After the break, we went down the stairs.
After descending to the fifth floor, the surroundings were the same as before.
It’s a dungeon constructed of white stone bricks.
However, is it my imagination, or do the lights seem dimmer?
I can see the corner about fifty meters ahead so I guess it is my imagination, but maybe it’s just psychological because we’re going further down.
As I was thinking and looking around, Euphy approached and talked to Nia.
「 Uhm, Nia. Spiders come out in this layer, right? 」
「 Yes, that’s right. I’ve never seen one before however 」
「 So you’ve never seen one? So you do not know what kind of spiders comes out? 」
「 Hmm? They’re much bigger than goblins 」
「 R-Right. I see… 」 」
Euphy, are you…
She started leading the way without saying a word, let’s see what happens.
Nia doesn’t know the way to the fifth floor so our progress will be on exploration.
「 Don’t dungeons like these have rooms full of monsters and stuff? 」
「 I never heard of something like that. There are only paths in this place. I heard that others have rooms 」
I’m bored while walking, so we were talking while we went along, ten Nia stopped.
「 Nee-chan, that floor looks suspicious. Wait 」
Nia discovered a trap, peeking between her fingers as he makes another reverse peace sign with his fingers again.
Furthermore, perhaps it’s because we’re on the fifth layer, he’s concentrating harder, naturally leaning forward and thrusting his hips out, his thick, black-tipped tail growing from his tailbone is standing up.
…Cute.
「 That floor there looks like a trap, let’s move it? 」
「 I’ll let you take care of it, Nia. But, it’s scary, just get behind me as soon as you toss that, okay? 」
Nia took a stone from his bag at his waist and was about to throw it into the trap, so I stepped forward to shield him just in case.
Nia doesn’t know what kind of trap it is.
He swung wide and threw a stone, then it falls on the floor, where he mentioned that there was a trap.
That form without hesitation looked pretty good.
「 Ooh, that was good 」
「 Y-Yes, amazing, right? 」
I praised Nia from behind, but he doesn’t seem too happy about it.
I keep my eyes on the triggered trap, wondering what’s going on, then the ceiling where the trap had been collapsed, and something fell from it.
Ugh, it’s a full-body hairy spider!
I thought it was a little creeper, but I was sure that it was going to attack us, so I gripped the spear with both hands and tried to prepare for any emergency.
「 Hii!! 」
Euphy, who was holding her sword a little ahead of me, made a funny noise and froze, holding the sword to her chest.
「 I knew it! Nia, pull Euphy back! 」
Saying that I leaped in front of Euphy.
Then, I rained down my spear on the spider that was approaching us, making rustling sounds with its footsteps.
Unlike zombies, they react when stabbed, and so it’s easy to get them to back off.
I know that it’s a program-like entity, but it’s well done.
With my skill level, I can deal with this tier without difficulty, I handled all the spiders that dropped down.
But, it’s a little stubborn.
Let’s evade these guys.
The danger seem to have passed, so I turned around and approached Euphy, who was sitting on the floor.
「 Uuuu, I’m sorry 」
「 So you can’t deal with insects? 」
「 I’m fine with ordinary insects! But hairy ones like those are bad! It’s an insect, yet it’s got a lot of hair! It’s making me shiver! Look! I’ve got goosebumps! 」
Euphy rolled up her sleeves and showed me her arms.
「 Wow! That’s real goosebumps. Well, it’s normal for people to have something they’re bad at. Besides, they’re huge. It looks like I can make it through this level, just keep Nia safe 」
「 I-I’m sorry 」
「 Don’t worry about it. I thought that Euphy had no shortcomings, so it’s a relief for me 」
Euphy’s the best, even when she’s upset, or a little angry, she’s still cute.
She showed me something good, so I’ll do my best at this level.
The spider that came out of the trap seem to be a monster that normally appears on the layer, so we fought the same spider as we pass through the place.
They come out five at a time, but when they find their prey, they rush in first. I got accustomed to the first spiders, so they’re easy to take down now.
Sometimes, they spit out threads, which entangles and makes it difficult to move, but it wasn’t enough to restrain, so I still got to beat them calmly.
Well, they managed to scratch me once.
「 Daiki-sama, you need to take recovery medicine 」
「 I’m fine. It’s only bleeding for a bit, using that would be a waste
「 But… 」
「 No buts…you worry too much 」
I’m following Gonz as an example and making sure to bring in recovery medicine.
I bought several bottles that I can afford, but it wasn’t cheap enough to use for something like this.
I heard that it’s for beginners, but it still costs two silver coins.
