CH 78

Yesterday Patty loaded up her new cart and left for the 5th floor.

Cecily-san also returned to [Angel Wing] though not before secretly sneaking up to Kuro from behind and sniffing him before leaving.

Putting that aside how did you not notice Kuro?

[Phoenix Company] is also setting off today. We are heading for the 6th ward of the 3rd floor.

I’m taking all my regular golems which are Gobu, the hummingbird trio, Taa-kun, Mamaoru-kun and Spy-kun.

I’ve got Hikaru-kun as well but it would put me over capacity so it’s in its dormant mode aboard Taa-kun.

Taa-kun has a light as well so there’s no problem at the moment.

Kikaru-kun can still be used as a lantern when we are taking a break so it still has a place with us.

[Phoenix Company] has proceeded to the 3rd floor 4th ward.

While the 1st and 2nd wards of the 3rd floor are wide fields the 4th ward is made up of narrow passages, caves and the floor is covered with stones and soil.

The demons that appear here are [Killer Ants].

Killer ants are large ants over 1 meter long. Their individual power is low but people dislike fighting them due to the sheer amount of them.

More than 100 ants will centre on a queen ant and they are aggressively territorial. They will even attack other demons if they stray into their territory.

Finally, they never retreat. They have to be killed right down to the last one.

Fighting killer ants turns into a very physical fight.

The killer ants who are hated are very convenient enemies for us.

Our assault rifles are very effective and due to their numbers the probability of demon stones dropping increases.

Queen ants will often drop F-rank demon stones.

All members except me are smoothly raising their levels.

I…….. no, it’s fine.

I’ll manage with my equipment and potions.

While exploring the labyrinth we sometimes meet other parties and because of our crawler, we sometimes attract attention causing them to talk amongst themselves.

In addition, the 3rd floor has no water source so some parties approached us trying to buy surplus water off us which we have on our truck.

Each time I transferred water from our large cask I was only pretending and was actually filling theirs up with water created by my life magic.

We got paid 500 rims for about 5 litres of water.

I’m not actually bothered about being paid but if you don’t accept any payment you will attract attention so I take the money.

We had several such exchanges so when the next group of men approached we were not particularly cautious.

The 3 men were dirty and unshaven but this was not unusual. It’s pretty normal to go over a week without a bath while in the labyrinth.

We who can use life magic are very much a minority.

“Sorry, but could you sell us some water?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

I went to take the small cask from the man

*Kaa!!*

A dry noise was made and something flicked into my face before falling to the floor.

Looking down I can see an arrow in the dirt.

For a quick instant, I didn’t know what had happened before realising the situation.

Mamoru-kun had deployed a shield and blocked the arrow.

That was dangerous. If I hadn’t got Mamoru-kun equipped I’d probably be dead from an arrow in the temple.

It was Bonnie-san who moved first. She put one of the men in an arm lock and thrust a knife at his throat.

“What….are you doing?”

Your guild card turns red if you murder someone in the labyrinth and you have to show your card before you leave so you will be arrested on the spot if you show a red card. The card also has anti-theft properties because if you try to use someone else’s card it emits a constant light that doesn’t go out.

“Shit, okay, do it!”

The men attacked without minding the safety of the hostage.

Besides the bow user, 5 other people were hiding in the shadows. It seemed to be a party of 9 people in total.

The bow user was shot through the leg by one of the hummingbirds and could no longer fight.

The other approaching men were not allowed close as we shot them all in the legs or feet.

“These are [Lost Robbers].” Jean says.

Bandits in mountains and pirates in the sea. Is that what they are called in the labyrinth?

It seems some criminals who have committed crimes above ground flee to the labyrinth to hide from the law.

There’s also people who commit crimes in the labyrinth and cannot go back above ground.

Checking one of the men a bright red card comes out.

Wouldn’t it be better to throw them away? Why would you keep a red card?

They regularly attack adventurers for food and other supplies.

“What should I do…..? Do it…….?”

If someone doesn’t have a guild card then your own card won’t turn red if you kill them.

If we leave them alone they will attack people again but I hate killing people.

Even criminals are still people.

“Let’s hand them over to the guild! We should get a reward!” Meg suggests energetically.

She never misses a chance at a bonus.

It’s bothersome but it might be the only way.

“Then tie them up and I’ll heal their wounds. Where’s your hideout?”

None of the lost robbers answer.

“If you don’t answer quickly you’ll die of blood loss. I’ll treat the wounds of whoever answers.”

“2nd level 3rd ward.”

“Follow the river upstream and there’s a cave.”

The lost robbers break one after the other.

There might be a treasure trove there.

Because they disturbed our search even if we collect some treasure a bit of punishment is still in order.

After tying them up I heal them and we set off at a run through the labyrinth.

Such a bothersome task. Let’s just get it over with.

Even if we encounter demons they will be fine as long as they don’t die instantly from an attack.

Because I was using recovery magic every 30 minutes on them their fatigue was minimal and we steadily advanced with them running behind us.

By the way, all the members of [Phoenix Company] are riding Taa-kun.

We arrived at the 3rd ward of the 2nd level within the day.

It’s the room that looks like an indoor botanical garden.

“Are there any other members inside?”

“No. This is all of us. There’s nobody else.”

The lost robbers answer my questions obediently.

I don’t believe them.

There was a cave there like they had said so I take Spy-kun out and send it off.

In front of the cave was 10 people like the ones we had captured.

Nothing we couldn’t handle.

I put the lost robbers to sleep with sleeping powder and tied them to a tree. It would be a pain if they started getting noisy.

I have Spy-kun explores the rest of the cave.

The interior of the cave is bright thanks to a magic light which is something they probably stole from adventurers.

There’s about 10 meters from the entrance to the back of the cave.

Food and other supplies, as well as weapons, were leaning against the walls.

3 men who seemed to be leaders were drinking alcohol right at the back.

Every one of them looks evil, however, beating them doesn’t look like it will be too hard.

There’s only one entrance into the cave so we will spread out and snipe them all from cover.

After eliminating all the enemies from the front of the cave we will move forward.

I’ll throw tear gas into the cave and when they come out snipe them as well.

It’s a sloppy tactic but it will be good enough.

As I’m discussing my sloppy plan with my friends Spy-kun sends me some more information.

There was a noise and several men came into the cave.

“Head! Please see this woman! She’s really good!”

Apparently, they’ve captured a female adventurer to be their plaything.

Erectile dysfunction shall be meted out to all of them before we deliver them to the guild!

Well, for the short time they will be alive anyway. The death penalty awaits them.

“Ooh! She’s fine! Have you had her yet!?”

One of the heads raises an excited voice.

“Of course not! Please let us have a taste later!”

“That’s fine. This is a fine jewel you’ve bought. It would be cruel to make you endure it.”

The lost robbers let out disgusting laughs.

At that time the captured woman spoke.

“Stop this and repent! At this rate, your souls will really fall into hell!”

From this position, Spy-kun can only see the back of the woman. Her wrists are tied painfully tight behind her back.

Going by the robbers ridiculously horny reactions she must have a sexy body.

Spy-kun show me her face.

I send my thoughts to Spy-kun and as it starts moving her face slowly comes into view.

Uwaaa!

Even though her priest clothes you can practically sense her pheromones.

……Eh?

What’s with this deja vu?

Pure eyes, gentle mouth and a straight and elegant nose.

A big chest that makes you think of an abundant harvest and even from this angle you can tell she’s got ample buttocks.

This isn’t deja vu.

This figure is definitely from my past memories.

“No way……. Sister Maria?”

She looked exactly like sister Maria who was a Guura back in Hofkins village.