Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 8

by Fujino Omori

  With that, the woman left the workshop with a smirk on her face.

  Hephaistos watched her leave, then returned her gaze to the corner of the workshop.

  Flames still burned brightly inside the large forge.

  Heat from another forge bit at the side of Welf’s face.

  The flames burned with an intensity on par with his own passion. The young man’s face was covered in rolling sweat despite the towel wrapped around his forehead. With only the roar of the furnace at his side in the dim workshop, Welf repeatedly slammed his hammer into the red-hot metal on top of his anvil.

  High-pitched, metallic echoes reverberated through the air. Showers of sparks scattered across the floor. It was a battle between him and his craft.

  His gaze didn’t move from what was directly beneath him. Completely focused on shaping the metal, nothing could distract him from the task at hand. Crimson hammer in hand, he simply guided it to the target with his gaze.

  Every swing of his hammer left a thin, dark-red trail of light through the air, generated by his Advanced Ability, Forge. It allowed him to breathe a sublime power into each of his weapons and armor, making them stronger and sharper as they ascended to levels of awe-inspiring quality.

  Slam! Slam! His ears had grown to love the sound of metal on metal. Each impact had a slightly different ring to it, and he could hear every detail.

  It was as if the metal were talking to him, guiding the next hammer fall. A smile grew on his lips before he knew it.

  —Listen to the metal’s words, lend your ears to its echoes, pour your heart into your hammer.

  Back in a long-forgotten corner of his memory, the voice of an old man from many years ago made its way past all the rust and into his thoughts again. He had heard the mantra in a workshop just as dim as this one. The smell of metal in his nostrils, Welf had been a young boy and nothing more than an assistant.

  Brief images of those days flashed through his mind as Welf brought the melody of the forge to life. The hot metal bent to the will of his hammer, taking the shape of a sharp sword as his passion burned as hot as the flames burning at his side.

  “Sorry for the wait. I finished your order, a katana.”

  Soft red light emerged from the open iron shutters of the workshop.

  A small stone structure built behind their home, the workshop was quiet under the evening sky.

  The sun had almost set by the time Welf finished what he set out to complete. He’d gone to greet his allies, home from the Dungeon, in the main building while still wearing his sweat-soaked jacket.

  Welf had stayed out of the Dungeon today in order to complete a few tasks. “Ooo!” came the collective voices of Lilly, Haruhime, and Mikoto, mouths open in surprise and excitement.

  “I made sure the measurements match your old one as close as possible. It’s a metal synthesized from a liger fang’s tooth and noh steel mined from floor twenty-seven. Should be able to take a lot of punishment.”

  “Thank you so much, Sir Welf! It’s gorgeous…!”

  The curved, ninety-celch blade was both black and silver.

  Mikoto took from him the blade forged from an adamantite drop item and an ore mined from the Deep Zone of the Dungeon, arms shaking with a mixture of elation and gratitude. It wasn’t just the weapon’s beauty that made her adventurer’s heart fall in love with it at first sight. She could tell that a High Smith had forged the third-tier weapon by hand due to the blade’s characteristics.

  She had put off asking him to make this weapon in favor of the equipment she’d need—a spear and light armor—to fill her role in the middle of their formation. Feeling complete once again, Mikoto’s cheeks glowed.

  “It’s so convenient to have a smith in the familia.”

  “Don’t talk about people like they’re some kind of magic-stone product, Li’l E.”

  Lilly looked at him out of the corner of her eye, commenting as if every household should have at least one person who could restore worn weapons back into shape and even create new ones when needed. Welf, however, wasn’t going to take it lying down.

  Making his rebuttal with half-lidded eyes, the young man then turned back to Mikoto. She was still holding her new katana, her mind somewhere around cloud nine. He was slightly intimidated by Chizan—the dagger securely fastened at her waist, a parting gift from Takemikazuchi that was one of a pair of extremely high-quality daggers forged by Goibniu Familia—because it was difficult to compete with. However, he was rather proud of how the katana had turned out.

