Ihoujin, Dungeon ni Moguru

Chapter 120: Adventurers’ Intuition I

【Unknown】

White darkness engulfed everything further than an inch in front of me.

All I could see was white and the only thing I could hear was the howling of the wind.

The air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice plunging deep into my body.

My limbs were as numb as wood, and only my internal organs were working frantically to maintain my body temperature. It was freezing outside and unpleasantly damp inside.

Dragging my broken left leg, I crawled through the knee-deep snow at a snail's pace.

Steam rose from the blood as it continued to pour from the hole in my side. My mouth tasted of iron. I gasped desperately for air, but only managed to inhale oxygen properly once every three attempts. My lips quivered. My lungs began to freeze. White darkness and black darkness alternated before my eyes.

Drowsiness soothed the pain in my body and tried to take over my mind. “Rest, it's okay to take it easy,” it whispered sweetly.

It's possible that I'm just going around in circles in the same spot. That’s a devastating thought, but my steps won't falter because this is my way of fighting.

If I'm going to die, I want to die falling forward.

That's how a man should die.

But nature is so unforgiving, and people are so puny in comparison. This is a sobering experience. If I make it back alive, it will definitely serve me well in future.

Yes.

If I can survive this, I believe that it will be a good experience.

My chances are pretty bleak though.

「I really――――――」

<Adventurers’ Intuition I>

The number of floors that we've cleared so far is 37. We've come within sight of the goal, the 56th floor.

It can be said that things are progressing smoothly.

I think I’ve gained a fair bit of experience. As evidence of this, a sort of intuition has started to kick in.

It's a gut instinct that tells me when something is about to interfere with my adventuring.

I’ve heard this line from many people.

『Exploring the dungeon isn't all there is to an adventurer』

But for me, "Let me reach the 56th floor first. Then we can continue this conversation. After that, I'll do whatever other jobs you want me to, alright?" was how I had protested.

But well, there was no way they were going to give us special treatment.

We couldn't just ignore requests from the Guild either.

So we ended up doing all sorts of jobs and requests that were unrelated to the dungeon.

It's really quite unforgiving.

Especially after we had become intermediate adventurers, they really started tightening the screws on us.

We were flooded with requests from the Guild. Though it did at least come with some perks. The right to buy and sell land in the kingdom, free use of various facilities, access to requests with hefty rewards, the right to issue normal requests personally, et cetera, et cetera.

But no sooner had I turned down one request……

……than even more and more requests came pouring in.

『Intermediate adventurers are the ones that interact with the most people. They become teachers and guardians to the greenhorns, and show the novices "how they should act". They nip at the advanced adventurers' heels, saying "Don't forget about us". To the masses, they show "what being an adventurer is all about". Well, I'd say that they’re easily the busiest adventurers in this country』

Those were the words the Guild President had graced me with.

Because what he said was perfectly reasonable, it pissed me off.

『You remember those adventurers who attacked you in the past? They "were" intermediate adventurers as well. Intermediate adventurers are the busiest, but it isn’t hard for them to find high-paying jobs, so it also isn’t difficult for them to make a living. They can also use various facilities for free, so it’s easy for them to maintain a stable lifestyle. That’s why they give up on and ignore the Guild’s requests. Of course, the more the requests pile up, the longer it will take to deal with them. Once things have gotten to this point, it becomes impossible for them to pursue the dreams and goals they originally had.

So they run away from reality.

But because they don’t have to worry about starving, they don’t work as hard as greenhorns or novices, so their skills dull and they lose their will to continue. Most of those who are considered bad apples were intermediate adventurers when they fell from grace. You should be mindful of that too』

That's not going to happen.

If I were to become like that, there would be a lot of people who would send me flying.

First of all, I get the feeling that Evetta-san, my person-in-charge, as well as Lanseal and King Lemuria would do that. Makina and Tortch. I can't disappoint Shuna or Otou-san either.

Because my wife is always so supportive of me, I don't want to look bad in her eyes. The same goes for my sister.

It's really simple.

I could never have gotten to where I am today by myself. I owe it all to so many people. I don't have the luxury of becoming a bad apple.

Well, but………………to be honest, I want to go explore the dungeon.

All I want is to be able to explore the dungeon in peace.

But we live in a world where things just don't go the way we want them to.

And this time,

My intuition kicked in when my sister sneezed. The boy swordsman in the party also sneezed in response.

The right continent is currently in the middle of winter.

By some weird coincidence, the floors that we are trying to clear are called the deadly ice floors.

It’s cold both inside and outside the dungeon, so it’s probably quite hard on the elves, who by nature aren't very good at dealing with the cold, and the islanders, who are used to a warmer climate.

