The second basement floor we nervously descended to turned out to be… a storage room.
Wooden crates and barrels were scattered haphazardly along the stone-paved corridor.
Bid-san smashed one or two of the crates on a whim, but there was nothing inside.
The Relic, the Wheel of Fortune, that we'd used for the occasion showed no reaction either.
Only a green line of light extended deeper into the passage.
What was going on here? Well, for now, I had no choice but to trust it.
As I walked, there was a crunching sound underfoot — something snapping.
"What was that?"
"What's th—?"
I looked down. There were wooden planks scattered around — fragments from the crates.
Ah, so that's what I'd stepped on. I let out a breath of relief and kept going.
After a while, I was thinking that this was a pretty long corridor, when —
"A-ah, um, Wof-san?"
"What is it?"
I turned around. Bid-san, who had been following behind me, seemed strangely fidgety.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed and she was looking down, avoiding my gaze.
Huh, this felt like it had happened before, back in the water dungeon too.
"…I-Is there really… something here…? It was hidden, you know…"
"Yes. Um, Bid-san, could it be —"
"Wh-what is it?"
"Are you scared?"
"Huh?"
"No, I mean, there's the light orb and all, but it's dim in here, so I was wondering if you find places like this scary."
Light orbs were handy like that — they adjusted their brightness depending on the area.
Since this passage was narrow, the orb lit up our feet but couldn't reach any further than that.
So it was dim.
"…Ah, well, yeah. I got attacked in a place like this, so…"
That remark hit me with a pang of guilt. R-right. That too.
"S-sorry."
"Ahaha, there's no need for you to apologize, Wof-kun. It's just — me too, same as before, but when I'm with you, we always end up in places where there's not a soul around. Just something I noticed."
"Yeah, now that you mention it."
We had headed into deserted areas back in the water dungeon too.
I hadn't really thought about it, but she had a point — we were a guy and a girl.
Could it be that she… suspected me of something?
No, that wasn't it. Was it just the mixed company thing?
Once I became aware of it, guilt and awkwardness started creeping in.
Bid-san gave me a wry smile at that.
"Sorry about that. I think my attitude ended up making things awkward for you."
"No, I should be the one apologizing — I wasn't being considerate enough."
"What's that supposed to mean? That's not how you treat a kid."
Bid-san chuckled softly.
Maybe that had lifted her spirits.
She sidled up next to me, and since there was nothing else to do, she started chatting away.
Something had caught my interest, so I asked.
"Pakira and the others went to the Tasan domain, right?"
"Seems like it. I don't know the details myself, though."
"Something about support, wasn't it?"
"The support system for female delver parties, yes. I heard it's a new venture by the Tasan family. The Tasans are a famous matriarchal noble house, you know. Come to think of it, Juicy-chan is the same way."
"You know her?"
"Mineha introduced us. I used to hire her from time to time."
"Oh, really?"
"Right now she's probably gone back to the Tasan domain with her sisters — and with Pakira's group, I'd imagine."
"I see."
The conversation drifted along in that harmless, easygoing way.
Then suddenly, Bid-san said she wanted me to get to know her better.
So I naturally asked about her favorite foods, foods she disliked, music, hobbies, and the like.
"Favorite food, let me see. I like tomatoes and apples."
Huh, not carrots.
"You're a fan of fruit?"
"Yeah. But I'm also pretty into smelly stuff."
"You mean fermented foods like cheese?"
"Yep. Back in my hometown, there's a traditional dish where you stuff a seabird into the body of a sea monster called a Tukaran — you remove its organs first, then squeeze out all the air, tie it shut, coat it in fat, and bury it in snow-covered ground for a few months."
"...That's quite the traditional dish."
A dish? Oh, kiviak. That ridiculous fermented food from the Eskimos of Alaska.
So it existed in this world too.
"I love that stuff. The organ juice goes really well with hard bread-beans. Foods I hate would be fish and octopus. I can't stand the bones in fish."
"Yeah, I get that. Is it the texture with octopus?"
