「It’s finished over there so I would like you to give up……right!」

Elena’s sword whip stretched out like a whip and pierced the Skeleton from under its chin. Using that momentum, she flicked the skull off its spine.

「Seriously!　They only have their tenacity!.」

Ara swung the Power Axe at the Skeleton that had lost its skull. The force was tremendous, the axe crushed the Skeleton’s left arm and went into its ribs, breaking the magic stone inside its chest.

「……」

As for the monster, after the magic stone, that could be called the core of the undead, was destroyed, its bones fell apart and dropped to the ground without a sound, entering an eternal rest.

Next to her, Vel cooperated with Kuust to deal with a skeleton.

And behind them……

『Flame, burn the enemy according to my thoughts.』

At the back, a fireball 30cm in diameter appeared at the tip of the Death Scythe, which was also a magic casting tool……

『Fireball!』

The fireball flew away as the Death Scythe was swung down and the magic activated. It hit the Zombies that were approaching Rei from behind.

Next to him, Set took a deep breath and wrapped multiple Zombies in flames as he used Fire Breath.

In terms of raw power, the fireball Rei shot had the power to kill a Zombie in a single blow, if there was only one target. It was only good for hitting one enemy and damaging the surrounding enemies slightly. On the other hand, Set’s fire breath was less powerful, it had a wide range of attack and could be used to attack Zombies that were much closer. The fireball was used to attack the Zombies which were still out of range of Set’s Fire Breath.

The first enemies to appear were Skeletons. Though they were easy for Rei and Set to defeat, Zombies then appeared from behind. This repeated like the infinite loop. Eventually, the smell of burnt rotten flesh became a bother as Rei and Set repeatedly used Fireball and Fire Breath. And in the front, Elena handled the Skeletons, which where just bones.

And when Rei and Set finally cleared the Zombies, they went to help against the Skeletons. Not much time was needed after that to finish the battle.

「Phew, I can’t get any materials from this. If we don’t destroy the magic stone, we can’t defeat the Skeletons, but then we can’t take it as proof of subjugation. It’s only a fight that exhausts stamina for no gain.」

At Vel’s words, Rei nodded with a wry smile.

「That is really true. If it was a higher level undead, the bones could be sold as material. It really is bone breaking work for no reward.」
「What does that mean?」

Elena asked while tilting her head at Rei’s words. At the shake of her vertical rolls of hair as she tilted her head with puzzled eyes, Rei explained.

「This was a proverb my master taught me. It means that you exhaust yourself for no profit. ……However, in our case, we are breaking bones literally.」
「Kukuku~. Well, that is certainly so. With such a meaning, Ara probably spend the most effort for the least results.」
「Wai-, Vel! It’s not that bad!?」
「No, no. Any how, Ara, who was originally a famous swords-woman, changed her weapon to an axe, so surely you’re the champion of destruction!　I think I can say that.」
「……Heh~. If that’s so, then should I destroy Vel’s mouth which talks that much?」

Slowly, maybe sensing a crises as Ara lifted the Power Axe and not wanting to talk to Rei, Vel hid behind Kuust, who was also backing away.

「Help, you’re kidding. You don’t have to be so serious about everything. Hey, Kuust You also think so, right!?」
「Don’t involve me in your petty quarrel. No, but that is so. Vel’s talkative mouth should really be destroyed once. Ara, I leave it to you.」
「Leave it to me. As expected of the captain of the guards, you have great discernment.」

A Kuust grabbed Vel’s shoulder and pushed forward the human sacrifice, Vel desperately spoke up as he turned his head around.

「Hey, Kuust!　Are you betraying your best friend!?」
「Who is my best friend, who is that?」
「Yes, yes, please wait for your best friend, Ara, to come.」
「Wai-, hey, hey. Are you seriously angry!?」

While watching the half comedic exchange, Rei looked at the bones of the Skeleton that was shattered by Elena’s attack.

(I wish they were bones of higher ranking undead.)

Even though he had become more accustomed to the act of stripping materials from monsters, he would still make mistakes in the stripping and processing of materials. But sometimes it wasn’t necessary to strip any materials. Bones that could just be picked up and sold as materials were quite attractive to him.

……Of course, as fire magic wasn’t used in this case, the magic stone had to be destroyed physically as Elena had done.

As he looked at the remains of the Skeletons while thinking of that, Elena clapped her hands to attract everyone’s attention.

「Well then, we will restart the search soon. We won’t change the file formation we had before.」

Following those instructions, they quickly formed into the vanguard, middle guard and rear guard and walked down the passageway for several minutes, before finding something familiar in their path.

「Elena-sama, although I found a door ahead……there are two of them.」

Yes, ahead of Rei’s line of sight, there were two doors, facing left and right.

Hearing Rei’s report, Elena frowned her eyebrows slightly.

It couldn’t be helped. The first door they had found on this floor was a small room that was a lure to trap them inside a space loop.

「……Ignore them?」

Vel asked Elena from the side, but she immediately shook her head.