I told them to eat warm food and get a good night's rest, but……

「Sniff, sorry, Onii-sniff-chan」

………my sister caught a cold.

And she didn’t catch it in the dungeon either.

These days, we've been forced to deal with requests on the fly while exploring the dungeon. As a result, I've been putting off the search for a place to stay for the winter, and we wound up camping in the snow for far too long.

Of course someone would get sick, I thought reproachfully to myself.

「I slept in the kotatsu[1], but it was too hot, so I left the tent's flap open. When I woke up, the inside of the tent was covered with snow」

「………………」

The reason why she had gotten sick left me speechless.

I had combined tents to make a bigger one for Ea, Maria, and Misuranika-sama, but I had apparently made a mistake by putting the kotatsu in there.

No, it's my fault for making them camp out here in the snow, but then again, it's also my sister's fault for sleeping in the kotatsu when I told her not to.

Hmm, hmm.

Is the proportion of blame about 5:5?

In any case, I decided that we could no longer camp in the snow, and right when I was about to go look for a place to stay――

「Yes, there is. A good place to stay」

Lanseal easily provided a place for us to stay.

Nothing beats knowing the king's daughter.

She now looked in her late teens or so, and her womanly parts were growing in nicely. Her silver hair and tail were thicker and fluffier, probably because it was winter.

「Then let's move in」

「When?」

「Right now」

「Eh?」

Why put off what can be done today?

We began the preparations immediately.

I borrowed a carriage from the merchant company and parked it at the camp. After leaving the loading of the supplies to Makina, Lanseal and I went to take a look at the place we were moving to――――but before we did, I checked in on my wife and sister.

「Rana, how's Ea?」

「D, de, dear, she’s still fe, feverish」

I checked the thermometer that was handed to me by Rana, whose teeth were chattering. It showed 36.5 degrees Celsius, which was a little high.

It must be rough for her as elves have a lower body temperature by nature.

「Ea, how do you feel?」

「My nose is blocked. It's hard to breathe」

Despite her elder sister's anxiety and panic, she didn't seem to be suffering all that much.

Rana had lost her mother to a fever. Ea just has a regular cold, but Rana probably can't help worrying that the same would happen to her.

「Rana, if Ea is having a really hard time, give her these」

I gave her some antipyretic-analgesics, vitamins, and cold medicine.

They’ve been put through various tests, so it should be fine for elves to take them. But it's really just a regular cold, so it'll be better to simply keep her hydrated and warm.

「Also, make her drink this」

I handed her a 2 liter PET bottle filled with sports drink. It was the type where the powder was dissolved in water.

「Understood. Here, Ea」

「Gah, gulp」

She unscrewed the cap, then jammed it abruptly into Ea's mouth.

Maybe it’s because she’s in a fluster, but she’s being really rough with the person she’s looking after.

「Bear with it! You should be fine after drinking this!」

「Onee, stop, gulp, gulp」

「Rana! Wait!」

She was making Ea, who was lying down, drink rather forcibly.

The sports drink splashed and spilled everywhere as Ea almost drowned.

「Oh for crying out loud, I can't watch this anymore」

Misuranika-sama smacked Rana on the back of the head.

「You go pray to the gods or something in the corner. I'll take care of her」

「Y, yes」

A depressed-looking Rana walked over to the corner of the tent. She clasped her hands together and started praying.

The young girl in a black dress wiped down Ea's body, then helped her sit up and let her drink slowly.

Huh………………she's very used to looking after sick people.

That's kind of unexpected.

「Misuranika-sama, I'll leave her in your hands」

「Mmm-hmm. Souya, go prepare the finest place for me」

「Leave it to me, my god」

That's a small price to pay.

「Rana, come with me」

「Eh, but……」

I grabbed Rana's hand to stop her from praying.

After all, there's already a god looking after her. What more can you pray for?

「Ea will be fine. You should do something else to take your mind off it」

「………If you say so」

Bringing Rana, who had turned into a bit of a klutz, with us, we made our way to the place Lanseal mentioned.

[1] A kotatsu is a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon, or heavy blanket, upon which a tabletop sits. Underneath is a heat source, formerly a charcoal brazier but now electric, often built into the table itself. It is possible to sleep under akotatsu, although unless one is quite short, one's body will not be completely covered. This is generally considered acceptable for naps, but not for overnight sleeping. Traditionally, children are told that they will catch a cold due to the uneven heating of the body if they sleep under a kotatsu. (Pic courtesy of bellemaison.jp)

That opening is pretty ominous, isn’t it? That really sets the tone for this volume though. But before that, it’s time for Souya and gang to find a home. What shenanigans will follow? Yeah, unlike the last volume, which was so action-packed, this volume will start a bit slower. But as you can see from the prologue, it won’t be long before stuff hits the fan. Stay tuned!

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