Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 16: Epilogue

Translator : Solo | Editor : DarkBlazeWolf

【Unknown】

Night had fallen on the city.

After finishing up some miscellaneous chores, I walked around as I searched for someone. After my legs had turned to lead, I ultimately found him in the usual bar.

「Ohh, it's rare to see you at this hour」

「I suppose so」

I greeted the barkeeper lightly, then walked to the corner of the bar. At a small table for one, Irvin was nursing a drink.

「Do you mind if I sit here?」

「I don't know anyone who needs to ask permission for something like that」

Certainly, I said as I took a chair from a nearby table and sat down.

「Oh, Souya. What’s your order-nya?」

「Fruit juice and stewed beans」

「O~kay」

After taking my order, Tyutyu’s tail fluttered as she left. I stared intently at her butt which was visible under her short skirt.

「I'm sorry. For not showing up for the wedding」

At Irvin's apology, I touched the longsword hanging from my hip. The decorations on it were rough, but it was a blade made from pretty good steel. It was a bit heavy for me, but if I couldn’t swing something of this level, I wouldn’t be able to continue to work as an adventurer in future.

「It’s a complete mystery, but when I woke up after the banquet was over, this was hanging from my waist. I would understand if things went missing, but why would things appear instead?」

「No idea」

「When I looked into it, it seems to be a custom of the center continent. That is to say, giving the newlywed couple gifts after catching them off guard」

Lana was given a rapier.

「Was there a custom like that? I'm sorry, I don’t remember」

Irvin was feigning ignorance. It would be boorish to pursue it any further so I stopped.

「So, Irvin. How’s it going with the dungeon?」

「I had a rather hard time finding a new leader, you know? An intermediate adventurer came forward, but he was a fraud. It turned out alright because our money increased as a result, but it was a waste of time」

I had also heard through rumors that the former intermediate adventurer was stripped of everything he owned, and given a vicious beating. Still, rather than calling it a rumor, it was a very common story.

「Then, I somehow found a guy in a similar situation who wanted to try being a leader, but Shuna got mistaken as a woman by him, got into a quarrel, then pummelled him until his regeneration point ran out. A considerable amount got taken as treatment costs」

It was the rashness of youth.

「Irvin, did you scold Shuna?」

「No, for me to scold a child…… What should I do if he becomes rebellious after I warn him? I don’t know how to be tactful during quarrels. And it was also rude of that guy to mistake another guy as a woman」

That's no good. I believe Shuna would obey if Irvin told him firmly that it wasn’t allowed. He’s quite attached to Irvin after all.

「We didn’t have much choice so I became the leader and challenged the dungeon, but…… we got lost. We got really lost. We got lost between the 7th and 8th floor for two whole days. Shuna yelled, Bell cried, Zenobia kept muttering to the walls, and an unpleasant tension ran high within the party when our food and water ran out. If Otou-san didn't come and save us, our adventures might have ended right there」

Well, I was the one who had asked Otou-san to go save them though.

It’s normal for adventurers to go into the dungeon and not come out for two to three days. However, no matter how you looked at it, the amount of food Irvin purchased was only one day's worth. I got flustered because they didn't come out even after two days. Their fighting abilities were at the level of intermediate adventurers. But as adventurers, their survival knowledge was severely lacking. And they also never learnt to retreat.

It was my fault for leading them to victory instead of escaping in that very first battle. It had completely become a bad habit. Fighting consumes both food and water at more than twice the usual speed. To top it off, Irvin had no sense of direction. He couldn’t read a map at all. The other members couldn’t as well.

Why didn’t they know how to do something like this? I had wondered.

Makina told me that I was the only person who knew how to do it. When asked why I knew how to do it, I answered that I had learnt all the basics of exploring a dungeon from my knowledge of modern games.

A good adventurer would learn it instinctively. For those that couldn’t figure it out, all they needed to do was to add someone who knew how to do it into their party. Complementing one another like that was what made a party.

「Right now, we’re in the midst of drowning our anxiety over the future with alcohol」

People called that escaping from reality.

「Souya, what about you?」

「Added one person to the party. The exploration of the dungeon hasn’t progressed beyond the 5th floor」

「Surely that person isn’t an elf?」

「She’s an elf」

Ea was healed. I won’t use words like “miracle”. It was all due to Makina and Izora’s abilities. They had removed the bullet and drained the lead from her blood. The damaged tissue was excised, the wound was cleaned, and her condition stabilized in less than two days.

On the third day, she had completely recovered physically. The problem of her wound had been resolved, but the effects of anesthesia and modern medicines on her body were unclear, so she was put under careful observation to see if there were any after-effects. However, to Makina’s annoyance, Ea was willfully cavorting about.

I didn’t think that it was a problem since she said that she was fully healed.

「I simply can’t get along with elves. They keep taking away the people that I need, one after another」

My order arrived.

