“... Hh-!?“
My eyes fling open as I jump awake.
“T-the boss is!!”
“Good morning, Momokawa-kun”
Instead of the heinous red Orthrus, the one sitting in front of me with a smile was the bright and cheerful Futaba-san. The enemy seemed to be gone, and missing too.
“Eh, Ah... Morning”
This place doesn’t look like the boss room so much. More like, isn’t this just a plain old fairy square?
As soon as I realized that, I decided to ask Futaba-san what happened.
“By the time I got out of that wall of fire, Hirano-kun and Nis.h.i.+yama-san, they were both, the boss had... But it looked weakened, so I could kill it alone”
So it comes back to her Berserker strength I see. If I were to end up being the last one standing, it’d be game over right there.
Anyway, the fact is that Futaba-san skillfully overcame the boss, and taking me, who was half-dead from friendly fire, she got out from the boss room, and safely arrived to the next dungeon area that starts off with this fairy square.
Really, I’ve been relying on her from start to finish.
“So that’s what happened... Sorry Futaba-san”
“Why are you apologizing, Momokawa-kun?”
“Cause I was really, really useless back there... No, it’s worse than that. Because of me, our plan turned into a mess, and I even got myself done in my the boss”
If I had chosen not to retreat, but boldly face the battle, if only I did that, maybe Hirano-kun and Nis.h.i.+yama-san, maybe at least one of them would still be here now.
“Momokawa-kun, you didn’t do anything wrong at all! It’s because, those two, they only—”
“No look, I’m the one who tried to run away off the bat, that’s just fact. Them losing trust in me right then and there was inevitable.”
“But, Nis.h.i.+yama-san, she shot you! I, I get it you know. Her and the boss riddled with cuts, that was obviously from your Pain Return”
Exactly. In a state of being bitten down and stuck still by the boss, Nis.h.i.+yama-san’s Aer Blast went straight for the critical hit. Like trying to solve a hostage situation by killing both felon and hostage.
“That’s my, just deserts, right...”
Honestly, from Hirano-kun egging her on, to Nis.h.i.+yama-san herself actually having shot me, I can’t really let those pa.s.s with a little grumbling. Like, what the eff, the h.e.l.l’s wrong with you, go to h.e.l.l.
But, I just can’t come out and say it. It’s not about spitting on their graves or anything, but like, it’s cause I’m the one who got everyone out of sync in the first place... so it really was, me getting what was coming. I shouldn’t have panicked, and done better.
“It’s not your fault! Momokawa-kun, you have not one bit of blame in this!!”
“Thanks, just you saying that... No, just you not abandoning me, and even saving me from there, Futaba-san, that’s more that enough”
This useless Shaman, he was one foot in the grave already, it would’ve been fine to leave him behind as another stain in the boss room. And that important health potion, he even got that used up on him too. Unbelievable, such a waste.[1]
(TN: If you get it, then fine. This paragraph is just him being pessimistic in the 3rd person(?) )
Healing me from that miserable state, and so perfectly at that... That potion is so much of a cheat item, my ointments seem like a joke. You should obviously hold on to something like that to use on a fighter like Futaba-san.
“I’d never, ever betray you. I won’t run anymore either. I swore, that I’d protect Momokawa-kun!”
Thanks. Really, my sincerest thanks, Futaba-san. With your trust in me, I’m so happy I could cry. If our genders were switched, I’d be head over heels harder than a cliche RomCom heroine.
“Yeah, me too, I won’t let you down”
I’ll make next time work. Hirano-kun and Nis.h.i.+yama-san, they could’ve been real allies with us.
Trust. That’s right, trust is important. I still have a will to try and trust someone else.
Betrayed all too easily by Masaru, someone who’s supposedly my friend. Then because of those last two people, I was left half dead. But then there’s Futaba-san, she’s someone who saved me. So it’s still too early, too early to give up on trusting others.
No, us human beings, in the first place, we aren’t supposed to live in extremes. It’s when we can guarantee our individual safety, procure adequate food and clothing, it’s only then that we can begin to reason, we can become social creatures abiding by the rules of society.
That being the case, going around fighting monsters in life or death scenarios every single day is just plain wrong. Gathering allies, building our forces... It doesn’t have to be perfect, but in an environment where we can actually relax, that’s when we can be our best. Plus, we’re still mentally immature kids, just highschoolers. So this applies to us all the more.
“Momokawa-kun... Ah, that’s right, I brought back their things, let’s see if there’s anything we can use”
“Yeah, yup, let’s”
She even managed to get those, I thought in admiration while we started sorting through the items of the two departed.
The thought of those two becoming sacrifices for our survival doesn’t well up the slightest hint of crying or grieving in me. Maybe, I’m already too far off the deep end from this whole dungeon lifestyle thing we’ve been doing. Just look, right now, I’m calmly looking through a couple of dead cla.s.smates’ bags, objectively searching for useful things we can pilfer.
“... Momokawa-kun you’re, crying?”
“Eh... Ahh, yeah, crying, kinda, maybe”
What’s this “kinda maybe” BS. Aren’t you’re eyes creating these nice little waterfalls right now?
Ahh, I’m glad. Not yet, I haven’t lost all my humanity yet.
Sorry, sorry Hirano-kun, Nis.h.i.+yama-san. I still can’t like you guys for what you did, but it’s not like I think it’s good that you died. I’m sure we could’ve, should’ve gotten along better... sorry, I’m so sorry.
I quietly cried, as my body trembled under the weight of their sacrifice.
