Sevens (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 92

Chapter 92 – Let’s Search For Dungeon
There were three pieces of information we obtained from the man.

First, it was a fact that the dungeon in the south was destroyed by the qilin.

Second, the dungeon at the west was recently formed.

Third──the biggest dungeon was in the north.

If you walked deeper into the forest stretching out at the north, it would become a mountain.

We couldn’t bring Porter to this kind of place. If we were searching for a dungeon, then rather than moving with a lot of people──

「Why with these members? I would like it better if I’m together with Novem.」

Eva puffed up her cheeks while looking at Miranda.

In contrast, Miranda didn’t pay any mind to it.

「I think there’s no problem with the selection though?」

Aria was looking in exasperation at the two who were like that.

「You two, do this properly. More importantly, is it okay to leave everyone else behind?」

I explained the reason why I chose these members to Aria who was checking the forest before us.

「Shannon can’t keep up with us, while Clara’s new prosthetic arm isn’t finished yet. If we’re leaving behind the two of them, they will also need guards.」

Miranda was convinced.

「We can also move speedily if it’s with these members. Sophia isn’t suited to it, and if Monica is left behind with her then we won’t need to worry.」

「Wait, why are you omitting out Novem?」

Eva flared up at Miranda.

「Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot.」

It looked like Eva really didn’t like Miranda.

But, Miranda’s assumption wasn’t wrong.

Sophia wasn’t suited to traveling inside a forest.

One of the reasons was her outfit, and then her weapon the battleaxe was a large axe.

The trees would get in the way when she swung it around. If that was the case, then it would be more reassuring to ask her to stay behind.

Aria changed her weapon to a short spear so that she could fight even in the forest without problem.

Eva was an elf.

She was raised in the forest, so this time I would rely on her.

Miranda was──an all-purpose type. She could fight no matter what the situation.

Although this time the main purpose wasn’t combat.

I judged that the four of us would be the most optimum for this.

──I was but,

「I hate you.」

「I see. That’s unfortunate. But, I don’t hate you.」

Eva averted her gaze away. In contrast Miranda was looking nonchalant.

Aria who was watching those two murmured uneasily.

「Hey, will we be fine with these members?」

「It’s fine──I hope.」

Aria held her head at her wits’ end hearing that.

.

──The remaining members visited Damian’s Dump Car.

A crowd was formed around the Dump Car.

The people heard that there was an unusual vehicle and came here to take a look.

Among them there were also merchants who wanted to buy it, but their shoulders dropped in dejection when they learned that they wouldn’t be able to drive it and returned home.

Inside the rear area of that Dump Car, Monica was──

「It’s messy here. If it’s me, I’ll do this at here. Aa~aa, even though I actually wanted to take care of chicken dickwad, I wonder why do I have to stay behind. I have no motivation~」

She was helping Damian’s automaton Lily.

They were tidying up the place but, they immediately quarreled with each other due to their bad relationship.

「This piece of junk! Those things are positioned like that for goshujin-sama’s efficiency. Don’t move them around as you please. Also, do it seriously!」

They were tidying up while arguing with each other.

During that time, Clara was setting her new prosthetic arm.

Damian was drinking the beverage that Lily prepared.

It was tea that was filled with sugar to the brim.

「How is it?」

Clara was satisfied with the prosthetic that wasn’t finished yet.

「The movement is smoother than the previous one. I’m moved.」

Clara’s expression didn’t really change, but she seemed to be happy.

p119

Shannon was watching that from the side.

「It looks plain. Ah, that’s right! Let’s install a weapon into it!」

Shannon said her idea. Clara smiled wryly at her.

「The maintenance will be difficult if it has too many gimmicks. I’m satisfied with a prosthetic arm like before──」

Damian was interested in Shannon’s idea.

「Weapon huh. That’s nice. What kind of weapon should it be?」

「A hidden weapon would be cool. Like this, a weapon that will fly out. Other than that perhaps something like a cannon?」

Clara was troubled.

