The thirty-first floor.
I met the party in the guild, but being thanked the whole way through was awkward.
Their leader, Kanade Hacchou, served as their representative and thanked me, but she mentioned saving them from the armored hobgoblin.
Why was that awkward? Because I was looking for the armored hobgoblin anyway. So of course I was going to fight it. I never had any intention of saving them.
I was thanked so much that I honestly couldn’t even talk, so I just kept nodding and saying yes or sure.
I actually feel bad now.
She said she’d pay me ten times what we agreed for my compensation, as a thank you, but I couldn’t take that. And so, I got the money we agreed on, and I left in a hurry.
Why was it harder for me that they were grateful instead of angry?
I walk in the dungeon as I think that, through the same peaceful land of the thirty-first floor.
I leave a forest, and go to where I fought the armored hobgoblin, but it’s a grassy field as it was before.
There was an intense battle, with magic being fired and holes opened, but there’s no sign that it ever happened.
The dungeon is strange. When I mined on the eleventh floor, a few days later… no, the next day, it was back the way it was.
From the twenty-first floor onward, there are orcs and medicinal herbs that are always replenished, and bringing dirt from there helps grow crops.
From the point of view of this world in general, an infinite source of resources is appealing, even if it comes with the risk of death.
This caused problems in the past, but it should be okay now that they’ve been solved.
Well, the country’s big shots will do something about it.
◇ ◇ ◇
Hacchou said I’ll reach the staircase to the thirty-second floor if I walk through this path for a day.
I came here late, so I probably won’t reach it today. Actually, if it’s that far, shouldn’t it be near the foot of the mountain I see in the distance?
It’s so far.
I was optimistic when I got ready this morning, but thinking about it being that far discourages me.
Maybe I’ll stop… No no. Haven’t I explored for days before? It’s too late to be thinking that way. I should just do what I’ve been doing, heading towards my destination.
But it’ll be tough if every floor is this far apart.
According to Hacchou, it takes two days to get through the twenty-second floor. And that’s if I go straight there.
It takes time to explore and find staircases too. Just how long does it take to reach the fortieth floor?
Hobgoblins appear in front of me, I take them out with Earth Magic, and move on. I bought monster repellent, but I want to use it when I sleep in the tent.
The tent itself has a monster repelling effect, but I can’t rely on that alone.
Up until the thirtieth floor, there weren’t monsters that could attack from outside the range of my Spatial Grasp, but hobgoblins can with magic and arrows.
It’d be a pain if I was attacked in my sleep, so I’ll place them around the tent when I sleep.
It might be pointless, but I don’t have anyone that can keep watch, so it’s the only way I’ll sleep soundly.
I keep walking, and the sky starts to get dark.
And just as I’m thinking I should be looking for a place to camp, I see a building in front of me.
It looks like another abandoned village. Half the buildings have collapsed, and the ones still standing have degraded a lot, so it’s no place for people to live.
I set the tent in the space between buildings, and prepare my food.
Stew has become my standard in the dungeon, but I do change the sauce and ingredients. This time I used cream corn, and it simmers as I serve it on a plate.
Hm, tasty.
As I receive the blessings of the corporate efforts of food companies, I bring stew to my mouth with bread. I cut the ingredients too small, so they’re not making their flavor felt too much, but it’s still tasty.
As long as I use store-bought roux, even if I mess up a little, it won’t be bad to the point of being inedible.
And as long as food companies exist, surely the bar in our country’s stomach will keep rising.
So basically, they have us by the stomach.
Scary, it’s like they hold our right to live.
Let’s leave the silly thoughts at that, and go set the monster repellent a bit far from here.
The effect lasts for hours, and I’ll be grateful if I can sleep easy for that long.
◇ ◇ ◇
As I lay sprawled in the tent late at night, I jump awake and grab the greatsword of fortitude I left next to me, and put the tent in my Storage Space.
I swing the greatsword down at an incoming fire ball.
It dissipates, and I create an earth wall to block an arrow.
