After spending the night with Aki, she’s not there when I wake up. Her side is still warm, so I assume she woke up before me and snuck out because she was embarrassed.
She feels distant when I leave the room and see her, and when we’re having breakfast, it’s even more awkward, and she doesn’t even face me. But I think that’s cute, and I can’t stop grinning.
Maki and Ayane want to know what happened last night, and when I give them a detailed description, Aki lets out a weird sound and plumps down.
Did I tease her too much? She’s sulking, but she’s true to her desires, so she gets back to normal after I pat her a bit. That’s cute too.
We have a nice lively breakfast like this, and then go prepare to go to the Heart Dungeon.
“Hn? What’s all that noise?”
I can hear Aki and Maki in the living room while I put on my armor. I run there, and see they’re surprised by what they see on a smartphone.
“What is it?”
“Ah, Shouta, look at this!”
“It’s that Regal Pressure from before! It’s been decided that it’s gonna be put up for auction for a nice price!”
Ah, I completely forgot about it, but there’s an auction every four days, right? So I put up a couple of Adamantine Armor four days ago? And this is my third time putting skills up for auction.
…Now that I think about it, it’s only been ten days since I met Maki. And three for Ayane and Aira? Aki was right when she said that it was like fate… We must really be drawn to each other to advance so fast in such a short amount of time.
The depths of love care not for time. I’ve heard that somewhere, but it really is true.
“This is the second Super Strength, so it’s expected to be sold for forty million. With a starting price of thirty million.”
“The fifty-eight million from last time seems so far away. It drops when it’s the second one.”
“Is this the list of participants? It’s all people I have seen!”
“I feel like the prices are going down because they know Shouta here is going to keep bringing a lot of stuff. We should lower the prices from now on.”
I’m standing here looking into the distance while thinking, so when they move on to the next skill, I snap out of it and peek at the smartphone they’re looking at.
“Regal Pressure, thirty-five million… Pretty good, considering the effect of stunning monsters by yelling is hard to understand.”
Since this skill didn’t have an established price, Aki and Maki, along with Youko and Ryuu, set it.
With those two involved, I assume this price is right, but… Isn’t it high?
“Yeah, well, the skill scores bonus points because it sounds cool, right?”
“Eeh? It does?”
“That’s what skills are like. There’s usability, but a name that stands out is going to increase its value too.
“Showing off when someone uses Appraisal on you… It’s not like it never crossed my mind.”
There aren’t many skills with the word regal in them, and it does sound cool.
I get the same feeling from Dual-Wielding.
“We are all hidden behind Appraisal Obstruction.”
“But there are people who are open.”
“Showing off… From that point of view, your skills would be a mess, master.”
“Uu…”
I was actually a little self-conscious of how many I have, and how there’s no uniformity to them.
“But it’s incredible how you use them all, darling!”
“Thanks.”
“Hehehe, you’re welcome.”
I pat Ayane after she flatters me, and Aira looks happy for some reason. I’m thinking she misspoke on purpose earlier just to get me to pat Ayane. If that’s the case, I should do it to her too, so I extend my hand her way.
“Ah, master…”
Ayane enjoys it fully, while Aira looks baffled, but not unhappy. And as I keep doing that, the sisters look like they want some too, so…
““Stare…””
I’ve come to realize that if I pat one, I have to do it to everyone, even if there’s no reason.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
And so, what’s now the morning routine ends. We’re ready to go, but I see Aira is closing the living room’s blinds.
“What are you doing?”
“Did you forget, master? Last time, the golden seeds had fruit in a day. It is likely these will also have fruit this evening, so they will shine and be fully visible from the outside.
This penthouse is high up, but surely that shine will still draw attention.”
“You have a point. Thanks for being so through, Aira.”
“No, it is my duty to support you.”
This maid really is so reliable. She takes care of everything I miss.
If I didn’t meet these girls, I would’ve probably blundered and revealed my secrets in a week.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
Now we’re actually ready, so we enter the Heart Dungeon, heading straight to the second floor.