While we were having that conversation, Nia warned us of the enemy.
As I stood in front, waiting. I spotted one of the spiders that appeared.
「 Hmm? This one’s got a different color. What’s this? 」
「 Oh, Onii-san, that one’s slightly stronger so be careful! 」
Among the spiders with black hair, there’s one with red hair mixed among them.
Just as Nia said, this one’s stronger, its legs are faster at approaching.
Is this the monster I heard about dropping special stuff?
The red spider overtook the other spiders and jumped on me first.
「 Oops! This one’s aggressive! 」
Its feet are fast, and it’s also fast at leaping.
It clings to me, but I swing my spear to the side to ward off the sharp paws trying to pierce me.
The red spider responded by spitting a thread against the wall, attempting to change its posture mid-air, but the tip of the spear roughly chopped off one of its legs in three pieces.
I heard that they’re tough, but I guess it’s only at the level where they’re outside the hierarchy.
It took me some time, but it’s an enemy I could easily beat while dealing with other spiders.
「 Oh? It dropped a skill orb. Let’s see, magic resist? 」
Seems like it’s not always that you get something from a monster like the red spider.
The skill orb we got was luckily useful.
I’ll put this on Euphy.
If she has magic resist, then there’s no chance she’ll get NTR’d with some charm magic.
I don’t know if it exists though.
Oh yeah, skills also have magic.
The only magic I’ve seen since coming to this world was slave magic and contraceptive magic, but maybe my behavior was too biased?
After that, we hunted around the fifth floor while Nia’s mapped the place.
Every time a spider appears, Euphy’s getting goosebumps, but she had to put up with it.
I had an idea of how to fight in the upper layers, but the amount of magic stones that the spiders drop is nice.
Sometimes, they even drop two from one monster.
「 Phew, we fought a lot. Let’s go back home for now. It’s getting hard to take down only spiders 」
「 Yes, let’s go back right away 」
「 Euphy, you didn’t get used to it 」
「 I-I don’t have to get used to it, but if Daiki-sama tells me to fight, I-I… 」
「 I won’t, don’t worry. Euphy will be rewarding the hard work I’ve done for today, right? 」
We’re going to consume some of the unused skill orbs today, right?
Hmm, Euphy’s no longer dissatisfied, and so let’s get out of this place.
The trip home was heavy, but well, we had a haul, so my steps weren’t that heavy.
It took us an hour to get back the way we came, meanwhile, Euphy and I took care of the monsters that came out.
Even so, this is a lot of walking.
Euphy and I are fine, but Nia looks like he’s tired.
「 Okay, here’s your pay. Your reward for today is one silver coin! 」
「 T-That much?! 」
「 Yeah, Nia was helpful. I’ll pay you this much since we earned a lot too 」
There are so many small magic stones that I can’t even count them.
We still have more than 100 so I’m earning more than five silver coins.
Besides, we got some good skill orbs, so we made a good profit.
You can get three meals and rest at an inn for five copper coins, so we’re well off.
I don’t think I’m giving away too much, but if he’s happy with it, that’s fine.
I plopped a silver coin into his hand, then he looked at his palm as if chewing on the realization.
By the looks of it, this is the most he made in a single day.
I talked to Nia who was smiling, ready to go home today.
「 Huh, Nia? 」
Suddenly, we were approached by a group of boys and girls who appear to be the same age as Nia.
They’re all dressed like beginner adventurers like us.
From the way they’re handing out the magic stones, it seems that they just finished hunting and they’re distributing them.
The boy who seem the oldest turned towards Nia.
「 You went to a dungeon too? 」
「 Ah, yes 」
「 With these people? 」
「 Yes 」
「 I see, you’re holding out 」
「 Yes, you too 」
「 We earned five coppers today. We’re already doing well as adventurers 」
「 I see 」
Nia’s response to the boy was short.
He seems to be uncomfortable. Or like, he just met someone he didn’t want to see.
The smile he had earlier had disappeared.
The boy seems to show some consideration for Nia, but the mood feels awful.
「 Hey, come back, Nia. Let’s go adventuring together 」
「 No, I’ll pass 」
「 Don’t worry about the fight. Leave it to me 」
「 I said no 」
「 I-I see… We just finished splitting up the magic stones, and we’re going. See you 」
「 Yes, see you 」
The boy got afraid of Nia, who raised his voice, then he took his friends and moved away.
Nia’s eyes, staring at his back, seemed to be filled with sadness, frustration, and a bit of envy.
Hmm, he’s going through a lot too…