Chapter 39.1

Let’s send the Lost Adventurer back to the Surface!

“…Hey, Karen. Why did she just faint?”

Haruki was so confused that she had suddenly screamed and then lost consciousness.

“I think that it’s because of you, Karaboshi.”

“Me-me!?”

His eyes widened. However, when he thought back on it, it did kind of make sense.

She had been stuck in this dungeon for so long.

Even though they had come to rescue her, he had suddenly appeared without saying anything. So being surprised was pretty much a reflex.

“Well, nevermind. Karen. Get the potion.”

From what he could see, there were no deadly wounds.

However, her left leg was bent in an odd direction.

It was a bad fracture.

She would not be able to walk.

Haruki accepted the expensive potion from Karen, and then slowly poured it into Oiso’s mouth.

She must have been very thirsty.

Even though she was unconscious, she drank down the liquid.

After she had drunk everything, Haruki quickly treated her ankle.

“Alright, there.”

“Gggguuu…ggaah!”

As he twisted the broken ankle, the unconscious Oiso groaned loudly.

“Ka-Karaboshi. What are you doing!?”

“She won’t be able to walk properly if it heals while it’s bent, right? Even if it’s a very strong potion, it doesn’t return everything back to a natural state.”

If Haruki didn’t do something, the bone would reconnect in the wrong position.

And if that happened, she wouldn’t be able to walk even if she was healed.

They would have to break the bone again and reconnect it.

As Haruki held the ankle in the right position, he could feel the insides move as they grew hotter.

It was healing at a rapid rate.

“These expensive ones sure are impressive…”

It was good that she was healing quickly, but he hoped that there wouldn’t be any dangerous side-effects…

After a while, he stopped feeling any movement in the leg, and the heat started to subside.

And then about twenty minutes passed before Oiso opened her eyes.

“Ah!”

She fainted again.

“Hey…”

“Huh!?”

Haruki flicked her on the face and Oiso was forced back into consciousness.

“Karaboshi. That’s not very nice…”

“Well, she won’t be able to move if she faints.”

They were barely making it in terms of combat ability.

If they had to carry her on top of that, they would not survive an enemy ambush.

“…Uh…”

“Are you awake?”

“Ahhh!?”

“Stop fainting!”

He did a karate chop, which somehow managed to prevent her from fainting.

“You’re Oiso, aren’t you?”

“Ye-yes… What are you… Wait, are you going to do this and that even though you’re a demon!? …Tsk! Die!!”

“Sorry to interrupt you, but we got to go.”

As her health had recovered after drinking the potion, her energy was now going in a strange direction.

…Could this be the side-effect?

“I’m Haruki. And this is Karen. We accepted a quest to come and save you.”

“…A quest?”

“Yeah. An Ichibishi employee is waiting for your return.”

“…!”

Perhaps Haruki’s words had given her a hint.

Oiso stopped breathing, and her eyes filled with tears.

“Can you stand?”

“My leg…huh? It’s healed?”

“It should be. Do you think that you can stand up?”

“Uh…yes! Yes! I think I can.”

Oiso stood up hesitantly. She must have realized that it didn’t hurt to put her weight on it anymore.

Her eyes were wide as she nodded repeatedly.

“You healed my leg. I don’t know how I can thank you enough…”

“You can thank your company. I just bought the potion with their money.”

“I see. Well, thank you for preparing it, regardless.”

“…We have to go.”

Haruki was feeling awkward, now that he was receiving words of gratitude.

And so he suddenly turned on his heels and walked towards the gate to the 8th floor.

While Oiso was healed, her energy was still pretty low.

It was clear that they weren’t moving as fast as when it was just the two of them.

But it was fine, because they had the slimy eels.

Still, Haruki couldn’t help but worry.

It was always more dangerous after you rescued someone than it was before.

Especially inside of a dungeon.

And so he remained very careful and used his detection abilities to the limit.

But in spite of Haruki’s worries, the monsters took one look at the eels and then vanished in the blink of an eye.

They must really hate eels.

It was almost like they were traumatized by them.

And so, due to Haruki swinging the eels above his head, they managed to reach the gate without being attacked by a single monster.

“…Phew. Now we just need to use the gate to go up.”

They saw the small room with the gate. And since there were no monsters around, Haruki finally allowed himself to relax a little.

That’s when it happened.

“….Gaha!”

“What!?”

Karen’s cough and Oiso’s nervous shout echoed around them.

Haruki immediately turned around.

What he saw…

“Hey, it’s been a while.”

It was the shield team that had once abandoned Karen.

Lars was standing after having swung his sword.

In front of him, Karen stood, the back of her robes was covered in blood.

Shikama was looking down at Karen with eyes full of hate.

“You finally came. And it was well worth the wait.”

Haruki ignored this greeting and reached for his dagger.

“…Oh, I wouldn’t move if I were you.”

Shikama’s lips curled into a smile as he pointed with his thumb.

Haria was standing there with a bow and a nocked arrow.

If he moved now, the arrow would come flying for sure.

But if Haruki was the target, he could dodge it.

However, it was pointed at Karen.

Damn it!

Haruki had no choice but to freeze his movements.

“Oiso over there did a really great job. I didn’t expect her to actually come down here to gather materials herself, but the results were alright.”

“…Huh?”

“Don’t sell your materials at that store. That’s what I told them. And everyone listens to me if I use Masatsugu’s name. It’s all thanks to him for keeping us close by!”

“…No. Is that why fewer people were selling to us!?”

“You’ve taken way too long to realize it!”