「It’ll be troublesome if the gimmicks increased. The daily maintenance will also become difficult, and more importantly a cannon’s recoil will make the prosthetic arm to come off.」

Clara tried objecting because it would be unbearable if such thing was installed in her prosthetic arm.

But, Damian was,

「Cannon──that’s magnificent!」

「Right!? With this Clara can also become strong. That’s great isn’t it, Clara!」

Damian and Shannon’s eyes were sparkling.

Putting aside Damian, Shannon’s pure good will bewildered Clara.

「Tha, that’s, there is a saying that the simple thing is more magnificent instead. An arm that is filled with too many things will make the repair hard if it’s broken you know?」

Damian was also considering the idea pragmatically.

「Certainly, the balance will crumble if a prosthetic arm of this size is filled with various things.」

Damian looked disappointed. In contrast another light bulb flashed inside Shannon’s head.

「Then you can just make the prosthetic arm bigger!」

「I see!」

Clara was at her wits’ end while looking at the two who were hitting it off.

「I, I’m begging you please make it a normal prosthetic arm.」

Damian cleared his desk with a swipe of his arm and placed a paper on the created space. He drew a plan there.

「Yep, somehow it’s getting interesting. Yo~sh, I’ll create a new prosthetic arm!」

「Ou!」

Damian who got motivated and Shannon who punched up her fist.

Clara got uneasy seeing that.

Monica acted like it wasn’t her concern.

Lily was quietly tidying up the things that were scattered around the desk──

.

We were wearing robes so that we wouldn’t stand out inside the forest while moving.

Eva was moving ahead. The three of us followed behind her.

We frequently had breaks in between while searching for the dungeon.

「An elf is amazing as expected. They can walk easily even in places with no path.」

Aria was impressed.

She walked following the path that Eva was walking on.

Eva used a hatchet to cut off the branches and the like that were getting in the way.

Miranda who was seeing that was,

「If you do that too much, won’t people notice that we were passing through here?」

Eva who was being asked answered in displeasure.

「Someone who can find us with this will be able to notice us just from our footprints. We also have Lyle, this way will be faster if we’re just going to check the place and return.」

It was fine even if we were found out, so we were prioritizing speed.

Miranda accepted the explanation.

「I see. I’m sorry that I disturbed you.」

She apologized.

Aria was surprised.

「Miranda apologized.」

「What do you think I am? I’ll apologize if I think I’ve done something bad. Besides, I was simply asking a question. I have no other intention.」

We came to a stop and each one of us took a break.

I looked around using Arts.

When I touched the ground with my hand, the surrounding terrain became a three-dimensional map in my head. The act of touching the ground itself had no meaning. It was just my mood.

I sensed human presences at faraway. It looked like they were patrolling with few number.

「──It’s close.」

When I said that, Eva climbed a tree and surveyed the area. And then, she immediately came down.

「Over there.」

Her decision was fast. Aria asked.

「How do you know?」

「This is inside a forest. Even if they try to hide, they’ll use fire if they’re staying here for long. Besides, the trees are few in just one place. They cut down the trees that were in the way.」

It was right to bring Eva along.

「Let’s head there to check after resting.」

First was one.

.

We stifled our voices and approached closer──there was a dungeon there.

Two large trees were standing side by side like an entrance. I could see the other side hazily.

When I checked with my Arts, there was noise and I couldn’t grasp the situation inside.

This was the usual reaction when I tried to look inside a dungeon.

If I wanted to investigate further, there would be no choice but to enter inside.

A lot of knights and soldiers set up tents around in their campsite.

Supplies were piled up. There were also knights drinking alcohol.

The four of us looked at each other and nodded.

We slowly moved away from that place and I opened my mouth after taking enough distance.

「That’s the second.」

I placed a marker on my handwritten map and wiped my sweat.

It was also Eva who discovered the second.