I didn't have any expectations of its taste, but I brought it to my mouth as I listened to Irvin reminisce about his past.

「The grand-uncle I mentioned before? I owed him a great debt. I was abandoned as I was born due to marital infidelity, but he pulled me up from the bottom and raised me as a knight. If he hadn’t done that, I would have sunk into a muddy ditch and rotted away after committing theft and murder in the slums of Elysium. I was only a knight for a short while, but it was an irreplaceable honor. I thought that it was truly the way of life for me. ……Well, it’s something like that. And then, next was you」

The hidden past of the handsome man was revealed. A woman two seats over was staring passionately at his profoundly melancholic expression. I understood a little bit more about the timing in which a woman fell in love with a man.

「With all my heart, I can’t get along with elves」

「Well, there are things like that」

Whether it was because of luck, fate or the history between them, there were races that couldn’t get along. My way of thinking wasn’t so optimistic that I thought that it was possible for all humankind to understand one another.

「We’ve spent too much time on idle talk, it’s about time for you to move on to the main topic」

Irvin's perceptiveness.

I think that it's an outstanding talent.

「I have a proposal」

I placed the Izora pod that had been disguised as a lantern on the table.

「Izora, introduce yourself. In a soft voice, got it?」

『Greeting, alternate world’s knight-sama. I’m Izora, Souya’s partner』

「What a peculiar…… thing you have there. Is it a treasure from the dungeon?」

As could be expected, even the people of this world would be surprised by a talking lantern.

「This guy came with me from the foreign lands. To be clear, she's amazing! She can read maps, and show you the way to where you are travelling. It’ll probably become impossible for you to get lost and be unable to leave the dungeon. It’s basic, but she can also detect approaching enemies. In addition, you can talk with me through my glasses if you’re within two floors from me. To the other adventurers, she is probably an item that gives an unfair advantage. Irvin, I want to lend this to you」

「What are you saying?」

Irvin was a prudent person. Even when I dangled delicious bait in front of him, he didn’t jump at it immediately.

「There are conditions. Everyone in my party is a rearguard, including me. If we’re suddenly caught off guard by a monster, we’ll crumble in one shot and be annihilated. Hence, we need a shield」

「I can't accept your condition. Elves are the only people I will never form a party with, no matter the circumstances. Even if I gained fame, I won’t be able to obtain a pardon from the Popes of Elysium if I did it with elves beside me. Their country is currently at war with some person called a black elf. That person is also said to be the new King of Beasts. Even if I could disregard my personal feelings, it’s impossible」

Irvin must have been flustered. He blurted all that out in a hurry.

「Calm down. No parties will be formed. No alliance between parties will be formed either. My party and Irvin’s party will act separately」

「Hmm? What do you mean? I don't understand」

It was certainly something that was a little bit troublesome to explain.

「I’ll explain things in order. First, your party will go into the dungeon. We’ll follow behind and “coincidentally” go into the dungeon as well. We’ll stay a fixed distance apart. If we come into contact with an unrelated party, don’t worry about it as we’ll disappear.

Using Ea and Izora’s detection capabilities, we’ll avoid fighting as much as possible. The unavoidable battles will be left to your party. Stray arrows and stray magic will come flying from behind, but don’t pay it any mind. Your party will take all the materials. I'm thinking of ways to earn money through other means」

It was a proposal that took into account both Irvin and my circumstances.

It should be beneficial to both sides.

「But, elves, huh…… Is it really something that we can get away with successfully?」

「Irvin. I think that it’ll come out one way or another, but I’m someone who impulsively pointed his bow at a prince of this country. Using sophistry and plots, I got away with it and twisted it into a moving tale. The name of Misuranika, of misdeeds, is not just for show. I swear to you. I will never let elves make an appearance in Irvin Foz Gasim’s anecdotes of fame and honor. What do you think?」

If he doesn’t accept the proposal, I’ll be exploring with a squishy party from tomorrow onwards.

「I see…… I understand. I have one condition of my own」

「I’m all ears」

「The materials will be divided equally. You have two merchant companies that you’re on friendly terms with, right? Let’s leave the materials with them temporarily then split the money after that」

「Understood」

I firmly grasped the hand that Irvin offered.

「I’ll have to explain everything to Shuna and the rest, don’t I?」

「No. Irvin, you’re actually the last one. I’ve already explained and gotten the agreement from the other members earlier」

I would feel bad for causing him a lot of trouble, so I went ahead and talked to everyone about it first. They had readily agreed.

Irvin smiled pleasantly at me.

「Say, if I had been opposed, I would have been isolated, wouldn’t I? The other members would have abandoned their incompetent leader, right?」

「No, would something like that happen? Oh, it would, wouldn’t it? ………O, oww, Irvin, my hand! My hand is! It hurts! My bones are making weird noises! They’re making weird noises, I said! GYAAAAAAAAA!」

【31st day】

Morning. I was excitedly getting ready for adventure.

