Chapter 61

Reunion The eventful night passes, and after wolfing down another huge breakfast, they—unusually—begin to make preparations. Typically, they’re more likely to laze around until they get hungry. After experiencing that fight, even the Voracious Devils seem to have learned something, and they stuff mineral water into their backpacks. “We can beat the flame scolls if we pour water on them, so let’s each take one.” “Also, let’s take a bunch of food. Whenever we’re away from this box, I get hungry.” Pell prioritizes his appetite above all else, but he’s right, so everyone nods and chooses products. Meat won’t keep, so I line my shelves with sweets and other canned goods that will. “This magic box is amazing. It has meat when we want to eat meat, and now it has stuff that will last a long time for us. It’s almost like it has a mind of its own.” Ohhh, Pell, do you finally understand? Will I be able to communicate with them at last? “Welcome.” “Nah, can’t be. See? It’s still only saying Welcome.” Mikenne rejects the thought outright, waving a hand in front of his face. Dammit. Next time you buy karaage, I’m making it ice-cold. Sigh. I knew better. If I could say yes and no right now, even they’d figure it out, but welcome just won’t cut it. They aren’t going to harm me in any way, so I suppose this is enough. For now, my goal is to have them bring me close to the maze’s entrance, then get those from the Clearflow Lake stratum to find me. I do want to give them something as thanks when the time comes. But they might be happier if I lower the prices when they buy an item from me. “Okay, everyone, let’s give it our best today!” “Yeah!” Ahh, they really calm me down. We’re in danger of monsters sauntering around, but just watching the Voracious Devils makes me want to grin. If I wasn’t a vending machine, my face would look awful right now. They take turns pushing me forward until we spy a raised dust cloud a fair distance away. Is someone fighting? There’s too much distance between us, so I can’t even make out whether they’re people or monsters. “Hey, it looks like someone’s fighting up there. What should we do?” Mikenne noticed it, too. Everyone stops and cranes forward to look. “I can’t really see it, but I definitely hear fighting.” “Yep, yep. I can hear it, too.” “I think they’re hunters. There’s a bunch of them.” And I… No, I can’t hear anything. They must have pretty good ears. “What should we do? Join them and help them out?” “If we do that, won’t they steal this magic item?” “But wait, won’t it be hard to get out of the maze alone?” “Yeah. Getting through alive is what matters. It might be worth it to negotiate, too.” They quarrel for a moment but seem to reach the conclusion that if the hunters fighting are having a rough time, helping them and placing them in their debt would earn them good treatment. “I’ll go ahead and check on them first. We have to see if it’s possible to negotiate. You can all take it easy, so bring that closer.” “All right. Be careful, Short.” “Leave it to me.” Short jumps out ahead, and in the blink of an eye, he’s tiny in the distance. We proceed slowly, watching the situation as the three of them push. The combatants are still small as rice grains, and I can only barely make out limbs. I can’t tell what they are at all. “It looks like the hunters have an advantage.” “Do you hear that one making a weird voice?” “Yep, they’re yelling something I don’t understand. Is it a girl?” Making a weird voice while fighting? Maybe they have a unique way of grunting during attacks. Hammer throwers always make their throws while shouting things you can’t understand. I hear it lets you put more force into it. Slowly, slowly, we approach, until we see a shadow rushing toward us at a breakneck speed. I peel my eyes—it’s Short. “Hey, everyone, Director Bear is over there! I talked to him! We should hurry!” “What? From the Hunters Association in Clearflow Lake?” “I wonder why he came to a lower stratum.” “But that means we’re saved. Director Bear will listen to what we have to say, and the hunters won’t steal the treasure we took.” They’re all giving expressions of relief as they banter, but I’m just as relieved as they are. Director Bear is here? We’re saved…and that means Lammis is probably here, too. I prepare myself for her bawling or her rage again, deciding to humor her and accept it. It’s proof she was worried about me, after all. “Oh, right. One of those hunters is crazy. It’s this human who keeps screaming Boxxoooooo and smashing crag fiends with her bare hands.” As I thought, Lammis is with them, too. I must be really worrying her. I’ll just have to meekly accept whatever abuse or lecturing comes my way. “No way! Humans can’t break crag fiends with their bare hands.” “No, Pell, it’s true. And she’s a short woman, too. And she was saying other things as well, like All he ever does is make me worry and I won’t be satisfied until I give him a good punch and stuff.” …If I protect myself with Force Field, she’ll probably get mad. Is my toughness high enough? …Maybe I’ll increase it some more, just in case. “Wait, did this box suddenly get heavier? It’s hard to move now.” “Oh yeah, you’re right. It’s really heavy.” It’s your imagination. As conflicting emotions of wanting to see her and not wanting to see her swirl inside me, I’m brought to where they’re still fighting. “Huh? Boxxoooooo!” As soon as we’re close enough to see each other, the hunters’ battle ends. When Lammis sets her eyes on me, she begins to run, her feet pounding dents into the ground, charging for me. Her stomping is breaking the ground! You’re coming in too hot! What if I fly away from all the momentum?! From several yards away, Lammis spreads her arms and slides the rest of the distance. Force Field… No, I can’t. If I pushed away a girl crying and leaping at me, I’d be a failure as a man, not a vending machine. The only option I have…is to take the hit! I watch her crying face swiftly approach. I-I’ll be fine—my toughness is all the way up to fifty. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. A thud loud enough to make the air tremble fills the area, the shock wave born of the collision knocking the Voracious Devils off their feet. [10 damage. Durability decreased by 10.] Guhahhh. T-to think ten damage would make it through despite how much I’ve increased my toughness! “Boxxo! You idiot! I believed in you! I knew you weren’t broken!” [2 damage. Durability decreased by 2.] M-my, Lammis, how you’ve grown. Also, could you please stop banging on me like that? I consider saying something so that she’ll get off me, but when I look at her crying with her tear-streaked face pressed up against me, I decide I need to be silent and endure it. I have to accept her feelings for as long as she needs to be satisfied. [3 damage. Durability decreased by 3.] But I will secretly repair myself. After overcoming her viselike embrace, she calms down, and the rest of the crew comes running up. A line of familiar faces appears. “Damn, you made us worry. Phew. But I believed in you, too. I knew you’d be safe.” Hulemy puts her forehead on me and hits me lightly with a fist. She must have really been worried—her voice sounds unusually weak.