She discovered the trace of a lot of people passing through and discovered this place by following that.

Aria was looking tired.

「The area is really vast when we’re searching around like this. I wonder how many forests there is? In the first place, just why is there so many dungeons?」

Eva replied to that question.

「I don’t know. But, it’s strange.」

It seemed there was something that bothered her more.

Miranda was also the same.

「That man said it, that there is a person who is going around searching for dungeons like us. From the story it looks like he is really skilled but, why did someone like that get discovered?」

Bluntly speaking, the soldiers and knights were useless as lookouts.

In that case, was that man’s evaluation wrong?

Or perhaps, we were the amazing ones──no I guess.

Putting aside Eva, the rest of us were not much different from an amateur.

Aria spoke optimistic words.

「Perhaps he is going to another place? Or perhaps, he is busy with the matter of the qilin?」

That was possible enough.

That was why that man was also aiming at this timing.

Did he forcibly contact us also because he felt that this was a chance and got impatient?

While I was deep in thought──several yellow lights appeared in the map floating inside my head.

They were approaching by following the path that we were passing through.

Their traveling speed was fast, and above all else──the yellow color was starting to flicker into red.

When I lifted my face, the three’s gazes gathered on me.

「We’re discovered. There’re pursuers.」

We immediately started moving but, the pursuers were faster than us.

The distance was gradually being shortened.

.

──It was a group of four elves that was chasing Lyle’s group.

Their faces were hidden by cloth that was wrapped around their head. They were wearing outfits with colors that blended with the forest.

The leader jumped down from a tree’s branch and checked the footprint.

「──Four people. The footprints are small. There’re also woman with them. No, most of them are woman.」

His subordinates also gathered there. Then one person noticed.

「One of them is really experienced in the forest. They might be an elf too.」

A fellow elf.

But, the leader paid it no heed.

「If it’s this route, they should have discovered the hidden dungeon. Kill them as soon as they’re discovered.」

They held no mercy even towards their fellow elf.

And then, the leader looked at one subordinate.

「You head to the nearby dungeon and tell them about this. After that report to the palace.」

「Yes.」

One of them dashed away immediately from the other three.

His figure was gone from view in the blink of an eye.

The leader said.

「It’s time for hunting. The prey this time seems troublesome. Don’t let your guard down.」

The three of them sprinted.

They were running inside the forest at full speed, as though nothing was obstructing them──

.

I looked behind while running.

「They caught up.」

Miranda asked me.

「What to do? If it’s traps then I can prepare several of them.」

Eva denied Miranda’s opinion.

「There’s no time. I don’t think they’ll get caught in traps that were prepared hastily. Perhaps, our pursuers are elves.」

Elves were strong in forests.

It was possible.

Aria looked at me.

「Lyle, use that! That Art to slow down the enemy’s speed!」

Inside the Jewel the Fourth was,

『You mean Up Down? That won’t activate if you can’t see your enemy.』

Increasing our speed while decreasing the enemy’s speed.

That Art of the Fourth could be used only after the enemy was sighted.

「The enemy will see our face in the distance where it can be used.」

「If we can’t run away, then our only choice is to face them.」

Miranda’s gaze moved to Eva.

Eva noticed that she was being looked at.

「Do you think that I’ll turn traitor? Even if they’re also elves, we’re complete strangers to each other. They’re an enemy if the other side is hostile to me.」

It seemed she had resolved herself.

The Fifth’s voice came from inside the Jewel.

『It’s troublesome if they caught up. You have no obligation to show them your back. Lyle, lie in wait to ambush them.』

When I stopped running, the other three also stopped.

「We will intercept them. Eva, show me a place that is easy to fight in.」

When I asked for Eva’s opinion, Aria glanced at Miranda. She must be thinking that Miranda would be burning in rivalry.

But, Miranda didn’t say anything.

「If it’s that then we better return back a bit. It’ll only be relatively better though.」

This was disadvantageous for us who weren’t used to fighting inside a forest, but there was no choice.

