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nCh. 67: Reorganizing and Heading for the Bottom Floor

nParme, who had been rescued, covered her face and sobbed for a while, but with Lapis and Ange comforting her, she slowly started to calm down.

nIn the meantime, Klaus looked up again to check on her, but he was silenced by Ange’s iron fist, while Loren was busying himself burning any slimes that got close.

nWhen Parme finally calmed down, Ange took out a thin blanket out of her bag and covered her, while Lapis checked on her injuries.

nSince she had said earlier that she was already being eaten, Lapis had expected harsh injuries, but although the injuries weren’t light enough to take easily, they weren’t too serious either.

n“The injuries aren’t bad, but the state and the range is the problem. Loren, can I use >?”

nLapis judged that if left alone, it would leave behind scars for sure.

nAs she asked Loren, thinking that a girl of her age with such scars all over her body was too pitiful, Loren simply nodded.

n“It’s fine so go ahead and heal her.”

n“You sure?”

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nLapis prepared to use her healing divine arts as soon as Loren approved.

nA priest’s healing divine arts was a lifeline not only within the dungeon, but to adventurers in general.

nKlaus was confused at Loren’s decision to use one of the limited usages on Parme.

n“Well, it is a bad move considering our situation.”

nParme had lost all her equipment and was more of a burden than anything.

nSo Loren knew that using divine arts on injuries that wasn’t a threat to her life would be confusing to anyone.

n“She’s training to become an adventurer. She should be prepared to have scars on her body.”

n“Could be. But it’s fine, I guess.”

nAs Loren patted Klaus on the shoulder, telling him not to think of it too hard, he stopped arguing.

nNext to them, Lapis was about to use > on Parme.

n“G.o.d of Knowledge, please heal her using the method you could find within that stupidly large amount of knowledge you possess.”

n“Those aren’t the words of prayer, are they!?”

n“Prayer isn’t bound to specific forms.”

nWhen Lapis touched Parme’s body along with a plausible explanation, the divine arts quickly displayed its effects, as the injuries from the slimes started healing.

n“Is it just me, or is the healing working really well somehow?”

n“Those who believe will be saved.”

nSeeing Parme’s injuries disappear and returning to healthy looking skin, Ange asked Lapis with swear running down her cheek, as if she were seeing something perplexing, but Lapis responded in a solemn tone.

n“So how is it, actually?”

n“No idea. Don’t ask me.”

nAlthough Klaus asked him, Loren had no way to answer.

nHe guessed that the basic specs of being a demon could have had something to do with the effectiveness of the divine arts, but for some reason he couldn’t look past the fact that the prayer might have had something to do with it as well.

n“In any case, blonde rolls can move now so let’s get moving. Nothing good will come out of staying here for too long.”

n“I apologize…for the inconvenience.”

nParme hung her head, the att.i.tude she had shown before entering the dungeon was nowhere to be seen.

nFeeling that being ashamed the whole time wasn’t good for the atmosphere, Loren tried poking some fun at her as a joke.

n“But are we going to pull her around with only a blanket around her?”

n“I-I’ll accept it.”

nLoren had said it expecting her to complain, but to his surprise, she had easily complied.

nAs Parme’s face turned bright red, Loren became troubled as he didn’t know what to do but help came from Lapis.

n“Ange and I could at least lend you underwear.”

n“It’s an emergency, so we’ll go with the size that fits better.”

nAdventurers tried their best to pack as little as they could.

nIt was obvious since they would have to be moving constantly, so whenever they went exploring or on subjugation, they only took the absolute minimum of what they needed.

nEven to them, extra underwear was essential, so Lapis and Ange carried around a few changes with them.

nSome might wonder why they would do so in the limited s.p.a.ce in their bags, but the jobs of adventurers often got them injured as well as dirty.

nFrom experience, adventurers knew that wearing dirty or contaminated clothes would worsen their injuries or cause illnesses.

nRarely did they have any room to take extra clothes, but always having extra underwear or underclothes, which constantly touched the skin, was the common understanding.

n“I brought an extra pair of boots, so I’ll lend you those.”

nMagicians could often take more things since they didn’t have heavy equipment to worry about.

nAnge seemed to be so and brought an extra pair of boots, in case the pair she was wearing got ruined by a trap.

n“For the top…mine is too big. Ange, yours seems like a perfect fit.”

n“Grrr…”

n“The bottom…Hmm? Yours slips off, huh. I guess I’ll lend mine then.”

n“This doesn’t make any sense!”

n“For clothes…Loren, lend her one of your shirts.”

n“Here.”

nWith the difference in height between Loren and Parme, his shirt reached down and easily covered her all the way down to the middle of her thighs.

n“I don’t know how to thank everyone…I’ll repay this debt someday…”

n“Worry about that if we manage to get back to the surface. It’s not certain we can get out of here yet.”

nStopping Parme from bowing her head, Loren told her in a matter of fact way, not letting any emotion into his words.

