The scary part about all of this was that the probability of nobles getting involved somehow would always be greater than zero; there were all kinds of factors to consider and all kinds of circumstances that could arise.
“Hmm. Can such troublesome treasure actually be obtained here inside of the dungeon?” Kaho asked.
“Yeah, on the twentieth floor of the dungeon,” I replied. “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this earlier, but you’ll typically run into strike oxen from the fifteenth floor onward. You can get regular milk from them, so try to avoid killing any of the cows unless you absolutely have to in order to protect yourselves.”
“The milk is so good!” Metea put in. “You have to protect the cows!”
“Okay, now we understand,” said Yoshino. She giggled and gave Metea a gentle pat on the head. “Also, just to make sure—can you actually tell the males from the females?”
Touya began gesturing descriptively. “Well, if you see something big and thick hanging down, then—ouch!”
Yuki had cut him off by the simple expedient of punching him in the gut—a measure of justice, really; the gestures he’d been making basically amounted to sexual harassment. If he’d been on trial, any jury would have found him guilty.
Yuki faked a cough, then delivered a less offensive explanation with a smile on her face. “Ahem! W-We marked the female strike oxen with white paint, so just look for that.”
But Yoshino was looking away, red in the face, so it seemed that Touya had successfully gotten his point across.
“Y-Yeah, okay, we’ll keep that in mind when we make it to the fifteenth floor,” she said.
“That will likely be a long time hence,” said Kaho. “By the by, may we have your license to build a hut here as a temporary accommodation for ourselves? I can’t imagine it would be comfortable to stay in the dungeon while exploring. Surely it would be better to familiarize ourselves with it by increments.”
“Yeah, sure, go ahead if you want to,” I said. “You might as well take this slow and steady. Can you actually make something like that yourself, though?”
Yoshino laughed. With a bit of a smug expression, she said, “Yeah, of course! Actually, we used to live outside of Sarstedt in a hut we made ourselves. We have experience with outdoor survival!”
“It was Sae who raised that hut from the very earth with her magic,” Kaho explained.
“Kaho helped too,” said Sae. “She cut down trees for wood and built the roof.”
Oh, I get it. Sae’s Earth Magic is Level 5, so assuming she has any idea how to wield it, making that kind of thing is probably pretty easy for her.
“What about you, Yoshino?” I asked. “What did you contribute?”
“M-Me? Oh, well, uh, I contributed by earning money, I guess?”
“She opened a clinic,” said Kaho, “and the fame of her spread among the local sellswords. She became so popular, in fact, that she acquired the sobriquet of—”
For some reason, Yoshino suddenly raised her voice. “I healed people as a side hustle, but that’s about it!”
“I-I see. Well, I guess you do have the skills for that,” I said.
It made sense: Yoshino’s healing would have been the fastest way for them to make money right after they arrived in this world. I was kind of curious about how the local temples would react if you opened a clinic inside town, but as long as you were outside the walls, there was probably no reason to worry.
“Incidentally,” said Haruka, “it should be fairly safe here now that we’ve set up this base, but if a powerful monster suddenly appears, feel free to take shelter inside the dungeon—it won’t chase you inside.”
“Really? Thanks! That’s good to know,” said Yoshino.
“What else is there? Ah, yes. If you happen upon any suspicious characters inside, feel free to attack them preemptively. You are the only people we’ve granted entrée, so just ignore any excuses they give you.”
“Yeah. In fact, you should slay anyone like that before they get a chance to fight back,” I said. “We’ve put a sign up and even fenced off the area outside the entrance. Anyone who ignores all that is probably either evil or crazy.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” said Sae.
All three girls nodded with sober expressions on their faces. I nodded back, then turned to face the members of my own party.
“Okay, we should probably get going now. Are you good to go, Yuki?”
“Huh?” said Yoshino. “Are you guys going inside without stopping to take a break first?”
“I mean, yeah, your party helped us out a lot on the way here, so we’ve still got plenty of stamina and mana left,” said Yuki. “I’m ready to go whenever.”
