“What’s the matter, Sai? You’re once again smiling in a wei— I mean, you seem to be having a good time.”
I fell silent for a moment. Estelle had paused to correct herself, so obviously my plea from earlier had gotten through, but she still couldn’t hide her real opinion. And honestly, it was possible that the joy I’d felt had come out as a weird-looking smile.
“Well?”
If I’d told Estelle what was really on my mind, I was pretty sure she would have gotten uncomfortable, so when she urged me to respond, I squeezed out an answer that was just a slight deviation from the truth. “Oh, well, yeah, I am definitely having a good time. I’m just happy that we’ve made so much progress without running into any serious problems yet.”
Estelle nodded. “Mm, I agree,” she said with a gentle smile. “Nothing special has happened yet, but it’s a pleasant feeling to be making progress.”
“Y-Yeah, definitely.”
The answer I’d given her wasn’t a lie, exactly, but I still felt awkward given that she’d responded positively. I took a sip from my mug in an attempt to distract myself from my own feelings, but...
“Ugh, what is this?! This is really bitter!”
It was pretty common for adventurers to drink warm beverages while taking breaks inside dungeons. If you wanted to save money, you could just drink hot water, but people who could afford it drank tea instead. The kinds of tea I was familiar with from back in Japan weren’t commonly available, though—I didn’t recognize any of the leaves on offer in stores. Estelle enjoyed one particular tea that had a refreshing flavor similar to mint and an aroma like citrus, but the tea she’d just served me smelled kind of burnt and tasted really bitter. I looked over at her, demanding answers, and she laughed. She had a playful smile, like she’d successfully played a prank on me.
“I went with something different this time. It does taste a little nasty, but I decided to test it out—apparently it’s good for your body. If you’re exploring a dungeon for an extended period of time and subsisting on meat, fatigue will gradually overtake you. Supposedly this tea can stave that off.”
Estelle showed me a bottle with a few green pills inside. She must have tossed one of them into my mug while I was distracted.
“Really? I had no idea you could find stuff like that here in Ivalia.”
“It’s only recently become available, but it’s already earned a good reputation, so it must be worth putting up with the bitterness. In fact, some people say it tastes good after you get used to it.”
“Hmm. Well, I guess it isn’t that weird... There are bitter teas out there.”
It was much bitterer than regular tea, but the only reason it had caught me off guard was that I hadn’t been prepared. Now that I knew the bitterness was coming, it was bearable. Honestly, the slightly burnt taste might have appealed to people who took their coffee black. Personally, though, I needed milk and sugar.
“...Well, if it’s really good for you, then I don’t mind if we keep drinking this,” I said.
“I’m glad to hear that. Our expeditions will likely keep us inside the dungeon for extended periods of time, so I want to do whatever we can to keep our bodies in top condition,” said Estelle.
“Yeah, you have to be healthy and energetic if you want to succeed,” I said. “I’ll guess I’ll buy some too so we have a stockpile. What kind of tea—or I guess I should ask, what kind of medicine is this?”
“Well, if we’re both going to consume it, I don’t mind paying for it,” said Estelle. “But in any case, apparently it’s called Nagaku Dive.”
I choked.
“A-Are you okay, Sai?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Something got stuck in my throat, but it’s nothing major.” I coughed a couple times.
“Nagaku Dive”—does one of my classmates have something to do with this? There’s no way the Japanese-style name is a coincidence, right? Estelle said this is a new product, so...
“By the way, did the store where you found this have any other new products that were kind of similar?”
“It did, yes. The others I remember were called Dirt Remover and No Toilet Breaks. The first removes dirt and stains from clothes. The second is a medicine that reduces the number of times per day that a person has to go to the bathroom. I thought the second one would be useful in here, but to be honest, I was a little bit scared to try it, so I ended up deciding not to buy any.”
“I-I see...”
Yeah, I’m pretty sure only one of my classmates would hide a lame joke in a product name like that—it’s just Japanese for “long dive.” Honestly, the fact that all of those products sound useful kind of annoys me. It is difficult for adventurers to keep their clothes clean, what with battling monsters all the time, and during long expeditions, bathroom breaks turn into a huge issue...
“I take it you’re curious about the store, Sai? I could show you around it if you like...”
“U-Uh, yeah, sure, I’ll take you up on that offer if an opportunity ever comes around.”
On the one hand, I wanted to make a connection with someone who could create useful medicine. On the other hand, I wasn’t sure if it was worth the risk of interacting with another of my classmates. I had no reason to pick a fight with anyone, but I also didn’t want any dudes to hit on Estelle, so I hastily changed the topic.
“So, if I remember correctly, this expedition is going to last two nights and three days, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Estelle replied. “If we exclude the time when we were both stranded here, then this is technically the first time I’ve properly explored the dungeon with you, Sai. I believe we have decent synergy, but it’s important that we practice working as partners.”
“We did manage to make it all the way here without relying on magic.”
“Mm. The plan tomorrow is to continue to focus on fighting with physical weapons,” said Estelle. “On the third day, when we head out of the dungeon, we can start to mix in magic. Does that sound all right to you?”
“Of course,” I said. “You have way more experience than me as an adventurer, so I’ll leave it to you to plan everything out.”
“I’m glad that you trust me,” said Estelle, “but please feel free to speak up if you have any concerns.”
“I can’t think of any major problems at the moment, but give me a second...”
When it came to combat, I had no concerns. Estelle was very good at working as a member of a team, probably in part because we’d already fought together before back when we were trapped in here. Over the course of this expedition, I’d gotten more capable of matching her movements too.
The only other important category that came to mind was dungeon exploration in general, an area where I was more or less a complete amateur. Adonix-san’s party had been kind enough to teach me various things, but Estelle was far more knowledgeable and had made it all the way to Rank 5 exploring the dungeon on her own. That being the case, all I had were quibbles.
“Well,” I said, “if we ever go on an expedition longer than three days, I am kind of concerned about hygiene.”
It hadn’t really bothered me during my time with Adonix-san’s party, since we were all men, and when I’d been stuck in here with Estelle, I hadn’t had the attention to spare, but if we were going to continue exploring, I was curious about how we were supposed to deal with that problem.
“If we don’t get a chance to wash up, we’ll really start to smell, so— Oh, whoops.”
Estelle gave me a sharp look and scooted farther away from me—far enough that there was now room for two people between us. Dang, I screwed up. I guess I’ll somehow have to close this distance again.
“You should keep thoughts like that to yourself instead of voicing them, Sai. This is an issue that every adventurer has to deal with. In fact, we’re actually quite fortunate compared to others, since we can use magic to create water any time we like.”
I guess Estelle makes a good point. I have the Level 3 Water Magic skill, so washing is no problem for me. If somebody asked me to fill a whole bathtub, I’d probably get concerned about the mana cost, but if all I had to do was fill some buckets for a shower, I could recover that mana in no time. Warming the water up would be easy too—Estelle could just use the Heat spell. Thanks to magic, we were able to keep ourselves relatively clean while we were trapped, but...
“Sorry. I really shouldn’t have acted so inconsiderate around a girl,” I said.
“You better be sorry,” said Estelle. “I have a surprise for you, however.” She giggled. “Here goes. Purification!”
Estelle smiled and cast a spell. Right away, her entire body started to glow. When the light faded, Estelle’s equipment and clothes had suddenly become clean even though they’d been dirty from combat just a few seconds ago.