nIf he somehow gave her some measure of hope, and that hope was to be crushed, the emotional drop would be a hard one.

nSo that was why he couldn’t let her feel saved in a situation where they had no idea what would happen.

n“Parme, do you know what happened to the other members of your party?”

n“I’m sorry Master Klaus. My hands were full just trying to run away, and before I realized, I was caught inside the slimes…so I don’t know what happened to them.”

nWhen Parme told Klaus that she didn’t know, although he looked disappointed for a moment, he immediately regained his composure and patted her on the head to try to comfort her.

n“Master Klaus…”

nAs Parme’s cheeks turned red, Ange started coughing very loudly.

nAs Loren was watching the three of them, Lapis spread her map of the dungeon and walked up next to him.

n“Do you long for things like that?”

n“Not even a bit. Doesn’t suit me, and I don’t want anything like that.”

n“Sounds like you. By the way, are we going to go to the keeper on the ninth floor like this?”

nParme joining them could be taken as an accident, but it just meant that they had another person they needed to protect, so Loren decided that it wouldn’t have too much of an impact on them.

nBut in fact, they had to hurry harder than before to defeat the guardian on the tenth floor, so they could send Parme back to the surface.

n“Klaus and Ange, the two of you go ahead and protect Parme. Lapis and I’ll take care of the enemies.”

n“But…No, you’re right. Got it, leave her to us.”

nThe first had to do something about the keeper guarding the exit of the ninth floor, and Klaus was about to argue when Loren said that the two of them will take care of it, but he quietly obeyed him, as if he had thought of something.

nImpressed at how quick Klaus now was to understand, Loren lead Klaus and the others down the corridor with Lapis, who regained control of her limbs, walking next to him.

n“So, this is where the keeper is…”

nA short time after they had rescued Parme.

nThe only monsters they encountered on the way were slimes, and by either burning or slipping pa.s.s them, the group managed to reach the area on the ninth floor where the keeper resided, but what awaited them wasn’t a keeper blocking their way, but an unmoving stone doll with its hands and knees on the ground.

nThe doll, which would’ve been taller than Loren if it stood up, wasn’t damaged at all, but for some reason it didn’t show any signs of moving.

n“Is this the so-called keeper?”

nWhen Loren asked Klaus, who knew more about the dungeon than he did, he nodded.

n“It’s a stone golem that the school made. But to see that it stopped functioning…”

n“This is supposed to be strong, right?”

nWhen Loren asked for confirmation, both Klaus, who was knowledgeable of the dungeon, and Lapis, who was knowledgeable in general, nodded at the same time.

n“It’s not as strong as metal type golems, but stone golems are still powerful. But to be able to cause a breakdown like this…”

n“Lucky for us, but the problem is who did it.”

nThey now didn’t have to fight it to enter the tenth floor, but the problem was who or what was it that broke the golem.

nAfter all, it was hard to think that whoever did it would be satisfied by doing this, which meant there was a high possibility that the being would already be in the tenth floor, which they were about to enter.

nIf that was the case, they would most likely face whoever it was down there.

n“There’s no damage on the golem’s surface. If I remember correctly, it had an auto repair ability, but if it took enough damage to cause a breakdown, it repaired itself to fast.

nKlaus said as he examined the golem.

n“Then how did this guy stop like this?”

n“For a fair method, Isn’t there a divine art that could deal damage without inflicting wounds?”

n“Are you talking about >? That’s one of the few attacking divine arts.”

nKlaus knew that if the golem was defeated by magic, there should be signs of burns or damage, but there wasn’t so he thought of the possibility of divine arts.

nAgainst his thought, Lapis immediately shook her head, denying the possibility.

n“> is indeed a divine art that inflicts just the impact to an opponent and barely leaves any wounds, it is but a beginner level divine art, so its power isn’t much. Do you think it would be enough to defeat a stone golem?”

n“That’s…”

n“The only people who might be able to do that would be a very high-ranking priest. Then what would such a priest be doing here? And why would he defeat the keeper?”

n“No idea about that one.”

nThere was too little information to make a judgment.

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nAs Loren easily gave up, Lapis asked Klaus.

n“What other methods would there be if they weren’t fair?”

n“I hope I’m wrong, but there’s a pa.s.sword that acts as a deactivation key for the golem and it changes every month…and of course the teachers know what it is. If you pay them enough, you might be able to get them to tell you what it is.”

nThat was an obvious act of misconduct.

nWhich was why Klaus hoped he was wrong, but with the sight in front of him, he had to put it into consideration.

n“Either way, we need to go down.”

n“That’s true.”

n“Then let’s hurry up and go. All of you, don’t be surprised no matter what comes out.”

nOn the other side of the unmoving golem, was a single door.

nJudging from where it was, Loren guessed that it was the entrance to the tenth floor and signaled Lapis, who was standing next to him, and when she saw it, she walked up and turned the k.n.o.b. After confirming that it didn’t open by pushing and pulling on it, she put her palm on the door and started muttering something.

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