Unlike the dark clouds outside, the sunlight inside the dungeon was as hot as it could get.

Rei, Elena, and Set looked at their surroundings as the stood under the intense sunlight.

As they had just arrived on the 11th floor the day before, it didn’t seem like there was anything unusually different. If they had to pick one thing that was different, it would be the number of adventurers present.

Every adventurer party walked in a different direction in search of their target, the abnormal species of Spear Frog.

As Rei and the others left the small room……they saw a lot more adventurers scattered around the small room.

There were some parties that were working together with each other, but most of them were acting with their own plan to kill the abnormal species.

As Rei’s group watched the various parties leave, someone approached them from behind.

「Ara~, haven’t you headed off already Rei? The people who came to this floor earlier have already scattered.」

As they had only heard her voice just a bit earlier, so both Rei and Elena knew who it was. However, despite knowing who it was, they still stopped moving when they turned around to look.

The reason was that she was usually dressed in many layers of thin cloth, but was currently covered by a cloak.

They had known she would be bringing a cloak, as they had seen a porter carrying one for her. Still, for Rei and Elena, there was a sense of incongruity seeing Vihera not dressed like a dancer.

「We should leave soon Vihera-san. If we stay here for too long, it will be killed by another party.」

The middle aged porter called out to Vihera.

His tone was very polite, perhaps due to his natural personality or because he knew how dangerous Vihera was.

Either way, the porter’s words made Vihera turn around with a flip of her cloak.

「That’s right. Byune, do you know which way we should go?」

「Mm……Mm!」

After a few seconds of thought, Byune pointed northwards with a small finger.

There were no clues at this point in time, so it was nothing more than a hunch.

(Well, I guess there is something to a thief’s intuition……? In that case.)

Rei turned to look at Set, who was next to him, while thinking to himself.

On one side, there was a thief’s intuition, on the other, there was wild intuition.

However, if he were asked whether or not Set, who was giving happy cries while being stroked, actually had any wild intuition, Rei wouldn’t be sure.

「Guru~?」

At the very least, if Rei were asked if Set had any wildness in him, he would have to say no as he continued to stroke Set’s head.

「Oh right. Then, Rei, Set……and Elena. Who will kill the abnormal species first? Let’s have a competition.」

「A competition?」

「Yes. Isn’t it a bit boring to say goodbye here? So let’s play a game, a small game.」

Vihera shrugged her shoulders in response to Rei. Shortly after that, she lightly waved her cloak covered hand towards the porter and Byune, who were already waiting to head off, without much worry as she spoke up again.

「Which one of us can kill the abnormal species first. That’s all. How about it?」

「……Wait. If this is a competition, doesn’t that mean there will be something for whoever wins?」

Elena asked, sensing something suspicious. Vihera gave a shrug in response again.

It was clear from the burning blood lust in her eyes what she would ask for if she won the competition.

Vihera didn’t hide it as she spoke.

「It’s nothing that hard. I just want you to let Rei spend a night with me.」

Rei gave a sigh at her intentionally misleading words.

Elena knew that Vihera was deliberately messing with her, but she still couldn’t calm herself.

That said, she still felt obligated to ask after hearing Vihera’s terms.

「Then, what if we win?」

「Well. ……You can have me for a night……」

Without waiting for her to finish, ELena reached for her sword whip under her cloak.

Perhaps deciding that it wouldn’t be good to offend Elena here, Vihera took a step back without finishing her words.

「I’m joking, I’m joking. But is there anything you want? It doesn’t seem like you’re troubled for money. ……Oh, right. Then, I could join your dungeon party for a while.」

「Letting a dangerous woman like you have our back feels more like suicide.」

「What would you like then? Is there anything else you’d want? Oh, I’ll say this first, you can’t have the magic items I’m using.」

「I don’t think think there’s even any reason to agree on a competition with you……but no, that’s right. You’ll owe us a favour then.」

「……If possible, I’d like you to decide on the specifics here..」

It seemed that Vihera wanted to avoid owing them a favour, but for Rei, there wasn’t really anything he wanted from Vihera, which was why things ended up like this.

(I was a little interested in her hand equipment that can create claws with magic power.)

Rei’s basic attacks revolved around the Death Scyteh and magic, both of which were most suited to mid to long range combat. Of course, there were methods of combat that made full use of the Death Scythe’s shaft and butt. He also had his Mithril Knife and his physical strength, but those were all backup methods of fighting.

Considering that, the weapons on the back of Vihera’s hands that would arbitrarily create claws for melee combat were quite attractive.

「Hmm. Well, if Rei says so, it can’t be helped. I’ll accept the competition under those conditions. But, you owe me one for this.」

「Yeah. ……What?」

The moment Rei nodded, Vihera turned around and ran to Byune and the porter, who were waiting a little further away, as if their discussion had finished.

Yes, as if to avoid Rei taking back his agreement.

「……Hmph. Rei, try and think about what you just agreed to in your head.」

Elena gave a sigh as Rei, who felt that something had gone wrong, recalled his exchange with Vihera.

