An Incompetent Explorer Who Failed to Make His High School Debut but Mastered Being a Human Being

Episode 218: Unknown

-Paaan

 As usual, the monsters bursts with my punch.

"Fuu. There are quite a lot of monsters in this dungeon."

 After finding the Katsuragi couple, we start heading towards the entrance of the dungeon, but there are more enemies than I expected. Battle are fleeting, and even though I won't lose, it will be troublesome.

"Luck, can you clean them up with Kagema?"

"Won."

 It becomes troublesome and I decide to give instructions to Luck and let the Kagema defeat the monsters.

"Supii ... Zzz."

 Alice-chan, lying on Luck, is still sleeping well. She is secured by Luck so she cannot fall.

 Well, considering she's the same age as Nanami, the mental fatigue of being left alone must have been incredibly heavy.

"..."

"..."

 Besides, I've been feeling two gazes on my back since a while ago.

"Umm ... Is something wrong?"

 As expected, I feel uncomfortable and turn around.

"No ... I, it's nothing."

"O, oh, it's nothing."

 Both of them are visibly shaken, look away from me, and answer while looking off into the distance.

 Even though they're looking in a different direction, they're always looking at me, so it shouldn't be that there's nothing wrong ...

 Well, if the two of them say it's nothing, I'll just leave it at that.

 I'm really curious.

"Is that so, please tell me if there's something."

"A, ah. Thank you. By the way, is this your everyday life?"

 When I try to pretend that I haven't noticed anything, Makoto-san asks me a question that I don't quite understand with a somewhat flustered look on his face.

 I wonder what Makoto-san's everyday life means.

 Speaking of everyday life, I'm in the middle of an expedition to escape from the dungeon, as I always do.

 Is the dungeon exploration I'm doing now the same as usual.

 I wonder if that's fine.

"Eh? I don't know what you're talking about, but I always explore dungeons like this."

"I, I see. That's all I have to ask."

 I don't understand, but for the time being, I think that they have a convinced atmosphere with an impatient expression.

"Then, let's go ahead."

"Y, yes."

"O, oh."

 When I urge Makoto to convince him, they nod mysteriously.

 Since then, we have been walking for a few hours and climb the floors for a few hours, and have not encountered any enemies thanks to Luck's Kagema.

"I'm hungry ..."

 A person mutters quietly and gets up.

 The one who catches everyone's attention is Alice-chan.

 She straddles Luck's back and looks around with her sleepy eyes.

"Alice-chan, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

"Eh?"

 When I call out to Alice-chan, she looks at me with an expression that she didn't expect someone to talk to her.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, no, no, no, no!! Please forget about that just now!! I'm not hungry at all!!"

 When I ask the stunned Alice-chan, she opens her sleepy eyes wide and hurriedly waves her hand in front of her body to deny her mutter.

"Really?"

"Y, yes, really!!"

 I thought it was something like sleep talk, so I check it again just in case, and she shakes her head many times with tremendous force.

-Kuu ~

 However, at that time, out of nowhere, a cute cry could be heard.

"~~ !?"

 As soon as she hears that sound, Alice-chan's face turns bright red and she looks down.

 Really ... She shouldn't have lied.

"I'm hungry, so let's eat soon. Makoto-san, Anna-san, is that okay?"

"Oh, yeah. We were desperate to live and forgot about it, but we're certainly hungry."

"Yeah, right. I'm hungry now that I feel relieved."

 I couldn't help but make a proposal to them, and they agree with me that they are hungry because they had escaped from the situation they were in.

 I step out into a slightly open area and immediately begin preparations.

"Wawawawawa, wait a minute, Satou-kun. What is that!?"

 However, as soon as I start preparing, I am asked by Makoto-san with a surprised expression.

 Ah, it's kind of nostalgic. When I went to the dungeon with Amane for the first time, her reaction was like this.

"Eh, it's equipment for eating Dungeon food?"

"D, did you bring something like this for dungeon exploration?"

 Anna-san asks me instead of Makoto-san.

"Yes, that's right. I eat a lot with Shia though?"

"I, I see. That's right ... Well ... I wonder if there's no problem if you have that much power."

 Anna-san seems to understand my answer while muttering in a whisper.

 Seriously ... You've been an explorer for a long time, but you don't know about Dungeon food?"

 Even though it's a compulsory subject.

'Then, I'll prepare right away."

"I, I'll help you too."

"Oh, yes. Thank you very much."

 When I start cooking alone, since she's a woman, Anna-san volunteers to help me.

 I was a little worried because there was a past where Shia created a ridiculous object, but she helped me normally.

 We ate simple men's cooking and Anna-san's dishes and filled our stomach. Anna-san's food was delicious.

 How did Shia end up like that?

 I wonder if she was lured by Nanami's way of overdoing it.

 I had such doubts.

"Well then, shall we depart?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Oh."

 After taking a break for a while, we resume our dungeon escape.

"Tenth floor."

 After that, we walked again for several hours and climbed the floors several times, Anna-san muttered.

"That's right. If it's about ten floors to go, it looks like we'll be able to escape tomorrow."

"R, right."

 Anna-san agrees with my speculation, even though she's a little flustered.

 Did I say something funny?

"Won!?"

 However, Luck's bark drowned out the atmosphere of relief.

"What!? A Kagema was defeated!?"

 It seems that a Kagema, which has never been defeated by most monsters, has been defeated.

 Certainly, a small sign was approaching here with a tremendous momentum compared to others, while defeating Luck's Kagema.

 As expected, the C-rank monster is heavy for Luck.

 Apparently, I can't avoid the battle, so I start walking towards the target.

"Gigigigigigigigigigaaa!!"

 A robot-like monster appears from the depths of the cave wall. It has an oval body with four limbs and eye-like radars, and it seems to be over 10 meters in size.

"Unknown!?"

"I, I forgot!! It was on this floor!!"

 The two behind me are screaming in shock.

 It seems to be a monster called Unknown.

"What is that?'

"It's an irregular monster that nests on this floor, and it's a monster with strength that stands out from the rest. Even the explorers who can come to this dungeon haven't beaten it ... It's over."

"Kuh, even though we proceeded with proper caution when coming, it's unlucky that we meet it on the way back ..."

 When I ask about the monster, the two talk with resigned expressions.

 This is a C-rank dungeon. So, to say that it has a strength that stands out from the rest, does that mean that it has the power of a B-rank.

 I'm still an explorer who can defeat C-rank monsters with a single blow. Even a B-rank monster should be able to take some damage.

 If you say that fighting is unavoidable, then I have no choice but to fight.

 And if it's to meet Nanami, I'll even defeat a Demon King!!

"Please leave it to me!!"

"H, hey. Stop it. Even you can't win against that monster!!"

"Th, that's right. Let's think of a strategy to escape somehow!!"

"Hahahahaa. It's okay!! If it's to meet Nanami, I can defeat even the Demon King!! Well then!!"

 When I volunteer to fight the Unknown, they rush to stop me, but I can't forgive it for interrupting my meeting with Nanami, so I reply appropriately and start running.

"S, stop it!!"

"Don't be so hasty!!"

 Ignoring the screams that I hear from them, I approach the incoming Unknown.

 And I am excited about the Unknown.