I had made a re-apprehension of my conscience, but that aside, we really needed to sort out our things.
First, and this is a real treasure this, we have to consider how to use Hirano-kun’s good quality sword.
“Here, it’s for you, Momokawa-kun!”
“No see here, it obviously gotta be your sub-weapon”
She offered me the sword like she was handing over Valentine’s chocolate with romantic intentions attached, but I deny it outright.[2]
(TN: Honmei as opposed to Giri/Friends.h.i.+p. This wasn’t necessary right? Everyone and their dog has seen a Valentine’s episode... )
“Eh... B-but, I’d feel bad getting something this good”
“Futaba-san, you’re fighting in the frontlines where it’s most dangerous, so we’ll have to equip you with the best of the best. And I don’t think that Goma battle axe has much of a life-expectancy.”
“But you too, for the just in case, I strongly think you need better weapons too Momokawa-kun”
“I’m not saying I disagree... but unfortunately, my thin arms can’t really swing around a sword that size, you see”
It’s the case of the weapon being too high level to equip. I can’t even imagine myself elegantly cutting down an attacking monster with this sword.
“Since I can’t make any use of it, you’re the only one I can count on for this”
“S-so you’re saying... I got it. I, I’ll make sure and kill all the enemies. I won’t let a single one get close to you, Momokawa-kun!”
What fervor. I’m guessing it’s because of her Berserker nature, even a girl like Futaba-san gets excited from attaining a good weapon.
That being settled, the best piece of loot smoothly went where it belonged, and now we only needed to distribute the rest of the stuff. But then, those two didn’t have that many high value items in the first place.
Even that miraculous health potion that saved me from the verge of death, Nis.h.i.+yama-san only had one of those. Coming second best, there’s only a few of those clovers. We already have ointment A, so those aren’t especially important to us either.
That and there’s Nis.h.i.+yama-san’s wand of wind magic. We tried it out even though we knew, but as expected, neither I nor Futaba-san could use it. I had the slightest hope of just maybe, but no matter how I prayed, I couldn’t get a breeze out. You should just get rid of useless goods. But the inner miser in me simply wouldn’t allow us to leave a genuine magic wand to gather dust...
“Now, do it, Futaba-san!”
“Eei!!”
Swinging her axe with magnificence the likes of the legendary Kintarou, she severs the wand. She cuts off only the green orb part that seems to be screaming, Look at me, I’m a real powerhouse here! Futaba-san’s strike is powerful yet precise, cleanly splitting the orb from the rest of the wand, and so we easily obtained that beautiful green centerpiece.[3]
(TN: This Kintarou. )
I’ll just hoped it’ll comes handy at some point, and stuffed it deep in my bag.
“I don’t know if they’ll be useful, but I took these fangs from the boss”
Thanks to Futaba-san acting like a vet player in those games where you go around collecting monster parts, we have obtained Orthrus Fangs x 2. These are our item drops. Not really.
These fangs felt too small to be knives in my hands, but they’re still thicker and longer than my thumb. An impressive pair of teeth you’d think belongs to a dinosaur.
“You know, if you hit these on something hard, sparks come out. It’s just like flint”
“Woah, it really does, this is great!”
When I tried knocking one on the edge of the fountain, quite a bit of sparks flew out. This amount is way too much to be caused by mere friction.
Since the Orthrus could blow out fire, maybe the fangs have magical properties too. Or maybe it uses flammable gases with wind magic, with the fangs are there for igniting the whole thing.
“So, are they useful?”
“We can’t make it into a flamethrower, but as a fire-starter, it’s perfect. We do have the lighter, but the fluid won’t last forever right”
The lighter we’ve been using was obtained from Takas.h.i.+ma-kun from the baseball club who’s secretly happened to be a smoker. It’s thanks to this that we got to enjoy some delicious snake meat.
And since we conveniently happen to have two of these fangs, me and Futaba-san will carry one each.
“Oh you’re right, fufu, I’m glad then”
“So remember that we know monster’s can have naturally useful materials other than cores inside them. Let’s try and collect those too from now on”
Sure, she noded with a smile and delight. Futaba-san sure is a great person to work with. Not a hint of finding my proposed dirty-work, of literally salvaging through blood and entrails, a pain in the a.s.s or something.
But I shouldn’t just these leave things to others. I’ll start learning and try help out a bit. Next time we see a monster fitting the criteria, let’s get her to teach me.
“Ah, Momokawa-kun, there’s this too”
Finally, Futaba-san rummages a bit through her pocket and offers me the item she retrieves. So this second present from her, what ever shall it b—
“Ah! That’s, Hirano-kun’s G-Shock!?”
Black strap with a silver body, it’s a wrist.w.a.tch with an a.n.a.log display. I recognized that familiar design instantly.
“You looked like you wanted one, a watch”
“Ah, yeah, since it’s so convenient and all...”
Don’t tell me, was I really that obvious? I never thought I was a person with too many material desires though... gotta stop that habit.
“So I can really have this?”
“Of course!”
Futaba-san seems to declare, but I’m kinda worried what Hirano-kun would say. I could just end it with, dead men don’t talk... but really, I’m not so much a romanticist as to ignore useful items for sentimental reasons.
It wasn’t even a full day with them. We spent a truly short time together but still, as a comrade, I’ll make full use of these remnants they left behind in the dungeon hereafter.
“Thanks”
And with that, we’re all set. We’ll rest in this fairy square a bit longer, then, once again, dive into the unknowns of the dungeon.
