Chapter 60

Waking up to a presence, I opened my eyes.

Kuuna's face was so close that I could almost feel her breath.

With her long eyelashes, beautiful eyes, and well-defined nose, at this distance, I could even feel the intensity of her beauty.

"Wh-What, Soji-kun!?"

Kuuna hastily stepped back.

Her face was red, and her breathing was unusually heavy.

Looking to the side, Anne was sleeping, hugging her sword.

"Good morning, Kuuna."

I started checking my body.

I had slept for about five hours, and I had used acupressure to activate the recovery of my blessings and magic, but it was less than ten percent recovered.

Still, with about thirty percent of my full strength, I could engage in a short battle.

Against the monsters on this floor, I could handle them unless they were in a group.

"O-Oh, good morning."

Kuuna stammered in response.

"What's the matter, Kuuna? Did you try to sneak into my bed or something?"

The moment I said that, Kuuna's tail stretched straight up and the fur stood on end.

"N-No, that's impossible! I was just worried because I couldn't hear your breathing at all and wanted to check if you were still breathing."

Judging from Kuuna's reaction, it didn't seem like a lie.

"That's a shame. I thought you were going to kiss me or something."

"Why would I have to kiss a guy like you, who's the enemy of all women?"

Kuuna vehemently denied it.

I found her so amusing that I chuckled.

"Would it be okay if I wasn't the enemy of all women? If I said I would love you forever, would you like me?"

Kuuna's fox ears perked up, and her face turned even redder than before.

"…That's a secret. Besides, that's a cheap way to ask. It's not very manly to make a declaration that you can easily brush off if rejected."

She turned her face away as if to end the conversation.

Then, Kuuna glanced at Anne.

…She must be thinking about various things in her own way.

I beckoned to Kuuna, and she sat next to me with a pout.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, my magic is completely drained and not recovering at all, but I still have about forty percent of my blessings left."

"Looks like it was taken away, huh."

"Yes, the flames that could burn a Golden (Highest Rank) Fire Fox like me were incredible."

When Kuuna stuck her hand into the flames to collapse the structure of Tyranno's Inferno Ball, her hand almost carbonized, and a significant portion of her blessings was taken away.

"Stopping those flames was a close call. I'm not sure I could do it again."

"I see, even for you, it was a close call."

"It's a pathetic story… Soji-kun, aren't you going to ask?"

Kuuna looked up at me with a slightly apologetic expression.

"About the short knives… I'm curious, but you can tell me when you're ready."

The short knives that Kuuna had never used even in the game. It would be a lie to say I wasn't curious. However, I decided to wait and trust her.

"…Then, now. I want Soji-kun to hear. The two short knives, Kuren, were made for me by Father."

Kuuna lovingly took the short knives out of her pouch and caressed them.

"Ever since I was little, all the short knives I used were handmade by Father. The one I was using before, just before leaving Elsie, couldn't withstand my power and broke, so I begged Father for a new one."

I was taken aback.

These myth-level short knives were not passed down from ancient times but made by a modern alchemist?

I really wanted to meet Kuuna's father. A strong desire welled up in my chest.

"One day, Father called me and gave me Kuren. I was overjoyed and jumping around when he told me it was part of my dowry."

Kuuna's face looked like she was about to cry.

"Father told me to marry someone I didn't know, from across the sea, and to leave the beloved Elsie. I was so shocked that I called Father a fool and ran away."

Kuuna's expression grew more and more somber. She must have been thinking about her hometown and her father. From her attitude and words, it was clear that she loved both very much.

"I ran and ran, crying, and finally realized I had brought these short knives with me. I should have thrown them back at Father."

"That's why you couldn't use them?"

"Yes, I thought using the dowry Father gave me would mean accepting the marriage. …It was a silly stubbornness. If I hadn't used them, I would have not only put myself at risk but also Soji-kun and Anne."

As she said this, I wanted to hug Kuuna tightly and punch the father who made her look like this.

"Then, Kuuna, how about coming to me? Your father only said it was dowry, right? If you marry me, you can use them without any qualms."

Hearing my words, Kuuna giggled.

"Here you go, making jokes again. But thank you. I feel a bit better. From now on, I'll use the short knives a lot! It's Kuuna-chan's specialty."

It was clearly a forced smile.

So I decided to make a promise.