And the new floor looks completely different.
““““Ooh.””””
The water is blue, the sand is white, people’s skin is dazzling, and the sunlight is blazing. It really feels like a beach in a southern country.
If I had to say something that feels wrong, it would be the adventurers wearing full-face armor… But even they take it off when they gather in one area. And they come out looking like lifeguards.
So the guards leave their equipment like armor by the entrance, and walk around like that. Well, they might collapse if they went around with armor.
We’re here just a little after the dungeon opened, but there are already guards who are ready, and people having fun.
Is this dungeon always like this… It must be hard to manage.
“Anyway, I heard there was water, but now that it’s actually in front of me, my brain can’t process the change…”
“It’s your first time in a dungeon that shifts suddenly, isn’t it Shouta?”
“Yes, Maki. I’ve only been in caves or a grassy field…”
Actually, I heard the high rank dungeon I was in also changes a few floors in.
I keep looking around, and see something incredible. I freeze, and Ayane also looks surprised.
“Eh, this…”
“Eh? Eh?”
“Fufu, so Shouta, let me give you a simple explanation of this dungeon. This way.”
Maki takes my hand and pulls me to a building I assume the association built, in part to explain what I just saw. And this building is… Clearly a beach house.
Apparently part of the date courses on this and the third floor include having a meal in the dungeon, so they built this.
So if they have beach houses here, are there tea houses on the third floor…?
It’s lively outside, but the place is still empty. We get a booth in the back, and drink juice while discussing our plans.
“We should have decided beforehand, but since it’s our first time here all together…”
Says Aki, and she lays a map of the second floor on the table.
I see a round island surrounded by water, with semicircular beaches on four sides. We’re in the northern beach, but the beaches are separated by walls that go into the water, and are represented here with an X symbol. I guess it’s not a simple thing to go to another beach.
I saw them on the way here, but also on the first floor. They look just like dungeon walls. It’s near impossible to climb them, but then how do they go to another beach…?
“This floor has some distinctive construction not often seen outside. Do you understand, Shouta?”
“Are you talking about this?”
I point to a certain point on the map… Right next to the entrance to the first floor. It’s the entrance to the third floor.
“Correct!”
“You were surprised when you turned around, weren’t you, Shouta and Ayane?”
“I mean, I didn’t expect them to be next to each other.”
Every entrance to the next floor I’ve seen so far has been on the other side of the map, but here, it’s right next to you when you enter. It felt so wrong, that I didn’t even assume it was the entrance to the next floor at first.
“Well then Shouta, about monsters that spawn here. As you can see, there is not a single one here in the northern beach. Conversely, there seems to be a lot in the southern beach. And being close to the southern beach means the encounter rate in the east and west beaches is higher.”
“They almost never come to the northern beach, so adventurers can pass right through.”
“Eh, so it’s a completely safe area… So, these monsters aren’t aggressive?”
“Yes.”
“But they have a tricky peculiarity to them, so it’s not safe for regular people to have fun when they’re around. That means regular people can’t go where they are, even with guards.”
“Hm?”
So that’s why the guards are going around in casual clothing too. They’d get heatstroke in their armor.
“As for how to go to another beach, on both ends of the beach there are walls that stretch to the water, but if you go to where the beaches meet the water, there are small caves where you can pass. Apparently that is the only way to get through.”
“I see.”
“So, what should we do? We can stay here in the northern beach, or go somewhere else.”
“Hm…”
Thinking back to how it was outside, even though this place hasn’t been open for an hour, it was already pretty crowded. I wonder how it will be around lunch time. And also…
“…I want to have you in your swimsuits all to myself.”
“““!!”””
I mumble without thinking, and everyone looks happy.
“Let’s go east then.”
“““Yes!”””
“…I like where this is going.”
Whispers Aira, but my mind is off to a new land, thinking about everyone in their swimsuits.
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