Then the Fifth was──

『Lyle, there is still a bit more time. Confuse the enemy.』

When I tightly grabbed the Jewel,

『Don’t worry. This kind of battle is my specialty.』

.

──The elves caught up to Lyle’s group.

They saw the footprints on the ground and stopped.

「They split to three directions?」

It could be clearly seen even just from the eyes that his subordinate’s expression was dubious.

The leader crouched and compared the footprints.

「They’re really in a hurry. Did they notice our pursuit? ──Perhaps the enemy has an useful Art.」

Another subordinate was,

「Did they use their comrades as bait? Perhaps they’re trying to deliver the information even if only one of them survives?」

The leader’s mouth was smiling behind the cloth.

「No, this is a trap.」

One of the footprints was heading towards the mountain.

It was made to look like they split to three directions in order to lead the pursuers astray.

The leader judged that. He focused on one footprint.

「The other three are traveling by stepping on the man’s footstep. This way.」

It was the footprint that was clearly deeper than the rest.

They immediately followed the man’s footprint.

「It seems they noticed us using an Art’s ability but, it’s obvious that they aren’t familiar with moving inside a forest. Apparently there is someone knowledgeable about forests with them but, that’s all. They aren’t our match.」

The two subordinates also didn’t object and followed behind wordlessly.

The three sensed that the enemy was nearby.

「They’re close.」

The leader was looking down on the enemy that they weren’t as experienced in the forest as them.

Then, a young man was standing alone inside the forest.

His face couldn’t be seen due to the hood he wore. His mouth was also hidden. His right hand was holding a saber. He intended to fight.

One subordinate was losing patience.

「There is only one!」

Lyle was alone there.

「Is he planning to hold us back here for his comrades? Or are the rests hiding in ambush? ──Either is fine. We’ll take care of him quickly.

The leader assaulted Lyle together with his subordinates──

.

The three men attacked.

I couldn’t discern whether they were elf or not because their faces were hidden by a cloth.

But──

「Fast.」

Two men were wielding short swords.

One man took out a bow.

When I blocked the attack of the man in the lead who was slashing swiftly, the second man thrust his short sword at my side.

When I immediately stepped back, they quickly sent out additional attack.

An arrow flew towards my face. I dodged by tilting my head aside.

The arrow grazed my hood.

One person was firing arrows from behind the two who were attacking with short swords.

Weren’t they scared?

「Isn’t it horrible to suddenly attack like this?」

The enemy didn’t say anything back even when I made some light talk.

The Third’s voice came from the Jewel. He evaluated the enemy.

『They don’t make any useless conversation. They’re a troublesome opponent.』

Inside the forest with bad footing, when I leaped aside to dodge the arrow, the two men attacked with their short swords to stab me.

One of the mern was outstandingly strong.

When I thrust with my saber, he agilely dodged and closed the distance.

At this rate I would get stabbed.

When I took my distance, the two’s short swords looked strangely shining.

Something was smeared on the blades.

「Poison huh. I really don’t want to face that.」

The two of them moved to pincer me, while the other one secured a firing line with his bow.

「How really troublesome!」

I deflected the arrow with my saber. During that time the other two were approaching.

The gazes and focuses of the three attackers were gathered on me just as planned. In that moment.

A knife and arrow from above the tree attacked the two men in front of me with good timing.

One man noticed and grabbed his comrade. He used him as a shield from the knife and arrow.

「So you sacrificed your comrade like that.」

The next moment he let go of his comrade and took distance from me swiftly.

The other man was blocking Aria’s short spear with his bow.

「Yo, you!」

When Aria brought it into a contest of strength, the enemy gripped a knife with his left hand.

「Idiot!」

Miranda swiftly threw a knife to help Aria.

But, when Miranda’s focus was distracted, the man who used his comrade as a shield took advantage of that and left this place.

Eva jumped down from a tree branch.