The Jade Wings girls all seemed concerned, but we were going to teleport into the dungeon, so for the time being, all we needed was my mana and Yuki’s. We’d used a little bit earlier while erecting the fence, but we still had plenty left, and it would be more efficient to rest after we teleported to our destination.
“Ere you depart, I must ask—of what else ought we to be mindful inside?” Kaho asked.
“None of the monsters you’ll run into initially will be that dangerous as long as you take them calmly,” I said. “If anything, I’m more worried that we’ll make you underestimate them if we say any more.”
They were more than strong enough to handle most of the monsters they would encounter, and they’d demonstrated enough caution to consider setting up a base of operations here in order to tackle the dungeon slowly, so I was confident that we didn’t need to worry about them. Their caution was probably an important reason they’d survived this long in another world.
“That’s about it from me, I guess,” I said. “Does anyone else have something to add?”
“Lemme think,” said Yuki. After a short pause, she clapped her hands like something had popped into her head. “Oh yeah! There’s a slope between the first floor and the second floor. It’s actually booby-trapped—it can collapse on you.”
“Ah, yes, crucial intelligence,” said Kaho. “But pray tell, why did you use the words ‘can collapse’ and not ‘will’?”
“Honestly, ’cause I’m not really sure if it’s still booby-trapped or not,” said Yuki. “The first time we went down the slope, the ceiling collapsed on us so we couldn’t go back. But after we escaped and came back, everything was all fixed up and back to normal, and the second time we went down, nothing happened, so yeah.”
“I suppose we have precious little evidence to go by. Should the ceiling collapse on us, what are we to do?”
“Don’t worry,” said Yuki. “After you beat the boss of the seventh floor, there’s a return device in the boss room that’ll teleport you right back here. If you guys just take some time and familiarize yourselves with the dungeon, I’m pretty sure you won’t die.”
Thanks to our magic bags, food wouldn’t be an issue for them, and anyway, they could also obtain plenty of meat inside the dungeon by slaying monsters. Sae’s magic would ensure that they didn’t run out of water, and cleanliness wouldn’t be an issue either, since Yoshino had Light Magic. The biggest risk was stress due to the unfamiliar environment.
“A dungeon is basically a labyrinth, right? What happens if we get lost inside?” Yoshino asked.
“You’ll be fine as long as you take the time to map out the floors as you explore them,” said Yuki. “It shouldn’t be hard—the layout isn’t all that complicated.”
“That sounds like the sort of thing one often had to do in retro games!” said Kaho.
“Yeah. It’s not as simple as drawing on graph paper, though,” I said.
Yoshino sighed to herself. “Kaho, please...”
Haruka chuckled and brought up an alternative. “Well, we can let you copy our map if you’d like.”
Yoshino hesitated for a moment, then raised her head and clenched her fists as if determined to resist the temptation. “O-Oh, um, nah, we can’t rely on you that much. If we want to explore the dungeon ourselves, we’ll have to improve our own abilities.
“Okay, so, to summarize, we’re going to take our time playing it safe and getting used to the environment, and as long as we proceed cautiously, we shouldn’t be in any danger of dying, right? I guess we’ll give it our best shot and avoid taking risks.”
“Mm. Take care,” said Haruka. “Is there anything else you would like to ask us about?”
Yoshino glanced at Kaho and Sae, but the two of them shook their heads, so she said, “Nah, that’s about it.”
“Okay. We’re going to head in now, then,” I said. “Take care of yourselves and try not to get injured.”
“Of course! And you as well!” Kaho exclaimed. “Old habits oft invite danger.”
“Thank you so much for all the help that you’ve provided us,” said Sae. “Please stay safe.”
“Take it easy and don’t panic! Good luck!” Yoshino exclaimed.
In response to those words of encouragement, we raised our hands in farewell. I made sure every member of Meikyo Shisui was gathered around me, then cast Area Teleportation.