  Extremely satisfied with the blade and sheath, the latter decorated in a black and silver striped pattern, Welf took a step closer to Mikoto and tried to keep his pride under wraps while making a suggestion.

  “Okay, now it needs a name…Iron Tiger, Kotetsu…No, Stripey, Shimajirou.”

  “Sir Welf, please waaaaaaaaait!”

  Welf put his right hand to his chin, a grin on his lips. Mikoto vigorously voiced her objections. Breaking out in a nervous sweat, blood boiling in her veins, she made every effort to prevent that name from sticking.

  “I-isn’t it a wonderful name: Master Stripey. It’s quite cute…”

  “Do you mind?!”

  “Its future hangs in the balance, Miss Haruhime, so please stay silent!”

  Haruhime spoke like the sheltered girl she was, while Welf was overjoyed to find someone who could understand his tastes. Mikoto yelled at her childhood friend in desperation.

  Their spirited discussion went through many twists and turns with an unamused Lilly watching from the sidelines. It ended with Mikoto, begging with her hands and knees on the floor and tears pouring out her eyes, finally winning the battle to give the new katana the name Kotetsu.

  Welf scratched his red hair with a look of utter disappointment on his face while Mikoto clutched the weapon to her chest in relief after her hard-fought victory.

  “…And these are for you two. For defense.”

  “Is this…a cloak?”

  “Mr. Welf, could this be…?”

  Welf handed Haruhime and Lilly each a black hooded robe.

  He nodded at Lilly’s surprise.

  “That’s right. Made it from the drop item we got from that Goliath. Bell and Lady Hestia gave it to me.”

  He was referring to the battle against the abnormally powerful monster, an Irregular, on the eighteenth floor: the Black Goliath.

  Bell had received the drop item when all was said and done after the battle. Welf used half of it to make protective equipment for Lilly and Haruhime. The drop item, by the way, had to be recovered from the wreckage of Bell and Hestia’s old room under the church because they hadn’t had time to sell it.

  That monster’s hide was so strong that it had completely nullified the attacks of hundreds of upper-class adventurers without so much as a scratch.

  Therefore, Welf had used its incredible defensive attribute to help the two supporters who were vulnerable to attack. He’d made a few personal choices in their design, but the cloaks were, without a doubt, top-tier defensive items.

  “It’s pretty heavy, isn’t it…?”

  “Yeah, but please try to overlook that. Remember how crazy strong the Goliath’s skin was? No blade or spell is getting through these.”

  Lilly put the cloak over her shoulders right away and commented while looking down at it.

  While Lilly had her Skill, Artel Assist, to help carry the load, Haruhime was on her own. “Ah, uwaah!” She struggled to stay on her feet under the weight of her cloak.

  The Goliath’s rampage depended on its brute force, so its hide had to be strong enough to repel both physical and magical attacks. The cloaks created from its drop item were no doubt strong enough to withstand attacks from monsters in the middle levels and the lower levels of the Dungeon without much trouble at all. Now it was Lilly’s turn to feel grateful.

  “But don’t forget, this does nothing to soften the blow. One hard smack and it’s all over.”

  Welf explained to Lill
y that it was exactly the same as armor.

  An iron plate could prevent the cut of a blade, but the flesh beneath would still feel the full impact. Lilly and Haruhime were both Level 1, meaning it didn’t take much to launch them off their feet. Should they take the full force of the monster’s attack, there was a real possibility they could die with the cloak in perfect condition around their bodies.

  Meek expressions grew on Lilly’s and Haruhime’s faces after hearing Welf’s warning.

  “…But if this is so good, wouldn’t it be better to give it to Mr. Bell on the front line?”

  He would be exposed to far more ferocious attacks than Lilly.

  The risk of taking damage would be greatly reduced if he was wearing this kind of defensive equipment.

  Shouldn’t Bell be wearing a Goliath robe rather than the style of armor he had been wearing from the very beginning? She made the suggestion very clear.

  Welf looked away from them, his mouth a straight line on his face.

