octopus?”
At that, Bid-san’s face turned bright red, and she looked down slightly. What’s wrong?
“A long time ago… in a different place-ssu, but in a Water Dungeon, an octopus monster… attacked me-ssu.”
“Ah, ahh… s-sorry.”
“No, I defeated it soundly, so it’s fine-ssu. I don’t mind-ssu. Uh, Wof-kun, your favorite food is Butter Rice, right-ssu? What about foods you dislike?”
“Things I dislike… I wonder. I don’t really have any.”
“Personally, I find it appealing when someone isn’t a picky eater-ssu.”
“Ah, thank you very much. As for music—“
And so, our idle chat became livelier than expected.
Without boredom or tension, we reached the very end of the passage. The line of green light was hitting a door directly to the side.
“A room?”
“A room-ssu.”
There was no lock, and the door opened.
The room was small, containing only wooden crates, barrels, a shelf, and a desk.
The line of green light pointed towards a wall where nothing was placed.
“Is there something here?”
The wall? Ah, a hole—a keyhole.
I tried the keys from the Key Ring I held, one by one.
The seventh one fit. When I turned it, the ceiling directly above began to open.
There was a stepladder nearby, and I used it to climb into the space above.
It was a room about the same size as the one below. However, there wasn’t a single thing inside.
Except, under the floor, there was a faintly glowing Teleportation Array.
Ah, so it’s that pattern.
Naturally, we couldn’t just enter this, so Bid-san and I called everyone else.
And soon, five people and one animal were crammed into the small hidden room.
“A Teleportation Array, of all things.”
“These certainly aren’t cheap.”
“…”
“Ngh… troublesome… indeed.”
“The problem is, who’s gonna go first-ssu?”
We had to go beyond this point. But who?
By the way, there’s something I’ve been wondering about.
“…Um, excuse me, Munieca-san.”
“Yes?”
“That rabbit in your hand…”
For some reason, she was roughly holding Hayyarn by one leg.
There was no reply from the upside-down Hayyarn. Bid-san spoke up.
“I’ve seen hunters who tie small prey like that with a cord and attach it to their waist-ssu.”
“I have no hobby of attaching things to my waist, but this rabbit jumped at me, so I dispatched it.”
“Sorry for the trouble.”
What is this rabbit doing? Of all people, she’s the last one he should be sexually harassing.
Munieca-san looked at Hayyarn and made a suggestion.
“Disciple of The Witch. How about we toss this one in?”
“That sounds good.”
There was no reason to refuse. Bid-san and Liv-san, victims of his sexual harassment, also nodded.
Reold had no right to refuse, anyway, and he was drinking alcohol. Hey!
Once decided, Munieca-san swiftly struck the nape of Hayyarn’s neck with a hand-chop.
“Ugh,” Hayyarn woke up.
“Hah, where am I!?”
“Have a nice trip.”
Munieca-san casually tossed him, and the rabbit disappeared into the Teleportation Array.
After waiting a short while, Hayyarn returned.
“What do you think you’re doing all of a sudden?! You barbarians!”
He was angry. Genuinely angry.
Of course, he was. He’d been thrown into a place where he didn’t know what might appear or happen.
It was only natural he’d be furious. However, I felt no guilt or apology whatsoever.
“I don’t want to hear that from a pervert-ssu!”
“Ngh… sexual harassment… warrants instant slashing…”
“Do you wish to die?”
“Y-yes. I’m sorry.”
Overwhelmed by the scornful looks from Liv, Bid, and Munieca-san, Hayyarn apologized.
Reold-san spoke up with a sigh.
“So, did anything happen?”
“…No danger. We might even find what we’re looking for.”
“Alright then, shall we go?”
Reold stepped through the Teleportation Array as if going for a stroll.
Munieca-san followed. Then me and Hayyarn. Liv-san and Bid-san went last.
The place we teleported to was a slightly larger space.
Directly ahead was a pure white wall, with only a black rhombus shape in the center.
An emblem of some sort was carved in the middle of the rhombus.
“What is this…”
“This is more unexpected than I could have imagined, wouldn’t you say?”
Even Reold and Munieca-san seemed bewildered.
Looking closely, the rhombus was made of metal and had a groove running all around it. Does this thing move?
Reold-san groaned.
“It’s a vault door.”
“This is a vault?”
If so, does that mean the area beyond this is a Vault…?