Chapter 234: Verifying in the Dungeon

After having found out that my legs were those of a brat, and not beautiful as I had originally thought, we finally entered the dungeon. The dungeon over here seemed to have many traps.

Looking at the map, Sword pointed at the spot where he got caught in a trap and the room with the boss.

“Hmm, I see. So you had no other route to get out unless you went to the boss room. So, in what direction did your girlfriend and her friends go?”

Sword indicated their route. Watching the map, I brooded and then I said while tracing the route on the map, “We’ll know if we go take a look, but we won’t arrive at the boss room unless we pass through the common route. Except for the trap that caught you, there are no traps leading straight to the boss room, so I can only imagine that your former party headed for the boss room after watching you getting caught in the trap.”

Sword put on a stern look, “But why would they do something like that?”

I folded my arms, “Well, it’s definitely weird. I’d understand them having resentments towards you, but if they managed to trick you on the way, they wouldn’t have needed to bother tricking you to the very end, right? If they had business in the boss room, it’d have actually been best to let you act as a shield and then stab you in the back. But, for some reason they didn’t do that… Did it seem like your girlfriend knew about the other party members tricking you?”

Sword nodded, “Yep, she said 『Farewell』 while looking at me.”

I unfolded my arms and placed a hand on my chin.

“I see… In that case, they maybe didn’t know whether the boss, which would appear in your trap, would be a mid-boss?”

Sword lifted his face upon my question. Looking at him, I continued, “If they planned to use you as bait to lure in the boss, the boss room would become empty, right? Maybe they thought they just needed to steal the treasure inside the room while the boss was out. Otherwise, it’d make no sense to go to the boss room after having you alone stuck in the trap. In the first place, a dungeon doesn’t work like that. Unless you defeat a boss, a treasure chest shouldn’t spawn, but I don’t know whether they knew about that, or maybe they had received false information that the treasure chest would remain in the boss room if the boss himself is lured out of the room by the trap being triggered. Or someone intentionally fed such lies to your party members.”

I formed the sign for money with my fingers.

“Your girlfriend wanted money. As for the reason, her wanting to live an easy life, her needing it to support her sister, or some other commonplace reason in that direction should apply here. …So, she became your lover, but didn’t know that you were wealthy.”

“Wait. Back then I wasn’t rich. I mean, I was still fifteen,” Sword corrected my words.

Ah, it happened when he was so young? Wasn’t he still a kid then?

“…You had sex while still being no more than a boy? That’s definitely a matter of body compatibility then! It could have only been as big as my thum──gyaahh!”

When I wiggled my thumb back and forth, Sword grabbed my head with his iron claw.

“Give it a break and go on,” Sword urged me on with a bassy voice that sounded more like a rumbling.

“Uuhh… A-Anyway, someone, who knew about your relationship with her, used that rumor and tried to kill you. And while at it, they had your girlfriend betray you as well. She probably would have been fine even without sacrificing you, but knowing that you’d be able to hold the boss for the longest time in the party as you were the strongest, the one, who came up with the scheme, coaxed her into it by telling her that she’d receive the biggest share of the treasure, or maybe they threatened her to give back something like loot that had supported her so far while also telling her to choose between you and her party members, or something like that.”

“……”

Sword appeared to somewhat get my point.

“It’s not common, but it’s a reasoning following logic. However, it’s just logic. There’s no proof for it.”

“We’ll ask the boss for proof. Only if we get it to remember, that is,” Sword said in a cool manner.

＊

After consulting with Sword, we decided that Sword would advance along the trap route and check whether he might have overlooked something back then. Meanwhile I’d head to the boss room after making sure that Sword got caught in the trap.

Since both of us had a Ryoku as support, we would use their opinions as reference, hoping that they’d point out parts invisible to human eyes.

After Sword got caught by the trap, I said, “See you later then. It might be simple enough for you to win, but don’t miss anything out of carelessness.”

Sword lifted a hand with a laugh, “See ya. …Thanks,” and thanked me once more.

“You’re so persistent. It’s not like any of this has a drawback for me, so don’t fret so much about it. It’s annoying.”

“You really love to smash all my consideration and feelings to smithereens, don’t you!?” Sword roared at me.

I think that applies to both of us. Just earlier he crushed all my feelings by calling my pretty legs the 『legs of a brat』!

＊

I headed back to the entrance. Ryoku separated from me and advanced along the route towards the boss room. As I kept going while searching each crook and cranny, I realized that none of the other traps, which should work, activated.

“It looks like all traps are deactivated while Sword is in that room.”

As I was investigating, I received a radio transmission from Sword.

『Is it okay for me to defeat it anytime soon?』

“Yeah. I didn’t really find anything much, but I think it’ll stay the same, no matter how much we drag it out. Ryoku, how about you?”

『I’m in front of the boss room. But, I have nothing to report on my end!』

Aww, so cute.

“Hmm～, it looks like it’s okay to kill it then, I suppose?”

『Oof, how disgustin’! ──Roger. I’ll head to the boss room after defeatin’ it』

The first comment was uncalled-for.

I traced my steps back and went to the boss room. As I thought, I didn’t spot anything, other than all the traps being off.

“Indra here. One thing I noticed is that all other traps are inactive, although I don’t know whether it’s caused by you having been caught in the trap over there.”

『Sword here. I defeated the boss. Right now Ryoku and I are on the way to the boss room. It’s a straight path, no traps or ‘nythin’. Ryoku hasn’t detected ‘nythin’ either. I also don’t sense ‘nythin’ whatsoever』

“I see. How strong was that mid-boss or whatever? With this dungeon as criterion.”

『Hmm, kinda similar to the boss, I’d say』

In that case, “So it’s a bonus trap, I guess.”

『Haah?』

Sword apparently heard my whisper and thus I explained, “The place you entered is a secret room, and the mid-boss you fought is at the same level as the boss in the boss room, no, it might actually be stronger than the boss in the boss room. If someone enters that room, you’ll get a bonus. It could have more treasures, or simply deactivate the other traps like right now. It’s also possible that the treasure loot in the boss room gets doubled if you win.”

『Seriously?』

“It’s just a guess. I can’t tell its strength since I didn’t fight the boss. You’ll have to gauge them. Just in case, I’ll also question the boss. Or we’ll ask Mr. Dungeon Core.”

『Okay, I’m countin’ on you with that. …Ah, it looks like I’m almost there』

“Me too.”

“Ah, Mother!”

I joined up with the Ryoku in front of the boss room. Sword hasn’t shown up yet.

“Okay, we’ll enter first. I’ll leave the communicator in, so you’ll be able to hear our conversation. Please enter and join in whenever you get here.”

『Gotcha』