「One got away!」

The man who was stabbed by arrow and knife couldn’t move due to the poison on the knife paralyzing him.

『You got careless there but, if everyone is safe then it’s a good job I guess.』

The Fifth said that. Then the Third continued.

『The opponents were more skilled than expected. More importantly, this is bad. Your face isn’t seen but, they might identify your group from your characteristics. You better go back quickly.』

The surroundings were already getting dark.

Besides, Aria was exhausted.

Eva pulled down the cloth hiding her face to expose her mouth.

『Aria, why didn’t you finish him off?』

The two men were still alive.

Perhaps we would be able to interrogate them.

「So, sorry.」

A dry sound resounded in the forest.

Aria hung her head down and apologized. Miranda slapped her.

Miranda’s face toward Aria was scary.

「What’re you going to do if your comrade is sacrificed because of you alone? Be more serious.」

「I, I──」

Aria couldn’t say anything back.

When I was about to speak,

『Lyle, don’t say anything right now.』

The Fifth said that. The Fourth also agreed.

『Originally this is also Lyle’s job though. If Miranda didn’t back up Aria, the enemy wouldn’t have got away.』

It was at that timing.

「──Something is coming.」

The man’s reaction vanished from the direction he escaped to.

In exchange a large reaction with stronger hostility than the man showed up.

.

──The elf leader was rushing through the forest alone.

Leaves and trees were obstructing light inside the forest. The light was dim even in the middle of the day.

When the sun was setting and it became evening, it became even darker.

「I miscalculated. But, I have grasped the enemy’s characteristics. I have to bring back this information.」

The leader who survived by sacrificing his subordinate was only thinking of delivering this information to his allies.

The opponent possessed a really great Art.

It must be an Art that was specialized to detect enemies.

And then, three of the four people were female.

The hair color and eye color that he saw from the hood’s gap were blue.

If there was this much information, they should be able to identify the person to a certain degree.

「I have to hurry.」

He might be overtaken if he stopped.

It was dangerous to run at full speed inside a dark forest but, he was hurrying to get away from Lyle’s group as fast as possible.

Because of that, he overlooked something that he normally should have been able to notice.

If it was the monsters inside this forest, then even he would be able to deal with them easily.

But, that one was──

「This thing──sto, stop!」

When he leaped out from a bush carelessly, he saw the torso of a large snake crawling around.

The thickness was bigger than even a male adult’s torso. And it was long.

The large scales were gleaming eerily.

The torso entwined around the leader. Then the head part showed up.

「──A lamia?」

The upper body was a human female.

The lower body was a snake monster. But, even then this was too large.

The leader had seen monsters of the same species several times but, this one was twice as large.

Its upper body was a woman but, its hands were too narrow and long for a human.

It attacked the leader with sharp claws and fangs.

He immediately slashed with his short sword, but the lamia’s skin was hard and the sword didn’t get through.

「This thing, a subspecies! Sto, stop!」

The lamia opened its large mouth widely as though its face was splitting open until the edge. It grabbed the leader with its hands and entwined around his body with its snake lower body.

Blood stained the cloth that covered the leader’s mouth.

The lamia widened its mouth even further and swallowed the leader whole.

And then, it let out its slender tongue that was split into two at the tip. The tongue moved around as though to sense something before the lamia resumed moving from there.

It was really fast even though it was slithering on the ground.

The lamia subspecies was heading towards Lyle’s group by weaving through the trees──

.

The inside of the forest was noisy.

The birds were flapping their wings together to head to the sky.

And then, something big was heading towards us with its hostility fully bared.

「Something is coming. Let’s escape immediately.」

It was really big.

I immediately ordered the retreat and left behind the captured men.

We couldn’t travel inside the forest while carrying two men.

Besides, we would be overtaken if we did something like that.

Aria was looking at the two men, but Miranda forcefully grabbed her arm and started running.

「What are you doing!」

Eva was running in front of us.