At that, Bid's face turned bright red and he ducked his head slightly. What was that about?
"A while ago... it was somewhere else, but I got attacked by an octopus monster in a water dungeon..."
"Ah, oh... s-sorry about that."
"No, I beat it good, so it's fine. I'm not hung up on it. U-uh, your favorite food is butter rice, right, Wof? What about foods you don't like?"
"Foods I don't like... hmm. I don't really have any, actually."
"No strong likes or dislikes? That's pretty likable, honestly."
"Oh, thanks. As for music ——"
And so the small talk ended up more lively than expected.
Without boredom or tension, we reached the very end of the corridor. The line of green light was hitting a door directly to the side.
"A room?"
"Looks like a room."
There was no key, and the door opened.
The room was small, with just a wooden box, a barrel, a shelf, and a desk.
The green light lines pointed at a stretch of wall with nothing in front of it.
"Is there something here?"
The wall. Oh, a hole—a keyhole.
I tried each key from the bundle one by one.
The seventh one fit. When I turned it, the ceiling directly above began to open.
There was a stepladder nearby, so I used it to climb up through the ceiling.
A room about the same size as the one below. But there wasn't a single thing in it.
All there was, under the floor, was a faintly glowing teleportation circle.
Ah, so that's the kind of pattern this is.
Even I knew better than to step into that, so Bido and I called everyone over.
And so five people and one animal crowded into the narrow hidden room.
"Of all things, a teleportation circle?"
"It's by no means cheap."
"..."
"Hmm... troublesome... indeed."
"The question is, who's going first?"
We have to go forward from here. But who?
By the way, there's something I've been curious about.
"Um, excuse me—Munieka."
"What is it?"
"The rabbit in your hand."
For some reason, she was holding one of Haiyarn's legs, gripping it casually.
There was no reply from the upside-down Haiyarn. Bid spoke up.
"Back home, I've seen hunters who tie small prey to a rope and hang it off their belt like that."
"I don't have a habit of hanging things from my belt, but this rabbit. It leaped at me, so I took it down."
"Sorry for the trouble."
What is this rabbit even doing. Of all the people, it just had to go and grope the one person it absolutely should not have.
Munieka looked at Haiyarn and made a suggestion.
"Witch's apprentice. How about we toss this thing in?"
"Sure."
No reason to refuse. The harassment victims, Bid and Riv, nodded in agreement.
For the record, Leorld had no veto power, and he was busy drinking. Hey.
Once the decision was made, Munieka delivered a quick chop to the back of Haiyarn's neck.
Haiyarn snapped awake with a start.
"Hah—where am I?!"
"Off you go."
Munieka casually tossed it, and the rabbit vanished into the teleportation circle.
After a short wait, Haiyarn came back.
"What the—what do you think you're doing all of a sudden, you savages?!"
He was angry. Genuinely angry.
Of course he was. He'd been tossed into somewhere where anything could happen or appear.
It was only natural to be furious. But I didn't feel even a shred of guilt or remorse.
"You're the last one who should be calling anyone a pervert!"
"Hm… pervert… instant kill…"
"Do you have a death wish?"
"Y-yes. I'm sorry."
Overwhelmed by the contemptuous stares from Riv, Bid, and Munieka, Haiyarn apologized.
Leold spoke with a resigned air.
"So, anything in there?"
"…No danger. There might be what we're looking for, though."
"Then let's go check it out."
Leold walked through the teleportation circle like he was out for a stroll.
Munieka followed. Then me and Haiyarn. Riv and Bid.
Beyond the teleportation circle was a slightly larger space.
Straight ahead was a pure white wall, with a black diamond shape in the center.
In the middle of the diamond, some kind of emblem was carved.
"This is…"
"Well, isn't this quite the surprise?"
Even Leold and Munieka, impressive as they were, looked taken aback.
Looking more closely, the diamond shape was metallic, with a groove running all the way around it. So this thing actually moved.
Leold spoke with a groan.
"It's a vault door."
"So this is a vault?"
Then what lay beyond this was a vault room... apparently.