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Volume 1 Chapter 15-5: Hunt and Explore

「Soujirou-sama!」

It seems they had managed to defeat the Flame Fang as I heard Sistina cry out to me and run over.

She was also carrying Sakura-chan and my bastard sword that I had dropped. How nice.

「I’ll heal you now.」

She put down the weapons and immediately started healing me. Acolyte-sama is the best!

「Soujirou, here’s the baggage.」
「Thanks Hotaru-san.」

Since the battles with higher floor monsters was a bit difficult I had taken to putting down the luggage around the area so I could move freely and not lose it.

「Soujirou-sama. I’ll have to remove the chainmail.」
「…ii…! Owww…..」

After Sistina removed my clothes she had to pull of the chainmail taking some of my flesh with it. The instantaneous heat had baked the chainmail onto some of my skin apparently.

If I hadn’t been wearing my leather coat and shirt then I was sure the damage would’ve been worse. I could see that both of them were now missing their back portion.

After removing my chainmail Sistina put my head on her lap and pressed her chest onto me.

『But those two mountains are being hidden by the breast plate…』

Damn! If only that breastplate wasn’t there!

「To get injured so badly covering for me…Soujirou-sama you dummy…These wounds are what an Acolyte like me should bear in your stead.」
「….that’s stupid Sistina. It’s because you’re okay that you can heal me like this.」

If Sistina had been injured, neither of us could use recovery magic. So this was the best choice.

「….if only I hadn’t asked for something so selfish….」
「Sistina! This is something we all decided.」
「….okay」

Hotaru-san handed the water flask to Sistina and she poured some of it onto my back. Ahh, it hurts but feels good too….

「It’s thanks to Sistina that we even came to find these people, so I think that things turned out fine.」

Sistina smiled even though she looked like she wanted to cry and nodded. Then she stretched out her hand as a pale light covered my back.

Uuuu…so this is what they mean by healing….

「Soujirou, this is the magic stone from that monster. Take a look ja.」

Hotaru-san showed me a large red magic stone. Big! Could this be really valuable?

『Magic Stone (Fire) Rank: B』

This is…amazing. It has the fire attribute and is even rank B. A monster from the 7th floor has this kind of drop?

「This is amazing….as expected of a mutant magic stone.」

The one who spoke up was the one who had brought me in here. I was finally able to calm down and observe them calmly after being treated.

「A woman? Mutant (strange creature)?」
「Uhmm, I’m going to ask but you’re not treating me being a woman as a ‘strange creature’ right?」

Ah, her eyes were kind of scary. She had short voluminous red hair and intrepid looks. She wore half-plate armor and a fairly feminine body.

She was a bit outside my preferences, but I could definitely see she was a beautiful girl.

So I spoke honestly.

「I guess seeing such a cute girl in this Tower could count as seeing a ‘strange creature’ I suppose.」
「Cute? Haha! I haven’t been called cute since I was 6 years old.」

She may have thought I was joking or being polite so she just laughed dryly.

「Really? Then I have to believe that everyone else must be blind.」

This world must be ridiculous if no one wanted to court such a beautiful woman. My voice had some actual anger mixed in.

「Y-you were being serious….th-thank you.」
「I only said what I thought….anyways, could you tell us about mutants?」
「Y-yeah sure, there is definitely a monster called Flame Fang that comes out of the Tower’s 7th floor.」

My simple appraisal also confirmed that so it was correct.

「However, Flame Fangs shouldn’t be that strong.」
「What do you mean?」
「Well, the size is wrong. Usually the Fang monsters should be the same size as a regular wolf type.」

Yeah, that creature had been nearly twice the size.

「Furthermore, regular Flame Fangs can’t breathe fire. They can let out flames as strong as a torch, but the aren’t strong enough to count as a breath attack.」
「It can’t!?」
「Usually each Tower will only spawn monsters with long range breath attacks after the 10th floor, and even then it will be rare early on.」
「…so that’s why it’s a mutant.」
「Yeah, plus mutants will drop a high quality magic stone without exception. If you defeat one then you’ll make a fortune, but they are always stronger than others of the same type. Normally people would try their utmost to escape. That’s why we were staying here. With these numbers we could easily deal with monsters up to the 5th floor….but because of that beast we couldn’t make a move.」

I see, if they had enough numbers then they could deal with monsters up to a certain strength without issue.

「Soujirou-sama, I’ve finished the treatment for now. The coat and shirt are done for so maybe you should just wear your chain mail?」
「I’ll be fine like this for now.」

I was reluctant to part, but I got up from Sistina’s lap and sheathed my weapons. Wearing chain mail on bare skin felt like it would pinch and cause issues moving so I decided to just go shirtless.

「Sistina, if there are explorers in here that can’t walk then treat them just enough so they can move.」
「Okay」

Sistina stepped forth and I looked back at the red haired woman. Wait I haven’t hear her name yet.

「Umm…you are….」
「Ahh, sorry. I didn’t say yet. I’m Frey, I usually explore around the 4th floor, but I got an escort request this time.」

『Frey Howe Karma: 13 Age: 19 Race: Flat Ear Tribe
Job: Beast Swordsman』

Flat Ear Tribe? She’s a demi-human…but being that she has the ability to explore the 4th floor the leader of this party right now should be her. So…

「Okay Frey, I have a request for you. Could you take all these people and escape? We have marked the shortest escape route out of here and dealt with the surrounding monsters.」
「I see….thank you. I’ll accept your good will. I’ll return this debt once we return safely. Please tell me your name.」
「My name is Fujinomiya Soujirou. I don’t need much thanks. We just did this because we wanted to.」

After all it had been caused by us in the first place. Well…if she wanted to pay me back with her body then I’d gratefully accept, but this wasn’t the time or place to say such things.

「That isn’t the case, but it won’t be too late to repay the debt after we get out of here.」
「Soujirou-sama I’ve finished the treatment. I’ve done some emergency treatment and they should be able to move.」
「Got it. Then I’ll leave this to you Frey.」
「Yeah, I’ve got it. Thank you for the help.」

PICTURE

I shook Frey’s outstretched hand and she turned to gather the rest of the explorers.

「Soujirou, put the magic stone away. It’d be best not to show off too much ja.」

Hotaru-san said looking fiercely at the other explorers as she handed over the magic stone to me. I stuffed the stone into my bag and turned to look at the explorers.

Certainly I could see several of them staring with greed in their eyes. I didn’t think any of them would pull anything stupid in this situation, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

「Well then Fujinomiya-dono we’ll head back first, but what do you intend to do?」
「We’ll explore the area around the boss a bit more before escaping.」
「I see…then please be careful. I’m looking forward to meeting you again outside the Tower.」

Frey said sincerely as she took the explorers and left the area.