What was spread before them was nothing but greenery.

Everyone in Rei’s party took in a deep breath of the fresh green scent.

「Ahh, the fresh air is so wonderful……」

「That’s right. Compared to the putrid smell of the undead floor, it’s like the difference between heaven and earth.」

Even though she looked quite nonchalant about it, Elena spoke with a smile on her face as Rei, who was next to her, agreed.

「Guru~, Gurururururu~!」

「Kyu!」

Next to them, Set and Yellow also breathed in the fresh forest air.

Unlike the 16th floor, which had been filled with undead, the 17th floor was filled with fresh air.

The heat wasn’t as great as the desert floors and the wind that blew as the leaves on trees swayed gave a rather refreshing feeling.

Countless trees grew before them, giving off a feeling that soothed minds.

(I guess it’s because we just left the undead floor that it feel extra nice. ……It was the correct option not to leave immediately via the magic circle.)

A forest was right outside the small room. Rei felt a sense of security as he looked out and took a deep breath to get rid of the putrid smell that was still stuck at the back of his nose.

「Gurururururu~!」

But at that moment, Set let out a warning cry.

Hearing his cry, Rei and Elena both quickly readied their weapons as they looked around.

They were in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. There were countless trees that grew in the surroundings and, until a moment ago, they had all been soaking in the relaxing sight. However, Set had given a warning cry……in other words, there were monsters nearby. Because of that, the surrounding trees changed from a relaxing environment to one that could be hiding enemies.

「……Rei.」

「Yeah. I don’t think we need to stay in the dungeon any longer today. The undead floor and materials……oh, no, that’s why.」

Speaking that far, Rei muttered to himself as if realising something.

Why they had been found so quickly after arriving on the 17th floor.

Yes, it was because they had spent nearly half a day on an undead floor. It was no surprise that the strong putrid smell had ended up sticking to them.

Even if humans couldn’t smell it, it was enough for monsters lurking in the forest to clearly identify them.

……Because of that, they could easily grasp the position of Rei’s party simply by breathing in the forest air.

「If we go back to the inn, there is a magic item for deodorising.」

Elena nodded at Rei’s words.

As a soldier, Elena was quite used to this sort of situation. However, as someone in love, she didn’t want to be seen as smelling bad by the person she loved.

As a side note, the reason why there were deodorising magic items in the inn was because there were several floors that gave off strong smells, similar to the undead floor they had been in a little earlier.

Besides that, due to the location of a Labyrinth City, many materials could be obtained from the dungeon, but most required some sort of processing before they could be used as materials in things like alchemy, weapons……and so on. Because of the various requirements, magic items for deodorising weren’t that uncommon.

「You’re right. I would like to stay here a little longer, but if we end up attracting monsters due to the smell of undead, that would be putting the cart before the horse.」

Elena noticed the same thing as Rei as she spoke.

「Gurururu~……」

Beside the two of them, Set sent a sharp gaze into the forest.

His eyes seemed to say, come here if you dare, an expression that would surely surprise anyone who was used to Set’s usual cute appearance.

For Set, who’s five senses were much sharper than an ordinary human, he must have endured the smell of undead.

(That said, the day before yesterday, we had only fought monsters that didn’t smell that bad, like Living Armours, Skeletons, and that abnormal species Skeleton.

As he thought to himself, Rei patted Set’s head as if holding him back, before they returned to the small room alongside Elena and Yellow, exiting the dungeon through the magic circle.

 

 

The moment Rei and the others returned to the surface outside the dungeon, someone suddenly rushed towards them, causing Rei to take the Death Scythe out of the Misty Ring and enter a defensive stance.

However, the person that was about to run into Rei was suddenly stopped by another person, who grabbed his shoulder.

The surrounding adventurers looked over at them, wondering if there was some sort of incident. Some frowned at the lingering smell drifting out from Rei’s party while others watched on with sympathy and understanding, must just glanced over before looking away, not caring much for the smell.

The reason why most adventurers didn’t care much about the smell was probably because they themselves were also adventurers exploring the dungeon.

「……I’m sorry that I surprised you.」

The man who had stopped the person rushing over to Rei called out while involuntarily wiping away his sweat.

Hearing his voice and seeing his face, Rei realised who it was.

It was Nakuto, one of the adventurers they had rescued from the abnormal species Skeleton in the dungeon and had helped out with stripping materials yesterday.

Since Nakuto was here, the other person was, as expected, Essetus.

「What, it’s just you guys? Don’t jump on me out of nowhere. I almost attacked you.」

Giving a sigh, Rei stored the Death Scythe back into the Misty Ring while Elena gently realised her hold on her sword whip.

「O-Oh right. Sorry. I had wanted to speak with you as soon as possible, so when you finally showed up, I couldn’t help but……」

Even though he apologised, the expression on his face was filled with more frustration that apology. There was even a sort of desperate feeling coming from him.

Even Rei realised that something unusual must have happened. He looked around before speaking.

「So, is it okay for the people around here to overhear your business? If it is, you can just tell us here, otherwise, if it’s better to keep it a secret, we can head to somewhere nearby……」

「No, I don’t want too many people to know about this.」

Nodding at Nakuto, who responded immediately, Elena called out to Rei, who had been about to say they should head over to a nearby eatery.