I create wind blades, and send them flying at both sides of the wall. I slash a hobgoblin that goes around the wall, but I just barely evade another attack and suffer a light wound.
I keep firing stone bullets, but they’re deflected by a sword, as if I’m being told this level of magic is too weak.
It worked until the thirtieth floor, but it’s lacking in power from here on.
I fall back while clashing swords, then again, and I get a grasp of how many there are.
There are three, counting the one in front of me. A swordsman, a mage, and an archer.
When our swords clash for the third time, I swing the hobgoblin’s sword up, and sweep at its unguarded torso.
Then I create a few wind blades, thinking it’s my turn now, and I go around the wall to send them at the two hobgoblins.
I hear screams, and my Spatial Grasp tells me they’re both down.
I exhale, and drink water I take from my Storage Space.
It’s not the first time I’ve been attacked in my sleep, but it’s been a while, so I was pretty flustered.
It’s still dark around me, but by looking up I can tell it’s gradually getting brighter. I check the clock I take from my Storage Space, and see it’s past five. I set it to twelve before I went to sleep, so there’s no doubt about it.
Waking up in such an intense way left me tired in the morning, but my daily honey fires me up.
Kui…
It doesn’t quite reach my brain, but it’s very tasty.
It’s not bad, it’s not bad… It’s my refined tongue that’s the problem.
I long for that honey…
I should go look in the eleventh floor again. I think I’ll find an ant queen with a big stomach somewhere.
With that determination in my heart, I head to the thirty-second floor as I look up at the sky that’s… bright?
◇ ◇ ◇
The thirty-second floor.
The staircase was where Hacchou said. And where I thought, the foot of the mountain.
Geez, it was far. Too far. It makes me worry about what’s ahead.
Walking around on my own isn’t too bad, but can’t they do something about the unchanging scenery?
There are forests, rivers, and abandoned villages, but it’s too much green everywhere.
I look to the side, and see a wide grassy field, and green on the other side too.
This scenery would calm me if my heart was raging, but looking at it when I’m calm makes me sleepy.
I yawn, look down, and see a snake looking at me.
It’s a big green snake that came out of the green grassy field. It’s over ten meters in length.
Mirage great snake.
It has sharp teeth like a crocodile, and hides itself by changing to the colors of its surroundings. A frightening monster that attacks from behind, and causes hallucinations when it bites its prey.
Its large body is tough, and although not very well, it can use Wood Magic.
This monster uses magic.
Ivy stretches near my feet, encircling me to try to catch me. But as stated before, it’s not very good with magic.
The ivy is slow.
I start cutting it away, and dodge the mirage great snake as it bares its fangs and attacks me from above. I then pierce the head of a snake near my feet, that’s about three meters long.
The ten meter long mirage great snake disappears, leaving only the one I stabbed.
I heard about monsters of this floor from Hacchou, but they’re pretty interesting.
They show illusions to their enemies when they make eye contact with them, and attack from behind with venomous fangs. The ten meter one was an illusion shown to me by the one I looked in the eyes.
There are many types of illusions, like hordes of hobgoblins, rocks falling from the sky, and half your body being buried in the ground.
The illusions are just that, illusions, but it’s very hard to disregard what you see with your eyes, so people react even though they know they’re illusions. Also, apparently they sneak real hobgoblins among the illusion, although rarely, so you really have to be careful.
Thankfully, I have Spatial Grasp, so I can easily tell what’s real.
I noticed the mirage great snake I looked in the eyes going around me, so I could calmly wait to see what illusion it would show me.
According to Hacchou, they’re stronger than hobgoblins, but I’m a bad match for them.
I also heard their skin fetches a nice price, and their meat is edible and has a plain flavor.
Apparently it’s like monkfish, meaning this is a wonderful monster that can be fully used.
I take it apart, put it into the Storage Space, and keep exploring.
After a while, my eyes meet the ones of another mirage great snake. And I see a treasure chest.
I know. It’s an illusion.
Still, I jump at it with hope in my heart, as per human instinct.
Sure enough, it bites me.
And sure enough, I get mad and hack it.
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