「No, we can’t, considering the possibility that the staircase to the next floor could be there. If we passed by without checking, and we finally find out that that the stairs are in this small room, it won’t be funny. Vel, check if there’s a trap or not. Be careful to not make things end up like last time.」
「Yes. So, which one?　Right?　Left?」
「I don’t mind either way. In the end, you will have to examine both. Check the one which is easier for you.」
「All right. Well then, right first. As for everyone else, keep a watch on the surroundings please.」

Vel went ahead of Rei and Set and began to examine the door on the right. Elena and the others spread out in a fan shape to protect Vel.

As for Elena’s aim, she planned for them to recover their stamina while Vel was investigating if there were traps……however, that goal soon collapsed.

「That?　This door, there’s no traps at all?　It isn’t even locked.」
「……What?」
「Here.」

His eyes held great confidence. Vel majestically opened the door in front of everyone. Everyone who saw that readied themselves, but after no traps activated, they lowered their weapons.

「Vel, I understand that there were no traps but please act a little more carefully. What were you going to do if was a delayed trap.」
「I would like you to trust me about this. Well then, what’s inside this room……hm?　Ah, it’s useless.」

Vel looked into the room before shaking his head with a bitter smile. They could roughly guess from that look, but everyone still took a look inside just in case.

「Certainly, this……」

Ara gave a bitter smile. The others didn’t have any expression in particular, but held the same thought as Ara in their heard. They were unable to hide their discouragement as they shook their heads or smiled bitterly.

There was really nothing in the room. Even in the small room that was the start of the infinite loop previously had a treasure chest that had some meaning, inside was a monster, this room really had nothing. If it had to be said what was in the room, it would only be dust.

「……Vel, sorry, but try checking the inside of the room. Maybe there’s something like a hidden door or stairway.」
「Eh? Examine this room!?」
「That’s right. Please.」
「……Yes, yes, I understand.」
「Then everyone else take a break while on guard. It will be noon soon. Let’s make it quick while Vel investigates.」
「Wai-, Elena-sama. What about my share!?」
「You can have yours after you finish examining this room. Don’t worry, you can check the room on the left after eating lunch and taking a break.」
「What, I seem to have been overworked since entering the dungeon……no, because I entered knowing that, I can’t complain……」

Vel began looking around the room while grumbling complaints. Still, he didn’t push Elena’s words out of his mind and didn’t cut corners while investigating. Though he muttered complaints, his work could be trusted.

「Well then, lunch is meat pies and consomme vegetable soup. Ah, will Set be fine with the Orc meat we roasted during breakfast?」
「Gurururu~」

Set gave a cry while nodding at Rei’s question. However, his eyes turned subtly to the meat pies that were taken out earlier.

「Guru~」

Just a little, Set seemed to say. Rei smiled as he nodded at Set, who had tilted his head.

「I understand, I understand. You can share some of mine.」

In the first place, Rei’s body was an artificial one and had a bad energy efficiency, requiring him to eat more than a ordinary person. But even the food he ate, he had to to be happy that it was nothing compared to the quantity that Set had to eat. ……His equipment and accessories were his own. If there was anything he had to buy, it would be consumables for requests and daily necessities. Even if his Engel’s Coefficient was high, combining his expenditure on his hobby of reading books and given his earnings, it wasn’t a big problem.

「……Uwa~, delicious!　The pie dough is crispy and it still holds the meat and mushrooms.」
「Ara, this consomme soup is also excellent. I’m impressed at the skill of the chef.」

Next to Ara and Elena, who were eating their lunch with great relish, Set took a bite of one of Rei’s meat pies and gave a satisfied cry.

On the opposite side to Rei, Kuust ate his lunch silently.

「I think at every meal, Rei’s item box is very convenient. Even if you march with the supply corps, you can’t have such luxurious meals.」
「Luxurious, is it?　Wouldn’t this fall under simple meals for nobles?」
「It surely is so if you think of a noble’s meals. However, when moving with the Knight and the army, the rations are simple. Before leaving the City of Gilm, have you ever brought along some of the military rations?　Those are common. ……Well, depending on your rank and the place, there are different meals. There are some stupid nobles who don’t understand and bring their own chefs so that they can eat the same food as when they stay at home……in Duke Kerebel’s army, the soldiers, knights and commanders eat together to build solidarity. It feel warm to be able to eat luxurious, freshly cooked food like this every time.」

While listening to Elena’s story, as she gracefully carried the soup to her mouth, Rei also finished the last of his meat pies.

And just at that time, Vel appeared from the small room on the right.

「I’ve been thinking that that smells good for a while……it’s amazing to be able to properly smell these delicious smells even in this den of undead. ……Ah, I inspected the inside of the room closely but it really is an empty room with nothing special. Of course, there are no hidden stairs or rooms.」
「I see, I’ve put you through a lot of trouble. Get your food from Rei and have lunch. We will finish eating soon so we’ll keep watch while you’re taking a break.」
「Roger that, roger that. By the way, lunch is……ah, it’s meat pies and cconsomme soup Well, both are my favourites, I’m happy.」

Vel smiled happily as he immediately bit into the meat pie that Rei passed him.

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