On days like these, I left it to Makina to make breakfast.

Ea, who had recovered, had a voracious appetite.『Her stomach was opened so it’s empty』, was the morbid joke Izora made. Recently, I had began to suspect that this guy was made in England.

Well, Rana also ate a lot, so making food felt rewarding.

I also made my own portable food for the dungeon. That was because the dungeon rations sold by the merchant companies had left me speechless.

Don’t call wheat flour and lumps of butter food! Those are ingredients! How can anyone explore the dungeon with such awful-tasting meals?!

Setting that aside.

Thirty-one days had passed since I came to this world. The lowest floor that I had reached, was still the 5th floor.

The time had passed as I watched over the progress of my sister-in-law’s recovery. Ea herself had said that I was being too cautious, but I was worried so I couldn’t help it. After all, we would be pushing ourselves from now on.

And today, we would be exploring the dungeon for the first time as a joint-party. In a sense, we would be challenging the dungeon for real. However, I definitely didn’t want to do anything reckless.

The plan was to go down to the 7th floor, record the shortest path on the map, then return. Just in case, we would bring a lot of food and water.

To make some light finger-food, I fried the Chocho’s wings, cut them into small pieces, boiled them down in sweet soy sauce, dried them, then mixed them with roasted nuts and dried small fish. Then, I sprinkled a mixture of dried herbs, dried garlic powder and salt over them as seasoning. Somehow, it had become just like a side dish for alcohol.

For when we were inside the dungeon, I packed the whole wheat flour for baking chapatis. Smoked pork and fish. Cheese and home-made potato chips. Two bottles of the long-awaited mayonnaise made by Makina. A bottle of honey, which was very expensive on this side. A bottle of salt. Garlic and onions. Olive oil. Various seasonings that I had made. One hard-as-a-demon bread, which was really meant for emergencies, for each member. It seems like there were water sources inside the dungeon, but I also packed enough water, that had minerals added, for everyone. Strong alcohol for cooking and treating wounds, and additionally,

『Souya-san, that’s enough already. It’s become four days worth of food for seven people. It’s a waste of food』

「There’s no such thing as a waste of food!」

『I’m sorry. It’s completely Makina’s fault, so please calm down. When it comes to food, you become a different person』

I was told a shocking truth.

「R, really?」

『Really』

「Sorry, I’ll keep that in mind」

『Okay』

Reluctantly, I gave up on the cabbage. I wanted to make an okonomiyaki-like chapati, but maybe another time.

I’ll hold on to the precious seasoning, divide the rest into four and leave it at the Zavua merchant company, where I had already arranged for them to be delivered to Irvin.

「It should be fine now」

『Yes, breakfast is ready. Today, Makina made miso soup and splurged to make rice balls. There's also omelettes, and lots of wieners!』

Isn’t that the late-night snack of a student studying for exams?! Even though you should be able to cook all sorts of dishes, why did you cook this lineup?!

「Well then, I should go wake my wife and sister-in-law」

Waking them up is the happiest part of my day. Because it's the moment when a minor criminal act is justified. I won’t get arrested even if I stared at their immodest appearance.

『Before that, Souya-san. There’s something that Makina wants to discuss with you』

「Hmm?」

Well, it’s my partner's request.

I’ll listen to it, even if it’s somewhat unreasonable.

『Actually, Makina is writing a memoir. This kind of adventure is fraught with danger, and Makina has no idea when Souya-san will lose your life. For that reason, Makina wants to leave a proper record』

「That’s a good idea」

Even if I died without accomplishing anything, if records were left and passed onto someone else, then it would give meaning to the fact that I came to this world, and to the days I struggled like an idiot.

『Then, Makina was going to set the title of the memoir as「Alternate World Record File 001」, but Izora opposed. She said that unless the title was more interesting to people, it won’t be read even if it was discovered』

「I see?」

I had doubts on who would discover it.

Was the next team coming in the first place?

『The problem starts from here, but what Izora proposed were all titles like「Misuranika Witch Project」, or「Cloverfield 2」, or「REC: Elf Edition」. It’s troubling that her proposed titles are all mockumentaries with bad endings. In a copyright sense as well』

「Y, yeah」

I kind of wanted to see those.

『Souya-san, because it’s a waste of resources, please decide the title with a bang. Makina and Izora doesn’t have any sort of naming sense. Makina will give up and use it even if it’s a terrible title』

She had no faith in my naming sense from the very beginning, didn’t she?

Well, let’s see…… I didn’t have any particular intentions to take it seriously. A difficult adventure was awaiting us after this, so there’s no use in racking my brain over strange things.

Appropriate, but still easy to understand. Direct.

While checking the taste of miso soup, I muttered a few words.

「The Japanese, Explores The Dungeon」