「Rei, in our current state, it would be an issue entering any eatery.」

「……Now that you say it, that is true.」

After Elena mentioned the lingering smell on them, Rei nodded back in agreement.

As expected……they couldn’t really enter an eatery with the rotten smell on them.

「Sorry, but could you go back to our inn with us?」

「That would be much better.」

「Nakuto! We don’t have much time!?」

Essetus spoke out at Nakuto’s words, but Nakuto shook his head silently as he placed his hand on Essetus’ shoulder to calm him down.

「You should calm down. You know that there’s nothing you can do by causing a fuss right here, right now, right? In that case, it would be better to ask Rei’s group for their help now for things to go as smoothly as possible.」

「……Fine.」

Together with Essetus, who was reluctantly convinced, they went straight back to Rei and Elena’s inn without taking any detours.

 

 

After returning to the Golden Wind Inn, where Rei’s group was staying, Rei and Elena both used a deodorising magic item to erase the putrid smell that stuck to them before gathering in Rei’s room.

There were four people in the room, Rei, Elena, Essetus, and Nakuto. Set and Yellow were down at the stables.

「……So, let me ask, what happened?」

As expected of an inn where nobles and wealthy merchants stayed, Rei asked while drinking some cold fruit juice that had been immediately prepared for them after they asked the inn.

Essetus tried to say something but Nakuto decided that he wasn’t in the right head space to speak and spoke up first.

「Actually……last night, after completing your request and having a celebratory party with everyone else who had been in the request, someone attacked us.」

Rei showed some reaction at Nakuto’s words as he asked to confirm.

「……It wasn’t for the money, was it?」

「Yeah. We did help out with your request, but in the first place, it was done free of charge as payment for escorting us out of the dungeon.」

「They didn’t know that and thought you had taken on the request normally and attacked you……isn’t that a possibility」

Elena asked as she took a sip of the same type of fruit juice Rei had drank earlier

However Nakuto shook his head at that question and Essetus spoke up, unable to stay quiet any longer.

「Even if we’re not as good as you guys, we’re still well known. And among the adventurers who accepted your request, there was one guy who had just stopped being a novice. In that case, you’d normally aim for that one, right!?」

「If it isn’t for money. ……Was it a grudge?」

Rei asked while looking at Essetus.

Though they hadn’t known each other for long, from Rei’s perspective, Essetus was someone with a short temper. With that in mind, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to have a grudge against him.

However, Nakuto shook his head at the question.

「I had definitely considered the possibility as well. ……But when I recalled the moment of the attack, they were definitely aiming for something……no, to be exact, they were aiming for Tivia.」

「Tivia?」

「Yeah. ……In facct, they took Tivia away after knocking her unconscious. The guys who attacked us were quite skilled and, because they ambushed us, Essetus and I were only able to protect ourselves. That was all we could do. Still, we weren’t injured too badly. Goto on the other hand……」

Hearing his name, Rei recalled the porter’s friendly face.

Since both the warrior and thief from the fairly famous party had to go on the defensive, it wasn’t difficult to imagine what had happened to Goto, the porter.

He must have died, or even if he was lucky, seriously injured.

That said, this was a world where healing magic existed, even if an arm was lost at the shoulder, it was still possible to be up and about by the next day.

With that sliver of hope in mind, Rei asked Nakuto.

「He’s not dead, is he?」

「No, he’s still alive. However……while trying to protect Tivia, he lost both his right arm and leg. He won’t be able to work as an adventurer anymore.」

「……I see.」

Rei was relieved when Nakuto told him Goto wasn’t dead, but the severity of his injuries was clear.

「Anyhow, now that we know you were attacked. Why did you come looking for us?」

Taking a deep breath and moving Goto out of his mind for the time being, Rei asked them.

「You guys are connected to the Silva family, aren’t you? This matter……would you be able to ask them to investigate?」

「I’m not sure what to say, as active adventurers, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to hold a grudge against you. And yet, you want use to go out of our way to ask Vosk? And me? Not you guys?」

It was fair to say that Rei had a decent relationship with the kidnapped Tivia and the seriously injured Goto. But even so, it would be hard for him to go and ask Vosk for a helping hand in the matter.

In the first place, the Silva family was currently pouring all their efforts into dealing with the abnormal species, which was something Rei welcomed.

「……Then, just introduce us to Vosk-sama. Please!」

Seeing Rei’s reluctance, Essetus gave a deep bow.

Rei looked on and hesitated for a few seconds before turning to Elena.

「I don’t think it’s an issue if it’s just an introduction? However, I think it would be better if we didn’t get ourselves involved in the exchange as a result of lending a hand. ……Although that pains me greatly.」

Essestus nodded at Elena’s offered compromise.

Although Elena would have liked the Silva family’s full support, she knew that if their attempt to reach out to the Silva family was leaked, news about it would end up spreading and it would end up being a very troublesome situation.

There were more than a few people who wanted to use them to meddle with the Silva family, and that could potentially have a clear negative impact on Exil, which had already been shaken by the Levisor family and the appearance of abnormal species. It was a compromise based on those reasons.

「I-I see! Thank you. Thank you for your help!」

Since it was still early in the afternoon, they immediately headed for the Silva family residence.

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