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Chapter 5: Ryu-san, let me check if you have any injuries. Ais-san, I can't hold back anymore.
Dungeon 51st Floor, 『Cadmus's Spring』.
There was a spring called the spring water, guarded like a gatekeeper by the powerful dragon Cadmus.
Its strength was the strongest among currently discovered monsters, excluding floor bosses.
"Well, it doesn't mean anything to me though."
With a greatsword on his back, Rick collected the magic stone and 『Cadmus's Membrane』 from the defeated powerful dragon Cadmus into his pouch holster, then filled the bottle he had brought with the spring water.
"Fuu, but do I really need to change my way of speaking all the way to this floor? No, no, being conscious is important, so let's be careful."
While putting on his mask and muttering, Rick had come all the way to the 51st floor to earn money.
To buy Haruhime's night service time, Rick had dived into the dungeon.
By making full use of the special privilege 『Invisibility』 that Rick treasured, he could descend the floors without being noticed by monsters, approach them, and defeat them.
His attacks connected, but monsters' attacks passed through the invisibility.
With this privilege, danger rarely came, and it was an invincible skill that allowed him to unilaterally trample monsters.
Rick himself could defeat Cadmus if he tried hard enough, but considering the return trip, he had to hold back.
Having achieved his goal, Rick activated invisibility again and headed for the surface.
Even though he was just walking normally, the monsters did not notice Rick's existence and passed right by.
He wanted to return quickly, but he decided to take a break once on the 18th floor before heading to the surface again, so Rick headed to the 18th floor for now.
The 18th floor, called 『Under Resort, the Labyrinth's Paradise』, was a safe floor and safety point where monsters were not born.
Avoiding the eyes of adventurers, Rick stayed away from the town of Rivira and headed into the forest.
"Shall I take a quick bath?"
At a spring he happened to discover, he washed off his sweat and went deeper into the forest, where he discovered what looked like a grave.
"Some [Familia]'s, I guess."
Rick guessed from the weapon stuck in it and picked some flowers blooming nearby to place on the grave.
"Who are you!"
Along with the voice, Rick dodged a stone thrown from behind and turned his gaze toward the source, where there was a single elf.
An elf woman with a hood-attached cape reaching down to her waist. Below, she wore short pants and long boots that covered halfway up her thighs. Ryu Lion had her weapon ready and was glaring at Rick.
Sensing that there was definitely a misunderstanding, Rick put down his weapon to show he had no fighting intent.
"I just placed some flowers."
He spoke with a changed tone from under the mask.
Seeing the flowers placed on the grave, Ryu sheathed her weapon.
"I'm sorry. It was my hasty assumption."
"Don't worry about it. It was my fault for approaching carelessly."
Rick told the apologizing Ryu not to mind.
Hearing Rick's words, Ryu placed the flowers she had brought and poured alcohol one by one on specific graves.
"Are these your comrades' graves?"
"…Yes."
To Rick's question, Ryu answered heavily.
"I'm called [Unknown Stealth] by those around me. Meeting here must be some kind of fate. Why don't you mutter to yourself?"
Ryu was shocked that the mysterious adventurer known as [Unknown Stealth] was here.
"Sometimes it's easier after you spit it out."
"...I"
After thinking for a bit, Ryu spoke about her background.
Thinking that Rick, who had placed flowers on the grave without knowing whose it was, was not a bad person, Ryu spoke as if talking to herself.
That she had belonged to [Astrea Familia].
That she had been driven by revenge.
That she was on the blacklist of persons of interest.
She spoke as if muttering to herself and told Rick.
After finishing telling everything, Ryu let out a sigh.
"This is just muttering to myself, but"
To Ryu who had told everything, Rick also spoke as if muttering to himself.
"That elf has done nothing wrong. She only did what was natural with natural emotions. If that guy appears before me, I'll say this. Blaming yourself is misplaced."
At those words muttered to himself, Ryu widened her eyes.
"If you feel guilty, then bear that sin. But blaming yourself because of your dead comrades is rude to them. If you really think of them as comrades, live facing forward. Because those who are alive can only face forward."
Rick spoke in a serious tone as if muttering to himself, then shouldered his greatsword and tried to leave the place.
"If you meet that elf, tell her that. That [Unknown Stealth] was spouting off without considering the other person's feelings."
"…Yes, I'll tell her."
Ryu's lips faintly relaxed.
Rick left the place, lightly regretting that he had said something stupid, and headed for the surface.
When he was about to leave the forest, he heard a small scream.
He ran back the way he had come and rushed toward the direction of the scream, where he found Ryu collapsed and surrounded by several adventurers.
"No mistake! It's [Gale]!"
"If we hand her over, we'll get a lot of money!"
Rick instantly assessed the strength of the adventurers surrounding Ryu.
Three out of four were Lv.4.
The remaining one was Lv.3.
"Hehe, just as the information said, we set up a net and she got caught beautifully. [Gale] isn't all that either."
Hearing that story, Rick understood.
They had probably set a trap for Ryu, who had come to the 18th floor for grave visiting, intending to sell her somewhere.
It wasn't strange for there to be people who held a grudge against Ryu.
But one question crossed his mind.
With Ryu's strength, she should have been able to at least focus on escaping and manage somehow, so why had she been defeated so easily?
"Ah, it's my fault, isn't it."
Saying something like that would cause at least some agitation and loosen her focus.
The simple conclusion was that they had taken advantage of that opening.
Having reached the conclusion, Rick moved to help Ryu.
"Who is it!?"
The adventurers turned their weapons toward Rick as he emerged from the grass, revealing his identity.
"Women should be treated with care."
With just those words, Rick instantly killed the adventurers.
Lv.4 adventurers were no match for Rick at Lv.6.
He judged that the monsters would eat what used to be adventurers and left them there.
He picked up Ryu and left the place.
Since she was breathing, she had probably been hit directly by some kind of magic and lost consciousness.