  “…I take great pride in forging his armor with these hands. Giving him a drop item to wear into battle just won’t cut it.”

  No matter how impressive the properties of the drop item were, his pride as a smith would take a serious blow if he were to just pass it off as is.

  It was his job as Bell’s personal smith to forge all his equipment by hand, and he wasn’t about to change his mind.

  The young man folded his arms and turned away from the girls. Lilly was a bit tired of his stubbornness, but Mikoto and Haruhime shared a giggle.

  The last of the daylight coming in from outside the shutters cast Welf’s face in a red hue.

  “…That should cover it—now get out of here. I have to finish up.”

  “Mr. Welf—. Tomorrow’s the day we go into the Dungeon with Takemikazuchi Familia, so don’t forget to prepare your own equipment—”

  “I know, now scram!”

  Welf ushered the girls out of his workshop as a way to hide his embarrassment.

  The three young women made their way across the garden, smiling among themselves with his loud voice echoing behind them.

  Hestia Familia and Takemikazuchi Familia had decided two days prior to travel down to the seventeenth floor.

  The two groups had worked together many times before, so no one was worried about their teamwork in combat. Now they were shifting their attention to long-term goals, specifically going even farther down into the Dungeon. Therefore, the best thing for them to do was to go on their very own mini-expedition as a practice run.

  Going deeper into the Dungeon than they’d ever been, their next goal was to reach the twentieth floor, which meant there weren’t enough hours in the day for them to return to their homes on the surface at night. Trying to do so would cut their time in the Dungeon drastically short and wasn’t worth the trip.

  The solution was to camp inside the Dungeon. The plan was simple. They would spend a full day in the Dungeon, and the two groups would take turns at guard duty when they needed to rest.

  They might have dubbed it with the grandiose title of “mini-expedition,” but as spending more time in the Dungeon was fast becoming a reality, this was their important first attempt at it.

  Twenty-four hours. After packing sufficient food and blankets, they said their good-byes to a reluctant Hestia and a smiling Takemikazuchi, who told them to be careful. Miach Familia, whom they’d asked to look after their home while they were gone, saw them off along with the other deities as the large party departed Hearthstone Manor.

  The group, numbering ten in all, spent half the day journeying deeper into the Dungeon until finally reaching the seventeenth floor, and then got ready for half a day of roaming.

  —At least that was how it was supposed to happen.

  “Aaaaaaaall you slackers on the shield wall! Flex those dirty rumps and hold your ground!”

  An angry roar of a command managed to break through the pandemonium of relentless howls and clangs of battle.

  A line of massive shields held side by side with absolutely no space between managed to absorb a giant fist, but the impact of the shock wave made arms go numb.

  The dwarves and animal people who held the shields grimaced in pain as their heels were driven into the Dungeon floor. Cries for help and calls to charge swirled all around them. The voices of magic users in the middle of their incantations filled the air.

  A large group of adventurers was fighting a giant monster that towered far over their heads.

  “How did it come to this…?!”

  “S-sorry, Lilly…!”

  Yells of man and beast erupted from all over the battlefield. Lilly stood in the center of it all, shooting a stream of arrows from her bow gun as Bell finished off the hellhounds and liger fangs bearing down on them while apologizing mid-strike.

  The joint battle party had been drawn into a large-scale skirmish taking place in a large cavern at the end of the seventeenth floor.

  The mass of adventurers stood in front of the gateway to the safe point, the eighteenth floor.

  Spread over a hundred meders right to left and front to back, the chaos of battle echoed far and wide with screams and roars colliding as much as steel and fangs. Under the looming vista of the Great Wall of Sorrows, by far the most prominent monster on the battlefield was a seven-meder-tall ash-colored giant.

  “—OUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

  The seventeenth floor’s Monster Rex swung both its arms out wide, intimidating the adventurers below with a threatening howl. The ground shattered wherever one of its boulder-like fists came down, sending shock waves through the ground. Welf, Lilly, Mikoto, Haruhime, and all of Takemikazuchi Familia struggled to keep their balance.