「……Oh.」

「Did you get it? If we win, Vihera will owe us a favour, but you already owe her a favour. And since you nodded without thinking……」

「……I-It’s fine. We just have to not lose? For my part, I want the magic stone of the abnormal species. I’m not going to lose to Vihera or Byune.」

「Gurururu~」

Set rubbed his body against Rei as if to comfort him after his mistake. Rei stroked Set back in gratitude.

After taking a few minutes to recollect himself, Rei spoke up.

「Now then, I definitely want to avoid losing as I would have to fight. So, I’m going to counter Byune’s thief’s intuition with Set’s wild intuition. What do you think?」

「Guru~? ……Gururururu~」

After hearing Rei’s words and thinking for a few seconds, Set turned to the west.

Of course, with various adventurers scattered around, there wouuld be some headed in the same direction. That said, the desert was still vast. They probably wouldn’t end up on the exact same path unless they intentionally followed someone else or vice versa.

「All right, let’s head west then. Set will continue to scout from the sky as before. The Spear Frog is said to be 3m in length so it’s unlikely we’ll miss it, but we’ll need to be on the lookout for other monsters. I especially want to secure monsters such as the Sandsnake and Grand Scorpion as I only had one magic stone from each. There’s also magic stones from ordinary Spear Frogs that aren’t the abnormal species.」

「Gurururu~!」

Leave it to me, Rei! Set seemed to say. As soon as Set gave his cry, he took a run up of a few steps before flying into the sky.

Watching on from below, Rei and Elena gave a small nod at each other before starting to follow after Set.

While Set was keeping an eye on the surroundings and adjusted his speed to match Rei and Elena’s desert travelling speed, the difference between flying and walking was still great.

Because of that, rather than walking along the dune peaks, where the sand was firmer and easier to walk along, they walked straight through the desert like when they had first come down to the 11th floor.

「Phew. I can’t stand this heat even with a cloak. It’s so cloudy outside, so I would have liked it to have some influence here as well.」

Unlike outside, Elena looked towards the sky wishfully, where not even a single speck of cloud could be seen aside from the sun.

「But, it’s not actually hot enough to hurt you right?」

「Just feeling hot is bad enough.」

Elena had inherited the magic stone of an Ancient Dragon, but her physical body was only just a little stronger than before. She wouldn’t get burned if she touched fire, but she would still feel the heat.

(Or, maybe this is a side effect of the inheritance ritual being interrupted and not fully completing.)

Elena thought to herself before getting rid of those thoughts from her mind and stepping into the sand.

As for Rei, who was walking alongside Elena, he didn’t seem to be suffering from the heat at all.

After all, his temperature was being regulated by the Dragon Robe and his body was also quite extraordinary in various ways.

「Gurururu~」

Rei and Elena continued advancing like that, but after half an hour, Set came down to the ground with a cry as he looked to his right.

「A monster……is what it seems to be.」

「That’s right. They don’t seem to be particularly strong.」

While talking with each other, Rei turned his gaze to the right. ……Eventually, something like a pillar of sand appeared.

Not just once. It repeated two then three times.

「Explosions? ……A battle?」

「Maybe. Perhaps they’re manipulating the desert sand with fire or earth magic? Either way, it’s definitely a battle. ……What do you want to do?」

Rei was lost in thought for a few seconds when Elena left the decision to him, but eventually shook his head.

「As long as they’re someone participating in the request, they would be adventurers with some skill. If we interrupt their fight, we could be mistaken for stealing their prey. If their position is unfavourable, they might be grateful for our help, but the chances are slim. We shouldn’t waste our time on it.」

「Hmm, you’re right. We’ve often been caught up in other people’s fights, but when you think about it, when you make a living from monster materials, it’s only natural that you don’t want to be taken advantage of.」

Elena nodded in understanding before they continued to make their way through the desert.

Prompted by Rei, Set gave a cry before flapping his wings and getting back into the sky.

After about 20 minutes of walking, the two of them heard the sound of explosions again. This time however, it was from a completely different direction to what they had previously heard.

「It seems like fights are going on in various places.」

Elena muttered as she turned towards the direction of the explosions. However, she immediately looked away, probably because she had already decided to not get dragged into other people’s fights. Looking back in their original direction, they continued walking.

Rei nodded as he walked alongside her.

「Because we don’t know where the Spear Frog is, everyone has scattered around. In that situation, the chances of running into monsters will naturally increase. Especially since the materials and magic stones of killed monsters will be bought at a higher price.」

「……They must be fighting something by now.」

Elena said that without thinking, but Rei knew who she was talking about.

Rei just nodded with a smile under the hood of the Dragon Robe.

「I’m sure of it. Vihera must be happily enjoying fighting monsters.」

「……I’m not worried about Vihera though.」

「Huh? Then who were you thinking of?」

「T-That is……that’s right! It was Byune. She’s so small, it’s only natural to worry.」

「That’s true.」

Although she complained about it, Vihera’s attitude towards Elena, while a little too familiar at times, was something that Elena rarely experienced.

While Elena might have some thoughts about Rei’s attitude towards Vihera, she didn’t really hate her that much otherwise. It seemed that she had suddenly come to that realisation, but she focused on pretending it wasn’t the case to Rei.

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