Chapter 17.1. The Novel First Battle Is Always Unexpected
-Miuâs POV-
It is already evening. The dungeon ceiling emits a certain amount of light, so I canât tell the time, but I know. Beautiful girl Sister Miu-chan understands.
Ku~.
âMii-sama, you must be hungry.â
âYes, Iâm hungry. Canât we go home soon?â
At the signal for dinner coming from Miuâs adorable belly, Yamiyo smiles, and the people around her also smile at her loveliness.
A little embarrassed, I hold my stomach and blush. This bodyâs timer is accurate. I think itâs time for dinner. Itâs time to go home, right?
Iâm a good girl, I have a curfew to keep. My mother allows me until 6 pm today. She tells me to be careful, so I want to reassure her that Iâll be home on time. Family friendliness is important. A good boy comes home on time and says, âIâm home.
âYes, I know. Weâve had some strange interruptions, so letâs go home now.â
Do you mean that strange guy, that kid named Awakuni Masatoshi? He was indeed a weird boy. Especially with that twisted personality.
âYeah! Letâs go home.â
Miu raises one hand and jumps up and down with a big smile. Miuâs innocent behavior soothes everyone.
I giggle inwardly that my behavior is perfect, and then I say, âWell then, I guess weâre done.â, and begin to clean up. Various items get spread out in the place that used to be our hunting base. Iâll help you clean up.
I walked around a bit, trying to carry what I could.
The ground shook with a shaking sound. The plastic bottle on top of the trunk shook with the vibration and fell over, spilling water. The nickel holding up the tarp came off, and the tarp fell to the ground.
âHey, what is it?â
âWhat is it?â
Yamiyo and I looked around. It didnât look like an earthquake. Is there some dangerous enemy coming?
I looked over and saw something approaching from the other side of the hill, making an earth-shaking sound and covered in a dust cloud.
âWhat is it?â
Yamiyo noticed the anomaly and shouted. Some of the adventurers use magic. Yamiyoâs eyes glow red, and she tries to see what the dust cloud is.
[Eagle Eyes]
Itâs a skill that allows you to see several kilometers ahead. Itâs a bit sticky, but it seems to be helpful.
I stare at her, thinking this magic isnât in the game. The game didnât have the skill to check your surroundings because it was an encounter system. I do have the hiding skill, though.
And that old guy next to me is using mechanical binoculars. They are the latest model of magic binoculars from The Night of Magic world that can automatically switch to distance measurement, infrared sensor, and night vision with the target.
Maybe I donât need that skill after all. Is this the sadness of modern fantasy? I donât use binoculars. I feel sorry for the guy who is using the skill. Well, if you donât have binoculars, you can use them.
Iâm a kid, so I want to use binoculars. Itâs romantic. Binoculars are cool.
âSo, itâs Stone Golem! What brings that to this dungeon?â
With a puzzled voice, the scouts warn their surroundings. The guarding adventurers ready their weapons and brace themselves against the approaching Stone Golem.
Everyone is bewildered but still impressed by how calmly they can act if they are adventurers under the Marquisâs command.
âYamiyo-ojousama, Miu-ojousama. Please prepare to evacuate.â
The butler says to us with a serious expression. His appearance is not in the mood to be a precaution. Stone Golem, is it strong? I wonder if its level was high in the game. I remember it wasnât very strong.
âIs Stone Golem strong?â
I tilted my head with a cocky grin and asked the butler, who nodded with a serious look on his face.
âThat thing is almost immune to physical attacks. Moreover, the stone lumpâs arms are quite powerful and have a long reach due to its huge body. If you are not careful, you will die.â
âWell then, letâs all run away!â
A pretty bad-looking monster, huh? Then running away is the way to go. No, no. We canât escape.
I realize that with a huff. The butler replies as I expected and shakes his head.
âThey are guards. They must act as shields in this time and buy time for Miu-ojousama and the others to escape to a safe place.â
With a somber expression, the butler informed me. Thatâs right. If they escape with us here, thereâs no point in guarding us.
In an otherworldly fantasy, the bodyguard could leave the target of the bodyguard alone and run away. But in this modern fantasy, it is different. The bodyguards are firmly registered.
Adventurers who are bodyguards get hired at a high price. It is the same with SPs. If they do not have the same resolve as SPs, whoâre prepared to get exposed to bullets on behalf of their bodyguard targets, theyâll lose their trust, and theyâll no longer get bodyguard jobs. Those who do guarding work are proud of it and will not run away from it.
Even if they fight an unexpected and powerful enemy they are no match.
When you look at it, it is surprising. The speed of the stone golemâs feet is per hour⊠Iâm not sure. It feels like a truck going out of control. That is something you canât outrun if you run away.
The adventurers in the escort are just a little stronger than Yamiyo. That is not because the bodyguard is weak, but because Yamiyo is strong. Itâs because she is the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Imperial Castle, a prestigious martial arts family.
When it comes in contact with an adventurer who can only hold such a modest arm there, the stone golem raises its stone arm and attacks the lead adventurer.
âAll of you, counter them mainly with evasion!â
[Attack and Defense Conversion].
The lead adventurer holds out his shield and uses his martial arts. The stone golem stops just before it crushes the adventurer, and falls backward as if it got bounced.
With a zzzz and a scrape of its feet, the stone golem backed away, the five-meter giant being pushed backward despite its considerable weight.
âOh, great! I think the adventurer can win with that one, donât they?â
Itâs a technique Iâve never seen before. Thereâs magic in the game that prevents physical attacks once, but itâs not a martial art. Iâve read it in novels. I donât remember the name of the technique.
Because in the original novel, everyone used different techniques. They called it a family technique. They didnât make the standard the same, so in the game, they were forced to put them together. In the novel, I guess it was necessary to make them look good in battle with the enemy, but when you live in the novelâs world. It just doesnât feel right.
But with that technique, the battle should go in our favor. I thought, but the butler shook his head. Ah, I get it.