"When we get back to the surface, I'll make a sword for you. With my current abilities, I can't make something better than Kuren, but I'll try to make a sword that you can use to your full potential."

It was frustrating, but that was my limit.

There were issues with materials, magic power, and skill.

But I would surpass Kuren someday, I swore on my pride as a man.

"Thank you. I'm looking forward to it. If you make a sword for me, I'll give you something important as a thank you."

"That's quite a grand statement. …But I'm looking forward to it. I'll have to work hard."

We laughed together.

After a while, the sound of rocks being crushed came from the entrance to the fifth floor.

Was help here?

"Kuuna, wake up Anne."

"Got it, Soji-kun."

I took a battle stance just in case, and Kuuna shook Anne awake.

Then, the rubble that had blocked the way was completely crushed, and a face appeared…

"Hey, you're really here, buddy."

It was the Rank 2 party I had given meat and water to when they were almost wiped out on the fourth floor. I think their party name was [Cobalt Hawks].

"Really here? Did you know we were here?"

I asked, stunned.

"A cute girl with brown hair asked us. She said you were stuck on the sixth floor and needed help."

"…Was that girl short-haired, underdeveloped, and a bit cheeky?"

I asked, thinking of a certain person.

"Yeah, that's the girl you're talking about."

…It must be Senpai Yurii. She's still a mysterious person.

I can't tell if she's an enemy or an ally.

"Thanks for coming. We were really in a bind."

"Yeah, be grateful."

The man extended his hand.

"Pay the advance. I want half the reward first. That's 300,000 bars."

"Kuuna, 600,000 bars is highway robbery, isn't it!?"

Kuuna exclaimed in shock at the amount.

"Kuuna, that's a fair price. A Rank 2 four-person party as bodyguards for a day, and it's an emergency request. This is actually a good deal."

It was a friendship price. I'm glad I did them a favor back then.

With a Rank 2 party as bodyguards, we should be able to return to the surface safely.

"But unfortunately, we don't have that much cash in the dungeon. How about we give you the materials from the monsters we've killed instead?"

I pointed to Tyranno's corpse.

The [Cobalt Hawks] members' expressions changed. Being veterans, they recognized the value of those materials.

"Wow, this is great. Sure, if you give us as much as we want, we'll waive the advance and even the full payment."

"Deal. We were going to leave it behind anyway."

"Alright, then it's a deal. Get to work, everyone."

The veteran explorers efficiently stripped useful materials from Tyranno's corpse. It was probably worth about a million bars.

"Still, that was pretty quick. I thought it would take longer to clear that rubble."

I asked the veteran explorer who was collecting Tyranno's materials.

It was a pretty severe collapse. Even a Rank 2 party wouldn't be able to clear it easily.

"That's because someone had already cleared most of it. They ran off when we arrived."

"Someone?"

"Yeah, a really handsome young guy. He was desperately clearing the rubble, saying things like, 'I didn't mean to,' and 'I almost killed Anne too.' By the time we got there, he was almost done."

"I see, that was him."

The man was definitely Clanel.

Something didn't add up. If he caused a deliberate riot, he would have risked killing Anne, whom he wanted.

The fact that he still went through with it means he wasn't in his right mind.

Besides, Clanel couldn't have caused such a riot on his own.

There must have been a mastermind.

"We're ready. Let's get back to the surface quickly. The brown-haired girl said we need to hurry because it's school tomorrow."

The man grinned and gave a thumbs-up.

"…Can I ask one thing? Why did you believe so easily that [Cobalt Hawks] would find us here? Didn't you think it was just a kid's prank?"

Normally, you wouldn't believe that we were stuck on the sixth floor, especially from a student.

If they were being paid, it would be different, but the [Cobalt Hawks] members said that Senpai Yurii didn't ask for a reward from me.

There are two possibilities: one, they were paid in advance by Senpai Yurii and double-billed me.

The other is that Senpai Yurii has some kind of mind control ability, like the one that could have manipulated Clanel to almost kill Anne.

"Come to think of it, why did we believe it? We didn't even doubt it. Normally, we would have laughed it off as a kid's nonsense. Oh well, it's all good since we managed to save you guys."

Laughing, the man started walking.

Chasing after him, I decided to confront Senpai Yurii.

I had overlooked some unnatural things before, but I couldn't avoid it this time.