  It had all started when they arrived on the seventeenth floor and heard the sounds of battle echoing in the distance, followed by the unmistakable roar of the monster Goliath. The group had exchanged glances, decided to put their plan on hold, and taken the fastest route through the floor…only to find a massive battle between Goliath and a large party of adventurers waiting for them.

  Both familias had done extensive research and preparation aboveground to make sure they chose the safest time to go on their mini-expedition—but the fact that the underground town of Rivira was planning to exterminate the floor boss on this day had eluded them. It just so happened the timing for their plans had coincided.

  The Goliath was always reborn on a two-week interval, making it difficult for upper-class adventurers to pass through to the relatively peaceful eighteenth floor. That, in turn, had an effect on the profits of the business owners residing in the town built at the safe point, since there would be hardly anyone to swindle out of money. Therefore, it was in their best interests to form a temporary alliance and travel up to the seventeenth floor to exterminate the Goliath.

  That’s what Bell and his party had come across—the collective might of Rivira colliding with the ash-colored giant.

  Welf and the others didn’t have the stomach to ignore the screams of their fellow adventurers that echoed the constant vibration of the giant’s footsteps. Most important, their white-haired leader couldn’t abandon them after hearing “GEHHAAHHHHHH!!” echoing through the tunnels.

  The group of slightly shady adventurers had come to his aid in the past, so Bell led the joint party into battle against the floor boss.

  “UOAHHHHHHHHHHH!! Little Rookie, HELP MEEEEEEEEE!!”

  “Whoa!”

  Third-tier adventurer Mord Latro was in the fray when the Great Wall stopped another one of the giant’s attacks, when the magic users were finishing their spells, and when the attackers set out for another run at the giant’s legs.

  Mord had considered Bell to be an enemy from the moment they met, even though the boy didn’t feel the same way. Mord had joined forces with some equally shoddy rogues and put him through an adventurer’s baptism of fire, but he came to recognize Bell’s true character through the events on the eighteenth floor. His opinion of the w
hite-haired human had improved so much that seeing him brought a smile to his scarred face. Just like the other adventurers of Rivira, Mord had come to accept Bell as a fellow adventurer after seeing his exploits in battle against the Black Goliath.

  The man had spent many years at Level 2, content to live out his life as a third-tier adventurer. But now he had started to push himself, to go on adventures once again, as his presence here in the extermination team showed. However, that adventurous resolve disappeared the moment he put his pride aside and called out for help at the top of his lungs.

  A pack of large-category monsters, Minotaurs, had appeared from the main hallway that connected to the cavern. Bell charged past the panicking adventurer and engaged the monsters with the Hestia Knife and a shortsword newly forged by Welf.

  “Since when did extermination teams run into this much trouble…?”

  “There are so many more monsters this time around! There aren’t enough people to attack the big guy!”

  “Do they not understand how to work together…?”

  Mikoto sliced through a charging monster and called out to the closest Rivira adventurer. He shouted a response back at her as Chigusa mumbled under her breath and skewered a hellhound with her spear.

  Walls had been set up at various points around the gray giant to protect the attackers between sally attempts. The small arc of adventurers holding the shield wall was planted just in front of the gateway to the eighteenth floor.

  Compared to the Black Goliath in Bell’s memory—a much more powerful offshoot of the same species—this one was rather weak. However, the average Goliath was still classified as a Level 4 monster by the Guild. The beast had shiny black hair that reached all the way down to shoulders that looked to be carved out of solid stone. The ash-colored giant slammed its fists into one wall after another.

  The brawny, masculine men behind the shields managed to keep their feet, but there were no attackers to take advantage of the window. The ones who should have been keeping the beast off balance and trying to bring it to the ground were too busy engaging the smaller monsters in combat. The same was true for the magic users. Some of them were forced to stop their incantations halfway, some lost their chance to cast their magic despite finishing because of the oncoming monsters, and others had no choice but to release the built-up magic energy without a target. The occasional fireball or rain of light arrows passed through the battlefield from time to time.