Shiro and Kuro snapped back, trying to intimidate him.
“Fmyaah!”
“Wuffu!”
“Huh? Come on, don’t be such tightwads!”
“Easy, you two,” I said. “It’s not that big a deal.”
I understood their feelings, but fighting the duo here wasn’t a smart idea. I forced a smile and offered them the plate of fruit. The magical effects weren’t immediate, so it should’ve been fine. Besides, avoiding a fight with the delinquent was more important than worrying about him finding out about my abilities.
“Have some,” I said. “They’re good.”
“Shoulda just let us have some in the first place!”
“Th-Thank you,” said Machina.
“Ow, it’s hot!” he said. “What is this stuff?! It’s awesome! I never knew fruit tastes good hot!”
The delinquent started downing the fruit without so much as a thank you. Machina did thank us, but then dug in without holding back.
“Other adventurers wouldn’t give us any of their food! Why do they have to be so stingy?! I was gonna kick their asses, but Machina stopped me.”
“W-Well, yeah, we don’t want to start a fight in the labyrinth.”
“Beating them up’ll shut their mouths! Adventurers are no different from the punks in town!”
As I listened to them, I started to think that maybe they weren’t mercenaries. For mercenaries tackling dungeons, food was crucial, and not everyone could identify edible monsters and butcher them like I could. Since you couldn’t count on finding food inside, you calculated how much food to bring, so asking others to share even a little was unheard of. It was only natural that they were refused, and not even an amateur would complain about it. Them complaining about it showed they were worse than amateurs.
And “adventurer” and “labyrinth”... In this world, adventurer wasn’t an actual profession, and labyrinths were only called dungeons.
“What’s an adventurer?”
“You don’t know? Well, I guess the boonies don’t exactly have an adventurer guild. Adventurers take requests, hunt monsters, dive into labyrinths, stuff like that.”
That was exactly what mercenaries did, but the delinquent seemed convinced adventurers existed. This conversation confirmed something. I’d suspected they were reincarnators, but still had a sliver of doubt. Now I was sure.
“When we came to this town, nobody even knew where the adventurer guild was. I mean, come on.”
“I-Is that so?”
“When I tried talking to someone who looked like an adventurer, he decided to pick a fight with me, so I knocked him out.”
A shady rooster-head asking about nonexistent adventurer guilds, with a terrible attitude to top it off. Of course nobody told him anything. If he’d been polite, maybe someone would have explained about mercenaries. Apparently, the two had been here about a week and still didn’t know about them.
That’s right. In just one week, they’ve made it this far into the labyrinth. Clearing a high-difficulty dungeon in an unfamiliar world all the way to the deep layer in a week? What kind of joke is this?
Even with the cheat-like abilities I’d received from the god, I couldn’t imagine it. Their speed was abnormal.
So is it cheat skills? Supposedly you can get up to three. Maybe I should probe a little.
“It’s incredible that you made it this far in a week. That’s normally impossible.”
“Right? We cheaters kinda know how to clear labyrinths!”
“Huh? Isn’t that a cheat ability?”
“It’s not a cheat! I can just kinda tell!”
He can “kinda tell”... Do they have any idea how much effort we’ve put into exploring this place?!
When I pressed them, it turned out they didn’t just know the route. Somehow, they could sense trap locations, magical beasts’ strengths and weaknesses, and even the spots where crystals were hidden.
That got me thinking. Is that sort of like my intuition? In my case, I thought it was just being in peak condition after a good night’s sleep, and my intuition just became sharp as a result... Is it a coincidence that their intuition’s similar? I mean, I don’t know what else to call it. Is it some sort of reincarnator perk? But then it doesn’t make sense that I wasn’t able to use it before. So is it just a coincidence after all?
“So, you guys gonna keep moving ahead?” asked the delinquent.
“Uh, yes. We’ll be going. You two can take your time here.”
I explained the safe zone to them. They might have gotten here easily, but they had to be tired. Surely they’d rest up. That would give us a chance to get away from them. I didn’t want them tailing us again. It would put Shiro and Kuro in a bad mood, and I’d have to limit my magic use. There was no way I was showing advanced spells to these two.
But, of course, things never go how you want them to.
“No! I know what we’re gonna do! We’re comin’ with you!”
“Huh? What?”
“You fed us! And how could I not help kids in distress?!”
We’re not in distress! And the fruits are growing all around you! Why’s a scumbag like you suddenly trying to act decent?! You tagging along would be the ultimate distress!
“B-But...I think you should rest here. We have to leave since we’re running out of time, so unfortunately, we won’t be able to have you help us.”
“No need for a kid like you to worry about us! I’m not even tired, so it’s all good!”
“B-But...”
“Huh? What the hell, you got a problem or something?! I’m offering to help. You’re not saying no, are ya?”
For a second, I didn’t know how to respond. “N-No, of course not. Ha ha...”
Tell him no! I wanna say no...but I can’t. I have to accept.
I didn’t want to start a fight to the death here. Their movements and aura weren’t those of formidable opponents, so I felt like I could win. But setting aside their cheat-level intuition, they did reach this point unscathed. Their god-given cheat abilities had to be extraordinary.
If I fought them without knowing what they had up their sleeves, I could have been killed easily. Something inside me was screaming, “Don’t fight them.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I fought them, I’d die.
I glanced at Machina, hoping she’d stop him. No luck. She just froze, eyes wide. Though she seemed to be caught off guard by what the delinquent said, she showed no signs of doing anything about it.
I looked at Shiro and Kuro. Reluctantly, they nodded.
After a pause, I gave in. “Well then, shall we head out?”
I really don’t want to, but we have no other choice.
“Yeah! You kids just follow us!”
“S-Sorry,” said Machina. “I’ll do my best too.”
“S-Sure,” I said.
Machina’s words weren’t reassuring at all. Well, I’ll just think of them as frontliners.
And so began our five-person dungeon expedition. Beyond the safe zone exit, the dungeon changed from stone corridors into something completely different.
“Ugh. It’s damp in here!” said the delinquent.
“B-But it’s beautiful,” replied Machina.
“What are you talking about? It’s just a stupid cave!”
“I-It’s a limestone cave.”
Machina was right. The safe zone led into a massive limestone cave. It must have been twenty meters wide and just as tall. Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling, and despite being a dungeon, the sight was breathtaking. The dungeon was lit by a strange bluish glow, making the stalactites look like they were lit up by spotlights. It wasn’t just me—Shiro and Kuro were captivated too. The only one unmoved was the delinquent.