「I have a bad premonition somehow. Anyway let’s hurry and leave this place.」

I felt some guilt leaving behind the men but, in any case they were enemies who tried to kill us.

「──Let’s hurry.」

After we left from that place for a while, screams came from behind.

Aria also seemed to notice. Her expression looked pained.

.

──On the other hand.

Novem who was staying behind in the city was coming to the market together with Sophia.

They were shopping while also asking around about Laukaan’s situation.

The people who had been living here since the past had a lot of dissatisfaction but, the merchants were shouting in happiness with the increase of customers.

Customers would come even if they did nothing.

In businesses like restaurants, customers would come no matter how bad their food tasted.

It was to the degree that there would be lines formed outside the shop no matter what shop it was.

The two of them were also lining up in front of a restaurant in order to have a meal. Then when they finally could eat──

「──Isn’t this terrible?」

Inside the crowded restaurant, Sophia’s face clouded from the food that tasted really bad.

Novem soaked her bread into her soup and ate it after it turned soft.

The surrounding guests also did the same.

It would be hard to eat the bread without doing that.

The food was bread, soup with only few ingredients, and water.

In addition the price was also expensive.

「Let’s finish eating quickly.」

The reason the two of them deliberately ate outside was in order to listen to the surrounding’s talk. They were investigating Laukaan’s situation.

The business situation started booming since ten years ago. Since then the population was gradually increasing.

And then, since around two years ago, it became troubling that the population increased too much.

It seemed that the government had taken various measures but, it looked like the city and the residents were unable to deal with the rapid changes.

The crude table and chairs were wobbling badly.

The restaurant too seemed to have forcefully increased its seats and tables. The distance with the neighboring table was too close.

But, thanks to that they could clearly listen to the surrounding’s conversations.

「Did you hear about the qilin?」

「The guys who saw it were making a ruckus. If I didn’t hear wrong──they said the qilin was seen in the west.」

「West? I heard that they saw it in the east.」

The most talked topic was about the qilin that the palace ordered to be captured.

Novem stopped eating.

「──How foolish.」

She muttered that, but it seemed Sophia who was focusing on the surrounding conversations didn’t hear it.

「Did you say something?」

Sophia asked. Novem smiled saying 「It’s nothing」 and resumed eating.

Then, this time Sophia was the one who stopped eating and looked down.

「Sophia-san, what’s the matter?」

「No, I’m wondering if it’s fine for us to be relaxing alone like this. Even though Lyle-dono and Aria and the others are working hard, I’m just staying behind.」

It seemed Sophia was envying Aria.

「I also resolved myself to come along. But, to suddenly be told to stay behind like this, I’m uncertain whether I’ll become useful for Lyle-dono.」

Sophia said such thing. In response Novem said to her.

「I tricked all of you.」

「Tha, that’s, err──that’s true but」

Sophia didn’t expect that Novem would touch this topic. She was flustered.

She didn’t know how she should react.

That was why Novem continued.

「I have no intention of placing a hindrance at Lyle-sama’s side.」

Sophia’s shoulders dropped in dejection.

「──A, a hindrance is it. Novem-san too is really harsh.」

「Please don’t misunderstand. I evaluated you highly. That was why I welcomed you as our comrade. You should have more confidence in yourself.」

When Sophia raised her face in surprise, Novem returned to her meal.

Sophia’s face was gradually getting redder in embarrassment.

「E, err, that’s, I!」

「Please eat quickly. After that, there is no time to lament your lack of strength. What’s important is to think about how to pass your time right now.」

Novem told Sophia that there were also things she could do because everyone wasn’t here right now.

Sophia showed her motivation hearing that.

「You’re right! Then, I’ll quickly finish eating and practice swinging. Hamu-! ──It tastes bad.」

Sophia ate the bread that was soaked into the soup but, her face immediately turned cloudy.

「That’s certainly true.」

Novem showed a smile seeing such Sophia──