Chapter 93 - The End of the First Day of Exploration and No Return

After this and that, the 11 hour exploration ended.

In the end, Rifreya and I just followed behind without fighting.

Depending on the viewer count, I was thinking about stealthily withdrawing, but the fighting visage of a high ranked explorer is not something you see often. The viewers are not only not decreasing, they are continuously going up, so I decided to stay put in the end.

The expert teamwork of the Crimson Vials; the heavy equipment of the Sneeze of the Goddess that pushed the monsters and wiped them out had quite the visual impact. This was probably interesting for the viewers too.

…My battle style revolves around hiding in the darkness, so in terms of visuals, it is super plain.

It is a shame that the Demon Lord didn’t show up, but thinking about the remaining days, you could say that we managed to shift the climax closer to the last day.

It is not a bad situation.

The team for the rotation had come, and they took over the exploration of the 3rd Floor.

All the 40 people of the first half pulled out, and we will be diving again tomorrow after properly resting. Finally the 4th Floor tomorrow.

The second half team isn’t going down the floor and continuing the exploration of the 3rd Floor.

According to Gloria-san, it is the rules, so they explore the 3rd Floor as well, but the Demon Lord is probably still on the 5th Floor or beginning to go up to the 4th Floor.

It would be bad to have it go up, so wouldn’t it be risky to have it go up? Is the heavy question I tried asking, but rather than defeating the Demon Lord in the 5th Floor that even regular monsters are strong, having it go up to the 4th Floor would have less dangers.

It is true that, even if the objective is to defeat the Demon Lord, there will be normal monsters around too, so this might be the natural option to take.

The second half team will continue the exploration of the 3rd Floor, but their main objective is to make sure the Demon Lord hasn’t gone up to the 3rd Floor, and most are silver rank.

The duty of defeating the Demon Lord is taken by the first half team.

And in reality, compared to the mithril rank and gold rank comprising half of the first half team, the second half team’s equipment is normal and feels unreliable.

“What do they do if the second half team finds the Demon Lord?” (Hikaru)

“They call the first half team while holding it off in the stairs of the floor. Today we will also be staying in the inn that the guild prepared.” (Rifreya)

“In that case, the second half team is undertaking a bigger risk. I don’t think holding it back is so easy.” (Hikaru)

“Well, that’s true, but there’s barely any past cases where the second half team has encountered the Demon Lord. Garnet-san and the others have also gotten a preview of the 4th Floor. There rarely is a chance for it to come up as long as there’s no extraordinary circumstances.” (Rifreya)

“I see.” (Hikaru)

In other words, the ecology of Demon Lords has been mostly clarified, and the second half team is mostly there for insurance.

There’s apparently Demon Lords who are in forms that are difficult to find, so a 24 hour system was taken, but before that, it was all done in 12 hours of exploration.

Whichever the case, what I will be doing has been settled since the beginning.

“…Sorry, Rifreya, I will be staying.” (Hikaru)

I stopped in front of the stairs to the 2nd Floor and told her that.

“Eh? But…” (Rifreya)

“I don’t plan on leaving the dungeon until the Demon Lord shows up. I will be mixing in with the 2nd group, so you can go back, Rifreya.” (Hikaru)

There’s 3 days left. I can’t get indolent here in order to get 1st place. There’s time zones, so no matter the timing, it is golden time somewhere on Earth.

If at the time when the Demon Lord appears I am absent, I wouldn’t be able to regret it enough.

It has been around 40 days since the isekai transfer.

According to Alex, there has been no Chosen who has encountered a Demon Lord.

No, there simply might not have been a subjugation record of it, but there could have been someone who has encountered one…

Whichever the case, viewers will definitely increase. I still haven’t gotten 1st place in the Total Rankings. I don’t have any leisure time. It is for this that I took my sweet time sleeping yesterday.

I am participating solely as the porter of Rifreya, so there’s the chance I will trouble her if I act so selfishly, but even with that, I can’t pull back here.

If I exchange Crystals for stamina potions, there will be no issues with me acting without sleeping for a certain degree. Fortunately, I have a decent amount of saved up Crystals from the time I was shut-in.

“Then, I will stay here too. I am still your party member after all.” (Rifreya)

“But…” (Hikaru)

“No buts. We are still a party…right? Also…it is actually normal to camp when in the dungeon. It is just that you are abnormal, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya said this after a bit of deliberation.

I thought she would say that. It is not like I proposed this in hopes she would say that, but she is kind, and I know from our short time together that she is a person with a caring personality.

“You don’t really have to keep me company, you know? This is just me being selfish here.” (Hikaru)

“There will be an evaluation in the Demon Lord subjugation, and there’s quite the reward for meritorious deeds. There’s a special reward for the ones that find it.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya answers like that, most likely to be considerate.

“I see… Thanks, Rifreya. You are a great help.” (Hikaru)

After that, Rifreya told Garnet-san the circumstances, and got permission to stay behind.

Explorers are -in the end- just a haphazard mix of people like yakuzas.

We are not corporate employees, and it is not like we are tied up by rules that much.

Not participating isn’t forgiven, but aside from that, they are pretty tolerant.

“Want to mix into the group of the second half and hunt in the 3rd Floor?” (Rifreya)

“No, Full’s not here, so let’s rest at the stairs.” (Hikaru)

I probably can’t expect much increase in viewership from fighting anymore. Even so, if it had just been me going down to the 4th Floor or fighting in the 3rd, it would have been fine, but with Rifreya, I can’t push it.

Let’s act with the battle against the Demon Lord as the highest priority.

“Then, let’s go back. We are resting in the stairs connecting the 3rd and 2nd Floor, right?” (Rifreya)

“No, let’s go for the one connecting to the 4th Floor. If it is there, we will be the first ones to notice if the Demon Lord goes up… No, I am ‘that’, so maybe I would attract the Demon Lord?” (Hikaru)

“Even a Great Spirit-sama needs a decent distance in order to detect a Loved One, so I think it will be okay.” (Rifreya)

Great Spirits detect Loved Ones within 100 meters.

It is not like I confirmed by actually doing a cat-and-mouse with them, but Rifreya asked a priest of the church, so it should be correct.

By the way, the stairs from the 3rd to the 4th Floor easily go over 100 meters. The chances are low that the Demon Lord would come up for me if it is far down in the floors.

…No, that development is right up my alley.

I am here to fight the Demon Lord.